From slaine Fri Jun 24 05:43:32 1994 Return-Path: Received: by netcom.com (8.6.8.1/SMI-4.1/Netcom) id FAA07830; Fri, 24 Jun 1994 05:43:16 -0700 From: slaine (Theresa M. DeWitt) Message-Id: <199406241243.FAA07830@netcom11.netcom.com> Subject: Hangar log To: highlander@pine.circa.ufl.edu, dewshine@netcom.com, rivk@midway.uchicago.edu Date: Fri, 24 Jun 1994 05:43:16 -0700 (PDT) X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.4 PL23] MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Length: 11329 Status: RO The Hangar Log: So our young lad Kevlan, feeling useless and bored, goes to the hangar to work on his sled. Little did he realize that Elissa was coming in from the Ranges, and little did either know the outcome to the scene about to play itself out here. A sled with 'Pokey' spelled out in bright paint on the hull slides precariously in for a landing. Elissa steps out from the cramped interior of the airsled. Elissa yawns and stretches, flexing out her tired muscles. She waves at Corbin, smiling faintly. Kevlan hums softly under his breath, flipping open a hatch on his sled's front and tinkering around within. Elissa reaches into her sled for her flightbag, then turns and sees Kevlan. An involuntary 'oh' escapes her lips. Kevlan sings softly, plaintively, getting him occasional wry looks from passing Sorters. One or two of the hangar techs call out teasing comments, and advice on how to tinker with the sled's engine; Kevlan looks up sheepishly and grins. And then spots Elissa. Elissa swallows hard and manages to pull her gaze away from Kevlan long enough to get out of the sled techs way as they clean and rack her sled. Kevlan stands slowly; there's a few smudges of oil on his face and worksuit, and he blushes, looking down at himself. Abashed, he ducks down and returns his attention quickly to the _Teesa Narie_'s engine. Michael emerges from the ready room with purpose. Yelira peers curiously and openly at Michael, giving him the slow once over. Elissa wrings her flightbag straps in her hands as she walks over to Kevlan. "Um, Kev?" She doesn't seem to have noticed Michael's entry. Michael nods briefly to the Singer he doesn't know, and smiles at the two he does... then steps back, seeing he's walked into something. He stands quietly someplace unobtrusive. Kevlan swallows hard, focusing intently on the tinkering he's doing. The hangar techs lingering in his vicinity spot the other Singers gathering, and as Elissa draws nearer, they surreptitiously slip off. Kevlan then pauses, and asks shyly, "Y-yeah?" He doesn't look up. Elissa stares down at her bag, then glances at Kevlan. "I just wanted to say I'm sorry about the other night, you and me, outside I mean." Kevlan lowers his gaze, and mumbles abashedly, "It's okay, 'Lissa... a-ain't nothin' for you t' be sorry 'bout... " Yelira tilts her head to listen to the two others, then looks at Michael and shrugs, half-smiling. Kevlan mutters, "Ah'm jes' a lunkhead, 'sall... " Kevlan wipes his bandaged hand across his worksuit, trying to clean off a smudge of oil. Michael shrugs back at Yelira, as well as he can with one shoulder, the rueful smile indicating he hasn't a clue what's under discussion either. If he's tense, there's no sign of it. Elissa scuffs her boot across the floor lightly and shakes her head. "No, you aren't. I was just blind, that's all." She sighs. "I never knew that you..." she pauses to swallow hard and consider her words, "that you felt _that_ wayt about me." "I did," Michael says quietly, his voice deadly calm, from across the room. "And now that you do, what are you planning to do about it, Elissa?" The voice is soft, but every word carries. Yelira's brows twitch up as she openly eavesdrops. She leans against the wall with a condescending grin. Kevlan glances up over his shoulder, at Elissa, and then blinkblinks rapidly, as if to clear his eyes. He starts as Michael speaks up, and he turns crimson, looking down again and mumbling something embarrassedly. Michael ignores Yelira now, his trained mind snapped into focus on one thing. He watches Elissa, with such focus he doesn't even appear to take in Kevlan just behind her, and his face is unreadable, the dark eyes opaque. Elissa spins around, hand over her mouth and a startled look in her eyes. "My gods, Michael, you nearly made me jump out of my skin!" Yelira chuckles softly and murmurs under her breath. "Methinks she's avoiding the question." Off across the hangar, Corbin pausees in his work at the sight of the knot of people gathered around the _Teesa Narie_. He looks sympathetically at Kevlan, and then hastens on his business. Michael answers evenly, "Aye, I can see how I might. I'd not intended to eavesdrop; I came down here to see if there was any good I could be with one arm." He doesn't repeat Yelira's observation, but his expression subtly suggests he echoes it. Kevlan looks up again, and from the look in his wide blue eyes, it's rather clear he's terrified by this sudden turn of events. "Ah shouldn'ta said nothin'," he blurts mournfully. Elissa flushes slightly and gives the older Singer a scathing glance as she takes a few steps towards Michael. "What do you suggest I do about it, Michael?" She spares a look back towards Kevlan, then turns to Michael again. Yelira looks vaguely amused and somewhat unimpressed. Whatever Michael expected from Elissa, that clearly wasn't it. He hesitates a moment, thrown by the question, then his voice lowers. "Not my decision to make, Elissa." After a moment of silence, "I won't challenge yours. But I suggest that... *anybody* you intend to disappoint, it'd be kindest to do so explicitly and at once." Kevlan glances between Elissa and Michael, and shoves the screwdriver he'd been using into a pocket. Clearly poised to flee, he starts backing up around his sled. Elissa swallows hard, then walks up to within a few