fic: 'cause i don't want you like a best friend

[earlymorningechoes]

The Strange Case of Starship Iris, Arkady Patel/Violet Liu. Violet joins Sana on a quiet market run, and makes a purchase that gets under Arkady's skin.
G, 1500 words. AO3

“Alrighty then, peaches and keens, we are officially landed and clear on this planet I will not name. The sky is clear, the weather is nice, and it appears to be - market day?” Krejjh leaned forward to see better out of the cockpit. “Or if not, some other day when a whole bunch of humans put up tents on the docks and mill around yelling at each other.”

Sana joined them at the window. “It does look like a market. I wonder what we’ll find out there.” She clicked on her comm link. “Sana Tripathi to Violet Liu.”

“Yes, Captain?”

“I’d like you to come out to that market on the docks with me. How does that sound to you?”

A familiar hesitation crept into Violet’s voice. “Is that safe?”

“As safe as we can be on a planet, at this point.” Sana nodded goodbye to Krejjh, taking a last look at the bustling market setup. The ship’s empty corridors were a sharp contrast. “You could use some fresh air and solid ground under your feet.”

She couldn’t hear it, but Sana could imagine Violet’s anxiety-fueled body language - twisting fingers, bitten lips, and a deep breath before speaking. “Uh, well, what about Arkady? Doesn’t she usually go with you when you’re off the ship?”

“I’m asking you this time, Violet. Meet me at the airlock?”

She’d already made it all the way to the airlock before Violet responded. “Okay, Captain,” she murmured, so quietly Sana wasn’t sure she’d heard anything at all.

“Meet me at the airlock,” she repeated. “Sana Tripathi out.”

As if on cue, Arkady popped out from around the next corner. “I’m ready to go, Captain.”

Sana flicked one hand through the air: a dismissal. “Not today, Arkady. I’m taking Violet out for this run. I need you to take a look at the comm system; it keeps trying to jump signals when we’re making outside calls. You’ll have an easier time of it if you can connect to the local network.” With a flurry of practiced motions, she reached up and adjusted her hijab, punctuating her point.

Arkady blinked, standing far more still than usual. “You do mean the same Violet Liu that I know, right? The one who panics at the first sign of trouble? And you want to take her out, just the two of you, to a pop-up market on a planet in the ass-end of nowhere?” She crossed her arms, defiant. “Does she even want to go?”

Eyebrows raised, Sana leaned back on the wall next to the airlock. “That’s a strong reaction you’ve got there, Arkady. It’ll be fine. We haven’t let slip where we are, so the Regime’s on the back foot for once, and not even any of Brian’s mafia buddies are set up here.” She straightened as footsteps echoed down the hall. “And she deserves a little fresh air.”

Violet chose that moment to appear from around the opposite corner, muttering to herself. Both the muttering and her forward momentum stopped when she caught sight of Sana and Arkady. “Oh, Captain, I guess since Arkady’s here, you won’t be needing me?”

Ignoring Arkady’s pointed I told you so look, Sana waved another dismissive hand. “Kady’s staying to take a look at whatever’s causing the comm system to jump signals on outside calls. You and I can take the hand cart and pick up some things we need at that market.”

Violet swallowed. “Um, okay then. See you later, Arkady?”

“Sure.” She spun and stalked back up the corridor without a backward glance. Sana punched in the airlock code in silence, gesturing for Violet to follow her when it swung open.

---------

Aside from the hand cart’s wobbly left wheel and the vague sense of impending doom that had settled around her shoulders when she’d stepped off the ship, Violet had to admit that fresh air and solid ground were a nice change from the slapdash walls of the Rumor. She followed Sana from booth to booth, watching as she haggled her way into a week’s worth of fresh food and a month’s worth of canned and frozen food for the crew. It was amazing, watching Sana strike up a rapport with people she’d known for all of twenty seconds.

“How do you do it?” she asked, leaving the booth who’d just sold them a slightly ridiculous amount of frozen green beans for half price.

