The Golden Eagle and the Owl

===The Golden Eagle and the Owl===
(20 December 2024)
The mess hall is extra busy because of the season and the influx of other Shatterdome refugees. Bedraggled red streamers hang from each table. By the faces around the room, yet, Hermann would guess that lunch was instead a funeral reception. He can't blame his fellow Shatterdome residents. The worsening war and the rumors of budget cuts dampen even Newt's holiday spirit. Hermann offered to bring back lunch, as Newt works feverishly to find anything to understand the Kaiju. Hermann's own data has left him depressed and in need of a distraction.
“Ah, Doctor!” Hermann's scowl turns into a bright grin when he sees the towering woman walking towards him. Hermann knew that his friends from Russia were relocating to Hong Kong, but he hadn't known when they would arrive. They had been a great comfort to him at the Jaeger Academy; he's missed them much. He places his two trays of food onto a nearby table in preparation for Sasha's greeting.
“Ranger! It is lovely to see you!” Hermann allows the short embrace as his binder has hidden his wings from Sasha Kaidanovskaya's hugs in the past. He'd learned in quick time that she and her husband were touching people. Hermann missed physical contact enough when they'd met that he'd let caution slip. Now they were two of the few that Hermann let approach him that way. They never spoke of it, but the mathematician knew that he'd touched them with his admission.
"What is this 'Ranger' nonsense? Do you forget your friends so easily?" Sasha's smile is still intimidating, even as Hermann knows that she would give her life for him. "Or is Doctor afraid that Sasha has forgotten him?"
Hermann's own smile dims. He will not admit it out loud, but that is what he has worried over the years. Despite emails and letters and Skype sessions, Hermann never knows if his few friends will remain so. He often wonders why they are friends at all with a bitter, lonely mess like him.
Shaking his head to dispel his darkening thoughts, Hermann laughs. “Of course not, Sasha. I just believe in showing respect when due. Unlike my lab partner, I might add.” Sasha's answering laugh is booming and several people look up from their conversations.
“Ah, yes, the little tattooed man! We met that one some time ago. He worked on Cherno.” Her eyes twinkle as she takes the two trays from the table and gestures for Hermann to walk with her, letting him take the lead. ““He did a good job, though he chattered like a magpie.”
“Yes, Newton is quite—excitable, I must admit. You'll see him in a moment. I was just bringing us lunch.”
“You still eat alone? That is not good, not good at all.” Sasha's disapproving frown makes Hermann think of his sister's same concern. Why is everyone so set on my mingling with others? He thinks as his earlier scowl makes a small return. It's better for me to be alone.
Rather than upset Sasha further, Hermann becomes defensive. “Of course not. I eat in the canteen almost as often as I do the lab. We're just busy today. The Apocalypse waits for no man—or woman, as you know."
They're approaching the lab door now and Hermann leads his friend in. Newt slumps over his console and mutters in German. Hermann's ears flush as the words are not fit for decent company; thank God Sasha doesn't know.
“Newton! I've brought lunch and a surprise!” Newt's dark head whips up and brightens at the sight of the tray filled with mashed potatoes and cookies. Hermann knows that Newt needs comfort food today. The short man bounces from his seat and looks over the offerings.
“Hey, chocolate chip! Awesome!” It's only when he has an entire cookie shoved into his mouth that Newt notices Sasha holding his food. “Hey, Lady Turm! How you been? Wrestle any bears lately?”
“Did you just call her that?” Hermann asks (ignoring the ludicrous question) as Sasha laughs and claps a hand to Newt's back before handing him his tray.
“Why not? She's taller 'en you.” It's obvious that Newt has explained the nickname at some point as Sasha just chuckles as she hands Hermann his tray. She pulls up Hermann's swivel chair and he slides into the custom-made seat with a grateful sigh.
“Sasha sees that you are busy, Doctors. She will leave you. Aleksis is sleeping, the lazy bear.” Sasha's voice is fond. Hermann's heart aches, just a bit, at the love she has for her spouse. No one will ever speak to him like that again, he knows.
“You don't have to go! Hermann won't eat half of what's on his plate anyway, and I eat faster than a high school kid on lunch break.” Newt says through an obscene bite of questionable meatloaf. Sasha shakes her head with a disappointed look.
“No, Sasha must decline. We have briefing tonight with Marshall Pentecost. Aleksis must rise or he will destroy his sleep schedule. We come to destroy Kaiju!”
For once, Newt doesn't go into a tirade to defend the alien attackers. Sasha might have stopped that in the past, Hermann thinks with a smirk. “Well, feel free to stop by now and then. It's ab-so-fucking-lutely dead around here and Hermann is a boring old grandpa.”
“You be nice to Doctor, Tattooed One. He is our good friend.” Sasha is gentle and kind, but there is a threat in her voice. Newt gulps down his green beans—Hermann insists on the vegetables—and smiles nervously.
“No, no, no! Yeah, of course. Me an' Herms, we're buddies.”
Sasha looks with care at Newt and then Hermann. He blinks and nods back, if only to spare Newt. He feels like one of his lab partner's specimens. Whatever she sees must be to her satisfaction as she relaxes and her smile widens. “Ah, good, good! Any friend of Doctor is a friend of ours. You eat your lunch and be strong to find the secrets of the monsters.”
“Of course, Sasha.” Hermann says, though he looks down and swirls his potatoes. He is a monster and many would give much to learn his secrets.
“Ah, Tattooed One!” Sasha says and Hermann looks up as Sasha crouches down to be at Newt's level. “We must also ask a favor. Doctor thinks he is bad. A little bird with a broken wing—so sad. You must take care of him for us.”
Hermann's eyes grow wet and he clenches his teeth to avoid crying. Sasha is talking to Newt, but the other man has a soft look in his eyes that hurt more than Sasha's words.
“No matter how much we tell him 'You are our special friend and we love you!' he thinks we lie.” Newt nods as if he understands (never looking away) and Hermann doesn't know whether to turn away in embarrassment or weep. He settles for gazing back at Newt with as little emotion as he can manage. “Aleksis and Sasha do not lie, Newt. You must help Doctor to see that.”
“You can count on me, Ranger.” Newt says as he finally looks away from Hermann and salutes the woman beside him. His voice, though light, has a ringing sincerity to it that surprises Hermann.
“Good, good! Then Sasha leaves you to your vittles. She gives you this to help you be strong, Tattooed One! To match Doctor's coat.” Sasha slips a ring off of her third finger and hands it to Newt. The ring is large and has a skull in the middle. Newt beams as he admires his gift and Hermann smiles despite himself. The distraction gives him time to wipe his eyes on his napkin.
“Sweet! Thanks! I'll wear it with pride.”
“You will, or Sasha would not give it to you. Be good, Doctors!” Sasha says as lifts up from the floor and makes her way to the [door.
They] wave, Newt already with another bite of meatloaf shoved into his mouth.
“Dude, so that's where your ridiculous coat comes from.” Newts says when Sasha is gone. Hermann huffs, but he's not angry at all. He's still smiling, though now at the departed woman's words.
Their special friend. Sasha and Aleksis are smart, strong people. They love him. They love him. He may not understand why, but they do. And he doesn't want to ever lose them.
“They didn't like to see me cold.”
“No shit. You need friends like them. I'm glad she didn't pound me when I poked fun at you.” Hermann smiles at Newt's nervous laugh and returns to his lunch.
He feels much safer now that his friends have returned to him.
Category:Birds of a Feather storyline
Category:Hermann
Category:Hermann (ficlet)
Category:Hong Kong Shatterdome (setting)
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Category:Newt
Category:Newt (ficlet)
Category:K-Sci (ficlet)
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