"So."
Lila stared up at the darkened ceiling, her feet rocking with anticipation.
"Ya'll got any boy stories?"
She was leaning half her body off the bunk, lying in the wrong direction above the heiress. Sonera wasn't far away, her steady breath reaching Lila's ears. Together, the team was huddled in both trust and silent admiration.
"What's a boy?" Lunae was the first to entertain Lila's game.
"Bruh."
Sonera turned over, facing Lila with a solemn face. She was the only one the Earthling could see then, due to the height of the bunk.
"A boy is a human male," Sonera explained.
Ivy flicked her wrist at Lunae, somewhat agitated to share the lower position. "Does your race even have males?"
"It does. I just never heard the term boy." Lunae marveled at the revelation. "So what's this about stories?"
"I mean, like, not everyone here was always swimming in girls," Lila snickered. "Just wanted to spill some tea, that's all."
Somehow, Lunae understood that term. It was something her mother loved to say.
"Swimming in girls?" Ivy sounded almost offended. "Well, I'll have you know-."
She stopped herself. A moment to ponder was all she needed, and the others were listening.
"It was a tiny fling."
"Oooooh," Lila gasped. "So there was someone before me."
Sonera's eyebrows perked up as well. Lunae was just taking it all in.
"Not at all like you. I just snuck off and flirted with some cargo-loading boy. He was enchanted, of course, but really I was just trying to get at my father. When he found out, that boy's entire lineage disappeared the next day."
Ivy didn't sound the least guilty about it.
"Did you...even like him?" Sonera probed further.
"I enjoyed how free he made me feel. We even went on a little adventure together. But...no. Not really."
Lila scratched her head. "Were you sassy with him?"
She didn't want to believe Ivy could be so callous.
"I was soft, actually."
"Huh."
"Your father sounds dreadful." Sonera had also resigned herself to Ivy's favor. "That boy deserved better. Perhaps you only needed more time with him."
Ivy resisted the urge to call her "male-centered", opting to inquire about Sonera.
"What about you?" She huffed. "You like boys. More than me."
Lunae knew all about Three by then. But she kept that to herself.
"I was in love once." Sonera made it sound so distant. "He was more of a man, though."
"Oh?" Lila smiled. "What kind?"
"A soldier."
"Ooh," the Earthling kicked her up her feet. "Please tell me he had a cool helmet."
"EVA suit. Whole package," Sonera bragged. "Seven feet tall, taught me almost everything I know."
"That is so hot."
Ivy glowered, holding off as disdain welled up inside her. She was surprised to see how appreciative Lunae was of the matter. But then again, there was no cause for competition when it came to the Infestare. She was a feminine thing, petite and desirable - not at all like a stalwart defender. Her appeal to Sonera came from a different avenue altogether.
Perhaps then the same went for Ivy.
"Sorry." Lila leaned her head over the edge to look down at Ivy. "Not trying to say anything here."
"It's fine," Ivy sighed. "Nobody expects you to just abandon your past. But was I really your first girl?"
Lila and Sonera shrugged at each other.
"We were both their first, Ivy," Lunae giggled. "Isn't that just wonderful?"
"Imagine liking guys," Ivy rolled her eyes.
"They sound wonderful."
"Not you too!"
Sonera leaned over the edge to peek at Ivy, joining Lila in surrounding the heiress. "If I may."
"You may not." Ivy crossed her arms.
"If you find Lila appealing, you may just-."
"Not how that works, boy lover."
Lila could sense the tension. "I'll tell you what doesn't work. Get this. Ready Ivy?"
"What?" Ivy raised her eyebrow.
"Be prepared to get power-crept. See the true no-boy lifer here is yours truly."
"Surely that can't be true," Lunae gasped. She sounded genuinely horrified.
Lila was glad someone was involved. "Yo, girl, Lila Macey has been friend-zoned so many times it's become her own private domain. No boys. No girls. Just raw loser."
"That's preposterous." Sonera threw up her wrists. "Where I'm from, you'd be a top seller."
"Okay, that's dark," Lila grimaced, remembering how Sonera was raised. "But still nah."
Ivy knew where Lila was going. She'd already levied the same judgment as many others during her time in denial.
"Yeah, on Earth, beauty standards are a little different. Ya'll are the hot ones. I'm a plain bagel," the Earthling sighed. "Like that's not even self-pity talking; it's just how it is."
"Well, they're ingrate harebrained retards," Lunae pouted. "As my mother would say."
"Whoa, now-."
"You're hot," Sonera shrugged. "We've been over this."
"Yeah but-."
A distant voice traveled across the room from a nosy onlooker. "Bullshit! She'd sell like hot cakes where I was!"
