13

Anya stared as Jimmy was half-walked, half-carried off the Tulpar, the man neither resisting nor fighting against those leading him away. What the woman found even more curious though was how silent he was.

She had expected kicking and screaming and perhaps half-maddened rants, but this? This absent silence as his face shut down into something blank and unknowable? It was strange, unnerving almost.

The woman shook her head with a tsk, watching for only a few more seconds before simply turning away back towards Daisuke.

~

Curly took a moment to have his breather, tiredly pushing himself away from Swansea with a sigh. "Suppose we should go check on everyone, yeah?"

"Might as well. You alright, Curly?"

"I think so? At least… at least I think I will be, eventually?"

Swansea gave a nod and gently squeezed his good shoulder, "You did good, you know that?"

Curly mustered up a lackluster smile.

It didn't exactly take much to find Daisuke and Anya from there, since they were just sat outside the ship as it was. The two talking with one another about something or another, though he didn't quite catch what was said before the two noticed him and Swansea's approach.

"How yall holdin up'?" Curly asked, dragging his free hand through his hair.

Anya gave a quiet thumbs up while Daisuke slurred, "Ma facph kanna numm!"

He heard Swansea turn and hurriedly choke down what sounded suspiciously like a laugh. Curly wasn't fairing much better, giving a snort before he could stop himself, "I-I— sorry, wut?"

Daisuke wrinkled his nose, pointing to his face before moving to shake Anya's shoulder, gesturing with his other hand animatedly. The woman hummed, rolling her eyes back to Curly and Swansea. "They numbed his face to help reduce the pain while they were looking over the gash. It kinda numbed his tongue as well."

"Mhmmmm!!!" The intern tried to give a wink and smile but it came across more like an awkward half-blink and raised lip, it almost made the guy look drunk. Curly looked off to the side and coughed quickly into his fist, figuring to save the other man's pride by doing his best to contain his laughter.

Swansea didn't have such curtsey, the man spoke up with amusement clear in his tone, "You look and sound like you've gone off and gotten yourself shitface."

Daisuke tried to say something to his defense but it came out as genuine to god nonsense. Curly had to turn away fully now, dragging his hand down his face as he fought back giggles. The blond tried his best to squish a smile down as someone nudged him lightly in the side, the man looking over to met Anya's steady gaze.

She offered a stage whisper, "Don't worry, I've been hiding my own laughter for the past ten minutes now."

"How'n the hell you manage that?" He mused.

"Years of college have destroyed most of my capability to express mirth," she deadpanned.

Curly couldn't keep back the snickers this caused him, "Christ! That's bloody dark, cheers to it."

Anya shrugged innocently, looking back to where Swansea was now teasing Daisuke, the man ruffling the intern's hair as the guy tried to say something coherent. "Speak up, kid, I ain't heard a word ya said," the mechanic grinned.

The shrill sound of dismay at the lost of his hair's order was enough to have Curly fully break, the captain letting out a harsh bark of laughter.

Hell, maybe they'd be alright after all.

~

It was nearly five more days of waiting around in port until they got the all clear, because despite the crew being antsy to get out and stretch their legs, there was the whole issue of their ship being a crime scene and a couple of them having major injuries that needed to be fully tended to after looking over the damage done.

While her and Swansea mostly dealt with newshounds trying to get information from them (though the crew was already tired enough from just officials questioning them that none of them truly had the patience for the media) while Daisuke and Curly were dealing with medical visits.

Afterall, ever since they'd gotten to port, the boys had been unfortunately dealing with a great deal more pain. The Tulpar may have had its own gravity system, but it was not exactly on par with that of planetary gravity, as the captain had explained to her the second night in port as they stared at that screen. Not only was gravity more actively putting tension on their bodies now, but on their injuries.

Daisuke got the clear before Curly, though Anya wasn't really surprised about that.

After the initial medical crew that had met with the Tulpar post-landing had begun to check over everyone, they'd been able to get the full extent of Daisuke's injury understood pretty quickly. His cheek had certainly taken most of the knife's impact, and the nurse was pleased to find that because of her quick work to disinfectant and seal the wound, her friend already had evidence of notable healing.

