Shieldtown. Down the road from the Black Iron Workshop, a collection of mechanics and engineers gathered around an alfresco table, beneath the skull of a mutant stag and a swaying ironclad sign titled, 'Wendy's Coffee and Rolls'. 


Margot took a whiff of her mocha, thick with an opaque brown colour, a drizzle of caramel tracing the valleys of whipped cream at its peak. She smiled, carving dimples beneath her cheeks. She looked to her coworkers, who were already cutting into their stacks of pancakes and waffles. [b]"Can you believe it? After all these years, Dove's finally home!" [/b]


[b]"And just as cuckoo as I remembered her," [/b]an engineer replied.[b] "Or… Maybe more, actually." [/b]


A shadow raised its gaze, from two tables behind Margot, clad in a hooded mantle which had grown ragged through wear and tear. Beneath it was a man, shirtless, cut with a lean figure and the unmistakable seams of cybernetics. One of Margot's coworkers looked back at him, with a face scrunched up in annoyance. [b]"Hey buddy, do you mind-"[/b]


[b]"What did you say?"[/b] A reedy voice, underlined with the synthetic hiss of chrome. A voice that drew all their gazes. They couldn't see his face beneath the shadow of the hood, only three orbs that glowed with hellish red light. 


[b]"She's back?" [/b]


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[img]https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/909715047918497815/1037211200871731300/Umbri_banner6.png[/img]


[img]https://i.imgur.com/4uuThLm.jpg[/img]


[Url=https://youtu.be/0PAV_pW2NfI]Umbri sat at the end of Temujin's table,[/url] munching a granola bar and swinging her feet to the beats of a tinny radio much to the Doctor’s irritation. Her clear heels were tucked up beneath the table. She flexed and pointed her feet easily, under a slender ankle with no sign of swelling or bruising. Even her orange nail polish looked brand new. Despite the ink crusted into the cracks of her lips and still leaking from her tear ducts, she was glowing.


[b]"Stop that," [/b]the Doctor batted her wiggling toes still and held on to her ankle, brow furrowing as he dug his fingers in. [b]"Do you feel any discomfort here? Here?"[/b] He asked questions, Umbri shook her head, and he prodded around the tissue to feel something, anything that was comprehensible in his reality. Eventually he released her foot and stood with his cast supplies. [b]"It's… fully healed. A break like that should take ten weeks, even longer with the stress and weight you put it under, but…"[/b]


Umbri crunched up the granola bar packet with a shrug, her feet swinging again.


Temujin stared at her feet, zooming onto the ankles and pointed toes, registering the Doctor's comments as he spoke. It was like… like magic. Or perhaps just really advanced biochemistry. He turned his gaze up towards Umbri. [color=DC091C][b]"It's like last night never happened," [/b][/color]he remarked, the sloped brows of his mask denoting much confusion in the moment. He glanced at Jemma from the corner of his vision.[color=DC091C][b] "What the [i]hell[/i] are you?"[/b][/color]


[b]"Hrrph!"[/b] Koba stood upright, gestured towards Jemma, and tapped his fist onto his chest.[b] ("A friend. Like I always knew in my heart.") [/b]He tapped again for emphasis. Umbri didn't understand what he signed, but she nodded.


Graham wiped the sweat from his brow, his still wide eyes unable to entirely blink away the cacophony of ink and slime and the faces. [I]The faces! [/i][b]"Koba, you are taking this FAR too well…" [/b]Still, when he looked back at Jemma, his eyes softened, a cautious kind of optimism peering through his sniffle. [b]"...But… the important thing is, you're back, and you helped the girl out, just like the Jemma I knew would." [/b]


Temujin drew a long, rasped, mechanical sigh. [color=DC091C][b]"Riiiight. Maybe it's just softening us for a meal. For all its repulsive qualities, it doesn't strike me as a carrion eater."[/b][/color] He turned his glare towards the blacksmith. [color=DC091C][b]"You better watch out, Graham, you're a real juicy target for a hungry aberration."[/b][/color] 


Graham just stared at him in silent contempt. Umbri peacefully took a sip of water, her fingers curled around a wrench beside her, and[b] >THUNK<[/b] it found its way over Temujin's head.


[color=DC091C][b]"...Hey!"[/b][/color] The cyber ninja whined, with a tone ignorant of his own tactlessness. 


Umbri perked up as Aegis returned, her mouth stuffed with dried fruit as she lifted her hands to receive sandwich. She chomped down into it without bothering to swallow her other mouthful. When he spoke, she washed it down with water to talk back. Her kicking legs slowed to a dangle.


[color=#A4303F][b]"Yeah. All good,"[/b][/color] she repeated back. She had the air of somebody who had just had years worth of therapy condensed down into three minutes. Which in a way, she just had. [color=#A4303F][b]"So what do I owe you?"[/b][/color] In a blink she'd turned almost professional. She turned her head to Jemma, her relaxed expression hardening as she prepared herself for the answer. No such thing as a free… [i]anything[/i] in the Undercity. [color=#A4303F][b]"The both of you, for the cure,"[/b][/color] a nod back to Aegis, [color=#A4303F][b]"And protecting me. Is it clat? Or is there another form of payment popular in Shieldtown?"[/b][/color]