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Dani dances.
She twirls and weaves, her long, braided hair following her every movement, her longer blue scarf flowing around her, floating gracefully in the vacuum of space.
There is a freedom in her dance that cannot be expressed with words. But there is also yearning - in the way she darts from one point in space to another, like a butterfly untethered by anything but its own whims - whims which pull her too and fro, restless in her longing for something new and exciting in the vast beyond.
Valerie watches from the airlock, helmet in hand, enchanted as she always is when she watches her lover dance. She notes the subtle desperation in the tension in Dani’s back - the longing in the way her legs smoothly launch her from nothing to nothing, in the way her arms point to stars and galaxies far, far away - and she smiles softly, sadly. She'll be leaving soon now.
Dani turns to the airlock, and waves excitedly at Valerie, waves at her to come join her in this dance. Valerie is quick to hide her sadness, and she puts on her helmet, locking it in place before venting the airlock.
She twists open the lock and pushes the door open, joining Dani in the great beyond, the vastness that is space.
Dani dances.
Her giggles echo in the small living space of the spacecraft, the only home she’s ever known. She spins and spins, bumping into the walls and the ceiling and the floor before she trips and flips into her father’s lap.
"Careful, my little comet," her father says, their secret language humming and clicking in her ears. He smiles fondly down at her, and she giggles, floating up to give him a kiss on his forehead.
"Yes, papa!" she dutifully answers, before darting away, her giggles and her long, blue scarf trailing in her wake as she spins and spins again, doing her best to emulate the graceful twirls of the woman in the flickering holovid.
The woman smiles at no one as she flickers, and she speaks in their secret language, voice soft and gentle, yet commanding attention.
"When we spin, we spin with our core, the same way our home spins - the core of our planet pulling the surface with it, pulling us all with it into a celestial dance which guides us in our journey through the universe."
Dani stops spinning to listen, attention rapt upon the woman, before smiling widely and spinning again. She doesn’t see the way her father’s smile cracks, the way his eyes shine with tears before he wipes them away.
She does notice when he floats to the center of the room and pauses the holovid, staring at the flickering image of the woman. Her smile is radiant, deep black hair floating mid-twirl, eyes shining with joy. Dani’s father stares into her eyes.
"It’s time to say goodnight to mama," he tells Dani. Dani looks between the holovid and her father’s eyes, wrinkled in sadness even as he smiles gently. She nods quietly, and floats up to the woman’s face, and kisses her on the forehead. The flickering image tingles her lips.
"Goodnight, mama," she says, before turning to her father and hugging him hard.
"I love you, papa," she says in their secret language.
Her father huffs in surprise, before wrapping his arms around her, burying his face in her hair.
"I love you, too, my little comet."
Dani dances.
She twirls and weaves through the club, almost floating effortlessly between people as she dances, flitting between dance partners like a bee collecting pollen from one set of flowers before flying to the next. The white highlights in her skin tight jumpsuit and her loosely braided hair shine in the ever changing lights of the dance hall—purple, then red, then blue, then green flashing and fading into each other in time with the music. The black in her hair reflects the lights above her, but not as brightly; the black in her suit is nearly invisible in the throng of bodies and low light, hiding the motions of her lower legs and lower arms as she dances through the crowd—hiding her hands as they filter through the pockets of dancers, picking out wallets and coins and credits before stashing them in one of the many hidden pockets in her suit.
She glances at the bar for the fifth time in as many minutes, and this time makes herself hold eye contact with the beautiful woman staring at her. The woman’s red jumpsuit seems to change color in the low, changing light, and the black, reflective highlights accentuate the curves of her muscles and body. Her dark, curly hair is cropped short, geometric designs buzzed along the sides of her head. But what captivates Dani the most are her eyes. They are bright green—almost as green as Dani’s own eyes—and though they’re hard now, they shine with a life Dani can’t help but drink in, can’t help but want to explore.
She dances over to the bar and props herself up against it, smiling a winning smile at the woman in red.
"Can I buy you a drink?" Dani asks sweetly.
"Only if you can tell me whose credits you’re using," the woman replies, raising an eyebrow.
Dani doesn’t miss a beat. "Phillip McCarthy. I’m sure he won’t miss it."
The woman’s other eyebrow raises to join the first. The McCarthy’s are notorious for their smuggling operations in this sector of the galaxy—anything from drugs to artifacts to people. If it sells, chances are the McCarthy’s have a say in where it goes. Phillip in particular is known for his ruthlessness. Heir to the smuggling kingdom and drunk on his mother’s wealth and power, he goes where he wants and brings the party with him. Few who cross him live to tell the tale; the rest speak only to the coroners, and only speak of terrible, painful death.
