Never before have the words Ship requesting permission to dock made Cress so happy.
She performs her routine for the last time. Little Cress counts down the arrival, Big Cress spins around shutting down monitors and tidying up with a lightness she's never felt before. For the first time, Little Cress's countdown doesn't fill her with dread. If she didn't know any better, she'd say her seven-year-old-self sounded triumphant.
At 1, the tell-tale sound of metal landing on metal, and Cress grabs her drawer and sprints.
She calls a goodbye to Little Cress before powering down her system.
~.~
The entrance ramp of the ship is still moving when Cress bounds up. Then she's at the top, breathing hard and eyes wild. She turns to Linh Cinder and her grin is almost feral.
"Let's go."
The girl blinks, turns to the pretty red-head. Scarlet Benoit. "You heard her."
Scarlet Benoit gives her a mock salute before jogging away. Cress bounds after her.
"Iko, close the ramp!" Linh Cinder calls. Cress whips around, watches until she can no longer see the satellite outside, and runs off.
Scarlet Benoit sits in the pilot's seat of the cockpit. Cress is mesmerized as nimble fingers flit across buttons and controls, coaxing the Rampion to life, gripping the steering wheel. The pretty red-head turns to grin at Cress. "Ready?" she asks.
Cress nods frantically.
They pull off. Cress clutches her drawer to her stomach and falls against the back of the co-pilot's seat. They back away from Cress's satellite-and it gets smaller, and smaller, and smaller, and-
"You might want to sit down," Scarlet Benoit warns. Cress plops down absentmindedly.
And they're gone. The satellite is gone. All Cress can see are stars. She shrieks in delight.
She's free.
"I'm free!"
Cress jumps up and makes to run again, but the rest of the Rampion crew is jammed in the doorway to the cockpit. She jumps again.
Carswell Thorne spreads his arms wide. "Welcome aboard!" he announces. Cress squeals.
~.~
"We've got to do something about all that hair."
Cress looks up from her intense focus on her soup (she's never tasted something so good before!). Scarlet Benoit studies her thoughtfully.
Carswell Thorne-six feet away-fingers a lock of blonde near where he sits. "Aces, Cress, when was the last time you got a haircut?"
Cress blushes, as she does whenever the attention is focused on her. Which is a lot. "Never had one," she admits quietly. Her blush brightens; she can feel their staring. It's quiet.
Linh Cinder clears her throat. "I can give you one when you're done eating," she offers.
Cress nods. Carswell Thorne snorts. "Good luck with that."
Mostly, Cress has been avoiding him like the plague. Wolf, too, but that's because he's two feet taller than her and has biceps bigger than her head. Carswell Thorne is a lot handsomer in person. And more charming.
Cress downs the rest of her soup. Linh Cinder leads her to the communal bathroom and has her sit on the sink facing the mirror. Cress is so short that the cyborg doesn't have to reach up far to work her fingers through the braids.
Linh Cinder clears her throat. "How short do you want it?"
Cress doesn't know. She never gave much thought to her appearance before, but- a hairstyle is supposed to be a big deal, right? That's what the net dramas say.
Cress studies herself in the mirror, bites her lip. She puts a finger up to her jaw line and runs it around her neck. Linh Cinder nods, flicks open the tip of her pointer finger and produces a small pair of scissors. The brown-eyed girl glances at the tiny blades, then at Cress's thick mess of hair. Her lips quirk upward.
"I'm going to need bigger scissors."
~.~
In the end Cinder has to use Carswell Thorne's knife. Cress has never felt so light.
Shortly after, Cinder calls a meeting in the cargo hold. Cress gets lost twice, and is the last to show up.
Carswell Thorne nods appreciatively at her. "Looking good, Cress," he says with a smile.
Cue blush.
Scarlet Benoit flicks him in the forehead before moving to the opposite of the room to lean against Wolf. "Behave, Thorne," she warns.
Carswell Thorne shrugs at Cress, smile wholly unapologetic. Cress makes sure to sit on a crate far away from him.
The meeting goes like this:
It'll be about a month before anyone notices Cress is missing. When it happens, they need to be on Earth and Cress needs to find a way to block the Rampion's signal from the ship and from scratch.
They need to find Dr. Dmitri Erland within the next two weeks. Without his chip, it won't be easy.
The quickest way to find him is to pick a town in Africa to land and work their way around the area. Cinder doesn't like this, but, as Carswell Thorne pointed out, there isn't much else they can do. He also points out how everything would be much easier if they went directly to Luna, and he and Cinder argue for a good ten minutes before Scarlet tells them both to shut up because they're freaking out Cress.
