who: lina & neon @n30nflights where: the cockpit when: late at night, after the welcome dinner
the ship's gone quiet in that way it does after the first meal together—half-sated conversation still lingering in the air, half the crew scattering to their bunks, others sneaking off for second rounds of music, smoke, or drink. lina had lingered longer than they should have, waiting until plates were cleared and the hum of the engines was the loudest thing left. she told herself it was to check in on systems, to walk the ship like any captain should on the first night with a full crew aboard, but their boots carried her to the cockpit without permission.
neon's already there, lit by the glow of the control boards. he doesn't seem to sit in the pilot’s chair so much as wear it, limbs folded in a careless sprawl that only look effortless until you notice the micro-adjustments, the subtle way the cybernetics hum against the ship’s systems. a man wired for speed, built for risk. lina leans against the frame of the door for a beat, letting their eyes trace the lines of starlight beyond the viewport. she has to admit: his kind of reckless flying makes her heart hammer in a way that has nothing to do with fear. but that voice in her head, the one that reminds her she's captain now, reminds her that every dive and twist isn't just hers to pay for anymore. it's everyone’s.
she opens their mouth, starts to say something about the flight plan, about crew safety, about… anything that sounds like responsibility. she makes no sound before being cut off.
“whatever you came here to say, i don’t want to hear it.”
her jaw clicks shut. for a moment, she only breathes, a long inhale through their nose as if the recycled air would give her patience. he's infuriating—because she wants to agree with him, to throw caution out the airlock and let him fly them into the teeth of the stars. because she wants, more than anything, to not be the bad guy. instead, she steps forward, the low light catching sharp on her profile as she crossed her arms. “too bad,” she says, voice steady. “sometimes you don’t get what you want.” but even as she says it, lina’s pulse betrays them, quick and restless, as if part of her hopes he'll push back, drag her into the kind of dangerous orbit she's tried so hard to deny herself.