16th of May 823 A.S.
Omicron Kappa System
Corinth Station, CV-Hoffnungsschimmer
Nancy sat her Serval carefully down on a pad onboard Corinth Station. She got out and looked across the hangar bay for a moment, wearing a black flight suit which seemed fairly used but well-maintained and, as for her looks went, she had blond hair that flowed over her shoulders and blue eyes.
Before going anywhere, she inspected the vessel, shaking her head a little as she noticed the damage left from the fight which had her asking the docking master to take care of it as far as he'd have the supplies for it. If not, he could leave her notes when she'd return.
Not knowing at what port the Corvo was moored, she would look up Maren after getting her backpack from her ship, wanting to bring a few belongings.
Meanwhile, Maren parked her ship with all the grace of a bear trying to scratch its own back, which is to say, she almost crashed into the opppsing wall.
Goddamnit! This trash bin will be the death of me some day, she thought, before getting out, taking a small hand bag with her, and apologizing profusely to anyone who'd care to hear about it.
The small hangar yielded nothing of interest to the eye, so she proceeded deeper into the station, figuring that there'd be some sort of confluence of corridors where they'd all meet when they'd come from the hangars. At least, that's how it was on Freeport 11. If all else failed, wanton hollering would work just as well.
A small crew capsule was released by the Apahanta near Corinth and docked at the moored Corvo - the CV-Hoffnungsschimmer. Still picturing a threesome, Ezrael entered his ship with a dumb smile, as stereotypical as it could be. Seemed like Maren and him would get used to sleeping here, and this time, it was the first time they had invited another person to a dinner. He wasn't really hoping for that threesome thing, though. In fact, he was a bit worried about that girl. Not remembering the last years, and the terrible backstory she told him before about the weird frenchmen, how he always calls the Gallics...
The Corvo was big enough for multiple families. Five decks - in comparison, the Apahanta has 16 and the bridge - holding many quarters for a potential crew. But since this ship was just for him alone, there was none, or at least no real crew, aside from some Kishiro Service Robots he bought earlier. In his spare time, he was trying to program them to do a bit more than they usually do. Not only maintaining system x, but also bringing things from the cargo bay.
So Ezrael asked one of them to bring some of the luxuary food crates he bought in Liberty. Walking down the deck's corridor, he inspected one of the empty rooms near his own quarter. Just in case if Nancy wanted to stay for the night. Most of the rooms weren't prepared or stuffed with things Ezrael bought when he was in Liberty, especially from Beaumont. Literally, one could buy everything at a Junker station.
With her ship looked after by the docking master, Nancy would head out to look for Maren or Ezrael. She wasn't too sure about what to look for, not knowing the name of the Corvo and barely having seen Maren through the visual comms of the ships.
She began following the signs that would eventually lead her to the deck where vessels were moored...
Knowing Ezrael's ship's name, it was surprisingly easy for Maren to simply look for the Hoffnungsschimmer's location as well as Nancy's. She paused for a moment.
Does Nancy even know what to look for? There might be several Corvo's docked here, she pondered while setting off towards where she'd suspected Nancy to walk along when leaving her hangar. Through neon-illuminated corridors she walked, only occasionally passing people who averted their eyes as if unwilling to talk. Perhaps the Delta Calamity was still fresh in their minds.
A family passed by, a small boy with its parents. Maren could overhear it asking something with a lisp.
An announcement screen above was evidently trying to tell a joke, perhaps to lighten the mood? The words: what is black, white and red? were visible on the screen with a timer. Without thinking, Maren muttered: "A Stuttgart Sparrow suffering from domestic abuse."
The parents of the child looked at me disdainfully and led their child away. Oops.
Maren stopped as she reached a crossroad of sorts, waiting for Nancy to either show up or for sufficient time to pass to scold herself for having read the plan incorrectly.
16th of May 823 A.S.
Omicron Kappa System
Corinth Station, CV-Hoffnungsschimmer
Nancy would walk up to Maren, although she was unaware that it was actually her, at first anyway. She stood some meters away, sighing as she felt stupid for not having asked the mooring port straight away. If Maren hadn't noticed her yet, she would begin to look around to see if she could see anyone familiar.
Noticing the familiar figure nearby, Maren supresses a devious grin as she slowly backs away somewhat, so that she could approach Nancy from behind. Walking up to her, she clears her throat, waiting for a response.
Nancy was clearly started as she heard someone behind her. She turned around with a curious expression. "o-oh... uhm? Are Maren?" she asked with a slight stutter in her voice, not having expected for her to be right behind her.
Maren nods, smiling slightly. "That would be me, yes," she replied, stroking a single atrand of brown hair behind her ear. "You know, I thought about startling you for real, but I didn't fancy my chances of you turning around and decking me across the face." she looks towards her right, around the small tree that had been placed in the middle of the small confluence to give it some character, perhaps. "You don't seem like the type who'd enjoy that." Taking a step back, she begins to turn to one of the doors that would lead into an elevator. "Come. I looked up the way."
"Heh... thanks but I wouldn't punch you to the floor. Although I'd wonder what Ezrael would've done if this had been the case." She said with a vague smirk, putting her bag a bit better over her shoulder as she began to follow Maren.
"I don't know, really," Maren lied, remembering all too well how low Vertiga had spoken about Noah Xonnel. "It is better not to find out. I'm too pretty to be punched, too." Fiddling around with the button to call the elevator, it doesn't take long until one eventually arrives, though that peobably had nothing to do with Maren's insistant pressing of said button. The door swings open and Maren enters, pressing her own bag to her chest. "I bloody hate elevators and their bland music..."
Nancy looked up at the ceiling for a moment, not minding the music much herself. She stayed quiet, thinking a little about some things as she wasn't sure if Maren had minded it that Ezrael had asked her over for this dinner. "For how long have you two been seeing each other?" She asked quietly and a little curious.
"Uh, I think... Two weeks, maybe? It's hard ro tell." She hums, making a ponderous face. "We've been around each other a bit. I guess the stigma of the Core kind of prevented initial interaction." The doors swung open and Maren beckoned for Nancy ro follow.
"Not that long then, you two sound like you've been together forever though." She said with a kind smile, following her out and letting Maren guide her wherever although she was paying attention to where they were actually going.
Maren raises an eyebrow as she led Nancy across a quite populated deck. This seemed to be some sort of social area, though its exact nature seemed ungraspable without indepth knowledge. "Does it really seem that way? I mean, we're just... our dorky selves, I guess. To think that this all started with me literally demanding in public that he call me sweetheart when first he asked for my name." She laughs demurely.
They pass an isle of people and turn left, approaching another elevator that was just opening as they approached it. With the door open, Maren saw the same family from before. Their boy squinted at Maren before asking his father innocently what domestic abuse way. The man shot Maren a sour look. Oh boy, that was going to be a fun talk for him.
Smiling awkwardly at the parents of the boy, Maren passed them and entered the elevator, Nancy rifht behind her.
Nancy exchanged some looks as well but kept quiet until they were in the next elevator. "You told him to call you that? Makes me wonder if you're really a sweetheart." Nancy said with a small grin.
"Of course I am." She leans towards Nancy so she can lower her voice somewhat. "To be fair, at the time, it was just tongue in cheek humor, akin to that which you overheard already. It just... developed, I guess."
The door swings open again revealing a long pathway that leads to several mooring points for bigger vessels. Most were not taken and rhus it was easy to spot where the Hoffnungsschimmer was moored.
"I can probably not tell you much about the circumstances, but Vertiga and I have been through some stuff in the short while we know each other. I do like him quite a lot." Blushing somewhat, they walk towards the Hoffnungsschimmer's airlock, which was locked. Maren queried the computer to inform the ship's owner that there were visitors entreating entrace at the door.
"I guess everyone has their stories here in the omicrons," she said quietly, letting Maren type away although she did feel slightly nervous about entering a foreign vessel with people she hardly knew. Her nervousness making her briefly look over her shoulder as her paranoia started to kick in more.
Catching the motion in the corner of her eye, Maren turn her head to Nancy, a curious look on her face. "Have you forgotten something?"
"uhm.. no? At least I don't think so," Nancy said a little startled by Maren's comment. Giving her a weird smile as she tried to shake her thoughts.
"Uh, yeah, it was just that I thought you'd seen something." She typed the final command; now it would be Ezrael's turn to either open the air lock or suffer the wrath of a woman scorned. "I usually only look back when I know I forgot something but am too lazy to go and pick it up."
"It's nothing, don't worry about it." Nancy muttered, rubbing two fingers over her temple as she kept some nervousity.
The Airlock opens half a minute later, revealing a smirking Ezrael. Nancy was a hottie, he tought, and then he noticed Maren following his eyes. "Come in! Dinner is about to be ready. And no. No baked potatoes."
Rolling her eyes at Vertiga's antics, Maren turned to Nancy as they followed their eccentric host into the ship's intestines. "Well, if you say it's nothing." She hummed, remembering Vertiga's disposition to withdrawing a certain other bottle before he'd find water, shaking the thought out of her head.
Nancy gave a weak smile to the smirking Ezrael before following Maren inside. She remained quiet while looking around the hallways of the Corvo as she tried to remember everything as best she could.
"I hope you like Curry Rice. It's awesome. Bought some Kyushu Rice in Kusari, Curry Mix and that chicken meat they sell in Liberty. Maybe a bit spicy, but a glass of clean water will do it," he said, escorting the ladies to a sort-of cantina. It was bright in here, and on the left side the windows showed the planet Tirane with it's ring. Some of the chairs were lying around from the last time the gravity generator didn't keep up with an evasion manouver.
One of the Kishiro Service Robots was cooking. Little slices of libertonian chicken meat were in the frying pan, boiled rice in a pot, some bottles of different juices already stood at the counter.
Maren nods approvingly. "Seems like an improvement over the baked potato rations and instant tea." She eyed the chairs et cetera that lay is disarray. "Are you sure the gravity stuff isn't broken? This probably shouldn't happen."
"You know, when the Corsairs caught us in Gamma, I accidentally rammed some rocks in that field. But the zoner engineering team said everything's okay."
"At least it smells nice." Nancy commented while she looked around a vague smile on her as she seemed to be comfortable with the surrounding, or perhaps impressed. She walked to a chair, wanting to pick it up to put it back at the table.
Maren plopped down on a chair with a content sigh, giving Nancy a wry look. "Are you that keen on keeping stuff clean? I think it gives the room some character," she states before finally getting up again and helping keep some order herself lest she feel guilty. Food was apparently a few minutes away anyways.
"I figured it would be easier to sit on if they weren't laying down?" she replied with a raised eyebrow, putting her bag right by her feet before sitting down at the table.
Maren raised a finger, pausing before replying: "That might very well be the case, you're right." She sat down herself, putting her own bag on her lap, folding her hands before her. "I feel like in my old middle-school cafeteria, except there are no idiots, the food might just be edible and the guy serving me looks decent."
"But I tried very hard!" Vertiga took a seat right next to Maren, aimlessly looking over to the steamy kitchen behind the counter. Robots are a thing, but it's still funny to see those guys cooking. In fact, they must be better than any human cook with all those optical sensors and hard-coded recipes. While Kishiro delivered this sort of program as part of the maintenance software package, the curry rice recipe was manually coded and Ezrael himself is really unsure if it will work. "Just make yourself comfy, Sweetwater. I'll show you your room later, then you can decide if you want to stay here or return to your small little ship or the chaotic freeport in Delta."
"The Freeport in Sigma 15 if anything, have my other ship there. But we will see if your room can convince me," she replied with a kind tone.
"There's a Freeport in Sigma 15?" Maren inquired. "I haven't heard of that yet. That is a new one, right?"
"I heard about it," Ezrael said, still suspiciously watching the robots, "when the big ion storm hit sirius, some jump holes got reconnected and the Zoners moved some stations from A to B using those big-ass jump drives."
Maren shrugged. "Well, I don't rightly care how they do it. It's maybe something to consider if one were to not want to live near these strange robots in Kappa and the Core in Delta." Following Vertiga's gaze, her eyes rested on the robots. "Those seem quite handy." She smiled wryly. "Better than relying on me to cook for you, I guess."
"They are. Kishiro does a good job on those things. Did some gunnery training with those guys on the turrets. Sadly, they are better than me when it comes to accuracy, but I still think they don't have the intuition when it comes to enemy movement." He turns his head back to Maren. She had wisp of hair lying on her eyebrow, and it looked funnily like she only had one big eyebrow. He smirked at her, removing the wisp.
"Aaanyways," she began, turning to Nancy, blushing at Vertiga's touch. "What about you? Do you know how to wield the pans or are you more in the business of wielding, err..." she trailed off. "Okay, I don't know what I was going to say there. Point and case, do you live with someone?"
"I'm no cook really and uhm... I live by myself, as far as I know," she said with a croaked smile, feeling weird when talking about her past or her current situation.
"Right, I understand." Sighing, Maren gives Nancy an apologetic look. "I should be more considerate. I knew you don't remember much; I was just curious of how it is right now."
16th of May 823 A.S.
Omicron Kappa System
Corinth Station, CV-Hoffnungsschimmer
Turning to the side, Maren sneezes once. "Handsome, how's the food? I'm hungryyy."
"Don't worry about it..." Nancy said with a careful smile although was clearly feeling uneasy. She brushed a strand of her hair behind her ear, looking away from the two of them and distracting herself with the interior.
Perhaps to strike up a conversation, Maren began talking. "I also have to correct myself regarding something I said earlier. I did talk with Gauls before. I've travelled a bit through Gallia, after all — pure curiosity." She opened her hand bag and withdrew a small inhaler and a canister. "The problem was that they don't speak a word of English if you're talking to normal people. So, what I meant to say was that I've been talking at them, rather than with them." Putting the canister into the inhaler's receptacle, she uses it once, visibly relaxing a bit afterwards. "Let me tell ya: It's a bloody pain trying to make them understand anything. Worse is their attitude..."
"It's funny, in my ship there are some stickers with translations to explain what is what," she replied. "I'm not sure on what to think of Gallia though is their attitude really bad?"
"Stickers?" Maren titters bemusedly. "That's golden." Placing the inhaler on the table before her, she leans back a little. "Well, walking along the streets of Ille de France: I did feel like literal dirt on these people's shoes. I don't know what it was, but they seemed to know that I was not from there, even if I spoke no word. There was one encounter that was vaguely friendly during the entire 'trip'-" She did air quotes. "before I left because I couldn't take it anymore. Did steal a bottle of wine from one of the more stuck up market vendors on Marne, though. Deserved it, he."
