Zonr_0
Inactive Member
Freya Oinari-Hei from mission 7.0 page 9 said:
Aboard the YSS Aeon, wardroom
ON
"Thanks, Oinari-Hei", Eli replied. He gave a quick stretch of his wings before they entered the hallways, making sure not to hit anybody in the face with the nine foot wingspan. He would never admit it out loud, but he probably would have gotten turned around in the ship. He seemed to remember that Fabrication was below the wardroom, which meant another trip through the zero-g passageway. Well, I have to get used to it eventually he mused.
Once Eli started down the passageway, Freyja stepped out. At first she floated around weightless and out of control: she liked the feeling as it reminded her of being in her fighter flying through the stars. She manipulated her self around and floated there waiting to help Kata' down the passageway. She didn't know whether or not Kata' could move about in the Zero G enviroment, so she wanted to stand by just in case.
Eli stopped, more or less, perhaps spending a bit more time steadying himself than was strictly necessary and looked up to see that Freyja had stopped. He felt his cheeks flush slightly, "Surely I'm not that bad at zero-g movement, Oinari-Hei." he said with a little bit of indignation and embarrassment. As soon as he said it though, he saw Kata' out of the corner of his eyes and realized who she was probably actually waiting for. "Er...nevermind."
Freyja looked down at Eli to respond when she saw him looking embarrassed, and within a blink of an eye she flushed red and started to panic, He is looking up my skirt! Within her panic she forgot to control her position and started floating around wildly as she tried to grab her skirt and cover up. Her new trajectory brought her to a violent collision with the passageway wall. "Eep" she was lucky that the walls had a slight padding.
He tried to cover a laugh, but couldn't keep it from spilling out. He wasn't exactly sure what caused her to lose control like that and the thought occurred to him that she might be making fun of him, but she looked a little too embarrassed to be doing something mean-spirited. "Uh... are you alright?" He tilted his head. "Sorry, I didn't mean to..." he trailed off and rubbed his head a little.
"I'm fine" she squeeked, and with her free hand she rubbed her head. She started to rotated herself so that she was upside-down to Eli. I need to ask the Taisa if I could wear pants maybe, especially if there are perverts on board. She heard him apologize, but it drifted off and never finished, maybe he thinks he did something else. All she new for sure was she wasn't got let him ever get below her again.
"You sure you're alright?" "Did my words really offend that much? She looked absolutely mortified, like I was some kind of villain." he finally noticed the way she was holding her skirt down and he instantly felt his smooth pale face instantly turned scarlet. "Oh! By the Great Creator, I- no, I didn't mean to-" he began, "Damnit, first Kata, and now her. Way to look like an idiot Eli." he paused very briefly, trying to collect his words. "Ah.. Sorry. I didn't intend to... you know. I wasn't trying to look at anything, and I didn't see anything."
Freyja wasn't quite sure what to think of his apology, but Eli did seem to look embarrassed enough to be real. "Thank you for apologizing," she quietly squeeked out. she didn't know what to do, she was so used to wearing her flight suit all the time, now he had to wear this uniform, she felt exposed all the time.
Code:
"Taisa, Ma'am may I have permission to change into my flight suit? And use it as my standard uniform, I will give you a full written report on why, but I would prefer not to.Her message was bland and emotionless, but she just hoped that the Taisa would let her.
Eli coughed awkwardly. "Would you like to go first then?" He felt pretty terrible, beyond embarrassed. His honor was in question now due to a simple mistake. "I'll go behind Kata' if that makes you feel more comfortable." he paused and choked down his considerable pride, "is there anything I can do to make it up to you?" He looked up at the wardroom. "Uh, we should probably clear the passageway."
Freyja must have looked half soft boiled by this point from how red she was turning. "No I'm fine going second, Kata' will might need a hand. And I'll be able to help her a bit easier then you. As for the second, I don't know, you said you where sorry, what more is needed." Except for pants She re-situated herself so that she was sure Eli couldn't see anything and waited for Kata'.
