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    Kelly Collins

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    Sometime in August, 2019

     

     

     

     

    Being back at ARMA felt…strange.

     

    It was like nothing changed.

     

    Like at all.

     

    Shit, at least her neighborhood in Brooklyn got yuppified and the old comic shop she frequented got bought out by Midtown Comics. She could swear that the only change ARMA headquarters had in the past year and a half was a new layer of paint along the hallway to her familiar office. It was like she never left! Sure, some people were gone and some desks looked different, but she didn’t need to be gone for nearly two years to see those kinds of changes.

     

    Welp. Them’s the bones right? You expect grand changes and banners and balloons, but tend to just get the same ol’ shit like your existence was just another machination of the universe and no one noticed you were gone.

     

    Opening her door slowly, she sneezed as soon as the dust hit her like a freight train. Yup. They left it for her and hadn’t used it since. She wondered if this was the same feeling Joce got everytime she came back through that door and just as quickly walked out.

     

    “Home sweet home.” She yawned, realizing how scarily accurate that statement was. Going back to her brownstone didn’t have the same feeling that coming back to ARMA had. This one was more nostalgic, peaceful, like she belonged there and was coming home from a long journey in the belly of a whale.

     

    Was this why she kept leaving? To keep getting that feeling like some kind of addict?

     

    Falling onto the couch, Kelly placed a single hand over her eyes to let her brain re-gather. It really had been a year and a half hadn’t it? Christ, how did she let the chase go on that long? Why did she keep chasing her?

     

    Why did she find herself acting and thinking like her more and more every single day?

     

    Grumbling, she fumbled for something under the couch to help with this headache that was starting to form. Did aspirin expire after a year and a half? Welp. Time to find out. Locating it, she opened it quick and popped two without even thinking.

     

    Overall, it was a pretty nice vacation come to think on it. She had a lead on what Joce was doing and went after her of course. This lead her from comfy New York to Canada, and then eventually Ireland and Scotland. There, she got caught up in some underground IRA conspiracy and came back with a deeper Irish brogue. Then met some girl name Siobhan, who made that whole Pandora thing seem like a nice walk in the park…which led her back to Albany and she got to spend some time with family for the first time since this whole Order business made her throw them into hiding. God, how long had it been? Two years? Three? Eh, regardless, it was her family that finally got her butt moving again and now she was back in New York and ready to get back to what she did best. Joce was long gone to wherever the fuck she disappears to, and she knew she had to accept that (despite how much she didn’t want to). She couldn’t keep chasing a ghost.

     

    Unless it was a banshee, but that was another story entirely.

     

    “Dresden? Anyone around?” Molly grumbled again, sitting up against the arm of the couch. “I need to alert the place that I’m back and that Alec needs a smack in the head.” She paused for a moment. “I know he deserved it for some reason.”

     

    Another pause. “Anyone?”

     

    Silence.

     

    Okay. Her life wasn’t a sitcom. Good to know.

     

    Stretching, she got up with a little more pep this time and bounced slightly on her feet with the more manic stretches of a little, baby pixie. “Alright. I guess I’m going to have to do this the manual way.”

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    What better place to be on a hot summer's day than inside a stuffy old building full of mages who think they know what they're doing? Well, better here than with the ones supposedly plotting world domination and the extermination of all non-magic people. That was what he understood of the two sides of this weird human war, anyway. He was on the bench for the team that wasn't murdering people... or something like that. 

     

    Regardless, they let him keep doing what he'd been doing, and he didn't really report to anyone in particular. Doubted he'd ever have to actually join them in combat or whatever... so it wasn't any skin off his back to stop by once in a blue moon and meet his... did they count as coworkers?

     

    Johann wandered the halls of ARMA's headquarters aimlessly, greeting those he'd met before. 

     

    [npc]Hey! Johann! [/npc] There was a voice from behind him. He turned to greet this person who remembered him.

    It was a mage who'd come to him about a year prior for a mana fueled shield. It was a neat little thing, hidden in a ring. The guy had asked him to make it green and to put a symbol in the center, like a signet ring. After a bit of research, he'd learned the symbol was for some superpowered corp of laser slinging policemen from cartoon books. Comics... that was their name.

     

    [johann]Good morning. [/johann] He said with a smile. [johann] David... If memory serves. [/johann] The words were distant, with no human connection driving them. The dragon was better at remembering projects than names of fragile beings.

     

    [johann] So how's that shield been holding up for you? [/johann] David lifted his hand and generated a small buckler-sized energy field with the thing.

     

    [npc] No complaints. Saved my ass more than a few times this year already, so I wanted to thank you. [/npc]

     

    Johann smiled and gave him a slap on the shoulder. [johann] Glad to hear it. Stay safe out there. [/johann] Dithering fool... he thought to himself, smiling and waving as he walked away.

     

    Function well over form.... that was how he designed his tools and weapons... unless otherwise demanded. Function over form, then he'd try to make it as pretty as possible. 

