Just Another Day [2430-1-4 Tues 7pm]

[Mai]

Night was falling and another day had nearly passed with nothing to show for it. Not that she was expecting anything anyway. It had been like this for months. No matter how many new people came to the spaceport, no one had any answers for her.

She was taking a break to paint outside, though the view of the the ocean from the deck was looking the same as usual. There weren't many more ways she could repaint the same landscape and still find it exciting. But tourists sometimes stopped by and offered to buy the paintings from her when she was finished, and she liked to send that money back to her family for their own use in trading with the humans.

She wished that she could paint her sister, so people could see the face she kept inquiring about, but unfortunately Mai just didn't have the skills to paint from memory like that. Even a memory only a year old. Mai sighed as she made another brush stroke across the canvas, blue on blue. Maybe it was time to start searching for Kairi on other planets.

Planets with far more colours than Corus.

[Blu]

Blu loved the smell of fresh salt air. Like, really really really loved it. Maybe if he had to smell it all the time, he would have gotten sick of it, but he didn't smell it all the time, so he didn't get sick of it. The Gardens on the ship were fresh-water (duh, obviously) and most other planets were either really dry or green and they smelt really different unless you were standing right by an ocean, except Terra's oceans didn't smell like salt anymore, they smelled like awful. Like pure concentrated awful.

He stopped dead when he spotted the girl with blue hair, and then grinned to himself. Awesome. Totally awesome. Blu sometimes thought about dying his hair, but not blue, that would have been too confusing. Maybe he could be a blond? Blonds just wanted to have moderately more fun than the rest of the population, or so said the part of his brain dedicated to failing to process conventional turns of phrase.

Hey, she was painting! Blu smiled and immediately headed closer to get a better look. It was of the ocean in front of her. Blu was more of an abstract sort of guy, but he really dug what she was doing anyway. The ocean was particularly alive-looking, like she'd managed to put all the energy into the water right into her painting.

Blu just wandered straight up to her and gave the blue-haired girl a friendly smile. "I like it!" He told her rather sincerely, "The ocean is all oceany!"

[Mai]

Mai was taken a bit off guard by the guy. He had a sort of comical look about him, with those weird things humans sometimes wore on their faces. She was told they were to correct bad vision. Seemed like a hassle to keep those on all the time, though.

He was complimenting her painting. It was said in a sort of redundant way, but she knew what he meant anyway. It was a good sign that the ocean was looking "oceany". That meant she was doing a good job at representing it. At the same time though, it was boring.

She smiled at him anyway, appreciating the compliment. "Thanks. I still feel like it's missing something or... or I dunno. It looks like all the other ones I've ever done."

[Blu]

He took another look at the painting. It was a really good representation of the view, but she was right, it was missing something. Blu was rather of the opinion that art was not about being what you saw, but what actually was, even if that was was something intangible or fantastic. Art was something that made you feel, and if a block of red with thick bands of black could make you feel, then hey! That's art!

"Are you just painting what you're seeing? 'cause that could be the problem." He shoved his glasses up on his nose, looking at the girl. Was she a mermaid too? He had a good feeling that she was. It was a good thing he'd met Sonya because now he felt like maybe he could recognize them on sight. "You should try painting what you're feeling instead!"

[Mai]

There were other ways to paint? Wow. Mai realized she still had a lot to learn. "Paint what I'm feeling... huh." She took another look at the painting. It was definitely what she saw. But paint was a visual medium... how could you paint anything but what you saw?

Then again, music had feeling, and it wasn't about replicating what you heard, it was about making new sounds to match the feelings that the song expressed. Maybe this strange friendly guy had a point. Still, how would one go about that? "I don't know how to paint boredom..." she sighed. "Just skies and seas."

[Blu]

"You don't have any feelings beside boredom?" Blu shook his head. Everybody had feelings all the time, even if those feelings weren't always exciting. "There's always feelings. There's always something more. Excitement! Sadness! Fear! Love! Contentment!" His voice bumped up a notice as he got excited, more than happy to have yet another new person to talk with.

He held out his hand for the brush. "Could I? I'm totally going to ruin your painting, but you said you already had a couple, so maybe I won't really be ruining this one? I'll just be adding a new perspective! Remixing what you've already made!"