The woman glances to the dance floor, where McCarthy drunkenly grinds and bellows to the music in the spotlight, surrounded by his posse—pilot fish seeking out a taste of that spotlight, that wealth, that power. She seems to make a decision, and her eyes soften as she lets out a low whistle, cracking a smile. "Ballsy. I’ll drink to that."
Dani lets out a breath she didn’t know she was holding, and can’t help but grin. She waves down a bartender. "Two fireflies. On me."
She scans the credits, then turns back to find the woman staring at her. She notes the blush in her cheeks, and her grin turns sly. "Like what you see?"
The woman sputters. "W-what? No, no way, um, not that you’re not gorgeous or anything, I just—I didn’t come here for—look, can I get a name from the beautiful woman who just bought me a drink?"
Dani laughs, and feels her own cheeks blush green. Who knew a woman with such a confident stare could be so cute?
"It’s Dani," she chuckles. "And what can I say, I see a beautiful woman staring at me, how can I not buy her a drink?"
The woman frowns. She opens her mouth to retort, but a purple arm comes between them, hand adorned with expensive rings pressed against the bar. Dani looks up and sees Phillip McCarthy doing his best to loom over them despite his swaying stature. More intimidating is his posse—all in varying stages of drunkenness, but none as drunk as McCarthy, and there are a lot of them.
McCarthy squints his eyes at Dani. "You stole from me." Then he smirks. "But you’re new around here, aren’t you? Tell you what—I’ll let it slide if you do a little dance with me." He leans in close, and Dani wrinkles her nose at the stink of liquor on his breath. "I’ll show you what a real McCarthy can do for you."
"No thanks." Dani puts a hand on his chest and pushes him away. He stumbles back, surprised by her strength. Then he growls, stepping back towards her.
"Hey bitch, do you know who I am? I could make your life a living hell—you stole from me." He forces his face into a smile. "But I’m a nice guy. I can be forgiving. I’ll give you one last chance to do the right thing."
McCarthy grabs Dani’s arm, and Dani glares. Who is he to touch her like that? Before she can act, the woman in red grabs the hand that grabbed her, just above the wrist.
"Let her be, McCarthy. She was just about to return those credits. Right?" the woman side-eyes Dani hard. Dani rolls her eyes and pulls the credits from a secret pocket with her free hand, flicking them at McCarthy.
McCarthy‘s face sours. The credits bounce off his chest, and one of his posse picks them up. "Stay out of this, Gray," he snarls. "This is about respect. And I’m gonna teach her a lesson."
His hand tightens painfully on Dani’s arm, and Dani hisses. She feels the woman—Gray—tense beside her. Gray peels the hand from Dani’s arm and twists, earning a squawk from McCarthy, before shoving him back into his posse.
"I said, let her be." Gray growls.
McCarthy’s face twists in drunken rage, and he rounds on Gray. "How dare you—"
Dani kicks him in the throat, and he chokes, eyes wide with surprise, crumpling backwards to the floor.
Shit. She didn’t mean to kick him that hard—just hard enough to get him to shut up and back off from Gray. She stares wide-eyed at his crumpled form, barely able to hear Gray’s voice over the pulsing of her core in tune with her heart. He’s gotta be alright—she doesn’t know what she’ll do if she did any permanent damage, or worse, killed him—
McCarthy coughs harshly and works himself to his elbows. He stares up at his posse. They stare back. Then he flushes bright pink and points, croaking, "Get them."
Gray springs into action, fighting down the part of the posse closest to the door. They’ll never make it that way—not with more of the posse gathering by the door, ready to catch them should they make it past the first wave. Four of them turn on Dani, and she leaps into action, sweeping her foot out and spinning, knocking them away from her and clearing a path to the dance floor. She grabs Gray’s wrist, startling the woman.
"This way!" Dani shouts, and pulls Gray into the crowd.
Gray pulls against Dani’s grip. "There’s no exit that way!"
Dani pauses for a second, locking eyes with Gray. She smiles confidently. "Trust me."
Gray holds her gaze, then grins and nods. She twists her wrist and suddenly they’re holding hands, Gray a half-step behind Dani as they navigate the crowd together—Dani twirling and dancing between dancers and posse alike, Valerie twirling with her and taking down McCarthy’s people as they flee. They operate in sync, as if they’ve known each other for longer than five minutes, and Dani revels in the feeling. This is better than dancing on her own, better than dancing with a throng of bodies in time to the music—this is the most alive she’s ever felt.
