Rawr. I'm on a roll. Like butter.
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"NO! No, no, no, no, no, no, no!" A rather flustered Jim was putting his foot down this time. There was no way Gene was making him go. "Fred is fine on his own! He's an adult he can take care of himself!" Jim crossed his arms over his chest and glared at Gene from his seat on the kitchen counter.
"But Jimmy, Gene is an adult and we all know he can't take care of himself," Aisha snickered as she stood next to the blonde and ruffled his hair. Leaning against the counter, the C'tarl reached around him and gave him a big sisterly squeeze. "Plus, it'll be an adventure! A true C'tarl C'tarl is always up for a good adventure!"
"Who ever said he was an adult?" Jim huffed and covered his face with his hands, making no attempt to show his gratitude for the affection he was being given, or trying to return it.
"Hey! Watch it!" Gene fake pouted, "You just might hurt my feelings. Plus, we're discussing Fred, here, not me."
"Yeah? What about it?" Jim was becoming even more uncomfortable about the situation. He wished all of this never had to happen. "Why does this always have to happen to us? Gene we don't have the cash for this sort of thing! Plus, Fred will be fine or he's already dead and there's nothing we can do anyway."
"Happen to us? This didn't happen to us, it happened to Fred. And you know damn well it's cheaper to have the ship running then to have it docked anyway." Gene was blown away by Jim's behavior. He knew Jim was stressed out by their current financial situation, but they were always in this financial situation, it was nothing new. But then, Jim's dislike for Fred probably added to the mix as well. "We can't just leave this be. What if he's still alive? Don't you people have a conscience?" The boy's eyes hid behind his bangs, though no amount of hiding would be able to make him feel any less foolish as he looked sheepishly back and forth between Gene and Aisha, not sure of how to reply.
"Aww," Aisha teased, grinning widely, "Are you saying he's your FRIEND?"
"I never said that!" Gene snapped defensively, growing irritated at Aisha for trying to lighten the situation when it deserved to be as serious as it was.
"He's right though" Aisha stuck her tongue out at the redhead before turning to nudge Jim reassuringly, "Let's go get him! We know where they're going, and why, so let's go! Like I said, it'll be an adventure! And maybe we'll make some money for our efforts too"
"We can't... we need to find work here" Jim began to feel hopeless, slouching a bit as he sat on the counter. This all seemed pointless to him, they probably wouldn't even be able to find Fred, let alone save him if they did. A creak of the door got him to lift his head, blue eyes rising up to see Melfina return from her shopping crusade.
"And how are all of you?" Mel smiled, as she began to unpack her nature friendly cloth bag of goodies.
"We're alright, Mel, just deciding on something," Gene flashed a warm smile, despite his poor mood. He could find no reason to bring her day down with the rest of theirs.
"Oh, a decision? On what?" She folded her bag carefully and slid it inside a drawer, gathering the few food items they could afford and putting them each in their proper place within the fridge or cabinet. "A job offer? Or maybe what colour we should paint the bathroom--"
"Well I'm going," Aisha interjected, folding her arms across her chest and sticking her nose in the air, as if balancing her family tree upon it. "This is no time for idle chit-chat, we have a friend to save!"
"Oh no your not! If you think for one minute that I'd let you leave by yourself in the Outlaw Star--"
"No stupid, you'd come with me! You too Jim! And Mel, and Suzu…" Aisha cut him short as well, rambling on until she turned her attention to Jim. He seemed far from happy with her idea.
"Didn't I make it clear enough for you? I can't go! We need money, we need it bad. So I'll just stay here and work while you go on your little vacation," Jim jumped down of the counter and stormed off yet again to the refuge he found in his computer.
"I'll stay with him" Mel spoke up, as she finally came to understand what was happening, "would you like me to, Jim?" Jim simply shrugged at her offer and continued to blankly stare into the screen, indifferent to what happened as long as they didn't lose the house because of all this damn foolishness.
"Fine then!" shouted Gene, "Aisha and I will go then! You can just stay here, see if I care…"
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AN:
Anoki is mine.
Mine I say.
Outlaw Star is not.
But I wish it was.
A bird just hit my window.