Escaping the Siege (BurningWillows & Rskde)

Connor bites the bottom of his lip before nodding. "Right, I was EOD Tech in Afghanistan." He explains. "And I was the guy that would get into that giant ass Juggernaut suit whenever we couldn't use the robot." He says.

"One day I approached a bomb and it went off." He says. "I was alive but my own parents couldn't identify me without looking at my dog tags." He says to her. "Of course we hadn't found out about supernaturals." He says.

"So I was sent home and later healed by some Witch I forget the name of." He explains. "But I was so angry at the military that I didn't sign my contract and I found Echo Fox to sign for." He says before sitting back, staring at his food, the conversation had killed his appetite.

"That's all there is to it." He explains. "My career ended after that, and my best friend died in the explosion.. I don't know why I'm still alive." He says while staring at the ground in front of him.

"You should have remembered the witch's name," Nahla replied quietly, "For someone who did you such a kind service, you should remember the name of the woman who helped you. But I'm sorry your life turned down that rocky path. If it means anything, I'm happy you are here. A much as Kaia complains about it, we did need your team's help. The two of us couldn't have moved this whole group across the city without casualities. Too many variables."

She tapped her head, "I saw it before you showed up. Many of the group would have died. Now we have a chance."

She smiled and looked down, "Yes, I can see into the future. Not too far ahead, and it is never a concrete future. Any choice a person makes shapes and changes their future. I simply see many of the possible futures when I look. It's like a curtain in my mind. I do not need to look unless I pull back the curtain. Sometimes when I sleep, however, I'll get visions of what is to come. Those are more...dangerous. They often happen, and they have rarely shifted, no matter what I or Kaia have tried."

She looked out into the night, "I can see the possible ends to this date. There are good ones, and bad. I won't tell you. I'd rather wait and see."

Connor watches her as she speaks, nodding to her. "Humans don't have the best memory." He says with a laugh. "But I was appreciative of her, I promise." He explains before leaning back, thinking to himself for a moment.

"That's pretty cool, you can see into the future." He says with a laugh. "I'm pretty boring compared to you." He admits. "You've got all of these talents and abilities." He says with a smile. "It's been awesome to get to know you Nahla, I really mean that, I hope we can do something like this again, it was.. Relaxing, a good change of pace." He says with a nod to her.

"Anything else you want to talk about? I'm an open book for you." He says.

"Well not that much of an open book," she joked, tapping her forehead again, "If I touched your skin then you'd really be open, but I will not. I will tire me out some. No, I cannot think of what else to talk about, perhaps -"

The radio beside him buzzed and of all people Kaia's voice piped up, although not to nag or threaten.

"Hey Connor? Your boss man wants you on first watch. I offered so you could have your date and all...see Nahla, I can be nice and I know you can hear me. Anyways he said no, he wants me on morning watch. Maybe he's just grumpy because Connor's getting lai-"

Nahla grabbed the radio and hit the button to speak, "Kaia cut it out, everyone with a radio can hear you right now."

"Oh," there was a pause and then a snicker, "Connor's getting laid, Conner's getting laid."

Nahla cheeks flamed as she heard the little jingle, looking down. Oh what was she going to do with this demon?

Connor sighs when he heads the demon's voice over the radio, interrupting everything just so that he can get on watch. "That sucks.." He mutters to himself, sighing quietly.

"Nahla, if you want to touch me and go to bed, you can.. Or you could just go, I mean, it's really up to you." He says as he stands, moving out of the tent.

"It was a fun date, Nahla, maybe we can do it again sometime?" He asks. "Next time we stop maybe? You never know, we might stay here another day if that tank battalion rolls through again." He says while biting the inside of his cheek, still a little nervous around her.

"Anyway, touch me if you want to, and then I'll go to watch." He says, raising his eyebrows at her, thoguh she had said she didn't want to, he assumes that she had said that as to not end their date early, but since that was happening anyway he figured that she might as well.

Nahla stood and made a circular motion with her hand over the fire and leftover plates and it all vanished. Then she turned to Connor.

"This was nice," she ignored his awkward words, being polite enough not to point out his tactless questions about her touching him. She pitied the man a little; it was obvious he got nervous around women. Thinking about it, she realized all of them were awkward around them, except Nathan. But that could easily be Kaia's influence as well.

"Enjoy your watch. We will see about a second dinner," she gave him a small cute curtesy and turned to the door, disappearing behind it. As she did, her body became smoke, burst from its solid form as she slid into the shadows and quickly breezed through the building, only pausing when she at last found Kaia in deep discussion with Nathan and Stevey. She slithered up behind Kaia secretively her solidness form reshaping her body within the shadow as her smoke curled into itself and then POP. She reappeared, stepping out from behind Kaia and scaring the men.

"Boo," she giggled, smiling at Nathan, "sorry. Old trick I use a lot."

"Didn't scare me," Kaia grinned, pulling her in for a kiss, "but I know where you are every second of the day love. I can feel you."

