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“So this is where you’ve been hanging out, huh?”
Kimball’s head shoots up in surprise. The war's been over for quite some time, but she still has her instincts. She automatically grabs for the pistol at her side, clutching it before her brain even realizes what's been said.
“Chill,” the intruder responds. “I'm not here to hurt you. I'm here to par-tay.”
Kimball blinks hard, hand lowering in response to the inexplicable statement. She recognizes the person standing before her now: Kaikaina Grif, Captain Grif’s younger sister. Recently arrived on Chorus for, quote, “Spring break, bitches!”
It doesn't seem to bother her that a war-torn planet is hardly a beach-side city with clubs galore, nor that the celebrations have ended and the more tedious rebuilding has begun. According to Tucker, it doesn't really matter either way—apparently, if you give her enough time, parties will spontaneously start happening around her. Vanessa hasn't personally witnessed it first hand, but it's probably not a coincidence that morale has been up thirty-five percent since she arrived.
The thought makes her more sympathetic than she otherwise would have been
“If you want to party, I advise you to go elsewhere,” Kimball tells her ruefully. She gives a pointed look around the quiet office as she silently puts her hand back on the desk. “You won't be finding much fun here.”
“Tcch, whatever,” Kaikaina replies. She tosses her head, sun kissed hair flipping over her bare shoulder. “You can't fool me. The General’s office is always where the good booze is at!” She pauses to consider her own statement. “And, like, sometimes the really sturdy chains. But I don't know if you’re into that yet.”
Kimball’s eyebrows fly up. “I...excuse me? Did you just…?”
But Kaikaina’s mind has seemingly already flitted off again. As Kimball watches from her desk, she starts poking into the filing cabinet drawers, flipping through them without a care in the world or a single thought in regards to propriety.
“Can I help you?” Kimball says sharply.
Kaikaina perks up. “Uh, yeah?” she says as if it were obvious, pausing in her rifling through things that don’t belong to her to turn to Kimball expectantly. “This would be like, way easier if you just tell me where it is.”
“I don’t have any—”
Kaikaina scoffs. “Suuure.”
Kimball heaves a huge sigh, then reluctantly reaches into the desk drawer at her side and takes out the bottle of bourbon she inherited with the position. It was almost full when she first discovered it, but now there's only a few mouthfuls left; a result of the occasional long nights spent sipping at it—all she would allow herself—after a string of defeats or a particularly stressful couple of weeks.
Kaikaina’s eyes light up at the sight, a look of triumph coming across her face at seeing her suspicions confirmed. “Score!” she exclaims, promptly bounding over to pluck it from Vanessa’s hand. “Finally I can get a taste of some real booze, and not that funky stuff McCallister makes that Simmons says is made with antifreeze.”
“It's perfectly safe,” Vanessa says, though to be fair, a few people wound up in the medbay with minor discomfort after his first couple of batches of moonshine went awry. “We've tested it thoroughly—”
“Ugh, nerd stuff!”
“—and there's nothing to worry about.”
Kaikaina rolls her eyes. “Yeah, but it still tastes like crap!”
“...that's true,” Kimball admits. She can't stand the taste of it herself, and only bothers with it when Carolina, Tucker, or one of her friends from the medbay drags her into one of their weekly poker nights.
“And that's why we're gonna share this bad boy!” Kaikaina proclaims as she holds up the near empty bottle of bourbon in example and promptly hops up onto the desk beside Kimball. “Too bad it's not tequila, or we could've been doing body shots!”
“We don't have limes on Chorus,” Kimball says absentmindedly, brain catching up only after she removes the tablet from the edge of the desk, where Kaikaina’s hip knocked it unknowingly. She startles, then looks up in shock. “Excuse me!?”
“Uh, body shots?” Kaikaina replies. She waves the bottle of bourbon as though that’s an explanation. “You know, like, we’d lick salt off each other's thighs and get drunk and then spend the rest of the night getting each other off? You know, girl time!”
Kimball gapes.
