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Midnight wanderings
Topic Started: Feb 24 2009, 12:35 PM (571 Views)
Rei Nass
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Staring into the darkness of the ceiling Rei sighed softly. She had been lying on her bed for around one and a half hour now. But she just wasn't tired, even if she done a long day, they day itself had been quite uneventful. Sometimes traveling through space made the days seem going slower then usual. Starting out of the window the only thing you could see was black with tiny lights scattered across it. As a girl the night sky had always wondered her, but now it was something that belonged to her environment. Like the grass had belonged to that when she was just a kid. The mud when she was a teenager. Now it was the black.

Sitting up Rei pushed her hands through her loose hair, a sign of a sort of desperation to sleep. But she couldn't, so what was the point either lying or sitting in this bed staring into nothingness? She swinged her legs over the side of the bed and stood up. Her nightwear consisted of a black top with spaghetti straps and a black loose fitting pajama trouser. Pushing her feet in her boots, Rei moved through the door into the living area of her quarters. In the darkness she found the door and pushed it open walking into the corridor. A dim light lit the corridors at night. It was silent, no chattering that could be heard during the day, banging of someone fixing something, the pilot muttering. The only noise there could be heard was Solace herself. The humming of the engines, during the day you didn't notice really, but at night when all else was silent, it was the only thing you'd hear.

Moving through different corridors and opening several doors she found herself in the Galley. In the kitchen Rei got a glass from a cupboard and filled it with water. Then let herself fall on a couch in the corner, letting out another sigh and put her feet on the table.
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Samuel Grimm
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I am a leaf on the wind...
What passed for night time on the Solace was one of Sam's favourite general times. You didn't get proper day and night on board a space going craft, so Sam generally slept when he found time. Just like he had done in the army. Such sleeping arrangements meant that his body was often more refreshed from a couple of hours rest than from more than four hours' worth, and so when the rest of the crew decided it was time for bed Sam would bunk down for a couple of hours before returning to the engine room to make sure everything was still running fine before setting up a canvas and painting something that might get him a little something next time they were Core-side. The quiet was good for his creativity, and that always earned a few extra units of currency. He liked taking money from those who considered themselves Alliance, even if he was doing it legally. The illegal stuff was more fun, but Sam had a somewhat cheap fiscal view; when it came to money, the best kind was what was in his pocket, not in the pockets of Alliance citizens.

In any case, the way he kept his body running required that after sleeping and checking the engine and painting he needed to feed himself. From the engine room that was his kingdom, whatever anyone else might think, to the galley was a quick walk, even with a limp like Sam's; he stopped though to get his leg brace from one of the lockers, thinking to fit it properly when he got to the galley. He didn't expect to see the captain already there, usually he had the run of the ship when they were out in the black like this, but he just smiled at her and took a seat, pulling on the brace. He was in a pair of oil stained long shorts and his feet were bare, so it was easier to do than it might otherwise have been, but he still disliked having to wear it. he was only a young man, after all, the limp that he'd have for the rest of his life bothered him more than he waould tell many people.

Once he was done with getting his leg to hold his weight, he stood up again and went to the cupboard for a protein bar, returning to his seat with a friendly smile at the captain.

"Couldn't sleep?"
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May have been the losing side. Still not convinced it was the wrong one.
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Rei Nass
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As Rei was rubbing her face, which didn't help much as it only made her more awake, someone walked in. She looked up and could make out Sam's silhouette. It didn't surprise Rei though, she knew the guy had weird sleeping habits. Well to someone fancy most of their sleeping habits might be quite weird. But she didn't mind, as long as people did their work and were awake when they had to do it, she was fine what they did in their off hours. And well, did a mechanic really have strict working hours? Not on board her ship, might be on an alliance ship, she supposed they had many mechanics there. Rei wouldn't know, she never saw the inside of one of those alliance ships, and she liked to keep it that way.

Her sleeping habits might not be that normal either. She generally only sleeps around five hours a night. It only makes her more tired to sleep more then she actually needs.

She watched as Sam made his way around the Galley. An greasy smell following the guy and eventually settling down with a protein bar. She decided not to give any attention to the braces Sam was attaching to his bad leg. It seemed hard enough to her to have a bad leg, and then people starting at it would make it even worse. War wounds, everyone had them who had fought in the war, some wounds more obvious then others. It was something Rei didn't talk about.

"No, sadly not." Rei replied, smiling a bit. More of a tired smile it was though, but a smile nevertheless. "What about you?" she asked simply in return.
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Samuel Grimm
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I am a leaf on the wind...
The protein bar was typical stodge, the kind of thing he'd lived on since joining the army. It was as good for stopping bleeding as it was for eating; he'd used it himself to keep others from bleeding out before a medic could get to them. But they had a medical bay here, a well stocked one, and so the protein bars went to their primary use and were eaten. Not as good as fresh food, but every bit as nutritional, if you could believe a word the Alliance said, wrote or otherwise communicated to you these days. They kept well, in any case, which was the most important thing when it came to supplying a space going vessel.

