First Impressions (Snow)

The once great home of humanity, now in the process of rebuilding itself after the destruction over two decades ago. Primarily under the control of the Central Earth Union, minor governments and rebel factions fight to exist alongside it.
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First Impressions (Snow)

Post by unethelady1 » Sun Jul 08, 2018 12:23 pm

Ekateryna stepped out of her hotel room on to one of the Marketdome’s busy streets and began walking at a fast rate toward the shopping area of the superdome. She coughed in the hot, suffocating air and raised a hand to brush a rebellious strand of dirty blond hair out of her face. A warm gust of air walked through the area, pushing small grains of tan sand down streets filled with small cracks. The area contained lots of white sidewalks peppered with the occasional broken stone. They reminded her of a person with a missing tooth in the middle of a beautiful smile. As the Martian neared the shopping area, she passed several bustling stores painted with dust and draped in decay. In fact, the whole area seemed like a wilted flower, like a dancer well past her glory days who was still trying to prove her worth.

She looked up at the sun, glanced down at her watch, which read noon, and sighed. Her eyes darted around the streets before settling on her destination: a glowing, blinking neon green and pink sign that read “The Cactus Café.” She shook her head and involuntarily shivered upon looking at the sign. Her fingers reached into her pocket to finger the die she kept in her pocket – it was a small, green, six-sided die, and it was well worn from the number of times she had stroked it throughout her life. She smiled upon feeling the die’s cool, plastic surface and pushed open the café’s large, wooden door.

Her eyes scanned the crowd for the face of the women she was supposed to meet. She found them sitting at the bar being stared at from all angles. Her eyes narrowed at the sight of five identical women, because that was four more women than she wanted to talk to. Ekateryna rubbed her ears at the sudden increase in loud noise, groaned a bit, and sat down next to the girls. They all appeared to be drinking, so she turned to the bartender and ordered the mixed drink on the menu that tasted the least like alcohol. She then turned toward the pink-haired girls that looked like they had just finished shooting a Japanese candy commercial.

“I’m looking for information and I was told you guys had some. The name’s Ekateryna.”

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Re: First Impressions (Snow)

Post by Snow » Sun Jul 08, 2018 2:12 pm

"We have the parts we needed," Philippa said, desperation in her voice, she hadn't touched her beverage. She didn't want to be here anymore. This planet, it was dreadful, simply dreadful, "Can we go now?"

"Go?!" Caroline whined, "But we just got here! We can contact the Union later, I want to stay longer."

Susan concurred with Caroline, but it wouldn't do to stay much longer either. She took a lazy swig of her drink, and turned her attention to Josephine, "What do you think?" She asked.

"I think if we're going to stay on Earth we could do better than this place." She said simply, and Philippa nodded.

"We could go to Europe--"

"No." Elizabeth said, she hated Earth too, but certainly didn't want to drift even closer to the seat of power, "I think we should return to the Moon."

The five sisters mulled a bit more, before they were approached by a woman who introduced herself as Ekateryna.

"Hello!" Caroline said sweetly, "Would you like to sit down?"

"Wait." Philippa said tersely, before turning a scrutinizing eye to Ekateryna, "What kind of information?"

Susan studied the new girl too, before gesturing to one of the empty chairs, "Well, Ekateryna." She said, taking charge as she always did, "My name is Susan. These are my sisters Philippa, Josephine, Elizabeth and Caroline." She pointed out each in turn before continuing, "There's something you need help with?"

"We only just arrived to Earth ourselves." Josephine said, "I don't know how helpful we'll be."

"We can give mech recommendations, though." Elizabeth said, that much was true. Caroline tapped her fingers on the table.

"We can get you something to drink if you're thirsty, too." she said sweetly, and Philippa frowned. She didn't want to pay for six people.

