stargazing

"I am up for good soup," Lix said with a firm nod. She wasn't sure what soup the ship had, but it must be pretty good if Arys was talking it up. It was also a relief to hear that the food was "all right," because their cook wasn't the best on the Israx. When would she stop comparing the two ships? Someday, but not today. In the meantime, "Lead the way."

"Leading the way? Not one of my finest of skills, but you can follow me to the good soup. There's got to be some good leftovers," Arys said, starting to walk in the right direction. This was easier than she had thought it would be. "If there isn't any, we'll have to resort to a can, which isn't a bad option. Just not as good as crew-cooked. Let's bounce."

Of course she made a fair point. What else would Arys do? Make an unfair point?

"I am up for good soup," Lix said with a firm nod. She wasn't sure what soup the ship had, but it must be pretty good if Arys was talking it up. It was also a relief to hear that the food was "all right," because their cook wasn't the best on the Israx. When would she stop comparing the two ships? Someday, but not today. In the meantime, "Lead the way."

"...I am going to be completely honest. I have absolutely no idea what you mean because I feel like the opposite is true about utensils if I had to assign abrasiveness. Forks stab the roof of your mouth if you're not careful. Not that I've ever done that before," Arys said, completely lying about not accidentally jabbing the roof of her mouth before. "Are you sure you aren't eating bad soup?"

Lix let out a surprised laugh when Arys countered her point, not expecting this to become a big debate. "You make a fair point," she said, though she also never stabbed the roof of her mouth with fork prongs. "Honestly? I'm not sure." She didn't think the type of soup she was eating had anything to do with her feelings about spoons, but maybe she needed to try better soup. "I don't think the soup back home was that good, and I don't eat it that often." The food that Lix stole as a child was usually lackluster rations, so the soup was as basic as it could get.

Damn, Arys thought she was the only one who liked to ask unhinged questions on purpose. At least... hopefully these were on purpose. "Spoon is infinitely more versatile. On average, I'll be physically able to eat more meals with a spoon than a fork. How much soup in this universe do you think there is to conquer? A lot. What say you?"

Lix nodded along seriously as Arys answered her question. Admittedly, she only asked it because it seemed like the type of question she liked, and it looked like she was right. Arys had a good point about the soup. It wasn't one of Lix's favorite foods, since it was so hot, so she didn't need to use a spoon that often. "Spoons feel so...abrasive in my mouth," she explained before realizing how weird that sounded. "Like I just feel like forks fit better, you know what I mean?"

Arys said she had to ask questions to find out the answers and yet she seemed to be happy to offer her information for free. She wasn't planning on asking her how she felt about carpet, but that was good to know...maybe. "Okay then...spoon or forks?" Lix asked, choosing the first thing that came to her mind. Arys seemed like the type of person who had strong opinions about menial things.

"Yeah, okay, good in the long run. That sounds about right," Arys said, a little disappointed in not getting all of the sweet deets. She made a mental note to never say 'sweet deets' aloud because she hated how that sounded and it was embarrassing. Sometimes Arys could feel shame. "If you don't want to talk about this, we can change the subject. It's feeling a bit awkward, and I only like the fun kind of awkward."

Lix let out a relieved breath when Arys excused her from talking about her old crew. It did feel pretty awkward and that wasn't so fun on her first day. "Changing the subject is good," she confirmed with a nod. "Is there uh...anything you want to tell me about you? I feel like we've been talking a lot about me." She wasn't that great at small talk, since she was with the same crew for so long. There was no need for it when she knew all of them since she was a kid.

"Well, yes. Eccentric. Me included. That's a given. I think if we did anything in a normal fashion, then the universe might blow up," Arys said, semi-seriously. Because that wasn't going to happen. Non-eccentricity. Ha. Who would try something like that?Wasn't super clear. "How do you feel about eccentric?"

Lix had never been to therapy, but this was beginning to feel like a therapy session, all these questions about how she felt. She didn't really know how she felt yet, but overwhelmed was probably appropriate. It was weird to go from one crew to another, especially when she was with the first one for so long and they were so different. Instead of admitting all of that, she shrugged. "I don't mind it, it'll just be different. An adjustment. It's probably a good thing in the long run, I guess."

"He doesn't stab much, but it might be because we all try to be careful about Kyle. And his ugly overcompensating sword. There's something not right about that guy, and Daphne doesn't like when I ask too many questions about him," Arys said with a frustrated sigh. "How do we stack up on your first impression? I like to know how we appear."

"Doesn't stab much" wasn't reassuring, but it sounded like Lix just needed to be careful around this Kyle. She was surprised the captain let someone like that on her crew, but maybe he had his uses when he wasn't attempting to stab the others. She hummed and pursed her lips together when Arys asked about her first impression, contemplating. "Eccentric," she answered. "Robin said you would be, and I think that was the perfect descriptor."

"Crew's a bit softer than most. Just about any crew will be eccentric, so that's not unusual, but Daphne seems to attract more oddballs that aren't typically intended for ship life but make it work anyway. Fitting in mostly amounts to talking to people and avoiding getting stabbed by Kyle. Oh, and make friends with Greg. Total sweetheart. We adore him," Arys said, not joking this time in her explanation. It would be cruel to give bad advice in this regard. She was an asshole, but not depraved. "You comfortable talking more about your old crew with people? Folks likely will have unexpected questions."

So far, Lix had asked everyone she met so far about their impression of the crew and she was mostly getting the same answer. "Soft" was a new description, but she definitely heard "eccentric" before. Her old crew was eccentric in a way - just a little violent as well. Then, Arys mentioned stabbing, so maybe the Prosperity had a violent side. "Stabbed?" she asked, glossing over the Greg part completely. "Kyle stabs people?" When Arys asked if she was comfortable talking about her old crew, she shrugged. She didn't mind it really, since she spent almost her whole life with them, but she still didn't know how to talk about the mutiny. "I don't mind answering questions."

"I feel like I could write a pretty mediocre biography on you, Lixissorlix. You're branching out into new territory and are about to uncover more about who you are. You sweat snowflakes," Arys said with mock seriousness. With actual seriousness, she asked, "Do you need any help with adjusting to a different ship, though? If it's been a while without changing workplaces."

Lix listened to Arys's "mediocre biography" on her. There was a lot missing from it, like the part where she escaped a war, but that was why it was "mediocre." "That pretty much sums it up," she murmured, preferring Arys's version than the real one. "I guess if you could tell me what to expect, that would be nice. I've only been with one crew before."

"And Ali is your...partner?" Lix asked to clarify. If they shared a dog daughter together, then they were probably together, right? Ali also sounded like a pretty gender neutral name, so it could go either way. "Walking and playing fetch, got it. I guess I'll have to keep that in mind for all the ship pets."

"Sure do. How would I not have a pet if everyone has one? My pet's not invisible though. Or blue," Skylar supplied, unhelpful as ever. He did feel like giving at least something to work with for the moment though, so he kept going. "You seen a more sandy-brownish gold dog around? About this high?" He leaned on one foot and off to the side until his hand reached down to Ellie's height.

Lix eyed Sky's hand and tried to remember the other animals she saw on the ship. She did remember walking past a very small dog with a fluffy butt when she first came on the ship. "Was their tail more stubby?" she asked. "I think I might've seen that one around. They're yours?"