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Fantasy Cosmical Glitch ( ellarose & starboob. )

"Hey!" Lettie puffs her cheeks with offense when her notebook is whisked from her grasp and held over her head. She doesn't humiliate herself by jumping up to reach for it this time, but rather adds it to the growing tally in her head of instances she'll need to get revenge for when (if) her wing ever heals. Lady is certainly in better shape than it is at this point. Her poor, broken wing is a crumpled mockery of what it once was and throbs with pain at random intervals during the day. Reminding her with spearing little jabs that she ought to get it checked out and frustrating her to no end because she doesn't have the means. Whatever, though! There's no point complaining about it anymore because her plight obviously isn't reaching anyone's heart. No one else can conceptualize what it feels like, not Juno or cubey or even the skellies. They haven't seen any worlds with a substantial faerie population, either. The closest they've gotten to that was the candy world-- and those faeries had been created from costumes and haywire magic. They're a rarity everywhere, she guesses. On most worlds, they're so obscure that they're considered creatures of myth altogether. (...It's really no wonder some of these worlds are in such bad shape, without any faeries around to look after the land.) Everyone's automatically inclined to look down at them (in part because they are often physically tiny) but also downplay just how much faeries are actually capable of.

The 'fuck' that Juno says looking at Lettie's notes sounds kind of different from the usual variety of the word that come from her mouth. The faerie shuffles awkwardly on her feet, feeling strangely exposed as her notes are paged through. (There's something silly about it, isn't there? The fact that she has obviously put hours of work into those notes. That she cared enough to write them in the first place. Surely the pirate can see that as she pores over them. It exposes something in her that she's kept hidden for so, so long.) Either way, she doesn't put it past Juju of all people to find some reason to get angry about this. That's what she expects to come of this encounter. An altercation about keeping her nose out of Lady's business... it checks out when considering how the rest of their encounters have gone, right? Right?

Despite what's written in the notebook, Juno will undoubtedly find this so absurd that the reality she's used to will break and she'll accuse Lettie of sabotaging the ship.

And then that doesn't happen. Lettie blinks dumbly, her gaze flitting between the page Juno's holding out and the expression on her face. Wait. Wait, what? She's being serious...? There are no comments about her plans backfiring, because she's a disaster magnet faerie. There are no comments about her these notes being bogus because her brain is obviously filled with cotton candy and sparkles and nothing more. There aren't even any mocking comments about her being a closet nerd. There's just that question. You really think you could do this? And surprisingly, it's not dripping with the usual coat of fresh doubt and sarcasm. It's something else. She knows she heard something like it amidst all the chaos the other night, fighting that cursed puppet on the candy world. It's a chance extended to her, a chance to prove her capability. Question is... did the faerie want to take it? Life is so peaceful without the weight of anyone's expectations sitting on her shoulders.

Pffft. Who is Lettie kidding? She hasn't known peace since the day she touched the cube. And she never would again if they didn't figure this shit out. Her philosophy on life has officially been challenged... and now she knows it's time to give it up. Just like the pirate has given up on calling her useless. (And stars, does that cause something in her to flutter. She presses down on whatever the feeling is before it can expose itself. It's not important. It's got to be fear for the future. Because the future has been a big, giant question mark ever since her life got hurled down the cube's looping, breakneck roller coaster track. It expressly has nothing to do with the pirate or the way she's looking at her right now.)

"You kidding? With the right materials, it'd be a cinch." Lettie's eyes flash brightly. She decides to speak her confidence in herself without stuttering, exuding confidence rather than giving some half-baked, wishy-washy response. After all, if she's going to commit then she's got to go all out. And... okay, it wouldn't actually be a cinch in the sense that it'd be effortless. But she was absolutely capable of making those changes so long as she's given the means to do so. The faerie purses her lips and whacks Juno on the arm with her notebook when it's given back to her and then determinedly flips a few pages further to show off more of her handiwork. (This is what boredom does to her. When she's not giving make overs, practicing with the band, throwing knives, or fighting with the pirate then odds are that she's off in some corner scribbling notes.) "I've drawn up blueprints for all kinds of upgrades. I think we could really benefit from having a proper forcefield intact." Shit. There's that 'we' again. But unfortunately, they are together until they figure all of this out. Juno seems to agree, because she keeps asking her questions and waiting for answers as if she cares enough to hear what she has to say.

"No, I don't think so. There's not a consistent pattern with cubey's warps and Lady's engine as far as I can tell. I think it depends more on the worlds themselves. Whether or not we're taking damage from a monster, the air quality, the way Lady lands when we arrive... there are a lot of variables to consider in that sense." Lettie frowns thoughtfully, lost in thought. Gradually she softens, gazing around at Lady's engine admiringly. She's spent a lot of time here by now. "Lady's endured a lot through all of this. She really is a legend."

Snapping out of her reverie, Lettie glyphs her purse and exchanges her notebook for the cube. Long gone are the days where she worries that Juno will steal the cube and destroy her chances at ever making it home.

"You really shouldn't call cubey a piece of shit, you know. I have a theory that it can hear us." Lettie advises Juno in a soft, conspiratorial voice. "I think it must've imprinted on us by touch. I activated cubey by touching it the first time I saw it. And then you touched it when you stole it from me. Carpet, on the other hand, never even saw the cube... and he got fried. Like my fucking treasure." The faerie considers Albert, one of the few creatures to take the cube off their hands for a time. But maybe the cube only had the capacity to take two people along for for this hellish ride? "...Then there was everything on that robot world. They said cubey has a mission and we're supposed to help it. Guess it'd be fair to assume we'll be able to go back home once we complete the mission?" Yeah, it's pretty obvious when she thinks about it. The idea of teaming up with Juju of all people sounded blasphemous to her back then. Now, though? Desperate times, desperate measures and whatnot. "Would've been nice if they told us what the fucking mission was, though." The faerie proceeds to glare sternly at the cube, like a mother scolding her toddler for coloring all over the walls with marker. "Hey, cubey! Can you hear us? What's your mission, anyway? How do you expect us to help you when you won't tell us what it--"

Of course, this is the moment that cubey starts to glow, burning so bright that it heats Lettie's palm. "Oh. Fu--"

Blip!
 
For the first time, Juno doesn't even think about teasing the faerie. What is there to tease even? She doesn't find the notes weird or odd––perhaps she'd have something to say on them were they, like, useless garbage but even the pirate recognizes that these aren't Olette's notes on the best color swatches for each world they've landed on. No, this is something of substance. Most of it flies over her head, but she doesn't think that it's nonsense just because she doesn't understand it. The parts that she does understand speak for themselves. It's a legit plan and though she has only recently come around to the idea that there is more to Olette than meets the eye, that's enough for Juno. She only needs a bit of evidence to entirely shift her perspective and the faerie already proved herself with the first heart and again with the second heart. Why, then, would it be impossible to imagine that she's capable of more? That she's been hiding more than she lets on? It's not. Not to Juno.

So when Olette affirms with genuine confidence that she can make these updates, she believes her. "Alright, draw up a list of supplies and I'll see what I might already have." The supplies she doesn't have? She supposes they'll have to get creative seeing as the cube loves to burn up everything that isn't themselves, the ship, or her crew. (It is annoying since they haven't been able to restock on food or other wares. They're already running tight on water and while they can fill up on new planets, it always evaporates by the time they're somewhere new. Don't even get the pirate started on fuel––she's stressed enough just thinking about, well, literally everything else. She swears by the end up of this her hair will be completely white.) Seeing what Olette has already managed with the limited resources available already tells Juno they can probably think of something.

The faerie smacks the pirate's arm and Juno reacts automatically, flicking the side of her head. Yeah, yeah, she gets that that's probably for stealing the notebook in the first place but just because Juno understands that Olette is not one to be messed with, that doesn't mean she's just going to go down without a fight. Nope, not how she was raised. (Not that anyone really raised her.) Still, the conversation continues as if the smack and subsequent flick are part of the natural course (and both actions kind of are, given who the pirate and faerie are at the end of the day). Juno peers over her shoulder to look over the blueprints and, yeah, a lot of it is beyond her. Beyond anything she's ever seen. Forcefield? Juno's never seen or heard of an airship with one. Sure, some larger crews are able to bleed enough to create a giant ward, but those tricks are only performed when absolutely necessary. They aren't sustainable. So the idea of having something more reliable and less dangerous? The captain is onboard. "Alright, fuck, write me a list of what you'll need for that and..." the pirate hesitates here, rubbing the back of her neck. She bites the inside of her cheek and then just trudges forward, pressing down her discomfort. "Just let me know when you're working in here next time. This ship's gotten me through Hell and back and I just wanna fuckin' know what's going on, 'kay?"

Olette continues on, talking about what she's noticed with the cube and the effects on the engine, affirms what Juno has always known (that Lady is a legend), and her theory that the cube can hear them talking. Juno's about to call bull on that (and likely throw a thousand more insults at the piece of shit) when the cube incidentally ends up responding to Olette. "I fucking ha––"

blip!

The light takes a while to clear this time around and for some reason they're falling much longer than usual. Though that's not even what concerns Juno the most. She's most concerned about the sound of metal grating against metal––a.k.a., Lady Vengeance scraping against another metallic surface and probably ruining her fucking paint job! (That was, admittedly, pretty shoddy to begin with but still!) Juno can't even curse or swear, because a second later the ship stops falling and the sound of her back cracking against the floor, pushing the air out of her, fills her ears. Olette slams on top of her, forcing out a weird cough-wheeze, as she tries to recover getting the wind knocked out of herself. She grabs the faerie's arms and gently sets her to the side so that she can fucking breathe again. She stumbles to her feet, catching herself on the wall as her body reorients itself. Once she's recovered, she does a quick once over of the engine (since they're there). "If that piece of shit doesn't want to be called a piece of shit, then it shouldn't fucking act like a piece of shit." Of course, not acting like a piece of shit has never once prevented Juno from calling something/someone a piece of shit. Her eyes flicker over to the faerie, noticing the cube isn't in her hands anymore. "Where is it?"

The pirate isn't super concerned about the whereabouts of the cube until it's apparent that it's not in the engine room. Fuck? (She doesn't know if this is good or not. She'll decide once she figures out what new shithole they have landed themselves on.) "Maybe Abigail has it?" She doesn't totally know why she's decided to let Olette in on every waking thought she has, but here she fucking is.

Abigail does have the cube, as it turns out. That would be good news if it weren't for the fact that she's stuck at the top of some giant fucking metallic tree in a metallic fucking forest. (It's suspiciously similar to robot world and the only reason Juno doesn't think it's that same planet is because there is no annoying robot trying to get them to play some bogus game. "Just throw us the fucking cube!"

"No!" Abigail insists, "The Maestro is terrified of heights as am I. This is very scary for me, captain. Please send Olette up here. The Maestro very specifically wants Ms. Olette to save us. They say that you are, 'Mean and terrifying and want to crush me,' quote unquote."

Juno pinches the bridge of her nose, clearly frustrated but not willing to expend energy on this. (Recently, she's started to choose when she does and doesn't bitch someone out. She just doesn't have the energy these days to fight everyone. Well, unless she's fighting with the faerie per their daily schedule. She'll always have energy for that.) She looks over at Olette, "Think you can reach that branch if you climb on my shoulders? You're not scared of heights are you, flightless?" (She's grinning and it's totally shit eating.) "Don't worry, I'll totally catch you if you fall."
 
Lettie huffs, resting her hands on her hips as she gazes up at Abigail in the metallic tree. Sometimes cubey ends up in places she distinctly doesn't remember putting it. But this scenario essentially confirms that it teleport itself, doesn't it? This time she had it in her hand and Abigail had not been in the vicinity to steal it from her. (And sure, that's not a huge shocker considering how much power is stored inside cubey... but that's vaugely terrifying, isn't it? The cube can go anywhere it wants. It could totally ditch them both on some random world one of these days, indifferent to their feelings on the matter. And then what? They'd be stuck.) They've always been at the cube's mercy but this adds an extra layer to it that the faerie isn't sure she wants to dig any deeper on. She's going to bury herself alive in things to stress about at this rate.

"Afraid of..." Lettie purses her lips. This is ridiculous. She can make a whole list of reasons why this whole situation is ridiculous. (At least the cube is within sight, she guesses. She sure hopes a metallic bird doesn't swoop down from the sky to steal it from the skeleton.) "Abby, we live on an airship!"

"I don't understand what you're trying to say. Just hurry, please! We're both very, very scared." Abigail clutches cubey tightly in one hand and hugs the base of the tree with her arm like those toddlers were hugging Juju's leg the other night.

"I'm saying we basically live in the sky and-- and you're saying you're afraid of heights!" Lettie says, incredulous. That and cubey, the 'maestro', is constantly dropping them down from the sky. (Like the fateful day it dropped her on the airship... and kept her on the airship ever since.) This reasoning makes no difference, though, because it's evident based on Abigail's posture and grip that she's neither letting go or climbing down anytime soon. Stars! Is this really what her life has come to? Rescuing a skeleton and cube from a tree? Neither of them have much to worry about in terms of falling, do they? Juno can (presumably) put Abigail back together again and the cube is no doubt powerful enough to endure a fall from that height.

"Yes... and?" Abigail asks. It's quickly becoming evident that, yes, this is indeed what the faerie's life has come to. There is no such thing as 'reasoning' with Abigail or the cube for that matter and she should just accept this. It appears that Juno is on the same page as her in this respect when she actively encourages this course of action with a shit-eating grin on her face. (For calling her flightless, Lettie silently adds two more strikes to her list of revenges to enact when (if) her wing ever gets healed.)

"This would be a lot more efficient if I could fly." Lettie sighs wistfully, staring at the sky. (...She misses it.) This won't work, she knows it won't because it has never worked before. (To think that she used to punctuate her words with the graceful little flutter of her wings. Now they droop sadly behind her. Moving them even a little bit is a source of discomfort for her.) Climbing with her wings sitting uselessly on her back is humiliating. But she's become used to this. She's got upper body strength she didn't possess before from everything she's been through. She can absolutely climb this fucking tree and show it who's boss. Of course, she needs to climb on the pirate first to accomplish this. She's too short to reach the first branch and foothold. Ugh. "Totally? You better catch me." The faerie warns. Lettie decides she will automatically add twenty more strikes to her revenge tally if she does let her fall. (Yes, this number is skyrocketing at an alarming rate.)

Lettie starts to climb onto Juno's back. She's very diligent and focused on her task and that's the reason why her mind goes mostly blank in this moment. (And it has nothing to do with the way it feels to pull herself on Juno's shoulders. Namely the feeling of those firm, muscular arms under her fingertips and the warmth of her body pressed against hers as she makes her way up... no, no, no! Nothing to see here! Move along!) Her body has collided with the pirate's so many times now that the shape is generally familiar to her by now. However, this is different for reasons. Mainly because of their positioning, the way she actively has to hold onto the pirate's arms and shoulders in order to hoist herself up. (Those strong... strong shoulders. Yikes. Lettie's cheeks and wings both turn a faint shade of pink as a flood of unwelcome fantasies rush into her mind. Totally unwelcome! Like, how rude of her brain to do this! This is Juno. The mean, homicidal pirate. According to Abigail, even cubey thinks this.) The faerie is so busy trying to shake off the betrayal of her own mind that she doesn't notice the pirate's balance shifting, jostling her before she can find proper footing on her shoulders.

"Eek!" Lettie slips so that she's sitting on Juno's shoulders instead of standing on them. The pirate still manages to hold her upright through this, but her heart pounds like a stallion in her chest. Stars! She totally did that on purpose! Instantly her brow furrows and she fuels her fear into anger by squeezing the pirate's neck between her thighs. For good measure, she also pops her fist down on the top of her head. "Hey! That's so not funny!"

Lettie gives her another chastising whack for good measure before picking herself up to try again. She braces herself for a repeat of this incident (one can never be too careful when it comes to the pirate) and eventually manages to reach the branch. With that, she steels herself with a deep breath and starts to scale her way up the metal tree. It's slippery and sharp in places and it really is a test of her newfound strength to see just how high she can get. (She doesn't even want to think about falling from this height. And like, she's obviously not afraid of heights herself. She's a faerie! Of course she's not! But, ah, maybe she is a little afraid of what might happen if she falls on her wing in its current state--)

"The Maestro has so much faith in you, Olette! You're almost there." Abigail cheers her on from above. At least the skeleton she's doing this for is a sweetie. If not, it'd be infinitely more annoying.

That's when it happens. Lettie reaches for one of the highest branches, so close to reaching her goal... when suddenly a metallic 'click' sounds out, like some kind of switch being activated. And the branch itself may as well be a switch itself, because it immediately flicks downwards like one when the faerie pulls on it. The force of it throws her off and with an appropriately dramatic squeak of surprise, she plummets down, down, down towards the ground! (Oh shit! Shit, shit shit--) In the meantime-- luckily for Abigail and 'the maestro'-- the lever Lettie accidentally pulled activates some kind of mechanism on the robotic tree that causes it to whir and turn smaller in size, which gradually brings the skeleton and cube duo safely to the ground. Then the ground around them rattles and shakes as cube-like structures in the ground apart from one another and create a big, starry void.
 
While the pirate is aware that she's the one who came up with the idea that Olette climb on her shoulders, she somehow forgot that that would mean she has to climb on her shoulders. She has to touch her. Touch. Her (Juno). Juno's wholly unprepared for this development and her mind equally goes blank when Olette grabs onto her arms and shoulders. (That she tenses under her touch is nothing. Meaningless, even, because this always happens when a girl touches her. Except that, this isn't a girl. This is Olette, the faerie, who she understands is a girl but, like... It's just different okay! She shouldn't be fucking tense over this.) And, maybe, just to set the record straight with herself, she jostles the faerie around a bit right when she sets her feet on her shoulders––just to prove that she... she doesn't know. It does make her feel good, though, hearing the faerie's squeak as she falls onto her shoulders. Juno would have erupted into snickers, but she forgets how to do pretty much everything when Olette squeezes her thighs around her neck. 'Girl legs. Thighs. Sh-shit.' She doesn't even notice the whacks––or, if she does, she finds them grounding enough that she doesn't retaliate (even if she has no grounds to get revenge).

With her mind so thoroughly wiped clean, she doesn't try that trick again and focuses on holding onto Olette's ankles. (In her mind she can imagine what it'd be like to slide her hands up those legs, and squeeze those thighs. 'So soft...' She can even imagine what it'd feel like to be buried between her legs with them draped over her shoulders like a scarf. How she might squeeze the pirate as... Wait a minute. She should not be thinking of this. This is fucking Olette! She fucking hates her and there's no way they'd get that fucking desperate!!!) ...Fuck. She'll just pretend those thoughts are normal and, technically, they are. Who wouldn't imagine being between a woman's legs? A fucking weirdo, that's who. That she happened to imagine the faerie is only out of convenience and the moment that preceded those thoughts. Those normal fucking thoughts that anyone would have––it's not her fault she got inspired. (Especially where Olette is concerned, she's hot as fu––)

Okay, she seriously needs to get her head checked because she must have hit it one too many times falling on the deck of the ship. She clears her throat, now balancing the faerie in her hands as she reaches for the first branch and foothold. With her off her of shoulders, the pirate takes a few steps away from the tree to watches the faerie scale it. Determinedly, she stares at her form and refuses to pay attention to her physique. In fact her only thought is, 'Her range of motion could use some work.' She follows the faerie up the tree with her eyes, tensed and ready to jump in case she falls, but she doesn't think she will. Olette seems to know what sh––

"Oh, shit." Juno doesn't know what happens between seeing Olette slip on the branch and rushing to position herself directly under the falling faerie. (The last time she saw the faerie falling from the sky, she had moved out of her way and let her hit the deck, full force. Now, she finds herself bolting to catch her as if it's the most natural thing in the world. The pirate can't question this and even if she could, it'd be easy to just conceptualize this as just her commitment to not letting her fall. And that's not technically untrue, but there's something else, too, that spurs her to act so quickly. It pulls her forward from her chest.) She wishes there were time to coach Olette on how she should fall, but the time it takes for her body to drop is seconds not hours, so her back (her wing) collides with Juno's chest as her arms close around her torso. She grunts, pain exploding across her chest and through her spine upon impact, as she staggers backwards into a skeleton (Philip), who catches her before she can fall onto her ass. (Philip saw his BFFL falling and immediately rushed in the same moment Juno had.) Her heart is a jackhammer against her ribs and she's pretty sure Olette can feel that, but who cares? It's obviously adrenaline. "Told you I'd catch you." Uh, that's also adrenaline. Especially the nervous yet smug flavor to her tone. And holding onto her for too long is, um, also adrenaline. Pretty much everything she is experiencing is because of that chemical.

