#Did you know that as of today I've been playing Mio for 1267 hours & 55 minutes?

[dru-plays-starbound]

You Never Forget Your First

Universe: Starbound CW: Grief Words: 665 Context: Written for the Woe, Cubes be Upon Ye Protectorate Event, some of Mio feelings about the Terrene Protectorate.

"Where you go, I'll be right behind you…" The song drifted along the quiet, empty corridors of The Vestige, mournful in its longing and loneliness. "Where I go, I'll have you at my side…" Kata looked up from where she was reading, hidden in a storage compartment near the front of the ship. Her e-book was tucked into a pocket as Kata rose, flicking one long, grey pigtail out of her face. She crept out of the storage compartment. "Where we go, together…" The song was coming from the Bridge. Kata checked her watch. Past midnight, local planetary time. No one but she was usually up this late. No one but the Captain was allowed on the bridge.

Kata crept forward, keying open the Bridge door, wincing at the pneumatic hiss. Sat in the chair at the navigation console was Captain Mio. "There's nothing we can't fight through. Nothing we can't weather…" The rising beeps and bloops from the ship's instruments made an odd accompaniment. With every other line of the song, Mio tapped the little hula girl, gummed down to the top of the console. "If you've got my back, I've got yours. Standing firm against it all…" Kata couldn't stand the pain in her captain's voice any longer. She rapped against the metal hull.

Instantly the song died in Mio's throat. She rocketed to her feet, reaching for the pistol on her hip. "Kata! 'Tides, woman…" Mio cleared her throat, hand moving away from her weapon to sign out, "What can I do for you?" Kata stepped onto the Bridge. "Captain, you okay?" she signed, her hands slow and cautious. "Yes, thank you." Kata frowned at Mio's quick and perfunctory signs. Kata drew herself up, her gestures sharper. "Respectfully, do not believe you." Mio lifted her chin. Kata looked her in the eye, one fist on her hip.

All at once, the Captain seemed to crumble. Her shoulders bowed, her gills flared rapidly, and the underside of her throat flushed a speckled red. Mio wobbled on her feet, then fell back into her seat. Kata cried out as she rushed over, hands flittering between Mio and signing, "Captain! What's wrong? You sick? I get Medic!" "No, it's fine." Mio caught Kata's shoulders, before her hands returned, tremulous, to the signs. "I'm just… I miss my first crew." Kata shook her head in confusion. "That song was one Fabian came up with. To remind us there was nothing we couldn't do together. Tides, he was so proud of it too." Mio nictated, her gaze over Kata's shoulder. "And here I am, singing it as a mourning song, instead of a marching song." "This at Academy?" Kata asked. "Yes. Our last year, we were sorted into proto-crews. We trained together as one unit. We should have graduated together. Gone into space together." "How long?" "Since Earth?" Mio's hands shook, mangling the sign for the Protectorate's homeworld. "Nearly five years? Maybe. I'm ashamed to say space has made time fuzzy." "It has been seven years, three months, 19 days, 55 hours and 3 minutes," SAIL's modulated voice came quietly through the speaker on the console.

Mio twitched an eyebrow ridge, her throat working. "Okay to miss people. Sadness not a failing," Kata said. "Don't have to hide." The shiver in Mio's hands belied the perfunctoriness of her signs. "I have my current crew to think of. Food to source, equipment to maintain. I shouldn't be wasting time on what's long passed." "Captain-" "I also have to finish plotting this course. Thank you for your concern, Kata. Go to bed." The last signs were delivered with a sharpness that made Kata blink. She rose, but still hovered until Mio made shooing motions at her. As Kata left the Bridge, she heard Mio take up her tune again, but rather than the mournful sound from before it was upbeat and joyful. Kata smiled; glad, if confused, that her Captain was in better spirits than she'd been found.

#starbound #writing #starbound fanfic #starbound fanfiction #theprotectorate23 #wandering words #oc mio #oc kata #mio's crew #Did you know that as of today I've been playing Mio for 1267 hours & 55 minutes? #or 7 Weeks 3 Days 19 Hours 55 Mins #which doesn't sound very long #but it feels like a long time #concrit welcome