2023-05-12: A New Friend
- Log: A New Friend
- Cast: Emalya Zamana, Trevor Teach
- Where: The Ra Mari II, A Cafeteria
- OOC - IC Date: 0097 05 12
- Summary: After a delivery gone well, Emalya stops off at a cafeteria and meets a new friend in Trevor.
<Pose Tracker> Emalya Zamana has posed.
The Ra Mari II is a gigantic ship! ...And not particularly familiar to Emalya Zamana. Why?
Well, it's the boys' ship. She was on the girls' ships!!
Nevertheless, she has admired its large architecture and the way that the humans have adapted it to their use, as she's walked through the halls. Her VF is parked in one of the hangars right now, and she's completed her delivery, which means she's free to explore. Or, in this case, to visit one of the cafeterias!
"Hello!" Emalya says cheerfully, dressed today in something like a uniform--a Nergal flight suit. Not Nadesico, notably--just Nergal. Then she chats amiably with the worker for a few moments before she comes away with a tray of FOOD that includes many delicious items but mostly proteins and sweets.
The meal of champions.
Her table is near the middle of the room, and it is open! It's daytime, as far as that goes on the ship--more accurately maybe it's the daytime shift.
<Pose Tracker> Trevor Teach has posed.
It's for exactly that reason that the Ra Mari II is WEIRDLY HOMEY for some members of the crew! Not that the Vultures' holdings on Vesta were much more than a modified mining colony, but many of the miners were Zentran, and at one point they decided to expand the living space by salvaging an old Zentraedi cruiser and permanently mooring (read: crashing) it nearby to expand into. It was also a good way for some of the old Zents to spend time in a more comfortable form. Not everyone can adapt to being a Miclone full time, even among those who did decide to adapt to more terrestrial climes.
This one is, admittedly, a lot fancier than the Vulture Nest. The benefits of being in actual flying order, most likely.
One of the ways this place is VASTLY SUPERIOR to life on Vesta is that the food is actually something other than various types of nutripaste occasionally supplemented by whatever can be grown in the makeshift hydroponic farms. There's a cafeteria! And it serves actual food!!
Trevor Teach, INFAMOUS PIRATE (not really, but he has the air), is wearing a stripped down pilot suit. Mostly it's just the bottom half, with the top half tied around the waist. He is wearing a tank top so that his shirtless self does not violate the rules of courtesy, but he is also wearing an eyepatch, and carries with him a tray full of food.
Delicious, delicious food.
It's protein. It's vegetables. It's... Actually some kind of steak? It might be a fish steak. Whatever! Steak is steak! Especially to someone who has never actually seen a cow in person before.
But more importantly, he has his eye on... a new face.
"Youuuuuuuu...!" Trevor hovers vaguely in the direction of Emalya-- before settling down across from her. "Have good taste in food. And an interestin' uniform! Mind if I sit here?"
<Pose Tracker> Emalya Zamana has posed.
Emalya has been all over, of course, seen a lot of different ways of living! But this is still a nice one for her. Actual food...
Her eyes track fo the main in the tanktop for a moment, but only for a moment as she focuses in on her food to start. Until, that is, hewalks over to her table, and--
"Oh!" Emalya answers, "Me!"
He settles down. "Thank you!" she says. "I enjoy these varieties. I believe that yours, also, looks very delicious!" Interesting uniform, is it? "I work for Nergal! Specifically, for the Strategic Military Service. I am here on a courier mission! But I have already completed it, and so I have instead been observing the ship."
"It is interesting to see it adapted so for miclone use..."
Pause. "Oh I do not mind at all. Hello! I am Emalya Zamana. And you?"
<Pose Tracker> Trevor Teach has posed.
"It's great, isn't it? They have these things called 'waffles' here," Trevor says, conspiratorially. He even leans in to give it that extra FORBIDDEN LORE feel. "I hear that the sauce they pour is wrought from the blood of trees. I didn't even know plants could bleed...!" Trevor was... never assigned to the hydroponics bay very often.
"Trevor Teach," he answers with a personable smile, "Dread Pirate and salvager with the Garancieries crew. I thought I recognized that emblem. You all did quite a bit of business out in my neck of the woods."
(Some of which his family might have, uh, had some 'dealings' with of their own)
"And a Meltran, too!" Trevor chirps, "It's great, isn't it? I haven't seen this many different people on one ship before. Reminds me a lot of home! We've got a lot of Zentrans and Meltrans back there, too. I've apparently got a bit of the blood in me, but I'm kind of a mutt, so there's no prestigious gene-line attached or anything, heh."
