There was something different about the tavern. Typically, the mood in it was cheerful, almost homey; for the past few days, however, it had been... solemn
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Trudy had already been in the city once, but Kang wasn't in. She'd solved that problem by hopping the bar and filling a couple of empty bottles from Hydroponics with ale. Bottles that she had emptied herself, and one of which she'd emptied again.
So when she slouched into the Drunken Dragon with her hands in the pockets of her plantsuit (with its new stripes kind of haphazardly sewn on like she'd done it in a hurry) and tossed herself onto a barstool, she already had the lazy, loose-boned sprawl that came from being nicely buzzed.
"How's it been, dragon man?" she said with a wide grin - a grin with sharp edges and a shadow at the back of it. No matter what she said to anyone else, Kawalsky had hit her hard.
That particular nickname earned Trudy a look. "Don't call me a dragon, Trudy." Kang could tell she'd already had a few, and that her smile wasn't quite genuine, and he could guess why. The whole ship had been affected by the Kawalsky and Cassie thing.
"Smart woman," Kang smiled, though it didn't quite reach his eyes. He disappeared into the back room and returned with a tankard of ale, setting it down in front of Trudy. "Remember how we talked about you getting so drunk you confused the dragon on the roof with a real one? Tonight's probably a good night to do it."
Trudy snorted. "Honestly I doubt there'll come a day where I get that plastered. That thing is ugly as homemade sin."
She took a swig of the ale and licked her lips, setting the tankard back down. "But I am more than willing to try. Whole week's been nothing but shit."
Kang chuckled, "It was never meant to be pretty. It was meant to scare the hell out of the damn gobbos and blow 'em up. I'll agree with you about this week, though. One thing on top of another." Moodily, he took a drink from his own tankard and leaned on his elbows so that he was more level with Trudy.
"I had to find out that one of the guys I trusted to have my ass was really possessed by a creepy space worm. Then he tried to blow up the ship. Then a kid who had no business on a dangerous mission died and her boyfriend decided to stick his hand through Kawalsky's head."
She took another huge drink from her tankard. Apparently being promoted and getting all the gritty details wasn't sitting as well with her as it could have been. "You?"
"...so that's how he died." Kang shook his head. "It's a shame. I liked him, and now I'll never know if that was really him or the traitor."
He snorted, wings rustling, "On top of coming back to this mess, the mission that was supposed to be easy ended up going downhill fast due to bad intel, and two people came back with some sort of parasites of their own that required surgery. One of them is going to be fine, but Hiccup... it's not looking so good." He was never going to forget the sight of that thing bursting out of his stomach, and the looks on Astrid and Stoick's faces especially, one he'd probably mirrored.
"Jesus wept," Trudy said. "Luis's idea for mandatory parasite screenings is looking more and more like a good plan. Hiccup's the skinny one in the furs, right?" Any commander would be ticked about one of his team getting hurt on a mission, but Kang didn't look like that was it.
She shook her head. "Don't tell me you got attached to the kid?"
Kang nodded, "Yeah. The skinny Viking kid. He... the parasite came out of his stomach. Right in front of us. The girl he's courting, and his father, too."
He paused, wings drooping slightly. "I don't know, there's just something about him. He's not a warrior, but he's smart, and he's a willful little bastard. Makes it really damn awkward with his father around."
"Urgh," Trudy said, pulling a face before she took another drink. "Well here's hoping he survives. We've already lost one kid this week and if we lose another it's just going to take the heart right out of me."
She shook her head and added in a mutter almost buried in her tankard, "Damn stupid of Stacy to de-pod them anyway, should be asleep where they're relatively safe." The niggling thought at the back of her mind, that two of the pods had been caught in the explosion, didn't make it out of her mouth.
At that, Kang looked straight at her, going tense, "No one knows who all is in the pods, except for the ones we're all starting to remember having previously been awake. I have a mate and hatchlings, Trudy. One month old. As young as they are, and as difficult as it'd be taking care of them in a situation like this, I'd much rather they be here with me, awake, so that I knew without a doubt that they were alright. It's not easy dealing with the constant worry day after day."
Well, that put a damper on the situation, but Trudy just shrugged one shoulder uneasily and let her eyes slide to the wood of the bar rather than look at him. "Sorry," she said, sort of a forced grunt. "Never had kids, never wanted 'em. Never had much of a family after I joined the Marines either. Just... dammit Kang, Cassie was sixteen. That's too young. We don't even accept 'em in the military that young. Bad enough we let Sohryu fly with us, but now the Captain's sending them straight into danger?"
She didn't like seeing the kids on the ship. Sure, they did funny things and made everyone smile every now and again, but was it worth the risk of putting them in harm's way?
"She was old enough to know the risks of what she was doing. And from what I hear, she was the best suited for that particular job. There comes a point where you have to accept that a child isn't a child anymore," Kang said quietly. "You can't protect them forever. I know this from experience."
Trudy didn't have an answer to that, really. "At least her parents aren't awake," she said. "I'd hate to be the Captain and have to tell someone like you that he sent their little girl to get killed." She took another drink of the ale, finishing it off and sliding it across the bar in a wordless request for another. "Worst damn part of being in command is doing notifications. Was always glad I was either overseas or off-planet, never had to do it in person."
Kang took her tankard and his own, refilling them both, "Comes with the job, unfortunately. Not just children either, but friends or mates. One of the girls, her mate was killed by a group of humans a year ago. A misunderstanding of some sort. I had to tell her about Harvah'k; it was one of the hardest things I'd ever done in my life." It was made harder by the fact that she was pretty much his sister-in-law, by human terms.
"Someone has to do it, though. At least in Cassie's case she died trying to help the rest of us out. I would hope that her parents would understand that."
So when she slouched into the Drunken Dragon with her hands in the pockets of her plantsuit (with its new stripes kind of haphazardly sewn on like she'd done it in a hurry) and tossed herself onto a barstool, she already had the lazy, loose-boned sprawl that came from being nicely buzzed.
"How's it been, dragon man?" she said with a wide grin - a grin with sharp edges and a shadow at the back of it. No matter what she said to anyone else, Kawalsky had hit her hard.
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She was done being pleasantly buzzed. It was time to get thoroughly hammered.
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She took a swig of the ale and licked her lips, setting the tankard back down. "But I am more than willing to try. Whole week's been nothing but shit."
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She took another huge drink from her tankard. Apparently being promoted and getting all the gritty details wasn't sitting as well with her as it could have been. "You?"
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He snorted, wings rustling, "On top of coming back to this mess, the mission that was supposed to be easy ended up going downhill fast due to bad intel, and two people came back with some sort of parasites of their own that required surgery. One of them is going to be fine, but Hiccup... it's not looking so good." He was never going to forget the sight of that thing bursting out of his stomach, and the looks on Astrid and Stoick's faces especially, one he'd probably mirrored.
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She shook her head. "Don't tell me you got attached to the kid?"
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He paused, wings drooping slightly. "I don't know, there's just something about him. He's not a warrior, but he's smart, and he's a willful little bastard. Makes it really damn awkward with his father around."
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She shook her head and added in a mutter almost buried in her tankard, "Damn stupid of Stacy to de-pod them anyway, should be asleep where they're relatively safe." The niggling thought at the back of her mind, that two of the pods had been caught in the explosion, didn't make it out of her mouth.
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She didn't like seeing the kids on the ship. Sure, they did funny things and made everyone smile every now and again, but was it worth the risk of putting them in harm's way?
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"Someone has to do it, though. At least in Cassie's case she died trying to help the rest of us out. I would hope that her parents would understand that."
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