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⭒☾☀♋︎⭒  

“If she doesn’t like women, she has bad taste,” Ryder shrugged. It was hypocritical as someone who liked men, but he didn’t choose that life or else he wouldn’t. Who would choose to like men? Useless. Ryder blushed a little when Blue made an analogy that made a little more sense to him. He didn’t notice either of them looking at him like that, but he was a lot more observant with other people than himself. The thought made him feel all jittery and giddy though. “Thanks,” Ryder said softly as they fiddled with the new ring on their finger. “Honestly, I used to be a little scared of you, but I was wrong. You’re a great friend and fake fiancé, Blue. You deserve to be really, really happy.” 

~

“I think so, too,” Blue nodded fake-seriously.  Ryder didn’t like women, that was pretty obvious here, but she figured if prodded, they would include themself in this statement.  And so she didn’t prod.  “You’re welcome,” she said a little softer, watching him play with the ring she made him.  “Funny you should say that, because…I was wrong, too.  I thought you and Robin were just some kids who didn’t know what they were doing.  But you know your shit, and you work so hard.”  Blue’s smile faded slightly.  “Thank you.  I want to be happy.  And I’m getting there, but I just…I’m tired of feeling lost, you know?  I’m ready to feel like I’m living without any regrets.  You’re also a great friend, Ryder, and I love being your fake-fiancé.  You deserve to find happiness too, in whatever it is.”

.

“Oh. Oh no. Okay, maybe i should take the lead on microwaving. I don’t pay attention to the number on the microwave  so much as the sounds that the kernels make, so let’s add extra time onto the microwave. The worst thing is runing out of time and having kernels with nowhere to go,” Daphne said, leaning forward to correct the microwave’s issues. “I hope you win the bet. Let’s go and let’s enjoy our time.”

~

“Maybe that’s for the best…since you seem to know how to get rid of the extra popcorn kernels at the bottom.” Blue didn’t mind hanging back while her sister micromanaged the microwave.  Daphne seemed to know what she was doing a lot more than they did, anyway.  Microwaves were one of those things they didn’t have access to for years and years, and they had to say: they were really fucking convenient, even if they weren’t adept at using them.  “Me too,” Blue gave a short laugh.  Daphne wasn’t being very competitive back, but she didn’t mind.  “Let’s go,” they agreed when the popcorn was ready, bracing themselves for the rest of this iconic movie.

⭒☾☀♋︎⭒  

Despite the tears and how sad they were, they still gave Blue a knowing grin when they mentioned the pool. If she met her interviewer while she was in a bathing suit then that was a good start. “Keep me updated on that,” Ryder demanded. They blushed when Blue turned it on them. It wasn’t like they haven’t considered any possibilities with both Daniel and Ian, but they weren’t really letting themself think about it too hard or entertain it. Ryder didn’t notice them looking at him like he “painted the algae in the oceans,” but he also had no idea what that meant, leading him to give Blue a confused look. She made it seem like being rejected wasn’t so bad when Ryder would probably spend a week crying in their pod over it. There were a lot of reasons they held themself back, but they didn’t want to get into it when there were more important things going on–like Blue leaving. “I can’t promise I’ll do it, but I can promise I’ll think about it. For you” Ryder relented. 

~

Blue gave a humorous laugh when Ryder demanded to be updated on the status of her and the dean.  “You got it, Princess,” they gave a thumbs-up.  “I mean, I don’t know much about her yet, but rest assured, I’ll shoot my shot.  As long as she’s ah, available.  And likes women.”  They often forgot about worrying about that second one being on this ship.  Blue was expecting Ryder to squirm a little bit based on what she said next, which is why she never said stuff like that.  As much as she wanted to tell Ryder this kind of stuff all the time--basically every time they looked at a cute boy--it was their life.  But...Blue was leaving, and they might not see each other for a very long time.  She wanted them to know how she felt.  “I don’t know.  On Earth they say something like, as if you’re the sun?  It’s something of that equivalent,” they gave an answer to Ryder’s silent question.  “But I don’t really mean in a romantic way--although it’s probably a factor.  You just give off an aura of making everyone want to be around you.”  They did say they would think about it, which Blue wasn’t sure if they would.  The ‘for you’ was promising, though.  “That’s all I’m asking for,” they offered a smile.

.

“I’d apologize, but I’m not the one causing you weird problems.” Daphne shook her head and laughed a little, standing up to follow Blue to the kitchen. She could agree that popcorn watching wasn’t as straightforward as it might seem. “That works for me. Popcorn is by definition unpredictable. Very rude of it to be so fun yet such a wild food,” Daphne said, shaking her head. Luckily, it was a relatively compact thing to get kernels from Earth so those weren’t difficult tot keep in stock. “I bet it will take…. 80 seconds for the kernels to be in good shape.”