The meeting ends with Carswell Thorne apologizing profusely and conceding to Cinder's plan.
Cress doesn't know what to do with herself once everyone starts dispersing. She should be working on blocking their signal, she guesses, but she's only been away from her satellite for a few hours and the protection she has around the Rampion would last until they return to Earth's atmosphere-
Cress is going to Earth. She woke up this morning in her small bed in her small room and resigned herself to another day of monotony. But now-but now she's-
She's on a spaceship with Carswell Thorne approaching her.
"Hi." He leans against the crate next to her, hands tucked into his pockets. Cress stares down at her bare feet to avoid his bright blue eyes. "Wanted to make sure me and Cinder didn't scare you."
Cress shakes her head. She hears Carswell Thorne sigh.
"Did I do something to you?"
This startles Cress enough that she finally looks up. "What?"
He shrugs. "You shrink up whenever I get near you. You wince anytime I talk to you. I thought, you know, you just had a crush, but then Scarlet chewed me out for making you feel bad."
Which, of course, makes Cress actually feel bad. These people saved her and she's-what, exactly? Sitting around, making the captain of the ship regret bringing her?
"I'm sorry," Cress bursts. "I didn't mean to make you feel bad, it's just-I mean, you rescue me from my satellite and I don't even say thank you-"
Cress's mouth clicks shut as Carswell Thorne lays his hand on her arm. He's smiling indulgently. "We need you just as much as you need us," he says soothingly. "If you're uncomfortable, say something. Scarlet says I can be a bit-" He chuckles. "-much."
Cress smiles hesitantly. Carswell Thorne's hand burns into her skin. When she doesn't reply, the man squeezes her arm and backs away. Cress wants to pout.
"Are we good?" he asks. Cress nods. He smiles. "Great."
He turns to leave, but hesitates in the doorway leading to the dorms. "I really do like the hair," he calls over his shoulder. "By the way."
Cress blushes. Carswell Thorne grins.
Cress doesn't think she can handle the sudden attention Carswell Thorne showers her with. She knows he must feel guilty, which makes her feel bad, which makes him feel more guilty. It's a never ending cycle of hesitant smiles and apologetic eyes. Cress wants to be thrilled, but when she imagined she'd meet Prince Charming she pictured… fireworks. Violins in the distance. Him falling in love with her at first sight and sweeping her off of her feet. But any affection she receives is strained and awkward, and he's so focused on not making her uncomfortable that he doesn't even flirt with her. He flirts with everyone! He even flirts with Iko the Disembodied Voice! It's killing Cress.
But it's been days since she left her satellite, and Cress's bad moods never last for long.
~.~
They plan to land in El Qasr, because it's secluded enough that they can land the Rampion without any major incident, is on a main road in case they need to travel by hour, and is in North Africa, hoping Erland hadn't moved too far from the Eastern Commonwealth. Carswell Thorne lamented about the doctor not giving a specific location, and not considering the massive fucking size of the African nation until Scarlet glared at him, causing Wolf to glare at him, causing the blood to drain from Carswell Thorne's face.
Cress locked herself in the cockpit with a portscreen for an hour before she found a way to block the Rampion from radars. It took longer than she expected, but.
They're going to Earth.
Cress practically skips to the galley. She's feeling snacky.
What she finds is Carswell Thorne smiling brightly at her and holding out a cup. "I was going to bring this while you were working, but." He shrugs. "You beat me to it." Carswell Thorne shakes the cup a little, and Cress takes it gingerly. It's hot to the touch and steaming; Cress hesitates to take a sip.
"It's good," Thorne promises. "Suck in when you sip so you don't burn yourself." He demonstrates, slurping his own drink obnoxiously loud. Cress giggles. Thorne smiles.
When she tries, it's sweet unlike anything she could ever imagine. She moans a little-then immediately blushes.
Thorne answers the question in her head. "It's hot chocolate. Not as effective as coffee, but I poured enough sugar in it to take down an elephant, so…"
Thorne glances at Cress expectantly. She doesn't know what he wants, though, so she just takes another sip of her hot chocolate.
"Hello!" Iko's voice chimes. "We're about to head for the ground, so grab onto something so you don't die!"
Cress's eyes widen. Thorne's laugh is bright and loud, but does little to put her at ease.
Thorne downs the rest of his drink-he has to have first degree burns in his throat now, right?-and takes her hand in his. Cress is too excited to be flustered.
"We're going to Earth!" she squeals.
Thorne squeezes her hand. "You sure you're ready? It's pretty nice down there."
Cress is bouncing on the balls of her feet. The pants and boots she changed into are several sizes too big and her hair is light and Prince Charming is beaming at her.
"I am so ready."