☮ 002. ((audio))

[delincuente]

Who: Alex Russo and you
Broadcast: Most definitely fleet-wide!
Action: SS Paisley
When: Saturday night

[Just before midnight on Saturday, the network picks up what may or may not be a familiar sound - the click of a cassette tape 'PLAY' button, a couple seconds of bumpy white noise, and then -

This very fitting song, in its marvelous entirety.

Oh, the things you find in a novelty shop on a foreign star system. Alex is eternally grateful, even if the fleet at large isn't. And when has she not found joy in driving people mad?]

Comments

[asinisterkid]

[ dryly ] Because a guy who was impressive enough to have a religion founded in his honor is absolutely the standard you should be holding yourself to.

[ He shifts so he's sitting cross-legged on his bunk, elbows propped on his knees, giving her a serious look. ]

Fuck that. Fuck the good survivor narrative, the one where you're suddenly strong and perfect and you've transformed into this tough chick who takes no shit. Fuck all of that. You're allowed to not be okay.

You can get to "stronger", but... fuck anything that says you're supposed to just be that way now, like they hand out inner strength as a consolation prize for going through trauma. All that does is make people feel like shit when they react like normal humans.

[delincuente]

[Alex tries not to meet his eyes at first. She's halfway embarrassed that she had to go and bring this up at all. Why couldn't she have taken the bait, kept up with the jokes and the prank talk? But god damn if this boy can't rally, and she finds herself sitting back up to listen, tucking her hands under her thighs.]

... Nice speech.

[Translation: "thank you".]

You working off note cards?

[Translation: "I'm really grateful for you right now".]

[asinisterkid]

Nah. I've got it tattooed on the inside of my eyelids. You couldn't tell from the blinking?

[ Translation: "Hey, I care about you and I want to help."

He points at the bottle. ]

You feel like passing that back this way, or is it all yours now?

[delincuente]

That's dedication, man. You're such a hero.

[She holds one finger up, then downs another mouthful of vodka before passing it back over to Jason.]

Knock yourself out.

[asinisterkid]

I lived my whole life in preparation for the moment when that speech would finally be useful. I feel so fulfilled now.

[ He takes a swig, and offers the bottle back. ]

The thing I've noticed about this stuff is that around the third swig, it stops tasting quite so awful. Probably because it's already killed all your taste buds by that point.

[delincuente]

[She gladly takes it, tossing back another swig.]

No, yeah, I totally get that. Drink enough of anything and it'll taste like Grey Goose.

[asinisterkid]

Grey Goose?

[ Oh, look, it's Sudden Russian Accent time! Though rather than the comical fake-Russian most Americans might be familiar with, this is a dead-accurate Saint Petersburg accent, because Batman. ]

Grey Goose is overpriced French piss-water they sell to people who have no idea what real vodka should taste like. Now, Russians... Russians know vodka. Vodka is part of the Russian spirit. How can the French make vodka when they have no soul for anything stronger than grape juice?

[ And just like that, the accent vanishes. ]

And that's why you shouldn't spend too much time drinking with Russians. I heard that rant so many times it engraved itself on my brain.

[delincuente]

[Alex cracks up, almost losing her balance at the edge of the mattress. Maybe she drank that vodka a little fast.]

Dude. Don't ever let me meet a Russian then. I don't drink anything I have to pay more than twenty bucks for.