"I guess you know more about Gallia than me then," she said quietly, looking at the inhaler a little curiously but not wanting to ask about it as she thought it might be related to this cold that had been mentioned before. She let out a quiet sigh, as she thought about her home and her own origin from Leeds where now Gallia had their troops marching down the streets. The thought made her feel sick but she kept it for herself, not wanting to drag the mood down with the war.
Looking at Maren's inhaler, Ezrael remembered the evening when Maren and him were in Omicron Gamma. Those Corsairs. He was actually scared. Not about they attacking him, but attacking her. Lost in thoughts, he didn't notice two robots approaching the table, serving the finished Curry Rice on plates. It looked awfully perfect. It seems like those robots calculated how every single grain of rice landed on the plate. One third was just rice, still steaming, one third was the curry souce and the last third was the curried chicken slices. The second robot put the silverware on the table. The movements were gentle, but their naked robot appearance made it lack in soul. Ezrael was already comfy with that. He always loved robots, but the AI drones in Delta showed him how dangerous they can be.
"Oh my, that looks quite good." Picking up the fork in the right and the spoon in the left hand, Maren bade her companions bon Appetit, waiting for them to be ready to start eating themselves out of courtesy.
Nancy sat back to give the robots some space to place her plate in front of her. "You'd have some water too right?" she asked Ezrael.
"Uh, we have literally everything here. Alcoholic drinks from all over sirius, fruit juices from Curacao and Tomioka, lots of different kinds of tea from Curacao, those synthetic stuff from Synth Foods and, of course, fresh water. And with fresh, I mean really fresh water in bottles. Not just the recycled pee like they have in most of the stations in the Omicrons."
Maren raised a finger as if interrupting. "But actually all water could have been pee at one point. Also: way to bring up pee during a meal." Shaking her head, she makes a wry face. "On a more serious note: Does the software work? You know that which we've acquired in Liberty."
"Just water for me works." She said in a polite tone, her shaking her head a little as they were talking about 'pee' while dinner was right on the table.
"Well, you heard the lady, robots. One glass of the good water for the Sweetwater." He watched one of the robots moving to the counter, bringing a glass and a bottle of clean water back to the table. The bot even opened the bottle for her and filled the glass to the half. "Isn't that awesome? I'm totally in love with those guys!" One second later, his eyes opened widely, turning his head to a cheeky grining Maren. "Don't worry. You're still a bit above them. As far as I know, they don't kiss that well. Didn't try it yet, though."
"Oh, and about the software... well, it works. It's cool. But I guess it's better we only use it if it's unavoidable. Am still a fan of delivering the messages myself. Just curious."
"Software?" she asked quietly and a little curious while she began to put a bite on her fork, looking at them as she wondered if it was okay to start eating.
Watching the girls can't wait to eat, Ezraels also grabs his fork, piercing a slice of chick. "Yeh, the software... well, I can't tell you the whole story yet, but, you know, you're aware of me behaving way different for a Core captain. Let's just say, I try to not kill everyone at sight. In the past the Apahanta made some friends within other factions, even within the Order. You may remember the OCV-Striker, when we saw it behind Taivutu in Delta. Just one example. And we needed a software to contact our friends without Core knowing it. You know, my superiors wouldn't like it."
Maren watched Ezrael speak, occasionally taking a bite but mostly listening.
He also took a bite and instantly sighed in joy. "Boy, I love chicks." He smirked over to Nancy.
Leaning over to Nancy, Maren whispered: "Play along. He'll stumble over his own bravour in time."
"You know, I heard that. Maybe I'll take a bite from you, Maren."
Nancy looked at the table as she heard Maren whisper, having a slight blush on her even when the situation made her a little uncomfortable. "The food is nice," she said, trying to evade the comments and look Ezrael gave her.
Maren placed down her fork and spoon to be able to give Nancy her full attention before adding to her last comment in a, what she hoped was, a soothing voice. "If at any point you're not comfortable with our attitude, say so. Please don't be shy when telling us we're being dumbasses. Ezrael invited you because he thinks you're a good person, one that's worth being around and I trust his judgment."
Picking up the inhaler again, she used it once more. "The Omicrons can be a dangerous and solitary place, especially with the recent developments in Delta. People are desperate, afraid, and with good reason. It's not everyday that we meet someone like you."
"You two should just be yourself. Don't mind me," she mumbled quietly, before taking another bite.
"Uh, well, I don't behave different when I'm alone with Maren. However, I usually don't wear any clothes then."
"You don't mind him talking this way?" she asked Maren, actually wondering what she thought of the loose lips of Ezrael.
Maren just raised an eyebrow. "Well, he talks big, but he's all bark and no bite. He's a big softie behind all that bravado." She picked up her fork and took a bite of the chicken, swallowing. "I admit it is sometimes a bit much, especially in public, but I cannot and would not want to change him. I accept people for how they are." She began to blush a bit as she stumbled over the last words.
"I'm pretty overbearing at times as well, as I'm sure you've noticed. So I guess the same could be said about me in that regard." She hummed. "Probably why I was about to be booted from the MND, but that's neither here nor there at this point."
"Talking big?" he asked Maren, fake-offended, slightly pointing with a chicken-pierced fork in her direction. "I made everything come true yet. It's just all about living in the here and now. I admit, I'm a bit too hedonistic, maybe."
Suddenly, his fake-offense dropped for a thought. He eyeballed his plate. "You know, there isn't much place for mistakes in the Omicrons. I really want to spend my time making the people around me happy, doing stupid jokes and all that stuff. And before Maren and I had this here, I may have been exactly the way I appear, whoring around all over Curacao and even within the Core." And then he thought that wasn't the best thing to tell at a dinner. "But, you know, things change. Now I just want Maren to be happy. And you, because you seem so sad all the time." Again, he thought he may have had find a better way to say it.
"Sorry." She sighed quietly, looking down at her plate moving her fork slowly through the rice, seeming a little lost in her own thought.
"No!"
"Don't be sorry. Don't excuse yourself."
"Be more like 'Thanks!'"
"Thanks?" She asked confused.
"You know, thanks. Maren and I do care a little bit about you. You don't need to feel sorry for being here or whatever you may have thought right now. It was our decision to invite you, and yet I don't think we have to regret it. So, instead of being sorry, be thankful. That's a more positive way than regretful. You know. Smile. I know you can do that. Saw that already. So, take another bite from the chick, stuff your mouth with rice and give us a big funny smile!"
A bit anxious in the wake of the recent emotional exchange, Maren eyed both Ezrael and Nancy with caution, not wanting to interrupt yet visibly touched by Vertiga's words about her.
Nancy sighed again as she eyed her food, not really wanting to look for eye contact. A quiet gulp could be heard as she started to feel a lump in her throat. "I do appreciate your invitation. I just... apologized for eh... not appearing as happy." She mumbled, having completely lost her appetite.
Maren nodded, seeing that Nancy apparently was in no mood to talk about her issue, if there was one. After all, she might just be naturally inclined to not be as talkative or 'happy'. "What Ezrael wanted to say was that we care about you; it is what friends do, after all — That and positioning a Mako between your ship and a hostile Order agent's." Putting her cutlery on the plate, she shoved it away from herself, almost empty. "We don't know what the issue is, if there even is one. Just know that we're here if you want to talk. It is all that we can offer."
"I don't really want to talk about my issues..." she sighed quietly, shoving her own plate away a little even when it was half full still.
Maren nodded understandingly, figuring that it was probably a good time to end this before it got too awkward. Perhaps Nancy would be in a better mood tomorrow? "Of course. Do you want to sleep in the room that Ezrael offered you? You'd have complete privacy there, I promise."
"I guess..." She mumbled, seeming to be far from comfortable and a little disappointed herself that she had to leave the food standing as she had not appetite anymore, even when it had tasted well.
To clear her throat a little she reached for the glass of water and gulped it empty before placing it back on the table and looked carefully at Ezrael, guessing he should show her around.
"Well..." He also pushed his plate away. One of the service bots noticed it and began to collect the plates and the cutlery. "If you want something to eat over the night, just come here and ask those robot buddies to give you something, right?" He turned his head to Maren, smiling giving her a nod and stands up. "About the room..."
Maren and Nancy followed him. The cantina was on the same deck as the bridge and the rooms Ezrael and Maren use. Maren thought about something and suddenly went to her and his quarter. The door was open, and after one little peek into it, she slammed the door from the outside, so Nancy wasn't able to see how their room looked like in that moment. She smirked at Ezrael and Nancy, without giving an explaination.
Ezrael showed Nancy the room on the opposite side. A comfortable bed with lots of pillows, a table with three chairs, some closets, some metal crates filled with consumer goods and synth paste tubes as well as water bottles. The windows showed the Corinth stations wall, without any window to be in view.
"This is it. Way better than the rooms at any freeport, as far as I know, and no drunk people will knock at your door and try to sell you cardamine or other weird stuff. Our rooms is over there. Just knock and wait a minute, because, you know. If you want to leave the ship, just tell us. And if you need something, you can ask us too, or just ask the service robots."
"Thank you," she said with a soft smile, holding her back closely to herself while she stepped into the room and looked around. "I didn't mean to cut dinner so short. I do really appreciate you two willing to spent some time and looking after me," she added as she sat down on the edge of the bed and looked at him.
"It's okay. Take your time and try to relax a bit. Feel free to use the neural net access pads or listen to music or whatever you want. Maren and I will leave you now, alright?"
"Alright... good night you two." She said with a friendly smile before looking at the bed and dropping back on it, expecting for him to close the door behind him on his way out.
Maren bids Nancy good night before taking a step back, waiting for Ezrael to close the door and come along.
"Have a good slumber!" He closed the door by pressing the button on the interface next to it. He turns to Maren, smiling at her. "Well, then it's just the two of us this night. Sad about it? We still could try to contact the weird lesbian corsair girl, eh?" Joking, he took her hand and gently pulled her over to their room.
"I don't really feel like it at the moment. Let's just sleep, please." She allowed Ezrael to lead her to their room and the door closed behind them with a sense of finality.
Nancy laid on her back for a while staring and the ceiling before a small beep broke her train of thought. She sighed and sat up, beginning to dig through her bag where she found a small device and held it against her wrist after rolling up her sleeve a little. After hearing a small beep again she sighed quietly in a relief.
After that she would head to the bathroom to grab a shower and get into some clothes for the night and once crawled under the sheets she checked her PDA for a while before deciding to try and get some sleep, something that apparently didn't take her much effort as she'd be far away in her sleep moments later.
Nancy remained asleep, barely moving in the night and not easily being disturbed in her deep sleep. On the nightstand by her side there were two small PDA devices while her bag laid on the floor next against the side of the bed. Her flight suit was however nearly folded and hung over a chair in the corner of the room.
A bit across the ship, the other inhabitants of the Hoffnungsschimmer prepared for sleep themselves. A somewhat uneasy feeling had taken hold of both of them, as Nancy's behaviour did seem rather worrisome. However, there seemed to be nothing that they could do about it; she would hopefully pull herself up by her bootstraps in the morning.
Thus silence claimed ownership of the vessel for several hours. Nancy seemed to be still asleep in the morning and Ezrael and Maren therefore decided that it was best to leave her be; the last thing needed was getting thrown out of bed in the morning. There was no loss in letting her stay anyways.
Well, except if she pilfered stuff, but she wouldn't do that, right?
17th of May 823 A.S.
Omicron Kappa System
Corinth Station, CV-Hoffnungsschimmer
Nancy remained asleep, sleeping further into the day. Sometimes being disturbed by a dream which made her roll over but it wasn't enough to wake her up. Upon returning from their endeavour to find a new ship for Maren, however, Nancy was nowhere to be found around the ship. Strangely, not even the kitchen seemed to have been entered.
Searching the common rooms of the ship yielded no results either, and so it was to be assumed that she was still in her room, even after the now probably sixteen or so hours that had passed after the door had been closed initially.
Worry started to claw at the backs of the newly arrived. Judging by Nancy's bahaviour the day prior, it might be possible that she was holing herself up in that room, refusing to eat, maybe even worse. There was nothing to really substantiate that assumption and thus Ezrael entreated Maren to maybe go look for Nancy.
Maybe she was fine, and if that was the case, it would probably be better to send a woman to her, lest Nancy think Ezrael was a creep watching women sleep.
Knocking on Nancy's door quite audibly, Maren tried getting the girl's attention. "Nancy? Are you still in there? We're worried about you. You've been in there for how long now? Fifteen hours? You must be hungry." She put a hand behind her left ear, listening attentively for an answer.
Nancy remained asleep and undisturbed by the knocking on the door. Maren's voice didn't wake her either so there was no reply coming her way.
"Bloody hell," groused Maren, giving Vertiga, who was waiting a bit down the hallway, an exasperated stare. She was somewhat uncomfortable with entering another woman's private rooms, even if this one was just occupied temporarily.
Taking a look at the console left to the room, she inquired about the override code for the door controls from Vertiga and rolled her eyes as she entered Sugartits. The doors slip open. Maren took a tentative step inside, unsure, taking in the sight of the room.
Nancy was laying on her side with the sheets tightly pulled over her, making it almost impossible to see her sleeping face, her hair that was spread over the pillow shower gave away she was laying there, besides the shape of her body under the sheets.
Seeing the crumpled mess of a person cocooned on the mattress, Maren frowned, taking another step towards the person. "Nancy? Don't tell me you're still sleeping. I mean, what the hell? What are you, a sloth?" She came to a halt standing before Nancy's bed.
Nancy murmured something almost indauble but remained asleep.
"Wait, she's still sleeping? Is she naked? I mean, can I come in or what?" He was still hiding in the hallway, not even daring to take a peek.
Taking one look at Nancy, she whispered in Vertiga's direction, unsure of whether it would be good to wake Nancy up. "She's sleeping, alright. Though I don't know if she's wearing anything. She's covered in her blanket like a lil' baby. I really think we should probably leave her alone. She probably had a harsh day or two. Let her sleep."
Nancy didn't get disturbed still, laying there silently. If they would check they would find her dressed in a red nighty, with slim straps over her shoulders.
"Well, then let her sleep. I mean, I'm hungry and you ate up my money," he said silently, and the later parts of the sentence were mere mumbling than actually talking.