     

    Johann continued along his way until he spotted a rather shocking mop of red hair in the hallway ahead of him. Fuckin humans... so weird.

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    Alistair left the conference room and shivered.

    There had been plenty of benefits to the close alliance with the Silvers - for one, Aura had brought at least twice as many combat-capable people as ARMA had on its own, and almost all of them were ex-military, ex-police, or warriors of some kind from across the Veil. Which meant for once they had the people to stand up to Vanguard in a real way without resorting to the sort of magical means that made the Good People of New York nervous. For some reason, the common folk had just never warmed up to golems, who knew? For two, the woman was a vicious and effective strategic mind, and the alliance benefited from her leadership. Alistair appreciated it too, because it allowed him the time to get back into the field, and she was, to hear herself tell it, 'too fucking old to be running around the streets with swords like you kids'. It had relieved him of most of the logistics shit too, having an honest-to-god set of military-type quartermastery experts on the job.

    But shit. Meetings with Dragon Lady when she was pissed off, even if she wasn't pissed off at you, could be downright scary. Not to mention cold - literally. Alistair had considerable familiarity with scary women: His first mentor, Lydia, scared just about everybody, and he'd been partners with one Jocelyn Rose for half a decade, but Aura had a particular way of making 'mere humans' feel like ants, without so much as flashing a tooth. Some people still didn't believe she was really a dragon, she'd never proved it, but one thing was for sure: don't piss off the Old Lady.

    Alistair shook his head a bit again and got on the elevator for one of the lower floors, where most of the mages kept their offices, and he stepped off and out into the hall, deciding to angle for the steampunk monstrosity of his coffee machine (which nobody, including any dragons who claimed expertise in such things, was allowed to work on but him), but there was a... Well, a hair color that he hadn't seen in ages.

    [alistair]Molly!?[/alistair]

    Kelly hadn't exactly disappeared, and when Jocelyn had gone out into the wind again, it hadn't come as too much of a surprise to anyone that she'd gone after her. Joce still fought the good fight, Alistair knew that, and there still wasn't anyone in the world he trusted more than the redhead. If she thought she could do more good away from the city, she had that license, and Joce had a hard time with things here since the Grand Split with the Order, he knew. But that could be hard on certain other people, particularly those who cared about her.

    But hell, losing Kelly too had been shit. And in truth, he'd almost given up on the idea that she might come back. Seemed like she might have gotten out of the fight and found it more to her liking after all... which he could hardly blame anyone for, of course, but it didn't exactly make things easier on him.

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    It took a minute before her ears perked at a familiar sound.

     

    It only took a second for the woman to squeal and jump tackle the ass that she was supposed to be protecting if she hadn't gone after Joce. [kelly]"DRESDEN!!!!!!!!" [/kelly] She cried out, practically teleporting into the man's personal space. "You're alive! Holy shit. I thought you were gonna die without either of us here to watch your ass. Where's Cassie? Where's everyone?" As soon as she had her arms around the man, she let go to point to the, whoever that was, staring at her hair.

     

    [kelly]"And who's he? Is he new?"[/kelly] She asked, doing her best to mentally catch up to her surroundings. [kelly] "I think you're going to have to fill me in on the last year and a half, Barton. And oh, I'm calling you Barton now. I decided that if I ever saw you again."[/kelly] Things were different, and a part of her knew that, but she didn't think things would change so...differently.

     

    Then again, new people was going to obviously be a thing. When would it not be obviously a thing? 

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    "DRESDEN!!!!!!!!"

     

    [kelly]I thought you were gonna die without either of us here to watch your ass. [/kelly]

     
    What in the everloving hell was wrong with this woman? She was talking to the former head of the organization... and yet she spoke with a tone of no respect and used the wrong name for the man who was her boss.
     
    And then she noticed him...  Johann had not been planning to get involved in this conversation between mages, but hearing the one with the odd hair color specifically ask who he was, he figured it would be best to make his way over and make an introduction.
     
    He caught the end of the sentence about renaming the man yet again. She truly had no respect for authority... unless there was some other relationship at play there... He'd read enough about workplace romances to know they rarely ended well. No business of his, though.
     
    [johann] Apologies. I forget it's rude to stare sometimes. [/johann] He said, extending a hand. [johann] Johann Eligius. Blacksmith, Artificer, Dragon. [/johann] The dragon would give that a moment to sink in before continuing. [johann] I run Eligius Bladeworks, down by the Harbor. Nice to meet you. [/johann]
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    [alistair]Jesus![/alistair] Alistair didn't have much of a chance to move before she hit him, and he put his arms back around her, hugging his onetime shadow back and letting a breath back out when she let go again, shaking his head at the questions. [alistair]Bloody hell... I took care of myself before you OR Joce showed up, so I can manage it just fine, thanks. Cass is out on a job, as is most of the group, I'm only here becase I had some administrative crap to take care of, and he's -[/alistair]

    Alistair actually hadn't seen who Kelly was pointing at, so he turned to look, and Johann took the opportunity to make his own introductions. Alistair gave the man... dragon... trogdor? Anyway, Alistair nodded to him and looked back to Kelly.

