Maya is new to many things and cautious when she is determined to understand. Mordecai had learned very quickly that despite the way she presented herself she was not quite as whimsical as he had initially thought. While watching her it had seemed as though simply flew into battle, planning and strategizing about as much as Brick did. However he had been watching from a distance for that time, curiosity had got him, or perhaps it was the way she seemed to smile at him, just him.
A mission or two with her beside him quickly let him know that she was not likely to walk I any situation blind. Being quick and clever as she was it didn't take long for her to measure situations decide a course of action and move on it. This was simple to her, readable situations with mostly predicable results.
However as they became a bit closer more intimate, he found she would pause and hesitate. She could evaluate whatever their situation was and not foresee any viable course of action.
No clue.
She had walked in blind.
Honestly he wasn't accustomed to being made to wait so long for simple shows of affection, it had been near two weeks before she allowed him to touch her. Patience in the face of pretty women was difficult... however he tried his damndest to be understanding of her hesitance.
Two weeks
two weeks of her ever so smoothly sliding away, slipping out of arms length, covering up a nervous expression. He found it might be easier to just wait, so unexpected when she had sat down on that ratty yellow couch right beside him. Mordecai's heart tightened in his chest when he felt her hand over his, strange the way it charmed him. They sat together for a while, she recounted various parts of her days missions and reported vital information. She pretended not to enjoy the feeling of his thumb moving over hers, when Mordecai was called away to do whatever Lilith had asked of him he lifted Mayas hand and pressed his lips to her knuckles.
With patience his touches had moved, occasionally brushing her hair behind her ear, touching her shoulder when he came up behind her.
A month of his time with her before she allowed him to take her away alone...after a mission. He asked her to come close, she let him run his fingers through short hair, almost lost her breath when his lips found hers.
Shes so soft , tastes of water.
Patience is important, good things to all those that wait.
She exercised his patience, running it til he felt surely he could wait no longer, but low and behold he did.
It had been just over a year when Mordecai found her sitting in his bed, making no move to leave as she usually did at a late enough hour. Maya laid back on his bed, which had as of late acquired quite a few more pillows.
All good things to those that wait.
The wait had been so long but so was this night, she melted for him, a whole side of her that was brand new she had never been so exposed and it was only for him. Mordecai reveled in it, in her, not one bit of her went without worship. At no point in her life did Maya consider herself beautiful, however on this night and those like it that would follow she believed him when he whispered sweet things in her ear.
She had joked in the morning that too much time with him might give her an ego.
These nights where sporadic peppering through the calender only every so often, too much of a good thing and all that.
This morning however was not as tender as sweet.
When he went to put his arms around her, Maya groaned and jabbed her elbow backward, knocking the wind out of him.
" don't touch me! You're too damn warm uggh"
"what the hell?!"
"SHUT UP!"
A wave of numbness slammed into his chest and he found himself flat on his back laying on the floor, a small purple bubble popping out of sight.
She did not just do that!
" what the hell is wrong wit you! Why the'fuck ja do that for?!"
she was still buried under the blankets when she bellowed at him
" SHUT UP SHUT UP GET OUT! GO AWAY!"
Angrily he got up and began gathering up his clothes stomping all the while, what the hell what the fuck? Where did this fucking come from?
After he finishes wrapping his scarf about himself and he moves for the door, the blankets rustle.
This time her voice is small
"wait...can you...do me a favor?"
He whips around wanting to let off a string of curses at her only to find all the words jammed at the roof of his mouth. Her eyes are glassy, theres light circles under her eyes... her skin is pale and she worries her slower lip nervously.
Looking up him after throwing such a fit she finds herself expecting him to bite off her head, instead he just sighs crossing his arms over his chest.
"what chu need?"
"..."
With her voice so small its hard to hear her request, she keeps looking down and pulling the blanket a bit more over herself. She looks so scared, Mordecai gives a heavy sigh before kneeling down in front of her to peer into the small open space in the blanket.
" mama, whatchu need? Tell me c'mon."
Her little mumble again
" I can't hear you way in there"
Slowly she pulls the blanket back down, her face so red it might match his scarf.
" I um...need you to ask Lilith if..."
she trails off mumbling again.
Mordecai lifts his goggles to look at increasing level of embarrassment.
" mama I cant hear you"
she closes her eyes huffing before blurting
" I need to you to ask if she has any spare pads or something"
For a moment he doesn't quite compute the request.
" pads? Or wha- oh"
He snorts and suddenly feels really quite stupid, she yanks the blankets back over herself.