"Gah-damn what!?" Lila spat. "That's crazy!"
"Nobody asked you Rena!" Ivy barked. "Now, just accept that primitive monkeys on Earth don't find Lila attractive. I do. She's mine. Your good taste doesn't change that."
"Ya'll getting sidetracked; I was just saying I got no boy stories," Lila blushed. "But thanks anyway. It's nice having a confidence booster."
"If I were a boy, I'd fuck your little freckled face into the ground, right when we first met."
Ivy placed a hand over her mouth. Even Sonera was shocked.
"You go, girl," Lunae spoke in her mother's tone. "See, that's a boy story."
"Ayo!?" Lila nearly jumped out of bed. "Ivy!?"
"S-sorry, I don't know what came over me," the heiress covered her face with a pillow. "I'll just shut up."
It all happened so fast. Something about the conversation had forced a response from the heiress. But really, it came from her heart.
"I mean," Sonera stared into the void as if pondering the stars themselves. "Same."
"Bro!" Lila covered her own face with a pillow, just like Ivy. "And where the heck were you guys when I was chudding around in the States?"
"Space," Lunae answered with a straight face.
"Yeah, no sh-...never mind."
That was the last good night they had together. From then on, time was a mottled blur, especially for Lila. She could hardly keep up with it all.
Trials and practice.
New strength and motivation.
Lying in wait for the day of reckoning.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - -
"What are th-okay, never mind, I'm not that cringe." Lila stifled a laugh. "They look kinda goofy."
Serix unpacked the rest of the crate, revealing a set of thick metal boots. "Function over fashion, kiddo. Ya wanna move like me? Wear em."
"I've never even see you-."
Right on cue, the pilot skidded across the room with minimal effort, evoking the speed of a Psion. With a simple crouch and slide, he was already far enough away for his voice to wane. Lila's jaw practically dropped as she witnessed it all.
"Holy moly macaroni," she grinned like a heathen.
"It can do plenty of things," Serix explained as he walked up the nearest wall like a spider. "Just be careful not to get complacent. There's a lot of technique going on here."
"So I can wall run?"
"Put them on and try."
She got a black eye that day.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
"Hey!" Ivy spat, writhing like a worm as she fell to her knees. "That's cheating!"
"You said no Psionic weapons. This is a grappling hook."
She had used her weaves to bind the heiress, reeling her in as she helplessly thrashed about.
"I said no tricks! This counts!"
"Well Serix said get creative," Lila planted her boots, using her anchor point to tug Ivy across the field of sand. "I got you."
"Ugh!" Ivy blushed. She was in Lila's arms by then, staring up at the Earthling with a look fo surrender. "T-then I lose. You win."
Lila smacked her lips together. "You can totally break out of this can't you?"
"N-no. I've been defeated," the heiress stammered. "Lila."
The Earthling paused. She wanted to have fun. But time was running out.
"Alright, that's my B lets go again," Lila erased her construct as her Psionic aura dissipated. "I gotta learn the right way."
"Aww," Ivy pinched the sand. "No fun."
"Less foreplay more practice. I've seen what you and the others can do without your tools. I gotta up my game."
- - - - - - - - - - - - - -
"Ack!" Lila gritted her teeth as her pigtails flew forward. "Nngh."
Sonera stared at her like a silent killer, bending Lila's back over her knee as she brought the Earthling low.
"Speed alone won't do it," she whispered, gripping the Earthling by the throat with her mechanical claw. "Not against us."
"S-sonera!"
Tears welled up in Lila's eyes. She was scared. Petrified even, given how easily she lost.
"Give up?" Sonera cocked her head.
She was holding Lila with a gentle hand, all things considered. But even the slightest bit of effort was enough to choke her out.
"G-give-."
Sonera let her go, catching the Earthling by her waist before she could fall to the ground.
"You should feign your approach. That speed should be a tool, not a cudgel."
"She's right," a sharp voice entered their minds.
Nobody was happy to see Yrix. She had begun observing the girls every so often, usually with advice that varied from cruel to invaluable. Lila, however, was always the most receptive.
"Think of it like Calvary during your ancient wars. With the addition of the musket and square formations, they could rarely win a battle on their own. Instead, they were held in reserve to harass their opponent with presence alone, committing themselves only at the right moment."
"I'm sorry, what?" Sonera wasn't quite as educated when it came to Earth's history.
"The Napoleonic Wars. I was there."
"You were with Napoleon!" Lila's eyes lit up.
Sonera scoffed.
"I spectated Waterloo from the hilltops," Yrix shrugged as if it were nothing of note. "Their eyes only see what I allow."
"You're crazy, you know that, Yrix?"
"Just take my advice."