[center][img]http://i.imgur.com/QVJPa75.jpg[/img][/center][hr][center][color=708090][b]SOLIDER Base; Council Room[/b][/color][/center][hr]
“Henry, by God, when was the last time you used some fucking soap. . . or even showered? I swear, every time I'm around you, I feel like I need to wear a damn nose plug.”

Hal turned to the man with crimson eyes. James Lockehart was his name, although Hal has not called him James or Lockehart in a very long time. Not because Hal had forgotten the man’s name or even because they have never been properly introduced to each other, but because, to Hal, James Lockehart was “Sparkles.” Even Hal who chose the sobriquet acknowledged that “Sparkles” was a nickname that did not particularly fit James’s image; it was, in fact, not Hal’s first choice. He was initially going to choose something that matched James’s vampiric mien —Dracula, Batman, Vampi, Bloody-Broody, Ashes, or something along those lines—, but then, after the most trivial debate about the types of vampires depicted in various entertainment and which one should be crowned the king/queen of vampires, Hal realized that if James were to be a vampire, he’d be pretty enough to “sparkle” in the sunlight. Hal wouldn’t say this out loud, of course. He already made plenty of people upset by merely mentioning the sunlight-twinkling vampire; James might do more than be upset. Hal would rather not become a mummy, thank you. Although, based on how difficult it was for James to stand in the same room as Hal, an attempt at getting any amount of blood or organs out of his body might just turn James into ash. That’s how the vampire looked at the scientist: like he was made purely out of garlic and/or wild roses. Hal hoped it was the latter, no matter how unlikely it was. 

“Is this your way of telling me I smell like roses, Sparkles? I literally took a shower less than 2 minutes ago.” It turned out, however, that it was not how James told others that they smelled like roses, a fact confirmed by Matthias’s request.

“Alright Hal, let's have a deal. I'll cook something special after this and have champagne to top it all off but,” when Matthias paused, Hal started to feel kind of bad as he watched the younger man combat the force that dominated the air —also known as Hal’s smell. “You need to tidy yourself first. I'll allow you to borrow any soap I possess as I have an assortment of them. You may even want to consider on owning one but that's up to you.”

Hal sniffed himself, but could not smell anything. Then again, he was the one living in what Athene had dubbed a pigsty; the stench probably seeped into the core of his very being. In which case, it was too late for Hal, but if it would make Matthias and James breath a little easier, he’d take a second bath. Plus, food made by Matthias. Win, win. There was, however, one little problem.

“I might need to borrow more than your soap assortments. I’ve been exiled from my own place. Unless you can convince judge Perth and Ramirez, I don’t think I can use my shower legally.” Hal smirked at Matthias, “I don’t have money, so it’d be pro bono. Wanna represent me, Lawyer?”

“Lawyer,” how original. He really needs to give Matthias a new name. Unlike, James, Hal had never actually called Matthias anything other than “Lawyer.” The name, simply stuck since the first time he said hello to Matthias. Not that “Hey, aren’t you that lawyer who killed that vice mayor on TV? I remember watching that! Terrible way to start the morning, by the way. Then again, I guess you had a sh*ttier day than me. Ahaha!” was the most appropriate “hello” he could have said to the newcomer. 

Before Hal could hear Matthias’s response, Hal felt something slam right into him, punching out any air he had in his lungs. That something was Evangeline. Hal wondered where the lass was. It seemed like Athene and Haziq came to Hal’s room because the blonde asked them to, but neither of his ex-protégés gave him the chance to ask where exactly Evangeline went. They’ve known each other for so long, it didn’t feel like the day started without seeing her. 

After some of their usual high-energy banter, their giant commander scolded them as if they were rowdy children disrupting class —not that the comparison was inaccurate— so they promptly took a seat. Hal tried to pick a seat farthest away from the others, especially those who were sensitive to Hal’s smell, to decrease the chances of someone fainting from lack of oxygen, but when he did, Evangeline sat right next to him.  He wondered if she’d be okay, but she looked like she didn’t care, so he decided that he would only care as much as she did.

Before the debriefing began, Hal looked around the room to see who was there and noticed the President across the room. Hal’s eyes narrowed at the man’s presence, but he did nothing more beyond that before turning his head away.

Hal listened to the debriefing with little to no interest. At one point, the scientist had pulled out a pen from his pocket and started to play tic-tac-toe on the table. After he lost to himself about eight times, Bubbles also joined the game. The only time he looked up was when the President interrupted the meeting.

