Curiosity

[Jin Caron]

[February 11th, 2523; after dinner]

Jin did not want to admit it, but his curiosity about the crew had been piqued by the initial conversation started during dinner with Fletcher. If he had been an ex-Alliance soldier, he wondered what kind of pasts the other crew had. So far his search did not come up with anything shocking, only a handful of the crew having any past relationship with the Alliance, both good and bad, though they were mostly small things. Parker, the pilot, had jumped between sides during the war, and Roebuck, the mechanic, had a small charges on his record, nothing extraordinary. His only worry at the moment had been Fletcher. Going through his files on the stolen Alliance documents, Jin could not find much information at all on Fletcher's military record. He was certain that the old man had changed his name to protect his identity and start a new life, much like Jin had without the change in name, but it was still odd that no records existed at all.

For the time being, Jin decided that he would trust the old man since he had confessed to having been part of the Alliance in the past, but he would have his doubts about his loyalty. As his search on the crew went through to the sisters, Jin noticed an odd posting on their record. '10,000 - Alive only, death of subject is unacceptable' A 10,000 platinum bounty for Kyla's capture. Staring at the number, Jin didn't believe what he was looking at, but it was there. Checking the source of the document, he saw that the bounty was registered with the Bounty Hunter's Guild as a legitimate bounty. When Kyla had spoken about secrets, he did not expect such a big secret such as this. 10,000 platinums for an innocent-like lady was ridiculous, and so Jin could only assume that there was something about her that she did not bother to tell him. A murderer? A radical loyalist or independent? Something did not add up to either Kyla's story or the bounty, either way Jin was going to find out.

Standing up, Jin printed out a copy of the bounty and folded it up, putting it in his pocket as he walked out the door and towards Kyla's room. As he was walking, Jin began to wonder exactly how much his own bounty would be if he had been hunted publicly.. As he made the realization of his own, much darker and valuable bounty, Jin realized that Kyla most likely did not want to talk about her past, much like he did not want to talk about his. He wanted to know her side of the story still, and so he decided to try and bring it up when he saw her, but would not be so forceful about it. As he reached Kyla's door, Jin knocked twice and waited for a response, unsure of what the social protocol was in entering a lady's bedroom. As he waited, the idea of entering Kyla's bedroom made him turn red as he took a few steps back and leaned on the bulkhead as he waited for her, trying to calm himself down. "Hey, uh... Kyla, you there?" Jin spoke, though not so loud as to catch the whole ship's attention.

[Kyla Monroe]

Dinner had been interesting, a bit awkward even at times. It was the crew's first interaction with everyone present though. A little bit of an odd situation was expected she supposed. Everyone was pretty much meeting for the first time that lasted more than a few moments. Though the companion, Sofia, and Roger seemed to already know each other. It wasn't her business as to how exactly they knew one another.

Kyla had excused herself from the table fairly soon after finishing the food. She had been feeling a little uncomfortable between the situation with Jin and the overall atmosphere with everyone.

She was laying on her bed still in the clothing from the day when there was a knocking at her door. There was no indication of who it was at first, Ky began to get to her feet assuming it was her sister. When she heard Jin's voice she paused mid-step. It was a bit of a surprise to her that he was at her door, not that she was unhappy about it of course. It'd give them a chance to talk perhaps, given he didn't just need her services as the medic. Either way she smiled as she reached the door, opening it while holding back the flush that wanted to fill her cheeks. "Hey you." Kyla gave him a look up and down, taking note he didn't look ill or anything. So that meant it was a social visit right? "What's up?"

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Outfit

[Jin Caron]

As Kyla opened the door to her room, Jin could help but smile at seeing her. Resisting the urge to ignore the soon-to-be elephant in the room, Jin held up the printed piece of paper that had been folded up. "I wanted to talk. Well, I wanted to talk about us. But not us, you know as..." Jin began to stumble with his words as he realized that he had accidentally made the notion of there being an 'us' between Jin and Kyla. Just because they had a moment did not mean that there was any official relationship between them "What I mean is there's something I wanted to talk to you about before I talked to you about... Us." Jin felt relieved at his new explanation of the situation.

