Lesly's Tales (1)
“Just keep walking, Fox…” The young man whispered with a rough, guttural voice. He looked at Fox with upturned eyes, but Fox just stared back and didn't respond. Smiling at the young man for a moment, Fox parted his lips just a little, “I don't know which one you are from. It's the first time I meet… another hoog special agent.”
“!” Fox suddenly swiped his left foot right and left, not moving it in any direction, and blew at the young man’s face. The latter jolted, tensing up and unnaturally twitching his right arm, of which blood dripped soon after.
“Am I that scary?” Fox asked, impassive. He did not show a smile or a frown, much less an emotion. Looking down at the young man’s attire and attitude, Fox returned his eyes to the face before walking away after some words. “Feels like your hoog has been watching.”
Fox ignored the young man and returned to Nala, leaving the scene behind. After a few seconds, the young man’s whole face heavily sweated as he accommodated something in his right sleeve with his left hand. After he did, he relaxed in relief, with some more blood tricking down.
Fox and Nala walked to a balcony, at last, with guards about a dozen meters from it, with long yellow curtains tied to the sides. The outside was pretty dark, and the balcony faced what seemed like a forest, but it was just a small park area within the capitol’s perimeter.
“Heh, look at it.” Fox rested his wrists on the parapet, with Nala walking to it, gently resting her palms on it. The hidden fella wrapped in one of the yellow curtains sweated, but he acted quickly and was already working on it. This was an impossible surprise, but one of good value, so he couldn’t let go of it!
“It does look nice,” Nala softly replied. She breathed in and out relaxingly with her eyes closed, chin slightly lifted, before finally looking down at her man, her eyes drawn up and down his profile figure. Fox blinked, looking at her without little pretenses. He smiled a little before side stepping as close to her as possible.
“The tree is big, but…” Fox looked at the strangely tall, thick tree. It was almost like around Proteros City. This one big tree didn’t even seem to resemblance its surroundings. In Proteros, no matter where one looked, everything fitted. Here, there was this tree that stood out on its own, but more because of its distinction to the rest of the green and leaves, even in the dark.
“It feels…” Fox narrowed his eyes a bit. Nala looked at him and cocked her head towards him, “Is it transgenic?”
“Most likely. It’s what… less than 100 years old? I’m not sure, it’s just not real, not natural.” Fox commented, looking at it while leaning his head on hers. Nala grabbed his right forearm, fondling it and slowly sliding her hands around it.
“It doesn’t compare to Lýmoca, then.” She grinned after saying those words. Fox looked at her, tilting his head before smiling, actually softly. “Yes, nothing compares to my Lýmoca. Mn, this isn’t a bad place, but I really want to return already. Surely, the President will clear the misunderstanding soon, and we’ll all be contented.”
Nala first smiled a little, just a bit, even after he finished speaking. She grabbed his arm and accommodated his suit, pulled his tie a little to test it, and looked up. “Yes, we should return soon. The ‘kids’ might get too bored. What if they start doing weird things? I do miss Lýmoca already, how can it be so easy to grow ‘nation’ sick this quickly?”
“Hm hm,” Fox hummed some chuckles a bit. “You make it sound like we do have children, or if ‘those’ are even related. Ah, but the ‘big sis’ is indeed educating the ‘lil bro’. Only he seems busy wanting to see someone else, ah…”
Fox shook and moved his head with light motions before looking up. He seemed tired, at least mentally, and whatnot.
Nala smirked, maybe a little victorious, before bringing his head to face her slightly down. Her hand on his cheek, her eyes seemed to twinkle and ripple in the dark. “Then, we don’t have much to return to Lýmoca other than our job, it seems.”
“Mhm,” Fox blinked, answering without much interaction. Nala blinked too before tilting her head towards his shoulder, “What do you have to say about that?”
“Well, the ‘kid’ is a bit of a genius. Maybe something can be thought out of it… I’ll slave him until there’s a way to have that going. But first, I would wish to have a little someone as a little somebody.” Said Fox, but Nala narrowed her eyes with smiles. “Why? Is that important?”
“No, but I want mine to have a big, unique word connecting her to me no matter what civilization, costume, language, or reality is there… It might be a little difficult on the last one, but it should be understood still.” Fox placed his hand on her upper back and caressed her a little.