After a couple of seconds, Kaikaina scrunches up her nose, looking incredibly confused by Kimball’s reaction. “What?” she asks, frowning cutely all the while. “What’s with your face? You look, like, really weird right now. Is it because you don’t like oral?”
If Kimball had ever been reserved about talking about sex, the mere act of being in the military would have destroyed that shyness for good, which is why she doesn’t respond with a blush or bashful behavior, or even with the stiffness that most others might expect. She just says, “I just think your concept of girl time and mine are very different.”
Kaikaina squints suspiciously. “...no oral?”
“Not usually,” Kimball says dryly.
She gets a comically disappointed look in response. “No offense?” Kaikaina says. “But that sounds, like, super boring.”
“I’ll try not to take it personally,” Kimball replies, her amusement sneaking into her voice despite her best efforts. She leans back into her chair, letting her tired back rest wholly against it for the first time in hours, then silently motions for Kaikaina to hand her the bottle of bourbon, prying the stopper out while the other woman continues to chatter.
“This whole planet’s kinda boring though.”
Kimball frowns, though she knows they don't have a lot going on by Kaikaina’s standards.
“But like, Tucker and Grif said it would be when I called them up, and I still decided to come anyway—”
“Why?” Vanessa asks frankly.
Kaikaina stills, the lack of motion so out of character that it only highlights the sudden and all too familiar look of sorrow that crosses her face. “Uh…” she begins, hesitance written all over her.
“You don't have to say.” Kimball rushes to say, regretting asking it now that she has. She hesitates herself, then reaches out and places a hand briefly on Kaikaina’s knee, squeezing it for a split second before moving it away to put some distance between them.
“Uhhh,” Kaikaina says again. “It's cool.”
She meets Vanessa’s gaze, then lowers her own again, shifting to stretch her legs out as far as she can, flexing her feet back and forth like it's a game or a way to keep distracted.
“It's just ‘cause I haven't seen big bro in years!” Kaikaina continues after a second. She waves a hand carelessly, though it seems false and subdued. “Oh, and the all other guys too.” She scowls, expression changing on a dime. “Except the narc, because he's like, totally gonna sell us out one day.”
She looks expectant, as though waiting for agreement, but Kimball has no idea who the last part is referring to, and so utilizes a skill she picked up as the only child of divorced parents and smiles placidly in a way that allows people to make assumptions.
Kaikaina instantly grins back, comforted. “And, like, I keep telling Tucker not to invite him to my parties, right? But he's all, ‘How am I gonna get laid if I don't?’ And I'm like, ‘Bitch, it’s not like you're gonna get laid if you do!’ And he's like, ‘Cold. Ice fucking cold.’ But I'm just trying to save my parties!”
“Seems reasonable,” Vanessa says with a straight face, because just like that, she knows who this so-called narc is.
To be honest, she's surprised she didn't figure it out sooner, because even as respected as Washington is, he still has a reputation for ruining his troops’ day when he thinks they aren't working hard enough. Rumor has it that some have apparently even dubbed him the ‘No Fun Freelancer,’ which he faces with either grim satisfaction or chagrin.
“It's totally reasonable,” Kaikaina agrees. She motions for Kimball to hand her the forgotten bottle, then takes the stopper as well, rolling it back and forth over one of her thighs. She lifts the bottle and brings it to her mouth before seeming to remember herself. She pauses, lowers it, asks: “You sure you don’t want the first sip?”
Kimball shakes her head. “Go ahead.”
“Cool,” Kaikaina replies, and drinks it down. She doesn't linger with the taste, but neither does she down it carelessly. She hums when the flavor hits her mouth, a low, pleasant thrum of appreciation that brings to mind... different things.
It's been a long time since Vanessa has had the kind of offer Kaikaina has made today. It's been even longer since she felt she could take someone up on it, being all too aware of the position she holds and the power dynamics that inherently come with it.
And yet, Kaikaina is not one of her people.
Kimball clears her throat. “I assume that means you like it?”
“Oooh, yeah,” Kaikaina replies with enthusiasm. “McCallister’s moonshine sucks, but this stuff actually tastes really good!”
