Gumball Wishes and Taxicab Dreams

[thespaceopera]

[On today's episode of the Drift Fleet:

The cargo holds are full of mysterious crates! The crews are filling beyond capacity with new faces! Official alerts are informing the passengers that they are signed to contracts that they've never agreed to! They are docking at the dazzling FS Starlight, but are flat broke!

What are they going to do!? Stay tuned to find out!


...Meaning, this is a kickoff mingle for you all to enjoy the beginning of the latest plot setting. This is a convenient place to start threads relating to the first week of the event-- meeting new crewmembers, reacting to the mysterious cargo, arriving on the station and discovering that you're all broke, etc.

Tag around, start whatever you'd like, have fun. And, as always, feel free to make your own posts and mingles from here on in, as this will be the only mod-posted one for this event!]

Comments

[steeledskin]

What did cause Arya to run? Sansa cannot be certain. Sometimes, she doubted Arya ever ran -- perhaps the Kingsguard had caught her and killed her as they did the rest. But she can only imagine that had Joffrey signed her sister's death warrant, he would have lorded that over her as well. No, missing Arya had been a pain for the crown. A loss.

"Our lord father's guard had been slaughtered. Our attendants killed. She -- probably got scared and ran away, like a baby."

Sansa lied as smooth as silk. Arya was a lot of things, but she wasn't craven. And wasn't a baby. But she'd sooner die than give Greed some honest telling of her sister.

[avaricious]

He had no reason to doubt her words, but the notion of calling a fled sister a baby seemed a touch extreme. His head tilted in thoughtful expression. "I wouldn't call that being like a baby. If she had the opportunity to escape, it's well that she took it."

[steeledskin]

"Is it?" Well. "They could kill her when they find her, you know."

She was suddenly sandpaper. Granite.

[avaricious]

"That is possible." He spoke frankly as he'd never been much in the habit of softening blows with kind words, even if he himself was not particularly violent himself. "They could have killed her before she fled. Idle speculation rarely leads anywhere useful."

[steeledskin]

Presumably, she wasn't bothered by the frankness of his words. But there was something bothering her. It ticked about her expression like hail-stones. Little craters, made with disapproval and unease.

"No matter," she spoke with ice in her voice. "It has been a year since I saw her last. A year and then some, when you take the fleet into account."

She is likely dead.

[avaricious]

He might have seemed ignorant to her unease with his squinted eyes and easy expressions, but he was a keen observer. He simply chose not to make anything of it.

"Then we're both long removed from our homes. It's been more than a year since I set out from my home in Xing." He huffed out a sigh. "I really thought I would have sorted everything out by now."

[steeledskin]

He had asked her too many questions. It was her turn to be inquisitive.

"Sorted which things, Captain G--?" She'd nearly said Greed. But she stopped herself and merely sat with her mouth snapped shut.

[avaricious]

"Ling. Lord Yao or Prince Yao, if that is your preference." A brief moment cut his words before he continued. "In any case, I only left Xing to improve my standings within the succession. I hadn't anticipated getting involved in the internal conflicts of another country."

[steeledskin]

"My lord--" her chin bowed. Indeed, calling him Prince was much counter to her preference. "Do you much miss your homeland?"

[avaricious]

"Well, I do miss a certain variety of things in my homeland. Though our distinct lack of such foods like spaghetti, cheesecake, and other Amestrian dishes makes it a hard call. That's not to say Xingese food is inferior, but I've had my whole life of that already." He gave a long dramatic sigh. "It's really so hard to choose."

Whatever his answer was, it wasn't actually about food. But he had his own talent in deflection, only he hid it behind buffoonery.

[steeledskin]

Frankly, she didn't recognize any of those food-stuffs. And franker still, she rather didn't trust his buffoonery. It wasn't that her sensitivity to such things was all that high, but rather she still didn't feel comfortable separating Greed from Ling. As such, she could only assume that one of the two demeanors was false. Why not this one?

"You must have a favourite dish. Everyone has a favourite dish."

[avaricious]

"It might seem a rather simple thing, but I do enjoy a good drumstick. Baked just right and with just the right spices." It was perhaps an odd choice for a prince, but he also sometimes was known for having a bone hanging out of his mouth. His table manners were not always the best. His stomach began to growl. "... in fact, I could do with one right now."

[steeledskin]

Aha! A perfect opportunity to chase him off. Sansa nodded (primly) and dropped her attention once again onto her needlework.

"Then you should go and be fed, your grace," after all he'd identified himself as a prince. "They say there are marvelous feasts available on the station. I'm certain you'll find your drumstricks if you go look."

Emphasis on go.

[avaricious]

"They say?" He shook his head and tutted in disapproval. Ling offered a courteous hand to help her to her feet. "You should experience them for yourself. You should come along with me. I'll treat you to the finest food on the Starlight."

[steeledskin]

She was as quick to refuse his hand as she refused his offer. Shaking her head, she answered, "No. I must wait here. I have no interest in adventuring onto the station, your grace."

[avaricious]

Disappointing, but Ling was unflappable in the face of rejection. His smile did not waver. "Then it won't be an adventure. Think of it as a relaxing stroll. You've already traveled thousands of miles in space. What's a quarter mile more?"

[steeledskin]

"I'd rather not," she tried again. A second approach to a second refusal. But it began to strain the credulity of her manners, and she worried about how she might respond if he pressed the matter. Lie? Or mayhaps...

"My brother would be cross if he could not account for me."

[avaricious]

"Easily solved!" Ling announced cheerfully. "We'll leave a note. If he's still cross, I'll take the blame for it."

[steeledskin]

She was caught between a rock and a hard place. It was hard to say no -- to object, and to protest -- because so much of her was bent towards obedience. But what Ling or Greed or Whover asked of her was no small feat: he asked her to betray propriety and step out with a man who amounted to not much more than a stranger. One who had, in the past, set of trumpets of warning in his behaviour towards her. The conflict was evident upon her face.

She tried one last time: "It isn't enough to leave a note. I must ask him, your grace. He is the Lord of my house."

He is my king.

[avaricious]

Much as Ling might have been eager to go and show her how much enjoyment might be had in the station, he wasn't nearly so invested as to go and drag her along into it. So once more he followed with an exaggerated sigh.

"Your loyalty is admirable. I wouldn't want to be source of conflict for your family." He at long last took back his hand and rested on his hip. "What is your brother's name?"

[steeledskin]

"Robb Stark," she answered quickly. Ably. But she did not rush to remind him that they had been on the Huntress together before their transfer.

[avaricious]

Ling Yao remembered Robb Stark. Greed had tried to humiliate the young lord, but Ling Yao had rather liked him. He'd seemed very reasonable. An able and just lord, if not one perhaps a little out of his depth in this setting.

"Very well, I will go and seek his permission. But you must at least let me bring something back for you. You'll make me feel guilty eating in luxury while you remain here eating rations."

[steeledskin]

This is unexpected. Her chin tilted, and Sansa tried to figure out the angle at which he played. Such courtesy and kindness in the wake of what had happened before -- she only just now began to accept the possibility he might be a different person. So, with lingering reluctance, Sansa nodded.

"Something sweet," she answered. "But nothing with that awful sugar," because that stuff was altogether too sweet. "Does no one in space bake with honey?"

Alarmingly, she found herself half-hoping that Robb would give his blessing and so relieve her of the guilt should she submit to Ling's invitation.

[avaricious]

"I'll make some inquiries. I'm sure someone can manage that."

Ling knew nothing about actually making food, so he could make no promises to that. But he would honor the request, though he might not do so speedily since his dining experiences tended towards the lengthy.

"Farewell, my lady. I'll see you again soon."