36) When The Night Puts On Its Cloak
Possible trigger warning - nonconsensual sexual content
Dreams were always strange. Sometimes sliding down into nightmares, sick and harsh until he escaped with waking. Pieces of his past. Speculation about the future. People he knew or had known. Oddly empty of scent and texture. The crew… Mal and Kaylee…teasing Simon…the Doctor smiling indulgently… Zoë so heavily pregnant… Inara saying good bye… Carolyn with her pale hair and bright eyes. Hands tracing over his chest, kind smile, hot eyes. Cool air… River, pale skin and dark hair, her mouth moving over his belly. He wanted…wanted…
The feel of her, that mouth moving lower and lower and he'd gotten so hard at the sensation of her slender body rubbing against his bare skin. Her lips, wrapping around the head of his dick, tongue licking at him. Not what he wanted… but also…nothing like before… Clumsy but fervent. River's eyes…looking up his body at him…sweet…so different… but not… not wanted…
Don't be angry with her for touching… Beautiful eyes…hopeful and tender…need to touch… reach for her…
Scents, soap and cotton…
Not a dream.
And not River in his bed either.
Open his eyes and put his lightning reflexes to use, yank his body away, fucking teeth scraping sensitive skin, that would sting for a bit tā mā de niǎo. Hair barely a couple of inches long, curling at the ends, Jack's defiant face, her hand still reaching for him.
"What'n the unholy fuck do you think you're doing!" He'd likely wake up Simon, Carolyn and River with the volume of his snarled question but at this point he didn't care. How dare she! How could she?
"I wanna—" Jack's young voice. Too young for this. Too young for him.
"Rick," Carolyn's voice from the hall, he heard Simon and River's steps behind her. "Everything all right?"
"Absolutely fuckin' not," Riddick growled. "Caro, need you to come in here, light from the hall should be enough for you to see without blindin' me."
Thankfully, she knew when asking questions was a waste of time and simply did as he ordered. And she didn't get her back up at his tone either, which he'd appreciate that level of friendship and concern later when he wasn't completely pissed. In the darkness of the room, he was the only one who could see Jack's defiant face. The dim light from the hallway revealed enough for Carolyn to see that he wasn't alone. Her resigned expression as she took in the situation suggested she'd expected something like this and had hoped she'd be wrong. "I see," Carolyn sighed as she slid the door shut behind her. "Rick, better cover up and grab your goggles."
"Yep," He nodded and released his grip on Jack's upper arms to yank the quilt over his lower body and snagged his goggles off the hook on the wall. Pulling them on only took a second before he flicked the switch for the light leaving everyone blinking in the sudden brightness.
"Rick, do you need any help?" Simon's concerned question from the hallway held a certain amount of mystification. But it was River who slid the door open again and stood in the opening, dark eyes taking in everything from Jack's position on the end of his bed to Carolyn's arm wrapped firmly around Jack's shoulders. Nice to see River's gaze lingering on his bare upper half though. He'd theorized sure, but it was good to see the attraction wasn't completely one-sided.
"Ah," Simon peered over her shoulder. "I'll let you sort this out," He took a step back. "I don't think you'll need anything from me."
"No, likely not," Carolyn agreed. "But thanks."
Not for the first time Riddick wondered what was going through River's mind as her expression of mild interest remained unchanged. The woman did mysterious like nobody's business. Her mouth curved, dark and faintly amused and she stepped into the room and slid the door shut behind her.
"Sorry to wake you up," He apologized mostly because it was the truth. She didn't sleep well, no more than he did. He'd lost count of the times they'd had tea in the galley before or after a shift on the bridge.
"Waking anyway," River shook her head. "Almost time to be on the bridge." Her gaze slanted at Jack and she tilted her head, "Fortuitous timing." Her gaze moved back to him and slowly traveled from his face down to his almost exposed upper hips and back to his face again. Her smile widened, feline and wicked, "Would take the view as payment for the lost quarter hour of sleep anytime." He smirked up at her and the woman smirked right back, "Will leave the three of you to work this out. Offer of alternate quarters stands."
Riddick nodded and watched as she left the room; the same silent step with which she'd entered. He knew from prior midnight run ins that River slept in either a long full nightgown and nothing else, or leggings and a tee shirt that fell short of her waist and constantly slipped off one shoulder or the other. Leggings tonight, which meant he got a great view of those legs and ass when she left.
