"Is it going to fuck up the ship? Because I swear to un-god that ship is already so fucked up that if you mess it up more I will tear up your body into a million pieces and throw them into a thousand different suns." They pointed an accusing finger at where they think the voice came from.
“Un-god? I take it you’re not very spiritual, then. Such a shame.” Adelina shrugged as best she could, trapped underneath the ship.
"Nah, I met god once, he was a dick and a bad poker player, so now I say un-god to spite him." They landed on the ground and pulled the lady out from under their precious ship.
“Well, I’m a fairly spiritual man myself, so I wouldn’t know. Never met any gods, didn’t stay on the crew long enough to find out.” her legs were torn all the way off, and we’re slowly regrowing, muscles and tendons knitting themselves together slowly.
"The mechs? The name is a bit spot on the nosem ain't it?" The person rummaged under their ship for a minute before pulling out some mangled legs and throwing them at the lady. "I'm Rilen, captain of this here starship."
“Yeah, Carmilla fixed me up. After that D’Ville bastard threw me out, I didn’t bother to stick around. Busy with other projects, you know?” she shrugged, taking a bite out of her mangled legs. “It’s been days since I ate, sorry. Hope I don’t bother you.”
"Nah, not it all." Rilen flopped down onto the ground, looking up at the sky. "I didn't stay long once uhhh, Jonny came up, or whoever was first. I don't remember." They held out a hand. "Yo, pass the leg?"
“Sure thing,” she said, being the gentleman she was. She passed her second mangled leg over casually, friendly even. “Bone apple teeth. Or however the French say it.” she shrugged.
Riven took the leg and munched it, using sharp teeth to tear into the skin. "Oh hey, you wanna join my crew? I'm gonna go find others who got fucked up by Carmilla who aren't the mechs." They asked between chews. "We could make a band too, but sing better songs."
“I don’t know about singing, but I can play nearly any instrument. Two thousand years of practice will help with that.” she smiled.
Riven made a delighted noise. "I sing and play some keyboard! But like, space opera, I can sing space opera!" They flapped their hands and continued to chew.
“Good to know. Yeah, it could be us, traveling through the stars, playing songs and having adventures, maybe picking up people along the way. And Hex, of course.” she smiled.
"We gotta make sure we don't sound too much like the mechs tho, space copyright and all that." They nodded knowingly. "I once violated space copyright and they threw me into a blender."
“No folk songs then, all their stuff is based on old Earth folk songs. And the Toy Soldier has an alias it calls Jessica Law, we’d better not copy that either.” Adelina said.
"No folk songs, sea shanties we can get away with, but no folk song… What about rock? There's a bunch of good rock songs from old Earth." Riven stood up and stretched, wiping away some blood from their face. "Want a tour of my hunk of junk?"
“Yeah, sure, once my legs start working again. I don’t walk far without support, and your ship crushed my cane, unfortunately.” she shrugged. “Plus, my legs are still regrowing, so I’ll… need a minute.”
Riven clicked their tongue, looking down at Adelina before having an idea. They smiled wickedly and hoisted her up, holding her above their head. "Tours wait for no one!"
“Ahh! Hex, take over now please! You know I don’t do well with heights!” she yelped, and as if by magic a change came over her. The only physical changes were that cracks appeared on her face and skin and filled with ink, or dark blood, it was hard to tell, but the body’s posture changes just slightly and seemed all the more relaxed. “Hey,” a new voice said, certainly different from Adelina’s.
Riven looked up at her with wonder. "Hi! I'm Riven, I'm your new captain, nice to meet you, we're going on a tour!" They smiled widely, showing off bloody teeth.
“Oh goodie, a tour. Sounds totally not boring and I definitely can’t figure out my way around here.” they rolled their eyes, now silver and steely.
"Too bad! Because If you break my ship, I tear out your brain!" They sung cheerily, using the boosters on their feet to move them back inside the ship. "This is the cargo bay, we have a lot of weird stuff in storage over there!"
“Like octokittens? Those bastards are pretty cute, if you managed to steal any.” they said, a bit grumpily.
"Haha, those are locked in a different storage container, I tend to leave the door closed, they always get into my kitchen."
“Makes sense, they’re always hungry. Hey, can you put me down? The legs have grown back and I can walk at least a little bit of the way if you let me lean on you.” they said.
Riven cheered. "Legs!" They set Hex down and held out an arm, mocking the old victorian era painting they had seen of a man leading a woman with their arms linked. "Have you ever eaten one?"
“Many times. Sometimes my own, sometimes D’Ville’s, sometimes others’, it varies a lot.” they shrugged, beginning to walk a little shakily. “Do you know if I can get a replacement for my cane here?” he asked.
"Oh! Yeah, give me a second!" Riven used their boosters to flip themselves over in the air so they could rummage through a drawer near the floor. After a bit, they emerged with a cane in their hands. "Victory!!"
“Fantastic. Me and Adelina have got POTS if you must know, makes my legs a bit of a pain to balance on. I just, well, if we’re going to be crewmates we’d bettter know about the crew. So I’m assuming you’re the captain?” they asked.
"Yes! That's me, Riven, Captain extraordinaire!" They exclaimed, handing Hex the cane like it was a prize. "I had a nerve disease, now I don't feel pain!"
“Oh, lucky. Pain is worse, for us. Like, literally anything a normal person does, is a million times harder for us and people tend to treat us as inspiration fodder! When we don’t kill them, of course. Honestly, it’s all bullshit.” they grumbled.
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