| abstract
| - Bridge The hatchway opens up to a small metal platform, which overlooks a compact command center. Light filters out from hidden coves, providing an even illumination across the bridge consoles. A rainbow of telltales and monitors add a touch of color, breathing life into the functional and utilitarian space. A few steps down, the bridge workstations are arranged in a rough semicircle, following the shark nosed form of the ship's bow. Two stations face forward and are centered beneath the main canopy. The other two workstations face the port and starboard, one on each side of the bridge. The space is tight, with arely enough room to move when all the stations are occupied. Sun Apr 09 06:51:50 3006 The lights are set at their brightest level as the mainday watch begins. Jack is sitting at one of the chairs, scribbling down on paper he has rested on the navigator console. "Son of a fucking Zangali whore!" Volaya announces loudly, stepping onto the bridge. Her aura is invisible, her face haggard, and her clothing dishevelled. She is, further, covered in sand. Jack juggles his paper at the sudden cursing, launching into a fit. One second he's unarmed, the next he's out of his seat with a gun aimed at the voice. Then? Let there be silence. Appropriatly stunned silence, of course. "There is NO WAY you are going to shoot me after all that, Jack," Volaya says, still somewhat inexplicably, her mind slicing out by habit to do what surprise has done already, immobilise, at least until she stalks forward to bat the gun aside. "Just, no." Jack stiffens up a bit, finger twitching, but holding still. Then the gun is knocked free from his grip. "I.. you.. wait... what?" He frowns darkly, obviously not thinking along the appropriate railway. His train of thought is broken, more or less. "After all what?" Volaya relaxes her mental grip immediately, almost carelessly, and wheels around so that her rigid, furious back is turned to Wiendrbac. "NALIA'S BLACK CUNT, JACK!" she shouts at the viewscreen, taking some comfort in sheer volume, it seems, "DO YOU KNOW HOW MANY YEARS-!?" Jack just stands still, soaking in the fury. "Volaya.. I..." The sound of shuffling feet and paper rustling, as he busies himself with collecting the paper he knocked over. "What are you talking about?" Yep, innocence. Completly. "THAT DISHONOURABLE... DISHONOURABLE" Volaya sputters, and then more or less spits, "DISHONOURABLE /SOFTSKIN/. Nalia's cunt, Jack, if I'd have known!" "I.. who?" Jack says, shaking his head to clear it. "Who is a dishonorable softskin, and where have you been?" "FUCKING... CUNT!" Volaya shouts, regaining her volume for one last scream before she drops into a chair and silently sinks her face into her hands. Her shoulders, though tense as frozen glass, do not shake. Jack collects his last sheet, lays it on the navigation console, and slowly approaches the disheveled Vollistan. Like a mouse spotting a cat between it's nice safe hole and him, he advances, every step slow and unsure. "I don't understand you." That's a new one. "You disappear for months on end, then you come back in a rage and won't tell me anythin' beyond your grasp on how to cuss effectively." Volaya's shoulders lift carefully with a slow, deep breath, and lower with the controlled exhale. She turns around, her eyes icy blue but a bit of a plaintive tilt to her mouth. There is an interrogative note to her voice. "Jack, has killing anyone ever solved any of your problems?" she asked. "Yes." Jack says, eyebrows knitting. "Does that mean I go out of my way to make it the only one? No, because it isn't the best. What kinda sidewise shit-response is that, anyway? Where. Have. You. Been?" "What sort of a lame-ass tailchopped answer is that, anyhow?" Volaya asks, but her mouth veers into a tight, wry smile in spite of herself. "You're supposed to say, it never solves anything." She closes her eyes briefly, the grin wiped off her face. "Are you sure you want to know?" she asks evenly. "No, I just asked because I'm not curious where the woman I considered as close to me as anyone else ran off again." Jack snarks, scowl deepening at the play off his words. "You have to make everythin' difficult?" "Yes. Yes, I do, Jack. Life IS difficult. And I... Fuck! Nalia!" The girl stops, deliberately relaxing the firm set of her jaw a little. "I'm sorry, Jack," she says more quietly, looking down, "I know it's not forgivable. I just..." "You just had business to handle." Jack says with a grimace. "Hey, it's