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Life on the Starblaster was never boring. Of course, except for the long slow bits in the middle of cycles. Most of the time it was a lule caused by being on an unexting plane for months already, but not having been so bored yet to start the really ridiculous shenanigans up again. Those would usually continue all the way until the end of the cycle until the arrival of Pan brought that to an abrupt end. There were also many cycles though, where the world was exciting enough that no such lule came about for a notable period of time.
Edward ran his hand along the back of the couch until he reached the end where his sister Lydia sat. He leaned over her, resting against her shoulders, to peer at the book she was reading.
“What you reading, sis?” She raised her head from the book she was reading. His face quirked up into a smirk for a moment before melting into a smile.
“Not much. Just a book on some of the art history of this world. I picked it up last week when we went down for food supplies. Did you want to read it?” She closed it without bothering to mark her place. She waves it around gently in the air, as if to tempt her brother. He looked over the cover with a skeptical look. Not that the painting depicted on the front wasn't one done with excellent technical skills, but even with it waving back and forth in front of him instead of still, the dress on the woman looked unbelievably drab.
“Is there anything on the history of fashion for this place?” He didn't have much hope for anything, it seemed like everyone on this world loved the colors brown, maroon, grey, and black. He wouldn't be surprised if that had always been the case. She laughed and tossed him the book.
“As if. I don't think anyone on this planets even so much as put a thought towards fashion in their whole lives. And even if they had I doubt it would have made its way into their 'art history’” Lydia shifted her position so her back was more against the pillow she was leaning against. She pulled her legs up onto the couch. Jenkins wandered into the recreation area with a cup of coffee in his hands. He frowned at the two of them.
“Come on Lydia, no shoes on the couch. We gotta make this piece of shit last until we get a cycle where they can make decent furniture.” He sat down on the other end of the couch though. She stuck out her tongue at him but slipped her shoes off and dropped them to the ground anyway. Jenkins sipped at his coffee, closing his eyes. His right ear gave a single hearty twitch before settling down.
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There wasn’t much better than sitting down for a pint of ale with your closest friends. At least that’s how Sloane saw life. Race, she thought to herself against her own will, had once been the best thing of all. She tossed that thought aside and thought about other things that she found great. Finishing another dog carving. Getting to pet a bird. The weight of gold in her hands. But as she looked over at Edward and his appletini, and John with his water (His excuse was that he was a holy man, but she suspected that he was just a lightweight), she settled back into her first thought. There really wasn't much better than sitting down for a drink with her closest friends.
Edward turned towards her, swirling his glass. “Come on Sloane, back me up here. We need to get mister Suits here a real drink. Get him at least a little tipsy. We can’t go back up to the moon base with guy after a night of drinking, only to have him still be sober.” Edward looked approximately right in the middle between mildly offended and genuinely upset by the thought of it. Sloane shook her head.
“Maybe we should have him be sober, you know, kinda like a designated driver?”
“All we do is climb back in the sphere and it floats back up to the base! No driver needed!” Edward huffed and swayed as he leaned back in his seat. He wasn’t quite drunk yet per say, he had always been rather flamboyant and exaggerated with his movements. Sloane took another swig of her ale, looking away, not acknowledging what Ed had said to her. John still looked very nervous at the idea.
“I still really don’t think I should drink, something tells me it won’t go well.” Edward leaned towards him, throwing his arm around John’s shoulder. Something about the confident and casual touch reminded Sloane of someone else but she wasn’t sure who. She got a flash of a woman who looked almost exactly like Ed. She shook the image from her head. She didn't like the idea of imaging her close friend as a woman. She knew that he was a trans man and so the thought of him as a woman unsettled her as well as made her nervous. The person certainly didn't feel like Ed, she felt like- Her brain went to static for a moment and seemed to skip over itself. She tossed the thoughts aside, unable to understand what she’d been reaching for.