He seems... eager to meet a new face? Maybe it's just the tasty food in front of him, but he does seem the type who just... likes to get to know new and different people.
(Such a cinnamon roll, this Trevor Teach. Apparently.)
<Pose Tracker> Emalya Zamana has posed.
"I adore waffles!" Ema answers brightly. He leans in, and she says, "Is that true??" She also... hasn't spent much time near the hydroponics bay. "I knew maple syrup was delicious but I did not know that it required such acquisition...!"
Trevor Teach. Ema smiles back. "Ahhh, yes. A pirate! You live freely!" She is familiar with the concept. Also the terror and piracy part, but who's counting? "Salvager... Do you perhaps live otherwise near the Asteroid Belt?"
Emalya isa Meltran. "Oh, yes?" she wonders. "It is like that in my home as well! Though my neighborhood is primarily of my people." She then smiles. "The 'prestige' of our gene lines is no longer very important," says a woman who was of Commander lineage, if Trevor's met any like her. "I do not have any humans in my family yet, but they are very fun to be with, I think!"
She's also that type, so she's happy to just... chat. "Do you enjoy it on this ship, then? They offered to let me use their Macronization chamber if I wished! I do not Macronize often these days, but it is nice to have the option."
<Pose Tracker> Trevor Teach has posed.
"They say it's harvested in the land of the great Northern Shield," Trevor adds, spinning a yarn into a tapestry of NOT QUITE falsehood-- as is his mandate as local Amicable Rogue, "From trees guarded by enormous horned beasts. An incredible tale, but perhaps there's some truth to it...?"
"Aye! Indeed, finally someone who gets it," Trevor nods, pleased as punch. Most people hear 'pirate' and bring out the guns. Or look at him like he's crazy. Or both!! "I did! Out on Vesta. The Vultures are an old salvager crew that dates back to just after First Contact. The Cap'n and some of the others are veterans from back then."
"Are you from out in the colonies, then?" Trevor has, truth be told, not seen enough of the Earth and its surrounding settlements to know for sure where the Zentrans and Meltrans have all settled down. "All for the best. I'm pretty sure the Cap'n's a Commander, but he never treated us as anything but family. Though I guess it took him and some of the others a while to settle down after the war, heh."
"It's a nice ship," he answers with a nod. "We have something similar at home, but this is a lot more... put together. There's more 'order' to it, is the biggest difference I guess? Aside from the food, I mean." There are no steaks, fish or otherwise, on Vesta.
Beat.
"I've never been macronized, myself," he admits somewhat sheepishly. "The Macronization Chamber back home wasn't in the best shape, so it was reserved for as-needed use only... But piloting gets pretty close to how it'd feel, I think."
<Pose Tracker> Emalya Zamana has posed.
"I see..." Emalya nods along thoughtfully. "Something like that could be true! There are many fierce beasts on the planet Earth." She seems to buy it! "I wonder if I should not visit this land of shielding..." She's been a lot of places, but apparently Canada isn't one of them. As it happens.
"Do people usually not?" she wonders of the matter of piracy. But he did, and, "Ahhh, I see! My son has expressed interest in meeting more of the veterans of First Contact. It would be good to know them!"
She nods though, as to the question. "I am. We travelled out far into space, but returned as requested, and now we are here in the Earth Sphere once more." She pauses. "I see! ...Well, that is true for many. For me, I was much opposed to the idea of this 'culture' at first, but when I began to experience it... Ah, there was nothing that prepared me for it."
But it's different... "I see. Well, that is good then. Some order is good!"
But he's never been macronized? "While that may be true," she says, "If you wished to try, I am certain that it could be arranged! I would go with you, if you wished. It has been some time!" She smiles. "...But it is true that piloting is something special as well."
<Pose Tracker> Trevor Teach has posed.
"I'm told that, in spite of its dangers, this place of the Northern Shield is one of great beauty. Snowcapped mountains, vast forests...!" Trevor grins, eyes sparkling with the urge to ADVENTURE. But he soon settles back down in his seat, because there is a TIME AND A PLACE. "I'd like to go visit, someday. There are a lot of places on Earth that I'd love to see for myself."
