Ignoring her comment on the wine, as she seemed to not know much about the positive impact of wine on the body as long as the measures are correct, he listened to her little story. He always knew there was some extremely weird stuff going on on the Eidolon Wraith and the Zeta Section. When Hunt and her brought him there for an in-depth medical check to find out whether they were infested, they left plenty of questions unanswered while answering multiple others. What he was certain about, however, was the fact that Joshua Hunt, or Endurance or Leviathan, were the evil mind behind Auxesia while Raven was more of a pretty face to worship to.
And now with a scar.
"Maren," he began, sighing with a certain hesitation to talk about her, "Maren was a dumb cow. A slutty dumb cow."
He stopped as the elderly man returned with a bottle of excellent gallic import wine from Saint Denis. Two glasses, one bottle. When he was done, he left them alone again. Ezrael took his glass and lifted it to his lips, not bothering with the typical wine etiquette but simply taking a good sip. It wasn't bad at all. "She was quite the opposite of wine, Raven. Wine gets better with each year. She turned out to be more and more corrupted, and I'm not sure whether my influence on her was the reason for her to become like that."
Visibly annoyed, he placed the glass down infront of him. "First she managed to lose my old home ship, my Corvo. Apparently stolen, probably destroyed. Then we moved to Curacao, got us a little bungalow to have some nice time together whenever I wasn't on the Apahanta. Then Gallia pushed into Cortez and the constant battles between Battlegroup Yukon and the Gallic battlegroups caused the planet to get evacuated since wrecks were raining from the skies. I then told her to find a new home for us, somewhere where it is safe. Denver in Liberty, for example. Turns out the LSF had her on their watchlist for her previous work for the MND, and for whatever reason she was hanging out with another criminal in Liberty. The LSF found them, they tried to escape in space but got blown up by an LABC in an overkill, according to their broadcast. Stupid. Just plain stupid."
Audibly taking in the air through his nose, he exhaled through his mouth, signaling to be taken by the topic. "I knew she had some shady past, Raven, but I really wanted to give her the benefit of the doubt. Went with her through the entire chaos you caused by telling everyone she was infected while she wasn't. We even tried making children, which is difficult with a cardamine-addicted slut. And then there was this time when the Apahanta had left Sirius for about two months and she declared me dead after one month already," he said, at this point being actually frustrated. "She built a grave for me on Canaria, at the point where we found our little cat. And then she went on a sexual rampage, sleeping with four different people in only one week and starting a new relationship with a woman. When the Apahanta returned to Sirius, I not only had to face the fact she had given up on me, but that she simply declared me dead despite no hint of a wreck or anything, and she replaced me with some girl, can you imagine that?"
Exhaling again, he took another good swig of the wine. "So, yeah. To hell with her, anyway. I shouldn't have allowed myself to have a binding relationship anyway. What good is life when someone else's jealousy prevents you from enjoying it the way it is supposed to."
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Raven had carefully and gracefully poured out some small quantity of wine into her glass, listening to Vertiga, she took a small sip. She was mildly disappointed that Vertiga didn't respond to her teasing, hoping he would tell a little fact about red wine. A sudden look of minor fraught came across her face as he told his story. She tried to be empathetic. Raven put down the glass on the table.
"You don't have to talk about this if you don't feel comfortable about it, but damn... That's just... Huh. I didn't expect her to be that rancid. Being stuck to someone who's acting out of their bounds is - well - awful. I know I've had my fair share of times where I had to stamp my foot down to remind people that I am king of the jungle. I've been stuck in that position too, where "lovers" turn against you - lie to your face, I particularly experienced back in the Core. My condolences. I hope you are doing well though?"
Briefly glaring at the surface of the table, twiddling with her fingers, thinking to herself, Raven exhaled slightly, "And... Hey, I'm sorry for branding you as infectees, we thought we were onto something, word of mouth, people speaking about concerns, suspicious sightings with Maren - but... I've definitely learned the implications behind throwing around suspicion about someone. Such is happening again with the Lane Hackers and Ingenuus, falsely painting them as infiltrated, but then again, the Overwatch instigated that... " She rolled her eyes momentarily, resuming a straight posture, twiddling with her thumbs.
"Eh, nevermind," he breathed, shaking his head. "I'd lie if the last two years weren't quite an adventure. Many good things happened. Many bad things. I had about four near-death experiences, fought off an infectee, allied with a house at the brink of obliteration and a group of rag-tag people that barely manage to keep their freeports together, got bountied by the Order, hunted by the Lane Hackers, but at least I'm still alive with a pretty awesome ship under my command. I bet even you didn't expect the Apahanta to still be out there, without an entire faction to support it, eh?"
He looked up, throwing a smirk at her. "Same goes vice versa, I guess. With all the battles you fought all over Sirius, quite a wonder the only injury one can see is that scar in your face," Ezrael said and pointed at it. "Planning to keep it? It's not like modern surgery can't polish it away." He knew that for sure, despite having his own scar at the eye.
