AFTER ALL

Here's another. Lots of dialogue!


“You know, Riddick, you’re kinda like a koala. Only instead of eating just eucalyptus trees, you eat people. Hah.” Jack rolled over on his bed and peered at him upside-down.

Riddick had long since learned to just ignore Jack’s random little anecdotes, especially when he was breaking down a recent kill. Vaako had just entered, unexpectedly and unannounced, and was standing off to the side and watching with morbid curiosity.

The man was, admittedly, very efficient- just hours ago, Riddick had asked him if he could manage to find any more ‘lost’ information on Furyans. A trip to the library and lunch, later, and Vaako was back with the badly damaged collection of books he had found. Some of them barely mentioned Furyans at all, but….well, he was thorough. Besides, any excuse he could pass to get the hell away from his Dame- and his suddenly overly clingy Second Commander.

And now here he was, watching his Lord Marshal calmly take someone apart, piece by piece, and either put the bloody stuff in little bags, or toss it to the eagerly awaiting Hellhounds- who had formed a little pile, directly behind him, begging for scraps to be thrown over the shoulder. It should have disgusted Vaako, but at this point he found it little more than a distraction.

Still- what the hell was a Koala? He opened his mouth and was about to ask- when the small comm link at his belt went off for the umpteenth time that day. One look at it and he sighed-

“Second Commander again?” Riddick asked, still wrist-deep in the chest cavity.

“Ye-es. I’m telling you, the man has developed a sudden fascination with me. Every day, he needs this that and the other done- all of them things he could EASILY do on his own.” Vaako turned to leave after being formerly dismissed by Riddick- formerly here meaning an absent wave of the hand and a low growl. He had, by this point, learned that simply being comfortable around the powerful man was far easier than trying to walk on eggshells, as he had with Lord Zhylaw. Riddick seemed agreeable, even, when Vaako spoke to him on a slightly friendly level. And as long as Vaako refrained from doing so when in the company of any other Necromongers, it was fine by him, too.

***


Riddick, on his part, found himself rapidly- almost unwillingly- warming up to his First Commander. He’d met a few people in his lifetime that really deserved his respect. Vaako was one of them. The man might be physically smaller than him, and rather quiet- but he had a brilliantly calculating mind. And, Riddick recalled from their fight, months ago, quite capable of flawless combat. Not to mention he made the most priceless expressions.

Yes, Riddick was starting to get comfortable here- not something he had felt. Ever. And
Vaako was certainly helping with that- and as an added bonus, when Riddick had no desire to step in and govern on any particular day, Vaako seemed willing to make a few decisions for him. Very reliable, actually. Surprisingly.


Forget the fact that Riddick was developing an almost-mistrust for the man’s constant early departures from their meetings. Jack probably would have called it jealousy ro something equally ridiculous- But Riddick just plain didn’t like Vaako always wandering off to attend to the Second Commander. It didn’t smell right.

He stood from his crouch on the floor, wiping some blood off his cheek with him shoulder. Jack was still on her back, flipping through some of the books Vaako had dragged up from the basement of the ship. Even from where he was, some yards away, he could smell the ink and dust as she turned each page. It was an oddly satisfying scent. He sniffed it in a little more, and stepped back to let the Hellhounds have at what was left of the corpse.

“Jack.” She flipped over, abandoning the book to look at him, arms dangling off the edge of the bed, “Why do you think the Second Commander needs to keep Vaako away from me?” As soon as the words left Riddick’s mouth, he knew he’d phrased it badly.

“OOOOOOOH, I knew it! You are totally jealous, aren’t you! Riddick, that’s just adorable! I mean, in like…a kinda scary way. But adorable!” She leaned off the egde of the bed some more, as if doing so would enable her to hear some deeply private gossip that, clearly, she thought she had a right to know.

“Jack, I’m not jealous. No.” He wiped his hands off on a passing Hellhound, who didn’t seem to mind. “I just think it’s suspicious, don’t you? The guy has been here forever- he isn’t an idiot. So why does he need Vaako there every second of the goddamned day?”

“Stop LYING! Jealous, I’m telling you!” Jack was almost falling off the bed by now, biting her lower lip in an effort to keep from laughing. Or squealing. Whichever she thought would irritate him more.

“JACK. Cut it out.” She giggled a little bit, and then tried to conceal it with a cough.
“Can the little sister crap for a second and listen. Vaako is-“

“YOUR LUV-AH!”

That was what finally did it. With a snarl, he leapt forward, trying to pin her wriggling body to the bed- maybe just scare her a little, you know. Jack was, of course, largely unimpressed, and shoved her foot in his face, propelling herself away with a happy laugh. He went right after her, grabbing at- and missing- her thin little ankle as she twisted away again. Riddick knew she just liked to get a rise out of him- and every once and a while he let her have it.

