“Sera?”

Sera turns and smiles at Melanie. “Hey. Come join me, the wind rushing past your face really wakes you up.”

Melanie hesitates a second, but settles against the bow railing, elbows propped up and weaved hands supporting her chin. “I’m sorry to disturb you,” She starts, and Sera scoffs.

“You aren’t disturbing me.” Sera cocks her head to the side a bit and considers the younger girl. “You know you live here now too, right? This is your home; you don’t have to step so carefully. You’re allowed to get angry, tired, annoyed. You can laugh or yell or cry all you want.”

“Yeah.”

“I know you think I’m crazy, but believe me, no one expects you to be subordinate. You’ve seen how me and the other girls are; no way do we think you should be all uptight and stoic.” Sera says, and nudges Melanie with her elbow. “There’s a saying that goes “there are two things readily available aboard a Recon ship, chocolate, and drama,” and believe me, nothing could be more true. Think of it like being home with your family.”

“God, could I not?”

Sera grins. “See! You’re getting the hang of it already!”

“Don’t you—don’t you ever get sick of being with the same people all the time? Or miss your family and other friends?”

“Of course. There are definitely days where I would gladly slaughter the others, without pause, and I miss my mum all the time. But I lucked out, really, because Bella I’ve known my entire life; we grew up next door to each other, and her mum looked after me when my mum had to study or work or whatever, and then we were in the Academy with Des, so right away when we were assigned, I was with two of my best friends. And all my other friends, what few of them there are, are in the Fleet too, so we do see each other occasionally aside from just breaks.” Sera leans forward a bit, gazing down at the dark, deep water below them, before continuing. “Don’t get me wrong though, it takes a while to get used to seeing the same people every single day, and it’ll be hell sometimes, but before long, you’ll stop and think for a second, and realize that you can’t imagine it being any different.”

It’s silent on deck a while, the only sounds those of the ocean and the wind in their sails, and it’s nice. It’s the moments like these that make the difficult ones bearable; the moments like these that ensure that when she walks into the kitchen and realizes the paint is a little runnier than she remembers that she wont just lose it and stab Des to death with a spatula.

“You’re wearing a ring.” Melanie says, and Sera looks at her, confused. “I’m sorry; I don’t mean to pry—”

Sera rolls her eyes. “What was I just saying? Did it go in one ear and straight out the other? I’m engaged.”

“Oh, er, congratulations.”

“Don’t sound so enthusiastic now; you might strain something.”

“Sorry, but isn’t it hard, not to see your fiancé for months at a time?”

“Of course.” Sera says, and she means it, because it’s awful sometimes, especially when Fosher doesn’t deign to tell her that he’s in a goddamn hospital, but she’s not angry, really. “I talk to him almost every day, though; he’s a Fighter Captain, on Njord.”

“Oh.” Melanie pauses, wavers, and Sera nudges her again. “Can you do that if they aren’t Fleet?”

“Definitely. You’d just have to have the Communications Center patch you through. Unfortunately, we’re running silent right now, but once we’re in the free and clear, I’ll show you how.”

“You don’t ha—”

“Again, have you been listening? If you have any questions at all, Mel, can I call you Mel?”

“Uh, yeah, go ahead.”

“Any questions at all, you can ask one of us, and we’ll do our best to help you out. We were all new once too.”

“Okay, thanks.”

“No problem. You sleep on the top bunk, right?”

“Huh? Yeah.”

“Do you like that? Or would you prefer the bottom, if you’re afraid of heights or anything.”

“Afraid of heights? And in the Fleet?”

“Yeah, well, apparently it’s possible.”

“Seems kind of… odd.”

“That’s what I said.”

“No, the top bunk is great. I used to share one with one of my sisters back home, and she hated the top.”

“One of your sisters? How many do you have?”

“Three. I’m the second youngest.”

“And you escaped that to live with five other women…”

“It seemed like a good idea at the time.”

“Yeah, I can understand that. Any of the others Fleet? Or planning to be Fleet?”

Melanie snorts. “Not a chance. My mum’s a clothing designer; both my older sisters already work for her full time, and my younger sister can’t wait to start.”

“Not exactly your cup of tea, I take it.”

“No, definitely not. But not for lack of their trying; I spent every summer and four days a week after school helping out at the shop, and it nearly killed me.”

“Yikes. Bella and I used to help out at her father’s clinic; he’s a vet. It was a lot of fun sometimes, and I learned something new practically every day.”

“I would definitely have preferred that to listening to Natalie, Danielle, and Caroline cooing over the latest fashions.”

Sera shudders. “Yeah, I bet.”

“Do you have any siblings?”

“Ah no, not really. But Bella might as well have been.”

“Must have been nice.”

“It had its moments.”

Previous: Scene 4-XI

Scene 4-XII

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