[Sniper's Touch] New beginnings and old friends (Closed)

Sulla nibbles a cookie and thinks about it. "I guess... Show her that there's so much else to life than just the constant threat of violence, danger and killing. I cannot tell you anything more than that since even if she is just thirteen, she can still decide something important that'll follow her through her life. She has to think of it herself."

"I'd say seeing people that are awesome and nice yet do not shoot stuff for a living would do her good. I dunno, make her hang around Harrad, if that's fine with him?"

Vindi genuinely laughs. Spirits, she needed that.

"I've got her hanging around with Kayana Pesh--you know the drell, Capice? Someone her own age who isn't all gung ho on a career of mayhem, but with fighting skills Trex can respect. I hope she's well enough behaved by now to be nice to Harrad, even if he can't beat her in a fight. I think I'll definitely give that a shot."

"So what are your plans for here forward? Do you want your old job back?"

Sulla sighs, leans his back on the wall and looks down. "They're sending us back out there, without pay to top it all off. Somewhere to the frontier colonies to help with the rebuilding, and I need to do my part. I almost started to miss hauling ass in full armor and gear." The last bit oozes sarcasm, obviously.

He looks back at Vindi. "I appreciate you offering me a job again, and I'll do anything that needs doing while I'm bunking and eating here, just tell me what to do and where and I'm your guy. It just won't be long-term." He smiles a subtle, a bit sad smile. "Too bad, in a way. This place has been the closest thing to a real home I've had since childhood."

"Hey, you chip in, we'll feed you up, that's the deal." She looks back at him, kind of wistfully. "When you've done your fifteen, if you've had enough of the glorious cause by then and wanna slum with use, we'll have your bunk waiting for you."

She'd keep him anyway, but going AWOL would do him no good, nor would it be good for her and the clan to encourage such a thing.

Going AWOL at these times would definitely get Sulla into so deep trouble he would be digging himself out of it for the next ten years. Hierarchy wasn't exactly known for its mercy, and the difficult era had made it efficient to the point of ruthless. And besides, this was to be good work: rebuilding and restoring life where it had been hit bad, keeping order where there was chaos and bringing hope to those in need of it. If the forces were mobilized, it meant something was being done. Sulla couldn't look down upon something like that. He had a duty, like everyone had.

"And you're the people I'll be fighting for", Sulla replies, no matter how paradoxal that might seem. He suddenly yawns, opening his maw wide, mandibles fluttering as the muscles try to keep the bloodflow going. "You think we've had enough of this night snack and talk? Because for the first time in a while, I'm actually tired. Or I rather feel like going to sleep." There's a big difference between those two things.

Vindi smiles. "You get some rest, Sulla. If you wake up hungry in the night...you know where the fridge is. Cafe opens early, I'd better see your scaly butt on a bench when I arrive." She smiles at him.

Whatever else, people like Sulla and Juhani are proof that her attempts to heal the rifts between her clan and the Hierarchy are good work. Good work, accomplishing good things.

"Sleep well."

~the end~