dear_mun | on the username; canon is Battle: LA

[ Color her curious. ]

So what's the deal with a wall?

It got the drop on me. The fucker literally dropped on me.

[ Suffice to say this isn't anything particularly new as far as Kat's concerned. Which is why she's got room to joke. ]

And did you do something to piss it off?

Yeah, we shot the alien ship above it, and then that ship started shooting at everything, people included.

[ It's a deadpan delivery completely braced for the reaction of disbelief. If he hadn't been on the ground then, he wouldn't believe the words coming out of his mouth either. ]

Too bad things can't fall up, huh?

[ Sorry to disappoint, Imlay, but disbelief isn't quite the reaction Kat is dishing out. Instead, it's mild curiosity mixed with something a little sadder (sympathy, maybe, for all those innocent people caught in the crosshairs). ]

Hey. First time for everything, right? [ She's seen things fall up in Limbo. She's made things falls up, more like. ]

So you were in firefight. Those can be tricky. Especially when the other guys don't play fair.

We're Marines, we can handle it. It sucks though, I mean their armor had armor, that's like teflon-coating your fireproofed kevlar or some crap. Who does that kind of thing?

Assholes. [ Killed my friends, he doesn't say. What would be the point? It's not like the war is over, they're going to lose more guys. ]

Getting dropped on by a wall was a low blow, though. Even for aliens.

I kind of guessed the Marines thing, [ she says, lifting a hand to the hood of her sweatshirt to mimic touching the brim of a helmet like the one he's wearing. Kat understands war, has been scurrying along the frontlines for as long as she's known Vergil. But she's guessing these guys aren't trained to fight the same way she does. ]

Did you at least get 'em in the end?

[ at least you're still alive. at least you're still fucking alive. ] Aliens reference wouldn't've been better.

It could be worse. Personally, I'd be glad she's out for laughs and not for blood. [ She's speaking from experience here. ]

[ Sarge, that kind of thinking isn't doing you any good. ]

It would've been a little funny, sir. Just saying.

It's still early in the year, Halloween might just come around. Not that that makes things any better when it's fucking aliens you're up to, but you do what you gotta, right?

[ ...Fucking aliens. ] I hope that's figuratively.

We got some. [ He's not as happy as he wants to be about it, even if it gave them the proverbial leg up in this whole war. ] There's more coming, if we can get the rest of the guys up to speed. Army's a piece of shit outfit, but the Air Force could be useful.

[ Semper fucking fi, man. ]

You ever fought aliens?

Not lying to you, ma'am. Motherfucking aliens.

They're a pain in my ass.

[ ...Yeah, fucking aliens would be a pain in his ass. But since the nuances of this particular joke are flying straight over her head (and since it's a little less mature than her usual jokes anyway), she's letting that one drop in favor of an earnest: ]

Oh, I believe you. [ There are no lack of aliens where she's from, either. ] I take it 'we come in peace' wasn't part of the equation?

They fired at us first. If peace was part of the equation they're failing this whole damn class.

[ It seemed like a joke at first, and then they were taking over the major cities. Not a good way to spend the weekend, right? ]

Anyway, they wanted our water. Apparently it's some really rare combo of elements and space doesn't have enough of it, or whatever science-y bullshit they were saying on TV. Whatever. They can go to Mars or something.

Because we all know that Mars has so much water to spare. [ She's being facetious, but good-naturedly. It almost sounds like she's agreeing, but for the fact that there's like zero water on Mars in the first place.

There's a thoughtful pause, then: ]

I guess the question's really 'who fired last?'

[ hey, speaking of aliens... ]

You can't give her points for originality?

We're still firing. This fucking foreplay's taking way too long, it's kinda gay.

[ You can take the incendiary language out of a Marine— not, actually, you can't. And who cares about Mars? ]

This is the most obvious fucking thing she could've come up with, short of "marine" and "alien invasion". She can have a used toilet seat.

[ Martians, soldier. That's who.

But since neither of them are Martians, 'tell the aliens to go bomb Mars' is still their best strategy in the conversation thus far. Which really should say a lot more about the conversation as a whole than it actually does, all things considered. ]

Well good luck, not that it's worth too much where you're from.

Seems less family-friendly than 'wall'.

[ no, it isn't doing him any good but it's pretty much all he can cling to right now. that and the fact that marines don't quit. ]

Can't agree with you there, Corporal.

Luck is for the brave, or who knows? [ Imlay scoffs, anyway. It is what it is, that's how he sees things. ] If you could speak alien, what'd you ask them first?

Family-friendly's for all the tree-hugging pansies, so screw that. Come on, that kinda crap is boring.

No sense of humor, sir?

[ Which is a tentative joke, in and of itself. Imlay gets it, you're a serious kinda guy, but come on. ]

[ his sense of humour was burnt out of him, lost in the desert with the lives of all his men. twenty years of service have chipped at him, have taken their toll.

he does have a sense of humour, somewhere. he can't joke about this. ] Seems not, Corporal. [ it's as close as he can get, said with something almost a smile, mostly in the eyes. ]

[ That's a hell of a lot more than he's expecting; Imlay's taking it on the go, and trades a small half-smile of his own. ] Well, we're not gonna be on Jimmy Kimmel any time soon, so thank God for that.

Any idea where we're headed, sir?

[ they're not under fire right now. they've survived this far and nantz has found reserves inside of himself that he didn't know he had, even if they come only from the mantra of marines don't quit. he can't quit now, he can't leave these men. so he keeps going. ]

Back. [ there's still work to be done. ]

[ Imlay pauses, waiting for further instruction. Only it seems like it's not coming. ] Which direction, sir?

[ It's easier to be cheeky than to attend to the fact that half his unit's dead— blown to pieces, shot to bits, six deep dead and the best they've got to show for that is a sunken flying tower that's hardly pushed their side any further towards the finish line.

Why the hell not just get cheeky, right? ]

[ they all deal differently with grief and guilt. nantz withdraws; imlay apparently gets cheeky. nantz can't fault him for that because he gets it. ]

We're southbound, Corporal. [ it comes out mostly even; there's nothing but a hint of warning in his tone. don't overdo it. ]

[ She exhales a little laugh, then shakes her head. ] That's a complicated question. [ Considering her best friend actually is an alien? Whoops. ] If I were a soldier, I'd probably ask them where they want the missile. [ Satisfactory? ]

Southbound's— I don't think we've got much intel on what's there, sir. How blind are we going in?

[ How much ammo left until things go FUBAR? ]

As blind as we were before. [ he's got nothing, here. except that things have gone FUBAR a good long while ago. ]

on the username; canon is Battle: LA

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sorry this is so late :c

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