High in the skies over Nepleslia Prime, a small freighter claws its way through the clouds. Aboard, one Nekovalkyja and one Nepleslian. Unlikely partners drawn together by the prospect of flight-- flight with its feeling of infinite freedom and possibility.
"You have more experience with the wonders of space, as such I would like you to choose where we go. Once you have chosen, I'll do my best to fly us there, and then you will handle the return trip... It would be unforgivable to deny you the opportunity to fly your Lady." She hoped that the suggestion would be acceptable, as she didn't have any better alternative and choosing at random seemed a poor decision.
(This takes place before To Lie, Cheat, and Steal despite cleverly rhyming with its title.)
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"No, that wasn't the deal," Enzo assured Tamamo as he settled even further into the seat at the station he'd selected for himself. "You wanted to go for a fly-about, an' I wanted to make a deal with yous. Now, I can't exactly extract things from yous if I don't holds up my end of the bargain, can I?"
There was a moment of silence no acknowledgement of the words spoken on the part of the small blue Nekovalkyrja as the continued through the serene skies on their way to nowhere. Eventually she spoke up the soft voice neutral, "So I am to pick where we go?"
"That's the deal, ain't it?" Enzo asked with his smile broadening. "Just go wherevers yous was gonna go in the little plane. The Lady'll handle it fine."
Tamamo huffed, it was a perculiar response from her, odd in that it was filled with more emotion than all of the words that they had exchanged up to this point; even more perculiar is that it was almost lady like. Still, a verbal response was not to be it seemed as the small girl nosed the Lady upward, pulling her away from Nepleslia Prime's clingy embrace, the blue of the sky fading out into blackness and stars as they ascended. It seemed wherever they were headed it wasn't planetside.
Almost in time with the breaking of the atmosphere, the ship's master let out a great sigh. It was as if he'd held his breath for weeks on the planet's surface and only now could he truly fill his lungs. Watching the stars whip past while the ship oriented itself not with the planet's surface, but with the system's hill sphere, Enzo raised both hands and levered them intertwined behind his head, kicking his feet up at the same time to rest them upon his console. "Now that's a fuckin' sight, ain't it? How do you likes the ship so far? Burns right out, don't it?"
"She lives up to her name," she began, pausing a moment as she accessed the data she needed to plot their course before beginning to further distance them from Nepleslia Prime, "I was worried she'd be jumpy and stutter with her acceleration, so far though she's been smooth... A 'dream' I think it would be said?"
"A dream come true." Was Enzo's suggestion. Crossing his boots over one another, he cocked his head to one side and cut to the awful point. "Of course, there is the matter of payment. What's a dream worth to yous?"
"A couple hours nap?" She wasn't about to offer up anything valuable for the conman to work with, she knew better than that at least. Still she was enjoying herself so perhaps he might manage to earn something, for now though she wasn't intending on being cooperative.
Of course, this was part of the payment for Enzo. There was nothing like a good pursuit to him and he chuckled at her suggestion. "Well, I can takes a nap any time I want, just run down the hall. But I see you just wanna keep dreamin'. It really is somethin', flying like this. You are absolutely free. Even the birds can't get up here."
His latest statement left the small girl puzzled for a time, there was more of a poetic twist to the meaning than she was used to dealing with, digging up the right references and comparing them to get the context right, then double, and tripple checking it took all of a few minutes leaving the conman to lounge in the silence before her soft voice once again filled the ship, "It is a curious feeling, to know that you could wander forever, pick the right way and you'd probably never meet another. Not too much to keep one busy though."
"Well, that's why you flies, ain't it?" Asked Enzo, though his tone indicated he was almost certain of it. He'd spent a month of Sundays just drifting aimlessly into the void while he went about his business below decks. Between breaking guns, modifying cargo containers, trying expensive drugs, hiding corpses from nobody but himself, and a myriad of other Enzo-like activities, time could pass in the most amazing way, especially when one left the confines of common in-system trade lanes. "Never figured you'd go straight for space, though. I had dis notion you'd be zippin' through a canyon, or maybe go somewheres it's rainin'."
She glanced over her shoulder, at twitch of her ears and then her attention returned to the console before her, "Freedom is one of the reasons I want to fly. I wouldn't say it is the only one." It was about then that they slipped past the border of Nepleslia Prime's hill sphere, and it was then that she could truly start them on their way, the Lady's fold drive awakening as she started them off toward her goal.
"Well, what's another then?" Enzo went on, hardly taking notice of the fold. It was, after all, something the ship did during normal operation-- which was what had been agreed upon.
"It gives me options, plentiful options. Not only am I free, but I can take advantage of whatever catches my attention. I can make the most of opportunities... After all it is a great way to make a quick buck if you can take something plentiful on say... Lor and take it to someone who is fixing for it way out on Fortuna." For now she had little to do but wait, after all the FTL was fast, but not instant.
