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Post by Evangeline on Nov 19, 2008 22:55:39 GMT -5
"Indeed." Rachel replied over the radio link. "I don't ever want to be so bloody bored again, but it beats becoming a particularly interesting artificial reef. I'm a little too young to be entertaining fish and divers just yet."
The surgery and recovery process had not abated the frigate's gallows humor; indeed, after hearing that scrapped ships on this side of the divide were often recycled into razor blades (at least before the blowup), Rachel had toyed with the idea of having that metal made into old-school safety razors, and there was a factory that could do it, but she doubted many people were still around that would now get her morbid little joke. She already knew for certain what she wanted to do for Aron, Tom and Clyde, however, and as for the rest, if she was stuck for any other ideas, she could always go for commemorative rings.
CV ships were well aware of the resource value of their metal; indeed, many even made provisions in their wills concerning it. One recently deceased destroyer had even bequeathed his to a veteran's hospital, to go into the girders for the construction of their new wing so that he could continue to serve, shelter and protect his countrymen after his passing. Rachel wasn't sure what she wanted done with the rest of hers yet, but she definitely wanted it to be something useful and needed.
Now, what to do about the boredom?
Bree had that odd feeling trilling up and down her back that invariably came up when someone was looking for her. The HH-65 woman had been getting the latest word on Rachel's condition from Urqhart, to relay back to Lt.-Commander Stokes and the rest of her contingent. Suddenly she stiffened, turned and realized who it was that sought her. "Yes, Marisa?"
Laurie was in the pub with a few friends when Stefan entered. They saw him, but didn't think all that much of it at the time, since they were also from "out of town."
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Post by elizar on Nov 19, 2008 23:10:49 GMT -5
"Maybe some may request that in their wills." Aron said. "You don't have much for with reefs and that, but large ships were often sunk to make a skeleton for reefs here. It's though still disturbing to think about it."
"Sometimes you are going to tell me how you do that." Marisa smiled. "And not answer with 'it just is'." She rolled besides her. "I want to look for some advice from you." She lowered her voice to match the suggested importance.
Stefán listened while having non-alcoholic beverage. Then he heard the accents and noticed the clothing. Some were wearing local weave, but didn't seem to fit quite right in them.
"You wouldn't happen to be some of the humans that crossed the worlds?" Stefán said as he walked towards them. "Mind if I have a chat?" He smiled. His own accent could have been mistake for Russian at first, but upon quicker and closer inspection, it was different and quite unique as well.
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Post by Evangeline on Nov 19, 2008 23:51:01 GMT -5
All right then, the razor blade idea is strictly out, Rachel decided. "Thank you for checking up on me, anyway. I can only replay those damned movies so many times, so I'd almost prefer a scolding from you to watching The Dead at Midnight yet again."
"Does this concern Jeffrey as well?" Bree asked.
Laurie smiled pleasantly. The two taurcats who were also about didn't get anything negative off of this visitor. "Of course not. Have a seat." She pulled an unused chair over from the next table.
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Post by elizar on Nov 20, 2008 4:50:15 GMT -5
"How about a chess game?" Aron asked.
"Yeah." Marisa said. "He never really popped the question to me, but we are thinking about making this official, and I won't end up with having a kid out of wedlock. But the problem is, how to go about it."
Stefán looked at the taurcats and was able to feel the probing. I wonder if you can see the scars. He thought to himself. He had gotten an unwanted experience with the bad-nasty supernatural creatures long time ago, and his savior had told him that the scarring left from the attack was something he couldn't remove or fix.
"Thank you." Stefán sat down with his drink in his hand. "I'm fairly certain that I am not the only tourist to come here just because of you being here."
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Post by Evangeline on Nov 20, 2008 14:14:42 GMT -5
Rachel raised an eyeshade. "That sounds a lot more interesting. You want to do it by computer or the old-fashioned way?"
Bree inhaled slowly. "I can't really tell you what's best for you, but I can tell you what I think. I figure you'd be just as well-off to get a civil ceremony done here than go back, if that's what you've got in mind. They just ratified the formal pact in Wellington last night, and I got the news this morning. It finalizes our status as legal, inviolable persons under local law, and there would no longer be any obstacle to finding a local official who would do it."
"Yeah, this place here just loves us for the traffic we bring in." Laurie nodded as she introduced the others. "This is Jacob over here, and Sarah and Brenda over there -" she indicated the taurcats - "and this is Tom up at the end there." The others tendered their greetings, in one way or another.
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Post by elizar on Nov 20, 2008 15:25:32 GMT -5
"What's easier for you." Aron said.
"That's great. It's though conveniently early." Marisa said. "Though finding someone willing to be the first one may prove a bit of a problem."