He felt awkward standing in the middle of the hallway and also knew that such a place was not a place to talk about what he had to talk about. But he also did not want to intrude into a girl's room, especially not that of one that he was interested in. "Do you want to... Go somewhere a bit more private?" As the words poured out of his mouth, Jin barely was able to hold back facepalming himself as he realized how badly his words could have been taken. "I don't mean in a... In THAT way, I just mean... This is.. Uh.." Jin was a skilled assassin, spy and soldier, yet he could not smoothly explain his situation to a lady. He was absolutely baffled by his ineptitude. "Can we just talk in your room?" Jin finally said straightforward, realizing that anything he had said, or planned to say, would not have been any better.

[Kyla Monroe]

Kyla couldn't help it, her smile widened at the sight of Jin as he stood there in front of her. Her look changed to curiosity as he held up a folded piece of paper. Titling her head to the side as he continued, the confusion increasing. What did a paper have to do with a discussion about them? Were they going to pass notes back and forth like grade schoolers?

It wasn't that she minded them talking about what had happened between them and what it could become; she was simply confused. It was a little more clear after his mention of wanting to talk about something else. So it seemed the paper didn't relate to the talk about them Jin mentioned. Still the curiosity grew as much as her smile did while he tried to make his intentions clear.

Finally he asked if they could speak in her room, Ky couldn't hold back the light laughter any longer. She moved to the side waving him inside, "Sorry sorry..really is jus.." She stopped before her own embarrassment increased, but the flush flowed into her cheeks as she stopped the soft laugh by biting her bottom lip.

Once Jin made his way into her room she closed the door and leaned her back up against it. Kyla looked at him for a moment then glanced toward the paper he held in his hand.

[Jin Caron]

Jin stood in the middle of what could have been more dangerous and more nerve-wrecking than behind enemy lines in the middle of the Independent War. He did not know of any such protocol pertaining to being in a girl's room. He had rarely even had relationships with a girl up until just a year or so ago. Deciding that the most neutral reaction would be to stand in place, Jin unfolded the paper and read it to make sure that he had not misread the document when he first read it. "So I guess I'll get right to the point..." Jin handed the paper to Kyla and gave her a moment to read ever the document. "I know you said you have no recollection of your past, but I needed to know whether you remember why you have this bounty.." Jin trusted Kyla, but only as much as he could trust a girl he had just met recently. "The part that makes no sense to me is that you are registered as an Alliance soldier according to this document, but I couldn't find any-" Jin stopped as he realized that he had to use the stolen Alliance documents and key to gain access to the Alliance Service Records. "I couldn't find anything on the cortex about that..." As Jin told her what he had found, or at least the lack thereof, he couldn't help but hope that she was as clueless as he was.

[Kyla Monroe]

Kyla watched Jin as he unfolded the paper and took a moment to look it over before handing to to her. She kept her eyes on him as she took the sheet, lingering a moment before allowing herself to look down and read the words.

Her breath caught and the color in her face faded as it all sunk in. While she knew that there were people looking for her and Kara, she had no idea they had placed a bounty on her. Ky's mind wondered to her sister, did she know? Is that why she had made it clear that she didn't want Kyla leaving the ship in Ariel? If Kara knew, she had no idea why she wouldn't tell her.

The look on her face gave way to the surprise, the almost disbelief about what she was holding in her hands. Mixed in the shock in her there was the hint of knowing.

As Jin began to speak again his voice was muffled almost to the point where she couldn't understand. Her eyes didn't look back at him but stayed on the paper in her hands. The feelings were overwhelming her, Ky began to sink down the door slowly until she was sitting on the floor.

Kyla had no idea how to handle everything that was unfolding in front of her. What did she do now? Deny everything that he had found, or not found? Come clean just enough to satisfy the obvious curiosity? Then there was the silent fear that began to scratch away at her. Once they landed on Ariel, would Jin be taking her in to collect this bounty? The money was good...who could blame him really. Though if that was the case why bother to come ask her about it?

