driftfleet | Mingle bells mingle bells

"Used to be three of 'em and me, but we're getting closer to normal again now. You, Polly, Natasha, and then me 'n the new guy. Almost fifty-fifty."

Though he doesn't think the Vision has to shave. Or pee standing up. Or pee at all.

"I'll do your nails some time and then you can feel like you fit in." Is she joking? Not even she is sure.

"New guy--oh, Vision? He's super nice. And he floats. I wish I could float, wouldn't that be cool?"

"Thanks, but I'll just fuck 'em up again 5 minutes later, be a shame of all that hard work," he grins back, then beckons for her to follow him to their sleeping quarters, give her a little tour.

"Sounds like he can do a lot of cool stuff," he says while he walks.

"Nah, I know how to do nails right. Manicure that's guaranteed to last through three days of active combat and then a brawl at a D3 bar." Look, it's a thing, okay? "What's the point of mail polish that can't stay one after you've punched someone's teeth out?"

"He said flying is an innate ability, so I guess so? It must be nice to have... Uh. Image abilities."

"Only innate ability I got's being able to drink bad coffee and looking good in green," he replies, pushing open the door to the dorms. It's a pretty underwhelming sight.

"Those are pretty good, though! Green is an awesome color too. I wish I looked good in green." Maybe she's been around Delta too much. "And bad coffee is a survival skill so you're all set!"

Wrath is basically unfazed by the bunk room. She's had a lot worse before. And can sleep through just about anything other than a duty alert. "Cool, which bed is free?"

Girl, you are so perky, he actually believes you when you say that.

He scratches his stubbly cheek, then points at three of the beds. "Those ones, I guess. Got a locker, too. Careful 'bout the second one, it's got a lot of my winter stuff in it."

Someone's already figured out Wrath's reality-bending power of sheer optimistic belief.

"Why do you have winter stuff? We're in space!" It doesn't snow in space, right? Right? Or is everything she knows a lie?

"I don't have that much stuff right now, anyway." Though just wait until the first time she gets to go shopping. Hopefully with a competent adult who understands numbers better than she does.

Probably, but it still doesn't snow in space. "'Cause it was fucking cold as balls where I was before I got here," he says, tapping a little rhythm on the thin wall while she explores the small room. "Dumped here with all my thousand layers on. Pain in the ass, but what're you gonna do, right?"

"Oh, that makes sense. But it's good to have that stuff in case we go somewhere cold, right?" She opens the locker he mentioned and pokes through it a little. "Could I borrow your sweater then? I get cold all the time. Especially my feet, but your socks would be huge."

It's an unexpected request, but it's- kind of cute, and whatever, so is she, and he's not using it. So he shrugs, makes a vague hand gesture. "Sure, go for it, I ain't usin' it. Got some thermals in there too, I think, like long johns, case you get cold at night."

His long johns would be ridiculously huge on her too, probably. But they sound really warm too.

She finds the sweater and pulls it out, then puts it right on. Yes, it's really big on her, but she's grinning. "Thanks, Ray, you're the best."

She doesn't have Maine to put her cold feet on any more, so this is kind of important. Oh look, and the socks! "These look so warm! But if we get to a super cold place, don't worry, I'll give everything back." Since obviously he'd need it then.

They were made for polar conditions, they are definitely warm.

He grins a little, bashfully- that's really damn adorable, and he's kind of charmed by the sight. "Nah," he says. "Just make sure I get it if I ever go back, 'cause I'm gonna need it there. My buddy'd rip me a new one if I showed up in just jeans and a tee."

"Do you really want to go home?" She asks. She's on the fence herself. Well, if she had her friends here, it would be a really tough decision. Right now she's probably go back though. But if she ends up being more useful serving here...

"Yeah," he says, softer than before. "I was- I was gonna go on an adventure with my- Fraser, my best friend." His ears color a little at the slip-up, but he wasn't meeting her eyes to begin with.

"I feel bad about not bein' there with him. He's gotta be worried."

"Your friend or your friend?" She asks, curious. Sad to be away from either kind of friend, really.

She nods, though. "My friend are probably worried too. Hopefully Maine hasn't hurt anyone."

He does his very, very best to not splutter at that, looking up at her again. "What's that supposed to mean? My best friend, I said 'best friend'."

Wrath shrugs. "Just meant I'd be extra happy for you if you were getting laid."

PRIORITIES, RAY.

"Well, he ain't here, so I wouldn't be getting laid anyway!"

Platonic thoughts about his platonic work friend!

"Yeah." Sad, sympathetic nodding. "That really blows. Well, hopefully you'll get some extra once you get home." Think for a moment. "Well, and here too, unless it's one of those monogamous things."

Still doesn't get that whole... thing.

He just sort of gapes at her a little bit- is she just, what, assuming that he and Fraser get freaky?

(It's not that it's never occurred to him, of course- because Fraser is attractive, Ray can see that, all of Chicago can see that, polar bears can see that. But Fraser is a perfect Mountie, like a marble statue, and Ray's a scrawny divorced cop who's pushing 40 with nothing to really show for it. Them being together, like in 'one of those monogamous things', that never entered his mind.)

"I- it ain't nothin', he's my friend, and we work together, that's it." He pauses, then adds, "and I am gettin' some here, thanks."

"Oh! Okay. I get it. Glad you have a good work friend." She doesn't seem that worried; just a little mistake that needs to be corrected. "But good for you, getting laid here. It'd be pretty lonely otherwise, I bet!"

That is sure a lot of sincerity. So much sincerity.

He is a detective, Wrath, he can see through that sincerity. "You're stuck in a room with 4 other people, and you think it'd be lonely?"

Ray has spent way too much time being genuinely lonely for that to work, really. Spent way too much time not getting laid, too, but that wasn't as bad as being lonely.

Actually, now that he thinks about it, he hasn't been lonely since Fraser came along. Shit.

Good luck, detective boy. Wrath is composed of 90% sincerity and 10% pink glitter.

"There's different kinds of lonely," she says, shrugging. "I had my platoon for over twenty years. But I know more that it was also really goddamn lonely."

He rubs his stubbled cheek with his knuckles, considering. "Yeah," he answers, finally. "I guess I get that. Like, it ain't enough to be around people, if they don't know you, right?"

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Oh lawd those swype errors in my last tag /sob

hahah don't worry about it, i know the pain of phonetags

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/wheezes

THINKING BEST FRIEND THOUGHTS HERE

Oh god help

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