While we were on our way, I needed to talk to my compatriot. A lot had happened, and I was quite sure he’d heard about it, by now. My feet rang off of the deck plating of the Corsair as I walked back to the Engineering Station. As I thought, there stood Rhys. He looked neutral. He never looked neutral unless he was holding something in. Normally he was jovial, funny, smiling, and generally just a clown. Right now, he seemed more like a mime.
“Heard from Greg, today. Heard you and him had quite the little adventure. Only one problem, GrimmGod, when were you gonna tell me,” he asked, with hurt evident in his voice. I’d not told him, as he’d have wanted to tag along. He was, technically, my bodyguard. It would have been his responsibility to tag along or stop me from doing this hair-brained scheme, altogether. He shook his head, “How am I supposed to keep you safe, Alexis?”
I groaned loudly, and clawed at my drying hair, “I get it, okay! I made a decision. It wasn’t like I was excluding you because I wanted to. I didn’t have a way to bring you along. Besides, I don’t think it would have been as easy to hide with you in my ear. You have a tendency to make me laugh on ops.” I wasn’t lying, in this case. It had been the majority of the reason I didn’t bring him along. He made everything a joke. It would have made blending in completely impossible. He was the funniest person in the room, generally. Though, he was also the person with the biggest heart. I was just a weird drunk. The universe is filled with weird, mean, angry drunks. Kind, funny and happy people? That’s a rarity.
He sighed, looking a little less hurt, then a small smirk broke along his lips, “I mean, you gotta admit, that guy looked like he’d kissed the end of a live power converter. Where did you find that corpse?” He was changing the subject. That usually meant all was forgiven. Though I’m sure I’d hear about it six months from now, when we were in some stressful situation. He was petty like that. He never forgot when I made him mad. He would just hold it over my head later. He was a lot like my Dad that way.
I snickered. I wanted to be angry at him, but I couldn’t be. Honestly, because I would be in the wrong. I probably should’ve told him. Rhys was one of the few among us without a Crime Stat. We tend to treat them a little differently. He didn’t do ‘illegal’ things for the fuck of it. He only worked with stolen goods. It was a completely different thing. I’d only seen Rhys shoot someone twice. Usually, I was the trigger happy one. I smiled in response, my voice ringing forth thick with laughter, “He was a really, really bad surprise date.”
He smiled and shook his head, “Surprise date? I thought someone cursed you. You dated that?” His eyes were already twinkling with the implied jokes I’d just unwittingly given him. He was suddenly very intently focused on his Engineering readouts. His lips grimacing with unexpressed mirth. The corners of his eyes were even starting to scrunch up. Oh, I was never going to live this down.
“Not by choice. I should probably get back to the cockpit,” I said, trying very hard to change the subject. I even turned away and started walking. I was hoping to deter Rhys from making any off-hand remarks. I was quite fast when I wanted to be. I reached the door to the Hab deck, the door automatically sliding open. That had been music to my ears. When the power failed, the automatic doors had stopped functioning. I paused, waiting for the door to finish opening.
In the moment it took for the door to open, Rhys had already worn out his ability to resist, “Did he really have a mullet?” He was snickering. Had I known this would tickle him that much, I would have taken a few images to mark the occasion. He was peeking around the side of the Component Housing in the middle of the Engineering Bay. He looked like he was about ready to rip at the seams with laughter.
“Yes. He really had a mullet. Best part, his name was Jenz,” I said. My face attempted to hide my own mirth at the incident. The man had been more than stupid. Most people that tried to harm me, at least gave me a challenge. He hadn’t even been a small one. He’d been a small hiccup in the road to my escape. An inconvenience, nothing more. I did have to wonder how he was faring right now.
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