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"ARRRK EEARRRK!" Clump.

Zoe had reached her gun before she had even sat fully up in her bed. Light slimmed into her bunk from the opened hatch door. Ears strained, she listened as she held her pistol directly in front of her.

Thump. Thump, thump.

As the intruder moved through her room, he made a lot of noise, clothes rustling, even running into things.

Zoe slowly reached for her lamp and pulled the switch. As it turned on, she saw the culprit who had started making a racket; flapping his wings furiously in objection to the bright light. Between the croacks and quacks, Zoe had squeezed one eye shut and prepared to plaster the bird into the wall.

"Ahh! No, don't do that!" A voice shouted. It sounded from above her door.

Zoe looked up, meeting the face of the pilot. It looked utterly panicked, and he himself had proceeded to come down, head first in effort to get inside quicker. Thus Zoe had the second thing clump in her room in the past five minutes.

Jumping up onto his feet Wash started to run toward Zoe but stopped abruptly as she had moved her target to a new one. He stared a the barrel of the gun, a mere six feet away, and as scared as he was, it wouldn't have been any different if it was on top of his eye. "Heh," was all he could get out. He sheepishly smiled, like a boy who had just been discovered painting the family dog. Despite his situation, he couldn't help himself a look at the woman before him. She stood strong, with her head tightly wrapped in a red and orange scarf, holding back the jungle of curls. Her burnt-caramel skin was luminescent from the sheen of sweat reflecting the soft light. His thoughts were interrupted with the said woman.

"What in the hell's name are you doing in my bunk at two o'clock in the morning?"

Swallowing nervously, Wash eyed the gun before trying to explain himself. "Well, I had, out of my kind and compassionate- eep!" he squeaked as Zoe pulled back the cock in emphasis. He hurried on, "Er, heart, I bought you a duck. You forgot to get him yesterday, so I brought him to you." Wash ended with a smile, now like a boy's who had just finished his rationalization of why he had to cut all of his sister's hair off.

The duck had now waddled over and sat on Zoe's feet. She didn't even glance at it.

"Get out."

"Heh. Okay," Wash said, trying at least to get a peek closer at those wonderful legs, "here'll I'll just take Pe-"

"No. He stays, you get out. Now."

Man, was she beautiful when she took charge. He had only a moment to ponder before he bolted up and out of her room in fear of getting being decapitated.

Zoe sighed with relief, sinking into her bed. The overgrown bird got up and walked to beside her legs and raised his head up expectantly. Unable to resist, Zoe placed her fingers onto the top of its head. She gently scratched before moving down his neck, Pete arching in approval and to let her get better access. Laughing at the duck's demanding personality, she gently picked him up and placed him on the bed beside her. After she turned out the light, she laid down and pulled up the covers for Pete to crawl under. He did so, and turned around several times situating himself. Once he decided he was comfortable enough he flopped down with a content "quack", his head on Zoe's stomach, already nearly asleep. Zoe followed suit moments after.