Depths of Regina – Turn 1.5 – Visit with Aeria
On June 20th, the group gathered just before lunch to meet with Aeria. The young woman from Zeycude would be arriving with Midnight at Chez Martine at noon. Jack had recommended this fabulous restaurant after having two very nice business lunches there. It was perched on the western coast of the cape in York Heights in Upper City. It tolerated more casual attire and the price was moderate for an Upper City establishment of such quality. Jack was confident that the group would be in for a treat. The only question was who would pick up the tab. Surge initially insisted that he would take care of it but Jack and Midnight both would not let the socially challenged programmer take it so easily. Surge had two very strong points in his favor, one that he was actually earning the most credits at the moment and two that he rarely picks up any tabs due to his ‘diet’.
GM: The tab is included in lifestyle so this really is only for roleplaying purposes. Feel free to add or change how your character would get involved in the ‘tab battle’. This also happens before the actual trip to the restaurant.
VAMPERINA: Vamperina has no problem with Surge picking up the tab.
JACK: Jack jokingly says he's getting to pick up the tab plenty at his
business lunches, he doesn't feel the 'need' to pick it up quite so
strongly ;) Good luck talking Midnight into it though.
MIDNIGHT: Midnight's not making any money, so he can't afford to pick up
the tab for the whole group. He does insist, however, that he be allowed to
pay for Aeria and himself.
SURGE: Surge allows Midnight to pick up the tab for the two of them.
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The trip to the restaurant was filled with the typical experiences of traveling from the Mid City to Upper City. Jack piloted the SkyVan since he was familiar with the restaurant’s location and that it was more socially proper for him to pilot the vehicle and not Vamperina. He drove the hybrid aircar along the Prospectors Quarter’s streets until he got to a sky route entrance. From there he shifted the SkyVan from a ground vehicle into an aircar. In less than 15 minutes Jack landed the SkyVan at the Chez Martine access point on the O’Reilly Tower in York Heights. Chez Martine had its own private access point, which was notable in Upper City. The group departed and the SkyVan was valeted to the restaurant’s private garage.
Midnight and Aeria were waiting in the lounge as the others arrived. They had come via CART twenty minutes ago and were talking quietly. The two turned and greeted the group. Aeria, an attractive young woman with short black hair cut in a bob style, was wearing an informal yellow dress with pastel flowers. Her eyes were green and her complexion milky white. Her voice was soft as was her gaze. The Zeycudian embraced warmly Jack, Vamperina and Surge. She then turned to Vareq and Kyle with a smile, “Hello, I’m Aeria Terqit. I have heard much about you both.”
MIDNIGHT: Although Jack’s the official social coordinator, Midnight will
try to act as Aeria’s guide introducing her to Vareq and Kyle and the rest
whom she remembers.
JACK: It almost seems odd to you that Jack doesn't talk more when
you first meet up in the lounge, but you realize he was waiting and
letting you do the introductions :)
VAMPERINA: Vamperina greets Aeria warmly.
JACK: Jack greets Aeria with a warm smile and a hug.
KYLE: Extending his hand, Kyle offers Aeria a warm greeting. "Kyle
Sinclair. And I've heard much about you as well. Long space flights are a
wonderful time for telling old stories. I'm looking forward to a chance to
get to know you in person."
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JACK (GM): Has she changed much in appearance (height, weight, figure,
complexion)? She's young enough it's still possible. Jack notices
such things since it's his blessing and his curse to never change over
the years, and watch others change. He probably wouldn't say
anything unless the change was dramatic though.
GM: Yes, Aeria has grown up a bit more. She has more of a woman’s figure now and is slightly taller. Her hair used to be longer with less style. Her short hair cut is very popular in the city. She also dresses with more flattering clothing that highlights her body’s shape. On Zeycude she wore much more conservative and bland clothing. The change is significant from when you saw her last and it's a change that most would say is for the better.
JACK: Jack compliments her on her new look.
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The group was seated just a few moments later, cutting off the conversation. Jack began the conversation with some light banter about the cool rainy weather and humorous business encounters. Aeria laughed at Jack’s jokes and others pitched in as the group browsed the menu. The restaurant specialized in seafood though they have other more traditional dishes as well. Surge added a few awkward comments, reminding everyone that social discourse is not his forte.
MIDNIGHT: Midnight doesn't do much talking. He lets Aeria lead things to
where she's comfortable, and he lets Jack be the social master that he is.
He does try to inject himself occasionally, but he's not much for small
talk.
JACK: Jack keeps the 'social mastery' to a minimum, not wanting to
take over Midnight's show, just helps draw him out on some stories,
keeping his own actual anecdotes to a minimum.
KYLE: Kyle holds up his end of the conversation. He's not the raconteur
Jack is, but then, who among the group is? Kyle doesn't try to monopolize
the conversation, but he likewise doesn't shy away from joining it. [TECH:
He picked two of his everyman skills to be Conversation and High Society,
so I figure he does okay with dinner-table conversation.]
