[Ripley] Day 9 nightfall: Do Not Meddle In The Affairs of Dragons (tag open)

[hybrid-ripley.livejournal.com]

Nightfall on the ninth day. The rain had stopped. Dinner was convening. Ripley strode down the damp beach with her hair wet and her shirt sticking to her, amused as hell to watch the normies crawling out of their shelters. Wusses. The rain wasn't even cold. And it was clean and tasty and smelled wunnnnerful.

She stretched like a lioness after a kill, feeling her muscles and joints pop luxuriously. She had, of course, been running around like a happy lunatic since the rain started. She'd been joined for a while by a willowy redhead who smelled like wet flowers, and of course her expanding circle of doggy-buddies. But mostly her interaction with the normies had involved them staring at her incredulously while she danced, splashed and occasionally lounged in the downpour.

She'd found herself doing and thinking some odd things since her return from the jungle with Methos. Getting him his clothes, she'd found a few more Hawaiian shirts in the pile, and immediately ripped the sleeves off. (If Ash the Tasteless wanted to wear fuscia, he was gonna show those nice guns of his in the process, dammit). That was just the start of things.

The idea of not having to cram her personality into a perfect, moral human mold 24/7 to get some basic acceptance, friendship, respect (and damn good sex) was very welcome. Of course, she'd have to practice her deceit, which rankled...but the sense of pressure-to-conform for its own sake was entirely gone. /I'm not human. All that learning to act human is is fucking camouflage anyway. May never be able to blush on command like Methos, but...let's face it, most normies aren't too bright./

She was going into the jungle when she damn well pleased now, usually coming back with a small dead beastie or a few armfuls of forage, but certainly not bothering to stick close to the beach save when she wanted to visit friends. /I'm taking a cave of my own when we move, I think. And God help anyone but a handful of people if they try to shove into my space./ It wasn't like she really needed it, but...if the humans were staking territory over there, she was taking a piece for herself.

She was being stared at. She stopped, turned her head and saw a tall, well-built man shrunken down into a pathetic slouch, generous features ruined by the way his mouth worked and his gaze shifted all over the place. He was keeping his distance, but his eyes sure weren't. And gee, wow--Harry was with him. A two-fer. /Creeptastic./

She tossed her head and smirked. "The hell do you people want?"

The one she didn't recognize stammered a little. Harry's eyes were on the front of her shirt. She snorted and shook her head at him. "Harry, quit staring at me like you're wondering what uncovered tits look like outside the morgue."

The stammerer yipped slightly, like he was trying /very/ hard to cover a laugh. Harry...kept staring.

"Jesus Christ, I got it in one, didn't I?" /Fucking herd animal./ Waving a hand dismissively, she turned back and kept walking.

Inside, though, she felt the Alien eyeing him like the dead weight he pretty much was. /Pathetic. I wouldn't even use him as building material./

When footsteps pattered after her, she sincerely hoped that Harry wasn't that stupid. Or masochistic. Or whatever the hell his problem was.

Comments

[sinanju.livejournal.com]

"I may be bad, but I feel...good." Heh heh heh.

[undead-shot.livejournal.com]

The Nuzzle got "Fistful of Boomstick" last week. I was in that kinda mood. ^.^

[Ami] Girl Talk? (tag Ripley, open)

[fikgirl.livejournal.com]

Ami saw Ripley duck into the jungle and hurried to catch up with her. They hadn't yet had the opportunity for that 'girl-talk' and she was pretty curious to know what Ripley wanted to talk about. She was also curious to know what had put the added pep into Ripley's step. . . or rather whom. She had a good idea of the what.

At first dodging into the jungle, she lost sight of Ripley for a bit. She moved in the general direction Ripley had gone, hoping that she wouldn't have to teleport back to the teepee because she got lost. Her quick steps took her into a clearing where Ethan and Harry were. She felt an instant pang of worry upon seeing Ethan, and fought it back.

Then she caught the undercurrents of guilt and annoyance from the two men, and it was only when Harry undressed her with his eyes and an extremely slimy look that Ami found her backbone. "You wish, Harry."

His annoyance followed her, but she didn't care. She could see Ripley ahead and she wasn't much worried about the other two men with Ripley nearby. She raced the short distance to catch up with the woman.

"Hiya, Ripley! Wait up!"

[Ripley] Girl Talk? (tag Ami, open)

[hybrid-ripley.livejournal.com]

"Eh? Oh, hey Ami. Sorry. Got tired of Harry staring at my tits." She paused to let the younger woman catch up, seeming more amused than annoyed. "Sometimes I think--"

"W-wha-what are you doing?"

