Silence
Anonymous Me
It was all quiet and Illya tossed and turned a few times in the bunk. At least this time it was more comfortable than the little squeaky ones made for other races. He couldn't get comfortable with his boxers on. Each time he turned they would bunch up and gather around his legs and then pinch where he didn't want them to. As if to make it worse the boxers would then rub at the waist band near some of the incisions from multiple surgeries and it would start to make them feel itchy and irritated. With a sigh he pushed his boxers off his hips and reached down inside his blankets to pull the boxers out and toss them on the floor.
After the boxers were gone it was much more comfortable and Illya turned onto his left side to get a little rest. He knew he wouldn't sleep that great with the cough. As the blankets maintained some of the heat it began to slowly get hotter under the blankets and it was comfortable, but it also brought the cough out a little more. It was warming to his chest and he felt the crackling start deep down before he let out a loud, phlegmy sounding cough, but there wasn't anything in it to spit out. About time he was starting to drift off one of his men started into coughing fit and Ehvan rolled over to pass the community phlegm bucket to Bahn. Ehvan was near the center and he volunteered to keep the bucket for starts. Bahn coughed several more times and then hacked out a few more bits of infection before passing the bucket to Saar. Saar had started coughing too. When the rounds were done Illya took the bucket for a round and then passed it back to Ehvan and they all tried to get more sleep.
Finally, it was quiet except for the coughing fit from the Chips on the other side of the room. The heat was soothing for the sore muscles and Illya eventually lapsed into a deep sleep that was suddenly interrupted with a shocking cold wave that started between his shoulder blades and then snuck over his leg. "Ooohooo dat's cold." He could hear Kalizda shushing him and he settled in again, but it took a few moments to get over the rude chilling effect that had run through his body.
Since it was only Kalizda he grunted a sort of response that didn't really come out as anything and settled back in to go to sleep. It was fine till her cold fingers wrapped around to his chest and he huffed a bit. How was it he could warm her bed up and she'd still have freezing fingers and toes? Putting one of his large hands over both her little hands he waited for her fingers to warm so that he could get comfortable again. At last he felt somewhat comfortable and fell asleep only to wake with a coughing fit later and accept the bucket from Ehvan. Later it was Ehvan that woke with the cough and then Bahn and the guy above him. By morning none of them felt like getting up, but Ehvan was the first to pop up. He liked mornings better than the rest.
Walking over to Illya's bunk he saw that Kalizda must already be up and that was fine. "Rise and shine!" Yelling it good and loud in Quoti he jerked the covers back on Bahn's bed and then walked over to Illya's bunk and did the same. Illya peeled his eyes open to see Ehvan hadn't even bothered to put on boxers yet. At first he was going to throw an insult at the man, but he heard a squeak from behind himself and Ehvan's eyes got wide. Kalizda was actually there. With a hasty and rough pull Ehvan threw the covers back over Illya's head and stalked back to his bunk to get dressed.
After that display of Chip morning glory Illya couldn't help laughing. Ehvan might have shocked Kalizda, but he was probably more embarrassed than Kalizda if that was possible. The laughing went through the room and all the men gave good loud calls to Ehvan. "Rise and shine!" With the yelling Ehvan shook his head and collected what he needed to go get washed. "Illya where we wash?" In the middle of a laughing and coughing fit Illya peeled his blankets back far enough to retrieve his boxers and then he got out of the bed and slipped the boxers on. "I'll show you." The men all mumbled in Quoti and began gathering their buckets, but Illya shook his head and explained that the bathing process was different here. With a huff a few of them gathered their oils and washcloths along with towels and then headed toward the showers with Illya.
Already there was a long line and they waited for several minutes before Illya and Bahn got their spots. Ehvan watched with some irritation as there were already several men waiting. "C'mon." Beckoning to a few of the other guys he led them down the hall till he heard more showers and then he stepped into that room. It didn't matter that there were some women exiting the stalls they were simply dressed in towels and they were somewhat private little shower stalls.
Asher had seen the women's sign and he knew the men's shower room was more than busy so he collected a few other guys and headed out to find another men's shower room, but he took the moment to stop at the men's shower room. "Illya, Ehvan es en dah girl bat room." At that Illya about knocked his shower stall over in his haste to finish washing. He couldn't imagine what the heck got into Ehvan's head. The man was probably impatient feeling. Slathering a little more than usual of his cedar oil on his chest he finished rinsing with his oils and then wrapped himself in his towel, held it bunched in the front and grabbed his bundle of clothes. There was a horrible clunking sound of his prosthetic foot when it hit the floor in contrast to the heavy wet slap of Illya's other foot.