"The story of my life right there, sister." There was a chuckle and Enzo stood up from his chair and made the motions of someone who was stretching. He didn't actually stretch or anything, but he just imitated the movements and tilted his head this way and that until he was standing next to where Tamamo was seated. Then, just as he'd imitated stretching, the conman comically imitated stealth as he leaned over Tamamo's shoulder to peek at their destination.
She didn't pretend that he wouldn't be able find out and with a bit of false cheer offered, "I hope you like ice and snow. We're going to sunny, warm, and relaxing Hope." There was a moments pause as she considered whether or not there was anything else she wanted to say and eventually ventured, "I want to make stuff. Flying helps with that."
"Unless it's a snowman, you ain't makin' shit on Hope." Enzo stated plainly at first, then thoughtfully added, "Though I think I could handles some Haven whiskey as a soo-ver-neeya of sorts."
Then, the same way cars switched gears, she felt Enzo's hand on the back of the seat, the vibrations rocking it ever-so-slightly. He looked down at her now, instead of the console and asked, pretending to be earnest and bashful. "So, Blue, eh-- How about a kiss? Like, a secret kiss we don't tell nobody about. It'll be like it never happened."
"No." The answer came almost instantly on the tail of the question and had she not been making an effort to pay attention to the way the Lady handled FTL she might have given a flat look. "If I give you a kiss, in a week, or a month, or a year, you'll be wanting another, and then a little more. Before she knows it the poor girl is wrapped up with you practically at your beck and call."
"Whoah," Enzo hopped back with gleefull animation, his hands extended palms-forward. "You seem to have it all wrong, sister. I already want all that stuff, all the way, as much as I can weasle out of yous. See, you are the pretty one, so you don't get it. Me, I got nothin' t' offer yous except a ride in my ship, cash if you want it, drugs, yada-yada-yada. It's all uphill from here for me, baby." He chuckled again, shaking his head in pity. "You think you'd ever get wrapped up with a guy like me? You clearly ain't never been wrapped up with anybody before."
"I havn't, and to be honest I'm not too keen on trying it out any time soon... Though I do want to clarify, I was more so meaning it gets easier to say yes to things once someone gives in the first time. Little things slowly becoming bigger things. I've seen it happen to other Neko." She lapsed into silence memories assailing her before she could shake them off leaving her quietly troubled.
"Besides, Melissa's the only girl for me anyhow." Enzo admitted with little trouble over how that might contradict with his previous attempts, explaining, "But I see someone like you, smart, quiet, pretty, exotic, relatively at ease to tear me down the middle like a cheap sock... Well, I just gotta try to get anything at all. Put it in the spank bank, or the heart bank, or whatever kinda bank it fits into."
There was a pause, her head tilting to the left for a moment as she considered what had been said before Tamamo managed to reply halting at first, "I- I think... I understand it intellectually, but I can't relate. I'm something unique, or at least uncommon enough that you don't get many opportunities to try... So you ask yourself, 'what's the harm in trying? Never succeed if you don't try. Right?' So you end up asking... I guess I can't blame you."
"Not even that. I mean," There was a hand gesture signifying some sort of nebulous idea, "Yeah, that. But not really that, see? I mean, you wouldn't get it because you're you. Yous is the item of desire. So of course you don't get it. You don't get to meet y'self, yeah? But I've watched people my whole life, an' I own mirrors. I know what I am. So not only does I gotta try, but I gotta succeed, too. At least once, even if I never get anything again-- or worse I get torn down the middle like a cheap sock."
"I suppose... I have been in a position to want things I can't have though, it isn't like I don't want anything..." There was another contemplative pause from the small blue girl, "Also, there are better ways to break a Nepleslian than tearing them down the middle."
This seemed to only worsen the situation for the poor Neko, as it set the freebooter's mouth to salivating. Not only was she capable of doing to him what he did to Trade, but she was knowledgeable about it. Proficient. Enzo smiled again, a wolf grin. "Look," He told her, "You tell me one of those things you want but can't have. Maybe I get it for yous. I mean, maybe I can't. But say I do. Then what'll you do for me behind Melissa's back? Or hell, to her face after a good explanation-- she knows I'm shit. Maybe she'll still... Ah who am I kiddin'-- behind her fuckin' back."
There was a pause, however this one was quickly notable for being more intense, a shiver shaking the small Nekovalkyrja before she started to laugh, a fey sound filling the space for a time before she regained control of herself and replied simply, "I want a Ketsurui Samurai. If you can get me that I might well convince Melissa to play with us both."
"You just think you're so much fuckin' better than me, don't you?" This sudden mood swing was not unlike the typical behavior of a sociopath, but it surely got Enzo off of Tamamo's back. He slumped back into his own chair, causing it to spin freely. His expression had so quickly turned petulant, the very insult of it. His selfish anger and his bitterness at potentially being thought of like a dog welling up. "Yeah, just like a Neko, I guess. You can't own a person. I could bring you the whole fuckin' samurai house and you wouldn't have one."
