|
|
Post by DM Vance on Dec 15, 2010 0:08:54 GMT -6
DM’s eyebrows shot up. A faun? Now DM was slightly more curious about the relationship that Solomon had with this faun. It wouldn’t be the first interspecies pairing she’d run across out in space, but there was something just odd about dating someone with the lower-half of a deer or goat. Granted, if she’d spent that much time on Antheia, maybe she’d feel the same way.
“We’ll have to make sure she stays on the ship, and away from whoever we’re trading with. Weres would eat her alive if they got even half a chance,” DM didn’t put much faith in the Weres with carnivore halves. They always seemed to be fighting with their instincts to not kill animals, and to them, Olive would probably look like dinner, “If we do this, we should be prepared from the moment we go in to the moment we get out. If it’s done straight-forward and simple, we shouldn’t have a problem.”
|
|
|
|
Post by Solomon Taylor on Jan 6, 2011 23:35:04 GMT -6
Sol nodded. "She's already met some Were kid on Terra. He seemed to act a little weird around her, but thankfully didn't attempt to take a bite out of her or anything." He paused, looking thoughtful for a moment, before glancing back at her. "Actually it's probably because he got distracted by trying to attack me. He, uh... recognized me from Nox." He hoped they wouldn't constantly have either problem with Weres everywhere they went. He'd heard they'd been slowly spreading into the solar system over the past fifteen years, but he had yet to meet any save for Klove. At least, not ones that he'd been aware of.
"We'd have one stop at Glacies first. That's where the shipment is from. Meat or something, is what Cassandra has said. I'd prefer to stop somewhere with better facilities, but it should hopefully suffice."
|
|
|
|
Post by DM Vance on Jan 8, 2011 16:01:42 GMT -6
"You look intact, so that must have gone pretty well. You'll have a few more of those encounters, so don't be shocked when some Were comes swinging at you," DM was matter-of-fact about the whole thing. She had to be. There had been plenty of times in the past few years when she'd had Weres come at her. It was terrifying, but as long as you weren't unarmed, you'd probably be okay, "There's enough of them that survived. I just try to avoid them if I can, or talk them down."
"Glacies," She hadn't been back there since Roland passed on. Her heart felt a bit heavy, but she wasn't about to let that stop her. It was just a planet. If she could put foot on Nox, she could do it on Glacies twice as easily, "It's a hell of a cold planet, but it's not bad, as long as you don't show up in the middle of one of their storms. And that's not awful, it just makes flying a bit of a bitch."
She heard a sound and turned her head. There was a girl standing in the doorway looking nervously at them. She wasn't the faun, so she must have been the other one, Cassandra. DM nodded to the girl, not wanting to call her by name and spook the poor thing.
|
|
|
|
Post by Cassandra Nida on Jan 8, 2011 16:08:08 GMT -6
Cass was sometimes a bit too curious for her own good. She was rarely curious about other people. Rather, she was fascinated by engines and machines, and the way things worked. But ever since getting to actually known Solomon and Olive and the others, she had slowly become more interested in people. And now she was curious to know exactly who this new pilot might be.
She hadn't exactly listened in, though she had gotten close enough to hear the sound of their voices, if not the words. Cass had been a bit surprised to hear DM's voice, and to have realized that DM was a girl. She had been expecting another male pilot, maybe someone who looked like Nick. Cass had tried to keep busy while she and Solomon had some sort of conversation, but eventually that damned curiosity had gotten the worse of her.
Cass poked her head in, just to see exactly what DM looked like. She was a lot smaller than Cass had expected, and really tough looking for a woman. She nodded to Cass, and Cass quietly said, "Hi. Um. I'm Cassandra," because introductions were probably the polite thing to do, if not the wise thing. She did at least have the good sense not to say her last name outloud.
|
|
|
|
Post by Solomon Taylor on Jan 9, 2011 23:16:41 GMT -6
"Yeah, his captain stepped in. Reprimanded him like his mother or something," he couldn't help but chuckle a little. "He was still so young... he had to have been just a toddler when... well, you know." No point in discussing it further. She had been there, they didn't need to relive it. Still, it suddenly dawned on him that he finally had someone on board who understood. The old crew members might have gotten it better than Olive or Cassandra would, but they would never truly understand.
Speaking of...
"Ah, yes," he nodded. "DM, this is Cassandra, our mechanic. Also, the cargo we discussed earlier," he decided to add. "I'll let her explain further when she's ready. Cassandra, this is our new pilot and medic, DM."
|
|
|
|
Post by DM Vance on Jan 12, 2011 1:37:41 GMT -6
“Nice to meet you,” DM offered a hand to Cassandra. The girl actually hesitated before shaking. DM assumed it was shyness, right until the point that their hands actually shook. She recognized that grip instantly. The girl’s arm was a fake. A good fake, a really damn good fake, but no amount of proper programming and feel-real skin could disguise the feel of metal beneath instead of bone.