~

Blue chuckled at that as Daphne followed her to the kitchen.  They pulled out the box from the cabinet, then removed the packet from the box.  “It’s a little too unruly.  I love it, but I end up burning it too many times.”  They popped it into the microwave.  “80 seconds?”  Blue gave a perplexed look.  “Doesn’t it take at least a minute for them all to get warmed up before all the popping happens?  Hmm… then again, I did just say that I burn them…” they punched in 80 seconds on the microwave to test the captain’s hypothesis.  “If we’re taking bets, then I bet it needs a whole minute on top of this one.”

⭒☾☀♋︎⭒  

Ryder nodded in agreement and reluctantly pulled back so they could dab at their eyes with their sleeves. He wished it was easier to communicate when they were traveling, because it was going to be really hard to keep in touch with Blue now, which would make all of this even harder. “I hope you find a really hot lady professor to date at the university,” Ryder said with a weak smile. “You deserve that.” He wondered if this had anything to do with Gwen being married to Mark, but it didn’t feel like something he should ask. 

~

Blue parted with them and watched them dab at their eyes.  They wished they had something to offer them.  “I hope the place is full of hot lady professors,” they said honestly, the thought having crossed their mind briefly before.  “The woman that I interviewed with,” they started saying without thinking about it, “We met at the KBW while we were both at the pool.  She’s….not too terrible looking,” Blue confessed, blinking.  Ryder’s words reminded her that they’d never gotten around to talking about what happened at the gala.  But truthfully, they had come to terms with it on their own after the talk with Gwen.  Gwen’s business was her own, and it was time Blue put that past behind her.  “Thank you,” Blue said genuinely.  Then she added, “You know, you deserve to date someone hot, too.  Could you…could you promise me if you like any of the boys here, or anywhere you dock, that you’ll ask somebody out?  The worst someone can do is say no--but they’re not going to.  These new boys look at you like you paint the algae in the oceans--” old Zektul saying-- “uh, Theo excluded.” They gave a small knowing look at that.  “It’s okay if you can’t promise me.  But I just…I really think you’ve been holding yourself back, and I don’t know why.” Blue finished earnestly.

-

“Sounds like a plan,” Sky agreed - both Blue’s promise to let him know how she was doing and prod him on the same, and being friends for as long as possible. “I’ll keep you up to date on what’s going on here - well, the parts that can be transmitted over comms anyway. Might need to save some of the questionable stuff for in-person catch-ups,” he added, whatever ‘questionable stuff’ meant. He was mostly joking about that part anyway, though it was true that some things were better saved for talking about in person - all the more reason to drop by as soon as he got the chance.

-

Sky grinned when Blue imitated his definitely made up salute and put his hand down, listening as they explained further. Their reasoning made sense - they’d joined the crew running from something, so they didn’t need to stay if they were done running. “They’ve been some pretty great years,” he agreed when Blue said the ship had given them some of the best years of their life. Having them here had been part of that for him. “We’ll stay in touch,” he promised, “and you’d better believe I’ll be stopping by whenever I’m in the neighborhood, so - this won’t be goodbye. More of a see you later.”

~

Blue was both happy and sad when Skylar agreed that the last few years had been pretty great.  Really, she was starting to feel bittersweet about every aspect of this so far.  Sad that she was leaving them behind, but happy that she’d got to make such good memories in the first place.  And then, she was relieved to hear Sky wanted to stay in touch, which had been a bit of a worry.  Never seeing him, or anyone on the ship again.  “Good.  You better,” she said adamantly.  “I’ll make sure to let you know how I’m doing…and definitely prod you on how you’re doing.  And I want to be able to see you again.  I don’t think I could take it if it was a goodbye after this.  You’re a really good friend, Sky, and I would like to stay being friends for as long as possible.”

⭒☾☀♋︎⭒  

Ryder hated it when people left. He knew it was a normal part of a job, people moved on, but it felt different here. He saw the crew every day, he lived with them. It felt more like losing a family member when they left. Ryder had gotten really close to Blue, and they didn’t know what they were going to do when they couldn’t see them every day anymore. If he thought about it too hard then he’d probably just start sobbing, which neither of them needed right now. He hugged Blue tighter, his jaw working as he tried to collect himself. He let out a watery laugh at the idea of them being drunk college girls together. “It’s not goodbye,” he promised. “If we ever land near you then I’m gluing myself to your side the whole time. You don’t have a choice.”