While the cheap stitches she had available had come undone some five times between first being done and getting to port, most of that was isolated towards the portion of said cheek injury. Along the bridge of Daisuke's nose and where the blade of the kitchen knife had scraped along the side of his nose before going into the main of the cheek was already showing signs of developing scar tissue.

Anya had admittedly been so hesitant to accept that she had done all she could for her friend until one of the medics had spoken to her after Daisuke's cut was resealed with more sturdy stitches. She was startled when she received praise for her work, color raising to her cheeks as she realized she had done some actual good.

It was nice. Though then there was the whole mess of learning the startling hidden matters of Curly's injuries, the man not being cleared until having over a dozen differing procedures done to fully address his wounds.

The medical team that helped them in port even went as far to bring portable equipement to the ship since they didn't want to risk taking Curly outside where airborne microbes might enter his injuries.

The port, as a result of standard spacing procedures, was essentially a quarantined zone, those entering or exiting needing to go through a series of decontamination stations. Further, since the Tulpar crew had gone through their own quarantine process to get on the ship in the first place, they had to be careful about contact with people after some six months of isolation.

It was a blessing that the medical crew had figured to go through the trouble of getting their machinery through these stations. The capability to x-ray Curly had certainly been of great benefit.

Most concern was regarding his shoulder and the fact that while they'd suspected he had a concussion, he had also had a linear skull fracture this whole while. Thankfully, as they'd been assured, that fracture wouldn't have needed all that much medical interference either way, as it didn't actually move or distort the bone like other injuries would have.

Further to Anya's credit, it wasn't exactly like Curly's symptoms had been all that unusual when one was under the impression that it was just a result of his concussion. Things like headache, dizziness, and nausea were things that crossed over between the two, and while he did have a small busted and bruised portion of skin along the backside of his head set just a bit behind his ear, she had had no reason to suspect anything more major.

There was no bleeding from his ears or unusual fluid drainage from his nose (besides the expected blood and mucus from it being broken), no prolonged and repeated lost of consciousness after those first few times, no signs of possible seizures, etc. So she hadn't even considered that there could have been anything further wrong with his head and it wasn't like the Tulpar was exactly equipped with the technology that would have helped her make that call. She didn't even know that a linear skull fracture was a thing before being informed about it!

Though she didn't feel as assured when learning that Curly's scapula, otherwise known as one's shoulder blade, had actually been broken and not just scrapped by the bullet as she'd thought. So not only had the bullet come dangerously close to the man's axillary artery, carved a path of destruction through his muscular, and caused shards of bone from the edge of the scapula's form to get displaced, but it caused cracks in the bone due to the impact.

Anya had debated with herself when she'd been treating Curly's injury whether to sling it or simply wrap it, and while it turned out a sling wouldn't have been necessary for this kind of injury anyways, she felt guilty. The woman hadn't known the full nature of her friend's injury so she should have known that a sling would have helped reduce the stress on the limb.

If the damage had been more severe though, Curly might have even more irreversible damage to face than he'd be dealing with already. Not only was there the fact she hadn't considered that the bones might have been broken, but her decision to preform surgery to extract the bullet had been incredibly dangerous.

While Anya had been aware of the arteries she'd have to work about and how every motion was to be careful, cutting open the shoulder further as she did might have caused damage to major nerves or permanent tissue destruction. It made guilt sit thick in her chest, though again, she received assurance that she'd done all she could with her available resources.

The nurse just didn't know how to feel. If she'd put the arm in a sling and left the bullet in would there be issues from inaction? Would the bullet have moved about or cause more disturbance? Would it have been a cleaner operation to have waited for more experienced and equipped personnel? If she had been more cautious could she have done more to make sure Curly would have better use of his arm in the future? What if she'd made a mistake during the operation? Could he have died?

She swallowed thickly, twiddling her thumbs together as these thoughts and more plagued her. This would be the fifth night in port and tomorrow the crew would be able to finally go out now. Yet. It felt bitter the longer Anya was here.

There was still so much to process, too much if she was being honest. It made her head hurt and she just— a purposeful clearing of the throat from nearby finally pulled her fully from her thoughts.

Anya blinked up and saw Swansea there, the man sighing as he moved to stand besides her. "It's gettin' late."

She nodded gently, looking down at her lap, "Sorry. I, uh, just… thinking."

