Kumbaya! [OPEN]

[huffpuff_wolfie]

Characters: Wolf & the crew of the Winding Way
Content: Wolf's discovered a meteor shower and wants to camp out on the deck for the night. Everyone is invited to join in the fun. Bring food, booze, whatever.
Setting: The deck of the Winding Way
Time: 10pm-ish (backdated to just before Candy Mountain)
Warnings: Nothing much. Maybe some drinking,

Comments

[sugarforteatime]

He had been working. Not on stuff for the ship but for his other job, the one he constantly insisted to the crew involved difference engine programming. He had actually been finishing up looking through crime scene photographs as well as a few documents. At least he'd been able to send off a message to Watari to check up on a few details before Vash had gotten really impatient and tried to drag him off bodily or something.

Apple cinnamon muffins had been dug out of his 'stash' and brought along for the occasion. When he finally did get outside, he did have to admit it was beautiful. The sky was clear and they were up high enough that there weren't too many clouds in the way. The stars were brilliant in the background, and the meteors streaming across the sky made an incredible foreground.

Normally he would have been irritated by the distraction, but he supposed going along with Vash was alright.

"Well, we are here. What did you intend for us to do now?"

[sugarforteatime]

As usual, Vash's smile was blinding, and a little distracting. That was one thing that had made him trust Vash, his smiles were so genuine when they didn't have an undercurrent of sadness, and that part was so genuine, too.

It wasn't that Vash was more fun than work. In all honesty, he found his work the most enjoyable thing on the planet, but Vash was currently a very close second, right up there with very good cookies.

"I work enough." His investigations still hadn't slipped yet. That was what he was waiting for: the moment when he realized being the Captain here was interfering with his work. He wasn't quite sure what he would do then, he had started to like it here.

Vash helped a lot.

[stampeded]

"No, too much! You're always locked up in your office. Unless you're busy eating sweets in there..."

Realizing that he was still holding those two muffins, Vash chomped down on one, waving the other under Ryuzaki's nose. "I think I've been around you long enough to know. You've taken one vacation, and we have dinner sometimes, but that's about it. Don't you like to do anything else?"

Vash was honestly getting a little worried about Ryuzaki. He knew that he was juggling the programming job along with this one, but it still kept him awfully busy, and that couldn't be a good thing. The man didn't seem to be too stressed or anything like that... but would it hold out?

[sugarforteatime]

This was part of the reason it was difficult to be around other people. Honestly, it seemed like no one really understood how much time he needed to spend on his work. And, of course, the obvious reaction was to assume that working on a difference engine program wasn't as important as spending some free time out in the air. He looked up into the sky and was silent for a long time.

"I have spent some time with the rest of the crew, I also speak with the cooks occasionally as well as participate in dinners associated with holidays." For him that was a lot.

"I read novels." He didn't like having to convince Vash he was doing something worthwhile with his free time. "I enjoy my work."

[stampeded]

Since Ryuzaki wasn't taking the muffin, he set it back on the plate, finishing his own off.

"You have? That's good..." It didn't seem like enough, but he couldn't argue with it, if Ryuzaki really was taking breaks. Vash worked with him, sure, but he couldn't keep an eye on him all the time. Part of his duties as a First Mate involved checking in with the crew and making sure everything was running smoothly, which only left him in the Captain's cabin for a couple of hours a day.

"I'm glad you enjoy it. That's what makes a career worthwhile, and everything." He was frowning now, though his gaze was still turned off in the distance. "I don't want the stress to get to you. That's why Kurt had to leave."

[sugarforteatime]

It took him a while, but he finally realized Vash had offered him a muffin, he picked it back up and stared at it for a moment before unwrapping it and taking a very small piece to eat.

"It is my life." Every moment of it that wasn't dedicated to the Way was dedicated to his job. He was occasionally very capricious about his cases but he did it for the Justice, and the puzzle.

"I do not think I would like leaving here. I will stay for as long as I am able." He sat up, actually sat, and looked down at Vash for a while. "I enjoy it here. There are many people whose company I have come to appreciate."