~

“Thank fuck,” Blue answered, laughing shakily.  Really, the very last thing she wanted was to never see Ryder again.  Or never see Sky, or Beck, or Daphne, or any of the crew.  They didn’t want to always wonder what happened to them, like she constantly did with her own biological family.  She wanted to know with certainty they were doing okay.  That Ryder was thriving.  “That’s good.  That’s very good.  Because if you come around I’m not leaving your side.  We’re going to have so much to tell each other.”

.

“Mmhmm, that’s just one of several good reasons. Although there’s a not-insubstantial subculture that is apparently very… intrigued by the idea of having sex with an alien. And they also are often on board with Independence Day. Best to keep the sformers and contacts in,” Daphne said, glad that was just about all she knew on the topic. It wasn’t her favorite topic in the world, so she had stopped poking around once she figured out what the messageboards were saying. “Aw, that makes us even closer sisters with a whole new traumabond. Popcorn sounds awesome. Should I come with so I’m not just staring at the paused screen?”

~

As Blue was wearing a sformer at that moment, Daphne didn’t need to tell her twice.  “I don’t like the idea of either…mmm, the first one without consent, I guess.”  They did unfortunately already have an idea of a subculture on earth that either wanted to be a lizard, or wanted to have sex with lizards…Blue wasn’t clear on the distinction, though.  “A whole new trauma bond that will make us bonded as sisters.  You should definitely come with me,” Blue nodded, standing up.  “It’s good to have a couple sets of eyes and ears on the microwave, in case one of us becomes distracted.  That would probably be me.”

-

“Oh it would make a great weapon. God help whoever provokes me,” she joked. Even though she absolutely could kill a man with a hydroflask if she ever chose to. She gave a tight hug in return. “Nope, I’m not gonna cry, ‘cos you can’t cry, and I believe in equality.” That wasn’t the reason, obviously. She was just too proud to cry in front of anyone. “You kick ass at that university and be the best teacher they’ve ever seen, you hear me? Next time I’m on Kurrk they better have a statue of you right in front of the entrance.”

-

Skylar nodded - he did understand that if he were to take on the chief engineer position, it would involve transferring most of his responsibilities over in electro-tech. The idea wasn’t as unpleasant as it used to be though, now that he wasn’t running electro-tech as a one person operation. Laurie was already up to speed on a lot of what would need to be transferred - she just didn’t have the bandwidth to cover it while she was still on the team part time. To Blue’s point, he’d have to see about getting her bumped up to full time, but surprisingly he wasn’t that disappointed by the idea of handing most of it over to her if Daphne greenlit that reallocation. He’d still have oversight, so it wasn’t like he wouldn’t have visibility into what was going on and the ability to jump in if it was really needed - but he trusted that Laurie was ready for the day to day. And even if stepping back from projects wasn’t exactly something he would be thrilled about, he was excited about possibly being able to give Laurie the chance to really dig in on some of those ongoing projects in his stead. He hadn’t really put much thought into it before, because he was content heading up electro-tech and reporting up to Blue… but if Blue was leaving? Yeah, it felt like the right move to step up and give being chief engineer a shot.

All of that was something to think about later though - right now, he was more focused on Blue. “It’s not a stupid or bad idea. You’ve got a lot of talent, you’re great to work with, and you definitely know your stuff well enough to be able to teach it. We see that, and it sounds like this woman you met recognizes it too. If it feels like the right move for you, of course I’m going to back you on it. We’ll miss you here, but - we’ll be alright. Scout’s honor.” He held his fingers up in an approximation of some sort of scout salute, though what kind wasn’t clear - he’d definitely never been a scout of any kind.

~

Blue faltered at the extension of compliments.  They wanted all that to be true, and they knew that they were good at what they did.  She had evidently managed to impress a hiring committee over a video call.  Maybe Sky knew what he was talking about.  Whatever salute Sky was trying to do looked incorrect, and they couldn’t help but chuckle.  They gave a bad one in return--holding both of her hands up.  “All right, Boss Man Sky.  You’ve given me your honor now,” they smiled, then decided to say something more serious.  “I think…I’m at the point I don’t really feel like I need to run away anymore.  I think that’s what I’ve been doing.  The job started with me just wanting to leave Jehk as soon as I could--too many bad memories I wanted to get away from.”  Most of it Sky was privy to already.  “My viewpoint has definitely changed a lot, and being on this ship has given me some of the best years of my life, yet I’m ready to settle down a little bit.  And try something new in the meantime.  But man, I’m really going to miss you too.”  