"Stéfan Markússon." Stefán said. "All the way from Misturflói." He wondered if the party would connect the dots as of why he was in Auckland. It they wouldn't, they weren't the one he wanted to talk to.
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Post by Evangeline on Nov 20, 2008 19:08:35 GMT -5
Laurie sat up. "I've heard of that place." She thought a moment of what she should say or do, then came up with the most effacious answer she could make in a public environment. "Would you like me to pass a message?"
Knowing that the computer connection was available in the monitor's shack, Rachel answered. "Computer's easier, I think. No need to run around to get a game set."
"If you guys are feeling kind of awkward about approaching someone, I can look into it for you." Bree was of all the helos the most comfortable interacting with unfamiliar humans, and where she couldn't go, the forklift NCO's could pick up newspapers or information.
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Post by elizar on Nov 20, 2008 19:21:56 GMT -5
"To her?" Stefán asked. "That when she's ready to enter society properly, we will accept her."
"I do have few questions to those helping her, but they are better to be asked in private." Stefán did not know the identity of Babel, only that it was a teenage woman that the living fleet had liberated.
"And it would be better for you than to squint at the little pieces." Aron said as he prepared to get a game going.
"It would be great." Marisa said. "I never had much exposure to humans at all, Jeffrey even less."
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Post by Evangeline on Nov 20, 2008 19:38:01 GMT -5
"I'll see to it that they receive your inquiries." Laurie nodded.
"I could use a camera, but that would be even more bother." Rachel's tone did the shrugging that she couldn't as she connected to the chess program on the shack computer and drew the white side.
"Just be prepared to deal with a little bit of publicity if word gets around." Bree warned. "You know how gossip travels."
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Post by elizar on Nov 20, 2008 19:44:59 GMT -5
"Thank you." Stefán said. "Is there anything in particular you can tell me about her? We always try to identify those that we get back or know about."
Aron logged in and saw that he had black. "Alright, you start."
"That's right." Marisa said. "But will it be just gawkers or some that actually care to watch?"
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Post by Evangeline on Nov 20, 2008 19:57:02 GMT -5
"You and Jeffrey first get an idea of when you want to do it, then draw up an invitation list. Hold it in a place with some privacy and controlled access and that'll keep the gawkers to a minimum." Bree advised. "At about the same time, we start looking for someone to take your vows."
Rachel thought over her options, and moved her leftmost pawn out. She was perhaps not the best strategician as far as this game was concerned, but she had a few good tactical moves stored up.
"She is about seventeen." Laurie said. "Has some "ability", mostly in languages. Right now, she's learning how to get along in this society, as she was perhaps four at the time of separation from her family and has been in a harem environment for much of the time in between. The brand has been removed, no trace remains."
Beyond the table, the conversation was scrambled into background noise. Zoe had taught the taurcats some of her tricks.
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Post by elizar on Nov 20, 2008 20:09:48 GMT -5
Stefán paused a bit. This had been news, and it could be that he didn't have to relay that information back home, as if he knew just a bit more, he could be the one to identify her.
"I'm intrigued." He said. "I would very much like to speak with her current guardian."
Aron responded Rachel's A2-A4 with B7-B6.
"Okay, I'm pretty much new at this." Marisa smiled as looking up in the air for something to grasp on. "Someone to take our vows?"
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Post by Evangeline on Nov 20, 2008 20:22:41 GMT -5
"To conduct the ceremony," Bree clarified. "You might also have to get other documents to make it legal. We can look into that in the planning stages."
Rachel moved C2-C3.
"We can get one of them now, I think." Laurie checked her watch. She brought up her radio and keyed in a code for Zoe.
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Post by elizar on Nov 20, 2008 20:28:38 GMT -5
((Feel free to skip few turns, doing it this way will take a while.))
Aron went C7-C5, not moving his freed Bishop just yet.
"I think this is the time we would get Jeffrey involved." Marisa said.
"How about talking about this not here, but somewhere private?" Stefán asked and finished his light beer and stood up.
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Post by Evangeline on Nov 20, 2008 20:39:15 GMT -5
"That's what I was thinking." Laurie got up and joined him. "Zoe will meet us at the wolfbike kennels."
"You two should discuss it as soon as possible." Bree concurred. "If I know him, he's probably struggling for the right words to pop the question right now."
After capturing a pawn from Aron, Rachel considered the board. She had begun to move out her rooks and her bishop, and one knight. She was hoping to flank Aron's pieces and maybe get his bishop in check, then use her more distant pieces to secure control of the board's center. She considered a couple of other pieces before it occurred to her that moving her left knight would do to attack Aron's bishop, at the possible cost of a pawn or two. She decided to take the gamble, moving the knight to Aron's bishop at E5.
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