Wayward Wanderer of the Green Sun

Reputations can be deceiving; While on first contact everyone's perceived based on their reputation, how accurate - or inaccurate, for that matter - can a reputation be? In space flight, everything's simpler, more straight-forward, and of course more black and white, but the moment that ship makes its way to a base or a planet things start to get complicated, as things evolve into a human interaction which most if not all times has proven to be far more complicated than any possible type of encounter between two spaceships. So what would be more reliable than a man's reputation, one may wonder, and of course the most sane option would be disregarding the reputation and letting the work he's done speak for itself.

When the established reputation is taken out of the equation, the "has been"s of the society find themselves with absolutely nothing left and often fade away after a year or two at most, and those who've done actual work and still continue to do so find themselves in the center of the attention, with their reputation acting as an investment for them, rather than a trophy of the times long gone, and so those worthy of their reputation successfully earn more and more while others are slowly pushed to the side and after a short while completely forgotten about, but yet, no matter how accurate one's reputation may be, staying more of the former and less of the latter requires constantly reminding the general public of one's reputation.

When it comes to reputations and the inaccuracy surrounding them, Lee del Sol Verde would be a clear example - A man not many even know the full name of, but everyone has heard about as the one that built the Narcotic. While a man with such a reputation suddenly showing up in his homeland after such a long time seemed as nothing but an attempt to remind the general public of his reputation and avoid fading into the category of "has been"s, what aerelm saw in the fortunate coincidence was an opportunity, and being the type of man that tends to act the moment an opportunity presents itself, it naturally mattered little that the two individuals had never met before, Lee Verde was invited to a drink regardless.

RE: Wayward Wanderer of the Green Sun - Narcotic - 07-19-2014

Inside us there is something that has no name, that something is what we are. Lost in thought, Lee stands infront of a villa located at the edge of a mountain peak - the place he was invited to. Without any head movement, he gazes at the signature on the wall. It reads "La Villa Senza Nome". His eyes follow the golden bold letters, written in an elegantly winding style. Maltese manner. Yet, utterly expressionless. This villa could belong to anyone, nothing uncommon about it at all. Lee hoped to find something that would reveal his host's character, but the stranger is obviously trying to keep it secret - with success. Lee would not let it show, but he is certainly uneasy with the unawareness surrounding him.

As he stood there, he suddenly started smirking. The irony of the villa's name being "without a name" made him forget about the uncertainty for a moment. A name does not define the core of who you are. Names exist to differentiate, to remember those who you cannot associate anything else with. Names are indeed irrelevant. It is the reputation that counts in the end.

Lee has heard rumors about this man, a reputation that was given to him by talkative drunkards. Yet, he was told rumors about himself, too. And he could not agree with their truthfulness - not in the slightest. Rumors are like names, they do not say anything about a person's character or reputation. They are just combinations of letters. Just like this villa's signature.

There is only one true way to get to know a person. Going past the words - inside the core. Lee's body finally shows a reaction, turning his head towards the villa's entrance. He nods determined and walks straight for the door, which opens just a step before he reached it. Without hesitation, Lee says to the person, standing in the doorway:

"Hola, my name is Lee del Sol Verde, what is yours?"

RE: Wayward Wanderer of the Green Sun - aerelm - 07-19-2014

Knowing his invitation had reached the stranger was enough to be certain he'd show up, even though he had not replied to the invitation, neither accepting nor rejecting it, because after all... Curiosity drives us all. Receiving an invitation for a drink in a place not "just any place" was enough of a guarantee that the once-Outcast would be there, so reclining on his chair positioned in front of the security camera feeds, aerelm was killing time waiting for the stranger to arrive, and once the stranger was finally here, there was no time to waste even though he did seem eager to linger by the door for a while.

"Normally, the one opening the door for you would've replied to that question with a production number, but of course it would've been a show of hopefully-mutual respect if I came to the door myself, so, come in."

Inviting the stranger in with a hand gesture, the first glimpse of the interior of the mansion wasn't much different from its exterior, following the same architectural patterns, but with a couple of service robots hurrying toward the terrace each holding a tray of drinks.

RE: Wayward Wanderer of the Green Sun - Narcotic - 07-19-2014

Unimpressed by the buidling's "core", Lee took off his mask which reminded one of a cardamine rebreather, just that there were not any tubes connecting it to a tank or something alike. It obviously served the only purpose of covering his true face. Instead of a dark visor, the stranger was now looking at a pure blue colored face, covered with a few scars which suggested purple blood. His green eyes were highlighted by a white glowing, staring right through him with a frostiness, similar to open space.

He waited for a service robot to take his unusual disguise, together with the black cloak, off him. Lee wordlessly follows his host to the terrace where he was offered a seat. As he sits down, he eyes his vis-à-vis suspiciously, while he checks the tray of drinks for a non-alcoholic transparent liquid, supposedly water.

He remained silent until the taciturnity became almost unbearable. In his ice-breaking voice, he says:

"Gracias for your invitation. For normal, I do not meet strangers in private. However, I have to admit that I was full of curiosity about your invite. So please tell me; who are you and why would you want to talk to me?"

RE: Wayward Wanderer of the Green Sun - aerelm - 07-20-2014

Taking a seat opposite to the one the stranger had picked, aerelm started after a brief glance at the view of the terrace,

"I trust a man such as yourself would have already looked up this place and its owner right after receiving the invitation, and therefore would know exactly who I am... So, with no disrespect intended, let's skip the redundancy, shall we?"

Then grabbing a glass of scotch from the tray a nearby robot was holding, aerelm continued in a friendlier tone,

"I have to admit, considering how long I've been around this part of space, it's actually surprising that we had never met before... You don't seem to like any of the stuff here, would you prefer another type of drink?"

