Chapter 3.2: Old and new friends, old and new enemies

[zuhrovet]

Sasha has distributed flutes of sparkling water and small glasses filled with a clear liquor. She finds a clear place to stand near the edge of the party--Jedao and Alaric are to her left, the cluster of people around the mothlings falls at about 3π/8--and signals the grid to adjust the light so that she is highlighted and the other partygoers are very slightly in shadow. She asks the grid for a ringing sound and waits for people to quiet. Her voice slightly amplified by the grid, she says, "Welcome, everyone. We have a unique combination of expertise, on the Cantata. I'm glad that you are here." (It's a formal situation, so she uses the plural 'you'.) "While we are gathered, let us toast to the success of the rebellion."

Sasha waits for an answering murmur, then raises her own glass and knocks it back. The liquor tastes like snow and homesickness; but these are her people now. A slight gesture of her left hand makes illumination linger on Jedao for a moment, before the room lights return to normal.

Sasha sees Remi trying to explain that shot glasses are not for mothlings, and grins in genuine amusement.

[We have some really fascinating conversations running in the previous move. I don't want to cut them off, but please put new threads here!

Also, an out-of-character public service announcement: Remi is a youthful, apparently non-sociopathic version of Kujen, plucked from an earlier timeline. He has not yet interacted with Jedao.]

Comments

Re: New people mingling [paging Xiulan]

[stormglass]

Movement in the corner of her eye sees Xiulan turn to Hana before she actually speaks. It’s a modulated, casual sort of motion, alert rather than alarmed, though she does seem genuinely somewhat startled at the presentation of the pastry.

“Thank you. I hadn’t tried one of these.” Glancing around at the food spread - and not incidentally, other people in the room while she’s at it - she adds, “What do you bet we’re going to be living off of leftovers for a week?”

She studies Hana, but her expression is not unkind and she doesn’t frown to hear her existence had not made an indelible impression before. “We did meet, but—“ A flap of a hand as she takes a neat bite out of the pastry, “—it’s not as if there aren’t fifty other people on base. I’m Xiulan.

“A few weeks? I’ve only been here the one. What brought you here?”

She’s curious about what brought others to the rebellion, but detecting some underlying tension from Hana, she words it more vaguely in case there’s a wish to avoid the topic directly.

Re: New people mingling [paging Xiulan]

[sageling]

Hana is not by nature a particularly sneaky person, not even when in full sober control of her faculties, so any unexpected appearance on her part is entirely up to the whims of fate. It also makes her quite easy to read; there's a reason she doesn't play cards. "I wouldn't complain if these were the leftovers," she says, pleased that Xiulan accepted the pastry. She'd forgotten adults weren't nearly so picky about trying new things and had almost expected Xiulan to turn up her nose at something that contained (horror of horrors) vegetables.

At Xiulan mentioning time and the passage thereof, Hana does some quick subtraction and says, "Oh, I've only been here on this base about a week as well. I meant - well, everything else," she says with a wave of her hand. "Before that had also been, ah, busy." That's certainly one way to characterize the last of her time spent in Vidona custody. "It's a bit of a story, but a rift brought me here and now I'm with the rebellion, since I don't really have anywhere else to go." Is that too honest? Does it make her sound like she doesn't want to be here? "What about you?" she asks, taking another bite of pastry to cut off her mouth trying to outrun her brain.

Re: New people mingling [paging Xiulan]

[stormglass]

”I wouldn't complain if these were the leftovers.”

“No,” Xiulan agrees. “I’ve eaten far worse on missions. And it sounds like Dar’s shipping out with us, so if we’re lucky, dinner may continue to avoid tragedy even once the feast runs out.”

She listens, chewing another bite, as Hana simultaneously sheds more light on her own background and further hones her question. It’d almost be the most normal conversation Xiulan has had at the gathering, if not for the matter of rifts playing a major part in the fact they’re talking at all.

“A rift brought me here too. To a hexarchate timeline that is - three or so years ago now.” She twists her mouth in a humorous acknowledgement of how odd it is to talk about chronology in this context. But it’s been a release of pressure that she had not had before joining the rebellion, to admit that she is a stranger more than strange to this universe. Before, the risk had been a black hole.

“So a lot has been...new, since then. The rebellion - I met up with some members a few months back. And now, here I am.” The hand unoccupied by half a pastry makes a brief ‘ta da’ gesture to one side.

“Have you chatted with anyone yet about what you might be doing? Role-wise that is.” She smiles and glances around the room. “Not that I expect anyone’s going to be staying in a ‘box’ in a situation like this. We’ll need everyone doing everything they can. But existing skills are still worth being aware of.”