Ripley glanced back. Harry was trying to follow her, and the obsequious-looking one actually had a hand around his arm trying to restrain him. Harry's face had an almost desperate look on it.

"Ugh." She sighed and started walking again, more slowly, heading in the direction of the tree-cave. She had changed her shirt to one with a jagged-toothed smiley face, sleeves ripped off; her pants were ripped in a few places and patched with snakeskin. Someone had braided her hair too neatly to have done it with talons. "The boy is obsessed. The more I try to scare him off the more he likes it. I think he sees that as the point.

"You know, he said once that I reminded him of his /mother/. Creepy compliment of the fucking year. I wonder if he /wants/ me to beat the shit out of him."

Ami pulled a face.

"And how the hell did he manage to make a friend?"

"That was Ethan." Ami sounded creeped out just by saying his name.

Ripley paused briefly to listen, and heard the pair crunching their way through the underbrush back towards camp. "I wonder what we caught them at."

She sighed. "Just having Harry's scent in my nostrils makes me want to go cleanse it out." /I'll just wander up behind "Adam" and randomly bury my nose in his hair. I don't much think he'll mind./

"Never mind, they fled back to camp like bad boys caught looking at nudie solidos. How are you? How's himself?"

"Can't complain." Ami smiled a little. She was looking at Ripley a little curiously. "So...what was this girl talk thing you wanted to ask me?"

Ripley shrugged. "Well, I had some questions, some of which got answered in the meantime." /Very, very, very INTENSELY answered, thanks. Mmm. I will never be able to go through a rainstorm again without getting horny./ "But the rest is...well...hey, uh...why are you staring at me?"

[Ami] Girl Talk (tag Ripley, open)

[fikgirl.livejournal.com]

Ami wondered if Ripley realized she was far more relaxed than she had been since the earlier days on the island. Even her annoyance with Harry didn't have its full venom behind it. She grinned at the reference to Harry and Ethan fleeing back to camp as if being caught at something bad, and she did wonder what they were doing out here together. In secret. Hiding.

(Ew! Do. Not. Go. There.) Ami had no problems with homosexuality, but the picture her brain painted of Ethan and Harry made her want to wash her brain wiht ammonia. Fortunately, Ripley asked after Scott, a subject that always brought a smile to Ami's face, warmth to her heart and heat to several other places.

"Scott's fine. We really appreciate you keeping watch for us so he can use the co-locator," Ami told Ripley sincerely. "It means that we might get out of this weird place eventually. Although, if we have good friends like you who stay behind, it will have to become the holiday spot."

Shifting gears, Ami focused on Ripley's question. "Well, it's just that you're a bit more open and relaxed and ..." (Bloody hell, why bother dodging it?) "I can't lie and I have a terrible time with subtle, so I'll just be on about it: who? And when?"

[Ripley] Girl Talk (tag Ami, open)

[hybrid-ripley.livejournal.com]

"I guess I just don't get what Harry wants. The things he says make no sense whatsoever, and he keeps giving me clubbed-harp-seal eyes. Bleh." /What the hell is a dominatrix anyway?/ The one thing the boy had said that had been remotely flattering in any real way was, "I want you to want me." And she suspected that was from a song lyric.

/He wouldn't survive me. And giving him the chance would still be boring./

"No problem. Sometimes my nights will be occupied, so ask ahead of time, but...no problem. Truth is...some people here aren't cut out to be here, many have loved ones they're missing and some folks I just fucking want gone." /(Off my island, Harry, before I squash you)./ "Holiday spot sounds about right. We'll need some permanent buildings and a well, though. I'd want you guys comfortable."

Ripley realized that Ami had realized about the oh-so-tragic loss of her spinsterhood, and a huge grin spread across her features. "Oh. ...Yeah. That."

She considered. The full story was between her and the man himself, and no one else; gentler folk would have been disturbed by many of the details even if they weren't decidedly private. /In short, it was one of the most deliciously creative and violent technical-deflowerings in the history of fucking. Any questions?/ On the other hand, Ami was a friend, and people would notice the change in her interactions with Pierson eventually anyway. So...a coutesy drop of truth, while she hoarded the rest like diamonds.

"Pierson. During that huge storm. His idea of playing in the rain is even more fun than mine."

/Like pinning me naked to a treetrunk by the hips and--OK, I need to stop that now./ She huffed slightly, feeling a little hot.

