"Oh I'm so sorry! I forget that just because I read Nick's files and learn all about so many different people doesn't mean they know as much about me." *her face scrunches up as she starts to think. Opening her mouth to talk, she is interrupted by the cabin door sliding open, and a pristine white droid marked with the Forlorn Hope logo steps through. It's carrying a tray of drinks, and despite being unarmed, exudes menace as it gently places the tray on the table, and leaves the cabin without a word.*
Sam seems frozen in place as she watches the droid come and go, and the moment the door closes behind it begins to speak again. "I don't even know where to start to tell the truth. I was born on Corfu base, out in Omicron Theta. Mom raised me alone, and always told me about how my dad was a fighter pilot for the Core and couldn't stay with us because it would be too dangerous if he did. I never really worried about it much, since mom always seemed to have money and the one time I asked where it was from cause she didn't really work, I was told it was arranged by my dad long ago." Sam trails off, looking lost in her own thoughts for a short while. A smile creeps back onto her face however.
" You asked about Glendalough Orbital! Oh I remember reading that Nick was paying you at one point concerning its safety. Not that thats a worry now. You should see it! It's gotten several large expansions, and even these dangerous looking defense turrets. It has its own bar, living rooms and even a market for people in the sector to sell their goods in! And those are just the public areas. There are droids like the one who brought us the drinks all over the station, always watching for trouble and keeping people safe. They're combat droids, and what Nick uses in place of humans when they have to board ships and land troops. Theres a foundry on the lower levels that we use to make them." She seems to be extremely proud of what Glen's become, and smiles happily as she takes a breath. Reaching out for a drink, she makes sure to pass one with a slight orange tint to Eliza.
"That ones from Malta. Don't ask me how Nick got it, I don't know, but I do know theres cardamine in it, so I can't have any, but you can! I hope I'm not boring you with all this talk about myself. After all, I'm just Nick's daughter. If you wanted real interesting stories, you'd have to ask him for some. Did you know he lost his arm fighting zombies? Ok, not zombies, but aliens that acted like zombies?"
She leans back happily on the couch, drinking and looking expectantly at Eliza.
Eliza didn't expect a droid to come out of the door but Samantha's reaction to the robot surprised her even more. Was she afraid that it would eavesdrop on the conversation or was it simple distrust for robots? As menacing as it may have looked it still held enough grace in it's movement to look peaceful enough for a waiter so Eliza chose to not pay it too much attention beyond the initial admiration for it's sleek design. If the thing wanted to grow sentience and do what Gammu AI do it would've ripped both their throats already.
With the machine gone back to it's den Eliza crossed her legs and turned her attention back at her hostess for the trip. She wanted to ask about the droid but soon forgot about it as Samantha began telling her more about herself and the Forlorn. Visiting Glendalough was definitely something the Maltese girl planned to do in the future but alas the company she wanted to bring for her visit proved to be very busy and often unavailable to make the trip with her. The idea of kidnapping Enma against her will crossed Eliza's mind but the repercussions for such an act looked quite dire at best so it remained as a wishful thought that she kept to herself but couldn't help but smirk about.
Eliza shook the glass in a circular motion watching it's contents stir up into a spiral. Now what could this drink really be she wondered. Outcasts had a thing for mixing cardamine in everything they could think of - from pizzas to soda drinks so the information that it contained the orange powder was hardly enough information for Valdez to pin down what exactly she was about to drink. Then suddenly her frontal lobe registered zombies, a word she hardly expected to hear in any context. Neurons quickly fired up in response and her eyes immediately darted to Samantha's face. "Wait what, zombies?!" she answered by instinct as her eyes showed genuine surprise and confusion behind the drink she hastily took a sip of. The scent of the orange grass could subtly be felt under the stronger sting of the alcohol. "Did Nick tell you what this drink is called, Sam? It's really nice and we should really start serving it under the counter on Durban! I'm sure Enma would like that too!" the Maltese responded excitedly.
Sam smiled excitedly at Eliza. "Yea, Zombies! It was back when they were salvaging and recovering the Haven. they opened one of the lower decks, and humans attacked them. Except the humans didn't die if you shot them and they kept trying to bite and scratch people. The soldiers that were their solved the problem with flamethrowers though, so it turned out alright. They burnt everything on that deck, then opened it to space and burnt it clean again." Sam taps her chin a few times with an index finger. "Of course, Nick had been bitten by then, so they amputated his entire left arm. They even removed the shoulder. Not because he was infected or turning into a zombie or anything, but because the wound had become infected and they didn't have a proper medical bay at the time."
She takes a sip of her own drink, neat vodka, and turning back to Eliza continued. " I don't actually know what it's called, and it's not like I told Nick I was taking it. I suppose its name is on the bottle however." Sam leans across Eliza to reach the intercom buttons on her far side, resting her weight against Valdez for a few moments. "Will you please bring the bottle for the Maltese drink in. We're curious about it's name." Still leaning across Eliza, Sam smiles at here while she reaches out to pet Snowball a bit.
