Chapter 12: All About Crisis
–So, you want to know more about our beloved Crisis, huh? Everyone does, they are heroes to these people so I can tell you all about them…– Cookie asked Scott in a laid-back manner, but with subtle sarcasm in his engaging tone. Scott smiled enthusiastically in response and started searching around the courtyard to find a Crisis member to talk about. He looked around for a while, and before Cookie could ask him who he wanted to know about, Scott's gaze shifted towards the balcony on the second floor, where the perfect candidate was found.
Indie had just left the commander's office and was walking down to the balcony where she gave her speech yesterday. She was now wearing more casual clothes, a simple red tank top with black shorts and stockings, similar to the ones she wore in combat, except she now showed more skin since she wasn't carrying all of her gear and her rifle. Despite standing far away, she was still visible from Cookie and Scott's table, giving them a side view of her. And as Cookie was able to realize Scott's attention was focused on her, he chuckled and showed an impish smile for a brief second.
–Alright, so you want to start with her… The tall one with red hair. She gave a speech or something yesterday, I wasn't there, but I guess she must have made a strong impression, yea?– Cookie asked for confirmation in a slightly playful tone as he pointed directly at Indie in the most obvious way. Scott tried to look away in embarrassment but responded with a nod, prompting Cookie to collect his thoughts for a second before introducing Indie to him.
–Right, I figured. Let's see… So, that girl right there is the squad's captain, we call her Indie. She looks very intimidating, right? Well, she actually is. I know she looks sexy and all with those tight shorts and all, but she might crush you with her legs if you ever tried to tell her that… Trust me, been there and it's not as hot as it sounds…– Cookie explained nonchalantly, and while he seemed to retain Scott's attention, he also started making him slightly uncomfortable, to the point he started looking somewhere else to find someone else to talk about.
–I once tried to be nice to her and it did not end well… I almost ended up sterile. We all are but you get what I mean. No, but overall, she is a great leader and knows how to make the right decisions, that's why she is the captain after all. She does same some pretty big issues though and you do not want to know a-…– Cookie kept rambling, leaving more of a strange impression on Scott, who now seemed to not want to know more about Indie. He was now staring at Frost as he left the barracks and walked over to the courtyard, wearing all black as usual, except he now had a more casual jacket and loose pants. Cookie halted his ramble as soon as he saw Frost enter his field of view, and without Scott saying anything, he began speaking, and he seemed to have a lot to say about him.
–Oh, now an interesting one. That's Frost, the squad's chief. I thought a chief would have a higher rank than a captain because it sounds cooler, but apparently Indie is still his superior, she has always been, even though they are the same grade and have similar experience and whatnot. Anyways, you really don't want to mess with him… I don't need to tell you, you probably saw him fight yesterday– Cookie explained, growing more hesitant with his words the more he stared at Frost as he got closer to the courtyard. He turned to Scott, who seemed tense as well, but unlike him, he kept staring with more interest.
–He gets aggressive sometimes… Well, most of the time, but lately it has been worse so you should keep your distance from him. Maybe don't stare too much and you'll be good, or else you could have the honor of being the recipient of his many derogatory insults if he is feeling friendly, I know I have…– Cookie warned with sarcasm, but with some subtle, genuine worry that prompted Scott to look the other way as Frost entered the courtyard and began speaking to some soldiers. After a brief moment of silence, Scott stared at Cookie and noticed his change in demeanor, causing curiosity, though he hesitated to ask.
–You are afraid of him, aren't you?– Scott asked slightly amusedly, and even though Cookie tried to react indifferently to his question, he nodded rapidly with some embarrassment, getting Scott to giggle.
–I mean, we are friends, and we go way back but… Yea. I mean, who isn't? He is a great soldier, maybe the best weapon we have, but he plays into that a lot, and sometimes he can be a bit too much…– Cookie confessed apprehensively right as Frost looked in their direction, forcing him to lower his head cowardly and take a brief glance back to see if he had stopped looking. Scott kept laughing, but his entertainment was cut short when he noticed Frost could also see him, which instantly turned him nervous.
–You want to know who doesn't fear him, though? Pretty much the entire team, but especially that guy…– Cookie added quickly in a more casual manner, as he now pointed at Panda. He was wearing the most casual clothes, gray sweatpants, and a hoodie, heavily contrasting his intimidating appearance in battle, especially since he was having a friendly talk with Tricky, now with Nitro trying to join the conversation.
–That, my friend, is our sergeant, our tank, our monster. We call him Panda, and it might sound nice, but trust me, if you ever make him angry… Well, he will probably just tell you to stop bothering him. He looks all scary, but we get along very well, and the team adores him, everyone does actually…– Cookie said, now back to his lighthearted nature, although his expression turned slightly bitter as he stared at Panda for a moment, not long for Scott to notice as his full attention was still on him.
–However, if you ever have to go against him in a fight, you are actually dead, like, you don't even get a chance. And you won't even die quickly as with Frost, you will suffer a slow, painful death. He can basically rip you in half and then eat you to hibernate for a whole winter…– Cookie continued speaking, turning livelier and showing more enthusiasm in describing Panda to Scott, who was now scared to even look at him. Cookie tried to force a laugh out of Scott with his jokes, but it was clear his explicit warnings shocked him as Scott's smile faded into a worried frown. But as Cookie kept talking, now saying random stuff about actual pandas while Scott didn't pay attention, he eventually went back to describing the rest of Crisis' members, now moving on to the girl right next to Panda.
