TFS: Burnt Earth

Connor

I’m not impressed when we’re herded back to Sheelin. We aren’t working with a skeleton crew, even though we’re a team member short. Brody stayed behind for ground security. All the teams got recalled. Sheyla’s been deemed a temporary yellow threat. Illogical to me since she could blow at any time. Also illogical since she’s been upgraded to priority one, despite being yellow. Are they telling us why? Yeah, no. That shit’s need to know. Apparently, we don’t need to fucking know.

On the subject of skeletons, the thing about them is they never stay in the closet for long. Personally, I don’t think I have any. My berserker concern is no longer an immediate concern. Turns out, Molly knew I was in that bus line all along. She says I wear my emotions on my face, so I wasn’t hiding as much as I thought. She also thinks my Sheyla supplementation has sweet fuck all to do with line placement. We’re currently agreeing to disagree on account of her fists interfering in the argument.

Molly has no skeletons in her closet. The only thing she has in there are cobwebs. She’s definitely more of an out than in kind of girl. We’d be more apt to find literal skeletons in her closet. It’s a real possibility.

Phelan, on the other hand, has some serious skeletons. I guess one could argue those don’t technically count as he leaves his closet door wide open for anyone to peek in. Not that anyone would be dumb enough to look in there. He’d jam their head in the door. They’d become a skeleton.

Sheyla’s friends though? Holy fuck. If the Solathairs keeping their human essence intake was a small secret, finding out their new allegedly human friends are actually a group of Sumairs is like…I don’t even know. Epic? Colossal? Monstrous? Hah. Yeah. Monstrous is perfect.

Did Sheyla treat it as monstrous? Fuck no. She took it the same as everything else. Well. She took it well. Amazing even. From her perspective, it was the answer to an otherwise unsolvable problem. Of course, as with anything solved in her direct vicinity, it created some additional problems.

Get this, the group of Sumairs I just mentioned are the reason we were sent to scout Sheyla in the first place. In their group, they have an Earth Sumair who blocks visibility by magical means. His name’s Barry. The reason our initial orders were so vague was because the Scholars couldn’t see fuck all. You know what freaks people out faster than bad news? No news. Yeah, that’s a good way to get everyone in a panic, especially the Tribunal. They’re on a need to know basis too, where they need to know it all.

The rest of their Sumair party are no slouches either. They have a Fire Sumair named Derry with a telepathic specialty. That’s Sheyla’s boyfriend by the way. Fuck, don’t even get me started on everything wrong with that dumpster fire in queue. Okay, I can’t help myself. I already started. Might as well carry on. One, any relationship right now just increases her risk potential. Hello! Feelings are a damn trigger. Two, how the actual fuck is that working? If she stays human, she ages. He doesn’t. That’s a humongous problem. If she transitions, she’ll become immortal, yes, but she’ll wipe out a country. Probably a continent. Maybe the whole world. Three, it’s too convenient. What’s he really after from her? Right, the energy for a start. Duh. I know that. Is that all though? He gives me bad vibes. Not a fan. Conversely, why is she interested in him? I mean, there’s the obvious appeal of no more secrets. I guess with how many keep getting shoved up her ass that’d be a relationship selling point for her. He can read her mind. She can read his emotions. Lies are off the table. Molly says he gets her hot and bothered, hence the appeal. I’m deferring to point one. Not even justifying that with a follow up. Fuck, what a pile of hot garbage. Does the Tribunal see a threat? Negative. Fuck it, let’s leave that shit stew to simmer on the back burner for a while.

Next, they’ve got an Air Sumair. Kiley’s also negative on the threat radar. This one I agree with. She’s a sprite of a thing. A singer. Lovely voice. Prettiest punk princess I ever did see. Her specialty is illusions. A magician of sorts. Totally harmless. I get no ick vibes from her. Moving on.

Finally, they’ve got a Water Sumair. Cold as ice…but not? I never met Mel, therefore I’m withholding my opinion. Her specialty is dream-walking, wherein she sees the future. Problem is, she only sees ice sculptures. No movement. Leaves a lot of things open to interpretation. This one I assume will be considered a threat. Does the Tribunal agree? Fuck no. Why? Everything she projected has already passed. Her dreams supposedly stopped around the time the Keanes (Solathairs) and Connells (Sumairs) merged post-skeleton fallout. She’s essentially useless to the Tribunal now, so therefore useless in general. Typical short-sighted bullshit, in my opinion. They could analyze what she’s seen, pick it apart for hidden truths and identify trends. Am I voicing that suggestion? Big fat no fucking way. See, I can play ‘need to know’ too. Assholes.

At this point, Phelan, Molly, and I are on the other side of the information vacuum. We’re receiving only what we get from Brody relays, of which I’m fairly certain he’s omitting some important details. Smart, really. Anything he feeds to us will inevitably get fed to the Tribunal. Sucks but I understand. I’d rather Sheyla was protected, even if it means I’m stuck worrying about her more. Although, I’m legitimately confused how Brody can withhold information unless it’s due to conflicting orders. His original order was to protect Sheyla. If protecting her means omitting details to the Tribunal, that tracks, except that also means the Tribunal is the threat to her. Not good. Can’t say that’s exactly fresh news to me. Disappointing yet not surprising. On a happy note, she hasn’t transitioned, so we have that going for us.

How exactly are they a threat to Sheyla? That’s what I need to figure out. Threat level yellow my ass. This shit is green for go. I may not be happy with the distance, but at least here, behind enemy lines, I can potentially ward off any surprise attacks. Yeah, Sheelin’s the best place for me to do my watchful waiting. I trust Brody with my life. Just gonna have to trust him with Sheyla’s too. At least for now.