He turned his gaze back to Jack and Carolyn, "You are tiān shā de lucky I feel safe enough on this ship that I slept through you coming in my room. Places I've been uninvited guests tend to get a shiv to the throat first and questions second."
"Even I don't come into Rick's room uninvited," Carolyn added pointedly.
"And now would you mind," He knew his tone had gone coldly angry when Jack flinched back minutely, "Explaining why I woke up with your mouth around my dick?" Nothing he hated more than someone just deciding they could do what they wanted with his body. He hated that more than he hated mercs.
"Jack!" Carolyn obviously hadn't realized exactly what Jack had been doing (or trying to do). "Sweetheart you can't just—"
"Why not? You do," Jack spat the words. "He's been eyeing River up an' down like she's some sorta steak, screwing you off and on. Why am I a kid and she's not?"
"What Rick does or does not do in the privacy of his bedroom is his business," Carolyn retorted. "Yeah, we've fucked sometimes. When we both wanted it. Both," She emphasized. "And if he started to sleep with or pursue River then that part of our friendship would stop," She flicked her eyes towards him as if to make sure Riddick understood and got a nod in return. Since they'd already had that discussion there wasn't any point in rehashing it, though he could appreciate why Carolyn would emphasize that to Jack. "That doesn't mean it's all right for you to—"
"I'm just as much an adult as she is," Jack argued. "He hasn't ever looked at me like that."
"Maybe because I don't know how old you are Jack," Riddick added her name pointedly. "You've never said. River is nearly nineteen." He wondered why he had to justify his attraction and decided to make that point, "And who I fuck and who I want is none of your damn business. Being interested in River doesn't make me fair game for you. I don't do anything I don't want, and you've got no tā mā de right to try and override my decisions or my wants with your own. Nobody has that. Not River. Not Carolyn. And not you Jack."
"Why am I different than she is," The girl persisted.
"Because if she was in my room sucking my dick it'd be because she was invited. Because she was wanted. Had permission to touch me," Riddick snarled in his aggravation. Damnit, did she not realize just how close she'd come to death? How badly she'd pissed him off? "You don't. Not like that." When she appeared about to object he added, "If I hadn't woken up enough to see it was you it'd be your blood on the floor and my shiv in your throat. I've been around long enough to know what it feels like, having someone just decide to touch, to do whatever they want, no matter how I felt about it. Doesn't matter what kind of touch it is. Or how far, or not, they got or get. I showed enough motherfuckers, in slams and out, how much I didn't want it, wouldn't tolerate it, and I backed it up with blood."
That got through to her, that she'd been trying to take from him, not give, because she hadn't even tried to wake him up. Hadn't thought about anything beyond what she wanted, her needs, her goals, how to use him, "I thought you'd like it." She admitted in a small voice. "Thought you'd like it enough to see me like that. You seemed to want it."
"Wèi le cào yuán gù, I was asleep," He barely kept from raising his voice. Damn the kid could get under his skin. "Dreaming. And a man's body don't need a lot of help to get interested. Goes away just as quick."
"But you liked it—" Jack still looked half hopeful and Riddick raised his eyes heavenward, as if God (the wángbā dàn de biǎo zi) would really listen or give half a fuck about his problems.
"Jack, whether or not he liked it is beside the point," Carolyn interceded as if she could tell his patience was nearing its limit. She likely could, he wasn't exactly trying for subtlety here. It'd kind of been proven that subtlety was lost on Jack anyway. "You didn't have any right to touch him like that. A hug or a kiss on the top of your head or cheek is not the same as chuī xiāo. Why would you do something like that?"
"Because he's got a use for every girl but me," Jack burst out frustration in every word. "He calls me kid, or mèi mei like that's all I am. He fucks you; he looks at River, he flirts with every woman on the boat but I'm fucking invisible."
"Because you're a tiān shā de kid," Riddick growled. "I don't care if you're twelve, fourteen or seventeen. You're a kid to me."
"Why am I a kid but River ain't?"
Jī dū zài guǎi zhàng shàng, she was fuckin' persistent. Like she thought if she kept pushing him, she'd get the answer she wanted through sheer attrition. "Because I am never gonna be able to forget you screamin' for help, screamin' my name when those sky sharks were after you. When Carolyn's light wasn't enough, and I had to gut the thing to keep it off you."
"What does—"
"You were a kid. You were helpless." He hated remembering. Really hated how long he'd hesitated, weighing the worth of her life against his own, remembering how far he'd fallen, how removed from the human race he'd become, how close he'd come to losing this girl he thought of as a sister. "And you being old enough to bleed doesn't make you a woman to me. I'm not some fuckin' pedo who thinks little girls are sexy."