She listened calmly contrasting his sudden anger as she waited for him to finish, then gently she replied, "If I thought I was so much better than you, I wouldn't be flying out to Hope in your personal ship. If I thought you weren't worth my time I wouldn't bother talking to you. I don't waste time on stroking the egos of those around me." She was a little dissapointed that she'd had to say it aloud, it felt obvious to her however she wanted to make it clear that in that first question he had been well off the mark. "As for the rest of it... I told you something I never told anyone else. I told you the dream I had, the dream that kept me alive long enough to run into you on that pleasure barge. Maybe it's unreasonably selfish to you, but it's the dream that kept a stupid girl alive when she was told she shouldn't be."
"You oughta fuckin' listen to y'self." Crossing his arms, Enzo prodded at a loose piece of trim with the tip of a boot, still looking utterly petulant. "First off, you actually want a fuckin' samurai. Second off, you needed to want that to stay alive, why-- 'Cause somebody told you not to be alive!? Nah," Enzo shook his head like he had a bad case of fleas, "If somebody tells you 'Yer not supposed to be alive', then you says to dem: 'Fuck you, and go fuck y'self.' Don't fuckin' make up crazy dreams where you get to own a person. You're basically fantasizin' 'bout doin' to that person what the first person done to yous in the first place, so how do ya fuckin' think about that, eh?"
"It's easy for you to say that." The soft voice was quieter than usual, "You've had a life, you've had experiences. It's easy for you to say that you don't listen to people when they say stupid things. I ask you though, what do you do when it is all you've ever known?" There was a shaky breath, "Also... I didn't really want to own them, just... I dreamt that I'd get a chance to show that I was in the wrong place, a chance to talk. To earn the approval of someone who everyone else respects, to be held up and not seen as useless and broken."
"See, that's your fuckin' problem right there." Enzo's hands shot out again, more of these inane gestures that signified little, this time forming an invisible cup around Tamamo's distant head. "You don't need approval. You don't wanna be useless and broken? Get up. Fly somewheres. Slum it with the crew scumbag and when he axes for a kiss, you say no because he disgusts you and then you tells him 'you disgust me'-- not all this crap about wrapping up and shit. You don't need anybody to approve of you. You are. I never had nobody approve of me and look at me, I got my own ship. You fuckin' Yammies get everything handed to yous by the government and suddenly now you needs people to tells y' 'Oh, yer okay I guess'. Get off your ass, Blue. Do it without a fuckin' samurai. You got the same shit they got."
"You're quick to put yourself down. You think it is because you disgust me, because it is easier to think that the problem is with you. It's easier to get offended that someone is looking down on you again than accept that things might be more complicated than your martyrdom. You say to look at you, you hold up your ship, and your life as being such fantastic acheivements for someone that has been stomped on all their life. Yet you're not happy. I know how you were when Luca was gone. I know the mess you were in, barely alive. Where was your freedom then? Where was your elation at flying then? Don't lie to me and say you have it good, when you don't even believe it yourself." The Lady of the Night seemed to choose that moment to drop out of FTL, floating around the ball of ice that was Hope, giving Tamamo enough time to look over her shoulder at the conman before working to stablize them in some sort of clear orbit.
"I don't need Luca." Enzo spat, then suddenly brightened with realization after doing some mental math, "And you're a nosy, dirty, spyin', rat-fink cat-gril checkin' back on a fella like that. Why I oughta-- Why, I oughta--" Oughta what? There was already mentioned just how she could convert him into two halves of a sock. Enzo snarled, standing up red-faced and clearly even more petulant than before. "You just fuckin' think you got it all figured out, doncha? I was dealin' with my troubles without help from nobody, and I never axed for any help from 'em, either. If I'd died, so what." There was a growl, a low sound, lower than the normal registers used by the wheeler and dealer, and Enzo's hands worked at his side crushing a pair of invisible stress balls. He didn't even notice the beauty of the pure white planet before them. He was in another world. "I guess you just do what you want, justify it however you want to."
She turned in the chair leaving the controls for the moment, taking the time to watch the conman carefully. There wasn't any fear, no judgement either, just her usual blank mildly surprised looking face as she studied him, then there were words, "You choose to get angry at me again because it's easy. Easier than thinking. I'm not saying you need Luca, I'm not even saying you needed their help. However, if you had died, even though you're a 'back-stabbing sleezeball' as you and some of the others fondly put it, they would have missed you. They would have marked the loss of a companion when they never heard back from you. Beyond that you wouldn't have been able to light up every time you look at Melissa like you do. You would have never gotten to feel what it's like when she doesn't push you away, or when she says something nice, or even asks you to do stuff with her. Yes, I do watch, I learn, I learned about everyone, because it was a hell of a lot better than fumbling in the dark and ruining everything with the crew. Hate me all you want, kill me if you truly feel like it. But know that I tried to be open with you and you threw it in my face because you felt it was easier to feel attacked than consider that someone might have suffered." As the words stopped so did she seem to, slumping in place, breathing heavily as if she had run for miles rather than talked for a few moments. There was a wince as she shook her head and pushed herself back up struggling to keep her eyes on Enzo.
