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 Posted: Thu Mar 05, 2026 5:49 pm
Talia was fresh out of the shower, teeth brushed, pajamas on and was crawling into bed, glancing at Zac. “Are you busy tomorrow around six? There’s an agent I met today and she wants out. I told her my terms that I wanted to bring someone, you. And that it would have to be up on Lysithea and she agreed. Said I’d meet her at six tomorrow. If you can’t make it I know I’ll be fine on my own, but I also know you like to know things like this–and I want you there. I like having you with me.”
She began to braid up her hair, it was long now and often times tried to strangle either herself or Zac…or both of them while she slept so this was just a better way to deal with it. Not that the braids didn’t try to strangle it was just…easier to avoid with them.
“She seemed pretty genuine. She was hurt and I couldn’t help myself and healed her…I really don’t think it’s a ruse, or if it is, she’s a damn good actress and will absolutely win some kind of award if that’s her real profession.”
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Posted: Fri Mar 06, 2026 5:37 am
Zac looked up from his phone so he could give Talia his full attention.
She seemed genuine sounded good at all, except Talia believe Faustite actually wanted to be purified, and–
Well, Talia saw the good in people, even when there wasn’t any good to see.
Precautions were good, but the Negaverse was sneaky. Zac didn’t want to lose her. Again.
“Yeah, I’ll be there.” He’d have gone even if he was booked solid.
“What did she say that made you so sure she means it when she says she wants out?” he asked, more for curiosity than scrutiny. Although, he was always looking for another reason to hate the Negaverse.
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Posted: Fri Mar 06, 2026 10:29 pm
“Good. I’m happy to have you there. I’ll need to get Sol to help out, she has a van that she wants to keep, I figure we can get a fresh bit of paint for it and Sol can get all the papers and legal things transferred, Um. I don’t know. She’s the one who brought it up. Said she was thinking of defecting. I jumped on it. Told her I knew someone who could help…she seemed excited. She was pretty banged up but. I took care of that. And like, she set all the times, which I suppose could be concerning…but…”
Talia shrugged, wiggling under the covers to get closer to Zac, taking a moment to bury her cold feet under his warm legs. “She’s only a lieutenant, so she’s not…I don’t think Chaos has its claws in too deep. I feel good about this one, I guess. I have hope that it’ll go well. And like I said, she seemed fine with all my rules, and didn’t seem bothered that I would be bringing someone. Really, she seemed relieved we wouldn’t be doing it in the city.”
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Posted: Tue Mar 10, 2026 6:03 am
A sour expression passed Zac’s face while he adjusted to her very cold feet. He let her, of course, but yanked the comforter up to cover the both of them.
“Well, that’s good.” And it was. He just couldn’t shake the reservations he had. ‘Fool me once’ and all. Of course, if it was an ambush, there were a few familiar faces he’d like to see. For the last time.
He didn’t need an excuse, but Talia had a bigger heart than him. He took care of problems, and she–
Well, she tried to fix them.
But you couldn’t fix everyone.
Maybe a lieutenant, though.
“You nervous about any of it?” Her feet didn’t feel so cold against his leg anymore but he debated grabbing her a heated blanket anyway.
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Posted: Tue Mar 10, 2026 7:14 pm
“Honestly? Not at all for once.” Talia was trying to stop herself from grinning, her feet were much warmer now and she appreciated Zac being so hot. In more ways than one.
“You’ll be there, and if it comes to…a fight. A princess and Knight will absolutely decimate a Lieutenant. That’s not even a question.”
She snuggled closer, relishing the warmth of the comforter and his own body heat. “It’ll be easy. Routine. I think Sol will be stuck with the most difficult parts of the identity things and social security and all that fun stuff. Also getting the van to a point where it can’t be tracked but…besides that?”
Talia yawned and covered her mouth with her hand trying to appear at least a little ladylike. “A walk in the park.”
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Posted: Wed Mar 11, 2026 5:36 pm
With all that he’d seen Zac doubted that an ambush would be just a lieutenant. Her optimism was admirable. He hoped she never lost that.
It was good to see her so excited, so hopeful.
"You think Sol will have a hard time with paperwork and Nega-proofing a van?" he scoffed, almost a laugh, and lifted his head to peer towards the door like he expected Soleiyu would simply manifest. "Don't let him hear you say that, you'll get a lecture. He's been restless, so either he's working on a project that's giving him a hard time, or he's bored. Either way..."
He clicked his tongue on the roof of his mouth and wrapped his arm around her shoulders.
"He's been sassy. He'll probably be glad to show off for someone new, too."
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Posted: Thu Mar 12, 2026 8:15 pm
“I mean, I think that will be the hardest part in all of this, not that I think he’ll have real issues with it, but that’s the best case scenario isn’t it? Hardest part in a purification is the paperwork afterwards. Like, that sounds like a textbook perfect situation to me!”
Maybe that was the right way to go about things. Talk to Lieutenants. Try to convince people before the corruption and the Chaos gets to be too much. It was worth a thought. Anything was wroth a thought honestly.
“He’s always sassy, that’s what I love most about him. That and the fact he’s a fuzzy heater when it’s cold out. Between him on my lap and you warming my feet up? I’m the luckiest girl in the world.”
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Posted: Fri Mar 13, 2026 5:41 pm
Zac shrugged; he wasn’t going to complain about ‘easy’. Of course, his mind was still on all the things that could go wrong, but there was definitely a benefit to aiming for the ones that weren't so Chaos rotted.
Before they had time to get bad.
"You might be onto something. Not sticking your feet on me," he said, huffing in her direction, "But with the lieutenants, too."
It was probably safer, too. Not that Lysithea couldn't protect herself, but--
Well, he preferred when she didn't have to.
But if she needed backup, that's what he was there for.
And better that she told him instead of just slipping off--or running off with Adria, or Malus, like that was enough to save her a** if things went south.
...Or maybe, he just didn't want any of them to get hurt, so it was better when he was there to make sure that they didn't.
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Posted: Sat Mar 14, 2026 7:01 pm
“Ah but, sticking my feet on you makes them warm so much more quickly. I’m absolutely on to something with that too.” She chuckled and then snuggled closer. It was nice. This being sure of herself, and really, she hoped it would happen more often with people who needed help. This one though.
They had this in the bag.
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