Freya has now become completely confused. How could this girl possibly be a biomedical engineering student? It would be a surprise if she could even tie her own shoes! However her motivation seems honest enough. The recruiter part makes Freya giggle.
Her mood changes however when after a single line.. nobility needs to distinguish themselves to be able to guide their people.
"You are not a noble." Lizzie's talk about dresses is stopped by a now dead serious Freya. "There's no nobility here. Not on this station, not on our ships, not among our ranks. You may have been the queen herself in Bretonia and you'd still have to clean the hallway of your dormitory here every once in a while. You do not guide anyone until you are capable of doing so, regardless of birth."
A thought pops up in Freya's mind as she pauses after this rant. Despite being party leader, Freya had always kept her room that she had since she joined the old Volksfront. Already having her own office, she didn't feel like taking up even more space on the small space station. This might be useful in the current situation.
"Fortunately for you, I believe that your words are simply the result of being a complete stranger to normal society. However to prevent you from causing too much trouble while you get used to daily life here, I'll keep an eye out. The dorm room next to mine is currently vacant." She pauses. Petra had been her neighbor for only three months before she got killed in a skirmish with the Military. She'd better not tell that to Lizzie though. "I'll arrange for you to get placed there. I hope you don't mind me doing so."
She's shocked by how rudely she's cut off by Freya, and puffs her cheek as a consequence, listening to her sermon. She seems to be oddly insulted by her remarks, crossing her arms and frowning at Freya. "I'm no sheltered child!", she says after letting the information sink in and calming down, huffing in disregard before regaining her composure, before realising how silly she's acting over nothing. "...Right, I suppose I apologise..."
She gets off the table and thinks over her suggestion, her hand lightly caressing her chin as she looks at the ceiling of the bar, staring at it for quite a few moments as a thousand of questions about asteroid bases come up in her mind. She shakes them off and twirls to face Freya once more, smiling eagerly. "So, you happen to be the Quartermaster of this place if you can manage the dorms, no? If such is the case, I'll accept your request. I don't think I would mind being neighbours with you, no matter how blunt you can be. You have other charms to make up for it.", her tone indicates a hint of sarcasm, though it's all playful banter.
Yet, for once, her attitude becomes quite more serious and stern, as if her personality changed in a turn on a dime. "If such is the case, then I'd also like you to show me to whatever medical unit you may have. I'd like to have a check on what your supplies are, and what I can do for you. Introduction to any medical staff you have will also be a necessity if you want me to cooperate better with them, as well as to further my as of yet incomplete formation." If anything, it seemed that she could be serious about what she does, but she takes a pause to scan Freya's reaction for a short moment, before adding to her request: "...If you allow me to continue serving in what I specialize in, of course."
Freya grins. "Quartermaster? No... Not exactly." She stands up and extends her hand towards Lizzie for a firm handshake.
As they face each other the enormous difference between these two personalities could be seen by an outsider from their appearances alone. While Lizzie can barely fit her large dress behind the table and would better fit in a royal court than a tavern full of rebels, Freya is wearing an olive green Widerstand uniform with shoulder marks indicating the rank of Kommandant and her jacket unbuttoned revealing a plain t-shirt underneath.
"I'm Freya Eistochter, the Vorsitzende of the Bundschuh Partei, the party leader you'd call it in Bretonia." She returns to her seat."As for a medical unit, we've got a medbay, it is always full, the pharmaceuticals are always out of stock and we're always understaffed. While there's plenty of former students here, most didn't even come close to rounding up their study and they come here to fight anyway. So yes, depending on your knowledge and experience I might have some use for you." She leans forwards. "But not before you can safely handle a firearm, can control a ship, know emergency evacuation procedures and plenty of other things... Aktivist."
She returns the handshake, her rather frilly dress getting in the way of the most simple of motions. Her smile is sincere and genuine as she listens to her talk "Oh, the B- Witch of Franfkurt! I've heard of you! They told me you'd be scary, but my, do I beg to differ!", she chuckles to herself, amused, before nodding solemnly.
"I heard the thousands of rumors and stories about your reputation, and how vicious and heartless of a murderer you are. You don't seem all that tough, though. I bet I can even drink you under the table, right here right now. WAITER, WHERE'S MY DRINK?", she snaps her fingers once more, before glancing at the pilot she offended not even a minute ago, who flips her the bird once more. "Oh, if there's one thing you Rheinlanders lack, it's the sense of hospitality.", she says with a disappointed wince before heading to the counter and get herself another Rheinbeer.
As the glass is served to her (the bartender still frowning due to the lost of a her previous one), she turns to Freya and gulps down her drink at once. "Right, so, I've never held a gun, I can't even launch a shuttle in a simulator, and there's nothing that terrifies me more than the thought of dirt on my face. With the rather notable exception of fire on my face."
Freya didn't really know how to react. She knew she had a reputation of course. She wasn't ashamed of it either, because despite people calling her names, in the end they voted for her. Being 'the Witch' was necessary, the movement needed someone like her for sake of discipline and organization. The Bundschuh Partei was full of people who would either act impulsively without thinking or people who talk fancy, but are way too passive. Freya was the drill sergeant they needed. At least that's what she liked to believe anyway.
Still despite that belief, she never met anyone who would mention her nickname and her infamy right in front of her like that. And then even question that reputation? Based on the ability to drink lots of alcoholic beverages? This Lizzie was really something else.
"Perhaps, you should stop asking my pilots for drinks, McLowell." She points at the Gaian silverhair behind the bar. "Ask Dutch, he runs this place, or that.. ape... over there. The Ambassador. Dutch's pet-bartender." Freya's dislike of the animal was obvious. It never hurt anyone or broke anything though and it could actually serve drinks pretty well so she had no excuse to get rid of it. "Don't get yourself drunk though. And don't attempt to get me drinking either. This is not a sorority although you are not the only one around here who seems to occasionally think so. Guess that's no surprise with so many people around our age around."