She also wore a suit, so it looked like nothing more nor less than a simple gesture. Nala, who has experienced his new techniques, trembled a little and involuntarily shook her head. “You… ah, you never told me where you learned those things…”
“Don’t change the subject. Besides, I’m the big boss, what shouldn’t I know?” Fox fought to keep the matters where it was important. Nala lowered her eyelids in a bother, “Someone tipped you off.”
“Woman, you initiated it. Don’t step back and run, or I will feel myself forced to grab you by the hair and… well, caress you.” Fox placed his hands on her shoulders while Nala looked at him with the same eyes, if only seductive in the camera’s blind angle.
“I see… after returning? Once the OCs are…” Nala revealed her fully open eyes and proposed, trailing off on purpose. Fox tilted his head again, a lot this time. “How about after those are gone and I begin developing the new chain to start expanding my little enterprise?”
“…” Nala smirked smugly, about to jab at his fake cockiness, but she found herself unable to. This wasn’t pretense, at least not that part. She nodded, placing her palms atop his hands. “You said it yourself. Wait ‘till the noise has quelled down, and we can start… that kind of life.”
“Now, if you’ll excuse me.” Nala blinked innocently before stepping backwards twice, slow and with obvious intentions. “I think that yellow curtain to my right looks just fine to use as an escapade tool. It should be doable doing it in another country.”
Fox didn’t stop her, watching as Nala continued walking backwards with slightly faster steps while the curtain moved a bit sluggish. A person’s footsteps as they clung to the wall and tried to use the curtain to not be seen sounded, making him grin.
At last, Nala turned and just grabbed the lower end of the curtain. Some guards ignored the news reporter with a VIP pass and looked at the couple in the balcony instead. They stepped out of their posts but stopped, wanting to ask but not daring to as Nala pulled the curtain to the balcony and returned to Fox.
“Ready?” Nala asked him, flashing a mischievous glint in her eyes before turning, her back facing the parapet. Fox followed her, facing her as she slowly leaned backwards. Fox placed his hand on her sternum, bending over with her as they fell from the wall.
“!” The guards were shell shocked. They couldn’t react for a whole minute before one of them recomposed and rushed to the balcony, “There’s an emergency! Two guests have fallen from 20 meters high, send specialized medics now!”
The others followed, but when the first guard arrived at the parapet, he was stunned to not see anyone with their blood darkening the already obscure grass. Instead, the curtain fluttered in the peaceful breeze of the night with no one in sight, like a gift reminder.
“Cancel that…” - “What ‘that’?!” - “Cancel everything… the guests… just went for a walk?” - “Huh!?” The guards looked at each other before returning to their posts. Wasn’t this like a movie? Either way, they didn’t notice one of them was missing for a few minutes.
***
Lýmoca. State capital city of Jaewim state. In a famous news anchor building. 5:05 AM.
“I bet you can’t believe it,” a female news reporter talked to the camera zoomed into her face. As it zoomed back out, a table with a few figures sitting around it with her showed. “This is your very first morning Lýmocan news, and in this special debate zone, guess who’s here? Indeed, the beloved vice president Lesly Rivera!”
“Thank you for having me,” claps sounded as Lesly modestly clapped too. She looked at the news reporter and smiled sweetly before looking at the other people sitting around the table. “I apologize to all of you, I know there were more, maybe other, things you wanted to discuss. I am grateful you let me participate.”
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The 5 people besides Lesly and the female news reporter were 2 old men and 3 middle-aged women. They shook their heads like it was no problem, although they still looked a bit uncomfortable. Lesly smiled and looked at the news reporter, but she only stared back.
“It’s especially meaningful for me, because I have here the representative of the civilized community of Jaewim. To you is one of the people I’d like to speak the most, and I also hope to reach you beyond a call or a promise. Wouldn’t you agree?” Lesly tried leading the table.
“Well…” An old man seemed a bit awkward, taken aback. He cleared his throat and accommodated in his seat a little better. “Indeed! Of course, it is. I have been wondering if there were ever any help coming. Jaewim has only seen this brutal, organized crime mobilization once in its life, and it’s the worst ever. It was also caused by your government.”
“This is an important matter,” Lesly leaned over and nodded, almost holding the old man’s hand. “The government isn’t abandoning Jaewim, there’s nothing that would ever let us let that happen. Not to Jaewim and not to any other tiny place in Lýmoca, and that includes Preut now.”
