trans_9 | Dogs gotta hunt..

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Dogs gotta hunt..

So do hunters, and Dean had some time to get past the Nightmare King business. The routine of Security duty helped a little, but he was starting to get itchy to do more again. He missed the familiarity of seeking out a new case, and putting down an evil fugly. Even a simple salt and burn would be soothing to him. At very least he wanted to keep his senses sharp, so he set up a combination hunting practice simulation and an obstacle course in the Sensoriums.

This way, he had a variety of monsters to look for, and take out. At the moment, he was seeking out a black dog.

EDIT: For a moment, Dean grasped his head, and staggered. Something was wrong, something was really wrong, and he didn't have any idea why. But it felt like the emptiness in his gut just widened a bit further, and it took him a moment to focus on the hunt again.

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Shotgun blast, right. Kaylee was suddenly very glad she hadn't just barged on in, and was halfway through the thought that she would probably be even happier if she just left him alone completely for now when he opened the door.

Ooh, he was grumpy.

But he smiled, at least, so she smiled back, nice and pleasant. "Sorry if I was interruptin' anythin'...thought I'd check up on you..." Now that she said it, it sounded pretty gorram stupid.

Dean tilted his head, and was about to ask with surprise when he noticed her arm.

"Shit, you get that from the nightmares?" He stepped out of the room to study her for a moment with concern. "They didn't get you anywhere else right?"

She was used to the fuss over her arm from Billy and Jamie already, and shrugged the I'm Fines off for the moment. "Yeah, managed to get myself shot at, but it's healin' up nice. Everythin' else was just scrapes and bruises."

At least the bruises on her neck were gone. She'd have had a hell of a time explaining those and Early.

Early was a dead man walking if he ever woke up on the ship. Not with the army looking after her, Dean included.

He nodded at that, and then shrugged, jerking a thumb back to the room.

"Was just running a simulation I rigged up. Was getting a little itchy for something to do."

Kaylee could definitely understand the need for something to do. It was hard to work on repairs one-handed, for example, and she knew she couldn't have been the only restless person on the ship.

"It's been quiet lately," she agrees. "Not that the downtime ain't nice, but it is a bit...strange. Least you've found a way to keep yourself busy, though!"

Dean nodded, "Especially when the Impala's not due for tune up just yet. She's running good still." He did clean her up a touch, though some of the dings and scratches were just part of her charm. Another scarred hunter, like him and his brother.

"Yeah, used to being able to drive around, looking for a hunt."

"Hard to keep fixin' somethin' when it's fixed already," she agreed. Serenity was running nicer now than Kaylee ever remembered, and there wasn't much else she could do to make things smoother without other materials and tools that weren't available on Stacy.

Kaylee leaned against the wall next to the door. "Normally, we'd be playin' a game of Calvin Ball, right 'bout now, or River 'n me'd have gotten out the jacks."

Dean snorted a laugh at that, "Calvinball? They still know about that in the future?"

"'Course we do!" Kaylee couldn't help but give him a cocky grin. "Gotta have some way to entertain durin' trips between planets."

"That's a good point. How long does a trip usually take?"

"Normally, a couple weeks to a month. All depends on what planet you're goin' to, from where, what kinda hoops you gotta jump through to get from A to B." Alliance cruisers, Reavers, break downs...the list of things that could get in the way were endless. "Gets a crew to bein' like family, though. Don't always like each other, but when you're out in the black, you're all each other's got."

Dean shook his head at that, "Damn, longer than any of our drives on the road. Those only take days. not weeks." Plus being on a ship like that probably make him think it was too much like a plane and freak him out.

"And hell, I don't know any family that gets along all the time. The important thing, it's family, and you stick by them no matter what. Don't just mean who you're related to either."

"Yeah, but Serenity's a bit bigger than the Impala, got a little more room to run about or hide if you need it." Half the crew probably would have gone stir crazy long before if the ship had been much smaller.

Kaylee had to smile at that. Family man, through and through, this one. Even if he didn't seem like he would be the family-type. "Well, my family's certainly gotten bigger, thanks to Stacy. It's nice, knowin' people got your back even if you never would've met 'em otherwise."

"Yeah, but you can still tell you uh, flying right?" Dean was very carefully trying to mask his nervousness at the idea.

But family discussion, he could focus on that. Family meant everything to him, even beyond most family men. He's killed for them, he's even went to hell for them.

"That's the only way we're all gonna get through this. One big, if not exactly happy family. And I never had much family, but I try to do everything I can for them."

Dean made a brief glance to her back, and smirked, "Well it's a nice back, somebody should protect it. Rest of you's nice too."

"Enterin' or leavin' atmo, yeah. Otherwise?" She motioned to Stacy around them. "No different from flyin' about in Stacy, really."

If Kaylee ever had her way, they'd be a happy enough family. It would take some work, but someday everyone would be smiling. "Think you need to teach that philosophy to some more folks. Not everybody looks at family the same..."

Wherever she was going with that stopped with an, "Oh yeah?" and a grin of her own. "Well, at least I know I can trust you to keep an eye on it, hm~?"

"Great." He's still tries not to think about it. Why he doesn't bother looking out the windows on the Obs Deck when he could help it.

"I'll do my best. I know a lot didn't have any families to even lose to begin with."

Dean walked closer to her. Dammit, he was getting smitten, much as he might try to deny it. He was leery of getting too close. People tended to leave when that happens. "Already been, but yeah, you can trust me."

Not everyone liked space. Simon, for example, was absolutely terrified any time he had to don a suit and go outside the ship. It wasn't for everyone, just like dancing wasn't for everyone. Or guns.

"Best we can do to give 'em one, then." They all needed to learn to trust one another. That was the foundation for any family or, in this case, team.

Kaylee gave Dean a playful bat of the eyelashes. "Hope the view's been worth it," she teased. "I'll do my best to watch yours in return."

"Yeah, we sure as hell can."

Dean grinned more at that, "Definitely worth it, and I trust you."

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Dogs gotta hunt..

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