"The thing is that, if she has been sleeping for sixteen hours and barely ate and drank anything when we left, I'm pretty sure she's quite hungry and slash or dehydrated very soon." Maren weighed her head from side to side, apparently torn between the options of how to proceed.
He sighed. "Then you can bring her something to eat and drink later. I mean, it's up to you if you want to wake her up. But make sure she doesn't have a gun under the pillow. I remember a girl that stayed with me over a night and... well, you can imagine."
Maren replied through grit teeth. "I can imagine..." She leaned forward, checking briefly for any weapon of wanton murder under Nancy's pillow with her hand before using it to shake her shoulder gently. "Rise and shine, sugar. Please don't die of thirst. It's not good for your kidneys."
"Seriously. That's a thing. Especially in Liberty. Guns, everywhere." He dared to give the room's interior a peek.
Nancy didn't have anything near her besides her two PDA devices on the nightstand. Maren's words making her mumbled something but wasn't enough to really wake her still.
Maren shook Nancy again, more forceful this time, hoping that she wouldn't be decked across the face for this. "Naaaancy! Less nappy more wakey!"
"E-eh?" She sounded in a confused and startled way. Blinking her eyes in a brief moment of fright as she was suddenly disturbed from her sleep. In the shock she reached for Maren's wrist even when she didn't fully understand what was going on.
Ezrael disappears behind the wall again.
Well, thanks, Handsome, Maren thought sourly as she observed Vertiga buggering off behind the wall again. Turning her attention to Nancy, she hold her hand still of which the wrist had been firmly clasped by Nancy. "Easy there, Nancy. It's just us, uhm me, that is."
"She isn't naked, right?" he loudly asked.
Nancy looked confused at Maren, staring at her as she clueless for a moment about who she was even looking at or where she was for that matter. The comment of Ezreal didn't help and caused an even more confused expression while she slowly let go of Maren's wrist and look down at herself, to check if she was even dressed.
"Well, she's awake. Do wait a bit, though, Ezrael," she addressed Vertiga outside the room before turning to Nancy again. "Is it normal that you sleep this long? We were worried about you, thought that you slipped into a coma or something."
"Uhm..." She sounded confused, slowly sitting up a little and pulling the sheets with her to keep herself covered while she also reached for her head, seeming to be annoyed by a headache. "Eh... how long did I sleep?" She asked with a sleepy quiet and hoarse voice.
In the hallway, one of the service robots walked around, scanning for dust particles. It's always the same robot. He follows Ezrael always around, like a stalker, because from time to time, Ez looses some stray hair, and this bot is eager to let them vanish right after that.
"You," Ezrael said to the bot. "You, if you're not all too busy waiting for my hair to scatter, do me a favor and make some breakfast plates for us and our guest." Without a response, the robot nodded, walking to the cantina.
"Roughly sixteen hours plus minus one?" Maren wagered. "In any case: It was way longer than people normally sleep. There's usually a point where the body refuses to sleep anymore, thus I was worried. That and you didn't eat much yesterday. The longer one sleeps, the less activity there is in the circulatory system, and given that you haven't eaten much, this would've been really really bad."
"Hrm..." she complainrd quitly, rubbing her eyes clear from the sleep before she looked around the room in dazed way. "I keep sleeping a lot...I guess... I guess it's because of my head?" she mumblrd quietly.
"So, uhm, this is normal?" Maren asked, confusion plain as day in her voice. "I- This- It's, uhm, alright, I guess..." she trailed off awkwardly. "Sooo, everything is fine?"
Impatient, Ezrael leans against the wall, listening, looking down at his black Core overall. There was one single stray hair sticking at his left thight. Smirking, he removed it with a snip, thinking of the robot.
"I don't know if it's okay." She sighed quietly starting ahead if her as she was still sleepy and didnt really know what to say to Maren.
Maren sat down on the bed, careful not to accidentally cause Nancy any discomfort. "We're sorry for this intrusion. Given what you said yesterday, you don't want to talk to us about it, and that's fine." She sighed, looking out the window for a moment. "I guess it's best if we leave you to do your morning routine. Again, we're sorry for maybe overreacting here."
"it's okay... I understand. Did he tell you anything I told him?" Nancy said quietly, looking at the door for a moment before she looked at Maren, covering her mouth in the meantime as she tried to hold back her yawn.
"Uhm, no, I don't think so," Maren replied, sounding clueless.
"Not that I really explained much..." she said with a croaked and sorry smile.
"Little over a week ago... I woke up on my own, laying on a bed. Had a massive headache... and I couldn't recall anything. I first thought I was just having an hang-over. Worst one I ever had probably. But.. eh... it wasn't that, and I didn't just forget one night. Years... they are just... gone," she said slowly, moving her hand over her forehead as she had a headache still after waking up, although it was nothing in comparison of that one morning.
"You did say that you couldn't remember anything," mumbled Maren who was apparently a bit overwhelmed at the actual magnitude of Nancy's loss. "Entire years... I can't even fathom..."
"Unless you tell me it's not really 823?" she asked quietly giving her a hopeful smile as she still had some denial about her current state, hoping it all wasn't real.
Seeing Nancy's expression, so vastly different from the stoic countenance she usually bore, the cruelty of what Maren was about to do almost caused her to choke on the words. "I'm... afraid I can't do that."
"Hm... thought so," she said, still being disappointed as she did get her hopes up even when she knew the chances of all of this being some elaborate prank were minimal. "Four or five years are just gone." She sighed, looking down at the bed sheets to where her feet would be.
"Well, do you want to get them back?" Maren cocks her head, looking Nancy in the eyes. "It's unlikely that you've been holed up for those years. We could seek out people that have known you, talk to them, piece together the puzzle, and in the end, you'll know who you were." She smiled, hoping Nancy would pick up on her use of the plural.
"Ehm... in my flight suit, left front pocket? There should be a note, you can read that," Nancy said quietly, looking at her flight suit that was hanging over the chair in the corner of the room. She herself didn't move and kept the sheets properly around herself so that only her head was really visible.
If Maren paid attention she might have had a glimpse of Nancy's shoulder as her left one had a visible round scar that could have been linked to a gunshot wound she had in the past. On the inside of her left wrist she also had a tattoo, being a barcode with a small number. Both she tried to keep out of sight however.
Casting a glance at said flight suit, Maren overlooked anything that might have been suspicious about Nancy. Cantering over to said flight suit, Maren pondered calling for Ezrael but decided against it. After all, this was still a lady's room. Withdrawing the little note after some searching, she straightened out the paper and began to read, her back to Nancy. Once she was done, she hummed. "I... really don't know what to say to this. It must've been harrowing."
Nancy,
By the time you read this, you might be cursing the huge headache you felt right after waking up, but I hope you managed to find painkillers in the bathroom. Not only that, you might feel confused as well, wondering how the hell you ended up inside a Gallic freighter. First of all, it belongs to you, and so does the Gallic fighter parked next to you. No kidding.
I know, that's unlikely to be the only question you have, but I'm afraid I won't be there to answer them. If you decide to search for answers, please, don't dare to venture into Bretonia and Kusari unless you have enough protection: The law-enforcers may still be looking to arrest you for crimes that you will be unable to remember right now. If I was you, I would forget about figuring out what kind of crime I committed, but I can't blame you if you feel pushed to know what happened. It's the first warning I can give you.
The second and last warning, you probably noticed the device next to you on the bed. It's a scanner that only works for the bar-code on your arm. There's a 'post-it' paper glued to the side containing the proper instructions about its usage and how often must be used. Don't ever think on skipping a scan, otherwise you will die.
Wish I could finish this note with an advice for you, but think I'm poisoned enough with double standards to even take my own advices serious anymore. Wait, I can give you an honest advice: Don't waste your time searching for me.
Stay safe.
"Found that after I started to look around." She sighed quietly, the note reminding her of the device that was now laying on the nightstand, she eyed it briefly as well as the inside of her wrist before she turned it away again to hide it from them.
17th of May 823 A.S.
Omicron Kappa System
Corinth Station, CV-Hoffnungsschimmer
"It would seem like Kusari and Bretonian authorities would have a lot to say about you, with all the implications that may have..." Maren waved the little piece of paper around. "Don't dare venture into Bretonia and Kusari unless you have enough protection," she repeated. "This almost seems like you're quite renowned."
"I met someone who knew me from the time I can't remember. She was flabbergasted or... well...she just stared at me not knowing what to say. Asked me where Steve was. Some guy I don't even know..." Nancy explained quietly. "Do you know the Reavers Maren?" she whispered, turning a bit more pale as she was embarrassed and even afraid to tell anyone.
"I don't know the Reavers," Maren replied, her expression unreadable.
Nancy sighed, looking at the window. "It's a mercenary group. In the days I still remember I was just a freelancer on my own. Kusari was still busy attacking Bretonia and I... helped defending our home. The Reavers however were mercenaries working for Kusari, I saw them here and there. They were considered terrorists by Bretonia." she explained quietly, brushing a strand of her hair behind her ear before sighing once more.
"And you're saying this because..." she trailed off once the pieces fell into place. "Bretonia considers you hostile... the Reavers were considered terrorists..." She frowned. "But no. Kusari wouldn't have anything against you if that were the case."
"You can't talk about this with anyone okay? I don't even know if all of this is the truth... " she asked with a pressing but quiet voice. Not wanting to tell her more unless Maren promised.
Maren raised her hands defensively. "Hey, hey, I won't tell a soul. I'm not arrogant enough to assume I'm entitled to decide for you what people should know about you," she assured Nancy, hoping she conveyed her message properly. "Between you and me: Ezrael and myself aren't exactly angels either. I know the value of people you can confide in."
"I guess he can know... but no one else," she mumbled, frowning a little. "Apparently I worked for a mercenary group that was contracted by Bretonia. So I did bad things in their name against Kusari... that had me eventually captured. And uhm.... the leader of the Reavers got me out of jail at the condition I would work for them..." she continued quietly.
"I don't know what was driving me or if that was even me but apparently I did bad things against Bretonia as well, for the Reaver... who... eh when the war with Kusari ended, started to work for Gallia...hence the ships.... I guess. My Several even has the Reaver insignia on it," she muttered, slowly moving to lay on her side again, keeping the sheets closely wrapped around herself whole she faced the window.
Maren nodded. "Alright. That would at least explain the circumstances." She stood up from the bed. "I'm pretty sure breakfast is almost ready. Meet us in the room we had our more than awkward dinner," she tittered before taking a few steps towards the door. "Don't worry about your secret, Nancy: it is secure with the both of us." Raising her hand, she makes a motion as if zipping her mouth shut, then smiled deviously. "And no, we don't think less of you knowing this, I'm quite sure. After all, in the Omicrons, nobody really has clean hands, so to speak."
"Hm... I guess I hate myself the most... I don't see why I'd ever go against my own house... did what I did..." she mumbled quietly, not really having heard Maren about the breakfast as she wasn't paying much attention.
Maren snapped her fingers, trying to jerk Nancy out of her reverie.
"Uhm?" Nancy sounded confused
Realizing that she might have seemed quite rude, Maren tried to rectify her misstep by smiling. "We can't help you with how you see yourself. We can help you find out why you did what you did, and once that's clear..." She pauses for a moment, "it is up to you to decide whether you can live with that or not." She shakes her head. "But that's for later. Now we will get food." Rapping on the door frame twice, she made a move to leave.
"What if I can't?" she asked, her eyes full of fear as she sat up to look at Maren.
Maren, halfway out the door, froze. Nancy couldn't see her face but if she were to see it, it would be evident that Maren was struggling for words on how to phrase what she was about to say. "I've... also been in a situation where I've thought I would not be able to get up from." She stuttered over the words, as if suddenly finding it really hard to speak. "What helped me was the certainty that there are people willing to look out for me, people who also rely on me." She sighed heavily. "It's a struggle, yes. One that has to be won by you, in the end. All that friends can offer you is... a hand to keep you steady. It can be a reason to live. It can be." Turning her head to Nancy, it can be seen that Maren has bitten her lip, a nervous habit. "But if you really were to feel like you couldn't live with it, I understand. At the end of the road, if you really feel this way, talk to me."
Nancy let out a shivering sigh. "I was told I killed a lot of innocent people on Cambridge..." She sniffled, looking out of the window with her eyes becoming a little red. "Why would I turn against Bretonia?!" She cried with a broken voice, venting out her thoughts as she didn't understand, not that she'd expect for Maren to know the answer to her question either.
Clearly conflicted, Maren looked at the display of misery playing out before her, for the first time wishing she'd had any friends during her childhood where she could've gathered practice regarding such scenarios. Turning around she sat down next to the broken Nancy, and silently offered her physical comfort since she didn't know what else there really was to say.
"Don't they always say you have to learn from your mistakes? Even in the note he says it... how am I supposed to know when I don't remember?" she asked with reddened eyes and quiet sniffle as she was desperately looking for answers.
"You can't, at least not yet," answered Maren, hoping to all that was holy that she was not making it worse. "The note gave you pointers on where to look for your past, even though it tries to dissuade you from persuing thst knowledge."
Maren tries to get Nancy to look her in the eyes. "But above all: don't presume that what people say is the gold standard of truth. The one who told you this might have been malinformed or ideologically charged against the Reavers, kind of like the Zoners in Delta are all too quick to deem all Core personnel genocidal maniacs."
Still listening to all of it, and feeling bad for not showing himself but just leaning against the wall, frozen, not knowing how to react to cheer up the situation a bit, Ezrael simply decided to do nothing until the situation would allow it. Maren did her best to be what Nancy needed in the moment, and he was sure he wanted to reward that later. Unsure on what to do, he silently dropped himself down to sit, still leaning his back against the wall. Something similar like Nancy said will happen in the near future. He will have to trick his own crew, and alhthough he tried to not spend a thought on it, possibly kill some of them by doing so. Core-members weren't innocent, he told himself, and yet it was murder, possibly on a large scale, against those who to some point trusted him. On the other hand, that wasn't much trust, and chances were high that they would kill him wihout mercy if he's not faster than them.
Nancy took a deep breath, tying to overcome her emotions but that seemed impossible. "Kall said... that... this Steve... he loves me." She spoke in a broken sentence, sniffling still.
"And that is a problem for you? Because you don't remember how you felt yourself?" Maren asked cautiously, extending her left arm to stroke Nancy's back softly, comfortingly.
"Yeah... all I heard was about myself from the time I forgot... it just doesn't make any sense to me. Why would I do all these things." she mumbled quietly, calming down a little and taking another deep breath, as she didn't want to be this upset in front of Maren or Ezrael wherever he might be.
