Beboptober 2023 - Tumblr Posts - Page 2

Alone Together

It had been two weeks. The ship was as fixed as it was going to be with the funds they had on hand - long gone now, of course. The RedTail was still fucked. The Swordfish II, Bob had told them, was in an impound lot. The Hammerhead was their only way of getting around for the time being and Jet wasn’t keen on letting Faye utilize his ride.

So she lazed around the ship doing a fat lot of nothing. There wasn’t anything to do. Which suited her motivational level just fine. She could tuck herself away in a corner of the ship no one ever bothered with and cry her eyes out. She could nip into Spike’s room and thoroughly trash the place (after looting it of any ammunition, cigarettes, booze or anything else of value). She could take hours-long showers (at least until the water ran out, which had happened by day 6).

In retrospect, tearing out the pages of the books she’d unearthed in the shambles of Spike’s quarters had been a mistake. Boring though the tomes had likely been, it would have given her something to read as a distraction from her thoughts. When she was feeling especially inspired to do something she would wander there and pick up a page or two and try to decide what sort of story it had been a part of.

The food situation was dire. The water situation had been resolved to a degree - Jet had come back from one trip to town with a case of bottled water - but by this point Faye was feeling so grimy from the inability to wash up that she was half tempted to just go outside and scrub off with sand. She was reasonably sure that was how people did it in the desert.

At any rate, she had wallowed in grief for a while. Mourning for her past self… remorse for encouraging Ed to leave… and of course the sorrow that swept over her multiple times a day when she thought about Spike.

The heartache from each of these woes had not receded a bit. But she was starting to chafe at being left on her own. Having no mission, no job to do, no ability to assist with repairs and no money to throw at the problems to make them go away.

Jet had kindly ignored her since he first blew up on her for shooting up the interior of the ship. She hadn’t even minded - she was no fool, he had needed some way to vent the anger of Spike’s departure and demise. Besides, she’d been half-deaf at the time from firing a gun in such an enclosed space. So she’d let him rail at her and mumbled an apology when it seemed like he was winding down - the mere act of which threw him off so much that he’d simply gaped at her and then turned on his heel and left.

So he had been avoiding her ever since and she had been disinterested in entertaining company while so distraught and depressed. And now her eyes were sore from crying and her mind was kind of blank and she was ready for a distraction. Ready for something to focus on. A goal, perhaps. Anything to break up the monotony of these endless days of silence and anguish.

With a face no doubt ravaged by sadness, she gathered up a few necessary items and set herself up on the bridge to await Jet’s return from whatever shopping trip or bounty mission or just escape from here he’d been on.

The record player was scratching along soothingly by the time she heard his boots climbing up the ladder to her location. The tobacco she’d found underneath Spike’s mattress had been rolled up into a few pathetic looking cigarettes, no filters to be found. There was no booze - she’d guzzled that all away ten days ago.

There was just Faye, alone on the bridge.

There was just Jet, alone on the stairs as he hesitated about entering into her space.

“Well?” She called out to him then, sparking one of the harsh cigarettes. “We might be alone but we may as well be alone together.”

We Will Rock You

Heeled boots and the quieter cadence of Spike’s shoes announced the arrival of Jet’s partners to the hangar where he was currently hanging halfway out of the innards of the Swordfish II. A new pod would be expensive but not nearly as costly as all the other repairs both zipcraft needed. Between the beating that they’d taken while Spike and Faye were at the restaurants - and really, how could the pair of them manage to get their ships that fucked up in such a tranquil environment? - and the narrow escape they’d managed from the abandoned Linus Mine, it was honestly a wonder that either of them made it back at all.

One thing was certain - his reckless partners kept him busier than the rest of their bounty hunting jobs ever could. At least this type of necessary chore was one that offered a strong feeling of accomplishment when all was said and done. In that way it was sort of like cooking. You threw together a bunch of ingredients and got a delicious meal out of it. Here he was throwing together various parts and in the end his partners would have space-worthy vehicles again.

