Heart of Steel

[Retroboy]

Apophe wandered through the halls, carrying a pair of plates with her and a plastic bag hung over her arm, desperately trying not to trip over her own shoelaces. It had been well over a decade since she had to wear shoes regularly, and now that she had something resembling normal feet, she felt like she was obligated to. Why she went with high-tops was mostly because it was something she saw Amelia wore a few times, and figured that was what normal people wore. She hadn't entirely figured out tying the knots in a way to keep the laces from flopping about yet.

She wandered into a workshop - one she had gifted to Markus' daughter for a birthday four years ago - taking in the sights around her. So much of this stuff was beyond her, but Felicity liked it so Apophe supported it wholeheartedly. It was strange how the girl had come into her life, but Apophe was more than happy to accept her as family from the moment she met her. Smart and kind. Even smarter than her father.

She found the little roboticist hard at work, and grinned, setting down a plate of spicy wings and fries next to Felicity. Then, she set down her own plate and produced two bottles of Galacticola, twisting off the tops and putting them down in front of Felicity.

"Hey hey hey," Apophe said. "Heard you were hard at work so I thought I'd bring you lunch."

She smiled down at Felicity. Apophe was dressed in something casual, a green long-sleeve shirt that did little to conceal her baby bump and tight black trousers. She had to get them new because the sudden lack of activity had started to go to her already prodigious rear and hips. Her hair was let to fall loose, landing down at the middle of her back.

 

[Asteroid]

Felicity sat at her workbench, welding together bits of discarded metal to house the internals for a large blaster that fell off of some sort of vehicle that looked like it was made before she was born. Felicity had been up since three o'clock this morning working on her latest invention sustaining herself on nothing but energy drinks and a family sized bag of chips. Her current project demanded most of her waking attention that wasn't dominated by her combat training that her father was forcing her to take.

Felicity shut off her welder and put her goggles on her head when she heard Apophe place down the food. "Aunt Apophe!" Felicity exclaimed with a bright smile on her face as the 5'4" 16 year old girl practically jumped out of her seat to give Apophe a hug. For a tiny little girl she was briming with energy. "Oh you didn't!" She said, smelling the greasy chicken. ​

 

[Retroboy]

Apophe grinned, returning the hug. With how short everyone was, Apophe was naturally used to just how much smaller than her everyone was, but the little inventor seemed to be especially tiny. It was hard to believe, still, just how much the girl had grown in the time that Apophe had come to know her, though. She still remembered the eleven year old she met five years ago. Apophe's eyes wandered over to the empty cans of energy drinks and potato chips, and then looked back at Felicity as she released her.

"Been eating healthy as always, I see," Apophe said with a teasing tone. "But yeah, I figured you could use some actual protein in you instead of you know, potato chips."

She looked over the project that Felicity was working on. It was some sort of blaster, to be sure, though exactly what Felicity had in store for it Apophe could not say. Deciding to swallow her pride, she figured it couldn't hurt to ask the girl exactly what she was doing.

"So I'm pretty dumb," she said. "Which means you're gonna hafta explain to me exactly what you're doing here. Oh, and..." She raised her bottle of cola for a little toast.

 

[Asteroid]

Felicity blushed a little as Apophe pointed out her eating habits. "Shut up, it was all I could find." She brazenly lied as she clinked her soda against Apophe's before taking a sip of the bubbly drink. Her eyes lit up when Apophe asked her about her project and was secretly delighted that she asked, Felicity hated to brag. "Well I kind of wanted it to be a surprise but I guess now is a good time too." She said, placing her soda back down on her workplace before flipping a switch on the wall which illuminated a half finished mech that was missing an arm and had parts scattered all across the floor.

"It's suppose to be a miniature walker, I still don't have all the parts for it yet. I'm missing a generator and a few other minor bits and pieces." She explained, proud of her unfinished work. "I'm hoping that after I show this to my dad he'll see that I've gotten really good at building things and let me go on missions with him! I've been on this dreary little swamp planet for years Apophe, I want to explore the galaxy like my dad."​

 

[Retroboy]

Apophe looked down Felicity, considering the possibility of bringing her out into the Galaxy with her. Felicity was a smart cookie, there was no doubt, and she had a lot of talents that would help keep her alive. But Markus would be exceptionally mad at her if she over-stepped her bounds. But on the third hand, Felicity was her niece, which did mean she would be acting in loco parentii...