RE: Wayward Wanderer of the Green Sun - Narcotic - 07-20-2014

He averts his gaze from the tray, nodding in agreement with aerelms words.

"Si, I did indeed. However not just after I have received your suprising invitation. I use to foster a close relationship to the 'Ghost', who once told me about your story. Yet, it is always a different experience to meet in person. However, I am de facto more interested in the 'why' than the 'who'.

Lee pauses, letting his eyes wander beyond the terrace, trying to figure out the name of the opposite mountain. With his eyes fixed on the massive rock, he continues;

"To be honest, to me it is less of a suprise..." He interrupts his sentence to examine his opposite's reaction. "...as I have left Malta seven years ago."

Lee gazes at the variety of alcoholic drinks on the tray.

"Addictive substances were one of the reasons. They take away one's freedom more than anything else can. I rather wanted to die, instead of wasting my life in a prison that was my home. I enjoy returning every now and then - but not for too long."

He takes a deep breath, feeling the tiny amount of Cardamine floating in the air.

"Do you have some clean water for me?"

RE: Wayward Wanderer of the Green Sun - aerelm - 07-23-2014

Tapping on his notepad a couple of times, one of the robots left and soon returned with a glass of water, so aerelm continued,

"You won't have to worry about Cardamine in this place. Not having any interest in Cardamine myself, I usually keep my opinions about that to myself around Outcasts for obvious reasons, but the main reason I picked this place is because the substance is practically nonexistent in this corner of the planet..."

Then putting down the glass and lighting a cigarette, he continued,

"Speaking of things one keeps to themselves, the ship you came to Alpha with is sure an interesting one. What's the story behind that?"

RE: Wayward Wanderer of the Green Sun - Narcotic - 07-23-2014

"Gracias."

Inspecting the content of the glass, he takes a short sip, spreading the cold liquid in his mouth.

"I do not worry about Cardamine itself, but the memories I connect with it. And I prefer to not have all my senses constantly remind me of them."

He watches the cigarette starting to glow, spellbound by the orange-appearing light.

"Of course. For normal, that is the first question I always get asked by people I talk with in the first place. It is not the fact, that they seem to care more about my ship than my person, that saddens me, it is because I was not quite present at my own ship's construction - which however was more of a major upgrade still. In the making of said upgrade, I have been rather just the project initiator, not the contracting entity itself."

Lee pauses, evaluating the content he could entrust his dialog partner with.

"To put it in a nutshell; I was given access to Valetta by a former administrator of the 'Ghosts', to perform an upgrade for The Narcotic. Whereupon I ordered an artificial intelligence, to take care of the task. I had nothing special in mind. All I asked for was a better survivability, considering that I enjoy exploring the deeper Omicrons. The AI had free play. Workers and engineers were hired, ship parts were bought, databases were browsed. As said, I was not there during the construction itself. I had... health issues."

Lee winced, followed by a short shaking of his head - as if he tried to get rid of an imaginary insect sitting on his forehead. He continues as if nothing had happened;

"Odd. I am not entirely sure what the upgrade's finishing was like. All I can remember were layouts it provided me. When I am asking it today, where it had the construction plans and design from, it pretends that they are from some 'declined Outcast Destroyer'. I bet there is more behind it. Whatsoever, my expectations were exceeded by far, and so I did not kept thinking much about it."

He scratches his blue arm, obviously appearing a bit disorientated, as he tries to grasp the words he just said.

"Que? I mean - why do you ask about my ship? It is not just curiosity I can from your eyes..."

RE: Wayward Wanderer of the Green Sun - aerelm - 07-26-2014

"I'm less interested in the ship itself, and more in the visionary who'd attempt such a... bold leap, so to say."

Casually tapping twice on his glass with the tip of his finger, aerelm waited for the robot to refill it, and then continued,

"I'm a visionary like yourself, you see. Everything is capable of improvements and upgrades, and where other people would ask "Why?", people such as ourselves go for "Why not?" instead. It's human nature, really. People divide into two groups - Those running away from challenges, and those running towards it. But to skip the bullcrap, pardon the French, you had access to the facilities on an Outcast shipyard and so do I. You intended to upgrade the one ship that you felt was 'yours' and so do I. You successfully managed that, and I'm getting to it as I had a couple of busy years that took me on a run around various corners of space, and I've -just- managed to stretch my legs a little..."

Then actually stretching his legs briefly, as if the manner of speech has triggered an irresistible command in his brain, he continued,

"So as you can tell, my interest is in the work you've done, rather than its final results. Where most people would be interested in the schematics of the actual vessel, I'm more interested in the, uh... "speed bumps" so to say, you had to work through during its construction. Limitations, complications, etcetera etcetera."

RE: Wayward Wanderer of the Green Sun - Narcotic - 07-27-2014

"Visionary? I like that designation."

His view goes into the clouds, searching for a thought in the skies.

"I was indeed a 'runner' - literally. One that not even the boundaries of Malta and its natural dependence could stop. Some called me a fanatic - others a seeker. However, it is not easy to find something in an universe, if you do not even know what you are exactly looking for in the end. I suppose the journey is the reward."

Lee shakes his head to drop off the distractive line of thought, lowering his gaze to the balcony again.

"Sí, that is true. I see we have things in common. And you seem to be a like-minded person I would sympathize with..."

His eyes wander from side to side, surveying the setting for the umpteenth time.

"Yet we barely know each other. So what makes you that sure that I would entrust you with my past experience and knowledge about ship constructions? Do not get me wrong. I understand, that you tried to tempt me with a 'challenge'. Though, what would be the real gain for me?"

A cold, maniacal grin spreads on his mischievous face.

"I am just kidding. I doubt there is anything that I could want from you. So -why not-?"