Work Text:
The city was dark and bustling as Lukey made his way trough the crowd. It was the type of city where the night meant more rather than less people on the streets and the stars disappeared behind skylines and extensive amounts of light pollution. Unlike what some would assume, Lukey wasn’t out to drown himself in alcohol tonight. He was on a mission! He had been informed of someone in the possession of skulk in this city and while he could go to Aimsey for the stuff, Lukey was planning on keeping his current research endeavours of the stove for now. Thus, the scientist made his way trough the city, glancing down at a map on his brand-new communicator every once in a while to check if he was going in the right direction. It had been a bit of a challenge to find the woman allegedly in possession of the skull. She wasn’t bad at hiding, but a badger recognizes it’s own burrow, and Lukey has been living in secret bases for most of his life. A soft ‘ping’ came from his communicator as he turned a corner into a quieter street, reaching his destination. An old garage. Based on the painted on adverts of some base-model ships and land-vehicles a long closed one. The glass of the door however, was still intact. Shoving his comm in the inside pocket of his lab coat, Lukey calmly walked up to the door and knocked on the warped red wood.
-
Lukey slipped out of the garage with a smile on face and a collection of glass vials in the bag around his waist. It had taken only a bit of bluffing and smooth-talking to strike a deal impossibly in his favour. Lukey was ecstatic. His hands itched to get back to his lab and dig up more of his old notes, to light his burner and get to business. The flos-strain. It is truly a fascinating skulk mutation. Creating growth on top of the ruins of destruction.
As much as Lukey had said he wasn’t here for alchohol, he should get some to celebrate. He locked in today. He deserved a treat! So Lukey made his way over to a decent looking bar and asked for a glass of wine at the counter. When he got it he made his way to the tables outside and sat down at one of the last empty ones. There he sipped his wine and people watched for a bit. He spotted something familiar flashing by on the big advert screen across the street. When it finally circled back he laughed quietly to himself. It certainly was something familiar.
The advert was for LSD: LifeSteal Duals. On it Pangi and Zam stood proudly with swords raised above their heads, grins on their faces and blood soaking their clothes. In bold letters flickering in front of them the text:
FIGHT, WIN, THRIVE
LIFE STEAL DUELS
Man... Pangi looked good with blood on him. Not even shocked by that thought nowadays Lukey chuckled again and snapped a picture with his comm before the add was switched out for the next one again. He opened his messages with Pangi to send him the picture, including some dumb joke about not being able to escape the idiot anywhere. When he saw that Pangi had sent a picture earlier as well. A criminally adorable photo of PangopupFashionista curled around Pangi’s boots standing next to the lab’s exit.
Pangi: came by to grab something and now the little shit is keeping me hostage
Lukey: (answering: came by…hostage) awwwww she doesn’t want her mom to go back to lifesteal yet
To his suprise Lukey got an answer almost immediately:
Pangi: I’m NOT her mom. Besides, I already moved her to the table and left.
Pangi: (answering: look…anywhere huh?) Shut up. I know you love coming across those you freak!
Lukey: ly too :D
They texted back and forth for a bit. Eventually Pangi had a team meeting and they broke it off. By now Lukey had finished his wine. Having payed when he ordered, Lukey just set his glass down on the table and left.
With one of glance at the giant glowing picture of his partner and his friend, the scientist was on his way again. It would be nice to get to the room he was renting before the sun came up.
-
With a bit of searching and some consulting of the GPS in his communicator, Lukey was now fumbling with his keys to the door of his room. It was the place he was staying at while on this planet. Just a cheap space with a bed, a desk and a toilet. Nothing spectacular, but good enough for its purpose. When he got the door open and stepped inside he made his way over to the desk first. Draping his lab coat over the chair and untying the bag from his hip containing the vials to put on the desk. His headphones moved from his head to around his nek. The music that had been softly playing in his ears now turned off. Then he noticed the piece of paper on the desk. One he hadn’t put there. Alarmed but curious Lukey picked it up. Inspecting the paper before unfolding it to read:
Dear Lucas, I knew you where residing here and I happened to find myself in the same solar system for work. They messed up the sleeping accommodations so I decided to crash at your place hoping you would not mind. Sorry for breaking and entering! （◞‸◟’）
-Newt
Lukey blinked and turned around to face the bed. Yup, there on the floor next to it, with a sleeping bag and one of the extra cushions laid his friend. Lukey could practically hear Bad and Pangi calling him a hamster for not noticing immediately. Newt was literally right there! On the floor! Luckily his fumble would stay between him and him alone as Newt seemed to be fast asleep. He was lucky it was just them.
Lukey did however write a small note of his own, telling Newt not to touch the bag containing the vials. Just in case. Then Lukey pulled of his hoody, walked over to the bed, carefully stepped over Newt and hung his headphones around the post before crawling under the covers.
With the sounds of the city bleeding trough the tin window and his eyes fixated on his newest project standing on the table, Lukey fell fast asleep, dreaming of the future.