(Untitled)

[hopeitsworthit]

It's not that Dean really took a whole day to talk himself up to walking out the door to what has been, up until now, his room.

It took that long to convince himself to start walking down the stairs.

(Well, that and trying to sleep. And then dealing with what happened after he tried to sleep

Comments

[gonna_live]

"Oh, that kind of inflation. Yeah -- it depends on where you are, or what it is?" She picks up her wine glass. "But with old manuals -- it's all proprietary information, right? So even when the companies buy each other out or go under or whatnot -- somebody's still gonna have the rights to that information. And mostly in the Core, where it's more built-up and populated and whatnot, the real old stuff is either illegal for the environmental standards, or just junked, unless you're rich, and then you can afford to mess around with it and hope it works. Out on the Rim and the Border, you just have to keep what you've got runnin', and good luck trying to find replacement parts that don't cost more than the vessel's worth.

" -- anyway. Point is -- if you can't afford the replacement parts, chances are you're not gonna be able to pay for access to the tech manuals, because of course they're gonna assume that anybody who'd want it is one of the hobby folks as owns their own personal fleet, and since there's a pretty big crackdown on gettin' that kind of intellectual property illegally..." Kaylee shrugs. "Nine times out of ten, if you're stumped, best option is to see what got wrote up in the trade mags, and then you can see if you can fix it with a little spit and tape until you save up to deal with it more long-term."

Kaylee shakes her head a little. "Been a while since I thought about any of that." And takes a sip of wine.

[hopeitsworthit]

"Damn," Dean says, in tones of disgust.

That part is easy.

"Looks like the shit just keeps pilin' up everywhere."

But this is --

This isn't the kind of shit that gets down in your pores. So it's -- he can talk about this.

[gonna_live]

"Sorry to disappoint," she says, a little wry. "I mean -- it's not so bad, though. You only want the manual for the real tricky stuff, anyway. Most of it you can tell with a little pokin' around."

[hopeitsworthit]

"No interstellar network of guys who've seen it all?"

He's trying to kid, but it's kind of rusty.

(And, okay, kind of pathetic.)

"Man."

[gonna_live]

"Maybe," Kaylee says, "but come on -- you really think they're gonna give it all up to a bright-eyed naive upstart? A girl upstart?"

[hopeitsworthit]

"No interstellar network of dudes that aren't assholes?"

Hey, that almost felt natural!

Too bad it doesn't last.

[gonna_live]

"When you find one, you let me know." Dry. "What, like -- some league of parts wizards, lives up on some mountain?"

[hopeitsworthit]

"I dunno. We've got guys like that scattered all over the place."

Like South Dakota.

Shit. Bobby.

[gonna_live]

"Well, no such luck, in my line of work." Light. "Not that I'm really doing it these days, but it ain't the interstellar league's fault."

[hopeitsworthit]

"Oh."

Wait.

"Shit."

Wait.

"Your ship didn't -- "

Is it too late for him to decide not to go there?

[gonna_live]

" -- no," Kaylee says hastily, "no, it's fine. Sallie's son is still doing the captain thing. Just that me and what's his face are livin' planetside now. On Praxed. He's got a job through there, and..." A shrug. "I needed a change, so I went too."

[hopeitsworthit]

"Huh."

Dean's hand tightens on his water glass.

"How's that workin' out for you? The planetside stuff."

It sounds like something Sam'd get a kick out of.

Sam.

[gonna_live]

"Honestly? I'm startin' to get bored." Wry. "I had this plan to start up my own garage, but... I don't know if it's even worth it. At some point messin' around in the vegetable garden's not gonna be enough, though. And I got plans to find an old in-planet light craft to restore."

A sidelong look. "You're welcome to come and see for yourself any time, though. If you ever want a break for a little bit."

[hopeitsworthit]

He opens his mouth --

Then has to stop to consider. To really think about it.

"That'd -- "

His throat's gone dry again.

"Maybe? There's -- stuff, but once you've got that in-planet craft, or whatever -- "

Maybe then he'll be --

Maybe by then he'll actually be able to say 'yes'.

[gonna_live]

A crooked smile.

"How about I leave you a note when stuff's set up? And then we'll see."

(There's stuff, Dean says; Kaylee figured.)

[hopeitsworthit]

His smile this time is unpracticed and genuine, if a lot smaller than she's probably ever seen it. (And filled with a lot more relief.)

"Yeah. That'd -- thanks."

He really can do this. Or at least parts of it.

It's a start.