He met her gaze with a steely look, teeth chattering with the excitement of it. His eyes darted around her face, and for once it seemed the gears were turning in his head. Unfortunately, they weren't turning inward, but rather outward. He was being defeated. His philosophy was being challenged and he was unable to stand and show its true awe to her. Unable to capture in words the essence of just how happy he felt on the occasions when he did feel happy. He had to win. "What would it accomplish if I kilt yous?" The question was placed slowly, like a toe testing the water. "Why should I kill yous? You think I wanna fuck your corpse?"
She smiled at the question and replied with an uncanny calmness, "You'd be erasing a nobody from the universe... Maybe make a few Neko happy. Beyond that? Nothing I suppose."
"I don't work to make strangers happy." Enzo assured her, taking on a sort of angry smile, a pitying look of superiority. "You just think you got me all figured out, and maybe I can't tell you why you don't-- but I know I'm fucking right. I know it. I'm gonna get you to let me do stuff to yous, or push me away, and then I'm gonna move on. And I'm gonna be perfectly happy with it."
Tamamo took a moment to consider a few options, discarding most of them before finally responding with a shrug, "I honestly don't think I'll ever have you figured out." She wasn't sure he'd believe her but it was another bit of honesty to throw at the conman to see what stuck.
"Yeah, I don't think you will." Enzo agreed, still coming down from his anger. He raised a crooked finger to the cockpit, indicating the planet in front of them. "There's y' fuckin' Hope. You wanted to come here. Tell the ship to land, then we discuss payment."
Swivelling in the seat Tamamo did as instructed directing the ship down toward Haven remembering that Enzo had mentioned wanting some whiskey. While the trip downward wasn't quite as pleasant as floating out of the atmosphere of Nepleslia Prime, Tamamo had to admit that she was very impressed by the Lady of the Night once more.
"So you don't wanna kiss a guy, I get it." Enzo resettled himself on his chair and watched disinterestedly the landscape emerge before them. "But since you gotta come into my ship and try to tell me why I get mad and hoits my feelin's and shit, I need some kind of comfort now. I'm a delicate lady. Oh, you can keep y' fuckin' clothes on. But just come lie in bed with me for a minute or two, yeah? Just kinda sit there and be nice for a sec', see?"
This earned another huff from the small girl as she considered the request, she still wasn't entirely comfortable with the suggestion and she wasn't wanting to be in the habbit of selling her body like a cheap whore. However, at the very least his request was more akin to an expensive classy whore. Next she'd be telling jokes and playing music. Shaking her head to dispell the images Tamamo replied reluctantly, "Fine, I'll be a nice warm body. I won't even say mean things."
"Gosh, Mista, you shure knows how to treat a lady." Enzo remarked, standing now to move to his quarters with expectation. More than anything he needed a hug and an excuse to be hugged, but this was just pitiful. Then again, Enzo had been accused outright of being pitiful at least once in the last few moments, he was sure of it. Then again, later on he would remark to himself that Tamamo had lost her cool and felt the need to make it up to him with this gift of affection.
Rising, Tamamo took a moment to down the slurry of what had formerly been a neopolitan milkshake forgotten long enough to melt during the trip before miming a curtsy and following along after Enzo carefully reminding herself of just how far she was willing to entertain the bit of kindness.
As they plowed onwards into Enzo's room, the conman tossed his coat onto the bedside table and loosened the top two buttons of his shirt the same way he would've if he were about to preform some light lifting before seating himself on the edge of the bed, muttering, "Didn't want a kiss anyway, really. Never was a kisser. Maybe fer Melissa. Maybe someday."
She watched the progress of the coat, then idly noted the buttons before becoming fixated on the muttered words, more contradiction it seemed. Settling with dainty care beside him Tamamo briefly debated trying to look like one of the cutesy popular Neko that she once knew but discarded the idea remembering the lesson of not making promises she wasn't willing to keep. Without waiting for a signal of any sort, Enzo flopped over onto his back and shifted his legs around the blue Neko with a sigh similar to the one he gave out when they first left Prime what seemed way-too-long ago. Wrapping thin fingers around her waist, Enzo tried to pull Tamamo close with as much gentleness as he could afford from his awkward position.
Perhaps surprisingly there wasn't any resistance from the smaller girl, moving easily to close the gap before deftly working her arms around the larger Nepleslian pulling him into a gentle hug before briefly attemtping a squeeze, clearly not confident in how much force she could apply, as she settled in place.
"There." Enzo whispered to her, a hand sliding up her back to brush through the smaller girl's hair. "That ain't so bad, is it? At least worth drivin' around in a fancy ship and callin' a guy a piece of shit for a day."
The workings of her mind, for that moment thankfully settled on not arguing the point, instead she settled for a simple affirming response, "It isn't bad at all." There was much that could have been said, possibly would have been said, but she felt that now wasn't the time. Perhaps there would never be a time.