However, there was one thing that Illya didn't think of and it was the fact that a little water was on the floor. His prosthetic foot hit a small puddle and he began slipping. With his prosthetic leg going one direction his other leg went the other and he opted to drop his clothes and towel in favor of preventing himself from doing the splits. Instead of making a smooth sort of save he ended up starting to fall backward, threw his clothes toward some unsuspecting guy waiting to shower and fell back. Putting his arms out Illya rolled his back and caught himself primarily absorbing the impact with his arms, but his towel was no longer on him. One of the Chip men saw the fall and grabbed Illya's things off the floor and held onto them until Illya got himself up off the floor and put his towel back on. "Tanks." Illya grunted the word as he bunched the towel in the front again and was a little more careful of puddles on the floor. Taking his stuff from the Elite he nodded and then raced out the door to find out why Ehvan though going to the girls shower room was a good idea.
By the time Illya got to the girl's shower room he heard screeches. It was too late. However, there was a disturbing discovery, this was not all his men accounted for. That meant there were more somewhere else. "No, no." Illya decided to step into a small utility closet to get dressed. Soon as he slipped into his pants he started push his feet into his boots. He was just about dressed, but he heard the one thing he didn't ever want to consider happening here. A girl yelled in the hallway. "There's a bunch of naked guys in the pool room."
This morning was already turning into mayhem. Illya burst out of the closet only half dressed and his pants fell to the floor, but he quickly pulled them back up and began zipping them as he jogged past the lady in hall. "Shet." He knew that's where they had to be. Those had to be his men. There were a few more screeches and they were near the pool room. He knew the morning swimmers were not amused. As Illya turned the corner to the pool room he could see a group of girls and guys standing outside the door with shocked expressions. "Excuse meh." Wading through the group he got to the door and opened it. Inside was Asher with a group of guys. They had filled their buckets with water from the pool, put oils in their buckets and were happily bathing near one of the floor drains.
The men turned around and saw Illya standing there with his pants on, no shirt, and curly hair dripping water down his face, back and chest. Illya took a deep breath and he shook his head. "Dis es nut like bat house." Pointing to the locker room he sighed, "I see yah in dere after yah finish." There wasn't any reason to cut them short. They were almost done anyway. As soon as the men were done bathing Illya met them in the locker room and then waited till they were dressed to tell them to go to the main room for roll call.
Now all he had to do was go find the closet he left his shirt and towel in. Since they were going to be primarily practicing tactical work today Illya and his men would wear their fatigues. Skycorp, or not they would wear their own gear for situations where they would be fighting. The Elite wore what they did for good reason. By the time Illya found the closet where he left his stuff he felt slightly irritated. The panic wore off, but he didn't like what happened. Additionally, his back hurt after getting tackled a few times yesterday, his knee was still sore and swollen and he'd tweaked it again falling in the shower room and made his back even more sore. He was one of the last to make it to the room for roll call and he stepped into his place. He was sure Swyft would have a few thing to say about the morning's events before announcing the teams and dismissing them for breakfast.
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Markus waited for most of the people to pair up before he wandered over to where Swyft stood. Staring at the man he worked his jaw a little and then picked at one of the many jab marks from the zipper tab. "Yah meh partner den eh?" Glancing at the man's shoulder he smirked. "Let's hope dat doesn' slow yah down much."
To Swyft's surprise, he didn't have to find Markus like he thought he would have to. Markus wandered over to him and he didn't look overly thrilled. There was a flash of annoyance over his face as he worked his jaw slightly before the expression was over written by a smirk. "Aye," Swyft nodded. The comment about the shoulder was one of those double edged comments people could sometimes use to sound playful or...which he thought might be the case....to push buttons in order to see which sore point flared. "It'll only slow me down as much as those zipper holes will slow you. I imagine that wont be much."
At first it was a little irritating that the man knew what happened and then Markus decided to roll with it. "We'll see ef yah can keep up." Pointing to the deepest zipper hole on his cheek he got an almost proud sort of smile. "I trained meh boy tah tink like dat. Never en all meh years have I seen man better at dis work. He was always meh best soldier when I was General. Dese jes remind meh what kind of man I make him tah be."
