As we flew everyone remained awkwardly silent. I wanted to break it, but I suddenly didn't feel like talking. I just sat. It took a while, but someone finally broke the silence. It was from outside the rocket. I leaned toward the window, and peered out. A woman floated outside, and her face was guarded by a wall of energy.
"Oh my god! Someones out there!" Patricia pushed past me and stared out the window.
"Hey, Moxxi. I have an awkward feeling that you might know her." She and I moved out of the way while Moxxi peered out the window. The girl waved at her from outside the window, and Mox waved back.
"Oh! It's that black market seller from back on Elpis! Oh, what was 'er name? Jessie? Nah. Uh… Janey! Janey Springs! That was it!"Janey gave a bit of a surprised look. Moxxi realized that she hadn't used her accented Hodunk voice in front of her yet. She coughed.
"Axton, do you mind opening the airlock for her?" She had replaced her fake voice. I sighed. Axton pulled a lever, and a door in the back of the rocket opened. Janey floated in, and Axton resealed the door. The airlock came back on, and Moxxi greeted her at the door. "Janey! How are you?"
"I'm great! How about you?" Her accent was Australian, And she had the biggest scar that I had ever seen on her stomach.
"Well, you know. Still me I guess. Running the bar, sexy talking people, hanging around in space. Same old, same old."
"Well, why don't you introduce me?"
"Oh, right. Everyone, this is Janey. She lives on Elpis, and as Lilith would, or at least should know, I used to work there a while back. After they opened the first Vault, I think."
"She was the best bartender in Concordia, if you ask me, or anyone else that's ever meet her.
Moxxi laughed. "I was the only bartender in Concordia."
Janey put her elbow on Moxxi's shoulder, and leaned against her. "Exactly. You were the best because all competition fell flat on there faces. Plus you were probably the only one willing to take all the attention, Miss Sexy."
Moxxi chuckled to herself. "And here we go again with the nicknames."
Janey laughed, and Lilith cocked an eyebrow at them "Wait, whoa. Miss Sexy? Isn't that a bit low, even for you, Mox?"
"Hey, sugar, I didn't make it up. I just went along for the ride." Moxxi lowered her head and raised her hands defensively. Janey spoke. "And I think she doesn't mind one bit." Moxxi's face reddened a shade Janey noticed her clothes for the first time.
"Hey, what are you wearing?"
Moxxi looked down at her outfit. She had started wearing her mechanic outfits more. "Oh, uh…"
I cut her off. "This is what real Moxxi looks like. She likes cars and robots and stuff." Moxxi blush deepened.
"Oh, ok. That's… kinda cool, actually."
Moxxi's embarrassment became shock, which became relief. "Well, thanks. Uh, I dunno if you've noticed, but the voice it fake too."
Janey smiled. "Oh, I totally noticed. It seemed so natural, but it's slipped a few times back in Concordia." Moxxi's shock returned, and she looked like her face was so hot it would catch fire.
"I, uh, I… i'm gonna go sit down." I winked at Moxxi and took over the conversation, allowing her to slip away.
"So, what do you do? Mox said something about Black Market?"
"Yeah. It pays."
"Intresting."
"Wait, who are you?" She cocked her head at me.
"Oh, well, i'm Alice Tannis. Uh, one of Moxxi's newer friends, I guess."
"Tannis. Familiar name. Heard Mox mention it a few times actually. Uh, scientist?"
Well, she was referring to my sister, most likely. Patricia. But, yes I am a scientist, and so is Patty."
She looked between my sister and I and nodded. "I see the family traits. The hair, the face, the...um… shape." Patty's eyes flicked to Janey, and then were locked on the Australian, and I couldn't help but be a bit disturbed too.
"Anyhoo, do you need anything? I am always willing to help Mox out." Moxxi's face brightened more. It was kinda fun, seeing her face without the white paint. I could tell when someone had started a conversation involving embarrassing details about her. Patty's eyes were still glued on the girl.
"Um…" I turned to the others. Most of them nodded, except for my sister and the red faced mechanic. I turned back, and braced for an answer.
"Do you want to come hunt a new Vault and Key with us?"
She grabbed me by the neck and pulled me into a hug. I felt my stomach twist, and I held my breath. She didn't let go, and my breathing began to come back, then speed up, and soon I was gasping so fast that I could have been classified as 'Not Breathing'. She let go and looked at my face, which was probably bright red or dark purple. I couldn't tell whether my social anxiety or lack of breath had changed the color of my face, but it definitely changed.
