First Landing [2430-1-1-Fri-3pm]

[Olive]

After being a little shaken by the landing, Olive was now trying to figure out ways she could decorate her room with things she was going to gather from Antheia now that they'd landed. She wondered if Sol would let her bring a plant on board. There was far too much metal and not enough greenery, in her opinion.

When Sol's voice came over the intercom, she excitedly hurried out of the room and down the halls towards the common room. She was happy to be on her home planet again, and couldn't wait to hear what Sol had to say before they were to be let off the ship.

[Solomon Taylor]

Sol waited at the head of the table until everyone was settled before he continued. When everyone had taken a seat, he began his explanation. "Before we get off the ship, I just wanted to say a few things as to why we're here."

"I'm sure you all are aware of the shuttle down in the cargo bay, right?" They should have all noticed it, at least. "The fact is that it actually belongs to the Antheia space port here. I actually borrowed it to get to Terra. ...without anyone's permission. So, the fact is that while I want to bring it back so I'm not labeled a thief... there is concern that they won't be as understanding as I hope they will be..."

[Cassandra Nida]

It took all of Cass' willpower not to panic the moment Solomon started talking about the 'borrowed' ship. She gripped the table, trying to talk herself out of her panic. Okay, maybe this would go badly. Maybe they'd call him a thief. But they wouldn't pull in a passenger who had no idea what was going on... would they?

Her throat went dry as an image popped into her mind of them arresting her, pulling her limbs off and leaving her lying on the floor, totally helpless. That was really not helping with the panic. Thinking about it wasn't going to do anything. "what'll happen if they don't understand?" She asked, voice a bit hoarse.

[Magdalen Verena]

Magdalen smiled warmly at each crew member as they arrived in the kitchen, nodding to Caden and attempting to acknowledge Cassandra without making the other woman feel uncomfortable. She’d made it a point to sit away from the rest of the group, so it was obvious she still wasn’t really in her element.

Distracting herself by looking up at the sound of Solomon’s voice, Magdalen waited until his hesitant approach to the issue at hand had been brought to light; interested in everyone else’s reaction. She knew they wouldn’t be happy, but it wasn’t something they couldn’t overcome. At the very least they all should have anticipated some kind of obstacle through the course of their journey.

However she hadn’t quite been prepared for the note of panic in Cassandra’s voice. Turning to appraise the girl with surprise, the blonde forced a calm smile and waved her hand.

“We just have to be as diplomatic as we can about the whole thing. The people on Antheia are far more civil than those you find on places like Terra … I’m sure they’ll be willing to hear us out and accept our apology with a fair amount of grace and understanding. Don’t worry.”

[Nick Blaine]

Blaine stayed quiet. He didn't have anything to say on the subject. He was just watching everyone talk and react to Solomon's news. Cass seemed extra worried about the idea of possibly being in trouble. He wondered why.

Magdalen was definitely right about people being nicer on Antheia than Terra. Humans seemed to be the meanest species out there, other that the Vampires of course. He had done some things a couple years back that he got in trouble for while on Antheia. They didn't put him away in jail like he expected them to, they just gave him a warning. "I ain't worried, cap." He said, trying to give Sol some comfort on the issue.

[Solomon Taylor]

Sol nodded at Magdalen's reassurance. He definitely felt safer about the situation on Antheia than he would on Terra. But he decided to acknowledge Cass's question quickly as it was clear she was worried about a run-in with the law. Understandable, considering the bounty on her head. "I'm confident that it will go smoothly, however, Magdalen has suggested an idea that I need everyone on board with before I go ahead and use it without consulting anyone."

He motioned outwards, not in a particular direction but more in an overall "out there" sort of way. "While it's not the biggest space port in existence, this one could probably still use some help. We don't have they kind of money to pay them any rental or repair fees, so if it it comes to it, the suggestion is that we offer our help for a few days around the space port. This might mean us guys doing some manual labour around the hangar, or perhaps some of us helping in the restaurant, or in some of the offices... there are a lot of places around here where some free labour might be needed, so I'm going to offer them that if they aren't happy with the borrowing of the shuttle."

He pointed towards the faun. "Olive has to go visit her family and talk to them proper, so she has her own tasks at home. Cass: you're a paying passenger, so I don't expect you to work if you don't want to."--that and he knew she probably wanted to stay low--"But the rest of us need to be on board with this and willing to work if the need arises. Anyone have any objections or questions?"

[Caden Breese]

Free labor? Not really what he had hoped to hear, but depending on what it is they have to do he would be okay with it. If he got stuck in a kitchen somewhere that would be a disaster. But for the most part it was a good idea.

"If they need it, I can help them fix the shuttle up a bit," he offered. He was sure they wouldn't mind. He wasn't too worried about anyone getting thrown in jail or anything. Enan had told him that things were pretty slack on Antheia. So Rules weren't has harsh for things like this, they were more focused on other things. Mostly nature related.

[Booker]

Booker loved the idea of helping others around the spaceport, especially if it means meeting new people. He loved doing work for free but if he got paid he liked it even better. But he knew that this would be good. He'd be able to make a good name for himself on a new planet.