The fragrant aroma of cigarette smoke reached his nose and he inhaled deeply. Faye rolled her own and liked to add other herbs. Spike opted for menthol whenever he had a choice in the matter. The scents mingled together in a way that Jet found very appealing.

Deciding he could take a break from his inspection of Spike’s ship, he hauled himself out of the shell where the pod would sit once a replacement was found and dropped slowly to the ground below. The gravity was significantly reduced at the moment to aid him in maneuvering around the broken down ships.

Spike had flicked a lit cigarette in his direction before Jet had even reached the deck but his reaction time had always been top notch and he caught it between two fingers of his right hand and brought it to his lips to take a much-deserved drag.

“You two come to give me a hand here?” He asked after a few more drags before sending the cigarette back to Spike to finish.

Faye gave him a coy look as she floated over. Biting her lower lip, spliff held off to the side in her right hand, she glanced over her shoulder at Spike before turning back to Jet.

“You could say that…” She allowed. Placing the spliff between her own lips but with the ember facing her throat, she leaned closer and brought her face directly to his so her mouth lined up with his own.

Startled, he inhaled automatically which had of course been her intent. He’d seen her offer shotgun hits to Spike a time or two before, whenever they were tangled up in each other on the couch. Apparently, nursing Spike back to health after he’d gone in, guns blazing, to save her life had noticeably altered the relationship between the pair of them. It was something Jet had ignored for the most part since it didn’t really conflict with his life at all. As long as they had their head in the game when it came to chasing bounties, that was all that mattered.

Her hands had somehow gotten behind his head and scratched at his cheeks and chops as she drew them back towards her own body and released him from the odd method of sharing smoke. Coughing was unavoidable but he at least managed to turn to avoid doing it in her face.

Faye was smirking when he looked back at her and then Spike was moving closer as well.

“We really owe you one for all the shit you’ve done to keep our ships in one piece,” Spike noted.

“Don’t worry,” Jet interrupted with a sharp grin, “the cost of repairs and replacement parts is all coming out of your shares of the next few bounties.”

Rolling her eyes, Faye moved to hover just off to Jet’s left side. She reached out to trail her hands along his artificial arm, seemingly fascinated by the cool metal beneath her fingertips. “Of course it is.” She acknowledged. “But… well, we thought you deserved a little something extra…”

Trying to watch her out of the corner of his eye, he almost didn’t notice how close Spike had gotten until the other man was able to place a hand on Jet’s chest. It had been months since Spike had been this forward with him - it had always been a random thing in the past and happened less often after Faye joined the crew and what with their recent liaison together Jet had assumed that the other man was getting all the satisfaction he needed from her these days.

His breath caught in his throat at the inviting look Spike was giving him.

“Hope you don’t mind…” Faye was saying then. “If we have some ideas of how to… express our gratitude for all you do…”

“I… uhh…”

Spike let his hand drop lower on Jet’s body. “You can say no anytime, of course. But if you’re game for it… we will rock your world.”

Partners In Crime

“Ehehehehehe…”

Spike didn’t want to give away the fact that he was conscious so he kept his eyes shut and strained his ears instead to try and ascertain what exactly was going on around him. The nefarious giggles of Edward were not the most promising thing to hear upon waking.

“What do you think, Ein?”

“Woof woof woof!”

“Hmm… yes Edward agrees!”

Something brushed against his cheek and Spike reacted instinctively as he grabbed where he judged Ed’s wrist to be. She squawked in surprise but was laughing by the time Spike opened his eyes to glare up at her suspiciously.

“Faye-Faye! Jet-person! Spike-person has come back to life!” She cheered.

“What… what were you doing to my face?” He demanded as he let go of her wrist and sat up on the couch. He didn’t remember going to sleep there. In fact, the last thing he remembered was… sending the fridge into space? But he’d failed at launching the blob monster into the cosmos… there had been a sharp agony when the thing bit him as it managed to stay on board.

“Edward was making you pretty. It was Ein’s idea.” She glanced down at the dog, Spike’s gaze naturally following her own, and Ein let his tongue loll out of his mouth in a doggy sort of grin.

