Amicable ➵ Eric Coulter

Defense

Maya and Aurora stood in their positions, staring at the actual entrance of the large room of mirrors they were in. Maya would pull her gun up at every little noise, the nerves getting the best of her.

Aurora sighed, slinking down the mirrored wall. It felt like they'd been standing in that room for hours, but in actuality it was probably only thirty minutes.

Maya jumped, turning around at the sound of Aurora's clothes rubbing together. "Oh god! I'm sorry Aurora, I'm just kind of freaked out. I'm kind of jumpy under pressure." Maya sighed, putting her gun down. "Maybe it's better if you stay by the entrance."

Aurora giggled. "It's alright, I can switch you places."

After they switch Aurora turned to her. "Relax Maya, we'll be fine."

As soon as Aurora said that she head a shot from outside. She pointed her gun at the door. "False alarm!" She heard someone whisper yell.

Aurora hoped that no one was close enough to hear the semi-silenced shot. Meanwhile Maya was trying not to have a panic attack. Then more shots came. "They're here!" Someone shouted, Aurora raised her gun, her face full of focus and determination.

Maya raised her gun as well, her nerves quickly set aside. Aurora wondered how she could do that, one second she was in full panic mode, the next she's calm and collected.

"You stay here," Aurora said, "I'm going to see if they need help." Maya nodded, adjusting her grip on the gun.

Quietly, Aurora snuck out of the house of mirrors, making her way towards where she knew Eric sat. There were darts whizzing past her and people shouting and groaning in pain. She made it to Eric, but Jackson was standing over him. "I wonder if you're used to these things." She heard Jackson say cockily.

"I'm wondering the same thing about you," Aurora spoke up before shooting Jackson with the dart.

She nudged Jackson out of the way with her foot and held out a hand to help Eric up. Aurora was surprised when he took it, half expecting him to slap it out of the way. "What are you doing out here?" He asked harshly.

"I thought I could help." Aurora grunted, shooting an enemy running towards them.

"I don't need your help." Eric said, rushing to the same cover as Aurora.

Aurora looked from Jackson to Eric, "Sure you don't." Aurora looked around, assessing her surroundings. "You take right I take left?"

"Sounds like a plan," Eric said before moving out from their cover.

"Alright just go on ahead," Aurora grumbled to herself before rushing from her cover. She shot at her opponents, soon everyone on the left side was down. Eric soon joined her, not out of breath at all. "I'm going to go tell Maya we're all clear."

"Good idea, I'll assess the damage." Eric nodded to Aurora and they parted ways.

Aurora incautiously approached the house of mirrors. Going in the main entrance and making her way through the maze like she's done plenty of times before. "Hey Maya, we're all clear-" she turned the corner and Maya had her gun drawn, a look of hard determination on her face.

"Don't move." Maya growled, Aurora felt her heart beat faster. Was she really going to shoot her? Aurora heard her pull the trigger. The whir of the dart flew past her ear and right into the person sneaking up behind her.

Aurora turned, seeing the dauntless born fall, and let out a huge breath of relief. "You scare me sometimes." She chuckled lightly, turning to her friend.

"Good." Maya chuckled, "Now we're all clear."

As if on cue an orange flare lit up the sky. "Yes!" Aurora shouted, running back out of the house of mirrors. Maya followed with the flag in hand.

"We did it!" Aurora called to Eric as she jogged closer to him. He looked genuinely happy about winning.

"Yeah, we did it." He smiled, Aurora felt like she was going to get whiplash, his mood changed so much. "This calls for a celebration."

_

The clinking of glasses, shouts of fellow initiates, and the loud drumming of bass sounded throughout the dauntless bar. The smell and taste of alcohol flooded Aurora's senses. Her and Micheal were both a little tipsy, Michael a little more so. Maya had been with them at first, but she disappeared thirty minutes into their little party. Aurora wondered why she had never drank before, they did make the alcohol in Amity. She liked the feeling of being a little buzzed.

Her and Michael were dancing to some pre-war club songs, taking little breaks for drinks. "Someone's staring." Aurora said in a sing song voice. She had caught Jackson checking out Michael from the corner of her eye.

"Are we talking about the same person?" Michael asked. He noticed that Eric had been staring at the two of them for a while.

"Jackson?" Aurora questioned.

"No, Eric." Michael stated, "Why would Jackson be staring? I mean I get why he'd be staring at you cause that dress is fire."

Aurora felt her eyes roll as she adjusted her black dress. "He likes you, and he's not that good at hiding it."

Michael turned to look at Jackson, still dancing. Jackson realized Michael was looking at him and looked away. "Oh, what the hell." Michael said before turning back around, grabbing a shot off of a passing waitress's tray, and used the liquid courage to walk over to Jackson. Jackson looked startled, like he wasn't expecting Michael to come over. Soon their lips were connected and they were dancing together.

"That's my best friend, you go." Aurora muttered to herself. She then turned towards the bar, where Eric was standing, and let out a deep breath. "Alright Aurora."

She walked to the bar, leaning stomach on it slightly and asking the bartender for a beer. Without even looking at him she told Eric, "You can take a picture, you know. It'll last longer." Out of the corner of her eye Aurora spotted Maya, just staring at them.

Aurora scanned Eric's appearance. He wore a black shirt that was just a smidge too tight on him, but it showed off his muscles nicely. He usually wore long sleeves during training, so this was a pleasant surprise. Over the shirt was a black denim vest and he also wore some black jeans. Eric smirked, obviously pretty tipsy himself. "I doubt it."