Scenes From Space

Chapter Twenty-Four: A Drink

There was a knock at my door. We had completed a mission on another rim planet and sent a bunch of humans away to safe planets. It hadn't been a bad mission, for me at least. I had been up in a sniper nest, shooting out errant guards. But, Ben had run into Kuzzon again.

"One sec," I called out. I quickly pulled on some sweatpants and went digging for a shirt. I heard my door slide open behind me. I glanced over my shoulder to see Ben leaning against my door jam. He was back lit by the blue safety lights. They cast a glow around him and made his purple eyes look like a glowstick.

"Boss," I greeted and went back to digging around for a shirt.

"Oh, I'm sorry, did I enter your quarters without an invite?" Ben asked. I snorted in response.

"Aha!" I said to myself and pulled on a cropped Slytherin t-shirt.

"Heya, Cap! What can I do for you?" I asked, disregarding his question. He walked in and my door closed behind him. He was wearing a green tank top, the sides were cut low enough to see his rib cage. His silver hair was pushed up away from his forehead. We matched. I wanted to change my shirt.

Ben pulled my chair out from my desk and settled into it. "I know that you have things you shouldn't, and I want a drink."

"You, you want a drink?" I asked suspiciously.

Ben rubbed the back of his neck. It was a very human and endearing move.

"This feels like a trap," I said. "You know that this feels like a trap, right?" I said.

"It's not a trap," Ben sighed. "It's just that the last time we ran into Prince Kuzzon, you drank, and I had got a little high, and we talked, and it helped." He had his hands clasped together, between his knees. Was that an anxious posture?

"O-kay," I said slowly and fished a bottle out from my underwear drawer. I could feel Ben's eyes follow me.

"Fuck, my boundaries got in the way," he said under his breath.

"Yeah," I laughed. "Have less boundaries." I pulled a couple glasses down my shelf and poured the alcohol into them. I handed one glass over to Ben and took a seat on my bed. I sipped at the green liquid and let the taste of something like vanilla and cinnamon run over my tongue. I waited for Ben to say something. 

I took another drink and waited some more. The silence wasn't uncomfortable so I let it continue. Ben was looking down at the cup in his hands and when he brought the cup up to his lips to take a drink, his gaze stayed downward. I figured it would be best to just wait Ben out so I started cleaning up my room. I re-folded some laundry. Dusted around some of the crystals on my shelf. I plugged my phone into the speakers and let America softly play through the room. A small smile graced my face as I remembered my Dad. This playlist was for when he was in the car with me.

Ben looked at me as the song changed over from A Horse with No Name to Ventura Highway. I looked back at him and gave what I hoped was an encouraging smile.

"So, it used to be really easy to ignore that I'm fighting to take down family," Ben sighed. "But, seeing Kuzzon everywhere has made it hard." I could understand that.

"He has been around recently, and it has made our missions harder. But you knew that going in. Commander Exandar briefed everyone about it." Logistically, I agreed, that everything was harder. His team was made up of phenomenal fighters. It was also harder on us because I had to fall back every time we spotted their team. I was mostly providing cover fire instead of doing the undercover stuff now.

"But, it has got to feel good that we've come out ahead of them more than they've beat us," I said.

"I mean, yeah, it feels good, it's just...," Ben trailed off.

"More personal than you'd like? You keep having flashbacks to your childhood because you keep seeing it now?" I threw out a few suggestions.

"I-uh, how do you deal with your trauma?" Ben asked.

"I don't," I answered truthfully.

"You don't?" He asked immediately with a frown.

"I mean there are things that I did and still do to make it feel like I'm in control of my own body. But, I," I took a breath. "I kind of just ignore a lot of problems until they go away."

"What if they don't go away? What if we just keep running into Kuzzon?" Ben asked.

I caught Ben's eyes. "I've gotten him alone before. I can do it again and then kill him." I was 100% serious about this offer.

Ben gripped the bridge of his nose. "Guinevere, no."

"You asked for a solution and I gave you one," I defended myself.

"We don't have cause to kill Kuzzon or any of his team. They've made life harder but they haven't really hurt us or tried to kill us."

I shrugged at him in response and poured myself another drink. Ben was going to confiscate the booze. I might as well enjoy it while I could. I moved to top off Ben's glass too and he let me. He even took another drink.

"Well, here's the good news," I said. "We have a few sun-cycles on base. You have time to refresh or distract yourself. Maybe you and Lieutenant Soothia can find somewhere to sneak off to." I took another drink and watched as Ben sputtered, confirming my suspicions. Lieutenant Soothia was a wonderful woman. She was half Human, half Faerynian like Boo. Gorgeous.

"How'd you even know about that?" Ben asked when he had pulled himself together.

"Ben, Benjamin, she's half Faerynian," I answered with a laugh.

"But her hair doesn't change," Ben said quickly. His voice had gone just a bit higher in pitch.

"Her nails do though," I said. Ben closed his eyes and cursed under his breath. "If it makes you feel better, I don't think anyone else noticed, and Soothia wears gloves most of the time, anyways."

Ben looked back up at me. His face very clearly said 'no it doesn't make me feel better.'

Later, when, we were back on base. Soothia disappeared around a corner and Ben caught my eyes, glared when I winked at him, and slowly walked down the same corridor as Soothia. I went off to meet Graham for a sparring session.