starry eyed

sanrio asks ( ˘͈ ᵕ ˘͈ ~) ₊˚⊹

@marshallmaevik

"Neither," Ryder replied easily. They hated crying and they hated seeing the people they cared about cry--which would probably also make them cry, because it really was that easy. He fell silent as he watched Marshall lay out three cards in front of him and flip the first one. He didn't know the meaning of any of them, but swords didn't seem like a good thing. Nothing could prepare Ryder for how startingly accurate Marshall's interpretation of the card was. She might as well have told him Alisz controlled every aspect of his life growing up, and Ryder was too weak to do anything but fail to meet all her expectations.

Marshall had more or less given them the moment to collect their thoughts, as they seemed quite shocked at their cards. It wasn't often they spurred a reaction like that, so she assumed that meant they hit their mark a little too well. Nodding and moving on, she pointed to the last card: the Knight of Swords.

If Samira did actually have reservations, they would've dissipated immediately after seeing the look on Marshall's face when she agreed to go. Samira had almost forgotten how it felt making someone else happy. It was nice. She smiled softly. "We definitely don't struggle when it comes to having fun together," Samira remarked, reaching up to tuck strands of hair behind Marshall's ear. "If your family is even remotely like you, then it won't be an issue enjoying their company. I look forward to it. And I look forward to meeting your dads and siblings one day, as well." Samira figured she may as well establish that the inevitable "meeting the family" event would be fine, too.

“No.  Definitely not,” Marshall agreed warmly, feeling Samira tuck her hair behind her ear.  The way she was watching the djayyar, as far as she was concerned, there was no one else at the market now aside from them.  “Then I’m excited for you to meet them,” she answered, happy for the assurance that she would still want to meet the more important family.  Though she could've figured this now.   “Hm.  How would you like me to introduce you to them as?  I can say ‘friend,’ but they’ll probably know that we’re not just friends when I kiss you and hold your hand,”  yeah the jig would be up at that point.  “I’m happy to call you my partner, companion, uh, girlfriend?”  

Marshall didn't seem the type to purposely stir up drama, and now hearing she was an older sister made the math add up there. "Ah, well, maybe your sister should be invited to this family outing then. Just as a social experiment. How many siblings do you have?" She wondered if Marshall was the oldest. She gave "eldest" energy, anyway. "I'd hope you were at least adventurous if you're here." Otherwise, why would she be here? "That's a healthy balance, I guess. Although, trying new food is always fun. Even if you end up eating the most unpleasant things your taste buds have ever touched," she chuckled. She gave a small nod at Marshall's thanks. She wasn't really busy after this, and she was the mood to drink, so she may as well take Marshall up on the offer now. "Sure. I'm gonna guess you didn't have a favorite bar when you lived here." That was a joke, since, well, Marshall was a kid when she lived here.

Marshall imagined bringing her youngest sister here to spend time with their extended family along with her and Samira, and compared with the times in the past she’d become bored and try and leave, or else need Marshall to keep an eye on her, she could be relieved that she only had herself to be on her best behavior. “Three,” she answered Beck, “Two little sisters and a little brother. I think I’m okay not inviting Rick this time around…but I do wonder sometimes how she would get along with everyone on the ship if you all ever met. It would probably be chaotic,” she concluded. “Is Jude your only brother? It’s Jude, right?” She caught his name more than once through group chats, but she wasn’t incredibly great at remembering passing names. Marshall nodded at Beck’s addition at trying new food. That hadn’t quite happened yet, but that didn’t mean it wouldn’t happen eventually. “No, I didn’t have a favorite bar, unfortunately. Too many to choose from,” she cracked a smile. “I don’t mind walking down the street and seeing if we find a good one. Shall we?”

Ryder nodded along at the disclaimer Marshall provided. He didn't mind if Marshall was rusty, and while she reassured him that his future wasn't set in stone, he would probably still take the reading too seriously. Overthinking and panicking over nothing was his specialty after all. "It's okay. I'm sure you'll do great," Ryder said brightly as he watched her shuffle the cards. When she asked him to talk about himself, he blushed, suddenly feeling very shy about opening up to Marshall...and tarot cards. "Okay. Uhm..." Ryder began by busying himself with cutting the cards. "I like painting, sweets, uhm--Daniel, dancing, musicals, animals, and my favorite colors are pastel colors," he listed before stopping himself. That was probably enough. "I don't like hard foods, mean people, blood, popping balloons, gun shots or crying."

“Hm,” Marshall attuned herself to Ryder’s words, nodding along.  The last bit she didn’t necessarily have to clarify for the purposes of this, but she was curious anyway:  “You mean you don’t like crying, or you don’t like seeing other people cry?  In any event, I greatly respect your dislikes…your likes too, come to think of it.  I think I’m more of a jewel-toned girl, myself.”  She gently tapped Ryder’s hand and took the deck from him, arranging and proceeding to lay out three cards in front of him.  Then, Marshall carefully flipped over each of them, taking a long look at the cards to let them sink in.  “Oh,” she blinked.  “Two different swords.  Interesting.  Interesting in neither a good or bad way.”  Her warm violet eyes flickered up briefly to them, then back to the cards.

