InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "Excellent!"

Kitty was wondering what this mysterious thing that Jaylah wanted to show her was, and the curiosity was eating at her. By the time she was off shift and on her way, she was debating using the ship’s computer to cheat.

But that wasn’t fair. But the anticipation was killing her. Killing her.

She caught her in the hallway and slipped an arm around her. “Hey!”

Jaylah smiled when Kitty appeared, glancing around to see if any commanding officers were about before kissing her on the cheek. "How was your shift?" she asked, interested in how Kitty was doing with life on this ship as they walked towards the holodeck.

“The usual, 95% boring,” Kitty joked. The other 5% depended on the day. Once in awhile it was abject terror, but when working with anti-matter and a million tonne starship, there would occasionally be moments of ‘uh oh.’

She wanted to kiss her more (it was easier out of uniform), but she knew it made Jaylah uncomfortable. “How about you?”

Jaylah gave her a curious look. "Boring is not always bad. They say that boring on a starship means less chance of danger. And I do not want you to be in danger."

She tilted her head as they walked towards the holodeck. "Mister Scott and I are discussing modifications to the ships systems to make them more efficient. With the greater influx of travelers, it is useful to see how we can improve."

“I’m one of the founding members of the Dangerous Sports Club,” Kitty boasted. “If danger doesn’t find me, I’ll go out and find it.”

She reached for Jaylah’s hand and squeezed it. “But I’ll try to moderate my danger tendencies. How much do you think you can improve?”

"What is Dangerous Sports Club?" Jaylah asked as she squeezed Kitty's hand in response. The casual contact was still strange to her as she preferred to demonstrate her affections in private, but she was getting used to it with Kitty. "A bit at first. It depends on when we can stock up on certain things and the influx of future travelers. Not to mention everything has to be done in small pieces because we can't take all the systems offline."

They made it to the holodeck and Jaylah headed in, setting up the program, her body tense and nervous. She glanced as she looked around as the holodeck transformed into the storage bay of her parents' ship. "This.. this is where I spent most of my time growing up.."

“Basically, it’s when you get into fights with bad guys a lot. Or jump out of moving planes. Adventures,” Kitty explained. There weren’t always good memories of dating Pete Wisdom, but that part, the excitement and danger, was always a good memory.

She put her hands on Jaylah’s shoulders from behind, leaning into her. “A ship?”

"My family were space traders," she said softly, feeling a strange unease inside her. "This was our ship, our home. Where we lived. My mother. My father. My sister Keelah. It was where we did just about everything until Krall."

Kitty nodded, slipping her arms around Jaylah and pulling her close. “Tell me about them. The good times, before Krall.”

She didn’t know if that would be better or worse for Jaylah, so she added, “If you’re comfortable.”

"I was happy." That statement was enough to convey the magnitude of the sentiment. "We spent a lot of time amont the stars, traveling from place to place. With all the time on the ship, I was able to build things.. Invent things.. I made a holodisk once that could project multiple images at once. That was fun to place with against my sister."

She ran her hand over the lines of the ship. "I loved being with my family among the stars.." It felt like something was stirring inside her and she leaned back against Kitty for comfort.

“It sounds like it would be fun. I can think of any number of pranks I could pull off with that.” It reminded her of a device Kurt used to use to disguise his mutation and appear normal. It was probably a similar technology.

Kitty smiled against Jaylah’s skin. “I think they’d be happy to see you now.”

"My mother always said my place was among the stars," Jaylah said, leaning into her girlfriend before turning her head to kiss her.

"Do you want me to build one here? It'd be pretty easy.."

“The holodisk?” Kitty kissed her back. “I think you should. They’d be fun to play with, and I’m sure there are plenty of other applications for technology like that.”

She smoothed her hands across Jaylah’s hair. “Are you happy here? Do you feel at home?”

"I am more at home on this ship than I was on Earth." Jaylah led Kitty to a pile of blankets behind some crates and settled down with her. "I am happy with you and the crew… but.. This is only a cadet cruise for me. It is expected I will return to the Academy to finish my schooling…"

Sinking down onto the blankets, Kitty sat cross legged, giving Jaylah some room if she needed it but also close enough to pull her into her lap if she got the impression that’s what Jaylah wanted. She chewed on her lip, then went with the lap thing. “Do you know how long before you have to return to the Academy?”

Kitty and long-distance relationships had never worked out before and she didn’t relish the idea.

Jaylah leaned against Kitty, wanting the other girl's comfort because of the emotions this place was stirring in her. "Most are either six or twelve months. It depends on when we're next at a starbase or return to earth. I think Mister Scotty is happy to have me aboard, but I am supposed to finish my schooling at the Academy on earth. I believe the Captain may have some say in it, though."

“Okay,” Kitty said, swallowing a lump in her throat. If it was the former, then Jaylah was probably already almost done with her cruise. The latter would hurt too, but at least there’d be more time.

Still, she swallowed her own wants along with that lump. “I don’t want screw with your education or your career. God knows I’ve made mistakes like that in the past that came back to bite me.”

Jaylah turned, reaching out to cup Kitty's face with her hand. "Do not be sad. The Captain does not follow rules so perhaps I do not have to either."

“He’s probably not the best example to follow if you want to rise through the ranks,” Kitty pointed out. But she gave Jaylah an almost mischievous smile. “But I didn’t get where I got by always following the rules either.”

Jaylah gave her a sly smile. "Oh? Perhaps you ought to demonstrate and teach me?"

“Are you suggesting that I teach you how to not always follow the rules?” Kitty teased, “Or how to get away with it?”

"I do not follow stupid rules," Jaylah said, brushing her fingers over kitty's arms. "But you may know some ways of getting away with it I do not. You are better with humans than I am."