Finally, he managed to draw his legs up underneath him and spring forward with a loud yell, landing square on top of her and spreading out. Try as she might, this was one “hold” she could never get out of. He was just too damn heavy. And now that he had her ‘attention’, he continued with his earlier point.

“Anyways. I think this Second Commander stuff is-“ He grunted as she wedged her elbow up into his ribs, trying to create a gap large enough for her to ooze out from under him, “-Interfering with…you know. Command. Things. OUCH.”

Jack had just done what she- and ONLY she- could get away with without being mauled. She reached up, grasping his goggles by the bridge of the nose and pulled them back- when she let go, they hit his head with a wholly satisfying THWAK. He ground his teeth together, raising up into a crouch and letting her get away as he readjusted the goggles. And then made use of what little acting skills he had- he gave a low whine, pushing his goggles off his head entirely and rubbing at his eye gingerly and bringing his hand away to “look” at the blood that wasn’t really there. Jack fell for it, turning back immediately and peering at him, trying to pry his hands away from his “wound”.

“Ohgod, Riddick, I’m really sorry I didn’t mean to hurt you oh god is your eye ok? I’m really really sorry I just thought it would be funny and is that blood, holy shit I’m SO- AUGH SUNNUVABITCH.”

And everything else after that was loud, screechy cursing as Riddick tackled her and threw her over his shoulder, toting her through his rooms to toss her, quite pleased with himself, into the bathwater.


***

The Second Commander was very pleased. Just a few days ago, he had managed to deprive the hideous Furyan of a few days of food with his little light show. Simple though it had been- just a matter of using a pressure gun to break into the control rooms, really!- it had worked so successfully, he was wondering if he could get away with it a second time.

And, of course, keeping Vaako out of harm’s way was working splendidly as well. Of course, he had to feign stupidity to keep the First Commander at his side- helping him with perfectly simple tasks- but it was all fine, as long as Vaako was kept far, far away from the Lord Marshal. There was no doubt in his mind that one tiny wrongdoing would see Vaako on a dinner plate- at that was just not acceptable. After all- as soon as he got rid of the Furyan, Vaako would be taking his place.

He could have no way of knowing that even as Vaako stood next to him at the Command Center, he was already thinking about his next alotted time with the Lord Marshal.


***


When Vaako returned to his rooms much later in the “evening”, he was pleased as punch. It was a relatively new emotion for him, and it seemed to irritate Dame Vaako. Apparently, if he was happy, she was not. It didn’t matter, though- he ignored her, literally pushing past her to his own chambers to enjoy dinner.

As far as he was concerned, she didn’t really matter as long as the Lord Marshal continued to trust him. After all, the more faith Riddick had in Vaako’s abilities, the more he was kept away from Dame Vaako. And the better his job got. In fact, aside from the Second Commander seeming to have a sudden lapse in brain cells, everything was going swimmingly. Vaako could just keep his little convenience-only marriage and attend to Riddick all he wanted.

He paused, fork still jammed in his mouth. In the brief silence, he could actually hear another man enter the rooms, boots scuffling loudly as the man- whomever he was- maneuvered Dame Vaako into her rooms, the two of them laughing and trying to whisper. Vaako rolled his eyes and continued eating- Dame Vaako had been satisfying herself with any man that stood still long enough since the very first day of their marriage. He had grown used to it, and after all this time, it just didn’t matter any more. She could have her pompous, pathetic noblemen- as long as Vaako could have the occasional soldier.

But besides the point- he leaned back on his bed with a sigh, discarding the plate of half eaten food- he supposed his life really did amount to little. Currently, it seemed to revolve around Riddick, which was…well. Odd, actually. As the Lord Marshal, Riddick should be FAR more busy passing judgment, directing the Necromonger fleet, and courting noblewomen. And currently, he was only doing two of those things.

It gave Vaako another small pause and, as he often did when thinking, he got up to pace near the windows in his room. Really rather unacceptable. By this point in his ruling, the Lord Marshal should have women draped at his feet and, aside from Jack, he didn’t have a single one. Jack didn’t count- she was almost a little sister to the Lord.

Vaako stopped pacing for just a moment to shed some of the heavy armor he constantly wore around. It hit the floor, and he unceremoniously kicked it into a corner and leaned up against the massive window, staring out into space. Anyone watching would just assume he was a boring person, unfortunately.

He supposed by this point, there were some unhealthy rumors circulating about the Lord Marshal and his little human friend. Or maybe even about the Lord Marshal and his pack of beasts. Or maybe- Vaako almost grinned at the sheer absurdity of it- people assumed the Lord Marshal and HIMSELF were exploring a non-business relationship.

