Magia half-jumped, startled at being addressed in the bar, or at all for that matter. She turned towards the voice to find the face that came with it, and responded nervously, "Yanagi. A friend suggested I start up operations here after the work I did on the Altanaria. I'm still new, and have yet to meet anyone." She paused, hesitating. This could either be a good situation or a very bad one. Either way, she was in it, so might as well make do.
She reached out her hand, feeling less confident than she looked. "My name is Magia. And you would be..." She trailed off, leaving an opening for a conversation to either begin or end.
'I'm Custo', a member of the Benitez familia.' He reached out and shook Magia's hand. He waved the bar-tender over and brought a drink and gave it to her. 'To your good fortunes on Crete and the Corsair empire.'
He quickly glanced around him and saw the remaining balls of tumble weed still litering the floor. 'Want a ball of tumble weed?' He asked hopefully...
Magia laughed, her voice filled with relief. Finally, a truly friendly face. She raised the glass and grinned, then downed the golden liquid, unsure of what it was, and not totally caring.
"Is it that obvious I'm a junker?" She looked down at herself - an oversized brown leather jacket covered in patches, and a torn up pair of pants pinned together, barely staying in one piece. She sighed. "Yeah, I guess it is that obvious."
She readjusted her brain, focusing back on Custo.' "So what brings you here? Business or pleasure?" She grinned again, enjoying the company after the seemingly endless expanse of solitude.
'we-el, I'm not allowed to leave this place on pain of death until I clear up all this tumble-weed I threw everywhere...' *Custo' throws another tumble-weed out the window* 'If your wondering why I threw it everywhere, it's 'cos I was bored and no-one was around to cheer me up.' He grinned as he remembers the grilling he got from a Brotherhood Elder for messing the place up.
'Ah well... I guess I'm here for pleasure reasons then, nothing like getting in trouble whilst having a drink. you know, you could always replace those Junker grease-monkey clothes with a nice new Corsairs flight suit, wada'ya think?' Custo' grins and orders another drink.
Magia pouted, looking down at her clothes again. "But I like these clothes. They're... they're comfy." She looked at his suit, critical. "That one doesn't look so comfy at all. But I guess... each to their own, right?"
She glanced at her drink, finally curious as to what it was. "So, what is this stuff? Tastes good." She took another sip, savoring the flavor as it played along her tongue.
"Custo!" Lucendez walked up to the bar after having his conversation with Sephardi.
"So! I see you've met Isa huh?" Upon hearing his voice, Magia jumped up and gave him a hug. She noticed the big metal plate and started to worry.
"Hon, don't. I'm having it replaced..." Said Juan, referring to his eye as though it were a piece of hull plating that was defective. "Besides, you don't hear from me in a day and your at a bar? Shouldn't you be, I don't know ... mourning?" He bore his good eye down on her.
"And to answer your question, I believe that's Cretan Spiced Rum, or something." Lucendez dipped his finger into the rum and tasted it, confirming his suspicions.
"The thirteen saloons that had lined the one street of Seney had not left a trace. The foundations of the Mansion House hotel stuck up above the ground. The stone was chipped and split by the fire. It was all that was left of the town of Seney. Even the surface had been burned off the ground.
Nick looked at the burned-over stretch of hillside, where he had expected to find the scattered houses of the town and then walked down the railroad track to the bridge over the river. The river was there."
Magia pulled back, stunned. "You don't think I've been upset? I haven't heard from you in a month!" She reached for the plate on his face, running a finger down the cold metal. "It's... what is it? Some kind of compound? I haven't seen it before." She tilted her head, momentarily mesmerized by the new metal.
A though brought her back to reality, though. "And when will you stop calling me Isa? You know I don't go by that..." She turned to Custo, her features softening. "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to pull you into all of this. It's been a weird few weeks."
She looked back and forth between the two men. One, a stranger who she'd quickly come to like; the other, one of the closest to her heart. Finally she reached toward Juan again, wrapping herself into him and shedding the few tears of joy she'd been holding back. Looking up, she whispered, "Let's get out of here, captain. We've got some catching up to do."
Juan heard Isabella's words and smiled softly. Cuto' didn't know if Lucendez blinked or winked, but soon after Juan picked Magia up and slung her over his shoulder. Magia started to protest, not knowing what was going on.
"Welp, I've gotta clean this mess up, I'm sure a capable young man like yourself can see to the rest of this tumble weed. And do it tonight, don't disrespect your Elders. Once you got this cleaned up I would be delighted if you contacted me in space, we can clean out Alpha while we're at it." Lucendez turned and started to waltz out the door so that Magia was looking back at Custo', smiling and blushing.
"The thirteen saloons that had lined the one street of Seney had not left a trace. The foundations of the Mansion House hotel stuck up above the ground. The stone was chipped and split by the fire. It was all that was left of the town of Seney. Even the surface had been burned off the ground.
Nick looked at the burned-over stretch of hillside, where he had expected to find the scattered houses of the town and then walked down the railroad track to the bridge over the river. The river was there."
Custo' threw a mock salute and busyed himself throwing the remaining tumble weed out the window. There was an angry cry from down below in the street. Custo' poked his head out to see what was going on to see a few enraged street cleaners standing in a mound of tumble weed. One of them looked up saw Custo' and ran for the bar door. Like hell he was going to get caught by street cleaners! He jumped the bar counter and hid underneath it, he could deal with Jose the bar-tender later, maybe a credit donation would compensate... Life was good.
Skyelius was tired, after whole hours of taxing and pirating. He walked inside the bar, and found Elder Lucendez, Custo' Benitez and a newcomer whom he was told about, Magia, sitting in one of the tables. Lucendez and Custo were discussing the details of an Outcast strike, and Magia was there listening.
"Juan, good to see you here, hermano. Hey, Custo'! Hola, senorita Magia. It's so relaxing to have people here. I'm tired of those greedy traders shouting from their escape pods."
Juan smiled. He was glad to see his brother had been busy serving rest of the Corsairs. He invited him to sit down:
"I'm glad you're here, hermano. Jose, another glass of water, por favor. Sky, meet Magia. Magia, meet Sky."
"Hola, Skyelius. I have heard a bit about you but meeting someone in person is quite different, isn't it?"
Magia gently smiled and wondered a lot about him.
Custo was busy looking out for the street cleaners, but he pat Sky in the back as he stood up, laughed, and
checked out through the window. Suddenly, the door opened, and an engineer came running to the table.
He looked at Skyelius and shouted:
"It is a cold universe until you know God as your Father, and then it becomes a home. Even the next life simply becomes the Father's house, home."
—David Pawson