"And I you," Nahla sighed, kissing her back in earnest, "the nights are longest when they are without you my Shaytan."

Kaia actually looked down then, a blush creeping on her usually calm complexion, "you spoil me."

"I do." Nahla laughed, knowing she had won as she turned to the men, "so what great conversation did I interrupt?"

Nathan and Stevey both jump when Nahla appears, they hadn't really been expecting her to do something like that. They both just watch as the two women converse, not saying anything until Nahla speaks to them.

"We were just talking about lives back home." Stevey says with a shrug. "And also some strategy on how we're getting out of the city, apparently there're drones going around so all watches are being called inside, though they'll still be on guard duty.. Unlucky Connor." He says with a laugh.

Nathan shakes his head. "Yeah, Kaleb can be a bit of a prick like that sometimes, but we all respect him." He says with a chuckle.

Kaia shrugged, "Sometimes you make the mean calls to get the job done. Being a leader isn't about being nice. Take it from a demon."

Nahla nodded, "So we need a plan, do we have a map?"

Kaia shook her head, "No we couldn't find one. Could you perhaps babe..."

Nahla nodded and stepped forward to a table, closing her eyes and running her hands over it as she whispered. At first nothing happened as they circled around her. But then her eyes flashed open and they had changed. Her iris' had turned blue, a glowing light blue at that as her hands continued to circle the tabletop, her breathless whispers unintelligible. Suddenly a dark smoke grew from her hands, coating the table. From it small forms began to take shape, little cubes that grew and solidified, becoming more shaped as some became houses, buildings, and skyscrapers. It was the city they were within, and within the smoke made map a small white light emanated inside one of the smoky buildings.

"That's us," Kaia pointed at it, taking Nahla's hand as she teetered, looking exhausted, "We don't have much time before she runs out of juice, so let's strategize while we can. Where's Kaleb?"

"He's sleeping, but I know the route he wants to take." Nathan says, tracing his finger from their location to a place outside of the city. "That's where we started, like, our little crew, the refugee camp." He explains. "They've probably moved out by now but they have a straight shot out of the state to the south, where more U.S. Armed Forces are stationed." He explains.

"So ideally we take fifth avenue closer to the center of the city and then shoot straight south." He explains. "Otherwise it's sit says and unpredictable shit, and without cars we want to keep safe." He says before moving away from the table.

"I dunno if that sounds good to you guys but it sure sounds good to me, it's just the same route we took the other refugees." He says. "And Stevey knows this city better than anyone, he used to live here." He explains.

Kaia shook her head, pointing out the road the tanks kept driving through, "We can't get to that street without facing them. And moving straight south isnt wise. We need to make sure we have cover, rest stops, and most importantly keep from being seen down the street."

She pointed at his route, "If a single sniper reaches the roof of this building...here...then they can see us up to ten blocks this way. Its suicide. We need to zigzag."

Nathan nods when Kaia speaks. "But the thing is, all of these streets around us-." He says while pointing out the streets. "-Are blocked off, roadblocks, cars, debris, whatever, we scouted them a week back and they are a mess, plus we encountered more mines and such, I think some civilians even threw together IEDs." He says.

"Straight shot is our best one for right now, if we find a better route with no blockage we'll zig zag like you said." He says to the demoness.

Kaia shrugged, "You're forgetting one thing Nathan."

She winked at him as Stevey turned his back, trying to get him to smile and ease up, "You got me on your team now. I can clear us a path no problem. Stevey's seen my moves. Think I can clear the debris enough to get us this way, and then back down here and around?"

Nathan nods to her. "You might be able to, but how many times a day do you think you can do that without wearing yourself out?" He asks her while leaning back. "And I'll talk to Kaleb about it in the morning, he'll probably agree to your plan." He says to the demoness. He watches the map fade and he nods. "It's about time to sleep anyway." He says with a shrug.

"If you need me, I'll be on the third floor." He says while giving the small group a wave, walking down to the third floor in a small room, leaving the door open in case somebody needed him.

"I can take on more than you think," she assured, nodding as he said goodnight, "Tell Kaleb he can speak to me about any concerns. Goodnight."

Nahla let the map slip away before saying goodnight, taking Kaia to their own room. She did not let the demon out of her sight, so Nathan was without all night long.

Stevey watches them go, heading to a small corner to curl up in for the night. He sighs quietly as he falls asleep, the quietness of the room around him allowing him to easily fall into sleep.

In the morning the sound of tanks wakes them up, the battalion had caught up with them once again. They seem to be passing, though none of the watches dare look at them directly, scared that a lone sniper or a spotter may see them, so they all hunker down inside.

"Again," Kaia growled upon waking and finding they were surrounded again, looking pissed as she sat down beside Nahla and Nathan, "Bloody hell."

"It'll be better soon," Nahla promised and Kaia believed her. Her djinn always knew best, "We just have to wait till they are gone Kaia."