Azure: Gunner

Chapter 7-16

“GOOOD MORNING LOST ANGELS! This is DJ Demophon Kerner here on K-RAD LA, the only radio station that brings you the truth!

“It’s a great day to be alive, isn’t it? Fuck, I’m feeling so good I don’t know what to do with myself! Hang on for just a sexy sec while I slap some sense into me!”

smack smack

“Woohoo, that’s better! I’m back and ready to rock now! Let’s get things rolling with I Fucked a Dryad, for absolutely no reason at all!”

- DJ Demophon Kerner, on K-RAD LA, July 20th, System Year 453

I flushed and buried my face in the soft white sheets of the bed at the sight of a giggling Maria.

“Oh fuck, Az, you’re too much!” she laughed. “Haven’t you ever woken up next to someone after a night out before?!”

“Uhhh…” I mumbled, my face burning.

Fuck, what happened?! The last thing I remember is… dancing at the club with Maria. The rest of the night was a disjointed series of flashes in my mind. I was sure we’d had more to drink, based on my current state, but that was it. Did we…?

I felt the bed shift slightly and then Maria’s feet thumped down onto the floor next to me. I blearily lifted my head and my eyes widened at the sight of the beautiful purple-haired girl crouching next to me, holding a glass of something that seemed to sparkle slightly.

“Here,” she said softly, “drink this. It will take care of that hangover.”

I eagerly downed the drink, which was fizzing slightly like Jet Cola, but was clear like water. It tasted heavenly, and I felt it wash away the aching pain in my head like a cool breeze. I definitely didn’t moan in relief.

Maria giggled again and thumped me on my armored shoulder.

“That’s the good stuff, isn’t it? Now, get out of that armor and back in bed!” she ordered.

I didn’t move, torn between desire and shame that I couldn’t remember the rest of the night.

“Um, Maria… I don’t remember what happened last night… Did we…?” my voice trailed off at the end, my face burning.

“Did we fuck, you mean?” she asked crudely, and I managed to nod. She broke out in a fit of giggles before eventually controlling herself. Then she shrugged.

“Dunno,” she admitted. “It’s a bit of a blur. But there’s one easy solution for that!”

“What?” I asked eagerly, hoping she had another potion that would restore the missing memories.

“If we fuck now, then we’ll know for sure!”

I groaned, burying my face in my hands. I’m obviously attracted to her… at least when she’s Maria, I admitted to myself. But… she’s not Tara, and I’m still attracted to Tara too! And now I’m sober and nervous! What if I screw everything up again?

Maria sighed, then grabbed my hand and pulled me to my feet. I definitely didn’t notice the way the thin white shirt she was wearing clung to her body.

“Come on, let’s get you in the shower. A hot shower makes everything better!”

She dragged me off and into a bathroom easily the size of my entire dorm room back at the Academy. The size was the only thing the two rooms had in common, though. Her bathroom floor was gleaming white stone with matching walls. There was a huge counter with two sinks in front of the largest, clearest mirror I’d ever seen. The counter was covered in small objects – brushes, hand mirrors, and many small containers of different shapes and sizes, all strewn about.

Maria practically shoved me into an area easily twice as large as my bed, enclosed by glass walls on two sides. Then she pointed at a pair of large, shining metal handles protruding from the stone wall.

“The one on the left is water pressure, the right one is the temperature. Feel free to use whatever, and yell if you need anything!”

Then she strutted out of the room, leaving me standing there, still wearing my armor. With a skeptical glance towards the door, I stored my armor, immediately noticing how cold the stone floor was under my bare feet. I reached towards the left handle and turned it.

A few minutes later and I fully understood why Tara still complained about not having hot showers at the Academy. The water in Maria’s shower sprayed from fixtures on the ceiling and the walls with actual force instead of raining down gently. I’d turned the heat up as high as I could stand, and steam billowed around me. The hot spray of water was somehow invigorating and soothing all at once.

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Fuck, I wonder how much this shower costs? Whatever it is, I need to get rich enough to afford one of these for myself!

After several long, luxurious minutes of standing under the pounding water, I finally examined the small shelves on the other stone wall. They were packed with dozens of bottles of what I assumed were different kinds of soap. Curiously, I started opening them one at a time, smelling each one until I found something pleasant but not overpowering. Heliotrope Heaven, it said on the bottle. I had no idea what that meant, but I liked the smell.

With a shrug, I poured some of the thick liquid inside on my palms and started to wash my hair. The soap tingled pleasantly as I scrubbed, loving the way the forceful spray of water made it so much easier to clean the longer hair on my left side. Dragging my fingers through it, my hair felt silkier than it ever had before. Idly, I wound some of the longer strands around my fingers, admiring the rich purple -

“SHIT!” I shouted in astonishment, eyes wide as I processed the fact that my hair was now the exact same color as Maria’s.

