Before I go to heaven, I gotta park my bike

[arkbound]

This is a post with a whole bunch of au prompts with various characters. If you want to see anyone not here or a different scenario, feel free to also use this as a call-me-out post for anyone on my muse list.

Otherwise feel free to jump in and tag a prompt that looks interesting!

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[neverlofty]

'Out of earshot' is no longer private enough, it seems. Where else--? They could go onto neutral territory together, she supposes. Safer, unless they were seen speaking by literally any uninvolved party. Shit.

She lets out a low breath, carrying a quiet curse. And seems to come to a decision. She puts two fingers in her mouth - briefly baring the sharp eyeteeth - and whistles another piercing signal, different from the one she'd given on his arrival.

There's no obvious change, but she listens a moment, head tilted, until whatever she hears in reply satisfies her. "Means fuck off," she says. "They'll pass it on. Stay down and away til I tell 'em it's good to move again." She jerks her head down the alley, resumes walking. "Come on. Unless you got a better place to take me."

She doesn't think she needs to say it: She's just paralyzed her backup. Should he decide she's a threat, there'll truly be no one close enough to help her. This better be good, de Luca.

"Gonna have to give me something," she goes on, keeping her voice low as she walks. "If you're asking us to help you dig up proof. Don't think you'd have come here if you didn't think it stood a good chance of being true."

[arkbound]

He has to trust her. His whole self revolts against it, from the tight feeling in his stomach to the slight pounding of his head, but Dominic had decided it was worth it when he decided to go to her. The most likely worst thing would be her signaling to her troops to kill him -- if he goes missing the Covenant will be able to change their security protocols faster than anyone can get the current ones from him -- and if he's right about his suspicions the consequences of not investigating could be much worse than his death.

And her trying to go the Covenant would be much more likely to end in her death than them believing her, besides which she has no incentive for that. It's why he's chosen her to come to, instead of any more traditional allies.

After a moment, his shoulder consciously relax a little, and his eyes meet hers.

"She'd expressed reservations about our mission, the last time I talked with her. Not because she trusted me," not given some of the names she'd called him, and her insistence that he was as 'pig-headedly stubborn as a man could come', "But I think she was expressing those reservations to most anyone who'd listen. It's unusual for a Covenant agent," to have those doubts, not to express them, as far as Dominic knows. "And maybe her doubts just made her sloppy, made her trust a monster -- someone -- she shouldn't have."

Dominic breaks eye contact, looks away. It's probably cruel of him to hope that that's the case, that it's that straightforward, but he does.

"No one's found a body yet." Which could mean she's been turned, or eaten, or just buried. Or could mean she's still alive somewhere. Dominic doesn't know.

[neverlofty]

Her people cross Covenant ground only at great need, and almost never alone. They've chosen ground for themselves that lets them hold an easy peace: Far away enough from hostile territory not to have to keep their hackles up day and night, small enough that even her ragged crew can make interlopers think twice about their chances of crossing unharmed.

Which is to say: Like hell would she go to the Covenant, whatever her told her. Sure, it'd worked out when they'd had a common enemy; but only because, for a brief time, her enemy's death had been more important to them than hers. That wasn't, like, a basis for healthy ongoing communication.

She can hear his heartbeat if she listens close, hear it rise and fall with the waves of his tension. She listens; her expression flattens at monster. She crosses her arms.

"Could be she just fucked off," she says flatly. "Could be she found the monstrous life better. Is that so unheard of?"

[arkbound]

Dominic's eyes widen. The possibility of her leaving voluntarily for something like that hasn't even crossed his mind before now. It's not only unheard of, it's unthinkable.

He's thinking about it now. "I suppose that's something I'll keep my eyes open for." Not that he knows anyone outside the human population other than Murphy herself.

"If so, there will be others from the Covenant looking for her." It might be better if Dominic finds her first. He hates not knowing if he's being paranoid or realistic about it.

[neverlofty]

The look Murphy gives him is so unimpressed it crosses over into incredulous. "Which would seriously complicate my involvement. I'm not gonna take chances on running into more of you. One's enough."

The dim streetlight overhead throws odd shadows over her face as she looks up at him, makes her eyes stand out a little too bright. "I'm serious. You think it's possible? You think there's any chance she left willingly? If she fucked off on her own, I'll start asking around the clans, see if somebody's turned her recently. But if the Covenant's responsible-- what would they do with her? What do you people do with dissenters?"

She's thinking aloud, rapid-fire, but the questions are important. She's not sure precisely when she accepted the fact of her involvement as a given. Apparently that's happened, though.

[arkbound]

A month or two ago, Dominic might have said that the Covenant had no dissenters. After all, what could there be to dissent from? They had a cause, and he'd believed it to be a holy one. He still felt slightly sick, to think of doubting it.

And yet he knew that it wasn't as simple as that.

"I think that generally they'd work to convince her of the error of her ways. If she shows up in a couple of months, back to believing in the cause, that's what they do." How is something he's trying to think about now, but would also rather not find out for himself.