Private Elevated Episodes: How I Met Your Mother - Jungle Rehash

[Aver Brand]

Because I never go there.

Cautious blue eyes flicked over to her mate as she reached out over their connection to check against the dull pang of pain.

A conversation for another time, then.

She returned her attention back to the sweet tooth banter, mouth quirking to the side. As if to prove the point, Aver rescued the abandoned dessert from Qui’s clutches and delivered it with delight from its porcelain mortal coil.

“Damn right it is,” she managed around a mouthful, flashing a grin as she braced for the inevitable barb at her manners. Etiquette? At her table?

“I can send you the ingredients later, it’s not that complicated really.” Aver dropped her fork with a self-satisfied sigh and summoned the empty plates with an offhand gesture.

“Pie?”

 

[Quietus]

Dull pang of pain was an apt description of what Aver felt upon reaching out. For her part, Quietus was glad she didn't push the issue now. It certainly wasn't time to dredge up her own family pains while they were forging a connection with Aver's family at present.

"I'm afraid I've over-eaten," Lenda replied, "the pie is for you anyway. I can make it any time." One of her usual desserts on offer at the diner, perfected over the years. She leaned back into her chair, trailing the last remnants of her wine glass, and smiled warmly, "This was ...really nice. Thank you for inviting me over."

Quietus gently cleared her throat, eyes turning upwards.

"And for growing your, uh, treehouse so quickly."

Qui smirked.

"I should like to return the favor sometime and invite you both over to my home for a meal."

 

[Aver Brand]

A single arch eyebrow surveyed the surrendered table. Over-eaten?

With an amused noise, Aver shook her head and disappeared into the kitchen. She certainly wasn’t above serving a singular slice of pie to no-one but herself.

When she slid back into her chair, she was accompanied not only by a chilled slice of lemon meringue, but also a recouped tumbler of Whyren’s. And just like that, she’d drained the whole bottle dry in one evening.

"And for growing your, uh, treehouse so quickly."

“Show off,” Aver stage whispered at her mate before hiding her grin behind a forkful of the pie. Which, conveniently, left her chewing for the next question to fill the silence.

Ice blues slid sideways, meeting emerald greens.

She poked Qui with her foot.

Swallowed.

Took a sip of the whisky.

Dabbed at the corners of her mouth.

“The pie is amazing.”

Folded the napkin.

“And I don’t think it’s… the safest idea. For me to show up at your home.”

Her smile was thin when she looked up again, meeting Lenda’s eyes.

“How much do you trust your partner?”

 

[Quietus]

Blond brows raised at the poke, but Qui settled her chin in her hand and maintained her silent smirk.

No no no, Aver, she made the first big step possible, now it was time for Aver to take the next.

"The pie is amazing."

Lenda smiled, "Thank you." Meeting Aver's gaze with curiosity instead of doubt or fear or anxiety, "How much can you really trust anyone on Nadir? I'll make sure he's out with the boys for the evening."

 

[Aver Brand]

Oh, so it was gonna be like that, huh.

Aver resolved to exact the price of her revenge from Qui in some other, sweeter form, much much later, when the restless noise of the station around them settled into its nighttime drone, a deep bass-line of hydraulic mining hammers under the rhythmic report of gunfire echoing through the tireless metal labyrinth…

She sighed and centered herself in the moment.

“That… could work.”

Her mouth twisted into a lopsided grin. If nothing else, she at least shared with her mother a resigned understanding and fondness for Point Nadir.

Well, it was a start.

“Would you… do you want something to drink before we call it a night?”

But it needed to end sometime. There was only so much Aver could take in one sitting.

 

[Quietus]

Qui's smirk widened into an earnest smile after Aver took charge and offered a that sounds lovely in agreement.

Lenda sighed contently, "I don't drink much anymore and I've got opening shift tomorrow. I should be heading out. Bit of a journey from here to home." She pushed her chair back and stood, "Everything was absolutely delicious, though. I don't think I've eaten this well in ages."

Qui excused herself from the table to get Lenda's jacket, but also to let Aver have a moment to figure out how to say goodbye to her mother.

"Thank you again, Aver," the elder of the two firrerreo's smiled warmly at her, "it really ... makes a difference, knowing you're doing so well. It's a great weight off my mind." And her heart, but she didn't say that part aloud. "I suppose a hug is out, does a handshake work for you?"

 

[Aver Brand]

It wasn’t at all surprising to watch her lifeline walk out on the awkward goodbyes that were surely about to take place. Aver wrested her gaze away from the door where Qui had gone, making herself meet her mother’s gaze instead.

It was… only somewhat easier than two hours earlier.

Aver stood, strangely conscious of her towering height for once as she stuffed her hands into her pockets for want of anything else to grasp.