"Yeah, not bad at all." Enzo echoed, cherishing this, his prize for being such a bad sport. He would've purred if he were capable of it. Being incapable of such feats, he just held his companion close and closed his eyes, whispering one more time, "Not bad at all."
"You have more experience with the wonders of space, as such I would like you to choose where we go. Once you have chosen, I'll do my best to fly us there, and then you will handle the return trip... It would be unforgivable to deny you the opportunity to fly your Lady." She hoped that the suggestion would be acceptable, as she didn't have any better alternative and choosing at random seemed a poor decision.
(This takes place before To Lie, Cheat, and Steal despite cleverly rhyming with its title.)
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"No, that wasn't the deal," Enzo assured Tamamo as he settled even further into the seat at the station he'd selected for himself. "You wanted to go for a fly-about, an' I wanted to make a deal with yous. Now, I can't exactly extract things from yous if I don't holds up my end of the bargain, can I?"
There was a moment of silence no acknowledgement of the words spoken on the part of the small blue Nekovalkyrja as the continued through the serene skies on their way to nowhere. Eventually she spoke up the soft voice neutral, "So I am to pick where we go?"
"That's the deal, ain't it?" Enzo asked with his smile broadening. "Just go wherevers yous was gonna go in the little plane. The Lady'll handle it fine."
Tamamo huffed, it was a perculiar response from her, odd in that it was filled with more emotion than all of the words that they had exchanged up to this point; even more perculiar is that it was almost lady like. Still, a verbal response was not to be it seemed as the small girl nosed the Lady upward, pulling her away from Nepleslia Prime's clingy embrace, the blue of the sky fading out into blackness and stars as they ascended. It seemed wherever they were headed it wasn't planetside.
Almost in time with the breaking of the atmosphere, the ship's master let out a great sigh. It was as if he'd held his breath for weeks on the planet's surface and only now could he truly fill his lungs. Watching the stars whip past while the ship oriented itself not with the planet's surface, but with the system's hill sphere, Enzo raised both hands and levered them intertwined behind his head, kicking his feet up at the same time to rest them upon his console. "Now that's a fuckin' sight, ain't it? How do you likes the ship so far? Burns right out, don't it?"
"She lives up to her name," she began, pausing a moment as she accessed the data she needed to plot their course before beginning to further distance them from Nepleslia Prime, "I was worried she'd be jumpy and stutter with her acceleration, so far though she's been smooth... A 'dream' I think it would be said?"
"A dream come true." Was Enzo's suggestion. Crossing his boots over one another, he cocked his head to one side and cut to the awful point. "Of course, there is the matter of payment. What's a dream worth to yous?"
"A couple hours nap?" She wasn't about to offer up anything valuable for the conman to work with, she knew better than that at least. Still she was enjoying herself so perhaps he might manage to earn something, for now though she wasn't intending on being cooperative.
Of course, this was part of the payment for Enzo. There was nothing like a good pursuit to him and he chuckled at her suggestion. "Well, I can takes a nap any time I want, just run down the hall. But I see you just wanna keep dreamin'. It really is somethin', flying like this. You are absolutely free. Even the birds can't get up here."
His latest statement left the small girl puzzled for a time, there was more of a poetic twist to the meaning than she was used to dealing with, digging up the right references and comparing them to get the context right, then double, and tripple checking it took all of a few minutes leaving the conman to lounge in the silence before her soft voice once again filled the ship, "It is a curious feeling, to know that you could wander forever, pick the right way and you'd probably never meet another. Not too much to keep one busy though."
"Well, that's why you flies, ain't it?" Asked Enzo, though his tone indicated he was almost certain of it. He'd spent a month of Sundays just drifting aimlessly into the void while he went about his business below decks. Between breaking guns, modifying cargo containers, trying expensive drugs, hiding corpses from nobody but himself, and a myriad of other Enzo-like activities, time could pass in the most amazing way, especially when one left the confines of common in-system trade lanes. "Never figured you'd go straight for space, though. I had dis notion you'd be zippin' through a canyon, or maybe go somewheres it's rainin'."
She glanced over her shoulder, at twitch of her ears and then her attention returned to the console before her, "Freedom is one of the reasons I want to fly. I wouldn't say it is the only one." It was about then that they slipped past the border of Nepleslia Prime's hill sphere, and it was then that she could truly start them on their way, the Lady's fold drive awakening as she started them off toward her goal.
"Well, what's another then?" Enzo went on, hardly taking notice of the fold. It was, after all, something the ship did during normal operation-- which was what had been agreed upon.
"It gives me options, plentiful options. Not only am I free, but I can take advantage of whatever catches my attention. I can make the most of opportunities... After all it is a great way to make a quick buck if you can take something plentiful on say... Lor and take it to someone who is fixing for it way out on Fortuna." For now she had little to do but wait, after all the FTL was fast, but not instant.
"The story of my life right there, sister." There was a chuckle and Enzo stood up from his chair and made the motions of someone who was stretching. He didn't actually stretch or anything, but he just imitated the movements and tilted his head this way and that until he was standing next to where Tamamo was seated. Then, just as he'd imitated stretching, the conman comically imitated stealth as he leaned over Tamamo's shoulder to peek at their destination.
