FTL - Kerri + Sol's meeting
Sep. 22nd, 2019 07:33 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lady_mabFrom Anon on CuriousCat: "Kerri and Sol's first meeting?"
Admittedly Dora and I haven't talked about this much at all, but since the very beginning, I have always imagined that Kerri spots Sol across the hangar and gives her a wink and a wave.
Kerri has perfected the skill of looking like she's paying attention when someone is talking to her, and she even does retain a bit of the information, but the chatter and the useless anecdotes she is an expert at tuning out.
Especially when it's men talking.
She smiles and nods along and makes the right sounds of understanding when required of her, but otherwise, this guy's voice goes in one ear and out the other. He clearly doesn't know what he's talking about when it comes to the ship systems -- only wants to impress a new, pretty face, is her bet.
Across the hangar, there's two women talking -- which wouldn't mean much, except one of them is looking right at her. Kerri vaguely recognizes the other -- Max or something, who helped dock her ship when she arrived earlier that week, and seemed to be in charge of the maintenance crew.
The other woman stares with a frank intensity, and doesn't seem at all chagrined when Kerri meets her eye.
So, she winks and gives a little waggle of her fingers -- delighted to see that this at least gets the woman to start in surprise.
"You get all that, Miss Kestrel?" the guy says, and Kerri turns her attention back to him, smile still in place.
"Of course. I'll ask if I have any questions. Now -- can you introduce me to whoever would be best qualified to get me working on the air system? It could definitely use a touch up."
----
Over the course of the next two weeks, Kerri sees the woman twice more on the ship. Once again with Max, in the docking bay by the hull of a small one-person ship that looks like it has seen better day.
Once, in the company of Kuiper, who Kerri immediately put on her radar when they met after she first arrived on the station.
Kerri tolerates Max, likes her better than most people on this station -- she's clever, blunt, and let's Kerri do her damn job.
Kerri does not trust Kuiper, but people in positions of power shortly after a coup are never that reliable.
In the end, Kerri doesn't ask Max the name of the woman, because Kerri has only seen her three times and from great distances and describing someone as "tall, surly, and kind of hot" might not help. Not that there are many other people that Kerri fits into that description currently on the station, but she doesn't know Max's preferences. It could describe any number of people or none at all -- and either way it would put her in a position that Max would know more about her than she's willing to let on.
----
There's a spot in the station that Kerri has found where she can take a moment to breathe. It's a small observation deck that she found while tracing a problem in the line from a pump to the filtration system. It's quiet, out of the way, and most importantly, never occupied.
Three weeks in, and this might have been a harder challenge than she first thought. A challenge, to be sure, but she's not prepared to write it off as a loss just yet.
Kerri tugs her hair out of the bun she keeps it in while working, combing her fingers through it with a sigh as she turns the corner into the deck -- and immediately freezes when she notices that there is another person sitting on the floor.
It's the woman from before -- the one she winked at -- tall, surly, and kind of hot.
Several responses run through Kerri's brain as the woman turns to look at her, just as startled to see someone in this spot as Kerri is.
She could flirt her way out of this, but she's not in the mood and there's something on the woman's face that says she isn't in the mood either. She could be abrasive, but to be honest, don't need to push everyone away immediately.
So Kerri settles on polite, and a practiced smile of embarrassment takes over. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to intrude. I didn't think anyone else would be here."
"It's fine," the woman says, her voice slow and resigned. "There's enough space here."
Kerri isn't too sure what to make of that response, so instead she turns towards the window -- which looks out into the literal emptiness of space -- and says, "Well, you're not wrong, but I'd advise on a suit if you're going out."
There's a beat, and then the woman on the floor snorts in amusement and shakes her head. "You know what I meant."
"Is that an invitation for me to join you?"
The woman waves a hand to indicate the stretch of wall around her, which while it isn't all that big, still would fit two and give each of them their own space.
Kerri hesitates before dropping down primly on a spot a few feet away. Then she closes her eyes and tilts her head back against the wall, content enough to sit in silence.
A minute passes, then two. Then the woman asks, "You're new on the station, aren't you?"
"Three weeks. What gave it away?"
"Your hair is too nice."
Kerri laughs, the sound startled out of her, and she covers her mouth with the back of one hand. "The day my hair doesn't look nice is the day I will die, thank you -- and even in death, I expect it to be fabulous."
"Give it another two weeks on the Bastard, and then we'll talk."
She looks over at the woman with a grin. "Oh? Then it's a date."
The woman lifts a brow. "Don't even know my name and you're already asking me out on a date?"
Kerri responds with a flutter of her eyelashes, which earns her another snort of amusement. "Well, in my defense, you started it."
She considers this, then holds out a hand -- leaning across the space between them. "I'm Sol."
