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OPEN. — i knew that something would always rule me
WHO: dutch + you
WHERE: the training deck, a bar?
WHEN: dutch's first week aboard
WHAT: dutch needs sparring and possibly drinking buddies
WARNINGS: none yet, will edit if necessary
[ additional starters in the comments! if you'd like something specific, hit me up at![[plurk.com profile]](https://plurk.com/favicon.ico)
abiosis ]
WHERE: the training deck, a bar?
WHEN: dutch's first week aboard
WHAT: dutch needs sparring and possibly drinking buddies
WARNINGS: none yet, will edit if necessary
[ the eluvio is considerably larger than dutch’s own ship, designed to hold a great many more people and to remain in space for far longer periods of time, or so dutch guesses. this is not the kind of ship that can dock at a planet or a moon like lucy’s docked on westerley. in size, it’s more like the rac cruiser or one of the slaver ships travelling the j and beyond. it doesn’t seem to be a slaver ship, at least, but dutch is still on edge, displeased with her displacement and her current situation as a whole. that explains why she’s found her way to the eluvio’s training deck, too: fingers wrapped, feet bare and non-descript athletic clothing on the rest, she’s been punching and kicking a punching bag for a while now, working up a sweat and settling in a steady rhythm of jabs that is broken up by kicks. she’s light on her feet, but her mind feels heavy, some of the same thoughts recurring over and over.
she didn’t get a choice about being here, and if those who’ve come before her are to be believed, no one knows how to get back yet. it’s just another event in a long line of events that dutch never got a say in, and she’s so tired of decisions being made or things happening that impact her like this. she’s tired of it, and it comes out in anger, simmering under her skin and making her punch just this much harder.
johnny left. that’s another things that she keeps coming back to. he’s been her moral compass ever since she’d run away, he’s been her gravity and her centre when she’s been lost, her best friend through it all, and he left instead of letting her ride shotgun on whatever train he’s gotten on. she wants to punch him for that, too, and yell at him, and she wants to hug him because he’s a stupid bloody idiot who won’t let others carry any weight for him even if they offer. because he left.
she can’t punch or hug johnny, right now — or she could, he's here, and maybe she will, but for now, she's punching this bag instead. she really can’t turn back time and make it so that the anomaly or whatever it was never picked her up and spit her out on this ship in a corner of space dutch has never seen or heard of. she can’t, and so she keeps punching the bag, hoping to at least drain some of the anger so that she’ll be able to think more clearly. ]
[ additional starters in the comments! if you'd like something specific, hit me up at
no subject
[ he offers his hand and dutch takes it, letting him arrange their postures and holds to his liking. the position they end up in isn't so different from some of the partnered dances that dutch has learned, and she settles into it comfortably enough. she probably would have even if it had been entirely unfamiliar; controlling her body has been one of the first lessons she'd learned.
he leads, and dutch follows. there are moments when she doesn't quite know whether the steps she's taking are the right ones, but no one stumbles and falls on their arse, and she hasn't yet stepped on his toes after a good minute or two, so she's counting this as a win. ]
no subject
Once they've danced for a while with minimal stumbles--Yuuri's honestly impressed that they haven't tripped up when he's the one leading--he says quietly.]
Did you have a dance partner back home?
no subject
[ not in any sense of the word — there hasn't been anyone dutch has danced with regularly in years, and dancing with d'avin aboard lucy while acid rain was falling below them onto westerley doesn't count, not when it was the only dance d'avin knows, not when she'd barely been able to look at him without something churning in her gut, knowing that he'd tried to kill her, that he'd almost killed johnny, knowing that he wasn't to blame for it.
not knowing if she could still trust him or not. ] It's been a while since I've danced. You?
no subject
[He hesitates, caught in a moment of uncertainty.]
I could use the partnering practice, though. If you wanted to do this again sometime.
no subject
Sure. [ she's more enthusiastic about this than she sounds, honestly. ] What's this dance called, then?
no subject
It's one of the ballroom dances. There's a few more under that same category--I can show you those later.
no subject
[ but it doesn't really matter what the dance is called or whether dutch has ever heard of it before, does it? what matters is the connection, imperfect but undeniably there as he leads and dutch follows. she might not get all the steps right, but she doesn't get them so wrong that they lose their balance.
she's missed this. ] What are the other ones? [ she won't have heard of them, but—she'd still like to know. ]
no subject
[Yuuri hums softly in thought as he puts a hand on her back to support her, then carefully dips her.]
Oh! I know what it is. [He says, as he straightens up again.] The quickstep. I never really got the hang of that one.
no subject
[ it's less of a rebuke and more of an offer, not that dutch would be of much help with actually correcting mistakes. she wouldn't even know if he does or teaches her anything wrong, but—it's always good having a goal to work toward. ]