[RP] The 'Verse (Accepting profiles)

[Akai_ryu]

Thinking that Aria was planning to refill their glasses or had decided that the both of them were plenty drunk for the night, Jas handed over her glass fairly easily. What Aria did next was unexpected. Pleasant, but unexpected and a conflicted Jas hesitated for a second before kissing back. On one hand, she liked Aria quite a lot and had been attracted to her for a long time. On the other, Jas was of the opinion that it was one of her many responsibilities to her crew not to be too involved with Aria. There were so many things that could go wrong if she got as involved with Aria as she would have liked. In the end, Aria's soft lips on hers tipped the balance and Jas found her fingers trailing down the curve of the Companion's jaw as she kissed her friend.



"Since I don't play strip poker, we'll never find out, will we, doc?" Jaden grinned again before taking another drink and slipping the cards into hir hand. "But if you do play strip poker with Cap, make sure that you're also playing with Aria. Cap's not so good at bluffing to start with when you get to know her, but when Aria's around she's even worse."  

[DeirdreTonbo]

Getting Jas to kiss her back wasn't the hard part. Hell, she might kiss back even if she was sober, at least for a second. Aria pulled back to breathe, grey eyes looking into Jas' blue as she gave her a chance to put together what had just happened.



"I should be taking notes... wait, why am I playing strip poker with the captain?" Belatedly, Fayra remembered it was her turn. "Umm.. do you have any sixes?"  

[Akai_ryu]

The captain's pale blue eyes stayed glazed over for a few seconds after Aria pulled back. For a moment she seemed slightly puzzled as to why they had stopped kissing. Then, the fact that they had been kissing hit her and her eyes widened in momentary panic, flicking from Aria to the bottle to Aria's room and back to Aria.

"I--I'm sorry. I shouldn't have. I mean, it was great, but...No, that's not right. It was great. I shouldn't have, though. The crew..." Jas stammered, hands automatically moving slightly away from Aria to safe places. "We can't afford to..."



"Sixes." Jaden nodded slightly before shrugging and tossing Aria hir sixes. "I don't know why you're playing strip poker with Cap, but if you want to, I'd take the cards down to them now before they start without you."  

[DeirdreTonbo]

Aria smiled and shifted, sliding into Jas' lap for the second time that day. This time she was facing Jas, legs on either side of her hips. At least it wasn't immediate refusal. The companion wasn't used to being refused and she didn't want to know what would happen if she had been. She caught up Jas' hands and placed them on her own hips, then took a deep breath.

"Jaswinder, I think I want to just be your first mate. If my sister gets married... I can't be what they want me to be, same as you can't be what your father wants you to be. But I want more than that, I want this."

She reached up, carefully cupping Jas' face in her hands. Was she saying it all right? Aria wasn't sure, she wasn't usually this nervous or scared when she was speaking her mind.



"Wait. What?" So, when she wasn't drunk, Fayra sometimes had a hard time following the trails of thought Jaden went down. She wasn't sure if it was because ze tried to confuse her of if ze was just abnormal. Drunk, Jaden just seemed to make connections she wasn't getting.

She accepted her cards and put them in her hand, not quite having enough for a full set.

"But... um... I don't really want to play strip poker with the captain."  

[Akai_ryu]

Jas' heart thudded in her chest as Aria straddled her lap. Why was this more nerve-wracking than flying a battlefield ambulance through a live combat zone with people trying to shoot her down? And why was she blushing? This was a serious conversation, not a time for the tall blonde's hormones to be jerking her mind down pathways that she had been avoiding for years and making her blush. Even if Aria had purposefully set Jas' hands on her hips. Her very very expensive and well trained hips.

"What if it goes wrong?" Jas asked quietly after a moment, avoiding Aria's gaze. "What if you decide that just being my first mate isn't enough or you miss being a companion? What if....What if this doesn't work out? I can't--Jaden can't afford to deal with the fallout."



"Aces." Jaden mused before answering Fayra's question. "Probably for the best, Doc. Aria and the Cap have been dancing around a game for as long as I've known them. Three's a bit of an awkward number, wouldn't you say?"  

[DeirdreTonbo]

"Jaswinder Sturm. I would like to ask you out on a date. Maybe... the next time we drop into Londinium?" A little smile played on Aria's lips as she asked the question. She held very still as she asked, not wanting to distract Jas too much.