He ignored what he perceived as a subtle barb at his zero-g abilities. Eli was already in enough hot water and in any case, it was probably true. Instead he kept his eyes forward as they moved and stated simply. "I have wronged you and have damaged my honor and my family's in doing so. Whether it was an accident and whether I apologized is immaterial: I now owe you a debt, Oinari-Hei." He folded his wings a little tighter and entered the fabrication room.
"Eep" Freyja was stunned, she didn't know what to do, "Uhh.." She look frighten, "You do not have to feel like that, uhh... Please don't... I'm sorry for making you feel you need to." She started thinking that the best coarse of action was maybe ask the CO for a transfer off the ship. Maybe to the other side of the galaxy from here. she started moving into the Fabrication bay.
"I see. It is your right after all." He stated sadly, for Eli felt a deep shame. Oinari-Hei was denying him the chance to reclaim his honor. "I didn't realize I had offended you so strongly. Please accept my deepest apologies." he paused. Perhaps she didn't realize the weight of her words. He tentatively decided to risk more damage.
"You do not have to come up with something now. You may mean well in trying to excuse this debt, but for my people, it is more insulting to deny me the chance to redeem myself." he stopped, noticing the edge in her voice and he considered his dilemma. If she just dismissed his debt, it would be a great shame, but the thought of her holding the debt was clearly distressing her. He took a deep breath and took a karmic gamble.
"Forget what I just said." he said with a warmer tone. "If it makes you uneasy, I will be fine. I will make up the difference at a later opportunity. It's not worth upsetting you further Oinari-Hei."
"Uh it does, because I don't think now that you really did do it out of any form of maliciousness, therefore I can't view your honor being stained. So I don't feel any debt is needed, but," she paused for a moment thinking, There has to be a way to make him feel like he is satisfying his honor, without him having to do anything to terrible, wait... "Ok, You feel the need of a debt, so you can help me, help Kata' with the language barrier." She smiled thinking that she just came up with the best diplomatic thing ever.
As the two talked amongst themselves, Kata'nova had been taking in the room to see where everything was; she smiled for a brief moment before walking over to a work bench and placed her ABS and spread it out.
She looked over at the two and thought for a moment, she needed some rather tough thread and looked at the two curiously before taking her data-pad and filtering through to a person who appeared strong and then a piece of thread.
Eli smiled at Frayja's solution. He would have helped anyway, but he was happy that she understood the importance of his request and had thought up a solution. "That will work" he nodded. He turned to look at Kata and the datapad. He was a bit puzzled at what she was trying to say. "You need somebody strong to cut some thread? Isn't that handled by the machine?"
"No no.. She is looking for Strong thread, she didn't use a picture of anything cutting." Freyja forgot all about the past few minutes as she ran about the room looking for some thread. She only found a few types of thread but she also found some wire threads. "Here you go is this what you wanted?"
Eli added, "Can we try to get her to speak at the same time as she uses the pictures to assist in building the translation database?"
Kata'nova grabbed the wire and looked at it, she examined it carefully before she shook her head. "J offe tpnfuijoh tuspohfs, tpnfuijoh uibu dbo xjuituboe b iju gspn b qmbtnb xfbqpo."
Eli thought for a moment and took a look at the kit's armor that she was attempting to repair. He began looking around the room for anything that looked similar. Of course- he was a software engineer (in training no less), not a hardware one.
Eternity suddenly chimed in, attempting to translate what the girl had said. "something.... plasma..."
"Plasma? Why would she need plasma? Maybe.. you think she needs a plasma cutter?" Freyja walked over and got the plasma torch and brought it over to the kit, "here you go" she smiled.
The young kit looked at the cutter as if to say 'why are you giving me this?' and handed it back to Freyja.
"Oinari-Hei, she asked for something involving strong thread. Perhaps she means something that can withstand plasma instead?" Eli grabbed some thread that he thought might fit that specification and handed it to the kit. "Would this work?"
Freyja nodded and smiled at the continuation of this game, she went and put the cutter away.
Kata'nova looked at the wire, doing the same thing she had done with the other wire before giving a smile and a nod.