Spike frowned. “This was your idea?” He still wasn’t entirely sure what ‘this’ even was but he had a pretty good guess. It didn’t matter though, there was a much more pressing concern to address. “Ed, that monster is on the loose still. We have to clear out the ship.”

But she was shaking her head. “Don’t worry! The containment crew already went through! No sign of any creepy crawlies! The doctors came and went too - everyone is finally back to good now that you’re up as well!”

Faye appeared above them, looking down from the landing that led to the bridge. Spike nearly did a double take at the comical amount of makeup covering her face. White was caked everywhere, her lips were painted bright red but spread well past her lips themselves, and there were lime green arches above her eyes that stretched all the way to her hairline.

She snickered. “You look like a whore.” She told him.

“Yeah? Well you look like a clown!” He retorted. How she hadn’t felt the goop all over her skin was beyond him - his face was itchy in several spots, places he was nearly positive Ed had coated makeup.

The round door slid open as Jet arrived, stepping through in his jumpsuit and stopping in his tracks as he took in the other two. He guffawed, shaking his head.

Faye snorted as her eyes shifted to the newcomer. “Why Jet, you’re pretty as a princess, aren’t you?”

“What’s that now?” He asked with a frown. There was no makeup on Jet’s face but Ed had tied little pink bows into the scruffy sideburns that the ex-cop sported.

“Ed put some ribbons in your hair,” Spike told him, taking pity on the other man’s confused countenance.

“Ein’s idea!” The young girl immediately protested. “We wanted to make the Bebop Bebop a happy place of beauty!”

Spike had initially been doubtful of Ein’s role in the nonsense that had taken place while they had all been unconscious, but as Faye descended to the lower level he could see a distinct pale blue pawprint on one of her cheeks. Another look down at Ein confirmed that there was makeup on both of his front paws.

“You better know where some makeup remover is, kid.” Spike told Ed as he got to his feet. “You’re definitely gonna need something stronger to get all that shit off your face,” he mentioned to Faye, who had still not noticed anything amiss on her own person.

“What are you…” Her hands touched her cheeks and came away with makeup liberally smeared on them. Faye’s jaw dropped open and her wide eyes shot over to Ed, who grinned but very wisely began backing up towards the hallway. “EDWARD!”

“Ehehehehe, wait wait! Ed needs to get the camera!” The hacker cried out as she scrambled to escape the angry charge of Faye across the room. Ein was hot on her heels, the partners in crime dashing along just ahead of the furious bounty hunter.

“DON’T YOU DARE!” Faye shrieked.

Spike glanced over at Jet, who was fingering the bows in his chops. “Faye said I look like a whore.”

Jet grunted and looked over at him. “Well… you don’t… yeah. Yeah, you do. But look at it this way… she must have used most of the makeup on Faye, there’s just color on your cheeks and your eyes and your lips. It could be worse. That eye stuff goes well with your coloring anyway.”

“Gee thanks.”

“No no, see, you could have a real career out there if you wanted… just think about it, if the bounties dry up, at least you’ll have a fallback plan!”

Spike glared at the other man. “There’s glitter in your beard too. Have fun with that.”

“Oh for crying out loud…”

I'm Not Okay (I Promise)

“Hey. You okay?”

Faye frowned at the metal beneath her. What kind of a stupid question was that? Her face was wet from tears. There were bullet holes in the ship from firing off her gun. Her ears were still ringing from that and a small part of her was grateful that nothing had ricocheted back at her.

“Fucking fine.” She muttered when it seemed like Jet was just going to loom over her until he got a response.

“Sure don’t seem like it.” He replied.

Faye snapped her head back to glare up at him. “Yeah? You think? No fucking shit! No, I’m not okay! Are you okay? Is Spike -” She cut herself off abruptly.

“No. I’m not okay.” Jet told her plainly. “To be frank, it’s likely we won’t be okay again. This ship is a goddamn ghost town and I’m beginning to think it’s more trouble than it’s worth to get it airborne again. Maybe he did us a favor by bringing their sights on us. Maybe they’ll come back to finish the job after he bites it.”

She gaped at him, horrified. “What the fuck, Jet?”