“Isn’t Preut the Guerramar Cartel’s newest target-” A middle-aged woman spoke out, but Lesly cut in with a smooth set of words. “All organized crime groups moved the moment the military commenced their nationwide operation, and they realized there was nothing they could do. But that’s too much of unimportant matters. Instead, mister, could you please speak of the situation within Jaewim? What are the civilians concerns? And according to what you’ve heard from them, what do they need the most?”
The program continued until 6:30 AM. Lesly let the people she wanted to hear the most from talk the longest, while basically confronting the others, and even leading whenever the female news reporter wanted to take back her role. Lesly was unstoppable, pretty much.
Exiting the building, she ate some sweet bread pieces with coffee before checking matters with Roam and the Secretary of Security for a while. Then, at 8:00 AM, she took a flight to Lydhua, the northernmost state in Lýmoca. She had gone to Jaewim to show she was not afraid, but only she knew the few reports the Bloods gave her during these few hours.
Jaewim was well protected, letting the OCs reunite in a wide circle as they became more and more bandits. The army alone formed a barricade that denied them any route to civilization, forcing them to remain in a forest with many clearings in between.
The population in Jaewim was secured in this way, and it also reminded them they weren’t alone. But Lesly was. Luis was elsewhere solving a matter with the ANS border incident, while she was out there doing the job she took several long nights just to plan.
She could have opted for not receiving any reports and let her mind rest at ease, but she didn’t. Lesly made the Bloods and Ly intelligence tell her everything. She wasn’t someone to be sheltered. Luis never did it, nor did she to him. Lesly couldn’t afford to grow soft and vulnerable now. Who would be beside him if not her?
To this, it could be seen she was possessive and haughty, but she had all qualities to be so. Besides, Roam was neither a woman nor was he interested in the handsome President. In short, he was no Lesly Rivera.
Arriving to Lydhua fast and safe, Lesly was brought to another news anchor, well-known in the industry, and more so because of being in Lýmoca’s longest gulf, which was all too important. After all, only the Ly Ocean has the 3 biggest gulfs in the planet.
With the Bloods protecting her, Lesly entered another program at 9:10 AM, which she used to debate with all the fishing communities’ leaders who just happened to gather in Lydhua’s state capital city. She spoke of her admiration for fishing, not as a hobby, but within industrial means.
Deep in the rich waters of the Ly Ocean and the Lyclan Sea, besides the many small, unique species living underwater, there was a bountiful quantity of cherished product. Furthermore, after so many centuries, the modus operandi has been enhanced and the preservation and yield remained stable yet grew each decade.
Fishing was indispensable. Food was necessary for survival, and food could be a delicacy. Without these, there are other means, but only the unworthy would think of using a part of one’s opportunities to reach out for that greatness.
Nevertheless, like before, there were experts who either wanted one thing or the other, not just limited to wanting to reel the fishing communities to their opposing side, despite their neutrality claims. But even then Lesly dealt with them amicably, albeit challengingly.
At 10:40 AM, the program finished, and Lesly went back to Proteros to rest and revise her notes and planning. At 01:20 PM, more than half an hour after she returned to the capital and rested in Luis’s office, moving around and resting her bum on his desk, ANS initiated a press conference.
With the moment having arrived, she threw her things aside and watched the TV…
… ANS prepared a podium in a closed conference room; one of many they use. It was empty, with Luis and Fox standing far behind it and Nala like a bodyguard behind Fox.
A person walked to the podium from the side, an old man: Gant Comfor. He stood behind it and looked at the news reporters before beginning, “A few days ago, everyone witnessed a most disgusting incident. It came as a surprise, and we, ANS, were angry for it. Enraged.”
“We wanted answers, to have all those lives repaid! Because they didn’t even die in their side of their homeland, we felt even more insulted. But maybe that is also why we wanted to know what the other side thought, with no deaths from their part.”
“I have to say… I feel indignant.” Gant looked up for a few seconds before continuing. “This matter was a mistake. I’m here to announce to you about the talks we had with not just Lýmoca’s people, but their very president as well.”
“It is no secret that the Lýmocan president hurried from Proteros to see me with the intention of clarifying this matter. Which is why I cannot afford to discredit the other party. I listened to him,” Gant gestured back to Luis, who looked at him with a small nod. Gant continued, “He’s no evil person, neither am I. Those soldiers weren’t morons, neither theirs nor ours. It is a negligence from our administration for allowing the consumption of extracurricular products.”