" its early! I didn't plan for this I'm sorry-"
Ah, she was panicking... he finds a wide smile sitting on his face while she hides away seemingly mortified.
" you want anything else mama?"
The corner of the blanket pokes up, he smiles when looks at him so skeptically.
" anything you want, jus' name it"
"its okay you don't have to do all that."
" I know tha' but I want you to be okay- comfy you know"
"anything?"
"yea"
"jelly beans?"
"you got it. 'nything else"
"...i dunno something sweet to drink. Maybe some pretzels"
He gently nudged back the covers and grinned when she gave that small nervous smile.
"okay ma,"
A soft kiss on her temple, she really is warm.
"yer givin' yerself a fever under there"
"im cold"
" I'll be right back okay."
"thank you"
Mordecai waltzes into into headquarters with no siren on his arm, Lilith snorts at him.
"trouble in paradise?"
So bitter, always so bitter. It wasn't like he didn't notice the way her brow furrowed when she happened across them being affectionate. He just ignored it, because she didn't mean it.
" nah, -"
He glanced around making sure they where alone
" she woke up on her rag, you got any pads or something?"
Lilith found herself choking on her coffee, that was unexpected.
"shes a grown ass woman why can't she get her own shit?"
" she said it was early"
A few choice memories of her own and the still tender loss of such perfectly fitting jeans seemed to still her irritation.
"gimme a sec"
She walks past Mordecai over to the locker taking out a few things, the sound of crinkling plastic filling the room. A few minutes pass and he begins to wonder precisely what the hell lil is is packing. How many damn pads does one woman need?
" you should probably grab whatever shes got got in her locker- I don't think shes gonna budge from your place til its all done morty."
The only locker without an actual lock, no one touches it. For various reasons, either way he pops open the little door and rummages for something to carry everything in, a folded up bundle of cloth way in the back catches his attention. A messenger bag, Mordecai frowns at it but carefully places all her things into the bag, rolling up her spare clothes on the bottom of the bag and laying her toothbrush and hair brush and everything else at the top. Right when he turns a round lilith shoves a backpack into his hands,even through his gloves it chills his hands.
" you're gonna wanna keep that cold- now move your skinny ass"
Lilith almost forcibly shoves him back out the door, for a moment he walks toward the travel only pausing when he wonders how the fuck hes gonna keep the bag cold.
Ice
who has ice?
Moxxi has ice, and maybe something sweet.
A growl rumbles in his throat as he turns around and marches over to the bar.
Moxxi barely notices him walk in the room, shoving a beer bottle across the table, into someones grip and swiping at the counter with a damp rag.
"hey sugar what can-...i get you?"
Her expression is one of curiousity and mild amusement.
"i need ice"
"what?"
" I need ice and if you have something sweet thats not booze"
"ice and not booze?"
He shifts his weight to one leg, moxxi catches sight of a familiar looking backpack hanging off his shoulder, over mayas messenger bag.
"ah, I see- gimme a sec."
Mordecai set the bag onto one of the bar stools while Moxxi filled various sized plastic bags with ice, he shoved them into the bag without looking at whatever was in it.
"somethin sweet- here ya are"
She thumped two large cans of pineapple juice on the counter, waving him off when he moved to pay her.
" you don got time for that crap- hurry the hell up and move"
She couldn't see his exasperated expression, only the way he somehow managed to wedge the cans into the already stuffed messenger bag. All laden down with whatever the hell was in these bags he huffed and went back to the fast travel wondering where the hell he was gonna get jelly beans. Who the fuck has jelly beans?
Tina.
Tina has jelly beans.
Mordecai finds himself sitting across from tina who smiles something like a lopsided shark.
" you neeeeeeeeeeeeeeddddd my jelly beans? Whatever for my good sir?"
" I wanna grow a beanstalk- can I have em or not?"
" I don't think you know how candy works"
" Maya wants jelly beans"
"why isn't she here to ask me for them- seems a bit rude to send her squire"
"she isn't feeling well and she wants jelly beans"
"she can't have jelly beans if shes not feeling well"
"what do I need to do to get th' damn beans?"
" im going to assume you are in a hurry"
"yea"
" you owe me one game of hide and seek- deal?"
"deal"
" than shake on it my good sir"
Small frail cold hands, he keeps a loose grip when he gives her one strong shake. In an instant shes scuttled off and up the stairs and out of sight. Just as fast as she had gone she reappears this time holding a large jar labeled jelly belly.
"this here's the good stuff- she better appreciate it."
" I owe ya one"
"yes you do"
"any chance you know where I can find pretzels?"