Sure enough, the door slides back open and the same droid reenters, this time carrying a black bottle with a white label. Still reclining on Eliza, Sam gestures it over, and thanking it, takes the bottle from it. "That will be all for the moment 86. You may go." She says, dismissing the droid casually. It moves smoothly as it retreats from the room, the door sliding closed behind it.
"Lets see here. Maltese Delight. Well, that doesn't tell me anything except that its for tourists. You ever heard of this stuff before Eliza?"
Eliza had absolutely no clue what or where this Haven was but this mattered little as her curiosity was exclusively focused on the zombie component of the story. Her eyes flickered with excitement as they carefully observed the motions of Samantha's face. The way her new friend worded it made it sound quite like a tale of fantasy on some magical realm in some place far, far away if not for the flamethrowers and airlocks which rooted it back into something more everyday and believable thus making the story even more fascinating. Her brightly lit face gloomed as she was reminded of Nick's loss in the whole story. She never knew he had lost his entire arm. Cybernetics had gone far, especially for those with plenty of credits to spend but at the same time Eliza felt that she wasn't ready to part with any of her limbs regardless of said fact.
Another sip from her still mysterious drink served it's purpose to distract her back to a more cheerful thought. She leaned back in her seat as her hostess rest on top of her lap while talking on the intercom. It amused Eliza how close the two have gotten over such a short time, it was hardly more than an hour since they had even met. With Samantha reluctant to move and seemingly quite comfortable in her position on top of Eliza the young redhead accepted her fate and simply smirked under her nose at the situation.
Then the door to the other compartment opened and much to Eliza's surprise this time Samantha reacted quite warmly to the droid. The Maltese wasn't quite sure what the reason behind that was but quickly dismiss the whole question as something of much higher interest was within arm's reach. With Samantha still on top of her she quickly wrestled the bottle out of the hostess's grasp and began examining the bottle's label with slightly squinted eyes as she read the fine print on the back of the label. "Nope, doesn't ring a bell at all, haha!" she giggled in amusement. After taking another mental note of the beverage's name she put the bottle down on the table in front of the two and giggled again, focusing her attention on the hostess on top of her.
Sam giggled. "Ah well, its not too important. I've been talking so much, and you've barely had a chance to get a word in edgewise." Sam relaxes for a few minutes, and then perks up a little. "You know, Nick's not much older than you..." She trails off, looking out at the stars passing by.
Seemingly lost in thought she idly sips at her own drink, and rubs Snowball. Seemingly content to just spend time in silence with Eliza, its obvious from the way she occasionally looks at Valdez from the corner of her eyes that shes waiting for a reaction, or a comment on what she just said. Despite this, she's clearly waiting for something to happen.
What did Sam mean by 'Nick not being much older' than her? There was no way he's as young as her and having Samantha as a child. The redhead did the mental math a few times already, by her calculations he should've been at least as old as Enma? Unless... Unless Eliza's new friend just called her old? The Maltese girl's face narrowed, did she really look that worn out lately? Getting used to being in the Core was tough but there wasn't a way it'll have taken such a big tow on her. "Heeey! I'm nowhere as old to be your mother! " she protested hastily. "Oh, and aren't we there yet? Are we in Stuttgart yet even?" she quickly changed the subject as she turned her attention to the stars outside that her hostess was observing contently. And to think cardamine was supposed to make her look younger. Bummer.
Sam freezes. "Thats not what I meant! I was just saying how you and Nick would, oh never mind. Forget I said anything." Sam seems to be blushing furiously, and while she's still lounging on Eliza, shes turned her head away so that shes not looking straight at her. "I think we entered Stuttgart a short while ago, when the droid was bringing us drinks..." Sam fiddles with a control for a little, and a holographic starchart springs to life. "Look, we've just entered the system and are slowly cruising to Baden Baden now, staying off the lanes so that we can make the most of this view." She says softly, the embarrassment still apparent in her voice. "You look only a year or so older than me you know." she says meekly.
Samantha's tomato colored face was enough to make Eliza chuckle in amusement and forget about being called old just a tiny bit ago. The redhead leaned forward with Sam still resting on her while stretching her arm in an attempt to grab the drink which was sitting idly on table undisturbed for some time now. The last couple of inches or so proved quite tricky and the Maltese girl had to rest her stomach on top of Samantha's head, bringing her cleavage roughly to the brunette's eye level before finally grabbing the glass and retreating back to her old position. "I've been in Stuttgart a few times. There are some nice blue flowers growing on Stuttgart." Valdez remarked and paused to take a small sip of her drink. "Some weirdo space farmers sell them. They have a cool name though - jellies or jillies or something like that." she added before repeating roughly the same set of gymnastics to return the drink back on the table.
Still blushing lightly, Sam shifts a bit to move out of Eliza's way when she bends over, but times it wrong and bumps Eliza. "Well... I've not been there yet, so we should go check it out. Maybe we could get some for the Ferry!" Moving to sit upright next to Eliza, she leans lightly against her.
She seems content to wait, seemingly having spoken all her assigned words for the day already. However, there is a slight blush thats not leaving her face.