ok. I'm gettin' used to it by now, an' don't think I'm innocent of anythin' or everythin'. I just want to understand, and you won't let me. I'd choke you, but you'd make my mind explode. So, if you don't want to talk about it.. that's fine." Volaya smiles suddenly, and the expression is frighteningly wavery on her face though she looks steadfastly downwards to hide it. "You think I make life complicated when you don't know," she mutters with a near-hysterical chuckle. Her hand goes to her mouth, muffling off the next chuckle into something more like a moan. The La Terran stares at Volaya for a moment at her giggling fit, face flushing a bit, then whips an arm to throw the pencil he had been using to scurry down his names on the pieces of paper straight at her forehead. "FUCK YOU, VOLAYA!" Volaya was not expecting that. Her face is really, truly naked in shock for one moment as it lifts in time for the pencil to hit her square in the forehead. She doesn't seem to see the pencil; she's busy staring at Jack, the thick chaos of emotions on her face lit byu a sudden rainbow of colour. There is pain there, as intense as anything, and a wariness, and fear, and excitement, but heaviest of all is the thick, self-absorbed, disgusted bitterness that underlies everything the girl goes. She stares, and after a moment lifts her hand to her forehead slowly, her face closing up. She tries to say something, but though her lips move, her voice only croaks. Jack matches the stare for a second, then begans to pace the limited space allowed to him in the cramped bridge, muttering. Stomp. Stomp. Turn. Stomp. Stomp. Turn. Stomp. Stomp. Turn. Stomp. Turn. Stomp. Stomp. Stop. The man looks out the viewscreen, hands clasping behind his back. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done that." "YOU shouldn't have done that?" Volaya says, her voice once more dead steady. "I... Jack, if you want to rough me up a bit, if it'll help, go ahead." Her aura flares to a clear pink, and stays there. "Volaya, I don't want to hit you." Jack says, wearily, sinking down into his seat. "That has to be one of the most bizarre suggestions I've ever heard. An' I know where it comes from, which makes it even worse. Should I beat the child because it steals from the cookie jar? Do I break the bird's wings because it wants to fly? So why would I punch you in the mouth? Even though I've never been tempted quite so much as now." "I'm not a child or a bird. I'm not your responsibility. Go ahead," Volaya says. She even smiles a tiny bit, encouragingly. "If it'll help," she adds. "Why don't you explain instead?" Jack offers. "I think that'll help more then anything." Volaya closes her eyes again, her face rigid, and brown creeps into her light. More gently, she whispers, "are you sure? I don't mind you hitting me, Jack, but I don't want you to kill me." "This universe chunks enough shit at anyone that flies it to teach us a little bit of patience. I'll decide if I want to hit your or not afterwards." Jack responds with a smirk. "Just.. tell me." "Okay," Volaya says. She takes a deep breath, again, and lets it out in a long, "I was fucking an ex-interrogator on Tomin Kora because I thought he knew where my ex was and would tell me. He was lying, so eventually I found out and... hurt him." She doesn't look up. "He'd seen Volanta recently, though. I hate Tomin Kora. Fucking softskin lair." Jack pales a bit, sinking down into his seat. "Volanta means everything to you, doesn't he?" He rub at his face, spinning to look out the viewscreen. "I'm not sure which part you think I should be upset over? That you were sellin' your body for information you'd give everything for or that you hurt and, or, killed him. Cause neither strikes me into a killin' rage. Look, I know, this thing we had was never really that important to you. I know you feel like you have a responsibility to find out what happened to him. So, if you came back to say good bye.. you won't get a fuss from me. Hell, I have some money. I can share a bit to help you out from time to time." Volaya lifts her hands very slowly, touching her fingertips to her forehead with the same force a butterfly might give to a flower. She lowers her hands a little then, staring at her palms from a tiny distance. Her aura is all static, white and black and pink, so chaotic you can almost hear it buzz. Other than the movement of light crawling from under her skin she is silent for a long minute, perhaps for two. Jack turns to his