Blameless gumball wishes and taxicab dreams

[thespaceopera]

[On Today's Episode of Drift Fleet:

The cargo are still full of crates of gumballs! The ships are well booked past capacity! There's a new empty vessel in the fleet- the SS Blameless! Official alerts have informed the passengers that they are signed to contracts that they've never agreed to! They are still docked at the dazzling FS Starlight, but are flat broke (or have they made it big?)

How is the fleet handling these turns of events? Find out in the continuation!

...Meaning, this is a spillover mingle for February's mingle as it's hit recaptcha. Feel free to use this mingle to start new threads, or carry on old threads from the previous mingle!

- Current Plot Setting
- Previous Mingle Post
- Latest Shuffle

Tag around, have fun, and feel free to continue posting your own posts/ship mingles! We really mean it this time when we say this will be the only mod-posted one for the event!]

Comments

iskaulit.

[astrobleme]

[All in all, Shinji's exploration of the Starlight went reasonably well... aside from a few mental breakdowns, anyway. It's given him the courage to leave his ship more often, and today he's visiting the Iskaulit, which he heard about at some point or another. The garden seems like a quiet, warm shelter, much preferred to a freezing-cold ship.

He's messy-haired and bleary-eyed as he peers at the decorative plant in front of him. It's a very pretty flower, very vibrant. Probably the sort of flower Kaworu would adore.]

Uhm...

[He looks around, wondering if the garden has any attendants, or...]

Hello? Is... there anyone who can tell me what this is?

[ino]

[ Ino sits up straight when she hears that, dropping her shovel and wiping the dirt on her hands onto her thighs. ]

--Oh, hi!

[ She stands and approaches him with a friendly smile. Outwardly, the hair and the eyes don't seem to bother her, but she does feel a twinge of concern. Hopefully this kid is alright ... ]

You must be pretty new, huh? This is the garden.

[astrobleme]

[Obviously. It's obviously a garden. Shinji looks a little embarrassed; as per usual, he didn't express himself as well as he meant to.]

Yeah, but... is this a garden for everyone? Anyone? I'm sorry if I'm not supposed to be in here. I just didn't expect to see plants on a spaceship like this.

[ino]

[ That gets a small, good-natured laugh. He's so polite! ]

Yes, don't worry -- it's for everyone to visit. Space can be pretty cold and unforgiving at times, right? So the garden is just so people can feel a little bit better and more at home, even though we're out here. And, we've been trying to start growing produce so we can have fresh fruit and vegetables whenever we want.

[astrobleme]

[Shinji nods distractedly. He's sort of reminded of Kaji-san, who grew watermelons within walking distance of NERV. It's a bittersweet thing to remember. Nostalgic in the very worst way.]

That sounds like... a lot of work, really...

[But he wants to make himself useful to the Fleet, somehow, so... (Less chance he'll get sent home, he hopes.)]

I know how to pull weeds, if you ever... if that's a thing you need. I can carry things, too. Bags of soil and whatever. I just haven't had fresh food in a while.

[ino]

Eh -- it's not so bad. It's kind of fun -- well, at least, I think so, anyways.

[ She grins a little when he makes that offer. ]

Sure, we can always use helpers to keep everything in order. [ The last thing he says makes her wonder, though ... ] Were you in space before you got here, too?

[astrobleme]

Thank you.

[Shinji should request this person's name and contact info--sometimes he forgets to introduce himself, since he feels like such a nonentity. But she asks him about his time in space, and he blanches a little, for his own reasons. He was floating around in space for fourteen years... while in a coma... or something... hell if he knows...]

Mm, no, I wasn't. The place I'm from--there just wasn't a lot of vegetation, so we had to switch to synthetic substitutes. Like the protein gel. I guess it wasn't too bad, but I miss the real thing...

[He's slightly fudging the truth, but it's easier than explaining what happened.]

[ino]

[ Well, she doesn't have enough information to suspect anything there, so instead, he just gets a sympathetic look. ]

That sucks. I'm sorry. I really missed it too, when I first got here. But it sounds like you've been having to deal with it even longer, huh?

[astrobleme]

I guess that depends, [Shinji says, turning his attention to the nearby plants.] How long have you been with the Fleet?

