“Well fine, jeez, don’t believe me,” Rico said in an agitated voice…agitated mostly by the fact that his little white lie didn’t exactly catch. “Look, regar’less, me and shortstack-“ Rico looked up and away at Suku for a moment, as though suddenly remembering something important. The sergeant turned over to Carina and called out, “Hey shortcakes, you still hungry?! Quit flirtin’ around and let’s hustle!” Rico barked before turning back to Suku, a coy smirk across his face. “Me an’ shortbread were gonna get a burger, ‘cause she’s hungry. How’s that for carin’ bones, sweetheart?”
"You got me a dinner, and look what happened." Suku said disapprovingly, her arms crossed. She looked over at Carina for a moment then back at Rico. "Besides, who would trust you with their kid? You'd probably leave her in a ball pit, chasing after your next score." The woman spoke bitterly.
“I saved your lovely ass from hard time, then bought you a dress, and then took you out to a steak dinner,” Rico corrected Suku in a more matter-of-fact tone, rather than a bitter or sarcastic one. His voice made it obvious he was reminiscing fairly hard on the subject. “Thiiiiiiiis is a lil’ different. Bit too young and a bit too…related. Not among some a’ my favorite combo’s for ladyfriends.”
"Still sounds like it's gunna' end in disappointment." Suku rolled her eyes in an annoyed fashion. "Besides, shouldn't you be off saving the world while her mom actually takes care of her?" The nurse said, continuing her cold barrage.
As the two continued their argument, the green haired Suku, staring down the slick haired and slick witted Sergeant, a yelp came from off to the side, a child's yelp, and one of pain. If either one had bothered to look, the little girl was more or less standing in front of a now kneeling boy clutching at his more private of places a series of sobbing moans racking him. In the end she pushed him backwards on to his back, and leapt atop him, soundly pummeling him with clenched fists, his hands already pinned under her.
"Hey, aren’t you going to break that up?" Suku said to Rico, her brow arched at him in an interrogative fashion.
“Huh?” Rico said almost enthusiastically, glad to have any sort of distraction come up between the intense scrutinies he was getting from the green-haired Geshrin. When he turned around to Carina, though, he wasn’t exactly sure that this was what he wanted. “HEY HEY HEY-“ Rico said harshly, dashing over to pluck the little slugger off of her reeling victim. “What the fuck are ya thinkin’ Sprout, jumpin’ on some kid?!” he scolded, carrying the little girl in one hand between his arm and his hip back towards the street side and awaiting Medical Officer.
Carina more or less grunted and struggled, her legs kicking, and her arms flailing. Truth be told, the 'victim' had made fun of her, and the uniformed Rico when all she wanted to do was play with the other kids while the grownups talked. She was however rather huffy, her cheeks dark, hair a little damp, and she wore a rather deep scowl as the other kids ran over to their fallen comrade, and began to do the same for him, getting him the hell out of sight to lick his wounds.
"Nice job, kid." Suku smiled, leaning down to the little girl for a second. "You've got some mean fists, y'know? Kinda' reminds me of myself when I was a little girl." She laughed a little, ignoring Rico's good parenting for the moment.
Rico kept silent until he was sure that the boy Carina had winded was able to walk away…he didn’t particularly feel like dealing with an angry parent possibly wielding a mean little firearm around the corner. When he was sure, however, the Nepleslian put Carina down and crossed his arms proudly. “Hell yeah, must take after her folks,” Rico praised. “Now, you done horsin’ aroun’, ‘cause I’m still pretty damn hungry.”
"Pfft, as if, she fights better than you." Suku said shortly.
Carina simply huffed again, and looked up at her father, wearing the scowl still, but could feel it ebbing inch by inch. "He made fun of me an’ called you names. I don' like that, Papi, it makes me mad." She mumbled and wished she could hug the man.
"The hell you talkin' about?!" Rico said suddenly, apparently a little offended at Suku's insult. "I'm a great fighter, I used to roll the assholes around here like five times a day!"
Suku arched a brow at Rico, and the smiled deviously for a second. She bent down to Carina and looked at her warmly. "Tell me, sweetheart, have you seen 'papi' ever fight before?"
Carina nodded. "Yeah, when he was on tha' big space station... I watched him through the cameras thanks to Ms.Elsae." The little girl patted her pocket that held the SAVtech. "The black haired loud guy scared me, an' I hit my head, an' then he put me in an escape pod with her. We got out an' I was all alone. Since everyone went to go fight the bad guys."
Suku arched a brow, trying to place someone she knew that had black hair, and was also loud. Though, one that caught her attention was the mention of an escape pod. "Wait... what? Escape pod? Alone?" Suku looked at Rico spitefully for a second, "You're telling me you were on a combat ship, and no one was around to watch you?" She shifted her eyes to Rico, but still spoke to Carina, "Or make sure you're alright?"
Carina shook her head. "Nah...they all went on that big metal station we docked at. So, I was all alone'n watchin' through the floating pictures miss Elsae put up for me." The little girl piped up as she looked between the two now.