A moment later, I heard the slapping of bare feet on the hard floor and then Maria burst in through the shower door. I yelped and tried to cover myself as her eyes widened in surprise and then she burst out laughing.

“Oh fuck, I’m sorry Az,” she got out between giggles. “I should have warned you! Of course you’d somehow pick that bottle out of all of them!”

“Hey, I just liked the way it smelled,” I said defensively, hunched over slightly as I tried to shield myself from her appraising eyes.

“And I like the way it looks!” Still wearing her white shirt, she stepped forward into the hot spray, gasping as it hit her. Then she was in my arms, pushing me back against the cool wall, and I felt my arms snake around her.

When I finally left several hours later, I could feel the wide, stupid grin on my face, but it refused to go away. I was wearing my armor – minus the helmet – restored to its original purple color, which matched my new hair quite well. According to Maria anyway. As soon as I was outside her family’s lush mansion, I paused in the middle of the street and engaged my camouflage mod, turning my armor a light grey.

I still felt a bit ridiculous walking around with purple hair, but Maria had assured me the color would come out – eventually. She wasn’t exactly sure how long it would take though. She offered to buy me dye that would change it back to my normal color, but when she mentioned it was ‘only like a dozen eagles’ I’d refused. A dozen eagles for a little bottle of soap seemed insane to me.

It was already well past mid-day, so I hurried out of Central and towards Three. The street here was lined with trees on either side, adding their vibrant green and welcome shade to the luxurious district. Each house was huge, many with lush strips of grass in front that reminded me of the end of the Tutorial. I noticed numerous police patrols, and caught more than one officer staring at me from behind their helms.

I reached the orphanage perhaps thirty minutes later, where the kids immediately demanded to know what had happened to my hair. I pretended that I’d done it on purpose, of course. RaeRae was jealous and wanted to make her own short hair purple like mine, so I had to promise to ask my ‘friend’ if I could borrow some of her magical hair dye when I visited next time.

Without the rest of the team along, the visit was more relaxing and I was able to meet a few of the kids' new friends. It made me deeply happy to see them getting along so well with the others. Back in Sunland, we’d always been the odd ones out, the only ones without parents to look after us. We’d never fit in, the other kids often teasing or bullying us.

Looking back, that might have had something to do with why I liked fighting so much… I’d never been one to back down, even if the other kid was bigger and stronger than me. RaeRae told me that she missed Sister Mercy sometimes, but she really liked her new life here in Lost Angels. I’d never imagined I’d be able to get the kids out of Sunland so soon.

It made me feel like I’d accomplished something worthwhile. Then I considered what it might cost me, and I sobered up. The price could very well be my life, if I wasn’t ready to handle Yuri. I won’t let that happen, I promised myself.

My determined mood carried me all the way back to the barracks, where it was severely tested by my teammates losing their shit laughing when I had to explain my new hair color to them. Traitors! At least Tara wasn't around for that conversation.

Still, I was intent on another week of pushing myself and my team to train as hard as possible. My plans were tossed out the window the next morning when Thompson summoned our team to her ‘office’ to talk. Her temporary office was barely big enough for us all to fit, and once we had crammed in and closed the door behind us she looked us all over with her cold grey eyes.

“Squad Hard Limit. I hope you’ve enjoyed this little vacation in the city, because it’s over. Gather your belongings and meet me in the courtyard in thirty minutes. We’re heading back to the Academy.”

“What?” asked Raylan in surprise. “The school is fixed already?”

She laughed coolly. “Hardly,” she replied. “No, it will be quite a while yet before we’re ready to resume classes there. At the same time, we can’t leave the dungeon sitting idle, and so I’ll be bringing two Squads back with me to run it. You, and Squad Excel.”

That was one of the veteran Squads, the one that we had fought alongside against the goblin horde months ago. I found my eyes narrowing as I looked at Thompson skeptically. We had barely finished the first half of our first semester. It should be at least another month and a half before our first dungeon run.

“Why not two veteran Squads?” I asked her pointedly.

She regarded me silently for a moment before replying. “Are you saying your team isn’t ready, Azure?”

“What? Of course not! We’re ready for anything!” I replied belligerently, with a growl of assent from H’ruk backing me up.

“Good,” she replied curtly. “You’re dismissed, Azure.”

It wasn’t lost on any of us that she had done absolutely nothing to explain what was going on. It was crystal clear that we weren’t getting any answers, at least not today. There was no choice but to follow orders.

Besides, I owed her for getting the kids out of Sunland.

Whatever else I thought of the Head Instructor, she had kept her promise and gotten my siblings into the Delver's orphanage.

Az's new hair