“Well, Ed is right, it’s not like well have to drive ourselves home. Maybe we can find something light for you?” Edward cheered next to her, glad to have the fighter of their team agreeing with him. John still looked nervous. He straightened his tie and sighed, resigning himself to a night of drinking.
Approximately 45 minutes later, Sloane deeply regretted agreeing with Ed. Once they had gotten even a single drop of alcohol past John’s lips, he’d become a fiend for it. He became very drunk, very quickly. Suddenly Sloane understood why John didn't drink. The usually fairly calm man was across the bar, tie up around his head, trying to fight a very tall orc man. The orc looked to be a paladin, and also looked very unimpressed at the horribly drunk Cleric in front of him.
From the sounds of it, John was attempting to fight the man in hand to hand combat because he thought his god was better.
“The Hunger is ‘n my side tonight, boys! No one c’n beat me! N’ver gonna die! Wooooooooooo!” he threw his hands up into the air, closing his eyes. However the combination of that seemed to send him off balance and he tipped backwards. Both Sloane and Edward flinched at the way John fell like a redwood. They started making their way over to see if their friend was okay. When John didn't get up, they started to get concerned. But once they got to his side, it seemed that he had just fallen asleep from the sound of soft snores coming from him. In the end they found themselves dragging, each one side, their drunken friend to their sphere at the end of the night.
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Edward was ready to see Lucas again. More than ready to see Lucas again. After their date at the Chug and Squeeze, Edward had fallen even furthur for the handsome reaper. He’d liked him right away when they were fighting him in Kravitz’s lab. He could picture him now, the mans floppy little fro and how he stomped his feet when he ranted at him. He still didn't understand how exactly he had died, but he was glad that he and his friends were off the hook for whatever they had been framed for.
He pulled on a silk robe, with fur around the edges. He swirled his glass of white wine, and walked across his room. He draped himself over his couch, reaching over and picking up his stone of farspeech. He paused a moment wondering if he should call Lucas before deciding that he did in fact wish to call him. The line buzzed gently at him until Lucas picked up, the line giving a slightly louder buzzz before the sound of Lucas’s nasally voice drifted into his ears.
“Hello? Who is this? State your business.” Edward smiled. He could imagine the man floating somewhere, scythe in hand, stone held up to his face.
“Whats up, boneface? It’s the one, Edward from Vogue.” He grinned to himself, happy to speaking with Lucas. Lucas sputtered for a moment, no doubt embarrassed. Or maybe he just wasn't fond of the nickname ‘boneface’.
“Wat? Oh, uh, hi Edward! Did you, uh, need something? No wait, i’ll just come to you-” Before Edward could react, a small rift was opening up in front of him and out stepped the handsome reaper himself. Lucas looked over at Edward, instantly starting to seat as he noticed how Edward didn’t seem to be wearing much other than his robe. Edward paused for a moment, shooked, before laughing, ending the stone call.
“Well well well, eager to see me?” He stood up and walked closer Lucas. The reaper started to back away, stammering something, his face bright red. He eventually coked out the words.
“I d-don’t know if this was meant as some sort of b-b-booty call or something but I really don’t think i’d be up for that quite yet!” He seemed mortified at even having to say it. Edward tried and failed to him a smile behind his hand.
“That certainly wasn't what I called you for, sweetie, but good to know that you might be up for it sometime in the future.” Lucas looked even more embarrassed by the but didn't say anything. “I actually just called you to talk. I’ve been wanting to get to know you more.” He paused, a little nervous himself before pushing it away. “I like you a lot and i’d like to keep you around.” Lucas perked up at that. He liked the elf very much as well and seemed to enjoy the idea of just talking together.
The night didn't go much further than some light cuddling as they talked. At one point Edward had stepped into the bathroom and pulled on a pair of silk pants to go with his robe. Lucas had seemed even more cuddly after that. Edward wasn't sure how long they chatted and Lucas probably couldn't tell you either. They had ended up drifting to sleep together on the couch, Edward curled up against Lucas’s chest.