Which was silly, really! I mean, there was the bizarre familiarity he had with Riddick. And the vast amounts of trust the two placed in each other. And Riddick’s seeming reluctance to see any of the court women. And the towel incident-

“Oh.” Vaako said aloud, picking himself off the window. Well of course there were rumors about the two of them- it was halfway TRUE.

Not bothering to pick up his armor on the way out, Vaako quickly skidded out of his rooms and down the hall- always quick to report anything of note to his Lord Marshal. And this was certainly of note.


***

By the time Vaako came to his Lord’s rooms, the Hellhounds had already settled in for the night and Riddick had plans to do the same. Jack was, as usual, keeping him up with her chatter. It was alright by him- eventually she would notice that he had already dozed off, and would leave.

So when Vaako burst into the inner chambers, both of them jumped a bit, startled out of the pre-sleep haze that seemed to claim everyone, Furyan and human alike. Vaako was not dressed to the nines, as he always was, which gave Riddick another pause. Jack recovered first, vacating the plush chair she was curled up in so Vaako could sit. She went to sit on Riddick’s leg as he lay on his bed, stretched out like a great cat. He gave up trying to dislodge her after a few moments and turned to give Vaako his attention.

“Riddick. It just….occured to me.” Vaako shifted a bit in the chair, suddenly quite aware that he had interrupted his Lord in a very…private time. Again, just unacceptable.

“I’m sorry. I should probably have just waited until morning-“

“Yea.” Riddick muttered. “But you’re already here, so just spill it. I’m listening.” He leaned back into the pillow a bit, quite relaxed. By this point, he figured Vaako meant him no express harm, other than keeping him awake.

“Well…there are some..rumors. About you, I mean. And Jack. Together.” When neither of the two reacted, Vaako sighed and elaborated, “People seem to think you and Jack are…coupled.”

It took a scant moment before Riddick gave a short laugh, and Jack followed suit.

“Ohgod, you think Riddick and I-“

“It’s just stupid-“

“I mean…I mean EW.”

Riddick shot Jack a small glare at that one and swatted her off her perch on his leg. He turned back to Vaako and Jack, still tittering at the horrifying concept, made to leave the rooms in favor of sleep.

“Look, Vaako. It just isn’t happening. Jack’s like…” He waited until she was gone, “Jack’s like my little sister, got it?”

Vaako nodded- of course he understood. That didn’t solve the problem, though. Not to mention the OTHER rumor that was circling about- the one he didn’t really want to bring to his Lord’s attention.

“I understand. But they’re rumors, Riddick- if you deny them, people just run with it. They’re like…horrible rashes. The more you itch, the worse they can get! There are better ways to deal with this. I have some suggestions for you to keep in mind-“ Vaako failed to notice that Riddick was starting to doze, eyes sliding shut.

“I think perhaps the ladies of the court are a bit jealous, which is…” He was about to say ‘understandable’, “…silly. Maybe you should like to meet some of them? Not all of them are…” scheming little wenches, like his wife? “…unattractive. I think it would be best if you held some kind of…social event in which you could meet a few of them. That would certainly dispel ANY negative rumors out there, my Lord.”

Riddick’s sleep-logged brain took a moment to latch on to Vaako’s point. And then he murmured, suddenly wishing he could disappear under his pillow for a few days, “…Social event?”

“Yes! Like…like an inaugural party.” Vaako stood, clearly thinking that would be the end of the discussion.

“Hah.” Riddick sat up, giving the other man a little sneer, “Absolutely not. I’m not a show and tell kinda guy, Vaako. Forget it, let them assume whatever the hell they wanna.” He once again made himself comfortable, clearly thinking THAT would be the end of the discussion.

But instantly, Vaako was at the side of his bed, almost too close for comfort. “Look, Riddick- it’s really for the best. Just a little party, that’s all. Not too painful, right? Just go and mingle and try to find a woman or two to…make nice with.”

Riddick glared at him from under his pillow, trying to block the man out. It didn’t work.

“No, Vaako. Drop it, and get out.” When that failed to work, he even tried, “Please get out?”

“NO. Just…DO IT. It’s just. One. Night.” Vaako crossed his arms, determined not to leave until he broke the stubborn man on the issue. Forget the fact that he was just WAY too close to the bed, and it was ungodly inappropriate, and if he had ever tried something like this on Lord Zhylaw, he would have been dead before he could open his mouth.

“If I say yes, will you leave?” Riddick growled, dangerously close to reaching out and throttling his First Commander.

“I suppose- but that’s not the point! You should-“

“Fine. Yes. Now go the fuck away.” He growled, settling down further under the covers.

“I should point out that you will need to arrange-“

“GO!” Vaako turned on his heel and left without another word, still pleased. On his way out the door, he caught the beginning of an explosive sigh. It made him smile, just a tiny bit. He would worry about his proximity to Riddick later.