The Inquisitors Come to Macross...
WHO: Mina Tarrelton, Shyloh Castaga, Lina Inverse, Roy Fokker
WHERE: Sci-Fi Sector: SDF-1, Macross City, Little White Dragon
WHEN: 19 May
WHAT: A business discussion between Lina and Roy is interupted because noone expects the Glabadian Inquistion!
Watch For: Minmei sighting! Lina's eating habits. Shyloh's confusion. Welcome to space, girls.
Mina Tarrelton requires a tag!
Little White Dragon
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A two story building near the center of downtown Macross City, this building stands out first because it is a bright red in corner. Secondly, it's decorated as a Chinese Shrine, with two stone dragons out front as guardians, and a templesque look.
Inside, there are several tables, a hostess station usually manned by Lynn Minmei, when she's around. A large wall has an aquarium built in to it. Another wall carries various posters and pictures of Miss Minmei in various outfits and scenes. Someone's a vain little girl. There is also a large kitchen area and sushi bar for self-service.
Macross City has undergone much rebuilding after the Zentraedi attack. Many of the debris fields have been cleared, and life is returning to a semblance of normal - at least normal as far as a city could be a million miles from Earth and under continous siege. EVE has been restored, allowing the illusion of an Earth-like atmosphere to be cast back over the city, a clear, sunny day, with a hint of clouds in the sky.
Roy left directions for Lina to meet him at the Little White Dragon. It's Saturday, which means it's buffet day. The Commander of the Black Sheep carries a small folder under his arm as he goes to take a seat at one of the table, after informing the waiter at the door that he will be joined by a certain redheaded mage. And it's not a date. This is business. Honest.
After picking up some egg drop soup, the Commander sips on his hot tea and waits on Lina to arrive.
A buffet! A buffet!
This is certainly not something that you see in Ivalice every day, unless you consider the posher inns' offering of your choice of "roast pig and porridge" or "roast pig and potatoes" to be a buffet. As such, when Mina comes up and into the entrance, moving rather quietly due to someone else's hand resting on her shoulder, she is briefly stunned. She is not sure if it's at the sight of so much and so much VARIED food set out on display...
Or if it's the strange smells. They're savory, but unusual.
"What do you think?" she murmurs to the younger woman with her. Her eyes flick over the restaurant, to the buffet line, the stray customers, the towering man, and back to Shyloh herself.
"I think that it smells wonderful." Shyloh replies, one hand resting gently on Mina's shoulder. "But I'm not sure what it is." Her head turns towards the buffet line as she smells the air. "Why is the smell so strong over there, though? I... can't quite pick anything out. It smells like it is all mashed togather."
"I think that it smells wonderful." Shyloh replies, one hand resting gently on Mina's shoulder. "But I'm not sure what it is." Her head turns towards the buffet line as she smells the air. "Why is the smell so strong over there, though? I... can't quite pick anything out. It smells like it is all mashed togather."
As Shyloh and Mina enter the buffet, a short Chinese girl comes up to greet them. "Oh, I love your dress!" Minmei says in a bubbly tone to Mina as she bows to the two women. "Welcome to the Little White Dragon, can I show you to a table? It's Buffet Day!" the girl offers cheerfully.
Roy takes a sip from his bowl of soup. The eggs just don't taste the same. It's still good - but since there's very few live animals on the SDF-1, most animal foods are from stores in Macross from pre-launch - including powdered eggs. Shaking his head as he lowers the bowl, he peers at the two women and one eye arches. The robes really mark them as from 'not around here', and he starts paying a little more attention.
"Oh! Thank you very much," Mina says to the shorter girl with a winsome little smile. "I think we would like to have the buffet, then! But I don't think we've ever been to one quite like this, can you tell us just how it works?"
She murmurs to Shyloh, "There's a great many dishes. They're set in some sort of warmer, all next to one another. I'll get you something." She keeps her focus on the hostess, after that, although she confides to her, "Would you mind if we sat with someone?"
"Oh." Shyloh says softly, trailing slowly after Mina, with one hand still on her shoulder. As they move towards ther table, Shyloh occasionally bumps into people accidentally. This slows things down as she stops and apologises. No one really gives her any gruff about it because she's, well, blind and few people feel they can pull off moral high-ground with the blind in matters of vision.
"Nothing I can't eat with my hands, please. Unless it is soup. The last time I had to use those... sticks... it didn't end very well. And I wouldn't want to get my robes all stained while we're out and about."
"...y-you've never been to a buffet?" Minmei asks, in complete surprise. She stands there, in shock, for a few moments, before her hands fly to her mouth like scared butterflies. "O-oh, I'm sorry, I just never met anyone that has never been to a buffet!" Lynn is immediately back into cheerful mode. "Oh, well, what you do is take a plate or bowl and you can load it up with as much food as you want to eat here." she says with a winning smile.
Roy watches the discussion at the front, just out of earshot, and finally shrugs, turning back to look at the file that he was studying. As he flips through the pages, he runs his finger along the rim of his tea in thought.
Minmei, scanning the restaurant, tapping her teeth with a manicured fingernail as she considers Mina's second request. "Well, I don't see why you can't sit with anyone.." she says with a thoughtful noise. "There's a few empty tables, though. But if someone doesn't mind the company.. there's a couple of local families here.. and a group of soldiers from the Wolf Company - I'd suggest avoiding them, they only want to chase skirts - oh and Commander Fokker, but he's waiting on someone! Not his girlfriend or any command type stuff, he's just meeting a friend."
"We aren't from around here," Mina says with a slight smile. "Please forgive us for not knowing your customs." She clasps her hands in front of her, before her eyes widen slightly. She recalls what Shyloh said, of course, and it is a simple enough arrangement; she turns her head to ask her colleague, "Should we pay our respects to the officer, do you think?"
She then asks Minmei, "I hope it shall not be irregular if I get her plate for her." She sounds, and even looks, apologetic as she asks this. Perhaps it's to catch more flies with honey than vinegar.
It had been a long perilous journey across the vastness of space. A long, /boring/, journey more like it as Lina had no idea how to pilot one of those metal flying ship things. Even if she could, Launchpad McQuack would probably make a better landing upon entry.
She'd copied the directions down carefully. Upon arriving, she's very glad she did as she realizes how enormous the SDF-1 is.
The fact that she looks so out of place doesn't bother her at all. After travelling and exploring various worlds in search of the Claire Bible for over a year now, she's used to this sort of thing. "Hey! Quit staring!" She still, however, doesn't like it. Pushing through with an armored shoulder, Lina Inverse enters the building.
"Alright Fokker. You're paying for all of this, right?" The short-statured girl heads right on over to that buffet and starts eyeing the offerings, rubbing her hands together.
Shyloh would stare at Lynn were it not for the strip of cloth covering her eyes. As it is, she merely points her face in that direction. "Oh... oh my." She exclaims, putting her free hand to her lips. "That does sound rather expensive. Mina, I'm not sure if we brought enough silver to afford it. But, yes, I think being respectful to the local garrison commander would not be inappropriate."
"Uh, no, it's okay!" Minmei says, feeling sympathetic to the needs of Shyloh. The girl offers a smile, and then blinks. "Oh, Commander Fokker isn't in charge! That's Captain Gloval - Commander Fokker is in charge of the air units - he makes sure that the Veritechs that protect the SDF-1 are able to protect him. Are you friends of his from outside the Gate? I travelled there a couple of times. It's really neat at the Hub! All the shops and stores and the like!"
