A Tragic Reunion

[TheWhitefire]

Clyde congratulated you on your return. He told you he was still working on something at Ras Shamra, but would have more work soon. Enjoy your break while it lasts, he said. The prep work for this next mission would be tough.

 

Ashe has been in the hospital for three days with Nino. Jekyll has come out a few times to tell you it would not be long before Ashe would rejoin you. Prima never leaves the hospital room. It seems like she doesn't even sleep, instead standing guard over Nino like a statue of Venus.

 

It is on the seventh day that Ashe finally emerges. Their face is streaked with tears. Their hair is a mess. They somehow look older. Prima refused to leave the room, but howling sobs can be heard from inside.

Jekyll tries to hug Ashe, but Ashe stops them.

 

"No. No, not now." They mutter hoarsely. "Business first. The Lancers are finally owed some explanations Clyde couldn't give them."

 

Ashe tells all of you to meet then down in the Dungeon on the following day.

 

The dungeon is quieter today. The printers are not running. Ashe is wearing black and accompanied by Jekyll and Prima. Prima has an elaborate funerary veil on and is sitting with one legged crossed over the other, looking away from Ashe and Jekyll.

Jekyll always wears black, so he looks no different aside from removing his bowler hat.

Ashe is standing in front of the World Killer. It has changed since last you saw it. The rough plates are now intricately carved, depicting in relief harrowing scenes of violence from the conquest of Hercynia. Where normally a Genghis would mount weapons, metal sculptures of human corpses have been placed. The image is so disorienting, it takes some time for you to realize you are not looking at a weapon of war, but a weapon of art.

As you come down, Ashe starts speaking.

"I was sixty five when I met Nino. I looked and felt 23, but that's what near light travel does. Unsticks you in time. Nino was likely much older. They werr a mercenary on the long rim. A run away from the hospital they grew up in. Rescued Prima from the pirates who took them in. Prima's casket had been locked away, she was near to cascading when they found her. Two have been inseparable since. But when I met them, I was a revolutionary. I was sent off Sanjak for medical care, but could never find my way back. So I fought for the Ungratefuls in the Dawnline shore. That's where I met Nino and Clyde. But I always knew Nino would die young. I hoped my nephew could get them care, maybe find a cure. But it was too late."

[Binks]

Jason takes advantage of the break between to read and sim-up on the new frame model he was able to get a license for, in preparation for the next op. When he sees the distraught scene outside the hospital a week later he looks sympathetic and remains quiet to honor what the group is going through.

When he arrives in the dungeon for Ashe's "explanation" he is visibly taken aback by the modified Genghis, having not really paid much attention to the work Ashe was doing on it in light of everything else going on. He listens with rapt attention to Ashe's explanation and quietly offers a simple sympathetic "I'm sorry for you loss" in the pause.