She sets the faerie down on the starry void (she totally hasn't noticed the change of scenery) and takes a second to look at her crumpled wing. The pirate rubs the back of her neck, feeling sorry for Olette, and yet not willing to do anything about her wing. If she could study the healthy one, she'd have a better chance of knowing whether or not she can heal it but in order to do that... She'd have to touch the faerie's wing and, well, she can't imagine that the pretty faerie would want the homicidal pirate touching her more than she has to. That's fairly evident every time she launches herself off Juno whenever they land (not that Juno doesn't do the same).

Juno's about to say something, but Abigail waltzes over with the cube balanced on top of her skull and interrupts before she can start. "The Maestro welcomes you to their workshop!" she claps, throwing her arm backwards to draw attention to the scenery. (Juno practically hops backwards realizing they're in fucking space and that there is no ground beneath them.) "Whatever you need is right here for you!" That has to be the skeleton's typical bullshit because aside from herself, Olette, the crew, and the ship there's nothing on this starry plane. "Have fun!"

"Workshop? We're in fucking space!"

"Yes, astute observation, captain," the skeleton nods (somehow the cube doesn't fall off her head). "It is a brilliant choice of scenery! So inspiring. I am going to find the dolphin chickens now. Toodles! If you need us," presumably she's referring to herself and the cube, "Have Ms. Olette cast a magic spell! Her magic is so pretty." And before Juno or Olette can react, Abigail crosses her arms over her chest and free falls backwards into the void where she disappears. (So she's afraid of heights, supposedly, but will embrace the void? Alright, sure.)

The what the fuck is implied and Juno says it anyway. "What the fuck?" She doesn't question this development beyond that, however, because she's seen weirder shit at this point and, she guesses, it's probably fine. The cube is out of sight, sure, but it's not like that piece of shit has ever helped them. All it's done is save them by the skin of their fucking teeth. She shakes her head and then looks over at Olette, "We can at least work on the ship some while we wait." When she says that, the (invisible) ground beneath them rises until they're level with Lady. Not only that, but a starry table appears, lined with starry tools and supplies. Sure, why not. Juno has given up on trying to make sense of anything. She's more or less resigned herself to nothing ever making sense ever again. (She does think the starscape is pretty, but she's too annoyed with everything else to truly take it in.) She grabs an empty tool box sitting on the table and holds it in front of her. "What d'you think we'll need for those upgrades? Might as well see if they're feasible," since anything they do will probably be burned up and reset.

As Juno follows along with gathering materials, her mind wanders back to that whole tree incident. The incident that could have been entirely avoided if the faerie's wings were in working order. Casually, as she reaches for a starry wrench, she asks, "Genuine question, not trying to fuckin' tease you this time... are faerie bones like bird bones?"
 
Um, plot twist? Lettie explicitly doesn't expect to be caught. When she drops from the branch, her heart drops in her chest at the same time. What she expects is the impact of hitting the cold hard ground. She expects knives slashing through her broken wing, their tips dragging down her spine. To hit her head and quite possibly black the fuck out afterwards. (Ouch. Granted when she lands there is some pain, considering she still lands with her wing pressed against something. Or rather someone. Someone (with a pounding heart, defined abs and big strong arms) who made it beneath the tree just in time to catch her. Someone who just so happened to also be a mean, homicidal pirate. Like, the kind of person who would sooner throw a collapsed faerie in a prison cell (or at the very least point and laugh at her) than actually step in to do anything to help her. The kind of person she could've easily accused of lacking a heart at all... had she not just felt its pounding rhythm for herself.) It takes the faerie a second to comprehend that this actually happened. (Or maybe her mind is too preoccupied with the sensation of being held in very buff arms to do anything remotely useful at the moment, no doubt spinning thoughts and fantasies for future Lettie's imagination.) Juno caught her.

"...You sure did." Lettie supplies airily, blinking fast. Wow, so profound! She really is the epitome of wisdom and grace in this moment. "Thanks?" Juno... caught her. Juno caught her. And she's not proceeding to drop or throw her... instead she just holds her. Is it so wrong that she's still trying to process that? Like, she didn't even look away in time to use the excuse that she 'missed it' or anything like that. (She never paid the faerie much mind as it was. Well... not until recently, that was. The list of instances like this grew day by day. It's long enough now that she can't quite remember the moment when it changed. Although the lapse in her memory may also be because... muscles... fuck.) For once, that smug tone doesn't make Lettie want to punch her in the face. This realization swells up into the desire to do something, though, so she weakly swats the pirate's stupidly buff arm to encourage her to let go. She needs her functioning brain back, thanks!

(Never mind the way the air feels a bit colder once Juno sets Lettie down. She ignores this realization as soon as it hits her and observes their surroundings instead.)

"Workshop?" Lettie choruses with Juno after Abigail spins in with her explanation. (She's tried leveling with Abby about this on occasion, to gauge whether or not she's telling the truth about her 'conversations' with cubey. To this day, she still finds it hard to confirm whether it's factual or utter nonsense.) She purses her lips when she realizes she and the pirate said the same thing at the same time and stays silent afterwards, just to ensure it doesn't happen again anytime soon. The 'we're in fucking space' part is valid, though, and she looks around for anything that might be remotely useful in the meantime. Nope. Just a sea of stars. Pretty, yes, but what good is pretty going to do them right now? (If pretty is all anyone ever needed to get by, then she should have been coasting through life!) Apparently her magic is 'pretty' enough to summon Abigail and the cube back from the void, though. Okay, sure. She'll just accept that so she doesn't freak the freak out at the prospect of cubey getting lost forever in an endless void of all places. Heh. Everything's cool here! Just peachy. She's chill. She's fine. They're all perfectly fucking fine!

"Dolphin chickens sound abominable." Lettie muses under her breath, deciding that's the safest thing to think about in this situation. She observed that dolphins were very rude in her experience on the aquatic planet. The idea of them fusing with chickens only makes them sound all the more obnoxious! She hopes that Abby will be okay. (...In case that these 'dolphin chickens' actually exist. It's debatable.) Then her eyes widen a fraction as the table full of tools and supplies rise around them. Huh. She silently wonders if this is cubey's way of giving them a 'treat' for humoring the concept of taking the mission seriously. It checks out, doesn't it? Like, this can't be a coincidence. "...I wonder if this is what Abby meant when she went 'stargazing' with cubey all those times?"

Lettie immediately snaps to attention when Juno asks about the tools. Surveying the supply that cubey has provided for them, her eyes immediately light up and she starts explaining her vision as she collects them-- as if she has a magnetic gravitation to the supplies that they will need for her repairs. The stars around them practically reflect in her eyes as she studies one of the wrenches. (Yes, her heart is fluttering. No, she's not a fucking nerd! Don't look at her!) "Wow! Cubey really went all out." She's about to continue explaining her ideas for Lady when the pirate brings up the subject of her wings. At the acknowledgment, her broken wing throbs.

"Bird wings?" Lettie purses her lips, well beyond the point of getting her hopes up at this point. She stretches her good wing out to allow the pirate to look at it. When she stretches it out fully, it's apparent that the thin bones are visible through the thin, translucent skin of them. "Some are, I guess. Every faerie's wings are different. Mine are kinda like a bat's, if I had to compare them to anything. Only a smidgen more complex than that."

Suspiciously, Lettie snaps her wing behind her again. She remembers the skeleton hands on her wings, the pirate's threats to rip them off when they first met. Could she be doubting her bogus story that she'll turn to dust if she loses her wings? Is the jig finally up? (Or, perhaps, has she stopped caring whether or not she'd turn to dust? By ridding herself of the faerie, she'll have a spruced up ship and won't have to squander resources on her anymore. Is that why she caught her back there? To make sure she's still around to make these upgrades?) "What? You're not planning on disassembling me for parts when I finish upgrading Lady, are you?" She examines another tool, trying to act disaffected about it. She's fine. This is fine. This always happens when she shows she's good for something. She's used for all she's worth and then-- "...I'll turn to dust if I lose my wings. You won't be able to turn my bones into spike traps or anything like that."
 
Usually, Juno would tune the faerie out. She doesn't find the sound of her voice all that pleasing––who even would like the sound of someone telling them they're homicidal 24/7?––and has learned to ignore it as she does the voices of the three skeletons who can speak. However, when she's excitedly gushing over Lady, the pirate captain finds that she doesn't mind. It's nice to hear someone else care as much about the airship as she does. It's admittedly been a while since she's shared a mutual interest with another person and she concludes that this isn't terrible. She definitely doesn't want to make a habit out of gabbing with Olette, but it might be nice to not be yelling at each other all the time. (Or trying to bury their fists in each other's faces.) Despite this development, the pirate refuses to amend her earlier affirmation that she hates Olette. Obviously, she still hates her. People work with people they hate all the fucking time––Juno would fucking know having been a steward for all of three months. (The worst fucking three months of her goddamn life, by the way.)

Anyway, with all the suggestions and ideas being thrown her way, she does feel overwhelmed. This is entirely out of her depth and she is trying to keep up with Olette to the best of her abilities, but, for the most part, all she's really able to do is green light the updates and grab the supplies that the faerie insists they will need. (It's surprisingly easy to get lost in the faerie's ramblings. Easy enough, even, that Juno kind of finds it... adorable that she's so passionate about tinkering. The urge to ask her where she picked up all of this knowledge from crops up and the pirate suppresses it. There's no reason to be curious. She should just accept this as a fact and not wonder anything at all about the faerie's life, because if she starts to wonder then she might start to care and she expressly doesn't want to care. It's always a bummer placing expectations in others. Always. Juno refuses to make that same mistake again.) "Maybe we should just start with the forcefield? I mean––I don't..." she's about to admit that she doesn't know what a laser cannon is and then decides against it. She already feels stupid enough as it is and that's such an unusual way for her to feel, especially in comparison to the faerie, that she will deny it for as long as she can. "...Think laser cannons are as important right now, given all the damage Lady takes whenever we land somewhere new," she quickly finishes, hoping that Olette doesn't suspect anything.

Her worry doesn't last, however, when she starts to talk about her wings––thankfully not taking offense to how the necromancer phrased the question. (That could have been so fucking disastrous.) 'Bat wings, those are sort of...' Whatever they are sort of like will have to wait as Olette stretches out the healthy wing. Upon seeing it, Juno's breath turns into a stone in her throat and her eyes widen to taken it in completely. (She's only ever seen them dangling off of her back and while she does understand that they are not fully extended like that, it's still surprising to see.) 'Wow. Damn.' It's obvious that the pirate is stunned by it and when she realizes that that is plain to see, she shuts it down as quickly as the blade of guillotine can behead its victim, hardening her gaze once more.

While the faerie explains, Juno tries to memorize as many details of the wing as she can––the layout of the bones, the delicate membrane that covers them, their shape, etc. But apparently she must look fucking evil, because Olette hides her wing from view and throws thinly veiled accusations at her. Ones that suggest she's trying to fucking murder her. "What the fuck? Where the fuck did you even get that idea?" If Juno wanted her dead, that would have happened. Hell, if Juno hadn't already accepted that they're a team, she would have fucking let Olette smack the ground and she would have laughed. Seeing that none of that has happened? It's a totally fucking bogus accusation! (Well, Juno absolutely would use someone and screw them over later, so she sorta gets that, but Olette isn't just someone. Unfortunately.)

There isn't really any point in trying to defend herself, at least Juno doesn't think there is, because clearly Olette has already cast her as the villain and Juno knows that breaking character is the only way she can get the faerie to see her as, well, Juno. (Does she want that? That's the big question here. Olette being fearful of her is an advantage to the pirate. Yeah, it's never stopped Olette from being a little shit and all around menace with her supposedly harmless attacks on Juno's life, but what would even mean to lose that layer of distance between them? She does hate her, right? Right. So there's no fucking point in trying to fix that!)

"I don't know how many fuckin' ideas you have for Lady, so it'd be unwise for me to even consider that right now," she says and, in spite of her words and her supposed want to keep her distance, there's nothing serious in how Juno delivers this warning. This could come off as strange, because typically? Typically the pirate is very serious when it comes to delivering her threats. Even so, whatever game Juno is playing Olette seems to be in the clear. She even shrugs and glances over at her, revealing a small playful spark dancing in her gray eyes.

Once the supplies have been gathered, the pair head into the ship and back to the engine room. The room somehow feels like a safer space for Juno to make clear her intentions with that question. Or this is just because she's busied herself with organizing the tools so the ones they need are easy to find. Either way, she opens up. "Look, you're stuck on my ship. We both are. We're both fucking prisoners to that piece of shit cube and maybe murdering you crossed my mind a few times at the beginning," it crossed her mind daily up until a few worlds ago. "Like, you've been fucking annoying and have stolen my only fucking chair and you keep trying to steal the good mirror, but I'm not going to turn you into dust over that. Well, not anymore. I dunno, I changed my mind," specifically because the faerie started pulling her own weight, but she doesn't see the reason to acknowledge that. This is already revealing too much. She feels exposed. (Yes, don't judge her for feeling exposed when she admits to not wanting to murder someone! It's a big fucking deal for the homicidal pirate.)

"Besides, do I look like a fucking charity case?" (To be honest, she does look like a bit of wreck right now.) "The skeletons don't get paid 'cause they're fucking skeletons but if you're gonna do all this shit? Payment's in order," she shrugs. It is true that the pirate does hate taking free shit from others unless she's stealing from them or purposefully trying to screw them over, but from another person who she sees somewhat on equal footing? She always will repays her debts. While this excuse does entirely ignore the fact that she actually wants to heal the wing, that's the fucking point. Olette doesn't need to know that she wants to heal it for no other reason than she feels bad about all the hits the poor thing has taken. This excuse is solid cover and it's mostly honest. "I need to study the healthy one to see if I can even do it, though. I've never fucking worked with a wing before and definitely not a fucking faerie wing. I don't want to fuck this up or take any risks, so I'm gonna need to at least spend some time looking at it," and touching it, but she'll mention that when the time comes, "If it turns out I can't do it, you can keep the mirror and I'll figure out how to make up the difference once this is all over." (Assuming it ever ends, but let's not think about that, yeah?) "If y'wanna think on it, that's fine, but I'm only extending this offer once."
 
It crossed Juno's mind a few times? (Yeah, no shit! More like she'd actually tried to kill her-- with bombs and skeleton deathtraps-- and more than a few times at that!) Lettie purses her lips to express her opinion that the pirate is downplaying it, but decides not to interject before she finishes. Because she'd said it'd be 'unwise' for her to consider that and because she'd punctuated that statement with a smirk that... didn't necessarily look murderous? Instead there are other implications and she isn't sure how to define exactly what those are. The faerie decides to envision what she will do if it turns out that Juno is making a long-winded joke just to get her hopes up and crush them. (Tackle her, probably... and feel those abs again... no! She would bop her on the head with the wrench she's holding in her hand!) "Yeah, well it's silly that you only have one chair. Like, what happens if you get a hot date and want to chill?" She thinks she has a valid point. (And no, she doesn't want to know what Juno does on her dates! She's only putting it out there theoretically!) Did they sit on the floor? Or maybe they ate in bed? Eating in bed sounded nice, sure, but it also sounded like an excellent way to invite unwanted guests. Gross! Okay, now she needs to stop thinking about it. "...And you can't say I don't put that mirror to good use. I use it to put my outfits together!" At this point, she's really just trying to brace her heart for disappointment by giving the pirate a hard time. Eventually she falls into complete silence, though, blinking confusedly at the way Juno finished. I'm not going to turn you into dust. I changed my mind.

Juno... changed her mind? Lettie blinks twice. Swallows hard. Before she can fully come to terms with that or tilt her head to search for angles, the pirate keeps talking and provides not a laugh and a 'psyche', but supplies even more reasons as to why she intends to work together. It'd serve as payment and she could keep the mirror if it didn't work? (It's taking her longer to process that the payment involves healing her wing. Juno intends to heal her wing and she-- while hinting that it'd be nice the moment she realized that might be possible-- didn't really expect it to happen. They hate each other!) Still. The pirate's never been one to spin an elaborate joke this way. With the exception of a few of those death traps she'd set, she was more the type to be direct with her threats and intentions. On top of that, she does seem generally interested in what she says when it comes to Lady. So... maybe? Juno's going to try to heal her wing. She's actually going to try.

There's no punchline? Lettie exhales a breath she didn't even know she'd been holding and relaxes her wings. Surreptitiously she organizes the tools around her to keep her antsy hands busy, trying not to betray the excitement that's brewing in her chest. No catch? Disbelieving theatrics might convince Juno to change her mind, she knows, and she decides that she ought to hold her tongue and accept whatever she can get when it comes to a 'truce' between the two of them. (Even if they still hate each other! Obviously.) It'll make life easier for both of them, won't it? The pirate had a valid point that they're both stuck, both prisoners to the cube.

"Alright. Then how about this... I'll do any damage repairs needed on the spot for room and board." Lettie acknowledges. Even if she isn't there by choice, if they're getting transactional about this then she'll square it all away. (She doesn't want anything to come back to bite her in the ass later-- or convince the pirate that she has reasons to withdraw her offer.) Then she reaches for her notebook and flips the page to her plans for the forcefield before plopping it down between them. She traces a circle around the first half of her notes with a manicured fingernail. "I'll work on the first half now... and then you see what you can do with my wing before I finish the second half." That's fair enough, right? That way she'll prove she's on board-- but also ensures that she won't get duped once the job is through.

Lettie flips her notebook to a new page as she writes out all of the terms into a contract. She accounts for the fact that Juno may not be able to heal her wing (as well as the mirror) and then shows her the page to get her okay on it. "Just so we don't forget anything. Our lives have been really chaotic lately." She winks and then mentally smacks herself for winking. (Why the fuck did she wink!?) "Do we have a deal?" Using her pink gel pen, she proceeds to sign the section she left open at the bottom. Olette Lycoris Radiata. With that done, she slides the notebook and pen towards the pirate and then turns to assess that they have everything they'll need before she gets started.
 
"Having one chair is fucking practical." She's totally serious about this. In Juno's head, there's no reason for her to have more than one chair because she is the only person who actually needs to sit down to eat. (She's also the only person who needs to eat on her ship, obviously. ...Well, she was until a certain cube dumped a certain faerie onto her ship and won't let either of them fucking leave.) And, really, who does the faerie think she's kidding with her suggestion that Juno is bringing women back to her ship for dates. The pirate has to stifle a snort because she finds the notion so preposterous. Pfft, Juno and date go together about as well as roast wasp with that pulverized tomato stuff (ketchup). Like, the pirate can't even remember the last time she ever went out on a date and it's quite possible she never has. (Of course, she has her fair share of exes from her teens and early twenties, when she collected relationships like they were rocks on the side of the road, but none of those had been particularly meaningful. Juno even revenge dated Clay's sister and that was one of her better relationships.) "Thought you were supposed to be smart? What makes you think a pirate captain who only has skeletons for crewmembers is trying to have a roman'ic night in, huh? Dating isn't really my thing. I prefer to keep things hot 'n heavy, if you know what I mean," she smirks, silently asking herself why she said anything at all. It's not like she wants Olette to think she's emotionally available or whatever––like, gross, she fucking hates the faerie's sparkly guts––but she also didn't need to say anything on the subject. She should have just fucking left it alone.

Maybe, if she ignores the comment hard enough, the other woman will forget all about it? 'She's probably already fucking forgotten. Why would she care about what I get up to anyway?' And that's a good point since she knows neither of them care about each other. They're just going from enemies to enemies who are now... business colleagues for want of a better phrase. That's basically confirmed when the faerie details out the terms of their negotiation and writes up a contract in the most unprofessional shade of pink.

It does admittedly touch the pirate captain that the faerie is taken responsibility for all her fucking free-loading. Like, yeah, even if she can't really help it because they're fucking stuck together (and Juno doubts that Marjorie would let her starve), it means something to Juno. If she were daring enough, she might even let herself think that Olette is becoming a real member of her crew. (But she won't let herself think that for a number of reasons ranging from her fear of those implications and the realization it'd be her first time being the captain of a real living soul.) Though if Juno were going to think anything of this development, all of her thoughts leave her brain when Olette winks at her. She looks like an animal caught in fucking headlights, completely unsure of how to receive the expression while simultaneously playing the moment over and over again in her head. 'Fuck, she's waiting for you to respond, dumbass. Get it together!' Mentally, she slaps herself a few times and then reaches for the pen, completely oblivious to the offensive shade of pink and the fluffy pom pom on the end. She takes a look at the terms of the contract (and it does take her several minutes to read over as the pirate is not a fast reader) and once she's satisfied, she signs it then slides it back over to Olette. (It looks more like a demonic chicken took offense to the contract and tried to make it its bitch. However, were Marjorie there to serve as a notary, she would have confirmed that this is just Juno's handwriting. She would even comment that this is rather neat for the pirate.)