“Well? Should I be more optimistic? This place is a graveyard of dreams. It never got us anywhere good. It just let us live in limbo like some kind of purgatory between heaven and hell.”

“So what then? You just gonna leave it here to rust? Take your ship and leave me too?”

He huffed and then moved to slide down the wall and sit next to her. A bottle she hadn’t registered before appeared in his hands as an offering to her.

“No. No, of course not. This thing might be grounded for now but she’ll fly again. She’s the only home I have. I’m not just gonna abandon her because everyone else left. Ghosts aren’t great company but it’s still better than being alone.”

She wondered if he had ever truly been alone in life. Jet struck her as the type of person to always have someone around. Probably he wasn’t used to the idea of being solely on his own. It wasn’t a bad way to live, truly. But she was kind of tired of rhapsodizing solitude. It was a lonely type of life even if it meant you controlled every aspect of it.

“I’m not okay.” She reiterated quietly. “But… I promise I’m not gonna leave. Shit, I don’t have anywhere else to go either. So don’t go thinking it’s just ghosts that will haunt this place with you. I’ll be here too.” She took a pull on the bottle and then passed it back. “Anyway the kid and dog aren’t dead, you know. Hell, she’ll probably bring the ship crashing down to Earth the next time we’re in the vicinity. Don’t know what we’ll tell her about Spike but… well, what is there to say anyway.”

“It’s gonna be a while before the ship is ready to reach the stars again.” Jet told her then. “If nothing else, it’ll give us time to think of an answer for her inevitable questions.”

“Hell, maybe it’ll give that lunkhead ample time to make his way back here.” She dared to hope.

Jet shrugged and took a drink. “Either he lives or he dies… either they come to snuff us, or we get to kick around the galaxy for God only knows how many more years. Nothing is ever certain… all we can do is try to keep on keeping on I suppose.”

“It’s better than the alternative,” she offered. “Anyway I can’t imagine myself doing some other job to be honest. Can you see me at a customer service desk? Or waiting tables?” She laughed.

He gave her back the bottle and chuckled as well. “No, you’d assault someone for being a jerk and get fired the first day.”

“Bounty hunting it is then. At least working for myself means I’ll never lose this job.”

“Maybe working together we’ll even stand half a chance of saving cash someday.”

She snorted. “Working together? Fat chance. I’m gonna compete with you for each and every bounty we hear about. What’s the point if we’re not having fun?”

Jet sighed. “Shit, Faye. I thought life was gonna get easier with that trouble maker off the ship. You’re just looking to fill his shoes though aren’t you?”

She grinned wickedly. “Jet, c’mon now, you’ve known me for how long? I don’t need to fill anyone’s shoes - I’m trouble enough as it is on my own. He was the one trying to rival me if anything. Now are you gonna bust out some smokes or what? I’m all out and we both know even if he comes waltzing back in here he’s not gonna have shit on him.”

“All right but if you ransack his room later and find a carton you’d better split that with me.”

“Hmm. I’ll think about it.”

Suit And Tie

It was rumpled. It was faded. It was often bloodstained, torn, covered in cigarette ash…

But it was a suit. Dark blue pants and jacket, paired with a yellow button-up shirt, and a black tie, it was at once semi-professional and also casual as all hell. The professional aspect wasn’t at all helped by the way Spike preferred to roll up the sleeves to leave his forearms bare. Or the way he never kept the tie snugged to his throat properly.

It was an indication of the complexity of the man who wore it. A man to be respected at first glance. It could be worn in higher-end establishments with only a fraction of clientele vexed by the inferiority of the cloth and the general condition it was in. It could be worn in the slums with only the most foolhardy footpads likely to assume the wearer had any sort of financial status worth accosting. It let him blend into the business section of cities with ease.

Certainly it was less distracting than Faye’s attire, and more commonplace than Jet’s jumpsuit.

The jacket was nice because he could use it for a pillow if he wadded it up. It could be a blanket to cover up a wet and shivering dog. It could be draped around a hacker child on a chilly ship.

