SUITE
HEART

Suiteheart didn't often travel to the Canopy in the dead of night. No, usually, when the moon was out and stars speckled the great expanse of black above the lands, she was at Pebble Coast, sitting beside Cooper. Baby blue eyes would stare, unblinking, at the bright marks set against the dark. It was one of the only times she ever felt peaceful anymore. Though Selene had fixed her dilapidated soul, each version of herself still fought for control from time to time. Things were also incredibly stressful now. Her newfound vampirism was hard to deal with - not that she would ever tell Margaery.

She had been hunting when she first heard movement. Whatever it was, it sounded like the type of prey she needed to feed on. The blood of typical prey items (mice, birds, rabbits) was not enough to control her appetite. No, she had to feed on the blood of felines - and whoever was trespassing moved like a feline. Suite's ears flew back. She hated being able to tell that so easily, but she supposed her hunts had given her the ability to tell by the sounds of footfalls.

She had followed behind the trespasser, keeping a safe distance. She didn't move forward until the other stopped just short of the Flower Field. Curiosity burned in her molten amber eyes (changed from blue as hunger burned in her stomach), and she crept forward. What were they saying? "Hey," she called. "Name and business on Ascendants' territory."

© [color=black]MADI

"Is that a trespasser? Can I fight him?" The bubbly voice of the young leopard could be heard as she made her way over, almost as if she had been summoned by the chance to prove her strength. She settled down, the young Fireball offering him a grin as her tail settled down around her front paws, and she looked to Suite for an answer.

Nero appreciated the darkness. It was much cooler than the heat of day, and the darkness protected his sensitive eyes. He purred subtly as a breeze rustled his messy fur, shaking out his pelt to help cool his body down. He had started going on walks nightly, an attempt to work up the muscle he lacked from months of sitting around. As he neared the edge of the territory, he picked up on something other than the soft sounds of grass beneath his paw pads. He stopped and turned, tilting his head and staring in the direction of the noises before finally moving towards them. As the boy drew closer he managed to pick up individual voices rather than a single low mumble, although none of them were all too familiar.

He was curious now, and he completed the gap to come across the small group. Thea and Suiteheart he had seen around, but the eerie and battered feline was completely new. "He looks hurt..." Nero said in a whisper, his fangs coming down to pinch his lower lip. Nero wasn't a big fan of seeing others in pain, but his sympathy didn't stop the unease that he felt around this stranger. He moved to duck behind Suiteheart, ruby eyes peering out at Shininglight from behind her.

SUITE
HEART

Suiteheart tilted her head minutely to the left as she listened to Shininglight speak. There was something about him that seemed almost archaic, but she couldn't put her paw on it. She felt herself drawn to his words, his odd-colored eyes. He was one of the most curiosity-inducing joiners she had encountered in a while. "No, Thea, we're not going to fight him," the feline replied, turning her gaze from the male to the leopard cub.

She turned her head as Nero approached, watching as he hid behind her. A tiny smile traipsed her lips at that. "It's alright, Nero. No need to hide. You're right though - he does look hurt." She turned her attention to Shininglight once more, examining him and the injuries he sported.

She was momentarily ripped from her examination as he began to speak again, about eyes and places far away. His story was one she had heard before. Hell, it was one she had lived and was still living. Around here, there were always subtle reminders of home. It was bittersweet.

The Admiral parted her jaws to ask him what his plans were and if he required medical attention when Merihem arrived. She listened to Meri, and shook her head (but did chuckle a bit under her breath). Before she knew it Shininglight was speaking again and asking to stay.

"You're welcome here as long as you like, Shininglight," she answered. "I'm Suiteheart." Her eyes moved to peer at flower fields and then returned to the newcomer. [b]"The flowers do look better in the daylight, yeah. We've also got a few gardens closer to camp if that's more your speed. Anyhow, we outta head that way now. It's getting late, and you look tired. Plus, I want you to get your injures check out. Don't want an infection."

[b]suiteheart folie-mikaelson . ecliptic admiral . the ascendants . [color=#99182C]tags

© [color=black]MADI

Nero's confidence grew slightly as Suiteheart comforted him, and he slunk out from behind her to get a better look at Shininglight. So far he didn't seem so bad, and Nero felt a little guilty for judging him by his appearance. Merihem's presence helped too. Nero was still unused to physical contact, but the liked the warmth of the feline beside him. He let out a soft purr and tried to ignore the sound of Merihem's heartbeat, banishing the thoughts of feeding by focusing solely on Shine. "My names Nero," he said softly, staring into the feline's mismatched eyes. "It's... nice to meet you too." Despite Merihem's jab at Shine's monologue, Nero found it quite pretty. He too appreciated the flowers, although he hadn't had much of a chance to admire them during the day. He hoped that soon he would be able to handle the harshness of day as well as the other vampires could.