“I responded kindly to president Heartez’s desire to attend this matter, and he has been truthful. I know what you’re thinking: are we bending our knee?” Gant closed his eyes, eyebrows lowered tightly. “In the history of our countries, since the moments where our nations were born, we’ve always had our differences.”
“Since then, we have also dared to become… neighbors. Maybe not allies, but we did serve together for the increasing population in our countries and its riches. We welcomed the exile of royalty and nobility faster than anyone else in any other part of the world. It isn’t for nothing we are now very well known as…” Gant glanced briefly at Luis, “Sister nations.”
“Today, we decide where we put this matter. And let me tell you, even if ANS ever thinks ‘something’ should happen, which I will not condone, it won’t be while I’m still alive that this beautiful sisterhood between nations is broken apart.”
Cheers!
There were a few cheers from some audiences, but many reporters asked out loud, although they couldn’t be heard loud enough. Gant nodded before turning to Luis, who slowly walked to the podium. “ANS and Lýmoca has agreed on a few new terms to continue our secure and boring border patrolling life. I’ll let president Heartez explain it to you.”
Gant walked away and met with Luis, shaking hands and placing a hand on his shoulder, nodding strongly to each other before Luis took the podium. “I am honored to be here, able to explain to you our deepest condolences. No life lost, Ly, ANS, south of this wonderful supercontinent, or the others, is worth being fought over for naught.”
With that considerably caring introduction from his heart, Luis continued, “At this moment, my country is facing a change. But I had to come here and ensure our relationship…”
Luis’s speech wasn’t any different from what one would have thought it would be. Diplomatic, yes. But it also had the concerns of many, or even the future of the Moonblue supercontinent.
After briefly addressing the future tumor the OCs will be, Luis began informing the new changes to their border laws to ensure nothing like this ever happens again, and that if it does, it will be lessened.
Then, once the Lýmocan president gave his speech and gained the applause from both reporters and ANS personnel, he let the podium to Fox. Nala stood a few steps behind him, staring at him most of the time. The rest was spent analyzing their surroundings; the front with her eyes and the back with her hearing and smelling senses more attentive.
Fox explained a little of what the situation in Lýmoca was truly like, and what were the focal points the military focused on. Fox was concise and brief, answering many questions before the reporters had the notion to ask them.
Little by little, half an hour passed, with Fox revealing as much as ‘the book’ said it could be revealed before taking his leave. He also gained a wide applause when he gave them his back and walked away, holding Nala’s waist.
In Luis’s office, Lesly smiled with crossed arms. With this, Luis showed the relationship with ANS as Lýmoca was the same as always, and that they weren’t breaking apart, even with his ‘measly’ situation with the OCs in between. Furthermore, with Gant’s words, it was further confirmed that the leaders of both nations wished to continue cooperating, and deemed each other’s help as essential at worse… and historical.
Feeling a lot better, she went back to her project and prepared for tonight. She had programs from 7 PM to 1 AM, after all. And this was only for the night.
***
At night. Luis and his entourage returned to the embassy after a small celebration reunion between both parties. The ambassador also joined in, now returning with them, a bit drunk.
Luis frowned at the ambassador as he was carried into the embassy by his guards. Luis went inside afterwards, accompanied by his bodyguards. On the other hand, Fox slowly walked with Nala towards the embassy, no one had the guts or capabilities to hurry them. It was night again, and the temperature so far up north was already cold every night.
Hooking his left arm, Nala let Fox guide their steps, crossing the streets time and again. They were silent, they enjoyed it. The dim lights every now and then were pleasant. From time to time, their heads leaned on each other, rubbing a bit before separating, time and again…
Back inside the embassy, Luis looked for his bedroom to sleep after letting the special forces and some Bloods rest.
Other Bloods who remained in the embassy the night before would now accompany him to guard his room. Luis liked the atmosphere in the embassy, much differing to ANS outside, but not because ANS was bad. Instead… at first, he wanted to stay another 3 days or so, but after being reminded of home, he wanted to return and see Lesly again…
Even though the days ahead were meant to be very busy. He had to see her.
Luis went to sleep with his clothes on, face first, all so he could hurry and enter the chopper 5 minutes after waking up and washing his face.
…