Really Bad Eggs [Rhi!]

[nephero]

ooc: Oh lord this is long, but hopefully open-ended enough.

“ETA,” Captain Sea Mean shifted in her chair, her arms stretched out and over her head to the tune of a series of pops as her joints cracked. In the back of her mind, she could hear her mother nag her—don’t do that, you’ll have arthritis by thirty—and Sea had to smile.

The captain of the Skeleton Grin had had many things by age thirty—bullet wounds, scars from knife fights both won and lost, a few fractured bones, mild tinnitus in one ear and telltale stripes on either side of her abdomen—but arthritis had yet to make the list.

Year forty-eight had come and gone somewhere a few moths back, and she had celebrated her distinct lack of joint problems by abusing those same joints as much as possible. The entire night remained a blacked-out mystery, but considering her boys still complained that they would never be able to show their faces in that particular port again, she guessed it had been one hell of a party.

In response to her initial query, the ship’s flight computer gave a calculating blip, before responding, “Estimated arrival time at thirty standard minutes.”

Sea hummed, her full lips curved into a far less sardonic smile now. She had programmed the computer to speak in a very distinct twang—her eldest, Kin, called it hokey, but Zaro had inherited his mother’s love for old-world western vids, and had adored it. She had caught him in the cockpit more than once, submitting frivolous queries in an attempt to get the AI to parrot lines from his favourite films. She had tanned his hide for it, of course, but it remained one of her fondest memories of his childhood.

Speaking of her kids. Sea pressed the commlink button set into her chair’s armrest. “We’ll be docking at Cancer in under a half. Get the ‘acquirements’ stowed and ready for unloading.”

She didn’t have to wait for the chorus of affirmatives to know the task would be done, but she loved hearing it anyway. It reminded her of her own control, and she had always loved being the boss. Their resident medic—a great brick house of a Teinari—insisted that it was borderline pathological, to which Sea replied that his business was in bullet holes, not psychology.

Her console blipped a proximity warning, and she shut off the autopilot with the flip of a switch. Sea took hold of the controls, and proceeded to (rather forcefully) shove her way into the docking queue. She pointedly ignored the angry flashes of hazard lights from the other ships that she had cut off along the way. The sooner they got this over with—and got paid—the better.

By the time she powered the ship’s engines down and climbed down to the cargo bay, her crew was already hard at work unloading innocently labeled crates onto a hovering loader. She took her customary supervisory role by the cargo bay doors, her solid arms crossed over her ample chest.

“Zaro, that is fragile, if I see you handling it like it’s got herpes one more time, I’m taking the damages out of your cut, is that understood?” She didn't bother to watch to see if he followed the order, knowing that he would sooner cut off his own foot than possibly lose out on another antique duster or some other nonsense. Her attention was thoroughly grabbed by the other ships filing in, her dark eyes narrowed as she sized each one up as potential threats or targets.

A woman's work was never done, after all.

[Rhi-Rhi]

Leaving the rest of his crew to unload, Ari strode across the deck, murder in his eyes. It was easy enough to locate the offending ship; it was dog shit ugly, and now likely sported a smudge of pink on its flank from where the fucker had grazed Sassy Juice. Grazed Sassy Juice and ruined the paint job he'd had touched up not two days ago. Two fucking days! And he had been so damned careful for once! Followed the goddamn docking rules and everything, but no, some yahoo had to be a jackass and not wait their fucking turn.

Never mind that he had been that jackass many times.

That was different.

By the time he reached the ship, they were unloading, and it didn't take long to glean who was in charge, the body language unmistakeable: the short lady barking orders to the rest of the crew. Gods, she was tiny.

Great ass, too.

Too bad she was on his shit list.

"Funny ya should mention damages," he snapped as he crossed the distance between them, a noticeable Edani twang to his words. "Ya hit my fuckin' ship! Dunno which of you dumb fucks was drivin' this tetanus-festered scrap yard ya call a ship but--"

He cut off with a start, finger still raised and ready to jab in accusation, because it was in that moment that he got a good look at her. All of her. Her punky hair, her kickass tats, her large bust, her impressive gun show...

Oh no.

She was hot. She was hot from both sides. A hot, short, in-charge older captain chick.

Fuck me sideways.

Ari's arm dropped back down to his side.

"...But it ain't nothin' can't be solved over a drink," he finished, the anger draining out of him as he raised his eyes back to her face and flashed a sly grin.

[nephero]

It was Zaro who spotted the incoming threat first-- Sea noticed the shift in his demeanor, the way he wasn't lifting crates anymore, the very subtle motion to touch at his hip just inside the fabric of his duster.

By the time the kid actually got within hearing range, Sea was more than prepared. She hadn't really even noticed she had clipped another ship, if she was honest, but if she continued to be honest, she'd have to also admit she didn't much care. Seeing the smear of paint that wasn't on her hull before, she was pretty sure she did the other ship a favor-- who the hell painted a ship such a piss-ugly shade of pink?

Oh, and the howling. She very nearly rolled her eyes clean out of her skull, and was ready to throw her accuser a very solid "son, are you sure you want to do this?" look, right up until the point where she turned around and actually got a look at him.

Well.

Well, well, well.

Hello, Mister Baby Blues.