*retro to injury*

Everyone dealt with trauma differently. There were plenty of people that pushed it to the very backs of their mind and tried to forget about it. Only to when they were reminded of it to have it brought back and act as if there had been an Earthquake in their brain. Having been basically in the military his entire life, it meant that he had seen others react differently. Reacting differently to when the person that they grew up with died in their arms after being shot. A reaction of someone exploding into nothing but bloody bits when a grenade got attached to them and they couldn't take it off. The horror that flashed in front of their eyes as they heard a squad screaming over the radio as they were burned with plasma from a vehicle that shot at them and burned them alive. War wasn't something that was pretty, but when it had been there for humans it had been a means to keep themselves alive from an alien race that wanted them dead. They weren't going to go extinct without a fight, and they gave everything that they got even if the enemy had better technology than they did.

It just meant that they had developed their technology a lot better and that led to several different military advances. Washington had his own sort of trauma, but none of the trauma carried over from the first couple years of fighting in the Great War. He had pushed it to the back of his mind because he knew what was going to be asked of him as a soldier and nothing but a soldier. He knew from the beginning that he was going to be an expendable force that wasn't needed and was going to be used in the front lines. Whether he died was up to his skills and what the enemy decided to do to try and fight them. He had watched those that he had started to actually trust thanks to their skills burn up in flames. He had watched troops run away in fear for their lives because they didn't want to die. Most of the kids that did join the military didn't exactly have the best luck considering that they didn't know what they wanted to do with their life and unluckily got drafted into the army. The draft having returned thanks to the war that was created for them to fight in.

At least the Great War united all the countries on Earth and all the other planets so that hey could fight back against the threat. When he was teleported here, Washington was pretty sure the War was still going on, hence one of the reasons why he wanted to go back. Everyone had a family, and he was pretty sure that his family was still alive. The current trauma he had wasn't even brought on by his own means. It had been when a failed experimental AI had been implanted into its brain, leaking all the memories of its torture and the horrible emotions that it went through. It nearly killed him. And the AI wasn't able to kill itself like it was trying to do. Everything turned into a shit show, and now after coming here, he was still dealing with the side effects of having it ripped out of his head. He was the type to hide the trauma that he was going through, the only one that knew what he was going through would be Carolina. He had seen how her mind had unraveled with the effect of having her own AI taken out of her head, but hers were willing to work with each other. His was trying to kill him and didn't care what happened to the user. The Freelancer didn't tell anyone what he was going through. He was a soldier. They hid their weaknesses, and in this strange world that he was no longer a human he could no longer trust the civilians that lived in the current outpost.

Right now he was on the lookout for those that were similar to them. The Freelancer had a reason to be upset and touchy right now, and that was because he knew that North and Theta were on the playing field, he just didn't know where they were and that was frustrating. The large armored smilodon went on his patrols during the middle of the day as that seemed to be where there was the most activity. He crash landed in this place, and that meant that there was a chance that another Freelancer could end up popping up just like he and Carolina did. Hearing him coming wasn't all that difficult thanks to the suite of armor that he wore that rattled with each movement that he made. He was the only almost fully armored animal that lived in the outpost. Something that others were usually immediately intimidated by when they first got a look at him. The helmet that he wore hid all of his facial features thanks to the one-way mirror visor that was with it. He couldn't rely on scents as his helmet prevented any from getting inside of his helmet, and the lights that were on his armor seemed to only be active when they were attached to his body.

Hearing voices usually meant there was someone waiting at the border. He had gotten the pattern there, but he would never really be the first to be on the scene. He didn't care after all. He had his mission and he was going to do it no matter who got in his way. The Freelancer didn't care about those in the outpost even if he pretended to be, faking on being on their side so that he could manipulate them for their supplies and information once they started to branch out more. The armored smilodon would approach the side of the group, having arrived just in time to hear Shining's introduction. Washington kept his distance from everyone else, keeping at least five feet between him and everyone else, even if he knew everyone here. No one he knew and that meant that it was again none of his business. The soldier didn't say anything as others welcomed him into the group, feeling as if there was something the other was hiding. That's how he felt with everyone though. Closed off and suspicious of anyone that made an appearance. The group still knew little to nothing about them and he planned on keeping it that way. "Agent Washington." The former human introduced himself with a calm deadpanned tone that he usually did. He said it curtly though, and the stance he had certainly done made him always look like a soldier. Washington looked prepared to walk off after his introduction unless the one in front of him had anything to say to him. "speech"