-

Laurie raised an eyebrow as Blue explained this area actually might have been haunted. She didn’t exactly deny the existence of ghosts - she just wasn’t entirely sure about a ghost being right here. Unless someone died here, that is. “There isn’t really sufficient evidence disproving ghosts, so yeah I guess I do. It doesn’t really scare me though. My parents raised me on some really disturbing horror flicks so it takes a lot to spook me out.” If she was really curious, she could probably figure out the source of this ‘meatball’ voice with her hearing, but she would just let Blue have their fun. “I guess my question is if any past crew members passed away in this exact spot. I can’t imagine why else a ghost would feel the need to inhabit this part of the ship otherwise.”

~

Strangely, Blue thought Laurie was going to say the opposite; that there wasn’t sufficient evidence proving ghosts, and was happy to hear that wasn’t the case.  They weren’t surprised that Laurie wasn’t scared, though.  She didn’t seem like a lot really got to her.  Blue didn’t watch many horror movies growing up…or hardly any movies, for that matter…but the ones she’d seen in recent years were more funny than scary to her.  Still, they raised an eyebrow at that.  “Oh.  So your parents were pretty loose with you as a kid?  Or just big horror movie buffs?”  In the realm of safety, Blue did break her wrist last year, and they have tripped and cut themselves more times than they could count.  They knew better than to wear long sleeves that extended past their hands or rings.  But Blue didn’t think that anyone had died from doing this job.  On the Prosperity, anyway.  “Not to my recollection.” They shook their head as they pulled out the old filter.  “Maybe the ghost came with a piece of machinery that was installed.  A haunted crankshaft,” they joked.  “Now if we can just figure out what it wants…”

⭒☾☀♋︎⭒  

Ryder let out a strangled noise when Blue pulled them into their arms, tears brimming in their eyes now as they wrapped their arms around them. Blue was leaving in a few days, which was way, way too soon, but at least he got to say goodbye to her, unlike someone else he thought was a friend. It was hard to imagine her doing something so stable and legal, but she’d make a great teacher. She always gave really good advice. “Your students are going to love you,” Ryder said, their voice wobbly. He just wished she could have her students here. 

As Blue reached to get something from her jacket pocket, Ryder used the opportunity to blink the tears away to try and collect themself, but that was pointless when they reached inside and pulled out the most beautiful ring they ever owned. “Blue,” they whined as the tears immediately started to roll down their cheeks. Ryder slid the gold, galaxy ring on their ring finger like they were actually engaged. “It’s–it’s perfect. Oh my god. I’m going to miss you so much,” Ryder cried openly and pulled her in for another hug.

~

Blue breathed in quickly at Ryder’s words.  “I hope so,” she answered.  “Thank you so much.”  It did feel really good that they thought she would do a good job.  That people there would like her.  She watched Ryder pull on the ring with a shaky smile.  The reaction to the ring was more than they could have hoped for.  But it was breaking their heart that they were going to have to leave him behind, and that Ryder was very upset that they were leaving.  They’d never had friends like this before coming here that cared about her moving on to different things in her life.  When Blue joined the Prosperity for the first time, it was only a matter of getting out of her lease, and she was gone.  Now that she was leaving, she knew she was leaving a part of herself behind.  And it hurt.  Blue easily accepted another hug from Ryder, resting her chin on his shoulder.  “Goddess.  I’m going to miss you too,” they murmured.  “You have to promise to come and visit if the ship’s ever around.  I’ll give you a campus tour, you can pretend to be a college girl, we can get drunk…all sorts of things.  I just don’t want this to be goodbye,” they finished, gently reaching up to touch one of their hair strands.

-

Beck nodded in agreement. “Yeah, me too.” Though she’d been trying not to dwell on how many years she’d wasted on the Bat Ray. Still, it was a shame, because it hadn’t been until she joined the ship that she truly understood how fun Blue was to hang out with. She curiously watched Blue leave briefly, wondering what the Carrek was about to do. When they returned with their hydroflask - sandwich sticker included - a sad smile formed on Beck’s face. Sure a hydroflask was objectively not the flashiest of gifts, but it was maybe one of the best gifts Beck had ever been offered.

“How are you supposed to keep hydrated on a planet specifically inhabited by Carreki now?” she jokingly asked. She held her breath - an attempt to hold back some of the emotion she was currently struggling with - as she reached out to take the hydroflask. She looked at it for a moment, before looking back up at Blue. “Thanks, Blue. I’ll make sure it’s nice and comfortable with me back on the cockpit.” After a pause, she spread her arms out. “I swear I’m not gonna cry if I hug you right now.”