Ami was staring. "I knew you two were friends, but--"

"Yeah, well, I wasn't entirely expecting it either. We've had chemistry since the beginning, but we're both pretty independent people, and I'm not really that romantic. I was pretty happy when our friendship sprouted some benefits. Not very many guys can handle the idea of me, let alone the action."

"And Pierson handled both?"

/...oh yeah./ "Doc outed me to him as future-space-bitch when we were cleaning the fuselage the second day. He seemed more fascinated than anything else, though not in a weird Harry way. He's a really smart, openminded guy." Not a single lie in there, though not the whole truth; Ripley hated lying to friends.

Ami blinked slowly, then leaned forward and asked in low tones, "Is he all right?"

Ripley chuckled, remembering "Pierson's" easy smile when they had strolled back to camp together. "I think he's in a much better mood than he had been, yea--"

"Er...Ripley? That's...not what I meant."

"...oh." Ripley snickered. "Oh. Yeah, he's fine." Ami looked on the verge of asking her something rather dirty pertaining to why "Pierson" wasn't physically broken right now. Ripley considered the cleanest way of putting it that didn't even wander near his secret, and finally said, "I was very careful, and he was very...creative. And anything beyond that ain't none of your business." She winked.

Ami would probably assume rope or something had been involved. That was all right. /(And not a bad ide--uh...ok. What the hell has that man done to me?)/

[Ami] Girl Talk (tag Ripley, open)

[fikgirl.livejournal.com]

"Well, good for you, then," Ami said with genuine happiness for her friend. It was good that Ripley had found someone on the island who could accept her without reservations, and an outlet. Everyone needed that.

"Although, really, I don't want intimate details. That sort of thing is personal, and I'm not the kiss and tell type," Ami added with a rueful smile. If she were, she'd have plenty of stories to share about her trysts with Scott, which even thinking about made her feel a bit warm and flushed. (The man's not even near me and he gets me all worked up.)

"Pairing off - or at least shagging benefits - seem to be cropping up all over the island. I think that psychologists say that it has something to do with making connections in an intense survival situation," Ami mused. "I think a part of it, though, is that without this situation, no one here would have gotten the chance to meet and interact with one another on this level.

"I know that if Scott and I had met somewhere else . . . likely nothing would have ever come of it," Ami sighed as her thoughts turned back to her lover and his strong penchant toward paranoia and distrust. "When I'm feeling delusional, I like to think that it would have been an instant connection from across a crowded room, but I know that it wouldn't have been.

"Makes me feel rather callous sometimes that I'm benefiting from the aeroplane wreck." (And from Cora's death.) Ami shoved the thought and the guilt aside the moment that it cropped up. "You know, I actually ran into Scott - literally - before the wreck and I wasn't even a blip on his radar."

Ami grinned sheepishly, "But listen at me babbling on, you should just tell me to shut up when I start to do that. This is about you. Was there more you wanted to talk about? Or was it pretty much limited to how to properly tie up Dr. Pierson?" The last was said with a teasing smile and mischievous glint in her eyes.

[Ripley] Girl Talk (tag Ami, open)

[hybrid-ripley.livejournal.com]

Ripley shrugged. /I don't consider this to be an intense survival situation./ Her idea of an intense survival situation, after all, was a crashing, unpiloted spaceship crawling with a hive full of horrible insectoid aliens who not only wanted to kill all her friends--they wanted her to join them. Next to that, THIS...was a refreshingly interesting challenge with gorgeous scenery and yummy food.

But actually saying any of that would be insensitive even for her. Ripley knew her former situation was about as fucking far from the norm as you could get.

It was true. She would never have met any of them if not for this...crash? Kidnapping? What was it? She would have missed out, not meeting the friends she had made here--whether they survived this mess alongside her in the end or not. And though white-picket-fence romance was the last thing that came to mind where he was concerned (they'd have smashed it in a week anyway)...she would have missed out on a lot if she hadn't met Himself.

/It's like with Hicks. I only had a little time with the guy, under about the shittiest circumstances possible, but I'll never forget him./

"There's this set of Chinese characters my CO used to hang on his cabin wall," she said quietly, remembering back to the Nostromo. "It meant 'crisis', but the literal meaning was 'Opportunity in the midst of risk'.

