SS Hot Mess shows up to mingles 15 minutes late with Starbucks

[notzubats]

Who: The Huntress Crew and Visitors
Broadcast: Maybe!!
Action: SS Huntress!
When: From now until end of the system!

[There's been an elf invasion! And an Ellen Page invasion! Also there's a star system! Come in Huntress, it's been awhile, so it's time for a mingle! ]

Comments

[monolike]

Excellent. We can have a good old-fashioned cultural exchange! [only a true nerd would be so pumped over that]

I might not many answers for you, though. A lot of our history has been buried or lost to mistranslation, politics and time.

[hearsthesea]

[Nerds or highly motivated career diplomats. Same difference.]

Some of the same is true for the Ferines, because of how scattered we've been for a long time. But people usually like hearing about the Legacy - that's my home, a massive ship with strong ties to the histories of both the Ferines and Orerines.

[monolike]

It's a ship? A space ship like this, [gestures] or is it like a ship in the water?

[hearsthesea]

Um, well...I suppose you could say it's both, technically.

[YEAH.]

It hasn't left the water for thousands of years, but history tells that a long time ago the Orerines came to our world on the Legacy.

[monolike]

...no way. You have actual historical evidence that one of the dominant races on your world is from space? That's- that's amazing! That's only the coolest thing I've ever heard! What a discovery!

[hearsthesea]

It's not really a discovery. Nerifes remembers, and so the Ferines remember as well.

[In other words, the ocean sure knows how to hold a grudge.]

There are some things left behind from that time, but so far I don't think anybody's tried to study them for historical research. And...some of what remains is very dangerous.

[monolike]

[ocean sounds kinda salty tbh]

Is it? [Sorey rocks back to sit, drawing up his knees thoughtfully.] Do you mean, like weaponry? That sort of thing?

[hearsthesea]

Yes, like that. For many reasons, I think it would be better left alone right now.

[Shirley looks down at the floor at that, thinking of what Stella had been subjected to. Yeah, definitely better left alone.]

[monolike]

[Yikes. That looks personal.]

I hope everyone back home listens to you about that. Do you have any ways to seal it off from intruders?

[hearsthesea]

[That gets Shirley to look back up and smile a little again. Thankfully people have her back there, and it's good to remember that.]

The areas with the most dangerous technology isn't easily accessible to many people, thankfully. And the Orerines leaders with the strongest presence on the Legacy also agree with me about how it shouldn't be used, so even in times of trouble I'm not the only one who thinks so.

[Thank goodness for Will and Musette, and the fact that every other citizen of Werites Beacon is a secret Rexalian troop.]

[monolike]

That's definitely helpful! I'm glad the Orerines leaders are compromising with you instead of fighting against you on that. Maybe one day the ship can be safely studied, or at least retired in a way that makes it harmless.

[hearsthesea]

Oh, no. I don't think we can ever retire the Legacy. We all live there now, and it's where the Ferines are starting to come back together after so long. But...yeah, maybe one day we'll be able to make sure the most dangerous parts can't do anyone harm again.

[It's an interesting proposal, trying to put everything permanently out of any threatening operation. Even if some parts of those things, like herself, can't be removed so easily.]

[monolike]

Is the Legacy the only land on your planet? [because that would be amAZING]

[hearsthesea]

No, it's not.

[Sorry to burst your bubble, Sorey.]

There is a mainland, but I never knew much of it outside my home village. But I can say that by now I've been around most of the Legacy.

[monolike]

So you weren't born on the Legacy...what was your village like? Was it a Ferines village? [He imagines it must've been, if she'd been distrustful of Orerines.]

[hearsthesea]

[Shirley nods.]

Yeah, it was. Our village was small, but it was peaceful. My parents died when I was very young, so my sister and I were raised by the rest of the village. People's eyes were on me sometimes because I was the Merines, but...things didn't seem that important until it was time for me to awaken my power.

[What a mess that was, though.]

[monolike]

Why wasn't it important before? This Merines thing they expected you to do, it kind of got dumped on you all at once? [well, considering they also expected her to like, destroy stuff. yeah that makes sense]

[hearsthesea]

Well, um...yes.

[Story of her life, really.]

I didn't understand what becoming Merines would really mean until I was in the middle of the ritual to awaken. It was a shock, but I don't think the people of my village ever expected that I would disagree with Nerifes' will.

[monolike]

That's...I mean... [Sorey's not one to talk smack about anybody, even people who deserve it, but looking at the girl sitting in front of him and imagining people conducting a ritual without even giving her all the details first is more than a little disturbing.] ...I guess they might have found that out if they'd consulted you first.

[hearsthesea]

Looking back, I don't know if it would have mattered. Even if I'd known, or even if I'd disagreed...it wouldn't have changed Nerifes' will, and that was more important to everyone. I don't know what I would have done if that happened.

[Looking at it in that light, it's almost good that she didn't know until the ritual that first time. She could have done better than intentionally failing, but she didn't let the worst come to pass either.]

[monolike]

Shirley, that makes it sound like they valued your purpose as the Merines over your life as a person. [Which isn't a new concept, of course, but it doesn't make it one any less appalling. The people she grew up with, who raised her only wanted her for her ability to carry out the will of the sea? Sorey can't imagine what he would do if he learned something like that.]

[hearsthesea]

Well...I think they did.

[She knows they did, actually. She did too.]

There weren't many people who knew me as just Shirley. Not until recently. But things are changing, so it's not so much like that anymore.

[monolike]

I'm so sorry to hear that. [There are people like that with the Shepherd back home, but not his family. Not the people who raised him and love him. To see your own family think of you that way...

Sorey leans forward to rest a hand atop hers, squeezing slightly.] I'm glad it's changing.

[hearsthesea]

[Shirley smiles at him in response, and shifts her hand slightly to squeeze back. Satisfied as she is with things, the companionship feels good.]

I am too. I'm all right, really. I struggled with what it meant to be Merines for a while, but I've come to a point where I'm happy with the way things are.

[monolike]

[Nods and lets go. Going any further than that would be an insult to how far she's come.] Did the Ferines come to understand your reasoning behind what you did?