She only manages a wave to Lina before the little sorceress barrels on by the group at the door and towards Fokker's table. "Well, that certainetly wasn't nice, disrespecting the handicapped like that! I should just go over there and give her a piece of my mind!" she huffs unhappily.
Commander Fokker looks up at Lina as she arrives. "It's been a year and you still are asking if I'm gonna pay?" Roy teases as he gestures to the chair. "I thought you'd found a job by now." he gives a nod of his head. "Go ahead and grab a seat, Lina. I want to go over some stuff with you and see if you might be willing to do a little work for me."
Mina opens her mouth to answer Shyloh when she is bumped into by the pressing-past Lina Inverse. Her head turns to look at the brash young redhead, and briefly wonders if that is an ill mannered child - but - no, she's at least fifteen, Mina estimates. "Hm?" she asks a moment later, absently. "Well, I suppose we WILL be his friends, once we meet him! Thank you very much."
She bows slightly at the waist before turning around to regard the table containing Roy... and the rude young woman. Mina grimaces internally but doesn't let it touch her face, before she steps forwards (not so quick as to leave Shyloh behind).
"Hello!" she tells them, giving Roy a warm smile. "Would you mind if we joined you? We're really quite curious about this place... I do hope you won't mind keeping Shyloh company while I visit the buffet?"
"...but if he is not in command, why do they call him Comma--" The tail end of Shyloh's curious question is cut off by Lina's sudden and loud enterence. Shyloh really isn't sure what just happened, but she doesn't seem to much mind, following placidly along behind her taller companion. "Greetings... Commander...?" She's unsure if she's addressing Roy by his proper title of if she's even addressing the commander at all, for that matter. She is currently 'going with the flow'.
The pop idol, Mina, and Shyloh are ignored by the sorceress. This is unsurprising as there is /food/ here and even Minmei's whining won't keep her from it!
"That's right. You invited me here so you are the one doing the treating. It's only fair." Lina cracks her knuckles before sitting down in that seat. "Well, yeah, I have jobs. Odds and ends and mercernary stuff. Hitting bandits and all." Her hands immediately go for the food, helping herself and stacking it on her plate.
"So what's this about a job? You asked for me specifically so clearly you need my amazing magical genius! Just go ahead and explain, I'll eat while you do."
"Well, consider this along the lines of hitting a bandit." Roy says in response to Lina. "About two months ago, a marauder that works with the Divine Crusaders, Vincent Thompson, hit the training base for our pilots and..." The rest of the commentary is lost as two more women start towards the table. Fokker shoots Lina a look. "When you draw a crowd, you really draw a crowd." he says with a smirk.
The pilot barely manages a confused "Okay.." before Lina is darting towards the buffet. He looks at the other two women, and looks over at Minmei. Minmei offers a smile and a half-apologetic smile. "Sorry, Commander, they're not from around here and really wanted to sit with you!" she offers. "Oh, Commander is just his military rank. The Captain outranks him.. and uh.. right.." She pushes her fingers together. "Later on, I have a message I want you to give to Rick for me!" she says to Roy. "I haven't heard from him in a while. And I wanted him to hear my new song and all first!" She smiles and scoots off to meet some new customers at the door, leaving Roy to his fate of sitting with three attractive women.
"Ah.. uh.. you have me at a disadvantage?" the Commander says with a cordial smile. "You apparently know who I am, but I haven't had the pleasure of making the return acquaintance." he says, gesturing to the chairs. Part of him is wondering exactly what's going on - this just seems all too weird. What's next? Emma coming in? Agrias?
Mina guides Shyloh with a gentle hand on the shoulder towards a chair, which she tugs out for the girl. "I'm Mina," she introduces herself; "I'll be right back after I visit the buffet! Please," she urges, "tell us about yourself!"
With that she bustles off towards the buffet to collect foods. This may be vengeance on Shyloh for something.
Just about this time, Minmei comes back, again, apologetically, "Commander Fokker, it's he bridge. They say it's important." Roy blinks, "Uh, excuse me ladies, be right back." And with that, he heads off to the side to answer the phone.
"I'm... sorry. I hope we aren't interupting anything." Shyloh says as she 'feels' her way into her chair. "I wouldn't want to impose, that would be awefully rude. But the lady at the door said you were the commander, and we figured we had best to pay respects."
Returning with a plate stacked with far too much food in a fashion that looks like the culinary version of Jenga, Lina plops down in her seat.
...only to find Roy leave.
"Oh for the love of..." she grouses, looking to Mina and Shyloh briefly, giving them both a casual wave. "Hi."
She turns away, focusing her attention back onto her food.
What follows is the most atrocious display of eating ever seen by many people. It would be safe to say that piranahs have better table manners.
Mina is glad she's over at the buffet! She gets Shyloh some sauceless steamed veggies and sweet and sour pork; she herself goes for the twice cooked stuff, as well as kung pau chicken. She gets fried rice (Shyloh gets rice balls). All of it goes on a tray!
She comes back and pauses as Lina effects the demise of Chickety China, the Chinese Chicken.
"Well!" she says brightly, settling down and setting the food carefully in front of Shyloh, "you seem very hungry! I'm afraid I didn't catch your name, miss...?"
Shyloh, having just now caught on that Roy has left the table (and possibly the building for all that she knows, but then again, she currently thinks that they're on solid ground on a planet somewhere rather then floating through the formless void that holds the stars, because that would just be silly). "...oh, did I offend the Commander in some fashion?"
"Alright, rotate in the Wolf Pack, and have the Skulls on standby, sir. We'll have to make it work." The Commander nods, and looks towards the table, then back at the screen. "And Lisa.. in about 30 minutes? Prepare an alert for me."
"Commander Fokker, that would be unethical of me!" the brunette says unhappily, nearly huffing at the Commander on the other side of the line.
"Oh come on, think about all the favors I've done for you."
"Name one."
"Oh, fine, fine." Roy rolls his eyes. "Fokker out." with that, he winks at the phone and hangs it up head back over to the table. "My apologies, ladies." he offers with a small cough as he retakes the seat he was at earlier. "Business call. Anyway."
"I'm Commander Roy Fokker, Skull and Black Sheep Squadron. My official rank is air commander - what that means basically.." he looks at the dress of the two new women, and not at Mina's cleavage, "...is that I'm in charge of the flight defense of the SDF-1 and it's environs." Roy offers. "I answer to Captain Gloval, who's the ship's supreme commander."
"Mmpphmpph mmphmmph."
Swallow.
"Lina Inverse." she repeats after wiping her mouth off with the back of her hand. "Genius sorceress. Nice to meet you." She resumes the feeding frenzy, continuing even as Roy returns from his call. What the call was about really didn't bother Lina. She simply doesn't /care/ right now. She doesn't even /say/ anything to Roy, giving off the impression that she's assuming he'll continue about this whole job thing in a moment.
"Mina," Mina says again as she picks up her chopsticks. She beams at the other two people - who didn't come with her, that is; besides, Shyloh would get no benefit from it - and gestures a bit towards Shyloh. "This is Shyloh," she continues. "We're travelling! We thought we'd drop in, after hearing it mentioned..."
She picks up a slice of glistening pork and pops it into her mouth, chewing it lightly for a moment. After swallowing, she looks curiously at Roy. "Oh? Do you mean that you command airships? I've heard they're common out here!"
Shyloh is now right confused as Roy begins talking just when she was convinced that she'd offended the man by questioning his station and he'd left. She bows deeply, at the neck, however, as Mina introduces them both, trusting the other woman to sort everything out.
She reaches forwards, testing to find a plate now that Mina has retur--ah, there it is. Oh, and it has food, too. Shyloh folds her hands in front of her chest, bows her head, and begins to silently pray.
