Adjustment

[stillkatriel]

Katriel didn't want to think about the quantity of energy credits this station had to be burning through each day. More than her entire village. Maybe more than all Sehalda itself, on an off day. It seemed utterly, obscenely wasteful to a person raised on a world where scarcity made of it a second currency.

And yet she couldn't call this a rich

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[worm_dancer]

Since the fight with the Fay'lia ship, Sheeana hadn't yet changed out of her black Reverend Mother's robes, still spattered with the omnipresent mud of Xestsemon. She stopped though when she noticed a newcomer. Meeting Raizo had made her less reluctant to associate with the newbies, more willing to take chances on them. So she stopped and watched her.

Her skin and hair were the same shade as hers, rare enough here, where a lack of direct sunlight tended to make people ashy and/or pale, if they weren't some outlandish color like orange or green to begin with. A confused look. But she wasn't sputtering and flailing and invoking authorities who weren't present or relevant. A point in her favor.

"You are new here." She said, a statement, not a question.

[stillkatriel]

It was that obvious?

Katriel supposed it was. After all, it'd be prudent to realize when an outsider was present, wouldn't it? She turned to face the woman, noting her clothing stained with the dust of another world, her eyes-

Her eyes. Was that a genemod, that deep and striking blue? If so, it wasn't one Katriel had ever heard of.

She didn't stare too long. She nodded. 'I'm new. Arrived here yesterday. I'm here to help.' Even if she wasn't sure how yet. From another new arrival, it might have seemed an arrogant assumption, that she could, but Katriel spoke the words in earnest.

[worm_dancer]

To a Reverend Mother, it certainly was. It was a good thing Sheeana had some training in truthsense and could tell she was being earnest. She momentarily experienced the experienced insider's irritation at eager newcomers, before Other Memory chastised her for it.

"I am Reverend Mother Sheeana, of the Bene Gesserit. Who are you, where did you come from and what skillsets do you bring?" Brusque and to the point. Naturally curious she was but she had no time for small talk.

[stillkatriel]

Reverend Mother? That was an odd sort of title. She was direct, though, and Katriel could appreciate that. It indicated a certain confidence, if nothing else.

'My name is-' a hesitation, very brief, but enough for one who was observant to notice. The name that came first to mind was that she had adopted in hiding, Lisulda.

She was not hiding now. '-Katriel,' she finished. 'I'm from Sehalda on Nammu and was a strike leader in the Sehaldan Liberation Militia. I had command of operations out of Liendel Village for four years during the war. It was - similar in principle to what I understand you're trying to accomplish here, even if the details are different. But I know how to go about hitting an enemy where it hurts when they have the seeming advantage. I figure that's what you're looking to do?'

[lest_ye_become]

The girl is covered almost head to toe with loose clothes, with a shawl tucked around her head and some of her face. The skin that's exposed has awful scabby burns on it, the kind that she probably shouldn't be at all out and about with, but that doesn't seem to concern her; her eyes are still sharp and unpained behind those glasses.

Today, as it turns out, she has a can of spray paint and a number of stencil templates with her. Katriel might come across her partway through adding a sign directly onto one of the walls with them-ROXIE'S - ARTIFI... with an arrow already added pointing down the hallway.

[stillkatriel]

At first glimpse of her, Katriel can't help but feel that initial jolt of shock. It never goes away, no matter how many wounded she sees, and this girl is young. Not the youngest, but young.

She won't mention it. If a person wants to talk, they'll talk, and if not there's little worse than the well-meaning enquiries of strangers. Besides, it's not as if Katriel's got the authority here to send her to rest even if she wanted to.

Instead, she looks at the half-stencilled sign. Directions?

'What's that for?' she asked, tilting her head sideways, enough that her bright red kerchief slides back a little, revealing more of her dark hair.

[lest_ye_become]

Even her hands are scarred and burn-blistered. If the rest of her under those covering clothes is like that... well, it's a wonder she'd be out of a hospital bed at all, let alone wandering the halls.

"My shop," the girl says, and she adjusts her glasses slightly. Her voice is clearer than it really should be for someone with those degree of burns. "When people get lost they start following the arrows without thinking about it. It's helped my business considerably."

She shuffles through her stencils and sprays a C up next to the I.

[stillkatriel]

Katriel nodded. 'It's a sound strategy,' she agreed, but her eyes were drawn again to those burns, and even if it was presumptuous of her she couldn't let it pass without comment.

'But is there nobody who'd see to the running of your business for you, for now? You ought to be resting. You'll heal quicker.' She was direct, but her tone was gentle. She was worried for the girl.

[lobstermonarch]

She had the characteristic air of a newcomer, Edward thought. He'd felt like that the day he arrived too, although he didn't really have the luxury to show it. He'd had to be Lord Protector that day for the Mandasars he'd brought with him. They weren't like Counselor and the rest of her family, who had met him when he was just some stupid human with venom on his face. He couldn't show them weakness. Which was why he had to get away from them sometimes. He was starting to miss his own hive tremendously.

When Katriel turned around to look at her, he decided he might as well offer her assistance. This at least was something he could do. "Looking for something?" he asked.