"im gonna say brick"
"thanks"
He huffs again, jar is big... how many jelly beans does the kid eat?
Maybe he should just echo brick, that might be easier than trying to muddle through thousand cuts all weighted down like this.
"amigo"
"hey morty! Whats up?"
"uh- what are the chances you have pretzels?"
"what?"
"maya don't feel so hot and she wants pretzels"
"ah, yea I think I have a bag you wanna come get em?"
"what are the chances you can met me somewhere?"
"... zaffords?"
" yea okay im on my way"
Its about a half hour later that Mordecai finds his large friend trotting over to him, small bag of pretzels pinched between two fingers so as not to break them all. Initially he planned to say hello, instead brick blurts
"isn't that lils period kit?"
"gimme the damn pretzels"
"huh? Oh-OH okay okay here- you gotta-"
"yea I know I gotta hurry"
Its is far too difficult to climb this big ass ladder up to his place in the fucking tundra when he only has one free arm and bag of pretzels in his teeth. What the hell, who decided they needed a tower this fucking big? His shoulders ache and his right arm is starting to go numb from holding on to that big ass jar of jelly beans. He snarls when he manages to lean against the wall and yank the door open, to his surprise a tightly curled ball still remains on his bed.
" oi ma, you awake?"
"nnnnngggg?"
The blankets rustle, and she pokes her head out of the covers to look at him. She looks almost green, oh crap how long was he gone? Had to be a few hours at least.
He should have hurried.
" eh, lil gave me this bag-"
Her limp arm points to the bathroom where he quickly moves over and puts it down in front of the toilet, when he steps back out, Maya is on the floor. On her hands and knees slowly crawling, wincing as she attempts to hurry to the bathroom.
"lemme help ma,"
He moves to lift her up off the ground
"nononononoNONONO"
Her face turns from green to white,so he stops and doesn't quite know what to do as she crawls away. A thick red smear is noticed on her thighs, he raises an eyebrow and looks over to the bed grimly. What expects is a crime scene, or something out of a horror movie. Instead he finds one of his towels rumpled up and folded over itself, he moves to get it off the bed, its wet...and strangely heavy. Not really sure if its worth washing he chucks it out the window and watches a passing skag eat it.
Minutes pass in silence and suddenly there's a bizarre splattering splashing sound from the bathroom, somewhere between curious and worried he knocks lightly at the door. Maya groans from the other side, too loud?
" ma are you okay?"
He opens the door slowly, not really sure what to brace himself for, Maya lays in a heap on the floor curled around the toilet, her fingers still holding the flush down. She cleaned herself up mostly, wearing a dark gray shirt and cute little black boy cut panties. The backpack sits off to the side the zipper sitting open, Mordecai spots a small white bottle sitting at the top wedged between what looks like two buckets of ice cream.
Carefully he steps in trying to not to make much noise he grabs the bottle and reads its label.
"ma, you wanna take wunna these?"
"..."
"its supposed to make the cramps and headache go away"
She just remains there on the floor like a carcass.
" you can take it with pineapple juice?"
Mordecai watches her lift her head and peek over her shoulder at him.
"...?"
He grins at the way she perks up at his words.
"okay I'll get you a cup but you gotta try and sit up"
Maya gives him the laziest glare, although she raises one hand for him to help lift her up which he does. He walks off , she can hear the sound of him popping the can open with one of his many pocket knives. Its loud and grating but the sound of the liquid dribbling is so promising.
He returns to sit on the bathroom floor with her handing her the cup of bright yellow juice and opening the pill bottle for her, honestly he never thought he would see her knocked out of commission like this. Out on the field she seemed to have an endless pain tolerance, she looked awful right there pale clammy and with such tired eyes.
Maya sipped at her juice while Mordecai pulled off his scarf and various parts of his armor until he was wearing just his shirt, pants and boots. After she finished the drink he helped her to her feet only to find the little remaining color in her drain away as her knees buckled. Is that why she was crawling?
That would make sense... gravity and all that. Is it like this for all the girls or was Maya pretty much cursed on a monthly basis?
A few minutes later hes managed to move her back to the bed. He plops the jelly beans open beside the bed just in case, she stays under the covers hibernating for most of the day, occasionally dipping her small hand into the jar and taking a fistful under the blankets.
The sound of her chewing ever so lazily makes Mordecai cover his mouth to stifle a laugh. Eventually he lays down beside her trying not to snicker when he hears her hand rattling about in the jar.
Morning is a guess since there isn't a clock anywhere in his home, morning is Maya nudging at him with her knee.
