rattlerofthestars:

The young spacer tried to wave his hand towards the soldier. For a stranger, he seemed genuinely concerned over him. One eye closed against the throbbing pain atop his skull. Managing a smile, he laughed at himself. “That was stupid.” His fingers went up to touch the tender spot. “Yeah that’s gonna be a bump. Nice one Jim.” At least he could laugh at himself. He knew it was a dumb move. Smirking, he glanced up towards the newcomer. He was surprised to see a very gentle and almost feminine face. This guy was dressed like a soldier, but he seemed too careful and unsure of himself. 

“Ping, huh?” The boy rolled the name over his tongue. It was simple to remember. “Name’s Jim. Uh, I came from…” He nodded his head upward towards the bright sky. Standing from his spot (and careful not to hit his head against the same rock again), he began picking up scattered pieces of his board. He sighed when he noticed that a few of them would need to be resoldered. “I fell.”

He nodded as Jim stood.  "Hua Ping,“ the pretended owner of that name added, as if it would make any difference to a stranger, and got to his own feet slowly.  Trotting back and forth after the other boy as he picked up strangely-shaped pieces of metal, Ping stooped to help him.  The young recruit held a wide, flat object in both arms, but hesitated to approach Jim with it, instead looking like he was concentrating on some riddle in his head.  

"When you say you came out of the sky…” Ping shook his head slowly, huffing in confusion.  "I don’t - how is that possible?“  He looked down at the metal piece he was holding and smiled a little bit.  "If you were trying to craft wings to fly with, you should have used something less heavy.  Is that why you fell?”