"You ok? Your face is a bit purple." Lack of breath. Mordy chimed in from behind me.
"She has a bit of a problem with socializing."
"Oh."
I took a minute to regain my color, then shook my head. "It's alright. You couldn't have known. It's a weird problem, sorry."
"It's not your fault. Your can't help it. If that's the way you are, then i'll learn to live with it." Janey smiled at me and held onto the top of the rocket while Axton started it back up, and we jerked again. I sat back down, and Patricia, with alot of effort, unglued her eyes from Springs. She looked at me, then at herself, and nodded.
"Even though that's the most awkward thing anyone has ever said about us, she isn't wrong." The rocket took off again, and soon we were gliding through space once more.
We flew for a few minutes in silence, but this time someone inside broke it.
"Uh, hey, Janey. Mind not calling me that name?"
"Miss Sexy?"
"Yeah, that one."
"Sure. I'll just use your other nickname, M-"
"No, no. That one's worse. Just call me by my name, please."
"Fine, i'll do my best."
"Thank you."
I couldn't help but be curious, but I didn't ask what the name was. Besides, I had a few ideas based on the way Springs had commented on people earlier. I shivered. I stopped thinking about it.
We sat in silence again for about an hour, and then the engine went dead. "Crap, we're empty. And if anyone makes a joke about those words I will personally punch them in the face."
I chimed in, but I couldn't understand why. could've been the fact that I hadn't talked for about and hour and ten minutes, which was totally new to me. Some of the Vault Hunters jumped at my voice. "Unless. of course, I reach their face first."
Everyone looked at me, and I barely saw it because I was still staring at the window. I turned and my mark did something it hadn't done in a long time. It pulsed. The shockwaves spread through my body like water through paper. I cringed, and it pulsed again. I moaned and leaned my head against the back of the chair. Patricia took my arm and looked it over. Her eyes went wide.
"Alice, we're home." She scrambled past me and looked out into the darkness. "We're home!"
She grabbed a mask from the back of the rocket, and opened the airlock. I rushed after her, not because I wanted to see home, but because I feared for her safety. The planet had changed a lot since she left, but I didn't have a chance to tell her. She closed the lock behind us and opened the hatch.
She was about to push off, when she stopped and asked, "Is the landing site I put up still in the same spot?" I nodded.
"It might be a good idea to calculate how you're going to do this. But, I do-" I was cut off by the sound of her feet scraping against the side of the rocket, and her laughs from the void. I scrambled with my hands, calculating where we needed to go, before I followed. I watched Patty. She was on course. Wow. Either she was lucky, or she had done the calculations faster than I thought possible. Most likely the first one.
We entered orbit, and since the planet has almost no atmosphere, the landing was pretty much fireless. We landed on the pad, and Patricia looked around. She began to cry, but only a few tears, not bawling.
"This is… terrible. Alice, what happened?"
"Well, once you left I did my best to take your place as the only sane person here, but that didn't go too well. The Xirats took over and I lost control."
Xirats are much like scags mixed with lions. They're brown or yellow and have mouths that open multiple directions. They also had a blood curdling roar.
Patricia looked up at me. "You lived like this for years, just because I left? I am so sorry!" She grabbed me into a hug, and I pet her hair.
"No. I stayed because I wanted to wait for you. I also wanted to be alone with my work. Don't worry though. I got visitors who came every once in a while to admire my 'light show'." She laughed.
Meanwhile…
"What are we going to do now? The Tannis Team just jumped out of the rocket, and were stuck in place." Lilith was pacing, weighing her options, while Gaige went on and on about their 'impending doom'.
"Look, I know you're scared, amiga, but we'll get through this." Sal tried to comfort her, but Axton was doing a much better job. He had her locked in his arms, and she pressed her face into his chest. Lilith finally came to a conclusion about their options.
Alright, so, we either stay here and wait for them and hope their not dead, or we head down ourselves onto a Planet none of us had ever been to and probably die. I vote wait." Everyone else expressed their agreement. Zer0 tapped a few buttons on his Echo and pulled up a map of the planet. A red dot glowed on it.
"That is Alice right there/She is definitely with/Her sister Tannis."