"Alright, well, stretch out the healthy wing for me so I can get a sketch down, yeah?" And so begins Juno's study of faerie specific osteology. It also, incidentally, begins an era where the pirate and faerie intentionally spend time together without it devolving to fisticuffs. (Well, sometimes it does devolve to fisticuffs, but the instances are less likely to happen when they're in the confines of the engine room. Juno justifies this neutral territory because the engine is obviously expensive and it's hard to be annoyed with Olette when they're both focused on their tasks.) Juno helps with the engine where she can and even attempts to take notes on what the faerie is doing so that she can keep up with the maintenance later––the pirate isn't under any impression that she's found herself a permanent mechanic, so she's got to learn this shit if she wants Lady to continue being the most tricked out airship on Desdemonia (once they square away this whole cube shit, that is). Some days the conversations flows like water and other days they don't say anything all and Juno isn't sure what she prefers so she chooses not to think of it. The days they spend in the cube's workshop are tame compared to the other worlds and anything they need is provided to them with just a thought. (This took them much too long to figure out, but how can they be blamed when Abigail is the one who gave them those instructions?)

Then, after a week of working on the airship, one of the monitors displays the message, "We have to leave. Grab your things!" And before Juno can let slip her catchphrase, the cube, that has been sitting on the dashboard, explodes into the blinding white light and––

blip!

At this point, Juno is so used to this mode of transportation that she has developed a reflex for covering her eyes. When she lands first, she debates rolling out of the faerie's trajectory so that they don't have to keep landing on top of each other, but she guesses that she's probably a softer landing than the steel deck and just braces herself for impact. (This does involve tensing her abs for the curious members of the audience.) She grunts when Olette predictably lands on her and then manages to maneuver them both to their feet. "Fuck," she mutters out of habit, taking in a whiff of the new planet they've landed on. Immediately, she's assaulted by the stench of rot, decay, and sulfur––home, in other words.

Perplexedly, Juno blinks her eyes open and surprise seems to cross her when the sickly green skies confirm that she's back on Desdemonia. (If Olette weren't right fucking there, Juno might have teared up––and that would have been odd for a number of reason, but mainly because Juno hates this shithole planet. She supposes this is one of those 'you don't know what you've got until it's gone' situations. Or something.) "Fuck," she repeats, running her hands through her hair as she spins around on the ship (noting, also, that the cube managed to keep them hovering above the ground rather than letting her ship crash perilously to the ground). Does this mean the cube's releasing her? She doesn't want to get her hopes up, so she pushes that thought to the side and just lifts a brow when she finally looks over at her companion. The expression silently asks, 'What the fuck?' Because Juno's pretty sure they've never gone to a repeat planet before––well, she supposes, aside from the robot planet they'd been stuck on and that does suggest that maybe the cube is starting to run them through a pattern? Maybe, but she doesn't want to make any guesses seeing as how volatile that little 3D square is.

Anyway, they're in a canyon of sorts and while there's still daylight above them, the canyon walls provide shade cover to keep them out of direct sunlight. Once the pirate realizes this, a chill washes over her and panic settles in knowing that the sky and sunlight are the only reliable shields anyone has on this shithole. She grabs her radio to get Marjorie to pull them up and fast, but before she can reach for the device the combination of a high pitched screech and the chatter of millions of teeth echo through the canyon. "Shit." The ground underneath them trembles and loose chunks of rock trickle down the sides of the canyon. "Shit, shit, shit," she repeats, reaching for her weapon then turning to Olette. "Remember those nightmares we dealt with the first night you landed on my ship? Yeah, well, this isn't like that––it is gonna be fucking real."

Not even a second after Juno finishes, it bursts from the ground and forces Lady onto her side, sending anyone who had been above deck flying into the canyon. As for what 'it' is that's hunting them this time? It can really only be described as a giant armored worm with a mouth that stretches from its 'face' down its entire underbelly and it's going for the cube (for some reason).
 
Here we go again. Lettie acknowledges that the warning on the monitor is a new touch-- and it'd have been a nice touch if they actually had time to gather their things before the cube blasts them off to the next world. (It is interesting to note, though, however useful it is. Is the cube picking up new mechanics as it moves them from world to world? Or has it known how to do this shit all along?) The we 'have' to leave is, ah, an interesting way to word it, too. It feels urgent. Must be connected to the cube's 'mission' somehow. There's no time to consider this any further though when she's falling (yet again) clenching her eyes shut and bracing for impact. (And possibly excruciating pain.) Juno has studied her wing, yes, but it hasn't been healed yet. If she lands on it now... shit, shit, shit. The pain gets a little worse with every passing day. The faerie doesn't let this on, masking it all behind a winning smile as she works even harder. (She knows her wing is her weakness right now. Although Juno hasn't given her reason to raise her guard recently, she still needs to be careful. Look out for herself the way she always has.) The thought that her work will incentivize the pirate to heal her wing is the one thing that allows her to push through it with her usual charm and spirit.

"Ooof!" Lettie lands on Juno (as usual) and thankfully not on her wing. Thank the stars above! ...Yet something about it feels different this time. Because for some unearthly reason she's acutely aware of the way her cheek feels pressed up against her chest, the shape of her body through her clothes, and-- and shit, she's not blushing, is she? (It's not her fault, okay!? Juju is fucking ripped-- anyone with eyes can see that and also understand the, ah, aesthetic appeal.) It's more than just that, though. It's also the way that Juno doesn't chuck her away the way she used to. Without making any comment whatsoever, she just helps her stand upright. (This happened the last time as well, come to think of it.) Lately she's been acting more like-- well, a person-- and less like a homicidal pirate. But despite of all the time they'd spent together over the past couple of days, she's still a pirate. The same pirate as before! And she'd do well to remember that.

Lettie squints as she peers up at the sky. It's such a dreary color, especially when she compares it to her infinitely bluer hair. Just like the sky was the day she fell on... this world. Oh. Oh, shit! Juno's world. That's where they are, right? Most of her experiences there were spent on the ship, sure, but the pirate's reaction tells her that this is indeed the case. "Wait. So we're..." She blinks, tensing as it sinks in.

There's no set pattern to the worlds the cube will take them to, right? Because if that is the case, then it completely skipped over Avangeline! Unless Avangeline doesn't count for some reason? (Will she ever make it back home? She's... not really sure anymore. Tries not to think about it most of the time. Now, though, the sensation grips her so tightly that it chokes out the rest of her words.) A moment later, a chill runs down her spine and she's fairly sure it runs deeper than just homesickness. This is confirmed when a light rain of dust and pebbles spills over the canyon walls... not to mention the sound that follows. Haunting. Pure nightmare fuel. Instinctively, she inches a bit closer to Juno. Yes, she might be a pirate, but she's her pirate. Um. At least for now! The-- the wording doesn't matter, okay? They're in danger here! Juju even confirms this herself.

"Okay. Then... then how are we supposed to fight this th--"

The thing that bursts from the ground in that moment is positively vile. And there's nothing either of them can do as the impact sends Lady flying to the ground-- launching them into the canyon below. Shit! The dust settles slowly and the faerie clenches her fists. They... they can handle this. Right? They've come so far! And cubey... cubey said they 'had' to leave. Surely they're there for a reason?

"How dare you fuck with Lady!?" The words are out of Lettie's mouth before she can even think about them. (She's just... used to working on Lady by now. At this point, seeing the ship take damage is essentially the same as taking damage to herself. Like it nearly makes her cringe the way she does when something presses up against her broken wing.) It doesn't really matter, though, because the creature isn't listening to her. It's going after the cube, which lays idly on the ground a short distance away from them. "Ah. Cubey!" The faerie doesn't have time to calculate the risks of diving in for it at the same time as that disgusting worm-- but before she can take one step the cube... vanishes? In a flicker of light, it places itself in her hands. There's a chattering sound, like the rattling of bones, and the creature turns its attention on her as if it comes equipped with a special 'cube sense'. Which, uh, obviously spells bad news for her!

"Oh no." Lettie wheezes breathlessly, glancing from the cube in her hands to the charging worm. Scrambling, she clutches the cube safely to her chest and breaks into a run. "No, no, no, no! I did not come this far just to end up as worm food!" Yikes! She can hear it slithering in the canyon behind her and she doesn't dare to look back. Instead, she clutches the cube tighter and pushes herself to run harder and faster. (Her lungs are burning. This would be a lot easier if she could fly! Agh. Why did cubey take them here of all places?) "Juju, what should--"

"Eeek!" This is the second time Lettie's attempt to talk strategy gets cut off... seeing as she trips and falls into a tunnel in the ground. (Or is it a trap? Either way, she's sliding down a narrow passageway into darkness... but as she and the cube pass by, glyphs engraved on the walls around her begin to light up. As she passes, she watches them wide-eyed.) The worm slams itself repeatedly against the entrance, but it's way too big to barrel through. Something smaller must've dug it. The faerie's not sure if that implication is a good thing or a bad thing... and she's not certain she likes how dark it is underground, even with the lights from the glyphs illuminating their path. What she likes even less is the way her broken wing drags behind her as she descends, the way it touches every nerve. "Shit!"

Aboveground, the worm continues to slam itself against the tunnel entrance... but after a while it slows and turns, as if forgetting what it was looking for in the first place. Once it turns completely, it seems to find a new target in Juno as it charges right at her!
 
Juno recognizes the chatter of those teeth even if she has never heard them for herself. She knows enough from stories to recognize all the tell-tale signs of Ripir by heart. The legends that surround this beast are known throughout Desdemonia––every child knows to fear what lurks beneath the ground. Its presence is a goddamn death sentence. Even after everything she's seen and faced across these worlds, this still fills her with dread. It worms into her bones and pumps fear through her bloodstream. Everything in her body screams at her to run, because there is no fighting Ripir. There is only hoping that the goddess blesses your boots and grants you speed, because running is the only way to survive.

The trembling canyon and eventual explosion send the pirate into such a frenzy that she barely registers her body sliding across the dirt––she doesn't even remember getting launched off the ship. Her entire body is vibrating with energy, with fear, keeping her alert and her reactions mostly automatic. She pushes herself off the ground, reaches for her whip as she readies to run, but before she can she is reminded that Olette is there with her and a new storm of emotions emerge.

The faerie’s sheer audacity and gall are enough that Juno almost bursts out into hysterical laughter. Instead, she just freezes in place, raising her scarred brow as she realizes that Olette defends her ship. ‘Why does she care about Lady? She didn’t before.’ But everything moves too fast for Juno to ponder that question much longer and she watches in abject horror as her companion goes to dive in for the cube, of all things. “No!” she shouts, not bothering to hide the panic coloring her tone. “Leave the fucking cube, dumbass!” The cube isn’t worth risking her fucking life! And, no, don’t ask why Juno cares about the faerie’s safety––she probably just doesn’t want to lose the only competent mechanic Lady’s ever had. That’s it.

But Olette must have a death wish, because she doesn’t listen and now Ripir’s seven neon green eyes are all staring down at her and the pirate can only watch this horror unfold. Well, actually, that’s not all she can do. Against her better judgment, against every fiber in her body screaming at her to leave the faerie to be devoured by her own stupid fucking mistakes, Juno picks up the largest rock she can find and hurls it at Ripir. “Hey, fugly!” Fugly ignores her and continues slithering towards Olette. ’Fuck.’

Steam whistles out of her ears as she tries to scrape together a half decent idea to save Olette, only to watch her fall into a hole? Relief washes over her, but her panic isn’t gone. Ripir is still trying to get to the faerie. Wait, no, it’s trying to get to the cube. Duh. Why the faerie comes to mind as the thing in danger is… not important.

It is especially not important when Ripir’s attention shifts over to Juno and she realizes that her problems are about to become exponentially worse. “Fuck,” she whines, looking around the canyon for any sort of leverage that might be of use to her. Lady, unfortunately, is still turned on her side and she can see that the skeletons are trying to right her. Alright. Fine. Juno is going to run distraction until they can get the ship in the air again. (She can’t believe she’s about to do this.)

The pirate sucks in a breath and bolts. She knows she won’t be able to outrun Ripir, but that also is not her goal––she just needs to get it away from the underground tunnel and keep it away from the airship. With her whip in hand, she wills her weapon into a slingshot and grabs one of her bombs from her belt. This won’t even stun the worm, but like with running that is not the point. She just needs to be quick about this, especially with the thing rapidly gaining on her until it's like she's not even running forwards at all.

She’s running out of time. Fuck.

Then she spots it, a sizable crack in the rockface and her best shot at her plan succeeding. (She fucking wishes she could summon bomberflies. What happened to that little faerie? Is she okay?) The worm belts out a screech, powerful enough to scare away the clouds, then slams its body into the ground. The pirate barely catches herself when the ground becomes unsteady and has to stick out her hands for balance. (Is Olette okay? Is the tunnel caving in?) The worm rears up to do the same move again. (Fuck, fuck, fuck!) Juno takes aim at the wall, beating her wrist around to build up speed. Once she has enough momentum, she releases the sling and the bomb goes flying into the air, then arcs downwards towards the crack.

Juno can’t watch the rest, because the worm is coming down and she needs to run in the opposite fucking direction before––

––BOOM!​

Ripir’s body smashes into the ground, sending shockwaves through the earth. One catches the pirate and sends her flying through the air. This happens just as the bomb goes off and the combination of forces not only boosts the pirate through the air, but it effectively blows off a chunk of the canyon wall, causing it to cave in on the worm and pin it beneath the rubble.

Juno, on the other hand, ends up falling into the same tunnel as Olette. She somersaults the entire way down and thus doesn’t note any of the fucking glyphs. Bruises are definitely sprouting across her back and if they weren’t before, one definitely will when she finally lands with a sharp thud on the solid stone surface below. Involuntarily, a whimper flees past her lips upon landing and she can't even be bothered to care. She's in way too much fucking pain––it even takes her a full three seconds to pull herself up from the ground. When she finally does, she rubs her head and focuses her vision on the glowing walls. Glowing patterns, actually––glyphs or ruins, similar to some of the ones that have cropped up on other worlds now that Juno is thinking about it. But that's not important.

She turns around, searching for the faerie. "Olette?" She even looks behind herself to see if she accidentally landed on her. (But she doubts that, because she knows that feeling all too well.) This isn't because she's worried about her or anything. This is just making sure that the cube is okay so that she can smash it. "Dumbass... what the fuck were you thinking," she mutters.
 
When Lettie finally slides to a halt in a little cloud of dust, she intentionally rolls herself over onto her stomach to catch her breath and wait for the sharp teeth of pain gnawing through her wing to subside. Fuck. The memory of the green, glowing eyes flashes through her mind. The haunting chattering, the unhidden panic in Juno's voice. Stars. What was that thing? Ever since this journey began, she's been no stranger to facing against gigantic horrors... but that beast was really something else. (...And Juno's still up there. Alone with it. This thought is jarring enough to bring her onto her knees, kickstarting a debate whether or not she should go back up there to help her (not that she's, uh, worried or anything!) but when she eyes the path she slid down, she comes to the sinking realization that it's too steep to climb. Even if she wanted to resurface, it seems like she's trapped down here.) This is bad. This is really, really bad. (Obviously, she's scared because she might starve down here. Or, alternatively, get eaten by some other monstrosity that lives underground. It has nothing to do with Juno and the fact that she's facing that horrible, horrible worm all alone--) In the dark, she crumples over, pressing her nose to her knees, and lets out a little cry of distress. Not like anyone can hear her down here. It's been so much. It's all been so much.

The fear is only accelerated when the earth itself rumbles like an empty stomach and showers of rocks and dust rain down from the ceiling of the cavern around her. Wearily, Lettie looks up in spite of the dread weighing her down. She scrubs at her teary eyes without thinking at all about her mascara. (For once. There are too many images reeling through her mind involving that worm's gaping mouth, or Juju being crushed under rocks with blood spilling out for her to have any room to worry about her fucking make up.) "...Please don't be dead. You mean, stupid pirate. If you're dead, I... I'm going to invent a way to haunt your ghost." She sniffed, defiant of her own emotions. "I'm gonna annoy the shit out of you. Don't want that, do you? So don't fucking die!"

Lettie clenches her fists, not at all bothering to examine whatever the hell she's feeling now. (The pirate just... hasn't healed her wing yet, okay? She owes her. And Lady's her ride. And...) She almost pulls a Juno and chucks the cube out of frustration when it warms her hand, the way it does sometimes when it takes them to a new world. It doesn't do that, though. It does something else.

"...Cubey?" Lettie blinks through the haze of her breakdown, squinting. The cube is beaming a light forward from one of its four faces, cutting a visible path through the darkness around her. It shines on a large, flat wall towards the back of the cavern. "You want me to follow the light, huh. Does this have something to do with your mission?" She swallows hard, steeling herself as she brings herself to her feet. Fine. Anything is better than lying on the ground, crying her eyes out over a pirate who hates her guts. (She's just tired! This has nothing to do with Juno. She's tired, exhausted, her wing is killing her and...) Maybe if she sees this through, cubey will get them the hell out of there before anything bad happens. Besides, the pirate knows her own world. She's survived this long without much help from the faerie, hasn't she? She'll handle it. No, she'll do more than that-- she'll fucking kill it. Because she's a homicidal pirate and all that.

Lettie slaps her face a few times and follows the light. Huh. She furrows her brow and tilts her head as she gazes up at the 'wall' the cube led her to. But it's not a wall... in fact, it seems to be a giant door? (Who would build a giant door in a place like this?) It's covered in colorful glyphs, which glow, overlap, and turn themselves around like patterns on a kaleidoscope that can't decide what it wants to be. The closer they get, the louder the cube whirs in her hand. Uh... what is it doing?

"What the fuck?" Lettie feels she has to supply the phrase in Juno's absence. The cube suddenly coughs out a glowing, holographic keypad. Whoa. A digital window with a rendition of the glyphs on the door appears next to it. Wait a sec... this is kinda familiar. In fact, it resembles a puzzle. She experimentally taps one of the arrow keys and watches as the glowing glyph that corresponds on the cube's display turns at her command. The glyph on the door also turns. The glyphs probably needed to connect together a certain way. Once the proper symbol was created, the desired outcome would cause the door to open. Or something like that. "...Let me guess. Solving this will unlock the door?" While she's quick to catch onto these things, it's uncannily familiar to her because she's been tasked with this sort of work in simulations at the corp before. (Were they preparing her for situations like this? She thought it was just to, like, test her competence or something. There's more to all of this than they ever told her, apparently.) The display is bright, though, so bright that it hurts her eyes. Especially after, uh, crying. Ugh. They're sure to be puffy after all of this! Reaching in her pocket dimensional purse for her goggles, she slips them over her head and kneels down in front of the cube's projection, studying the glyphs. Hm...

The ground rumbles again. A nervous sweat beads at Lettie's brow. She glares at the cube's display screen, urging herself to focus on this instead. The sooner she does what the cube wants her to do, the sooner they can get out of here. The better their chances of survival...

Before the faerie can make too much headway into her new project, however, she immediately snaps around when she hears the commotion of something-- or someone-- falling down the tunnel, punctuated by a whimper. (It doesn't sound like Juno, but when Lettie turns she sees that it is Juno. It couldn't really be anyone else, could it? Relief almost persuades her to collapse again-- but worry triumphs and convinces her to rush towards the pirate.) She leaves the cube where it is-- she'll get back to the puzzle as soon as she knows the pirate is okay. She scrambles over, looking very much like a nerd with her mused blue hair and goggles. "Juju!"

"...I wasn't." Lettie admits, frowning. Silently, she looks Juno up and down for wounds. There's nothing too noticeable-- no missing limbs or anything-- and she's standing up on her own. So she'll consider that a good thing. Whew. (Wait. Fuck a sec. Did she just admit she wasn't thinking? Why!?) "I-- I mean, yes I was! We need the cube." Or rather she needs the cube. It's the only way she can get home. Speaking of which, though, they're in Juno's home now. And there seems to be an actual reason for it, too. "So... question. Do you know where we are?" She bites her lip and then waves her hand. "Never mind. Just follow me. You gotta see this!"