"Oh! You're a mom?" Lots of moms going around these days! In a good way. "That's great," Trevor adds with a smile. "I never had a proper mom of my own, but like I said, the Vultures were basically family so it works out. I'm sure there're a few people back home who'd be happy to regale with stories from the war." They certainly filled this guy's brain full of all kinds of high-adventure tales and stories of derring-do and fiery warfare. "Oh! You're a First Contact veteran too?" Trevor's smile widens. His spirit is... uncowed by this revelation. Probably for the best. "Yeah, I've heard similar! For the Cap'n and some of his old crew, it was more like... I guess they couldn't handle the whole 'peace' thing? The way I've heard it from them, it was like they were always on edge after the war. So they came out to the Belt so they could live in a place a little less hospitable. Which, for them, was actually a good thing? Something about... 'old instincts being hard to shake,' is how he put it."
Munch munch, steak.
"...So you're with one of the fleets?" That makes sense. It was big news when the Colony Fleets returned home-- though it's a shame about what happened with the fold drives afterward. "I think a lot of the Zentrans and Meltrans aboard this ship were in the same boat. I didn't think Nergal had connections all the way out there, too."
Macronization! It's true, he's never been. "Ahaha, it's fine, it's fine," Trevor gestures in what he hopes is a disarming fashion. "My situation's a little unique. Considering how little I know about it, the less I fuss around with my genes, the better. But I appreciate the offer! 'Sides, I pilot just fine. Better than I'd be able to manage on giant foot, probably."
<Pose Tracker> Emalya Zamana has posed.
"I want to see them!" Emalya says, her eyes likewise sparkling with that same urge. But they cannot go and Adventure right now. They have things to do! Such as lunch. "I haven't had much opportunity," she admits, "Since I was younger." For reasons that may make sense very soon in the conversation!
As indeed, "Yes! I have three adult children. They are very good and talented! I have many pictures," she says, smiling back. Then she nods along. "I did not have a mother or a father myself, but I found 'family' in some of those who were a part of my unit. And then of course the family I built with my husband." But she is glad he's not cowed by it; she doesn't particularly want him to be. "Hmmm..." She nods. "Yes, that is fair," she says. "I took to it well. But not all of us could do so easily. It is possible that I have met some of your family in the Vultures!" Old instincts hard to shake... "I am wondering such things, myself. It has been very easy to get back into combat, since I was away for so long..."
Food!
"I am," she says. "It was beautiful out there! But it is also beautiful here." She pauses, at that. "Hmmm... Yes. --Oh, yes. Nergal has many subsidaries in the Fleets. The SMS--my division--was originally the Fleet defense force, you see."
"If you are sure!" she says, and won't press him any harder on it. She just didn't want him to be afraid to try! "That is probably wise. It is very different to pilot when one is small! It is not so bad, though."
<Pose Tracker> Trevor Teach has posed.
Oh, well that makes a lot of sense actually. "Aaah, yeah. Hard to go traveling and suchlike when you've got munchkins to take care of, so I hear." Trevor nods along, understanding. (He does not really fully understand-- he's not a parent, after all!) "There were always some kids out on Vesta. People within the Vultures would start families, and sometimes they'd stick around for one reason or another instead of trying to make a better life somewhere else." Usually 'cause one or both of the parents were wanted by the law, or otherwise couldn't step too far out of Vestan exile. Sometimes, they just liked the rough life. Not like Emalya. She seemed to have adapted well. "Aye," Trevor nods. "I'm just glad nobody got caught up in a rebellion movement or anything like that." Those were... rarely long-lived. "It's possible you did! Though the Boddole Zer fleet was pretty big, so maybe not, too...?" But maybe some of the soldier-class Meltrans back home...
"It's kind of like there's something else in the brain that kicks in when there's a fight happening, right?" Trevor agrees, nodding slowly. "I get it. I don't know if I feel it as strongly, but it still happens." Which is useful for a pirate-- or for a member of a fleet defense force. "Huh! I guess you don't get to be as rich as Nergal if you don't... diversify?"
"Ahahaha, maybe someday! But for now, I think I'm okay," Trevor says of his DENIAL OF HIS BIRTHRIGHT. But in a way, he is kind of afraid to try-- though it's mostly because of... Well. That's not super important right now. "Mm. I think Isadore would get lonely if I wasn't around to pilot it."
Machines need friends, too!
"So... you were in the war? Did you join during the last big battle against Boddole Zer, or... earlier? Later?"