She didn't pretend that he wouldn't be able find out and with a bit of false cheer offered, "I hope you like ice and snow. We're going to sunny, warm, and relaxing Hope." There was a moments pause as she considered whether or not there was anything else she wanted to say and eventually ventured, "I want to make stuff. Flying helps with that."
"Unless it's a snowman, you ain't makin' shit on Hope." Enzo stated plainly at first, then thoughtfully added, "Though I think I could handles some Haven whiskey as a soo-ver-neeya of sorts."
Then, the same way cars switched gears, she felt Enzo's hand on the back of the seat, the vibrations rocking it ever-so-slightly. He looked down at her now, instead of the console and asked, pretending to be earnest and bashful. "So, Blue, eh-- How about a kiss? Like, a secret kiss we don't tell nobody about. It'll be like it never happened."
"No." The answer came almost instantly on the tail of the question and had she not been making an effort to pay attention to the way the Lady handled FTL she might have given a flat look. "If I give you a kiss, in a week, or a month, or a year, you'll be wanting another, and then a little more. Before she knows it the poor girl is wrapped up with you practically at your beck and call."
"Whoah," Enzo hopped back with gleefull animation, his hands extended palms-forward. "You seem to have it all wrong, sister. I already want all that stuff, all the way, as much as I can weasle out of yous. See, you are the pretty one, so you don't get it. Me, I got nothin' t' offer yous except a ride in my ship, cash if you want it, drugs, yada-yada-yada. It's all uphill from here for me, baby." He chuckled again, shaking his head in pity. "You think you'd ever get wrapped up with a guy like me? You clearly ain't never been wrapped up with anybody before."
"I havn't, and to be honest I'm not too keen on trying it out any time soon... Though I do want to clarify, I was more so meaning it gets easier to say yes to things once someone gives in the first time. Little things slowly becoming bigger things. I've seen it happen to other Neko." She lapsed into silence memories assailing her before she could shake them off leaving her quietly troubled.
"Besides, Melissa's the only girl for me anyhow." Enzo admitted with little trouble over how that might contradict with his previous attempts, explaining, "But I see someone like you, smart, quiet, pretty, exotic, relatively at ease to tear me down the middle like a cheap sock... Well, I just gotta try to get anything at all. Put it in the spank bank, or the heart bank, or whatever kinda bank it fits into."
There was a pause, her head tilting to the left for a moment as she considered what had been said before Tamamo managed to reply halting at first, "I- I think... I understand it intellectually, but I can't relate. I'm something unique, or at least uncommon enough that you don't get many opportunities to try... So you ask yourself, 'what's the harm in trying? Never succeed if you don't try. Right?' So you end up asking... I guess I can't blame you."
"Not even that. I mean," There was a hand gesture signifying some sort of nebulous idea, "Yeah, that. But not really that, see? I mean, you wouldn't get it because you're you. Yous is the item of desire. So of course you don't get it. You don't get to meet y'self, yeah? But I've watched people my whole life, an' I own mirrors. I know what I am. So not only does I gotta try, but I gotta succeed, too. At least once, even if I never get anything again-- or worse I get torn down the middle like a cheap sock."
"I suppose... I have been in a position to want things I can't have though, it isn't like I don't want anything..." There was another contemplative pause from the small blue girl, "Also, there are better ways to break a Nepleslian than tearing them down the middle."
This seemed to only worsen the situation for the poor Neko, as it set the freebooter's mouth to salivating. Not only was she capable of doing to him what he did to Trade, but she was knowledgeable about it. Proficient. Enzo smiled again, a wolf grin. "Look," He told her, "You tell me one of those things you want but can't have. Maybe I get it for yous. I mean, maybe I can't. But say I do. Then what'll you do for me behind Melissa's back? Or hell, to her face after a good explanation-- she knows I'm shit. Maybe she'll still... Ah who am I kiddin'-- behind her fuckin' back."
There was a pause, however this one was quickly notable for being more intense, a shiver shaking the small Nekovalkyrja before she started to laugh, a fey sound filling the space for a time before she regained control of herself and replied simply, "I want a Ketsurui Samurai. If you can get me that I might well convince Melissa to play with us both."
"You just think you're so much fuckin' better than me, don't you?" This sudden mood swing was not unlike the typical behavior of a sociopath, but it surely got Enzo off of Tamamo's back. He slumped back into his own chair, causing it to spin freely. His expression had so quickly turned petulant, the very insult of it. His selfish anger and his bitterness at potentially being thought of like a dog welling up. "Yeah, just like a Neko, I guess. You can't own a person. I could bring you the whole fuckin' samurai house and you wouldn't have one."