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"Well," she leaned forward onto the table, "If we're going to count near death experiences, hmm, let's see..." counting with her fingers, "I've been shot, stabbed, experimented on by the Order while I was their prisoner, becoming effectively being explosively reactive to sunlight and still feel that distant traumatic pain of being stabbed alive -- which, by the way, that mask isn't just for vanity -- then I've been stuck on Crete, had to ehrm... make use of biological remains to survive. A-and.. escaped from LSF arresting us, survived a few ship explosions, tortured, raped, shot again, stabbed again, almost got infested, some Nomad related mind stuff, and then hired guns almost got me, uhm... "
She paused, "I'm sure I forgot a few. Maybe half of what I said was just a dream. Because when I put it into a sentence, it seems ridiculous, unreal, stupid and outright fake. I'm not even sure what was real or not - this is how bad my programming has gone, from wayback then. Then again, I suppose I was always the type of person to charge into a fight head on back in the Core, I continued that trend even when I ran away from the Core, but I have learned to break out from it. For the better. "
Raven took another sip from the wine.
"But oh, don't you worry, I have had plenty of scars throughout my time. I have removed some of them, but... I am unsure why I kept my branded punishment that I received from the Core during my initation... Hmph. I cannot fight like I used to, but I try to stay fit and study the arts of self defence."
Glaring down at the glass, slowly twirling it to manipulate the liquid to swirl in a circle, she knew that she was a very light drinker.
"Truthfully, I was bred for combat. I was a part of an experiment, but, hm. I'm sure I can save that cheerful topic for another time. But, somehow, you, Vertiga. I always felt like that you were able to slide around unnoticed, you're like a... hmm... A snow leopad. You just know how to blend into the rocks and slide away when you need to. It doesn't surprise me in the slightest that you've made it this far. It's your natural talent, I've seen you snooping around scenarios as a small blip on the radar."
To a certain degree, it was rather satisfying to have an antagonist say that. If he was honest, he would have liked to add former to the way he perceived her. Yet despite her being having a pretty face and right in this moment a bit of a social appearance, he was certain that alone wouldn't undo the damage she and Hunt had caused.
"Why are we here, Raven? The last time I was sitting in a location like this with a former Guildmistress, resulted in three different voyeur videos getting shared on the neural net, and Eliza Valdez got extremely mad at me," he asked her, remembering that his meeting with Enma didn't start much unlike this scenario. "You said you wanted me to eat something?"
Smirking, he poured a bit more wine into her glass, then into his as well. "And here I hoped this was turning out to be a date, Raven," he sounded and chuckled at her, raising his glass as he glanced at her eyes. "I like vegetables and creamy baked substances, yes. As for the recon work, that as well. I'd like to know more about both, though."
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Chuckling, albeit slightly nervously, shaking her head downwards in slight embarrassment, thinking for a moment that it was the reason why he accepted the invitation, but she dismissed that thought. Raven calmed down, still retaining an amused smirk, grabbing out a small container, placing it on the table, then presented what appeared to be some kind of orange small baked good cut into pieces.
"Well, let's start with the baked good. There was a bit of a debate of finding a balance between a 'bad' and 'good' baked consumable. People thought that it wouldn't be possible to create something that is good, and tastes excellent. The purpose of this good is to well, feel good, induce a state of calmness. Mixture of herbs, organic flour, and vegeterian plants. "
Raven took a small piece, trying it out despite recently having wine,
"I need to make up to a few people, and to diplomatically welcome them to a good small and safe snack. I'm not sure if I quite balanced the organic cream on it... In another life, I'm sure I would have been a chef, right? Tell me this isn't a lost cause of an invention. "
Tapping her fingers on the desk,
"Ah, oh yes, the work - mm mm - yes - well... I've been hearing from little birdies about our lovely neighbourhood friends, the Crayterians, about them desiring to seize the Vespucci system, particularly the Legion's planet. Somehow. I am somewhat in disbelief about this, considering all the war fronts going on with them. Although, my feelings of disbelief can be wrong, as they have been before with them. The Republic is kind of known for being desperate for grabbing turf. I should probably note that the Crayterians are nice and warm with the Order Overwatch and the Gaians lately. All I just need a pair of eyes and ears to make sure that this speculation simply stays as that."
Raven relaxed back, picking up the glass to indulge a bit more with the red wine. She hasn't had the opportunity to consume her favourite alcoholic pasttime, red wine, it was clear that they fine with the wine served here. For a moment, she got lost in her thoughts about the past.
After her presenting him the little sweet she brought with her, he took one, lifted it up to his face and took in the scent while listening to her job offer. "I heard rumors about Crayter and Order being allies. Luckily they never bothered to fuck me over whenever I was visiting Sabah for refueling or repairs." State of calmness? "Attacking Guadalajara would be unwise. I know the Crayterians have a bunch of these new Deimos-class dreadnoughts floating around in Coronado and the surrounding systems, but Locklear's Legion is successfully opposing the most powerful house of Sirius. If I was a Crayterian, I'd rather expand on Yuma and maybe take over Baffin from those weird people. It's not like anyone cares about the Zoners anymore, it seems."
He frowned at the little baked sweet and pointed at it with the other hand. "Raven, did you try to synthesize weed? Is that Mary Jane in there?"
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She choked on the alcoholic beverage, feeling only a smudge sense of being insulted,
"W-w-what?! Weed? No! Nononono. It had a little bit of fruit in it, surely, but no. Drugs and food are a big no-no. You're misunderstanding me, when I say 'state of calmness' - it's believed that certain tastes will calm you. I want to find that balance of calmness and healthiness."
Raven cleared her throat, commenting with a bit of a wheeze, "The Legion overestimates their worth, they're so arrogant, they cannot even deal with a couple of bandits in their core systems... They're always asking for help yet providing none. They're surviving this long because they're in the wild and Liberty isn't. Liberty doesn't care, not yet anyway."
She coughed into her arm to clear her throat then proceeded to resume consuming the beverage.