Messenger of God

Chapter Four.

Amara sighed as she was once again thrown over the captain's shoulder with ease, landing on her back with a thud as the air was knocked out of her. She groaned, a wheeze leaving her as she rolled over.

“Again.”

“Come on, Captain! We’ve been at this for hours!” The girl whined from her positon on the floor as she stared up at the woman.

Florence stared blankly, “and yet no sign of your power! Again.” 

She groaned and rose again, weakly throwing a punch that Florence easily dodged before pressing her palm into the girl’s shoulder blades and sending her careening towards the floor. Just as she was about to hit, she felt someone grab her by the collar of eher sleeveless hoodie. Hoping it was Florence taking mercy for once, she instead comes to face Lottie. Amara hadn’t spoken all that much with Lottie, preferring to stick around Germael and Alora. She suspected Lottie didn’t like her all that much. Perhaps she was wrong.

Lottie steadied her on her feet and gave a small smile before turning to Florence.

“Listen, Flor, I’ll take over from here. Father requests your eyes.” Florence hummed, sweat dripping down her temple before nodded her head in an acquiescing gesture before stepping back to turn her back and disappearing out the doors.

Amara groaned, taking a seat and moving to lay on her back with a loud exhale.
“What crawled up her ass and died?”

“What didn’t?”

Amara laughed a little before taking the offered hand anf standing. The workout became a hell of a lot easier with Lottie actually correcting the mistakes instead of just making her do the same thing again and again. It was nearing early afternoon as they finished the work out, showered and made their way towards the kitchen seeing as the cafeteria wasn’t open yet. 

Lottie stood on his tiptoes as he rummaged around the large fridge. Amara stood awkwardly glancing around and briefly wondered if they were even allowed in here. Lottie produced some meat, mayo and various vegetables. A hum left her as he grabbed bread and two plates. She took a seat at the small island table in the middle of the room, watching him work quietly as she thought.

“So, what’s your story? I know more about Father Watson than I do you.” She was mostly joking. It was partially true. 

Lottie chuckled, quietly cutting the tomatoes and placing them carefully onto the bread slices. He hummed as he thought, giving her a quick glance before turning back as he answered. 

“What do you wanna know?” 

“What’s the deal with Florence?” 

The man pressed down carefully on the sandwiches, turning to her and placing a plate down before taking a seat across from her; He eyed her carefully, his brows raising to his hairline in his surprise.

“Why do you seem so shocked?” Amara questioned and he hummed with a small snort, nearly spitting food everywhere as he covered his mouth with his hand in an attempt at being bashful. She openly laughed at his mishap with a raised brow.

“No, no it’s just, that’s like the least thing I could expect you to ask of me.” he stated as he took another huge bite of his sandwich. That was seriously impressive, Amara thought bemusedly.

“What exactly were you expecting?”

“I’m not sure-” He stopped talking to snicker for a moment before continuing, “maybe some dirt on Father Watson, or your past or, well anything really. Just not that.”

He continued, “Why do you wanna know about Florence?” He eyed her with an expressing swimming in his eyes that she recognized. Mischief. She groaned in annoyance, swallowing around a bite of sandwich before she choked. 

“I’m just curious. That’s all.” She muttered, avoiding his eyes for a reason she wasn’t all too sure.

“Right. Well, I’ve known Florence since she arrived here. She was fifteen, I took her under my wing almost immediately. She was just so small” He smiled fondly at the thought and Amara gaped a bit.

“Wait, wait, wait, hold up- Florence has been here since she was fifteen? How old is she now?”

“Yes. Florence arrived in 2034, she’s twenty one now.. Wait, how old are you?” 

Amara thought for a long moment, “Well, I was adopted when I was around two but my birthday as never like, actually determined.” She rested her chin on her hand. “They couldn’t get ahold of my birth certificate or my birth parents, so they just threw january 3rd out there. If they’re close, I’m around nineteen or almost twenty. It’s complicated.”

“Wow, I didn’t know you were adopted. Your files say you were raised in Pennsylvania, though?”

“Reading my files, huh?” She faked a posh accent, before smirking and sighing. “Yeah, when I was picked up by the Russels, they took me back home with them to Penn. I was born in Italy, however.”

Lottie stroked his chin, humming in thought. “Interesting. So have you seen a lot of the world then?”

Amara leaned forward, happy to get off the whole “orphan-talk” discussion, and her eyes sparkled as she burst into a long story about the places the Russel family had taken her. They were quite the backpacking bunch, and she was their only child so of course she came along. When Peter was born she had just turned eight. She didn’t like him at first, but they quickly grew to get along as they both got older. This is how Florence found them, a few hours later, trading stories over their love for travel and talking about the souvenirs they had collected at different stops.

“What are you two up to?” She leaned against the doorframe, and Amara blinked at her. Lottie stood from his seat, stretching as he moved the empty plates into the sink and rinsing them before sticking them into the dishwasher. Amara moved her gaze back to the Captain, only to find blue eyes gazing intently right back at her. 

“We finished up training and went to get lunch. We lost track of time while we were talking.” He laughed a little as he fiddled with the buttons before returning back to the table with a boyish grin.

“What brings you to greet us lowly peasants, Cap’n?” He mocked an accent that was so horribly bad, Amara couldn’t place it. She openly grimaced, and a small laugh escaped the three of them. 

“I came to inform you, we have a patrol tomorrow. Me, you, Amara, Winters and Omari. Lights out at thirty.” She gave a reassuring smile before disappearing as quickly as she came. Amara sighed, sliding her eyes back to his with a small giggle and he sighed, “You heard the woman. Let’s hit the hay. Knowing patrol, we will probably leave super early.” He groaned, throwing his head back at the thought. His Adam's apple moved as the guttural sound left and Amara chuckled with a lighthearted shove as they made their way out of the room before separating and going to their separate quarters.