02. video / open

[landfall]

[ Here, Barge, have Racetrack who has just woken up from being a Navy sailor and fighting pirates and seriously what the frak. ]

I am so confused.

[ Help. :c ]

Comments

[deshabille]

[A smirk.]

Well. Given the terrible homemade stills I left behind, I'll take this.

[landfall]

Me too. I think my taste buds are getting a workout for the first time in four years.

[deshabille]

Very serious about your hangovers?

[landfall]

Gotta be. I don't hangover easily. This body is a fine-toned piece of equipment.

[deshabille]

Mm.

[She can see that.]

I don't think I ever caught your name, in the melee.

[Extends her hand.]

I'm Mal.

[landfall]

[ gods damn it she wasn't even trying to flirt that time but everything that comes out of her mouth is flirty somehow what is happening.

She takes the hand. ]

Racetrack.

Um, Margaret Edmondson. Racetrack's the callsign.

[deshabille]

[She considers both of these options.]

Which do you want me to call you?

[landfall]

Racetrack. [ It's going to take a while to get used to not being a pilot. ] For now. [ It's a comfort thing for her, not a distancing of Mal. She hopes that's not too unclear.

Wait, why does she hope that? What does she care? ]

It's what people normally call me, anyway.

[deshabille]

[It's perfectly clear. Besides, she's used enough to odd names, given the company she's kept in the past. Her smile is thin, approving. She drinks now.]

Racetrack, then.

. . . I like it. Better than others I've heard. Why that?

[landfall]

In training, I had a rep for pushing the birds as fast as they'd go.

[ And there were other reasons. She-is-not-blushing-oh-no. ]

[deshabille]

[This time her smirk's molasses-slow.]

I'd like to think I've gained that reputation, too, but no one's been brave enough to give me a nickname.

[landfall]

Everyone gets a nickname. It's your callsign. It has to be unique, over the wireless.

[deshabille]

Wireless.

[She speaks slowly, the word foreign in her mouth.]

I see. So there's no confusion.

We were fewer, I think. Less need for that. And no wireless.

[landfall]

And, with crossbows, you probably weren't in space.

[deshabille]

Not even close. Landlocked, in fact.

[landfall]

You know what space is, though, right?

[deshabille]

Given that we're in it - yes, I'm learning.

Conversely, do you know how to work a crossbow? Have you ever fought with a sword? Can you build a fire?

[landfall]

Fire, yes, sword no unless a knife counts, and not a clue, with the crossbow.

[deshabille]

It doesn't count.

You should probably learn. [She looks annoyed for a moment.] I wish I'd kept knowledge of how to shoot.

[landfall]

That's easy. I can teach you that.

[deshabille]

Would you?

[landfall]

Yeah, sure. Getting good takes practice, but getting halfway decent takes about an afternoon. Assuming you're already decent in a stressful situation.

Which you seem like you probably are.

[deshabille]

I've been called cold-blooded.

[landfall]

Good.

[deshabille]

Is it?

[A sharp look, investigative.]