“It was bought before the war.”
Kaikaina frowns. “The one with the aliens?”
Kimball huffs in bitter amusement. The Great War seems like it was centuries ago. In comparison, the civil war on Chorus seems relatively new, and yet Kimball still feels like she's been aged decades by what she and the others have been through, marked by the trauma and shared pain.
“No,” Kimball says calmly. “The other one.”
“Oh,” comes the response. Kaikaina blinks rapidly, but shrugs it off immediately in favor of leaning in with an impish expression, yellow tank top gaping just enough to show off a hint of cleavage. “Hey, you want a taste?”
Caught off guard, Vanessa nods.
“Woohoo!” Kaikaina cheers.
Her arms fly towards the sky with her exclamation, causing the stopper to slip from her fingers and fly across the room, where it hits the side of the cabinet and bounces on the floor, eventually rolling to a stop. Luckily, the bottle fares much better, and she doesn't so much as spill a drop before she remembers herself and puts her arms down.
Bemused, Kimball begins to ask, “Why was that so exciti—”
Kaikaina takes another drink, which only serves to baffle Kimball further, then drops the bottle on the desk beside her and hops down from her perch to position herself in front of Kimball, bending her body until they're well in each other’s space, and their faces are moving ever closer together.
Oh, Vanessa thinks.
Time stills and drags on into eternity as she debates whether or not she should turn away. A kiss doesn't have to mean anything, but in this moment, it feels momentous. Like the first sign of spring after a long and brutal winter.
And Kimball’s been cold for far too long.
So for once, Vanessa gives in to her own desire. She closes her eyes and lets the liquid trickle into her mouth as their lips open against each other, swallowing the amber liquor and ignoring the oaky taste in favor of something far sweeter.
To her pleasure, Kaikaina kisses the the way she holds a conversation. She's confident, and the right side of eager, with the occasional bite to keep things interesting.
“You're like, super hot,” Kaikaina mumbles as she breaks away for a second before diving back in, nipping at Vanessa’s lower lip before sucking it into her mouth. “I totally wanted to do this since I saw you.”
“Mmm,” Kimball manages.
The other woman snickers into her mouth, hot breath puffing gently inside, warming her more than it should, than it has the right to, loosening the aching muscles that have grown tight from too much stress.
Vanessa winds up chasing after those lips long after the taste of bourbon has left her mouth. But eventually, they have to go their separate ways, and so, in the end, they untangle themselves, Kaikaina climbing off Kimball's lap and straightening her shirt without even bothering to run her fingers through her newly mussed hair.
It's very like her.
“I’m gonna go to the labs,” Kaikaina says when Kimball asks where she's off to. “‘Cause like, I was talking to one of those scientist guys the other day? And he was telling me about these funky mushrooms he found the caves. So I’m gonna get on that before anyone else finds out about them.”
Kimball’s mouth twitches with good humor. “Well, good luck with that,” she says warmly. She hesitates, and, after thinking about it, motions in the general direction of the desk. “You can take the last of the bourbon if you want. I don’t think I’ll be needing it.”
“Nah,” Kaikaina says. “It’s cool.”
Vanessa tilts her head. “Are you sure?”
Kaikaina winks at her in response. “Yeah, I’m sure. I already got what I came here for anyway.”
And as Kimball takes in that wide, toothy grin and that cat that ate the canary look, she begins to laugh, the sound bursting out of her more easily than in has in years, tumbling out with happiness and astonishment in equal measure.
“You should come back again,” comes tumbling after. And Vanessa means it, unsurprisingly, even though she didn't know she was going to say it until it was out her mouth. “Tonight, preferably. Or…”
Kaikaina straightens up, looking intrigued. “Or…?”
Vanessa finds herself hiding her next smile. “Or you could meet me in my quarters,” she says smoothly, before adding, “...for ‘girl time’. If you're still interested.”
A blink, a ticking away at the clock, and then:
“Woohoo!” Kaikaina screams in glee.
“That's what I hoped you'd say.”
It’s going to be an interesting night.