Legends of the Halcyon Era

Episode 24 - The Secret Confessions of the Reaverbot Queen

It was another day on Monroe Island. Nytetrayn was sitting on the sofa, as he flipped through one of his Digging magazines, hoping that he might find a good lead that would help him and Fenix find some new income. Celeste was sitting in the kitchen, drinking some hot cocoa.

Janine sat next to Nyte on the sofa, filing her nails. As she went about her work, there was a loud snapping noise. "Damn! Another one!" she said, as she tossed the file on to the growing pile next to the sofa. "I don't know my own strength."

Nyte looked up and over at Janine. "Maybe you should try a sword-sharpening stone?"

Fenix walked from his room into the living room and asked, "So! Nyte! Find any good ruins for us? God knows you'll never go to a place I recommend again."

"Working on it. I might have one thing, but it looks pretty small. Still, it may have to do until we find a better lead. It's more of a mine than a ruin, though I hear there are some rough traps further in that no one's gotten past yet."

"Nothing a pair of veterans like us can't handle, I'm sure!" said Fenix.

Nyte nodded. "Anyways, it seems like small pickings for now... we'll make a note of it," he said, as he continued to flip through the magazine. "Doesn't give much as far as anything on this island goes, though. Damn, it would be good if we had a ship we could travel on..."

"Hey, that Adam guy said he had a ship, didn't he?"

"Yeah, you're right," Nyte said, before going back to his magazine.

Fenix nodded, and returned to his room to polish his guns.

After a moment of flipping through some pages, he decided to get something to drink from the fridge, only to find they were out of sodas.

"Damn," he said. "Hey, Cel?"

"Hmm?"

"If you're not doing anything else right now, could you make a run to the store and grab some drinks?"

"Yeah, sure. I can do that," Celeste said, as Nytetrayn gave her some Zenny for the drinks, and some extra to grab herself something while she was out.

Celeste went out and about her task, and Nytetrayn got back to his spot on the sofa and continued his research.

After a short period of silence, Janine spoke up. "...Nytetrayn, can I ask you a personal question?"

Nyte closed his magazine, but kept his place. "Shoot."

"Why are you attracted to Celeste?"

"...huh?! Wha?" Nyte all but sputtered. "Who said I was attracted to Celeste?"

Janine looked at Nyte, but didn't say anything.

"We're... we're, you know... friends..."

Janine kept staring.

"...y'know, I just... did what I had to do... and after that, it just seemed wrong to just, y'know, STRAND her back on that island..."

Faced with more silence, Nyte kept going. "...so I asked her to come along out of... out of common courtesy. Y'know?"

After another pause, he added, "Sort of like you. Not like you had a place to go, either."

Janine raised an eyebrow. "You're not attracted to her at all?"

"Er..."

"I didn't think you saved her just because you thought she was pretty, but it's pretty obvious you care about her, even more so than Fenix..."

Nyte was getting a little flustered. "...not saying all THAT, I mean, she looks... y'know... but I mean, I'm not... you know... well, I... that is..." Suddenly, his eyes lit up, as something clicked in his mind. "'Course I care about her," he said, now more confidently. "Just like I care about you and Fenix. We're like one big, obnoxious, happy sitcom family...

" ...that comes on well after prime-time," he muttered to himself.

"I see," Janine said, as she hugged her knees.

"Er, why do you ask, exactly?"

"...so what the hell's wrong with me?"

"Um... what?"

"Nothing. Never mind," she said, as she rocked back and forth a little, and stared ruefully at her feet.

Nyte sighed. "You don't HAVE to tell me, but something's apparently bothering you..."

"I don't think you'd understand," she said. "I mean, you don't have guys trying to bone you every five minutes."

"Who tries to bone you every five minutes? Besides maybe Fenix, that is?"

"That's a bit of an exaggeration," she said, and sighed again.

"I mean, I like Fenix, I really do. Dick's a huge jerk. Xenos was nice, but... what it boils down to is, sometimes I want to be with someone who doesn't... well, it feels like they're taking something from me, sometimes."

"So I gathered."

Janine frowned. "I wanna be on top!"

Nyte raised an eyebrow at this. "That's all? I mean, no offense..."

"It's figurative."

"Oh. Have you told Fenix this?"

"Well, see, that's the thing..."

"I'm sure he'd... understand... " Nyte said, muttering "Sure, why not?" to himself under his breath.

"It's not that he's overbearing, it's... well, he's a man, he's limited to certain things."

