Work Text:
"But there I was, with blood dripping from my head and clothes soaked in tripes and almost losing for an mega Mantiqueen when, suddenly, there's a voice!" Nyoka, extravagant as ever when telling drunk tales, gestures her rough hands filled with lumps and scars towards her crowd, her slurred voice getting amused reactions. "When I look at behind me, I'm shocked, a woman taller than everyone I've ever met 'fore, a scarred face and a goddamn sniper, shoot through 'er head with no second thought! And she stares at me and goes like, 'Are you Nyoka?' and man, was I nervous!"
With a snicker, said woman shook her head towards the black woman with red dreads, taking a gulp from the bitter drink, letting her tongue roll around her mouth and the lingering taste it left.
"That's some good impression, Captain!" And she almost coughed her drink when Felix, with his soft black hair and long hooked nose, tapped her back roughly. "Man, I would've pissed myself."
"That's easy for scared cats like you." With a smug smirk, the vicar toasted with a pristine glass on his hands, a courtesy of their Captain. "Cheers."
"Hey—!"
"Cheers!"
With a chuckle, Nadja toasted with a smile.
From the corner of her pinkish eyes, she could see the crew's mechanic wrinkling her nose like she was deep in thought, her glass of wine pleading to be drunk on the table.
"Somethin' in your mind, Par?"
And that seemed to snap her, if the way she almost knocked her drink and the reddening of her cheeks said something.
"I-I was just thinking..." The girl with brown skin lingered her gaze in their Captain for a few moments before chewing her cheeks. "Cap, how was Earth?"
A few seconds of silence answered, the sudden quietness almost scaring the woman in loose fits, her eyes widened. Suddenly, everyone's eyes was on her, too.
"Mhm, Earth.." Glancing at the ceiling, memories flooded her brain like flowers blooming in Spring, can't defeat them nor stop them from flourishing, a circle through impossible.
Wow, she never felt more old.
"Surely nothing like here." With a nostalgic smile, she takes another bitter gulp from the overprocessed and stolen wine. "We didn't live totally for work like the majority, it was a thing, but not like here. Green, the beautiful trees ever and green."
Seeing the curiosity glint in their eyes, she can't help but dive into it.
"Imagine florests filled with life—not this life, think about chirping birdies, the rustle of trees and the warm sun bathing on your skin, you couldn't see the planets so easily, sometimes after work I would rent a telescope to see the stars."
"Telescope?"
"Figures, you wouldn't know what that is." Rolling her eyes playfully towards Felix, the lingering taste of wine and overprocessed pancakes fills her tongue, a nostalgic feeling. "It was something you would use to see the planets, stars. Did you guys knew for the longest time some people thought the Earth was flat?"
Ellie, the crew very own medic and with the longest resume of past crews, snorted on her glass, almost dropping the purple beverage everywhere.
"Weren't you guys supposed to be, like, the smartest of humanity?"
And the captain rolled her eyes towards the woman with short hair, letting her social shirt to be lazily unbuttoned.
"We had our black sheep's, who doesn't?" Max's eyes went directly towards Felix.
"Yeah, who doesn't?"
"Man, you're testing my patience."
"Save that for later, humunculus." Banging a bottle of wine in front of their Captain, she smiled cockily. "Keep singing, Cap!"
"Ay!"
They cheered once more, everyone taking a large gulp of the beverage and Parvati was already tipsy.
"Captain! What was—hick—your favorite thing on Earth?!"
Discreetly, the woman with a bald head pushed a cup of water towards her.
"The music." Her lack of hesitation caught the crew attention, if the way they leaned towards her was a telling.
"The music?"
"Oh, I heard they didn't had this crappy corporation music playing in their ears 24/7." Sighing, the man with black hair looked dreamily at nothing. "Luckass."
With a laugh, Ellie kicked the man's under the table.
"Are you saying Auntie's Clau top five songs isn't one of your favorites? Blasphemy."
Snorting, the woman with scarred face looked amused at their usual shenanigans.
"We had a lot of different music's, I liked everything, but a favorite of mine was jazz."
"Jazz?"
"Yep, it's a music genre, don't think I ever saw anything like it here." With a snap of her fingers, she left her glass on the table with a grin. "Hey, ADA, try to search for 'All of Me' from Frank Sinatra!"
The crew looked at each other with a arched eyebrow.
"Searching for All of Me..." The robotic but kind voice of the AI was heard everywhere in the ship. "An old archive was found, can I proceed?"
