milliways_bar | Millitimed like you wouldn't believe

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Millitimed like you wouldn't believe

[Previously: Cassie loses a bet.]

There's a Cassie at the karaoke machine. Theoretically, she's singing a song from the 90s that you may recognize. In practice, she's not following the tune at all and it's difficult to call what she's doing right now singing. Or any sound that the human mind can withstand and remain sane.

The waitrats scatter. Nearby glasses shudder in protest. Even the evil karaoke machine thinks this is a bit too much suffering to inflict on other people. It's just about possible that Sonya may come to regret taking this bet.

No matter - Cassie is singing her heart out.

"And I said, HEEEEY-EEE-EYYY-EEE-EYYY, EYY EYY, HEEEEEYY-ee-EYYY-ee-EYYY..."

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The trick was on Cassie. Sonya knew all too well just how her daughter was at singing and came prepared with a set of earplugs; it doesn't completely block out how bad she is, but it muffles the worst of it.

She may just be sitting at a lone table a few paces away from the karaoke machine, a wide grin on her face.

Maybe Cassie won't be able to penetrate Sonya's defenses, but she tries.

Oh my God, does she try. Try all the time. In this institution.

She's definitely trying, even Sonya could tell, but she's been through several wars and in the past more then a few renditions of drunken soldiers trying to sing. She WILL prevail.

The song eventually ends, and while she's certain her ears are now ringing, she manages not to let it show in her expression. Instead she gives her daughter a steady applause for being a good sport.

Cassie remains on the microphone for a moment.

"Thank you! You've been great! I'd like to thank my mother for teaching me everything I know about music!"

Sonya rolled her eyes so hard she thought they'd come out of her head. "I taught you good taste in music," She called out. "You voice you probably inherited from your father."

That doesn't stop her from pushing out a chair for Cassie at the table and ordering her a drink as a reward for being a good sport.

"Like my superior dancing skills?"

She pushed the drink towards her. "And here I figured his dancing skills were just part of his act."

Or maybe they were honest and he just embraced the fact. "It's perfectly acceptable not to be perfect at everything, it means you're human."

Also in the event of a power outtage, it was all entirely possible Cass could use her voice as an air raid siren-or a weapon.

"You can't fake awesome."

She grabs the drink and takes a sip.

"I think I can fake perfect, though. Sometimes."

No, she couldn't. She may've missed a lot of her childhood (being away for ten months at a time would do that), but she knew enough that her daughter had enough confidence to spare-and even if she didn't, she was a pro at faking.

She took a drink for herself. There was a part of her who wanted to ask about her through the door, if it was difficult to face her as an officer after this, the other part just wanted fluff. "What's going on with you, besides?"

Middle ground never hurt. With cubefall, both of them were to into their inner demons for her to even ask.

"You mean besides work?"

She kind of figured Sonya already knew all about how the new unit was coming together - or more accurately, how it wasn't.

She gripped the glass to keep her hands from twitching. "I'm still bound here. Feel kinda out of the loop." Who the hell knew what was going on back there. "But yeah, lets go with 'besides work'."

Something to remind her there was a life outside Milliways.

"Well, let's see..."

Unsurprisingly, the list of "not-work" things in Cassie's life has been getting shorter.

"I've been going to that fight club the Air Force guy has been holding."

"Yeah," Sonya knew of those nights, but she couldn't recall seeing her daughter at the ones she attended. "I've been going to a few of those, not weakly though."

Some evenings she just felt better hiding in the stables.

"Had some fun opponents," Cassie says. "One of them was a mutant with metal claws."

She found herself thinking of the rare moments she spent with Kotal in this place-and wishing that circumstances between their first meeting was different. This was quickly squelched by the more practical side of her knowing that in of itself was pointless.

"Did you win?" She finally spoke, hint of a smile. Nevermind it was just a sparing match.

"No," Cassie says. "I wasn't expecting to, either - she was bred and raised in a lab to be a killing machine, so she's got mutant reflexes and a lifetime of training going for her."

Long pause.

"I mean, she escaped the lab eventually, but she's, uh...kinda strange."

She imwardly shrugged off the loss. The whole point of sparring was to test one's skill after all, but the talk of being raised in a lab.

There were moments when Cassie was little, Sonya didn't fear that Raiden wished the same fate on her. A child born from two 'champions' and one with the bloodline of those meant to defend the gods-why shouldn't she be trained with the same sense of duty as Liu Kang, clearly she was meant for something great.

Because she was still her daughter; maybe she did sacrifice her childhood to ensure her safety, maybe she was compelled to raise a teenager on a military base, but Sonya always made damn sure that Cassie had a childhood in the first place.

"You understand that coming from us, anything 'strange' is noteworthy."

"Yeah, it's a steep curve," Cassie says. "Physically, she's got blades like the Tarkatans do. But the way she is around people..."

She waves her hand, making the "iffy" gesture.

"It's understandable. And she's one of the good guys, besides. I was with her on that Nazi hunt I went on a while back."

"Pretty sure that has to do with being raised in a lab." Those in labs weren't 'people' but subjects, so it wasn't a far stretch to imagine that this person wasn't used to dealing with people either.

She tried and failed to not smirk. "Connections of that sort are never a bad thing to have, the rest..well, doesn't seem like it's that much of an issue." Or maybe she was just tolerant. Social skills aside of course-Cassie probably had enough to spare anyway.

"Well, yeah, obviously," Cassie says.

"And it does help to know a girl who can tear a reinforced steel door open."

Almost unbidden, the memory of the Shokan attack in outworld came to a head, the memory of Kotal slicing a shokan about to advance on her. She thought, and he verbally confirmed, that both were relieved to fighting for instead of against eachother.

Even so, she couldn't help a smirk. "Careful, Jacqui might get jealous." While she wasn't entirely sure about the ability to tear open steel doors, she knew well enough from records of the metal gauntlets she was working on-and what they were capable of.

Edited 2017-01-13 19:27 (UTC)

"Eh, she'll just work harder," Cassie says.

"Probably add more rockets."

That was no doubt true. If there was ever someone as equal in Cassie of overachiever, it was Jacqui."

"And here I always figured she was the more responsible one." She teased, even if it was partially true. Jacqui was usually the more responsible one-usually, when she wasn't talked into Cassie's schemes.

"Hey, rockets are at least as useful as they are cool."

She actually burst out laughing. "Alright, if there's anyone who ever doubts you're my kid, that statement proves them wrong."

Hell, her first several years in the military were spent in field artillery.

Cassie smiles. "Glad I inherited the explosion gene."

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Millitimed like you wouldn't believe

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