"That is what we will find out, if you want our help." At this point, Maren seemed to have somewhat eased into her current role, becoming a bit more confident.
"I don't really want to find out more than I already did about my.... bad things?..." Nancy mumbled.
"Of course that is completely up to you. You do seem to have an issue with your conscience, though." She scratched her nose. "Can you silence that little voice in your head?"
"I wish I could." She mumbled quietly, not really knowing what to say as she felt it was impossible to simply shake the thoughts where she doubted herself on who she really was.
Taking in Nancy's body language, it seemed to Maren like Nancy was at least not on the verge of tears anymore. "Then there is only one way to go, sadly." Still stroking Nancy's back rhythmically, she continued. "I think you're being quite brave for not turning your back to these things even though it would be so much easier to just live on."
"How can I ignore them? I'll get arrested in half of Sirius if I show my face." She snorted quietly, frowning a little as she remained upset although it seemed to be more anger but at least it wasn't directed at Maren.
"I would be as well," muttered Maren in a tone akin to Nancy's. "I betrayed Rheinland."
"Why?" she asked quietly, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand.
She hesitated, clearly in thought, before pronouncing deliberately: "Ambition. I don't want to brag, but I have always been rather smart and with enough..." she coughs, "encouragement, I had little trouble enlisting for the Marinenachrichtendienst in Rheinland." Removing her hand from Nancy's back, she holds them before her so Nancy can take a look at them. Thin scars, not broader than a sheet of paper, ran along them and up her arm, disappearing under her sleeve. One would really need to strain their eyes to see them. "An accident was all it took, and I was deemed unfit for service and put somewhere else to do menial paperwork." Folding her hands, she continued. "A flaw of me is that I am quite proud when it comes to the things I do, thus I began resenting Rheinland. This all culminated eventually when I was informed they'd fire me soon." Maren cast Nancy a wry look. "So, I decided to ***** their ***** and leave, but not without a show, oh no!" Unable to suppress a smile at her own idiocy, she elaborated: "I hated the Direktor's guts, thus I stole his ship to spite him."
Nancy sighed, not seeming to take Maren's story well. "So you did all of that just for yourself then?" she asked quietly, hoping she was wrong.
"It was actually necessary for my survival. I'd never have left if they hadn't decided to dismiss me." She slumped down a bit. "I lived on Planet Nuremberg. All you need to know about this place is that it is a.dying world about to be devoured by dark matter. People leave this rock if they have the money and those who don't resort to crime to get it." She averted her gaze. "I am quite weak and an egghead. Without my salary, I would've become homeless and probably stabbed in some alleyway."
Returning her gaze to Nancy, she fidgets with her hands, very aware that she would be judged for this. "Yes, I did it for myself. I had my reasons and they were purely egocentric, though had they not decided to dismiss me, I would've never met Ezrael." Her expression softened and there were stars twinkling in her eyes. "Regardless of what was, something good came from it and if faced with the same decision, I would do it again."
"I guess." She mumbled, not sounding too sure but guessing she didn't know enough about Maren still to judge her, especially since she didn't know much about the planet Nuremberg but it sounded much like Leeds, in terms of it being a dying planet be it from natural causes or not. "I tried to defend my home when I could... but to wake up hearing I did just the opposite and turned out to be someone that I tried to fight off... it's just... I don't know," she whispered, not having any words for it. "Guess I should've just kept my job as a waitress," she said with a croaked smile.
"Perhaps you should have," she admitted, though elated that Nancy seemed to have brightened up enough to attempt something resembling a smile. "Things are done now, however. All that's left for you is to find the good that will come of it."
"I'm trying..." she said quietly. "I actually really was a waitress back on Leeds. Was fun... but space had too much of a pull on me so I went to fly when my parents gave me the chance by giving me a ship," she said quietly, feeling she was trying to do the right things with what she was trying to find out about her old live.
"It's curious, isn't it? We fear that which we don't understand, the unknown, yet so many are drawn into space, which is pretty much the embodiment of that." She shook her head, feeling like an old hag reminiscing about things like these.
"Knock knock," Ezrael said, appearing in the door frame with a little smile on his face. Since Nancy still wasn't very dressed up, he just took a little peek at her, then quickly turned his head to the other side of the quarter. "Breakfast is ready. Yes, Maren, we eat a second breakfast now. Deal with it."
Nancy pulled the sheets a little up to cover herself better when Ezrael walked in. "What's for breakfast then?" she asked quietly, appreciating the fact they didn't just go and make dinner but instead made breakfast again.
"Just a classic breakfast. Bread, butter, jam, eggs, you know, that stuff. And girl, you better eat a bit more of it this time. Eggs and jam are rare in the Omicrons, and you won't get that every day." He turned his head a little bit back to the two girls. "Well, you can, Maren." He leaves the room, waiting outside again.
Smiling profusely, Maren gets to her feet. "We'll meet you outside once you're ready. Don't worry about rushing yourself." Leaning towarda Nancy, Maren continued in a hushed tone: "Gives me time to fill him in on things," she said, before giving Nancy an encouraging smile and leaving the room, this time feeling as if she'd actually gotten somewhere.
18th of May 823 A.S.
Omicron Kappa System
Corinth Station, CV-Hoffnungsschimmer
Nancy left the following day after having rested more in her cabin where she searched the neutrals net for answers about her life. She had also tried to make up some messages but never had the courage to finish them as she back backspacing them or deleting the recordings themselves.
In her time away she would fly around the Omicrons rather aimlessly, simply taking in the feeling of being at the wheel of a fighter while she tried to stay out of trouble. Her guard being up even more than before, especially when there was there was Order around. As she hung around the freeport in Delta she debated about going back to the Corvo but she didn't want to be a burden to Maren and Ezrael as she felt she might annoy them if she stuck around too much. Her train of thought had gotten her to decide to head back to Freeport 8 where her freighter was docked.
Some time later...
Nancy visited the Corvo again as Ezreal and Maren had made it clear that she was free to visit it whenever she felt like it. Even when Nancy didn't want to be a pain for them by being around she did long for some attention and mostly friends, as she wished to not feel abandoned by everyone.
Her days were still short as she slept more than two third of her days as he mind required the rest after the damage that had been done to it. These injuries did however more than just making her sleep for long periods in time...
A big yawn halled down the main hallway as Ezrael returned. He watched the Apahanta's engineering team installing the new DT-12 interior defense turrets on the Mako. 20 done, 17 to go, but that could wait until tomorrow. It was not too complicated, but time consuming and also they needed to test it. The most important thing was the remote control of those turrets from the bridge. There was no room for any mistake.
While walking down the hallway to his and Maren's room, he already was pulling down the top of his black Core overall, tieing the sleeves around his hips so they don't pull the rest of it down. One of the Kishiro Service Robots welcomed him right at the airlock with a cup of hot chocolate and followed him through the hallway. Taking a sip, he passed by Nancy's room, not knowing she was there. The door was shut. The only thing he noticed was one of the KSRs trying to walk into the wall next to the door to the cantina. Smirking, he went over to robot and gave it a slap in his back. "I don't think I programmed you to do funny things like that."
He turned around to the other KSR that followed him, just waiting for a new order or at least to take the cup back. "You, bring me the programming pad, please." If that robot was able to have emotions, he would have been lucky to carry out his orders. Instead, he just carried out the order without being happy or anything else. The programming pad was in the bridge, so the KSR would need a minute or two to get it and bring it here. So Ezrael leaned against the cold wall, took another sip of the hot chocolate and watched the robot next to him further trying to walk into the wall.
Nancy had been asleep for a while already but had become restless as nightmares started to fill her mind, making her rock a little from side to side in her bed before she groaned in an annoyed manner as she got more and more disturbed. Moments later she sat up and wiped her hand lazily through her face. She didn't really seem to be taking her surroundings when she slowly moved out of the bed and made her way to the door in a wobbly fashion.
She hadn't bothered to change into any other clothes as she wasn't exactly there with her mind as it was actually still asleep in a way. In her nighty she wandered through the hallway aimlessly and wobbly, needing to let one hand slide along the wall to keep her balance.
In the distance, Ezrael heard something moving. It wasn't the mechanical sound of a KSR, but the sound of a half-naked girl weakly walking around. He didn't think of Nancy being here again that soon. On the one hand, he allowed her to enter the Hoffnungsschimmer whenever she wanted, but on the other hand, she left hours ago to get to her own ship, isolating herself again. So he was surprised, but positively. "Nancy? Are you alright?" He put the cup down to the ground, slowly moving over to Nancy and inspecting her in a caring way.
Nancy stopped walking and kept her hand on the wall to keep her balance. She had heard someone mentioning her name and looked at the figure with a empty stare, tilting her head a little but she didn't respond otherwise. Her night still covered her decently but would allow for him to see her scar on her left shoulder, which she had on the front and back of it.
"Nancy?" he repeated, still coming closer. He was afraid she would just drop to the ground and get some bruises. "Are you a sleepy sheepy?"
She blinked for a moment and seemed to be getting more confused when she saw him approach her and had her make a small step back. "Wa~... wa' you doing~" she mumbled in barely audible voice which sounded sleepy.
Noticing her taking distance, he stopped. "Nancy, it's me! Ezrael! You remember? You know, the guy that owns that ship here? Dumb jokes? Mako Captain? Ladykiller?"
She raised an eyebrow and looked over her shoulder into the hallway. "Eh...?" She sounded quiet and confused while turning around wanting to walk away from him.
"Come on, Nancy, remember me!" he said, unclear about what's going on with her. Once again, he got a little closer to her. "Nancy! You're safe here. Everything is okay."
"No~..." she mumbled with a weak voice, looking over her shoulder to him briefly and seeing him approach, which had her walk faster as she didn't want for him to follow her.
Watching Nancy acting that weirdly, Ezrael wasn't sure what to do. Doing nothing? Shout at her? Give her a slap to get a clear mind? No, this wasn't a bad movie where people do such things. The girl was afraid and confused, and Maren wasn't around. He couldn't just do nothing. So he decided to keep up, very close to her.
"Nancy! Listen! It's me! Ezrael Vertiga! A friend!" he said with strong voice but not too loud. "You don't need to be afraid from me! I'm the worst skilled Core captain. And it's funny!" He grabbed her hand gently.
Her breath skipped when she felt his touch and she tried to pull her hand away from him. "L-leave me alone~" she stuttered, her voice clearly reflecting she was scared and frightened.
"Nancy! What's wrong with you?!" he asked, not letting her go but pulling her towards him. "Wake up! Hear me! Remember me! You know my voice!"
"I jus' wan' go home!" she said in her shaky voice and panicked voice sounded more in distress when he pulled her towards him and raised his voice. She tried to pull back herself and place her other hand on his wrists wanting to get him to let go of her although her force wasn't very noticeable.
"God, I wish my medical team was here..." he said to himself in a mumbling way. He tried to get a clear sight at her eyes, but she was too shaky. It was totally weird, and he felt very uncomfortably hearing her panicking because of him. "You are home, Nancy! More or less. You're safe here! You're on board of the Hoffnungsschimmer. My Corvo! I invited you to stay here and you did. You have nothing to be afraid of. Noone will hurt you. Do you understand?" His grip was a bit loose. He didn't want to hurt her, but he wanted her to know everything is okay. "Look at me, Nancy! You know me!"
"I stayed here?" she asked in disbelief, her voice still quiet and confused but seeming a bit more if this world. Her own efforts in trying to break free seeming to reduce as well.
"Yes, you funny girl. Remember? Maren and I invited you for a dinner, and you stayed here for the night, sleeping 16 hours. Maren woke you up and you talked to her for a while and then we ate breakfast. And later I invited you to stay as long and as often as you want. You have the access code to my ship, Nancy. That's how you even came in here," he explained, removing a streak out of her face and laying his hand on her forehead, making sure she wasn't desillusional by a fever.
"Maren?" she mumbled, looking a little paranoid at his hand that touched her forehead but she didn't back off as she felt confused, not seeming to understand his explanation of how she got here and apparently having spent the night here before. Her forehead didn't feel overly warm although she could perhaps have a slight raised.
"Yes. Maren. Maren von Westefeld. Or sugartits or sweetheart. She flies a Switchblade callen "Wiegenlied". Come on, Nancy, you need to remember her. A funny girl, same age as you are. Cardamine-addicted. Red nose like the crazy reindeer. Also, I love her to death, but don't tell her."
"Uh... you're weird," Nancy said quietly with a careful smile, trying to step back away from him again as she thought he was the one that wasn't exactly on track.
For a second, he was astonished how rude she could be in her state. Then again, he had to smirk about it. "Me? Weird!? You're weird!" he answered with a big, peaceful smile. "You walk around my ship, half naked, and can't even remember me. And you think I'm the weird guy here?" Then again, he noticed he was half-naked himself, touching a girl that doesn't know where she was. Like one of those good old days on Curacao, just more confusing.
"Uh..." She sounded quietly, looking back at her clothes which was just her red nighty that did cover her although it was fairly short. "I guess I drank too much?" she said with a croaked smile and shy chuckle. Confused about it all she looked down the hall again and stepped away from him, wanting to get away from him still.
He releases his grip, convinced she was about to become clearer now. "You have some sort of amnesia, Nancy, and Maren and I want to help you. I guess you will still need some minutes to remember everything, hopefully. But please, keep in mind I'm not your enemy. I'm your friend. I care for you." In the background, the KSR is still trying to walk into the wall.
"Heh... of course you do." She chuckled, turning around as she wanted to walk away. She scratched her head as she wondered about where she even was and how she could back to where her things were.
"How do you feel, Nancy? Do you want something to drink or to eat?" he asked, noticing her still behaving unusual.
"Uh... no... I'm fine~ Just...uh... I'll go pack my things and go home," She said quietly, walking down the hall slowly and looking at the doors a little clueless while her hand was gently sliding over the wall in a dreamy wave fashion.
"Your stuff is in this room over there, Nancy." He pointed to the room she slept in. "I guess it's better you dress up before you leave. There are some guys at Corinth who would kill for a view like this." He turned around, just to be surprised by the KSR that brought the programming pad. "Boy, don't you..." he was shocked for a second. Then he took the programming pad and walked over to the other KSR next to his cup of chocolate.
"If you need something, I'm here" he said loud, without turning around to her again.