The tie was nice because it could be turned into a weapon or a restraint depending on what he might need in a dangerous moment. Handcuffs weren’t always available and rope was never around when you needed it. And while it wasn’t quite as effective as piano wire, it could nonetheless strangle an opponent if need be.

All in all, it was the perfect garb for someone as semi-professional yet laid back as Spike Spiegel. It hinted at how well he could clean up, it permitted him to play a number of roles to the unassuming onlookers, and he knew it made people give him a second look sometimes. Folk who were turned on by someone in a suit, that is.

What a delight it had been to realize that Faye was one of the people affected by a sharp dressed man. These days he took special pleasure in teasing her by rolling up his sleeves, slowly… by unbuttoning his shirt, slowly… by drawing his tie off, slowly… the timing was a critical part of the enticement.

But as much fun as that was… and as good as he knew he looked in his suit and tie…

She sure pulled off his outfit well - and knew exactly how to best use that tie (and her suspenders for that matter…)

Wings

He wasn’t expecting the wings.

Frankly he wasn’t expecting much of anything.

Infinite blackness perhaps. Pure nothingness. Maybe the fires of Hell if he was being whimsical.

But there were definitely wings spreading out from his shoulders where his arms ought to be. Not white wings of an angel, nor black wings of a devil… wings that shimmered in a million rainbow colors as if each feather were a prism with the light of the sun bleeding through.

He was out in the stars, no space suit to speak of. There was no temperature, no wind, no sound whatsoever. It was really quite peaceful.

It was just him, wings holding him aloft despite the absence of gravity. Just him and the stars stretching from here to who knew.

He ought to be curious. There were thousands of questions dancing about in the back of his mind but he couldn’t bring himself to truthfully care about the hows and the whys and the what next.

This was nice.

He hadn’t been so free in ages. He wanted to indulge in this feeling for a little while longer.

Eventually he’d grow bored and need to pursue some sort of explanation. Perhaps establish a goal of some type. But he figured there was plenty of time for that later. Maybe eternity even.

For now he was just going to be.

Just a man and his wings adrift in space and time.

We Close Our Eyes

When we close our eyes to the things we do not wish to acknowledge, we close our eyes to more than just those things. We close our eyes to our own chance to grow. We close our eyes to the chance to change our minds. We close our eyes to a potential future path and thereby restrict ourselves from living a life we could have never imagined.

When we close our eyes we deny ourselves possibility. We do ourselves an injustice. We trap ourselves in the only reality we allow ourselves to perceive.

Spike had closed his eyes to the idea of any sort of happily ever after when he was left to flee Tharsis in the rain and alone. He claimed to see past in one eye and present in another, a poetic way to miss out on the fact that the future was not in his cards.

Jet had closed his eyes to the uncertainty and unhappiness that Alisa was plagued with in their life together. He could not see the problem and was therefore blindsided when she left.

Faye had closed her eyes to the existence of a whole self if she did not possess the memories of another place in time. She tripped herself up from embracing all that she could experience and enjoy within this world as who she awoke as.

Ed lived with eyes wide open. She wanted to see it all, do it all, go everywhere and meet everyone. She chose to crash ships into her life, to traipse amongst the stars, to follow strangers.

Ein, clever as he was, was also just a dog. His life was within his own control to as much of a degree as he ever really needed or desired. He didn't close his eyes to anything but he preferred to follow his nose. Food was life, after all, and what was life without food?

Afterglow

She was startled when he reached out to clasp her hand as she regretfully climbed out of bed, leaving the comfort of the tangled sheets to stand in the chilly air of the room. He held it loosely, giving her the ability to pull free if she so desired and, despite countless misgivings conjured by her heart and mind… she did not desire to do so. Her eyes flickered down to their joined hands before seeking out his mismatched gaze in the dim lighting of his spartan bedroom.

“Leaving so soon? What’s your hurry?” He asked quietly, eyes searching hers.

How to explain her thoughts? Her assumptions? …would he understand? Would he care? Did she even want to bare herself to him like that?

Perhaps a silly thought to have while standing literally naked after working up quite a sweat with this no longer haunted man. How curious that he somehow managed to be less jaded than she was… that he was so much more open since closing the book on his past, whereas her own newly awakened memories had somehow made her more guarded and more hesitant.

