First Impressions [2430-1-1-Sun-9pm]

[Olive]

Olive had beamed, holding out the coat for Klove as he came down the ramp. But when the boy dove for Sol, she instinctively shrieked, dropping the coat on the ground. Solomon quickly pushed her behind him and she ducked down, peering over his tall shoulder.

"Klove?? What's going on??" she whimpered a little as her new friend glared at her old friend, spitting out a harsh accusation. What was going on?? Did these two know each other somehow??

[Klove Makem]

"murderer!" He spit out again, heart racing. He could see the change on Sol's face, but it wasn't enough. Nothing would ever be enough. "You killed my parents! You and your fiking squad!"

Grace gave him a shake but he ignored her, staring Sol down. He couldn't remember anything before that day, anything before the blood and death and the way he'd had a family and then suddenly there had been no one but him. He lunged again but Grace held him tight, yanking him back.

"I'll kill you!" He swore, even as Grace shoved him back onto the ramp, "I'll kill you!!"

[Grace Forjacks]

As Klove struggled against her, Grace paid half-attention to the conversation. Sol was military? Or ex-military judging by the look of him. Didn't matter either way. What mattered was keeping Klove from killing someone or changing and letting the whole damn port know he was a werecreature.

"Get back on the ship." She said, and shoved him onto the ramp. When he pressed forward again, Grace let go of his shoulder and smacked him across the face. The hard crack finally got Klove's eyes back on her instead of Sol. "Go to your bunk. We'll talk later."

Klove glared at her. And for a moment, she wondered if this would finally be the time he decided to disobey a direct order. The moment hung between them, long and painful. But then it passed and he backed down, turning away and stalking off into the depths of the ship. She made sure he was gone before she turned around to look at Sol and Olive.

[Olive]

Squad? What did that mean? Sol killed people? Is that why he had been so grumpy when they'd first met? He'd never told her... even after fourteen years of their growing up together.

Olive jumped when Grace smacked Klove across the face, wincing a little in sympathy. She watched him disappear back onto the ship, and then looked at Sol once more in confusion and sadness. Once again she had to ask: "...w-what's going on?"

[Caden Breese]

Caden had finished his cigarette and tossed the butt on the ground and stepped on it. He had noticed some commotion close by one of the ships he had been observing. Hey... He recognized the lady from the bar. Enan was hit- err, talking to her? He didn't care at the time he saw her with him.

As he saw the initial lunge from the boy he watched carefully debating whether or not he should get involved. The poor faun girl looked terrified, the man with her looked stunned or confused and the lady looked angry after shoving the attacker back into the ship. He decided to check it out.

"What on Terra is going on...?" He asked as he approached.

[Grace Forjacks]

"I'm not exactly sure." She answered both of them. Grace glanced at the newcomer. It was the scrappy brother from the bar. Of course the scuffle had brought in some attention. At least it wasn't the authorities poking their nose in and making trouble.

Grace looked at Sol. "You mind telling me if Klove was right about you? Or is this just all a case of mistaken identity?" Klove had been young when it all happened, but Grace knew well that the moments that change the course of your entire life stayed with you, year after year. Even fifteen years could seem as clear as yesterday when you lost something vital.

[Solomon Taylor]

Sol barely glanced at the newcomer. He was too focused on figuring out how this kid had recognized him so instantly. Grace wanted answers. Well, maybe it wasn't something he was willing to give. At least... not in front of Olive.

"Olive? Get in the ship." He said simply to the faun, without even looking at her. She wasn't ready to hear it. She was generally sympathetic, but this... he just knew it would change her view of him if she knew.

[Olive]

"But..." Olive began, but soon realized it was probably best to listen. Whatever it was, it was serious. She hadn't seen a look on Sol's face like that in a long time. Maybe, in time he would tell her?

She sighed, giving in, and then turned. Then she realized something important. "Um. Which ship?" she asked, having no idea what he was referring to. Did he want her to go follow Klove? She wasn't sure she wanted to be cooped up in a space ship with him at the moment...

[Solomon Taylor]

Solomon realized then that she still didn't know about the Adeala. So he pointed towards it, glancing at her firmly. "That one. It's mine now."

He would explain that to her later, as well as run by the prospective crew members as well. Right now, the conversation didn't pertain to her. "Go look around in it. But Olive... don't touch any controls."

[Grace Forjacks]

Everything Grace needed to know about Solomon, she learned in less than four lines of conversation. He had been there at the massacre, may have even participated. But somewhere along the line, he'd decided he didn't like what he'd been involved with. Sol had likely cut-and-run from the military. He could have lied his way out of this. Grace had given him every chance to. But here he was, about to reveal the horrible truth that Grace had already figured out for herself. Said a lot about the sort of man he was.

"I'll take Klove's jacket." Grace held out her hand for it. Thinking about Klove, and how he would feel about his actions once his bloodlust died down, she added, "I'm sorry if he scared you."

[Olive]

Olive glanced over at the larger ship Sol was pointing at. That was most definitely not the shuttle they had come in on. She blinked. "You never told me you had a ship!" He was still pointing. She sighed. "...I guess I'll go hang out over there..."

She walked over and picked up Klove's jacket from where she had dropped it, feeling rather like she was in trouble all over again. She took it over to Grace, handing it to her, and then trudged off towards the strange new space ship. Oh well, it was something new to explore.

Oh. Hey. There's the shuttle they came in on!

[Grace Forjacks]

Grace waited until Olive was out of ear-shot. While Klove knew everything about her, and her everything about him, she understood that sometimes there were secrets ordinary people couldn't share with one another, particularly things you were ashamed of. She could be cruel, but this wasn't the time or place for that.

"Were you involved with the troubles on Nox?" She asked again, voice pitched low. "I'm not going to do anything to you if the answer's yes. I just want to know if Klove's right." And she wanted to know if she was going to warn him about what Klove would do if he got the chance, or if she was going to keep quiet and let it all unfold.

[Solomon Taylor]

There was no other way to say it, so why not just say it. "Yes," Sol replied once Olive was gone. "I was on that first mission." He sighed, crossing his arms. "I've been out of the loop for so many years, I'd hoped I could bury that history. I didn't think it would come back to haunt me so soon. That boy must have been a toddler when it happened..."

"That day was horrific. An absolute mess." He rubbed his temples, feeling all the guilt and hate about the people involved with that day came bubbling back up to the surface. "Tell me, has the government owned up to the mistakes made yet? Or are they still denying they did anything wrong?"

[Caden Breese]

He had stupidly thrown himself into this situation trying to figure out what was going down before someone did something ridiculously stupid.

The kid remembered this man's exact face from 15 years ago? That's impressive. "Hang on, back up a second... The kid is a were crea- person? And you..." He pointed at Sol, "you were for one of the first to step on Nox?" Nice. Ex military? Nox? That's the kind of experience Caden liked to see.

[Grace Forjacks]

Grace nodded, "Klove was three when it happened. He doesn't like to talk about it much." She only knew as much as she did because she'd made him tell her after the first few nightmares had woken her up. He used to be a screamer. That, at least, had died down as he got older.

"Still denying. There's a movement on Nox to have the Terran Goverment reconize what happened and issue an apology, but that won't happen until every soldier and government official involved is dead." Grace watched his face carefully. There was real guilt on that face, and a bit of anger too. "I'll be leaving soon. And I'll order Klove to stay away from you. All the same, keep one eye on your back. He lost his parents, and I think he lost something else." She tapped the side of her head for emphasis.