Rumor has it

[Danger Arceneau]

[member="Rose Kuhn"]

Were there an analog clock, one would be able to hear the tick tock of the seconds pass by. Now that was a doozy of a question. To be frank, Danger didn't know.

She didn't know how to answer that.

See she and Alric had been dancing a dance that just let them do what they wanted without having to actually have that conversation of just what one is to the other. Maybe it was avoidance. Or maybe it was just settling, a desire to not chance the status quo. Maybe the both just wanted companionship in their old age. There were too many variables to really come up with a simple answer.

Maybe the answer simply lay in the most basic of definitions. What did she know?

That they were good friends. That their friendship had been on a mend and that they enjoyed each other's companionship. That she loved Alric, but was well aware where she sat on things. There was no expectations with Alric, Danger had given that up a long while ago.

"I'm not here to replace your momma, Rose." She said a bit wearily, "if that's your concern." Might as well be blunt." Ain't no one ever gonna fill the kind of love your pa felt for your mother. He fell for her, and he fell for her good. It took me breaking it down for him the first time for him to realize what he felt for her."

She took another deep drag of her vice. She needed that hit. If at the least to hide the faint tremble in her fingers.

"What are we?" She took a deep breath. "Just living, Rose. Just living day by day."

 

[Rose Kuhn]

Rose gave a very slow nod. Was it the answer that she had been looking for? It was hard to tell, but her features were pale, her eyes seemed to have sunk a little, and all blood had been drained from her lips by the pressure she had been exerting on them. She looked shaken, disturbed even. Maybe she was. Rose half turned away from Danger, shifting and looking out the window. Her bright blue eyes wandered for a moment, searching for something that wasn't there. Then she looked back at the older woman.

"Okay." She didn't sound angry or upset, just accepting.

That was it. That was all that she needed to say.

Every question that she had wanted to know, everything that she had wanted to ask had been answered. It wasn't a lot, in fact it was practically nothing at all, but Rose wasn't interested in the details. Almost everything.

"Is dad alright?" Rose asked quietly. "Eating? Sleeping?"

 

[Danger Arceneau]

[member="Rose Kuhn"]

Danger didn't miss the blanching of Rose's face. Nor did she miss the way her lips would thing, her stiffening posture. While she might have said 'okay', it didn't meant it was. Danger didn't spend this long in the business reading people like the back of her hand to not come to terms that Rose wasn't too keen on her presence or her answers.

The corners of her mouth would purse, and she took a deep drag of her cigarillo. Her lids lowered and she let the smoke settle in her lungs. Lungs that were likely as black as the velvet of space due to years of smoking. Well we all have our limitations on this 'verse. Born only to die.

Letting the vice linger upon her lips, Danger adjusted herself. Leaning forward, she took a datachip. Inserting it onto her array, she quickly went through the motions of transferring all that Rose would need. She gave star maps, both new and old, locations of all ATC Trade Stations, Fuel Stations, Shadow ports, and even a bit from what she knew of the Blood Trail. From one edge of the 'Verse to the next, the known charted trade lanes and hideyholes under Arceneau Trade went into that datachip. Rose wouldn't want for anything in regards to that.

"He's doing well." Danger told Rose, her voice a bit muffled as she would continue the datatransfer. "Filling out a bit now, ain't as skinny as he used to be."

To a degree Danger had shut down as well. It was subtle. Oh she was still courteous and cordial, but there was something else in her mind. Something she figured she'd have to do considering things. An internal sigh came from the woman. She took the narcotic from her lips, flicking ash on the tray.

"It ain't hard to locate him if you're keen on seeing him soon. He's taken to settling on a Skyhook in the Expansion Region, not too far from Vanir Headquarters."

 

[Rose Kuhn]

[member="Danger Arceneau"]

"I know." She said quietly.

Rose had been updated by Lily about their fathers situation. Her sister had told her everything, or mostly everything, and she knew exactly where her father now lived. Of course part of her wanted to see her, wanted to embrace her father and tell him everything that had happened to her. Yet she knew that she wasn't ready yet. It was a small voice in the back of her mind, the tiny one that said that she still resented Alric just the tiniest bit for what he and her mother had done.