Those weren't promises to stay, he couldn't make those, but it was all he could give.

[stampeded]

He smiled up at Ryuzaki, feeling... not quite uncomfortable under his stare. It was more that something was fluttering in his stomach.

"Good! I don't like to see my friends running off like that." Kurt leaving so suddenly had hurt, but... it didn't bother him so much now. Vash had become resigned to the fact that he was now limited to the occasional visit, until too many years passed. It had been hard enough to deal with the first time; he didn't think he could stand it if the same thing happened to L.

Vash rested on his elbows, more reclining now than laying flat. "And... I think we'd all be worse off without you. You've done great with the ship so far."

[sugarforteatime]

L just sat a little longer, feeling strangely happy and content despite not being working. He pulled off another piece of the muffin and ate it.

"You lost someone important to you." He wasn't a total idiot. Kurt leaving had hurt Vash a lot. Even though he and Vash were friends, Kurt was Vash's Captain first.

"Thank you." It was wonderful to hear Vash really approving of the work he was doing. "I do not imagine it is the same, though. I will do my best."

[stampeded]

He slowly nodded, then turned his gaze back to the night sky. "I wouldn't want it to be the same. You're a different person, and you handle things in your own way... it wouldn't be fair to hold you up to some other standard! Besides, I can't say that anything ever stays the same."

Vash had never once felt that life was boring or repetitive. There was always so much going on, everywhere, and even the last few years had introduced some major changes in his life. He knew that friends were rarely a permanent thing, either... which was part of the reason he'd been so upset over Kurt leaving. He had thought he'd have more time to be his friend.

"So don't worry about that sort of thing. Even the crew's warmed up to you now."

[sugarforteatime]

Well, that was good. He couldn't say he was stressing over the way the ship was run, he was too busy doing so many other things. It still felt nice to have that bit of appreciation though.

He leaned back, his shoulder just a few inches from Vash's and he fed himself another piece of muffin.

"You have helped a great deal, Vash. I do not think the crew would have warmed up so quickly or completely if not for your presence. I need you here."

[stampeded]

"Really?"

That couldn't be right. Ryuzaki was so smart, so capable, it was hard to believe that he could possibly need Vash for anything. There had to be other people that would've done the job better... and yet, Ryuzaki had been the one to help him and let him stay. They were friends, sure, but that had never guaranteed that they'd work well together. Somehow, they had managed to do it anyway.

Looking back to Ryuzaki, he shook his head, "...I don't know about that. You've got everything well under control here."

[sugarforteatime]

"Yes, I mean that."

Sometimes it was hard to believe how willing he was to express - a small amount of - his feelings to Vash. Vash had seen far more of what was inside his head than any other person, except Watari. He trusted Vash, and he was convinced that Vash made him just a little stupid.

He didn't know what else to say. "You are the one I turn to." He understood every inch of the ship in a money sense, but he didn't think in terms of what was entertaining or fun or nice, he just checked numbers. Vash brought the emotions he didn't have to the ship.

[stampeded]

He looked down at the deck, scratching the back of his head. Vash was both flattered and embarrassed at once. He never would've thought that Ryuzaki might think that way, ever.... it was a great thing to know, but what the heck was he supposed to say now?! He was too afraid that he might let something slip that he definitely didn't want Ryuzaki to hear.

"Then I hope I can keep being helpful to you," he said, after a mental debate that felt like it took far too long. "The ship is important to me, and... your friendship is important to me, too. I want them both to keep getting better!" Vash didn't think saying that was too much...

[sugarforteatime]

It had taken Vash long enough to respond that he had actually gotten into staring up at the sky. The meteor shower was finally starting in earnest and he just watched, silent and content with the situation and the company. It was comfortable in a way he wasn't used to. He liked it. A little.

"Myself as well." He did want them to stay close and get closer. He wasn't used to this but it was nice.

They could stay like this for now. Work could wait just a little while longer.