Mingle - Emergency Potluck

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WELCOME POTLUCK

Greetings, residents! Those more observant sorts among you may have noticed a large influx of very crowded ferries. In order to welcome our new residents en masse, Town Hall is holding a potluck in Town Square. Please bring a dish if you are able and make a new friend!

All of our newest arrivals need only bring themselves. We look forward to welcoming you all into our community, and may your lanterns always be lit.

This event is open to all! In light of our new influx of prospective players following the Great Sail Migration, we've decided to offer a small public event to tide everyone over until the TDM this weekend.

Comments

[astrogator]

She nods in recognition. Some Earthers don't like being called Earthers, it's fine. 'Americans! Yes, I've heard of your country. The United States.' She stops short of asking him whether he's ever heard of Commander Crichton, because she already knows Earth's population is orders of magnitude above the average colony world. It'd be a daft question.

'My people have never seen any sign of Earth,' she tries to explain. 'It could be that we're billions of years apart in time, or exist in galaxies at opposite ends of the universe, or it could be that we inhabit different universes entirely. I haven't thought of a way to tell for sure. The planet my people first came out from is called Tirva.'

[notinflictthem]

"Yeah, that's the one. I'm from a little backwater that most people haven't heard of to begin with, just picture a foggy wet growth on the side of a continent and that's home."

The explanation makes enough sense to him. Albeit most of his knowledge of space comes from Forbidden Planet and derivatives, but if there's no earth then there's no earth. He's stopped asking too many questions about people's situations if he can help it.

"You ever been there yourself? Or is it more like where your people are from?"

[astrogator]

'It's where we came out from,' she says carefully. 'It became a tyrannical place and my ancestors had to fight a war for their freedom. We won, and we stayed well clear, and Tirva is off-limits now. Nobody has been back there in a century.' To her knowledge. Of course space is so vast it would be possible for a determined ship to slip past the border patrol's notice, but Tayrey can't think of a reason why anyone would. Certainly not heading in the Tirvan direction.

'But tell me, what's your little backwater home called?' She's genuinely interested, because where home is for someone really matters. 'When I get home I'll tell my comrades, and you can know that spacers very far away know the name of this place, and not more famous others.'

[notinflictthem]

He genuinely wants to ask more about Tirva but the idea of people in space knowing about his hometown makes him laugh- genuinely, not bad joke laugh, at the absurdity of it.

"It's called Crabapple Cove. I mean it's beautiful- lots of birds, lots of trees. There was a little creek in my backyard I used to play in as a kid. Not a whole lot of people- mostly some lobster fishermen, some farmers- one of them did uh cranberries, actually. My dad's the town doctor, my mom ran the local poetry society, and my sister got out of there as soon as she could."

Another small laugh, "Christ, listen to me, I sound like the tourism board. It's nice, that's all, I miss it. I'm pretty far from home where I left off in my world."

[astrogator]

She smiles at his laughter, but the explanation makes her speak softly. 'No, I hear you. I do. I'm fortunate enough to have two homes. My ship's one, and I miss that so bad I could probably write poetry even about the questionable food and my cupboard of a cabin, but the other - I was like your sister. Got out fast. Now it's-' Four standard years. Five? Tayrey doesn't even know any longer. 'So long since I've been there, all the reasons I had for leaving seem like nothing, you know? I just want to see the people there again.'

This is getting decidedly sentimental and that is not a good thing. Not when it's about Cardalek and her father and all the things she needs to put in a precious little mental box and stop dwelling on if she's going to appreciate what she has here.

'Crabapple Cove does sound nice. You're doing the tourism board proud. I'd visit if I could. I think I'd like the cranberries. Maybe even the poetry.'

[notinflictthem]

"It's my mom's poetry, if you said you didn't like it I'd have to fight you for her honour."

But still, he looks out over the assembled crowd, at all the new faces.

"Tell me more about it? I mean, I blabbed enough about my home for the both of us, but I want to know about it. Why'd you leave?"

[astrogator]

Tayrey chuckles. 'In that case, I'm certain your mother writes the most excellent poetry in Crabapple Cove and probably ought to win awards,' she says merrily, as much because it's something to say while she tries to figure out what to tell him about Cardalek as anything else.

'Where I'm from... It's a place called Cardalek. That's the name of the colony world, of the Company - the megacorporation that owns it - and of the central Tower I grew up in. Cardalek Tower, floor 284. I grew up in the sky! I was adopted as a baby. That's a complicated story, but my father was so good to me. I never went without anything, and he valued me so much. I didn't even appreciate it until later, when I met people who had rough childhoods, who never had what I had.'

She sighs. 'Why I left... it was impulsive. I had this friend who convinced me that an... internal politics situation was going to go against my family, and that I'd lose my citizenship rights. So I decided to leave. I ran off and joined the military, thinking it'd be a great adventure, and...' Tayrey shakes her head. 'I love my career. I love flying. I don't regret that. But I regret the way I went about it. The hurt that I must have caused. It was thoughtless. Stupid.' She'd been all of thirteen, hadn't known any better.

[notinflictthem]

A lot of the specifics are lost on him, but God if this isn't a familiar tune. He's met plenty of kids who signed up to the army thinking they'd be heroes and wind up on his table as corpses. More than one who was running from home.

"My dad's pretty great too. I had to leave him to go study to become a doctor- when I was younger I was too excited by all of it to write, but... I ended up missing him a lot, y'know. You're right, we're luckier than most."

He's still got the message from the bottle in the breast pocket of his vest.

"I'm sure your dad is still proud of you. I mean, that's what you do when you're young. You make mistakes, break some hearts, and you learn better for next time."

[astrogator]

'I thought I wouldn't miss anyone. Back in my first year my section lieutenant, Savitskaya, she used to say she'd make me write if it were up to her. I understand that better now.' Leah Savitskaya, who saw her own children twice a year and knew what Tayrey was doing to her poor father.

'It's easy to be too excited. Too busy. But... he is proud. After I passed for lieutenant he sent a message. He'd known where I was the whole time, just-' she smiles softly, '-let me stay, let me find my own excellence.' Made her feel exceptionally guilty for all the uncharitable thoughts she'd had about the family having her dragged back if they found out.

'So did you decide to become a doctor because of your father? Following after him? I'm sure he'd have valued that.'

[notinflictthem]

"Well hey, glad to hear it. Your dad sounds like a stand-up guy."

Letting his kid go off and make a name for theirself... yeah, he knows what that's like.

"More or less. I didn't really have a choice- I mean, not like how I got drafted, but y'know. Always wanted to help people, couldn't help but stick my nose into situations, steady hands, perfect doctor material. You should've seen his face when I told him I got into med school. I don't know if he was prouder that I was becoming a doctor, or that I wasn't taking after my Grandpa Sparky and trying to scam the government for a living."

Good ol' Grandpa Sparky.

"I don't know how any of the magic junk here works, but... a letter from him washed up in a bottle last month. I don't know if this place does encores for this sort of thing, but. I hope you get word from yours too, eh?"