“You will put down any of these rebels that you come across, that is a direct order from me. I will not tolerate these SeeR to infiltrate Galbadia and I will not give them a chance to slip away. Fail to locate and dispose of them will result in a punishment that will befall upon you,” the President shot a piercing glare to each and every SOLDIER in the room. During that moment, there was split second where the President and the scientists locked eyes. Within that split second, Hal’s brained started to get into high gear, imagining, calculating, formulating hypotheses on the 101 ways to annoy the heck out of Rayne Morgenstern with the resources, or lack there of, he had at his disposal. Within that split second, his mind selected on gesture and Hal executed it. Hal kissed the air and winked in the President’s direction, mockingly. Based on his disgusting expression, the President got the message and by the time the man turned to face the Elite, he was angrier than ever, “And you.”

Hal might have snickered at the President’s displeasure if Evangeline hadn’t grabbed onto Hal so hard her fingers started to dig into his skin. He didn’t stop her, or even respond to the pain, when she did, however. Instead, he smiled at Evangeline and jokingly said, “Oh, just ignore [i]Rayne[/i].” His voice emphasized the name Rayne, reminding the blonde that the man was no one other than the President, “He’s just IMSing.” She didn’t respond; she probably didn’t hear a single word he had said. So he did the next best thing to calm her down by touching her arm with his free hand and gave it a light squeeze, “Breathe Bubbles, he can’t hurt you.” Seeing that he did the gesture only a few moments before the debriefing was over, it was difficult to tell if one or the other —possibly both— helped, but when the council was adjourned, Evangeline regained her energetic self. 

Hal watched the woman jump about like a child excited for the upcoming trip before he walked over to Matthias with equal enthusiasm, but for vastly different reasons. His eyes glittered with anticipation just like a dog would at the promise of food. He grinned.

[hr][center][img]http://i.imgur.com/QVJPa75.jpg[/img][/center][hr][center][color=708090][b]SOLIDER Base; Deployment Dock Number Four [/b][/color][/center][hr]
“Are you not taking this mission seriously, or do you have a death wish or something?”

Hal was stuffing his face with the food Matthias had so graciously provided him at dock number four when the twin Commanders came over to him. The scientist glanced down at his breakfast. “I’m pretty sure Lawyer doesn’t hate me enough to kill me just yet… Unless he thought I stink so much that he decided the world would be better without me. Or maybe I’m going to die from the food being so good… Huh… not a bad way to go.”

Rene rolled his eyes and stole one of Hal’s desserts as he sat down next to him. Ignoring Hal’s protests, the giant took a good bite out of the sweet, “I’m talking about your stuff. Why aren’t you wearing armor and where’s your stuff, in general? Don’t tell me you’re going on this mission wearing civvies and bringing nothing else?”

"I have been forbidden to enter my realm. Not even the mighty warrior of justice could help me take it back." Afraid of any more of his food being stolen, Hal moved his breakfast farther from Rene’s reach, “Weeeeell, even if I did, I still wouldn't have equipped the armor. You know that if I wore anything heavier than cloth, I’d faint from fatigue before any battle started.”

“You say that as if you’re planning to fight.”
“AHAHAHA! Oh, Ghost, you’re such a comedian!”
“Yeah, I thought that was a good one too.” Rene threw the rest of the dessert into his mouth, “But really, where’s your armor?”

Hal stood up slowly as his eyes looked into the distance. Leaning on the most convenient object near by, he began to sing, “Somewhere over the rainbow, way up high. There's a land that I heard of once in—… Hey! Hey! Hey! Get your hands away from my food! They’re mine!”
“Then just answer the f*cking question, you jackass.”
“I don’t know where that thing is. I misplaced it the day I got it.”

“Of course you’d loose it the first day it’s assigned to you.”
“It can literally be anywhere. I wouldn’t be surprised if it was taken by the great civilization Verts Gris.”
“I’m… going to regret asking what you’re talking about, aren’t I?”
“I don’t think so? Maybe? Well, at least you’ll know why Athene is pissed off?”
“Because of you?”
Hal contemplated on how to retort the comment, but ultimately gave up on the idea entirely, “Okay, yeah, because of me.” Hal sat back down, “To answer the question you technically haven’t asked yet, Verts Gris is the name I gave to the bacteria colony that’s been growing behind the dresser.”
“I thought your room was cleaned four days ago.”
“It was.”
“How are there bacterial colonies growing already?”
“Magic!”
“Or?”
“Or, I found and cultivated a bacterial colony for study.”
“Ah, yes. ‘Found.’ Learn to clean your own damn room, Al.”

Kimberly, who had been quiet the entire time, spoke up, concern written all over zher face and ever present in zher voice, “Dr. Rainer… you… should take better care of yourself.”