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Re: First Impressions (Snow)

Post by unethelady1 » Sun Jul 08, 2018 5:55 pm

“Hi Philippa, Caroline, Susan, Josephine, and Elizabeth.” Ekateryna barely paused to take a breath between each name, spitting them out as if in a hurry to let the words escape her lips. She took extra care to stare at each girl in the eyes for at least thirty seconds before looking at the next girl. The Martian had heard somewhere that people responded positively to eye contact and were repulsed by people who didn’t look at each other’s eyes. “Humans.” She thought to herself. “I must make a note of how they are reacting to me so I can include this in the manual.”

She shook her head no at Caroline’s offer of a drink. She lifted her own neon-colored drink in response and took a small sip of it. Her head tilted at the drink’s surprisingly tropical taste. She quickly shook her head as if to regain focus before she looked at Philippa. Her face softened as her eyes latched on to Phillipa’s face. She then shifted her eyes back and forth between a point on the wall and Philippa’s face, before she decided that it looked stupid to look away from the person she was talking to.

“I just came here myself and I heard you had all the goods. You know, mechas, money, ships. I need a solid ship that can hold lots of cargo and take quite a beating.” She whispered the last few words of her sentence, suddenly feeling self-conscious about asking for such a favor in a location like this.

She then turned to Caroline. “I have already sat down. A chair is a perfect vessel for a seat. It has a back, four legs, and just the right amount of support to make me feel comfortable. It is also able to help me stay alert because it isn’t too soft.” She framed Caroline’s head between her two thumbs and her two index fingers as if taking a mental picture of the girl. “If you haven’t already tried sitting, you should try it. It does wonders for your brain.” She patted the seat next to her invitingly. She had read somewhere that offering a companion a seat often made them feel more at home.

“I also need help with…” She leaned in closely to the girls, eyeing her surroundings suspiciously, “something a little more dangerous. I just came to Earth too, and I’m on a bit of a quest. You girls up for some exploring? Can I count on you to help me out? I need a few friends who aren’t afraid of coming along for a ride.”

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Re: First Impressions (Snow)

Post by Snow » Mon Jul 09, 2018 4:16 pm

Alright, this was getting a little weird. Of course the girls were used to staring, but this was... it was odd, wasn't it? This Ekateryna girl was so strange she was surely some kind of Spacenoid, maybe. Of course Earthlings didn't behave this way. Philippa frowned at the way Ekateryna posed her answer, too. All the goods? Them? They had barely been given allowance by the Union to spend in this awful place, and she certainly wasn't about to use their own fortune to pay for the CEU's decrepit mobile suit parts. Still, the fact she needed a durable ship by itself was... suspicious.

"No." Philippa said flatly, "We're about to leave this crap planet and we're certainly not friends."

"Shhh!" Caroline said, smacking her sister's shoulder a few times, "That's really mean!"

Susan rolled her eyes at Philippa before turning back to Ekateryna, "We don't really have the parts to spare right now, but..." She thought for a moment, "Our contacts did tell us of quite a few people here who might have what you're looking for. If you want, we can help you find them, but I don't think we're able to gallivant in space much, when we're through."

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Re: First Impressions (Snow)

Post by unethelady1 » Tue Jul 10, 2018 11:36 am

Ekateryna sighed heavily. This wasn’t going like she had hoped it would. She took a huge gulp of her drink and demolished a good two-thirds of it in nearly one go. It was remarkably alcoholic despite its fruity cover. She felt a slight buzz creep through her forehead as the alcohol saturated her body.

“I haven’t had the time to understand and learn to love this planet yet, either. I am really here to see if I can find any heirlooms from my past.” Ekateryna said to Philippa. She was ignoring the girl’s obvious distaste for her. “I need to know what happened back home and what more I can do to help my people.” She turned her head away from Philippa, no longer making an effort to look any of the girls in their eyes. Her eyes instead focused on her nearly empty drink, which she finished in one final gulp. “A lot of information about my family was lost because of who they were, and the family I have left is…” She paused, choosing her words carefully so as not to reveal more than she needed to. “minding their own business. They have decided to follow the whims of a crazy dictator, so I have yet to meet them. The part of my family that had not made a choice about who to follow was given a choice: follow this dictator or face the consequences. They didn’t want to make a choice, and I was so young at the time they feared I would be raised to believe and follow the crazy words of a mad man. We fled, but a lot of our stuff, and that of my family, was destroyed or sold. I guess no one wanted any traces left of the defectors. I know very little about that time except what I have been told. I just want to figure out what happened and what my family is up to.”