[Mai]

"Boredom is the strongest one," Mai nodded. "But I suppose there's also... sadness. I--" He asked for the brush then, and she shrugged and handed it over. "Why not? I don't have any particular love for it at the moment."

She moved aside for him, turning the easel a little bit towards him. She chewed on her bottom lip a bit, pondering. She'd never seen him around before, so it wouldn't hurt to ask once more for the day, would it? "Hey, um... this is sort of a weird question, but if you're from off-planet I wonder if you could help me out. I've been trying to see if anyone has seen any sign of my sister. She... she went missing a little over a year ago. Looks a lot like me, except not the blue hair... a little older. Have you seen any sign of anyone who might look like my relative?"

The minute she finished, she realized she'd left out one important detail. "Oh, and we're mermaids. If that helps at all..."

[Blu]

Blu dipped the brush and started painting long broad strokes over the canvas, obliterating the details put into the sky with his strokes. He didn't paint it one solid blue, but rather kept little spaces between each stroke, where the sky that used to be there peeked on through. With the sky reduced to a child's painting, blinds where reality fought to come through, the ocean seemed even more alive. He thought for a moment, then added a couple of diagonal lines coming together, pulling the eye down to the ocean. Then he grinned and stood back, handing her the brush.

His brain was trying to process this and Blu latched onto the first part he understood while the rest churned away, trying to come up with an answer to her question."I am from off-planet!! I've got a spaceship up there! Though it's not really a ship so much as a station but we move around a lot so it is kind a ship, and there's no reason it can't be both you know? What's the real difference between a station and a ship? Neither of them are really stationary!"

Then Blu realized he still hadn't answered her. "But no, I haven't seen any other mermaids who look like you. Or people who look like you either. Do you think she left or... maybe was taken?" It was an uncomfortable question, but he had to ask it. Blu knew the rumours about what happened to some mermaids.

[Mai]

Mai watched what he was doing with interest, although the whole thing seemed kind of silly and a whole lot less work the way he was doing it. She wasn't feeling the outcome, but she was at least starting to understand what he was trying to get across. So, it didn't need to look exactly like the subject, but it still had to feel like the subject. She could probably do that, with a little work and a lot more thought.

He seemed like a bit of a rambler, but there was something about it that was endearing from him. It took him awhile to finally get to some form of an answer to her question, and it was a disappointing finish, but her brain didn't dwell on it--she was used to the same "no" answer. What her mind kept going back to was his talk about his space station. "I have no idea what happened. I don't even know if she made it to the space port. For all I know she got snatched by a shark on her way, but... I just don't want to rule out any possibilities. So... you travel around space then? How much travel do you do?"

[Blu]

He nodded. Blu wasn't particularly close to his siblings, though things had gotten better in the last few years since he got out of the family. He'd even spoken to his sister in person a couple of times, though she was more like a familiar stranger than family. But he could understand wanting to find someone you were close to, espeically if they'd disappeared mysteriously.

"I do a lot of travelling! Mostly between here and Heimdall, though sometimes I go to Glacies! I don't bother going to Nox, it's too far out for my ship to get the sun's rays strongly, and there's not really much there worth seeing besides weres and vampires, and the weres just look like normal humans, and the vampires just want to kill you!" He shoved his glasses up again, not necessarily because they were coming down, but mostly because he was so used to having to do it.

"I'm actually looking for crew members right now! I hired a mermaid cook yesterday, but I need some other people, like maybe a medic or an engineer or somebody who knows about plants, though I don't really need them, they're just nice to have around. The ship runs itself mostly! I don't really have to do much most days so I get to just hang out or go planet-side if I'm near planets, which I always do because I love planets. Except Terra, can't stand Terra. But the rest are fantastic!" He let the conversation carry him along, though it was mostly a one-sided conversation at this point. Blu usually didn't notice if he was rambling on, and people either let him do it, or they interrupted him before he could really get into a spiel. Eventually he stopped for air and let someone else speak. His lungs were good, but they weren't superhuman, or non-human. Did mermaids have bigger lungs? Or maybe the winged people did, since they were like birds. But would that do you any good? He'd have to ask next time he met one.

