Smut, Gen, Angst, Fluff, Anything, Everything. PFL era, Post war, Pre Canon, AU, ETC, Full starter or pic prompt, drop it like it's hot Brackets or Prose whatever you're comfortable with Tag and go!
"And why the hell do you need to hide from them, huh?" HE doesn't ask as a rule but- this kid broke all of them by recognizing him. No one that knows about him is supposed to be this far out here.
"I recognized you, didn't I? I think they take offense to anyone that can hack their systems like that and get away with it. In fact, I'm pretty sure in some places it's called treason. This is part of the getting away with it."
She leaps to her feet but doesn't make any moves closer, but even for a kid with a gun in their face, Pidge looks ready to fight. "I'm trying to find my family. My dad and my brother went missing, and the UNSC is covering it up! They said they died in a shuttle accident, that it was pilot error, but that's not true at all! I wasn't looking for you."
She hoped that would be enough, but she's still kind of surprised when it is. There's blood pumping now, and she can't just fall back on the couch like he does. "The pilot they had doesn't just make errors, for one. His record's too good. And we found out over the local news before anyone official came to us. It all just seemed...sketchy."
Pidge frowns down at the floor, fists curling and uncurling. "Maybe I was just in disbelief for a while, but I looked, or I started looking. If it was what they said it was, it wouldn't be classified. Pilot error is just a story. I didn't find everything, but I found enough. Some of the data that managed to transmit before losing contact. It just doesn't add up. I don't know if they were involved in some secret project, or taken by aliens, or what, but I know where I'm gonna start looking once I get out there."
"I know I'm just a kid, but I'm the only one doing anything about it!" It's raw and vicious and hurts, because no one's willing to own up to what happened to her family. Her mom is going to be even more heartbroken, even with the note she left, and will call the cops if she hasn't already.
There is no one else. No one else believes her. And the military is only going to shut her up, especially with the other classified intel she got into.
"...you're gonna get shot." Just. Laying that out there right now. This kid can't expect to run around and do this shit and not get shot at or shot and if they're not ready for that it'll only make the inevitable firefight all the more shocking and tragic. "Tell me you got some kind of plan beyond 'on my own' and 'fu- F the man'?"
She grits her teeth, looking away. There is a plan. If there wasn't a plan, would she have even gotten this far? And she's trying to get away, get safe, search in safety without...getting shot by the military. Hopefully.
"Hop on some shuttles. Get to Erusia. Find any leads about my family. See where that takes me. I can get pretty far on a fake ID if it's good." Pidge glances back up at him, a little challenging.
"...Yeah, no." Nope. Not even a little, that is a poor plan in so much that it is not a plan at all. It's a sketch of an idea that's already kicked off before any real planning was ready and is gonna end bad. York's seen this enough to know how it'll go.
He closes his laptop and sits back, crossing his arms to peer at the kid. "You need something better than that."
"I'm not masquerading as a member of the UNSC, not like this," she snaps with a motion to, well, all shortness of her. "And I can't just use my real name to get there like they're gonna just let me go. Being a stowaway carries too much risk. And I'm not hijacking a shuttle to get there myself; then I will definitely get shot down."
"The plan is take a couple shuttles out and poke around! So long as the supposed 'crash site' isn't swarming with military, then I should be fine, and then I decide where to go from there." This isn't like computer code. Computer code has a form and structure that is constant and predictable. This is not that. This is life which is not at all predictable. "If you're trying to talk me out of going, you can't."
"You wanna run recon without having any idea of what you're looking for, what you're up against, and without training." Just- breaking that down for her, the numbers already ticking through in the back of his mind. This is shit he knows how to do. Can do without getting caught. if the UNSC is being a shit again-
He's got a point, several points, and that's...frustrating, because she can either go and maybe die and leave her mother all alone, or she can stay and be wracked with the pain of never knowing.
"I don't have a way to do any of that. Not...currently at my disposal."
"That's when you hire a contractor. Like you had the foresight to do for the ID and background fiddling. You were, like, halfway there which is more than most kids your age. Kudos to you." Not even sarcastic, that, though the slow clap might be. Just a touch.
"Kinda lucky you're with someone that can either give you the hook up or-"
Does he want to get involved that badly. Does he? He might.
She doesn't say anything at first. Not at first. Doesn't know quite how to react, but there's sincerity and sarcasm and...he's...
He's offering?
He's offering. To help her. To do this for and with her? And she is confused. There's probably several expressions that run across her face over the span of a few long moments.
"Probably, but for shit like this? I work for pizza and beer." So, less the beer, more the pizza. He scrubs the back of his neck, grimacing. "Look- you do this? You're gonna die. You have no idea what you're doing and I don't want that on my conscious so just agree before I think better of it and bail, ok?"
"...Pizza and soda I can do. I'd be some kind of idiot to say no to help from a Freelancer." She rubs her chin in thought for a moment. "Or, I could be some kind of idiot to accept help from a Freelancer, depending on the perspective, but I choose to see this as a positive."
