ʀᴇʙᴏʀɴ, ʀᴇɪɴᴠᴇɴᴛᴇᴅ.

Sure, it wasn’t all bad. Speaking of, one of the few reasons why he even bothered showing up just walked in the door– LATE as usual. Sitting up a bit, he dug through his pack until he found the organized notebook he had dedicated to this very class, setting it on his desk before shoving his bag to the floor. Push up your glasses, look presentable. His thoughts started to get a bit louder as he looked at his friend, which didn’t do wonders to his notes screaming to be taken. The teacher seemed too occupied with one of the rowdier of the students taking this to graduate that she didn’t really seem to care, but HE DID. 

“Hey,” A little louder than a whisper, he sat up more in his seat resting his face on his fist as he clicked the pen in his hand. You look dumb, stop that! Complying with the critic in his head, he ceased the smile, the pose, the genuine expression, and opened his notebook, titling it with the current unit and section and surrounding his writing in a little cloud, as he always did. Later on, when he got bored, he knew he’d be sitting there, lining the edges of his pages with little hearts, stars, fish– Whatever he FELT LIKE. He knew he could be himself around Rhys, just not HERE.

        there’s a certain type of hatred that rhys harbors for the way that all of vaughn’s comfort vanishes in the blink of an eye -- - there, and GONE again. flipping open his notebook to start scribbling down the problems is an afterthought to watching the way vaughn wilts in on himself, and from the corner of his eyes rhys cuts him a LOOK that seems to go perfectly amiss. the boy is just biding his TIME for their teacher to tell them to pair up to work on the math together, and as soon as she does, rhys is swinging his legs out into the aisle and facing his BESTEST BRO with his whole body. 

@cybernetiked || slides this juicy content under your door… ;

To put it as short as possibly… Possible, school SUCKED. Surrounded by hundreds of other moody, stressed out, most likely horny, teenagers felt like some sort of cruel zoo. Every mirror felt like a two way mirror and every corner felt like the most dangerous one yet. Dumping his bag onto the desk of his assigned seat in his FAVORITE class, financial algebra, Vaughn quickly sunk into the plastic and metal chair, hands quickly stuffing into the kangaroo pouch of his favorite hoodie; the one he got for participating in the school’s band program.

The very definition of the stereotype of ‘nerd’, he felt at ease with this. That is, until the various breeds of mouth-breathing goons around him decided this label was his WEAKNESS. Averting his eyes from all that entered the room, he hoped it was enough to stop the barrage of teasing.

        rhys still doesn’t quite get it -- - the HIERARCHY of high school, treated as if it actually matters or holds any importance outside of the four walls boxing them in to their eight hour PRISON. they’re SENIORS now, and things are much the same as seventeen and eighteen year olds as they had been at FOURTEEN. all of it’s so, so silly... or maybe it’s just silly to HIM because he’s never been at the bottom of the food chain. track star, president of the FBLA, head chair of the student council, and all-around a well-loved entity, rhys is, as the kids say, MR. POPULAR.

        for him, the brand is less a blessing, and more of a CURSE. there’s only one person who he gets to truly be himself around, and that’s VAUGHN. who has himself smushed back against his shitty plastic seat in one of their only two shared classes, the one rhys is always late to, because his class BEFORE this one is on the other side of the building, and people are ALWAYS stopping him in the halls to try and talk. they never seem to understand that he actually cares about school, about grades, about excelling. vaughn, though? vaughn gets it. 

she’s   ACCUSTOMED   to   the   bitter   taste   of   blood   pervading   within   her   mouth   ,   the   inside  of   her   cheeks   raw   &&   tender   from   being   bitten   down   upon   with   excessive   force.   in   a   sense   ,  she’s   fortunate   that   she   hasn’t   had   an   encounter    with   hugo   vasquez   —   until   this   particular  instance   which   has   supposedly   decided   to   COMPENSATE   for   such   a   fact.   it   was   no   secret  that   the   self   proclaimed   senior   vice   president   of   securities   propaganda   enjoyed   asserting   the  authority   that   he   held   so   comfortably   within   the   palm   of   his   hand   ,    usually   via   the   means   of    his   brainless   lackeys.   &&   this   time   ,   it   had   been   her   within   the   firing   line.   ❛   couple   of    vasquez’s   guys   ,   i’ve  seen   them   around   before   —   bastards   managed   to   corner   me   in   the   utility  closet.   probably   heard   me   expressing   my   DISLIKE   of   the   guy   himself   ,   the   one   that   writes  their   pay   checks.   ❜   it’s   a   feeble   attempt   at    humour   ,   but   an   attempt   nonetheless   ,   hues    leisurely   closing    as    she   allows   him   to   continue   his   administration   of   the   first   aid.   of   course   ,    no-one   would   have   to   query   her   injuries   once   the   palette   of   violet   &&   black   became   more  prominent   upon   her   features   ,   a   PHYSICAL   indication   that   hyperion   was   at   vasquez’s   beck  &&   call.   they   were   his   toys   to   play   with.   ❛  i   just   hope    you’re   having   a   better   day   than   i   am.   ❜

        rhys would like to say that he’s shocked it’s come to THIS -- - but it’s hyperion, and he’s not. innately angered and burning with the desire to kick the asses of EVERYONE involved, ASSQUEZ included, but not shocked. claire’s lip is a mess, her entire FACE is a mess, making it more impossible to crack a smile at her attempt of humor, but the cyborg doesn’t think she’s going to need any type of stitches. a damn good thing, too ;; rhys isn’t the most steady with a needle. 

