trans_9 | It's that time again...

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It's that time again...

There are few things in the 'verse Kaylee can't stand. One of them, obviously, is that wonderful little group made up of people like Early and Niska. Another is insults to her ship. Possibly the biggest thing on the list, though, is seeing sad and lonely people, mostly because she knows there isn't much she can do to help outside of offering a friendly smile and shoulder to lean on.

Or, in this case, offering free hugs.

Once again, Kaylee has settled herself down at one of the tables in the Mess Hall with her 'Free Hugs!' sign. Even if hugs aren't wanted, the mechanic is also perfectly willing to lend an ear for a nice chat or just some company for a little while. Anything to boost morale.

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"'Cause folk need cheerin' up, and sometimes a good hug can do just that. That, 'n I like givin' hugs."

"So you're just doing this sheerly for the sake of niceness?"

Hold on, trying to wrap his head around the idea.

Not everyone gets it, it's okay. Kaylee's a bit used to people thinking her acts of nice are on the odd side of things. "Basically, yes."

Here comes the self-consciousness train. WOO WOO.

"Well, I certainly don't need one, if that's what you're thinking. I just came over here to ask because I was curious about what you were doing."

She almost feels sorry for the poor guy. Maybe she'll offer him a free hug--OH WAIT.

"Offer stands, even if you don't think you need one."

Geez, she was awful nice. He kinda wanted to go for that hug, and he'd had a terrible time of things, on account of the whole worlds gone thing happening just when he was starting to care about the world and protecting his city and all. And the thing with Roxanne had been a punch to the gut, and he was really quite worried about Minion, and what about people like the Warden? Other people that weren't immediately close to him? Had they been saved?

Not to mention, he'd never really gotten many hugs and while he loathed people touching him in general, it was largely because he was so unused to it, and hugs in and of themselves, weren't an inherently bad things, in fact it was quite nice whenever Roxanne had hugged him--

Wait, no! No hugs. Even if he was a good guy now, he had an image to uphold.

But most of all, there was the fact that he was...well...him. Even if a former villain, even if he was going to try his best to be honest about that fact and earn trust, he was terrified of getting bad reactions from people, and the last thing he needed was for this poor girl to hug him, find out he'd been a bad guy, and then be all freaked out about it.

Which he admitted.

"You don't want to hug me," he said. "I used to be a bad guy. I only stopped very recently. If I were to get a hug, later on, you'd find that out, and probably freak out and then everything would be all awkward, and you'd go around telling people 'AUUUGH!'" Here, he faked a girly shriek. "'AAUGH, I HUGGED THAT BIG-HEADED BAD GUY!' So it's better you know this now and don't hug me at all."

A pause. "If I even wanted a hug.

He added, "Which I most certainly do not."

Kaylee blinked at him a moment, waiting for his rambling to finish before she allowed herself a proper reaction. Then it was all smiles and shaking heads.

"Key words in there're, 'used to be,' yeah? Just 'cause you were one before don't mean you are now, 'n I ain't hardly one to judge after my work back home, seein' as I spent half my time plannin' out illegal recoveries 'n heists. Believe me, I ain't given a hug yet that I've regretted, and I doubt I ever will. If you really don't want one, all you gotta do is say so 'n that's that, but 'M fully willin' to give you one if you do want it."

Oh, she was a criminal, too! Second one he'd met in one day. This was actually...

This was great. He wanted to be good, he really did, but he was expecting judgmental hero types all over with this whole "Chosen" thing, and well...

Megamind looked around the room very carefully, to make sure no one was watching, then turned back to Kaylee.

"Maybe... he said, holding up his fingers a hair's breadth apart.

Thankfully, there weren't many judgmental hero types on board Stacy. Half of them could get lumped with Early and Niska, gorram bunch of creeps.

"Just a teeny tiny small one, then." Kaylee couldn't help feeling a bit proud that he changed his mind (not that he'd ever wanted anything different in the first place, but she wouldn't tell), and she held her arms open enough that he could hug when ready.

Okay, moving in. Pardon him, Kaylee, he still doesn't really know how to do this that well. Back home, Roxanne tended to initiate most of the hugging and he'd been so relaxed around her, he rarely worried about doing it right.

So when he hugged Kaylee, to her, it was probably like hugging someone that'd never really been hugged that much before.

Largely because he'd never really been hugged that much before.

Kaylee was plenty patient, letting him take his time with it. It wasn't like there was a line full of angry people waiting for hugs, after all, or a ticking time bomb about to go off if the hug didn't go smoothly. Just a nice hug, one that could happen on its own as Megamind was ready.