She listened calmly contrasting his sudden anger as she waited for him to finish, then gently she replied, "If I thought I was so much better than you, I wouldn't be flying out to Hope in your personal ship. If I thought you weren't worth my time I wouldn't bother talking to you. I don't waste time on stroking the egos of those around me." She was a little dissapointed that she'd had to say it aloud, it felt obvious to her however she wanted to make it clear that in that first question he had been well off the mark. "As for the rest of it... I told you something I never told anyone else. I told you the dream I had, the dream that kept me alive long enough to run into you on that pleasure barge. Maybe it's unreasonably selfish to you, but it's the dream that kept a stupid girl alive when she was told she shouldn't be."
"You oughta fuckin' listen to y'self." Crossing his arms, Enzo prodded at a loose piece of trim with the tip of a boot, still looking utterly petulant. "First off, you actually want a fuckin' samurai. Second off, you needed to want that to stay alive, why-- 'Cause somebody told you not to be alive!? Nah," Enzo shook his head like he had a bad case of fleas, "If somebody tells you 'Yer not supposed to be alive', then you says to dem: 'Fuck you, and go fuck y'self.' Don't fuckin' make up crazy dreams where you get to own a person. You're basically fantasizin' 'bout doin' to that person what the first person done to yous in the first place, so how do ya fuckin' think about that, eh?"
"It's easy for you to say that." The soft voice was quieter than usual, "You've had a life, you've had experiences. It's easy for you to say that you don't listen to people when they say stupid things. I ask you though, what do you do when it is all you've ever known?" There was a shaky breath, "Also... I didn't really want to own them, just... I dreamt that I'd get a chance to show that I was in the wrong place, a chance to talk. To earn the approval of someone who everyone else respects, to be held up and not seen as useless and broken."
"See, that's your fuckin' problem right there." Enzo's hands shot out again, more of these inane gestures that signified little, this time forming an invisible cup around Tamamo's distant head. "You don't need approval. You don't wanna be useless and broken? Get up. Fly somewheres. Slum it with the crew scumbag and when he axes for a kiss, you say no because he disgusts you and then you tells him 'you disgust me'-- not all this crap about wrapping up and shit. You don't need anybody to approve of you. You are. I never had nobody approve of me and look at me, I got my own ship. You fuckin' Yammies get everything handed to yous by the government and suddenly now you needs people to tells y' 'Oh, yer okay I guess'. Get off your ass, Blue. Do it without a fuckin' samurai. You got the same shit they got."
"You're quick to put yourself down. You think it is because you disgust me, because it is easier to think that the problem is with you. It's easier to get offended that someone is looking down on you again than accept that things might be more complicated than your martyrdom. You say to look at you, you hold up your ship, and your life as being such fantastic acheivements for someone that has been stomped on all their life. Yet you're not happy. I know how you were when Luca was gone. I know the mess you were in, barely alive. Where was your freedom then? Where was your elation at flying then? Don't lie to me and say you have it good, when you don't even believe it yourself." The Lady of the Night seemed to choose that moment to drop out of FTL, floating around the ball of ice that was Hope, giving Tamamo enough time to look over her shoulder at the conman before working to stablize them in some sort of clear orbit.
"I don't need Luca." Enzo spat, then suddenly brightened with realization after doing some mental math, "And you're a nosy, dirty, spyin', rat-fink cat-gril checkin' back on a fella like that. Why I oughta-- Why, I oughta--" Oughta what? There was already mentioned just how she could convert him into two halves of a sock. Enzo snarled, standing up red-faced and clearly even more petulant than before. "You just fuckin' think you got it all figured out, doncha? I was dealin' with my troubles without help from nobody, and I never axed for any help from 'em, either. If I'd died, so what." There was a growl, a low sound, lower than the normal registers used by the wheeler and dealer, and Enzo's hands worked at his side crushing a pair of invisible stress balls. He didn't even notice the beauty of the pure white planet before them. He was in another world. "I guess you just do what you want, justify it however you want to."
She turned in the chair leaving the controls for the moment, taking the time to watch the conman carefully. There wasn't any fear, no judgement either, just her usual blank mildly surprised looking face as she studied him, then there were words, "You choose to get angry at me again because it's easy. Easier than thinking. I'm not saying you need Luca, I'm not even saying you needed their help. However, if you had died, even though you're a 'back-stabbing sleezeball' as you and some of the others fondly put it, they would have missed you. They would have marked the loss of a companion when they never heard back from you. Beyond that you wouldn't have been able to light up every time you look at Melissa like you do. You would have never gotten to feel what it's like when she doesn't push you away, or when she says something nice, or even asks you to do stuff with her. Yes, I do watch, I learn, I learned about everyone, because it was a hell of a lot better than fumbling in the dark and ruining everything with the crew. Hate me all you want, kill me if you truly feel like it. But know that I tried to be open with you and you threw it in my face because you felt it was easier to feel attacked than consider that someone might have suffered." As the words stopped so did she seem to, slumping in place, breathing heavily as if she had run for miles rather than talked for a few moments. There was a wince as she shook her head and pushed herself back up struggling to keep her eyes on Enzo.