"Er, how do you mean?"

"There's only so many positions, there's only so many ways to communicate... we don't really connect on any level other than physical. Sure, the sex is great, but when it's over, I don't feel any closer to him, and that big ball of hurt he's hiding doesn't seem to get any smaller..."

"Tried talking to him?"

"Have you TRIED to talk to that guy about touchy feely stuff?"

"Hell no. 'Cause I'm a guy."

"You think being a girl makes it easier for me? He doesn't talk about stuff, Nyte. He just closes up. He shuts me off, walls himself in, locks the door, and all those other metaphors."

"I mean, he'd think I was a raging wuss if I tried talking all touchy-feely with him."

Janine sighed again. "I'm not asking you to, I'm just saying... I think sooner or later, we're gonna break up, or whatever you call it. We're not really 'together' as it is."

"Well," Nyte pondered, "have you thought about Adam?"

"I considered it... but it's not so much that there aren't any other options, as much as there's one that keeps getting stuck in my head," she said, wincing.

"Maybe Black Steel?" Nyte suggested. "He seems fond of you..."

"He also tried to kill me..."

"True, but I think he's over that now," Nyte replied. "Okay, bad idea... So, just one person, huh?"

"Yeah," she said. "I'm trying to forget about it. I really, really am... it'll never happen, never in a million years."

"Hmm, anyone I know?"

Janine blushed. "Um, yeah..."

"Oh... I see..." Nyte sort of gulped, and sweated a little as he opened his magazine back up, and tried to divide his attention between it and Janine now.

"I know it's crazy. They've got their eye on someone else, and they've never seen me as anything more than a friend... I mean, if I told them, they'd probably run away..."

Nyte was sweating a bit more now.

Janine let her head droop to her knees.

"And they seem so sexually repressed," she continued. "If I came on to them, they'd probably faint... or... or get a nosebleed, or something!"

Nyte had taken a deep breath, about to say something, but instead blurted out, "Sexually repressed?! Er," he said, composing himself. "I dunno, maybe they wouldn't."

Janine paused, then continued. "Oh, I'm pretty sure. I mean, it's obvious they're a virgin..."

One of Nyte's eyes winced a little. "Heh, right..." he said, as he forced a fake smile.

"...you don't think so?"

"Well, I don't know, maybe, maybe not, who can say for sure, right? The least likely can fool you, right?"

"I... I guess..."

"Anyway, maybe you should tell them... they probably won't run away..."

"...but even if she HAS had sex, would she remember it?" Janine said, as she rubbed her chin.

Nyte froze for a moment. "...s-she?"

He looked himself over real quick-like.

"Wait..." he said, and let out a breath of half-relief. "So if it's not... um, a guy... who..."

Janine hiked up an eyebrow.

Nyte ran over the list of females he knows here in his mind. Three. Jan didn't count. Radi was too young... At least, he thought so. That left...

Nyte got a dazed look in his eyes.

"I see you've guessed," Janine said, wincing.

Nyte took a deep breath. "It sort of narrows it down... So then, you're after... C-E-L-E-S-T-E?"

"More like trying not to be!" she said with a huff. "Dear God, you've seen the way she looks at me when I hug her, right? Can you imagine what she'd do if I confessed undying love for her perfect rack?"

Nytetrayn was speechless. His expression dropped slightly, but only for a moment before he regained his normal composure.

"Go on, tell me it's crazy."

Nytetrayn stared at her for a moment. "...love for her... perfect... rack...? Now who's in it for the physical?"

Janine snorted at that.

"...sorry."

"I can't be serious for more than five minutes, it hurts my brain," she said. "Seriously, it's not just her body it's... everything about her. She's so gentle and quiet, and you get the feeling she'd break if you handled her too roughly, but then you look into her eyes and you can just see how strong she is... I want to nurture that, to help bring it out. I want to make her feel better about herself than she's ever felt before."

Looking at Nytetrayn, she asked, "I dunno, is that wrong?"

"Uh.... no... I... I guess not..."

"...and, yes, I do want to sleep with her, but that's just a side benefit," Janine said, as she smirked a little.

At that moment, Celeste opened the front door. "Got the drinks..."

Nyte coughed. "Heya, welcome back," he said with a smile. "Thanks!"

Janine's face went red, but she smiled in her usual, friendly way.

Nyte helped Celeste with the drinks, and put them in the fridge.

"Thanks, Cel!" Janine said. "Have a nice walk?"

