New Kids on the Dock

Posted on Sat Nov 14th, 2020 @ 12:45pm by Alden Loxley & Tristan & Daiyu

Mission: Just A Short Hop to Priam
Location: Priam - Docks/Town
Timeline: Day 17 - Morning

It felt odd, leaving Fortune's Echo even briefly in the hands of James and Niamh, but he wouldn't be gone long, Alden told himself, and even if James wanted to, he couldn't fly her. Not without the codes and the controller that was currently sitting in the older Ezran's backpack. It was terrible not to be able to trust family, but this was apparently just how this week was gonna be. At least the cargo was sold and a little profit had been made.

He'd virtually dragged Tristan from his bunk on the promise of breakfast, and Daiyu'd kept close by, under Alden's constant attention and another promise. This time for better lights, some basic growing gear and some useful plants. It all sounded a bit pie in the sky right now, but for mushrooms and fresh veggies and the optimistic hope of future strawberries, Alden was willing to risk some of his own money. They'd ordered the gear, and they'd pick it up on the way back around with the mule.

Right now, in the pale sunlight of a Priam morning, he stood outside a clothing store eating freshly baked waffle, while Daiyu looked at coats in the shop windows.

Daiyu hummed a haunting melody whose words she kept hidden behind her sealed lips. Her hips and shoulders moved in cadence to the rhythm.

"Anything you need while we're shopping?" Alden asked Tristan, kinda hoping the boy said no, but willing to at least even the score between the two (as far as he knew) financially destitute newbies to his ship.

Tristan shrugged, his fingers touching a dark black cloak. He pulled his maroon hoodie closer around himself as he stepped back. “Not really,” he said, wishing he could be back in his cabin. The fresh air was nice, but the bright sunlight was accusing and overbearing for the young man’s gnawing guilt. “Are we going to be out long?” he asked, touch a pair of skinny black jeans before moving to the next rack.

"Hour or so," Alden answered. He smiled at the awkward teen behaviour. "Okay, so nothing you need. Anything you want?"

Tristan shrugged again before walking to another area.

"And a rose tattoo and a rose tattoo," Daiyu sang with a soft lilt, "I've got your name written here in a rose tattoo..."

Without missing a beat, Alden picked up the lyrics for a chorus, his voice strong and his expression contented. "This one means the most to me, stays here for eternity, a ship that always stays the course, an anchor for my every choice." He looked to Daiyu with a mixture of pride and curiosity.

Daiyu slowly turned her head and gazed on Alden with a mixture of confusion and wonder. "Where did you hear that?"

"Out on the New Canaan Run," the Echo's Captain answered, remembering its origin well. "Dude on the crew of the ship I was flying used to sing it when he was nervous about something." Alden smiled, wryly. "And damn, out there, he was nervous a great deal of the time."

"Where did he hear it?" Daiyu asked without missing a beat. "I used to sing it while tending the Monastery gardens. Not sure where I learned it... but it always made me feel good but I could tell it always made others uncomfortable."

Tristan gave Alden a look, eyebrow raised. “Does she always do this?” he asked, whispering to the older man.

"Always do what?" Alden spoke softly back.

The young man just shrugged and shook his head. It wasn't worth going into.

With a thoughtful expression caught up in his face, Alden regarded Daiyu for a moment. "I'm not sure where he heard it," he admitted. "I'll ask him next time we talk, alright? Maybe send him a wave, if'n it matters that much to you." He pointed to the store and gestured with a flourish. "Did you find a coat you like, yet?"

"I don't know..." Daiyu's eyes swept along the selection in the storefront window. All three of them. Black, Gray, and Blue. Her eyes stared unblinking at them.

"C'mon," decided Alden, ushering the two of them inside the shop. "If you can pick one you like, then I can go send that wave. And Tristan, if you need something shout up - now or never - then I have some business to do."

"Two by two, hands of blue..." Daiyu muttered. "Two by two, hands of blue..." Without further warning, she turned around and sprinted away.

"Da Shiong La Se La Ch'Wohn Tian!" Cursed Alden under his breath as he stepped back into the street. He looked to Tristan first, then gave chase.

Tristan sighed, rolling his eyes and he watched them run off. He took a moment to consider whether he cared enough to give chase but quickly decided he didn't want to be alone.

Surprisingly spry, Daiyu ran up the street, darted down an alley, and ducked through low cover without slowing a bit. A low wall presented itself, but Daiyu juked sideways toward an abandoned crate and kicked off it into a tight backflip that barely cleared the obstruction. She landed into a roll but failed to stick it. Her body flailed across the slick, wet ground into the adjacent wall where she tucked into a ball and cried.

A few minutes passed before Alden and Tristan finally ran up, hopping over the wall as best as they could.

"Everything ok?" Tristan asked, trying not to get too close to Daiyu's lumpy form.

Alden exhaled and regarded the little sobbing heap of young woman for a moment as he caught his breath back. "You got some moves, kiddo," he noted out loud, ignoring the tears for now. "But, you fumbled that landing."

"Not the blue one," Daiyu simpered. "Not the blue one..."

"Blue what?" Asked Alden, getting more confused by the minute.

"I don't want it," Daiyu said. "Don't make me!" She pushed herself up and gingerly brushed the grime from the alleyway off her body. "Maybe I don't need a coat after all..."

