trans_9 | Just a Little Bit Closer, Just a Little Warmer [Closed to Steve]

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Just a Little Bit Closer, Just a Little Warmer [Closed to Steve]

Miku didn't like the observation deck anymore. Ever since the Punishment had occurred, she couldn't stay very long without hearing things that had been past days ago. She figured it was probably worse because it was "newer" than the events that had already happened on the ship.

Regardless, the moment she heard Stacy's voice quietly admonishing Big Zero for her actions in that cold voice of hers, Miku started to hurry across the deck like someone had lit her on fire.

Anywhere would be better than hearing or seeing this. Anywhere at all. She pointedly kept her eyes on her the ground to avoid seeing any of the Punishment again. Once was enough. Once was more than enough.

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"This stuff makes me kind of sick... just for a few hours after, though," he assured her. "And my blood's still... you know. Freaky. But I'll take it if it means I don't have to mutate. And now I can't get other people sick, either." Fireblood was a small price to pay for that-- something finally looking up for Steve, and for real and for certain, too.

That was going to take some getting used to.

He leaned his cheek against her head, hugging his arms tight around her again. "Are you feeling better now?"

"Yes," Miku assured him, half of her words muffled by his chest. "I just... can't go to the observation deck for a while. I keep seeing that woman strung up there." She shuddered then, thinking of that horrible scream. "There are a few other places I don't go because of that, too. I guess I just need to concentrate harder on not seeing those things."

"I know how that is." He paused. "N-not the same as you do, but when you just keep seeing things in your head, you know..."

He patted her shoulder sympathetically, and offered a weak smile. "It'll be okay. We'll stay out of there until it goes away."

"I know what you're trying to say," Miku smiled. "I just... feel bad that all I see are scary, creepy things. Why can't it ever be buried treasure?" It would certainly have made Miku much richer than frightened, now that she thought about it. "Ooh, or something pleasant. That would be a nice change."

It was about as much of a grumble as Miku had ever voiced, but at least she was following Steve's example, and keeping her tone light.

"Well, maybe it's only a matter of time until you do find buried treasure," Steve offered. "I mean, I don't know if there's any on the ship, but maybe we'll have a mission where you get to find it."

He paused. "And I can be the lantern?"

"Eh? The lantern?" Miku lifted her head to raise her eyebrows at him. "What do you mean?" Had her translation slipped? Hm.

"You know. The lantern. Fwoosh." He pantomimed his hand lighting on fire.

"Ah, sorry... I guess that was a bad joke."

"Oh. Oh!" Miku laughed softly. "I just thought that maybe Stacy had mistranslated a word." Wouldn't that be horrible if it broke, she wouldn't be able to understand a thing.

Pursing her lips at the thought, she dropped her head down against his chest and listened to his heartbeat. "I would definitely give you the lion's share of the treasure if you were my lantern."

"I wouldn't know what to do with a bunch of treasure," he argued. "Though... I don't know what kind of treasure we'd be talking about. If it was jewelry, you could have it."

He sighed, and his breath ruffled her hair, so he reached up and tried to fix it. "Maybe we could practice using your powers for something like that. I mean, I'm no Cargn, but... we should see if we can turn them good instead of scary."

"I would look pretty with a crown," Miku reasoned with amusement. She reached up and unhooked her hairpin, so that "fixing" her hair would go a little smoother for Steve.

"I think I'd like that. I'd have to concentrate on my object reading a little more though. The nasty emotions are a lot easier to pick up than the good ones." She nodded to herself slightly and pushed her hair out of her face.

He hadn't said anything about it, but Miku might have been able to guess how much Steve greatly enjoyed playing with her long hair.

He ran his fingers through her hair and bit his lip thoughtfully. "Is there anything I could do to help?" he asked. "Maybe I could find some things for you to read. Or I have..."

He paused. "Well. On second thought, you might not want to read some of my things."

"Don't worry about it too much. It can be a bit invasive, and I don't want to see something I accidentally shouldn't." Like... someone not them getting all...

...well...

Anyway.

Miku smiled, "Still, thank you for thinking of me, and wanting to help."

"Of course. You helped me as much as you could. I wanna help someone else for a while."

He pushed a bit of her hair back behind her ear, leaning his cheek against her head again. "It's not fair you have to see bad things all the time."

"It's not always, though. Just when something happens really bad. How do I explain it..." Miku looked thoughtful for a bit and tapped her finger against his stomach.

"Think of it like... a water ripple. When something bad happens, it reaches out. People who can see into the future see a brief flash, but people who are unlucky like I am can see it always, because it's already happened. Eventually, though, the feelings caused by the event fade over time, so things that are older are harder for me to see than things that are brand new." Miku walked her fingers up and down his stomach. "Does that make sense?"

He seemed to squirm a little bit when she poked at his stomach. Ticklish, was he? "Yeah, that makes sense. And I guess there isn't much in the way of good things around in a place like this."

Steve sighed and twirled a finger in a lock of her hair. "Still... be careful. I don't want you to overdo it like last time."

An impish smile curled up over Miku's lips, and for once she was thankful that Steve couldn't see her face.

Just wait until he recovered. Just wait! "I will be, that really scared me," she assured him. "Cargn-sensei is making me take smaller steps. I guess I learn quickly, but when it comes time to apply it..." she shrugged. "It will just take practice. Anyway, I know that if something really bad happens, you'll make that face I hate. That keeps me from running too far ahead of myself, too."

"Yeah. I'll sit by your bed in medical and just make the face, all day long. You'll be sorry."

He shrugged his shoulders again, looking a bit guilty. "I guess I'll be training harder too now that Luke and I don't have to worry about... you know. I'll have to try not to overdo it, either."

"I will! I really hate that look!" Miku laughed again and poked his stomach to punctuate her sentence. "Just remember, that I will give you the same look if you decide you need to overdo it suddenly, Steve."

He tried to hold back a bit of a squeak when she poked him. He didn't succeed all that well. "Okay, okay. Don't worry. The very last thing I want to do is get stuck in medical all over again now."

"Besides," he added, "I'm still kind of tired. I don't know how I'm gonna get up from this spot, much less train too hard."

"Well, I'll help you get up... I'd be fairly useless for training, though. Sorry," Miku lifted her head and smiled.

"It's okay. I can use all the help I can get, no matter what kind."

Steve stared thoughtfully into the distance for a moment, then glanced down at Miku. "I've got a weird question for you... have you ever shot a gun?"

Miku stopped walking her fingers up and down, and looked back up at him. "Eh? No. No, of course not. They're illegal for regular citizens in Japan. Why do you ask?"

"I'm just curious," he replied. "This place gets pretty dangerous sometimes and... I don't know. I was thinking maybe I could show you how to shoot."

"Hm..." Miku picked at his shirt in thought, and was quiet for several minutes. On one hand, he was right; she would need to learn to defend herself in the event Steve wasn't around, and she was alone with something that wasn't already dead.

But on the other... it was illegal, and that thought kept ringing in her mind as she tried to weigh it. Stacy wasn't Japan, did those same laws even apply here?

"I guess... that would be good. I don't know how comfortable I feel about it, but you're right."

"It's really not that scary," Steve assured her, hugging her close to his chest. "It'll be just like riding a motorcycle. Scary at first, but with some practice you don't need to worry. I can show you how to do it."

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