43) Darkness Is A Harsh Term Don't You Think
Trigger Warning: References to past sexual abuse. No detail, general reference.
Irritation. The smell of it hit his nose like burnt pepper. A quick step, graceful and near soundless along the hall and he turned the pilot's chair to see River descending to the armory. Five minutes later, she emerged with a gun belt in her hand, wrapping it around her waist as she ascended the steps to the bridge.
"Somethin's up," He tilted his head thoughtfully watching her in the dim light of the bridge. The gleam of his eyes never seemed to bother River, no matter how predatory they made him look.
"Gun belt moved from my room to the armory," She grumped, no other word for it, as she sat in the co-pilot's chair. "Cannot find my toe shoes, again. Or my book."
"Toe shoes," He repeated looking at her feet. Shoes just for her toes? That seemed odd. Had to mean something else.
"Ah," She half smiled, still irked but somewhat distracted. A click of a few keys and an image came up on the cortex screen, a strange pair of shoes, like flats but with cylindrical elongated toes and ribbons at the heel. "To dance en pointe," She clarified and brought up another image of a slender woman, a ruffled skirt standing out from her hips and exposing her legs, a pair of the shoes on her feet. The ribbons wrapped around the ankle, and her feet pointed vertically.
"That looks…" He shook his head. Strange, painful, odd but elegant somehow. "Difficult."
River smiled at him, her spine easing from its ramrod straight posture as the scent of annoyance faded, "Ballet. Very difficult mostly. But worth it. Discipline. Find the structure of it relaxing."
"Got it," He nodded. "I'll keep an eye out for them. What book was it you were reading?"
"Not reading," She shook her head, a frown wrinkling her forehead. "My sketchbook. Draw to relax." So two things that she did for enjoyment, to relax, she couldn't do until she found her things. That sucked. Riddick made up his mind to take a look around the boat, if her scent was on her belongings, he should be able to pick it up some. He'd returned her things as he'd come across them a few times, but he could start actively looking.
"I'll take a look around," He offered and got a sweet smile in return. "What other kind of dancing do you do?"
"All kinds," River grinned. "Ballroom, country folk dancing…" A raised eyebrow at her and she clarified, "For a barn dance or festival?"
Okay now that he got, "What's ballroom dancing? Apart from the obvious?"
"Waltz, foxtrot, box step, tango, samba, mambo, swing, rhumba…" She ticked them off on her fingers. "Could teach you if you like?"
Now that was an interesting thought. He'd been thinking of asking her to spar but if she liked dancing better… "Hard to learn?" Last thing he wanted was to look like an idiot. He wouldn't care normally, but he especially didn't want to look like an idiot in front of her.
River regarded him thoughtfully before she answered, "Not…terribly. He likes fighting, martial arts… might do well with dance. Natural rhythm is helpful."
"Got plenty of that," He smirked at her, distracted from the conversation for a moment as he considered the plentiful ways he'd like to display his talents. He'd love to press up against this woman and listen to her moan, fuck her and rub her clit until she gushed around his dick. She was turning a bit pink, and he guessed his expression was more than a little dirty.
"That much is obvious," She tilted her head thoughtfully. "Shift is almost over…she could prepare tea?"
"That'd be nice," He nodded. Comin' on midnight and this week Mal got the graveyard shift. River's shift was actually before Riddick's so hopefully she'd spent some time resting and hadn't been looking for her belongings the whole time Riddick had been on the bridge. "You ain't tired?"
"The mind will not calm," Her shoulders slumped. "Sometimes meditation is not enough."
"Like to spar?" He offered out of instinct. When he was wound up, aggravated or just sometimes too tired to sleep, exercise (or something else sweaty and fun, like sex) would relax him like nothing else. "Won't be anybody in the bay this time of night. Can have some tea and then spar?"
Apparently, he couldn't have said anything better, her eyes lit up like he'd offered her something priceless, "Thought he didn't want to spar with her. Hasn't ever suggested it."
True, he hadn't. It wasn't because he didn't have the thought. Mostly he'd figured she wouldn't be interested. He knew how to keep his own edge sharp, but he didn't do well with pulling his punches. He hadn't really thought Mal would like him sparring with River either, no matter how well she fought. "Wasn't sure how well anyone'd take that, considerin' I'm just as interested in getting you horizontal as I am fighting with you." He had given considerable thought to how much fun she'd be in bed considering how well she moved when she taught Jack. (Not that Jack was a particularly apt student due to her bad attitude about the lessons but still.)
