Post by Cassandra Nida on Feb 9, 2010 21:58:04 GMT -6
This wasn't like anything Cass had ever seen. The people here were... well. They weren't like the people in the top. Or the people in the Inbetween. Or on Antheia.
The people here wore leather and what looked like battle armour. They had piercings and scars and tattoos they didn't bother to hide. Some of them smelled awful, like they hadn't showered in weeks, and some looked like they'd forgotten scissors and nail clippers existed. Others were well-dressed, but it was a different sort of well dressed from the type Cass was used to.
Klove stayed close to her, his shoulder brushing up against hers as they made their way down the packed corridors. Nobody really looked at either of them, keeping their eyes on more interesting things. A few times, Klove had caught hold of her and they'd ducked off into a shop or restaurant. She caught a glimpse of the people passing. Most of them were huge, tall and menacing, but a few were smaller women too, and it took her a while to realize that they were bounty hunters.
That scared her for a bit, but then Klove started talking about his home on Glacies, where he and his captain lived when they didn't have any jobs, and she forgot her fear. The idea of being surrounded by snow all the time was fantastic, but... “Don't you get cold?”
“I'm used to the cold.” Klove picked up a necklace from a display case, “What do you think?”
“It's nice. But gold isn't really your colour...” She glanced at the settings, “What about silver?”
“I'm allergic to it.” Klove handed the necklace back to the saleslady (who wasn't like any saleslady Cass had ever seen, covered in dozens of piercings and with bright green hair).
Cass picked up one piece, turning the polished flat stone over in her hands. She didn't have the money to buy anything, but it was fun to just look. “I'm not allergic to anything.”
“Yeah, well, you're lucky.” Klove leaned on the counter and smiled at her, and she couldn't stop herself from smiling back.
--
The food arrived in plastic bowls. They were scored and scratched, and a sort of weird orange colour that Cass hadn't actually ever seen before. She was more transfixed by the bowls than by the food, which was some sort of soup thing.
When she finally managed to look away, Klove was grinning at her. Cass fixed him with a look, “You're not supposed to microwave plastic.”
“Yeah, but you really can't microwave metal, and if they handed out wooden bowls, the customers would steal them, and you have to pay a deposit fee in order to use the glass bowls.” Klove said inbetween a mouthful.
Cass glanced around. Everybody else was eating out of plastic too. It was so different from home. She'd never eaten in a room with more than twenty people, and there had to be at least sixty people scattered around metal tables, eating and laughing and fighting.
“Do you get used to the people?” She asked Klove. “At my house... it was just me and my dad... and maybe some servants. But now, there's always somebody around... the only place I can go to be alone is my room.”
Klove laughed a little, “You have your own room? Lucky. We've got bunks on the Queen, and I've only got this curtain for privacy.”
“No, really?” Cass couldn't stop the look of horror on her face. If she had to live in bunks...
He laughed again, “Really. It's not that bad. You get used to it. I've got my own room on Glacies, and sometimes after we've been in space for three or four months, I won't be able to get to sleep in a real bed. You get so used to tuning out everybody else's noise, and then it's not there and... you notice the lack.”
Cass tried to imagine it, sleeping in a bunk and getting used to the sounds of other people. Tried to think about taking off her limbs while other people were sleeping a few feet away from her. “I couldn't do it.”
“People can do anything.” Klove told her, sounding more earnest than she thought he meant to. “They just have to put their mind to it.” Then his brain caught up with his mouth and he glanced down at his meal, “So uh... do you like it?”
Cass scooped up a dumpling with her spoon and took a bite. It wasn't like anything the cook had ever made, but after a few weeks of eating cooking by people who didn't really know what they were doing in the kitchen, it was amazing. “'sgood!” She managed and covered her mouth with her free hand before she could accidentally spit on Klove.
“Good.” Klove grinned, and they stopped talking and just ate.
--
There was a zoo onboard. Cass still couldn't really wrap her head around that. A zoo, on a space station.
But it really was a zoo, sorta. Whoever worked here had tried their best to spruce up the place. The walls inside the cages were painted, and there was astroturf on the ground, and a tape was playing jungle noises. The animals didn't seem too convinced, but they'd clearly gotten used to it.
