driftfleet | mingle on the pathstone

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mingle on the pathstone

Who: The Pathstone crew and anyone brave enough to come say hi
Broadcast: not this time
Action: I mean obvs
When: all month? all month!

[Contrary to popular believe, the Pathstone isn't THAT useless. Yes they can go months without an upgrade and sure they're kind of a mess at the best of times, but they still function!

Most of the time. Flying sideways in space is all about perspective anyway, and they haven't done a barrel roll in like... well probably awhile.

So welcome, new Pathstone dwellers! We're probably very sorry in advance.]

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[The silence doesn't escape her, but that's just one more thing she can't do anything about. She knows better than trying to force answers from Tek of all people, so if he wants to just sit there quietly she's not going to fight it. Once she's finished cleaning up one mess, she turns back to him and leans against the counter, hands resting lightly along the edge of it.

And she just observes him, looking at his face and the hands that have stopped their tapping, at his posture. She thinks he's just as tired as she is, that he's just as lonely.]

What do you want, Tek?

[It's possible she's asking him what he needs, too, but it's up to him whether he cares to be honest enough with her to answer either question.]

[he doesn't lift his eyes, or even blink, where he's gazing wearily through the table.

and that question is a vast, complicated one. so, it takes him some time to finally narrow down to a point that fits. and it isn't something that he would normally breathe life into with words, but the question is pressing down on him heavily enough.

maybe he's been wrung out enough lately to lose the strength to bother fighting with.]

Maybe... I just want to know why.

[It may be hard for him to ask, but it's an easy question for her to answer.]

There's not only one reason, I hope you realize that. It's because I've come to care for you in the time I've been here, and because I'm lonely and I don't want to be anymore. It's because I killed you when I had no idea what you really were and the fact that even though I've seen what you just showed me, I would never do it again.

Honestly, there's also a part of me that wants to love you even though you're trying to make me hate the things you've done. I suppose I'm just that stubborn.

[She leaves the kitchen counter now, finally, to come back to the table and to him. She'd touched his face before and she does again now, with her left hand, the one that's killing her, and she makes him look at her.]

Mostly it's because I don't think anyone has told you that you matter to them in a very long time and I refuse to let that stand.

[too many things strike him all at once. between the things that he never wants to hear pointed out in the open, and the touch on his face that he'd barely tolerated the first time, the scales that were leaning precariously in her favor before suddenly crash in the other direction.

he snatches her hand away from his face in an unkind grip, and shoots her with a snarl and critically serious glare.

some important line had definitely been crossed in there somewhere.]

You are a very foolish woman.

[It hurts, of course, but so did the burn and his grasp on her gets about the same reaction. She flinches, frowns faintly.

She stares right back at him, unconcerned with the grip he's got on her hand. If she needs to stop him she has enough magic at hand to do it easily.]

Should I have lied? Refused to answer?

It wouldn't change your stupidity.

[because, in his mind, she's just as faulted for feeling these things in the first place as she is for sharing them out loud. so, whether she'd said anything about it or not, he still thinks she's an idiot for it. and that might never change.

but he lets her go, since the reaction had been more of an automatic, defensive thing than anything he'd put thought into. he's been stabbed and picked at enough to want to deal with it anymore.]

And that's not an answer, and I still don't know what you want from me.

[She was tired before this, but his attitude, the adrenaline that rushed through her when she thought there might be an attack coming her way, it's drained her entirely. Her tongue is sharper than it would be with anyone else, but she doubts he'll even notice.]

What did you really think I would say? You aren't stupid and you think you know me so well, so you should have seen that coming a mile away.

[And she wants to know why he won't let her touch him that way when he's not been shy about wanting to sleep with her, but she isn't about to ask that now. It's a question that digs into the back of her mind, though, something she won't be forgetting.]

Do you want me to hate you? Would you prefer I demand you never speak to me again?

[he does notice her sharpening attitude, but it's much more comfortable than the affection that had pushed him over the edge. it's relieving to hear her venting frustration. not that he sounds reassured by anything at the moment, however.]

It would make more sense, at any rate.

[which, again, is not much of an answer.]

Well that's out, since you're convinced I'm an idiot. Try again.

[She doesn't cross her arms over her chest, but she might as well. That's about the level they're getting to now.]

I just don't understand why someone with sense would recognize and escape something malicious, but you blithely hang onto it.

[however, he doesn't actually want to hear more of her reasons. the first round had been more than enough, and he's already working hard to forget he'd heard them at all. he also doesn't want to be reminded of the event that had first caused his frustration, long before this conversation. so, he lifts his hand a little--more to wave the whole subject aside than to cut her off from speaking.]

--I don't want to fight, though. I honestly don't.

[Her lips press together, she sees what he's doing, but she's going to let him do it. Maybe in the morning, some other time, they can revisit this. It at least buys her more time to decide how this will play out, how she feels about his blissful murder spree, so she can't really find a reason to protest it.