Lettie gestures hurriedly for the pirate to follow her, rushing to the giant door. (She gets a sort of anxiety when cubey is out of her sight for too long. A faerie can never be too careful.) Thankfully, it's right where she left it-- still beaming that keyboard display board. "Check it out. I think cubey wants us to open this door." She kneels down in front of it again, preparing herself to get back to work. "I think it has something to do with its mission."

Lettie taps experimentally at a few more keys, watching as the glyphs turn and follow her commands. Then she tilts her head slightly, glimpsing Juno out of the corner of her eye. Is she really okay?

"So, uh, what happened up there? Did you flex and scare that fugly worm away?" Unable to get it off her mind, Lettie breaches the subject as lightly as a butterfly landing on a flower petal. (What!? She's not worried or anything. She just needs to know how Juno survived the attack, and uh... whether she sustained any injuries. For science and shit.)
 
The breath she has been holding comes out as a sigh when she hears the click of Olette's heels and spots her obnoxiously blue hair bounding towards her from the other side of the cave or whatever. 'She's okay. Olette's okay.' The tension melts away from her shoulders at this realization and she tries not to question why she had been holding tension anyway. She definitely doesn't care. (But that had been way too fucking close.) This is just about how the cube almost got eaten by the worm and while Juno does still regularly want to smash that fuck, she does also understand it's both their salvation and their Hell. There's nothing more to it than that. (However, she is curious about why Olette runs to her––the pirate's used to her running away from her so this is odd.) And just to set the record straight and prove to everyone that she doesn't actually care? She grabs the bridge of Olette's goggles and snaps them against her face. Granted, she doesn't do it aggressively or painfully––it's only enough to be annoying. And realizing that that might not send the right message––because why be annoying when Olette already knows she's an asshole––she adds in, "You look like a fuckin' bug, bug." It's been a while since she's used that nickname and she figures it deserves a reprisal. Especially in case the faerie forgot where she stands in Juno's heart. Err, her life, she means, because she's obviously heartless. (Or maybe not, because she immediately feels like she fucked up for doing that––for some reason she's concerned about the faerie hating her more. It is what she wants, but. Well, things have been different lately and Juno can't quite put her finger on it but she finds it both fucking threatening and kind of... terrifying.)

She pushes down those worries and reminds herself that attachments are for wusses and that she definitely would never form an attachment to anyone ever again, because she's not a wuss. She's also not a dumbass and she refuses to do anything that gets her hurt. She's a fucking fortress! And there's no way she's going to let a faerie in to tear it all down. Attachments are for losers who want to get fucking hurt.

Still, despite trying to drive a wedge between them, as she follows her through the lair (?) she does quietly inspect Olette's wing to make sure the damage isn't any worse. 'I need to just do it. C'mon, Juno, quit being a scared little bitch and just fucking do it.' Despite those thoughts, she knows she isn't ready. It's not even a mental block, it's just literally only been two days or so since she started looking over that wing and she doesn't know near enough. It's kinda hard to know exactly what she's working with without a good feel for what's underneath and shining a light through the membrane only does so much to help give her an idea of the damage. Plus, it doesn't matter how many of her anatomy books she studies when none of them are going to tell her how to work on a faerie. 'Maybe she's got a faerie anatomy book in that magic circle of hers?' But even she knows that's wishful thinking. Not because Olette is a dumbass who only carries, like, make-up in her magic circle, but because surely the faerie's seen her pouring over the pages of her beat-up shitty books and would have offered something, right? Juno just can't see Olette screwing over her own healing process.

When Olette asks her about Ripir, the pirate blinks a few times, having gotten lost looking at her wing. Without even thinking about it, she breathes out an airy, albeit amused laughed, "I fuckin' wish it'd been that easy. I just got lucky." The pirate shrugs and doesn't elaborate more than that. Why should she? Olette won't care and there isn't fucking more to say. Besides, that's exactly what fucking happened and it isn't anything for her to write home about. (Even if surviving Ripir is something of a feat in and of itself, it's not impossible and Juno didn't discover anything new about the beast that lurks underground.) Honestly Juno doubts she even killed Ripir. The thing feels invincible––like, she's heard stories of professional slayers going after it and perishing––there's just no way a rockslide crushed that worm. "You were honestly pretty fuckin' lucky yourself. I was pretty sure you were gonna be dust once it started chasing you." She decidedly leaves out the part where fear and worry all made a home in heart during those fleeting moments where she thought she was going to lose the faerie. It's, uh, not worth mentioning and also was fake. Just some fluke reaction. She clears her throat. "Musta been a bitch sliding down that tunnel on your back, eh? Y'should get someone to look at that." At this point, it's hard for even Juno to tell whether or not she's joking or mocking. Obviously, she's always making fun of the faerie, but adrenaline has been doing weird things to her lately.

Her attention then turns to the wall, looking over the pieces of the glowing glyphs and the cube. The cube that now fucking has a keyboard? "What the fuck," she frowns, looking between the cube and Olette, then back to the glyphs. There's a lot for Juno to take in so she decides to tackle this one at a time. "Desdemonia doesn't have shit like this," and yet the evidence speaks for itself. "At least I didn't fucking know it did." Like, Juno didn't even know what a glyph was until she met Olette and she still doesn't fucking understand them. For a few minutes the pirate looks between the wall and the keypad, figuring out just how everything is supposed to work. "Shit, so that robot wasn't lying about that little shit having a mission, eh?" She doesn't know whether she's relieved that there's a purpose to all this or not and so she decides not think about it. There's already too much on her plate as it is.

She takes a few steps back to get a better look at the glyphs shining on the wall, watching them activate as the faerie sets to work. This kinda reminds her of something she saw once while staying with the Duchess. ('What? That? Oh, that's a piece from before the Calamity, believe it or not,' the Duchess had said back then when Juno pointed out an old flag hanging from the banisters of her castle. 'Don't tell me you came all this way to ask about a flag, captain?') In fact, if she tilts her head to the side... "Olette, give me the cube," she shakes her shoulder, drops to her knees, and keeps her eyes trained on the door. Once the cube is in her hand, she begins tapping at the keys to turn and layer the glyphs on top of each other to form one complex glyph––mirroring the geometric pattern she had seen at the Duchess's estate. The border of the glyph is a circle and with the circle there are three pentagons with a ring at the center, making it look somewhat like a flower. "I saw this at––"

Before she can finish that sentence, the lair begins to rumble and Juno braces to face the worm again, but instead the newly formed glyph flashes bright, bright green, intense enough that Juno has to look away, and when the glare clears, the door is gone, revealing... nothing. Just an empty dark black abyss that seems to swallow light. It gives the necromancer the creeps. Juno's about to voice this when the cube floats up from her hands and shoots a beam of light into the abyss. The pirate looks hesitantly over at the faerie, "Let me guess, we have to follow?"
 
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Lettie tilts her head to the side, keeping her gaze trained carefully on the cube's display as if concerned that her eyes might say something more. Hm. Looks like she's not going to get any info about the fight, or those explosions up there... but if Juno is okay enough to snap her goggles and call her bug, she guesses she doesn't have to press it much further than this. (Geez. Her nose still stings, just a little, and in the aftermath she reminds herself to add another strike on her revenge tally.) She can't help but wonder if Juju hit her head, though, when she actually sorta laughs at her joke? And maybe the faerie hit her head at some point, too, because... the sound of her laugh is kinda nice? (Or maybe it's just nice because it's been so long since she's made someone else laugh. She's starved for validation that she's still funny and charming! Yep. That's probably it.) While she's thinking about the way the worm chased her, though, she considers that it's mainly because she had the cube. Why did the worm want the cube, anyway? The idea that something like that could be sentient somehow-- that it could want the cube for some kind of purpose-- sends a shiver down her spine. As if the creature wasn't already a freakish mistake of nature to begin with!

"Yeah, totally. I'll get right on that if I find a qualified volunteer before I die." Lettie scoffs at the mention of her wing, supplying a little dig of her own in retaliation. Ah, geez. Why'd she have to go and mention it, anyway? Thinking about it only makes it worse, if only because it reminds her that it's there! Perpetually throbbing, reminding her of the weeks and weeks it has gone unchecked and the potential long-term repercussions of that negligence. (...What if she never flies again? No, she can't get into that right now. It's too much along with everything else.) Her wings twitch, as if they know they're being talked about, and she flattens them against her back as if to forget that they're even there. Soon. Maybe. She has to remind herself that there's hope now that she's got a legitimate gig working on Lady. (Poor, poor Lady. If she had stayed around she'd have covered it in butterflies to chastise it for damaging the ship!) "Don't remind me."

'What the fuck.' There it is. Lettie arches a brow when Juno makes her own observations about the glyphs and the doors. There's no time for her to make any smart aleck comments that obviously there is 'shit like this' on Desdemonia, because the pirate acknowledges it herself a second later. Hm. So she's never seen this place before. That's not going to get them anywhere... but they're a step closer than they've been before, so it doesn't really matter when it comes down to it. It'll take her some time to crack this, but thankfully the cube's mechanisms are pretty self explanatory.

"Guess not." Lettie agrees. There is indeed a mission and they're along for the ride whether they like it or not. Narrowing her eyes, she continues to work at the keypad. "I think if I rearrange the glyphs just right, they'll make a larger symbol... and that symbol will unlock the door. Probably." Hopefully. She scratches her cheek. She's never seen glyphs quite like this before and she supposes Juno hasn't either, based on what she said earlier. "I just need some time to figure it out."

Or not, because suddenly Juno shakes her shoulder and interrupts her work. "...What?" For once, Lettie doesn't protest when the cube is taken from her. Maybe because Juno looks like she's actually got an idea... and it just doesn't seem like she's fucking with her. (Or like she's going to smash the cube, the way she's threatened so many times before.) Why would she in this situation, anyway? So... she doesn't fight it or reach to snatch it back. Instead she watches, her eyes gradually growing wider and wider as Juno actually solves the puzzle. (If she didn't resemble a bug before, she definitely does now.) Wha!? Get out! Lettie slaps Juno's arm repeatedly as the completed glyph glows and the door rumbles open, unable to do anything else. "Juju!"

Lettie glances bewilderedly between the open door and Juno. It seems cubey wants to join in on showing off as well, because it proceeds to float into the air and shoot another beam of light into the distance. The faerie shakes her head as she removes her goggles, tossing them into her purse. Her make up is smudged and her eyes are big and disbelieving. "You can fly now?" She asks the cube incredulously before turning to Juno. "And you! How'd you solve it so fast? You... you said you saw it somewhere before? Where?" If it has anything to do with the cube's mission, it's probably better that they discuss this, right? Or, uh, she might be trying to stall in part because that dark abyss ahead of them is pretty foreboding. The darkness seems to pulse towards them with the rhythm of a frantic heartbeat.

Lettie swears she hears something trapped within it. A screeching or a whirring? She can't decide if it sounds like machinery or like a living organism of some kind. The fact that it's hard to distinguish makes it all the more ominous somehow. Whatever it is, it sounds like it's in distress. She gulps. "I guess it's a good thing that nothing's showed up to attack us yet?" In fact, that has to be some kind of record for them. The only way to find out what lies within is to, uh...

Um. Lettie's thoughts slow and dissipate. She blinks slowly, finding that her eyelids have become unbearably heavy all of a sudden. (The tiredness she's been feeling lately presses down on her harder than ever, asks her to succumb in a particularly seductive voice she can't ignore...) That's when she notices a mist of some sort filling the tunnel, curling and rising around their feet. "...Huh? Shit!" Quickly, she snaps a hand over her nose and mouth as if that might protect her from it. There's no point, though, because whatever substance this is... she's already breathed enough of it in to sink her down to her knees. A knockout gas of some kind? With a mix of confusion (and maybe a pinch of fear) she uses the last of her strength to look at Juno. The pirate's scarred face flickers in and out of focus until it blurs out entirely. Who would...?

There's no time to ask, though, as the world around them fades and turns as dark as the abyss behind that door.
 
The last thing she remembers is saying... ("You fucking jinxed us, dumbass!!") Ugh, it doesn't matter. Where the fuck is she?

A bed, she's pretty sure, judging by how soft the cushion is beneath her. Also, whatever blanket she's under is heavy, warm and therefore impossible to ignore. It's all so fucking comfortable that Juno doesn't immediately open her eyes and that's atypical for the captain. Usually, the second she's released from sleep her eyes snap open and she darts out of the bed like it's made of thorns or something, but after everything she's been through this past, what? Month? There is nothing that can stop the pirate from savoring this, even her stubborn desire to forgo sleep at all costs isn't strong enough to lift Juno from the bed. And after a few more minutes of lazing and sinking further into the plush mattress, she admits that she could get used to this––this is fucking luxurious. Goddess, it's so disarmly comfortable that she doesn't even remember that she should be very concerned about getting knocked out only to wake up somewhere entirely new. It's hard to remember that when it feels like she's in a comfort cocoon. Even the air around her smells warm and inviting (and fucking expensive, somehow).

Juno's senses eventually return to her, stirring her to full wakefulness. With great effort, she blinks her eyes open and looks around the room, trying to place herself. "Wuthefk?" She rubs her eyes and sits up in the (confirmed) bed and takes a second look at the room. Woven tapestries hang from the ceiling, giving it this billowy effect; the walls are covered floor to ceiling in oil paintings or taxidermied heads of both pre-Calamity game and post-Calamity game (the major difference being the mutations of the latter collection). An elegant golden chandelier hangs from the ceiling and...'The Duchess?' Because no one else can make this level of gaudy work.

That revelation gets the pirate to slide out of the bed to take a closer look, just to confirm where they're at. They're. They. Both of them. She turns around. Where's Olette? Before panic can settle in, before she can even reach for her bones, a skeleton (not one of hers) enters the chamber. They're dressed as a butler and their glowing eye sockets indicate there's a soul attached to their bones. They clear their (nonexistent) throat and announce, "The Duchess of the Lower West cordially invites you to dinner this evening." The skeleton gives her a once over and though it has no facial features, it somehow grimaces. "You are welcome to use the wash facilities. Clothes are in the wardrobe."

"Where's, uh, Olette? She shoulda been with me. She's short as Hell and her hair is probably past––"

"Worry not, your partner is in good hands. She is just over in the other room. She has also been invited to dinner and you may see her once you have freshened up." Not willing to discuss this anymore, the butler skeleton bows and exits the chambers, leaving Juno alone to wonder just what Olette is doing and how her wing is fairing. 'Oh, shit her wing!' That spurs the pirate to go for the door, but, interestingly, when she tries to open it, it's locked. The Duchess has never locked these doors before in all of Juno's years frequenting her castle. But it's probably nothing, right? "Fuck."

***​

Similar to Juno, Olette finds herself in a lavishly decorated room––however this one seems to have a specific avian theme, given all the mounted taxidermied wings on the wall. Must be pure coincidence. Besides, what she is sleeping on can only be described as the epitome of what a child imagines a cloud should feel like. Whoever placed her in the bed even took considerable care to lay her on her stomach. There also seems to be a cool cloth resting over the injured wing. On the side table there is also a bottle of painkillers with a note written in what must be the world's tiniest handwriting, Take two every five hours. Clearly, whoever owns this estate cares deeply for her guests and must take hospitality as a sacred code of honor.

Again, mirroring the pirate's experience, the butler skeleton enters her room and announces, "The Duchess of the Lower West welcomes you to her estate. She extends this cordial invitation to dine with her this evening. Everything in this room is free for you to use and anything in the wardrobe, you are welcome to wear." The skeleton is about to bow out, but then seems to remember something and adds, "Your companion is safe and in the other room getting ready. You will be allowed to see her at dinner."

***
​
A couple hours later, after Juno has freshened up (fuck, she missed hot water) and selected clean (black) clothes from the wardrobe, the skeleton from before comes back to the room to fetch her. On the way to the dining hall, the skeleton also retrieves Olette but there is no time for the pair to catch up. Juno can't even look to make sure her wing is okay before they arrive at the large, grandiose double doors to the dining hall. The doors swing open and a waft of air slaps them both in the face. All at once the smell of a feast much too large for just three people (but this is typical of the Duchess) hits them and Juno's stomach gurgles, pulling her forward to the table where the Duchess sits (a banner with that glyph from before hangs behind her). Her lips are painted red, her brows are perfectly sculpted, and her cinnamon hair cascades elegantly down her back––not a single hair dares to be out of place. She has high, sharp cheekbones to match her strong jawline and the dress she wears, hugs her form in all the best ways. It also shows off her ample chest and Juno can't help but to ogle.

When the Duchess rises from her chair, the pirate strides over to her with a wide grin on her face (yeah, despite how odd these circumstances are, Juno can't say she doesn't miss seeing a friendly face after all this time). The two embrace, kiss cheeks, and laugh despite no words being said. "Duchess!" the pirate exclaims, taking a few steps back from the noblewoman to bow in an exaggerated and obviously mocking manner. "Goddess, how long has it been?"

"Juno," she smiles, laughing and caressing the pirate's cheek, "I told you that you may call me Cassidy––I'm beginning to think that you don't know my name," she doesn't, "and it's been much too long! At least a year, I reckon?" She then gestures for the pair to take a seat at the table where the Duchess––Cassidy––sits at the head and the pair are allowed to sit next to each other on her right hand side. "It seems you have been quite busy, Juno," she lifts one of those carefully sculpted brows and eyes Olette. Her sharp blue eyes flicker over the faerie, paying special attention to her wings. "Are you going to introduce me to your girlfriend?" Then she addresses Olette directly, "How do you stand a pirate's manners? So rude, isn't she?"

At that, the pirate's cheeks burn––mostly because of the implication that they're girlfriends when they aren't even friends! She nearly blurts that out, but given how Cassidy eyes Olette's wings like a starved fox... Juno makes the impulse decision to reach for Olette's hand and interlock their fingers together, shooting both women an apologetic smile. "Ah, fuck, sorry––yeah, this is Olette. She, ah, just sorta fell into my life and nothing's been the same since." Technically, all true!

Skeleton servants flock to the table in that moment and begin serving them a little bit of everything––from the roast, to the cooked bird, the soup, and all the sides. (Olette is specifically served one of the bird wings, but surely that is all coincidence.) Red wine is poured into their goblets and once everyone has been served, Cassidy signals for them to eat. "Olette... What a pretty, pretty name. Tell me, Lady Olette, how did a scoundrel like Juno ever steal the heart of a skyward?" Because obviously the faerie has to be from the skies with all her glitz and glam. No one on the ground, after all, would think to augment their body to have real wings attached to it. (Ah, if only Juno had time to explain the social dynamics of the planet! Fuck!) "I knew it was bold of Juno to date Terra, but I never thought she'd have enough charm for a skyward."

"But I suppose I do understand the appeal," she shoots a flirty smile over at the pirate, causing Juno to both blush and concentrate heavily on her plate. "I even found myself shocked to have the pirate in my bed," she adds in a wink, "But don't worry about what your parents might think! Once they meet the captain, they'll understand how you fell for her. She's just such a delight, is she not?" And the funny thing is? Cassidy sounds earnest in her assessment of Juno's character. "Do tell me all about your love story! Juno certainly does not have a way with storytelling, so I am quite curious to know everything."

The Duchess then picks up the second bird wing and brings it to her lips, never breaking eye contact with 'lady' Olette. "I assume that you were also with Juno, then, when Lady Vengeance blew up Clay's entire fleet of ships a few days ago?" Somehow, that question sounds loaded and soon, they'll both understand why. "Quite curious how you all traveled so quickly from the southeastern skies to the west. That trip usually takes a week. Would you mind regaling me with that tale as well, Lady Olette?"
 
Oh stars. Lettie's not sure what wakes her faster. Juno's absence, the utterly tasteless sight of the wings mounted all over the walls around her... or the skeleton butler stepping in to inform her that this is the 'Duchess's' estate. Struck silent with shock, she can only watch as the butler steps out as if they didn't just drop a bomb on her. The Duchess. That Duchess? The rush of blood in her ears supplies the music as pins and needles dance all over her skin. ('I'm sure the Duchess will have fun with her new marionette.' Of course she remembers the threats the pirate hit her with when they first met. They're back in Desdemonia and the wings strung on the walls like an implication, enclosing her like an encroaching threat...) The faerie wheezes when she realizes she stopped breathing at some point. Her vision doubles as she glimpses the blurring bottle of painkillers at her bedside. In a room like this, it seems sinister. Resisting the temptation to smack the bottle to the ground, she instead steels herself and screws the top off, tipping it over her hand. Specifically, she plucks up two of the pills as the note instructed and chucks them into her purse. (Just in case someone checks.) Fine. She'll bite. She'll try and play whatever little game this is... but she's not taking any of those fucking pills until she knows what's really going on here. Never mind the fact that she hasn't been mounted to the wall yet... maybe the Duchess likes to play with her prey before moving onto that stage? She can't rule anything out. The cold (admittedly comforting) cloth draped over her wing is probably just there to lull her into a false sense of security. Pull yourself together, Letts.