A large lion-thing with big fangs and pure white fur growled at her and Klove and a chill went up her spine. Beside him, a green lizard with bluish scales on the top of his head looked over and hissed at the lion-thing. And so it went down the rest of the way, deadly animals and soft animals, all sorts of things.
The guy at the front gate was named Earl and he was even shorter than Cass was, which was really surprising since he worked with such big animals. But he'd given them tickets and reminded them that if they got an arm pulled off, it was their own fault for sticking it in the cage and sent them on their way.
Cass wasn't sure what she wanted to look at first. Mostly everything, really. She stayed close to Klove. Just because she was made of metal didn't mean that strange animals didn't scare the crap out of her.
It was as they rounded the corner that she spotted the goats. They were adorable things, with big floppy ears and tiny horns, and beards. Cass wandered close to the cage and they came forward, all bleating loudly and trying to eat her fingertips and hoodie. She kept them from getting a good grip since she didn't have that many sweaters, and she'd just redid her arms a week and a half ago.
Klove stayed back from the cage, like he had with all of them, “Are you allergic to animals too?” She asked.
He shifted uncomfortably, “Not... exactly. It's just not a good idea for me to go near them, they'll get upset.”
“What? No, they won't! Look, they're letting me near!” Cass stood up and walked back over to Klove, impulsively grabbing his hand, “I'll protect you.”
Klove laughed a little, but shook his head again, “It's not me. It's them. It'll just get them upset.”
“Why?”
He hesitated, and said in a rush, “Because I'm a werecougar.”
Cass paused. She wasn't completely sure she'd heard him right, so she repeated it, waiting for him to say something else. “You're... a werecougar.”
“Yeeeah....” No, she'd gotten it right. Klove stood rather awkwardly, clearly expecting her to run off. “I turn into a cougar. But not all the time. I'm mostly human.”
“Oh.” Cass looked at him, really looked at him, but couldn't see the difference. He still looked like a normal and cute human boy to her.
He dropped her hand, “It's okay if you're creeped out.” Klove told her, “I'm not going to get all crazy and spazz on you. If you're not cool, I can-”
“I have prosthetics.” The words just popped out of her mouth. She wasn't going to tell him, she wasn't going to tell anybody, but then... she did. “Plural. As in... my legs and my arms aren't real...”
“Really?” Klove looked surprised and a little shocked, and then it changed into something different, like he'd just solved a puzzle. “So that's why you smell like an engine.”
Cass frowned a little. “I do not.”
“You do, but it's nice.” Klove held out his hand, and Cass let him take hers, rubbing his thumb over the back of her hand, “The skin too?”
“It's a specialized polymer.” His other hand came up and touched the side of her neck, and she shivered a little. “I grow it and apply it, and then it becomes just like real skin...”
“The texture's just a little different.” Klove said, marvelling at her. When he withdrew his hands, her neck felt a little cold, and she wished he would put it back. “That's really cool. Can you sense things with your hands?”
“Yeah... the sensors are really good.” She reached out and touched his hair. “I thought it would feel different...”
“Not while I'm human.” He paused, and then his eyes... changed. Just for a few seconds, but for those few seconds, they were gold, and the pupils shrunk down to points. It nearly took her breath away. “I'll show you another time, but the animals are upset enough without me changing.”
“Oh, right.” Cass glanced back at the pens, “Maybe we can go somewhere else?”
“I know a few more good places.” He offered his hand again and she took it, heart skipping a beat.
--
This was more people than she'd ever seen in her life, even in Antheia's spaceport. The room was huge, and there were people everywhere, crammed together on the floor or sitting up on the sides of the room, on the remains of what had once been spacecrafts before they'd been hollowed out and permanently welded into the 'stadium'.
Klove had gotten them a spot about halfway up, just before the crowd really got packed together. From here, they could see the band, and hear the music, but they weren't getting dragging to the mosh pits that kept forming. It wasn't even the sort of music that Cass would think people would want to jump around to, but as Klove had whispered in her ear, people took any excuse they could to punch each other.
