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: Mothling Babysitting (Paging Dar)

[chomiji]

Watching the mothling playing with its un-food, Dar feels an absurd surge of affection. Which is silly, because these are aliens and she hasn't even known of their existence for as much as an hour.

But it's nice to see something innocent enjoying itself in such a harmless fashion. Sugar will eventually make a mess, though. It would have been better for the youngster to have played with the salt.

A sandbox would be the real solution, but ... surely there wouldn't be sand in the warehouses? There were some small-scale gardening supplies, she recalled, for raising houseplants or maybe even fresh herbs and greens. Maybe there was some sand for succulents.

Great, Mom, where are you going to set up a baby moth playground on a starship?

Heat, she thought, watching the other with the shrimp chips. Heat is energy. Maybe something as simple as a pot of boiling water? Or a heated skillet? Don't introduce them to the heating elements, you'll ever get them off the range.

Re: Mothling Babysitting (Paging Dar)

[yhlee]

The mothling with the shrimp chips reduces those to husks in rapid order and joins its siblings (?) with the battery.

The one with the sugar granules continues to have a grand time making a mess.

Re: Mothling Babysitting (Paging Dar)

[kese_seyli]

"I think this is the strangest party I've ever attended." Seyli rests a hand on their hip, head cocked to the side, as they watch the mothlings eat and play with the food. Seyli's new definition of normal has certainly been...something else since joining the rebellion. Their eyes glance to the door where Remi and half the room are, before sweeping the room to take in who was left in the room.

Re: Mothling Babysitting (Paging Dar)

[chomiji]

Dar pauses on her way back to the kitchen to get more experimental moth "food." "Yeah, you're right about that," she says, her eyes crinkling at the corners. She glances over to where the likely Andan person is extravagantly flirting with the anxious and awkward Deyna and decides that Deyna can probably deal with the situation on her own.

"I'm not going to bring out the rest of dessert until most of them come back," she adds. "If you got any ideas on where they all went, I'm interested."

in which seyli really doesn't want to explain who jedao is to anyone new

[kese_seyli]

"They're talking with Remi, if I tracked everything right. He's a scientist, works with the mothlings. Ah..." Seyli hums some as they try and figure out what to say next. "Have you been briefed on our team? Because if you don't know the person they were speaking to before, this might be...awkward." For Seyli, certainly.

Re: in which seyli really doesn't want to explain who jedao is to anyone new

[chomiji]

Dar turns around, hands on hips, and gazes at Seyli, one eyebrow raised. The young person is working very hard, to no avail, to hide something.

"So you mean the guy who got all freaked out and left just now? I didn't see him in the crew list. Why's he such a problem?"

Re: in which seyli really doesn't want to explain who jedao is to anyone new

[kese_seyli]

Fuck.

"He's a version of General Shuos Jedao. And he's on our side." Seyli looks pained to have to say that aloud.

Re: in which seyli really doesn't want to explain who jedao is to anyone new

[chomiji]

"Oh," says Dar, rather blankly. The name is super-familiar, but not in the context of members of the crew. "Oh! That guy the crew was supposed to get rid of, 'cause he was going to cause a huge happening that would change reality. Yeah, he was going to kill like a million people. I mean, he did, back in what was history for me. We heard about what happened from some of the Heptarchate people, back home, before the shooting started. When we actually used to talk to them."

She thinks about this for a moment. By the end of the Great Bleed, the Heptarchate had killed more than six million on Hartsh. But it took them several years and didn't involve unspeakable weapons that wrecked the planet, and anyway, they were all enemies. "A million, including his own, and pretty much all at once, right? And that's part of why they became such bastards, the Heptarchate."

She crosses her arms and frowns, leaning against the doorpost. "And he's just walking around here, huh? There's some reason that's a good idea?"

Re: in which seyli really doesn't want to explain who jedao is to anyone new

[kese_seyli]

[[Sorry! I didn't get the email for this post]]

"...Well I don't think it's a great idea, to be honest. But I was overruled by smarter people than myself, who have plans and ideas that I don't." Seyli shrugs. It's not their responsibility at this point, if Jedao decides to kill them all, just their job to try and stop it.

Re: in which seyli really doesn't want to explain who jedao is to anyone new

[chomiji]

Dar gives Seyli a crooked smile. "Guess we just keep an eye on him. But he must have been messed in the head to do all that. Maybe you got him before he got all screwed up. This time skip stuff ... "

Ah, la'azazel! What a thought. Dar pursed her lips, like she'd suddenly tasted something bitter. "Did anyone .. did anyone tell him what he was going to do someday?"

Re: in which seyli really doesn't want to explain who jedao is to anyone new

[kese_seyli]

"I wasn't there for it." For which Seyli is profoundly relieved. "But I'm under the impression he knows." They push their hands through their hair and sigh again. "What year are you from? I came here from around 970."

Re: in which seyli really doesn't want to explain who jedao is to anyone new

[chomiji]

"Hey, you're only a little later than I am! They recruited me in 953. I was on Sindol. No one's ever heard of it unless they're into terraforming. I think the closest important place is Spiral Deluge?"


[Sorry for the delay, I've been sick,]

Re: in which seyli really doesn't want to explain who jedao is to anyone new

[kese_seyli]

"Yeah, no, I've never heard of it," Seyli shakes their head. "But I'm from a backwater planet myself, got off of it as soon as I could and joined the Kel." Kind of a stupid choice in hindsight, but way too late to fix that. At least the Rebellion gave them a purpose of some kind again.

Re: in which seyli really doesn't want to explain who jedao is to anyone new

[chomiji]

Dar had figured Seyli was likely Kel. But presumably all the crew with good, solid High Language skills were originally He*archate of some flavor, and they were all on the same side now.

"I was on the other side for a couple of years, facing Kel troops. Stubborn native scum, that was our side." She says this quite matter-of-factly, not as though she's trying to get a rise out of Seyli.

Re: in which seyli really doesn't want to explain who jedao is to anyone new

[kese_seyli]

"My home planet had been under Hexarchate control for a couple of generations before I came along." It wouldn't get a rise out of out of them, anyway. They're well aware of the realities of conquest, even if they weren't garden Kel. "We're on the same side now, I'm not a Kel any longer."

Re: in which seyli really doesn't want to explain who jedao is to anyone new

[chomiji]

[Dar seems to have struck Seyli dumb?]