The young kit walked over to the workbench and sat down, she spread the wire out and compared it. She had a good amount, although she still lacked some of the most essential tools needed, but she decided that she would just have to do with what she had.
The left hand side of the bodysuit, just a foot below where her heart would be, was a hole several inches in diameter. There was white blood along the edges, along with small wood fragments embedded in the suit which she began to slowly take out.
Eli gawked at the impressive size of the hole in the suit and the white substance surrounding it. He looked at Freyja. He wanted to ask about it, but wasn't sure it was appropriate.
Freyja watch carefully as Kata' worked at repairing the suit, the blood she saw was the dried remains of what was all over the inside of the shuttle. She saw Eli looking at her. "She was bleeding a lot when I rescued her. I was a bit worried. I don't know anything about their physiology so I couldn't do much medicly. Do you think we should take her to the med-bay latter for a full medical scan?"
He nodded. "It would probably be a good idea, but we should take care that she knows exactly where we would be taking her and why. She seems remarkably healthy otherwise, considering she presumably once had a sizable hole in her chest." he sighed. "In the meantime, perhaps we should take the time to talk to her?" He pulled up a volumetric display and tapped at it idly in thought. "Perhaps asking about her home? That seems like a simple and open question."
"Yes but how do you get across the idea of home?" Freyja drew a little house, it looked like a picture a mother would have on the fridge. She smiled at the drawing and then drew her self by the door." she looked at Eli and asked if he thought it would work, she really didn't want to bug the Kit as she was working.
Kata'nova growled mentally as she inspected the hole, she was still digging some of the debris out when she noticed that the stick had punched through one of the suits primary data cables, part of the suits medical functions. She leaned back in the chair for a moment in thought and then opened up one of the side pockets to pull out a very small, rectangular box that was semi-transparent.
She flipped it open, to reveal a set of very tiny tools along with a small spindle of wire; there was also two pure white tubes.
He dismissed his own display and moved closer to Freyja and looked over her shoulder at the drawing. "May I?" he asked, as he took the volumetric display from her and turned and began modifying the drawing. He drew two figures near Freya's caricture, something that aproximated a father and a mother. He hoped it didn't offend Oinari-Hei, but he had a feeling the kit would understand the association between family and home better. Despite the utilitarian nature of the sketch, he nonetheless seemed to take more time with it, sketching out something a little more detailed. He handed it back to Oinari-Hei.
She shrugged, Freyja never had a family, she had instructors and she had fellow crew members but never a Family. "It's as good as anything," She moved the display so Kata' could see. "This is home. What is yours like?" She pointed to herself then the house, then kata' looking in a questioning way.
She stopped for a moment and glanced at the image. The building design only partly resembled a home that she had once seen in a book, but it didn't match what her people's houses actually looked like. Kata'nova glanced up at Freyja for a moment with a confused look. "Xibu jt uijt?"
"Is...." Eternity said.
Eli shrugged and smiled ruefully. "Well, so much for that theory." he tapped his head. The kit's confusion was pretty self-evident, and he didn't need a translation to see it. "Let's see... what do we associate with home Oinari-Hei?"
"I uhh.. Don't have a home." She looked down at her feet for a few seconds and though before continuing, she was embarrassed at the simple fact of her existence, one that she couldn't share with any of her crew-members, SAINT had their own way of running things. "Though I feel at home in a star fighter, not that I think that will help here... Wait she was flying a fighter like ship when she was shot down. Maybe that would be a good place to start?"
Eli felt a touch of pity for Freyja at the response, but quickly slid it aside. He figured the polite thing to do would be not to call attention to it. "Maybe, but I don't want to confuse her further by switching the subject." He pulled up the volumetric panel again and began showing a series pictures to Kata'. He started with a planet orbiting a sun, followed by a city, followed by a home in that city, followed by a few shots of the interior of the home, including one of the kitchen and a bedroom. He stated the names of each of the rooms for future reference.
Freyja looked at the image, it was good idea. She smiled a little, "Kata' what do you think of this one?"
She looked at the set of images, curiously pondering each one, the city and the star system were rather recognizable. She pointed at the star system and then at the city, she was curious about whether she should manipulate the image a bit but decided against it for now.