Swyft was not the kind of man to voice his personal thoughts at work and that had probably saved him alot of trouble over the years. He was pretty sure that skill was going to come in handy partnering with Markus who seemed quite proud his son had viciously beaten him with the zipper. Not only that but it sounded as if he was the former general. What sort of response could he give something like that? Swyft tilted his head in a non committal sort of gesture and opted for a question instead. "I didn't know that the General position was passed along family lines," Swyft said, "He trained by you to be a soldier?"
It seemed that this man was just as ignorant as the others. "Et doesn' have tah be passed trough family lines. Dis line of Dark Chippequoti Generals pass trough family because each General had son tah raise and train so dat none would oppose him when his time came tah take dah place of General." As for the second part Markus wasn't sure why Swyft seemed so intent on ensuring that Illya was trained by him. "Yes, I train meh son tah be General. I give him all necessary training."
He found it interesting. It sounded like the position was passed through familial lines and they had elected to do so. Nodding, he acknowledged the reply and offered that they walk toward the cafeteria while they spoke. "He has a great amount of determination and discipline and I could see that through his time as a cadet here," Swyft replied. He thought to turn the conversation away from Illya however. He didn't want to be discussing the man as if he were a child. "If you were the General before your son took the position, what do you do now for work?" It was an innocuous enough questions that might give him a little insight.
The man's conversation turned in a somewhat natural direction and Markus sighed. "I dun have place anymore. Once General yah stay dat way till yah die. Et was tought dat I was dead and so Illya es General. Meh place es gone." Glancing at the area around them he sighed. "Et es well enough. I find place for mehself."
That hadn't been the way he understood Markus' situation to be. The man had supposedly died on Uria over 8 years ago but then suddenly reemerged about a year ago with not a single report where he had been or why he had never made contact. It was one of the reason the man had trouble with security clearance to Skycorp. He was supposed to be dead and had left alot of questions in his wake. Questions he was clearly glad to gloss over with 'I don't have a place anymore'. It also didn't answer his question about what he had been doing since his return. "They thought you were dead and you decided to come to Skycorp rather than picking up a trade? Alot of military men come to Skycorp for the same reason. Civilian life is different."
Swyft seemed to be rather curious about quite a few things and Markus was not accustomed to being asked so many questions and much less have an outsider consider themselves his equal. "Skycorp es trade. Dat es why yah here eh?" That was one way that Markus was sure he could get around his 'partners' pervasive little questions.
Swyft noted that Markus avoided his inquiry again. He was sharp and Swyft could appreciate that, though he didnt like the idea that Markus seemed to be fine leading him around a primrose path. "Aye, it is a trade. It's work but the good work. We have paired with our militaries in the past but the main goal is exploration. I'm here both to protect my home and follow that idea of exploration." He looked pointedly at Markus as they turned the corner. "And you are here to find your place among your people again. It could be a good start to finding your place in the Alliance as well."
"Yah happen tah be good at assumptions. I jes say dat I will find meh place and yah assume dat means among meh people." Markus held Swyft's gaze without a hint of shame. "Ets better tah be careful at listening den quick tah apply what yah tink yah know."
"Agreed," Swyft said amiably, "You are wise in saying so, Markus." He could see the man determined to turn the conversation from himself to a slight on himself as if Swyft had been slightly rude. He also, clearly didnt want to admit any sort of thoughts on the Alliance. "It's always good to listen and perhaps hold back on assuming." Swyft held the man's gaze, though he had to look up to do it and gave him a small smile, flicking up the corners of his lips slightly. He could tell there would be little said between them and only a fraction of what was said might be honest while the other half was a diversion. "I hope you don't make too many assumptions either and that we can work together." That was a truthful sentiment and he motioned toward the cafeteria door. "Breakfast?"
Markus figured the man was like many of his other kind. They seemed to see themselves as the bastions of justice. "Yah dun need tah be getting too worked up. I already have meh assumptions and yah find what dey are soon enough." Markus kept a straight face as he stared at the twisted little grin. The offer for breakfast was hardly appealing, but he figured he could throw his own little joke in. "I wonder ef dey will be serving dah shet bread. I've heard bout dah tings yah people eat." At that comment there were several Chip men nearby that started to laugh and it quickly turned into a wave with the occasional snort.