Roy would apologize to Shyloh if he knew he had confused the woman. "Uh, yeah, flying ships." the Commander starts to say, then pauses. "And if I may be so bold, may I ask where you hail from?" he thinks to ask as he lifts up his cup of tea to finish draining it back down.
Mina smiles at Roy for a moment before swallowing her little bit of pork. "Oh," she says, "I'm from Gallione, although my parents' business was in Dorter -- Shyloh, here," a gesture at the girl, "her parents were from LIMBERRY but that's just about the same, really, at least by comparison! Anyway..."
She trails off for a moment, before looking to the girl. "Commander Fokker had to answer his radio machine, and that's why he'd stepped away. I believe he went a good distance away so that it wouldn't puzzle you. I know it's bothered you when I've done it."
"Oh." Shyloh exclaims with a good degree of understanding. "Oh, thank you, m'lord. That is very kind of you. Not many people realise before they do such things." Her prayer done, Shyloh picks up one of the rice-balls experimentally, feeling it out with her hands as she attempts to decipher it's secrets and mysteries and whether or not she'll choke to death if she attempts to swallow the thing. The answer to the last, at least, is yes.
The Commander pauses. "Gallione? Dorter? Never heard of them." Roy admits as he scratches his chin in thought. "What world?" he finally thinks to ask as he looks over at Lina. Okay, she's still breathing - breath out, inhale food in. She's still kicking. That's a good sign.
"Decided to go exploring the Gates, or are you looking for someone?" Roy thinks to ask next. Maybe one of his Sheep took a mission or something. He's not entirely sure.
Lina Inverse has indeed been eating this whole time.
The buffet is starting to look rather depleted now.
Mina blinks, several times. "Oh," she says a moment later, as she lowers her chopsticks slowly, perhaps hesitantly, to her plate. Her lips are thinner now, but her eyes are wide; it could be several things, but she certainly seems confused. She speaks slowly, as if she's walking through a verbal minefield. "Er... I am not sure I understand what you mean..."
She turns her head slightly away from Roy, teeth pressing briefly together. "We decided," she concludes, "to go for a trip. Please forgive us if we are troubling you." She then glances back to Shyloh, who is hopefully picking up on the idea of biting into the soft, springy surface of the rice ball.
Miiinaaaa..." Shyloh says, lowering the riceball from her lips. "Please be considerate. And you haven't prayed yet, you should always pray before a meal." The younger woman chastizes. She looks in Roy's general direction apologetically. "Please forgive us. We're looking for someone. My sister. We decided it would be a good idea to look beyond the gates... but it hasn't been easy. There are a lot of people that are unscupulous enough to take advantage of a pair of women... forgive us for being suspicious."
Shyloh shoots Mina a somewhat accusing look, marred by the fact her eyes aren't visible.
"..uh. World. Like I'm from Earth, Lina here is from.. well, someplace where they eat alot. Uh.." Roy scratches the back of his head, as in thought. "My fiancee is from Ivalice." he shrugs as he considers. "The world that you live on, all the lands put together?" he asks.
"...looking for your sister?" he blinks again, now even more confused. "I'm sorry, I didn't realize there was someone in paticular you were looking for." Roy refills his tea from the table's pitcher, and adds a little sugar and lemon before sipping from it.
"Hmf," Mina says as she looks down at her plate. From this angle, she may look more tired than she had previously. She was very likely putting on a bit of a show, perhaps for the benefit of the public. A moment later, she tilts her head forwards and closes her eyes. She is, no doubt, saying her prayers.
She also lets Shyloh speak up further, if she will. She may not have noticed the look.
Shyloh waits, dubious of Mina's compliance of the instructions to pray. But silence, in this case, at least implies consent and so she carries on. "Yes, Ivalice. That is where we are from. My sister's name is Lobelia, she is a... they are known as 'White Mages' beyond the gates. I haven't heard from her after the battles at Bethla Garrison. Truth be told, we're a little lost and shy on leads." The more Shyloh talks, the more appearent it is that her accent is rather similar to Agrias', moreso then Mina's.
Limberry. That's what should have tipped Roy off. He remembers Agrias mentioning Limberry castle once. But really, all of the discussions that they have had. The pilot pauses at the mention of white mages, but he doesn't miss a beat as he digs into his ribs, taking a few bites. "...sorry, but as far as I know, there is only one member of Ivalice that visits here regularly, and I am not sure she would have any relative leads."
The commander now gives Lina a look. A look that reads that he's feeling just a little uncomfortable at this point. "Lina here is a mage, and a hunter of sorts, as well."
Lina pauses and lifts an eyebrow at Roy.
She has no idea why Roy would be so unsettled as she's only half listening to what Mina and Shyloh are saying. "Sorceress. Mage is a lower ranking on my world, actually." she mentions in a matter-of-fact tone.
Mina raises her head. She regains a fraction of her former cheer as she looks to Lina. "Oh, yes?" she asks the redheaded terror of food destruction. "We call them mages, mostly... there are different styles of magic, so they have different titles. They're hard to use together, sometimes!"
She takes a sip of tea from one of the mugs, and tells Shyloh, "There's a cup right in front of your plate, off to the right. It has no handle."
"Oh, my. That sounds impressive. It must be difficult to master magic so." Shyloh says, looking in the vague direction she thinks that Lina is in. The sounds of eating aren't overly specific a guide in the middle of a resturant. But the volume (as in quantity of consumption and the amount of noise generated) is a helpful guide in this case.
Roy, having deflected attention from him for a moment, reaches down and presses a button on his radio. The Veritech pilot frowns, as he finishes off the rib, and sets the bone aside. "So this sister of yours? Lobelia? What does she look like?" he does make note of the girls saying their prayers.
"I used to pray before my meals. These days it's usually scarf and go, though." And he's a little lost from his way, as it stands. "So you both attend church back on Ivalice?"
Shyloh stares at Roy, totally unsure of how to answer his first question. It takes her a moment to stammer out, "I... I don't rightfully know what she looks like, m'lord. I... ah..." She trails off, unsure of how to best point out that she is blind without being insulting or drawing undue pity upon herself. It's a rather awkward situation. "But... everyone goes to church in Ivalice. Why.. would they not? Well, some out in the in distant areas don't have a local chapel, but the Church sends missionaries around."
"I had not seen her for six years, but she had brown hair and eyes," Mina says, giving Roy another sideways look. She picks up a piece of the roast pork and continues, "If we do meet her, however, Shyloh will recognize her voice, and so we do the best that we can."
She pops it into her mouth and chews, before swallowing. She looks at Roy more directly, then. "The wars have made it much easier to seek out faith," she says, perhaps neutrally; after this she has a sip of tea.
"I thought you were both sisters, my apologies, Shyloh." Roy says to the blind girl, before turning his attention back to Mina, meeting her eyes evenly. "There is a saying on my world - 'There's no such thing as an atheist on a battlefield.'." the Commander gets a little smirk. "And when something as small as a pin can puncture a cockpit and then you find yourself lacking atmosphere or pressure - well, you better pray quick."
Roy shrugs, and takes another bite of his food. "I guess I'll just have to ask people from Ivalice their names until I come across her, then."
Shyloh pauses in her search for the glass in front of her plate to put a hand in front of her mouth to hide a soft giggle. "Mina is old enough to be my mother, Commander. She's a friend of my father... he was an Aegis Knight of Limberry, during the Fifty Years War." Shyloh resumes her hunt for her glass, finding it a few moments later. She sniffs it once, to make sure it isn't steaming hot, then takes an experimental sip. "...hm, the tea appears to have gone cold." Nevermind it is intended to be cold; this is something of a foreign concept to her. "But it is a little odd that someone from Ivalice should come all the way out here often. It is quite far; we're here because... well, there are many gates and they are rather indistinguishable."