<Pose Tracker> Emalya Zamana has posed.
"Indeed!" Mrs. Zamana answers Trevor. "You can take them on trips, but they become thirsty and hungry very easily, and grow very upset at being away from home even when they enjoy the journey. And it is best not to put them in danger though I always found that my children were very sturdy to accident! I gather that this is not as true of human children."
"...Agreed," she says of rebellion movements. "Those troubled me... but I could not blame those who could not accept, either. It was very alien to our way of life."
"There is," Zamanya agrees on a fight. "It is like they say, driving the bicycle!" but Nergal is like that. "Before I joined the SMS, I worked for other companies for a time, but Nergal owns them all now. So Nergal has looked over my family for some time."
"But if you are happy then that is what matters. ...I will admit, when I had dates with my husband, we often stayed Micronized as well! It is... convenient, in some respects, to take up less space!"
But Isadore, "Your unit?" she wonders. "Perhaps that is so. Can you also speak to your machine?" Like Ruri!
"I was," Emalya answers of the war. "I was under the command of Moruk Lap Lamiz, in training to become a commander like her. My training never finished, of course. We left before the end of the war, but many of my sisters went back. I... chose not to fight, for a time after that."
<Pose Tracker> Trevor Teach has posed.
Emalya no, do not put even Zentraedi children in dangerous situations! Even if you think it might be 'valuable enrichment!!' It's against the law!!! "Ahahaha, Zents are tough even when they're kids, I guess!" DO NOT THROW CHILDREN OUT THE AIRLOCK. Just because they CAN survive the vacuum of space doesn't mean they should have to!!
"It was," he answers with a nod. "I think that's why the Cap'n decided to just... go somewhere like Vesta instead. In the end, I think he respected the other Commanders too much to start another war. And eventually it did work out for him and the others."
Even if home is... kind of a hole, relatively speaking.
Nergal owns ALL THE COMPANIES. "Huhhh," Trevor rubs his chin. "I don't know too much about corporate business, but ain't it a little... concerning that one company's got that much control? Like, it's fine now, but what if someone dumb gets put in charge?"
"It's especially convenient when most of home is in old mineshafts," Trevor nods slowly. "The Cap'n could stand the void, but the rest of us weren't as tough. It was cramped in the rock, but safe. At least we had the old ship to go up into for some space if we needed."
Dates... Hm.
"Yeah, Isadore's been with me since I was a kid," he laughs. "Sometimes I talk to him, and sometimes he answers. But I'm not sure I've ever properly met cap'n Ruri, so I dunno?" Maybe that's something he should look into in the near future. Hmn.
"Moruk Lap Lamiz was..." Trevor's brow scrunches. "...One of the commanders of the Meltrandi Fleet, I think? Same position as ol' Vrlitwhai, but for the girls. Wow, you were pretty high up there! I... guess you had other things to deal with, than fighting? Like, your family I mean."
<Pose Tracker> Emalya Zamana has posed.
Don't worry!! Emalya didn't. She was very careful with her children! Not even one airlock throw. "Yes! It was very helpful because my third child was especially rambunctious!"
"I see... I am glad that he did not start another war. For instance, it means that I can make a new friend today!" She smiles. She does not realize how much of a hole home is, but maybe she'd be OK with a hole of a home so long as it was home.
"Hmm. So long as the board of directors could keep them in check, a faulty CEO would be a problem, but not an insurmountable one. Provided that the structure of the company does not change significantly, that is a small risk." She knows corporate stuff, apparently.
"Ahhh, yes. That would be an issue." Of space. "Few can handle the void for very long! ...I wish that you had more safety. But I suppose it is the 'cost of freedom'..." She muses on that, not entirely happy with it.
"I see! Well, then i am glad you have this friend. I do not speak with my Excalibur but I do try to care for her. Apparently the gender of human machines is typically female! But not exclusively of co9urse. I have learned much of 'gender' lately..."
"That is correct," she says of her former commander. "I was, but the war ended before I could be assigned my own command." She then shakes her head. "No, I simply journeyed and explored 'culture' for a time after the war. I tried a lot of 'romance' and 'adventure' before I entered into schooling for other occupations than war."
"I did eventually settle down with my family, though. And that has kept me busy. My youngest only turned the age of adulthood last year!"
<Pose Tracker> Trevor Teach has posed.