Suddenly robbed of her urge to just deck the kid as soon as he got within range (that would just be a waste), Sea smiled. It only widened when the kid stumbled over his tantrum and verbally propelled backwards.

Oh, it was just so cute when they tried to act all smooth.

"Only one drink?" She countered, keeping her voice low and conversational, as if the kid had merely popped up to comment on the weather. The unloading behind her had come to nearly a full stop, and she was sure two of her crew were now putting every bit of their effort into mad-dogging their downright edible guest.

Which she was all but certain had absolutely nothing to do with his threatening entrance.

[Rhi-Rhi]

"Did I say one? Darlin', I was thinkin' as many as it takes to see where those tattoos end," Ari answered with a playful eyebrow waggle and a smile.

"Name's Ari, by the way," he said, offering his hand. "Whatcha go by, sugar?"

Well, shit. He'd marched over here intent on getting the woman to cough up some money to cover the damages, and here he was, offering to spend money on her instead. Yet even as the hilarity of that hit him, he couldn't find it in him to regret a thing. He could touch up a wrecked paint job any day. People, on the other hand?

Well, as much as he joked about his marriage to Sassy, you couldn't bang a ship.

[nephero]

Sea's eyes sparked, and her smile grew downright predatory. All bite and no mercy, she took the offered hand and gave it a firm squeeze. And continued squeezing.

"It's certainly not 'sugar', sugar. It sounds a little more like 'Sea'." She let go of Ari's hand then, satisfied in her own power play, and folded her arms over her chest once more. "But if you're buyin', I might let you keep mispronouncing it all you like, among other things."

She shifted her weight from one leg to the other, just enough to shift her hips and keep his attention span where she wanted it. She let her gaze linger on his mouth, and the piercings there, and wondered just how many drinks it might take to see where those ended.

"Though ain't you worried about affording your, uh..." she gave a pointed look to the downright hideous smear of pink on her poor ship, "...paint job?"

[Rhi-Rhi]

Damn, for a tiny thing, sugar there had a strong grip! Ari could swear he heard his bones creak, and when she released him, he shook out his hand and grinned, genuinely. Yup. He liked this one already; she was pocket-sized and bitey.

He wondered if, maybe, she was literally bitey, too.

With a wave of his hand, Ari dismissed her question. "Naw, I ain't worried 'bout that. Unless you're packin' the tolerance of a Draconian. Then I'll just be impressed." He should know. One of his crew mates, Sarah, was one of those lizard-aliens and damn, the girl could drink--far more than was lethal for a human and then some.

"Besides, sugar--I mean, Sea. Sugar, Sea...sweet thing like you, it may as well be your name." He gave her a wink and boldly reached out to move an imaginary hair from her face, caressing her cheek with his knuckles as he pulled back. "You're gonna have to forgive me if I fuck it up. Anyway, darlin', as I was sayin', even if ya surprise me and do drink away all my funds, it'll be money well spent. I'd rather spend it on a pretty gal than a ship can't love me back."

As he spoke, he swept his eyes over her--obviously, not at all trying to be subtle about it--and lingered on her shifting hips before moving back to her face. There was just something about a built woman, something about the contrast between hard muscle and feminine curves that he loved, and Sea had plenty of both. Though, as he looked at her, for a moment something beyond her caught his eye--namely that her crew, who had been working to unload, had all stopped and were watching their exchange rather intensely.

Heh.

"Think we've got an audience."

[nephero]

Oh, this one was a keeper. A young guy who could take a bit of abuse and still dish out the sweet talk? Sea was intrigued, more than intrigued, and she just let her smile grow wider when she caught his eyes roving.

"It's been a work in progress, but having a goal keeps life worth living." she replied, snickering a bit to herself. Truth be told she wasn't even aware of her own drinking capabilities, Draconian or otherwise. Any time she attempted to keep track it always ended up a blur, and she lost count before finally blacking out. Man, that was always fun, even if she paid for it solidly in the morning.

"But ain't you sweet. Just don't let your ship hear you sayin' those things," Sea teased, giving Ari's arm a playful sort of swat. It was right about then that she turned her head to see just what Ari meant by 'audience', and Sea wasn't sure if she was amused or annoyed to see her entire crew watching warily.

She decided on annoyed.

"Did I somehow let slip that y'all could stop?" she asked, every word dripping with venom. "Or are we attempting to tap into our latent psychic abilities, here? Get that shit unloaded, and get it done, yesterday."

Almost immediately, work resumed, though she did catch Zaro making a very pointed gesture in Ari's direction out of the corner of her eye. But that was for later. Right now, a drink sounded doubly good.

"So, how about that drink?"

[Rhi-Rhi]

Ah, a woman after his own heart. Ari had to love a gal that knew how to order people around!

And he had to admit, he wouldn't mind being bossed around by her either.

In bed, if he played his cards right.

...Or up against a building somewhere for all he cared.

Fucking unf.

With a wide grin her way, for he hadn't missed the gesture that one guy had tossed at him, he turned his attention back to her and snaked an arm around her waist, just to piss him off even more if he was still watching--and he certainly hoped he was. He was all about fanning the flames of jealousy, if that's what this was about; it made the conquest that much sweeter.

Though was it really a conquest when you were hoping to be pushed around?

"Let's get to it, sweet thing," he said, and turned them both so their backs were to her crew and their fronts were pointed toward the way leading out and into Cancer's busy districts.