He had his arms on her waist and he kept tucking his head over her shoulder to talk. Klove was so warm, like he was running a fever, even though she knew he wasn't. She'd never had a boy put his arms around her before, and she liked it. It was nice and warm, and maybe it was moving a bit too fast, but she found she couldn't really care.
The air was hazy with smoke. It smelt kinda funny, and stung her eyes a little, but it made her feel really good too. Kinda loose, like maybe all her circuits weren't quite lined up. She didn't want to walk, just in case it turned out they were out of wack, so she just let Klove lean against her back and let him talk.
The woman singing on stage was beautiful. Her hair was piled up on top of her head in a wrap, and she swayed from side to side as she sung. The other singer, the man, had thick dreds that reached down to his back, and he played a guitar, pausing to smoke from a cigarette being passed around between the band.
“What's this called again?” Cass turned her head, speaking into Klove's ear.
“Neo-Reggae!” He shouted over the music, “It's a whole revival thing!”
On stage, the woman and man sang together, “Jah loves his children! Jah loves his childreeeen!” while the audience joined in, wailing off-key.
Cass couldn't help but smile, feeling like she was made of cotton-candy and clouds instead of steel. If Klove let go of her, she was going to just float away, right up to the very top of the ceiling, and she would stay there. And they'd have to get poles to pull her down.
“You won't let go? Right?” She asked, feeling a little panicked.
“Not unless you ask me too.” He squeezed her tighter for emphasis, and Cass relaxed again.
--
It had been a long day, and Cass was tired. The batter on her padd was nearly dead from being used all day to send messages to Solomon, checking in every hour (or something a little late with an apology for not noticing because there weren't any clocks around). She still felt a little not-like-herself, loose-limbed and a little giddier than was okay.
Klove had one arm around her shoulder, carrying their few purchases in his other hand. He'd insisted on buying her another change of clothes when he heard about what happened on Antheia, claiming that he was just looking out for his own self-interests since he liked girls who changed their clothes more than once a week. She's punched him, and didn't hold back that much, and he'd winced and said “ow!” in the most adorably offended voice, and she'd gotten the giggles again, only even worse than before.
“I've never been on a date before.” She told him as they made their way back to the ship, taking an elevator that was built out of some old ship. You could see the belt running through the ship's hull, streaming in and out as it was lifted up. “It was a lot of fun.”
“I've been on a few, but I liked this one the best.” Klove smiled a little. “But you can't trust me. I might just be buttering you up so I get a good night kiss.”
“Now that you've told me your devious plan, maybe I don't feel like giving you one anymore.” Cass looked up at him, and Klove immediately got an 'I'm an idiot' look on his face. It was adorable, and she couldn't help laughing.
The elevator finally came to a stop at their dock. Klove led her out. There were more ships here now, and more people, but Klove easily guided them through the crowd, finding opening and taking them. The ship's gangway was open, and Cass suddenly felt really shy again, wondering if Solomon or somebody would come out while she was saying goodbye.
“How much longer are you going to be here?” She asked, then quickly clarified, “I mean, on the Underworld.”
“I don't know. We're probably leaving either tomorrow or Tuesday. If we're not leaving tomorrow, I'll stop by and say hi, assuming you're not totally tired of me.”
“I'm not.” She admitted, and then, just like in all the stories, Klove leaned in and kissed her on the lips. It was very sweet and chaste, and she felt just like a princess waking up after a long sleep. Cass set her arms on his shoulders and kissed back.
Somebody cleared their throat, and Cass and Klove quickly broke apart. Solomon was standing on the gangway, and Mags was beside him, covering her smile with one hand. Cass went pink and took her bag from Klove. “I'll um. I'll message you.”
“Me too. Night Cass.” He said, taking a step back. His eyes flicked to Solomon, going dark for a moment, but when they came back to Cass, they were as kind as ever. Klove smiled at her, and then headed back to the elevator. She watched him go, holding onto her bag and feeling... she wasn't really sure what it was. But it made her want to chase after him again and kiss him in the elevator.
Instead, she headed up the gangway, quickly headed by Solomon and Mags and going straight for her room. She thought she heard Solomon say something and Mags laugh softly, but she kept on moving, ignoring how she was red as a beet.
