'Least I didn't lose the eye...

Sometimes I wonder why I keep goin' to Joe the Bastard's dances in Eavesdown. I s'pose it's that hope the hwuan dan dangles in front of me, that maybe I'll best the other fighters an' win the purse. So I keep tryin', an' I keep spittin' blood 'cause of it.

Well. 'Least I still got all my teeth.

There was a dance last night. Joe's got a pretty good pit for it, all hidden away from pryin' eyes. Pretty well-attended, too, there was quite a crowd gathered to watch us bleed for 'em. We got there late but Joe was still tallyin' up the bets. He seemed'ta have a spot of trouble gettin' people to sign up to fight, but he got a handful, when push came to shove. Was a fella there that tried'ta back out, but once your name is on the list... not a whole lot you can do 'bout it.

Duncan went in first, 'gainst the yellowbelly that didn't wanna fight. T'was a good fight, but I think maybe Duncan didn't wanna hurt him too bad or nothin', 'cause the fella lasted the whole two minutes and Joe the Bastard called it a double defeat. I took exception to that, but Joe plays by his own damn rules. Duncan was just about to take the fella out, too.
He seemed'ta be all right, though. Duncan. Weren't messed up too bad, but he weren't in a good mood, neither. 'Cause of the way Joe called it, I s'pose.

I was up next. An' it don't matter how many times I do this, when they call my name, my stomach just starts makin' these li'l loops, an' my heart starts racin'. An' then Joe called the name of the person I was gonna fight an' my stomach stopped makin' loops and just dropped to the floor. Fargis.

I hadn't e'en seen her, there was so many people in that li'l room. Didn't know she was back on Persephone. Not that it's my business knowin' her whereabouts, an' to be perfectly honest, I don't rightly care.

Either way, there she was, hands wrapped up an' lookin' like she was ready to administer a world'o hurt. Which. Well, kinda the point, innit?

We climbed into the cage an' Joe locked it up tight behind us. We shook hands'n all, all polite-like, an' I s'pose that's how it's gotta be. Don't matter none who's in the cage with you. Only thing that matters's that when that bell goes off for the second time, you're the one still standin'.

Everyone was suddenly rushin' to make last-minute bets, an' we were standin' there in the ring, sweatin' under the lights, for a good ten minutes 'fore we had'ta start yellin' at Joe to just ring the bell an' start the show.

An' I s'pose we put on a good one. Fargis can throw a punch like she means it, believe you me. But she didn't fight dirty, 'least not dirtier than I did. I got a couple good hits on her, but by the time the bell rang, the last person standin' weren't me. I hit the canvas hard 'nuff to knock the wind right outta me, 'course, my pride was stingin' more'n anythin'.

"Gorram, Gabe, you can fight!" she said.

Had'ta spit to clear my mouth 'fore I could say anythin' back. "Can say the same for you, I reckon," I told her. Well, seein' as I was the one that was down for the count, there was no arguin' with that. She stood over me an' she coulda gloated if'n she'd wanted to. Didn't, though. Offered me her hand to help me up, instead.

"Good fight. Glad D's got someone who knows what she's doin' watchin' his back." She had a split lip that musta stung like hell, but she grinned anyways. I dunno 'xactly what I'd been expectin'. Weren't this, though.

I shook hands with her again, an' didn't rightly know what to say. "Yeah," seemed appropriate. "Good fightin'."

Had so much gorram milk acid runnin' through me I could barely walk outta the cage, my legs were shakin' so bad. Sat next to Duncan to watch the next couple step into the ring. Say what you will 'bout ole Joe, but he's got some good couches in his pit. Doc JJ came over and lectured me 'bout fightin'. Had a cut o'er my eye she didn't like the look of.

