[attr="class","giada"]

[attr="class","giada b"]

[attr="class","giada i"]recognition slowly blinks into existence. by the time it dawns, she’s stepping back to allow him in.

”oh, it’s you.”

she sounds confused, as if this isn’t his apartment and she isn’t a guest.

”um, i cleaned and put some of my things out?”

by some, she means a lot. it’s mostly plush blankets and pillows and various trinkets she’s taken over the years. nothing big, nothing permanent.

”is that okay?”

CIAN MAHER

[attr="class","giada"]

[attr="class","giada b"]

[attr="class","giada i"]meeting with annalise has, quite honestly, been a treat. even without the sawsbucks, she's completely sold on the ranger captain already becoming one of her favorite people...

will it change once her past comes to the surface?

will they still be able to grab expensive cold brews and gush over tiktoks? is that nothing more than a delusional dream?

she feels her energy falter slightly and tries to hold it up with firm fingers, begrudgingly forcing anxiety down.

"god, the salted caramel cold brew is insane! so so so good."

it's her go to drink. well, outside of winter where she faithfully orders an iced white chocolate peppermint mocha but that's not an option at the moment. it's out of season now, unfortunately.

and as the line dwindles, as the barista greets them with a smile, gia's startled with the payment offer.

"are you sure? i'd be happy to pay for us since i'm taking up your time today."

really, it's the least she can do...

regardless, she orders a trenta salted caramel cream cold brew with liquid sugar and slides her card over to the barista before annalise can protest.

"i'll cover whatever she's getting as well!"

annalise henderson

[attr="class","giada"]

[attr="class","giada b"]

[attr="class","giada i"]she cradles the eggs in her arms, grip almost a little too tight against fragile shells.

and as isaac moves about the remainder of the bunker, her eyes follow his path. the way he touches the walls, dirt crumbling beneath his fingers and wood groaning with barely clinging life.

he speaks of what rocket's goals are, of what they mean to utilize this bunker for...

and each word falls heavy into a pit in her stomach.

"you don't mean..."

surely they wouldn't, right? it's a foolish thought to have of a terrorist organization. a stupid thought for a stupid girl, having been part of the problem from the start.

she has no right to balk over their decisions now. her hands are still stained red like the forgotten catsuit hanging idly in her closet.

you can hang up the mantle but it will never erase what you've done.

he releases pokemon, then. a gabite and vibrava, both of which seem to gravitate toward the floor.

and as the vibrava's wings begin to beat rapidly against the ground, it becomes very apparent what's happening.

he fills in blanks as he speaks, as he assesses their surroundings fully. she has been slow to understand, slow to realize.

once she does, a gasp escapes. she tries to scramble toward him, steps sluggish and stumbling as she balances the weight of the eggs against her chest. they are kept snug, afraid to jostle them in her panic.

"what the hell? what's going on? why are you doing this? are you going to destroy this place? wait, are you trying to kill us? hello? what the fuck?"

it's a string of jumbled words, shrill and anxiety ridden questions all tied together in a single rush of breath.

"isn't this against the mission? what do you think you're doing? you can't be serious... you're actually doing this? holy shit."

Isaac Merlo

[attr="class","giada"]

[attr="class","giada b"]

[attr="class","giada i"]ah, there it is: the tether.

she wonders, a little too suddenly, what it's like to have people to care about. does it make the decision to stay easier? does it make it harder?

truthfully, she wouldn't know. not now, not ever.

people like that don't exist for the person she is, for the person she had always been. they had all left her behind, from childhood until now. she doesn't know any different. perhaps that's why her decision had been so easy: there is nothing holding her here just as there is nothing guiding her out.

"i see."

she doesn't cast any judgement. not necessarily, anyway, for she cannot speak on what she doesn't understand.

"just... be careful, i guess?"

light always has a funny way of getting snuffed out beneath the boots of those at the top. whether it's intentional or not, the flames always dwindle until they die all the same.

the final room opens up and for a moment, she only sees clutter. disarray. lots of dirt.

and as isaac sifts through piles and piles of dirt and items, he stumbles upon a nest. her eyes widen as he snatches it up immediately. her heart lurches into her throat suddenly, painfully, and for a moment, she thinks the worst...

only for him to heave out a sigh of relief. her body releases the tension it had gathered up in those few seconds of silence.

"okay."

her path takes her a few feet away from him where she finds two more eggs covered in a similar fashion. both are hoisted up and checked for pulses, her breathing anxiously hitching until the telltale beat of life thrums against the palms of her hands.

"two more, both alive."

Isaac Merlo

[attr="class","giada"]

[attr="class","giada b"]

[attr="class","giada i"]her mouth forms a little o shape of surprise, eyes blinking his comments fully into the mind.

there, they sit, fester, grow.

"oh."

it's soft, yet it still feels like it bounces off these dirt walls.

"if you think that, then why are you here?"

not here here, per se, but rocket here.

he doesn't seem like a bad guy. then again, neither did she.

a bag is extended toward her and she takes it. her hands, however, shy away from grabbing cans off the shelves as he speaks of essentials. she makes a mental list of what he has already grabbed, of what has already been carefully tucked away in that bag of his.

should she follow his lead and do the same?

in the end, she doesn't grab the cans. she merely grips the bag a little tighter and follows him into the next room...

Isaac Merlo

[attr="class","giada"]

[attr="class","giada b"]

[attr="class","giada i"]she lets out a little groan at the mention of wallets before dissolving into a laugh.

"they're so expensive but too good to turn down."

and really, they are. she has perfectly good coffee at home (well, CIAN MAHER's coffee and home but that's neither here nor there) and yet, she still spends money she doesn't have on a sugary coffee at sawsbucks instead.

after annalise checks her pockets and confirms she has her essentials, the cool air of the open street greets them once more. outside of headquarters, the streets are still busy as ever.

the trip to sawsbucks is short, filled with idle chitchat between the two women about some random tiktok trends or silly cat videos.

and when she pulls the door open, holding it for annalise to enter first, the welcoming aroma of coffee is quick to usher them inside.

"what do you usually get?"

annalise henderson

[attr="class","giada"]

[attr="class","giada b"]

[attr="class","giada i"]they don't get normal.

they'll never get normal...

and that's exactly why she plans on getting out. she calls it her last heist, the greatest of them all, and it inches closer and closer as she idles around this increasingly empty room.

would he stop her if she tried to leave now? would he help her?

she isn't certain and it leaves her with a sense of anxiety curled up in her stomach.

"normal doesn't have to be this, though."

it's quiet, soft, tentative.

"it could be different, better."

he leads them into another room. this time, it's a makeshift kitchen. and as she allows her eyes to wander once more, he ignores the cans of food and supplies to pick up a little garden plant.

odd...

"nothing? there's still food on the shelves."

what's he up to? is this a trick?

Isaac Merlo

[attr="class","giada"]

[attr="class","giada b"]

[attr="class","giada i"]she wants to tell him to not pocket anything, to leave the trinkets and knick-knacks as they are, to keep this safe place as it is...

yet, she stands idly as he strips the room down to a cold bareness. she doesn't move, doesn't speak, even as the picture is taken out of her line of sight.

"if you could consider this normal, yeah."

she doesn't. not quite.

things have yet to feel the same since the meteor. although, she supposes they don't feel much different either.

only she feels different and does that really matter in the grand scheme of things?

she's still on this mission, still faking allegiance to rocket, still pretending and pretending until she doesn't know who she is when she makes it home.

"is that all we have to do?"

Isaac Merlo