After the wait staff had taken everyone’s order Aeria began to talk about her experiences since she left the group at Rio. The trip to Regina had gone well and Scout had taken very good care of her. He helped acclimate the Zeycudian to the realities of living in the Empire and funded much of her first year here. Aeria went on to explain some of her difficulties in living in Cape Goliath. Her accent was still noticeable though it was not uncommon at all to encounter obvious foreign accents in Cape Goliath. Aeria did explain that she had not used her powers in public yet as she was having enough trouble with those that didn’t like her Zhodani heritage.
KYLE: "I can appreciate your situation. I found myself on a world inhabited
primarily by Zhodani for a time. And while my situation wasn't quite the
same as yours, I did have to deal with some discrimination in my early
months there because of my origin."
MIDNIGHT (GM): Just curious, what does one with Zhodani heritage look like?
Pointy ears, strangely shaped eyes, green skin? I know it's nothing blatant,
but I don't recall the descriptions from before.
JACK (OOC): I believe it was the milky white complexion, primarily.
GM: The differences are slight so by appearances a Zhodani could pass off as a native of the Imperium. The most noticeable feature is the accent. A good example is a European in America (that just learned English). If they could speak English without an accent no one would know they were European (as in born and raised there). But a European that still has a heavy accent is quite noticeable. This is exactly the case with Aeria and the source of her discrimination.
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Her job at the travel agency was good for the meanwhile but she was planning on going to University of Regina once she could afford it. Though she made clear she did not want anyone footing her tuition. She was proud of the credits she had saved since settling here. She then became aware of how much she was speaking and turned the conversation back to the others.
VAMPERINA: "A very worthwhile goal," Vamperina replies as the young
woman expresses her desire to attend the University of Regina. What
sort of major are you interested in pursuing?"
AERIA: "I haven't decided exactly but I'm leaning towards marketing. It seems like it would be fun."
JACK: "It can be, yes."
KYLE: "I studied at the university for a time," Kyle offered. "So know my
way around it fairly well. It's a good school and a nice place to be. But
if you're worried about the cost of tuition, you might try looking into the
scholarships available. You'd be surprised what you can find if you look
hard enough. And not all are based on scholarship. If you like, I'd be
happy to help you figure things out."
AERIA: The young woman nodded. “I may have you give me a tour sometime, if that’s okay. I will look into the scholarships available, though I might need some assistance not really knowing where to start.
SURGE: Surge replied, “My services are always available. Drop on by and we can scour the net.”
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JACK: Jack smiles approvingly and lets the conversation flow.
Maintaining her independence is something he would encourage and
support.
MIDNIGHT: Midnight won’t follow up on the topic of her powers unless she
decides to elaborate. He agrees with Jack and Vamperina that Aeria's
determination to make it on her own is commendable and invaluable as she
continues to adjust to life in the Imperium.
JACK: Jack never even mentions SCE unless asked a question by
Aeria or Midnight. He has heard her preference, and has taken it to
heart.
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GM: Aeria does ask about what you are all doing. She is aware of SCE but Midnight has not told her any specifics about what the business is currently doing. What do you tell her?
JACK: Jack will explain briefly that we're trying to set ourselves up as
general contractors to be able to handle whatever job we want to do,
that we can actually get someone to pay us for. We can handle a lot
of different things, from starships to cargo transports, and of course
we're pretty good at protecting ourselves. Our current hope is to get a
contract for a job transporting some hazardous but valuable waste,
providing security for it as well, to prevent it from falling into the
wrong hands or causing an environmental disaster. In the long run we hope
to own our own ship someday, since we had to give the ROCK back
to the previous owners, and hopefully we can do some good here on
Regina making that happen.
VAMPERINA: Concur with Jack that we will discuss the overall concept of
the company without going into any specifics about our current attempts
to get the Waterfall bid. That should probably be treated as "company
confidential" and only revealed to those who really have a need to know.
Not that I don't trust Aeria. It's just that she doesn't really need
to know exactly what we have on our plate right now. Vamperina will
make it known that she really hopes that the business will eventually
put them in a position where they can gain ownership of a spaceship.
Whether this is because we find and salvage one or because we do so well
that we can eventually afford to buy one doesn't really matter. As long
as we can return to space as our own crew.
AERIA: Aeria doesn’t push for further details and understood the tentative nature of things.
During the conversation lunch was served. Both the cuisine and service were excellent, which encouraged the group to sit and enjoy the present moment. Never was there a lull in the conversation with many interesting stories being told around the table. Understandably details were glossed over and any mention of mutant powers omitted. The lunch concluded 2 hours after it began and the group returned home. Midnight escorted Aeria back to work at her request.
GM: If you have anything further to add or change, feel free to make changes.
VAREQ: Nah. Vareq will make polite conversation, enjoy the
meal and hang out. He'll flirt a little bit with
Aeria, but he's not going to push it because it looks
like Midnight is interested in her. |