"Oh I'm sure it will be a learning experience for us both," Swyft said earnestly. If he was honest, he wasn't sure what to make of Markus, but the man deserved as much of a chance as any to volunteer. At least they seemed to be on the terms of knowing they could see and call each other's crap and that was as much as they could probably hope for right now. Swyft raised a brow at the mention of the infamous 'shet bread' and laugh. "Heard about that, eh? You'll be in luck today. It's Terran Food Tuesday. There will be plenty of bread with shit in it."
This time the troop of Chip men were far quieter as they entered the cafeteria except for the coughing. Illya stood in the back to make sure he could spot any misbehavior before it got too far. It was all fine till the first man got shit bread. Bahn stared at the bread for a long moment before he picked it up with the tips of his fingers and moved it to the edge of his tray. They had all thought Illya joked about the shit bread, but this was actually shit bread. One by one the men after Bahn refused the bread and stared at their foreign flight school partners with disgust. How these others could eat the stuff they didn't know. Illya still didn't like the little raisins and he refused the bread too. Bahn walked over to the nearest garbage can and tossed his slice of bread in it.
The Chips knew they were too heavy for the tables this time and they all went to sit in the corner where Illya's table used to be. All 50 of them squished in together and some stood, others squatted and the rest sat on the floor. They had abandoned their partners and sat together. Markus was the only one that stayed with his partner and he grinned. He could practically see Swyft's brain gears turning. Clearly the man didn't know how to get the men to do what he intended. Smaller spaces would only make them isolate a bit more. Giving them more space would not make them mingle, but others would be given the chance and that was what they'd have to do.
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Ehud got up early on his day off to go with Priscilla. He'd give a sample if she wanted him there. Perhaps she'd prefer having something from him. He didn't know if she would think it was strange to have a transplant from someone she wasn't married to. Grabbing his pad Ehud decided to check on a few things for the business before they got the testing done. He liked to think that they would feel great, but he knew better. The test would leave them both tender feeling for a few days. While he was busily checking his pad he heard a strange muffled sort of cry.
At first he only glanced toward her and then turned back to his pad. However, it struck him that she was showing clear distress and crying. Setting the pad down he put it back in his bag and slipped out of his bed. "What do you mean? Of course I talk to you. We've done a lot of planning for your business and we've talked about this procedure."
After the boxers were gone it was much more comfortable and Illya turned onto his left side to get a little rest. He knew he wouldn't sleep that great with the cough. As the blankets maintained some of the heat it began to slowly get hotter under the blankets and it was comfortable, but it also brought the cough out a little more. It was warming to his chest and he felt the crackling start deep down before he let out a loud, phlegmy sounding cough, but there wasn't anything in it to spit out. About time he was starting to drift off one of his men started into coughing fit and Ehvan rolled over to pass the community phlegm bucket to Bahn. Ehvan was near the center and he volunteered to keep the bucket for starts. Bahn coughed several more times and then hacked out a few more bits of infection before passing the bucket to Saar. Saar had started coughing too. When the rounds were done Illya took the bucket for a round and then passed it back to Ehvan and they all tried to get more sleep.
Finally, it was quiet except for the coughing fit from the Chips on the other side of the room. The heat was soothing for the sore muscles and Illya eventually lapsed into a deep sleep that was suddenly interrupted with a shocking cold wave that started between his shoulder blades and then snuck over his leg. "Ooohooo dat's cold." He could hear Kalizda shushing him and he settled in again, but it took a few moments to get over the rude chilling effect that had run through his body.
Since it was only Kalizda he grunted a sort of response that didn't really come out as anything and settled back in to go to sleep. It was fine till her cold fingers wrapped around to his chest and he huffed a bit. How was it he could warm her bed up and she'd still have freezing fingers and toes? Putting one of his large hands over both her little hands he waited for her fingers to warm so that he could get comfortable again. At last he felt somewhat comfortable and fell asleep only to wake with a coughing fit later and accept the bucket from Ehvan. Later it was Ehvan that woke with the cough and then Bahn and the guy above him. By morning none of them felt like getting up, but Ehvan was the first to pop up. He liked mornings better than the rest.