feet of Michael. Her voice is soft and low, but with surprising strength. "Michael, the other day, Kevlan showed me something that I had not seen in my relationship with him. And do you know what I did?" She pauses. "I cried, I cried because I never knew, I cried because I was afraid what this would do to our friendships, and I cried because it hurt Kevlan so much that I am in love with you." She points a finger at Michael's chest and continues. "So you ask me what I am going to do about it?" SHe sighs and her shoulders slump slightly, wearily. "What can I do? Look at Kevlan, he runs away every time we're in a room together." Elissa looks back at Kevlan, honest pain in her eyes. "Kevlan, I'm sorry, and that's all I can say." Kevlan swallows hard, and ducks his head, blushing deeply again, and mumbling once more, "Ain't... ain't nothin' t'... be sorry for, 'Lissa... " His voice has roughened. Yelira steps back to look at the others, a slightly puzzled expression on her face. Michael relaxes visibly, the tension under which he'd been operating only observable now, in contrast to its absence. He reflexively begins to put his good arm around Elissa's shoulders, then drops it when Kevlan speaks, self-consciously. He looks at Kevlan and starts to try to say something, but finding no words, falls silent and glances to Elissa. A Sorter lingering in the vicinity murmurs something about, "That's Galahad, alright... " and then scurries out of the way before she's noticed. Kevlan, oblivious to the whispered commentary of his onlookers, tells Michael and Elissa earnestly, "Ah... Ah don't want nobody t' fret... y'all'll be right f'r each other." He shifts from foot to foot, and then turns and hastily leaves, alerting the surreptitiously watching techs to re-rack his sled. Kevlan ducks into the ready room, escaping from the swirling wind. Michael watches Kevlan leave, silently, dark eyes troubled. Elissa reaches up to lightly touch Michael's face with her fingertips, her voice quiet. "Did you really think that after promising you I'd help the Conlon and singing black with you, that I could be anything else but in love with you?" She watches Kevlan's retreating back, then looks up at Michael again. "And he's known it for a while, I think...." Michael does slip his arm around Elissa's shoulders now, holding her tightly. "I've grown to expect everything to go wrong, I suppose... and I remember the first night in the recruit lounge, when you came to talk to me -- I don't know how much of it was to... was in reaction to what had been happening with him and Talia, but I know that was part of it." He stares silently after the place where Kevlan left for a long moment. "I wish there were something I could do, though. He's my friend, or was, and a good one." He smiles slightly. "I think I'd give up nearly anything short of you to stop him hurting like that. But that does no good, does it?" Yelira quietly moves off to the side, remarkably subdued for her. Elissa leans gently against Michael. "Why don't you try talking to him?" She chuckles faintly. "I know I can't, last time I tried I bawled for hours." Michael blinks, surprised. "Jesus, Elissa, what could *I* say?" Elissa looks up, shrugging a bit. "I don't know...you're a guy, he's a guy, whatever guys talk about when they're mad at eachother." Michael shakes his head, frowning a little at the headache caused by the movement. "We're not mad at each other. It'd be easier if we were. Kevlan... I don't think he could be mad at someone because of this, he's just hurt. And I can't do anything to fix that." A sled with 'Tance's Sled' spelled out in bright paint on the hull slides precariously in for a landing. Tance steps out from the cramped interior of the airsled. Tance stomps out of his sled, bellowing, "MEDIC! I WANT A MEDIC!" Michael looks up mildly. "My sister's on duty downstairs in the infirmary. Get yourself down there and shut up." Elissa steps closer to Michael, staring over her shoulder at Tance. "Good gods, he's louder than Corbin." Yelira chuckles and nods to Tance in greeting. Tance scowls at the young man, and snaps, "Who asked you, pup?" Clutching his hand to his chest, the clearly infuriated Singer stomps past Yelira, snorts at her, and stomps on out. Tance ducks into the ready room, escaping from the swirling wind. Michael chuckles quietly at Elissa's comment, watching Tance leave with considerable amusement. Elissa begins to laugh quietly, then looks over at Yelira. "Is he always that much fun?" Yelira nods, grinning and going back over to her observation point near the wall. Michael laughs as well. "Some people are born to be Singers -- it's the only job they could have without somebody killing them." Elissa grins and rubs the back of her neck. "Come on, let's get out of this hangar, the incoming storm winds are starting to make me itchy. So lemme see your blues from the other day! I never went and peeked at those." Michael grins. "The ones I cut weren't much; I tore my arm open pretty badly before I could do much, and there's a flaw at the front of the vein. It's a beautiful vein, though, once I get past that -- I hope the storm doesn't do too much to it." Elissa smiles and rubs the back of her neck again. "I hope so too, especially with those blacks we've got. I'd hate to see that vein storm-shattered." Yelira seems to be listening very intently at the mention of black crystal. Michael says "Ouch. I hadn't even thought about that... Well, come see the blues anyway, won't you? And I cut an absolutely gorgeous rose scale, before I found the blue site." Michael walks across the noisy bay and into cargo storage. Elissa walks across the noisy bay and into cargo storage. [end of log] (And everyone goes off their separate ways...later, Kevlan escapes to the Ranges before the storm comes and Elissa and Michael retreat to the radiant tubs.)