Ronin - S02E05.2 Aside - Drinking Buddies

[Luke Donovan]

This aside begins from here


Luke knocked on Vega's door and offered the bottle first before popping his head around the doorway.

"You want that drink?"

"Hell yes. Come on in."

Luke wasn't one for smiling but the hard look that was near-constant on his face softened. He stepped eagerly inside and handed the bottle of whisky to Vega, then set down the two tumblers he'd been cradling in his arm (since his hand was too bandaged to hold them).
He waited for Vega to pour the drinks.

[Vega Barnet]

Vega accepted the bottle and examined it while Luke set down the tumblers. It certainly wasn't the best whiskey in the verse, but it was also far from the worst. He poured them each a measure and picked up his glass. "To walking out alive. Or flying, in our case." He said raising his glass.

[Luke Donovan]

Luke chuckled a little as he raised his glass. "Right," he agreed before taking a hearty swig. The kick of the liquor was strong but the warmth was very welcome.

"Though I reckon today counts as a pretty big win, judging by the number of duffel bags filled with cashy money got brought aboard. I don't know who this Nikola is but my guess is she's gonna be pretty rutting mad."

He said it with a hint of a grin to feign nonchalance about the prospect of a powerful criminal hunting them down with vengeance in mind. He hadn't given it a lot of thought but it did seem like they - the new crew especially - had just put in a lot of effort to pin giant bullseyes on their own backs. Luke hadn't decided how he felt about that yet.

Luke sat down on the bed opposite Vega's. He sat on the edge, resting his elbows on his knees, his long back curving. He wasn't relaxed but he was trying.

"So how did it go down there? I mean the Captain and the rest of the crew... good team?"

[Vega Barnet]

"Right,"

Vega grinned as he too took a swig. It was strong whiskey, and tasted a damn sight better than the vodka he normally drank when at the bar.

"Though I reckon today counts as a pretty big win, judging by the number of duffel bags filled with cashy money got brought aboard. I don't know who this Nikola is but my guess is she's gonna be pretty rutting mad."

Vega chuckled. "I know from personal experience, if the criminal underworld has it out for you it means you're doin somethin right. You get use to the danger."

"So how did it go down there? I mean the Captain and the rest of the crew... good team?"

Vega grabbed a chair and spun it around, sitting on it backwards facing Luke. He considered the events of the bank for a moment and then replied. "It went about as well as could be expected. Nothing ever goes quite how you planned it. Solid team though. I certainly wouldn't want to cross any of them, especially Miss Dare. She is somethin else. I don't think there's a one of us on this boat who could take her in a fight, not even Lin." He took another swig and set his glass down, absent mindedly picking up one of his revolvers from the table and started running a brush through the barrel.

[Luke Donovan]

Luke looked rather curiously at Vega. The idea that Victoria could beat anyone in a fight was rather incredulous to Luke. There was definitely something odd about her but it would take some convincing for Luke to believe she was a skilled fighter.

"Victoria? The girl?"

He took another sip and chuckled to himself. "She's so little."

[Vega Barnet]

It was Vega's turn to chuckle. "Size matters not." He said, quoting a character from an old Earth That Was film, he even attempted the voice. Something he imagined would earn him an odd look. "Never estimate someone's skill based on their size, I've seen girls her size wipe the floor with trained soldiers, and guys built like a brick house get dropped by a badly aimed punch." He paused in his cleaning and speech to take another sip from his glass. "Personally I always assume everyone is more dangerous than they appear. But I'm a paranoid old bounty hunter, so I suppose I am a little jaded." he said as his hands went back to cleaning the revolver.

[Luke Donovan]

Luke half-grinned and quirked a curious eyebrow at the funny voice Vega put on. He got the sense it was a joke or reference he didn't get. It was cool to see that Vega had a sense of humour though and a goofy one at that. Luke was very glad he'd told his ghost of a sister not to follow him; she would definitely be doing the googly-eyed swoon about now.

As Vega went on, Luke shrugged a little and nodded his head. Luke knew that women could be incredibly skilled fighters (though he hadn't always thought like that). He also knew that the little guy could be much more dangerous than the biggest guy - Luke himself had been an example of that before his late growth spurt. Even so, there was just something about Victoria. It would take a first-hand witness to convince him that she was more than a fragile girl. However, Vega had been the one on the ground with Victoria so Luke wasn't going to argue.

Luke's eyebrows perked up at the mention of Vega's previous line of work.

"Bounty hunter? Me too, well, for all of last year. I was working with a small crew, mainly around the Kalidasa system."

[Vega Barnet]

Vega perked up a little with interest. He hadnt really pegged Luke as the bounty hunter type. "Were you now? Well ain't it a small verse. I never ran with a crew myself, didn't really play with with others in those days. Did team up with some other solos from time to time, but mostly I was on my own." He took another sip from his glass. "How good was your crew?"

[Luke Donovan]

"Uh..."

Luke grinned at memories of the Nox crew. His grin turned into a chuckle as he took another sip of his drink, buying himself some time. His hesitation at answering Vega's question was probably an answer in itself.

"They were all very skilled at what they do. And we managed to get our bounty... most of the time. But it was an odd crew. A very odd crew. Like our Captain, he was convinced that he had lived past lives. He could remember all of them. Always telling us stories about them too." Luke rolled his eyes. "According to him he couldn't be killed, or if he was killed he would just start his next life."

Talking about his old crew was helping to loosen Luke up. He was relaxing a bit more now, probably also due to the alcohol. He finished what was in his glass.