–Right, the next is Tricky, she is that ginger girl with the blouse and cute hair. She is our main engineer, and basically creates a bunch of contraptions and combat devices. I bet she is very kinky, but very smart too… I don't know how she does it to know so much and look so good at the same time… She can be a bit mean sometimes, you know, but deep inside, I know she can be the most loving and sweetest girl…– Cookie described Tricky with a surprising amount of passion and sentiment, slowly getting lost in some sort of fantasy while Scott tried to figure out what he was thinking of. He noticed his dreamy eyes had turned their attention to Tricky, who stood out thanks to her dark blue, low-cut, long-sleeve blouse. However, Cookie seemed to be looking a bit lower, around her very short jeans, getting fully distracted to the point that Scott waiving his hand in front of his face barely did anything to regain his attention.
–I think you might be a bit biased towards some of them…– Scott said with an uneasy expression, as Cookie began smiling radiantly. But upon hearing Scott's comment, he quickly composed himself and nervously tried to get back on track. He lost the idea, but after staring at Tricky for a while longer, he finally shifted his attention to someone else.
–That other weird-looking dude, that's Nitro. He is the self-proclaimed head of explosives, but even I know that's not a real division, I think… Anyways, he specializes in demolition and destruction, but if you ask me, he causes more damage to his head than his actual targets. He always tries to find a way to blow stuff up, so he is pretty reckless and annoying sometimes. I do find it very fun to use explosives though, except for that time… Those poor kids…– Cookie said in an uninspired tone, sounding more indifferent and even irked to even talk about Nitro. However, his attitude quickly turned unsettling for Scott, as Cookie seemed to remember a fatal incident that left Scott wondering. But after a while, he seemed to dismiss the anecdote pretty easily and moved on right away to another member.
–Yea, he is like the least mature in the team, even with Kiwy around. Speaking of which, you see that small cat girl over there? She looks adorable and all, but she is secretly a killing machine. We treat her as a pet, but she is more like the squad's personal assassin. I mean, they are all fit for assassination, but she is exceptionally agile and sneaky, even deceivingly shy…– Cookie explained with a bit of discretion, as he could see that Scott was already forming a nice impression of Kiwy, as she was standing around innocently with Indie on the balcony as they looked over the courtyard. But the more Scott listened, his perception seemed to change, and he turned to Cookie almost in disbelief, trying to match Cookie's description of Kiwy with her actual appearance.
–You probably don't believe it, I know. But if you go talk to her, make sure to be nice, you don't want to be on her hit list, she'll slash your throat and let you bleed out, only to drink from your pool of blood when she is thirsty and use your corpse as a scratch pole if she is bored…– Cookie added in a more teasing manner as Scott tried to picture everything in his head, becoming visibly disturbed by the idea.
–Yea, I get your point. Don't mess with any of them or you'll die, got it… But…– Scott replied uncomfortably, turning his attention somewhere else while Cookie laughed at his reaction. But then he noticed that he stopped speaking as his eyes focused on one particular person. Scott was staring at the only member he actually met, Candy, who was coming from the other side of the barracks, just having finished treating the wounded after seemingly being at it since yesterday.
–Oh, I see… You want to know who that is?– Cookie asked with intrigue in a joking manner after noticing who Scott was staring at. But to his surprise, Scott already knew the answer and seemed excited to see Candy again.
–That's Candy, she saved my life…– Scott answered mindlessly as he eagerly stared at Candy while she helped a man with one lost leg walk to the courtyard. Cookie got very curious to see Scott dumbfounded at the sight of the pretty girl he met yesterday, wearing an outfit similar in tone to the one she used in battle. She wore a light pink coat over a puffy white blouse and ruffle shorts with a cute design. But as Scott's attention focused on her face and now loose hair, Cookie couldn't help but chortle as his stare followed her green eyes perfectly as she approached.
–Yea, she is pretty good at doing that. I guess she already left a good impression, probably gave you some special treatment…– Cookie said with a slightly playful tone, but Scott stayed in a trance and just replied with a short hum without paying much attention to him.
–I mean, I only asked her name, but yes…– Scott replied, a bit nervously, but still fixated on Candy until she left his sight as she entered the central building. After seeing her leave, he immediately turned to Cookie again with a big, jovial smile, and just after seeing that, the latter began speaking to try to tell him everything he knew about Candy.
–Alright, so she is our combat medic, although she pretty much acts as a doctor all day and doesn't really fight. She is quite new to the team, I mean, only recently she started going out on missions with the rest of the squad, but she gets along with everyone. Despite her rank, she is just as qualified as everyone else, so…– Cookie explained, but he quickly noticed that Scott didn't seem too interested in her soldier rank or her role in the team, leading Cookie to rethink and try to come up with things to say about her.
–I don't know what you want to hear. I've known her for such a long time, but I still can't say much. She is a kind angel, always tries to help others, she worries too much sometimes, constantly checks up on her friends, and yea, she has a lot of them. I'm pretty sure they just gave her that nickname because she is very sweet, so you can imagine the type of person she is… although it could be because of something else, I don't know, I don't remember…– Cookie added without too much care of thought, growing a little bored of the conversation despite hinting some humor, which was the complete opposite of Scott, who listened carefully and paid attention to every single word that came out of his mouth with extreme determination.
–Come on, what else?– Scott asked curiously, even impatient to hear more about Candy. Cookie was caught off guard by his eager smile and how much interest he was showing. He let out a chuckle and struggled to think more, but right before he could speak, they were both interrupted by the same megaphone screeching from yesterday. They both turned around to see that the small stage at the front of the courtyard, right below the balcony, was now full of soldiers. They formed around the stage to prepare to give an announcement, and with everyone else in the courtyard with their eyes forward, the speaker stepped into view casually.
| Talking to yourself is fine
Makes you feel much better
Know just where to draw the line |