"Would like that very much, please and thank you," River grinned at him. "Still would like tea?"
"Let's spar first," He suggested as he heard Mal's bunk hatch open. "Talk an' have tea after when we're windin' down?"
"Has good ideas." River grinned at him. "Meet you in the bay."
"You got it." Riddick grinned. This promised to be a helluva lot of fun if she was that enthusiastic.
"Tiān shā de, woman, but you can fight," Riddick grinned from the steps to the mid deck where he'd sat down, panting with the exertion of fighting someone who was actually an equal. He had her beat for strength, and they were equal in speed but cào dàn she was graceful. And she had moves he'd never seen. She'd seen him use a move once and the next time he'd tried it she'd been ready to counter. She'd managed it too.
"He is very impressive," River smiled from her seat next to him. She'd had to sit one step higher to even come close to level with his eyes and she was still half a head shorter. How such a tiny woman could be so gorgeous deadly he had no idea. But damned if he didn't love it.
"So're you," He turned slightly so he could look at her more directly, goggles on his forehead (habit to wear them still even with his eyes fixed up, you never knew). "Cào dàn but you're impressive."
"He is surprised," She giggled softly, a throaty trill vibrating through the air, like someone had told an angel a dirty joke.
"Not many can keep up with me, much less fight me to a draw," He smirked when she wrinkled her nose. He got the impression she was as unused to draws as he was. Where she'd learned to fight like that, to fight at all, a woman from the Core...he got the feeling it was a story not many had heard.
"Fought your way here," River murmured. "Through dangers untold and hardships unnumbered," Her dark eyes stared at something he couldn't see, and Riddick recalled their first meeting when she'd said the same thing. That feeling niggled at his brain again, that ridiculous theory, and he shook his head. She was a genius. And it didn't take a genius to see that he, Carolyn and Jack had been through the wringer before they'd reached Serenity. The lack of luggage, if nothing else, would have been an obvious clue. River half smiled, her gaze focusing back on him instead of whatever she'd been seeing, "She did the same."
"Yeah?" Mal had said she'd been unwell, but he got the feeling there was more to it than that.
"Learned to fight…began at the age of fourteen," She offered the piece of her past the same way he would. A token of trust.
"Yeah…I'd say that's about when I started for real, not just scuffles," He half smiled. At fourteen it felt like he'd hated everyone and everything. Himself included.
That wasn't the last time they sparred when neither of them could sleep. At least once a week they'd end up in the bay trying to break the record for most stalemates in a row.
The topics of discussion after the fights got more personal too. River had confessed that the procedure she'd undergone at sixteen, the removal of what remained of her physical virginity hadn't exactly been through choice. "The injection to prevent conception was supposed to be temporary," She explained quietly. "Once my body had stabilized, completed adolescence, they would have performed a hysterectomy. Harvested her eggs for breeding through a surrogate later."
"At a school?" Riddick might have spent the bulk of his life in one penal system or another and the education therein wasn't the best, but he was pretty certain (despite his unorthodox education) that a hysterectomy on a teenager wasn't normal.
"Wasn't a typical school," River admitted quietly. "She wanted to learn. But that was not what they wished to teach."
He took her hand, the most innocent way he'd ever wanted to touch someone since he'd grown up in a hurry, and rubbed those slender fingers under his thumb gently, delicate knuckles and the calluses of a warrior on her palms. "Seems like that's always the way," He took a breath. She'd trusted him with that information, seemed like he could try to show her a similar amount of trust. "Told you sixteen, when you asked about my first time." He looked at her, "That was the first time it was my choice."
"And before," Dark eyes, fixed on his, no judgement or pity, she just waited for him to continue.
"I was twelve," He forced his muscles to relax, feeling his neck and shoulders hardening with remembered anger.
"Twelve," She frowned, and he could smell her outrage and sorrow.
"Happens when you're in a foster home. Always someone thinks they can get something out of you," He shrugged. It could have been worse and he knew it, "At least it was a woman, not a man. Guess I was big for my age but not so big she worried I'd turn on her. Young enough that I could still be controlled."
"Four years," River shook her head. "I was only at the Academy for three. Simon…got me out." She whispered the last. "And I wasn't…normal after."
"Nobody who goes through what we did would be," Riddick had learned the hard way that he'd never be able to fit in with regular people. "After…I got real…particular…about who touched me, and how," He admitted quietly. "When I got big enough… I decided I wasn't going to do what she wanted anymore." Granted he'd decided in a pretty spectacular fashion and there'd been some overlap between finding out he liked (more than liked actually) sex with a girl of his choosing and that decision but… at least he'd figured it out.
