Chapter Text
It was 7pm on a Saturday evening. That's when Val had scheduled this month's kung fu movie marathon with Brynn. 7pm . . . 7pm . . . 7pm . . . The hour couldn't get here fast enough. Brynn couldn't get here fast enough. The sentient machine hummed back and forth in front of the doorway. The grassy field surrounding her house was devoid of passerbys, visitors, and other forms of sapient life forms. She kept glancing out the window and at her holowatch every few laps: 6:49 . . . 6:52 . . . 6:54 . . . 6:56 . . . 6:58 . . . 6:59 . . . 7:00 . . . 7:01. Finally, at 7:02, Val spied Brynn approach her house on horseback and dismount.
Well, Val wasn't going to wait for her friend to trudge the remaining distance to her doorway at a snail's pace. The robot reached for the door, thrust it open and bolted towards her guest at supercharged speed. In her excitement, Val barely noticed Brynn wasn't in her uniform or that she wasn't carrying herself with her usual confidence like she used to.
"Brynn! Finally!" Val rejoiced as their bodies made swift, affectionate contact. She pulled the angel in for a hug, something she would never dream of doing for anyone else. "The popcorn's ready! I made your favorite flavor!"
"Val . . ." said Brynn, her voice wavering.
"Yes?" Val replied, snapping out of her elation. She finally noticed the glassy sheen on Brynn's now red-rimmed eyes. "Oh shit. What happened?"
Brynn exhaled deeply and hung her head. "I lost my job. I'm not a Valkyrie anymore"
"They fired you?" Val gasped. She was about to lose her own composure when she felt the angel's battle-strengthened hands quiver. "Screw that job!" the gynoid blurted out.
"I loved that job, Val," said Brynn. "It was my family's legacy and -and -and my purpose and -and it's part of my culture and-"
"Well, screw those dysfunctional flesh seat-warmers in the council who can't appreciate your talent!" exclaimed Val.
"Yeah," chuckled Brynn dryly. She took a breath and smiled. "Yeah, screw them. You and I were going to watch a movie, right?"
"Of course," said Val. "What movie did you want to put on?" The two friends walked back inside Val's house as the Valkyrie's steed stood obediently on the lawn.
Unfortunately, the movie and refreshments did little to aleviate the heavy, gut-twisting feelings Brynn felt in her chest. She was too exhausted to pay attention to the film about thirty minutes into the runtime, so she got up from the couch and trudged towards the fridge for a beer. "Brynn?" the robot called. Brynn did not respond. Val stood up from the couch and followed her friend to the kitchen. As she took a gulp from the can and glanced back at the robot, Brynn's face tightened for a second in one last attempt to appear stoic before she deflated and let loose a wave of frustrated tears.
"My family must be so disappointed in me," Brynn grimaced. "What am I going to tell my mother? She put so much work into training me! What am I going to tell her?"
Val turned off the TV and said, "I doubt Hypernia would hold this against you. She knows how fastidious the council can be." She pulled the angel over for another long hug, and let her cry. The only sounds in the room were of Brynn blowing her nose on her sleeve as the two women returned to the couch.
About ten minutes after Brynn's eyes were completely drained of tears, there was a knock at the door. "I'll get it," grumbled Val. As soon as she got up, Brynn burried her face in the couch cushions. "Wait right here. I'll be right back." She begrudgingly slouched toward the door. Val peeped through the front window and sighed when she spotted her "least favorite purple moron" on the front porch. She opened the door and growled, "What do you want?"
Nix, carrying a suspicious half-full paper bag, said, "Hey, I couldn't find Brynn at our house or at her post, so if you run into her, could you give her this?" Nix tossed the bag to Val, who caught it and pelted it back at her face. Whatever was in that bag leaked through the material and left discolored smears on both their hands and on Nix's face. "OW!! . . . Could have just said 'no' . . ."
"Get lost!" barked Val. "She doesn't need you or whatever sick abomination is in that bag to make her life any worse!"