The crowd thins, and she guides Gray to the back of the warehouse, dodging security. The back wall is lined with small windows 20 feet above the floor. They should be closed, but Dani knows for sure that one of them is open to the night air. As they approach the wall, she grins at Gray and lets go of her hand, putting on a burst of speed to reach it first. She kneels below the open window, holding out her hands to give Gray a boost.
Gray smiles at the move, kicking off of one of McCarthy’s men and using the forward momentum to sprint to Dani. She leaps into Dani’s hands, and Dani throws her into the air, sending her soaring to the window. Gray grabs the window sill and pulls herself effortlessly through, out into the night.
Dani grins and stands, surveying the mix of McCarthy’s posse and club security running towards her. McCarthy himself has somehow made it to the front of the posse, and he stops and snarls upon seeing her. She grins cheekily and waves, making a show of jumping up to the window—not many people fly in this sector of the galaxy, she’s learned. She hears McCarthy screech some sort of profanity, and something about his mother, as she pulls herself through, dropping to the next roof and picking up her backpack in a single, graceful movement. She takes a moment to look upwards, at the night sky.
The sky is only partially covered by clouds, a dark expanse faintly speckled with unfamiliar constellations where the clouds don’t touch. The light pollution from the surrounding city drowns out most of the black and stars, but she can just see Wolf 359 peaking out from behind a cloud. She smiles. Maybe she’ll head there next.
"You gonna stand there all night?"
Dani starts and turns to see Gray, eyebrow raised, but hand held out towards her. She blushes and grins, stepping forward to take her hand. This time, Gray leads, guiding Dani off the roof and through the streets and alleyways, away from the club and into the darkness.
They only stop for breath when they’re sure they aren’t followed. It’s then that Gray lets go of Dani’s hand, walking along a street and staring at the ground. Dani’s about to ask what she’s looking for when she suddenly stands up straight, turning back to Dani, hand outstretched.
"Hand over the credits," Gray demands.
"What? No!" Dani scoffs. "That’s like, half my haul!"
Gray rolls her eyes. "You can keep the rest. I don’t know where you’re from, but around here, credits are traceable."
Dani sighs, but does as she’s told. Gray shoves the credits down the sewer grate next to her. So that’s what she was looking for.
"The sewer flows downriver," she says. "You should head in the opposite direction, towards the space port." She points a thumb behind her, down the alleyway. "That’s where you’re headed, right?"
Dani gapes at her. "How did you—"
Gray raises an eyebrow. "It’s like McCarthy said—you’re not from around here. And you’ll need to get off planet now that you’ve pissed off Mr. High and Mighty."
Dani winces. "Sorry about that, Gray. But what about you?"
Gray smirks. "I can handle him. I’ve been doing it for years. Oh, and the names Valerie. It’s what my friends call me."
"Valerie." Dani tests the name out on her tongue. It feels right. She beams up at Gray—no, Valerie—and then bounces up to her. She caresses Valerie’s cheek with one hand, and kisses her chastely on the corner of her lip.
"Thank you, Valerie," she whispers in her ear.
And then she bounds away, dancing through streets and alleyways, climbing to the rooftops, almost flying as she careens upriver, towards the space port.
Dani dances.
Valerie dances.
They meet again, multiple times in both of their travels. And they dance.
And they dance.
And they dance.
Valerie dances.
She pushes off from the airlock, gliding into her lover’s arms. Together they twirl in the vastness of space, the stars and ship revolving around them, but they only have eyes for each other. Then Dani smiles, and kisses the top of Valerie’s helmet, and spins away from Valerie.
Valerie’s suit stabilizes her spinning with a thought, and she spins more slowly now, tracking Dani as she twirls through space, with Valerie at the center—Valerie at her center. She doesn’t know how, or why, but she’s managed to capture the most beautiful comet in the world. She is somehow the force which pulls Dani from shooting aimlessly through space—the star about which Dani orbits. Valerie is Dani’s star, and Dani is Valerie’s comet. Wherever their paths may lead, whichever outer reaches of space Dani flings herself to, Valerie knows that she will always, always come back to her.
Dani comes in for a hug, and they spin together, staring into each other’s eyes, naught but plexiglass and atmosphere and the vacuum of space between them. No one but themselves for hundreds of miles.
"I love you, my comet," Valerie says in Dani’s secret language.
Dani’s smile widens, and her eyes shine with the light of a home she’s never known—a home she chooses to make herself, with Valerie at her center.
"I love you too, my star."
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