    [alistair]There are a lot of new people. You remember the Silvers, we work together now. They get the magic support, we get the hardware support. For now Aura Edler's running the show up top, which lets me run things outside the building, instead of sitting on my ass.[/alistair] That was pretty much the short version, though he blinked at something else she said, and narrowed his eyes.

    [alistair]Now hold the fuck on - Clint Barton? I got the Dresden thing, wizard, trenchcoat, hero complex, but Barton? He's a circus kid who cheats on every woman he dates! I am a pain in the ass with a mess for a personal life but I am NOT a cheat.[/alistair]

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    • 3 weeks later...

    Kelly blinked at the guy, then at Dresden. [kelly]Dragons? Oh no we are...We are...[/kelly] She said widemouthed. [kelly]Wait...so we didn't wipe the Order off the map how if...[/kelly] She started frantically waving at the dragon that appeared next to her. [kelly]Oh right! Hey! Kelly Collins! This guy's bodyguard. ARMA's command queen and speedster and.......uhhh.....do I have any other titles?[/kelly] She asked Dresden, before looking at him.

     

    [kelly]Person who watches his ass. But Hi.[/kelly] She then frowned at Dresden. [kelly]I'm kinda sad now everyone's gone. I have a feeling I need to smack Alec. Which, though often, just makes me warm inside. But HIIIII![/kelly] She exclaimed grinning, her software a little scrambled at the moment.

     

    [kelly]But yes. Okay. To be fair, I've also never seen you on a date, and all the women I see around you tend to be gay or your sister soooooooo....[/kelly] She shrugged politely. [kelly]But Clint and Dresden are essentially the same person, including the tragic backgrounds in rural Iowa. The shitty teachers and the suave older brother. Plus, precocious sidekick![/kelly] She beamed, pointing at herself.

     

    [kelly]Because I rock.[/kelly]

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    Johann stood quietly as the attention deficit human ran her mouth, overflowing with excitement. How had they allowed enemies to continue to threaten them? Good question. Did it really matter, so long as those enemies ceased to prove a threat? 

     

    [johann] Indeed. Aura does run a tight ship. [/johann] Johann would add, a comment neither here nor there in the conversation, just sprinkled in to make conversation. 

     

    Kelly Collins. The name was committed to memory. Well, short term memory. She would prove herself to be more than bluster and fancy titles before the dragonian actually remembered it past this first meeting. 

     

    [johann] Right. Hello. [/johann] Good god, did this woman ever shut up? She would smack a fellow agent around, just to cheer herself up? Was she on drugs?

     

    And then right back to insulting her boss. His boss? Did he report to the trenchcoated man? Duster? It was a duster, right? What was even the difference?

     

    [johann]Humans.[/johann] The dragon mumbled derisively, not even thinking his comrades in arms might hear him. 

     

    "...The shitty teachers and the suave older brother. Plus, precocious sidekick!"

     

    What was she on about now? Oh right, she rocked. Johann just smiled and nodded, wondering if it was wise for him to continue on his way, or if he should stay and speak with the mages.

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    • 1 month later...

    ((OOC: Holy shit I am sorry for the slow reply, I didn't think it had been nearly this long, September completely got away from me...))

    Alistair lifted a brow at her stammering. [alistair]Are you gonna finish that sentence?[/alistair] he asked, tone dry, crossing his arms for a few seconds as he waited to see. [alistair]What the hell is a command queen?[/alistair] he asked next. It seemed Kelly was taking off right where she'd left off when it came to speaking faster than she or anyone else could think.

    [alistair]Well you're a Lieutenant so there's that.[/alistair] he offered again, shaking his head a little bit and rubbing at the back of his neck. Surely Alec was going to be glad that basically her first thought was of giving him a sturdy whack. Poor guy was getting a lot of shit lately, wasn't he?

    [alistair]Okay they are not the same person... ugh I sense an argument that's going to go on for seven years and this time it's about pulp novels and comic books. What else is new.[/alistair] The dragon seemed... understandably nonplussed by the whole thing. Considering the vast majority of humans didn't know how to take Kelly, it wasn't exactly any sort of surprise that a dragon wouldn't know how to deal with her either.

    Still, it was good to see her again... made things feel a little bit like the good old days, even if many of those days had been shit just as well as the current days. There weren't exactly a surfeit of calm, cool, and collected times around New York since the Event had hit. Normally he didn't regret that, but there were times it really would be nice to be able to find some sort of normal. For him, the closest to that had been when Joce and he had been kicking in doors, and Adeline...

    Nope. He still wasn't ready to deal with Adeline. Her offhanded comment had struck a nerve, and he shook his head a little bit. [alistair]You know perfectly well that's a shit subject.[/alistair] he murmured, but let out a sigh and shook it off. [alistair]I'm taking it you intend to stick around this time?[/alistair] He really hoped he wasn't going to have her taking after Joce in that department...

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