"Corinith? eh okay..." She mumbled confused, shaking her head a little before she entered the room. She carefully walked to the bed while looking around the room and noticed the window with the stars of Omicron Kappa glistering in the far distance.
Her eyes went open wide and she skipped to the window, placing both her hands on the glass and her forehead against it as the view was jaw dropping for her. She stood glued to the glass for a while before she jogged back to the hallway. "HEY?!" She called out loud with an excited voice. "We're in space?!" she added as she looked for Ezrael again.
He just wanted to plug the programming pad into the adapter of the questionable acting robot, as he heard her. For a moment, he didn't know how to handle it. Did she totally lost her memory? Did she just change to a different personality? As long as the hot chocolate was still hot, he picked up the cup and took a sip, just to give both the cup and the programming pad back to the functional KSR. "Here. And don't play solitaire in the meantime," he joked. Insecure he walked to Nancy's room.
"What's the last thing you remember?" he asked, his voice was implying a sudden seriousity.
When she saw him walking to her she went back into the room, heading to the window, smiling broadly as she looked out of it to admire the stars. "Uh... I don't know we probably got drunk." She said with disinterest for his question as she didn't really seem to care about how she got here anymore.
With a sigh, he walked over to her bed and sat down on the edge, showing himself overwhelmed by her amnesia. "Look," he said, his head resting on his hands, "we are in space. You're on board of the CV-Hoffnungsschimmer and I am it's owner, Ezrael Vertiga. I'm a Core captain, and you and I are friends. You need to remember this."
"I heard that before friends. Sure we're friends." She chuckled, turning around to him with her broad smile still emitting from her. She dropped down next to him before wanting to give him a hug. Wanting to embrace him with both her arms and kiss him on his cheek, being a mere peck as she wanted to express her thanks.
Surprised and obviously in conflict, he grabbed her to push her back in a gentle way, not wanting to offend her in whatever state she was now, but also not wanting to be anymore tempted by her. "Wow, girl, wait a second..." He looked into her eyes, seeing sparks of amazement. She seemed to not even remember what she did earlier. "Hey, say, where did I pick you up?"
"Uh... Leeds? Bradford spaceport probably?" She chuckled, sitting back as he pushed her away, which confused her a little but didn't really seem to ruin her mood.
"And what are you doing to get your money?" he asked, remembering she lived is from Leeds as she told in earlier encounters.
"Uh... I'm not like -that-. Did I ask for money?" she asked surprised with a raised eyebrow, keeping a faint smile.
"Oh god, no, you didn't! It's more like, I'm just curious about you. I think you could be a good freelancer or mercenary," he said, thoughtful placing some keywords.
"Uhm... I might be... if I had a ship." She smirked before looking around the room, trying to take in her surroundings to remember them but nothing familiar came to mind
"You don't have a ship? So what's your job, little angel?"
She smiled and blushed due to his comment, shaking her head a little and looking away. "Didn't you meet me in the bar?" she asked while she tried to overcome the blush.
"Uh, well..." he stopped, trying not to lie to her. "Listen, Nancy. How about you put on some clothes, hm? I'm sure you're hungry and thirsty, and maybe you have a little headache from all that alcohol. Here, over there in the bathroom. You'll find some aspirin there."
"Eh... I guess, you really want me to get dressed?" she asked with a raised eyebrow. Wondering if she did something wrong as he seemed to have changed the subject.
"Well, to be honest, I don't mind it if you're dressed, in a nighty or fully nude, but I guess it would be a bit cold in the cantina?" he asked, reminding himself that he will definitely take a very cold shower after this is done.
"Then why go there?" She asked with a slight smirk.
A firework was booming in his head, and if the circumstances were different, he totally would have fallen for that. He bit his lower lip, not even trying anymore to hide a grin, looking down to the ground and slightly shaking his head. "You know, lady, I have much to show you." He stands up, attempting to walk out of her room.
"Where are you going then?" She asked with a smile, standing up to follow him, wondering in what sense he meant it.
"You know..." he started, as he had walked out of her room and stopped, turning around to face her, taking a last look on what a beautiful girl he could have enjoyed if he weren't taken. "... you'll see when you're dressed up, little angel..."
Before she could give a response, Ezrael pushed the button on the door interface outside, forcing a quick door closing. He looked down, silently laughing like an idiot, trying to figure out if that was just a big conspiration against him. "I know, you're mad at me now, but we're not that cheap," he said to a very blood-fueled part of his body, turning around and heading for the cantina, putting the top of his overall on again.
"Eh hey?!" She sounded when he made a break for it and shut the door in front of her. She stood there baffled, not understanding what just happened. Confused she tried to open the door again, feeling it wasn't locked which made her let out a quiet sigh of relief.
Looking back around the room she curled up her lips, wondering what this guy, who she couldn't even recall the name of anymore, had in mind. Although he did mention it? Did he? She wondered a bit before starting to look around the room to find her clothes. She checked the bag, finding some clothes but she didn't recognize them. Her flight suit that hung over the chair was something she didn't remember either. It all confused her more and she decided to check the bathroom, guessing she should also take something against her headache.
She didn't find any of her clothes in the bathroom either which made her reach for the robe instead. She wrapped it closely around herself to cover herself up properly, if that was what he really wanted. Dressed she tip-toed her way back to the door and opened it to check the hallway, looking both ways a little clueless as she didn't know which way would be the cantina.
In the cantina, Vertiga ordered two of KSRs to prepare breakfast for them. Although, it was evening. His body has calmed down a bit, and he was thankful about it. However, he was wondering if she would find her way over here. Didn't seem so, so he went back to her room, seeing her walking in the opposite direction. "Wrong neighbourhood, angel."
"Uh... sorry.. The booze really got to me." She chuckled quietly, giving him a soft smile as she turned around when she heard him. "Why did you run off like that?" she asked when heading his way.
"Because I want you to have breakfast with me, of course," he answered, taking some steps backwards, not loosing the focus on her. "Nice robe. Suits you."
"Well... since you hid my clothes." She chuckled quietly. "I want them back later though," she added, moving to walk by his side.
18th of May 823 A.S.
Omicron Kappa System
Corinth Station, CV-Hoffnungsschimmer
"Yeah, about your clothes..." he began, thinking she didn't remember what her clothes actually were, "Well, sure, I'll make sure you will have something to wear that fits your hot body." They passed the wall-walking KSR, heading for the cantina. In there, he noticed the KSRs placing three plates on the table and suddenly, his eyes are widely opened, realising that Maren could be around, too. She might have returned from wherever she'd been spelunking around. "Oh *****."
"I mean." He pointed to one of the robots. "You... is Maren here?" And the robot nodded. "Well, then find her and bring her here, goddamnit!"
"Eh... at least you have a good taste for night clothing." She smiled, believing he had given her the nighty. As for Maren, she wasn't sure what to think, finding his reaction a little over the top if it had been a night with the three of them.
The robot nodded once more and walked out of the cantina, heading for the cave of the lion. It opened the door without asking for permission. The robot walked into the room - and the room was full of character, so to say - and took the sheet away from Maren. Then it stood there, doing nothing. Ezrael didn't finish the voice programming on those guys. "Right, the things suits you very... very well."
Maren squirmed uncomfortable, disturbed by the sudden influx of cold air around her. She made a move to retrieve the blanket but ended up just touching the robot inappropriately; good thing it wasn't programmed with modesty. Seeing as there was no way she would be getting any more sleep, she cracked open one eye and mumbled: "Go 'way, y'bloody robot. What've I ever done t'you?"
Nothing. That was what the robot thought. Literally. Since his order was to bring her to it's master, the robot grabbed her, not too rough, below her thights and her back and carried her simply out of the room.
"Hey, wait! I'm not ready!" she screeched, now awake. Thrashing, yapping and struggling, it was a real pity she was such a pansy.
Ezrael heard it in the distance, and turned his head over to Maren, as she was hauled into the cantina. "Well, that's actually funny," Ezrael said, wondering how literally the robot took his command. "Good to see you, sugartits. Come here, breakfast."
Giving Ezrael a disgruntled look, she put her hands on her hips. Being literally clothed in a nightgown, the gesture was a lot less threatening than it was intended to be. Bedhead didn't help, either. "Was this your idea? Also, what is this? It's like what? Three in the morning?"
Nancy had sat down at a seat with one of the plates. She was curious about this Maren, wondering if she would recognize her from last night or not and if she would've been worth it if they did end up in bed all together.
"It's alright, Maren, you can sleep later. Now, I want you to be here, for a reason," he said with a serious face.
Nancy looked up at Ezreal curious, feeling his tone was way too serious or perhaps it was an act? Some sort of roleplay maybe. The idea made her smirk a little and she figured she'd play along. She sat up straight and kept quiet for now, letting him do the talking.
Taking in Vertiga's 'serious' veneer, she sighed and acquiesced silently to be subjected to the nonsense that would undoubtedly ensue, judging by Nancy's clothes. "Did something happen? I honestly have no idea."
Patiently, he waited for Maren to take a seat. "Nancy, I think Maren would like to know more about you. Why don't you tell her the things you told me about you, hm, angel?"
"Uhm... did we skip the introductions? Eh... well I am Nancy?" she said slowly a little confused but giving Maren a soft smile.
A wry look on her face, Maren took a seat besides Vertiga and opposite of Nancy. "Yeeeah, no. Is this a joke? You know me very well. I've literally let you cry on my shoulder yesterday."
"Uhm? You did?" Nancy asked a little confused wondering if she meant it in a literal sense.
"Yeees, I quite did," she confirmed, finding the situation more and more bizarre by the second. She cast Vertiga a helpless look. "Mind explaining this? Why are we here in the middle of the night?"
"Uh... he wanted to show me some things," Nancy said quitly looking at Ezreal a little confused herself and Maren's tone seemed serious and far from the mood she would have expected.
"So, well... little Nancy over there has a little blackout, Maren. Seems like she's missing quite some time. Last thing she remembers is, well, being at a bar — probably where we met her. And she can't remember anything that happened after that. Maren, anything. I don't want to make you feel uncomfy about that, Nancy. I just think that you should stay with us up to the point where you remember everything again, right? You can sleep hear, get some clothing, eat, drink. Whatever you want. It's just, we can't get back to Bretonia right now. You know, it's a dangerous way."
Over the duration of Vertiga's verbal onslaught of vaguely coherent concepts, Maren sat, hands folded in her lap, saying nothing, just nodding when he came to a close. "And by 'a lot of time'," she does air quotes, "you mean that she has no idea who we are anymore, amirite?"
"But we came from there as well no? I need to work again tonight. Can't stay forever and I doubt I'd remember -everything-. It's not like this is the first time I had a bit too much," she said quietly, not liking what she was hearing about being unable to return to Bretonia. That made her wonder about how far they were actually away from 'home',
"Right, Maren. Now, Nancy, you have a very unfortunate hangover, but let me assure you, I'm going to contact your boss at the bar. You know, I have quite a reputation and some money. Let me do the talk and there won't be any consequences for you. I want you to enjoy your stay. I will tell you later what happened and why we can't go back right now."
Trying to build up a scenario that young Nancy would be comfortably with, he tried to give her a caring look. The robots brought more plates with all the stuff for a decent breakfast to the table. "Maren, I'm afraid you can't return to Rheinland right now either, but I guess you're okay with that."
"Hm.. alright, if you say you say so... where are we even?" Nancy asked curiously. Surprised to hear that Maren was actually from Rheinland.
Raising an eyebrow at Vertiga, she understood that he probably wanted her to play along with his scheme. Oh well. If it meant she could go to bed again faster. "Well, sure. My schedule is quite... malleable anyways." She loaded some toast and jam onto her plate. "What's one the agenda, then?"
"The cargo bay is filled with stuff for a month. I don't think we need to stay here all the time, but, you know, just saying. Nancy, the bar at Leeds, right? Well, there's a little problem in Bretonia right now. You know, Gallic people came around and effed things up, so, until things have calmed down in Leeds, we will bring you back. You have my word on that. You know, you were a bit drunk and we thought it was better to take you with us. You have your own room there, and Maren will make sure you get some cool clothes, and as I said, I will contact your boss. Was a funny guy, met him too."
He signalised her to eat whatever she wanted. "Just make yourself comfy."
"Gallic people? What do you mean?" she asked confused while she would put a cracker on her plate and add some cheese to it.
"A bunch of weird guys speaking a foreign language and where they show up, things get dangerous. You know, a bit like Mollys or Gaians or other idiots," he said, unsure if he should tell her more about the weird frenchmen.
"I see...I don't mind staying but a week tops... then I want to be back home," she said slowly while she looked at her cracker, trying to think a little, doing her best to try and remember how she got here. Him promising that she had her own room felt a little off to her as well.
"I'm sure things will calm down in some days. Don't worry. In the meanwhile, we can show you the beautiful views of Omicron Kappa. You won't regret it, angel." Turning his head to Maren, he gave her a slight smile, feeling a bit guilty for making up a story, but he felt it may be better to not cause her to panic.
Did Vertiga expect Maren to clothe Nancy like a girl's doll? "Well, I do hope one week will suffice." Shooting Vertiga a look that clearly stated that she might spank him for this, she addressed Nancy: "But no alcohol for you anymore, lady."
"Kaaappa?" She said slowly and curiously. "When I saw the stars it was nothing like home. You're lucky to see one from the surface anyway... but all that green, it's amazing," Nancy replied a bit dreamy. "And.. ehm... sorry if I let myself go too much," she said with a weak smile to Maren, not sure on what to think of her.
"Nah, don't worry. When we were in your age, at least one of us didn't do better." Failing to hide a smile, he place two slices of bread on his plate.
Opening her mouth, failing to speak, she closed it again. That was uncalled for.
"So how how -young- are you two then?" Nancy asked with a slight smirk before taking a bite from her cracker.
Spreading the jam somewhat over her toast, she replied: "I'm twenty eight. That's still young. I just arbitrarily decided that." Taking a bite, Maren eyed Nancy warily, trying to read her expression. What was she thinking? The way she conducted herself was genuine enough. She would need to be some sort of acting genious to put up a show that good. On one hand, the situation was so... absurd that the sheer unpredictablility would nullify and preconceived notions of... Goddamnit, I forgot to put butter on the toast first.
"Well, I'm already 31. But I feel like I'm as young as you are, angel." He noticed Maren's weird expression at her bread.
"Twenty here..." Nancy smiled casually to Maren as she continued to eat, taking small bites from her cracker. "So... uhm." She chuckled quietly. "How do you two know each other then?" she asked curiously, wondering how the three of them got stranded together.