Walking over to Illya's bunk he saw that Kalizda must already be up and that was fine. "Rise and shine!" Yelling it good and loud in Quoti he jerked the covers back on Bahn's bed and then walked over to Illya's bunk and did the same. Illya peeled his eyes open to see Ehvan hadn't even bothered to put on boxers yet. At first he was going to throw an insult at the man, but he heard a squeak from behind himself and Ehvan's eyes got wide. Kalizda was actually there. With a hasty and rough pull Ehvan threw the covers back over Illya's head and stalked back to his bunk to get dressed.
After that display of Chip morning glory Illya couldn't help laughing. Ehvan might have shocked Kalizda, but he was probably more embarrassed than Kalizda if that was possible. The laughing went through the room and all the men gave good loud calls to Ehvan. "Rise and shine!" With the yelling Ehvan shook his head and collected what he needed to go get washed. "Illya where we wash?" In the middle of a laughing and coughing fit Illya peeled his blankets back far enough to retrieve his boxers and then he got out of the bed and slipped the boxers on. "I'll show you." The men all mumbled in Quoti and began gathering their buckets, but Illya shook his head and explained that the bathing process was different here. With a huff a few of them gathered their oils and washcloths along with towels and then headed toward the showers with Illya.
Already there was a long line and they waited for several minutes before Illya and Bahn got their spots. Ehvan watched with some irritation as there were already several men waiting. "C'mon." Beckoning to a few of the other guys he led them down the hall till he heard more showers and then he stepped into that room. It didn't matter that there were some women exiting the stalls they were simply dressed in towels and they were somewhat private little shower stalls.
Asher had seen the women's sign and he knew the men's shower room was more than busy so he collected a few other guys and headed out to find another men's shower room, but he took the moment to stop at the men's shower room. "Illya, Ehvan es en dah girl bat room." At that Illya about knocked his shower stall over in his haste to finish washing. He couldn't imagine what the heck got into Ehvan's head. The man was probably impatient feeling. Slathering a little more than usual of his cedar oil on his chest he finished rinsing with his oils and then wrapped himself in his towel, held it bunched in the front and grabbed his bundle of clothes. There was a horrible clunking sound of his prosthetic foot when it hit the floor in contrast to the heavy wet slap of Illya's other foot.
However, there was one thing that Illya didn't think of and it was the fact that a little water was on the floor. His prosthetic foot hit a small puddle and he began slipping. With his prosthetic leg going one direction his other leg went the other and he opted to drop his clothes and towel in favor of preventing himself from doing the splits. Instead of making a smooth sort of save he ended up starting to fall backward, threw his clothes toward some unsuspecting guy waiting to shower and fell back. Putting his arms out Illya rolled his back and caught himself primarily absorbing the impact with his arms, but his towel was no longer on him. One of the Chip men saw the fall and grabbed Illya's things off the floor and held onto them until Illya got himself up off the floor and put his towel back on. "Tanks." Illya grunted the word as he bunched the towel in the front again and was a little more careful of puddles on the floor. Taking his stuff from the Elite he nodded and then raced out the door to find out why Ehvan though going to the girls shower room was a good idea.
By the time Illya got to the girl's shower room he heard screeches. It was too late. However, there was a disturbing discovery, this was not all his men accounted for. That meant there were more somewhere else. "No, no." Illya decided to step into a small utility closet to get dressed. Soon as he slipped into his pants he started push his feet into his boots. He was just about dressed, but he heard the one thing he didn't ever want to consider happening here. A girl yelled in the hallway. "There's a bunch of naked guys in the pool room."
This morning was already turning into mayhem. Illya burst out of the closet only half dressed and his pants fell to the floor, but he quickly pulled them back up and began zipping them as he jogged past the lady in hall. "Shet." He knew that's where they had to be. Those had to be his men. There were a few more screeches and they were near the pool room. He knew the morning swimmers were not amused. As Illya turned the corner to the pool room he could see a group of girls and guys standing outside the door with shocked expressions. "Excuse meh." Wading through the group he got to the door and opened it. Inside was Asher with a group of guys. They had filled their buckets with water from the pool, put oils in their buckets and were happily bathing near one of the floor drains.