"Penny for your thoughts, hm?" He grunted as he moved to sit down beside her. "Something wrong?"

"It, it really isn't all that important—"

"To me it is," the man stated gruffly. "You been avoiding everyone like the plague, kiddo."

She gave a weak little shrug, sighing as an arm eased about her shoulders and pulled her into the man's side. Swansea spoke on, "Is this bout all that medical crap?"

Anya sighed as she leaned into the contact, irritated tears pricking her eyes, "I'm just… frustrated?"

"Hm?"

"Frustrated… I, I could have… I…" A thickness rose in her voice, "I'm n-no nurse! Not… not really. I could have killed Curly a-and I, I didn't do enough— I could have done so much b-better if I was just… j-just… just I don't know."

"You did what you could. That's more than enough considering the utter shitshow we were in. And wouldja know it? We're all safe and alive, none of those what-it's bout someone dying happened."

"I… could have done better."

"Maybe," Swansea agreed, "But what's done is done, and like hell any of us had a clue what to do. Short and simple, you saved our asses, okay? I hadn't even dragged myself outta my seat by the time ya gave that fucker a good ole swing to that big mouth of his."

Anya managed a lil snort, "It did feel pretty good to get that hit in."

Swansea laughed, squeezing her shoulder with a prideful grin, "Atta'girl. It was one hell of a punch, too."

She simply moved to bury her face further against Swansea's side, managing a shallow nod.

~

Curly was leaned back on the couch as he waited for everyone to wake up, the captain much too wound up now that he'd been given the all clear and he didn't have to wear that stupid ass sling anymore.

He just wanted to fucking explore and forget all the bullshit that had happened, just for a bit anyways. He knew eventually they'd all have to start talking serious shit, being let go wasn't a cheap thing, but hell. Just… just a break. Time to breath.

"Curly?" The blond jumped, blinking over to see Anya stood there, the woman hugging herself, still dressed in her pj's. She wasn't wearing the Metallica shirt or the pastel pink pants this time, instead having worn her Three Days Grace shirt and some soft blue pants with a slight polka-dot pattern on them.

"Morning," he tilted his head to the side, "You aight?"

"Mmm… mind if I sit with you?"

He patted next to himself and Anya didn't hesitate to sit down besides him, the woman leaning back to stare at the screen with him.

"Anya?"

"I'm… I'm fine, r-really. I, uh, just…" She shook her head, looking off to the side. "Sorry, what are you doing up?"

Curly ran his hand through his hair with a yawn, "Can't sleep, I got too much energy, yeah?"

"Heh, excited to be, um, all clear to head out?"

"Oh, for sure! I'm all… um, what's a good word? Giddy? I think that works well enough, cheers." He smiled over at his friend, though he noticed she still wasn't quite looking at him. Made him start to feel antsy, if he was being honest. "…Okay, so, what's wrong?"

"I'm, I'm just glad you and Daisuke are okay… I, um. It, it really shouldn't matter— I'm just, ah, overthinking things?"

"Overthinking what?"

Anya gave a weak laugh, placing her head in her hands, "S-sorry, sorry… I, it really shouldn't matter, we're all fine, you and Daisuke are fine, it… it should be f-fine, I just…"

"I mean. It was… pretty damn terrifying, yeah?"

She peered up, sniffling, "Huh?"

Curly nodded, leaning his head back to gaze at the ceiling, "Yeah. The whole attempted murder thing was pretty fucked up, I know we're all gonna have to sit and talk bout it eventually, but it's that sorta deal you're talkin' bout, yeah?"

"Its just— kinda. In… in a way," Anya sighed. "I, I got told your full medical diagnosis, s-something about it being best if I knew what to, uh, to keep an eye on… I just, so many things c-could have gone wrong, Curly…"

The blond glanced over, "Whatcha mean?"

"Curly," her voice grew strained as tears glinted in her eyes, "You have broken bones! A skull fracture, for crying out loud. I-I didn't even, I couldn't even tell! I… I could have killed you doing surgery or— or I could have made the wrong call, a-and, and I can't— what then!? What if something had gone wrong or… or I couldn't… I…"

"Hey?"

"What?" She wiped a hand sharply over her face, a notable tremor going through her.

Curly tilted his head, nudging her gently, "I'm okay, really. I, heh, I'm all in one piece, yeah?"

