Let's Play!

Ajora smiled, faintly, attempting to hide it as she moved to go get supplies to tend to his 'ouchies' and was still laughing to herself as she sat down.



" Your pathetic."

Malykai sighed slightly, just shrugging. He took insults pretty well, actually. Then a thought occurred to him and his gaze shifted up to Ajora.



"Thank you for helping me and that girl back in the boat." He wouldn't have lasted much longer. In fact, he would have probably drowned by now.

ajora sighed, shrugging.



" Your innocent, I don't hurt the innocent."

Kai tilted his head to the side, feeling water drip out of his ear.



"Yeah, but that doesn't mean that you have to help them either." And then he realized that was like the pot calling the kettle black.



"Er..."

Ajora sighed.



" You don't quite get that."

Malykai sighed slightly.



"Yeah, yeah, I know. This coming from the idiot who gets in all sorts of trouble for the same thing, right?"

" Pretty much."

Kai just sighed. Every part of him hurt. He wanted to go to bed.



"But that man is still having this conversation with the woman that is destined to burn to death without his help."

Ajora's face turned to something unreadable.



" The woman has no reason to worry about her death. Burning is something she'd accept willingly in the right circumstances."

Malykai peered at her carefully. Then he closed his eyes for a minute, taking a deep breath, steeling himself. He had far from mastered the ability to block things out, and that was the reason why he hated so much what he was about to do. But he decided the risk was worth it.



The man reached out and touched Ajora's face, tilting her head more directly towards his. Kai was tense as he did it, hoping to high heaven that he didn't pick up something like he normally did with physical contact. He stared her straight in the eye.



"I have never seen before such anguish. I have never heard before such terror in a shriek." He released her, glad to be rid of the burden. His eyes turned to the ocean he had escaped.



"I would rather what I saw of that woman in the water than what I saw of you in the fire." The man made himself stand up. He didn't like talking about his visions very much - it wasn't something he was accustomed to.

Ajora moved and helped him without a word, until she laid him upon his bed in his room, speaking faintly.



" My death has been speculated upon, should that be the fate I meet, I hope it's worth the price."



she replied faintly as she made sure he was well cared for, then left the room in that errie feeling that always remained when speaking of things in this nature.



Once more on deck, Ajora silently went about working on the boat.

As the woman helped Kai into his bed, he felt a light tingling on his skin, but he fought it. In fact, he won... until it caught up to him in his dreams. He didn't see whole things, but he struggled against it and that was probably why. He saw flashes and snippets, faces and phrases that made no sense.



It was hours when he finally woke up, sweating shining on his skin. He head felt as though all the linings had been replaced with acid, and he coughed violently. To be fair, it wasn't all Ajora's fault. As he crawled out of bed, blanket wrapped around himself, it was obvious that he had the caught flu - fever and all. Kai blinked a few times, squinting against the light so offensive to his headache as he staggered towards the sick bay (aka. medicine cabinet).

Hearing kai stirring, hours later, she went to check on him, finding him completely sick. Making a small face, she moved the man back to bed and was soon handing him several different pills, watching him a moment.



" You know, for being a little man, you certainly get alot of trouble."

Kai scrunched his eyes shut against her voice that seemed far too loud for his head. He swallowed the pills, crawling back into the bed and disappearing under the blankets, all except for a tuft of brown hair sticking out the top. He spoke, only slightly muffled.



"Maybe its just you."

" Nope, I'm certain this is you."



She said, dropping her voice for his benefit, wondering from the room, planning to check on him again.

Kai laughed in spite of himself, laying there and dozing in and out. He never really did fall all the way asleep, but then agian he wasn't really all the way awake either. He hadn't meant that it was happening to her. He had meant that it was happening to him BECAUSE of her.

Ajora sighed as she returned later that night, looking to the half asleep man in the bed before her.



" How are you feeling?"

After a minute of slow shifting as he woke up the rest of the way, Malykai pulled the blanket down so that his slightly flushed face was exposed. He looked at her.



"Why do you keep checking on me?" He was still sick, but it looked like the meds were working.



"I'm not going to sail the boat right now."

" Cause I kind of tedn to the ill."



Ajora replied simply.

Kai didn't say anything. He curled up higher under the blanket.