"Can you tell us about the ones you're from?" He gestured between Kata' and the images. He handed the display to her, but added "and can you try to use your words too?" he pointed at his mouth and the display.
Kata'nova just stared for a moment, what Eli had said made no sense to her as she just blinked and stared at the image before scratching the side of her head.
Eli looked at Freyja. "Help?"
"I think I got this" She pointed at the Star, "Star" then to the whole system "Solar system" Then the planet "Planet" she when on and pointed to each of the things one at a time saying their names, then she pointed back at the star then to Kata's mouth.
Kata'nova blinked and then pointed at the star. "Teu'seon," and then at the solar system. "Teu'seon."
Eli couldn't contain his excitement. He didn't know if it was the name of the system or just the name for a star system in her language, but it was still great to make any kind of progress. He tried to think of a way to get her to talk more, about anything just to get the translation database built up. He tried moving his hands in a circular motion, trying to create a gesture signifying "more" before stopping and drawing a hasty picture with a speech bubble coming from a caricature of Kata'Nova. He filled the speech bubble with horizontal lines to try to indicate speaking and then showed it to her.
Freyja looked over the new drawing, "You might use the word she just said in the speech bubble. what was it 'Teau-sayoun' then add the scribble marks." Freyja was happy that there was some progress, even if it was on word at a time.
The young kit blinked, and stared at the two as if they had two heads.
"I would be shocked beyond belief if their system of writing looked anything like ours."
Freyja thought for a moment, "Why not put the drawing of the word into the speech bubble?"
"It's worth a try." Eli erased some of the lines and added a rough sketch of the earlier picture of the solar system in miniature. It was of reasonable quality and although it wouldn't win best in show at any art competition, it would have been reasonable to determine what it was.
Kata'nova curiously looked at the images, as she was about to do something though her ears suddenly perked up; turning her attention away from what the two were trying to do and to something in her bodysuits left pocket.
She pulled open a flap and pulled out what looked like a weapon, it was smooth, curved on one end. Kata'nova placed the item on the workbench and took out several of the mini-tools from the box and began to dissemble it.
Freyja pulled over a stool and sat down watching her friend work on her project. she was curious what she was doing, it looked like she was working on two at the same time. Freyja was wondering why the kit would stop in the middle of one project to start another.
Kata'nova glanced from one side of the weapon to another, taking it apart piece by piece, although it looked like a very complex puzzle yet to her it was nothing. She removed the barrel, followed by the catch for the magazine. Then, she turned what was left of the weapon around and began to very carefully remove some of the holding brackets on the back.
As she started to pull the back out, bright light poured out of the rear. She pulled slowly until the form of a crystal appeared, she held it up for a moment before pulling out a small cloth from her pocket and setting the crystal on it.
Eli watched as Kata' worked. He desperately wanted more than anything to take a closer look at the weapon and the technology but knew that above all, this was a mission of diplomacy and trust. Militaries tended to keep a very close guard on their technology, particularly their weapons, and he was doubtful that Kata'Nova's people were any different in that regard. It didn't stop him from musing out loud from a distance though.
"Wonder what that is? Some kind of power source or emitter?"
"Don't know, Tech has never quite been my strong suit." Freyja said watching Kata' work on what looked like a pistol. The crystal bit was pretty, she reached out to touch it. She wondered how it felt.
Kata'nova had gone back to fixing something in the gun when she noticed Freyja's hand out of the corner of her eye. The kit's hand was a flicker of motion as she pulled out a knife out of a hidden pocket of the bodysuit and flcked it just a few inches away from the Neko's hand and looked over at her as if to say 'please don't'
Freyja Jumped, even Eli looked visibly surprised and shocked. "EEP... your right it's yours I should have asked." She quickly withdrew her hand, she was slightly frightened. Though it gave her an Idea, She drew the crystal and a freyja touching it, then she circled it and put a line through it, the no symbol. She showed the image to Kata' hoping that it might help the connection of the "No" symbol.