Juno's safe. The pirate is still a pirate. But she... won't let anything happen to her, right? Then again, it feels laughably naive to think that when their first meeting is still permeated with echoes of those threats. Who's to say the pirate won't sell her off to the Duchess (if she hasn't already) and take the opportunity to clean her hands of her once and for all? After all this time, they're back on her world, so... maybe she'll try and resume her life as usual. Whatever her life was before a disaster magnet faerie crashed into it. (Worst of all, she doesn't know where the cube is either.)

Ugh. Who knows anything anymore!? This is such a clusterfuck. Lettie guesses it's a good sign that she'll see her at dinner. If anything, that means Juno hasn't abandoned her there. She also remembers the butler skeleton saying something about a wardrobe. (Naturally, her ears are attuned to these things.) Dinner is when she'll need to focus on fighting for her life. For now, to keep herself from snapping (the line she's treading right now is very thin) she distracts herself by ensuring that she looks absolutely stunning for the occasion. And yes, the faerie always looks stunning. But there is something heavenly about being able to wash and style her hair properly for the first time in forever. She glyphs it into a soft pink and styles it in a loosely plaited waterfall braid (it's soothing to get into the rhythm of braiding it this way despite the intricacies of it) and also dresses in a classy black dress and heels. The skeleton never specified what attire to go for... and everyone knows a little black dress is perfect for essentially any occasion. Even a dinner with a Duchess who may or may not have plans to turn her into an exotic pet.

***​

Lettie's not sure what to focus on as they're escorted to dinner. Her gaze bores into their surroundings (taking note of potential escape routes) and occasionally sneaks across the hall to the pirate. (For now, there's nothing she can gauge about what they're in for. No signals, no nothing. Her heart begins to race as if she's being led to the edge of a cliff and not into a dining hall.) Before long they're standing before the Duchess herself... and all she can do is watch as she and the pirate exchange their friendly greeting. Is friendly even the right word for it? (...Probably a good thing they're so focused on each other, right? Neither of them notice the way she visibly tenses up. Gee. Getting really fucking handsy, aren't they? This obviously seems like a problem. Ahem. She straightens herself up promptly and makes sure that her cordial mask is perfectly intact. No, she's got this. She's totally got this. She's beautiful! Her hard work getting ready paid off because she's sure she's prettier than the Duchess... even if the Duchess is a certified babe. Ugh. Typical. Of course she is! Just look at them both... laughing with each other. Touching each other. Everything about it leaves a foul taste in her mouth. Well, maybe except for the implication that Juno might not even remember the Duchess's name. At least it's not just her? And that's not even applicable to her anymore... Juno has been calling her by her name lately, hasn't she?)

'Are you going to introduce me to your girlfriend?' Lettie's pleasant front flickers briefly when she realizes the Duchess is referring to her. While normally this might be her cue to insist that they aren't girlfriends, she finds that she doesn't know what to say. (Not that she could even if she wanted to. She's on the verge of hyperventilating, actually.) All she knows is the woman is staring at her wings... and hungrily at that. The faerie knows that she's not prepared for this. There's too much she doesn't know. She doesn't know what the right answer is, what the Duchess expects, what the Duchess might do to her if she makes one little misstep...

Juno takes her hand and Lettie holds what she considers the last breath she'll take before she loses her damned mind. (This is the pirate's chance to shove her towards the Duchess. Complete with an offended "Fuck no, take her! She's all yours!") But instead, she finds herself floored when Juno smiles and... rolls with that narrative? The girlfriend narrative. 'Oh. Okay? Okay...!? Is this what we're doing now?' Latching onto this lifeline she's been thrown, she hastily reciprocates the handhold and plasters on one of her prettiest smiles. She'll analyze whatever the fuck she's feeling later. (Or perhaps it's better that she doesn't.) Namely because doesn't make her insides squirm the way they did when she tried the same rouse for Carpet. Like... at least the pirate's not the type of person who's going to sell her off anymore? That naturally brings her attractiveness meter up a few notches, okay? That's just the facts, it says nothing about her own opinion on the matter! Juno's there with her. Saying she's with her, anyway. And the faerie finds that she can breathe just a bit easier with that affirmation. "Pleasure to meet you." She sounds casual to fit the established dynamic... but polite enough at the same time to show respect. She dips into herself into a brief little curtsey.

The faerie might have said something like 'I've heard so much about you' to top it off-- but knowing Juno? She figures that'd be out of character enough for the Duchess to ask exactly what Juno has said about her. (...And she has a feeling she shouldn't bring up the marionette thing over dinner.) She needs to be careful about what she says, sensing that she's about to walk over a minefield.

Lettie makes a mental note of the glyph hanging on the wall before determinedly focusing on her soup first when the food is served. She has no appetite for fowl. (The taste in her mouth is foul enough as is, having these wings paraded around in front of her! If the Duchess intends to watch her squirm, though, she's got another thing coming.) ...Except for the fact that her wings twitch against her back as if willing themselves to disappear, flowing with a kaleidoscope of unsettling colors. Unfortunately, she can't help it that this place is triggering all of her inherent defense mechanisms. She raises a brow, once more trying to distract herself with the gossip the Duchess is serving alongside dinner. (Skyward? She takes a mental note of the word, although she doesn't really know what it means. Didn't Juno call her that when they met?) And... date? Terra? (Huh. And she thought Juno didn't do dates. Something about liking it 'hot 'n heavy'? Which is apparent when the Duchess confirms that she and Juno had a thing. Hmph.) She decides to let the other woman prattle on before giving an answer of her own.

"Oh. Well, I don't seek my father's approval for anything these days." Lettie says it with a breezy laugh to keep it from sounding like she's unloading her dirty laundry all over the table. "He's something of a scoundrel himself... and not in the charming way." She sighs and decides to spin a whole narrative of it. If she links these parts of her story now they'll be easier to remember and link together later. "To be completely honest, that's part of the reason why I ran away from home. I certainly didn't expect to crash-land on Juno's ship in the process... but that's exactly what happened. We were ambushed by nightmares and she saved my life." The faerie drapes a hand over her heart with a dramatic little flair. "There's nothing quite like watching her fight, is there?" (There might be a sprinkle of honestly hiding behind her words here and there.) She tucks a strand of hair behind her ear, then, playing it bashful. The Duchess wants a 'love story', right? That means she's got to sell it. "I can be myself with her. I feel safe with her in a way I haven't with anyone else."

Something in Lettie's chest squeezes tight and she ignores it. Quick, quick! Lighten things up! "...That's not to say it's all been sunshine and rainbows. For instance, Juno only has one dining chair aboard her ship! Isn't that ridiculous?" She gestures across the dining table at the vacant chairs all around them. "You should really take notes from the Duchess, Juju."

Lettie swirls her soup spoon, feeling that she's doing okay so far all things considered... when the Duchess brings a wing (of course) to her lips and asks another question. She freezes her spin mid-swirl and blinks twice. Clay. Clay? (...Carpet! Oh, right. Him. So his name was actually Clay.) It's strange, though, because they blasted Carpet's roasted corpse out of a canon more than just 'a few days' ago. And that's because the stench became intolerable. Overall it's been more than a month since that happened at least.

A few days. A few days implies that the flow of time is passing differently on Juno's world than it has for them all of this time. (...Fuck. So how much time will have passed on Avangeline when she-- if she-- ever makes it back home? A few days? Or contrarily, a few years?) Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck!

"...Well, I'm certainly not one to reveal a lady's secrets." The faerie smiles coyly, pushing her panic back to that place where she insists that she'll 'deal with it later' and looks at Juno, with an expression disguised to ask for her permission. (It's actually a silent plea for help. She doesn't know the implications of any of this.) "Lady Vengeance is a legend. Only the captain knows her mettle."
 
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Sitting between two absolute stunners is never a bad position to be in––usually, that is. Caught between the Duchess (who she likes) and Olette (who she despises), Juno finds herself torn and upset. Torn and upset because she has more or less chosen the fucking faerie over the fucking Duchess––an absolute fox and a riot in the sack. (It's been so fucking long and she honestly could use the destressor. It's not like she'd ever in her right mind turn to the faerie, of all people, for this type of relief. Hot as she is, she fucking hates her. Besides, even if the thought hypothetically crossed her mind, herself and her fake girlfriend have already mutually agreed that even though they are essentially the last people left in each other's lives, they are not crossing that line. Nope. Nuh-uh.) Honestly, Juno's even surprised she rolled with the Duchess's (what's her name again?) narrative. They're back on her planet. She's fucking safe. For all she knows, once the cube finishes up here, it'll leave her here. She's not banking on that or anything, but still... she didn't have to stick her neck out for the fucking faerie just because the Duchess clearly wants those fucking wings. (She does note how both women were served wings and she suspects that's no coincidence.) Fuck, she coulda made a killing had she shoved her over and started talking negotiations. Instead she grabbed her hand. Grabbed her fucking hand and just went with it. She can't back out now. Cassie fucking hates liars (even if she is one herself).

While all of these ponderings occupy the pirate, the Duchess eyes Olette with that sharp gaze of hers, like she's appraising a diamond. And shouldn't that be a compliment? To be seen as valuable, especially in the eyes of a player like Cassidy, the duchess? Her (perfect) brow arches upward and the peak is like an arrow when Olette's wing erupts into a kaleidoscope of color. A million fantasies flash through her eyes, making them look like lightning. She licks her lips and bites into the wing. Then a laugh bubbles from her throat like sparkles of champagne at Olette's comment about her father. She picks up her glass to raise a toast, with the silent prompt that the pair should follow suit, "Fuck fathers and their bullshit." She sips (Juno does as well with a small easygoing smile). "Yours must have been particularly awful to make you flee, such a shame. At least mine had the decency to die early and leave me with all of this," she gestures around to the castle. At the comment regarding the pirate's battle prowess, Cassidy gives a sagely nod. "I have always told Juno that she could make a comfortable life for herself if she just let me sponsor her as her champion, but she's never taken to that idea. Though I can't say I'm too upset, she has helped me grow my collection immensely."

"Not interested in losing my fucking eye––that last fight was way too fucking close," she shrugs, as if that memory doesn't still cause her to panic. As if she still isn't sensitive when anything threatens to get close to her face (like "harmless" snowballs). Rather than risk ogling at Cassie, the woman who is not her fake-girlfriend, the pirate's focus has been mostly on her plate––largely ignoring the vegetables and other leafs for the mashed potatoes (which remind her a little bit of gruel) and stacks of meat. (Meat is an absolute luxury and she'd never fucking ignore that.) Though when Olette calls her out on the chair, Juno looks over at her, scarred brow raised because, 'Is she really bringing that up now?' (It also makes her wonder what else might have been true in what Olette said. She had guessed that she must've been lying through her teeth, but she knows that gripe is true. She's particularly curious to know if maybe the faerie does like watching her fight. She doesn't wonder as much about Olette's supposed comfort around her, because that has to be lie. But the other stuff could be true... Maybe? Ugh, why is she even getting hopeful over this!?) Juno's thoughts don't stay there long when she notices the faerie's wing doing that thing they did the first time they met. While she doesn't know what it means, and has never bothered to figure it out, she does recognize that it's bringing undue attention to the wings and that worries her. The Duchess isn't exactly the pinnacle of moral goodness and even oblivious Juno can imagine what she's thinking. The pirate frowns and sets down her utensils to shrugs off her coat. Then she gently drapes it over her shoulders, letting her hand slide over her neck and giving her brief massage––like this is something she does all the time. And if she's playing the role of girlfriend, she, um, might as well lean in. Really sell it. Anyway, she puckers her brows into concern and says to her fake-girlfriend/mortal enemy, "This place is fucking cold as shit, ain't it? That's what happens when you're a fucking nerd," she shoots Cassie a playful look, "and turn your estate into a museum."

Whatever the Duchess's reaction is to Juno's light roast of her character goes unnoticed by the pirate. (If Cassidy is bothered by the dig, she doesn't show it and masks it with a laugh, a flick of her wrist, and a sip of her wine.) The pirate is instead focused on Olette. Even if Juno's conveniently forgotten about all of her threats back from when they first met, that doesn't mean she doesn't recognize how delicate this situation is. The faerie is a faerie in a world where faerie's don't fucking exist and while the skyward cover is safe, because so little is known about them, there are still plenty of other landmines for them to dodge. Yes, them, because even if Juno sort of regrets siding with the faerie, they are in this together. And if they're going to be a fucking team, morale needs to be high. (Not that she suspects anything is up––other than that little raver wing magic, Olette's been... impressive. Somehow acing this test Cassie is putting them through.) "Hey, starlight," she's not going to question the pet name, "you should really try the roast." The pirate then pokes Olette's slice with her knife and pointedly looks between the faerie and her set of cutlery, begging her to pick up the one weapon she's been offered. 'I know knives are fucking dangerous in your hands.'

When it's Juno's turn to pick up where Olette had been meant to fail, the pirate nods and reaches for the faerie's hand to give it a quick reassuring squeeze, then she turns to face Cassie (Cassidy). "Clay's an idiot," Juno starts, unsure of where to take this or even how to make this story sound good. "He brought an entire fucking fleet to arrest one fucking pirate? I'm not even on the top wanted list anymore––thanks for that, Cass," ("Cassidy.") "I could fucking understand maybe, three, but the entire armada? What a fucking pea brain. Desperate times, desperate measures," Juno gestures vaguely, hoping that fills in the details (it doesn't and she knows that). Juno sits back in her chair (maybe she should steal one of these chairs to solve that chair issue) and swallows her wine in a single gulp, most likely hoping for inspiration at the bottom of the goblet. "How the fuck was I supposed to know sending a shock blast like that would overheat their engines?"

"Hmm," the Duchess considers this for a moment and while she seems satisfied with the answer, she points out, "That still doesn't explain how you've been hopping around Desdemonia." Once more she lifts her brow. While she still seems friendly, there is veiled threat hidden behind her eyes and this reminds Juno that they were never invited to the Duchess's castle. They were brought here after being suspiciously knocked out back in the canyon. And now Cassie is curious about how Juno's been traveling. (Not to mention the drop that it's only been a few days and not a fucking month since the Clay incident. Fuck, fuck, fuck. 'One thing at a time, Juno.') The pirate supposes that mentioning the cube would be a bad idea––mainly because everything that's happened to her sounds fucking made up and there've already been fucks trying to pry it from them. Calling it a relic or whatever. Who's to say that the Duchess, the woman who seems to have connections everywhere, isn't also one of those fucks trying to get her hands on the cube? (The glyph on the banner behind her doesn't inspire good feelings within the pirate. It seems like a literal red flag.)

Juno lets out an airy laugh and crosses her arms over her chest, trying to keep up the ruse, "You know I love that ship more than I love my own fuckin' life. I've been upgrading her engine since I copped Lady from the stewards." Of course, Juno's own upgrades haven't improved Lady nearly as much as Olette's, but at least she can back her claims with hard evidence. Speaking of her ship... "Where is Lady anyway? You take her too when you picked us up?"

"No need to worry about the legendary Lady Vengeance, captain," she assures, but it's clear she doesn't buy the excuse for one reason or another. "She's docked and safe. An inspection crew has already assessed the damage she took from Ripir and are making repairs. Your crew is also being taken care of by my necromancers." None of this should be concerning. This is just the good Duchess's usual show of hospitality, but somehow Juno thinks it's more than just that. The Duchess has never inspected Lady before or offered help with repairs––and Juno's arrived with the ship on actual fire. None of this is adding up, but the pirate isn't sure what angle Cassie is playing and that means it's still too early to pull her weapon. Even so, she drops her arms from her chest and sets a hand down over her supply of shards. 'What is it that she wants? I've got nothing on that ship,' and, despite how she's been eyeing Olette's wings all night, she does think this is about more than just securing another exotic find for her collection.

Given Juno's sudden silence the Duchess decides to continue on, addressing both of them this time with a pleasantly sharp smile on her lips, "I apologize for my nosiness. It's just that nothing ever exciting happens at the castle and finding out that you have bolstered your legendary status, captain Juno, I just have to ask. I mean, perhaps I do believe that it was a shock blast that took out Clay and his fleet; perhaps I can even buy that you've upgraded your ship's engine and broken all laws of space and time to circumnavigate the globe a span of four days. I might even believe that she," she points towards Olette with her chin, "is a skyward. But I have one last question," Fuck, fuck, fuck! "and for both your sake's, I hope that I absolutely believe it. It has to do with the tomb you two uncovered that tipped off my wards. How did you open it? My family has been trying for centuries and been unsuccessful. Moreover, what did you do with the treasure hidden inside? That is all I want to know."
 
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Lettie considers focusing the conversation on the fight that Juno nearly lost her eye. Not because she's particularly curious about the pirate's adventures or anything (or maybe she is a little) but primarily because she knows she needs to do something to take the attention off of herself. (Yes, unbelievable as that might sound! Sometimes the tables turn-- attention is fun, but not like this! Not when she's being stared at like a piece to be hung above someone's mantle instead of a beauty who inspires admiration while she's still perfectly intact.) Between the wing on her plate, the wing held to the Duchess's red lips, and the way her eyes stare at her as if she's envisioning her teeth sinking into the faerie's wings instead, it probably wouldn't take a rocket scientist to deduce that she is stressed the fuck out. (Bleh! This bullshit is taking years of her lifespan, she just knows it.)

Even though the faerie's sure got this as far as her acting goes, considering the generally successful toast that her story brought on, but-- ah! Something brushes over Lettie's shoulders, sending her heart fluttering into a high-speed frenzy. (An ambush!? A sack? Are the quote unquote 'painkillers' supposed to have kicked in by now?) She flinches at first, because she doesn't expect it, and then softens when she realizes what's really happening. First of all, nothing's being forced over her head. Breathe. Apparently even Juju has noticed something is wrong with her wings when she drapes her coat over her shoulders. And, uh, gives her a casual massage in one of the smoothest moves she's ever been on the receiving end of. It feels... ah, (she hates it and the pirate is not that smooth!) nice. The, uh, character she's playing-- which is to say Juno's girlfriend-- would think that this is nice. The fact that her heart is pumping faster and faster is a testament to how committed she is to her role! Just like Juno is proving that she's got some acting skills of her own in the way she leans over and looks at her like she gives a shit. That concern, of course, is also all for show. She gratefully draws the ends of the coat a smidgen tighter over her shoulders, playing up the narrative that she's cold (it's nothing like paranoia or anything, hahaha) and offers an uncharacteristically meek little nod of thanks when words fail her. It's a fortunate thing it's there, otherwise everyone in the dining hall would have witnessed her wings turn a faint petal pink that'd match her hair. She's very tempted to inform the Duchess that she won't get a light-show from them if she ever tries detaching them from her body. The magic flowing through them comes from her. Faerie wings look much, much prettier attached to a beautiful faerie's body-- along with her emotions and everything that makes her who she is while she's still alive, thank you very much.

'Starlight'? It takes all the skill Lettie possesses not to raise an eyebrow at that nickname. There's more to focus on here than the nickname and the way it makes her feel, after all. (Wait, what? It does not make her feel anything! It's just nerves. And acting prowess.) The way that Juno looks between her and the cutlery sends a clear message to her. Pick up your knife. Oh. (...Does she think they'll have to fight their way out of this one? This is a natural solution for the pirate, yes-- and the pirate is indeed still a pirate at the end of the day. But this is Juju's world, where the repercussions of these actions here may follow her around in the future. She and the Duchess seem to get along well enough on a surface level. And, ahem, under the covers apparently. That doesn't change the glyph hanging above their heads, though, and the fact that she collected them from that supposedly hidden tunnel with some kind of knockout gas.) "Hm, shall I?" The faerie replies curiously, her words betraying nothing even remotely dubious as she reaches for her utensils and cuts a small square of the roast. The piece she cuts for herself is small, ladylike, and the way she takes a dainty bite makes it indicative that she is used to attending fancy dinners. "Ah, it's delightful. You really have prepared such a grand feast for us, Duchess. Thank you for your hospitality." Yes, the Duchess has indeed been very hospitable. If they ignore the fact that she essentially kidnapped them and all. With the reminder that her knife is there, a means of defending herself other than magic (which she assumes will enlarge the target on her back) she once again manages to calm her breathing. For good measure, she washes the bite down with a sip of wine to further sedate her nerves.

