Up is hard, Down is easy - Jupiter Ascending threads

[gunsgowoof]

Caine's own choice would have been nearly anywhere but Chicago. Certainly it was large enough to hide in, and he found he blended in somewhat - minus the ears, the boots, and what lay beneath his coat. He was trying.

Yet his choice had no say in it. Her Majesty wished to be here, and so here he was.

While she spent her day working - and he was still trying to wrap his mind around WHY when she owned the planet, he came to one conclusion during it all. Arguing with her wasn't worth it. Staring silently at least meant that she didn't give him that look.

So he spent time exploring the city, the Earth culture that she was now protecting from harvest. Mostly he was working hard to avoid causing a scene. Again.

(Just about anything Jupiter Ascending. Premovie. Post. I also have Jupiter and Titus, untested but willing to toy with them. Caine just tends to be a loud pup in my head.)

Comments

[heroeswork]

Okay, so technically, Billy and his team weren't supposed to be in Chicago. Rules about where they could operate and where they couldn't. But the man they were after had chosen this very city to hole up in under some pretense that they couldn't find him. But that hadn't stopped the ODS in the past, and it wouldn't stop them now. But Billy had been back-burnered by the rest of the team because they were dealing with some tactical matters and his part wasn't until the next day.

It was in his downtime that he spotted Caine. At first, he took no more notice of the man than anyone else, assuming the ears to be some new modification trend, like stretched earlobes. But other things started to catch his attention. Small details that were all a little off, the boots being a major part of it. It was out of sheer curiosity that he began following the man. Observing him as best as he could, blending it every time Caine seemed to glance his way. Though Billy was tall in a well cut suit with no idea what he was tailing. Even as a well trained spy, he couldn't keep it up for long.

[gunsgowoof]

Caine tried to be careful, despite being told time and again by Jupiter that he didn't need to patrol her neighborhood, or the path that looped around her jobs, letting him keep up on what was going on in each and every neighborhood.

It was the repeated sound of the man's steps that eventually caught Caine's attention. Like when one listened to a nature loop, and after a time that one second tick between the end and the beginning started to become more and more pronounced until it couldn't be ignored. The constant, same sound of the man's step came to Caine, distinctive over the brown noise of random people around him.

Not giving a glance back, Caine hurried his step suddenly, turning a corner into an alley. Should the man follow him, he'd come around the corner to find Caine missing. At least until he looked up.

Then he'd find the skyjacker perched on the lowest tier of a fire escape, weapon in hand and pointed down. "Can I help you?"

[heroeswork]

When Caine quickened his pace, Billy figured he'd been made. Or something had spooked the man. He wasn't exactly being as careful s he should have been. And since this was nothing more than curiosity, he followed into the alley. He halted a few steps in, though quickly he spots why the man wasn't anywhere ahead of him.

His head tilted, eyeing the weapon. He'd seen what he thought was everything the world had on offer for handheld firearms. But that was unlike anything he'd seen before. Much like the man's boots. "You can put your weapon down," Billy drawled, his Scottish accent still thick after so many years in the states. He held his hands up, palms out in surrender. "I'm not here to hurt you."

[gunsgowoof]

He stayed where he was, watching the other man. His head canted, listening to not only his words, but how he said them, the timbre of his voice.

"I can put it down, you're right." Yet he kept it where it was. "But I'll consider it after you tell me why you were following me."

He didn't know why someone that sounded human wiould be following him, but he wasn't taking chances either. For all he knew, the guy was working for the siblings.

[heroeswork]

"Curiosity," Billy admitted easily. There was an emphasis on the word that passed through his entire body as his weight briefly rocked onto the balls of his feet. Apart from keeping his hands out, he didn't seem all that threatened.

"I've seen a lot of odd little corners of the world, and in all that time, I don't think I've ever seen ears quite like those. And I know I've never seen a gun anything like what you've got there."

[gunsgowoof]

"You think stalking strangers is something you do because you're curious?" That made him snort, and it might have nearly been a laugh. "A good way to get yourself hurt," he admitted. Yet the muzzle of the gun lowered though he kept it in his hand.

"Yeah well, the ears are..." He paused, trying to think about what it was that Jupiter had called them. "They're part of a cosplay," he said, almost questioning it as if not sure he had the right word.

