Character Perspective: Plum

“Am I the only one who is just glad today is over?” I sighed as I plopped onto the couch of the common room. I had been finishing up going over my debrief file when I heard a knock on my door and both Sera and Ty were looking in, clad in comfy pajamas and offering a cup of hot chocolate to entice me from my room.

It was hard to say no, and, in a flash, we were down the stairs and into the empty common room. I could swear I heard clangs coming from down the hall past our debrief room, but I certainly wasn’t about to go looking at this point. I was in my pajamas and off duty, so if Sullivan wanted to work late that was on him.

“I thought that trial was going to be so easy too!” Sera sighed, “Like, I thought we had just been given an easy pass here but noooo apparently there’s some sort of crazy space virus that turns crews on us. I mean, I always assumed there was alien life out there, I’d have to be nuts not to after all, but… what?” she trailed off and I realized both Ty and I must have been giving her identical amused looked and I couldn’t help but laugh.

“Take a breath Spacefly,” Ty shoved her lightly from the side of the couch before taking a sip from her steaming mug.

“Uggggggh, come on Ty, pretty please, stop trying to make it a thing,” Sera was clasping her hands together hopefully. “We can pick anything else, just not Spacefly.”

“Anything?” Ty asked and I felt myself instinctively back up at the mischievousness in her tone. “Well that certainly does sound enticing,” she chuckled.

“Okay, okay, maybe not anything but you know what I mean!” Sera argued back.

“I mean, Spacefly ain’t exactly the worst nickname I’ve ever heard though,” I offered, and Sera scrunched her nose.

“Everyone says that, but nobody wants to be called it, I wonder why,” she rolled her eyes in response and let out a defeated sigh.

“I just think the damage has been done already, mate,” I said, “Even the Captain has been calling you it over the intercoms and in mid-trial. You might just want to lean into it,” I suggested, and she buried her head into her hands with a groan.

“I blame you, Ty!” she cried out. “You just had to go and latch onto the first stupid thing the Commander called one of us!”

“But nobody’s gonna forget who you are, I think I did you a favor,” Ty teased.

“There’s seven of us! How would anyone forget who I was! I deny your logic!” Sera’s voice rose even higher, and I heard a door click open in the hallway behind us.

“Hermanas!” Doc called out cheerily, an almost stupid grin on his face as he entered the room and hopped onto the couch opposite of us. “What are you lovely ladies discussing this evening?” he asked as he rested his hands behind his head.

“Nicknames,” Ty explained, offering her mug toward him that he immediately waved it away. “Spacefly ain’t too happy about hers, though I guess you got lucky since you get the built in one, don’t’cha?”

“One of the perks of the job,” he grinned and the whiteness of his teeth broke against his tanned skin. “Though it means I don’t get one of those kinda organic feeling ones. There’s a Doc on every ship, I doubt they got a Spacefly like you on every one,” he added throwing a wink toward Sera as he did so.

“Oh papi,” Ty said, slightly butchering her attempt at the word as she mock fanned herself. “Aren’t you just smoother than freshly churned butter. Careful hun, aren’t there fraternization rules?”

“Can’t say I’ve read the handbook inside and out,” Doc shrugged, “But ain’t some rules just meant to be broken? Forbidden love is the hottest from what all the flicks tell us.”

I could almost feel us collectively roll our eyes at him and I let out a laugh before explaining, “Actually there aren’t any outright rules about fraternization other than that relationships must be made public if they occur. When you shove people into a ship for long enough, they are going to want some sort of companionship. This isn’t the olden days where everyone was sexually repressed and all that.”

“Well dang, there yah go, coming from the Second herself so we know it’s gotta be right,” Doc laughed before winking at Sera. “Guess it ain’t forbidden now, Spacefly.”

Sera groaned and tossed a throw pillow at him, “Not in your lifetime, Julio,” she scoffed and quickly hid her face behind another long sip from her cup. I wasn’t sure if there was even anything left in there.

