-le timeskip!!!-

Things aboard the Lucidae were eerily silent at first, with the exception of the creaking and groaning of aged parts in the engine and the hum of equipment. The place operated pretty much on auto-pilot, except Viva was often at the helm, even she was operating like an autopilot when Loire last checked up on her, not that he could do anything remotely helpful. 

With the all-consuming silence aboard the ship, Loire began to wonder how he'd get off. With low fuel,they were forced to move at a crawling pace which meant landing soon wasn't going to be on the agenda right away. Loire reviewed the notes and research he had on his data pad and generally stayed in the med bay to keep an eye on Valko's condition. Valko's prognosis was very positive, he'd make a full recovery, but Loire needed soemthing to do, so he simply assumed Viva's bedside vigil when the pilot was away. 

Noah and Viva had been on incredibly bad terms, as usual, he was cryptic and elusive, and Viva's silent treatment was stern and unrelenting. Noah almost wondered what would happen when Valko woke up. Would things aboard the Lucidae return to some shape of normality, or would it only mutate and grow worse. 

The only break in the silence was when Noah came down to visit Val in the med bay. Sometimes he'd talk to Loire, other times, not so much. Both Loire and Noah realised that the other was incredibly complex, and while Loire played a stoic and serious front, Noah played a risky dangerous game. Loire almost felt as if Noah was getting under his skin. He mentioned Viva's obvious anger, though he didn't ask for advice on how to make it up to her, Loire hadn't made any suggestions, Noah just said that he'd deal with it and Loire had to accept that answer. 


Viva didn't warm to Noah at all, Loire assumed it would take some time and Noah generally appeared unphased by it, though perhaps he was bluffing, Loire couldn't tell. She had taken time to relent the cold shoulder at Loire. When she came down to the med bay later she started some small talk, sheepishly asking Loire's name, as she hadn't gotten it during all the drama. Loire didn't really know how to approach her ... she was going through so much trauma, and still seemed rather shell shocked, at least to him she did. Noah was easier, but also harder to talk to. He spoke quickly but cryptically, he played mind games. 


It wasn't long before he caught Loire off guard and said it straight. 
--le flashback--

[b]"Admit it, you're attracted to me."[/b] Noah said cockily, leaning his elbows on the vacant surgical table. 
[b]"Someones cocky."[/b] Loire replied, trying to keep his voice even, he was glad his head was turned slightly away as he had been reviewing something on his datapad. He was positive his eyes would have betrayed his thoughts. 
[b]"But I'm not wrong am I?"[/b]

--end flashback--


Things aboard the Lucidae were incredibly strange, but they were nearing the nearest station to refuel. Hopefully things would start to make sense and ease into normality again soon.