" mornin ma,"
"I'm hungry"
"brat"
"nnnnnnn!"
She whines at him while pressing her forehead against his shoulder and pawing at his arm. This morning is better than yesterday morning at least, so he curls his arms around and peppers her with kisses, maya pretends to be upset.
"what you wanna eat?"
"meat"
"what kind?"
" I dunno"
"anything else?"
"potatoes sound good"
"a'right"
"thank you morty"
He presses his lips over hers and suddenly can't seem to stop laughing.
"what? Whats wrong"
"you taste like a sugar pill!"
Almost two hours later Mordecai sits on the top of a cliff in the southern shelf watching bullymongs chew on blade flowers and various other bits of greenery. They're not poisonous... theses ones don't seem to have any signs of eridium mutation. Don't need one that's too big...
He looks through his scope at each one in the area, checking things off a mental list
don't want em too small... babies aren't worth the fight...
One of them lumbers out of its little cavern wedged in the wall, a juvenile...old enough to wander around by itself not big enough to pose a real threat. The silencer screwed onto the barrel of his rifle makes life twenty times easier, a shot t grab its attention and none of the others. He uses the sight laser to distract it, the creature swats at the red dot in the snow and runs after it when it whips away. Make sure it cant be seen by those other ones, then squeeze the trigger.
Move quickly before something else gets to it,he dashes over and drops to his knees with his machete drawn. Its difficult to remember where the tender parts are, over the stomach right?
Glancing about while he works making sure he still has time to pull off skin and fur and pull off that layer of fat.
Fuck nothing to carry it in,
well blankets are nice right?
In a few fluid movements hes separated a large stretch of its fur and skin- he bundles the meat in the middle of it rolling it tightly and darting away. Not fast enough he can hear wind whistling behind him. A giant boulder slams into the snow just behind his feet sending him flying forward. Thankfully he lands right beside the fast travel station. After another hour scavenging around opportunity he finally locates their emergency rations and runs away with a large can of instant potatoes...probably not what she wanted but it'll have to do.
When he arrives back he finds Maya sitting in the corner of the bed with a pretzel hanging out of her mouth and a big red straw jutting out of the pineapple juice that sits in her lap. She looks up from her book , he glances out the window and back to her.
"why're the sheets outside ma?"
"i um...didn't get up fast enough...but I washed them..sorry."
He snorts and shakes his head before dropping the rolled up fur on a table along with the canned potatoes.
"well I got bullymong … bacon i guess and instant potatoes that okay"
Maya s eyes whip away from her book and quickly focus on the fur.
"bacon?"
"can I sit down for a minute? Ill make it for you I'm just tired."
damn that pouty face, its hard to cook anything without a pan or something. But hes used to it by now
The rest of the week passes similarly with her waking up and nudging him out of bed, he dashes all over whatever part of planet might have the food or whatever that she wants. She clings to him at night because she gets cold and hes always so warm, though she doesn't let him budge once shes got a hold of him. At the end of the week not one jelly bean is in the jar both buckets of ice cream are empty several cans of pineapple juice roll around stuffed full of crumpled up pretzel bags.
At the very end Maya pops up feeling thoroughly well rested and almost giddy, though for the life of her she can't seem to wake up Mordecai.
Cycles are awful, as in they repeat...monthly, so he does it every few weeks each time a bit more prepared than last time.
Almost another year later mordecai finds himself in headquarters looking at three jars of jelly beans... he focuses on no particular part of them though in the back of his mind an alarm is going off. Lilith walks in and pauses when she spots mordecai with that pensive look, Brick lumbers into the room after her.
"whats up with the jelly beans?"
Mordecai uncrosses his arm to point accusingly at the beans.
"she eats these every month, EVERY month... but there are three here. She didnt eat these for three months."
Panic is quickly ebbing into his voice as he suddenly realizes how long its been since shes sent him out looking for some food or another, how long its been since she camped out under his blankets.
"FUCK!"
He bolts out the door shoving lil and brick both out of the way, lilith snorts and laughs, eventually shes doubled over and using the center console to keep herself standing. Bricks looks over at the jars curiously before he smiles
"oh..."
Suddenly lils laughter stops dead.
"whats wrong lil, did you pee?"
she flicks a bottle cap at him as she straightens up.
"think about how much he works for five days outta the month,"
bricks face pulls into a frown.
"nine months of that crap-every day EVERY day"
the pair watches from the balcony as Mordecai dashes for the fast travel station, brick sighs.
" you poor bastard"