Once inside her room, she set her bag down and kicked off her boots, flopping on the bed. Her head touched the pillow, and then three seconds later, she was sound asleep and smiling.
The people here wore leather and what looked like battle armour. They had piercings and scars and tattoos they didn't bother to hide. Some of them smelled awful, like they hadn't showered in weeks, and some looked like they'd forgotten scissors and nail clippers existed. Others were well-dressed, but it was a different sort of well dressed from the type Cass was used to.
Klove stayed close to her, his shoulder brushing up against hers as they made their way down the packed corridors. Nobody really looked at either of them, keeping their eyes on more interesting things. A few times, Klove had caught hold of her and they'd ducked off into a shop or restaurant. She caught a glimpse of the people passing. Most of them were huge, tall and menacing, but a few were smaller women too, and it took her a while to realize that they were bounty hunters.
That scared her for a bit, but then Klove started talking about his home on Glacies, where he and his captain lived when they didn't have any jobs, and she forgot her fear. The idea of being surrounded by snow all the time was fantastic, but... “Don't you get cold?”
“I'm used to the cold.” Klove picked up a necklace from a display case, “What do you think?”
“It's nice. But gold isn't really your colour...” She glanced at the settings, “What about silver?”
“I'm allergic to it.” Klove handed the necklace back to the saleslady (who wasn't like any saleslady Cass had ever seen, covered in dozens of piercings and with bright green hair).
Cass picked up one piece, turning the polished flat stone over in her hands. She didn't have the money to buy anything, but it was fun to just look. “I'm not allergic to anything.”
“Yeah, well, you're lucky.” Klove leaned on the counter and smiled at her, and she couldn't stop herself from smiling back.
--
The food arrived in plastic bowls. They were scored and scratched, and a sort of weird orange colour that Cass hadn't actually ever seen before. She was more transfixed by the bowls than by the food, which was some sort of soup thing.
When she finally managed to look away, Klove was grinning at her. Cass fixed him with a look, “You're not supposed to microwave plastic.”
“Yeah, but you really can't microwave metal, and if they handed out wooden bowls, the customers would steal them, and you have to pay a deposit fee in order to use the glass bowls.” Klove said inbetween a mouthful.
Cass glanced around. Everybody else was eating out of plastic too. It was so different from home. She'd never eaten in a room with more than twenty people, and there had to be at least sixty people scattered around metal tables, eating and laughing and fighting.
“Do you get used to the people?” She asked Klove. “At my house... it was just me and my dad... and maybe some servants. But now, there's always somebody around... the only place I can go to be alone is my room.”
Klove laughed a little, “You have your own room? Lucky. We've got bunks on the Queen, and I've only got this curtain for privacy.”
“No, really?” Cass couldn't stop the look of horror on her face. If she had to live in bunks...
He laughed again, “Really. It's not that bad. You get used to it. I've got my own room on Glacies, and sometimes after we've been in space for three or four months, I won't be able to get to sleep in a real bed. You get so used to tuning out everybody else's noise, and then it's not there and... you notice the lack.”
Cass tried to imagine it, sleeping in a bunk and getting used to the sounds of other people. Tried to think about taking off her limbs while other people were sleeping a few feet away from her. “I couldn't do it.”
“People can do anything.” Klove told her, sounding more earnest than she thought he meant to. “They just have to put their mind to it.” Then his brain caught up with his mouth and he glanced down at his meal, “So uh... do you like it?”
Cass scooped up a dumpling with her spoon and took a bite. It wasn't like anything the cook had ever made, but after a few weeks of eating cooking by people who didn't really know what they were doing in the kitchen, it was amazing. “'sgood!” She managed and covered her mouth with her free hand before she could accidentally spit on Klove.
“Good.” Klove grinned, and they stopped talking and just ate.
--
There was a zoo onboard. Cass still couldn't really wrap her head around that. A zoo, on a space station.
But it really was a zoo, sorta. Whoever worked here had tried their best to spruce up the place. The walls inside the cages were painted, and there was astroturf on the ground, and a tape was playing jungle noises. The animals didn't seem too convinced, but they'd clearly gotten used to it.