"Wait," Mordy waved his hands at Zer0, "You track Alice? That is Super creepy, amigo." Zer0 shrugged and a 3 sign appeared on his face. Everyone gave a long, 'Ohhhhhh!' in response.
"She won't like that." Maya said.
Salvador rolled his eyes. "She isn't exactly the dating type, amigo."
"Sorry, bud. I don't think you picked the right girl." Axton shook his head.
"Uh, remember the whole half an hour recuperation section she had at Tina's place? Yeah, maybe she isn't a good choice.
"SCIENCE LADY NO LIKE MALE MEAT!"
"Anyone make a joke about that?"
"SHUT UP, MOXXI!" Everyone looked at her and screamed.
Moxxi put her hands up defensively.
"Sorry Zer0." Lilith looked at him, and he sighed.
"I think she likes me/ she always looks at me funny/but not normal funny. I think she loves me/she always stares at me like/she wants to see me. Real me." Everyone stared at him.
"Did you just speak out of Haiku, Slab?" Brick was tilting his head a bit.
"Indeed I did friend/ I speak without poetry/when I feel I can."
"So... you're not a robot?"
"No."
"What are you?"
"You don't need to know."
Everyone sighed.
"Alice will know soon enough, if she decides to date me." Zer0 looked at the map. "You can't kiss through the visor." A knock on the door came. The red dot had disappeared from the map, and the lights flickered back on. Axton opened the airlock, and Alice and Patty walked back through. "Fixed." Alice sat down, and the other retook their seats, some of them watching Zer0, and the others staring at her.
Later…
I didn't know why, but everyone was staring at me. I looked towards the window, and Gaige turned around in her seat.
"Hey, Alice. What do you think Zer0 is?"
I looked at her and whispered.
"Either he isn't a he, or he's just a normal guy, or he's an Eridian alien. I don't really know, but those are my theories. He isn't a robot, though. He doesn't have a power source or circuits, or anything. When he gets cut, you see blood and flesh, not wires and sparks. Finding out what he is is second on my list of things to know about him." I returned to looking out the window.
"Whats the first?"
I blushed "Uh… I'd rather not say."
"Com'on! What's number one?"
She searched me for an answer for a minute or two, but I finally gave in. "Fine, but you can't tell anyone. How his lips taste. There I said it. " She laughed. I crossed my arms over my chest and glared back out the window.
"Hey, guys! Alic-" I jumped up and clasped my hand over Gaige's mouth.
"Nothing, carry on!" I countered.
"One more word and you're dead, and you won't respawn in space." I whispered in her ear. I took my hand away, and she sat back down. I placed my arms on my lap and was ready to spring up and grab her mouth again.
The rest of the day was fairly quiet. I dared not fall asleep for risk of Gaige spilling my secret. Once I felt everyone was safely asleep I drifted off.
"Alice? Alice! Wake up!" I could barely hear, and I was foggy. I sat up, and found Zer0 in my face. "Alice, you up? His voice had cleared, and he had the sides of my head. "What? Zer0 what are y-"
I was cut off while his visor lifted and he placed a kiss on my lips. I took me a second to realize what had happened, and I pushed him away. His face was tanned, and his eyes were dark brown. His hair was black, and he was definitely a good kisser. I pulled him in again, only this time I lead. I took in the moment, and we finally pulled away from each other.
"Gaige told all of you, didn't she?" He nodded. "And everyone is watching us, aren't they?" He nodded again. I sighed. "Ok everyone! Yes, I like Zer0! Is that a problem? I'm new to feelings like this!" Everyone sat up, and I sighed again.
Everyone's faces were in devious smiles or terrible smirks. Zer0 turned my head back towards his and planted another one on my mouth, and I relaxed. Everyone started laughing, but I didn't care. This was my first real kiss, and it was amazing. He grabbed my shoulders, pushed away, and my face grew a burning red.
He returned to his seat, and I hugged myself. Then the anxiety kicked in. It was over, and my mind had finally registered the kiss. My breathing stopped, and I sat in silence. Lilith came to my rescue with a few calming motions and words. "Alice, calm down, calm down."
This went on for about five minutes. My breath returned and my face paled out again. I took a deep breath and held it. I let it go and I felt much better. I was still a bit shaken, though.
Most of the rest of the day was people commenting on the display, but I didn't care. I answered as many as I dared, and when I felt my anxiety levels go up I stopped answering and calmed myself.
