almosthonorable | [[ crater-bound, diablo ]]

Entry tags:

[[ crater-bound, diablo ]]

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[ 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.

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"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."

"Crator."

"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?"

She grins at him, already on her feet.

"Yep," she says anyway, being helpful.

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.

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?

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.

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.

He draws even with her and gives her a wink.

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

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

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."

"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)

"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.

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.

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.

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.

"I'll get it, all right."

After they make this helluva climb.

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

"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.

He dismounts and his eyes follow Esfir.

"Well, with a view like this -- "

He's almost hiding a ~~leer~~ smirk.

"I reckon I can't complain too much."

But it's a rocky, dusty climb to the top, and Ben's sweating by the time they crest the damn thing.

"Well, here we -- "

He whistles, long and low.

She had gotten there before him, long enough to catch her breath and take it in and yes, yes, yes, this what she wanted to see. This is the kind of thing she never gets to get down to see, not with the Soviets, not with the Alliance. But now she can reach out and touch the dirt and rocks, and it's real.

Of course, then Ben comes, and she looks up at him. And waits. And watches. And then at his expression, she smiles.

(and something, something that was a choice yet unspoken goes ah, there you go)

"You get it, don't you." It's not quite a question.

He's quiet a long minute, just looking, and wondering exactly what the hell happened here.

This is more than a big ol' hole in the ground.

This is a force of nature that makes him feel awful damn small.

(It's like the first time he saw the sea.)

He adjusts his hat and breaks his eyes from the drop.

"I think I just might."

"You know," she says quietly, looking back down into the crater, "this is what I loved first. Not even flying. But imagining...this. Planets, and meteors, and the forces that shape them. Forces that have nothing to do with us, with humanity or even life. Forces that," she crouches down and picks up a fistful of dirt, and the grains are so fine that they just float away, "turn dust into planets, stars." Slowly, she gets up and brushes off her hand.

"But people forget. I don't mean...Earth, so much, people don't know. But my new world. They travel stars and move from planet to planet, and they don't see...they don't see the wonder in it anymore." Biting her lip, she looks from him to the crater.

"It's...sad, almost."

He's nodding while his eyes move to the basin again, trying to imagine the impact that caused this.

It would've been something to see, all right.

Quietly, "Maybe you can remind 'em."

"All of them? No. But some...I could show some of them. Later, after the war's settled and I'm able to be on my own. I could teach, I figured. I'd show them then."

She reaches out to take his hand.

"I'm glad you can see it."

He laces his fingers with hers, a small smile playing at his mouth.

"I'm glad you made me."

He looks over.

"Bet you'd make a fine teacher."

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