Lack of Direction

[Fitter]

"No, it's alright, I've got it," Fitter replied, fingers closing around the mop. Regardless of whom had spilled the liquid, Fitter was the one assigned to mopping and mop she would. Although...perhaps there was a way to prevent the water from spilling onto the floor in the first place? "Wait right here a moment. I...I think I have an idea."

Fitter flew back through the door to the kitchens and quickly put away the mop. Then her eyes drifted around the busy room. No one cared about her presence; she was always in and out of the room at some point. Her gaze landed on a small cart, usually used for transporting large amounts of food to different areas of the ship. She tried to keep a cool complexion as she grabbed the handle and dragged it out the door to where Daxen and Ero remained. "Here. Put the bucket on this and it won't spill as you walk."

[Daxen]

Daxen was close to ditching Fitter as she left, remembering that Kaden was still waiting for him and the bucket back in his cell. She came back before he could leave though and he could only stare in wonder at what she was able to fetch. Not very subtle, but it's certainly efficient! Before he could dwell on the prospect of Daxen and Fitter's Mobile Shower Station he put the bucket on the cart and turned to her, "Th-thanks, this is a big help. I-I'm assuming you w-want to come back w-with me?"

Without waiting for an answer he started rolling it towards the Brig, careful to at least try to watch where he was going so he doesn't accidentally crash into something like a wall or a person. Not wanting them to walk in awkward silence he asked, "S-So...what do you think of Kaden?" He tried to think of a reasonable cause for asking such a question...only to find none. But hey, it was said, might as well not dig the hole any deeper.

[Fitter]

"If you don't mind...I finished my work here and don't have much else to do." Her ferret circling at her feet, Fitter quietly followed Daxen, glancing back to make sure that no one protested her departure. It would be highly unfortunate if anyone came out at that particular moment and needed her for a mediocre task they couldn't pin on anyone else. Although she wasn't sure why, Fitter wanted to follow the boy back to the cells and continue their chat with the prisoner. An hour earlier her reaction would not have been the same, but now she actually had someone to talk to.

Hopefully they wouldn't get stopped along the way. Casually conversing with convicts might be on that list of things not to do while on a ship.

"What do I think about him?" Fitter repeated, more for her own sake than to double check the question. Honestly, she didn't quite understand why they had to keep the officer a prisoner, since it seemed like backwards logic to qualify him as one, but that was none of her business. "He comes off as polite and respectful. I almost doubt that if someone let him out of his cell, he'd leave. Why? What do you think?"

[Daxen]

Polite and respectful...yes, that seemed to fit Kaden's personality, but he felt there was more to this man. Perhaps it was the scientist in him, wanting to find out all the hidden mysteries of his latest experiment. Yes, that must be it! It's a new mystery for him to have an outlet on in the midst of this unfortunate event, the unfortunate event being held on this ship.

He hesitated at her throwback question and stuttered, "U-Umm...well...h-he's very n-nice, and yeah he's p-p-polite, but there's more I-I think. He's smart and to me he s-seems kinda scholarly, l-like he's always out l-looking for some hidden m-meaning in things. I-I could be wrong though, o-of course." He was about to compliment his fine appearance too, but they were already approaching the cell and he decided against it. Eventually they found themselves once again in front of Kaden's 'room.'

[Kaden]

Kaden scratched at the itchy beard as he waited for Daxen to get back. He'd asked for a knife to shave though he didn't think Daxen would go as far as to give a prisoner a weapon. And rightfully so since Kaden would certainly use it to aid him in his escape. He knew that a knife, especially one only fit for shaving, wasn't of much use. But he'd been raised with knives in his hands and he would have felt more confident with it even if they provided a purely imagined advantage.

He heard footsteps and a low level of conversation coming down the hall and he stood up and walked over to the front of the cell. His hands curled around the cool metal as he pressed his forehead and cheeks against the bars so that he could see a little further down the hall.

It was the wrong thing to do. He'd spent so many hours concentrating on using the power he'd discovered to get to the other side of the bars, beginning the exercise in exactly this manner, that activating the power had become a habit. Without much thought he found himself on the outside of the cage as Daxen and Fitter walked back over to his cell.

He looked at them both in surprise and an emotion that may have been embarrassment or shame in someone a bit less proud. In Kaden it just resulted in an unconscious slight hunching of his shoulders and a step back before he got a hold of himself. He straightened up and bowed to them both, putting a pleasant expression on his face and tried to look friendly. "Thank you both and it is good to see you again Ms. Fitter.

Upon straightening up he looked in both directions down the hall before turning around and teleporting back into the cell. He turned back to both of them. "I hope you'll forgive me. That was an accident and you weren't supposed to see that."