"If we get some good things out of all this craziness, I for one am into enjoying them thoroughly instead of questioning them or feeling guilty for taking advantage. OK, so maybe you and Scott would never have hooked up. In the end, that's not what happened, right?" She sighed, and reached up to pluck a cacao pod. "Living fully is never callous. You do the dead no goddamn good by not fighting to live--and live well--as hard as you can. Especially if they were your friends and would have wanted you to live well."

There went that mention of rope. "I admit I'm new at this," she said in a moment of brilliant evasiveness, "But I reeeeeally suspect that /he/ doesn't need any tutoring on /his/ knots."

Ami's eyes widened and she started laughing. "Oh my God."

"Well, you brought it up!" Ripley laughed easily. "Still, it's a no-brainer."

Blink. "Huh?"

Ripley shrugged. "Superhuman strength?"

"...oh." Ami was now thoroughly blushing. "...I probably didn't need to know that...um...cor! Where'd Scott run off to again?"

The older woman snickered. "Sorry!" /Am not./ Then her grin faded, and she looked thoughtful. "It's about Kenzaki, that's all. He's a sweet young guy and we've pretty much partnered up on patrols and such, and I hooked up with Pierson even though I knew Kenzaki probably has a crush on me. It was completely out of the question because of who I am and the nature of our relationship...but now I have no idea what to do. I don't think it's a huge dramatically angsty thing, but I could use some advice."

[Ami] Girl Talk (tag Ripley, open)

[fikgirl.livejournal.com]

Beating back her hormones and the images her far too creative imagination called up, Ami focused on what Ripley was saying. Kenzaki was crushing on Ripley, and she wasn't crushing back. In fact, if anything, Ami would say that she always thought Ripley's feelings toward Kenzaki seemed more directed toward the maternal, or at least the sisterly; clearly, though, Kenzaki hadn't picked up on that.

"Perhaps encouraging him to find someone else to patrol with on occassion?" Ami suggested, then shook her head. "Although, I'm not really sure who else on the beach would be good at patrolling or . . ." She stopped, considered, recalled how Faith reminded her a great deal of Ripley in movement, surety and attitude, "There's always Faith. I mean, I don't know her really, she just arrived in camp today, but she reminded me of you a bit." (Except that Ripley does not ooze sex out of every pore.)

"I'm not saying that would solve the problem, but Kenzaki hasn't really had the opportunity to bond with many people in the camp, primarily because of the language barrier. The opportunity to get to know someone else, or spend time with someone else will at least open his eyes to other ... prospects.

"And I don't think Faith is the sort to be slowed down by language barriers, either," Ami added. "But even if that's not an option, getting him acquainted with others in the camp would go a good long way, I think. He seems like the sort who needs to be protecting people, and there are plenty of people here who need protecting. Things get just boring enough around here that I'm sure there would volunteers to learn Japanese in exchange for teaching him English."

Kenzaki needed to connect with someone outside of Ripley, Ami was certain of that much. The question was, would he be able to?

[Scott] Unexpected imagery (tag Ami)

[starborn-scribe.livejournal.com]

After dinner the conversation around the cookfire turned to "guy stuff" -- primarily sports and fishing. The topics drove most of the women away, including Ami. Scott stayed at the fire, enjoying the others' debates and participating occasionally.

Out of the blue several detailed, anatomically correct images popped into his head. Scott was glad that he was sitting near the fire because he flushed from head to toe. It took him a few moments to fight off the urge to find Ami and drag her to the nearest private spot by her hair. Instead he thought to her, /Damn, that was creative. Should I be taking notes?/

[Ami] Unexpected imagery (tag Scott)

[fikgirl.livejournal.com]

Scott's question took Ami completely by surprise, and she felt herself blushing all over again, this time for an entirely different reason. She still sometimes forgot how easily there could be spillover between she and Scott.

/You weren't supposed to see that,/ Ami told him. /That was just - you weren't supposed to see that./ (Or know that I might actually find the thought hot. Stop it,) Ami yelled at her hormones. (Ripley, you're talking to Ripley. Focus, dammit, focus.)

[Scott] Unexpected imagery (tag Ami [optional])

[starborn-scribe.livejournal.com]

Scott hid his grin by taking a drink of water from his water bottle. /Oops. I took notes anyway. We'll have to see how much of that is physically possible later./ Being in the middle of a crowd helped him muster the willpower to narrow their link before their positive feedback loop kicked in. Scott returned his attention to the conversation going on around him, which was now far less interesting.

[Ripley] Girl Talk (tag Ami, open)

[hybrid-ripley.livejournal.com]

"Who's Faith again?" Ripley was turning a twig over and over in her hands as she walked. Curls of wood came off of it; after a bit it was clear she was experimenting with using her small claws as carving tools.