Kata'nova quickly glanced at the image, and nodded her head, before going back to fixing whatever was wrong with her weapon.
Eli watched Kata' work for a few moments before speaking. "Perhaps we should let her work for now, Oinari-Hei. She has permission to move around the ship without an escort, correct?"
"That is Correct, as long as she doesn't wonder into any restricted areas, like the galley, she will be fine." She looked around and the spoke to Eternity, "Can you notify me when Kata'nova is done?" She didn't know what else to do, maybe go and so a systems check on the shuttle. She might be able to make it fly more like a fighter.
"I say that, but I don't really have anywhere pressing I need to be." he thought for a moment, "What is it that you do on the ship, Oinari-Hei?" he asked. "If you don't mind me asking." he added.
"Good question, I... uhh... watch and help Kata'. Past that I flew the shuttle on the last mission. I'm a combat pilot, stuck on a gunship with out a fighter squad." She pushed her hair out of her eyes and looked at him. It only took a brief moment before the bangs fell back into place.
Eli smiled a little at the charming gesture. "Ah, my condolences then. I'd hate it if I was rendered unable to fly." he flapped his wings slowly for emphasis. "Of course, come to think of it, I won't be able to for a long time." he sighed, and his smile turned rueful "So I guess I can kind of relate a little better then I thought."
Freyja looked at him fiercely, "But you can, The passage way, you can fly through it. you just need to figure out that gravity isn't needed to fly." She didn't know quite why but she wanted to dispel him of his notion. "I rarely have gravity around when I'm in a fighter."
"Well, I suppose that's true, although the lack of planetary forces in zero-g is still something that I haven't gotten used to but..." he scratched his head, "there's a difference between gliding out in the open and traveling down a narrow passage I guess."
"True, it's nothing like whipping through a asteroid field at a fraction of the speed of light." She thought back on all of her training and all of the time she had behind the stick.
He grinned, "or swooping off of a cliff and diving up right before you hit the bottom to gain speed to try to catch up to..." he paused, the grin faded but he continued. "somebody" he shook away the memories, and found himself surprised that he even came close to mentioning his brother. "Sorry," his smile returned, "just some old memories."
"Old memories, they must be neat, I remember everything sense I came to be, just under 2 years ago." Freyja looked at him. "I hope someday I can look at this time as good old memories."
"Well, of course not all old memories are good ones." he shifted the weight on his feet, looking for a change in topic. "Have you been serving on the Aeon for all this time?"
"Not this whole time, no I was briefly assigned to a fighter squadron, it was nice, but I was shipped out even before my first mission. Even before I received a call sign. I guess I'm not even much of a fighter pilot, I have no call sign, nor a fighter to fly" Freyja looked down and thought for a moment, "Sorry to complain or sad game in front of you."
Something seemed a little odd to Eli, but he couldn't put his finger on it. He dismissed the feeling as it wasn't important. "Oh, it's quite alright. It's been quite awhile since I've actually talked to anybody since I enlisted." he rolled his shoulder and fluffed his wings unconsciously and mentally despaired as a feather drifted to the ground. Probably the one that Kata' was tugging on earlier. "Oh, excuse me." he blushed a little.
"Excuse you?" Freyja looked at him confused, "Did you just do something wrong?" 'He didn't look up my skirt again did he?' She looked around to see if there was some thing she could do that would allow herself to hide. 'But that would be rude, he may have meant something else'
"I molted a feather." he said quietly, as having to explain it made it even more mortifying. He bent down to pick up the offending object: a perfectly formed Caelisolan feather.
Freyja shook her head, all her concerns over the fact he dropped a feather. She should be mad at him for it. "What?" she squeeked, "A feather falling." she started giggling, "you shouldn't have to excuse yourself for that. I... I thought you snuck a peek or something." she was giggle so hard she fell off her stool. ironically after all the concern and what not her skirt flopped up as she rolled over to try to get back up.
Eli cycled through several emotions in rapid succession before he started to laugh and offered her a hand up. "Well, it's considered pretty rude back home, so every Elysian learns to grow up and take good care of their wings. It's been several years since I moved to the Caelisolan body, but I still sometimes miss a bad feather or two."