She smiled at Susan and Caroline. “Susan, I accept your offer.” She decided to change tactics, hoping that a friendlier approach would make the girls more interested in accompanying her. “I’m not really the best at interacting with people. I just want to get out and make things better, you know? I’m sure you can relate to the desire to be out and about making things happen and setting the world on fire.” The Martian’s words were spoken softly and with an air of sincerity. “I work for a relief organization and we are trying to get mobile so we can offer our services to as many people as possible. I don’t expect that to be an easy task, which is why the ship needs to be durable. I also need people who have contacts to come along with me so I can get what I need and have as much help as possible. You girls seem like you can handle yourselves. In exchange, I will help you out with any jobs you need done.” She turned to look past Susan. “In return, will you except my offer? We don’t have to stay on Earth and we can leave as soon as I am done poking around this shit hole. You girls can even pick the next destination, as long as I get my ship.”

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Re: First Impressions (Snow)

Post by Snow » Tue Jul 10, 2018 8:35 pm

The sisters shared a quiet moment between them after Ekateryna had finished talking. In truth they were a little surprised by how candid she was, and taken aback by the intensity of her intentions. Still, Susan did make the offer to help her, and she wasn't about to go back on it, even with the look of obvious displeasure Philippa was flashing her. It was Caroline who spoke first.

"Well, we do know people who might be selling all sorts of things, including ships," She said helpfully, "Susan, doesn't Garret know a lot of people who work here?"

"Why... are you asking me?" Susan asked a little defensively, looking away quickly, "I guess he does, I can make a few calls, or..."

Josephine looked to Ekateryna then, "You know we work for the Central Earth Union, right?" She said, "I hope that isn't going to be a problem for you in the future."

It was true, if anything fishy was going to happen the quints certainly didn't want to get into too much trouble, but Caroline shook her head.

"We can treat this as part of our Earthly business until we are ready to leave, I'm sure it won't be a problem," she said sweetly, "You all know how it goes."

"Oh, I know how it goes alright..." Philippa grumbled from her chair, arms crossed angrily over her chest, she was certainly not willing to take on this request.

"Great, then that's settled." Susan said, "I'll just see who's got a suitable ship for Ekateryna, and we can get going."

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Re: First Impressions (Snow) -- Finished

Post by unethelady1 » Wed Jul 11, 2018 10:28 pm

“Josephine, your affiliation will be no problem, none at all.” Ekateryna smiled sweetly. She placed several bills on the counter to pay for her drink and kept her hand on them until the bartender took her money. “Just consider it the beginning of a partnership.”

“Thank you for offering to look someone up for me. I guess it is time we figure out who we are going to visit.” The Martian pushed her chair away from the counter and looked eagerly at the door. She then turned toward Caroline. “I know all too well how these things go. What comes up, must come down, and what goes around, comes around.” She narrowed her eyes at Caroline. “Kapeesh?“ A cigarette materialized between Ekateryna’s slender, pale fingers. “Shall we head out? I’m getting a bit tired of all this noise.” She started walking toward the door, gesturing with her cigarette as she spoke. A sliver of dusty light caught the corner of Ekateryna’s face, and for one fleeting second her features looked old and tired. She then pushed open the door and walked out on to the street. “Care for a smoke?” She yelled back at the quints as she started down the street.

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Re: First Impressions (Snow)

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Re: First Impressions (Snow)

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Re: First Impressions (Snow)

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Re: First Impressions (Snow)

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Re: First Impressions (Snow)

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Re: First Impressions (Snow)

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Re: First Impressions (Snow)

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