“It— well, I won’t say it was a pleasure cause….” she shrugged, wrestling her own expression from a frown into a faint smile. “It was nice.”

"I suppose a hug is out, does a handshake work for you?"

“Yeah, it’s… a handshake is fine.” Her eyes crinkled at the corners, grin widening as she stuck out her palm for the smaller woman to take.

“Let me call you a cab? It’s late.”

Well, more like an armored speeder with a professional chauffeur-slash-mercenary – but that was Nadir for you.

 

[Quietus]

Qui watched from the doorway across the expansive flat, wrestling her growing, beaming smile into submission. Her droll smirk would have to remain until Lenda took her leave.

A much smaller hand took Aver's, followed by the second hand that cupped her knuckles in the shake. It was a genuine gesture of warmth and thanks, "Yes, thank you, that would be good." And moments later the handshake was over and Lenda was walking her way to her other host. Qui helped her into her jacket and opened the lift door. Lenda stepped in, turned, depressed the button for the airtaxi lounge, and stood back, smiling a smile only a mother could.

Ssshhhp. The door closed and away she went.

Qui looked back to Aver, beaming.

 

[Aver Brand]

Aver cocked a brow and met the beam head-on. Yes?

 

[Quietus]

You did good, dear.

 

[Aver Brand]

Aver snorted and eyerolled back into the kitchen. Come help do the dishes.

Something to keep her hands occupied; to allow her to think and process and let the evening pass through her without upsetting any of the fragile emotions her heart was currently juggling.

After that much dense-woven conversation, they were both content to fall back into silence. Not that it was ever quite quiet on Nadir, but beyond even the hum of the station there were the mundane noises of the pair puttering about the cabinets, the utensils clanging in the sink, the odd curse when water ran off the edge of the counter.

It was only after, with the last reminders of the evening put away for the night, that Aver recovered her whisky and disappeared onto the balcony.

Years ago the door would’ve been firmly shut behind her.

Now it was thrown wide open in invitation, framing Aver where she stood illuminated only by the flickering neon of her sleepless empire. A sharp grin slashed the black as she opened her eyes, tracing warm paths along the contours of her mate in the dark.

Can I interest you in a sten?

 

[Quietus]

The dishes had become a comfortable routine between the two of them. One scrubbed, the other dried, stacked, and put away. There weren't often many dishes to be done between the two of them, especially not on Thral, but in the more civilized portions of the galaxy when they whiled away together they often took the dishes to be quiet time between them.

No words, verbal or otherwise. Just practiced, coordinated partnership. Methodical meditation.

It was proof of just how well they worked together now.

She joined Aver out on the balcony, smiling to herself as she bent to lean her arms and elbows on the railing. The sights of the mechanical jungle were never a disappointment with a view like this - so similar and yet so unlike the views of her jungle home. The neon framework of the metal skyscrape played a curious dance across the horizon. Quietus liked it ... in small doses. Her lungs generally complained after extended stays, the pollution just couldn't be avoided.

Can I interest you in a sten?

Greens shifted over to the silhouette of the woman, glowing in the dimness of the night with the after shock of neons bursting in and out. Please.

Back to words of the mind, her throat was feeling a bit chafed after so much speaking. She took the proffered stick and leaned in to the mini-torch lighter, puffing until she was surrounded in that telltale plum of faint purple smoke with its hint of minty scent.

Do you know what this balcony needs?

She looked around, scrutinizing the empty space.

A hammock.

 

[Aver Brand]

Like the paragon of courtesy that she was, Aver lit Qui’s cancer stick first, then did the same with the Black label hanging loosely between her lips.

Because what was a little cancer between two nearly indestructible, regenerating assholes?

Head thrown back, the mercenary closed her eyes on the fiery sky of her domain and let the smoke pour out of her mouth in sinuous trails, mingling with so much shet on the dim air.

Made for some fierce sunsets, though.

Inspired, she agreed, folding forward and propping herself besides her mate.

Another plume crawled out between her teeth. Aver gnawed on her lip as the smoke bent to her will, twisting into a ghostly ‘but’ against the black backdrop.

She glanced sideways and met Qui’s eyes with a smirk.

“It’s a rental, darling.”

 

[Quietus]

She returned to leaning, feeling particularly lazy after an evening of watching Aver do emotional somersaults and attempting to guide her away from mental landmines. A shrugging frown tugged at her lips and shoulders, giving a glance back into the flat.

Doesn't have to be.

Could buy it. It's a nice place.

A look of consideration drifted over her mate, Give you a home to stay that's not saturated by the past.

And memories of him. She didn't say this, but Aver could probably feel it in the back of her thoughts.

 

[Aver Brand]

Mm.

Aver canted her head to the side in thought. The day had been long even without the emotional labor tacked on at the end, and the Black Label was doing its job mellowing her out. Soon enough, Qui would have one mercicle putty on her hands.