"Ex-Freelancer. I bailed." He had good reason, alright? "Sometimes it turns out you sign up for shi- stuff and it's not what you thought it was and you gotta get out before you become more of an as- badguy than you already were."
Not swearing is gonna be hard but, damnit, he'll manage.
Okay, he's got an interesting point, but she finds herself kind of distracted by the way he cuts himself off. Is it possible to treat someone with and also without kid gloves at the same time?
"...I'm not going to burst into flame if you curse around me, you know."
"You are a small human type person." A beat, it'll make sense in a second. "You don't swear around small human type people. It's like a social rule or something?"
He's pretty sure it was a rule, North made it a Rule with a capital R which meant disappointed dad face when you didn't follow it and he made that rule for Theta so it kinda became a habit.
"Human type person," she echoes. Unimpressed. Look at how unimpressed this small human type is. "Look, I mean, generally you don't swear around kids because they'll echo it and they're 'bad words'," yes with air quotes, "and then get in trouble at school, but I'm not a child! You're a shady ex-Freelancer who makes up new identities for people out of a garage with a cool motorcycle. It's not going to surprise me that you swear."
"Your eye twitches when I call you 'kid'." He notices these things. He's observant. You know, sometimes. "I'm an under the table identity operator working out of one of many safe houses."
Not shady at all.
"Look I walked away with a particular set of skills that aren't terribly conductive to a happy civilian lifestyle. So." A beat. "Yeah but I'm gonna try to not anyway. Deal with it."
"Whatever." That is a totally mature way to reply to the situation. Very mature.
"The point is...the point is that we're doing this. Together. Like as a team. Instead of me running off on my own and maybe or maybe not getting shot. Isn't that going to impact your business?" Y'know, the one that isn't shady.
"No maybe about it. You'd get shot." And he'd have to live with it. "I'm an independent contractor. I go where the work is, do the jobs I feel like doing. This? I feel like doing. This needs to be done. Just. Not by a kid on their own that'll get themselves killed before finishing things."
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She leaps to her feet but doesn't make any moves closer, but even for a kid with a gun in their face, Pidge looks ready to fight. "I'm trying to find my family. My dad and my brother went missing, and the UNSC is covering it up! They said they died in a shuttle accident, that it was pilot error, but that's not true at all! I wasn't looking for you."
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A kid that can hack like a motherfucker, apparently, but just a kid.
"What makes you think they're lying? I'm not saying they aren't just. What tipped you off?"
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Pidge frowns down at the floor, fists curling and uncurling. "Maybe I was just in disbelief for a while, but I looked, or I started looking. If it was what they said it was, it wouldn't be classified. Pilot error is just a story. I didn't find everything, but I found enough. Some of the data that managed to transmit before losing contact. It just doesn't add up. I don't know if they were involved in some secret project, or taken by aliens, or what, but I know where I'm gonna start looking once I get out there."
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No.
Last time he stuck out his neck his ass got shot and he'd really, really rather not dive into that mess again. He barely survived, D got taken and-
Yeah.
No, not doing this again. Just. Asking.
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There is no one else. No one else believes her. And the military is only going to shut her up, especially with the other classified intel she got into.
"So yeah. On my own."
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"Hop on some shuttles. Get to Erusia. Find any leads about my family. See where that takes me. I can get pretty far on a fake ID if it's good." Pidge glances back up at him, a little challenging.
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He closes his laptop and sits back, crossing his arms to peer at the kid. "You need something better than that."
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It's worth looking into.
Discreetly. Distantly.
"I'm pointing out holes in your plan."
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He's got a point, several points, and that's...frustrating, because she can either go and maybe die and leave her mother all alone, or she can stay and be wracked with the pain of never knowing.
"I don't have a way to do any of that. Not...currently at my disposal."
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"Kinda lucky you're with someone that can either give you the hook up or-"
Does he want to get involved that badly. Does he? He might.
"You know. Do it myself."
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He's offering?
He's offering. To help her. To do this for and with her? And she is confused. There's probably several expressions that run across her face over the span of a few long moments.
"...Would I have to pay you more?"
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Not swearing is gonna be hard but, damnit, he'll manage.
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"...I'm not going to burst into flame if you curse around me, you know."
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He's pretty sure it was a rule, North made it a Rule with a capital R which meant disappointed dad face when you didn't follow it and he made that rule for Theta so it kinda became a habit.
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Not shady at all.
"Look I walked away with a particular set of skills that aren't terribly conductive to a happy civilian lifestyle. So." A beat. "Yeah but I'm gonna try to not anyway. Deal with it."
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"The point is...the point is that we're doing this. Together. Like as a team. Instead of me running off on my own and maybe or maybe not getting shot. Isn't that going to impact your business?" Y'know, the one that isn't shady.
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