[center] [h2]Holiday Alternate Universe RP 2021[/h2] [img]https://i.imgur.com/MsaFu8m.png[/img] [h2]Born to Fly - Pt 1[/h2] [/center] [hr] Penelope Randell lay back against the warm canyon rock, enjoying what little breeze came her way from the height towering over an expanse of desert. Hazel eyes watched the peregrine soaring away from the outcropping she’d spotted it nesting in, wonder at how majestic the bird was filling her mind. How would it feel to spread her arms and let the wind carry her up, to sail through the sky then swoop down in a dive. Exhilarating. “Nel, get back over here!” The frustrated demand from behind her made her realize she’d stood and walked to the edge of the cliff, arms up. Innocent, young eyes turned back, round with sadness at being scolded by her older sister. “Sorry, Helen…” She was all but five, and her older sister at twelve knew better and was always looking out for her. So of course little Nel shuffled back to the circle Helen and her parents were making camp for the night. They’d traveled all the way to Regina just to see the stars - something Helen didn’t understand since they could see them anywhere. They flew through them just to get here. “Aw, Nel, just stay away from the cliff’s edge, honey.” Her mother said softly as she wrapped her arms around the pouting little girl. “Your sister wasn’t getting onto you.” “Yes, I was!” Helen retorted, only to get a playful wack of brush to her arm. “Hey, that’s scratchy, Dad!” “I was just being like the bird, Mama.” Penelope said as tears threatened. “I know I can’t really fly though. I ain’t got no wings.” “Sure you do, Nel,” Her father said as he dropped the pile of sticks and brush before getting to sorting them. Instead, he knelt down and poked his little girl in the chest just so. “Right in there. And one day, you’ll figure out how to use them.” “How about you make the fire instead of trying to get my little bird to leave the nest too soon?” Penelope giggled as her mother wrapped her arms tighter around her little body, pulling her away protectively with an emphatic kiss to the top of her head. Later that evening, she lay on her sleeping bag alongside her sister, listening to the fire crack as it died down. Helen turned suddenly, so Penelope turned her eyes from the stars to look at her older sister with a smile. It faltered when she saw the cross look being sent her way. “What is it, Hel?” “How come you have to be so full of nonsense, Pen? I wanted a normal sister, you know, not one that talks about being a bird or making friends with toads.” That hurt, even for a little five year old who didn’t fully understand how much resentment was in her sister’s tone. What she knew was Helen was mad at her, and she’d been real mad at her a lot lately. She tried to make it up to her, brought her things she made from stuff she found, but ever since the last time when Helen slapped it away, Penelope hadn’t made anything new. “I’m sorry, Hel.” She said, more concerned with how angry she’d made her sister instead of how the words hurt. “What can I do to be a better little sister?” [hr] The music of The Underworld hummed and pulsed to the delicious haze enhancing Penelope’s first club-going experience. Her rainbowed metallic hoops spun about her wrists as they moved with the sea of bodies too lost in rhythm and movement. Somehow, she’d left though, and was sitting in a booth with people she didn’t recognize, laughing and drinking. Words were shouted above the blended sounds, a conversation she couldn’t follow. Another round! She took the shot between her styled nails, glinting off the overhead beams when the light hit just right, and threw it back. Her friends had regrouped and pulled her along, out into the too cold night for what little they were all wearing. Penelope tugged at her lime green fur coat, but it did nothing for her bare legs the latex skirt didn’t come close to covering. Wind blew, and her friend screeched while huddling altogether as she winced her faux lashes shut against the sound and chill. They laughed and carried on, university students brave and fearless. Recklessly so. Halfway back to the dormitories, the girls stopped because their ringleader was punking in an alley. Her second-in-command had the job of holding back the shocking purple and silver locks, and the other two were tasked with keeping an eye on their little wanderer. Unfortunately, an argument broke out in regards to the cute guy at the club and who he had really been checking out. Penelope found herself standing atop a building, her stiletto heels cast aside as she stood up on the edge. Music still played somewhere, she could hear it as she looked skyward, unable to see a star in the sky. The green coat had slipped down her arms, pooling at the sleeves so it remained caught on her elbows. The wind here was still, tunneled between the buildings below, but the music of it coursing through was what had her attention now. A bag drifted high above the nearly empty streets below, thrashed this way and that. “Hey, little bird, why not step back from that ledge you’re on?” Most people would have jerked, surprised - and if she hadn’t had so much alcohol in her system, delaying her response, she might have as well. But big arms wrapped around her middle and pulled her back. She might have laughed. As her head rested against a large shoulder without a visible concern at the situation, she sighed a sad smile. “A bird? I haven’t seen a bird in years.” [hr] “She has great reflexes, sir.” Penelope stood quietly with her hands clasped behind her back, listening to Axel give her field report to their garrison leader. “Her slight build does not do well for hand-to-hand, but her perceptual ability makes her a shoe-in for long range. Target practice could do with some improvement, but when we put a sniper rifle in her hands she saw things rarely noticed in previous recruit’s simulation runs.” Penelope glanced at her mentor, his big frame was blocking the view of the chief, but she didn’t mind. It wasn’t Rollins’ approval she ever sought. Hearing Axel give the assessment without any admiration meant nothing, the fact that he was highlighting her skills was what surprised her. Every day at training, it was hard-ass steel. Never encouragement or a word of praise when she did well. The pampered city girl had to be broken out of her - and when she realized that, everything turned around. That girl that was caught in a black out zone of Osiris was gone. Here stood a trained assassin. Or, one in the works. The tell that she wasn’t quite so passive had been when Axel gave his recommendation. “If we can get her to another base, maybe a Xuan Wu location, we can see about flight training.” “Really?” She spoke out of turn, getting a hard look from those shale eyes as Axel turned to glance over at her. Penelope pressed her lips to stop the smile as she cast her eyes downward. Without looking up at her mentor, she knew he’d turned his gaze back on his commander before he continued speaking. That’s just how he was - in an official capacity. “We’re short on pilots doing the runs now that a whole circuit got clipped by the Alliance in Red Sun.” “Yes, but can your little bird actually fly if you let her out of that cage you’ve kept her in so long?” The curt clip of Rollins’ snear got Penelope’s hazel eyes peeking back up. The woman never liked her, and in truth, it was mutual. “Song birds aren’t fighters, Axel.” “This one is.” Axel said, a hand going to his covered forearm. Penelope knew that beneath it was a ragged scar from the night he’d captured her, teeth and nails tore so deep he needed stitches. That got her ‘talons’ broken off painfully with a set of pliers. Ever since, she kept her nails short and natural. “But more importantly, we need fliers - ones that aren't full of fear the first time they strap in. I’m thinking the one moon orbiting Zeus. We can leave out tomorrow, on your order.” “We, Heroux?” Penelope could picture that thin brow lifted, her own head tilting further up as curiosity was getting the better of her. “You’re trading the cage for a tether. So be it - take the girl. If she dies in the crash course, it won’t be a great loss.”