        he finishes cleaning up the bloodiest parts of her face with a towelette, tosses it onto the counter and rakes a hand through his hair as he admires his ‘ HANDIWORK. ‘ that face of sharp lines and rigid strength has DEFINITELY seen better days, but she looks better than she had when she’d walked in. “Seriously, we’re beating up women now just because they don’t like our boss ?? I’ll be sure to file that under THING I’M NEVER GOING TO DO, because I’m not a fucking ANIMAL.” the first-aid kit is SLAMMED shut, plastic biting into plastic, all of the contents within it rattling around. 

        rounding the counter, rhys steps into the kitchen proper to pick a glass out of the dish drainer, filling it with filtered tap water and placing it ( a little too ROUGHLY ) on the counter in front of claire. his organic hand trembles, fury plagued and damned. “My day was fine until one of my only friends walked into my apartment post getting jumped.” a deep breath, a heavy exhale. RARELY is rhys wrought with this sort of FUMING, overpowering anger, but right now? he could RIP SOMEONE TO SHREDS.

                                   ( must be the hyperion air finally GETTING to him. )

               She doesn’t   like   that she has to doubt   EVERYTHING  ,  that she can’t just accept something at face value without waiting for the other shoe to drop.   Pandora bore   pessimists     —-     WARY  ,  mistrustful  ,  hardened people that all registered   somewhere   on the   CRAZY SCALE.   And it’s taken   so much more   than it’s ever given back  ;    her   parents  ,  her childhood  ,  her  …   whatever Felix was.   And even the   GOOD THINGS   can’t always be trusted  ,  Felix was good for them for   fifteen years   before he stuck a knife in her gut and   twisted.

                RHYS IS GOOD  ,  GREAT  ,  THE BEST THING THAT HAS EVER HAPPENED TO HER     —-     well,  other than being blessed with a big sister that would literally fight the sun for her  ,  emerald hues briefly scan the photos he’s slid in her direction before she sets all of it aside  ,  freeing her up to crawl over and situate herself in his lap.          ‘    Are you crazy  ??   Of course I wanna go  !!    If it wasn’t already   totally obvious  ,  getting the hell off of Pandora has always been a   DREAM   of mine and I    —-     I just  …   I can’t believe you’d do that for me.   Actually  ,  I can but still I never  …   I never thought it’d really   HAPPEN  …    ’          she’s   rambling  ,  not sure if she’s even making sense but it’s   overwhelming  ,  a lot to wrap her head around.

        it doesn’t take long for things to go more the way that rhys had initially INTENDED them to -- - sasha’s face alight with EXCITEMENT, words a joyous noise as she agrees to his plans. of course, he hadn’t anticipated her crawling into his LAP, but he sure isn’t complaining. rhys BEAMS at her, freeing up his hands to place them around her waist. her rambling -- - GOD it’s so CUTE. there are all kinds of emotions bouncing around in his chest, a CACOPHONY of muddled feelings, and it’s like being caught adrift at sea whenever she’s around.

        he leans in to bump their noses together, THRIVING off the happiness she’s exuding. he loves seeing her this ELATED, that genuine, unadulterated GLEE written all over her expression, in all of her body language. “If it means seeing you this happy, Sasha, we can take an interplanetary vacation once a month.”

        there is something truly LIBERATING in being the type of man that can actually give that to her. the money, the clout, rhys has it ALL now. and by default, so does she. eventually, she’ll get with the program -- - and then he’ll REALLY have to start spoiling her. he’s so EXCITED. 

                 She bites back a   laugh   ,  amused at the way his eyes widen     —-    it’s Pandora  !!   Did he really expect it to be called something   NICE  ??   But the   SENTIMENT   was there  ,  oddly enough  ,  hadn’t been twisted into something   completely unrecognizable.   There just was a lot more   STEALING   involved.

                But it’s his next words that cause her hands to stall entirely  ,  amusement sliding from her features as she fixes him with a blank stare.   Because those words in that configuration   don’t make sense   and she’s been   LET DOWN   before.   Getting off of Pandora even   temporarily   has always been this   CRAZY  ,  UNATTAINABLE DREAM   of hers  ,  she’s lied and scammed and screwed people over just to have a   shot   at what Rhys was now offering and  ,   well     —-     she doesn’t know how to handle it. 

             ‘    I     —-     run that by me again  ??    ’          she blinks  ,  fingers of her dominate hand move away from the task at hand in favor of fiddling with one of her earrings.

        THAT’S. really not the reaction he was expecting ?? but maybe he SHOULD be expecting it. it’s just that... it always makes him so sad when she does this. when she acts like every GOOD THING he wants to give her, to do for her, is some sick joke. the way sasha’s face FALLS breaks rhys’ heart. it’s not that he thinks she needs CONVINCING, now, but rhys still shuffles the piles of papers off to the side to slide over the scenic pictures of eden-5, SPECIFICALLY where he’s wanting to take her.

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        “Look, bro, I know you’re a total badass now, but no one is too much of a badass to marathon animated Christmas movies, so if you deny me this tradition, I will be forced to never forgive you. Do not make me end our eternal friendship over a lack of Christmas movies, Vaughn. I have a TV, and a movie collection, and they need to be attended to. Stat.”

i imagine atlas dealing in a lot of different things, but a lot of it is definitely in arms. it’s fucking... pandora, and the universe in borderlands period, which is obsessed with weaponry and shit like that. so they manufacture guns, but they also buy and sell property for profit, and make investments on other planets, and make tons of other things to be bought and sold.