Trying to figure out what Jaden meant, Fayra handed her aces AND threes. Over the top of her cards, ze could see comprehension in her eyes as they widened and she blushed a brilliant (and not entirely unattractive) shade of pink. It was a good color for her. "But they're both girls!"  

[Akai_ryu]

Being asked out on a date was a completely logical thing given their current conversation and history, however that didn't stop Jas from blurting the first thing that came to mind as she tried to figure out how to deal with the changes Aria was making to their relationship. "But I couldn't afford an hour with you!"

Jas blushed again, which showed up bright and clear against her pale skin before clearing her throat. That hadn't been exactly what she wanted to say. Aria had seemingly missed her concerns about the long term implications of a relationship like that between them.

"And what if us-us doesn't work out? Would you really want to stay? Could you?" The tall blonde asked, looking up into Aria's grey eyes.



That got another chuckle from Jaden. The ship's muscle tucked Aria's cards into hir hand, ignoring the fact that the doctor had handed hir cards that ze hadn't asked for.

"I'd say Cap's a bit older than that and...well...Aria's a Companion. A very good one from what I hear." Jaden quipped, a faint smirk tugging hir lips upward. "And if Cap's sly, I figure it doesn't matter much. Cap would be Cap even if Cap went for men."  

[DeirdreTonbo]

This time Aria flushed, trying to remind herself that Jas was drunk and that she didn't mean to actually imply that she was trying to charge her for a date. She bit off a sarcastic retort before it could make it past her lips.

"I'm not moving until we get this figure out you know. I had originally intended to get you drunk and then take advantage of you," Aria admitted as she lifted a hand to brush a pale blonde strand of hair from Jas' face.

She didn't want to think about if they didn't work out. From Aria's point of view, this was something that would explode eventually.

"I want to stay, more than... than anything. Jaswinder, I want to be here, I have to be able to fly to that next star. So... if we don't work... As long as you would let me stay, I'll fly this wreck."



Flipping through her cards, Fayra was still trying to work out how that worked and her blush wasn't going away. With a little clear of her throat, she gave the cards in her hand a firm, serious stare. What was she supposed to ask for? Jaden had taken her aces (but didn't they need... to have...) so she should as for (was Jas the "man" or the "woman"?) threes. Didn't she have threes?

"Seven!" Fayra blurted out, surprising herself. "Um... do you have a seven?"  

[Akai_ryu]

"Well, you've accomplished one of two." Jas mused before going quiet and blushing faintly again. Her gaze and chin dropped and Jas' blush deepened as she jerked them back up.

Did it count as taking advantage of her if Jas had also wanted what Aria had planned, even if she did insist on denying it to herself? And what kind of incentive was refusing to move? The captain violently squashed the bit of her mind that suggested that they refuse to resolve any of it just to keep Aria straddling her lap.



Still chuckling to hirself, Jaden slid a pair of sevens across the table at the doctor. This was about as amusing as starting a barfight and ze could see now why Aria liked teasing her crewmates so much.

"Queens, Doc."  

[DeirdreTonbo]

Aria's eyebrows rose and she watched Jas' line of sight and the shade of her cheeks as they sat there. She slowly broke into a smile, leaning in to kiss Jas' cheek as she always did.

"Oh Jas, stop looking like I have you at gun point. I don't mean to go anywhere unless you kick me off your ship." It was so rare that Jas' nickname rolled off Aria's lips it was somehow sweeter when it did.



"Jaden, what's sly?" Fayra mumbled from behind her cards almost too quietly to be heard. She grabbed her beer and took a swig, immediately fixing her gaze on her cards so that if Jaden hadn't heard her, she could pretend she hadn't said anything.  

[Akai_ryu]

The kiss to her cheek was familiar and it was almost enough to make the tall blonde miss the fact that Aria had actually used her nickname for once. Normally Jas liked the way Aria said her name and had always chalked it up to a Companion's training, but...the way Aria said her nickname was much better.

"I don't plan on ever kicking you off this ship." Jas muttered before briefly leaning to the side to eye the bottle of brandy. "And if you had a gun on my head, it would be a lot easier. There's something about having a beautiful woman on your lap that makes thinking a little more difficult."