"I could have messed up badly," she muttered in turn. "Everyone's suffered enough because of my inability to do anything right—"

"Hey, hey— no. No, listen here," Curly tried to keep his voice level, she didn't need to think he was mad at her or something. But he was not going to sit here and let her spiral in these kind of thoughts. "I know better than anyone how it can feel to be helpless, yeah? It's… it's scary, how much can change in such short moments, but, but it was never your fault. None of it, I don't care what anyone bloody damn says."

"I, I could have done more—"

"So could the rest of us." Curly shifted in place, dragging his good hand down his face, "You've always done your best, I don't fuckin' care if ya got the damn degree or not, ya know how much help I woulda been if I were in your position?"

She gave a small shake of the head, fidgeting with her hair.

"I woulda been nothin' more than another daft idiot runnin' bout with my bloody head off like a chicken dinner—!" At the very least that got a small laugh out of her. "—I ain't good with pressure, is the thick and thin of it. But hell, not only did you keep on despite all the shit happenin, but ya also went'head got me and Daisuke all patched up! That's bloody well impressive if I'd have to say so!"

Anya shrugged and he spoke on, "Anya, I know I've apologized time and time again for it, but I'm sorry you spent so much time thinking no one would help you, more so, I'm sorry for not being there for you. I'm sorry you ever had to feel like you weren't enough or that you had to keep quiet about how you were feeling, and Imma keep apologizing for the rest of my damn life if I have'ta. You deserved better, you deserve better. You're an amazing person, you know that?"

"I… I could have done more."

"You did enough and beyond that, you've saved my ass more than once. Heh, in this life a-and in, in the other." Curly cleared his throat, "I, I'm really damn grateful for you being about."

Anya glanced at him before just letting herself fall against him with a sniffle. Curly hummed, raising his good arm to ruffle her hair, the woman giving a tearful laugh, "Hey, w-what are you doing?"

"Oh, what? Can't I play bout with my favorite nurse's hair?"

She just shook her head, wiping at her face with a choked sound. "You're such a dummy."

"Why thank you~!"

The smile she gave was one beautiful thing.

~

Curly hummed to himself, sipping at his coffee (he was so fucking happy to have fucking coffee again) as he worked on breakfast (with new and fresh ingredients!)

He was trying his luck with French toast (crepes were his backup if he fucked up anything) when Swansea shuffled into the room. The older man immediately made his way in the direction of the coffee, not speaking a word.

Curly could respect that, the blond taking a sip from his mug before moving to shift the pan on the stove.

The mechanic set himself up at the table after that, biting back a yawn as he stared into his mug. Honestly, it was pretty strange to see the man not in his usual uniform, but hey, why in the world would they go out into town wearing those stupid get-ups?

Swansea was rocking a dark blue shirt with a white swan silhouette on it (pretty fitting), some slightly chemical-stained jeans, and a real nice pair of tie-dyed sneakers. Curly himself had a casual black tanktop (that said simply 'My eyes are up here' with an arrow pointing away from his pecs), khaki pants, and (of course) his usual boots and cowboy belt.

Daisuke was next to get up, dressed in a plain white long-sleeved shirt with a hibiscus over-shirt tossed on, a pair of torn jeans, and what seemed to be a pair of flip-flops stolen from Anya. However, he had a more frantic look about himself, speaking the moment he saw them both. "H-Hey either of you guys seen Anya!? Like, like dude I can't find her and— and I—"

"She's sleepin' on the couch," Curly said with a nod. "Woke early and we just hung out til she fell on asleep."

Daisuke let out a sigh of relief, moving to check over the fact. Curly was curious about the reaction, though he figured he could ask later.

He set his focus back to the meal he was prepping so he didn't accidentally burn it.

~

Anya woke up to Daisuke shoving a plate of food in her face, groggily blinking at him in slow, confused motions before she dragged herself up into a sitting position.

"H…hey?"

Her friend smiled, "Sup! Captain made breakfast again, it's epic!"

She covered her mouth with a hand as she yawned, stretching before tiredly dragging her hair out of her face. The woman gave a soft chuckle, "Cool, thank you… oh, you're already dressed?"

