For the OC pairings tag game! Gimme a snippet of Seraphine and Jackson interacting please 💜
Hello & thanks for the OC Pairings Ask! Let's see:
I have not actually written anything featuring these two together yet & they are likely my most underdeveloped characters at present (definitely will gain in importance over time). I don't mind writing an original little snippet with them, though:
Jackson sauntered sluggishly into the bioship's arboretum, hoping his morning coffee would kick in soon and get his motor revving. The brew was bitter and black, bottom of the barrel bilge, leaving a brackish aftertaste in the chef's mouth. Until their next landing, though, it was all they had.
Unless he wanted to break into the Tisrani Special Blue blend he'd squirreled away, stuffed behind the pickle jars so Boss-Man Amir wouldn't find it. Jackson had been saving that particular bag of beans for a more memorable morning, a birthday or holiday or something, but today had been awfully weak so far. A hit of that pungent, potent purplish brew could be just what he needed for a pick-me up...
"Ah, so you also come here to contemplate," said an airy, alluring voice from behind a cluster of fanning ferns and flowers. Startled, Jackson pushed aside the fronds of the jade green curtain to expose the fountain at the artificial garden's heart. "Good morning, Mr. Poole!"
Seraphine Harper was sprawled along the sculpted stone lip of the ivory fixture, a light silver spray of water dowsing the air with mist. It was rare to see the blue-skinned beauty away from the central cortex chamber, her bio-bed in the murky green pilot's pool supplying most everything the Lunarian psion needed while she lay in symbiotic stasis. Still, Jackson mused, even she needed to stretch her legs and change her views now and again.
"Hey, Sera, long time since I've seen you down on my end of The Empress," Jackson replied, cheerily, joining the plump, plum-haired pilot by the cool water. He kicked off his sandals and hiked up his baggy olive shorts a bit to avoid the splashing waves, sighing with relief as his feet hit the water. Just the right temperature. "Feels good to get out of your usual headspace for a bit, don't it?"
"Indeed. Empress is napping and Amir and Evie are out on business so I came here to relax for a while and soak in the beauty. While I appreciate my importance to our flight's functioning, it is nice not to be needed for a while. To simply be at peace with the nature of your world. I am forever grateful for Amir installing the arboretum, not just to aid in our breathing but so I can indulge my other senses as well."
Seraphine pulled herself up from her resting position, her elegant gown of navy moonsilk shifting like ink, her falls of purple-black hair cascading across bare blue shoulders speckled with white and lilac mottling. She reached out a hand and a flurry of tiny white moths darted towards her from the flowerbeds, alighting upon the webbing between pale blue fingertips.
"Yeah, this garden is pretty damn awesome." Jackson frowned as one of the moths landed on his nose, snow-white wings against light coppery brown skin. He tried blowing the moth away with his breath but the creature only scurried away to his shaggy sideburns. The second he ignored the insect, it fluttered away. "I mostly come here for the herbs but it's nice to just sit and chill for a while, too."
"Chill? Isn't it warm and humid in here by most human standards?"
"Just an expression, Sera. Means I'm keeping calm and cool. Relaxing, hanging out."
"So you are." Sera's other hand drifted lazily through the water, spindly fingers bumping up against a stray lily pad. "And do these herbs you come here for also help you keep "chill?"
Jackson cackled, reaching into the front pocket of his orange-and-white vertically striped shirt for a small, crinkly package. "That's what these "herbs" are for! I come in here for when my seasoning stash runs low. Oregano, marjoram, rosemary, sage, mint, basil, that sort of thing..."
"Hmm. Your fare is always well-spiced, though perhaps not in the way my people would do so." Seraphine's alien eyes shone like glittering gems. "The next time we tarry for a while in harbor, would you mind if I came down to your kitchens? It's been some time since I've last prepared a meal, longer still since I made a Lunarian dish. I would love to share with you all a taste of home."
"A moon-man meal on the menu, huh? Hell yeah, sounds like a plan! Just give me the time and date and I'll make sure the cabinets are stocked with whatever you need."
Seraphine smiled, as bright as the stars and warm as the sun. Two years had Jackson served alongside her yet this was probably one of the longest stretches of time he'd ever spent with their pilot.
Well, perhaps it was time to change that.
All right, that was a fun little piece to write, very much helped me get a hang of how they act & speak. I'll have to see if I can incorporate this scene or a scene like it in the story at some point (neither Seraphine or Jackson have POVs planned for the first book but would later on should I get that far)
Feel free to send in more OC Pairing asks!