"Is something wrong with Brynn?" asked the reaper.
"She got fired," said Val.
"She got WHAT?!" Nix exclaimed. "WHAT?!"
"Yeah, she lost her job," snapped Val. "Now get out of here befo- HEY! GET BACK HERE! I DIDN'T SAY YOU COULD COME INSIDE!!"
Nix levitated over to the couch. "Brynn?" she said. "Are you okay?"
"I don't know," sighed Brynn, her voice muffled by the couch cushions.
The grim reaper sat down next to her partner. "Damn it. I'm sorry about what happened." She wrapped the newly unemployed woman up in her jacket.
"Don't," said Brynn.
"Don't what?" asked Nix.
"Don't say that," said Brynn. "Don't be sorry. It . . . It's not your problem."
"Not my problem? Byrnn, we worked our asses off to win the tournament so you could keep your job! The second tournament- well technically also the first before it got cancelled- we were in this whole thing together, remember?" smiled Nix. "Not that you owe me anything, but I put too much into basically saving your career to not be pissed about this!".
"I'll give you something else to be pissed about if you don't get out of my house!" snarled Val at her tresspasser.
"Val, please!" groaned Brynn, finally lifting her face from the cushions. "Nix, what's that on your face?" She gestured to the weird splotch of goo from the suspicious bag that ended up on the reaper's face.
"Worry about your own," said Nix, leaning closer. "Your pretty makeup's all smudged. Let's get you cleaned up, okay? " She picked up the sleeve of her jacket and wiped Brynn's face, but ended smudging her runny makeup more than cleaning it up.
"You're getting your jacket dirty," said Brynn. Nix's jacket was already noticeably a few months overdue for a good wash, so what difference did yet another stain make? "I'll wash myself at the sink," sighed Brynn as she gently pushed away her partner's hands and put down the jacket. She pulled herself up off the couch, walked down the hall, and disappeared into the bathroom, which Val only built, in addition to the kitchen, for Brynn to use whenever she came to visit. An evil robot has no use for a toilet, but a living woman would.
Val marched over to the couch. "What the hell?" she shouted. "She got fired and you're talking like one of her family members just died?"
Nix rolled her eyes. "Yeah, it's almost like she just lost her connection to her dead aunt, her dead grandmother, her dead great-grandmother . . ." She inspected the mascara stain on her sleeve. ". . . Anyway, let's hope she doesn't join them soon."
"What do you mean?" Val interrogated.
"She told me she'd rather die than lose her Valkyriehood," answered Nix, leaning into the cushions. "Besides, you do know that angels can die of heartbreak from these sorts of things, right?"
"WHAT?!" exclaimed Val. "No! Brynn's not dying of ANYTHING! And why would she tell YOU anything?"
"She's not exactly taking this well, so I'd keep an eye on her if I were you," said Nix. "God, I can't believe we did all that just for her to get fired just like that! Did they even give her another chance like last time? Some monster to slay? Another tournament to win?"
Val signed and stared at the remote. If the council did another bargain like that again, Brynn was just going to partner up with Nix again, who helped her win last time, and they've been together ever since. Why would Val be invited this time when she wasn't invited last time Brynn's entire career depended on her winning? If Val knew how much it was going to hurt not to be the one standing besides her Valkerie on the winner's podium, she would have turned down Ragnir as a partner and avidly hunt down Brynn before she even set her eyes on Nix for the first time. Val would be the one to take the bullet when Cross decided to kill her precious angel during his demonic artifact-induced power trip. Val would be the one Brynn would search the depths of basically Hell to save. Val would be the one to help her win the next tournament in exchange for the Council of Valkeries not firing her. She wouldn't be left waiting for an invitation that never came or watching from the bleachers as another woman maniacally brawled and perspired for Brynn's happiness and won.