"I was painting," he answered, with a shrug, obviously more awake than his captain was. "Battle scenes today. Du Khang. Serenity Valley. Shadow, before they razed it. Should fetch good money on the Core planets."

Sam wasn't a huge fan of the sprawling techno-urban landscapes of the Core system, and had never painted them, but battle scenes of 'victorious' Alliance forces always went down well. There were never any Browncoats in his paintings, because he wouldn't give any Alliance scum that kind of satisfaction, but hispaintings were getting better and better the more he practiced, always slightly different, always perfect for the person who bought them. Sam made sure of that.

"I do it a lot, when everyone else is asleep."
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Rei Nass
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Rei listened as Sam was talking, taking a drink from her water. She was surprised he was this open about what he had been doing. She hadn't expected it from Sam. But of course you couldn't know a person fully, and it wasn't like Rei had ever actively gone out to get to know her crew. She knows them, but she doesn't push them to tell her things they might not wanna share. She didn't like this either. Maybe it was the time of day, silent, dark, no other prying eyes and ears to overhear their conversation.

Interesting, battle scenes, she had always expected that Sam had been in the war. His wound was a typical war wound, Rei had seen many during her fights, both in the war and before. But she wasn't sure. People could think the same about her, but they weren't sure either. There were enough times people had called her a browncoat. Old browncoats mostly had a tendency to follow or search for the same thing; freedom. In some it resulted in traveling around. Trying to feel free and escape from the Alliance. That also meant going into the more obscure corners of the black, taking on illegal jobs. Because what meant freedom to Rei, it meant illegal activities for the Alliance.

"I suppose when it's all silent its a good time to paint." Again, no prying eyes and curious questions. But it did spark Rei's interest. And it couldn't hurt to show at least some interest. She did care about her crew mates and didn't want to make them feel she just ignored them.

"Are you using any reference pictures, or just from experience?" It was a quite outright question, maybe even a bit too personal. But Rei had a feeling the both of them had more in common then had been uttered between them. And it felt like a right time to ask.
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Samuel Grimm
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I am a leaf on the wind...
Sam wasn't a secretive person, as such, more of a quiet one. If he was asked a question that he had an answer to, then most of the time he'd give that answer and most of the time it would be true. There was nothing to lie about here anyway; everyone on board knew that he supplemented his wages as a mechanic with art money; it was good for getting little luxuries like fresh tomatoes and decent coffee after all. What he got paid for making sure the ship worked usually went back into making the ship work better; Sam wasn't one to keep things going sufficiently if he could get them going more efficiently. That, he assumed was why he'd been hired.

"I was born on Shadow," he said, softly. "Like I say, my paintings of there are from before it was destroyed. Du-Khang and Serenity... I'm too young to have served."

That was a part-truth, right there. He was too young to have served, but by the time he signed up the Independents probably would have taken a ten year old, as long as he or she could hurl a grenade. Sam had been sixteen when he'd signed up, perfectly capable of passing for eighteen, and extremely proficient with anything that could be taken to pieces and put back together again. But he didn't deny having served, even if he didn't confirm it either. The pause should be enough to alert Rei to that; it was only those he suspected of being a Browncoat that he dared pause with when it came to that situation. Alliance soldiers were told that his brothers had served, that he'd gimped his leg in a riding accident and that other scars were due to childhood surgeries. He came from Shadow, that was enough of a black mark against him for them; actually being a Browncoat was likely to get him beat senseless in some places.

"But I'd guess I have as much experience as you do."
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Rei Nass
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Rei nodded slowly, "I see," was the only thing she said. Nothing more could be said about it. What was there to say? It was a planet totally destroyed by the Alliance. What he just said also confirmed her initial thoughts. He had been fighting. Even though he was underage at the time, he had been a browncoat. Probably still was deep down like her. Once a browncoat, always a browncoat. In the end it hadn't mattered to the independents. Everyone who could and wanted to fight was put on the front lines. Some barely trained, some just got a gun pushed into their hands and shoved to fight against the much more powerful enemy.

She closed her eyes. The memories came back, they had never came back so vividly in the past years that she had been captain of the Solace. The minute she bought this ship, a new life had started for her. An old one left behind, but now and then it caught up with her. Both the good times, but definitely also the bad times. It seemed that even though the war ended many years ago, everything was still fresh in her memories, it affected her more then Rei had thought it would. She hadn't really ever talked about it or brought it up with anyone. There were old browncoats who didn't hide their old alignment, and there were people like her who did. She didn't know which one was better, maybe she had been too young also to fight in the war. Rei had seen people go insane on the battlefield, but also afterwards, at times she felt she herself would go insane. But she hadn't.