"Uh, your turn, Sweetheart."
Maren cast Vertiga a quick glance before answering Nancy's question. "Well, Vertiga and I are an item. We found you on Leeds being all sad and alone and thought that you might need some company, thus we invited you to dinner." She finished her toast, albeit without much elan, due to the lack of butter. "That was actually yesterday," she spoke with her mouth full. "Pardon me; it is way too early for table manners."
Seeing that Nancy peobably couldn't gainsay, Maren considered telling Nancy some eldritch story about what else could've happened, like all of them plotting to rob a vault full of gold on New Berlin, but discarded the thought. That would be mean.
"Uhm... alright... so you two are together?" She asked quietly, thinking it sounded strange but her being given her own room that way would seem to make sense. She quietly nibbled on her cracker wondering on further about what she was doing here and what had happened.
"Yes, we are, for a week now. So, you know why... you know," he didn't want to be more specific on what he was about to talk.
"Right," she said quietly and a little croaked, having a feeling of dread come over her as she thought about it more. "So we just had dinner and drank too much?" she mumbled scratching her neck a little while she looked down at her plate.
Maren nodded, taking another slice of toast and this time even buttering it. "Yeah... We decided to have, uhm, how do they say," she tried masking the fact that she was coming up with her words on the fly by feigning being occupied with the toast, "a wild night and, uh, drank a little too much there. We didn't want to let you walk home alone, you know, creeps and so on."
"We had a fun evening, and everything is okay. Nothing happened," he said, looking over to Maren then, adding: "well, nearly nothing."
"So where are my clothes?" she asked with a raised eyebrow, not really understanding she was wearing a bright red nighty that wasn't hers.
Maren gestured for Vertiga to answer, figuring that she had done a well enough job with her last fib and deserved some time out.
He was about to say something, then bit his lower lip, with a facial expression mixed out of Funny story, though, Help me and Uuuuuh. "Well, about your clothes... eh, you know, we told you you drank a bit too much, right? Well, it was that kind of too much that includes going totally wild and strip. I mean, nice performance and there's nothing you need to be ashamed of. But, you know, we had to take you with us without your clothes. That's why Maren will make sure you get some new stuff. I can organize you a cool Core overall, or we just look at Freeport 11 in Omicron Delta for some new outfits for you. Well, and in your room are some clothes that we organized you on the way to Omicron Kappa."
To a certain point, Ezrael was a bit proud of all the ***** he just made up. On the other hand, it's a bit sad to find more lies just to prevent Nancy from going insane.
"You had to take me with you without clothes? What~?" she asked confused, the dread kept building up as she felt more like she didn't belong here.
"Well, you know, we had to flee when the Gallic guys start to show the guns. I think not having your clothes was a minimum loss."
"Right... we got drunk here?" she asked quietly, not getting out pirates or terrorists would cause from them to leave Leeds in a hurry.
"We got drunk in Leeds, in the bar. Even I drank a bit too much wine and Maren, well, she was okay with you stripping for me. And then, I mean, you really can't remember? A gallic warship entered the atmosphere of Leeds and shot down a bretonian battleship. It dropped down and crashed into the surface, right into the city. It's not just like Mollys. They had battleships, and Bretonia is in danger now. And you were unable to do anything but making fun of the lightshow, angel. So we decided to take you with us, because, you know, we like you. You're a funny girl." At least, Ezrael knew something like that really happened on Leeds.
Giving Vertiga an unbelieving look that she managed to hide quickly enough, Maren added: "Girl, be a bit more thankful, will ya?"
"What the hell are you talking about? A battleship being shot down on Leeds? Are you crazy?!" she asked, standing up from her seat and giving them both a paranoid look, wondering what they weren't telling her as what he said made no sense to her. "I want to go home... just,... drop me off on London then?" she asked a bit more firm as she felt more and more out of place here.
Maren gestured for the seat. "Nancy, sit. Bretonia isn't too safe at the moment. We can show you what Vertiga meant. It was all over thr neural net."
"Sorry, girl, I don't have a death wish. We will have to wait until the situation in Bretonia is less dangerous. Liberty sure will help their allies."
"Sure it was on the news, a ***** battleship falling from the sky. That only happens in a massive war. Which is still in the Taus so..." she said, the distrust flickering in her eyes as she stepped further back. Not being sure on what to believe as she didn't want to go as far as to believe they had simply taken her with them because they wanted. God knows what sick people there are in Sirius.
Maren sighed, placing her toast on the plate. "If you don't trust our word, and don't want our help, then you may go. The way out you reach by taking the elevator to the right of the hallway outside two decks down to the mooring fixture." She kept her eyes on Nancy, wary to seem not too interested in her, though. After all, they were supposed to have only just yesterday picked her up.
"Give me some decent clothes then?!" she asked, sounding more upset in her voice which made her sound more stern.
"We already told you there are some in the room you slept in, Nancy," Maren replied levelly, her voice steady.
"Right..." she muttered, starting to head to the exit of the cantina, wanting to find her way back to her room.
Watching Nancy leaving the cantina, he takes another bite from his bread, leans back and turns his head over to Maren. "You know, I'm glad you're with me, Maren."
"I have no idea how to deal with this girl, Ezrael," she replied, rubbing her eyes. "We can't hold her here — that would be unethical — but letting her run around like that? She will get herself killed. Also, she needs thst bloody device."
"Unethical. It's funny to hear that from you, Killertits," he said, with a smile on his face, poking her in the hip with the elbow. "This girl is sick, and in this moment, we are the only ones who can help her by preventing her from doing bull. Also, she won't get past the airlocks. We need to get her a medic."
"Oh? I will have you know that I wouldn't have done more than force the pilot to eject, Handsome." She shook her head. "If necessary, I'd go further, though. You need this software." Looking to the door through which Nancy had lefty she rose to her feet. "Where would you get a doctor for Nancy? Do these maintenance robots fix humans?"
Nancy walked to her room, having to search for a while before she found a familiar door and walked in. She sighed heavily, not getting how she ended up here still as the story sounded to random to be believable for her.
She began to dig through the bag that was on the ground. Finding her size of clothes, some trousers and a shirt which apparently had her size as well. With her clothes she walked to the bathroom and hung the robe on a small hook on the wall. Again she sighed when she looked at herself lazily in the mirror before her eye feel on the mark on her shoulders. She wet the tip of her thumb and tried to rub over the scar, thinking it was some weird dirt on her. But it didn't seem to clear up and she soon realized it was a scar. "What?" She sounded confused, baffled by what she was seeing. That same feeling of dread came over her as she began to look at herself more, she didn't look like she used to be, she seemed way older.
She snorted in panic as she placed her hands on her cheeks and stumbled backwards. Her whole body beginning to tremble and feeling hot. "Wake up?" She squeaked in panic, touching her face more with her hands as she stepped back from the mirror. Black spots appeared moments later in her vision indicating she was about to pass out. That alone made her panic more and had her actually black out, falling onto the bathroom floor.
18th of May 823 A.S.
Omicron Kappa System
Corinth Station, CV-Hoffnungsschimmer
"Look. There two things we can do. We can let her go and she will get ***** up once she left the ship, because people out there are not only just Zoners who want peace, but also weird ***** guys who would have used the opportunity I refused to take when I was alone with her, if you catch my drift. Or we let her stay here, were we will have to claim responsibility for her. Of course I don't have an easy solution for now. There are things that we just can't do, and it's funny, because I'm about to steal a battleship from a weird military organization I'm actually part of, and it's even my own battleship. Look, this girl isn't in a situation where she can take responsibility for herself. There is no winning here. There is only one way to prevent her from taking more damage, and we will pay for it the one way or the other. Also, you have crumbles on your top."
Nancy wouldn't be lights out for very long but while she was out she would remain to lay there motionless. At least she didn't hit her head when falling over as she had felt what was coming...
Maren bit her lip. "And here I thought it would remain at a simple joke..." At Ezrael's questioning stare, she elaborated: "You know, you joked she'd be our kid in Delta or something?" Further confused looks; Maren sighed. "Oh well, I still say we can't lock her up, but we should at least look that she doesn't get molested or breaks her neck."
"We should talk to her again. I mean, she's afraid we're weirdos, but she will remember that I didn't use the opportunity to sleep with her when she invited me to do it," he said, eyerolling, not hoping that Maren will make a scene about it. "You know, while I don't think the guys here at Corinth can help us, there are some individuals who may can, and they are here in the Omicrons, more or less. You know, the Outer Rim University? Maybe they can help her, at least for the memory thing."
Somewhat taken aback at Ezrael's blatant admission that Nancy had tried to get in his pants (the skank!), she put the issue to the side for now. "Right. Let us get her to calm down, though."
Nancy was still laying quietly on the floor.
After eating his bread and cleaning his mouth, he stood up, helping Maren up too, not that it was neccessery, more a gesture. "I wonder if she made it back to her room or if she is straying around somewhere else." Followed by Maren, he left the Cantina, aiming for Nancy's room.
"Well, she wanted to get some clothes, and I'm pretty sure she will find the way back eventually." She followed Vertiga closely.
Arriving at her room, Ezrael pushed the bellringer button of the door interface, just to get no response. "Then the hard way." The door wasn't locked, so he didn't need to enter the override code. She was here. Some things have been moved, but it was silent. "You should check the bathroom. You sure don't want me to see her pissing around, literally."
Nancy was laying on her side near the far wall, appearing asleep.
Shuddering, Maren moved to the little bathroom adjacent to Nancy's bedroom. She rapped thrice on the door. "Nancy, are you there? I promise you we're not creeps. Are you, uh, worshipping the porcelain goddess?"
There was no response. "I know we've been somewhat pushy, but I assure you you're safe. Could you please answer?" She waited, breath baited, but there was only silence. Cursing her luck, Maren opened the door, finding Nancy collapsed leaning against the opposite wall near the shower. "Ezrael!" she shouted.
Hearing Maren shouting, ran over to her, seeing Nancy. "At least she isn't totally naked," he joked when it was terribly inappropiate. Kneeing down to her, he checked her head for possible bruises, but it looked okay. She was still breathing, and her chest moved when she did so. "Looks like she collapsed." Without thinking further, he grabbed her back and legs to pull her up, carrying her over to her room, to the bed. "Maren... look, the both us know that it's a terrible timing for this. And I know you have your things to do as well, whatever those things are," he began, reminding her that she never told him what she does when she isn't with him, "but when I'm busy with the Apahanta and all, I would like you to have an eye on her. I'll try to get us a medic to take a look at her. I mean, we have a mobile medical unit here, but there's only so much it can be used to without an expert."
Nancy's body was completely limp when he carried her over to the bed and there was no response from her besides her quiet even breath.
She nodded, following Vertiga to where he'd placed Nancy. "I'll look after her; don't worry. It is not like I have much to do." She sat down on the bed next to Nancy's form, putting the blanket over her. "We really do need to find a way to always know where the other is, Vertiga. We have that encryption software now. Might be useful for that."
"I see what you're up to," he sighs, touching Maren's shoulder and giving her a slight smile. "Maybe you're right." Then he took her hand, pulling her gently over to him and looking her into her eyes. "You know, I was hoping we would get to spend some time with each other, without worrying, at least a day or something, before all of this is about to end," he said, kissing her hand right in front of her face, pulling Maren's body right to his.
The suddenness of the gesture surprised Maren, but she didn't resist the advance. "What I'm up to? I don't understand." It seemed somewhat ill-placed of Vertiga to be doing this right now, seeing that Nancy probably needed medical attention. "We should talk about this later. Nancy needs you. Go find someone who can take a look at her."
"Uh, don't get me wrong, Maren. We will take care of her. I just wanted to tell you, you know, I would like you to stay with me a bit after this. I know you're already planning to do our part of the bargain with the Lane Hackers," he said, pulling her a bit more away from Nancy, heading to the door. "I really just want you to know." Giving her a long kiss on her lips, he releases her after a moment, heading to the bridge to get main access to the neural net.
Maren stayed behind, somewhat stunned. After a while, she moved back to where she'd originally been when she sat down to watch out for Nancy, though this time, she bore a stupidly merry grin. Absentmindedly, she began stroking Nancy's head, like one would do to a younger sibling, perhaps. "You're quite a handful, you know that."
Nancy would give a slight response to the caressing hand of Maren. Her closed eyes twitched. She turned her head a little as if to evade being disturbed in her sleep.
"You don't like that, do you?" Maren sighed, withdrawing her hand, opting to simply watch Nancy's breathing. She doubted that there'd really be an issue, but it kept the mind alert. So she'd wait for Vertiga to return.
Moments later Nancy blinked lazily with her eyes and looked at the ceiling before noticing there was someone with her. With a sleepy expression she squinted a little at Maren.
Taking some time to catch the motion, Maren opted to not say anything and let Nancy come to her senses on her own. She'd hopefully not be aggressive.
"Uh...hey Maren?" Nancy questioned quietly, giving her a confused look.
"Hey!" Maren greeted Nancy in a chipper voice. "How's the nap been? Feeling thirsty?" She gave her an encouraging smile. It was probably a very good sign that Nancy called Maren by her name; it meant that she at least didn't forget what had happened today, though that wasn't much of a boon. Well, today was a funny way to say it. It was still around 4 am now.
"Uh... alright I guess? Did I sleep too log again?" she asked quietly and confused, slowly sitting up a little and wiping her hands through her face to try and wake up further.
Maren pondered this for a moment, waiting until Nancy was done wiping. "No, not actually. It's actually still night. I was just making sure everything is alright."
"Uh, okay?" she asked a little confused. "I let myself in, thought there was no one home," she mumbled quietly, blinking again before giving Maren a soft smile.
Maren nodded. So she does remember returning on her own. Good. Seeing Nancy's smile, Maren did calm somewhat. "Did I wake you? I'm sorry if I did. I should've been more quiet."
"It's okay I guess?" she said quietly. "Wasnt sure wheb you two would get here again."
"You're welcome any time. No need to wait for us." The door to Nancy's room was still open, as was the one to the bathroom which lay in slight disarray. The lights were still turned on everywhere.
"Right." Nancy said quitly, not knowing what else to say as she felt weird about all the lights being in and that Maren had mentioned it was midnight. "Uhm... is Ezreal here now too?"