"You could say, I suppose," Mina says with a certain sort of world weariness in her tone, "that we're going around, guided by prayer." She sips her tea again and sets it down, deciding to try and eat the rice with chopsticks, which should occupy her for a while.
"Uh, well, the one from Ivalice actually lives here most of the time." the Commander shrugs, trying to avoid getting too far in detail at this point. The pilot chuckles. "I suppose prayer is one way to get around. I usually just trust my gut on these things - or go where Gloval says I need to go."
"God has been my support when I had no other means." Shyloh says in a gentle tone. "He has seen fit to send me a wonderful friend to help me through my hardships and for that I am greatful." Shyloh smiles warmly in Mina's vague direction.
Mina's cheeks color, which makes the hints of rouge on them stick out all the more. "Well," she says, dithering for a moment, before explainign to Roy, "I mean, really; someone had to." She doesn't continue further, instead digging into her food for a few more moments.
She adds a bit later, "What do you mean about letting the air out of your ship with a pin? You mean that you might burst the - the bag over it? I have seen drawings of airships."
"..well, no." Roy tries to remember how he explained this to Agrias. "Ah.. see, outside of this city - outside of this craft - there's nothing. No air, no water - it is just the emptiness of the night sky. In which nothing can really exist."
"...my. And you go out into it? How brave." Shyloh comments.
"What, nothing?" Mina says, with a smile. She probably thinks it's a joke. "There can't just be NOTHING," she continues, before having another bite of twice cooked pork.
Roy shrugs, "Well, there's the planets, the stars.. and the Zentraedi fleet surrounding us, but yeah, nothing." the Commander counters, finishing off his spring roll as he stretches out lazily in his chair.
Shyloh falls silent for the moment, eating her food while waiting for Roy to explain further. She is a diligent student.
"The who?" Mina asks, blinking several times.
"The Zentraedi. The forty someodd foot tall aliens that we're at war with." Roy says, getting a little bit of a grin. It's borderline feral. "As a matter of fact, we're going to try to punch through the skirmish line soon and get this whole city back to dry land where it belongs."
Shyloh pauses with a riceball halfway to her mouth. "We... aren't on... dry land now?" There's a bit of skeptisim in her voice. Perhaps understandibly so.
"Well, it's like a ship, I'd heard," Mina says, looking briefly to Shyloh and then to Roy. "But it's so huge - it's just that the entire ship's too big to be affected by the waves, isn't it?"
She seems anxious, somehow.
"Well, we're in deep space. Imagine, I suppose, a castle on your world - with nothing around it." The pilot pauses as the two get confused. Now, now, Roy remembers how he did this with Agrias. "...okay, we're gonna have to try this a little differently." Standing up, the pilot pays for the meals. All of them. "Lina, I still want to talk to you. If you want to come along, you can. Or you can stay here and eat some more. Come on, Mina, Shyloh. I'll show you what I'm talking about."
Shyloh slowly places her food down, suddenly not hungery. "So we're in... space, then?" She makes a little bobbing motion with her head. "I've... never been in space before."
Mina shifts her arm down to crook it around Shyloh's shoulder. She squeezes lightly, and then stands up, reaching down to keep her hand on the girl's upper arm so she knows where Mina, at least, is. Perhaps that's her job at all of this: seeing eye dog.
"Alright," she says, although she sounds wary at the offer. (She doesn't object to the check.)
Standing up himself, Roy smiles over at Minmei apologetically just as he heads out of the restaurant, keeping a shorter stride than usual to make sure that the two girls can keep up. As they walk along, he continues to explain. "Back when this ship launched, we teleported off the world - and took this city with us on accident."
Reaching a turn point that reads 'Observation Deck', the Commander makes the turn, heading down a small corridor and into a large open area that was a gunnery bubble back when the Zentraedi possessed the ship. Now? It's a large open space that shows visitors exactly where they are. There's nothingness around the ship - the smooth metal skin of the ship surrounds the blister, but otherwise, there is nothing out in the darkness but the stars and the occassional asteroid.
"This is what I meant."
"Oh... we're leaving?" Shyloh says as Mina tugs at her arm. "Mina, did you leave enough money?" She digs around in her robes a bit forthe spare silver before she falls into step by virtue of being tugged along.
When they arrive at the observation deck, Shyloh stands there, expectant. Sadly, the grandeur and vastness of space itself is fairly lost on her.
"The commander paid for our meal," Mina says to Shyloh on the way, her voice soft. She doesn't describe the walk, although perhaps she does, sometimes. When she gets there, to the observation deck, she pauses.
She looks out, and up. Not so bad, she thinks, although the stars look strange. She squeezes Shyloh's shoulder and tells her, "I'll be right back. Only a few steps." Having done this, she steps out, forwards, towards the edge of the blister...
She looks left, then right, along the vast curves of the ship - and more importantly, the termination of these curves. She stands on the balls of her feet.
She lowers herself back down.
"Ohh," she says, before toppling gracefully over towards one side and quite possibly landing in a heap of skirt.
What happens next is a little bit of a curiosity. Roy is feeling just a little distrust at the moment. Girls that go to church on Ivalice isn't usually the type of girl he hangs around. However, as Mina takes her tumble, the commander moves suddenly, slinging out his arm and wraps it around her waist to take a firm hold and keep her from colliding with the deck. "Whoa, watch your step." he says in a warm voice as he waits for Mina to get readjusted to help her back up.
Girls that go to Church in Ivalice are far, far more common then girls that don't. Shyloh gasps as... someone takes a tumble. "Oh... my... what... what happened?" She takes a half step forward as if to do something to help... someone.
Mina's voice is faint when Roy scoops her up. "Oh, thank you," she says, before drawing her hand over her forehead and letting out a faint groan. She straightens up afterwards, studiously looking at the ground. "Please... forgive me. I - should not have doubted you."
She starts up, then. "Oh!" She twists herself a bit, hastening out of Roy's arm - but it's to head back to the blind girl. "I was overwhelmed," she explains to her. "We really are- are in space." She doesn't look up at the dome beyond a brief, furtive glance over one shoulder.
"Hey, it's no problem. I know there's skeptics all the times. Especially for those on worlds that have yet to achieve space travel." Roy offers a pleasant smile as he helps Mina to his feet, and then looks over at Shyloh. "There's not really a way I can describe it - perhaps Mina can.."
Outside the blister, a few little pinpricks of light start to appear in the vastness of space. They blossom and bloom, then vanish. Soon afterwards, a little robot rolls up to where the three are. "Call for Commander Roy Fokker. I repeat, call for Commander Roy Fokker."
Roy hmms? And whistles the little robot over. "I'm Commander Fokker." Picking up the proferred reciever, Lisa Hayes comes on screen. "You get your wish, flyboy, looks like there's a Zentraedi attack in quadrant delta, and the Wolves are looking for backup. Get the Skulls out there, Roy."
"Will do, Lieutenant." the Commander says, going all business as he looks to Mina and Shyloh. "It was a pleasure meeting you both, but I need to get going." Offering a two fingered salute, he takes off down the corridor, whistling for a jeep.
"Thank you," Mina says, returning the bow - she almost perfectly mirrors Shyloh's action. She then murmurs something to the girl, perhaps a description of the salient points. She is, at least, seeming less wobbly.
And a jeep slides to a halt just outside the corridor. Roy leaps in, and says to the driver. "To the Prometheus and screw the stoplights!" And away they go.