Emalya is officially a better mom than Milia Fallyna. (This is admittedly not a terribly hard bar to clear. Milia is... a character)
"Yeah! If the Cap'n didn't go out to Vesta when he did, the Vultures wouldn't have become what they are today." That is, they probably would have remained a perfectly average Asteroid Belt mining/salvaging commune-- a footnote in history, rather than the somewhat more... piratical group that it is now. So, good and bad?? "They're a rough crew, but for a lot of people, they're the only family they've got anymore. I'm glad they found me, otherwise I'd never have been able to come out this way to see everything I've seen."
"Ohh, is that how that works...?" Trevor clearly does not give much thought to the inner workings of megacorps. Or rather, he's kind of... uneducated in general?? Trevor has no idea how actual businesses work!! "I see, I see. That does make sense, then." (Kind of. Sort of.)
"They've expanded a little, here and there," Trevor explains. "Mostly by landing a space hulk every so often to act as a surface station, or by digging deeper into Vesta. It's hard, but there's nobody else around who can tell us what to do, too. Just the Cap'n, mostly." Even the freedom of the Belt isn't entirely free, it seems. There's still a hierarchy, even if it's a more... familial one.
"Hmm, I'm pretty sure Isadore isn't a girl?" Trevor rubs his chin at that. He... has never had cause to ask. But the voice never 'felt' that way. "I think that's kind of a holdover from when ships were the only things people really drove around? But it is kinda interesting. For the Zentraedi and Meltrandi, gender was just kind of something you were assigned to have, huh...?"
Emalya explains a bit more of her history, and Trevor nods in reply. "I see. Well, it's probably for the best that the war didn't go on much longer. I'm glad you had the chance to try some stuff afterwards, though. I hear that culture was a pretty big shock for the First Contact crews. Especially 'romance.' That kiss is pretty famous, even out in the belt...!"
"Congratulations, though!! Are they working in the colony fleets, too?"
<Pose Tracker> Emalya Zamana has posed.
Some of that may be luck. Emalya actually asked advice for how to raise children.
"I think it is not so bad to be rough," Emalya answers of the Vultures. "What is important is the 'family', however it is formed. That is something that I believe." And it is nice that Trevor has that!
"Indeed! I grew quite familiar; my occupation in the Fleets was as a secretary, you see, so I heard many important business matters."
"Yes... I can see the appeal in such a life," the Meltrandi muses. "I admit I have grown fond of having 'neighbors'. But that is something you can have anywhere, I think, provided that there are others!"
Isadore! "It is up to Isadore," Emalya answers firmly. She believes this! "I see..." then she nods. "Yes. We did not discuss 'gender', we were merely Zentran or Meltran. But I have learned much of it lately! My own gender is 'female!' My third child's is 'non binary'. He has taught me a great deal, including which pronouns I should use for him."
She smiles. "...Yes. I know that there were many other holdouts, but I have come to love humans, and the 'culture' we too are now participating in shaping." She pauses then, "...Oh yes. It was very much a shock. I had no idea what this strange 'kissing' was at first! But I eventually tried it and found that I very much enjoyed it. There is much that is strange in this way."
Then her communicator beeps. "Ah! I am being called to the hangar for a purpose. Excuse me, Trevor. It was a pleasure to meet you."
She smiles. "I will tell you of my children another time, I hope!"
<Pose Tracker> Trevor Teach has posed.
<poem> As opposed to Emilia, who did not ask for any advice because she was Emilia the Ace and obviously she knows how to handle her own children!!
(This is probably not accurate to how things actually went)
"Mm. Family. Neighbors. I guess our nearest 'neighbors' would be some of the other asteroid colonies...? Some of them are pretty big mass driver facilities, for launching goods to the inner and outer solar systems. But there are some fancier places. Still nowhere near as fancy as the PLANTs, though." They can't fit entire mountain ranges into asteroid colonies, no matter how extravagant.
"I see, I see," Trevor nods, mulling the topic of 'gender' over in his head. "Never really thought of it. I've always just been the way I am, ahaha~" Which in his case probably means he's male full stop. Though considering how he dresses sometimes... Well, no, that's probably just him emulating storybook piratical fashion.
It gets very fancy.
"I guess you wouldn't have three kids if you didn't enjoy kissing and stuff," Trevor laughs-- but then, a beep! "Oh, that's fine! I'll be around. Though uh, maybe not here specifically, depending what the Garancieries does. But I'll be around! Till next time!"