Wait. Felicity was only 14 years younger than her. Apophe wouldn't have even finished growing by the time the girl was born. Did Apophe really have the right to try and act like an authority figure?

Eh, frag it, what the hell.

"So I'm looking at doing a few scouting missions in our new territory," she said with a knowing look. "And you know, I could use an advisor on the Ashes...'

"I'd be okay with having you do that. We could see some nice sights, maybe even meet a few leaders. I'd love to have my favourite niece around with me for that stuff. Maybe I'd even pick up some of your smarts by hanging around you so much. What do you say?"

 

[Asteroid]

The second Apophe suggested that Felicity accompany her on board her ship during one of her scouting missions all of Felicity's pent up energy was released in one manic burst of joy as she gave Apophe another large hug while squealing with delight. "Oh thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you!" She squealed, rubbing her motor oil covered cheeks all over Apophe's green shirt. ​

 

[Retroboy]

"Aw, crud, yer gettin' me all dirty," she said with good humour. "I'm glad you're into it, though. Love having family with me when I go up and out into the Galaxy."

She stroked her niece's hair for a moment, before gently letting the girl go. "Hey, now," she said. "You need to eat before you can spend all that energy getting excited."

 

[Asteroid]

"Sorry." Said Felicity as she wiped her oily hands off on her skirt before sitting down to eat the food that Apophe had generously brought her. The hot wings were just how she liked them, thoroughly coated in the sauce and crispy, the spice leaving a residual burn on her tongue after she finished one. Her aunt could truly read her like a book. Even with the food Felicity could slowly feel her sugar rush from the energy drinks start to taper off. "So." Felicity said between bites. "How are things going with you and Amelia"​

 

[Retroboy]

Apophe grinned, taking a bite of her own meal. She had been craving spicy food herself for a little while now and was happy to be sating that need. Wings were another one of those specialties from across the Galaxy that the Unchained had introduced her to, and she had fallen in love with them. Who ever thought that the waste parts of a chicken could possibly taste so good?

"Oh, she's a total wife," she said, rolling her eyes a bit. "Always making me be cautious n'crud, always asking how I'm doing with the kids. Lemme tell you right now, if I could do this again, I'd make her carry them."

She giggled.

"But, you know, we're doing good," she said. "Still into that lovey dovey crud which I'm a sucker for. She's still hot too which is a total plus."

She looked at Felicity. "You getting along with your stepmom?"

 

[Asteroid]

Felicity took a sip of her drink to temporarily quell the burning in her mouth as she started into the pile of fries that sat next to the wings. "That sounds like a lot of work, I don't think I'd ever willingly put myself through that." She remarked with a slight half hearted chuckle as Apophe continued to talk.

Truth be told Felicity and Arysolyn never really saw eye to eye on most things and Felicity resented her for marrying her father. She still had a real mom, and Arysolyn could be extremely insufferable sometimes. Now that she was a little older it became easier to just lock herself in her workshop whenever Arysolyn was on a rant. "About as well as we usually do, I try to keep to myself. Having her around without my dad just leads to fights."​

 

[Retroboy]

"Oh, it is a lot of work," Apophe agreed. "But there's nice parts too. You're basically high on endorphins and crud and for me, knowing I got two kids on the way is pretty exciting." She smiled down at Felicity. "But it's really up to you. I always wanted kids so that made the decision easier."

She sighed as Felicity talked about her relationship with Arsolyn. She wanted Felicity and Arsolyn to get along because she loved them both, and besides, in the Yahm there was no distinction made between blood and step/adopted children. Kids were meant to be close with their parents, especially their moms.

But then again, Apophe had stolen Felicity from her mom, so maybe the distinction was a little stronger here.

She hugged her niece. "I'm sorry, kiddo," she said. "I know you and her have some issues but... I dunno. I just want you to know we all love you a lot, right? Even if us barbarians sometimes have trouble expressing it."