WHERE: Sci-Fi Sector: SDF-1, Macross City, Little White Dragon
WHEN: 19 May
WHAT: A business discussion between Lina and Roy is interupted because noone expects the Glabadian Inquistion!
Watch For: Minmei sighting! Lina's eating habits. Shyloh's confusion. Welcome to space, girls.
Mina Tarrelton requires a tag!
Little White Dragon
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A two story building near the center of downtown Macross City, this building stands out first because it is a bright red in corner. Secondly, it's decorated as a Chinese Shrine, with two stone dragons out front as guardians, and a templesque look.
Inside, there are several tables, a hostess station usually manned by Lynn Minmei, when she's around. A large wall has an aquarium built in to it. Another wall carries various posters and pictures of Miss Minmei in various outfits and scenes. Someone's a vain little girl. There is also a large kitchen area and sushi bar for self-service.
Macross City has undergone much rebuilding after the Zentraedi attack. Many of the debris fields have been cleared, and life is returning to a semblance of normal - at least normal as far as a city could be a million miles from Earth and under continous siege. EVE has been restored, allowing the illusion of an Earth-like atmosphere to be cast back over the city, a clear, sunny day, with a hint of clouds in the sky.
Roy left directions for Lina to meet him at the Little White Dragon. It's Saturday, which means it's buffet day. The Commander of the Black Sheep carries a small folder under his arm as he goes to take a seat at one of the table, after informing the waiter at the door that he will be joined by a certain redheaded mage. And it's not a date. This is business. Honest.
After picking up some egg drop soup, the Commander sips on his hot tea and waits on Lina to arrive.
A buffet! A buffet!
This is certainly not something that you see in Ivalice every day, unless you consider the posher inns' offering of your choice of "roast pig and porridge" or "roast pig and potatoes" to be a buffet. As such, when Mina comes up and into the entrance, moving rather quietly due to someone else's hand resting on her shoulder, she is briefly stunned. She is not sure if it's at the sight of so much and so much VARIED food set out on display...
Or if it's the strange smells. They're savory, but unusual.
"What do you think?" she murmurs to the younger woman with her. Her eyes flick over the restaurant, to the buffet line, the stray customers, the towering man, and back to Shyloh herself.
"I think that it smells wonderful." Shyloh replies, one hand resting gently on Mina's shoulder. "But I'm not sure what it is." Her head turns towards the buffet line as she smells the air. "Why is the smell so strong over there, though? I... can't quite pick anything out. It smells like it is all mashed togather."
"I think that it smells wonderful." Shyloh replies, one hand resting gently on Mina's shoulder. "But I'm not sure what it is." Her head turns towards the buffet line as she smells the air. "Why is the smell so strong over there, though? I... can't quite pick anything out. It smells like it is all mashed togather."
As Shyloh and Mina enter the buffet, a short Chinese girl comes up to greet them. "Oh, I love your dress!" Minmei says in a bubbly tone to Mina as she bows to the two women. "Welcome to the Little White Dragon, can I show you to a table? It's Buffet Day!" the girl offers cheerfully.
Roy takes a sip from his bowl of soup. The eggs just don't taste the same. It's still good - but since there's very few live animals on the SDF-1, most animal foods are from stores in Macross from pre-launch - including powdered eggs. Shaking his head as he lowers the bowl, he peers at the two women and one eye arches. The robes really mark them as from 'not around here', and he starts paying a little more attention.
"Oh! Thank you very much," Mina says to the shorter girl with a winsome little smile. "I think we would like to have the buffet, then! But I don't think we've ever been to one quite like this, can you tell us just how it works?"
She murmurs to Shyloh, "There's a great many dishes. They're set in some sort of warmer, all next to one another. I'll get you something." She keeps her focus on the hostess, after that, although she confides to her, "Would you mind if we sat with someone?"
"Oh." Shyloh says softly, trailing slowly after Mina, with one hand still on her shoulder. As they move towards ther table, Shyloh occasionally bumps into people accidentally. This slows things down as she stops and apologises. No one really gives her any gruff about it because she's, well, blind and few people feel they can pull off moral high-ground with the blind in matters of vision.
"Nothing I can't eat with my hands, please. Unless it is soup. The last time I had to use those... sticks... it didn't end very well. And I wouldn't want to get my robes all stained while we're out and about."
"...y-you've never been to a buffet?" Minmei asks, in complete surprise. She stands there, in shock, for a few moments, before her hands fly to her mouth like scared butterflies. "O-oh, I'm sorry, I just never met anyone that has never been to a buffet!" Lynn is immediately back into cheerful mode. "Oh, well, what you do is take a plate or bowl and you can load it up with as much food as you want to eat here." she says with a winning smile.
Roy watches the discussion at the front, just out of earshot, and finally shrugs, turning back to look at the file that he was studying. As he flips through the pages, he runs his finger along the rim of his tea in thought.
Minmei, scanning the restaurant, tapping her teeth with a manicured fingernail as she considers Mina's second request. "Well, I don't see why you can't sit with anyone.." she says with a thoughtful noise. "There's a few empty tables, though. But if someone doesn't mind the company.. there's a couple of local families here.. and a group of soldiers from the Wolf Company - I'd suggest avoiding them, they only want to chase skirts - oh and Commander Fokker, but he's waiting on someone! Not his girlfriend or any command type stuff, he's just meeting a friend."
"We aren't from around here," Mina says with a slight smile. "Please forgive us for not knowing your customs." She clasps her hands in front of her, before her eyes widen slightly. She recalls what Shyloh said, of course, and it is a simple enough arrangement; she turns her head to ask her colleague, "Should we pay our respects to the officer, do you think?"
She then asks Minmei, "I hope it shall not be irregular if I get her plate for her." She sounds, and even looks, apologetic as she asks this. Perhaps it's to catch more flies with honey than vinegar.
It had been a long perilous journey across the vastness of space. A long, /boring/, journey more like it as Lina had no idea how to pilot one of those metal flying ship things. Even if she could, Launchpad McQuack would probably make a better landing upon entry.
She'd copied the directions down carefully. Upon arriving, she's very glad she did as she realizes how enormous the SDF-1 is.
The fact that she looks so out of place doesn't bother her at all. After travelling and exploring various worlds in search of the Claire Bible for over a year now, she's used to this sort of thing. "Hey! Quit staring!" She still, however, doesn't like it. Pushing through with an armored shoulder, Lina Inverse enters the building.
"Alright Fokker. You're paying for all of this, right?" The short-statured girl heads right on over to that buffet and starts eyeing the offerings, rubbing her hands together.
Shyloh would stare at Lynn were it not for the strip of cloth covering her eyes. As it is, she merely points her face in that direction. "Oh... oh my." She exclaims, putting her free hand to her lips. "That does sound rather expensive. Mina, I'm not sure if we brought enough silver to afford it. But, yes, I think being respectful to the local garrison commander would not be inappropriate."
"Uh, no, it's okay!" Minmei says, feeling sympathetic to the needs of Shyloh. The girl offers a smile, and then blinks. "Oh, Commander Fokker isn't in charge! That's Captain Gloval - Commander Fokker is in charge of the air units - he makes sure that the Veritechs that protect the SDF-1 are able to protect him. Are you friends of his from outside the Gate? I travelled there a couple of times. It's really neat at the Hub! All the shops and stores and the like!"
She only manages a wave to Lina before the little sorceress barrels on by the group at the door and towards Fokker's table. "Well, that certainetly wasn't nice, disrespecting the handicapped like that! I should just go over there and give her a piece of my mind!" she huffs unhappily.