Freyja accepted the hand up and stood, "I'm sorry for laughing but it is like me losing a few strains of hair, Just don't let it fall into someone's food." She gave him one of her largest mousy smiles ever.
"Well, regardless, I'm sure the Taisa wouldn't appreciate me leaving feathers around the ship." he let go of her hand and took the feather and put it in his pocket to dispose of later. "They're a little bit bigger than a few strands of hair unfortunately."
"So what did you do before coming aboard the ship?" Freyja tried to sit back down, making sure she wouldn't fall off this time.
Eli's broad smile faded into a thin frown. He felt surprisingly comfortable with Freyja, but he wasn't sure if he wanted to talk about his life on Elysia Novus just yet. "Well..." he started, but didn't get much further for several seconds. "Schooling. Mostly." he paused again, sitting on a stool facing Freyja. "Some athletic competitions I suppose." He shifted a little uncomfortably in his seat, flapping his wings in an odd Elysian fidget.
"Ah I see." She knew that he was hiding something, but she was not going to pry.
"Sorry" he quickly added. "It's just, I don't really like talking about my brother or my life after he was killed. Maybe another time."
"I understand, there are things every one has that can't be brought to light, I been finding the past is a dark and scary place." She thought back to her real job aboard and who was really in charge of her.
"It is at times. But, at least for me, it's weighted towards good things." he paused and added wryly, "of course, this mission hasn't even started yet; we'll see how I'm thinking after I end up shot up with some exotic weapon nobody has ever seen before or something." he grinned a little at the black humor before adding, "Great Creator forbid."
"Well as long as I'm allowed to stay in a shuttle or some how a fighter, I'll have you covered, no worries." Freyja frowned at the thought that she may never sit in a fighter again.
Eli smiled at the sentiment, "Well, hopefully I won't be in the line of fire too much as an IT specialist in the first place, but it's good to know somebody will be looking out for my back, even if you're not flying."
"You wouldn't want me doing that, in my first mission aboard they made me put on a Mindy and go help with this assault, I got lost, then nearly set off some booby-traps, then caused a firefight. On top of all that I didn't even fire a single round." Freyja tried to smile but it just wasn't there.
He winced. "Well... we learn from our mistakes I guess." he wasn't really sure what to say to that. He knew he'd probably feel just as self-conscious if he ended up royally screwing up his first assignment- which was still a very definite possibility. He decided to change the subject instead, "Oinari-Hei, do you read at all?"
Freyja looked at him, "You know you could call me Freyja, if you like. and yes I read, I love the smell of old books. Where I was created there was a massive library, I was allowed access to most of it. It was truly interesting, when there wasn't training or flying I was there." She perked up at the thought of the old library on Vicky.
Eli grinned, "ah,that sounds wonderful! Physical books are very expensive on Elysia Novus, and are primarily only the domain of Patricians. I only have one, an old Yamatai book I read while growing up. I didn't bring much of my digital collection with me on the ship though, so I may have to borrow some from you sometime, if that's alright with you, Freyja-Hei."
"Well that would be fine, but I wasn't allowed to take any book with me. but I will put a marker on my digital book files so that you can access them. Also I believe that the ship's computer has lots of books in it's banks." Freyja did that very quickly through her glasses' interface.
"I'll do the same for you, although I'm not sure if Seraphim poetry and a a novel in Seraphim will interest you much." He made the offer casually, but he knew that there were many people on Elysia Novus who would be aghast at the idea of lending out Elysian works outside of the culture. "Though, there's also a Seraphim-to-Yamatai dictionary in there too, so if you ever decide that trying to learn one language is boring, knock yourself out." Again, another move that probably wouldn't have been popular back home, but Eli had always been on the liberal side of sharing culture.
He stood up from the stool and stretched. "I should probably try to find Tanaka-Hei and introduce myself, now that I think about it." he smiled. "Please feel free to stop by if you want to talk while off-duty, or if you want any help with Kata'Nova."
Freyja stood and bowed quickly, "Thank you and the same in return."