Daisuke glanced down before perking up, "Oh, like totally! You slept in, dude, but like, Captain and boss said you totally deserved it, so like, yuparoooo!"

"Did… did you just say yuparoo?"

He winked at her like the doofus he was, holding out the plate again. She finally took it in turn, adjusting where she sat as she looked down. "Oh, what's this?"

"French toast, omg you've never had it before or something?"

"Nope, uh, can you grab me a fork?" Sue her, she was comfortable where she was and Daisuke was already standing.

"You got it!"

She smiled, turning about to give a sleepy wave towards Swansea and Curly, the two idly talking as they ate their breakfasts, Curly apparently distracted enough not to notice the motion. Swansea turned to give a nod and wave back, the captain latching onto the motion before following the mechanic's gaze.

The blond waved eagerly at her the moment he saw her and Anya gave a faint snort as she observed the gesture, the guy had not been kidding about being energetic.

~

"Hell, I don't think my knees can keep up with em two, Christ." Swansea grumbled out the side of his mouth, the crew having finally headed off and out of port after everyone had eaten and finished getting ready.

Anya smiled from where she walked beside him, watching as the boys positively chattered on to one another. "I admittedly don't have the energy to try, I just want to look at the shops, what about you?"

"Eh, I'd follow your lead, kid. I'm used to my wife or kids leading trips like these when we have em, I swear, if it was up to me, I'd just end up with ten more pairs of sneakers I don't be needin."

"Oh goodness, I could never!" She giggled, wrinkling her nose, "I'm paying off too many student loans to even think about getting much more than probably a cute keychain."

"Mmmph."

"Kinda like your little swan! Oh, what if I found a little bird so we could match?"

He cracked a small smile, shaking his head gently. "Bah, you know I can just buy you whatever it is you turn out fancying."

"Oh, you really wouldn't have to, seriously, I'm fine with just looking—"

"Hey guys!" They turned as Daisuke rushed over, the guy positively trembling with energy, "Me and Cap gonna go explore! Should we like meet up somewhere for lunch or—"

"You two knuckleheads tryin' to ditch us, huh?" Swansea crossed his arms with a snort, looking quite grim if it weren't for the fact Anya could already hear the teasing edge in his voice.

"You two are soooooo slow, boss!"

The woman gave a chuckle, rolling her eyes with a grin at Swansea. "Remember that little sandwich place back that way with the crazy plants? We could meet up there in a couple of hours?"

Swansea gave a little considering head bobble, eventually grunting. "Alright."

Daisuke gave a fist pump, "Awesome! Okay, okay, cya later dudes!" He turned to run back over to where Curly was trying to sneak up on a pigeon, "CURLY WE CAN GO ON AHEAD!!! LETS GO FIND A DOG WE CAN TRY AND PET!"

The captain perked up, looking over with a beaming smile, positively shining with his reflected energy. Anya couldn't help but roll her eyes, hoping the two dummies didn't get into real trouble as they headed off.

"So. Any stores bout catchin your eye, kiddo?" Anya looked back to Swansea with a shy nod. "Alright, well, cmon then, let's take a look."

~

"Dude, dude did you see that guy back there?" Daisuke giddily whispered to Curly, the two currently perched up on a small wall as they tossed some seeds they bought to a hungry gathering of city birds (a mixture of pigeons, several types of small finch and sparrows, and one particularly grumpy pair of crows).

"Huh, which one?" Curly muttered back, excitedly flapping one hand as the crowd fluttered closer to them. He had always admired the freedom birds had, the capability to fly themselves anywhere they so pleased (unless, of course, you were some flightless bird, but they were cool in their own ways, so they were all great still).

"Bro!? The one with the fucking giant hat!"

"The what— where!?" He blinked up, eyeing the crowd of people moving about.

"DUDE. Great, now I'm going to be looking for him all day now so I can show youuuuu."

Curly snorted, moving to toss another handful of seed out, "You're a dork, you know that, yeah?"

"Takes one to know one," Daisuke quipped without missing a beat.

~

"Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, Swansea!!! Look! Aw, that's so cute." Anya couldn't remember the last time she'd had this much fun, holding up the cat sweater she'd just found so Swansea could see it for himself. While she'd stuck to not getting anything to save money, it was still so much fun to look around.