Maren shook her head. "He is on the bridge." She looked at the bathroom, the lights, and then back at Nancy. "Nancy... we found you in the bathroom... you were unconscious. We just brought you back to bed mere minutes ago. I've asked Ezrael to get you a doctor." She tried to say this in a voice as soothing as possible, not wanting to agitate Nancy again.
"Uhm... I was in the bathroom?" she asked quietly being a bit spooked about hearing she had passed out and that she apparently needed a doctor.
Glad that Nancy hadn't flipped out completely at these news, she continued: "Yes, we found you there, leaning on a wall. The stuff you see scattered there has probably been knocked down by you." She hesitated. "How do you feel, Nancy?"
"Uh... a headache..." she said quietly and scratched he head for a moment, her wondering about how long she head been there.
"Right. Do you want me to fetch you some aspirin?" asked Maren, while taking out her inhaler again, with somewhat trembling hands, and used it twice.
"Yeah..." she said quietly giving a apologetic smile as she felt she a burden to them.
Putting her inhaler back into the pocket of her own night gown, she stood up, heading for the bathroom. Withdrawing the box, she dissolved two of them in a glass of water that she'd filled on the bathroom tab. Swaying the liquid idly, she returned to Nancy, offering her the glass while sitting down again. "It is good to see that nothing's happened, though. I mean, it could've been worse."
"Yeah... thanks," she said quielty, taking the glass and a sip. "At least I wasn't in space," she mumbled quietly, beginning to understand the risks and dangers this could have had.
"Which actually brings us to that topic. You know we probably can't with a clean conscience let you return to your ship alone? What if this happened when you're alone out there, or if it had happened during your fight with that Order agent," she listed, wanting to make Nancy see the gravitas of the situation. She could very well find her death accidentally.
"Hmh... I was looking for a doctor myself with the IRG but... I don't know. I don't know if I want to hear about what is really wrong with me," she said quietly, gulping up the water from her glass as she wished for the headache to be gone.
"Well, all we ask is that you stay with someone you know if you have to leave for space, okay? They can then help you." She looked at the door, hoping that Vertiga would soon return, preferably with a doctor.
"Someone I know? I don't know anyone," she said quietly, letting out a silent sigh.
Maren cursed inwardly. "Well, stay with us, then. We'll try and make these circumstances as comfortable as possible. Ezrael has already offered you to stay."
"I appreciate it... although, I don't want to be a reason for you two to just drop whatever you normally do in life," she mumbled.
Maren threw up her hands in an evidently faux display of exasperation. "This is what we do! Travel through space and pick up forlorn souls! Besides, we're not doing much, you know. I mean, our schedules are quite malleable."
"Hm.. alright," Nancy said with a weak smile, seeming overwhelmed by it all as she began to realize more about what could've gone wrong if she had passed out somewhere else. "Hey... at least Ezreal was there when I fought that Order pilot, I'm sure he'd have taken me in," she said more happily.
"Of course he would have," Maren replied, trying to push away a bleak vista of Nancy getting torn apart by the explosion of her ship. "I mean, he was willing to play living shield for you, in a way. Also, he's nice like that." Her speech became more of a rambling the longer it took. It was kind of unnecessary to keep her awake still. Would there be harm in letting her sleep again? Vertiga could take some time getting someone to take a look at Nancy. "You should try and sleep some more. No use wasting precious night hours. I'll be here and wake you if something is abnormal, alright?"
"Hmh... thanks." Nancy said again quietly, leaning over to her nightstand to check a grey PDA device. She ticked on the screen one and sighed quietly. "uh..." She sounded in a shiver, as she suddenly realized something. "Maren...?" She asked, looking at her while she held the mobile device in her hand.
"Hmm?" she hummed, looking Nancy in the eyes. "Yes?"
"If you ever hear this beep, or flicker with its little light and I'm not awake. Scan me? You just have to press '1' a few times. Hold it in front of the code here and scan," she explained, showing the tattoo that sat on her skin on her wrist. it was a barcode like tattoo with a small number under it as well.
"Why would I need to press the button more than once?" She looked at the strange looking device. "I mean, I did read the note and I know what it is for, so I would've probably done it anyways, but thanks for saying it again." She stood up and walked to a panel, where she closed the door and turned off the lights before returning.
"Uh... the screen shows what it is. The numbers are just to switch through some different menus." Nancy said quietly, laying the device back on the nightstand when Maren had turned off the lights. Her taking it as it being time to crawl back under the sheets.
Maren sat down where she'd been before silently. There would be enough time to talk tomorrow. Leaning her head on her right arm, she figured that she should let Nancy sleep. They could talk tomorrw. Well, if she wanted to sleep that is. She kind of had a bad track record with that.
"So weird that this tattoo and that device are things that keep me alive. It would be a bad idea if I ever lost my arm," Nancy joked quietly while she had the sheets covering everything but her head. Her stare aimed at the now dark figure of Maren.
Maren didn't move much as she replied: "Well, would it suffice if we still had the arm? Does it need to be attached?"
"Don't think so... it's just the tattoo, I think," she chuckled quietly.
She looks up. "Wouldn't it suffice for the device if we scanned the tatoo and fed it to it perpetually? Or do you have to do it at certain times, and not in between?" The light reflects off her eyes as she turns her head a bit to be able to look at Nancy's head.
"As far as I understood, Kusari tells it to activate. Which alarms this device and then I have to cancel it with that thing," she explained quietly as she became more serious.
In the meantime, Ezrael was busy searching the neural net for promising experts that may be able to help Nancy. The problem was: In the omicrons, there aren't many promising people. The Ingenuus Research Group might be able to help her, but since the crisis in Omicron Delta and all, they surely don't have the time and ressources to help an... individual like her. Also, Ezrael already asked them for help with the Apahanta. He didn't want to push things.
He also remembered the corsair Doctor, who was interested in the mobile medical units of the Hoffnungsschimmer. Maybe worth a deal, but a corsair? He wasn't sure about that.
The third option was a group called Med Force enterprises, and it looked promising, Ezrael thought. But he needed more information and Maren's opinion. Nancy is a delicate matter, and they may only have one chance. So he left the bridge again, returned to Nancy's room, just to see Maren and Nancy talking.
"Uh, hey. May I come in?" he asked, not really waiting for permission as he entered the room.
"So you're saying that there literally are people sitting in Kusari that activate your device whenever they feel like it?" Maren inquired. Hearing steps approaching Nancy's room, she figured that Ezrael was about to return. Yep, that was definitely his voice. "Sure, come in. Nancy is wrapped in her blanket like a lil' birthday present only with less creepy implications if we're applying this imagery to a human."
"I don't really know how they activate it. But whenever they activate it they know I am still on the run," she said quietly, giving Maren a weird look about how she explained how Nancy laid under the blankets.
"Well, I'd like a birthday present like this," he smirked deviously over to Maren, "but my next birthday will be in ten months. Don't think Nancy would like to wait till then. Anyway, Maren... wait, you're normal again? I mean, eh, who are we, Nancy?", he asked her, surprised about the fact she was talking about the kusarian device.
"Well, yes she is," Maren replied, trying to make Ezrael understand non-verbally that she hadn't yet told Nancy that she'd been acting like a hormone-imbalanced teenager. "In fact, she doesn't remember anything after having gone to bed after our dinner, I think. I told her how we found her."
"Uhm?" Nancy sounded confused, giving the two of them a questioning look as it appeared she wasn't told sometimes. Her having thought she had passed out before going to bed.
Looking over at Nancy, he thought it may be the best to let Maren handle the talk about her weird behavior. "Well... cool. Eh, Maren, I need your opinion. I searched the neural net for some docs who may be able to take care of her, but you know, there are only so much. The Ingenuus Research Group, well, I don't want to bother Finn McCool again about something. On the other hand, they are very, very experienced when it comes to those brain... stuffs. Then there is also Med Force Enterprises, but I don't know if they are operation in the Omicrons. And then, if those two groups aren't helpful, maybe that corsair doc we saw in Gamma could be a thing. Maybe I can ask him about his expertise."
"Finn McCool? Someone in the IRG told me to message him if I wanted help," she said quietly although she wasn't sure on how to feel about all of this that she needed help.
"Well, it seems like you two are already farther on this point than I am," she chirped, finding it somewhat ironic that everyone seemed to flock around the IRG each time they had a problem that required some sort of professional. Really, at this rate, they'd kill their competition. "Maybe someone else should contact Finny-boy, then, if you don't want to load too much baggage onto your own name, as it were."
As she said that, Ezrael looked back and forth between Nancy and Maren, expecting.
"I could do it myself." Nancy mumbled quietly with a small shrug.
"Do you have any experiences with IRG?"
"Eh.. no. Just talked with one guy and he told me to contact this McCool," she replied quietly, moving to sit a little upright to talk more comfortably.
"What guy?" he curiously asked.
"Uh... Hans von Goeben? He was around Freeport 11 waiting for things to die down."
He nodded, as if there was something to agree with. "That guy. He has a reputation. I guess you can trust his advice. You can use our comm system here, and I suggest you to do it as soon as possible. I mean, take your time to get up, but don't wait for too long, angel."
"Angel?" She replied with a weak smirk, surprised he called her that way. "Maybe I'll do it tomorrow?"
"Sounds like a plan." She yawned crudely. "I guess that's only in three or four hours now anyways." There was one thing that remained to be discussed, though. "How are you planning to, well, compensate their work? If they can do anything about it, that is." Maren somehow doubted that Nancy would have much in terms of monetary means.
"I've got some money. Some thanks to Ezrael," she said with a simple smile.
Before Maren could say something weird about that, Ezrael looked over to her. "She shot some enemies of the Core, Maren. Don't get it wrong." He turned his head to Nancy again. "Also, if that's not enough, I'm sure we will find another way. You know, you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours."
Somehow that sounded weird coming from Ezrael, but Maren figured that Vertiga was very much talking about the errand for the Lane Hackers. She nodded. "Well, we probably can throw some money in a pot. Don't feel like you owe us something because of it, though."
"Kind of difficult... I already feel like I owe you two too much," she replied quietly, folding her hands on her lap.
"Well..." he began, looking over to Maren. "... I hate to speak of it, but there actually is something we may could use your assistance. I mean, it's totally okay if you don't want to do it, but... you know..." He instantly felt bad about asking her. The Lane Hackers didn't want him to kill, but to destroy, and things can turn very bad. "One of our supporters wants us to deliver a message to those VWA guys. I mean, you know, a job like Maren and you are used to. Not killing, though. But destroying a target. I really hate to ask you, but maybe you can give us some fire cover when the situation demands it."
Maren shook her head, finding it a bit harsh of Vertiga to ask a sick girl such a thing. "What he wanted to say is that I have the situation well in hand and the only problem is finding these people. All we'd need of you would be to firstly, be healthy again, and secondly, if you feel up to it, maybe contact me if you see someone of the VWA so I can deal with the situation. Again, there is no pressure from our part."
"I can help with that I guess... as long as I don't pass out," she said with a weak smile, still feeling a bit off about how it all happened and by how Ezreal had entered the room.
"That's good to know. Listen, under other circumstances I wouldn't have dared to ask you such a thing, but, you know, things aren't easy out here, and it's very likely for Maren and me to die here. Of course, we try to avoid that outcome by any chance, and I know how incredible good you are, handling your serval. Having you with us, our chances of survival, at least in that scenario, a way higher. However, if you're not fit enough to do it, tell us. We don't want you to die out there, and in that case, we will find another solution. Although, I'm afraid, I say that too often."
Looking first at Vertiga, then at Nancy, Maren figured that it would now be up to Nancy to decide what she would do. Although Maren hoped for some backup dearly, she also didn't want Nancy to pass out in the middle of a combat engagement.
"I'll see what I can do," she said quietly, feeling a little forced into the decision as he made it sound they'd possibly die without her help.
Feeling seemingly uncomfortable with what he just did, Ezrael tried to form a doubtful smile for Nancy and nodded. He then looked over to Maren. "Sugartits, I'll take a shower now and then go to bed. If you two still want to talk, feel free to do so, but, you know, you could also join me doing at least one of those things. Good night, Nancy. Again, if you need something, call for us."
"I will, I think me and Maren talked about everything for now," Nancy said quietly, giving Maren a soft smile, slightly acted as she tried to get a point across to Maren.
The idea of a hot and steamy shower wasn't so bad, not at all. "Alright, then. We'll see you in the morning, Nancy." Turning around, Maren followed Ezrael out the door, giving Nancy another look before closing it. "That really was a wild ride," she addressed Vertiga once the door slid shut. "I do hope we can help her. We will need all the friends we can get once you're done with the Core." She slung her arms around Veriga, tip-toeing to give him a kiss. "How about that shower, Captain?"
Nancy pulled the sheets closely around her and turned herself to face the window. Staring at the stars quietly before she'd try to find some sleep again. Something that would come fairly quickly again.
"You know, Maren, it's just another 99%-to-fail plan," he said with a joking tone, returning the kiss, then pulling her up to carry her to over to their room. "I'm slowly getting used to it."
Entering his room, he straight hauled Maren over to the bathroom. "By the way, Maren, sorry for waking you up. I guess I'll need to find a way to atone for it."
Still in Vertiga's arms, she leaned her head sideways a bit. "I am not normally a vengeful goddess, but for you, I make an exception," she purred, barely at the edge of hearing, picking up on Vertiga's use of religiously-connotated vocabulary.
Needless to say, neither person ultimately minded the sleep they had lost.
Nancy was more restless in her sleep as she rolled from one side to the other, taking the sheets along with her making a mess of it all. As the night went on she began to sweat as well, waking up in brief moments of time before falling asleep again quickly...
When it was seven in the morning she woke up once more, this time however she felt too awake to sink away again in her sleep. Her breath was audible as she felt a distress from her nightmares. She blinked her eyes as she began to realize where she was and sighed moments later to calm down after the nightmares she had. Most of it still being vivid in her mind.
She laid on the bed for a while with the sheets not covering her as she felt too warm to be under them. After a while collecting herself she got up and moved to the bathroom to get a shower.
19th of May 823 A.S.
Omicron Kappa System
Corinth Station, CV-Hoffnungsschimmer
Nancy was more restless in her sleep as she rolled from one side to the other, taking the sheets along with her making a mess of it all. As the night went on she began to sweat as well, waking up in brief moments of time before falling asleep again quickly...
When it was seven in the morning she woke up once more, this time however she felt too awake to sink away again in her sleep. Her breath was audible as she felt a distress from her nightmares. She blinked her eyes as she began to realize where she was and sighed moments later to calm down after the nightmares she had. Most of it still being vivid in her mind.
