Work Text:
12:42 PM / Rhodes Island Control Room
12°C / Overcast / Visibility: 16.79 km
Another day shift in the control room. As much as she was feared by Reunion - and even her fellow operators - Projekt Red actually spent most of her time at Rhodes Island helping with administrative work. Kal'tsit said it would be good for her, better to get used to normal life. Not always "thinking about the world in terms of a battlefield", was the term she used.
Despite her adopted mother's best intentions, the wolf hunter was having a hard time adjusting to normal life. The Doctor always did their best to make Red feel welcome as well - like someone normal. She appreciated the effort, but she still felt like an outsider. She could pick up that certain operators weren't exactly comfortable around her.
Absentmindedly spinning her knife in her hand, Red stared out the window, watching one of Rhodes Island's helicopters return from a mission. Next to her, Dobermann spoke to the pilot through her headset, guiding them to the helipad. Though she spoke slowly and clearly, Red was lost in thought, hardly paying attention to what the drill instructor was saying.
As blades wound down and the chopper's door opened, the victorious operators returned. It was simply a routine cargo operation on a quiet day, one of the dozens of missions Rhodes Island would do that week to fund its mission. Barely paying attention, Red began to type up the preliminary mission report into PRTS.
Rhodes Island Standard Mission Report
Date: ████-10-07
Reference Number: CE-5-██10-33
Status: Success, no injuries reported
Squad Leader: Fang
Operators: Fang, Texas, Plume, Pramanix, Gavial,
Lappland, Exusiai, Provence, Sora, Lava...
Additional Details: [Please enter any pertinent information.]
Red sighed, lowering her hands from the keyboard. Texas. Lappland. Provence. She was like them too - a lupo. But Red didn’t understand why they all avoided her. Was she scary? Sure, she was a hunter, but she didn't want to hurt them. She only wanted to be friends. Was it the way she talked? How she looked? What was she doing wrong..?
Red snapped out of her daydream when she heard Scavenger calling her name. “Hey. Red. Look alive, Kal’tsit and Doctor are here.” Scavenger walked away to greet them as the door to the control room slid open with its familiar swish . Red could tell something was off though. Sure, she could smell Kal’tsit and the Doctor even from across the room. But someone else was there with them. Someone whose scent she didn’t recognize. Someone dangerous? In one fluid motion, she dove underneath her desk, grabbing one of her many knives from inside her coat and stuffed her hands in her pocket, ears twitching as she tried to pick up any more details.
“...And this here is the control room,” a familiar voice talked as if she was halfway through a conversation. Kal’tsit. “When you’re not training the operators, you’ll probably be working here. Doctor tells me that you have experience with personnel management as well?”
“Yes ma’am! I used to be a lieutenant in the Colombian army.” the unknown voice said in response. A woman... Red thought to herself. It was hard to see from under the desk, but as she peeked out for a second, Red noticed the stranger’s perky ears and fluffy tail. Oh... Red’s grip on the knife relaxed, but she still held on out of caution.
“I’m especially good at working with rookies! I managed to whip my squad into shape pretty quickly,” the stranger continued, her tail wagging. “Ah, excellent,” Kal’tsit replied, almost seeming disinterested. “But there’s no need to be so formal, Dur-Nar. You can just call me Kal’tsit.” The feline wasn’t even looking at the new recruit - Dur-Nar, was it? - in the eyes, reading something off of her tablet instead.
“Why don’t we introduce her to everyone here? We might as well do it now if she’ll be working with them.” the Doctor put their hand on Kal’tsit’s shoulder like it was completely natural, but Red noticed the lynx tense up for a brief second as they did, almost imperceptibly. If the Doctor did too, they didn’t give any indication of it. “Hm. Very well. Who’s on shift right now?”
“Let’s see... Scavenger, Dobermann, and Red,” they replied. Scavenger walked over to the three of them and introduced herself, gruff, but trying her best to be polite. As she hung up her headset, Dobermann went to the door as well, exchanging pleasantries.
As Dur-Nar joked with the other drill instructor, and they exchanged stories of their time in the Colombian and Bolivarian militaries respectfully, Kal’tsit spoke to Scavenger on the side. “Where’s Red? Isn’t she supposed to be on shift right now?”
“Huh. That’s weird. She was literally just behind me, and there’s no way she could have gotten out, that’s the only exit...” the Zalak turned to Red’s desk. “...Ah. I see.” As she and Kal’tsit walked over, Red huddled into a ball underneath the desk, futilely hoping to stay out of sight. The senior SWEEP operative pulled the rolling chair away from the desk, revealing the hidden wolf.
“Red,” Kal’tsit said sternly, but calmly. “What are you doing under there?”
Defeated, Red crawled out from under the desk. Thankfully, Dur-Nar was still caught up in a conversation with the Doctor and Dobermann, so she didn’t seem to notice. Fidgeting with her knife, she sheepishly answered. “New person... I thought it was danger... but then I saw she was a lupo... I didn’t want to scare her...'' the wolf hunter trailed off, embarrassed. Kal’tsit was about to lecture her on appropriate behaviour around new people, when Dur-Nar noticed the new figure in the room and walked over to introduce herself.
“Hey there! Name’s Dur-Nar! Pleased to meet ya!” She held out her hand for a handshake. Red stared at it in awe for a few seconds, not knowing what to do.
“Oh... I am Red,” the wolf mumbled, playing with her knife. “You are... you are not afraid of me? But lupo don’t like me...” She said quietly, pulling on her hood’s drawstrings.
“Oh! I’m not a lupo, I'm actually a vulpo! I suppose it’s a pretty understandable mistake though,” Dur-Nar said, understandingly. Her ears folded down, as she looked worried. “Hey, is everything okay? I’m sorry if something I said made you upset.” The fox rooted around in her bag for a second, before pulling out a brightly-colored plastic package. “I think we got off on the wrong foot. Here, you can have some of my fruit gummies as an apology. They're red, like you!”
Red took the packet, examining it. “Gummies..?” she said, as she pulled out her knife, slicing the top off the package. She carefully pulled out a single gummy, bright red and shaped like a cartoon wolf head. Red sniffed it before popping it in her mouth. “Oh..! It's cherry..." The sweet-sour artificial flavours was like nothing Red had ever tasted. "It’s delicious... t-thank you, Miss Dur-Nar,” she said, chewing loudly.
“Well I’m glad you like them!” Dur-Nar’s smile was beaming, and Scavenger was smirking. Red could’ve sworn she even saw a hint of a smile on Kal’tsit’s face. “Yes, well, I think it’s about time we continue our tour,” the Rhodes Island director said. “Doctor, why don’t we show her the dormitories?”
Following the welcome wagon out, Dur-Nar turned to the control room staff before leaving, giving a friendly salute. “I’ll be looking forward to working with you all in the future! And it was nice meeting you, Red!”
As the automatic door closed behind her, Red sat back at her desk. Her tail wagging, she smiled, happy to have made a new friend.