Chapter Text
Fortuna was always a bustling place. Eudico often says there’s never a shortage of things to do. Little Duck’s things to do were generally considered some of the colony’s most important. Thankfully her assignments weren’t nearly as frequent as a lot of others. Vox Solaris worked in the shadows for the most part, running pinpoint accurate operations against the Corpus alongside the Quills and the Tenno. As Duck was making herself look busy amongst Vox Solaris’ personal nook of Fortuna she heard some footsteps clattering closer. She spun around and her optics took in a Warframe, one she knew pretty well at that. A tall feminine figure, piercing eyes and terrifying fangs all over. Its visage that of a hunter, of a wolf. A big blue beast that had mauled plenty of Corpus goons who’d gotten just a touch too close to her while out on jobs. Her clawed hands balled into fists and relaxed at intervals as she walked. Any usual person would be at the least unnerved by it, or more realistically scared but Little Duck just chuckled as the Lupine frame approached.
“C’mon now ya mucker, you know the rule.” Little Duck quipped.
In a flash of light and a hiss of void energy the Warframe fell still and forward walked a bulky woman, a person who at a glance you probably wouldn’t suspect to be the savior of hundreds of thousands and slayer of many more.
“You’re always such a stickler for that aren’t ya, Duck?” The woman said, a smirk plastered on her face.
“Rules are rules, Sloane.” Little Duck responded with a shrug of her shoulders.
The Drifter continued her stride right up to Little Duck’s side. She was a bit taller than Duck, even counting the robotics.
“So, what’s your business this time?” Duck continued, turning fully to talk face-to-face.
“Ah c'mon, can’t a girl pop by for leisure? Does it always have to be business?” Sloane stood right up close to Little Duck, arms crossed and that smirk still on her face.
Little Duck laughed. “Takin a vacation to Fortuna or something? There's plenty of nicer places to go ya know?”
“Maybe so!” It was Sloane’s turn to laugh. “But… Something about this place keeps me comin around.”
There was something about the way Sloane emphasized the word something that piqued Little Duck’s interest. Surely she was talking about something in particular.
“Well I won’t lie and say we aren’t glad to have ya.” Duck finally said. “After all Solaris United may never have gotten on its feet without your help.”
“Ah shut it, Duck.” Sloane shook her head. “I’ve had enough kudos for a lifetime. I just do what's right.”
There it was again. That attitude that Duck never managed to wrap her head around. Sloane bore everything that everyone asked of her, all for the greater good. She never liked being talked up, not to her face. Not to mention the now countless times she’d worked shoulder to shoulder with the Tenno whether it was robbing Nef Anyo blind or blowing up his precious orb mothers. Her willingness to just do it all was confounding, and in some way interesting.
“Alright, fair nuff.” Duck shook the piece of machinery that generally counted as her head. “I’ll ask ya one more time then, why’re ya visitin?”
“Like I said, I just wanted to stop by and…” Sloane hadn’t picked a good thing to say yet, She wanted to say “See you.” but surely that’d come on a little too strong. She settled on ending the sentence with “Check up on you.”
Duck leaned back just a bit in surprise. Was Sloane actually worried about her to a degree that would require some kind of check-in? She had to know Duck was very capable of handling herself. Was she just being polite? The woman wasn’t exactly an easy read. A face with a jawline cut from granite and pockmarked with the scars of battle wasn’t the most readable thing in the universe.
“Well, aren't you a charmer?” Duck eventually said with a light chuckle.
Sloane shook her head and scoffed. “A woman can’t care about her comrades these days?”
The word care fell into Duck’s head and bounced around like some manner of children’s game, hitting oh so many synapses in her brain.
“You know that’s not not what I meant ya daft mucker. I…” Duck for the first time in a while stumbles over her words for a moment. “I mean uh… I appreciate it.”
Duck felt like she was an adolescent again. She was never good with people hitting on her. At least that's what she thought Sloane was doing.
Sloane let out that low rumble of a laugh and a wolfish smile flashed across her face.
“I don’t think I’ve heard you stutter before.” Sloane quips.
