Happy Birthday Ed - Tumblr Posts
They've been stuck on Io for weeks. Faye has gotten tan. Jet has gotten sunburnt, though that's to be expected after so many hours spent repairing the hull from their crash landing. Spike has somehow managed to avoid the sun for the most part. Ed knows this because she has seen him doing repairs on interior portions of the ship but even more often, she has stumbled across him sleeping in various patches of shade that the Bebop itself provides.
“Ehehehe, no wonder Spike-person claims to hate dogs.” Ed muses to Ein after they've found Spike for the third time in two days. “He has all the sleepy energy of a cat.”
Ein gives a whine as a response and Ed nods thoughtfully.
“Yeah I suppose that's true. Ed has seen kitties shift around to stay in a sun patch as the light moves across the floor. Spike-person avoids it as if he were a vampire! Aha! Now Ed knows why Jet-person keeps so many blood bags in the workshop freezer.”
Ein snuffles along the dirt, puffs of sand rising into the air around his muzzle. His ears twitch towards Ed and then flatten to his furry head and Ed laughs.
“You're right. If Spike-person was a vampire we'd never have enough blood on the ship with how he goes through it after his knock’em down drag ‘em out fights. Besides, he loves garlic.”
“Flavors and spices help you feel full for longer after eating.” Spike’s voice drifts over to the pair playing at the edge of the Bebop’s shadow.
Ed glances over and notices Spike has not moved a muscle aside from his mouth. She nods even though one of his arms is draped over his eyes and he likely cannot see.
“That is a lesson Ed knows well! Back on Earth it was fun to snack on peppers. Hot hot yum! Io reminds Ed of Earth. All the sand stretching miles and miles… so few people scattered about…”
“A whole lot of nothing and nobody.” Spike grumbles. “We're lucky Jet was able to find any parts to fix the ship. Don't know how we'll be able to pay for it with so few bounties out here.”
“Chewing gum keeps hunger at bay too.” A new voice chimes in brightly. Ein gives a startled woof and Ed spins on her heels - an impressive feat in a squatted position - to see Faye as she makes her way under the shade of the hull, lazily fanning herself with an age-stained maintenance pamphlet. “As for the bounty issue… keep letting this one nip into town doing the trades she's been doing and they'll put a bounty out on her.”
Spike has not given any sign of alarm at Faye's unexpected arrival but he does snort at her words. “Collecting bounties on ourselves? Suppose that's not the worst idea I've ever heard from you.” With what seems like incredible effort he sits up at last to peer at Ed with a furrowed brow. “What's she talking about with trades?”
Ed shrugs. “Ed brings knickknacks and doodads and whatnot to the fruit stands. Leaves an offering and takes a treat! Fair trade!”
Spike is chuckling before she even finishes her explanation and Faye is not succeeding at hiding the smile on her face. Ein briefly gives Ed a glance with what looks like reproval on his little furry face. It's an expression she thinks he's learned from Jet.
“It is a good system! It is how Ed kept fed on Earth! This for that!” She insists. Ein tilts his head and opens his mouth in a doggy grin and she knows she's convinced him of her logic.
“So all this reminds you of home, huh?” Spike asks then, kicking up dust with the toe of one shoe and glancing around at the vast empty expanse where the Bebop is crashed.
Ed frowns. “Home?”
Faye tucks away the pamphlet and pulls a pack of cigarettes from her top, one of many secret stash pockets in her skimpy costume. It's an outfit fairly well suited for the heat of Io. She sparks one up and, though she deliberately ignores the pleading look from Spike’s direction, she jumps right on board with his train of thought.
“Yeah, home. You know, Earth? Where we found you?” Faye waves casually towards the hull of the Bebop, no doubt trying to indicate the sky and, out there beyond the atmosphere, the existence of Earth far away.
“Home.” Ed repeats, rolling the word around in her mouth. “Hooooome. Hommmmmme.”
She watches Spike and Faye share a look of exasperated affection mingled with perplexion. It's one of her favorite looks to inspire from the others. They see the world so plainly, never taking it apart place by place or moment by moment. Ed enjoys opening their eyes to deeper truths and making them question their own way of thinking.
“Ed is home.” She elaborates eventually, before they grow bored of waiting for a genuine response. She rises up on her toes and stretches up up up with her arms. Her fingers are nowhere near touching the cool metal of the ship, but she can practically feel the rhythmic vibration resonating through the old trawler as, elsewhere, Jet diligently works to get it space worthy once more.
Ein is at her feet now and licks her left shin, making her giggle and shift to crouch down at his level so she can give him a vigorous rub.
“Parts of Earth have been home. Perhaps will be home again. For now, Bebop-Bebop is home. The taste of Jet-person’s cooking is home. The sound of Spike-person's snoring and joking and advising and complaining is home. The feel of Faye-Faye’s fingers brushing and untangling Ed's hair is home. The smell of Ein-woof-woof’s fur and farts and doggy breath is home.” She grins at them and then reiterates. “Ed is home.”
She sees the impact of her words in their nonverbal response. By the slow blink Spike has and the offhand way Faye reaches over towards him to offer the rest of her cigarette while she looks pointedly in another direction. They still think this is just a way station only - a reprieve from the rest of the world that they will take advantage of until the time comes for them to rediscover their true home in the world. They won't - or can't - admit that home changes.
Ed has had many homes over the years and several unusual families. She knows she will have many more. It's comfortable on the Bebop and she loves her companions - she doesn't want to leave and so for now she won't. But someday she knows this can change. Life is full of change, it's what makes it so exciting. It's what allows hope to burn in the heart. Today might be crap but tomorrow…oh, tomorrow…
Her future is uncertain and she is glad for that. How boring it would be otherwise! For now there are good people she shares a space ship with. For now there is a furry friend who understands her on a level few others ever have. For now the sun is shining and there is fruit in the fridge that she brought home, thanks to the trade she made with some of the oddities from the storage room Jet-person once met a monster in.
“C’mon, Ein!” She cheers, scooping the dog up into her arms and standing with so much energetic momentum that she simply has to spin in place before taking off towards the source of the thuds echoing through the hull of the ship. “Let's go help Jet fix our home! Let's get back to the stars!”