"Mind the spikes."

Oh, it was nice. Especially for someone like him, who'd barely been tolerated by people, let alone...

Megamind sighed into Kaylee's shoulder, and said, his voice muffled, "Fank you."

It sounded awkward, but he wasn't used to saying it. Villains didn't say please and thank you. It was sort of a new thing with him, like many other things.

For a moment, he just lay his massive head on her shoulder.

"It's been a long day," he admitted. "And the only person here that would conceivably let me hug her is from a time where she still hates me slightly."

"You're very welcome."

Kaylee let him take as long as he needed. Everyone needed a bit of nice in their life, especially if they weren't used to it. This guy seemed like he had a lot of history to make up for, too.

"She'll come 'round soon enough. Time on Stacy's a bit odd, and memories don't always line up right, but 'M sure she'll lighten up in no time at all."

"Oh, I hope so."

He let out a long sigh, and then let go.

Looking slightly embarrassed, he said, "That was very kind of you."

Nervous look.

"And you are to speak of this to no one. It didn't happen."

Kaylee gave him a smile. "Least I can do, 'specially with how sad people been 'round the ship."

It wasn't the first time she had been told not to tell anyone, and she simply nodded in understanding.

"Don't gotta worry 'bout me. Won't tell a soul. Patient confidentiality 'n all that."

"Good. I'm not evil anymore, but I still have something of a reputation to uphold."

Leaning back against the end of one of the tables, he crossed his arms.

"Now, do tell me about these heists of yours. I've always appreciated a good heist--" He leaned in and lowered his voice. "--and have committed quite a few, if I'm going to be perfectly honest."

"My Cap'n's the same way, not to fret."

Males and their reputations, honestly.

At the mention of heists, Kaylee laughed and plopped back down onto the bench. "Could be anythin', all dependin' on the client. Some were just regular smugglin' deals--anythin' from cows to bobble-head dolls--had one train job, stole supplies from the Core planets, that sorta thing." She wasn't about to mention Simon and River, though. Even if they aren't here, even if they would technically be safe if they were, she wasn't about to put them on the spot with a mostly-stranger.

"Financial gain was the end goal, I suppose?" he asked.

"If you call it gain of any kind." She could only remember maybe two times they actually had money to burn after a job. "Most anythin' we made went toward keepin' the ship in repair and the rest went for supplies. Just enough for us to be flyin' free without interference from the Alliance."

"Oh, that's rough," Megamind said sympathetically. "I've rarely wanted for anything--when free from prison, that is--but that's one of the benefits of being a genius. Selling technology on the black market, fraud, theft--the money comes pretty easily when you can think of more creative ways to divest people of it, but it was touch and go there around the beginning when I was establishing myself. The upkeep of an evil lair is expensive, you know."

Oh these poor folks. Living job to job had to be difficult.

His curiosity was piqued by that last bit. "Now, this Alliance? What's that? And you said 'ship,' so I'm going to assume you mean a spaceship? Are you from a technologically advanced society?"

Edited 2011-01-10 07:37 (UTC)

"Been lucky enough ain't a one of us been to prison, so I s'pose it's all fair trade-off."

It was plenty difficult, living on barely anything, but they all understood what they each needed to do to get by, and at the end of the day they all had each other. Kaylee really couldn't complain about not having enough for that snazzy new calibrator when she had her crew.

Oh, the Alliance. Kaylee made a face. "Alliance's the government, made up to keep all the planets 'n moons in order, since everybody's all spread out. Unfortunately, they got a hankerin' for pokin' a little too far into folks' business." But he asked about the ship, too, and that was something Kaylee would much rather focus on. "But yeah, spaceship. She's here, too, the one I work on. Serenity's her name. We're decently advanced, yeah. Enough to get us 'tween planets in less than a month, 'n for all the holotech you could want 'n then some, dependin' on who you're talkin' to."

"Poking too much into people's business, how?"

He was curious.

She was a little unsure she really wanted to say anything about it, but she couldn't exactly deny the guy at least a basic explanation after he'd opened up to her.

"Some of it's your normal nosy-government, but...there was a branch of 'em experimentin' on folk. Cuttin' into brains, takin' pieces out. Tryin' to change people to be weapons..."

"Ooh!" Eep. "That kind of being nosy. Yes, well, I can certainly understand trying to live outside the law then."

"Just easier sometimes, too. Don't got any stiff collar rules to worry over, don't gotta wonder 'bout bein' appropriate all the time...for all we get shot at, we're definitely always gonna be a thousand times happier'n any one of them purple-bellies."

It's that time again...

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