Little Duck despised her maiming at the hands of the Corpus, but now is the first time that she’s actually grateful that her face is concealed in that box. Right now it's lighting up red like a Tennobaum light.
“Ah shove it, Drifter.” Duck shot back.
Drifter. It was what Sloane had introduced herself as when the two met. Like truly met, face to actual face. It felt like another name for her sometimes. Sloane stepped closer a single time. The pair were now right next to each other.
“You and that lil attitude, Duck.” Sloane chides. “At least now I know you say those things from the heart.” She snickers.
Duck scoffs back. “I do now. At first I meant it.”
“Course! I was just some stupid mucker getting things done for you. I’ll admit, I deserved some of those jabs back then. I blew up a couple conduits that shouldn’t’ve been blown up” Sloane laughs boisterously, recalling when Solaris had first linked the two up for routine heists.
She was right of course. At the start Sloane was clumsy and fumbled her way into what could be called successful heists by the skin of her teeth. However as the pair worked together more, they seemed to adapt to one another. Especially after Sloane had picked up that wolfish Warframe. Duck remembers learning that her name is Voruna. Sloane really hit her stride as she took the frame into the field more and more. Tenno were something else to watch on the battlefield. A simple person fully morphing into a voracious beast of claws and fangs, shredding Corpus flesh and armor into ribbons with ease. Duck also swears that after taking up Voruna for so long, Sloane herself changed at least a little bit. Nothing bad but she was sure she’d heard her bark, growl, and sometimes howl when a mission was successful.
“Might as well have taken an actual Kurbrow on some of those missions.” Duck chuckles.
“Hey!” Sloane protests. “I’m no animal!”
“That's true, you’re housebroken at least.” Duck laughs fully now.
Sloane’s face shows the faintest flush of pink on it as she scowls at Duck. “Keep talkin like that and I’m gonna start tearing up your furniture.”
The pair share a laugh. The energy was still an unmeasurable mix between two friends hanging out and reminiscing and two people about to share some deep connection. Duck’s optics in a way met Sloane’s void dyed eyes. Something about the way the drifter was looking at her now, it was like she was looking past all the metal, the robotics, even past her hidden visage somehow. Why was she looking this deep? Why was Duck feeling so warm and fuzzy inside over it? A smirk just barely tugged at the edges of Sloane’s lips.
“Say Duck, when do you get off work?” Sloane said with a raise of an eyebrow.
“Beg your pardon?” Duck was suddenly snapped out of her mind palace by Sloane’s voice.
“When does your shift end?” Sloane repeated, upping the sarcasm in her voice. “And don’t say it never does because I know you get at least some leisure time.”
“Why ya askin?” Duck leaned back with some snark of her own.
Sloane shrugged her shoulders. “Just figured we could do some more of this off the clock.”
More of this? Duck’s mind raced. What in the world was this? Hanging out? Sitting around with tension so thick you could cut it with a Kreska?
“Suppose I gotta be here for maybe… three or so more hours?” Duck almost questioned.
She could probably sneak out at any time, Sloane sure gave her the urge to right now. No, that’d be irresponsible. If anything, Duck needed a bit of room to breathe here soon lest something happen. What that something would be she couldn’t say, but she could feel it coming if they kept standing around looking into each other's eyes.
“Cool.” Sloane smirked. “I’ll pop back in around then.”
Pop back in? That sure sounded like Sloane was intending to pick her up after work. Do friends do that with each other?
“Hey, have you ever been in a tenno orbiter?” Sloane continued.
“Can’t say I have.” Duck shrugged.
“Perfect! I’d love to give you a lil tour of mine. It's plenty homey.” Sloane laughed.
Ok this was Sloane inviting Little Duck into essentially her home. That had to have some more than friendly undertones.
“Sure, why not?” Duck responded without thinking about any implications.
“Fuck yeah!” Sloane beamed. “I’ll be here when you get off!” Sloane waved as she turned towards the hideout’s door, disappearing into her warframe with a flash.
“See ya then, mucker!” Duck called after her.
Now Little Duck has all the time in the Vallis to think about if she’d actually just been invited on a date by a good friend, or if she was just being polite.