When she finally found her voice and Jin's words all sank in she was obviously shaken, perhaps scared as well. "I..I uh. I guess to answer your first question..well is not really as simple as a yes or no. I don' remember why, but I do know why I guess..' Kyla sighed as she ran her hands through her hair nervously, still not looking back up at Jin. She couldn't look at him right now. 'Kara..she's told me about some of the things that I don' remember." She hesitated to continue. Though it hadn't fully clicked in her mind yet due to having so many things going on at once, perhaps Jin's past wasn't exactly what he had told her it was.


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[Jin Caron]

Jin looked at Kyla as he realized that she didn't seem to understand exactly what to make of the bounty on her head. It was more than enough to convince him that she was telling the truth as he stepped forwards and knelt in front of Kyla, his hand out to offer help to stand her up. "I believe you." Jin smiled as he tried to be as reassuring as possible. "No matter what the piece of paper says, I don't think you are the kind of person who would irrationally do things. Either the people who put this bounty on your head has very high connections, or you had very good reasons for whatever you might have done." Jin wondered whether he should admit his own secrets, but he felt that it would only intensify the already very tense situation. Especially if he told her that he was ex-Alliance, it could very well break their bond immediately, something he hoped would not happen. "What had your sister told you about your past?" Jin didn't mean to pry, but he was sincerely curious and he also wanted to see if he could get information for her own interest.

((Sorry it's so short, I couldn't think of what to write!))

[Kyla Monroe]

She knew he would want to know the moment she mentioned it. Kara had told her some things, alot of which part of her still couldn't believe. This bounty put some of it in perspective, they were out there and they wanted both of them back. What exactly that entailed she didn't even want to take a guess at.

With the vague details Jin didn't understand exactly what was going on. Kyla knew that. The way he was trying to reassure her was also proof of that. It touched her though that he tried, that it was fairly obvious he had no intention of collecting on the money that had been put on her head. "Is not what you're thinkin' not really like that.."

There was hesitation to even look at him, much less take the offer of his hand. Part of Ky wanted to just curl up in the corner of her room and hide from everything. That wouldn't do her any good though, after a few moments of hearing Jin speak she took his hand and let him help her back to her feet. Kyla still had a hard time looking Jin in the eyes though, especially once he wanted to know what she knew.

Kyla sighed softly, she didn't know what to say. Of course there was part of her that wanted to just break down and confide in Jin, the potential connection they had with each other. The fear of what could happen if he knew though ached away inside her. Not to mention if Kara found out...what would she do? Plain and simple she would shoot him, to keep her sister safe she would probably not think twice about shooting Jin to keep their secrets. Kyla wasn't sure if she could protect him from that, either way he was already in danger for coming across the bounty in the first place.

For the first time she was able to look at him, but there was a clear worry in her eyes as she spoke. "You can't tell Kara that you know anythin' at all..not even a hint to it." Kyla waited for Jin's confirmation before continuing any further. Despite the dangers she was willing to tell him at least some of the things to make him understand their situation.

[Jin Caron]

Jin saw that Kyla found it very hard to talk about something so personal and secret, yet he felt that if he knew exactly what was going on, he could possibly help protect the sisters, maybe even get the bounty voided if that was at all possible. He knew that the Bounty Guild had very strict requirements to void a bounty, including the agreement of the poster to void the bounty. Yet there was something that made Jin believe that he could help. Maybe it was his feelings for Kyla that made he want to help her, but he knew that the more he understood about the situation, the better he could protect her.

As Kyla explained that Kara could not know of his knowledge on her past, Jin knew very well what could possibly happen if Kara found out. In all seriousness, Kara would most likely shoot him dead on grounds of suspicion that Jin would take Kyla in for the money. He knew how hard it was to trust people with secrets that could ruin more than just one life, he also knew how badly some secrets can end up. Nodding his head, Jin held onto Kyla's hand to comfort her. "I promise, no one will know." As he waited patiently for Kyla to explain, he couldn't help but feel that his own secret would help to put her at ease, or possibly set her even more into panic. In the end, he felt that for now the best thing was to wait on her to speak and go from there.