She didn’t mention it. DM didn’t know why the girl had a falsie, but she sure as hell knew better than to start asking prying questions. You never knew why somebody was missing an arm, and the worst thing you could do was to start assuming. Instead, DM focused on the cargo, “So, mechanic? I suppose you’re one of those kids who always liked messing around with the insides of whatever they could find. One of my brothers was like that. There wasn’t a thing in the house that he hadn’t dismantled at one point or another for parts, or just to figure out how it worked.”
|
|
|
|
Post by Cassandra Nida on Jan 12, 2011 1:38:25 GMT -6
Cassandra was reluctant to shake DM’s hand, but there was no polite way out of it, so she did. She was careful to keep her grip feeling as human as possible, and she quickly withdrew her hand after the shake, tucking them into her pockets. The less people touched her, the easier it was to keep her secret, “um. You too.”
She was on more solid ground when DM started talking about mechanics. Cass smiled very briefly, “Yeah. I did a lot of that…” Of course, her father had bought her plenty of things to dismantle, so she hadn’t ever felt a burning urge to take apart her father’s possessions. If she wanted to see what the inside of the viewscreen looked like, he would just buy her one and let her pull it apart and scour the insides until she was able to make sense of everything.
Small-talk wasn’t her strong suit, especially not when it came to new people, so instead she launched right into an explanation, taking Sol bringing it up as his way of asking her to talk about it, “Well. It’s a meat shipment. This boy I… know said it’s easy. All we do is pick it up and take it out to Nox. They’ve already got buyers lined up and they just need a transport ship to deliver it. Normally they’d do it, but right now they’re out at Heimdall, and they need the meat moved right away so they’ve got room for when this season’s hunters visit the lodge and need a place to store their own kills. I’ve got the contact information and everything, and all we need to do is show up and pick the meat up.”
It sounded so simple to Cass. She could only hope it really would be that simple. But she doubted Klove would steer her wrong.
|
|
|
|
Post by Solomon Taylor on Jan 13, 2011 23:31:45 GMT -6
Not entirely what he meant about Cass explaining their cargo, as he meant her, not their future cargo. But it worked to describe the upcoming job anyway. They'd get to that other "thing" eventually.
"See, it seems easy enough," Sol agreed. "It's just... Nox." He glanced at Cass, motioning to DM. "By the way, do you remember when I told you about Nox? The one who helped me get off the ship? Small galaxy we've got here..."
((we'll just assume we got to that part of the story... since that thread never actually got finished with disappearing characters and all...))
|
|
|
|
Post by Cassandra Nida on Jan 18, 2011 10:43:32 GMT -6
It took Cass a moment to remember the story, and when it hit her, she gaped a little as she looked at DM. She didn’t look anything like what Cass had thought when she imagined the woman who had helped Sol. DM was so… so… anti-military. She looked more like some crazy protestor than ex-military.
Which… maybe was true? She mustn’t have been military anymore or Sol wouldn’t have let her on the ship. And he certainly wouldn’t have let her anywhere near Cass. Would he? She shoved the thought of doubt away. No, Sol wouldn’t do that. If he was going to, he certainly wouldn’t tell Cass about it anyway.
“Oh,” Cass said awkwardly, trying to think about what to say, “Um. That’s… it’s really, really small…”
|
|
|
|
Post by DM Vance on Jan 18, 2011 10:44:45 GMT -6
So Sol had told Cassandra about what happened on Nox, but not this Olive girl? More and more questions, none of which DM would be asking outloud. A man had a right to his secrets, no matter how contradictory they might be.
“It’s pretty useful sometimes,” DM brushed her hair out of her face, “It’s nice to know you’re not alone among a bunch of strangers. So, meat delivery to Nox. Sounds like fun. Unless your contact there is a survivor of the massacre, then we might end up being the meat,” DM cracked the joke, expecting a smile from at least Sol.
|
|
Olive
Junior Member
Faun
Posts: 129
|
Post by Olive on Jan 24, 2011 2:03:34 GMT -6
Busy reading of a story she'd pulled from the Network on Sol's padd, Olive paused when she realized she was hearing voices carrying through the ship. Usually that only happened when people were in the cargo bay, since it was so big and echo-y and connected to the quarters much closer than the rest of the rooms in the ship. Her curiosity piqued, she hopped off her bed, padd tucked under her arm, and headed down the hall towards the cargo bay opening.