“Oof, first name,” Ty feigned shock and made a face over toward Doc who was grabbing at the pillow that had fallen to the ground, his feet tossed up onto the couch. “You heard her Julio, not in your life.”

“You guys are being really loud, you know that right?” Curtis’s voice broke through as he walked into the central area, wearing a long red plaid robe with matching slippers as he shoved Doc’s leg off the couch and sat down next to him.

“Shit, Captain’s here, parties over guys,” Doc said throwing his hands into the air and going to stand but Curtis just shoved him back down.

“Drop the dramatics, Julio,” Curtis said, smirking in a way I hadn’t seen from him the entire time we have been here so far. “Yeah, I got ears, I can make jokes.”

“Dude, you’re wearing a grandpa’s robe set, is that some sorta joke?” Doc asked waving his hand up and down at Curtis’s attire.

“I mean, I think that it looks super comfy,” I admitted, pulling at the old t-shirt and fleece pants I was wearing myself.

“And you’d be correct,” Curtis’s smile reached his eyes as he looked over to me. “They were a gift from my Gran before coming up here though, never really tried a robe before but it’s super comfortable and freeing.”

“Freeing…” Ty cocked her head to the side. “What do you mean… freeing?”

“Um, Ty I think he means-“

“Hush Julio, I wanna hear him say it,” she interrupted him and leaned forward from her spot, elbows on her knees. “Curtis, want to explain?”

Curtis looked worried suddenly as he looked between all of us, suddenly just a bit worried and I could even tell he was blushing past his cocoa colored skin. “Well I- I just- I was only going to be going to the canteen and then you guys were-“

“He’s naked under there, isn’t he?” Sera giggled and I couldn’t help but join in with her.

“Yes… yes, he is,” I said barely suppressing the laugh before it winded me and Curtis just let out a defeated sigh.

“It’s a robe! You can’t see anything, why are you guys making it such a big deal?” He complained, the façade of being just our leader dropping ever so slightly.

“Cause your family jewels are only being hidden from us by a dang knot, hermano, you should at least be wearing some sort of boxers and not just be letting the boys hang out, y’know what I mean,” Doc winked and elbowed Curtis in the ribs.

“I’m all for being free and talking and stuff, but if it’s all the same, I don’t need to hear or see any of your family jewels,” I said, “Not to be a prude, just, y’know, it’s kinda crass.”

“That’s fair,” Doc nodded with real sincerity in his voice. “Just tell me to shut my mouth if I’m making a bad joke and we will make sure the Captain wears some boxers with hearts on them at least when he’s walking around for his midnight snack, ain’t that right, Cap?”

“Agreed,” Curtis nodded. “As it stands though, because I did catch the tail end of that earlier conversation and I do in fact have to put one rule in place in regards to this as the Captain of our ship. Fraternization may not be outright forbidden, but can we just agree that for the time being to keep our hands to ourselves. At least till we get into a better rhythm. We really messed up today and I don’t need us adding hormones and all that craziness into our lives right now. But once we got a few trials under our belts and we know aren’t going to choke or make a stupid and rash decision, then I don’t give a damn what any of you do as long as everyone’s consenting and cool with it. My rule is just that we should all give it at least a semester. Sound good?”

It might have been a better conversation to have with the entire group there, I’d have to have an awkward follow up with both Novarod and Sullivan later to make sure they were filled in on the Captain’s rule, but we all echoed off our acknowledgement to his sudden change in tone.

“But like, that rule just applies to the folks on our ship, right? I can go fraternize with the folks in all the other ships all I want to… right?” Doc asked hopefully. “You know, just to make sure I ain’t breaking no rules or direct orders.”

“Yeah, that’s fine Doc,” Curtis said with an odd mixture between a laugh and an exasperated sigh. “Just make sure you make time to work in some of the sims too while you’re playing frat boy, sound good?”

“Sounds good to me, hermano.”