~

Blue was finding it very hard not to get emotional, as she spotted the sad smile on her friend’s face while handing off one of her prized possessions.  “I’m not sure.  I don’t think I’ll ever find water there,” they answered as an attempt at a joke.  “It’ll be the most comfortable with you, I’m sure,” Blue nodded.  “Even if it isn’t used for water anymore.  It also would probably make a great weapon when it’s filled up.”  They always felt it would be a good bludgeoning tool if need be.  She looked back at Beck, and quickly moved to wrap their arms around her when she offered, holding her close.  “It’s okay if you do cry,” Blue said softly.  “The only reason why I’m not is because I can’t.”

-

Skylar shrugged when Blue suggested it might be weird going from a traveling job to a teaching one. He didn’t necessarily think so - it made enough sense to want to settle down someplace after years of travel, even if he wasn’t in that place himself. He listened as they explained that they wouldn’t be considering leaving if the ship wouldn’t be left in good hands. That right there was the reason why he hadn’t been interested in going for the Chief Engineer position a few years back - one of the reasons, anyway. Beyond having no interest in paperwork and at the time preferring his ever-rotating cast of side projects over managing other people and their projects, he hadn’t liked the idea of putting the crew in a bad spot if he woke up one day and decided it was time to move on. He’d gone ahead and made himself difficult to replace in other ways since then though, and over the last few years he’d put down more roots here than he would have previously imagined to be possible. He hadn’t felt that itch to leave in a long time - maybe the itch to leave a planet, but not this crew - and he was pretty comfortable with the idea of sticking around for a while yet. He and Ali still had a lot of galaxy left to see, and living and working on the Prosperity seemed like the best way to do it - he didn’t see that changing anytime soon.

He listened as Blue mentioned the training procedures they’d written up for HJ, and nodded in agreement about tasks being transferable. The crew was a little short staffed right now in general, but the engineering department was actually in pretty decent shape, and the gears were already turning in his head about how tasks could be reallocated in Blue’s absence. “Huh. Yeah, maybe,” he answered, sounding a little surprised. Not by Blue’s suggestion, this wasn’t the first time they’d gauged his interest in the position - more by his own reaction to it. He still didn’t love the idea of adding more paperwork to his day to day, but other than that… yeah, he could see himself in the position. “I’ll talk to Daph about it,” he decided. “After you’ve talked to her - I’m guessing you haven’t yet?”

~

There was a small part of Blue that was surprised that Sky didn’t dismiss the idea of taking over her job once again, but only a small part.  The rest of her knew that Sky was ready to be more than an electro-technician.  They nodded.  “It is a lot of work, so you’d likely have to permanently transfer most of your current job responsibilities, put Laurie in a more permanent electro-technician position, something along those lines.”  Mostly, if Sky decided this meant he was going to be saddled with two jobs, then that was actually the worst case scenario out of this.  But Sky was already aware of their stance on his work-life balance.  “But really, I think you’d kick ass at it if you decided it was something you wanted to do.  I haven’t talked to Daphne yet,” she responded to his question, sighing a little bit at the thought of the inevitable next step, which was of course turning in her resignation.  “I sort of wanted to talk to you first about it, to see if it would even be feasible.  And maybe to check that doing this isn’t completely stupid and a bad idea.”

.

“It’s complicated, but I have it on good authority that plenty of galx can’t stay away from the temptation of Earth media. The acquisition part is the worst to them, though, but they can’t just circle Earth with hoards of fleets because then the Earth people would actually notice something is off. It’s hilarious. I don’t set out to tell Earth people about it, but only because it would get us and them endangered, you know?” Daphne wasn’t sure if Blue knew. Speaking of knowing things, Daphne had no idea what she was watching whatsoever. It was… not quite right. “What the fuck is this.” Not a question.

~

Blue let that settle in for a moment.  “I guess when I watched Independence Day, I got the feeling that Earth doesn’t really think aliens coming in would be a good thing, per se.”  And by their track record with that Australian town, Earth would actually be correct.  “I guess…yeah.  It’s good for their protection and ours.  It is undeniably hypocritical bullshit that galx wants Earth media, but is going to arrest anyone who gets it for them.”  Blue tried not to smile at Daphne’s reaction to the movie, and failed.  “You know when two people have been through a similar jarring experience and they trauma bond?  I feel like that’s you and me right now,” Blue acknowledged.  “Why don’t I make us that popcorn?”

"Maybe that I can handle dairy if I really just want to handle it. It's all in the mind."