"Heh, you and my oldest girl got a lotta same taste, ya know that?"

Anya smiled, "Well she's got good taste then. Hey, how many kids do you have anyhow?" She looked over the soft gray striped pattern on the sleeves, tracing the stylized Russian blue on the front, and then moved to set the sweater back on the rack.

"Emotionally or legally?" The man snorted, flipping the price tag on the sweater with an absent hum. He slung it over an arm as he followed after.

"Pfff, what?" She stared at the sweater with a little frown, "Oh, um, you can put that back, I can't afford to—"

"Who said you were buying it, and before you try'n'argue, you deserve to have nice new things, got it?"

"I… I guess, um, heh, I appreciate it."

"Don't mention it. Seriously, kid, it's not that big of a deal, alright?"

Anya smiled gently, "Okay… and uh, so what did you mean when you said emotionally or legally?"

"Eh, you idiots might as well be mine by this point, making me watch out for your dumbasses and all that horseshit."

"Awww, so you do like us!" Anya teased, though she wouldn't lie and say the statement didn't make her feel happy anew. "We love you, too, Swansea!"

The man waved her off as he looked off to the side, "Shuttup, wouldja? Christ, you're worst than Carrol."

"Who's that?"

"Eh? Oh, my wife. I never tell yall bout her?"

"No!? You're always so quiet about your personal life!"

"Mmmph. Fine, whatcha want to know you nosey brat?"

She beamed at him, "Well, what's your wife like?"

The man shook his head, gaining a fond smile on his face. "Most stubborn woman alive, real firecracker that'll sooner tell me to shut my fuckin' mouth before lettin' me talk outta my ass, great collector of the tiniest damn ceramic creatures ya ever did see."

"She sounds amazing," Anya mused, looking at a few cute t-shirts of varying design. "Think I can meet her when we get back on Earth?"

"You kiddin'? Yer all going to get dragged out to dinner by me and the old woman whether you three want to or not. Understood?"

"Ha, okay, okay!"

~

"Daisuke, is it me, or was that guy holding a small dog in his one hand…? I… I couldn't tell if it was real or not."

"I'm, I'm not sure either if I'm being honest, dude. It was surely too small?"

"I. I don't know. If it was a real one that woulda been the smallest damn thing I ever did saw."

"Yeah… that's epic."

Curly nodded before moving to plop on down on a near bench so he could take a moment to rest. While he was in pretty good condition physically, walking about like this made something deep in his legs ache like a real sonnah'bitch. He wasn't sure if it was actually there or maybe if it was some of that residual phantom pain, but eh. It wouldn't kill him to take a break.

Daisuke plopped on down next to him, stretching his arms and legs out with a groan, "It feels so great to get off the ship, you know what I mean?"

"Tell me about it," Curly rolled his eyes, scratching at his beard (since he honestly couldn't just call it scruff anymore seeing how thick it'd gotten since he'd stopped shaving when he'd 'woken up'). "Maybe I should get us like… some treadmills or some crap like that on the ship, yeah?"

"Ha! Epic, oh, and we can like use the barbells I got to get em gains~!"

Curly snorted, teasingly flexing his good arm, "What? Ain't I'm armed enough with guns like these?"

Daisuke snickered, leaning his head back, "Dude, stopppp. You're making me jealous, I'm like… all noodle-y."

"Nah, you're just more lean, but'cha got some good muscular built up, Swansea even mentioned somethin' bout you doing baseball?"

"He was actually listening, huh?" Daisuke smiled, looking up at the sky with a simple contentness. "Yeah, something like that. Miss it, but, well. I kinda like this stuff I'm doing now? I don't know if it's exactly my thing, though Swansea's said I'm 'actually not too bad' at it."

"High praise," Curly snorted, closing his eyes with a hum. "Gotta love that old prick."

"He's pretty epic, I mean, have you seen him at work!? He knows like everything, it's so, so cool!"

"Mhmmm. He is pretty cool, though, ha! For the longest time I thought he hated my guts or somethin'."

"Omg, me, too! Like, but he's actually such a softie, dude."

"Ha! Don't let him hear that… though I totally agree."

"Wanna see if we can find something to buy for him?"

Curly grinned over, "Dude. Yes."