Juno grabs her hand and Lettie is glad that she doesn't have to explain any more-- because surely the sound that came out of her mouth after that would've been a helpless little wheeze. (Uh. Wow, Juju. She's really committing to the role, isn't she? The faerie takes this as incentive to do better on her own side, reciprocating the squeeze. We've got this. Never mind the fact that the Duchess cannot possibly pick up on the fact that their handhold just became a little tighter when she's so eager for details.) Being the supportive 'girlfriend' she is, Lettie nods in firm agreement as Juno asserts that Clay was an idiot. He truly was.

That's another hurdle they've passed (for now, anyway-- the explanation probably leaves the Duchess wanting more) and it becomes increasingly evident as the woman continues asking questions that, yes, she does indeed want more from them. Naturally. It is undeniably odd, what's been happening... but 'it's the fucking cube's fault' doesn't sound like a decent excuse. (Even if that is their reality.) Shit, shit, shit. Lettie considers the types of diversions she could create in this situation. Many she has devised for occasions such as these involve magic. Magic which, for all extents and purposes, is ruled out in this particular setting. Drawing suspicion to herself when the wings on her back are clearly coveted goods in this 'museum' is a big no-no. They're in deep shit, though, and... desperate times! (Well... technically I can use magic. As long as I don't get fucking caught.) What's more harmless and surreptitious than a little bug, anyway? Especially when it's a little bug in a room among so many ferocious, mounted beasts.

Lettie reaches for her goblet with one hand, to make it apparent in everyone's mind that she's still focused on her meal and not on something else, and casually flicks her other hand in a practiced movement underneath the table where no one can possible see it. A small butterfly emerges from the palm of her hand and she instructs it to fly out of everyone's range of sight. Fortunately, the Duchesss cannot possibly pick up on an effervescent bug of all things while her attention is so fixed on pressing them both for answers. The faerie wonders if she's petty enough to take out one of the Duchess's finest pieces, or the flag that hangs overhead like a threat, or even better yet-- one of the mounted sets of wings as an act of revenge. It is a true testament of her self-control that she doesn't do that-- because she doesn't want this being traced back to her. (There is a risk that it will be regardless. She's a variable in this that no one can explain fully, what with her wings and everything. Getting out of this might have to involve a little violence, though, considering they don't necessarily have the right answers at their disposal. Talking is usually her preferred means. In this situation, though, she's at such a disadvantage that she's genuinely desperate enough to go for the pirate's usual methods.) And, hey! If things do devolve into chaos? She'll target the wings then and get her revenge.

"Oh. That's interesting! Was there supposed to be treasure inside, Duchess?" Lettie raises her chin calmly instead of shrinking in her seat, knowing she won't have to talk for long with her chaotic little diversion flapping its wings as she speaks. There is no point in denying that they were standing within the tunnel when they'd been caught. Denying that ever happened would be an obvious lie. "Such a shame, isn't it Juju? Someone must have gotten to it before us, then. Perhaps someone who actually knew what they were looking for? After all, Ripr essentially chased us into the tunnel. We found it by pure accident." And that part is true! She tilts her head and twirls a stand of hair idly around her finger. "In fact, if I were inclined to believe that beast had a mind of its own... I would say we've been set up. Perhaps by someone who knew what they were looking for going in? Someone who would have actually been able to predict and bypass your defenses. Unlike the two of us. Had been any treasure, surely you would have discovered it on our persons, or perhaps on Lady?" She senses her butterfly creeping on the back of a mounted piece on the other end of the room. Good. It's in position, whenever they might need it. But... not yet. The timing is very delicate. "Where else would we hide such a treasure? On the ground?" The faerie laughs, the sound as clear as bells. (She considers this is a safe observation to make, considering the way Juno always seems inclined to beeline it back up into the sky whenever they were anywhere remotely near the ground on her world.)

"It seems that you've enlisted my Juju's help for quite a lot of your marvelous finds in the past." Lettie refers to her museum of a home with the elegant wave of her hand, which she eventually sets on Juno's arm. (Ah. Muscles. Focus!) "...Perhaps you could allow us to search for whoever it is that might have made off with the treasure? We may be specifically qualified for this task, what with Lady's ability to travel so quickly." She smiles back at the Duchess, with an innocuousness that quite perfectly hides its own daggers. "In truth, a lot of unexplained phenomena has been following us around lately, much like a ghost. It's just as you've already observed, with Lady's inexplicable flight patterns. Forgive us if we cannot articulate it properly when we can hardly explain it ourselves."

Unexplained phenomena... just like the unexplained explosion that will occur soon enough for 'evidence' of that, if things go south! But Lettie decides she'll hold onto that card for now. No need to choose violence unless it seems like a good way to make a point, right? Triggering an explosion so soon after saying that would make it way too obvious!
 
The faerie's ease sets the pirate at ease. It even makes her wonder whether or not there really is anything that she should be so worried about if Olette's being so casual about this entire thing. And that does make it easy to forget that everyone in the room is putting up a front and hiding their cards, but that's good. That means they're still players at the table and not getting their fucking fingers chopped off in the cellar. (And, yes, Juno does have reason to believe that the Duchess would do that to them. While her and Juno have a business partnership, Casper is cutthroat and it doesn't matter who you are at the end of the day––if you stand between her and her goals, it's game over. Not that Juno is trying to cross her, she knows better than that, but everything about this situation brings a level of tension she wishes she could melt away by peppering kisses up the Duchess's arm. Too bad she's already committed herself to being Olette's fake girlfriend and not even Juno is enough of a scoundrel to fake cheat.) She's honestly playing the game better than Juno herself and the pirate's tempted to let her take over––clearly, this is where the faerie excels. (But she also excels in making shit explode, upgrading Lady, being fucking annoying, looking fine as Hell, and... Where was Juno going with this, again? Fuck. She needs to focus and not on her fucking fake girlfriend.)

Except that Olette is fucking stealing the show with her tact and poise. Again, color the pirate impressed. Fucking impressed even. 'Damn, she learns fast.' Sure, she definitely doesn't sound like a total native to Desdemonia, but she reckons that skywards wouldn't––they're in a land of their fucking own––but they would know the ground is dangerous, hence going skyward during the Calamity. Olette using what she's knows based off her short stint on the planet and Juno's passing comments... The pirate is starting to overhaul her perception of the faerie for the nth time since discovering she's not entirely fucking useless back on... Fuck, she doesn't even remember the world or the moment, but she's been doing a lot of reorganizing in her mind when it comes to the faerie. Who she still very much hates! That's been the singular constant through all of this, obviously.

Anyway, Cassidy considers Olette's story, mulling it over while she lets her wine sit in her mouth before swallowing. Her features do not betray her and give little away behind what she's actually thinking of the situation. The duo only have what she says to go off of. "Yes, there is indeed treasure buried in that tomb. Or there should have been, but when my guards arrived they found you two and an empty room." The Duchess leans forward and steeples her fingers together. "But you say you only stumbled upon it accidentally?"

Juno can feel her pulse spiking straight through the roof, but she does her best to ignore it. It helps that Olette's hand is on her arm, because the warmth gives her something to concentrate on to distract from her panic. (That it feels nice is entirely irrelevant. That she might have tensed and flexed is also irrelevant––that had been an automatic reaction and definitely not one of her many ways of subtly showing off how impressive and stupidly buff she is.) She sweeps a hand through her hair and nods in response to query, "I mean, how often do you see me on the ground, your grace? My feet only touch solid ground if I'm at your estate, the taverns, or some other establishment in a city. You know I fuckin' hate the wild. And if you've already gone through my ship, then you know I don't have anything on there 'cept for sewage. If you want that shit," she smiles in a way that can only be described as typically Juno, as in it's totally smug. "It's all yours."

"Hilarious and charming as ever, Juno," Cassidy rolls her eyes, and Juno takes that as a good sign. She could have easily sent an arrow through Juno's heart just then, so this must mean they're still allies. At least until the Duchess (or they) decide otherwise. "Yes, I know it's uncharacteristic of me to rifle through your things but the relic," fuck, "that is supposed to be buried there is important to me. Beyond my collection, it's supposed to contain power beyond what any necromancer has ever seen. Obviously, you understand why I do not want it falling into enemy hands, do you not?"

"Sure," Juno replies, maybe a little too fast, but she adjusts and reaches for Olette's hand because they're pretending to be girlfriends and so that means she shouldn't ignore her fake-girlfriend/real pain in the ass. It's not for comfort. She's captain fucking Juno and she doesn't need comfort. "But it's like my baby said, we didn't see shit before you knocked us out. Where your guards caught us, is as far as we got. If you want me to track down the bastard that took your family's lot, you know I'm your gal. But this? C'mon, Casp––" ("Cassidy.") "Cassidy, I'm not a fucking treasure hunter." Stereotypes about pirates aside, Juno could care less about hunting for treasure. She'd rather ransack a ship that has a guaranteed payout. (Even the faerie's initial ploy to save her skin hadn't enticed Juno that much. She only agreed, because, at the time, she figured it'd just kill two weeks of her life before she turned her over to... 'Oh, shit.' Yep, now she remembers the threats. It's all coming back to her.)

"Ah, I do apologize for that. I sent in a fresh-faced crew and they are bit too enthusiastic to bring back prisoners. For whatever reason," the reason, in Juno's experience, is that they're fucking sadists. Honestly, now knowing this, they're probably lucky the Duchess looked over her prisoners before leaving them with her guards. Otherwise... Otherwise they'd've woken up upside down for sure. "But I suppose I have no reason not to trust you, right, Juno?" The pirate shoots her a look that says, 'Of course,' and Cassidy continues on, "Though I am curious how you even ended up so close to the ground in the middle of nowhere. Starlight," she teases, "was saying you've been experiencing anomalies?"

The pirate opens her mouth to make up some more fucking bullshit, but before the first syllable can fly out of her mouth, the giant double doors fly open (putting Juno at alert) and a tall gentleman strides into the dining hall as if he owns the place. "I apologize for my tardiness, your grace. Time slipped away from me." He takes the seat across from the duo and snaps his fingers to beckon the skeletons to serve him. Everything about him sharp and put together. Despite being young, his hair is white as snow and slicked back into a neatly gelled pompadour style. He wears an all white suit that looks like it's been freshly pressed and, from up close, Juno can see that the his eyes are a soft shade of pink––the same shade as Olette's hair, actually. Now that he's sitting across from them, it is also apparent to the necromancer that death is hugging him. And if that is not a thick enough perfume, the metallic smell of blood also emanates from him. 'I fucking hate blood magicians.' "What have I missed?"

"Oh, not much," Cassidy replies, "I think we were just getting to the good part of their story. Captain Juno, lady Olette, this is my new head of guard, Angelus. I thought to have him here tonight to, ah, acquaint him with those in my web. Anyway, they were just telling me how the chamber was empty when they found it and about some anomalies with Lady Vengeance."

Juno opens her mouth to speak and, again, she is interrupted by Anglerfish. "Anomalies? Well, I am not surprised they are having such experiences!" he exclaims, setting down his cutlery and leaning back in his chair. Then, from seemingly out of nowhere, he pulls the cube out and sets it on the table. Fuck. "Especially when they've been messing with the relic for months, now––at least according to the bonehead whose skull I had to crack to get this thing. Captain, you really should bring back smarter spirits."

"My," Cassidy gasps, swiping the cube from the table, "it's even more beautiful than I could have ever imagined." (Alright, while Juno knows the Duchess has questionable taste it's just a fucking cube!) "Now," her eyes slide over to the pair, "why lie about finding this, hmm?"
 
Lettie swallows hard, scrambling to keep her composure from slipping when Juno's muscles flex underneath her hand. (Oh stars. Is she doing that on purpose!? Because it's very-- very distracting. It stimulates her imagination and accompanies all kinds of visuals. Imagining the way it'd feel to sweep her hands through her hair as Juno does it. And the way it'd feel to be held in those arms and shoved against a wall (in the fun way) to do the things that girlfriends do and-- shit! Hold the fucking phone. This is Juju she's thinking about. And the pirate is still the pirate, even if she is her fake girlfriend. Oh. Right! Again, this is just... getting into character. Of course her girlfriend would melt into a little puddle on the floor feeling her flex. So it's not that deep, okay!?) She has to keep up, though, because this is essentially a matter of life or death. So she reigns herself back in--filing away taverns and city establishments as information she can use in her arsenal later if she needs it. On the sidelines, she silently wonders what those places are like. Aside from the murky skies and that canyon (and this... unsettling estate) she's curious as to what the world looks like outside of these walls. (That academy and ominous pile of bones also comes to mind. But now's not the time to think about that. In fact, it's never the time to think about that...) Juno slides a joke in and the Duchess seems generally receptive to it. Everything seems to be going okay until-- the relic!?

The relic, as in the cube. When Juno holds her hand, the faerie grips back even harder. Lettie's heartbeat skyrockets in her chest. (She needs this. She doesn't! It's just a rouse! But she can't breathe. She can't breathe and at a certain point the conversation fizzles to cotton in her ears, where every voice sounds echoey and faraway. Having something to hold onto through it helps. It's just a coincidence that it's Juno's hand! It could've been anything. Like, holding a roast wasp would've comforted her just as much.) 'Come on, Letts. Don't lose your shit now!' As a safety net, she still has her butterfly perched patiently on the other side of the room. There's still a way out of this... even if she has to set something on fire and Juju has to use her stupidly buff muscles to find it. She reaches for her wine, hoping that downing the rest of it might help.

--And Lettie almost does a spit-take. Because every time the faerie is close to regaining her balance, the tightrope she's walking gets swayed by yet another gust of wind. This one feels like the overpowering force of wind that pulled her down onto Lady Vengeance and broke her poor wing. (And she is walking such a fine line that she almost sets her butterfly off the moment the double doors swing open. Thankfully, the remnants of self-restraint she still possesses keeps her from doing anything too drastic. It also spares her cute black dress from a wine-stain as she manages to gulp it down.) Angelus. Angelus, Angelus, Angelus. Why does he appear so familiar to her? Something is wrong about all of this. He really shouldn't be giving her those vibes. Because this is Juno's world and no one from Avangeline should be strolling around on Desdemonia. (Except for her! Unless...) He carries himself with the air of an arrogant douchebag, the way he strolls in and snaps his fingers at the skellies as if he owns the place. That doesn't necessarily narrow down her search of sourcing where she knows this guy from, though, because there are plenty of faces she can categorize as 'arrogant douchebags' from Avangeline in her mind. It's not her fault if she loses track of them all from time to time! Her brain naturally discards useless information and this guy, whoever he is, must be generally unimportant to her. It's been so damned long since she's dealt with anyone from home, too. But when he looks over at her, his pink eyes sear right through her as if he's got blackmail on her. As if to say 'I know exactly what you are.' Her heart dissolves into a pile of ashes in her chest. It's over, isn't it? She can't talk her way out of this one, it's just not going to happen! (Fuck, fuck, fuck. Is this guy one of his goonies? Has her time run out on Avangeline...?)

Then the cube is set on the table and the color drains from the faerie's face altogether. In the process, the man smugly confirms that he is indeed a grade A douchebag. Ugh, gross! How dare he hurt Abby!? She needs to say something! Something, something, something...

"...You're mistaken. That's mine. Or, ah, rather I took it from my father's study before I escaped from home." Lettie says it as smoothly as she can, even if everything in her is trembling like leaves on the wind. She's trying to keep up with her improvised story, even if something in her senses that all hope is lost on that front. This is the closest she can get to the truth, anyway. The faerie's whirlwind of a life with the cube began on Avangeline, before she ever stepped foot on Desdemonia or met Juno. (Geez. Months. It feels like a lifetime ago.) "I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to call bullshit."

"Bullshit?" With infuriating ease, Angelus raises an amused eyebrow as if to humor her. As if he's confident he holds all of the cards in this scenario. He probably thinks he does. He probably thinks he's got the silly little faerie at gun point. But he's got another thing coming! Because this isn't Avangeline and she is not afraid to set things on fire. "Do go on."

"Yes, bullshit. We haven't lied. Don't you see that this narrative you've come up with is full of holes?" Lettie protests calmly. She knows what she knows, anyway-- and while they have lied about some things, the parts that they've been telling the truth about (namely that their appearance in the tunnel was an accident) are the very things that are being called out as lies. "Why would we go back down there if we'd already taken the relic that was hidden there for ourselves? No point in sticking our necks out, investigating a secret tunnel on the ground when the 'treasure' that's supposedly there has already been stolen. That said, this still smells like a setup to me." Protectively, she closes Juno's coat tighter around her frame and eyes the Duchess. "We learned the hard way that that tunnel is kept under tight surveillance. If we bypassed your defenses before, Duchess, why would we return and also be careless enough as to get caught?" (Never mind the fact that the cube was their key inside. If a key was locked inside of a room and the only key that could open said room was the key itself, how on earth would it escape? Well... the faerie wouldn't put it past the cube, actually. It has proven that it teleport-- just like it teleports from her purse to Abby's ribcage on a regular basis. Fucking cubey! Now her head hurts. Did the cube originate on Desdemonia? If so, then why was it sealed away in that testing chamber on Avangeline?) ...Whatever the case, the cube has a mission. That's one thing the faerie does know with certainty. If it needed to search for something in that tunnel, that meant that something more had to be in there. Something that the cube wanted. "How do you even know that cube is the treasure you've been looking for if you've never seen it for yourself? It's been-- what was it-- decades that you've been trying to open that door to no avail? The way I see it, you've stolen something from us. You bullied poor Abigail into giving you something that belongs to me and are now conveniently claiming it's your treasure to suit your own narrative."

"Hm. Those are some grave accusations. According to your story, it rightfully belongs to your father. Or perhaps it was one of his ancestors are the ones who stole it in the first place? In which case, the relic is back where it rightfully belongs in the Duchess's hands." Angelus tilts his head, as if considering something. Then he smiles at her, as if she's a child who doesn't know what she's talking about in the grand scheme of things. (It makes her want to pull a Juju and punch him in the face.) "Miss Olette Lycoris Radiata, right? Your father sends his regards, by the way! He's worried sick about you, disappearing the way you have. I do wonder what reward a skyward might pay to get their beloved daughter back?"

Oh. Oh shit! Fucking shit. He's throwing her full name at her, slyly confirming that he knows who she really is. Lettie glares. Angelus smirks back. Okay. At this rate, either she's going to end up in the Duchess's collection... or she's going to be held for ransom for her fake Desdemonia father. This bastard is playing cat and mouse with her and she's not having it! ...This man is going to get her killed if she lets him. And no way is she going to let him! At this rate, not even Juno's fake dating idea can save her if that guy has been whispering in the Duchess's ear. He'll either sell her out as a faerie-- an exotic pet on a world where faeries do not exist-- or do something with her himself. (...And the cube, her only ticket home, will be in the Duchess's grasp. That can't happen!)

"...Then you don't know my father, because he wouldn't pay a cent. If it counts for anything, Duchess, I think Angelus here is spinning a web of lies." Lettie deadens her voice and her insides at once when she makes her decision, finding she's reached her limit as she looks pointedly at the Duchess. Welp! This is it. "And with all due respect, I wouldn't hold the cube like that if I were you. It's quite volatile when it senses it's in the wrong hands. Don't believe me? Then consider this. If that little cube is responsible for the anomalies, just as Angelus says, then isn't it also fair to say that it's what took out an entire fleet of ships?" The faerie smooths her hands over the table, specifically to keep them in plain sight. Just so no one thinks to trace her to the explosion... and also to ready them in case she needs to grab a knife. "If you aren't careful, it might do the same thing to your lovely estate. That would be a shame, wouldn't it? All of those pretty wings you've got mounted on your walls, blasted to bits." She grins. It's a little lopsided, a little wicked. "...Right cubey? What do you think?" Yes, she is talking directly to the cube in front of a room full of people. But she might be losing her mind with panic right now. (The last couple of months have done this to her, she knows. Her life has been at the mercy of that cube for so fucking long now.) Anyway. She's about to choose violence, so it doesn't really matter.