It still angered her though, and it wasn't like anything was forgotten and definitely not forgiven. But it seemed the independents had no choice but to swallow their defeat and get on with their lifes. It was a sad fact. However the recent messages of the things happened on Miranda had sparked old dormant feelings.

"Hmm," she only acknowledged in reply to Sam's last comment. Staring a into the darkness of the Galley. Her eyes looked up at her mechanic after a few seconds, and somehow she could conjure up a smile. "Seems we have more in common then I thought," the captain stated as a simple matter of fact.
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Samuel Grimm
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I am a leaf on the wind...
Sam knew that he was lucky to be alive. Given the strength of the Alliance forces, he'd learned more about being a soldier while on the battlefield than he had during training, which had basically consisted of making sure he knew his left from his right and could hit a target at long and short range. It didn't even need to be a bullseye hit by the time he'd signed up, although he gave them one any way. But you couldn't really go into things like that, or Shadow. If you'd been there then you already knew, so you didn't talk about it. If you hadn't been there, then it was a whole can of worms you really didn't want to open. Sam painted his scenes from memory, with slight alterations, and that helped him deal, but he still needed to roam to be truly comfortable, still needed this job to feel like the Alliance had won a war but were still losing battles daily.

"Well, you hired me for more than my mechanical skill, I think. And it sure wasn't 'cos I'm good with horses."

He finished off the protein bar, and shoved the wrapper in his pocket as he stood to get himself a glass of water. She knew what he meant; he'd been a mercenary when she'd first caught his attention, and surely she'd noticed that before he started spouting the technical details of her ship. but mercenary didn't always equal Browncoat, not nowadays. Nowadays you had to take what ever job you could get, and as a former son of Shadow his only real choices had been working back at the family ranch, where he was restless and disturbed, or sign up on a ship. and here he was.
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Rei Nass
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Rei nodded in acknowledgment. She mostly hired people who had more then just one 'skill'. It was handy to have all-rounded people aboard. In these times and these places it was saver. Well safety was also a word you shouldn't speak out too often. There was always the possibility that you hired the wrong sort of people, the back-stabbing sort. The sort that would sell you out or jump over to the other side as soon as they saw a better opportunity. She had dealings with such sort in the past, both when she herself had been working on other ships, as well as on Solace in the past. All in all you could never entirely trust people, and it was easy to do that, and to become too close to someone. This she had learned the hard way, several times. But who hadn't?

But what was life without a few risks? Without risks you weren't truly free after all. And risks were part of the lives they had chosen.

The captain finished her glass of water. And put it down on the table, sitting up straight again.

In all honesty, Rei now knew they had actually more in common then she previously thought. Not just because the reasons Sam stated. But they shared a common cause, at least they had in the past. But such things created a lasting impact on a person, and a bond. Even though such bonds were not acknowledged by words. Such subjects were also barely talked about in Rei's case.

Looking up at the clock over at the kitchen it showed it was already past 3 am. "I suppose you don't know any good remedies to get some sleep? Not like we have a doctor on board who can knock me out."


((hope the time's fine with you XD))
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Samuel Grimm
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I am a leaf on the wind...
Noting that the captain had finished with her glass, Sam scooped it up as he went towards the sink, the container as safe in the one hand he used to do so as he supposed it would have been in the hands of a baseball fielder on Earth-that-was. He'd heard stories about them; never seen any kind of film footage, since he was a border planet boy and that kind of technology had always taken second place to technology that actually got him places. After the destruction of Shadow, he'd never really settled anywhere. There had been a few years on Greenleaf when he'd been too young to really go anywhere, but once he was sixteen he was gone. With his parents' permission, of course.

Time was relative in space, where inertial dampeners kept your insides inside you and there was no sun-like light to keep the circadian rhythms in check. The clock showed ater three, and Sam figured it was still omplanet time; it felt a little later than that to him. But who the hell actually changed the time on the clock any way? It sure as hell wasn't him. Returning to his seat, sipping from his glass, he shook his head at the question about sleeping remedies.

"I've always been the type to get straight off to sleep," he admitted. "My ma used to give my sister warm milk and honey when she couldn't sleep."

That had been on a ranch on Shadow, though, not out in the middle of space. They had had a couple of cattle and a hive or three of bees, not exactly a situation that was easy to replicate onboard any kind of space going vessel.

"I could prob'ly shoot you up with a general, but that stuff'll make you feel like crap in the mornin'."
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