Booker was capable of manual labor and he kind of enjoyed it as well. He enjoyed a good days hard work over just sitting around and waiting for someone to get hurt or sick. Which wasn't a pleasant thing to wait for.

"Well I'm up for it!" Booker said enthusiastically.

[Olive]

Olive was a little disappointed that she was being left out of the help. She'd thought that it would be a perfect excuse to learn about Human food, if she was placed in a kitchen somewhere. But at the same time, Sol was right. They'd talked about it earlier: she needed to go give a proper goodbye to her family. It wasn't so much to ask permission, since she was old enough to make her own decisions, but it was more about giving a proper goodbye to them instead of simply running off with a Human with no explanation. The more she had thought about it, the more she came to the same conclusion: If she wasn't going to see them for awhile, she definitely wanted to spend some proper time with them all.

Still, she had a question about it all that didn't quite make sense in her head. "So, um, if it's cause you and me stole the ship, how come I don't have to work but everyone else who didn't steal the ship does?"

[Magdalen Verena]

Magdalen listened patiently as everyone gave their input in regards to her suggestion, glad that they seemed relatively satisfied with the solution. No one really wanted to participate in hard labour for nothing, but she simply wasn’t ready to do anything that might compromise the safety or credibility of the crew just for a way to worm out of an embarrassing situation. They’d deal with it as honestly and openly as possible. Mags was sure that would be best, and as long as Solomon had faith in that course of action … so did she.

And then Olive spoke up, drawing a gentle look from the blonde. Wondering whether she should just leave the issue of addressing that concern to Solomon – if only because he was the Captain and knew the Faun girl better than anyone else there – Magdalen waited a handful of moments before speaking.

“Saying goodbye to your family is a bigger priority than compensating for the borrowed shuttle. Trust me, loved ones come first … you wouldn’t want to regret not taking the opportunity to see them once more before you leave.” A pause followed as Magdalen’s eyes adopted a sort of faraway look and the image of her parents flashed before her eyes.

“After all, you don’t know when you might see them next.”

At that moment, her heart became unexpectedly heavy and both eyes fell awkwardly to stare at her hands.

[Solomon Taylor]

"Agreed," Sol stated, backing up Magdalen's statement. He could sense there was something else lying behind her words as her voice grew more emotional by the end. He decided to move along the conversation quickly so everyone wouldn't keep looking at her. "As for the other part of your question, Olive, I also agree. This is definitely my issue to deal with."

"However," he continued. "Remember that this is only a backup plan in case something is to be done about covering costs of the shuttle's usage. If only small payment is needed, I'll definitely be the one to help out first. What I'm warning everyone about is the possibility of everyone else needing to help as well if my help is not enough. Caden, your help with fixing up the shuttle will probably be most handy in this situation, so thank you for the offering."

[Magdalen Verena]

Wishing to distract herself from her own emotional turmoil, Magdalen inhaled sharply and looked up after Solomon had finished speaking.

“And if it so happens that our apology is accepted and they request either Caden’s expertise or a sum of money as compensation, how long were you thinking we should remain on Antheia?”

If Magdalen were being honest with herself, she’d have loved to stay for at least a few days. The lush greenery would be a lovely change to the hustle and bustle of the metropolis that was Terra after all and she had even considered paying a quick visit to that kindly old couple whom had taken her in.

[Solomon Taylor]

"Either way, I planned on a couple of days," Sol replied. "But maybe longer, if we don't pick up anything for transport or get a lead on any jobs on any other planets right away." Then he paused. "Paid jobs, that is. As opposed to what I'm suggesting may have to happen here."

As much as he wanted to stay on Antheia, he had yet to ever see any other planets besides Terra and Nox, and his desire to see them all still remained the front runner of his motivation for getting his own ship. He would never go back to Nox of his own free will, but the other planets were still a mystery to him save the information in the Network Databases. None of the others had to be any worse than Nox, not if there were settlements on almost all of them.

"Are there any other questions?" he wondered.

[Cassandra Nida]

Cass shook her head no. The panic had subsided. As long as she could keep from being noticed, that was all that mattered. The only problem would be making sure she had enough money to keep paying for the journey. Cass would have to take a chance and see if she could tap into one of her father's secret accounts to get a little more money.

And if she did? Well, would it hurt to get more parts to build some spare limbs? She'd always had extras at home, different ones meant for public use and others for private home use. When she left, she only had time to grab the all-purpose arms. They were heavier than the public ones, and more tiring. It would be nice to have some lighter hardware to wear around the ship.

Hopefully there wouldn't be any problems. And hopefully nobody would pay much attention to Cass, as long as she paid cash and didn't cause trouble.

[Magdalen Verena]

“Well then,” Magdalen started as she rose to her feet. “If you don’t mind, I’ll gather a few things before we head off.”

The truth was, she had a headache coming on … and that always meant some of her memories were likely to resurface. Often it was only in indecipherable bits and pieces, but her nostalgia was likely to draw attention from the rest of the crew and she wasn’t particularly in the mood to answer any questions in regards to her behaviour.

So with a timid smile she disappeared down the corridor in the direction of her room to prepare for their time on Antheia.