Commander Fokker looks up at Lina as she arrives. "It's been a year and you still are asking if I'm gonna pay?" Roy teases as he gestures to the chair. "I thought you'd found a job by now." he gives a nod of his head. "Go ahead and grab a seat, Lina. I want to go over some stuff with you and see if you might be willing to do a little work for me."
Mina opens her mouth to answer Shyloh when she is bumped into by the pressing-past Lina Inverse. Her head turns to look at the brash young redhead, and briefly wonders if that is an ill mannered child - but - no, she's at least fifteen, Mina estimates. "Hm?" she asks a moment later, absently. "Well, I suppose we WILL be his friends, once we meet him! Thank you very much."
She bows slightly at the waist before turning around to regard the table containing Roy... and the rude young woman. Mina grimaces internally but doesn't let it touch her face, before she steps forwards (not so quick as to leave Shyloh behind).
"Hello!" she tells them, giving Roy a warm smile. "Would you mind if we joined you? We're really quite curious about this place... I do hope you won't mind keeping Shyloh company while I visit the buffet?"
"...but if he is not in command, why do they call him Comma--" The tail end of Shyloh's curious question is cut off by Lina's sudden and loud enterence. Shyloh really isn't sure what just happened, but she doesn't seem to much mind, following placidly along behind her taller companion. "Greetings... Commander...?" She's unsure if she's addressing Roy by his proper title of if she's even addressing the commander at all, for that matter. She is currently 'going with the flow'.
The pop idol, Mina, and Shyloh are ignored by the sorceress. This is unsurprising as there is /food/ here and even Minmei's whining won't keep her from it!
"That's right. You invited me here so you are the one doing the treating. It's only fair." Lina cracks her knuckles before sitting down in that seat. "Well, yeah, I have jobs. Odds and ends and mercernary stuff. Hitting bandits and all." Her hands immediately go for the food, helping herself and stacking it on her plate.
"So what's this about a job? You asked for me specifically so clearly you need my amazing magical genius! Just go ahead and explain, I'll eat while you do."
"Well, consider this along the lines of hitting a bandit." Roy says in response to Lina. "About two months ago, a marauder that works with the Divine Crusaders, Vincent Thompson, hit the training base for our pilots and..." The rest of the commentary is lost as two more women start towards the table. Fokker shoots Lina a look. "When you draw a crowd, you really draw a crowd." he says with a smirk.
The pilot barely manages a confused "Okay.." before Lina is darting towards the buffet. He looks at the other two women, and looks over at Minmei. Minmei offers a smile and a half-apologetic smile. "Sorry, Commander, they're not from around here and really wanted to sit with you!" she offers. "Oh, Commander is just his military rank. The Captain outranks him.. and uh.. right.." She pushes her fingers together. "Later on, I have a message I want you to give to Rick for me!" she says to Roy. "I haven't heard from him in a while. And I wanted him to hear my new song and all first!" She smiles and scoots off to meet some new customers at the door, leaving Roy to his fate of sitting with three attractive women.
"Ah.. uh.. you have me at a disadvantage?" the Commander says with a cordial smile. "You apparently know who I am, but I haven't had the pleasure of making the return acquaintance." he says, gesturing to the chairs. Part of him is wondering exactly what's going on - this just seems all too weird. What's next? Emma coming in? Agrias?
Mina guides Shyloh with a gentle hand on the shoulder towards a chair, which she tugs out for the girl. "I'm Mina," she introduces herself; "I'll be right back after I visit the buffet! Please," she urges, "tell us about yourself!"
With that she bustles off towards the buffet to collect foods. This may be vengeance on Shyloh for something.
Just about this time, Minmei comes back, again, apologetically, "Commander Fokker, it's he bridge. They say it's important." Roy blinks, "Uh, excuse me ladies, be right back." And with that, he heads off to the side to answer the phone.
"I'm... sorry. I hope we aren't interupting anything." Shyloh says as she 'feels' her way into her chair. "I wouldn't want to impose, that would be awefully rude. But the lady at the door said you were the commander, and we figured we had best to pay respects."
Returning with a plate stacked with far too much food in a fashion that looks like the culinary version of Jenga, Lina plops down in her seat.
...only to find Roy leave.
"Oh for the love of..." she grouses, looking to Mina and Shyloh briefly, giving them both a casual wave. "Hi."
She turns away, focusing her attention back onto her food.
What follows is the most atrocious display of eating ever seen by many people. It would be safe to say that piranahs have better table manners.
Mina is glad she's over at the buffet! She gets Shyloh some sauceless steamed veggies and sweet and sour pork; she herself goes for the twice cooked stuff, as well as kung pau chicken. She gets fried rice (Shyloh gets rice balls). All of it goes on a tray!
She comes back and pauses as Lina effects the demise of Chickety China, the Chinese Chicken.
"Well!" she says brightly, settling down and setting the food carefully in front of Shyloh, "you seem very hungry! I'm afraid I didn't catch your name, miss...?"
Shyloh, having just now caught on that Roy has left the table (and possibly the building for all that she knows, but then again, she currently thinks that they're on solid ground on a planet somewhere rather then floating through the formless void that holds the stars, because that would just be silly). "...oh, did I offend the Commander in some fashion?"
"Alright, rotate in the Wolf Pack, and have the Skulls on standby, sir. We'll have to make it work." The Commander nods, and looks towards the table, then back at the screen. "And Lisa.. in about 30 minutes? Prepare an alert for me."
"Commander Fokker, that would be unethical of me!" the brunette says unhappily, nearly huffing at the Commander on the other side of the line.
"Oh come on, think about all the favors I've done for you."
"Name one."
"Oh, fine, fine." Roy rolls his eyes. "Fokker out." with that, he winks at the phone and hangs it up head back over to the table. "My apologies, ladies." he offers with a small cough as he retakes the seat he was at earlier. "Business call. Anyway."
"I'm Commander Roy Fokker, Skull and Black Sheep Squadron. My official rank is air commander - what that means basically.." he looks at the dress of the two new women, and not at Mina's cleavage, "...is that I'm in charge of the flight defense of the SDF-1 and it's environs." Roy offers. "I answer to Captain Gloval, who's the ship's supreme commander."
"Mmpphmpph mmphmmph."
Swallow.
"Lina Inverse." she repeats after wiping her mouth off with the back of her hand. "Genius sorceress. Nice to meet you." She resumes the feeding frenzy, continuing even as Roy returns from his call. What the call was about really didn't bother Lina. She simply doesn't /care/ right now. She doesn't even /say/ anything to Roy, giving off the impression that she's assuming he'll continue about this whole job thing in a moment.
"Mina," Mina says again as she picks up her chopsticks. She beams at the other two people - who didn't come with her, that is; besides, Shyloh would get no benefit from it - and gestures a bit towards Shyloh. "This is Shyloh," she continues. "We're travelling! We thought we'd drop in, after hearing it mentioned..."
She picks up a slice of glistening pork and pops it into her mouth, chewing it lightly for a moment. After swallowing, she looks curiously at Roy. "Oh? Do you mean that you command airships? I've heard they're common out here!"
Shyloh is now right confused as Roy begins talking just when she was convinced that she'd offended the man by questioning his station and he'd left. She bows deeply, at the neck, however, as Mina introduces them both, trusting the other woman to sort everything out.
She reaches forwards, testing to find a plate now that Mina has retur--ah, there it is. Oh, and it has food, too. Shyloh folds her hands in front of her chest, bows her head, and begins to silently pray.