...So with that? With that, Lettie activates her butterfly and the entire back wall explodes with a satisfying BOOM!
 
Juno swallows hard when Angus and Olette start verbally sparring with each other. The tension in the air sucks up all the oxygen in the room and the pirate’s convinced that the mounting pressure alone is going to kill her. They can’t keep this up. They’re going to get caught. Hell, Juno reckons that they’ve already been caught and this is just part of the Duchess’s game––they were screwed from the start and Cassidia only wanted to see how brightly they’d fucking burn.

They’re fucked. No, scratch that, they’re fucking FUCKED.

To make matters worse, Olette begins talking to the cube. (Not that it's unusual for the faerie to talk to inanimate objects. At this point, the pirate has accepted that she's fucking weird. Like, she befriended an entire crew of skeletons and seems to have something nice to say about each and everyone of them even if they are objectively all boneheads.) It’s not even that she's talking to the cube (like a fucking weirdo) that causes the pirate to arrive to this conclusion, it's that she's putting everything out there. She's spilling more truths and weaving more lies than Juno knows how to keep up with. She's also basically threatening the Duchess. Then there's that wicked little lopsided grin on her face that spells t-r-o-u-b-l-e (and if it were a more appropriate time to be making this observation, Juno definitely wouldn't be thinking that it's very cute). So, yeah...

Olette has officially fucking lost it and they’re fucked.

The pirate prepares for an all out bloodbath, and, for once, she isn’t sure how she feels about this direction. (Like, this is the Duchess. The captain doesn’t want to make an enemy out of her, but it seems like she doesn’t really have a fucking choice and the decision's already been made. Fuck.) Yeah, well, it never fucking matters how Juno feels and before she can even reach for anything on her belt to defend herself with, the back wall explodes––tipping over the table, knocking over some of the flags hanging from the ceiling, and sending everyone flying forward.

(Juno knows this isn’t the cube even if Olette was trying to pin it on that bastard. She knows it also wasn’t Olette stealing one of her bombs. This is one of those fucking bomberflies and honestly, she’s fucking impressed that the faerie managed to craft one without her noticing. Like, when the fuck did she set this up? The realization that the faerie had probably been preparing for disaster that entire time definitely doesn't make the pirate's heart thump or skip a beat! No, that's just her surprise from the explosion.)

The dust hasn't even settled when Juno scrambles to get up. She doesn’t check on the Duchess or her new henchman––she doesn’t even try to track the cube––she only searches for Olette. When she finds that fucking (genius) faerie, she grabs her by the arm and pulls her towards a side exit, knowing that the guards will be filing in from the front at any moment. Thankfully, she knows this estate pretty fucking well having frequented it so often and she knows exactly how to get to the docks from here.

“You could fucking warn me next time,” she snips once they're out of the dining hall and booking it down a hallway lined with portraits of the Duchess’s ancestors. The pirate says this by way of thanks even if she sounds upset and annoyed––that's just her default tone. “But you better fuckin' have more of those, ‘cause there’s no fucking way we’re getting out of here without running into more trouble.”

And that statement’s proven true when a couple of guards pop out from a door a few yards ahead of them. Juno doesn't even give them the chance to yell a threat, because when one opens his mouth to speak, she's already tossed an enchanted molar their way; it explodes into a mass of stakes that pierce straight through their heads and chests. Then, as if this is the perfect time for conversation, the pirate looks over at Olette and asks, “Who was that Angus guy back there? No one should know your fancy ass name here––’side from me,” and Juno only knows her first name. The last name switches between Lycan Radio and Licorice Rathaus and by the time Juno thinks of it again? It’ll probably morph into something even worse, as is her pattern with names. “The fuck’s going on?”

As they continue to barrel through the castle, in a rare show of concern, she casts a glance over her shoulder to check on Olette and make sure that she's still following. (The gesture doesn’t even strike her as odd, yet it is, because under ordinary circumstances Juno wouldn’t give two shits about the faerie and whether she’s still following or even if she’s safe. This is obviously only happening because she still hasn’t broken character as Olette’s girlfriend. And, no, it doesn’t occur to her that they can drop those fucking roles.) She slows her pace just a bit and places her hand on the faerie’s shoulder (fuck, she’s been touching her a lot lately, hasn’t she?). “Look, I kno––”

“You fucking bastard pirate!” Cassidy’s voice tears through the corridor in an ear splitting shriek; it’s layered with several other chilling voices. The pirate turns to look over at the Duchess, whose hair is disheveled and who is covered in scrapes, and her sharp blue eyes just about freeze Juno’s soul. ‘Fuck.’ “Give back to my family what you stole, you lying thieving bitches!”

If shit hadn’t hit the fan before, it certainly was going to in the next second. The Duchess gathers a breath and raises her arms above her head. The air goes still. The candles all start to burst and explode, smearing wax all over the walls and getting onto some of the artifacts. When nothing but the darkness remains, an ice wind cuts through the hall and the entire mansion groans to life. Pairs and pairs of yellow eyes open up along the walls and ghostly blue bodies start peeling themselves away from their portraits. Some of the taxidermied corpses and skeletons even squirm and come to life. ‘Fuck.’

Cassidy snaps her finger and her goons rush forward. Ghostly weapons materialize in their hands and some of the ghosts even latch to each other and fuse together, forming giant unholy constructs. 'Triple fuck.'

Right. On the long list of reasons to never ever fucking cross the Duchess? She comes from a very long line of powerful necromancers who are particularly gifted in summoning spirits. This also happens to be Juno’s greatest area of weakness. (There’s a reason only three of her skeletons have spirits.) Welp. "Explode the floor." The pirate paws at the faerie's arm, clearly desperate, "Explode the fucking floor–– the docks are three floors down–– just do it!"
 
Lettie coughs amidst the billows of dust swirling around her, ignoring the pain throbbing in her broken wing as she drags herself on hands and knees towards the cube, which lies a few feet away from her. (Cubey seems to understand her intentions right away and flickers into her hand automatically, very much like it had back when the Ripr had tried to snatch it up. There.) Even as that one relief settles with her, her heart still pounds like a sledgehammer in her chest. Stars. This is what she's chosen. Time to deal with the consequences. Now what? (Firstly she hides the cube inside of her purse, where it'll be safe. Unless it spontaneously decides it wants to hang out with Abigail instead.) She didn't see any escape routes on the way to the dining hall. She doesn't know where she's going to go next, but... before the faerie knows what's happening, she blinks as she realizes that she's being pulled by the arm and led off by Juno of all people. Of course Juno of all people! The pirate chose her over the Duchess when she took her hand back there. (For some reason.) All personal feelings aside, they're fighting on the same side. As to why Juno chose her side to begin with? She guesses she can think about that later, when nothing is on fire.

Rolling her eyes at the comment that she 'should've told her', the faerie focuses her energy on running rather than giving a sassy retort. (Maybe they ought to come up with some kind of secret code for next time... uh. Next time? It's not too far fetched to think there might be a next time, though, is it? Considering all the chaos they've endured together thus far and all. Their mission isn't over yet and the cube surely isn't letting them off the hook that easily.) Lettie doesn't really pay much attention to the portraits on the walls, instead focusing on Juno's back as she runs. She's, uh, not ogling the pirate or anything like that! She's keeping her focusing forward so that she can achieve her goal! And that's to break out of this place in one piece so that she can collapse peacefully. (Preferably in a bed.) "'Course I've got more where that... eek!"

Lettie's eyes widen when the guards emerge at the other end of the hall. But before she can worry about that, Juno promptly takes care of them. Then, without missing a beat, she proceeds to ask a question pertaining to Angelus. Oof. She touches on all of that stuff the faerie's been trying to keep from her mind so that she can prioritize escaping this creepy estate. (Honestly, this stress may be enough to kill her later. When she begins to consider the implications of everything that was revealed and discussed over dinner her stomach turns endless somersaults. Like 'stop the ride, she wants off' somersaults. She feels physically sick.) Come to think of it... Juno knows her name. Well, duh! But it occurs to her that it is kind of strange. The pirate has been using her name lately. This shouldn't be too unusual, considering they've known each other for a while now... but the pirate is the pirate. And throughout the dinner, she couldn't seem to keep track of the Duchess's name. And of course she hasn't committed Angelus's name to memory either.

"I... I'm not sure. Someone who has it out for me, I guess." Lettie admits, tugging the pirate's coat tighter around her shoulders for comfort. Someone that she doesn't know or alternatively someone that she can't place right this second. (She's been away from home for so damned long.) Then she frowns, tracing her finger around her bracelet. (Her bracelet, which conveniently hides the scar encircling her wrist.) The people who'd go hunting her down are powerful enough to have henchmen she wouldn't necessarily recognize, so...

Later. We need to keep going! The faerie shakes her head to restart it and rushes to make sure she's keeping up with Juno's pace. Her legs are shorter, which means she has to curse her height silently and push herself doubly just to keep up. She imagines this is how it's going to be until they (hopefully) get out of there-- but then Juno slows her pace so she's beside her. Setting a hand on her shoulder... not to shove, or punch, or anything remotely like she's used to. Her hand just rests there. It's warm. Comforting. Lettie's cheeks turn a faint shade of pink. "Juju?"

Lettie's not going to figure out what Juno claims to know, though, when the Duchess interrupts. And stars does she sound mad. (...Fair. She did ruin her swanky dinner by exploding everything and stealing the cube back. Is she sorry, though? Pfffft! Hahaha! Nah, no fucking way. That's what she gets for messing with her! If she thinks she's going to scare the faerie into submission with her bullshit then she's in for a rude awakening.) "Don't get it twisted, Cathy! You're the one who stole from us." Now that she can throw all her ladylike tactics out the window, she impishly sticks her tongue out at the Duchess. (Cassidy, she knows. However, she figures that as Juno's fake-girlfriend, she might pick up on some of her habits for funsies. Because they're, uh, still doing the fake-girlfriend thing, right?)

The pure, harmless joy of Lettie's mischief is tragically short-lived when the Duchess raises her arms and begins summoning ghosts and corpses from the walls. Yikes! She swallows hard, watching wide-eyed as she takes in the yellow eyes, the way they merge together and summon weapons. That's unsettling, but she figures Juno will know how to handle this sort of thing... until the pirate is clings onto her arm and tells her to explode the floor.

...If Juno is suggesting they run instead of face this head on, Lettie is inclined to believe that's what they've got to do.

Shit! "O-okay... Okay. I got this. I've totally got this!" Anyway, it's either that or allow the stampede of the Duchess's undead monsters to rush them. (There's no time for looking glass magic-- no time to suck the spirits inside like a vacuum. She just has to explode the floor. She just has to do it and hope for the best, despite the horror creeping up in her chest.) Lettie spreads her fingers in a quick motion, unleashing a few butterflies around them. BOOM!

Lettie inhales a sharp breath when she hits the floor below. The impact on her broken wing immediately throws stars in her eyes like a warning. She blinks hard, fighting to see through them. Agh. (Two more.) The faerie does a brief check to ensure Juno is in an okay position to fall through another floor, not even wanting to look above to see if the monstrosities are following them through the hole in the ceiling. (They are.) "Still... still got this. Just a sec." Then she summons another butterfly to take them down another level. BOOM!

After a repeat of essentially the same thing (except the pain she's in is intensified with each blast) Lettie sends them crashing down to the final floor as Juno instructed. The docks. Only this time when she lands, a block of rubble from above falls and lands directly on top of her broken wing with a sickening crunch. It crushes it and effectively pins her in place... like one of those sets of wings mounted on the Duchess's walls. (An involuntary cry rips through her, sounding animalistic in how wounded it is.) Every time she tries to yank herself free, it's like taking spikes through her spine. Her nerves are being set aflame and a deafening ring blasts in her ears. Trembling from exertion, she concentrates and glitches herself free from underneath it. Her body briefly flickers like an x-ray, with butterflies hurriedly flapping their wings in her ribcage. Then she's herself again, white-eyed and exhausted. The faerie's legs want to give out beneath her. It takes everything she's got just to stand.

It's not over yet. The Duchess's lackeys are still coming after them (the ghostly ones, at least) sailing through the holes in the ceilings every time the dust settles. A corpse or two fall through a lot more clumsily, landing on the floor with moans and splats.

"...That way, right? Juju, let's go!" Lettie tries to shake it all off. (She can't, though. Not completely.) Her vision might be hazy, but she's pretty sure she sees where Lady is being taken care of. Just a little bit further. She huffs out an audible breath and continues to run as fast as she can. (Although she's not sure if she'll be fast enough to outrun this, after everything. Fuck. Aside from take the cube back, what will the Duchess do if she catches up to her? The mental image of her own wings hanging on the wall in the very room she'd last slept in flashes through her mind and provides incentive to push herself harder. Of course... that's precisely the moment that she gets too worked up about it all, causing her to lose her footing and slip. Shit, shit, shit!)
 
Life or death situations aren't exactly new to the pirate––even before the disaster magnet entered her life, her life had been a cruel game of survival and Juno had faired well. She never lost any limbs and only almost lost an eye and even if she had lost pieces of her corpse? She'd still be a-fucking-live and that's more than most people can say, because on Desdemonia not everyone makes it to be as old as Juno. Not when they are born on the ground. However, ever since the disaster magnet entered her life? There have been more close calls than she cares to admit––mostly because the nature of each situation has brought something new even if it's the same 'ah, fuck' scenario when stripped down to its essentials. That has led to the pirate relying on the faerie far more often than she would fucking like, but this is her life now. Letting a fucking faerie save her skin time and time again. (That it's happened so frequently recently does worry Juno. In the back of her mind, she's starting to wonder if she's losing her edge if she can't solve these problems on her own and has to rely on Olette of all people. Even if she doesn't necessarily mind the help, she's not used to relying on others––outside of her boneheaded crew, of course.) At least her saving grace is that the faerie has never once fucked up when it's come to saving their lives. (Well, or the cube comes in for the save, but that little fucker is not fucking reliable.) All they need is to blast through to the bottom level of the castle––if Cassandra didn't fucking want her immaculate home destroyed, she really should not have messed with the duo who have never once left a situation/scenario without starting at least one small fire. And usually, they aren't even small fires.

"Yeah, you fucking got this," Juno nods as she whispers her encouragement, half distracted by the horde of ghosts and revenants making their way over to them. 'Hurry the fuck up!' She decides to keep that one to herself, knowing that it's not exactly helpful. Instead, she focuses on what she can do and preps to clash with the Duchess's small army. (And this is honestly overkill when Juno knows she does, in fact, have a small army at her disposal. This only goes to show how pissed she is, because Juno's never seen her cast like this before. That's not Cassandra's style, she doesn't like to be involved in these altercations, but clearly whatever they've got is something that she wants and badly.)

Naturally, just as Juno's getting ready to draw a ward, the faerie comes through. She'd breathe a sigh of relief were it not for the fact that they're crashing through the floor a second later, resulting in Juno losing her footing and subsequently landing on her stomach. The wind gets knocked out of her and she gasps, but there's no time for proper recovery. Not when she sees the horde still chasing after them through the hole in the ceiling. (The Duchess can also be heard cursing up a storm that would put even the pirate's language to shame and, again, there's some small satisfaction in knowing she's gotten so thoroughly under her skin. Yeah, it might be the last thing she ever does, but this ought to earn her some legendary status, no?) When the faerie mumbles something about 'still got this,' Juno is too winded to do more than giving her a thumbs up and brace when she spots the next butterfly. For the next two impacts, she merely closes her eyes, covers her head, and tenses her body, groaning with each landing.

When they're finally at the bottom level of the estate, Juno scrambles and dizzily gets up, going so far as to hold her own head to keep herself straight. She has to blink a few times to place herself and once she's taken inventory of her surroundings, she looks for both the faerie and the horde. Everything that isn't Olette is erased from her vision when she spots her crushed under that piece of rubble and the cry she releases freezes the pirate with its chill. 'Get it together, Juno. Go get her!' She shakes her head and rushes towards the faerie, not willing to even consider the idea of leaving her. (She hasn't even scoped out the exit route––no, oddly enough, the first thing she did when she recovered enough of her senses was to look for the fucking faerie, of all people. She'll investigate this anomaly later or, more than likely, never.) However, Juno once again proves that she's useless in this situation when Olette's body lights up and she phases through the piece of ceiling. (It does give her a brief glimpse of the bones in her crushed wing and Juno's stomach clenches, because it looks like crushed pieces of stars.) "Are you––?"

She doesn't need to finish the question when Olette starts to slip a second later and Juno doesn't hesitate to catch her before she can fall again. "Sh-shit, I've got you." (And that's more or less what Juno had meant to say earlier before Cassandra cut her off.) Her eyes flicker up to the moaning, splatting zombies who manage to reform themselves (not fucking fair) and claw after the duo. The pirate grimaces and hoists Olette onto her back without even thinking twice about it, but somewhere she's done the calculation that this is the best way to keep her wing from getting further crushed and to give herself enough range of motion to power through this small fraction of the horde. (The rest are still falling and recovering from the other two explosions, and she knows they don't have much time before they are joined by the entire conglomerate.) "Hold on, we're almost there."

Now it's fucking finally time for Juno to show she's not entirely useless. Determinedly, she grabs her whip and lashes it out towards the former taxidermied animals, causing them to do a combination of melting and exploding. Then, similar to when Clay's zombie freaks had been on her ship and chasing her down, she pulls the blood from her various scrapes and cuts and draws a ward to create a temporary barrier between them and the ghosts. It should be enough to buy them enough time to get to Lady. With that taken care of the pirate turns on her heel and books it for the docks. She glances over her shoulder towards the passenger on her back and something in her chest squeezes (her heart). "This isn't gonna be smooth, so just brace yourself."

The pirate does try to make her sprint as smooth as possible but nothing can really distract from the fact that Olette is riding on someone else's back and that was always going to provide bumps and jolts along the way. (At least Juno tries to warn her when she thinks there's going to be a particularly difficult obstacle to leap over.) When Lady is only feet away, Juno fishes around for her radio and shouts into it, "Marjorie! Fire up the engines––now!"

"Oh, captain! Are we being chased? Do you know what the Angelus fellow did to poor Abigail? Her head is in shambles! Will––"

"Marjorie! Fucking focus, you bonehead!"

Either Marjorie understands the gravity of this request or she has decided to give the captain the silent treatment, either way, she doesn't hear anything from the skeleton after that. As they continue, she can feel her blood ward starting to crumble as time passes on and as more ghosts butt up against it, sacrificing themselves, but also weakening it for the rest of the horde in the process. Just as she steps onto the ramp leading into the ship's underbelly, she feels the ward break and she doesn't dare look behind her to see what follows. Nope, no time for that. She sets the faerie down and motions for two nearby skeletons to support her. She can tell the engine is still warming up and she can see the ghosts outside getting closer and closer to the ship. She smacks the button to the drawbridge to pull it up and she know that won't necessarily stop ghosts, but it at least makes her feel somewhat more protected.

Wasting no time, she then slits her palm open and draws another hasty ward to fend off the ghosts; she even enhances its strength by infusing it with crushed pieces of bone. Marjorie or some other skeleton must have seen the ghost army chasing them, because she can hear the ship groaning as its forced to rise before it's technically ready. (Hopefully those upgrades Olette's been working on have helped improve the ship's overall resilience? Eh, she's pretty sure that's not how that works. Whatever.) Outside, she can hear the ghosts banging up against the ship, trying to phase through the wall, and the clanging echoes through the corridor. The pirate pays it no mind for now and once again looks at the faerie, who has saved their skins for the nth time now. She opens her mouth to say something and closes it when Marjorie calls for her over the radio, "Captain, should we fire the cannons at the Duchess? She's starting to set up the harpoons."

"Fuck––yeah, obviously! Blast the entire castle for all I care, just get us the fuck out of here!"

"Captain," Inez of all skeletons replies, most likely having snatched the radio from Marjorie. Mischief coats her words and it is worrying, but it's also the least of Juno's concerns right now. "I am going to make sure you eat those words."

Juno cannot even be assed to care about that statement when her attention returns to the faerie and the expression on her face almost looks apologetic. Even if what happened to her wing back there isn't her fault, she just feels bad for some reason. Like, she can feel her own back twitching and aching just looking at Olette. She grabs her hand, forgetting that they don't need to keep up the whole fake girlfriend shtick, and suggests, "Let's head up to the deck and watch Inez fuck shit up. Then I'll, uh," she gestures to her gnarled wing, "take another look at that. See if there's anything I can do. I, um, I'll have to touch it––I won't know exactly what's going on otherwise..." She rubs the back of her neck awkwardly and brilliantly finishes with, "So, yeah."
 