"I'm not a little girl," Jack just had to argue.
"You are to me," He snapped back. "In my head you're a child. You could be thirty years old, ripe and ready, and I still wouldn't be able to see you as anything other than that scared kid I need to protect."
That got through to her, finally. She didn't like it, that was for damn sure. Her expression half upset half angry. "I'm almost sixteen," She scowled at both he and Carolyn as if that was their fault. "Old enough to work. You don't have to protect me."
"You're still dressing like a boy, still hiding who you are," Carolyn's tone gentled as she spoke. Good. She had more patience than he did at this point. (Of course, at this point, he was pretty sure anyone else in the 'verse would have more patience than he did.) "If you're not feeling good about being a girl, you really shouldn't be trying to initiate sex." She gestured to the walls around them and Serenity beyond, "This is the safest place you could be. No one here is going to hurt you. But you still hide who you are. And even if you weren't trying to look like a boy, you still wouldn't have the right to touch him without permission."
Spine stiff with anger, reeking of pain, Jack shrugged off Carolyn's arm and stalked from Riddick's dorm. Her feet hit the ladder rungs with such force her fury would be obvious to anyone watching. Riddick sighed and looked at Carolyn, "I'll be fucked if I know what to do." He admitted. "Talked with Inara a while before she left, and I've been calling Jack mèi mei and Jackie girl or whatever to remind her that's what she is to me.
"I'm at a loss," Carolyn shook her head. "I don't even know what set this off in her head."
"Pretty sure it has something to do with River," Riddick leaned back against the wall, able to relax somewhat now though sleep was a lost cause. "Jack didn't ever warm up to her and she's worked her way up to strong dislike these days."
"Hard to not notice the way you look at River. You have from the start, half fascinated and half attracted," The blonde chuckled. "And she seems to be looking right back. In kinda the same way." Her head tilted thoughtfully, "That might be why. River has a slender figure, similar to Jack's, if not completely. Maybe Jack thought that's your type. I'm not exactly an hourglass figure either."
"Cào dàn. My type?" Riddick shook his head, "My type's always been 'willing' Carolyn. And given a preference, a strong spine."
"But Jack doesn't know that," Carolyn reminded him. "We'll have to keep an eye on her."
"Yeah, keep her from doing anything stupid," He sighed. "Well...stupider than what she just tried."
"And we'd better let Mal know what went on here, when we can do it quietly," She added. "He won't thank us if he gets caught off guard by whatever comes next. I'll take care of that; you think about how to keep this from happening again."
"Fuck," Riddick nodded. "Yeah. Why does my life seem to be one disaster after another?"
"Just lucky I guess," She shrugged and stood. "I'm gonna try to get some more sleep."
"Yeah," He nodded again and watched her leave. "Mā lege bā zi." He glanced heavenward and rolled his eyes after a moment. No spiritual guidance from that Almighty fèi fèi gāng mén what-so-fuckin'-ever. Figured. Why he'd thought different for a moment was anyone's guess. Temporary insanity he guessed. Seemed to be the theme of the night.
Author's Note: Sooo… Riddick's worst nightmare here…in more ways than one. We've hit something of a tipping point and as a result of Jack's little...seduction attempt we'll be seeing some changes in the future. Nothing major at first but events tend to build upon each other...think of it as the butterfly effect.
Chinese Translation:
tā mā de niǎo (goddamn it /lit. 'His mother's dick')
tiān shā de (Goddam! / goddamn / wretched)
tā mā de (damn it! / fucking) (taboo curse)
Wèi le cào yuán gù (For fuck's sake)
wángbā dàn de biǎo zi (whore's bastard/son of a bitch(insult)))
chuī xiāo (to play the xiao 箫 (mouth organ) / to beg while playing pipes; cf politician Wu Zixu 伍子胥, c. 520 BC destitute refugee in Wu town, 吳市吹簫｜吴市吹箫/ to busk / virtuoso piper wins a beauty, cf 玉人吹箫/ fellatio (oral sex) / a blowjob)
mèi mei (little sister)
Jī dū zài guǎi zhàng shàng (Christ on a crutch)
Cào dàn (damn it! / fuck! (vulgar) / Satan (loan) / devil)
Mā lege bā zi (fuck! / motherfucker! / fucking)
fèi fèi gāng mén (baboon's asshole)