[stillkatriel]

'Nothing in particular,' replied Katriel, as she looked back at the man who had addressed her. What drew her attention first was his pallor; he reminded her of the people aboard the trader ships who spent most of their lives between stars. Perhaps that was what he had done, wherever he came from. That, or he had been aboard this station a very long time.

She gave him a half-smile. 'I'm just...looking. Seemed the best way to get to know my way around this place.'

/sob I'm such a slow tagger

[lobstermonarch]

"I can show you around, if you like." Edward offered. He'd only been on the station about ten months, but that was more than enough time to orient himself.

"My name's Edward, by the way. What's yours?"

No worries :) Whenever you have time.

[stillkatriel]

'I'm Lisul-'

There is was again. She frowned, corrected herself. 'Katriel. My name's Katriel, and I'm mighty appreciative of the offer. Only turned up here yesterday, and it's my first time offworld, so...'

She let the statement hang. He'd understand. Unless he was born space-trader, and then he'd still understand, but differently.

[eternal_dolly]

Victoria, clad in her ever present black Gothic-Lolita gown, watches over the young girl from afar from a moment before approaching. She was always interested in newcomers, if just because it meant being able to look over the fashions of yet another world.

Concerned mostly with what the new girl is wearing, Victoria approaches to offers her assistance. "Do you need something miss?"

[stillkatriel]

Katriel's dress sense was hardly what could be described as fashionable. She wore a dark grey tunic that fell to just above her knees, belted at the waist, with deep pockets, and black trousers. A splash of colour adorned her head, a bright red kerchief tied over her dark braided hair. Sehaldan practicality. An outsized transmission unit was clipped at her belt, along with a slightly outdated, old-model laser gun.

Her appearance was nothing remarkable on her homeworld. That of the individual who had just addressed her, however...

Katriel wasn't sure if the entity was biological in nature or not. She looked something like a child's doll made life-size, and the effect was somewhat unnerving.

'It's Strike Leader,' she corrected, like she'd had to dozens of time back home, 'if you want to call me by title. Not Miss. Strike Leader Katriel out of Liendel Village.' When you had been the only woman to hold such a title, once, you learned to be particular about the misconceptions you would allow

[eternal_dolly]

"Very well, "Strike Leader"." Victoria said with slight air of cockiness. "You may call me Victoria, I'm the stations resident doll."

[stillkatriel]

That didn't sound right either, coming from her. Katriel shrugged. 'Just Katriel is fine,' she told Victoria, slightly annoyed with herself for the defensive reaction. This wasn't Sehalda and she wasn't nineteen and with everything to prove anymore.

'What do you mean, a doll?' she asked, tilting her head curiously. 'Are you a sort of robot?' If she was, it was even stranger to be carrying on a conversation with her. She sounded real.

[mirys]

One of many passers-by over these several minutes was a girl with bright blue hair, pointed ears, and a rather peculiar black-and-purple outfit. Judging by appearances alone, she was fairly young as well, possibly in her mid-teens, but who could say for certain? It was entirely possible that she was older--or even younger--than she actually looked.

Mirys Hargrave regarded the newcomer with a noticeable level of uncertainty at least for a brief moment--perhaps Katriel in some way resembled someone from her past--before shaking said uncertainty off and drawing nearer; the former Hunter was finally actually starting to get over her general distrust for anyone and everyone, if only but a little bit.

"You look a bit lost," she observed. "Need somebody to show you around?"

[stillkatriel]

Katriel herself looked to be in her mid-twenties. She might have been younger, in truth, a token of a hard life on a world without much in the way of luxury. For her part, she didn't much care for appearances.

It was a fair guess, however, that the blue-haired girl who had approached her was in fact the younger of the two. Katriel looked at her a moment, and then nodded decisively.

'I'd appreciate it,' she said. 'I arrived here yesterday, and while I've got the basics down - place to sleep, something to eat-' she wasn't prepared to call it food yet, not Katriel who had taken pride in the produce from her family's farmland, '-but I reckon there's more to see than only that.'

She turned towards the girl then and extended a hand to clasp hers in greeting. 'I'm Katriel,' she said by way of simple introduction.

As with anyone else she introduces herself to, I should note that the pronunciation is "mah-ris".

[mirys]

"Mirys," she replied, accepting the greeting with surprisingly little hesitation considering how private and guarded she was back around the time of her own arrival several months ago. Then again, on this station she didn't need to be concerned with the same things she had been back in her home universe.

"There are some other places you'd probably want to know about," she continued, "like the infirmary, for starters. You know, in case something happened." Left unsaid was the question of how this woman would take to meeting the station's doctor. "There are some other places too, like the habitats, or the hangar bay, or the library, just to name a few."

Thank you! I wouldn't have guessed that (would have gone for 'meer-is' most likely)

[stillkatriel]

Katriel nodded. Those were, as far as she knew, sensible suggestions.

'The infirmary would be a good start,' she agreed. 'I'd also like to see wherever it is you keep spare supplies in storage.' She hadn't exactly been able to bring a great deal with her, and from the look of things, this station wasn't exactly resource-stretched.

She might even requisition a power cell or two, if she was feeling daring.

'Other than that...' she gave Mirys a half-smile. 'I confess to being new to all this. What are the habitats for?'