She nodded about the language barrier. "There's this Carlos guy who knows Japanese and is gonna try and help us. That should speed things up."

She paused. Woops. She wasn't headed towards the tree-cave. She was headed towards...aheh. /Yeah, I'm taking a psychic into THAT clearing after talking about Pierson and my extracurricular activities./ She reoriented. "Sorry, started going to the wrong place."

She shook her head as they walked. "I'm just terrible about emotional subtleties. I don't do much in the way of sentimentality, and the kid's really a hopeless romantic. I mean, look at him. It's adorable, but it's wasted on me anyway. Like somebody offering me a lace-and-ribbons dress when I'm better off in leather jeans.

"Bottom line, I want him to be happy. I guess I should bug Carlos about giving us an hour a day or something until Kenzaki's up to speed. If he has the time and everything."

[Ami] Girl Talk (tag Ripley, open)

[fikgirl.livejournal.com]

“Faith and Mara are the two new girls in camp,” Ami told Ripley, “I’m surprised that you haven’t heard about them. The rumor mill cooked up almost as soon as they hit the beach. Mara’s an artist, she’s psychic too, very sensitive and her shields were shredded years ago and she never recovered them.” Ami’s voice softened with compassion for Mara, knowing that the process of rebuilding her shields, if it could even be done, would be long, tedious and possibly painful. “She’s one of those absolutely gentle souls. I don’t think she’d even know how to hurt a fly.

“Makes me worry a bit about her, here on this island, actually.” Ami shoved her hands in the back pockets of her jeans as they continued to walk. “Faith…well, she makes an impression. She has this entire Xena Warrior Princess –“ At Ripley’s confused look, Ami shook her head and giggled. “Right. You don’t know about our pop culture. I swear, Ripley, one of the first things we’re going to do when rescue comes is watch all the pop culture television that I can get my hands on.”

Ami thought for a minute, then reconsidered, “All right. Maybe not all of it. Some of it is utter crap, and will just make your eyeballs bleed.

“Anyway, Faith. When I first saw her, she reminded me of you. She moves with this predatory grace that’s hard to put into words unless you’ve seen it. And I mean that as a compliment by the way. You move the same way, like you know that you’re strong and powerful, and you’re proud of it and one hundred fifty percent comfortable in your skin.” Wondering if her words sounded like some sort of schoolgirl hero worship, Ami blushed a bit and kept talking. “I think that she’s a warrior, or at least she has a warrior’s soul, because I’m not sure where she could possibly fight a war on our earth. She wasn’t too keen to talk about herself, though.”

Ami wondered where the wrong place was, then abruptly her mind filled in the blanks. She gave a quiet sigh of relief that Ripley changed directions. “He does seem to be a real sweetheart. Hey, maybe we could make it group lessons. It’s something to do and I wouldn’t mind learning another language.

“Of course, that’s assuming that Carlos and George can survive an hour apart from one another,” Ami finished with a giggle.

[Ripley] Girl Talk (tag Ami, open)

[hybrid-ripley.livejournal.com]

"Shields?" Ripley looked rather lost. "Ok...?"

Oh yeah. The puppy's girl. The one who always had random smudges of color on her hands. "Some people just don't hack it in survival situations," she said regretfully, but without particular concern. "If she can't protect herself or find others who are willing to do the job, I'm not sure what to say about her."

She cocked an eyebrow with interest when Ami described Faith. /Sounds like she could be fun./

"Pop culture?" It sounded like some sort of fizzy bacteria-based drink. But television was familiar. "The space pirates I hung out with last used to watch the Spaceport Shopping Network all the time to buy weaponry. Probably not the same at all...."

More description of Faith. Ripley was surprised that Ami admired her so--trusted her, not a surprise by now; liked her, not either, but admired? That was new.

She shrugged about Carlos and Japanese lessons. "Maybe George would like to learn too," she said simply.

She was walking...and then she slowed. "Shit," she said uncomfortably. "I just realized something. Something I'm not too proud of."

"What's that?"

"Harry. Harry and his crush. First day I was here? Last guy I rescued from the drowners was some skinny kid I mistook for a teenager."

Ami connected the dots quickly. "Harry?"

Ripley nodded grimly. "Harry. I didn't even know he was conscious to remember getting rescued in the first place." She rolled her eyes, and started walking again. "I guess no good deed goes unpunished...."