[Mai]

Mai didn't know much about the other planets, so his listing off of their names meant very little to her. The fact that he was looking for crew members was the important part. Medic? He needed a medic? She could do that, and she was willing to learn about a space ship to make it happen. The idea of space was still a little daunting, though. There wasn't water in space.

She listened to him go on about his ship for awhile, unable to contain a smile. Usually, barely getting a word in to a conversation with someone would frustrate Mai to no end, but there was something about this fellow that made it more amusing than annoying. He was so excited and all over the place. It was hard to picture him as a captain or leader of anything, but however he managed it, it must be fun.

"I have medical skills," Mai offered finally, once the guy had slowed a bit. "At least, mermaid treatments, and have a decent knowledge of ocean plantlife, since a lot of it goes hand in hand with the treatments. You say you've already hired a mermaid... does that mean your ship is mermaid safe? Is there water? We can't last too many days out of water..."

[Blu]

Blu beamed at the mermaid. She was a medic? And even better, a mermaid medic! Which meant her treatments would be of a more natural nature, which Blu was unshockingly all about with his solar powered ship and his water recycler and plant life. "That sounds perfect!!" He happily gushed, "I knew I'd find the right person if I just came for a walk! The universe knows which way to send you when you need something!"

"I'm not totally sure it's mermaid safe, but there's bathtubs in all the rooms, and I already figured out that I could hook into the pipes and add a few more nozzles for extra coverage!" He pulled out the digital paper, unfolding it and awkwardly holding it against his chest as he pulled up the blueprints, showing the mermaid what the bathrooms looked like, "And I can always up the humidity in your and Sonya's rooms if you end up needing that extra moisture on your skins! Or you can always go sit in the Garden, since it's always wet in there! It's like a jungle! Do you know what a jungle is? It's a whole bunch of plants growing together, trees and bushes and fruits and vegetables and stuff! And since the water recycler's in there, it's always got plenty of water to go around!"

[Mai]

Mai was having a hard time following him now. It did seem like a wonderful coincidence, but... "the universe knows"? What did that even mean? It was intriguing, though. Did the universe have a mind of it's own? Mai had to admit that sometimes she wondered about the planet itself. What contained it, moved it, kept it going. But to think it might be the whole universe to thank for it... she certainly wanted to travel the stars now and find out.

Then he was off, pulling blueprints out and going on about things that Mai could only guess at. She was willing to forgive the fact that he was clearly forgetting she knew very little about ships, since his enthusiasm was so amusing. Infectious, even. She was surprised to hear that he grew plants in the ship, and that he seemed confident that he could keep the mermaids hydrated in space, however the heck he was trying to explain it to her. It was probably something she would have to see in person to understand.

"I believe I get the idea of a jungle," she nodded. "There are some places on the planet where there is some vegetation up out of the water... bamboo and some marshy places. Not like what you've seen on other planets though, I'm sure." She shifted on the spot. "So, when do you plan to leave??"

[Blu]

"Leave? Oh, not anytime soon. I've got so much left to do! I'm not ready to leave existance! Though I guess nobody's really ready you know? Except some old people, and maybe some really sad people!" Blu said without really thinking about it. And then he realized she was probably not asking anything so existential, but was looking for the more obvious and straight-forward answer.

"Oh Corus? I'm going back to the space station tonight, but I'll be around the planet for a couple more days at least. I have to wait for the Underworld to get close so I can meet up and sell them some power!" He tucked the electronic paper away, looking for something he could write his name down on for the mermaid. Then he realized the answere was obvious. Blu stole the paint brush, dipped his finger in one of the darker paints and put his name on it. "Just sign onto one of the terminals and us the PM system to find me if you're interested! I'll be around here in two days too if you can't get me on the Network!"

[Mai]

She smiled. He was off again. This was going to take some time to get used to. Hopefully it would be as amusing after the hundredth time as it was right now.

"A few more days is okay," Mai nodded. "If I'm going to leave the planet I need to say some proper goodbyes to my family, so they don't think I disappeared like Kairi." And she would need to gather her things, personal items, tools, and the like.

Then she frowned, worried about the contact issue. Despite her time spent in the space port, she had had very little to do with the human computers and other technology, save for the one time she asked someone to help her and he tried searching for info on one of the machines. Nothing had come up, so she hadn't bothered to go back to them. "I'm afraid I don't know how to use those... terminals. Are they easy to learn?"