Best Welcome Home Ever

Posted on Mon Apr 5th, 2021 @ 12:12pm by Alden Loxley & Daiyu

Mission: Six Days to Santo
Location: Fortune's Echo - Alden's Cabin
Timeline: Day 24 - Just after It Ain't My Fault

He didn't correct Daiyu's comment about making him dinner for two reasons - one he hadn't actually eaten anything since yesterday lunchtime, and two, he was just so taken aback that anyone had made him a meal at all, that Alden didn't care to consider which timeframe it was supposed to be attached to.

"C'mon," he told Daiyu once they'd both climbed down the ladder to the captain's cabin. Enthusiastic hunger happily coloured his words. "Take a seat and tell me what you've cooked me up?"

Alden indicated the wall-bench behind the bolted-down desk that doubled as a table when he wanted to eat alone, and he impatiently waited for the young woman to place that enticing, currently covered plate down. "Smells amazing..." he nudged.

"It's shredded jerky with minced herbs, spices, and vegetables from the airponics room," Daiyu said meekly as she unveiled the mash of protein paste with specks of what used to be veggies. "If you close your eyes you can pretend it's some kind of bulgogi. The first batch got overcooked, but this one should be right."

Yup, he was definitely drooling now, stomach protesting the length of time it was taking for the scent of deliciousness to be involved in being digested. Alden regarded the revealed plate of food as if it were the finest banquet on the longest table ever seen, eyes wide, mouth open in anticipation and cheeks flushed.

"I don't want to close my eyes, Bao Bei," he said, honestly, a warm grin flooding his features as he grabbed a spoon from a discarded plate and rubbed it 'clean' on his shirt. "I wanna see every detail." Alden dipped said spoon into the messy mix and savoured the mouthful of real food for a long, eyes-closed-in-happiness moment before commenting. "Jing Tian Dwohn Di, Daiyu, this is Gao Guhn!"

Daiyu's cheeks flushed red as she burrowed her chin down toward her chest. "I'm glad you like it," she managed to say. Her hands twisted together so hard that her arms braided together over her chest. "I... was worried you might not come back." Her voice dropped very low, as did her eyes. "The others said it was my fault..."

Second and third mouthfuls were devoured pretty damn quick, but Alden didn't miss that crimson colour flooding the young woman's face. He managed a couple more spoons of his welcome-home meal before he realised just how small and self-contained Daiyu had become.

"I had my doubts for a moment there too," Alden admitted. "But here I am, so don't worry yourself, okay?" He hung fire on the eating machine for a minute and reached out a hand towards her. "Look up at me, Daiyu," he said, words full of gentle encouragement. "What do you remember?"

Fear. Pain. Blood. Wrath. Daiyu shook her head, lightly at first but it soon turned to flailing.

"No, nononono..." she whimpered.

Then, as abruptly as she began, she said, "I remember James rescued me. I became naked with him afterward." Her voice was soft and distant. "We did not fornicate. He said my parts do not make him giddy."

Alden let her process without physical or verbal interruption, the young woman's ways slowly becoming more familiar to him, though still mostly unfathomable. Her mannerisms shifted and Daiyu spoke actual words then, if with a vagueness to her verbal presence.

"Uh-huh," noted Alden with a casual seriousness. "Yeah, James rescued you," he confirmed, eternally grateful for his cousin's help in that regard. "He got you home safe, right?" He added, automatically referring to Echo as by that H-word before adopting a taken-aback frown.

"You got naked? With James?" Alden smiled a comfortable smile. "Yeah, you're kinda carrying the wrong body parts to get James giddy, lil lady. Don't feel bad, k?"

"I tried to fornicate with a sly man," Daiyu said, head lowered. "I should be ashamed."

"A sly man?" Alden needed clarification on that terminology, but he didn't need any assistance with that sense of shame in his chef of the day. "Daiyu," he said, gently. "Fornication is not something you need to offer to everyone, and whoever made you think that is the one who should be ashamed."

"I don't offer fornication to everyone!" Daiyu yelled in indignation. "I'm not Alison." She looked away in shame at her confession as well as her outburst. "I... I was just... James was so nice to me. Like you. People avoid me... curse me... I guess I was just tempted by desire to be touched... to be held... ravished... penetrated by a man who desired me." She shook her head. "But it was wrong. Sinful. Evil. I should not desire such things." A tear ran down her cheek. "No good man would want me."

Alden bit back the laughter that reaction threatened to bring forth and simply smiled and held up both hands, palms towards Daiyu in surrender. "Sorry, sorry, Bao Bei," he offered. "I meant no offence. We'll leave that to Ali, huh?" Then he listened intently as the young woman offloaded all her current internal conflict.

"Hey, hey," Alden soothed, standing and reaching up to wipe away that tear with the print of a warm thumb. "Ease down a notch okay? It's not sinful to want to be loved, or to desire sex. Look at Jacob, and Kindra, they make an honest living from those needs." He held out his arms and waggled his hands encouragingly. "You wanna hug? Some of us, we're a bit broken when it comes to relationships," he said. "Me included."

"Nobody good wants to fornicate with you either?" Daiyu asked with a look of hopeful confusion. "Only bad people touch you?"

Alden's expression creased up in an obvious reflection of his internal confusion on how to answer that question. His head canted to one side and then the other as he considered his reply - because yes, and also no on both counts - depending on your point of view. His arms lowered to his sides slowly as part of the thought process.

