Chapter Text
"Celebrating without me?"
Crystal hears Gorgon approach - the click of the doors opening, the soft whir of his chair's motor - but she's so lost in thought that the sound of his voice, speaking a language she rarely hears out here, startles her.
"Cousin," she says, turning to face him. "I— Wasn't expecting you so soon."
In all honesty she's still not used to him being able to sneak up on her that easily, but there's no way she'd ever say that aloud. Gorgon has always been quick-tempered, but since he was injured his emotional reactions have been a lot more unpredictable. Take earlier, for instance. He got worked up over something no one had even said.
If Gorgon notices her stumbling over her words he doesn't draw attention to it. "So are the drinks for surviving our trip to Sin-Cong?"
It seems like he's in a better mood now, at least. Sending him to help Swain was a good idea, despite everything that happened with the Living Dream.
See, Sister, she thinks. One thing is going the way we'd both like it to.
"The drinks are for having to explain to Medusa and Daisy exactly what getting out of Sin-Cong alive entails. You want one?" She holds up the bottle before topping up her own glass.
"I would. You could've waited for me before you called them."
Crystal shakes her head. "No. It was my decision. And I know you didn't agree. It was bad enough with the two of them disapproving."
"Well, we have the resources to help the people here, even if we shouldn't be sending them. And... There weren't many ways out of here that didn't involve violence. She's not thinking of that."
That's probably as close to a compliment as she'll get from anyone today, so she takes it, for whatever it's worth.
She finishes pouring his drink and casually floats the glass over on an air current, leaves it hovering in front of him so no one has to hold it. It's "a neat party trick", as Johnny had once said, back when she knew the two words but had no idea what they meant when put together. The only person who's ever come close to being as excited at her ability to hold dishes in place with the wind was Luna at two.
More importantly this evening, it works well as a test of how much the alcohol is affecting her.
Gorgon grabs the straw between his teeth and takes a drink.
"You went to see Flint," Crystal says. "How is he?"
"He'll be fine. Benefit of having a healer on the team."
"And you spoke to Panacea as well?"
"I'm not going to ask her to heal me, if that's what you're wondering. We got lucky with Flint, but we have no idea what the scope of her powers is yet." He goes quiet for a moment. "Besides, it's been so long she might not be able to do anything about it."
"That's... not why I was asking. I know how hard you had to work to convince her to help us with the mission. I just want to know if she's still cooperating."
"Right. Well, I haven't talked to her yet." This is the part where he shuts down, the part where Crystal has to choose her words even more carefully than usual. But she knows this, and she wanted him here, so that's what she'll have to do.
"Look, whatever you decide to do about this. Having a healer at our disposal. That's up to you. I brought you here to help with the team, and that's all I'm expecting. Honestly. You told me earlier that you trust my judgement. Well, I trust yours too."
"I'm not sure that's the best idea, but thanks."
Crystal decides to let the implications of that slide, lifting her glass to her lips and finishing it off. She pours herself another — it's that kind of night — before letting the bottle go, mid-air, and floating it over to her cousin.
"What are you doing?" Gorgon asks, backing up a bit.
"You don't want more?"
"I don't want you to spill it on me."
"I'm not going to spill it. When have I ever— Wait, don't answer that." He's known her her entire life, so. Bad idea doesn't begin to cover it.
"I don't think you want me to."
"I'm sure I wasn't that bad."
"You only say that because you don't remember."
"Well, look, I didn't spill a drop now." She tips the bottle back to a vertical position and eases it back to the table. Gorgon doesn't so much as approach his glass until the bottle is well away from him, as if an errant drop might hit him if he gets too close. "So, Panacea," Crystal continues. "We might have to talk to her again, but we'll see how things go. I'm thinking we can do mission debrief in a few hours. Or tomorrow. Whenever we're far enough out of Sin-Cong airspace."
"In here?"
"Why not?"
"Well, we certainly have the room for it." Gorgon nods toward the seating area, grins.
"You don't like my couch?"
"It's fine. Aesthetically. Seems like it might not be comfortable if no one's using it though."
"It is," she says, flopping onto the cushions defiantly. It's a bit firm, sure, but it's for meetings, not for relaxing. Well, when she doesn't fall asleep on it, that is (she's slept there more often than not lately, probably would have napped the next few hours away if Gorgon hadn't shown up, so if nothing else he's saved her from one regret about today).
"Okay, fine, it's comfortable. Not really accessable, though."
Crystal looks down at the recessed flooring, the four steps that lead to the seating area, and thinks, oh. She'd made sure the ship was as accessible as possible in most places, because you never know what the effects of terrigenesis will be, but here in her council room... "Sorry."
Gorgon stares down the staircase, frowning slightly. "I could get down there," he says finally. "For the meeting. Should be able to get back up too. Extra work but it won't kill me."
"Good. I wouldn't want to have to call Medusa about unexpected casualties from our first mission."
"'You should have kept the table!'" It's a terrible impression of her sister, but Crystal finds it hilarious anyway.
"Speaking of tables, we'll need to move this one?"
"Probably a good idea. Put it against the wall so no one sits on it."
"Ha. And you said Flint was a good kid. I can still see his footprints in the dust here."
"You know," Gorgon says after a pause, taking another sip of his drink, "if we're debriefing in a few hours we should probably stop drinking."
"Are you asking me to take your glass away, cousin?"
"No. All I said is we should. If we're not we'll just have to start the meeting later."