"What?" Jaden blinked, having almost missed the question. "Sly? Cap's sly, always has been as far as I know. Not sure if Aria is or if she's just a Companion. There's a fancy word for it, but I always understood it to be likin' folk of your own sex in bed."  

[DeirdreTonbo]

Aria looked rather like a weight had been lifted off her. It was one thing to make things complicated for Jas, but she didn't know what she would do if Jas had drawn the line at this. She was right, even if Aria didn't really want to admit it (especially out loud), that if things didn't work out... it would make things awkward. Right now, drunk and rather... distracted by Jas, she wanted to think she would stay.

She shifted her weight and sat so her legs were across Jas' lap instead of her butt, and reached for the bottle of brandy. Her training as a companion was screaming at her to no longer ignore the captain's desire for more alcohol. She poured a generous glass, placing it in Jas' hand. True, she wasn't ON Jas' lap anymore, but her skirt was half-way up her legs due to gravity.



Fayra glared at her cards, trying to figure out just how that would work. Medically. She could see how Jas would be attracted to Aria or other girls. Jas reminded her more of the gentlemen she'd grown up around than the ladies. But medically... neither of them had the right parts.

"Go Fish." She announced suddenly.  

[Akai_ryu]

Aria's nose. That was a nice, safe, not completely distracting thing to keep her eyes on Jas decided as Aria shifted to reach for the bottle of brandy. Right now, even her own lap was horribly distracting and could possibly be taken the wrong way given the way Aria's skirt was riding up her legs, revealing toned legs and soft, creamy touchabl--Nose. Aria's nose was a good place to keep her eyes and Jas kept her gaze on it as she accepted the glass of brandy from Aria.

On one hand, the brandy was excellent and the company wonderful. On the other, perhaps this last glass of brandy was not the best of ideas since she was already fairly drunk. Jas took a sip and savored the flavor while thinking. Perhaps, not the whole glass. Surely Aria would share it with her instead of needing to pour another.

"Share this with me?" The tall blonde asked, gesturing carefully with the glass.




Jaden reached for the pile of cards in the middle of the table and shoved hir new card into hir hand. Ze tossed a set onto the table and took another drink. The doctor seemed rather intent on the game and was even glaring at her cards, which Jaden found odd. They were playing a game of Go Fish with no stakes just to pass the time. Perhaps the doctor was a very competitive person? It hadn't seemed like it before.

"Doc, glaring at your cards ain't going to make the ones you need pop up any faster." Jaden pointed out.  

[DeirdreTonbo]

The very nose Jas was so carefully keeping her gaze on, the creamy, touchabl- no, the other nose! took a deep breath of the peach scent and shifted slightly in a smile. She shifted distractingly at Jas' request, placing her hands directly over the captain's own hand holding the glass.

Grey eyes met blue again over the top of the glass, Aria's lips touching the glass and carefully tipping both their hands so she could drink.

When she had taken a sip, Aria straightened the glass and released Jas' hands before speaking. "Thank you."



"Huh?" Aria looked up, glare disappearing and her expression inquisitive. She hadn't even realized she was glaring and she slowly gathered into her head what ze had just said. Her blush spread across her cheeks, pink not just from the fact she was drunk. "Oh. S-sorry. I was just um... trying to figure out how that would work. Twos?" This started out audible and trailed off into a quiet mumble until she asked for cards.  

[Akai_ryu]

If it was at all possible, the tall blonde flushed an even brighter red as Aria's fingers wrapped around her hand and the glass before meeting her eyes. There was something about that smile and Aria's eyes that drove all but the most inane conversation topics she had learned long ago out of her head. And her hands...No, it was her touch. Reaching out with the hand not holding the glass, Jas caught Aria's hand in her own. Then, as if astonished by her own actions, she stared at their hands and for a moment panic showed in her eyes. However, instead of letting go, the captain simply took another sip from her glass.



"How wouldn't it, doc?" Jaden asked as ze hunted through hir hand of cards for the twos. Had there been twos in hir hand? "Far as my understanding of things go, romantic relationships might have gender roles, but they're not only doable by one sex. And these days sex ain't just about having babies. Hell, if some folk are to be believed, it's mostly about having fun and if you can have that kinda fun by yourself, you can have that kinda fun with someone you're attracted to, no matter what bits they've got. And they make things to fix that missing bits problem, anyway."

There was a pause and Jaden looked up from hir cards. "What, doc, you lookin' for a demo or something?"