The men turned around and saw Illya standing there with his pants on, no shirt, and curly hair dripping water down his face, back and chest. Illya took a deep breath and he shook his head. "Dis es nut like bat house." Pointing to the locker room he sighed, "I see yah in dere after yah finish." There wasn't any reason to cut them short. They were almost done anyway. As soon as the men were done bathing Illya met them in the locker room and then waited till they were dressed to tell them to go to the main room for roll call.
Now all he had to do was go find the closet he left his shirt and towel in. Since they were going to be primarily practicing tactical work today Illya and his men would wear their fatigues. Skycorp, or not they would wear their own gear for situations where they would be fighting. The Elite wore what they did for good reason. By the time Illya found the closet where he left his stuff he felt slightly irritated. The panic wore off, but he didn't like what happened. Additionally, his back hurt after getting tackled a few times yesterday, his knee was still sore and swollen and he'd tweaked it again falling in the shower room and made his back even more sore. He was one of the last to make it to the room for roll call and he stepped into his place. He was sure Swyft would have a few thing to say about the morning's events before announcing the teams and dismissing them for breakfast.
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Markus waited for most of the people to pair up before he wandered over to where Swyft stood. Staring at the man he worked his jaw a little and then picked at one of the many jab marks from the zipper tab. "Yah meh partner den eh?" Glancing at the man's shoulder he smirked. "Let's hope dat doesn' slow yah down much."
To Swyft's surprise, he didn't have to find Markus like he thought he would have to. Markus wandered over to him and he didn't look overly thrilled. There was a flash of annoyance over his face as he worked his jaw slightly before the expression was over written by a smirk. "Aye," Swyft nodded. The comment about the shoulder was one of those double edged comments people could sometimes use to sound playful or...which he thought might be the case....to push buttons in order to see which sore point flared. "It'll only slow me down as much as those zipper holes will slow you. I imagine that wont be much."
At first it was a little irritating that the man knew what happened and then Markus decided to roll with it. "We'll see ef yah can keep up." Pointing to the deepest zipper hole on his cheek he got an almost proud sort of smile. "I trained meh boy tah tink like dat. Never en all meh years have I seen man better at dis work. He was always meh best soldier when I was General. Dese jes remind meh what kind of man I make him tah be."
Swyft was not the kind of man to voice his personal thoughts at work and that had probably saved him alot of trouble over the years. He was pretty sure that skill was going to come in handy partnering with Markus who seemed quite proud his son had viciously beaten him with the zipper. Not only that but it sounded as if he was the former general. What sort of response could he give something like that? Swyft tilted his head in a non committal sort of gesture and opted for a question instead. "I didn't know that the General position was passed along family lines," Swyft said, "He trained by you to be a soldier?"
It seemed that this man was just as ignorant as the others. "Et doesn' have tah be passed trough family lines. Dis line of Dark Chippequoti Generals pass trough family because each General had son tah raise and train so dat none would oppose him when his time came tah take dah place of General." As for the second part Markus wasn't sure why Swyft seemed so intent on ensuring that Illya was trained by him. "Yes, I train meh son tah be General. I give him all necessary training."
He found it interesting. It sounded like the position was passed through familial lines and they had elected to do so. Nodding, he acknowledged the reply and offered that they walk toward the cafeteria while they spoke. "He has a great amount of determination and discipline and I could see that through his time as a cadet here," Swyft replied. He thought to turn the conversation away from Illya however. He didn't want to be discussing the man as if he were a child. "If you were the General before your son took the position, what do you do now for work?" It was an innocuous enough questions that might give him a little insight.
The man's conversation turned in a somewhat natural direction and Markus sighed. "I dun have place anymore. Once General yah stay dat way till yah die. Et was tought dat I was dead and so Illya es General. Meh place es gone." Glancing at the area around them he sighed. "Et es well enough. I find place for mehself."
That hadn't been the way he understood Markus' situation to be. The man had supposedly died on Uria over 8 years ago but then suddenly reemerged about a year ago with not a single report where he had been or why he had never made contact. It was one of the reason the man had trouble with security clearance to Skycorp. He was supposed to be dead and had left alot of questions in his wake. Questions he was clearly glad to gloss over with 'I don't have a place anymore'. It also didn't answer his question about what he had been doing since his return. "They thought you were dead and you decided to come to Skycorp rather than picking up a trade? Alot of military men come to Skycorp for the same reason. Civilian life is different."