[heroeswork]

Billy's expression quirked into a smile as he held back a laugh at the way the man said that word. He shook his head and lowered his arms.

"I can spot a cosmetic job at ten paces. Those--" he pointed, rather emphatically, "--are by no means merely cosmetic." He shoved his hands into the pockets of his overcoat. "Why don't you come down here so we can have a more civilized chat?"

[gunsgowoof]

Yeah, he knew when he said it that conviction hadn't been on his side. Yet it was an answer he'd work on, one that might work for him.

"I hear there are a lot of modifications people get. Mostly..." He gestured at his chest, but it was enough for him to slide the gun back into the holster before vaulting over the railing and dropping down to stand before the man. "And I'm not having any surgery there," he said. "As for the ears, they're just for picking up girls."

Okay that one he might have made sound more realistic. "Also, if you're avoiding combat and wishing for civilized, your hands in your pockets are suspicious."

[heroeswork]

The vague comment about surgery took Billy a moment to understand. Though once it occurred to him, he couldn't help the nearly lewd smile that spread across his face at the mental image of the man with implants. It as at least enough to help him keep his composure when Caine landed in front of him.

Billy kept his hands in his pockets, but used the pockets to spread the overcoat open. Beneath it, he wore a fairly decent suit, complete with a vest. It was an off-the-rack job, but it fit him well enough. "You're welcome to frisk me, if that'll make you feel more at ease."

[gunsgowoof]

"Glad you seem amused by that thought," Caine said, tones flat and entirely deadpan. Maybe he actually meant it, or he was just being a dick.

"That would mean moving in close and opening myself to a plethora of methods of violence to stop or kill me. I think I'll stay here,' he said, trained as a soldier and now working as a guard. "What do you do around here? I'm still learning about the area," he admitted.

[heroeswork]

"Oh, I'm just visiting," Billy offered, letting his coat fall closed as he relaxed his arms. "And personally? I try to keep the violence to a bare minimum. Not really my area of expertise," but still something he could do in a pinch. "You really should learn to trust people. You might make a friend or two."

[gunsgowoof]

"I wasn't designed to make friends. I'm a soldier. It's my main purpose in life." Not his only. Not anymore. "I also wasn't really taught to trust people. That was removed early on," he noted, though it wasn't just breeding, but being removed from his pack, and then all that happened from then on.

"I don't mean to be standoffish though. I am working on it at her Majesty's behest. Why I was scouting the area."

[heroeswork]

Not all of that made a whole lot of sense to Billy. Designed?! Removed? He'd run into all manner of twisted social conditioning, but rarely so severe in the heart of an American city. Despite not understanding it all, there were still a few key elements in there that he could grasp. And something in his expression softened toward concern.

"Whoever she is, she's got quite the task on her shoulders." He leaned a bit toward Cain as if about to share some secret. "But just between you and me? Skulking around crowded streets does little to improve such things."

[gunsgowoof]

That made Caine frown, looking downright uncertain and a bit off put that his own behavior had caused him to attract attention.

"Perhaps that is the case," He said, nodding. "Though in fairness I wasn't meaning to be skulking. I am still acclimating to the city. I've spent quite a bit of time in a place less populated." And in a very small cell but he already knew mentioning that got odd looks so he'd learned to keep it to himself.

"I suppose I still have some learning to do."

[heroeswork]

Billy was already trying to put together an idea of the sort of place Cain could have come from. Some tyrannical country, or at least a byproduct of some depraved radical sect. But from where? As far as Billy could tell, Cain sounded as though he were from America. But it was that frustrating American accent that could put him just about anywhere. He couldn't exactly see a radical fringe group training specialized soldiers with high tech gear in middle of Kansas.

"Then allow me to assist with your learning. Because, you see, I specialize in such things as blending in." He pulled one hand from his pocket and extended it to Cain as if they were only just meeting. "Billy Collins."

[gunsgowoof]

Likely all of his life was beyond what most on this planet knew of. They had one point, a life here to eventually be harvested, and knowing about the rest of the universe, the one where Caine came from, wasn't in the plans for this planet.

A brow lifted then, curious. "You would do that for me? I would apperciate it. I have told Her Majesty that I would work hard to acclimate to this city for her sake." He took his hand, having at least learned that. "Caine Wise."