~

"So Willet, well that girl, she'd got a good noggin' on her, but Christ, I swear she had such a bad taste for folk in her early years. Complete diaster that kid, I swore to her, better figure herself out before making all them eyes at every tomcat walking on through, cause kid, ya ain't made for no alley cat pricks."

"Pfff, I never even started dating until trying to get into college full-time, and only sparingly."

"Mhm. Willie dropped outta medical herself, went into mechanical crap like her old bastard of a father, wouldcha know it?"

"Heh, I wish I had that kind of an option. My father never really taught me anything, he's… he's actually why I never really got to be all that close to my roots. He'd get pretty mad whenever my mother tried teaching me about her family back in Ukraine or just the language itself…"

Anya sighed, crossing her arms, "Though I remember some of the lullabies she'd sing me. And, um, I found some online videos I've been trying to learn with lately. …I won't lie. I'm glad he left, haven't seen him in years and I'd rather keep it that way."

Swansea gave a grim nod, patting her shoulder, "Sorry hear bout it, you know, I didn't know your folk were from Europe."

"I, I admittedly just never really thought to talk about myself I guess… I mean, I didn't know you had two daughters."

"Mmhm, I usual keep work and my home life separate, but well. Eh. You know."

"You looooove us~?"

"Hah! Nah, not at all," the man scoffed, ruffling her hair with a toothy grin, "Gonna shove you lot out the airlock for all I care."

Anya burst into laughter.

~

"…Curly?"

"Huh?" The blond looked up instantly at the hesitation in the younger's voice, metaphorical hackles raised. "Whats wrong?"

Daisuke was glancing warily over his shoulder, fidgeting with one of his rings. "T-That woman over there won't, won't like stop staring? It's starting to bother me…?"

Curly snapped his gaze over, catching the eye of some white bitch very much staring at them. He bared his teeth, "Oi! Ya got a bloody fuckin' staring problem?"

"H-Hey… please, Curly, cmon—"

The lady sniffed, storming over now, the blond putting himself infront of his friend as the woman sneered at him. "You two are making people uncomfortable, how dare you walk around with someone looking like that."

The man straightened, "The hell you just say to me?"

"He looks like a goddamned murderer, should cover up that gross face while in public!" She snapped, seemingly preening as more people turned their way to stare. "You should be ashamed!"

Curly was not above punching someone right now, didn't matter if she was a woman or not. "You utter cunt! How dare you say—" A hand tugged on his arm weakly, the blond looking over with a sharp stare. Daisuke winced, looking at the ground as he covered his face with a hand.

"Let's just go, p-please, I just want to leave—"

The woman spoke up sharply, sounding all too pleased, "Yes, that'd be much appreciated actually. You two can leave right now."

Curly bristled, shoving past her roughly with a growl, "Go piss off, you ratty old bat!" Daisuke quickly followed after him, keeping the captain between himself and the woman.

The moment they had left, the older turned to look at his friend, "Daisuke, I—"

The guy wouldn't look at him, just shaking his head. "It's… it's whatever, I-I, I'm… sorry. Sorry, I didn't mean to make anyone… I…"

"Hey, hey— it ain't your fault."

Daisuke sniffed harshly, wiping at an eye, "Doesn't, doesn't it look bad?"

"It's just your face, that woman was being a bitch!"

"But… but I, I should cover it, shouldn't I?"

"Not unless you want to, seriously, people like that just look for excuses to pick at folk, I shoulda punched her."

"W-What, no— no you shouldn't do that, dude, I… I just wasn't, I don't, have people been looking at it the whole day like that?"

Curly nudged the other man gently, "Hey. Let them fucking stare, some people are just jerks, you don't got to do a damn thing cause of em, yeah?"

Daisuke wiped at his face, sniffing hard. "I-I guess?"

"Mmmm… ya wanna get some ice cream or somethin?"

"I wouldn't mind that…"

"And you know what's great?"

"What?"

Curly gave a Cheshire grin as he pulled a wallet out his pocket, flipping it open to reveal an ID of a familiar woman. "It's her treat."

"Dude," his friend's mouth flapped open, "You didn't, holy shit!?"

The blond hummed contently as he pulled the wallet open, removing a few wads of cash. "I did, actually. Ya know, one of the few useful things I learned from that twat, Jimshit." He held the money up, grin widening wickedly, "Besides, now that I know who she is, I can report her for harassment~!"

