Escapism II
By: Thought
Disclaimer: Pooooogachuka!
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"I've got your mind" I said; she said "I've your voice"
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It was dark in the bar, the only lighting being provided by a self-sufficient little lamp perched on a stool, trying its hardest to cast enough illumination for the still rowdy patrons to enjoy themselves by. God forbid that they stop drinking and gambling for something as simple and minor as a power failure. I was sitting in a back corner, my hands curled tightly around the glass of water that I had been slowly depleting over the last hours. Though my face may not have betrayed it, I was fighting a losing battle against myself. I could feel the little glass bottle pressing into my side from its place, tucked securely in my pocket. I had landed a damn good job, about a week or two before. It wasn't as much a job, as it was a bribe. I knew the guy was involved in some pretty heavy shit, and used this to my full advantage, digging deep to locate as much evidence as I could gather, and presenting it to him with the threat of blackmail. He had protested at first, just as I had expected. I actually got all the way to the communications station on the Maru, ready to call up the nice folks at the FTA, before he gave in. All I had to do was run a load of easy-to-handle cargo to a nearby system, to make it look moderately legitimate. In exchange, he would give me a specified amount of money, and I would deliver all of my carefully collected evidence into his hands, to do with what he would. The deal didn't quite go through as either of us had planned, leaving me with most of the information, and only about a quarter of the sum I had originally demanded. That was enough, though.
It hadn't been until much later that I had found the bottle of Flash the guy had mistakenly abandoned on my ship. I hadn't touched the contents yet, but I knew that it was only a matter of time. I could see Dylan's stern, lecturing expression clearly in my mind, just as I could hear Tyr's angered tirade, and feel Harper's disappointment. Of course I couldn't really, because all of them were far away, not even sparing a thought for me.
I was so deep in my contemplation that when the woman approached my table, I didn't even notice her until she was standing right over me. And then I didn't recognize her until she was in the booth, pressed up against me, clutching the fabric of my sleeve, eyes wide and luminous in the relative darkness blanketing us.
"Beka?" she breathed softly, clear shock registering on her face.
I felt my blood turn to ice. The soft azure strands of her hair held back in a braided that made my head just looking at it, the deep exotic eyes, the smooth skin. "Andromeda."
She still looked a little stunned, and I gently pried her fingers from my shirt, squeezing her cool hand in mine. Finally, she looked up at me like a child seeking reassurance. "Why did you go?"
I aloud a bitter laugh to escape my raw throat. "Oh honestly, you can't figure that out on your own? With a brain the size of yours, I'd think that it wouldn't be very hard."
Her gaze dropped quickly, and I could feel her pulling away, if not physically, than definitely emotionally. "I'm sorry if I'm not a mind reader," she said dully.
Not knowing why, but going along with it anyway, I pulled her closer, desperately trying to gain back the ground I had lost with those few sharp words with physical closeness. She didn't exactly resist, but she didn't show any sign of enjoying the contact, either.
"Rommie, I'm sorry," I started, but didn't know where to go from there. I could feel the weariness that comes with not sleeping for three days straight catch up with me, making my mind foggy, and my thoughts unorganized. All I knew, was that for some inexplicable reason, I didn't want to lose this spider web connection I had caught on to with the woman who might, one day, regard me as a friend again. And then an idea gripped me, and I went rigid. Reaching over, I tilted Rommie's chin up from where she had been studying the cracked, dirty surface of the table. "Are the others here, too?"
She blinked, then shook her head minutely. "No… They don't know where I am. They thought I was going for supplies."
"What were you really doing?" I asked quietly.
"Looking for you."