So she nods, steps back to give him a little bit of room.]

Well, you did tire me out enough to sleep after all, so perhaps I should thank you.

[and with that step of extra room between them, the acceptance of a truce, he can allow himself to slump where he sits. he's starting to look just as tired as she does, now. when he tries to smile, it's barely a shift.]

Well... you know I'm good for that anytime. [--taken however she'd like to interpret it.]

[The smile tugs at her heart, as much as she's sure he'd rather it didn't and as much as she knows that under the circumstances, after what she's just seen, it really shouldn't. But it does, and she's tired, so she nods in the direction of the captain's quarters.]

After you, then.

[there's a bit of a pause as some semblance of normalcy comes blanketing down on them. the tension that had been building is leaving him, and the sinking of it strikes him rather suddenly. he can't help but take a second look at their present state, and compare it to what had just been only moments ago.

somewhere between the relief and sheer absurdity of the whole thing just... gets him.

he starts giggling.]

[Well.

That's.

Certainly a reaction. Jove's eyebrows raise, but she doesn't join him in his laughter. She does hope he'll let her in on the joke, but she's content to let him work whatever this is out of his system.

But seriously what the fuck Tek.]

[with his elbow on the table, he drops his face in to his hand and just... laughs for a minute. apparently something about this conversation is just incredibly funny to him. it starts as a little helpless giggle, and it just rolls into real, weary chuckling.

it's absurd. the whole thing is just stupid-- how it turned out, the fact that it happened at all. and now they were just going to head to bed as if it'd never happened. everything about it is ridiculous.

and once most of it is out of his system, though giggles still trail along, he finally pushes himself up to his feet.]

...Sorry.

It's fine.

[Very odd and the tiniest bit off-putting if she's honest, but it's also Tek. That's about what she expects from him at all times, so once he's up and apparently over all of that, she'll just... ignore it? Let it pass.

Perhaps file it away for one more thing to be worried about when it comes to Tek because clearly there's something bothering him that he isn't telling her, but like almost everything else she's choosing to set it aside for morning.]

[he's still chuckling a little bit to himself, like the crash following the adrenaline has made him giddy, as he makes his way over to her.

she may be too tired to follow his loopy train of thought, but he's too tired to care. he's only got an exhausted, almost bitter grin on his face by the time he reaches her. and, as if it's completely normal and expected, he casually loops an arm around to pull her in a bit.

it's only half of one, but it's definitely a hug.]

[It is honestly a surprise, especially considering that very odd grin on his face as he comes at her, but once she's in his arms, once she's right up against him... it doesn't really matter anymore.

She's tired and lonely and she didn't want to lose him, she isn't ready to lose anyone else, so this is more a relief than it probably should be.

He may use one arm, but both of hers go around him, one even reaching up so she can get her hand into his hair for a rewarding ruffle. She needed this more than she wants to admit and it doesn't really matter why Tek has chosen to do it, just that he has.

She wants to tell him that she's there for him, she wants to say thank you, but she just sighs softly and leans into him and lets her head rest against his shoulder for a moment.]

[he doesn't wrap his other arm around her, but he does let his face rest down on the top of her head for a moment. he keeps her for only the span of a breath, however--in and out, enough time to get over and push aside everything that had been rattling in his head--before he finally loosens his hold.

and as he does so--]

It means 'girl who is mine.'

[She smiles, making sure to hide it against his chest while he's close enough for her to get away with it. Somehow that's sweeter than she had imagined, that simple little word telling her so much about where they are.

It dooms her a little, she supposes, makes her decision for her because if he's comfortable enough with her to claim her with that kind of name and show her his past she doesn't think she can forsake him now. Her hand is still resting against his neck after he puts space between them, but she doesn't reclaim it just yet.]

You'd better keep using it, then. I think we're stuck with each other.

I still think you're an idiot.

[which is perhaps not the sweetest thing he could have said, but it tilts the scales somewhere safe, and he says it with affection. because, if there is something wrong with her judgment, he doesn't have to think too hard about the things she says that are hard for him to listen to.

he can tell himself this for now, at least. it's a weak excuse, but it's enough to move on with.

so, he tilts his head toward the hall. they can finally go rest now.]

[She rolls her eyes at him, turning away to head down the hallway.]

You really need to work on your dirty talk, that does absolutely nothing for me.

Oh, no? You seemed like the type to be a glutton for punishment.

[which is both generally funny, and tragically relevant, considering their previous conversation. and he follows after her... as if there was anything normal about this at all.]

There is a difference between enjoying something like being spanked and being called an idiot, you know.

[This is a bad habit, flirting like this to keep people at bay, to keep them from paying attention to what she's really feeling or thinking, but after all that it's necessary.

And amusing, and she needs that too. She motions for him to go ahead of her into the captain's quarters, willing to let him claim his side of the nest first.]

mingle on the pathstone

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