"...Mhm." Lettie feels herself slipping when Juno catches her and hoists her onto her back, giving her no reason to believe that she hasn't 'got her' at this point. (Juju is carrying her. She also chose her over the Duchess. Does she understand why yet? Well, no. But she's not really in the right frame of mind to be analyzing any this now. Knowing them, there's a very real possibility that she may never learn why.) That's fine, she guesses. This is fine. As long as they escape the Duchess's estate alive it'll all be fine. Nevertheless, with the pirate's reassurances in mind, she wraps her arms securely around Juno's shoulders. She melts against her warmth and finds that all she can do from there is to hold on tight and hope for the best.

The rubble effectively crushed Lettie's personality flat with pain because her broken wing overtakes everything that she is in those moments. There's no internal dialogue on the fact that she's trusting the pirate of all people with the rest of their escape, no sassy commentary or excuses. All she can feel is her wing, mangled, twisted and throbbing. Bones point in every which direction like a sky of smashed constellations. Piercing agony, agony, agony. (Thanks to Juno, she at least doesn't have to worry about running anymore. She just has to hold on, just has to wait this out, and... it is comforting to know that someone's got her. That someone's trying, even if it all ends up going to shit.)The air itself slices through her wing like daggers whenever Juno jumps and turns corners, even if she hears the warnings and can feel an effort being made on her behalf whenever the pirate's (stupidly buff) muscles tense and she shifts her about to keep her in a generally stable position. (Why does she care so much?) She clings tighter and hides her face in the crook of Juno's neck, holding whimpers of pain between her clenched teeth.

Agh. Lettie promises herself she's not going to fucking cry. She feels small (...or rather smaller than usual) and knows that if she cries she's really going to feel like she's reverted into a defenseless little kid. When she hears Marjorie mention Angelus and considers the full scale of her issues, she finds that's exactly what she feels like. A lost little girl who's in way over her head. (...How much time has passed on Avangeline now? Depending on the answer to that question, it might not even matter if she makes it out of this. Being the disaster magnet she is, it'd be just her luck to survive through hell and back only to make it home and find out she's already fucked.)

Lettie can tell the world is shifting around her as Juno sets her down on the ground, finding that she's not falling over because skeletons are there at her sides. (They're Lady's crew and not the Duchess's lackeys, she knows, because the pirate would not have gone to all of that trouble just to turn her over now. They're in this together to the extent that she doesn't feel threatened by Juno of all people through her feverish haze.) The going ons in the world around her paint themselves mostly through noises-- the sounds of the drawbridge cranking shut, the crackling of radio static, the back and forth between Juju and the skeleton crew. Meanwhile the faerie sits there no doubt looking like a hot mess, covered in fresh scrapes, bruises, explosion dust and a sheen of sweat. She seriously contemplates testing those pills she'd thrown into her purse to see if they're actually painkillers. (Remembering the way the Duchess stared at her wings and set them up for failure, though, she finds she's not desperate enough to resort to that just yet.)

Then Juno takes Lettie's hand and effectively shuts down that line of thought entirely. She doesn't pull away... for reasons. It's just nice to have something other than the pain to focus on! (Never mind the way her heart clenches seeing the expression on the other woman's face. Looking at her like she actually gives a shit... heh. No way. The pirate giving a shit about a silly fucking faerie? As... as if! And yet after everything, somehow the notion doesn't sound quite as far-fetched as it did before.)

"M'kay." Lettie offers, finding that's really all she can offer right now when every breath she takes is dagger-sharp. The faerie's gaze follows Juno's gesture towards her wing. Once she looks at it she immediately cringes, really wishing she hadn't. Stars. It looks so much worse. (Shouldn't be that much of a surprise considering how much worse it feels. The pain intensifies now that she's actually seen the damage, too. The poor thing is twisted at an angle it should not be twisted at, that is for sure.) She's got more than just Juno's hand in hers right now, though. She's saying that she'll try to look at her wing when all of this is said and done. That's better than nothing, right?

Lettie nods. She'd sooner let Juno touch her wings than resort to taking one of those pills she'd gotten from the Duchess, that's for sure.

They go up to the deck as Juno suggests. Thankfully the explosive commotion Inez delivers on gives her a valid excuse not to ask any loaded questions in her disoriented state. (Like why? Why did she choose her?) It's probably also because of her disoriented state that she continues to hold the pirate's hand tightly as she watches the Duchess's crumbling, burning estate. The flames reflect in their eyes until they become smaller and smaller as Lady speeds away. (She tries to tell herself that this is just like all of those other times they fought side by side. But on some level this is not like those other times... because this is Juno's home world. The consequences of this choice will undoubtedly follow her now. Assuming the cube allows her to stay once the mission is complete, that is.)

Lettie releases a breath that causes her frame to deflate, as if she held it the entire time she was within the Duchess's estate. The stress alone must have shaved a few years off of her life at least. Then she looks at Juno, a number of unspoken questions flickering behind her eyes.

"...So you said you need to touch it? Um. Do you want to do this here, or?" Lettie asks first, turning around to show that she intends to offer Juno full access to her wings. Then she pauses. Maybe the concept of asking seems easier now because she's not facing her directly... but she feels compelled to say something about it. "You didn't sell me to the Duchess."
 
The pirate should be fucking happy that the faerie is so deflated, because that means she doesn’t have the energy to be fucking annoying and Juno obviously hates all of her annoying antics––from the way she’s invited herself to calling Juno ‘Juju,’ to those attempts she’s always making on her life (a.k.a. ‘pranks’ as the faerie claims), to how she’s always fucking making her skeletons (and once all of Lady) pink! She’s annoying. She’s a nuisance. She’s the worst person that Juno ever could have gotten stuck with.

And she’s the person Juno chose.

Time and time again, she’s chosen her. She’s gone back for her and saved her skin. It’s usually under the pretext that she’s valuable enough to be sold alive, that she has the cube, or, and more recently, that she’s Lady’s mechanic. Juno can’t explain it and can’t even be bothered to investigate all of these occurrences, because she assumes they’re random. Random and therefore meaningless. Probably remnants from the time she actually was surrounded by people. (People who she thought cared about her and who she did, actually care about. People who ultimately left, like… Eliza.) There’s nothing for her to worry herself over, her heart is still made of stone and nothing is going to crack it. Nothing, especially not a little fucking faerie.

A little fucking faerie who looks like she’s in so much pain that the pirate’s surprised she isn’t howling or cursing. (In the back of her mind, she can feel Olette’s face still pressed up against the back of her neck. It felt nice.) When she sees Olette’s expression twist upon looking at the damage (Juno should have warned her not to look), she squeezes her hand a little tighter, maybe trying to assure her that it’s going to be okay somehow? She doesn’t know. At this point her own reactions are a complete and utter fucking mystery.

She remains quite as they head up to the deck and Juno is careful to match Olette’s pace, knowing that it’s her body that is screaming in pain and not her own. Once they’re up there, Juno still doesn’t let go of her hand, perhaps forgetting that she’d been holding it in the first place, and takes them over to the railing where she watches the show. Inez really does make Juno regret giving her free reign to do whatever, because this level of destruction? If Cass ever catches her, she’s a total goner. Eh, but she probably would have been a goner anyway for everything else. (For choosing the faerie over the Duchess, most notably. She realizes, now, that Cass pinning them as girlfriends had been a test and Juno fucking failed.) In for a penny, out for a pound as Gran used to say, so she figures at least she will have earned her punishment whenever it catches up to her (because it inevitably will).

Without realizing it, she’s been worrying a hole through her lip and only becomes aware of it when the faerie starts talking again and they’re far enough away from the castle that it’s just a dot of yellow and orange beneath them. She blinks and peers down at Olette (her stomach does tense seeing those white eyes, somewhat caught off guard), then nods when she finally registers the question. “Yeah, I have to––”

She is about to get into a long-winded explanation about how her necromancy works, to make up for how awkward she feels about the prospect, but then the faerie bluntly brings up the obvious fact that Juno didn’t betray her. The pirate looks stunned in response, not because she hasn’t realized this for herself, but because the faerie has. There’s vulnerability in that. There’s exposure in that. She's tempted to fuck this up on purpose. She's tempted to do something that will set the record straight that she doesn't give a shit about the faerie. (Because she can feel herself getting attached.) She has to ruin this, because if she doesn't then it's... then it's out of her control and she can't let someone have her like this. (Goddess, she's been alone for so long.)

"I told you I got you," she hears herself say, in spite of all of that. She clenches her jaw tightly and looks away from Olette––not because of her intense eyes, but because of the intensity of the situation. The intensity of the implications. “I meant it. I don’t fucking mince my words. I’m a lot of things, but I keep my word about this kind of shit. Loyalty's the only real fucking currency,” and she's just traded in the Duchess for the faerie in that regard.

“‘Sides,” she continues, slowly regaining control over her treacherous mouth (but it’s also not like she does anything to prove the contrary), “I finally found a competent mechanic. Marjorie’s great and all, but these upgrades are gonna save our asses.” And, later, Juno’s ass when she’s released from the cube’s curse and has to live out the rest of her life running from the Duchess. Fuck. Why did she do that?

She tries to brush her background concerns away by sweeping her hand through her hair and then gesturing for the faerie to follow her, finally answering her first question. “Nah, the lighting ain’t good out here and you really should be lying down for this.” She rubs the back of her neck and keeps her pace ahead of the faerie to hide the worry stretching across her brow. ‘I’m dead. I’m fucking toast.’ She takes Olette into the meager infirmary that really is no more than table and some haphazardly placed medical supplies (not that there is much of that to begin with). She calls in two passersby skeletons, one being Phillip, and signs for the smaller one to grab anything frozen and has the larger one join her in the room. Once the faerie is flat on her stomach, Juno has Philip hold onto her shoulders to support her, somewhat like a spotter.

“Alright,” she says, finally breaking her silence, “I’m going to start. Let me know if anything is, uh, too unbearable,” because no matter what, this is going to suck. Still, Juno tries to make it suck the least amount possible by starting slowly. In fact, she doesn’t even touch the injured wing at first. She starts by placing her hand on her shoulder and gently stroking around the area where the wing is attached. This serves the dual purpose of warning the faerie of her touch and gives Juno a sense of what her muscles, bones, tendons, veins all feel like beneath her skin. (A constellation of colors is painted in the necromancer’s mind that all outline just how the faerie’s back is constructed.) Slowly and gingerly, she moves her hands around her back and then hover them over the wing, giving Olette a moment to brace before she just barely grazes it. (An explosion of reds and oranges burst behind her eyelids, like a broken vase that shows her all the pieces.) The pirate pulls away and then says, rather calmly despite what she’s just confirmed (that the bones are pretty much shattered), “I’m going to check the healthy wing now so that I can get a sense of what this should feel like.”

Again, even in working with the healthy wing, Juno acts with deliberate care and takes the same measured pace as she had with the broken one. (This time, when she touches the healthy wing, explosions of pinks and soft oranges appear behind her eyelids, showing her the image of what the other wing should be representing.) If the pirate felt she had more time to dawdle on this task, she would spend at least three months learning all she can about the faerie’s anatomy, but given the devastation? She doesn’t think she has that luxury.

She pulls her hands away and then motions for the skeleton who had been sent away for frozen goods to come back in and instructs it to gently layer the ice packs around the wing to start numbing out Olette’s back. As the skeleton does this, Juno turns around to grab a small jar that contains a numbing salve. (It cost her a fortune and therefore she only uses it when her injuries are too unbearable to muscle through. Given what the faerie’s been through? She figures this is an appropriate use of her resources.) She gathers a dollop on the tips of her fingers, warms it in her hands so it spreads easier, and then starts to smear it over the worst parts of the injury. “How’s that feel?”

Regardless of how it feels, it definitely won’t get better if Juno just stands around. So she makes sure that Phillip knows to hold onto her and even instructs the other skeleton to act as a brace for her arms. With a deep breath, she focuses on the necromantic energies clinging to the dead bones in the faerie’s wing. A pattern forms in her mind, similar to a puzzle, and she carefully and slowly starts to will the pieces to move into place. The pirate clamps down on her jaw and the veins on her neck start to bulge out as she channels her energy into the faerie’s wing. Blood sweat breaks across her brow and she can taste it coating her tongue. She’s fast approaching her limit––because healing somewhat goes against necromantic principles––but she’s not done. (Why is she going so hard?) She’s not even half done. She’s not even a quarter done. (And that’s concerning given how much she is pouring into her right now.) “Fuck,” she grits as spots start to form in her vision and, subsequently, the pattern she is trying to reorganize. She shakes it away and pushes through this. Her heart clenches in her chest, becoming physically constricted the more time she spend on the wing, but just as with all the other warning signs, she ignores it. (Ignore, ignore, ignore. Fight until she can’t stand anymore, right? That’s how she was raised and so that’s what she does.) She pushes on and on until blood is spilling from her nose, until it’s replaced her tears, until it’s coming out of her ears, until she actually fucking collapses against the skeletons who have been bracing her.

But at least she healed the faerie’s wing.
 
'I told you I got you.' Lettie holds onto that reassurance (the same way she held onto Juno as she carried her to safety) as she follows the pirate into the infirmary. She holds onto it as she lays on her stomach on the table, willing herself to lie as still as possible as ice is placed on her back and she allows the pirate to touch the delicate place where her wings meet her back. 'It's going to be fine.' Sure she's relying on the pirate, who is totally still the pirate (?) but-- uh-- she's desperate, all right? The pain can't get much worse at this point and needs to take what she can get before she shatters worse than her broken wing has. That's why she's fine with this despite all of those times she solemnly swore that she'd never allow Juno (a homicidal pirate) to touch her wings like this. (What if the impulse to tear them right off overtakes her? Like, it does make total sense why her brain came up with that kind of nightmare fuel when she started this journey tied to a chair in a prison cell. When Juno made her first impression by summoning those skeletal hands and threatening to tear the faerie's wings clean off to sell her in parts if need be.) But right now? Right now those fears seem ridiculously blown out of proportion. That version of Juno who used to haunt her is so obviously an exaggerated caricature. A front, maybe, to hide something softer beneath. (Because the Juno she knows now wouldn't do that to her. The way she looked at her earlier... someone who looked at her like that wouldn't do that to her.) Heh. Stars. What the fuck is she thinking anymore? The hurt overrides everything. Maybe she's delirious? That seems fair enough, considering the state she's in now.

As the faerie observed, however, there is no overlooking that things have irrevocably changed since the night they met. Juno had several chances to ditch her back there. Hell, she had a golden opportunity her to sell her off to the Duchess and... and she didn't. Instead she's the one who encouraged the girlfriend narrative and effectively saved the faerie's skin in the process. She could've left her behind when the dining hall exploded. Could've left her for dead when she slipped instead of carrying her to safety. Beyond not letting her die, she also could've insisted she go back to her room and suck it up instead of offering to look at her wing for her right now. Juno's response to her observation about this choice swirls through Lettie's mind like soup. 'I got you. Loyalty's the only real fucking currency. Finally found a competent mechanic.' And like soup, it's comforting. Something warm to swallow down when she's feeling like shit, something that makes her feel cozy and taken care of in spite of everything that's happened. Even if this move is purely strategic on Juno's part and nothing more than that... it still translates to the fact that she's not going to let anything bad happen to her now. And she decides that she'll trust in that. Because, ah, she trusts herself of course! She is a damn competent mechanic! An asset! The whole fucking package! Right. Yeah. Totally. It all checks out.

In all honesty, it's rare that anyone ever touches the faerie's wings in these specific places. The fact that her wings don't instinctively shimmer with a kaleidoscope of unnerving colors in trepidation says more than any amount of words or thoughts can.

'It's going to be fine.' Lettie grits her teeth, trying to stifle any unflattering noises when her broken wing is brushed over. Her breaths hitch and occasionally slip through her clenched teeth in hisses. Fuck. She's in excruciating pain, yes. That's no secret. It's not because of Juno, though, as the way she touches her is precisely what tells her 'it's going to be fine'. (Who would've known a pirate's hands could be so gentle?) Her eyes water and tears escape, though that can hardly be helped when it gets this bad. (Whatever! Juno's too busy trying to fix this to judge her for crying. It's fine. It's fine.) Whatever cream the pirate rubs over her wing eventually offers a soft, cottony layer between Lettie and her broken wing. As a result, her breathing calms just a touch. "Better."

Of course, Lettie braces herself after this. She realizes that this has been applied on some level because Juno's about to get started for real. And those featherlight touches over her broken wing will most definitely seem like nothing compared to whatever comes next. A fair assessment to make, as she quickly becomes overwhelmed by the unfamiliar sensation of her bones writhing and shifting beneath her skin. (It's like they have a mind of her own-- they aren't under her control anymore. She's completely at the mercy of this magic, trembling as every part of her that hurts is lit on fire. She's not sure how many times she screams through this process. She doesn't mean to and all the while she hopes it doesn't distract the pirate enough to do permanent damage.) Her bones mend and snap, snap, snap back into place. This is a relief, but it's also too much for her to comprehend beyond a certain point and it isn't long before exhaustion catches up to her and drags her under. I got you. As the faerie sinks into unconsciousness, a peaceful feeling of calm falls over her like a heavy blanket.

***​

When Lettie awakens the unbearable pain she felt that night is like a distant memory. Like it all came out of some kind of twisted fever dream. (Although that's not to say that she's feeling a hundred percent better yet. Ghostly little aches will flicker at her wing if she moves it too quickly, or if it brushes up against something the wrong way. Reminders that it had all been real.) Her wing rests on her back the way it's supposed to, though, and it no longer resembles a sad piece of crumbled aluminum foil. When she extends it and gazes at herself in the mirror, everything looks... normal. Beautiful, even. So beautiful that she's almost compelled to cry. She'll flutter her wings experimentally from time to time, wincing when an ache reminds her not to be too hasty to fly after the procedure. (Although she's not sure she'd trust the skies of Desdemonia unless a certain pirate is present. For reasons. There's, uh, an angry Duchess looking for them after all! It'd be a shame to lose her wings so soon after getting them fixed up.) Despite everything, all the stressful revelations, she happily accepts this positive in a sea of negatives. To warm herself up, she glides around Lady from room to room. (Almost as if she's looking for something... or someone...? Haha no, that's not what she's doing! But if she happens to see the pirate by chance...) Juno did it. Juno actually fucking did it!

...Of course, Lettie learns later (from Marjorie) that Juno really strained herself to heal her. Like, hardcore. And, uh, it really casts everything that the pirate did for her in a whole new light. (The gesture is already big enough on it's own, okay? It's kinda astronomical. So knowing that she went that fucking hard just to spare her from another day of that agony--) The faerie hovers restlessly around the pirate's room for a while, her heartstrings all tangled up in a way she doesn't want to try putting into words. (Because if she tries they won't make any fucking sense!) After a few hours of this she notices that the crew members are staring at her as they pass and decides she needs to put her restlessness energies towards something useful. (Marjorie feels the need to assure her several times that Juno will be fine, even when Lettie insists she isn't worried.) Even though she's been waiting around anxiously for Juno to wake up. Geez. She doesn't really know what she would say if she was there when she woke up. (Thank you would be fitting, yeah. Duh! But she and Juno don't really do that...? Or at least they haven't before, so doing it now seems... agh!) There are ways that she can show her she's thankful, though. Ways that eliminate the awkwardness of words.

And so Lettie spends the next two days working tirelessly in the engine room, chipping away at all of the enhancements she'd promised. (Juno is keeping her around because she's a competent mechanic... and she has to honor their contract, too!) She's so invested in her efforts that Marjorie checks in on occasion to give her updates, to make sure she is eating and to remind her to sleep. (It's a testament to Lettie's focus that she doesn't protest when Marjorie sighs something about her being 'just like the captain' when she discovers her once at three in the morning.) Needless to say, the engine room is where the faerie is when Juno eventually finds her.

"Juju!" Lettie jumps, surprised when she appears in the doorway. This time she doesn't feel the need to hide her notes or her tools. She doesn't feel the need to strike a sexy pose, either. (She might have the other day, to show off her healed wing in all its splendor. Right now, though? Making sure that the pirate is okay takes precedence over even that.) Marjorie has told her that Juno will still need time to truly get back up on her feet. But maybe she shouldn't be too surprised, because the pirate is still the pirate... and she doesn't really know how to relax. Figures. "You're supposed to be in bed, missy. What are you doing here?"
 
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