Homelands

Again with the taking an idea and not following it that well.

And can I say I love the depth of the crew - how many there are and how they all work together not so well?
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Author: hossgal
Rating: G
Words: 524

The crew cycles through the barracks pod, cluster in the galley, drift in and out of the main cargo bay as boredom, meals and the job at hand demand. Book has come to notice that each of them has a particular niche – a hidey-hole, a chair, a corner that is theirs alone.

Wash has the bridge, Inara her shuttle, and Kaylee the engine room – those are easy. Young Simon has staked out the medbay, but River has claimed the forward port lab counter. When something sized to fit the hand goes missing on the ship, it frequently turns up there. In much the same way, there is an edge of the nav board worn smooth by the seat of Zoe's trousers. Jane has his bunk, and, less often, a ledge in the cargo bay where he sits against the bulkhead and cleans Vera. Book watches him from time to time, and wonders under what Alliance SF troop Jayne learned to short-sling a Mark-34.

Book ponders this about all of them, from time to time. Where Inara learned to put the second-syllable accent on hsiu tsu that she slips into when she's tired and careless with her pronunciation. Why Zoe, who is far less particular with her words, corrected Wash twice about the mayor of Lightstone's manor. As if she had heard the word else where, and knew – like she knew the reach of her arm – that the estate was called 'Tar-ah' and not 'Terra'. He wonders about Wash himself, who speaks with a Core clarity under the skim of Black world slang, and who dresses like a upper-class dandy on holiday on Barrayar.

Simon and River are easier to tag – there is much they share in mannerism and tone, after all – but still a haze of secrecy lays a concealing layer of smoke over them. Simon knew how to use a Sia eating pick, but his sister knew the little pink peppers were sweet, not spicy. Kaylee had not, and wrinkled her nose at the taste.

But Kaylee had known strawberries, and gooseberries, too – and the yellow skinned fruit Book had bought at a little market stall had sent her into squeals of delight. "Guavas!" she had shouted, and held the yellow-skinned fruit up to her nose. "Peach guavas! Fresh – oh, Shepard found us guavas!" He had to help her eat them all before they went bad – no one else on board liked them – and he had put the image of Kaylee lost in bliss, chewing pink-fleshed tropic fruit with her mouth half open, in his box of memories.

Book wonders about all these things – the things he sees, the bits he doesn't, the things he knows and the ones that go unexplained.

He wonders about Mal, sometimes, but as of late his mind has skittered away from the captain and his past. Book has seen the captain watching him, as he putters about the kitchen and as he stretches in the gym. He feels the captain's gaze on him, and the knowledge makes him uneasy. Mal's eyes are clear and his mind sharp, but Book prefers to think that Mal's sight is less penetrating than it may appear.

the end

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AN: Barrayar is not mine, but Louis McMaster Bujold's. However, in a universe where I get to name the planets, the one I colonize is Barrayar.