Opening Phase (backdated to Fairy Park)

[emorangerpink]

1.
[Late on the last evening before the Chalice departs from Fairy Park, a new face appears aboard - a pale, petite young woman with long red hair and the look of someone who isn't sure where they're supposed to be headed but doesn't want to admit it. It doesn't help that she appears to be steering around whatever concentrations of people exist at this hour, with the side effect of routing her away from most interesting locations. After a while of fruitless wandering on the Promenade, she gives up and hesitantly approaches the nearest person.]

Um, hello... I'm new aboard, and I need to see the captain, or whoever's in charge... do you know where I can find them?

Ah, I'm Laura, Laura Ericks. I'm here to join the crew, so I guess that means we'll be teammates - it's nice to meet you.

[Her left hand is tightly grasping a sealed envelope, while her right fidgets with a metal wristwatch on her left arm. Is this girl afraid of you, or just afraid of everything?

Laura's looking for the Captain - does she turn to you for help, or do you run in to her on her way there?]

2.
Hello... Dan?

[Laura pokes at the terminal uncertainly - she knows how to use a terminal, but not where a ship's AI might be found on one.]

Comments

[chozo_girl]

[Laura runs into Samus in her walking around the corridors. Because Laura's life apparently just didn't have enough intimidating blonde women yet]

Do you want to see the captain, or do you want to see someone in charge? The answer will be different depending. [Samus is expressionlessly deadpan yet very obviously calm and peaceful, as usual]

[emorangerpink]

Well... I have to see someone in charge in order to find out whether I can stay and what the arrangements are. And I'm supposed to give a letter to the captain as part of coming aboard. So I might need to do both, unless whoever besides the captain who's in charge can handle the formalities as well as the practical stuff.

[Huh. For all her intimidating deadpan it seems the straightforwardness of Samus' question has grounded Laura's nervousness a bit.]

[chozo_girl]

[Well, being used to deal with Devon *without* punching her in the face, I figure Samus must be a balm of calm and friendliness for Laura :P]

The captain is unlikely to be capable of handling any formalities at all. From what I have seen in my brief time here, this is not an entirely functional organization.

[emorangerpink]

I see... so you came aboard recently too? How did you get settled in? Maybe I should just do the same.

[chozo_girl]

Mostly asked the ship's AI for a room. There does not seem to be a formal joining procedure. To be honest, this ship is less an organization and more a band.

Even the room arrangement would have been unnecessary. There are plenty of empty rooms. [Plus most of the time Samus doesn't even sleep, instead meditating under the arboretum, so she barely needs a room in the first place - but that's another matter more to do with her crazy nonhuman biology]. I would suggest you either talk to the ship's AI or simply settle yourself until people assume you belong here from presence.

[Was that a joke or was she serious? Reading Samus's deadpan is really hard...]

[emorangerpink]

That's good, I guess. I don't need much more than the assurance no one will try to throw me off the ship if I end up in the wrong place.

...Are there many people aboard who just... settled themselves? I assumed everyone had been... screened. You know, background checks and such.

[chozo_girl]

[At the background checks assumption, Samus shakes her head] No. A portion of the crew has entirely unknown origins. We could have spies and nobody would realize.

[emorangerpink]

That's... kind of worrying actually.

Doesn't it bother you at all?

[chozo_girl]

[A very slight shrug] Somewhat. But since this is such a disorganized place with so many unknowns, there is only so much spies can get out of it, nor do I know the crew enough to investigate for spies yet - others are, however. All that can be done is keep an eye out for when they tip their hand.

Do not worry about what you cannot yet do anything about. Keep your peace, and save energy for the moment when you can act.

[It seems Samus assumed Laura was talking about the fact that there's spies around that might worry her - unknown origins don't seem to bother her at all, nor does she seem to understand why being surrounded of unknown people *should* worry her. But then, one gets the feeling this woman is more the kind that makes the unknown people around her worry, rather than the inverse...]

[emorangerpink]

Huh... I see.

I guess I'll just be careful then. And lock my door at night. [Not that I wasn't going to do that anyway, but now it's for more than my own peace of mind...]

Thank you for the warning, ah, Ms...?

[chozo_girl]

No problem.

Samus Aran, bounty hunter.

[emorangerpink]

Laura Ericks. Shifter.

[chozo_girl]

A pleasure.

[Samus has no idea what a shifter is. Samus is not in a particular hurry to find out - let the kid settle down first]