There was a lady in the ship, chatting with Sol and Cass. She remembered Sol saying there might be a new pilot soon. Were there lady pilots? Probably, she decided. Still, she didn't want to assume so. After all, she hadn't even known what a pilot was just a month or so ago. She headed down the gangway towards the stairs. "Hi!!"
|
|
|
|
Post by Solomon Taylor on Jan 24, 2011 2:20:14 GMT -6
Cass seemed a bit baffled at the idea that this was the girl from his story. He couldn't blame her, though. He was still fairly shocked himself. Then again, he'd probably found something new to be surprised about almost every day as of late. Fifteen years out of the loop really changed things.
He smiled a little at DM's comment, but in the back of his mind it planted another worry. He hadn't even thought about the possibility of the drop being to Weres. He'd basically assumed the spaceport there would be Humans. Had they progressed that much on Nox that Weres used the spaceport like other species on other planets? Of course they must have. There were Weres off planet, like that kid with Grace.
A patter of hooves echoed into the cargo bay, kicking him out of his thoughts and he glanced up to spot Olive peeking her head in, investigating like Cass had. "Hey Olive. This is DM, our new pilot. DM, Olive."
He glanced at DM once more, still wanting to know more about the Were situation. "How are Weres with Humans in general?" he decided to ask. But with Olive now in the room, it would be a bit more difficult. "Like, ones who weren't involved with the... you know..."
|
|
|
|
Post by DM Vance on Feb 1, 2011 9:41:46 GMT -6
So there was the faun. She was a pretty young kid, and DM’s eyebrows raised again. An older man traveling with two young girls? Well, that was going to raise anybody’s eyebrows. Just from talking to Sol, she had a feeling that he probably wasn’t too aware of how this might look to other people. Maybe she’d bring it up... later. Much later.
“Hey, Nice to meet you,” DM waved to Olive, giving her a smile, and then looked back over at Sol, “Mixed bag. Some Weres like humans, other really don’t. Most of the ones who’ll be around the spaceport are on pretty good terms. I mean, they have to be, humans come in and out of there everyday. And as long as nobody here goes into any were-only bars or that, we’ll be fine.”
She kept it vague since Sol had indicated that Olive didn’t know the whole story yet, and the last thing she wanted was to spill someone else’s life story. Though she did let herself have a moment to grin at how Sol had introduced herself. It was always nice to know you’d gotten the job. DM glanced around the ship again, “Alright, let’s go see your cockpit. I always like to know what I’m getting myself into when I agree to fly somebody’s baby.”
|
|
|
|
Post by Solomon Taylor on Feb 3, 2011 0:37:04 GMT -6
"That's alright, we'll just stick to the docks anyway. In and out, fast as possible," Sol nodded, deciding to ignore whatever the look she was giving him was in response to meeting Olive. He'd distinctly remembered telling her Olive was a faun, so he wasn't exactly sure what else there was to be surprised about.
He waved her towards the stairs. "Alright, let's go." He headed up the metal stairs and down the gangway towards the main part of the ship, motioning as he went. They could do a better tour later, but it didn't hurt to point out the main stuff as they headed down the hall. "Those hallways lead to the quarters, and the bathroom's down there. Med-bay there, and just past the common room here is the cockpit." He pointed at the door to his right. "That one's my room. You can take the one on the left. Just a bit of warning, I'm not sure how clean it is, since I haven't really been in there since the last pilot took his leave. And here we go..." he cracked open the door to the cockpit, allowing her to follow him inside.
|
|
|
|
Post by DM Vance on Feb 15, 2011 22:27:09 GMT -6
DM followed Solomon through the ship, taking in everything. She'd been on enough different ships that it was easy to guess where things would be. The ship has a pretty obvious layout, and it would make it easy to figure out where everything was in the first few days, rather than weeks of accidentally walking into the engine room when she meant to just pop into the kitchen for another cup.
"That's fine, I've got two working hands, I can pick up," The last thing DM was going to be picky about was messy quarters. That was an easy fix, and if all her jobs had only required easy fixes, she wouldn't have had so damn many of them. But she pushed that aside, stepping into the cockpit.
DM grinned. She couldn't help it. There was something about the cockpit that always got a grin out of her. She may have trained to be a medical officer, but somehow over the years, flying had become her real passion. There was something wonderful about having those large engines under your control, and the ability to go wherever the hell you'd like in the universe. DM plunked herself in the seat and reached out on either side to see what the main controls were. Monitoring lights to the right, tweaks to the left. And of course, the yoke was right in front of her, "It's a good layout," She told Sol, playing with the toggles to make sure everything was working as it should, "It'll be real easy to fly her, when she's this intuitive."
|
|