After Dutch served Lizzie's drink Freya watches the beer getting poured into the odd girl. "You are quite impulsive aren't you?" She chuckles. "Don't worry though, you'll have to follow some classes in basic spaceborne combat and stuff like that. You'll also get some classes throughout the year. Rheinlandic history, occasional extra military training, et cetera. Despite all that though, it can't be prevented that you'll get dirty. But you'll get used to that."
"Tssk, loosen up, you Witch, we're living the best years of our lives in a Sirius so full of conflicts of all kinds. Of course we'll make a change, but what's that good if we can't even enjoy that change ourselves? If you're overstressed, you'll be no better than that Canceller guy you're trying to remove.", she chugs her drink down and places it on the counter, giving Freya an amused wink.
"And while I'm impulsive, put me in a lab coat and they say I become a saint. I know there's a time and place to be serious.", she reaches into the peanut bowl and throws one at the monkey's direction as she sits on a stool, finally resting her sore rump. " A bar on an asteroid is the last place where I'll want to be serious."
Despite Freya being in a relatively good mood so far, she wouldn't be Freya if she would let those remarks slide. Standing up from her seat she walks over to Lizzie and grabs her collar pulling it upwards a bit forcing Lizzie to throw her head backwards, face towards the ceiling.
Freya smirks. "A first lesson for you: You address me with Vorsitzende Eistochter. If your feeling informal Vorsitzende, Kommandant or Eistochter may suffice. You don't call me anything else unless you have sufficient reason to believe I allow you to do so and you especially do not address me with some offensive and childish nickname." She let go of Lizzie's collar and took a small step back.
She raises her already fairly loud voice: "And a second lesson: There are some pretty good reasons to get stressed here. This isn't some lovely Bretonian aristocratic high-tea. The reason for this bar's existence is because my brave men and women are fighting every day. They come here to find get some relaxation in their hectic lives and some here are drinking simply to forget. The pilot you treated like a waiter was risking his life out there before he came here."
Freya was getting really worked up, but then pauses and seems to calm down again. With a much softer voice she continues: "The reason there is a vacant room next to mine is not because someone moved to another station you know? And it'll be my responsibility as the woman in charge if one day the room becomes vacant again. You can go and drink and laugh and do whatever you want. But this is not a part-time job. It's your life."
Lizzie's numbed reflexes would've by now reacted to being grabbed in a such a disgruntling way, but the best she can muster is some kind of gargled mumble of opposition, rather than get into a boxing position or use Freya's momentum against her. Which probably isn't a bad thing, considering the sidearm Freya is always carrying. There was no butler or security guards to protect her here, and her eyes set to the other aktivists in the room, causing her to she realize she was the minority here. Her charms wouldn't be able to reverse the situation.
Lizzie then gave in an amused, slightly drunken chuckle, leaning against the counter as she loosens her top to allow some more oxygen to breathe through, not being all that used to the lower gravity of asteroid stations and how uncontrolled their temperatures can be, droplets of sweat dripping down her forehead, half due to the bar's temperature, and half part due to nervousness.
"Freya, I'm not trying to be your enemy here. We're in a bar, enjoying ourselves. Some want to forget, and some are scared. I'm scared. I don't think I've realized just what I got myself into. I'm not you, I don't know what you or anyone here went through, and my life certainly isn't to pity, but here I am today, because of some cute boy I had a crush on, and I can't turn back. Do you realize how pathetic this is?", she sighs deeply, stepping closer towards Freya.
"If you wish to crush my spirits and turn me into just another grieving Rheinlander, then so be it, but it won't be without some opposition from my part. I will have it my way. I've seen first-hand how some Daumann 'employees' were treated in the Omegas. I couldn't believe humans could be treated like disposable hunks of meat. I believe in this cause as much as anyone else here, but I'm not anyone else. ", Lizzie steps away slightly, turned towards a window and now looking into the vastness of space, before taking a deep breath and continuing.
"I'm me, Lizzie McLowell. I may not hold my titles here, and my birthrights do not have any meaning, but I still remain who I am. I come from a line of humanists who've treated Sirians with the utmost respect, curing their ills and eradicating diseases. This, my life today, is how I decided pay my respect to my ancestors, and how I'll serve Sirius from now on.", she turns to face Freya again, giving her a genuine smile, yet still slightly nervous and intoxicated.
"Ja... quite pathetic indeed." Freya sighs. She shouldn't just let Lizzie get off so easily, but she had to. What was she supposed to do? Get the girl to cry and wish she never ended up in this place? She was capable of doing so for sure, but even if that would be a fair thing to do, Freya couldn't do it.
"You're naive and stupid, you know? I don't think you belong here. Still..." She takes a few steps to stand next to Lizzie and places her hand on Lizzie's shoulder. "I'll allow you to serve the cause. Don't disappoint me. If you make me regret this decision it'll be a one way trip back to Bretonia for you." She smiles faintly while looking Lizzie in the eye.
Immediatly, Lizzie straightens up and cheers up, a large smile on her face. There was an odd sense of pride in her now, and an odd look of determinism in her eyes, now all fired up. "Trust me, Freya, I won't disappoint. I'll pool everything I can: effort, time, ressources, contacts, into our cause.", she says as she clenches her fist victoriously. She then loses her balance slightly due to her intoxication and starts chuckling to herself.
"Right, how about you tour me now so I know where the pods are in case the Canceller's fleet find this rock?"
![[Image: yXeeIiN.png]](https://i.imgur.com/yXeeIiN.png)