At first, Hal wasn’t sure what the doctor was talking about then he realized that zhe was talking about his room. “Oh? I think I spoil myself more than most people.” Hal smirked, “Spoiled. You know… spoiled? Like… the stuff in my room? Eh? Eeeeh?” Hal tried not to snicker at his own joke, waiting for Kimberly to smile. Zhe did no such thing. Zher expression did not change, if anything, it felt as if zher mood got even gloomier. The pun was bad as the ones Rene would say on occasion, yes, but the problem laid somewhere else.  

Kimberly opened zher mouth to say something, but after a moment of consideration Hal noticed that zhe decided to say something else, “You need to treat yourself better than this.” Hal rubbed the back of his neck, uncomfortable of how seriously Kimberly was worried about his filthy room. 

“Rainer!”

The group of three turned their heads to the source of the voice. Athene and Haziq were walking towards them with boxes occupying their hands. In addition to the unknown boxes, Athene had an electronic clipboard and Haziq was holding a bag. 

Rene was the first one to greet them, “They live!”

Haziq smiled, “Barely. We had to fight our way out of that place.” 
“Let me guess! You were attacked by the great civilization Verts Gris?”

The two scientists exchanged quizzical looks at each other, “What?”

“Shhhhhhhh!” Hal cut in, “Verts Gris is supposed to be our little secret!”
“Really? Sorry, man. Ignore what I said then.”

Athene gave a particularly dirty look at her old mentor. Convinced that she’d do more than just glare at him if he let the silence continue, Hal quickly changed the subject, “So! Seeing that you guys are here, does that mean I can return to my room?”
“No.” Haziq said.
“Aww...”
“We brought you gifts!”
“YAY!”

Haziq smiled as he gave Hal a full traveling bag, “To start off, here’s you’re stuff. We only packed what we thought you’d need during the mission.”
“Thanks. I feel like it would have been a lot faster and easier if I went into my room and packed the bag myself, but thanks.”
“Oh, oh,” Haziq opened one of the boxes and fished out a familiar bottle. “And don’t forget this. Remember to keep record of—…” Haziq watched Hal take the bottle and chuck the expensive drug as far as he could while booing. “You ASS!” Haziq said as he ran off to the side retrieve the prescription bottle. 

Athene was waiting for Kimberly to verify the list of medical supplies when Hal threw the bottle off into the distance. She glared at the man and crossed her arms, “What’s the matter with you? You know how valuable medicine are these days?”
“That’s why I threw it over there and not outside. You know, like a reasonable adult.”
“A mature individual wouldn’t have thrown it anywhere.”

Haziq came running back to the dock with the bottle in hand, “Found it.”

Hal smiled and reached for the bottle, “Good boy! Now let’s see if you can catch it again.” Before Hal’s fingertips could even touch the plastic, a mist of air freshener attacked him from the side. 

“Haziq! Quickly! While you still have the chance!” Athene shouted as she continued to spray Hal mercilessly with the air freshener. While Haziq ran over to the head doctor, Hal screamed, “You cursed woman! Look what you've done! I'm melting! Melting! Oh, what a world! What a world! Ohhhh! Ohhhhhh....” The man felt to the ground and lay there motionless with his tongue hanging out.

Rene glanced over at Hal’s breakfast, “Does this mean I can have the rest?”

“Oh, hell no!” Hal jumped right back onto his feet to go defend his breakfast. 

While zher twin brother attempted to take what remained of Hal’s breakfast, Kimberly inspected the medicine bottle. Zhe looked up when Haziq called zher name, “Dr. Faye, is everything all right?”
“Yes, everything is all right. Everything seems to be in place.”

Athene walked over to the group, “Except that we can’t rely on that insufferable man-child to take the medication.”

Kimberly gave Athene a soft smile, “I have already contacted Miss Young on the matter, Dr. Perth. She will make sure that the individuals in need of medication will receive them when they are needed. As this team’s medic, it will be her responsibility to keep records her team member’s mental and physical conditions. She will be providing periodic updates on the SOLDIER’s status. Including whether or not someone does not take their medicine.”

Athene turned around to see that Hal and Rene’s tiff over food turned into a full-on hand-flailing scuffle. She sometimes questioned why she even tried putting up with her old mentor. “I wonder if I should give Young a box of air fresheners.”
“Why? Evangeline’s will be there. He wouldn’t be able to skip bath time even if he wanted to.”
“I mean, for when he has to take his medication. I have a feeling he’s going to give her a hard time.”
“Nah, I wouldn't worry about it. Quill could totally whip Henri into submission.”