Right Back After This

Episode 17

The gravity at the hub worlds is always a little off, the air always stale and canned. Not like Riz has ever had the luxury of lush forests that don't bite you, nor does he expect excessive foliage on a hub world that has no natural ecosystem, but there's a point in every life that you find things to complain about. Riz is on his third or fourth life, and his complaints sure are different to his first or second, but it's human to complain about something.

Still, the mic pack would hear him sigh, there's a camera just to the left, and behind the cameraman Sonja is glaring at him and making a motion of uncrossing her arms. So he hides in Amello's shoulder instead. Amello puts an arm around him, and Riz can't complain about that.

Riz is unsettled by the size of the room they're standing in. Entire spaceships are just sitting on the concrete floor with several city blocks' worth of space between them, and the walls on either side are a distant dream. The roof may as well be the sky, especially for the twinkling stars visible through its glass. It is concrete forever in every direction; there are people walking about, although most are on carts or other vehicles. Riz isn't listening to what Shia is saying, because he's thinking about the way his voice doesn't echo, but the sounds of compressed air way off in the distance do.

He heard the important part, which is that they're not going to be here 'long', although the reason they bothered to get off the ship isn't clear. There's a small transporter moving their direction, and Riz can only hope that it's going to take them somewhere that actually comforts his fear of the void.

It's an open-air bus that seems far too big for even Saccharine and all of their crew, managers, security- and besides, people are already on it. Riz straightens up as he spots blue, because of course, this is why they bothered to get off. It's always a set up for some fucking content, and Riz is annoyed again, but this time- and he takes some weird pleasure in thinking this, although there's guilt there too- he doesn't have to completely ignore it.

Hanging off the side of the bus, like a child on a playground, is the one person Riz has been sanctioned to get annoyed at. It's not like it's Kiel's fault, but Riz can- and indeed, knows that the producers want him to- walk out to meet them. Amello goes to hold Riz back, but makes no real attempt, and his hand falls limply from Riz's shoulder. Riz looks over for a brief moment at the producers, and Paloma at the very least is watching him intently as he walks up to meet the bus. He can hear the footsteps of the others behind him, backing him up.

Kiel jumps off the bus and lands gracefully on the concrete ground, grinning wildly at Saccharine. "Well if it isn't-" he begins, but Riz doesn't even let him get that far. He doesn't think everything could be orchestrated to cause this- his fear of the void is incidental, after all- but it's sure opportunistic.

Riz doesn't shove, because Riz would never shove anyone, but he steps too close to Kiel. "Of course it is. It's us. We just- we're- I have to sit and stare at the endless void and just beg any and every god to not let our ship fail, because of you. If we hadn't won maybe I wouldn't have had to get on this- this stupid spaceship."

Riz follows the upturn of Kiel's mouth, the sharp teeth within. Kiel puts his hands behind his head, tipping back as though relaxing. "You're mad at me because we won?"

"Because- because maybe we could've stayed on Arbo and I wouldn't have had to- to get on-" Riz's eyes fall to his shaking hands. The bus has come to a stop behind Kiel, and he leans on the side of it.

"Oh, that's right. You're terrified of everything." Kiel looks over his shoulder, at where the producers and the cameraman are, as they try to move around and get Kiel and Riz within their sights. That's where the rest of Saccharine stands, Wrenley holding the others back from getting nearer. Is that her being protective of them, letting Riz fight his own battles, or-

-does she predict what Kiel will do, when he turns Riz's mic pack off? The green light fades out, and when Riz looks back up at Kiel, he shrugs.

"Genuinely, I hope you managed it alright." Kiel's whispered voice sounds almost the same as it usually does, minus the condescension. "Your fear is played up, though, right?"

Riz is frozen for a long second. "I..."

Kiel tilts his head back, gesturing towards the cameramen. Riz is suddenly aware of the fact that there are people on the bus, that they are turning to look. "They're coming," Kiel says quietly, in a way that's ambiguous just in case it's heard. They can say it's about Saccharine, and not the viewers themselves. This is not a safe closet away from everyone else- this is dodging a moving spotlight. But Kiel just gave Riz the opportunity to dodge it, on purpose.

Riz glances down at Kiel's mic pack, and as expected, it's not lit. How he's going to get away with that, Riz doesn't know- but for his own part, Kiel's literally and actually to blame. He might get in trouble anyway, but it's too late.

"The fear isn't played up," Riz whispers. "But it's not your fault."

Kiel's face falls. "Damn. That sucks." He doesn't move his head at all, but he's watching out of the corner of his eye- the cameraman are all coming from the same angle to capture them. Kiel crosses his arms, and he attempts a glare.

Riz is quiet, because when the veil is dropped so suddenly, he doesn't have anything prepared to say. He's lost all words that sat in his mind. He's trying to make sense of what the hell Kiel just did in the first place. Why he did it. That he's not alone.

Kiel tilts close, pretending to hiss in Riz's face- but the tone of voice isn't there. "You've got a matter of minutes to say anything you don't want heard."

"We'll have more time." Riz has crossed his arms again, is pretending to be threatening back- although all it's really done is put their faces intimately near one another. "Why did you decide we need to have this conversation, right now?"

Kiel raises an eyebrow. "I thought you'd have something interesting to say. And that is pretty fucking interesting to promise, isn't it?"

"It's only a promise if I can physically keep it," Riz says, and all of a sudden Kiel's hand brushes Riz's cheek, and Riz has the longest split second of his life.

In one instant, his heart skips a beat. He thinks about the cameras that can see him now, and he thinks about that rather simple fantasy that started everything, and he thinks about the fact that not only did Kiel not have to do that, but it hardly made sense for the roles they're playing. Instinctively, he steps back, nearly pushes Kiel away. He stares straight at the camera when he does. He's breathing heavier than he wants to be breathing.

Kiel starts to laugh, and he rests a hand on his own mic pack, waiting for Riz to look at him before he visibly turns it on. "You should've seen your face," he cackles, and those shark teeth sell the impish delight. "Ha. Alright, you absolute loser, we've got actual places to be. So can we get going? Hmm?"

That's a more familiar tone for Kiel to take, and Riz has no choice but to take a moment to restart his heart, to try and wipe the horrible blush off of his face. He can't have this crisis now. He catches Amello's eye- if it were him that caused this, at least Riz would be allowed to blush, allowed to have a moment of gay panic on camera. Unfortunately, the viewers won't take it so well when it's Kiel.

If the viewers don't take Riz well- if he burns out- that's a lot worse for a lot of people than if the same thing happens to Kiel. As far as Riz knows, anyway.

Riz slowly turns his mic pack back on. "I hate you," he says, and as long as he puts his stupid, pouty twist on those words, it'll be fine. "You're so mean to me."

Kiel grins, and in that grin is the hope that they're on the same page. They're not far off- they're a lot closer than Riz was assuming, that's for certain.

But Sonja is watching him in the distance. She likely doesn't grasp what just happened, but she understands well just how carefully he has to play any of these cards, in a way he can't explain to Kiel.

Not yet.