Editing Squaring With Christian

Truth be told, Christian doesn't spend a lot of time in his room. It has
to do with division of labor. Rina takes care of the systems. Nika takes
care of the flying. Arden takes care of the medical needs. Christian
takes care of everyone. That means cleaning, cooking, and the like.
Right now, though, he's in his room. He sits on his bed, eyes closed, as
he listens to the strains of a kabuki opera.

There is a gentle tapping at his door -- soft enough that he could
ignore it if he felt like it, but firm enough to let him know that the
person on the other side would very much like to speak to him.

Christian glances up, staring at the door for a moment. He reaches over
and taps a button on his cortex screen, pausing the opera. Christian
slips off the bed and pads over to the door, drawing it open. Which
means someone gets to see him in nothing but a pair of red, silk boxers.

Well, now.... there's something you don't see every day. Not in *her*
world, anyway. Her eyes run up and down him briefly, and a faint smile
quirks her lips. "Cute," she offers mildly. But her gaze is back on his
face pretty quickly and his undergarments dismissed. "I was hopin' you
might see your way clear to havin' a chat."

"Sure." Christian says. He steps away from the door, turning to walk
across the small space to where a short robe rests on a hook. He draws
it on and loosely loops the tie around the waist.

Taking the implied invitation, Nika steps into his space, closing the
hatch partway behind her. She doesn't presume that it's okay to sit as
yet, he hasn't invited that. She merely says quietly, "You're a part
owner of this ship. And although we've all sort of been thrown together
here, you're kinda growin' on me, Christian. So when you level
accusations at me that we're going places you don't want to see us go...
it means something. Tell me how I can make this right with us, cuz I
don't want to see you jump ship. And I don't really want to do it myself
either."

Christian settles on the bed and touches the mattress next to him. "What
happened on Beaumonde bothers me. Quite a bit."

With a slight nod to acknowledge the invitation, Nika ventures further
into Christian's domain to perch on the corner of the bed, one knee
pulled up to rest on the mattress. "I get that. Believe me, I'm not too
thrilled about the innocents who died either. We took the job, and it
sounded like the right thing to do at the time. We all agreed to do it.
Then it went south, and Carter was grabbed because of us... and we all
agreed that going after him was the right thing to do." She purses her
lips a little and says in a quiet, almost sad tone, "But if you think
that *any* of what's happened so far is _easy_, even for me, you'd be
mistaken."

Christian motions with his finger, indicating that Nika should turn
around and put her back to him. "I agreed to go after him because it was
important to you and to Rina. The truth is, he put himself in that
situation. We're, each of us, responsible for the outcome there. Myself
included."

She gives him a somewhat puzzled look, but turns herself about on the
bed so that her back is to him. "True enough. It was important enough to
Rina that it *made* it important to me. And in all honesty... the man is
someone I believe worth saving." She hesitates. "Christian... are you
deciding that this isn't working because you feel left out of the
decisions? Or is it something else?"

Moving slowly, Christian raises his hands and places them on Nika's
shoulders. Assuming he doesn't get slapped silly, he begins to work at
the muscles there. Putting that Companion training to work, one might
say. The non-sex training, anyway. "We're on a dark path. When we reach
your friends, whatever it is they ask us... I think it would be a very
bad idea to say yes."

Nika stiffens instinctively when he puts his hands on her, almost
drawing away. When she glances over her shoulder at him, though, and her
suspicious gaze encounters no apparent actual interest in her, she
relaxes a little. Although she still seems somewhat uncomfortable, she
turns back around and lets him work on the tension that has her
shoulders, neck, and back literally knotted into oblivion. "I don't know
what they're going to ask... if they're even going to ask us anything,"
she tells him softly. "Look.... " She searches for the right words to
talk to him. "Do you remember Summer's request? That we do good in the
'Verse with this ship? In spite of the situation on Beaumonde,
Christian... I have to admit that I feel hitting the Alliance plants
making this horrifying drug *is* doing good in the 'Verse. Do you *want*
them using this drug on anyone they decide isn't toeing the line? Anyone
who speaks out against the status quo?"

"No. Of course not." Christian says, "But... we messed up. All of us.
Inexperience, I think.. I don't know." His hands work steadily, pressing
into muscle just enough to break tension, though not so deep as to hurt.
Nothing deep tissue here. "When the job was offered... the Beaumonde
job... we should have discussed it as something more than a chance to
earn money. We should have discussed, as a whole, how we felt about
becoming part of this fight. The drug disturbs me. The torture chambers,
too. I never thought about the Alliance as capable of something like
that. Are we the ones to fight against that, though? And if we do...
how? I can't be part of anything that thinks of what happened on
Beaumonde as unfortunate but an acceptable loss."

"The Alliance capable of far more than that, Christian," Nika replies
quietly. "Why do you think there *are* still people out here fighting?"
She looks down, her fingers pleating the blanket in agitation. "There is
such a thing as the greater good. How many soldiers have died fighting
Reavers? And how many people died to get the Wave out?" She bites her
lip, her head still dropped. "I stopped flying with Harbinger
because.... it was getting too easy to lose sight of the human factor,
Christian. And if, and it's a big if, *if* we decide to get into this
fight as a crew... you may be the only thing that stands between me and
a mindset like Nguyen's. Where 'the greater good' outweighs the
inconvenience of trying, as an example, hit a plant in the middle ofthe
night so there are fewer casualties."

Christian leans forward and kisses the back of Nika's head. "Okay." He
says. His hands slide down her arms for a moment, then fall away
entirely. He rises to his feet, moving out of her personal space.

Nika jumps a little, startled by his action. When he gets up and moves
away, she turns to look at him with a puzzled frown. "Just... 'okay'?"

Christian smiles and nods. "If you like, I know a few sonnets that would
fit this occasion. If I still had a mandolin I could unpack it and
seranade you...."

She's a bit flummoxed, and it shows in Nika's face. "So.... we're okay?"
She seems... uncertain what 'okay' actually means with him. And then
adds, "I will never, ever understand Companions."

"Companions," Christian says with a laugh, "Are people. Regular people
with some special training. Just like soldiers or pilots or doctors..."
He motions with his hand. The "and so forth and so on and such" motion.
"I would never have signed onto this ship after we found Summer if I
hadn't thought each of you something extraordinary. Someone I could
trust and be close to. Even Arden."

He pauses, the adds. "... don't tell me you've never had a fight with a
family member before."

Nika grimaces. "The last family member I had a fight with... you
*really* don't want to know about," she tells him. Moving to stand up,
she looks at him. "All right, then. Neither one of us is talking about
leaving the ship anymore, right?"

"You know.. the last time someone said something like that to me it had
some very different connotations." Christian points out. "But yes. Agreed."

Nika eyes him and then shakes her head with a faint laugh. "Good... .now
I gotta give Rina a week to settle down and realize for herself that
we're not going to be of much use to Carter. He needs far more help than
we can give him," she sighs. "Do me a favor, can you? Keep an eye on
Rina, from a distance. She's.... this is gonna be hard on her."

"I'll do what I can." Christian says. "It might not be much. She's in
love with a memory more than she is with the person. That's always hard."

"Let's just hope he comes out of it," Nika tells him softly. And then
she grins a bit. "And if you ever wanna soothe away the knots in the
shoulders again, feel free."

Christian winks. Perhaps its a bit saucy but, honestly, he hasn't
flirted with anyone for days. He does have to keep in practice. "Part of
the job."