She laid on the bed for a while with the sheets not covering her as she felt too warm to be under them. After a while collecting herself she got up and moved to the bathroom to get a shower.
The ringing of the bloody alarm clock rang loudly through Vertiga's and Maren's bedroom. Cursing inwardly, Maren tried beating the thing off the nightstand but only managed to hit her hand on it. "Is alright, stop it," she murmured, finally rising to rub the sleep out of her eyes. "Handsome, y'bum. Rise and shine!"
Half asleep, he mumbled: "Just five more hours, mom..." pulling Maren back on his chest. "... need your boobs to stay were they are... or I can't sleep."
Surprised, she squeaked: "Ezrael!" although she couldn't help but laugh at the absurdity of what he'd just uttered. "Momma wants to visit the bathroom. Come on, get up. It's time for school. You gotta make your lunch yourself this time because you're a big boy."
In the meantime Nancy had finished her shower and got dressed up in simple trousers and a long sleeved dark red shirt. Before leaving the room she made the bed and placed her night on it, as she guessed she wasn't going anywhere soon and thus wouldn't have to stuff it back into her bag. Before leaving her room she grabbed some pills against her headache again as it kept on bothering her.
Hungry, she quietly made her way to the cantina, wondering if she could just ask the droids to make her something.
"Meh," he mumbled, grabbing Maren and rolling with her over, so that she was below him. His come-to-bed eyes open, staring at her with a pleased smile. "You're not my mom, and that's good," he said, giving her a long kiss. There was no time for that right now. Releasing her lips, and watching her sparkling eyes for a final moment, he rolled down from her and sat up on the bed's edge. Still a bit drowsy, he tried to remember where he left his underwear and his Core overall from yesterday. Not that he wanted he wear it again, but usually the clothes would lie around somewhere in the room.
Anyway, it didn't matter. Standing up and stretching, he offered Maren a view of his surfer body and his fueled manpower. Something every man is used to in the morning. "Shower now or after breakfast?" he asked her.
Bloody hell, why'd he stopped now? "Y- yeah, I guess after breakfast," she stammered. Technically they'd eaten something, like, four hours ago already, but well, she'd probably regret it if she wouldn't eat anything this morning. Getting up, she picked up some new clothes, humming disapprovingly. "We really should go buy some new clothes, don't you think? Reckon I'd look good with a hat?" She adjusted an imaginary hat on her head.
Nancy would have ordered toast with eggs and while it was being prepared she sat at the table, browsing the web on her PDA. She sighed quietly, wondering if Maren and Ezreal were still around or perhaps asleep.
Over there in the bathroom, Ezrael found his clothes right there where he dropped them some hours ago, when Maren pulled him out of those to give him a little oral favor, which lead to a hot mess in the shower. Since they wanted to eat something before showering once more, for real, he put on the things. It's not like they were dirty or sweaty. Back in the bedroom, Maren sat on the bed, a PDA in her hand, scrolling down the neural net. "You don't need a hat. No need to hide your nice hair. But we will see. I'm going to tell the robots to make us breakfast. And don't you dare to touch yourself when I'm not with you!"
After that, he blew her a kiss and left their room, heading to the cantina. The dumb KSR in the hallway still was trying to move into the wall, the programming pad was right next to it on the ground. With a smiling sigh, Ezrael passed by, thinking about letting this guy do that all the time just to have a little mascot or a running gag on his ship.
In the cantina, he was surprised to see Nancy already sitting there, with a plate of toast and eggs in front of her. He wondered if she was the okay Nancy or the I just wanna get effed Nancy. "Good morning, angel," he said, going over to her and taking a seat on the opposite side of her.
"Hey... good morning," Nancy said quietly with a soft smile. Having looked up at him when she noticed someone walked into the cantina. "I was hungry so I thought I'd go ahead and get me something already," she added to apologize for having started with her breakfast even when they were still onboard.
"No need to apologize, girl," he said, looking at Nancy's plate. "Robot, make me and Maren breakfast too, please." Leaning a bit back, he looked at Nancy, inspecting her body language. "So, how do you feel today, angel? Had a good slumber?"
"Sure," she said with a sleepy smile, lying as she hadn't exactly slept too well after the disturbance in the middle of the night. "What about you?" she asked quietly before taking a bite.
"Eh, I can't say I slept that much," he had to admit. Three or four hours, maybe. After all he just came back from duty when he saw Nancy acting like a weird little horny girl. Then the whole conversation in the cantina with Maren, then finding Nancy in the bathroom, then talking to her again later... and then a little fun time with Maren in the shower. It was a busy night, maybe a bit exhausting and having in mind he also has to do some paperwork for Core as well as installing the rest of the turrets on the Apahanta, there wasn't much time to sleep left. "But it could be worse, right? So, say, what are you going to do today?"
"I don't know... I don't want to pass out again, so I'll probably just stay here?" She shrugged, not really knowing yet how she would fill her day. "Didn't mean to freak you both out by collapsing here," she added with a hesitant smile, poking around in her egg a little in the meantime as she felt a bit off.
Having finished her own morning routine, Maren stepped out of Vertiga's and her own bedroom, feeling at least somewhat presentable. She had a towel wrapped around her head to dry/conceal her mane. Stetching, she walked towards where she figured Nancy and Vertiga would be exchanging inapproporiate words. Poking her head into the room, she spoke: "Hey you. Yeah, you there. You left hair in the drain!"
Nancy looked up to Maren when she entered. Looking a little surprised by Maren's comment which made her give Ezreal a questioning look as she tried to remember if she properly cleaned after herself. Having been confident she did really clean up everything, even having dried off the walls after her shower.
"Wait, I thought you wanted to shower after breakfast!" he said, looking over to her as the robots brought the plates for Maren and Ezrael. "You cheated! Come here and get your punishment!"
Nancy shook her head and focused on her food, feeling even more off when she heard Ezreal talk like that but she tried to ignore it and simply continue eating.
Maren entered the room and took a seat next to Vertiga. Leaning over, she took a strand of Vertiga's long hair between index finger and thumb. "No wonder you're loosing hair like a cat." Taking a look at the plate, she sighed, she was still somewhat stuffed from the last one. "Well, anything interesting happened? Contacted those science guys already?"
"No.. I haven't yet. I'll do it later today I guess." Nancy said quietly before putting another bite in her mouth, eating with fairly small bites as she didn't really have an appetite but felt she had to eat something either way.
"Nothing wrong with my hair. It's healthy! The only thing that might stress it a bit is, well, the Omicrons," he said, giving Maren a kiss on the cheek while taking two slices of bread from the plate in front of her. "Nancy, I would like to bring the Hoffnungsschimmer over to Omicron Delta to the freeport for a little shopping tour. Maren needs some clothes, and maybe you want to join us. After that, we will return to Corinth, simply to avoid getting attacked by the Core."
"Hm... I guess we could do that." Nancy said quietly, glad she'd have something to do in a day. She took her last bite and slowly shoved her plate away, showing she was finished with her breakfast.
"You probably shouldn't identify this ship as a Zoner vessel, given the circumstances." She helped herself to a single slice with honey as well. Probably better than being hungry half the day. "Which brings me to the way more important issue of: Will you actually survive two women in a shopping centre? No, these two things are not related, Zoner identification and shopping."
"Not quite sure if I need to buy anything, I got quite the wardrobe at home," Nancy said quietly with a smile but giving Ezreal a curious look as she was curious about his reply.
"No," he began, shook his head when Maren talked about the ship's ID transponder. "This ship was Zoner ID'd when I bought it and it will stay that way. In the end, I more or less are mostly living a Zoner way of life. It's just totally ***** up now that everything is at war with everyone."
Taking a bite from his bread, he sighed while chewing. "I'd like to restock our food supplies a bit more. I mean, when they have something cool, I want to have it for us. Also, Nancy, just in case you're staying here more often, I'd like you to have some extra clothes for you here. Same goes for you, Maren. And no hat."
"Hm... I guess we'll be able to find something," she said quietly, wondering if Ezrael was going to dry and dictate what they'd be wearing.
"I swear if you try and put me in some sort of frilly dress, I'll skin you," Maren said with her mouth full. "I'll get a hat just because I can! It'll be glorious!" Her elan was rewarded with a piece of bread going down the wrong pipe and Maren started coughing.
Nancy gave Maren a worried look, expecting for Ezrael to pat her back.
"See what happens?" he said, giving her a careful slap on the back till she stopped coughing. "You're a funny girl. I really like you for being who you are. But no hat. Maybe a nice flower hair clip? Girls on Curacao do that often."
Nancy just smiled quietly, having nothing to say as she wondered about Curacao herself and any other planets out there for that matter.
"I'm sure that will scare the bejeezus out of that VWA when we meet him and try to intimidatingly convey the message," she gasped, still being somewhat winded from her choking fit. Man, why no hat? She was sure she'd be rocking a fez or something small like that.
"Maren, jokes aside. When we're doing the VWA thing, you won't use video comms, right? I don't want them to see your face. We do that as hideous as possible," he said, knowing that Maren sometimes is a bit careless about things like that, like with her safety belt.
A final bite and the bread was eaten. "I'm on schedule... excuse me, girls." He gave Maren another kiss on her cheek, jokingly blew a kiss over to Nancy and then left the cantina.
"He's actually right; I shouldn't give them my face, and I should use my old ship, perhaps. The new callsigh should stay free of such connotations." She eyed the remainder of her bread suspiciously, figuring that there probably wasn't going to be another reason to choke. Vertiga had left and Nancy wasn't really one to crack people up, which was fine, but somewhat hard to deal with at times.
"Do you want to take a stroll with me through the Freeport? Better than staying on the ship all day, don't you think?" she asked Nancy, finishing her meagre second breakfast.
"Uhm... sure, maybe we can grab some coffee along the way?" She asked, wanting to wake up further with the help of some caffeine.
Maren got to her feet, stretching noisily, her back making several satisfying popping noises. "Sure. Pretty certain we'll find that pretty quickly."
"Alright... you lead the way then?" She asked, standing up herself, ready to follow Maren.
Maren grinned. "Righto! I'll be your tourguide! Prepare for glory!" She beckoned for Nancy to follow her out the door encouragingly. Down the hallway and towards the elevators they walked, down, and out into the station. "You don't mind if we use my ship? There enough space in the Sabre for you to sit behind me."
"Uhm... oh right... the Freeport. I thought we were there already. But sure, your Sabre, that works." She nodded, briefly looking over her shoulder as she tried to remember how they walked.
"Well, no, we're moored with Corinth. It is simply better than being in Delta given recent events. I guess we prefer the harvesting machines over being shot by the Core or the Nomads." They moved through the station, through the residential area and towards the docks.
"Hm... I see, I'm still not completely focused I guess. Last night was weird too, so many dreams." She said quietly as she walked besides Maren.
Maren laughed, recalling the events rather vividly and hoping that these were not that which Nancy remembered as dreams now. "Well, at least you slept some more." Reaching the hangar Maren gestured for Nancy to board the ship first.
Nancy rubbed her forehead. "Some things are so vivid still. It's weird." She mumbled quietly, looking ahead of them with a pondering look on her.
"Don't worry. Once you had some coffee, those thoughts will be a thing of the past," Maren retorted, trying somewhat awkwardly to steer Nancy's train of thought elsewhere, but preferably not off a cliff. "Uhm, are you going to get in there?"
She shook her head to shake the thoughts. "Uh right..." She sounded, looking at the Sabre with an almost jealous smile before she climbed up the stairs to sit in the sat behind that of the pilot.
Maren climbed in shortly afterwards, though with far less grace. "I love how there isn't dust everywhere. Like, that was a real problem on my old ship." Making her way to the cockpit, she continued. "I guess you can just stand behind me while we fly it is not like there'd be much to worry about in terms of accidental head blemishes if we're not heading into a fight. Also, the gravity stabilizers are great in this thing." She began starting the ship's systems one by one.
"I used to have a Sabre myself... I'm actually jealous right now." She mumbled from behind Maren, holding onto the seat to look over her shoulder.
Maren looked over her shoulder, giving Nancy a look. "They're not exactly rare ships. We could try and find one for you, if you want. I'm pretty sure you'd find someone who would buy your Gallic ship for his collection or something." Maren hit a few keys in front of her, requesting for the hangar doors to be opened.
"I'd rather try to find my old Sabre first. It was special... and I don't believe any other Sabre would fly like that one," she said quietly, longing for the time with her Sabre which she felt was weeks ago.
"I can understand what you mean," Maren replied as the pressure in the hangar was released and the hangar doors slid open. "My old Wraith was awesome. Then it started falling apart and there simply weren't any spare parts." Starting the engines, the ship started moving forwards, passing the hangar gates just as half impulse speed was reached. The telltale announcement from the hangar control could be heard from the console, confirming the start and wishing good luck.
"Something I have to be careful with as well. Gallic parts aren't exactly easy to come by," she said quietly, looking out into space, still amazed by it as she wasn't used to the colours here even when having spent some time around the Omicrons already.
Turning the ship, Maren engaged the autopilot and the cruise engines, heading for the Omicron Delta jumphole. One would notice how... slowly she was doing all this, not doing and sudden movements with her hands. "Which is a shame. Gallic ships are beautiful, as are their engines. I spent way too much money buying an engine that looks similar to theirs. It literally just intermixes lead into a normal MOX combustion process, thus creating the blue exhaust effect. At least, that's what they said." With the autopilot doing all the work now, Maren turned to look at Nancy while talking to her.
"My Serval does run really smooth. I should show you my Aurochs some day. It's really neat," she spoke with a soft smile.
"Aurochs? What ship is that?" Passing into the cloud that veiled both Lividia Shipyards and the Omicron Delta Jumphole, the lighting in the ship's interior became notably dimmer.
"It's a Gallic freighter. Nice large cockpit and some living space. Although mine also made the cargo bay underneath it a living quarter. It's pretty much my home now. Better than most rooms on stations too," she explained.
The two girls would enjoy their shopping on Freeport 11, forgetting about the war for a moment as they dived into all sorts of clothes and even when Ezrael had showed his distaste for a hate they'd both try them on as well. Their shopping seeming to bring them a bit more together as Nancy was actually able to show some happiness and giggles when they'd try some weird clothes. She however wouldn't buy herself anything, unless Maren would've insisted about a piece fitting her well...
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