[ino]

About a year and a half, now. But -- we do manage to make stops here and there where we can access better things.

[ She gestures to the plants. ]

Some of which we're trying to bring with us.

[astrobleme]

Then you've been dealing with it for longer.

[Internally, Shinji is flipping out-- A year and a half? Really? Really? Maybe he can learn something from this person about staying on the show. That's his one and only goal at the moment.]

Is it difficult to grow things on a spaceship? Oh, and... I'm Shinji. Shinji Ikari. I'm stationed on the Heron right now.

[ino]

[ She seems a little surprised that he isn't more negatively concerned about that length of time -- after seven years in Paradisa and one and a half here, she's very used to the shock and horror at the length of time she's been around for -- but ... maybe he just doesn't want to go back. Hmm.

Either way, she offers a genuine smile when he introduces himself. ]

Nice to meet you, Shinji. I'm Ino. I'm the captain of the Three Twins.

[ She turns back towards the plants. ]

It can be tough to grow them, yeah. We've got a lot of factors working against us. Luckily, my family ran a flower shop at home, so I have some experience with greenhouse growing and growing things outside of their native climate.

[astrobleme]

[Another captain? Even though Ino isn't assigned to be Shinji's captain, he immediately stops slouching so much. He stops fidgeting with his fingers, too. He should be presentable around authority figures.]

Nice to meet you, Captain Ino.

[And, yeah, he really doesn't want to go back home. There's nothing for him there--just more death and destruction. The last thing he remembers is never-ending crimson sand and the smell of burnt rubber.]

A flower shop sounds so peaceful. I remember reading about, uhm... hydroponics, I think it was, for growing things on space stations and new planets. But I never thought I'd get a chance to go into space...

[ino]

[ There's a little smile when she sees him straighten a little. She honestly doesn't look much older than him, but people always seem to take that title seriously. It's kind of nice. ]

Yeah, it's a nice break from the stress of daily life. That's why my dad started running the shop in the first place.

[ She seems impressed by the fact that he's even heard of growing things in space before. ]

Eh? So that was something that was possible in your world, huh ... where I come from, space travel hasn't been invented yet.

[astrobleme]

Oh, really? I swear most of the people I've met here have been from super advanced societies... [Shinji feels a little guilty for being glad that his world isn't the least advanced one. Regardless:] Mine didn't get too far with space travel, though. There was an outpost on the moon, and... that's it, as far as I know. There had been talk of visiting a nearby planet, but it would've taken years to get there, and it was too expensive, so...

[The apocalypse kind of derailed all chance of space exploration.]

Do you like space?

late .... so sorry!!!

[ino]

There are definitely a few, but there's plenty from way before any of that, too.

[ That dang apocalypse, getting in the way. As for that question .... hmm. ]

No, not really. There's some good things about it, I guess -- and it's neat to see all the different places, but being out here is definitely not my first choice.

no problem, please take all the time you need

[astrobleme]

I haven't met that many people yet, I guess... [It makes Shinji wonder how many people have belonged to the Fleet at one point or another. The answer is probably depressing. Unchecked human trafficking at an interdimensional scale.

His eyes return to the nearest display of plants.]

Well, uhm... if helping out with the garden makes things a little more--more bearable for people, then I'm glad for that. How often should I come in and help?

[ino]

Don't worry -- you're still new! I'm sure you'll meet a lot of people sooner or later.

[ She smiles. ]

You can come by anytime you want, but -- [ She reaches over behind the plants next to her for a clipboard attached to the wall, holding it out to show him ] -- we have everyone mark down when they've done something on here, so nothing gets overwatered or anything. As long as you check to see what needs to be done on here you should be just fine!

[astrobleme]

[Shinji peers at the clipboard, much more interested now. He's always been partial to set-in-stone schedules, strictly defined tasks, and stuff like that. Trying to return the smile, he says,] That shouldn't be a problem. I'll be really careful with the plants here. [It doesn't absolve him of his crimes against Earth, but it's better than nothing...]

Hey, the... the fresh food you mentioned. If that's successful, and I do enough work, may I take some of that? Not too much. Just enough to cook a decent meal for my crew.