"Kerri," she says, and returns the gesture. "A pleasure to meet you."
Admittedly Dora and I haven't talked about this much at all, but since the very beginning, I have always imagined that Kerri spots Sol across the hangar and gives her a wink and a wave.
Kerri has perfected the skill of looking like she's paying attention when someone is talking to her, and she even does retain a bit of the information, but the chatter and the useless anecdotes she is an expert at tuning out.
Especially when it's men talking.
She smiles and nods along and makes the right sounds of understanding when required of her, but otherwise, this guy's voice goes in one ear and out the other. He clearly doesn't know what he's talking about when it comes to the ship systems -- only wants to impress a new, pretty face, is her bet.
Across the hangar, there's two women talking -- which wouldn't mean much, except one of them is looking right at her. Kerri vaguely recognizes the other -- Max or something, who helped dock her ship when she arrived earlier that week, and seemed to be in charge of the maintenance crew.
The other woman stares with a frank intensity, and doesn't seem at all chagrined when Kerri meets her eye.
So, she winks and gives a little waggle of her fingers -- delighted to see that this at least gets the woman to start in surprise.
"You get all that, Miss Kestrel?" the guy says, and Kerri turns her attention back to him, smile still in place.
"Of course. I'll ask if I have any questions. Now -- can you introduce me to whoever would be best qualified to get me working on the air system? It could definitely use a touch up."
----
Over the course of the next two weeks, Kerri sees the woman twice more on the ship. Once again with Max, in the docking bay by the hull of a small one-person ship that looks like it has seen better day.
Once, in the company of Kuiper, who Kerri immediately put on her radar when they met after she first arrived on the station.
Kerri tolerates Max, likes her better than most people on this station -- she's clever, blunt, and let's Kerri do her damn job.
Kerri does not trust Kuiper, but people in positions of power shortly after a coup are never that reliable.
In the end, Kerri doesn't ask Max the name of the woman, because Kerri has only seen her three times and from great distances and describing someone as "tall, surly, and kind of hot" might not help. Not that there are many other people that Kerri fits into that description currently on the station, but she doesn't know Max's preferences. It could describe any number of people or none at all -- and either way it would put her in a position that Max would know more about her than she's willing to let on.
----
There's a spot in the station that Kerri has found where she can take a moment to breathe. It's a small observation deck that she found while tracing a problem in the line from a pump to the filtration system. It's quiet, out of the way, and most importantly, never occupied.
Three weeks in, and this might have been a harder challenge than she first thought. A challenge, to be sure, but she's not prepared to write it off as a loss just yet.
Kerri tugs her hair out of the bun she keeps it in while working, combing her fingers through it with a sigh as she turns the corner into the deck -- and immediately freezes when she notices that there is another person sitting on the floor.
It's the woman from before -- the one she winked at -- tall, surly, and kind of hot.
Several responses run through Kerri's brain as the woman turns to look at her, just as startled to see someone in this spot as Kerri is.
She could flirt her way out of this, but she's not in the mood and there's something on the woman's face that says she isn't in the mood either. She could be abrasive, but to be honest, don't need to push everyone away immediately.
So Kerri settles on polite, and a practiced smile of embarrassment takes over. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to intrude. I didn't think anyone else would be here."
"It's fine," the woman says, her voice slow and resigned. "There's enough space here."
Kerri isn't too sure what to make of that response, so instead she turns towards the window -- which looks out into the literal emptiness of space -- and says, "Well, you're not wrong, but I'd advise on a suit if you're going out."
There's a beat, and then the woman on the floor snorts in amusement and shakes her head. "You know what I meant."
"Is that an invitation for me to join you?"
The woman waves a hand to indicate the stretch of wall around her, which while it isn't all that big, still would fit two and give each of them their own space.
Kerri hesitates before dropping down primly on a spot a few feet away. Then she closes her eyes and tilts her head back against the wall, content enough to sit in silence.
A minute passes, then two. Then the woman asks, "You're new on the station, aren't you?"
"Three weeks. What gave it away?"
"Your hair is too nice."
Kerri laughs, the sound startled out of her, and she covers her mouth with the back of one hand. "The day my hair doesn't look nice is the day I will die, thank you -- and even in death, I expect it to be fabulous."
"Give it another two weeks on the Bastard, and then we'll talk."
She looks over at the woman with a grin. "Oh? Then it's a date."
The woman lifts a brow. "Don't even know my name and you're already asking me out on a date?"
Kerri responds with a flutter of her eyelashes, which earns her another snort of amusement. "Well, in my defense, you started it."
She considers this, then holds out a hand -- leaning across the space between them. "I'm Sol."
"Kerri," she says, and returns the gesture. "A pleasure to meet you."