"Yeah, thanks," Celeste said a little nervously, as she took a seat on the sofa. "So, um, find anything new about any ruins or anything...?"

Janine swallowed. "Ummm, I dunno. Have you, Nyte?"

"Er, nope, not much yet..."

Fenix poked his head out of the door to his room, then emerged fully.

"Hey, Nyte, come with me. I gotta go do... guy stuff, and I need a guy with me."

"That sounds like nothing I want any part o–HURK!"

Fenix grabbed Nyte and shoved him out the door, and turned back to the others. "Yeah, we'll just be a minute. You two stay here, and... uh, talk about esbianismlay, or something." And with that, he ran out the door, closing it behind him.

Janine turned bright red, and yelled after him, "Fenix! You... ssay!"

Celeste looked back and forth between the two. "What was that about?"

"I have no idea," Janine replied, albeit rather unconvincingly.

"Um, okay," Celeste said, deciding not to press the issue.

"So, um... gee," Janine said, as she scratched her head. "Suddenly, the only thing that comes to mind is weird slumber party stuff my chauvinistic programmer told me about..."

Celeste just nodded.

"...so! wanna paint each other's toenails?" Janine said, with a big, uncharacteristically sheepish smile.

"Um, no thanks..." Celeste said, a little bit nervous at the suddenness of this. "I don't think that's really my thing...?"

Meanwhile, walking somewhere outside the apartment, Nyte asked, "What are we doing out here?!"

"Giving them time to talk!" Fenix said, his helmet masking all of the extremely pleased expression on his face but his eyes.

"...are you nuts?"

"If Jan stops asking me to convince Cel to join us in a threesome, it's worth it."

"Dear God, she never even mentioned that."

"I think it was sort of a last resort idea..."

"Come on, let's get back, quick," Nyte said as he started back to the apartment, with Fenix following.

Once they'd returned, they found Janine sitting on the couch quietly, reading a book. Almost in parallel, Celeste sat on the other side of the sofa, reading the book Fenix had given her.

"So, what's new?" Nyte asked.

"Fabio just had his hair lopped off by the evil Montressor!" Janine said, her eyes widened.

Nytetrayn wasn't sure whether to roll his eyes, laugh, or do both. Instead, he decided on neither.

"So," Celeste asked, as she looked up from her book. "What's it like on these digs...?"

"Zombies," said Janine. "Lots and lots of zombies."

Celeste looked startled by this revelation.

"Look out for the giant floating hands. If they get you, these little aliens stick cold metal rods up your a–"

"Jan!" Nyte shouted, noticing Celeste's ever-widening eyes. "Um, not typically..."

"That was a one time deal, Jan," said Fenix. "We will never go to a ruin like that ever again."

"Damn right," Nyte agreed.

"Most ruins contain robots. Giant killer robots. And they NEVER anal probe their victims."

Nyte nodded.

"...except for the kangaroos," Fenix continued. "Something didn't seem quite right about them–" Nyte elbowed Fenix in the ribs. "...but regardless, we will never visit that ruin again, either!"

"Thank God," Janine said.

"Indeed," Nyte agreed.

Celeste still looked a bit freaked out, and while she tried to continue reading, Fenix patted her on the shoulder.

"We'll protect you from the giant robots," he said.

"Yeah, no worries," Nyte added.

"...r-right..."

"What about me?!" Janine asked. "I can protect her better than you two can!"

"No one said you couldn't..." Nyte said in a grumbly, half-teasing voice.

Janine seemed pleased by this, while Fenix just shrugged.

Nyte decided to flip through his magazine some more, when he spotted something. "Hello, what's this?" He quickly read over the text. "Mmm-hmm... mmm-hmm... mmm-hmm... looks like I might've found something!"

"Oh, goody," said Fenix.

"Does it come free of giant kangaroos?" Janine asked.

"Doesn't mention any here," Nyte said.

"Yay!"

"We should get ahold of Adam, and set out for it ASAP..."

"Cool," Fenix said.

Nyte called Adam up and arranged it. "We should be setting out in the morning," he told the others, after hanging up.

"I'd better polish my guns," Fenix said.

Nyte nodded. "We should all rest up well, before setting out."

"Yes, rest is good," Janine agreed.

Celeste nodded and headed for bed. Nyte set himself up on the sofa, as usual, once Jan vacated it. Janine fought the temptation to ask Cel to join her, and headed for bed, as well. Fenix fought off a similar temptation, and went to bed, too.