Swyft seemed to be rather curious about quite a few things and Markus was not accustomed to being asked so many questions and much less have an outsider consider themselves his equal. "Skycorp es trade. Dat es why yah here eh?" That was one way that Markus was sure he could get around his 'partners' pervasive little questions.
Swyft noted that Markus avoided his inquiry again. He was sharp and Swyft could appreciate that, though he didnt like the idea that Markus seemed to be fine leading him around a primrose path. "Aye, it is a trade. It's work but the good work. We have paired with our militaries in the past but the main goal is exploration. I'm here both to protect my home and follow that idea of exploration." He looked pointedly at Markus as they turned the corner. "And you are here to find your place among your people again. It could be a good start to finding your place in the Alliance as well."
"Yah happen tah be good at assumptions. I jes say dat I will find meh place and yah assume dat means among meh people." Markus held Swyft's gaze without a hint of shame. "Ets better tah be careful at listening den quick tah apply what yah tink yah know."
"Agreed," Swyft said amiably, "You are wise in saying so, Markus." He could see the man determined to turn the conversation from himself to a slight on himself as if Swyft had been slightly rude. He also, clearly didnt want to admit any sort of thoughts on the Alliance. "It's always good to listen and perhaps hold back on assuming." Swyft held the man's gaze, though he had to look up to do it and gave him a small smile, flicking up the corners of his lips slightly. He could tell there would be little said between them and only a fraction of what was said might be honest while the other half was a diversion. "I hope you don't make too many assumptions either and that we can work together." That was a truthful sentiment and he motioned toward the cafeteria door. "Breakfast?"
Markus figured the man was like many of his other kind. They seemed to see themselves as the bastions of justice. "Yah dun need tah be getting too worked up. I already have meh assumptions and yah find what dey are soon enough." Markus kept a straight face as he stared at the twisted little grin. The offer for breakfast was hardly appealing, but he figured he could throw his own little joke in. "I wonder ef dey will be serving dah shet bread. I've heard bout dah tings yah people eat." At that comment there were several Chip men nearby that started to laugh and it quickly turned into a wave with the occasional snort.
"Oh I'm sure it will be a learning experience for us both," Swyft said earnestly. If he was honest, he wasn't sure what to make of Markus, but the man deserved as much of a chance as any to volunteer. At least they seemed to be on the terms of knowing they could see and call each other's crap and that was as much as they could probably hope for right now. Swyft raised a brow at the mention of the infamous 'shet bread' and laugh. "Heard about that, eh? You'll be in luck today. It's Terran Food Tuesday. There will be plenty of bread with shit in it."
This time the troop of Chip men were far quieter as they entered the cafeteria except for the coughing. Illya stood in the back to make sure he could spot any misbehavior before it got too far. It was all fine till the first man got shit bread. Bahn stared at the bread for a long moment before he picked it up with the tips of his fingers and moved it to the edge of his tray. They had all thought Illya joked about the shit bread, but this was actually shit bread. One by one the men after Bahn refused the bread and stared at their foreign flight school partners with disgust. How these others could eat the stuff they didn't know. Illya still didn't like the little raisins and he refused the bread too. Bahn walked over to the nearest garbage can and tossed his slice of bread in it.
The Chips knew they were too heavy for the tables this time and they all went to sit in the corner where Illya's table used to be. All 50 of them squished in together and some stood, others squatted and the rest sat on the floor. They had abandoned their partners and sat together. Markus was the only one that stayed with his partner and he grinned. He could practically see Swyft's brain gears turning. Clearly the man didn't know how to get the men to do what he intended. Smaller spaces would only make them isolate a bit more. Giving them more space would not make them mingle, but others would be given the chance and that was what they'd have to do.
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Ehud got up early on his day off to go with Priscilla. He'd give a sample if she wanted him there. Perhaps she'd prefer having something from him. He didn't know if she would think it was strange to have a transplant from someone she wasn't married to. Grabbing his pad Ehud decided to check on a few things for the business before they got the testing done. He liked to think that they would feel great, but he knew better. The test would leave them both tender feeling for a few days. While he was busily checking his pad he heard a strange muffled sort of cry.
At first he only glanced toward her and then turned back to his pad. However, it struck him that she was showing clear distress and crying. Setting the pad down he put it back in his bag and slipped out of his bed. "What do you mean? Of course I talk to you. We've done a lot of planning for your business and we've talked about this procedure."
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