That voice had to be gone.

"I'm not..." She trailed off. "I'm not quite ready yet."

She took a step forward, waiting as Danger finished creating the small datacard that would be her ticket out of here and to another world. She was eager to leave. Not because she felt anxious about being here, but she knew that the more worlds she traveled to, the more she saw and experienced, the more she would want to come home. That voice would be gone soon, and it would be gone faster if she kept traveling and moving. She knew that. "Tell him I love him."

 

[Danger Arceneau]

[member="Rose Kuhn"]

The percentage counter was almost complete.

Rose Kuhn would have the star maps and charts she had come to Danger for. Well there was that answer. That she wasn't quite ready yet. Well, that was everyone, I guess to say the least.

Danger set the cigarillo down upon the ashtray, smoke curling up in a lazy rise.

With a slow appraisal, Danger would meet the aspect of Rose Kuhn's eyes. A slow nod came next. As did the small beep of completion of the data transfer.

"I will let him know." she said quietly. After a second her fingers would clamp around the datastick, and a click of a button would allow the safe release of it.

Extending it out to Rose, she gave a half smile. But there was more behind her green eyes than it they would reveal.

"There you go."

 

[Rose Kuhn]

[member="Danger Arceneau"]

For a half a moment she stalled, then her hand moved forward and plucked the card from Danger.

That was enough, this was all enough. She wanted to go now. "Thank you."

Rose said the words quietly, though loud neough for Danger to hear. The younger redhead turned away from her and began to leave. She had everything that she wanted, and staying here was not something she would enjoy. Erkard would likely object, but Rose wanted to get out of here as fast as she possibly could. Danger had been nice, kind even, but there was something that drove her away from here. Something that made her want to leave the stronghold, and even the planet.

As she was halfway out of the room she turned.

"Please." Rose said to Danger. "Make sure he doesn't worry too much."

 

[Danger Arceneau]

[member="Rose Kuhn"]

"That ain't for me to decide, Rose," came Danger's soft, strained murmur.

And it wasn't. That was an ache that was Alric's own. Green eyes would follow the quickening steps of the redheaded young woman as she left as if the demons of the Nine Hells were after her.

"You take care now." was the final goodbye from the Queen of Trade, one that would likely barely be heard in Rose's rush to the turbo lift and to get the hell out of this Stronghold. Where it was a place of sanctuary for Danger, it was a sinking Sarlacc pit for Rose.

Danger couldn't blame her for that.

The hiss of the turbolifts door would slide shut, and just like that.... Rose was gone.

And with that came a whole slew of realizations and determinations that would paint a bleak picture for Dangeruese.

Feth, she needed a drink.

 

[Alric Kuhn]

[member="Danger Arceneau"]

The closet door fell open, or rather, it pulled to the side with a slight hiss.

Alric had watched his daughter go, had listened to every word she said and had paid close attention to Danger as she said it. The interaction had been odd, not unpleasant, but the former Titan had seen the frayed nerves in two out of three of the women that meant most to him in the galaxy. It had been unpleasant. He had wanted to see Rose again, and joy had been in his heart, but he saw how heavy the meeting had been on her, how careful she had been and the answers she had asked for.

It troubled him.

It troubled Danger.

Slowly he wandered over to the desk. Not a word passed from his lips, his hand sailing over the carved wood as he made his way towards the Trade Queen. Alric came up from behind her, his hands slowly wrapping around her stomach and his face pushing past the blaze of her red hair. His beard would scratch at her face as he gently nuzzled her, not saying a single thing as he gave her a gentle squeeze.

 

[Danger Arceneau]

[member="Alric Kuhn"]

He surrounded her with his warmth. With the scent of his musk. With that unique offering of comfort one can only get from Alric Kuhn alone. Normally, this was exactly what she was searching her. What she desired. What she always had wanted to be the recipient of, to be truthful.

Not now.

Danger's half smile would linger, but it wouldn't shine in her eyes. Her hand would rise to brush the scruff of his jaw, her thumb caressing his cheek in a lingering graze. However, she did not return the embrace. Instead, she rose. Giving him a squeeze of her hand against his arm, she shone him a parting expression.

She had a dire need to be alone.