navigation console, pulling up his report, moving through the motions of work without much enthuiasm. "It's your choice. Before you answer though, I didn't stay faithful either. Maybe, somewhere in my failed little shit of a brain, I thought it was done. I waited, and waited, and then just quit." He tugs at his earlobe. "So, now you know. You thought you were comin' back to someone perfect, who didn't earn his sour rewards. I'm trying to be understanding, because.. well, I failed myself." It takes Jack's voice to rouse Volaya, to galvanise her, to pull her bodily from her chair and to lash her upright. She opens her mouth and a screan comes out, impossibly sustained. "YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT! DO YOU THINK I CARE? YOU'RE SUCH A TAILCHOPPED FUCKHEAD, JACK. YOU'RE SUCH A TAILCHOPPED FUCKHEAD BUT YOU'LL NEVER BE ANYWHERE NEAR AS FUCKED UP AS I AM. YOU NEVER WILL BE!" All that, and she takes an indrawn breath as close to a sob as she dares. Her voice is hoarse when she continues, "and you're sitting there being understanding at me, Jack. And I'm..." The animation goes out of her in a slow slide, and she slumps back into the chair, red aura fading to static once more, "I'm just... well, of course you did. Nalia and Volir, what am I doing?" "No.. I guess I won't." Jack says, shifting restlessly in his seat. "But that crazy little bitch part of you is what attracted me to you. I'm the planet to your sun, I just tend to.. gravitate." The man rises from his seat. "So, where do we go from here?" "You could get me a leash," Volaya says, looking up. Her hope is the colour of sunrise. "What?" Jack says, pausing, then approaches the woman. "I hate when you do that. I never know when you're being serious. Does that mean you want to stay?" "I want to be with you," Volaya says simply, her face still relatively open, "not Volanta, or anyone else. If that means staying..." she trails off, the tentative brightness still engulfing her. She adds, with diamond-sharp emphasis that feels very sure, if tired from the recent emotional storm, ~I mean it.~ Jack looks distracted for a moment, then rubs his forehead. "Maza's blazing frown, how am I gonna explain this..." After a bit, he leans down to kiss the top of the Vollistan's head, standing above her for once. "Get a shower, Volaya, an' a bit too eat. I'm.. shit, I don't know. Just know that one more runnin' trip, an' we're through. I don't want you to think you're tied to me, cause you're not. I want you to chase what makes you happy. The Artemis is a home, not a prison, an' even if you don't like me callin' you crew, you're crew. That and more. I'd lay my life out for you just with a simple please." He pauses for a bit, and tries on a shaky smile. "I'll consider the leash." Volaya tries a shaky smile back, leaning her head against Jack as she looks up at him. "Are you still...?" she asks. The smile wobbles. "With...?" Rose wars with muddy light. "Me and Rya have an understanding. She's Timonae through and through. Everything is superficial with her, an' maybe.. that's what I thought I needed. I'll handle it. My guilt doesn't seem so bad knowing that you were.. well, you know." Jack finishes lamely. "I really should consider chopping my penis off." "Then I really will leave," Volaya threatens, although the little tickle of reassurance sent silently from her mind says otherwise. She snakes an arm around the man meaningfully. The red in her aura is a very different shade now. Jack recognizes the shade, eyes widening a bit, before knocking some of the sand that still remains on the woman. "You've made my bridge messy." "Well, what are you going to do about it?" the Vollistan asks. "Make you go get a bath, an' sweep it up." Jack responds, pulling free of the grip around his waist. "I can't really deduct your pay." Volaya stands up, smiling down at Jack rather impishly. "I'll help you sweep it up, if you'll help me get a bath," she suggests. Jack looks down at the mess, then offers a wane smile at Volaya's offer. "How could I as a business man refuse such an offer?" "Bath first. You did say 'fuck you'" Volaya says. Her hand searches for his, touch still posessive. "Then I hit you in the forehead with a pencil." Jack teases, fingers clasping gently. "This isn't how I thought this would work out, you know. Not at all. Anyway, Volaya.. let's go fuck you." "How did you think...?" the Light Singer asks, then fervently, "let's go fuck me."
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