A large lion-thing with big fangs and pure white fur growled at her and Klove and a chill went up her spine. Beside him, a green lizard with bluish scales on the top of his head looked over and hissed at the lion-thing. And so it went down the rest of the way, deadly animals and soft animals, all sorts of things.
The guy at the front gate was named Earl and he was even shorter than Cass was, which was really surprising since he worked with such big animals. But he'd given them tickets and reminded them that if they got an arm pulled off, it was their own fault for sticking it in the cage and sent them on their way.
Cass wasn't sure what she wanted to look at first. Mostly everything, really. She stayed close to Klove. Just because she was made of metal didn't mean that strange animals didn't scare the crap out of her.
It was as they rounded the corner that she spotted the goats. They were adorable things, with big floppy ears and tiny horns, and beards. Cass wandered close to the cage and they came forward, all bleating loudly and trying to eat her fingertips and hoodie. She kept them from getting a good grip since she didn't have that many sweaters, and she'd just redid her arms a week and a half ago.
Klove stayed back from the cage, like he had with all of them, “Are you allergic to animals too?” She asked.
He shifted uncomfortably, “Not... exactly. It's just not a good idea for me to go near them, they'll get upset.”
“What? No, they won't! Look, they're letting me near!” Cass stood up and walked back over to Klove, impulsively grabbing his hand, “I'll protect you.”
Klove laughed a little, but shook his head again, “It's not me. It's them. It'll just get them upset.”
“Why?”
He hesitated, and said in a rush, “Because I'm a werecougar.”
Cass paused. She wasn't completely sure she'd heard him right, so she repeated it, waiting for him to say something else. “You're... a werecougar.”
“Yeeeah....” No, she'd gotten it right. Klove stood rather awkwardly, clearly expecting her to run off. “I turn into a cougar. But not all the time. I'm mostly human.”
“Oh.” Cass looked at him, really looked at him, but couldn't see the difference. He still looked like a normal and cute human boy to her.
He dropped her hand, “It's okay if you're creeped out.” Klove told her, “I'm not going to get all crazy and spazz on you. If you're not cool, I can-”
“I have prosthetics.” The words just popped out of her mouth. She wasn't going to tell him, she wasn't going to tell anybody, but then... she did. “Plural. As in... my legs and my arms aren't real...”
“Really?” Klove looked surprised and a little shocked, and then it changed into something different, like he'd just solved a puzzle. “So that's why you smell like an engine.”
Cass frowned a little. “I do not.”
“You do, but it's nice.” Klove held out his hand, and Cass let him take hers, rubbing his thumb over the back of her hand, “The skin too?”
“It's a specialized polymer.” His other hand came up and touched the side of her neck, and she shivered a little. “I grow it and apply it, and then it becomes just like real skin...”
“The texture's just a little different.” Klove said, marvelling at her. When he withdrew his hands, her neck felt a little cold, and she wished he would put it back. “That's really cool. Can you sense things with your hands?”
“Yeah... the sensors are really good.” She reached out and touched his hair. “I thought it would feel different...”
“Not while I'm human.” He paused, and then his eyes... changed. Just for a few seconds, but for those few seconds, they were gold, and the pupils shrunk down to points. It nearly took her breath away. “I'll show you another time, but the animals are upset enough without me changing.”
“Oh, right.” Cass glanced back at the pens, “Maybe we can go somewhere else?”
“I know a few more good places.” He offered his hand again and she took it, heart skipping a beat.
--
This was more people than she'd ever seen in her life, even in Antheia's spaceport. The room was huge, and there were people everywhere, crammed together on the floor or sitting up on the sides of the room, on the remains of what had once been spacecrafts before they'd been hollowed out and permanently welded into the 'stadium'.
Klove had gotten them a spot about halfway up, just before the crowd really got packed together. From here, they could see the band, and hear the music, but they weren't getting dragging to the mosh pits that kept forming. It wasn't even the sort of music that Cass would think people would want to jump around to, but as Klove had whispered in her ear, people took any excuse they could to punch each other.
He had his arms on her waist and he kept tucking his head over her shoulder to talk. Klove was so warm, like he was running a fever, even though she knew he wasn't. She'd never had a boy put his arms around her before, and she liked it. It was nice and warm, and maybe it was moving a bit too fast, but she found she couldn't really care.
