It’s Penumbra WLW Week and it’s also Penumbra update week I’m emotional. Have 500 words of Rita/Sasha.
Mister Steel and Ransom had long since left the bar, sneaking off to the Carte Blanche as if no one could tell what they were getting up to, and Vespa and Buddy were getting steadily drunk in a quiet booth in the corner. Rita was happy to sit at the bar with Jet, who wasn’t drinking but was keeping an eye on things- what things those were, Rita didn’t know. Possibly they were things of Jet’s own imagining, but as long as the big guy was happy. Rita, for her part, was working on her third cocktail- some house special no one could tell her the contents of- and watching the ebb and flow of the crowd. It was a bit like that one stream, the one about that Plutonian who worked in a bar- or, no maybe the one- and then Jet was pulling on her arm, moving her in front of himself. She stumbled off her stool and nearly spilled her drink all down her front, but she steadied herself with a hand on the big guy’s arm. “This is my friend Rita,” he said, parking her in front of a striking woman with neat black hair and a blazer to match. For a second, Rita’s alcohol-slow brain didn’t recognize her. Then, it all clicked into place. Those early days at the HCPD, paper cups of coffee left for Juno and the lone personal photo on his desk- Juno arm-in-arm with his childhood friends. And that first Martian artifact case, the one that put them on the path they were on now. Sasha, older and sharper, every inch a Dark Matters agent.
Sasha raised an eyebrow in surprise, setting her drink aside. “Rita?”
Sasha laughed. “I’ve told you a million times, Rita-”
“I know, I know,” Rita said, laughing. “It’s nice to see you, Sasha.”
“Well,” Jet said, clapping Rita’s shoulder awkwardly. “I see you two already know each other, so I’ll just- go check on Buddy. Excuse me.” And with that, he was gone. Rita watched him cross the bar and slide into the booth to avoid staring at Sasha too much. To tell the truth, , something about her cool confidence had always drawn Rita in. Even back in their HCPD days, there was just something about Sasha Wire.
“Well then,” Sasha said, drumming her fingers against the bar top. “What are you drinking?”
Rita smiled, downing the last of the one she had in her hands and setting the glass down. “Surprise me,” she said. Sasha smiled back, waving down the bartender.
An hour later, Jet was carrying Rita out of the bar on his shoulders. Jet had been the one to offer to carry her- he seemed afraid that she would break an ankle in her heels, but she had been wearing them long enough she was sure she could handle it. She squinted down at the palm of her hand, where a number was scrawled in careful handwriting. It was slightly smudged, but Rita could just about make out the small heart drawn at the end.
SASHA <3: Will you be back in my part of space any time soon?
RITA: Well, I’ll see what I can do ;)