"That cut isn't pretty," she told me. "Any lower and you could have lost the eye." I told her that then it was a good thing it didn't hit any lower. She didn't seem'ta think that was funny. Said I was lucky I didn't need stitches. She tended some to my hands'n all, but the wrappin's took most'a the punishment an' I was given the all-clear. When she left she was mutterin' somethin' 'bout the sillyness of adults fightin' just 'cause they could, or somethin', but I didn't rightly hear her. S'pose she's right, though. Kinda silly. But what the hell're you s'posed to do when time're this lean?

Sat on that couch for the rest of the night. Fargis went in to fight in the final round, but she couldn't hold her ground 'gainst the big fella, Zerbino or summat, that was in there wit' her.

Dunno if that would'a made it more worth-while or nothin', but. Would'a kinda liked to see her win, 'yknow?

Times they are a'changing...

Been a while. I guess I've been too caught up, in... well, everythin'.

S'pose the best way to tell a story is to start at the beginnin', and just work my way on down to the end. Or at least 'til I get to the "to be continued" part.

Duncan ran, stupid man. Up and left us on Caliban, figured he'd get lost in the Black. Lost in his head, wit' his thoughts, more like. Now, I ain't one for losin' things. There's prolly quite a few folk in the 'Verse who can afford to, but I ain't one'a them. Losin' somethin' means you gotta replace it, and to my experience, that's neither easy nor cheap, 'specially when it's somethin' important. 'Sides, after you get that new knife, or whatever it was you lost in the first place, it never really fits. It don't quite rest in your hand like the one you lost, and you end up...

That weren't what I was talkin' 'bout, was it?

Well, I went after him. Not a whole lot else I could do. It ended up bein' a one-woman manhunt all across the 'Verse. Visited a couple backwater moons I never set foot on before, and don't plan to return to, neither. Seemed I was always just one step behind, if I even found somethin' out. Most folk out on the rim know better'n to flap their mouths for nothin'. And I didn't have much to give to loosen up them tongues. Weren't 'til I got to Anvil's Moon, over Himinbjørg ways, that I got a real, solid lead.

Tellin' y'all 'bout the folk I met there is a whole story in itself, and I'll save that for later. Only thing that matters is there was a man there, a decent man, who could point me in the right direction. The real right direction.

And so I found his sorry bee-hind. In a cage-fighting pit, no less, doin' his fool best to mess himself up good'n proper. Now, it wouldn't be fair to say he didn't hold his own, he left a couple fellas layin' on the canvas, cryin' for their mommas. Still, it was a gorram foolheaded thing to do, and when he finally got out and I could talk to him, I done told him 'xactly what I thought 'bout things like that. And he... gave me words right back, and that was that. We bought our sorry selves a bottle'o Jack and just about drank it all up, just talkin', and the next day we were headed back towards the Drift to try'n track down Cody to get the boat back.

An... I guess there's no point in denyin' it. Somethin' had changed 'tween us. 'Course, he was still the Captain, will always be that, but it felt different somehow. Couldn't put my finger on it, so we just went about our business, tryin' to secure jobs and whatnot, and we didn't talk about it. Now, there's that difference 'tween not talkin' about somethin', and not talkin' about somethin', and it felt like the last one, and it was just ...bù píng cháng.

An' then we got a job takin' some cargo from Persephone to Beaumonde, and it kinda stopped bein' bù píng cháng and just sorta... fell into place. It's kinda hard to not talk about somethin' when you're stuck in the black for a week wit' just eachother as comp'ny. And I don't need to sleep on the gorram wooden plank that pretends to be a mattress in the passenger bunk no more, 'cause we share the bed in the Captain's room now, an' that's that.

As it turns out, things are more or less the same as they was before. We still gotta keep flyin'. Still gotta look for jobs, get coin, get by. But I'd be lyin' if I said it don't feel just a li'l bit better, when my back's against the wall, or when I'm tryin' to haggle down the price of somethin' with some sonnuvabitch trader mogul, or when I'm just tryin' to make the time pass while hoppin' from one gorram ass-end of the 'Verse to the other, and I look to the side at the person standin' or sittin' or layin' next to me, and I know... that's my man, right there.