[Kyla Monroe]

Despite Jin's reassurances that he wouldn't let on about anything that she said, Ky was still feeling hesitant. She wasn't completely sure what all she would tell him, it wasn't as though there had been a plan for this in her head. The situation had come up unexpectedly.

Kyla squeezed Jin's hand softly, she was thankful he was there with a comforting presence instead of an angry one. There was a wide array of emotions flowing through the woman, so much going on in her mind. She let out a soft sigh, feeling a little defeated by herself. "It may sound a bit crazy, but is all true so far as what Kara has told me. An' she has no reason to lie to me, even though I can't remember, part of me knows she speaks truth."

Instead of continuing to stand, Kyla moved back over towards her bed, giving Jin a light tug as their hands were still interlocked. She wouldn't be offended or anything though if he chose to stay on his feet. As she took a seat there was a deep breath taken before the words began. "We were ten at the time, startin' at a new school over on Osiris. Was some fancy high class type of place, very selective. Well, looks can be deceivin' right?" Ky gave him a slight grin but her gaze lowered again after that.

"I guess long story short, it wasn't what we was expecting. It was a school alright, but wasn't what you think a school really is. See, I guess you could compare it to more of a military type place. With the trainin' and such. I don't really know how to explain it exactly. Not makin' much sense am I?" Ky was confused a bit with her own thoughts, she didn't think trying to explain her situation would be so rough. She'd never spoken about it out loud other than when Kara was telling her. It all sounded like some crazy dream now that the words were coming from her own mouth. At the moment she couldn't bring herself to look at Jin.

[Jin Caron]

As Jin listened to Kyla explain the school, he already had a good idea of what kind of school it was. Even within the black ops teams, people had their own rumors, of things that were even above their heads. The project that fit Kyla's description best was a school that trained gifted children to become ruthless killers. To some of the black ops team members, these rumors were as close as they came to boogiemen stories. Clicking out of his recollection, he opened his mouth to explain that he understood her perfectly, but was barely able to stop himself as he realized that she couldn't know of his military background. He had to keep up his facade for now, to protect both himself and Kyla. "It all sounds so extraordinary... So unreal, but.." Jin sat down next to Kyla and held onto her hand tightly. "I believe you. I don't see any reason why you would lie to me. If you were some sort of serial killer, you probably would have offed me the moment you read that ransom note."

Jin grinned as he turned towards her, holding Kyla's head with his right hand. "I don't want you to force yourself to tell me anything. I'm not going anywhere anytime soon, and even if I do, I hope we can stay in touch. I'll always be there to listen to you when you need me." Jin leaned in close and kissed Kyla on the lips, leaning back to smile and reassure Kyla that he was there to protect her and will do so with his dying breath if need be. If what she truly was from the academy for the gifted, Jin couldn't imagine what kind of soldiers and bounty hunters were looking for her.. All he knew was that they were very dangerous people, and Jin had to make a very difficult choice: either stay by Kyla's side on the Rayya crew, or leave the ship and try to make it on his own again.

He would make a lesser mark on the Alliance radar by being by himself, but he now realized that by being on the Rayya ship, he not only made the Rayya a bigger blip on the radar, but also made himself the secondary target of the Alliance hunters looking for Kyla. His heart beat heavily as all the options he had rushed through his mind, unsure of what to do. As Jin came to realize that he had been staring at Kyla and smiling for a while now, he blinked and looked away, grinning as he found it a stroke of luck that he had been able to keep his face void of any worry during his mental war.

"You know, I'll be honest, I've never really been in a girl's room.. As unusual as that sounds, this is pretty... New to me." Jin chuckled at the absolute ineptitude of his understanding of a girl's room. Yet here he sat, on Kyla's bed with her right next to him, grinning ear to ear and not a single slap, punch, kick nor a pistol aimed at his head. He must have done something amazingly right the past few months to be this lucky.