"Objectifications…authority figures… dislike them," River looked at him and he shrugged. He'd ended up in jail, first juvenile detention and then, when he'd aged out, they'd put him in the military, a kind of work release as a ranger and then Strikeforce. By the time he'd figured out the whole system was rotten he'd made a name for himself. And he'd gotten mercs on his neck, hungering for a payday.
"Be happy to show you what I learned from the jiàn huò thought a twelve-year-old was fair game. Learned a lot, even if I didn't like the teacher." He'd learned how to give good oral whether he liked it or not. Learned how to fuck a woman until she came, how to hold out until she was limp and gasping before letting go. Even learned how to fuck a woman's ass so she'd enjoy it. He'd had a helluva an incentive to learn, considering the punishments he'd earn if he didn't catch on quick.
These days he only did what he chose with a woman. He didn't demand from his partners what he couldn't give them. But River Tam… more and more he was curious about how she'd react to his mouth between her thighs, licking up her slick and sliding his tongue inside her. He wanted to kiss her, put her under him and bring her over and over. Wanted to see her in the throes, breathe in her scent after.
River leaned against his side and patted his knee, "Perhaps a raincheck?" She gave him a sweet smile. "Enjoying our talks greatly."
"Yeah, me too," He grinned. "Like talking with you as much as I like fighting with you."
"He is a worthy adversary," Her smile widened to a grin.
"Yeah," That pleased him more than he'd thought it would. "So're you. Amazing." This woman was just incredible.
"Pleases her that he believes this," She admitted shyly. "And he has her thanks, again, for his help."
Riddick shook his head, "That was nothin'. Good practice for me." He wasn't lyin', tracking down her missing belongings got him back in the habit of tracking with all of his senses. This time some of her textbooks had gone missing. The time before that her boots, which had been truly irritating as they had a job the next day. Those were quickly found at least. "Just wish we could figure out what's goin' on."
"Mal and Simon worry," River's voice had gone tentative. "That she is…slipping… pressure eroding her reason. Nothing is certain." That's what that conversation he'd overheard had been about, he'd bet even money on it. They'd worried (and were still worrying) she was losing her mind because her things were getting misplaced.
"You mean they think you're hiding this stuff from yourself because you're getting worn down," He frowned. "Me and Carolyn, we know you need a break now and then," Riddick rubbed a hand up and down that slender spine. He could reassure her about that at least. "If it helps, your scent… it ain't getting worse or anything, you don't smell stressed or worn down like you get before your day off. I'll tell 'em, this ain't you."
Relief, incredibly ecstatic relief, flooded her face and scent and he realized that it probably wasn't just Mal and Simon worrying that she was losing it. "Afraid," She confessed softly. "That she was becoming unstable."
He frowned and shook his head, "It ain't you River." Riddick told her firmly. "Next time you can't find somethin', tell me right away. No reason for you to be lookin' all over."
"Chéngméng guān zhào," River smiled at him. Damn he really liked that smile. Like he'd done something amazing.
"Hey," He nudged her playfully. "Bié tàikè qi."
And his reward for that was a sweet little kiss to his jaw before she went on to bed. He caught himself thinking about kissing her a helluva lot more than he'd thought he would. Sitting with her on the steps, maybe convince her to sit on the step below his, between his thighs and lean back against his chest. Enjoy her scent, thickened with sweat and the warmth of her. Dip his head down and use his lips on that pretty mouth, drink in her sighs.
Maybe next time.
Author's Note: So now we've got some idea of Riddick's childhood. And why he and River get along so well. Commonalities create kindred.
It might seem obvious to an outside view, what's going on with River's things. But for people who don't have an objective perspective it isn't as apparent. Eventually this will all come to a head and then...well... that'll be an interesting day.
Sorry about the late posting today folks. I've got time off this week and I actually forgot what day it was!
Chinese Translation:
Tiān shā de (Goddam! / goddamn / wretched)
cào dàn (damn it! / fuck! (vulgar) / Satan (loan) / devil)
jiàn huò (bitch / slut)
Chéngméng guān zhào (to be indebted to somebody for care / thank you for looking after me)
Bié tàikè qi (lit. no excessive politeness / Don't mention it! / You're welcome! / Please don't stand on ceremony.)