"I've not been looking for anyone to fornicate with for a while," Alden answered, trying to be as honest as possible here. "But I guess you could say I've had some good and bad experiences, with some good and bad people." He rested his hands on Daiyu's shoulders, lightly, and in supportive fashion. "People are complicated," he told her. "But I think you know this already, right?"

When Alden placed his hand on her shoulder, Daiyu resisted the compulsion to bite it. He did not like that last time. "Am I complicated?" she asked at length. "I will uncomplicate myself so that people will not drive me away."

Oblivious as he was to her internal rationale, Alden still appreciated not being bitten. He nodded and smiled at the young woman's question. "Yes, of course," he answered. "We all are. And sometimes it's more about sharing some information and some time so that we can understand each other. It's not all on you to make yourself less complicated. I mean, I don't know where you're from, how old you are... anything at all really."

Daiyu stared at him with wide vacant eyes that searched for truth deep within his. "Neither do I," she whispered at last.

Huh. Well, that was unexpected, thought Alden. But he rallied swiftly enough, voice calm and tone infused with a relaxed warmth.

"Well," he said. "Right now you're from here, same as the rest of us, okay?" Alden smiled. "You're crew. And you know your name, so that's a good place to start. How old do you think you might be? Y'know, if you had to guess?"

Giving an indifferent shrug, Daiyu shook her head. "I don't know. Age is just a number. What I do remember is... people. Trees... glass. So much glass and... and blood and pain." She closed her eyes and clutched the sides of her head. "Why does everybody have to die? I tried to wake them and I couldn't... I... I..."

Her eyes popped open again, bulging with an intensity reserved for an acute stress response. Small hands grasped Alden by his loose clothing. Wordless gusts of hot breath came from her throat. Bodily contortions that were more slithering than embracing wrapped Daiyu around Alden as her small frame began to meld with and explore his large muscular one.

Age was just a number once it wandered above the age of consent, yes, thought Alden, distracted then by the words emanating from the young woman's mouth. He reached out as she closed her eyes, resting his hand at her shoulder again, then attempted to step back as those dark brown eyes met his. "Woa, woooooah!" He said on a long, calmly spoken exhale. "Easy, tiger. Daiyu! Easy. Hugs are okay," Alden chastised firmly, while trying to catch each wandering hand and pry it gently loose from his shirt and trousers. "This ain't hugging..."

Daiyu flicked her tongue at Alden and let out an animalistic hiss that was equal parts demand and invitation.

"No," Alden stated, clearly. "Uh-uh." He rested flat palms against her slight frame, holding her carefully back when the opportunity arose. "Let go, sit down with me and tell me about the people, Mei Mei."

Though her mouth opened and sounds came out, it was not comprehensible speech. Not quite loud enough to be a roar, but still aggressive. She resisted Alden's redirection at first, but once she was firmly set in position, the tension in her body drained away until she was nearly limp.

And then the tears started again.

"It was her again, wasn't it?" Daiyu whimpered, head obscured by the drape of her raven hair. "The woman who attacked the man and bit off his finger. She came back, didn't she?"

Alden rested a long arm about those petite shoulders and gifted Daiyu a supportive hug-squeeze. "Hey, hey, it's okay," he said. It wasn't, obviously, but that seemed like the right thing to say. "There's a lot going on in your head, Bao Bei, ain't all of it bad even if it's somewhat confusing." He didn't wipe away those tears, seeing them as a necessary release, but Alden stayed close and present, sat there alongside the traumatised young woman.

"She's a part of you, I guess," he suggested, his skills in psychology and mental gynmastics nothing to brag about. "She ain't going all the way away. She protected you? When all the people... died?"

"Maybe..." Daiyu shuddered. Killing in self-defense was protecting, right? Hopefully? "I want her to go away. She likes sinful things."

"I'll be here for ya," promised Alden. "And I'll do whatever I can to help you, Daiyu. But," he sighed softly. "I think we might be wanting some professional skills to make Bitey Finger Lady disappear. How'd y'all feel about talking to Niamh? She's helped me plenty over the years, and I trust her," he noted sincerely. "She might be able to help you some."

Daiyu just shrugged. From her brief time with Niamh she had no opinion of her one way or the other.

"Are you done eating?" At least she had done that right. It would be a shame for it to get cold because... "I can leave if it not pleases you."

Alden noted the shrug and was about to say something kind when Daiyu beat him to it with a far more important matter in that moment. Food.

"No!" He said, defensively, retreating back to protectively grab his not quite empty plate of dinner. "No, I'm not done!" There was no anger in that tone, but the words were mixed with a genuine concern that said grub might be removed in haste. "This is the best damn food I've had in a long time, I ain't planning on letting it get any colder. It most definitely pleases me and my belly a great deal," Alden added with a sincere enthusiasm. The spoon was already back in his hand.

"I'll just finish this up," he added, around hastily consumed mouthfuls of the deliciousness. "And then we'll go the galley and I'll wash this up, okay?" More food was devoured until there was sadly no more to consume.

Alden looked to the fragile-looking little spitfire of a survivor before him and beamed that big dumb grin one more time.

"Thank you," he said. "Been a long time since anyone went to that much effort to cook for me. Now, c'mon," he announced, standing up and offering his hand for her to take. "Let me wash this up, and we'll go see what you and I can both eat for dessert."

----------

OOC: Bao Bei (Precious, darling, sweetheart, treasure), Jing Tian Dwohn Di (startle the sky and shake the earth), Gao Guhn (awesome)