Roy would apologize to Shyloh if he knew he had confused the woman. "Uh, yeah, flying ships." the Commander starts to say, then pauses. "And if I may be so bold, may I ask where you hail from?" he thinks to ask as he lifts up his cup of tea to finish draining it back down.
Mina smiles at Roy for a moment before swallowing her little bit of pork. "Oh," she says, "I'm from Gallione, although my parents' business was in Dorter -- Shyloh, here," a gesture at the girl, "her parents were from LIMBERRY but that's just about the same, really, at least by comparison! Anyway..."
She trails off for a moment, before looking to the girl. "Commander Fokker had to answer his radio machine, and that's why he'd stepped away. I believe he went a good distance away so that it wouldn't puzzle you. I know it's bothered you when I've done it."
"Oh." Shyloh exclaims with a good degree of understanding. "Oh, thank you, m'lord. That is very kind of you. Not many people realise before they do such things." Her prayer done, Shyloh picks up one of the rice-balls experimentally, feeling it out with her hands as she attempts to decipher it's secrets and mysteries and whether or not she'll choke to death if she attempts to swallow the thing. The answer to the last, at least, is yes.
The Commander pauses. "Gallione? Dorter? Never heard of them." Roy admits as he scratches his chin in thought. "What world?" he finally thinks to ask as he looks over at Lina. Okay, she's still breathing - breath out, inhale food in. She's still kicking. That's a good sign.
"Decided to go exploring the Gates, or are you looking for someone?" Roy thinks to ask next. Maybe one of his Sheep took a mission or something. He's not entirely sure.
Lina Inverse has indeed been eating this whole time.
The buffet is starting to look rather depleted now.
Mina blinks, several times. "Oh," she says a moment later, as she lowers her chopsticks slowly, perhaps hesitantly, to her plate. Her lips are thinner now, but her eyes are wide; it could be several things, but she certainly seems confused. She speaks slowly, as if she's walking through a verbal minefield. "Er... I am not sure I understand what you mean..."
She turns her head slightly away from Roy, teeth pressing briefly together. "We decided," she concludes, "to go for a trip. Please forgive us if we are troubling you." She then glances back to Shyloh, who is hopefully picking up on the idea of biting into the soft, springy surface of the rice ball.
Miiinaaaa..." Shyloh says, lowering the riceball from her lips. "Please be considerate. And you haven't prayed yet, you should always pray before a meal." The younger woman chastizes. She looks in Roy's general direction apologetically. "Please forgive us. We're looking for someone. My sister. We decided it would be a good idea to look beyond the gates... but it hasn't been easy. There are a lot of people that are unscupulous enough to take advantage of a pair of women... forgive us for being suspicious."
Shyloh shoots Mina a somewhat accusing look, marred by the fact her eyes aren't visible.
"..uh. World. Like I'm from Earth, Lina here is from.. well, someplace where they eat alot. Uh.." Roy scratches the back of his head, as in thought. "My fiancee is from Ivalice." he shrugs as he considers. "The world that you live on, all the lands put together?" he asks.
"...looking for your sister?" he blinks again, now even more confused. "I'm sorry, I didn't realize there was someone in paticular you were looking for." Roy refills his tea from the table's pitcher, and adds a little sugar and lemon before sipping from it.
"Hmf," Mina says as she looks down at her plate. From this angle, she may look more tired than she had previously. She was very likely putting on a bit of a show, perhaps for the benefit of the public. A moment later, she tilts her head forwards and closes her eyes. She is, no doubt, saying her prayers.
She also lets Shyloh speak up further, if she will. She may not have noticed the look.
Shyloh waits, dubious of Mina's compliance of the instructions to pray. But silence, in this case, at least implies consent and so she carries on. "Yes, Ivalice. That is where we are from. My sister's name is Lobelia, she is a... they are known as 'White Mages' beyond the gates. I haven't heard from her after the battles at Bethla Garrison. Truth be told, we're a little lost and shy on leads." The more Shyloh talks, the more appearent it is that her accent is rather similar to Agrias', moreso then Mina's.
Limberry. That's what should have tipped Roy off. He remembers Agrias mentioning Limberry castle once. But really, all of the discussions that they have had. The pilot pauses at the mention of white mages, but he doesn't miss a beat as he digs into his ribs, taking a few bites. "...sorry, but as far as I know, there is only one member of Ivalice that visits here regularly, and I am not sure she would have any relative leads."
The commander now gives Lina a look. A look that reads that he's feeling just a little uncomfortable at this point. "Lina here is a mage, and a hunter of sorts, as well."
Lina pauses and lifts an eyebrow at Roy.
She has no idea why Roy would be so unsettled as she's only half listening to what Mina and Shyloh are saying. "Sorceress. Mage is a lower ranking on my world, actually." she mentions in a matter-of-fact tone.
Mina raises her head. She regains a fraction of her former cheer as she looks to Lina. "Oh, yes?" she asks the redheaded terror of food destruction. "We call them mages, mostly... there are different styles of magic, so they have different titles. They're hard to use together, sometimes!"
She takes a sip of tea from one of the mugs, and tells Shyloh, "There's a cup right in front of your plate, off to the right. It has no handle."
"Oh, my. That sounds impressive. It must be difficult to master magic so." Shyloh says, looking in the vague direction she thinks that Lina is in. The sounds of eating aren't overly specific a guide in the middle of a resturant. But the volume (as in quantity of consumption and the amount of noise generated) is a helpful guide in this case.
Roy, having deflected attention from him for a moment, reaches down and presses a button on his radio. The Veritech pilot frowns, as he finishes off the rib, and sets the bone aside. "So this sister of yours? Lobelia? What does she look like?" he does make note of the girls saying their prayers.
"I used to pray before my meals. These days it's usually scarf and go, though." And he's a little lost from his way, as it stands. "So you both attend church back on Ivalice?"
Shyloh stares at Roy, totally unsure of how to answer his first question. It takes her a moment to stammer out, "I... I don't rightfully know what she looks like, m'lord. I... ah..." She trails off, unsure of how to best point out that she is blind without being insulting or drawing undue pity upon herself. It's a rather awkward situation. "But... everyone goes to church in Ivalice. Why.. would they not? Well, some out in the in distant areas don't have a local chapel, but the Church sends missionaries around."
"I had not seen her for six years, but she had brown hair and eyes," Mina says, giving Roy another sideways look. She picks up a piece of the roast pork and continues, "If we do meet her, however, Shyloh will recognize her voice, and so we do the best that we can."
She pops it into her mouth and chews, before swallowing. She looks at Roy more directly, then. "The wars have made it much easier to seek out faith," she says, perhaps neutrally; after this she has a sip of tea.
"I thought you were both sisters, my apologies, Shyloh." Roy says to the blind girl, before turning his attention back to Mina, meeting her eyes evenly. "There is a saying on my world - 'There's no such thing as an atheist on a battlefield.'." the Commander gets a little smirk. "And when something as small as a pin can puncture a cockpit and then you find yourself lacking atmosphere or pressure - well, you better pray quick."
Roy shrugs, and takes another bite of his food. "I guess I'll just have to ask people from Ivalice their names until I come across her, then."
Shyloh pauses in her search for the glass in front of her plate to put a hand in front of her mouth to hide a soft giggle. "Mina is old enough to be my mother, Commander. She's a friend of my father... he was an Aegis Knight of Limberry, during the Fifty Years War." Shyloh resumes her hunt for her glass, finding it a few moments later. She sniffs it once, to make sure it isn't steaming hot, then takes an experimental sip. "...hm, the tea appears to have gone cold." Nevermind it is intended to be cold; this is something of a foreign concept to her. "But it is a little odd that someone from Ivalice should come all the way out here often. It is quite far; we're here because... well, there are many gates and they are rather indistinguishable."
