It was a lazy summer day. How it could be a lazy summer day in the middle of space, Faye Valentine wasn’t so sure, but she knew that it definitely was. Maybe it was the fact that the air conditioning was once again on the fritz… or maybe it was the fact that no one was up to doing anything that day. All she knew that she was alone and bored, but she didn’t feel like actually getting up and finding some one to talk to or something to do.

Instead, she shifted slightly on the couch, finding a new position that would hopefully be as comfortable as her old one, and ended up with her back against the seat cushions and her legs crossed and propped up on the sofa’s back. This would do. Somewhere in the background she could hear a rhythmic thumping, and briefly wondered without actually caring who was making that noise. In a second her mind supplied her with all sorts of explanations, ranging from Spike practicing martial arts to Ed getting mad at her Tomato and attempting to “fix” it with a hammer. Faye always did think computers were bothersome.

There was a low swooshing sound just then, barely registering within Faye’s currently fuzzy mind that some one had entered the room.

“Let me guess,” Faye said. “Twenty woolongs says that the person who just entered the room is… Spike.”

“Don’t you have anything better to do then lounge around all day and feed your gambling addiction?”

Hmm… so it was Jet. “What’s it to you? You’re not doing anything either.”

“Hey, this is my ship, I don’t have to worry about not pulling my weight and getting kicked off.”

“Hmph. I bet another twenty that you won’t kick me off this ship.”

“Don’t push it, Valentine. As far as I’m concerned you owe me forty woolongs right now.”

Faye would have shrugged if she hadn’t been so lazy. Forty woolongs was nothing compared to the debts she was dealing with. Faye wondered what Jet was even doing in this room, but then remembered that he had bonsai trees here. He must be pruning them.

“I’ll bet double or nothing that I can guess what you’re doing right now.”

“No deal, that’s too easy. Besides, there’s a mirror right in front of you that you can look at if you wanted to find that out.”

Faye turned her head slightly and, sure enough, there was a reflection of Jet pruning his bonsai trees. He waved to her.

“Fine. How about this. Do you hear that thumping?”

Reflection Jet nodded.

“Let’s bet how long that thumping will go on. I say it’ll last another hour.”

Reflection Jet looked contemplative, then nodded. “I bet it’ll stop in twenty seconds”

“That’s impossible, it’s already been going on for forever already-“

But just then the thumping stopped.

“You bastard.”

Jet gave out a hearty laugh. “You really don’t have any brains in that pretty head of yours. That thumping was the engine. It makes that noise every day between two and four. You must have noticed it before.”

Che… the truth was she hadn’t. So she was out eighty woolongs now. That was just wonderful. Her mind started thinking up a new bet when…

“Listen, I have a proposition for you.”

Faye arched an elegantly sculpted eyebrow.

“How about instead of owing me the money, we go out? Like on a date.”

“A date?” Faye smiled. Lazy summer days were alright, even if they did happen in space. “I could live with that."

~owari~