"Oh," Alden nodded as if he understood exactly what was going on here. "I get it." He confirmed. "Mei Mei, we'll get you the red coat," he paused. "Or the green one." Stay away from blue and brown, he figured. Sorted. "C'mon," he reached out a hand, then nudged his head back in the direction of the shops. "It's gonna be cold where we're going."

Not speaking, only nodding, Daiyu let Alden help her up and guide them back to the market.

Tristan picked a few leaves out of Daiyu's hair as she stood up. "Green is a nice color," he said, not really sure what to do or say, but tried to follow Alden's lead.

"Green," Alden agreed. "Like the seedlings we're going to pick up to grow on the ship, right Daiyu? You're gonna help us grow some veggies out there in the boondocks of the Verse." His botanical knowledge was seriously lacking, but Alden's hopes were high for this venture into shipboard farming. His tone was certain, confident in his dreams even if the two younger folk were less so. "Let's get your coat so we can go pick up the gear, then Tristan and I will help you set it up, k, kiddo?"

Daiyu nodded again, this time more settled and demure. "Greens grow easier," she said.

---

Half an hour later, green coat safely purchased along with that pair of jeans Tristan had been interested in, the trio were outside an entirely different business premises now, loading up the Mule.

"Only two more to go," Alden said to Tristan, as they carried the boxes containing the lights from A to B while Daiyu took care of the seedlings.

Tristan groaned. He didn't mind helping out around the ship, in fact he quite enjoyed feeling like he belonged. But manual labor was hardly what he expected. Lifting and carrying boxes was outside of his comfort zone and he had no issue reminding Alden of exactly how little he enjoyed this.

"Are you sad?" Daiyu asked Tristan. She had quickly stacked and secured the implements Alden had purchased for her, bags, seedlings, and all. Now she sat at the back of the Mule with her feet dangling merrily over the edge. Her inquiry was almost childlike, except for the cunning quality buried deep in her dark eyes.

"He's lazy," Alden answered for the kid, a lopsided grin accompanying his words. "Not used to hard work wherever he comes from," he added, as he cast his gaze from their crazy botanist to their close-lipped stowaway.

"I'm not lazy!" Tristan said, complaining as he grabbed the last box and piled it onto the Mule. I can dislike manual labor without it being lazy. It's just...not a skill I enjoy."

"Is it true that your best skill is masturbation?" Daiyu asked. "I overheard someone say so in the ship's galley..."

Tristan looked at the woman with a look of disgust. "Who said that?" he asked with genuine concern.

Daiyu just shrugged and stared at him unblinkingly.

"You're weird," Tristan just said.

"Because I don't masturbate as well as you?" Daiyu sounded genuinely confused.

Tristan frowned at the woman. "It's inappropriate to talk about such private things in public."

"You miss the man," Daiyu said vacantly, a faraway look having overtaken her eyes. "The one called Jacob. His scent is gone from you, so now you masturbate every night until the tears stop." She paused for a moment as if connecting thoughts. "Fornicating is supposedly wrong, but the lay brothers did it often." Her tone and cadence ticked up a bit in excitement as if she was working through a mysterious riddle. "Father Johns says the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. Do all men have weak flesh? Would that mean women have strong flesh? Maybe that's why Alison keeps fornicating with other women."

He let them trade words for a while, leant against the Mule with an amused expression on his face as Daiyu spoke some potential truths and addressed the concerns everyone had with regards to Tristan. Alden didn't interrupt either of them until Daiyu began to throw out questions, at which point he shook his head and frowned.

"Fornicating isn't wrong," Alden said, his tone even. "Providing everyone involved consents to the act. And no," he added, a little more stern now in expression and voice. "Men aren't all weak when it comes to sex, and women aren't all strong. Both genders can take advantage of the other, in different ways. For love, for hate or just because they simply don't care."

At first it seemed Daiyu was deeply pondering Alden's words. And, perhaps, she was for a moment. A haunting melody of rising and falling notes began to hum through her lips, though, that grew in volume until she finally added lyrics.

"Love of two is one...
Here, but now they're gone...
Came the last night of sadness
And it was clear she couldn't go on.
The door was open and the wind appeared...
The candles blew and then disappeared...
The curtains flew and then he appeared."

Alden checked the cargo was tied and secured as Daiyu's music began to find words, but he stopped then, stood next to the driver's seat, and looked back at her. Old music. Music he knew from those long trips out into the Black with his father. He held out his hand to Daiyu as she sat there up on the Mule's rear.

"Don't be afraid," Alden said. There was long pause, a subtle smile and he looked from Daiyu to Tristan as he added, simply and with confident, self-assurance. "We're all in this together."

Daiyu narrowed her dark eyes. "No, it's just me in here. You two are still standing on the ground." She gave him a suspicious side long look. "Are you suffering heat stroke or something?"

Tristan just looked between the two of them in utter confusion.

"Let's get back to the ship," Alden opted for the easy out here and walked briskly round the side of the Mule to take up the driver's seat. He paused before firing up the engine, waiting for Tristan to climb into the seat beside him and then. "Hold on tight," he instructed them both before turning the key and moving away through the streets in the direction of their waiting Firefly transport.

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