"I don't really need someone to care for me."

" Yet, I'm gonna do it."

The man just shook his head. Something about it seemed like a vague double standard, but he felt too bad to bother with it. Kai just pulled the blanket back over his head.

Ajora sighed, moving the blankets and checking his temp, then let him return to sleep.

Kai only had that set of clothes. Granted they were getting kind of raunchy and crumpled by this point, but he didn't care. He slunk off to find fluids about an hour after her last visit, blankets about him and all.

As kai hit the halls, people were rushing about everywhere, looking completely frantic as Ajora finally found Kai and gave him little choice and pointed him towards deck.



" THOSE BLASTED WATER HUGGERS RIPPED THE STERN IN HALF!!!"



She shouted, trying to get everyone up deck, then they'd board the life rafts.

Kai was more than startled, but this was far too much for his brain to process. The man simply shuffled along. Well, if she wanted to get rid of him, this was certainly one way to do it.

Moments later, with a lone child that had no mother or father now, and the few remaining crew members climbing on board, two life boats dropped into the water, Kai, child, and Ajora on one, the non-innocents on the other... the supplies with the captain .





They barely all made it clear when the boat went under and Ajora was merely setting down, reading a map and charting their course, still set for cuba.

Kai, sick as he was, felt bad to the child.



"Hey, kiddo, what's your name?" The child said nothing, which didn't really surprise Kai. This had been pretty traumatic, even for Kai - and he was all grown up. Sighing inwardly, the man reached out, curling an arm around the little ____ and enveloping both of them with the blanket. He forced himself to relax, to open up.



Immediately images and voices leapt across his mind's eye, fading after a minute. Kai smiled faintly, understanding at least one thing.



"Mi nombre es Kai. Sé que tienes miedo ahora mismo, pero todo irá bien. Usted y yo sólo puedo sentarme aquí por un tiempo. ¿Quieres decirme tu nombre? Usted no tiene que si usted no desea."



((My name is Kai. I know that you are scared right now, but it'll be okay. You and I can just sit here for a while. Do you want to tell me your name? You don't have to if you don't want to.))

The little boy looked up with big eyes and kept silent under the covers, watching Ajora. He was worried and lost, and this was all scary.

The man waited for a while and then just nodded, giving the boy a friendly squeeze.



"Eso está bien. Está bien." He glanced up at Ajora.

Ajora merely stared at the man, pointing to the small boy.



" He speaks english well, too."



she purred simply.

Kai shrugged slightly.



"So do I. My mother was from Mexico. My father was from Wyoming."

Ajora nodded slowly, looking about as she thought casually.



" My origin doesn't matter too much."



She purred faintly as she continued the charts, sighing under her breath.



" It'll take alot longer to get to Cuba from this thing."

"Cuba? We're going to Cuba?" Kai sighed slightly, giving up. He looked at th eboy after a minute.



"Ha estado en Cuba?"



((Have you been to Cuba?))

Now the boy shook his head as Ajora laughed to herself, it'd take a month. Now she judged the rations... they had about two months worth...... it'd be pushing it....

Kai just nodded to the boy, sighing inwardly. He did look at Ajora when she laughed, though. That was interesting. Interesting to see and hear. She looked like a completely different person, which made him think that she should laugh more. After a while he found himself in want of lying down again. His medicine was wearing off.



"I guess I'm just along for the ride either way."

" I snagged a few medical supplies...."



she looked him over, apologetically.



" I want to use them sparingly, though."

Kai just waved at her offhandedly.



"Don't worry about it. I told you I don't need taking care of." He smiled dully at his... well... friend? Could he call her a friend? Would she take offense if he did? He shrugged and nudged the boy.



"Se podría pensar que ella es mi madre, ¿eh?" He glanced up at Ajora playfully, of course assuming that she could speak Spanish.



((You would think she's my mother, eh?))

The little boy nodded, then hesitantly asked if she was his sister, earning an oddly amused look from Ajora as she politely let Kai field that one, returning to the supplies and the charted course.

Kai smiled with a vague sense of triumph. The child speaks!



"No es mi hermana... Ella es mi amiga. Por que?" He glanced up at her, hoping the word was okay.



((Not my sister... She is my friend. Why?))