10:11 P.M. Faith Cruiser

"What is it? Improv? Are you kidding me, I can't do improv," Maxie whined from her standing position, leaning over the small kitchen sink.

"Oh, I'm sure you can, it's not hard," Bryan answered, sitting on one of the beds in the next room, able to clearly see the disdain in her expression.

"Yeah, Max, it ain't hard at all," Evan said, he and Kevin sitting next to each other on the other bed, Kevin laying his head against the bulkhead, Evan sitting, legs shoulder-width apart.

"Yeah it is," Maxie answered. For a moment she looked like she was going to say something else, but then closed her mouth, shook her head and continued scrubbing. "No."

Bryan sighed sadly. While the twins were on their downtime on Caresica's surface, they had entered themselves into the local talent competition. They were going to do a comedy routine; and had chosen to do the "ancient art"–in Bryan's book–of improvisation. Improv was the premiere group comedy act that had been very popular at the turn of the twenty-first century but had definitely fallen out of contention and popularity in the years since. Bryan had to commend the two to be so bold as to try something that most people hadn't seen in a long time.

"Come on Max," Kevin pleaded. "You the only girl we know that's random enough to do this. Every other girl on this ship is stupid.'"

"Hey," Maxie snapped, aiming the scrubber at him. "Watch your mouth. Some of those 'stupid' girls are my friends." She put the plate she was working on into the sink, and began scrubbing another one. "And what do you mean I'm 'random enough?'"

Evan grinned a toothy smile. "Your random. I mean, it's kinda self-explanatory. Your funny, you shout a lot, you got the weirdest stories I've ever heard, you dance at random times...you just...random. I'm not sayin' it's a bad thing, but..."

"That's not fair, I'm not that random." She looked up for a moment. "Bryan, am I random?"

Bryan was caught aghast by that question, hoping that they wouldn't involve in that particular argument. Mind racing for a diplomatic answer to the question, Bryan decided to poke some fun at her to ease the tension in the room. "Hey Maxie, this is not about what I think, okay, its about–"

Maxie gaped in shock at him. "What? I'm NOT random!"

Kevin and Evan burst into laughter at the wild look on her face.

Bryan broke out into a laugh a second later. "What? I didn't say that at all," he said through his laughter. "Did I?" he asked jokingly to the twins.

"Naw man," Evan said, grinning wildly. He extended his hand, and Bryan answered a clap handshake. "Not at all." Then they both turned their gaze back to their favorite woman.

She shook her head and turned back to the sink, scrubbing a lot harder now because of her attitude. "Damn. Bunch of fuckers," she muttered.

The other three chuckled and let the joke pass over. "Seriously though Maxie," Kevin continued. "You're a funny girl, random or no and we want you to be part of the group. I think we'd make a good team if we worked together and tried."

"No," Maxie said again. "I don' wanna do it."

"Come on," Kevin tried again. "We need style. And attitude. I mean we provide the comedy, yeah, and Bryan..." he gestured to Bryan and for a moment didn't know to say, causing Bryan to raise an eyebrow. "Bryan's just...Bryan."

Bryan fixed him with a sour expression.

Evan laughed and Kevin turned his gaze from Bryan to Maxie. "But you, you're...unique, and hilarious. You're a perfect improvisor."

"No I'm not," Maxie said, staying strong. "Forget it Kevin. I'm not joining your improv group. I'm sorry but...no."

"Please Maxie," Bryan started up now. "It'd be something for us all to do, like a family thing almost."

"Yeah. Come on," Evan added. "Be a part of the family for once. You never do anything with us."

"Yes I do," she countered, looking up from the sink. "We–we fly together, we go to Lounge every other night together." Her eyes suddenly seem to come alive. "Hell we live together, and that's definitely enough for me."

"Yeah, I'll give her that," Bryan admitted. "That's a—good point."

"Yeah, but that wasn't our choice. They put us together–listen, would you at least try it out with us in the first round. Please? We need a fourth person. Just one round to see if you don't like it."

"NO!" Maxie answered sharply. "I don't want to. Find someone else. There are plenty of people on this ship who're funny—Cael, Cael's a funny guy. And so is–"

Evan smacked his lips. "Man, Cael's lamer than Bryan."

"–Frer'por. He's hilarious–"

Bryan gave Evan the same sour look he gave Kevin.

"–use him."

"We need a girl," Bryan insisted.

Maxie was now starting to toss her hands in the air, almost like an Italian. "Then get a girl! God, you guys, it's not that hard! Just not me!"

"Please Maxie? Just try it! Please?!" Bryan begged.

"NO! Guys, stop asking me. I DON'T WANT TO DO IT!"

Bryan put his hands up in surrender. "Okay, okay. I give up. You win. Let's just find someone else guys."

Kevin sighed in exhaustion. "Fine."

Evan just shook his head. "You suck Maxie."

"Fuck you," Maxie said off-hand. She finished the last dish in the sink and pulled the drain switch. As the soap and water started twisting its way down the drain, Maxie wiped off her hands with a rag. "Good," she muttered to no one in particular. "At least they got that working again."

"Yeah, so?" Bryan said quickly, not looking up at her at all.

"Shut up!" Maxie spat at him, though he knew she was exaggerating her angry mood on purpose to poke fun at the boys. She hopped up the ladder to the bunk above Bryan and lay down on it.

"All right boys," Bryan said to the twins. "How much time do we get to find a fourth person?"