. . . But Val turned down her Valkerie the first time, so her Valkerie found someone better the second time and the third and the fourth-
"I swear these 'people' are out to get her," Nix muttered. "Oh, they got her, didn't they? Hm . . . maybe it would be . . . fun if I-" Val picked her up by her hood and tossed her out the open window.
"Yeah, go have your 'fun'. And stay out, you stupid sweat," muttered the gynoid smugly to herself as she closed the window. "I didn't know anyone could yap so hard they lose basic situational awareness like that. Pft, moron!" She strode to the bathroom and gently opened the door.
There was no one at the sink. Val decided to check the shower, but tripped on something warm and Brynn-shaped on her way over there. Val bent down and asked, "Are you okay? I thought you were going to wash your face." Brynn rolled over, revealing a face with a few remaining spots of smudged eye makeup, including her lower eyelids, which made her look even more exhausted and riddled with despair. Val grabbed the damp washcloth, sat down, and started gently rubbing the area under the angel's left eye in gentle, circular motions. She could almost see a little bit of the stress being cleansed from Brynn's face.
After Val re-moistened the washcloth in the sink and sat back down, Brynn took the cloth and scooted over to place her head in the robot's lap, her blonde hair draping itself over the robot's polished legs. Val smiled as her friend continued to finish cleaning her face, using the gynoid's shiny bulletproof breastplate as a mirror. Once Brynn wiped off the last smudge, she stood up and reached for a hand towel.
"What were you two yelling about a minute ago?" asked Brynn as she patted her face dry.
"Nix was just being stupid," responded Val.
"She wasn't trying to rope you into some bargain or evil scheme to get my job back, was she?" sighed Brynn. A mischievious light flickered on in Val's eyes. Brynn was already regretting saying anything and giving Val ideas, but it was too late. The words, "evil scheme to get my job back" were already bouncing restlessly echoing throughout the robot's CPU as she generated millions of possible plans and ideas with in a fraction of a second. She infiltrated the Right Wrong Cavaliers. She took over the MBFC. How hard could it be to rig the Council of Valkyries and all their processes and structures in her favor? Or at the very least pressure them into doing her will the old-fashioned way?
"Oh, she didn't discuss anything like that," Val said almost musically.
"No, but I could," said a familiar, raspy voice from just outside the bathroom door.
"How did you get back inside?" barked Val. Nix pointed at the Caspian-shaped hole in the wall.
"You accidentally left your jacket behind, didn't you?" said Brynn.
"Sure," replied Nix. "Anyways, wanna grab a drink?"
"Yeah," said Brynn.
"Val looks like she needs one, too," Nix smirked playfully.
"I'm a robot, idiot," scoffed Val. "I don't drink."
"Something iced to cool that head," said Nix. "You smell like hot plastic. What were you two doing in there?"
"Well it's not MY head I'm worried about overheating when someone asks you to counter edge-guarding without hugging the wall!" retorted Val, pouting like a highschool mean girl.
"Deflecting are we, lez-bot?" the reaper chuckled teasingly.
"Pfft! Says you!" Val scoffed. "I know what kinds of magazines you have in-"
"Ladies!" exclaimed Brynn. "You guys are going to give me a headache! And could you stop snooping around in our house, Val?" Even after a few years, Val was not used to Brynn saying "our house" instead of "her house". She missed the days when Brynn lived alone without anyone else cohabitating with her. "And are we going to the bar or not?"
"Our usual bar or someplace new?" said Nix.
"The usual place," said Brynn. She averted her gaze. "Not feeling up for adventure tonight."
"Welp, our steeds know the way home from that one!" said Nix. "Guess we could say they're the designated drivers, heheh."
"I think I'll come, too," said Val with a tone devoid of trust. She didn't appreciate the idea of drunk Brynn at the mercy of any shit-faced bums.
Midnight and Lucy, meanwhile, were listening through the Caspian-shaped hole in the wall from outside the house. The two steeds looked at each other and sighed. They knew what the word "bar" entailed.