[Fitter]

"Gut instincts are usually right," the girl responded, tilting her head in a makeshift shrug. It was a survival technique that could almost always be counted on. Her father always used to tell her about how his gut instinct had saved his life countess times 'back in the day'. What day he referred to was beyond her since they never quite discussed his childhood. Hidden meanings though? "I'm not sure what the officer would have to hide, but I'm sure it wouldn't be anything of significant importance, otherwise he'd-"

The duo traveled through the corridor once more, this time to path less daunting than the first. This time Fitter had a companion with her, distracting her attention from the dimly lit area. That didn't stop her from halting in place when, moments before reaching Kaden's cell, he appeared out of thin air before them.

Out. Of. Thin. Air.

Fitter's eyes opened wide as she gasped and backed a step behind Daxen. That was impossible! Humans didn't just appear out of thin air like that! Her hand grabbed one of Daxen's arms, gripping it tightly out of fear. That meant Kaden wasn't human...aliens weren't such a foreign concept to Fitter, having spent the past few months among them, but she had yet to hear of any unusual abilities. Surely someone would have said something about a case like this! That left only one explanation.

Kaden was a god.

She had been warned about moments like this; moments where the gods came to the realm of the living and wreaked havoc in lives. Often in history, they chose a heroic-figure to play with and, using their magnificent powers, completely turned the world upside down. There was no logical reason though that a god would take notice of a small girl like Fitter unless her prayers had somehow been misdirected, so did that mean that Daxen had a higher calling?

Her eyes darted to the boy next to her in complete disbelief. Not probable, but who was she to question the god's decision? Her thoughts returned back to the situation at hand when Kaden spoke, her attention more focused now that she had experienced this revelation. "No need to apologize, sir, we won't breathe a word of it, will we Daxen?" She tugged on his tunic, trying to give him the hint to follow along. "You're clearly a god and it would be in our best interest not to mention it to anyone else." She gave a slight bow. "It's an honor to be graced with your presence."

[Daxen]

Daxen froze in fear when he spotted Kaden out of his cage, somehow completely oblivious to the fact that he had just...appeared. His first thought was to hide behind Fitter but...damn...she beat him to it. He hissed back at her, "Wh-wh-why are you hiding behind m-m-me?!" He sure as hell wouldn't be able to do anything! Then Kaden teleported back into his cell and Daxen's mind went kaput.

"H-How did...but what...did you just...d-did he just..." Kaden just defied physics! He managed to disappear, slip through bars, and reappear behind them. That was impossible! All of Daxen's science classes were now thrown into question. His expression taking on what could only be described as a blue screen of death, he nearly missed Fitter's own explanation.

A god? He turned to her with a skeptic look, "A god?" as if saying it out loud would make more sense. No, there weren't any gods, he was fairly certain of that. If there were gods he wouldn't have such an unfortunate life. Unless of course the gods were keeping it from being more unfortunate, but Daxen focused on the matter at hand. "F-Fitter...I-I-I don't think he's a g-god." He turned to Kaden, "B-But still...h-how did you do that?!"

[Kaden]

Kaden backed away from the bars of the prison. While both young people now knew that the bars served as no real obstacle Kaden had often found that there was a gap between what you logically knew and what you believed based on gut feelings formed by the circumstances. He was hoping being inside the prison and away from the bars would make Fitter and Daxen feel slightly more safe. Of course, there wasn't much that could make either forget what they'd seen, a fact that was obvious as they both stared at him.

He'd expected shock and probably fear and the expressions on their faces confirmed the presence of both emotions. But the jump to talk of gods was unexpected. Perhaps it shouldn't have been. He knew there were many cultures inside the UIR that were religious. But, again, there was often a gap between what one knew and what one thought. He'd been raised in what he would now call an atheist culture and it still surprised him when people spoke of other-wordly beings that some how had an influence on the universe.

"I don't know," Kaden said, answering Daxen's questions first since it was easier. "I just discovered it a couple of weeks ago and the first time it happened I was as surprised as anyone. In fact I thought it was something the captain had done to me. That may still be true though he looked pretty surprised himself. I can tell you this is one of the first times I've been able to do it without losing my clothing. I believe you were a witness to my first, uh" Kaden coughed and this time there was definitely a hint of embarrassment, "exercise of this power."

He wasn't body shy, or at least he hadn't been. His home planet had encouraged a high level of nudity as part of a greater trend towards pride in one's body and rank assigned according to physical fitness. But that had only been in the company of other men. The first time he'd tried to escape from the ship without clothing there had been a woman present. And currently, speaking of nudity in front of another female crew member, made him uncomfortable.