“The haggling?” Sana shrugged. “I don’t really have to try to do it, anymore. Just comes from talking to people a lot, I think.” She patted one of the packages of green beans, on top of the pile in the hand cart. “I’m glad it still comes in handy, though.”

They continued on in silence, taking in the sights, sounds, and smells of a portside market day. After the row of mostly food stalls came one mostly full of second-hand clothes, and Sana made to hurry down the aisle and up the next. But Violet drifted towards one of the booths. “It would be nice to have some clothes that didn’t have the Regime’s symbol printed front and center,” she said, gesturing at the arch and stars emblazoned on her shirt.

The person minding the booth laughed, and Violet blushed scarlet, realizing what she’d just said out loud. “Oh - uh, I didn’t - I mean -”

Both the shopkeeper and Sana shook their heads. “Nah, you don’t have to watch what you say about the IGR out here. Take a look, buy yourself something nice.” They turned to Sana and asked about flight paths and prior destinations, giving Violet a moment of relative privacy. Counting breaths to slow her racing heart, she walked slowly down the length of the booth, rummaging through stacks of shirts, shorts, pants, and everything else. Halfway down, a flash of red in a sea of neutral colors caught her eye. Unfolded, it turned out to be a dress, halter-style, with an embroidered pattern of lilies along the bottom hem. It was the kind of soft that indicated many wearings and washings, but not so many that the color had faded.

Violet let herself fall into a daydream - walking into the mess hall in that dress, watching Arkady’s mouth fall open, the speechless one for once. They’d have tea, and Arkady wouldn’t be able to keep her eyes to herself, and maybe after that they’d go back to her room and -

“That would be a lovely color on you,” the shopkeeper said, scattering Violet’s thoughts. “And as far from Regime blue-and-white as you can get.”

Nodding stiffly, Violet ran her fingers over the embroidered lilies, ducking her head to hide her reappearing blush. “It’s a beautiful dress.” She folded it back into the pile, the flowers disappearing under the gathered fabric.

Sana unfolded it again, pressing it back into Violet’s hands with a knowing, almost wicked grin. “Buy the dress.”

---------

Arkady stomped down the hallway, grumbling under her breath. Bad enough that Sana hadn’t wanted her along for the market stop, bad enough that she’d taken Violet instead. But even worse that the excuse of the comm system repair had been true, and that it had taken all of her afternoon and multiple trips back to her room for a different set of tools. She hadn’t even been able to grumble in peace.

Passing the mess hall, she caught the scent of coffee wafting through the closed door. Krejjh and Jeeter were still up in the cockpit, playing cards, so the coffee must mean Sana and Violet were finished with the market - and hadn’t told her? She slid open the door, calling out, “hey, I didn’t realize you’d gotten -” and stopped, both walking and speaking. Her mouth went dry.
It was indeed Violet at the coffee maker, her back to the door, clad in a red halter dress Arkady had never seen before. A tattoo spread over her left shoulder, a tangle of music notes and flowers that matched the embroidered ones along the dress’s hem. She turned at the sound of Arkady’s voice, a soft smile on her lips, and Arkady realized with a start that she wasn’t wearing a bra. Of course not, the rational part of her brain tried to say, it’s a halter dress. But the entire rest of her brain was stuck someplace entirely different, belatedly noticing that her mouth had somehow gone even drier.

“Want some coffee, Arkady?” Violet asked, apparently blissfully unaware of the effect her bare collarbones were having on Arkady’s ability to think straight.

“Oh, uh,” she started, mentally kicking herself. Get it together, genius. “No, I’m good.” She stepped back into the hallway and let the door slide shut. Hurrying away, only vaguely aware that she was going the entirely wrong direction, she tried to put all thoughts of Violet out of her head. What the hell, Liu?

---------

Still in the mess hall, Violet stopped trying to control a flood of almost-hysterical giggles. Okay, yeah, the dress had been a very good purchase indeed.