Rico stood quietly and inwardly mortified, unable to really get interrupt the conversation as it were, his body tense and ready to turn and make for the nearest bus stop at a moment's notice.
"How long were you alone?" Suku asked, her tone seeming to edge. She appeared to be restraining herself, heavily.
Carina rubbed at one of her cheeks as she thought, rather unsure. "It was a little while...I kinda don' remember. I just watched'em from where I was."
"So when did 'papi' come pick you up?" Suku asked, teetering by the sound of her voice.
"Tha' child people took me to him after." Carina answered, clinging to one of the man's legs. "I miss'd him a lot, an' was scared when he was fighting... I didn' wanna lose my Papi, like my Mama." She shook her head fiercely at that thought, not wanting to think on it, and deny the possibility of it ever happening again.
"Mama...?" Suku spoke with a shrill clarity, she looked up at Rico. For the moment, she seemed dumbstruck, unable to speak.
Rico ran a hand down across his face as Carina pretty much blew his oh-so-convincing cover with her sob story. "Hey, baby, would ya mind if we kinda cooled it with the twenty-questions shit?" Rico pleaded nervously, trying to salvage what was left of his previous identity as Carina's uncle. "This is pretty touchy stuff."
"Mama was murdered back on Fortuna. The cops came an' took me when I got home. An' then they put me in that places with all the other kids, sayin' if they couldn' find my Papi, I'd live there, an' maybe live with strangers." Carina visibly shivered at her rather lackluster explanation of an orphanage and the prospect of being adopted.
Suku frowned, and what seemed to be hints of pity appeared in her face. She almost appeared to be on the brink of tears at one point. Her gaze rose to meet Ricos, "Uncle, huh?" She sounded hurt.
Rico smiled weakly, acknowledging that he had indeed lost this battle. The sergeant couldn’t bring himself to look either of them in the face, but was able to smile weakly and rub at the back of his head as he gave a reply, unaware of Suku’s emotional status. “Well…in spirit, I guess.”
"In spirit?" Suku said incredulously, "Is your brain broken or something!?" She stood up and took a step closer to him, closing in on his face. "You're all she's got and you want nothing to do with her?"
Rico stood his ground as the Nurse began harrowing him. "Hey, don't go puttin' words in my mouth. If I wanted to ditch the girl, I had plenty a' chances before this," Rico argued hotly. "So back off a' my business, ya hear?"
Carina looked up at the two, sniffling a little. "Papi was gonna leave me?"
Suku only looked down at Carina for a moment and the glared at Rico.
Rico had to admit to himself that the thought crossed his mind. Several times a day. Rico sighed, taking in a deep breath to calm himself before looking down at Carina again. “No, I wasn’t gonna leave ya alone shortcakes,” Rico said, squatting down as he finished his sentence. “We came here so Gramma could take care a’ ya. Uncl…Pap…Rico does a lot a’ that fightin’ that he did back up on the space station, an’ he can’t watch ya all the time.”
"But...But...I wanna be with you, Papi...'cause Mama is gone, an' that leaves you!" Carina was holding her hands in front of her, looking down at the ground, a little pout on her lips. "An' I know, Papi'll win all tha' fightin' an' come home alright. Since I think, Papi won't let a buncha bullies beat him."
This answered surprised Suku, but she knew the man just enough to tell when he was being serious. His explanation seemed serious enough, which arose an idea within the frosty mind of the Geshrin doctor. "I--..." Suku started and shook her head, thinking she was going a little fast, "You on the same ship as Fian, still?"
Rico stood back up with a sigh at Carina’s misplaced enthusiasm. “I…what?” Rico said as Suku interrupted him. It took him a moment to recall what his next assignment was, having read it earlier before he and Carina went on their little excursion to his hometown. “uh, yeah, as far as I know.”
"Well, you're lookin' at your new Medical Officer. I was just recently assigned to the NSS Acadia." Suku said, seeming to beam with a little bit of pride.
"Uh...good job?" Rico said, a little lost at Suku's sudden turn in the topic at hand.
Suku stared Rico down for a moment, a tad disappointed at his lack of enthusiasm. "So..." She began a little hesitantly, looking away for a second, and then back at Rico. "Perhaps she would be safer if she stayed in the Medical Bay, wouldn't you think?"
It took a moment for Rico to ponder the thought over. If Suku was implying that she would take care of Carina…well, that would most certainly solve everything. Rico wouldn’t have to spend the next few days hunting for a reliable godparent, he wouldn’t have to constantly put up her and have her tag along with him…there certainly seemed to be no downsides. Rico smiled when he came to this conclusion. “I dunno, you think you can handle it?”
"I used to babysit two five years olds when I was back in High School." Suku said cooly, she shrugged and grin. "What's the difference?"
”Sheesh, those poor kids,” Rico muttered under his breath, squatting down again the better explain the situation to Carina. “Well small fry,” he said, ruffling the child’s hair slightly. “Looks like pretty lady here will be takin’ care a’ ya for a lil’ while. Just stay outta trouble an’…uh…try not pickin’ fights with her, Rico added in a small voice outside of Suku’s earshot.