Daisuke snorted, fresh tears springing to his eyes, "T-That's so stupid, you really… you didn't have to…"

"I did actually. I've grown a rather strong disdain for pricks putting down those I care about."

The young man just gave him a teary smile. "That's… like so cheesy."

"Hah! Cheers! Now let's go spend this bitch's money before we 'graciously' return it to a lost and found."

~

Anya was humming gently as she sipped at her drink, her and Swansea having gotten a table at that sandwich shop when it had turned out they had gotten there before the boys had.

Swansea was already looking through the menu, sipping at the coke he'd gotten every once and awhile as he muttered to himself.

It didn't take too terribly long though for Daisuke and Curly to show up, the two funnily enough very much so having ended up stopping by a few stores on the way there. Daisuke had a smile on his face, a large pair of shiny sunglasses, and a top hat of all things on now. "Heyyyyyy~!"

Anya snorted, raising a brow as the two sat down, her eyes wandering over to the matching sunglasses Curly had, though the blond lacked a hat and rather had a flower crown on his head. "You two have fun, huh?"

"You bet." Curly had a mischievous grin on his face, "Barely costed us a damn thing."

Daisuke snorted, "Totally— oh! We got you guys some things!" The guy moved to dig around in the bag Curly had been carrying, turning to shove a t-shirt towards Anya and a baseball cap towards Swansea.

The mechanic grumbled as he put his menu down to look at the thing, squinting as he read what it said. "The actual hell… 'Fish fear me, women want me'… the fuck is this?"

Anya snorted, raising the t-shirt so she could look it over, pausing as she gave a soft 'aw.' It was a stylized black borzoi holding a red heart balloon in its mouth on a soft blue background. "This is so cute, oh my."

"It made me think of you, like, like you totally give borzoi vibes," Daisuke chirped happily, pushing his glasses up.

"Agreed," Curly mused, watching with a flap of his good hand as Swansea actually put that dumb hat on, the mechanic wearing a glare and scowl on his face.

"This thing is stupid."

"It looks great on you, boss!"

"Cheers," the captain chuckled.

Anya snickered, moving to pull the borzoi shirt over the simple sunset-colored tee she'd been wearing. She was utterly delighted how well the shirt went with her black, ankle-length skirt, "Thank you. Oh! Oh, you two want to see what me and Swansea got?"

"Oh?" Curly gave a curious tilt of the head.

"Yooooooo, yes!" Daisuke pulled off his glasses as he leaned in, Anya excitedly pulling over the bag by her feet.

She didn't think she'd be able to squish down the smile on her face for hours to come.

~

"Look! All I'm sayin, if you think bout it, crows are like the ultimate animal." Curly waved a hand as he stared down at the pot of noodles infront of him. "They're smart and just look bloody incredible."

"What about cats? How would you rank cats?" Daisuke hummed as he set the garlic bread into the oven. "Cats have to be high on your list, right?"

"Eh, cats are fine, but you know what I think is really cool? Foxes!"

"Ohhh, foxes are pretty cool," Anya said softly from where she was sitting up on the countertop, adjusting the portable radio to a station they'd all like. "I really like bat-eared fox, they're super cute."

"A what fox, you're makin' up words, I swear." Swansea grumbled from where he was leaned back against the near wall, arms crossed. He was, to all their delights, still wearing that dumb hat.

"I'm not! They're just a more obscure species," the woman huffed.

"What about orcas?"

"Orcas are fuckin' terrifying," Curly shuddered. "Seriously! They're too damn big and too smart, plotting bastard."

"You scared of a big fuckin' fish, boy?" Daisuke and Anya turned to look at Swansea. "What?"

"No way you just called an orca a fish!"

"Eh? It damn looks like one," the mechanic huffed.

"They're mammals!" Anya threw her hands up, "Not fish!?"

"Potato, tomato."

"That's… that's not how the saying goes???"

Curly couldn't help but hide a smile, knowing full well that Swansea had to be messing with the two. The old man definitely knew what a whale was.

"Nah, it swims and got em fins. A fish."

Anya and Daisuke gave twin sounds of utter dismay, the intern burying his face in his hands. "Dude… dude no!"