"Go on!" With a weird enthusiasm, the captain of Unreliable got up from her chair and started to roam around the kitchen and changed the lights for a more yellow-ish color, the crew looking at her with funny eyes.
"I feel like a little kid seeing my dad dancing around our house again..."
"Pshh, I'm not that old!"
"Playing 'All of Me', Captain."
With a giddy smile, the usual charming and stoic captain took Nyoka hands and gripped them gently, positioning one on her waist.
"Alright, so we're doing a slow dance, two steps for right, two steps at left."
The black woman only lifted her eyebrows, an incredulous but excited smile on her face.
"Don't make me embarrass myself, Cap."
"You give yourself too much credit, Nyo."
Soon, the distinguishable voice of a man played on the ship's speaker, the melodic music getting everyone in a good mood.
"All of me
Why not take all of me?"
With a steady and rhythmic move, the captain lead Nyoka through the kitchen in a slow dance, her moves smooth and almost perfect, if the wobbles from her tipsy state were anything, she almost seemed used for this. Nyoka thought it suited her better than fighting, she looked peaceaful, lika a sleepyness baby Raptidon.
It suited her, the way her eyes wrinkled from smilling too much, the way every part of her body was dancing somehow and the way she carried herself proudly, it entranced the woman with pink dreadlocks.
"Can't you see
I'm no good without you~"
Twirling the shorter woman, who almost tripped over herself in the way, Nadja smiled and went to the next one, caughting the vicar hands lovely before spinning him, too.
"C'mon, Max, swing those hips!"
The man, much to her amusement, seemed to turn into puddle in her hold, if his staggering and confused steps said anything. But she didn't mind, holding his waist with delicaly and following the slow rhythm.
"I don't know how to swing, captain."
"Pshh, you learn!"
"Take my lips
I want to lose them"
With a giggle and a mortified yelp from the man, she spin him around with the crew laughing, some bobbing their head with the song and others, like Ellie and Felix, dancing themselves.
"Take my arms
I'll never use them"
The crew laughed joyously, the tiny kitchen—once empty, save for sometimes Hawthorne's midnights snacks— now lively, almost cozy, couldn't support all of them dancing around, but they made it work. The feeling of this lingering happiness accompanied by the taste of wine was almost overwhelming, in a good sense, when they danced and tried to sing a song no one knew except the futuristic captain.
"Your goodbye
Left me with eyes that cry"
Soon, almost too soon for him, the captain left the vicar and went towards the tipsy and shy Parvati, who was busy bobbing her head among the beat and was surprised when the scarred woman gripped her hands and twirled her around like a ragdoll.
"How can I
Get along without you"
"I don't know how to dance, Captain!"
"C'mon, Parv, you need to learn to impress your girl!"
"She's-Ah!" Her head spinned when the woman dived her, eyes filled with mirth looked at her with so much happiness that she was almost stunned. "She's not my girl!"
The woman holding her by the waist simply rolled her eyes and twirled the mechanic, who almost tripped, with a smile.
"You took the part
That once was my heart"
"Ellie!"
"Oh, no." Sarcastically, the woman with pink hair and uneven freckles rolled her eyes towards their captain who was too much excited, but she didn't fight when she took her by the waist and twirled her there and there, the medic was sure she would have a hell of headache tomorrow.
"Didn't take you as a dancer, Cap."
"So why not, why not
Take all of me"
WIth shimmering eyes and the biggest grin, the scarred woman let Ellie dive her, her grip on the captain's waist tightly, her short nails almost digging into her skinm the medic's toothy grin blinding everyone else in the room.
"Just wait when I get my hands on anything from Evanescence."
And she left the woman with pink hair and confused eyes behind, taking Felix by the hand and forcing him to spin her around.
"Gah!"
But she only giggled, holding him tenderly with a smile, knowing the song was almost finished.
"Better than those corporations song's, right?"
With a smile, he shrugged his shoulders but she didn't mind, already knowing his answer.
"Any song that get us to see you like this can be one of my favorites, Cap."
And she snorted, her shoulders relaxed after so many time in this weird, strange and unknown world.
For the first time since a lot of time—since waking up with a strange man saying she was the hero for her people and others—the Captain of Unreliable was happy. Her hands, usually filled with blood and the heavy weight of guns of all kinds, is now helding every one of her friends closely and gentle, the very hands that killed and rescued people is now cheering a glass of wine among friends.
It's a strange feeling; one she still don't know how to handle, but it makes her heart full.
And that night, her usual nightmares that left her drenched in sweat and shivering heartbeat didn't bother her, only dreams of good music and good friends.