The air was hazy with smoke. It smelt kinda funny, and stung her eyes a little, but it made her feel really good too. Kinda loose, like maybe all her circuits weren't quite lined up. She didn't want to walk, just in case it turned out they were out of wack, so she just let Klove lean against her back and let him talk.
The woman singing on stage was beautiful. Her hair was piled up on top of her head in a wrap, and she swayed from side to side as she sung. The other singer, the man, had thick dreds that reached down to his back, and he played a guitar, pausing to smoke from a cigarette being passed around between the band.
“What's this called again?” Cass turned her head, speaking into Klove's ear.
“Neo-Reggae!” He shouted over the music, “It's a whole revival thing!”
On stage, the woman and man sang together, “Jah loves his children! Jah loves his childreeeen!” while the audience joined in, wailing off-key.
Cass couldn't help but smile, feeling like she was made of cotton-candy and clouds instead of steel. If Klove let go of her, she was going to just float away, right up to the very top of the ceiling, and she would stay there. And they'd have to get poles to pull her down.
“You won't let go? Right?” She asked, feeling a little panicked.
“Not unless you ask me too.” He squeezed her tighter for emphasis, and Cass relaxed again.
--
It had been a long day, and Cass was tired. The batter on her padd was nearly dead from being used all day to send messages to Solomon, checking in every hour (or something a little late with an apology for not noticing because there weren't any clocks around). She still felt a little not-like-herself, loose-limbed and a little giddier than was okay.
Klove had one arm around her shoulder, carrying their few purchases in his other hand. He'd insisted on buying her another change of clothes when he heard about what happened on Antheia, claiming that he was just looking out for his own self-interests since he liked girls who changed their clothes more than once a week. She's punched him, and didn't hold back that much, and he'd winced and said “ow!” in the most adorably offended voice, and she'd gotten the giggles again, only even worse than before.
“I've never been on a date before.” She told him as they made their way back to the ship, taking an elevator that was built out of some old ship. You could see the belt running through the ship's hull, streaming in and out as it was lifted up. “It was a lot of fun.”
“I've been on a few, but I liked this one the best.” Klove smiled a little. “But you can't trust me. I might just be buttering you up so I get a good night kiss.”
“Now that you've told me your devious plan, maybe I don't feel like giving you one anymore.” Cass looked up at him, and Klove immediately got an 'I'm an idiot' look on his face. It was adorable, and she couldn't help laughing.
The elevator finally came to a stop at their dock. Klove led her out. There were more ships here now, and more people, but Klove easily guided them through the crowd, finding opening and taking them. The ship's gangway was open, and Cass suddenly felt really shy again, wondering if Solomon or somebody would come out while she was saying goodbye.
“How much longer are you going to be here?” She asked, then quickly clarified, “I mean, on the Underworld.”
“I don't know. We're probably leaving either tomorrow or Tuesday. If we're not leaving tomorrow, I'll stop by and say hi, assuming you're not totally tired of me.”
“I'm not.” She admitted, and then, just like in all the stories, Klove leaned in and kissed her on the lips. It was very sweet and chaste, and she felt just like a princess waking up after a long sleep. Cass set her arms on his shoulders and kissed back.
Somebody cleared their throat, and Cass and Klove quickly broke apart. Solomon was standing on the gangway, and Mags was beside him, covering her smile with one hand. Cass went pink and took her bag from Klove. “I'll um. I'll message you.”
“Me too. Night Cass.” He said, taking a step back. His eyes flicked to Solomon, going dark for a moment, but when they came back to Cass, they were as kind as ever. Klove smiled at her, and then headed back to the elevator. She watched him go, holding onto her bag and feeling... she wasn't really sure what it was. But it made her want to chase after him again and kiss him in the elevator.
Instead, she headed up the gangway, quickly headed by Solomon and Mags and going straight for her room. She thought she heard Solomon say something and Mags laugh softly, but she kept on moving, ignoring how she was red as a beet.
Once inside her room, she set her bag down and kicked off her boots, flopping on the bed. Her head touched the pillow, and then three seconds later, she was sound asleep and smiling.