Years after he'd gone through flight school, where the experience of showering with his female classmates had nearly mortified the younger, fresh off the ship version of himself into an early death, he still had reservations about the subject of nudity in front of females. Tamrin would have laughed to see him dissemble in front of a young maid.

"I'm no god," Kaden continued, looking at Fitter. "Not if I understand the concept correctly. I was born of human parents and am made of flesh and bone as you are. I can bleed and, I assure you, I can die, though I don't know from personal experience," he said with a small smile, the practice of injecting humor into his speech more natural after years of association with the greater universe's sense of humor.

He almost wished he was a god, or at least unscrupulous enough to let Fitter and Daxen continue to believe so. It would probably have been easier to get one or both of them to participate in his escape attempt. But what would happen to them after he was gone and they were left on the ship, disabused of the notion that he was a deity, and responsible for the escape of a valuable prisoner? He couldn't justify using people in a such a way, especially when it put them at risk. Besides, he needed allies, not worshipers, and, in his experience, you didn't get people to trust you by lying to them.

"Is that bath water?" He asked, a ridiculously hopeful expression on his face.

[Fitter]

The girl listened in awestruck silence to Kaden's words, the weight of each one suddenly more significant than they had been a half hour earlier. Though his response immediately dismissed her conclusion, Fitter's resolve was not so easily swayed. It did not matter that his upbringing was that of a human's; gods could easily disrupt the flow of time and nature and bend all of reality to their will. He could be of the godhood and still have human tendencies. It was quite often necessary for their ability to blend in among creation.

The only thing that puzzled her was his blatant rejection of the idea. Most gods were prideful and egotistical. If recognized, they would rather allow a mortal to grovel than continue their masquerade. The only situation in which that might not occur would center around one in which the gods quest was of dire importance and it could not chance revealing itself to the lesser beings. Kaden didn't strike her as the egotistical type as did many other of the crew members, but his abilities weren't something to be ignored. Perhaps he was the child of a god and a human, childhood shaped to reflect a greater destiny and his powers were just now manifesting. His background as an officer and current plight fit that description. It also allowed Daxen to revert back to a normal standing, which worked quite well for Fitter. A prisoner suddenly having powers she could wrap her mind around; that boy being destined for something of high statute she could not.

For now she would have to wait and see how Fate's hand played out before she could validate either of her theories. The only certain factor was that there was something about Kaden she would have to keep her eye on. Fitter sent him a level gaze, not revealing any emotion. Maybe she would discuss her ideas with Daxen at a later time and lay out the process of her conclusion.

"That Daxen decided to spill all over the hall, yes. I decided to assist him before something terrible happened," Fitter responded softly, with mild sarcasm. She nudged the cart to the aforementioned boy, allowing him to complete his task.

[Daxen]

Daxen looked pensive. Could the captain have done this? No, of course not, it wouldn't make sense. He inquired, "Wh-why would the captain g-give a prisoner the ability to t-teleport around?" Unless of course the captain was trying to create an army of teleporting musclemen, in which case such an army would be practically unstoppable!

Before he could dwell long on this terrifying yet amusing thought, however, Kaden mentioned the first time Daxen had ever seen him teleport. He quite noticeably blushed and quickly darted behind Fitter, almost a reverse of what had happened just a few minutes before. He stammered, "O-Oh, uh, d-d-don't worry a-about it, i-i-it's fine."

At the mention of the water, he gratefully nudged it towards the cell, nodding for Kaden to go ahead and use it. Meanwhile he wracked his brain to figure out why he was so embarrassed. Maybe he should take a look at some of those psychology books he never payed attention to sometime.

[Kaden]

Kaden looked at the water on the other side of the bars and then back at the two young people. He did this a few more times trying to figure out what to do. He didn't have to hide his ability since they already knew it and the sight of the water almost made him itch but...

"Well, uh," Kaden wasn't sure what to do. He couldn't exactly strip down in front of Daxen and Fitter but he'd tried a few times to carry anything bigger than his clothing and it hadn't worked. There was no way he could get the entire bucket inside the cell for even the pretense of privacy. He had just managed to take his clothes with him for the first time.

"I think I'll wait until later," he finally concluded with a sigh of regret.

[Fitter]

Fitter's brow furled when the officer refused the cart, deciding to wait until a later time. He had looked so excited once he had seen the items Daxen had gathered. Why now did he hesitate? With a brief start, the information Kaden revealed about his powers clicked in her mind and she blushed. "Oh, terribly sorry. How about I-" Second thought on that. "-we, I mean, step away for a moment?" With a pointed look, she grabbed Daxen's arm and motioned in the opposite direction.