[[ crater-bound, diablo ]]

[almosthonorable]

whitetextiswhite

[ cowboys and russians ]


The fourth morning, Ben's awake well before dawn. Despite the hour, he's downright jovial from a night spent in an actual bed and the chance to wash away the dust from the trail.

(Of course, sharing that bed with Esfir's no hardship.)

They've still got a twelve-mile ride ahead of them, but he doesn't wake her just yet; the pads of his fingers are stroking the back of her neck in a steady, featherlight rhythm.

Comments

[aimedforthemoon]

"Good."

Being (mostly) alive? Is so very good. Being hungry most of the time? Very annoying. And she notices the once-over, which gets a crooked smile. Short and skinny and she looks like a boy in those clothes. But, if he's not complaining...

[almosthonorable]

He's definitely not complaining; she's not that skinny, and with curves like that, he'll forgive the clothes for hiding them, because he knows they're there.

Once they're both dressed and ready to leave, he leads the way down to the bar.

The coffee isn't nearly as good as Miss Bar's in Milliways. Neither are the biscuits.

At least it's a hot breakfast.

[aimedforthemoon]

And given Esfir is somewhat stuck with the appetite of an adolescent boy, food is food. Actually, she had that opinion long before Weyland worked his craft, but that just confirmed.

So, she eats. And drinks. And then pauses.





"Is that man dead?" She asks Ben politely, in a low voice.

[almosthonorable]

"Don't think so, Yazy."

He smirks into what's left of his coffee.

"Think he's still stone-drunk."

[aimedforthemoon]

Yazy.

She'd hoped he'd managed to forget about that...

"Oh. Must be red beer, then."

[almosthonorable]

That earns a closer inspection of the man in question.








" -- must be."

[aimedforthemoon]

Which earns a smirk around her cup.

"Interesting town."

[almosthonorable]

"I'm thinkin' we've got divergin' definitions of the word."

He drains what's left of his mug and returns the smirk.

"You're the one all fired up 'bout the world's biggest empty grave."

[aimedforthemoon]

"Crator."

[almosthonorable]

"Crater," he corrects himself with a nod, eyes bright.

He pulls out enough cash to cover their meal, plus a little extra, and glances at Esfir's plate.

"You set?"

[aimedforthemoon]

She grins at him, already on her feet.

"Yep," she says anyway, being helpful.

[almosthonorable]

It's not long before they've retrieved their horses; it takes even less time to leave Diablo behind.

It's a sunny morning; already hot, and dry as the dust the horses' hooves are kicking up.

[aimedforthemoon]

Truth be told, Esfir doesn't mind. It's good to feel the wind in her face, the sun on her body, and beyond good to smell air that isn't processed thousands of kilometres in space.

And if her horse slips into a canter, well.

Nothing wrong with that on this plain, right?

[almosthonorable]

Nothing a damn thing -- Ben's admiring her ease in the saddle as she speeds past him.

(He's proud of her, the near-natural way she's taken to riding.)

At length, he urges his mount into an easy canter, letting the animal have its head to catch up.

[aimedforthemoon]

She's not even thinking about racing, not really - just the sound and the sights and the smells and the feelings. She's always been a quick study, and this is being thrown into the deep end.

Still, she grins at him as he catches up.

"Thought I lost you," she says, eyes bright.

[almosthonorable]

He draws even with her and gives her a wink.

"Could be I let you get ahead, Lieutenant."

[aimedforthemoon]

"Venyamin Vade," Esfir drawls, thickening her accent deliberately, "never 'let' me like that."

[almosthonorable]

He can't help it -- he laughs.

"If you ain't noticed yet, it's me who's always tryin' to keep up with you, Fira."

[aimedforthemoon]

"Keeps you on your toes," she says innocently, giving her horse a light kick. He's a good horse, and goes faster.

(She keeps an eye out on the terrain, even through the grin and games. No point in being stupid, after all)

[almosthonorable]

"And my -- "

He chuckles and follows suit, surveying the stretch of desert spread before them.

It wouldn't do to have one of the horses stumble, especially not with Esfir's smiling and looking almost relaxed.

[aimedforthemoon]

No, it wouldn't, which is why she draws her horse to a canter, then a trot, then a walk as the desert starts to look full of stones and pits.

"So, that should be it," she says, pointing to the horizon.

[almosthonorable]

He slows in tandem and squints, the horizon line blurred by shimmering heat.

"Should be."

A sideways glance and the corner of his mouth quirks upward; Esfir's excited about this hole in the ground.

[aimedforthemoon]

Esfir takes a moment to return the look, only on her part there is a seriousness to it.

"You'll get it," she says simply, "when you see it. Or. I hope you will."

She really does hope he gets it, for reasons that are not actually related to the crater itself. Of course, seeing the hole in the ground requires climbing now that they've reached the outer base and it towers about forty-five metres above them.

Clearly, she forgot to mention that part.

[almosthonorable]

"I'll get it, all right."

After they make this helluva climb.

"Just didn't realize we'd be scalin' Mount Sinai."

[aimedforthemoon]

"Be good for you," Esfir informs him, swinging down of her horse and making sure he wouldn't wander off.

"Fresh air, exercise, no horse to rely on..."

Her smile at him is positively wicked before she starts off and up.