“I think it’s a bit too—” her maw split open into a wide yawn, classy for me?

She ashed her cigarra and dropped her chin onto Qui’s shoulder with a sigh. And it would need a hard security do-over. And space for Puppy and Dhal, and all my stuff…

It went without saying that the slew of excuses was just a thin veneer for a much bigger underlying issue.

What if she didn’t want to forget the past?

It was all she had left.

 

[Quietus]

She listened, amused, and readily accepted the additional weight on her shoulder - though she'd been more expecting the figurative weight to slump on this evening from a mentally and emotionally drained Aver Brand. The literal weight was fine too.

Sounds like it could be a fun side project for you.

Another draw on the sten, another plume of purple smoke. It danced about with the wisps of Black Label in a smooth waltz of luxury through the air.

Or not, she offered after a few moments of centered thought, just a thought, hm?

Certainly she felt more comfortable here, away from the remnants of Aver's past, but that wasn't her decision to make. Nadir was Aver's home, not her own. Wherever Aver wanted to be, that was where she'd go.

We've got it for the rest of the week, at least.

 

[Aver Brand]

Snort.

Like I have time for hobbies.

Aver breathed out smoke and breathed in the scent of her mate. Her posture relaxed further as she nuzzled her face deeper into loose platinum locks, planting lazy kisses along the pale skin.

What was your mother like?

Not that the topic hadn’t come up then and again over their years together, during those quiet moments under foreign stars. But her younger self hadn’t the insight she had now, to place those notions into any meaningful context.

It still wasn’t the same, of course – Ygdris had, plainly, grown up without, and there was no way around a half-century of missing parent figures.

Just that the nuance and the sentiment weren’t lost on her anymore.

 

[Quietus]

Aver had as much time for hobbies as she decided to make. At this point her excuses for not retiring were as bad as her excuses for not wanting to move on from her old flat. Either way, it wasn't a subject Quietus had any inclination to push on. Aver was going to do exactly what she wanted to do, as always, and she would have it no other way.

She leaned into the lips at her neck instead, closing her eyes and simply enjoying the presence and contact. The hush of the space between them a strange thing to have evolved over time where there had once been a war to wage - figuratively speaking.

What was your mother like?

Green eyes slivered open just enough to see the image of her own mother swimming in the foreground of her thoughts. A hazey remembrance from years long, long gone. It was another dull pang of pain on another dash of memories that were never her first topic of discussion. But given everything Aver had been through tonight, Qui felt she deserved some introspection on the mater. She was very quiet - a mute, like me, but quieter still than I had ever been. Viciously smart, sadly withdrawn, remarkably beautiful. She ... didn't want me, couldn't stand to have me around. Reminded her too much of my father. He abused her, lied to her, cheated on her, and she was not strong enough to leave him when I was young.

A slow cloud of purple poured from her lips, listless and forlorn like the sea of her emotions tied to her mother.

For all her faults, she wasn't a bad mother when she finally found the strength to be one.





I miss her.

 

[Aver Brand]

Held up against the memories of such past confessions in the dark, the here and now was a harsh contrast for the Aver three decades ago. That woman would’ve recoiled from the conversation and its emotional charge as if it were poison.

This woman instead set down her habit, the cherry burning itself out at the edge of the balcony. And then she gathered Des into her arms, a quiet offer of implacable support, of an embrace where she could always find refuge.

With a soft kiss to the top of her head, Ygdris let her presence unspool from her spine like two great ghostly wings, warding off the chill of lofty heights with her warmth.

And which parts of you have I got her to thank for?

 

[Quietus]

It was a good feeling, being wrapped up in all that was Ygdris, in this place of mind and soul that had no existed decades ago between them, and so much different from simply the body her mate had offered years ago with the other held back on reserve. Thirty years to break down the walls that kept that mind and soul at bay - thirty years she'd repeat in a heartbeat if it meant getting here again. The journey had been thrilling in ways she never could have imagined, but the present destination was worth everything.

Des let her weight settle back into the warmth of the body enveloping her, soaking it all in. Grateful for the moment of respite from her usual strength and independent nature. It was nice to have someone to languish in during your weaker moments and she wanted to wallow in it for just a few moments uninterrupted. Eyes closed, fully immersed and present.

And which parts of you have I got her to thank for?

Of course these moments never lasted too long between them.

A smile cracked halfway through her lips, smoke pooling from the edges where her fangs showed through. My charm and good looks, of course.

She ashed the sten, pulled the last of the smoke into her lungs and tossed the finished stick aside. Turning within Aver's arms to climb the height of her shoulders with her palms, Qui looped her fingers around the back of the woman's neck.

My fangs and my appetite. Her lips split into a smoke-filled grin.

And every ounce of resolve.