“I… figured you’d want me out of your space once all was said and done,” she replied at last. True enough. Blame it on him, don’t admit your own need to escape. The passion of their tryst had been far too tender, far too intimate. The concept of basking in the afterglow at his side was frankly terrifying given how very badly she wanted to do just that. She had been desperate to get him naked and on top of her not so long ago and now she was desperate to flee… to use distance as a protection against the threat posed to her heart by what they’d just done together.

“Ah… so, you’re under the impression that all is said and done?” He smiled at her roguishly. “I suppose you can cut and run if you must. Myself, I haven’t nearly had my fill of you.” He kept staring at her, making her flush under the intensity of his gaze.

She chuckled nervously. “If you think I’ve got the energy for another round after that… well, I hate to let you down but…” Trailing off, she shrugged apologetically before fixing her gaze on the floor to avoid his eyes.

He threaded his fingers through hers and gave a gentle tug to coax her back to the mattress and the warmth radiating from his nude body. Biting her lower lip, she let herself be pulled to the edge of the bed where he sat. Spike released her so he could instead settle his left hand familiarly on her hip and brought his right hand up to cradle her face, encouraging her to bring her eyes back to his.

“You misunderstand my intent,” he uttered solemnly. “While I could summon the energy to take you again right now if you were willing and able,” and here he flashed her a wicked grin before softening it into a genuine smile, “I was actually… hoping to get some rest and then waking you up slowly… kissing up and down every inch of your skin… teasing you back to consciousness with teeth and tongue and questing fingers…”

Her breath caught. She broke their gaze to turn her head, nuzzling against his palm as she moved to put one knee on the mattress and then follow with the rest of her body. Forcing herself to push past her own anxiety over what she was doing, she draped herself over him like a blanket and marveled briefly at the power of his abdominal muscles as he eased them both into a full recline.

“You know…” She murmured against his chest, pressing her lips to his skin as she spoke, “if you wanted to cuddle, you just had to say so.” A brief tug at his nipple to make him gasp before she rearranged herself to lay with her back to him so he could spoon up behind her.

“Faye, I want to cuddle.” He stated plainly and without a hint of shame. She could hear the smile in his voice and privately delighted in his playful mood. He nipped at the nape of her neck before continuing to speak. “But I also want to wake you up screaming my name.”

His words provoked a shiver she couldn’t hide. “Mmm… looking forward to it. Been a while since I’ve had a chance to wake up in a good mood.”

“Oh trust me, Valentine, I can put you in a good mood for days.”

Trust was not something she was able to extend readily… trusting him to have her back on a bounty mission was entirely different from entrusting him with something as precious as her heart. But it seemed like he was interested in more than just a casual fling or occasional hookup… wanting to lay together in the aftermath, heartbeats returning to normal and heaving chests changing into the soft rise and fall breathing of sleep, sharing a narrow sleeping space despite being done with the lust-filled task they’d toppled onto the bed to attend to in the first place… it spoke of a man who was not afraid to get caught up in something serious.

She had been attracted to him since their first meeting… had flirted with him with impunity for months afterward… had given his heart up for lost after learning about Julia, deciding then and there to keep her own heart out of the picture. But he had come back to the ship, come back to her… had lured her to this tipping point from which there was no turning back…

“I suppose… I can give you the chance to earn that trust.” She whispered at length. If he could keep her alive in a firefight then the odds of him not breaking her heart seemed decent. The bruising it had suffered before hadn’t been due to anything intentional or controllable on his part, it had been her own foolishness. If anything though, the tenacity with which he had pursued the angelic devil of his past was reassuring, though it had galled at the time. It convinced her that his affection towards her now meant that he not only cared but that that caring went deep.

The way he wrapped around her, arms hugging her to himself… the way he buried his face into her hair… the involuntary twitch of his manhood against her ass as she shifted to press more firmly against him… it all soothed her unvoiced concerns.

She brought her hands up to cover his where they lay over her bare skin, tangling her fingers with his and wordlessly anchoring her heart to his as well.