"And man, there was this chick - small, blonde, kind of plain face but cute - you know the type. But when she got dressed up for a job -  she was a full on ninja. She wore this stealth suit, all black and skin-tight, knives hidden in all sorts of places... I've never seen anyone as skilled with a blade as she was. She carried a sword too. Which I thought was nuts at first, like what can you do with a sword? I always thought ninjas were made-up, just for the movies, but she was an actual, trained by the yakuza, ninja. Damn hot.

She was a whack-job too. She'd memorise snippets of conversation and every now and then, for no reason, just come out with it. She was an uncanny mimic, I mean she could do all sorts of voices and noises. It was weird, man."

He got up to refill his glass, and offered a top-up to Vega after he'd given himself a double measure.

[Vega Barnet]

Vega raised his eyebrows a couple times as Luke described his former bounty hunting crew. "Sounds like quite the crew. The ninja-mimic sounds like quite the character, and trained by the Yakuza? They are serious business." He said as he accepted the top-off to his glass. Memories of his own bounty hunting days were seeping up, due no doubt in part to the alcohol. He normally tried his best not to think about those days now. Not that they were all bad memories, he felt pride in his accomplishments. He had put a lot of bad people away, and a lot in the ground as well. He still had dreams about some of the worse encounters though, and more often than he would like he found himself waking suddenly, drenched in sweat, breathing hard, with a gun in his hand pointing at the empty, or closed doorway. If Luke was observant and looking, he might see the shadow that passed over Vegas face as he remembered things he'd rather forget. It passed in a second though, and he grinned again, taking a sip from his glass. "Did you enjoy the work? Hunting bounties that is."

[Luke Donovan]

Did Luke enjoy bounty hunting?

That probably should have been a simple question. He doubted Vega had meant to ask something so searching. He sat back and contemplated the question as he swirled the alcohol in his glass.

"Ah, it was a good gig I guess," Luke answered noncommittally.

Truth was, it had been a really dark time for Luke back then. He had fallen into the bounty hunting and in a way it had saved him. For a while it had just been something to do between bouts of liquor-induced self-pity, then it was an outlet for his anger. Sometimes it was a chance to try and get himself killed. After a while, it was the wake-up call he needed.  He could still do something good with his life. And yes, he had enjoyed it. He enjoyed the risk and the thrill of the danger.

He looked curiously at Vega. "Why'd you get into it?"

[Vega Barnet]

"Ah, it was a good gig I guess,"

A small smile crossed Vegas face at Lukes noncommittal reply, it told him what he needed to know.

"Why'd you get into it?"

Lukes question took Vega a little by surprise, in hindsight it was a perfectly normal question to ask, but Vega rarely talked about his days as Wrex. A wash of memories flashed through his head. The first time he fired a gun, his mother teaching him how to fight, his father teaching him how to read a boot print, his first bounty, his first kill. While his mind was teeming with emotion his face stayed remarkably blank, except for his eyes. He looked down at the revolver that his hands were automatically cleaning, and thought for a moment on how to answer this...kid. If he hadnt been caught off guard he probably would have made something up. "I didn't really have the option to get into it, I was born into it." His eyes took on a far away look, and his voice got softer as he continued. It took on a tone that few people had ever heard him use. "My dad was a bounty hunter long before I was born. My mom too I suppose, though she never did any of the take-down work." Why am I telling him this?

[Luke Donovan]

Luke didn't see the emotion in Vega's eyes but he heard it in his voice. He recognised something in it and wondered if Vega had lost his parents too. If they had been bounty hunters it was probable.

Luke took a slow sip of his drink. He wondered whether he should pretend not to have noticed the change in Vega's tone or open up an opportunity for him to vent a little. Maybe the guy was just waiting for someone to talk to. On the other hand, did Luke want to be that guy?

"Family business," Luke commented thoughtfully. The unspoken question 'what was that like?' was hinted in Luke's tone. He paused long enough to allow Vega to elaborate on it if he wanted but was ready to jump in before an awkward silence could develop.

[Vega Barnet]

"Family business,"

Vega thought for a moment. "Yeah, more or less." He took another sip from his glass. "It was how I was raised, how I was brought up. It was normal far as I was concerned. Course once you grow up and get out in the verse you realize it wasn't normal in a lot of ways." Vega looked down and realized the revolver in his hands was now clean, he set it down and picked up the other and his hands performed the now automatic actions of cleaning the weapon. More memories were seeping up into the forefront of his mind. He needed to change the subject. "So, any plans for your share of the take?"

[Luke Donovan]

Luke listened and nodded. He felt like he understood what Vega was saying, and was maybe starting to understand Vega a little more too. The man had grown up hard and Luke found he respected that.

Talk of spending their share of the money was a nice change of topic. The atmosphere in the room seemed to lift. Luke rose his eyebrows in thought. He hadn't actually considered that yet. He touched the bottle of whisky. "More of this," he replied light-heartedly. "Depending on how much it turns out to be, maybe a lot more."

He paused to think some more. "Maybe invest in some new hardware. You?"

Clearly Luke was a man of simple pleasures and no long term plans. He thought about maybe a new guitar and that gave him a brief moment of joy.

[Vega Barnet]

Vega grinned when Luke indicated he would be buying a lot more alcohol with his share. He would probably do the same.

"Maybe invest in some new hardware. You?"

"Maybe a scope for my rifle, maybe some new boots. Beyond that I'm not sure. I'm a man of simple taste really. Don't have need for much, just the tools of the trade. Maybe I'll find a company to invest it in or something." He said the last part with a sarcastic note in his voice, chuckled, and took another sip of whiskey.