"You could say, I suppose," Mina says with a certain sort of world weariness in her tone, "that we're going around, guided by prayer." She sips her tea again and sets it down, deciding to try and eat the rice with chopsticks, which should occupy her for a while.
"Uh, well, the one from Ivalice actually lives here most of the time." the Commander shrugs, trying to avoid getting too far in detail at this point. The pilot chuckles. "I suppose prayer is one way to get around. I usually just trust my gut on these things - or go where Gloval says I need to go."
"God has been my support when I had no other means." Shyloh says in a gentle tone. "He has seen fit to send me a wonderful friend to help me through my hardships and for that I am greatful." Shyloh smiles warmly in Mina's vague direction.
Mina's cheeks color, which makes the hints of rouge on them stick out all the more. "Well," she says, dithering for a moment, before explainign to Roy, "I mean, really; someone had to." She doesn't continue further, instead digging into her food for a few more moments.
She adds a bit later, "What do you mean about letting the air out of your ship with a pin? You mean that you might burst the - the bag over it? I have seen drawings of airships."
"..well, no." Roy tries to remember how he explained this to Agrias. "Ah.. see, outside of this city - outside of this craft - there's nothing. No air, no water - it is just the emptiness of the night sky. In which nothing can really exist."
"...my. And you go out into it? How brave." Shyloh comments.
"What, nothing?" Mina says, with a smile. She probably thinks it's a joke. "There can't just be NOTHING," she continues, before having another bite of twice cooked pork.
Roy shrugs, "Well, there's the planets, the stars.. and the Zentraedi fleet surrounding us, but yeah, nothing." the Commander counters, finishing off his spring roll as he stretches out lazily in his chair.
Shyloh falls silent for the moment, eating her food while waiting for Roy to explain further. She is a diligent student.
"The who?" Mina asks, blinking several times.
"The Zentraedi. The forty someodd foot tall aliens that we're at war with." Roy says, getting a little bit of a grin. It's borderline feral. "As a matter of fact, we're going to try to punch through the skirmish line soon and get this whole city back to dry land where it belongs."
Shyloh pauses with a riceball halfway to her mouth. "We... aren't on... dry land now?" There's a bit of skeptisim in her voice. Perhaps understandibly so.
"Well, it's like a ship, I'd heard," Mina says, looking briefly to Shyloh and then to Roy. "But it's so huge - it's just that the entire ship's too big to be affected by the waves, isn't it?"
She seems anxious, somehow.
"Well, we're in deep space. Imagine, I suppose, a castle on your world - with nothing around it." The pilot pauses as the two get confused. Now, now, Roy remembers how he did this with Agrias. "...okay, we're gonna have to try this a little differently." Standing up, the pilot pays for the meals. All of them. "Lina, I still want to talk to you. If you want to come along, you can. Or you can stay here and eat some more. Come on, Mina, Shyloh. I'll show you what I'm talking about."
Shyloh slowly places her food down, suddenly not hungery. "So we're in... space, then?" She makes a little bobbing motion with her head. "I've... never been in space before."
Mina shifts her arm down to crook it around Shyloh's shoulder. She squeezes lightly, and then stands up, reaching down to keep her hand on the girl's upper arm so she knows where Mina, at least, is. Perhaps that's her job at all of this: seeing eye dog.
"Alright," she says, although she sounds wary at the offer. (She doesn't object to the check.)
Standing up himself, Roy smiles over at Minmei apologetically just as he heads out of the restaurant, keeping a shorter stride than usual to make sure that the two girls can keep up. As they walk along, he continues to explain. "Back when this ship launched, we teleported off the world - and took this city with us on accident."
Reaching a turn point that reads 'Observation Deck', the Commander makes the turn, heading down a small corridor and into a large open area that was a gunnery bubble back when the Zentraedi possessed the ship. Now? It's a large open space that shows visitors exactly where they are. There's nothingness around the ship - the smooth metal skin of the ship surrounds the blister, but otherwise, there is nothing out in the darkness but the stars and the occassional asteroid.
"This is what I meant."
"Oh... we're leaving?" Shyloh says as Mina tugs at her arm. "Mina, did you leave enough money?" She digs around in her robes a bit forthe spare silver before she falls into step by virtue of being tugged along.
When they arrive at the observation deck, Shyloh stands there, expectant. Sadly, the grandeur and vastness of space itself is fairly lost on her.
"The commander paid for our meal," Mina says to Shyloh on the way, her voice soft. She doesn't describe the walk, although perhaps she does, sometimes. When she gets there, to the observation deck, she pauses.
She looks out, and up. Not so bad, she thinks, although the stars look strange. She squeezes Shyloh's shoulder and tells her, "I'll be right back. Only a few steps." Having done this, she steps out, forwards, towards the edge of the blister...
She looks left, then right, along the vast curves of the ship - and more importantly, the termination of these curves. She stands on the balls of her feet.
She lowers herself back down.
"Ohh," she says, before toppling gracefully over towards one side and quite possibly landing in a heap of skirt.
What happens next is a little bit of a curiosity. Roy is feeling just a little distrust at the moment. Girls that go to church on Ivalice isn't usually the type of girl he hangs around. However, as Mina takes her tumble, the commander moves suddenly, slinging out his arm and wraps it around her waist to take a firm hold and keep her from colliding with the deck. "Whoa, watch your step." he says in a warm voice as he waits for Mina to get readjusted to help her back up.
Girls that go to Church in Ivalice are far, far more common then girls that don't. Shyloh gasps as... someone takes a tumble. "Oh... my... what... what happened?" She takes a half step forward as if to do something to help... someone.
Mina's voice is faint when Roy scoops her up. "Oh, thank you," she says, before drawing her hand over her forehead and letting out a faint groan. She straightens up afterwards, studiously looking at the ground. "Please... forgive me. I - should not have doubted you."
She starts up, then. "Oh!" She twists herself a bit, hastening out of Roy's arm - but it's to head back to the blind girl. "I was overwhelmed," she explains to her. "We really are- are in space." She doesn't look up at the dome beyond a brief, furtive glance over one shoulder.
"Hey, it's no problem. I know there's skeptics all the times. Especially for those on worlds that have yet to achieve space travel." Roy offers a pleasant smile as he helps Mina to his feet, and then looks over at Shyloh. "There's not really a way I can describe it - perhaps Mina can.."
Outside the blister, a few little pinpricks of light start to appear in the vastness of space. They blossom and bloom, then vanish. Soon afterwards, a little robot rolls up to where the three are. "Call for Commander Roy Fokker. I repeat, call for Commander Roy Fokker."
Roy hmms? And whistles the little robot over. "I'm Commander Fokker." Picking up the proferred reciever, Lisa Hayes comes on screen. "You get your wish, flyboy, looks like there's a Zentraedi attack in quadrant delta, and the Wolves are looking for backup. Get the Skulls out there, Roy."
"Will do, Lieutenant." the Commander says, going all business as he looks to Mina and Shyloh. "It was a pleasure meeting you both, but I need to get going." Offering a two fingered salute, he takes off down the corridor, whistling for a jeep.
"Thank you," Mina says, returning the bow - she almost perfectly mirrors Shyloh's action. She then murmurs something to the girl, perhaps a description of the salient points. She is, at least, seeming less wobbly.
And a jeep slides to a halt just outside the corridor. Roy leaps in, and says to the driver. "To the Prometheus and screw the stoplights!" And away they go.