"First round's at twelve noon tomorrow at the Bares Amphitheater," Evan answered.

"And what time is it now?" Bryan gazed down at his watch. "10:14 P.M. Eh, we got some time."

"It's aight, though, if we can't find a fourth person, 'cause we can do it with three–"

"But you can't do improv with an odd number of people–"

"–yeah–"

"–I mean, it just doesn't feel...right, you know?"

"Yeah, man" Kevin agreed. "I know whatcha mean. Who you think we should ask, though?"

"I dunno," Bryan answered. "Dassa Frull is a funny girl, except that her stage fright is larger than this ship prolly."

"Naw, she's no good," Evan agreed.

Bryan's expression remained neutral, though he didn't quite agree that Dassa Frull was completely "no good."

"What about Ciss? She can be funny sometimes?" Kevin suggested.

"She's on leave," Bryan told them. "Dropped her off back at Beru IV. Pickin' her up when we go back."

"Damn," Evan responded.

"What are some other suggestions, Maxie?" Bryan asked, looking up as far as his eyes would let him.

It took her a few seconds to reply. "I don't know," she said with a tired voice. "Try Muretta. Or maybe Dominique."

"'Ey," Kevin said loudly. His eyes were racing around in thought, and a smile was starting to form on his face. His bright eyes fell on Bryan. "What about Vanessa?"

"Vanessa Hiller?" Bryan asked, thinking the idea was crazy. "Our Vanessa Hiller?"

"Yeah," Kevin answered. "The Captain."

Bryan snickered. "Why would she want to do this? Assuming, of course, that she has time to?"

"I don' know," Kevin shrugged. "I'm jus' sayin' maybe."

Just then, the perfect person came to mind, and it hit Bryan like a stroke of brilliance. "Rosy!" He shouted. "What about Rosy? She's almost exactly like Maxie up here!" he exclaimed, pointing up at Maxie.

Rosy Barnum had been Bryan's girlfriend for the past two-and-a-half years on the Faith. They loved each other very much,–"a little annoyingly" too much according to the twins–and had been the only successful, constant love relationship to date on the ship. They spent at least two hours with each other everyday in those past two years–except those few instances where one was away on a mission without the other, in which case the one on board the ship would complain and complain until the other one came back.

However, for as long as the relationship had gone on, the two had never had sex, never really made out, and all their alone time spent together was in each other's arms, doing basically nothing but talking and enjoying each others company; the only clue anyone would have that they were boyfriend and girlfriend were the small kisses they exchanged sometimes; a conservative relationship for the most part. Neither of them had ever explained why. "Hey, yeah," Evan said with a newfound excitement. "She and Maxie act like twins. That's perfect, man." He clapped hands with Bryan. "Perfect. 'Eah, we could do a good impersonation of Will & Grace, you know, Bryan?"

Bryan sneered at him. "I'm not gay! We just love each other so much we don't need to show it."

Evan nodded and laughed. "Right man, right." He and his brother exchanged humorous glances, then laughed a little harder.

Bryan just smacked his lips at them, then got back on topic. "So Rosy it is. Good."

They all suddenly heard Maxie giggle from the top bunk, and all eyes swung in that direction.

"What?" Bryan said with a embarrassed chuckle. "So it took us a long time, who cares we-we-we finally figured it out."

Maxie continued to laugh and then glanced at her watch. "Yeah, it took you boys seven minutes and forty seconds to realize Rosy."

"Aw shut up!" Bryan retorted. He and the twins each grabbed a pillow and threw it up at her, and the pillows collided into her with three distinct "pounds."

"So Rosy it is?" Bryan asked again, looking to the twins assurance of that. "Final vote?"

"Yeah," Evan said, sitting back into the bunk.

Bryan's eyes looked over to the left. "Kevin?"

Kevin Silliger sighed hesitantly.

"Do you want Rosy?" Bryan asked.

"Well yeah, she's good and all, but I'd still prefer Cap'n Hiller, only because I think it'd be cool to see a Cap'n havin' fun, you know? I mean, everybody knows the pilots like to have fun." he snickered. "We're the most controversial people in the entire Rebel Alliance, man." He laughed. "I think it'd be cool to see and like, show people that some of the Cap'n's know how to have fun too, instead of being like the uptight, camel-toed–uh—sons-of-a-bitches that everyone thinks they are."

Bryan snickered slightly. "Camel-toed?"

Kevin smiled. "Yeah. Hell, they all gotta have one. Got those Shakespeare stares on their faces all the time." He contracted his facial muscles into a neutral, stone-faced expression, eyes looking off into the distance somewhere–apparently what he thought the expression on the Captain's face always was. And it was funny-looking for the most part.

Bryan allowed himself to laugh at the face, then considered what Kevin had said about Hiller. "Okay, we'll ask her first. If she––and-and try to convince her also if she says 'no' at first––if she says 'no' anyway then we'll go to Rosy, and hopefully she can do it if Hiller can't. All right?"

Kevin bopped his head once. "Fine with me, Commander."

Bryan smiled. "All right. Good. So we all satisfied here?"

The twins both nodded.

"–yeah."

"–uh-huh."

"Good." He looked up again. "What do you think Maxie? Think we'll go far?"

Maxie let out a low snort. "I hope so," she said softly into the mattress.

"Really?" Bryan said in surprise.

"Yeah, now leave me alone. I'm tired."

Bryan fixed her with a strange look but did leave her alone.