He met her gaze with a steely look, teeth chattering with the excitement of it. His eyes darted around her face, and for once it seemed the gears were turning in his head. Unfortunately, they weren't turning inward, but rather outward. He was being defeated. His philosophy was being challenged and he was unable to stand and show its true awe to her. Unable to capture in words the essence of just how happy he felt on the occasions when he did feel happy. He had to win. "What would it accomplish if I kilt yous?" The question was placed slowly, like a toe testing the water. "Why should I kill yous? You think I wanna fuck your corpse?"
She smiled at the question and replied with an uncanny calmness, "You'd be erasing a nobody from the universe... Maybe make a few Neko happy. Beyond that? Nothing I suppose."
"I don't work to make strangers happy." Enzo assured her, taking on a sort of angry smile, a pitying look of superiority. "You just think you got me all figured out, and maybe I can't tell you why you don't-- but I know I'm fucking right. I know it. I'm gonna get you to let me do stuff to yous, or push me away, and then I'm gonna move on. And I'm gonna be perfectly happy with it."
Tamamo took a moment to consider a few options, discarding most of them before finally responding with a shrug, "I honestly don't think I'll ever have you figured out." She wasn't sure he'd believe her but it was another bit of honesty to throw at the conman to see what stuck.
"Yeah, I don't think you will." Enzo agreed, still coming down from his anger. He raised a crooked finger to the cockpit, indicating the planet in front of them. "There's y' fuckin' Hope. You wanted to come here. Tell the ship to land, then we discuss payment."
Swivelling in the seat Tamamo did as instructed directing the ship down toward Haven remembering that Enzo had mentioned wanting some whiskey. While the trip downward wasn't quite as pleasant as floating out of the atmosphere of Nepleslia Prime, Tamamo had to admit that she was very impressed by the Lady of the Night once more.
"So you don't wanna kiss a guy, I get it." Enzo resettled himself on his chair and watched disinterestedly the landscape emerge before them. "But since you gotta come into my ship and try to tell me why I get mad and hoits my feelin's and shit, I need some kind of comfort now. I'm a delicate lady. Oh, you can keep y' fuckin' clothes on. But just come lie in bed with me for a minute or two, yeah? Just kinda sit there and be nice for a sec', see?"
This earned another huff from the small girl as she considered the request, she still wasn't entirely comfortable with the suggestion and she wasn't wanting to be in the habbit of selling her body like a cheap whore. However, at the very least his request was more akin to an expensive classy whore. Next she'd be telling jokes and playing music. Shaking her head to dispell the images Tamamo replied reluctantly, "Fine, I'll be a nice warm body. I won't even say mean things."
"Gosh, Mista, you shure knows how to treat a lady." Enzo remarked, standing now to move to his quarters with expectation. More than anything he needed a hug and an excuse to be hugged, but this was just pitiful. Then again, Enzo had been accused outright of being pitiful at least once in the last few moments, he was sure of it. Then again, later on he would remark to himself that Tamamo had lost her cool and felt the need to make it up to him with this gift of affection.
Rising, Tamamo took a moment to down the slurry of what had formerly been a neopolitan milkshake forgotten long enough to melt during the trip before miming a curtsy and following along after Enzo carefully reminding herself of just how far she was willing to entertain the bit of kindness.
As they plowed onwards into Enzo's room, the conman tossed his coat onto the bedside table and loosened the top two buttons of his shirt the same way he would've if he were about to preform some light lifting before seating himself on the edge of the bed, muttering, "Didn't want a kiss anyway, really. Never was a kisser. Maybe fer Melissa. Maybe someday."
She watched the progress of the coat, then idly noted the buttons before becoming fixated on the muttered words, more contradiction it seemed. Settling with dainty care beside him Tamamo briefly debated trying to look like one of the cutesy popular Neko that she once knew but discarded the idea remembering the lesson of not making promises she wasn't willing to keep. Without waiting for a signal of any sort, Enzo flopped over onto his back and shifted his legs around the blue Neko with a sigh similar to the one he gave out when they first left Prime what seemed way-too-long ago. Wrapping thin fingers around her waist, Enzo tried to pull Tamamo close with as much gentleness as he could afford from his awkward position.
Perhaps surprisingly there wasn't any resistance from the smaller girl, moving easily to close the gap before deftly working her arms around the larger Nepleslian pulling him into a gentle hug before briefly attemtping a squeeze, clearly not confident in how much force she could apply, as she settled in place.
"There." Enzo whispered to her, a hand sliding up her back to brush through the smaller girl's hair. "That ain't so bad, is it? At least worth drivin' around in a fancy ship and callin' a guy a piece of shit for a day."
The workings of her mind, for that moment thankfully settled on not arguing the point, instead she settled for a simple affirming response, "It isn't bad at all." There was much that could have been said, possibly would have been said, but she felt that now wasn't the time. Perhaps there would never be a time.
"Yeah, not bad at all." Enzo echoed, cherishing this, his prize for being such a bad sport. He would've purred if he were capable of it. Being incapable of such feats, he just held his companion close and closed his eyes, whispering one more time, "Not bad at all."