Marshall's comment was fair - now that Marshall wasn't a child, but rather a very pretty adult, it was hard to expect unofficial free samples as pure altruism. Samira was familiar with that type of cynicism. She intertwined her fingers with Marshall and began walking to check out the other stalls they hadn't yet looked at. She nodded along as Marshall spoke about her extended family who lived here. It was nice that Marshall wanted to see them. However, it was Marshall's question about how she felt about also meeting them that gave her pause. Did it feel too soon? This was Samira's first time "taking it slow" with someone. And Marshall seemed to be on the same page about that. But they were also friends before this, so it wasn't like Marshall was a complete stranger to her. "Of course," she decided, not feeling particularly pressured about doing so. "I'd love to meet your family. Learning about where you spent even a fraction of your childhood is important to me."

Marshall found herself beaming as Samira agreed, as if it wasn’t even a question.  She supposed she already knew that she’d agreed to meet her family at some point a while ago at that costume party, before they’d even established some sort of relationship, and these people she would be meeting were a tier lower than that family.  But it was best not to assume when that was months ago, and at a club.  She felt her heart skipping a beat as Samira further told her that learning about where she spent her childhood was important to her.  It was still strange to feel so elated over a relationship, but since it was Samira, it also somehow felt entirely natural.  “Then I’d love to show you my childhood.  And then tell you about the parts I can’t show.”  Was that weird?  To want Samira to know everything about her?  She decided it didn’t matter if it felt right, and it definitely did.  Marshall leaned over and gave her a kiss on her cheek.  “Thanks.  For…I don’t know.  But it’ll be fun, I think.”

Beck had definitely meant an internal detox. She wasn't into spirituality, or anything like that, but she needed something that felt like she was starting fresh. She figured a spa day would help with that. "Right. Internal detox," she nodded. She couldn't really tell if Marshall's comment about being on her best behavior was a joke, but she chuckled anyway. "Yeah best not to start any drama. Drama's usually reserved for the family you do know," she joked. Maybe not in her case, but she was aware of families more stable than her own. "Although, since they are extended you could probably get away with causing drama." Marshall didn't seem at all the type to stir drama, though. She walked through the door as Marshall held it for her, giving her a small nod of thanks. "I like going to new places more. Couldn't stand the idea of living in Rungung my entire life which is why I left when I could. The familiar can be nice sometimes but... less exciting. What about you?"

Marshall wasn’t entirely sure why Beck needed an internal detox, and it didn’t feel like her place to ask.  She very much doubted that was a topic she wanted to talk about, anyway.  “That would be interesting,” she wasn’t actually considering causing any sort of scene at her extended family, but it was true that they would be the family to do that.  “It would help that they’re very extended, as in, a whole planet away.  If I stirred up any drama, my dads could do nothing about it.  It’s a good backup plan if something goes wrong, they start it or something like that,” she laughed.  She hadn’t seen any of them in a long time, maybe they’d become a mess since the last time.  “As for close family, drama is more my baby sister’s style,” she provided as a fact.  After holding the door, Marshall moved in front, guiding them over to an area to set down the boxes, gesturing to the floor space to set them down.  Beck’s answer wasn’t very surprising.  She’d trained to be a pilot from a young age, after all.  And now they were on a ship that rarely made stops in Rungung, so if she truly wanted to be among very familiar locations all the time, then she’d be in the wrong line of work.  “Me…I used to really want to stay in familiar places, probably forever.  I don’t think I’m the opposite now, but I have learned to really appreciate new places, be more adventurous.  But I honestly do miss familiar food and not having to guess what something is going to taste like in new places.”  With the boxes set down, Marshall turned to Beck.  “Hey, thanks for the help.  Are you in the mood to go get those drinks now?  Or we can take a raincheck if you’d rather.”

"I'm not busy," Ryder assured her and shifted to get more comfortable, hugging their knees to their chest. They quietly debated between asking a question or getting a general reading. Ryder didn't really have any questions, or, he had too many to narrow them down. Probably better to just do a broad one. "Let's do past-present-future," he decided. He couldn't help but be a little nervous. What if his future looked terrible? He never had high hopes for it to begin with, but it started to look better to him lately. He'd hate to be proven wrong.

“Great,” Marshall set her cards in front of them and clapped once, excited.  It had been a while since she did a reading for another person--probably back when she lived in Rungung.  Then it had also been even longer since she did one for a person she actually liked.  Ryder was very nice, and she didn’t want the cards to add something potentially stressful to think about.  Especially since they seemed somewhat nervous now.  “I’m admittedly a bit rusty reading for others, so you’ll have to bear with me.  And as a more important disclaimer: obviously the future is what you make of it, so whatever I tell you isn’t something set in stone.  The tarot might help to gain some insight, is all.”  She shifted to a more comfortable sitting position and shuffled the cards on the floor in front of them.  “Why don’t you tell me a little bit about yourself?  Things like, favorites, likes, dislikes.  So that the cards and I become a little more familiar with you.  And you can also cut the deck, if you’d like.”  Marshall scooted the stack a little closer to them. 

Samira decided to give the fmoople juice a try. "Mm. This one is much better than the other one." No weird aftertaste. Still, she wasn't a juice person so she didn't feel incline to actually buy any. She handed Marshall back the cup and listened to her talk about what she remembered from the market. She smiled warmly, imagining a tiny Marshall - and her tinier sister - running around market. She always had a soft spot for children, even before she had children of her own. "How precious. I think you should still get to receive unofficial free samples, but what can you do," she joked. She looked at Marshall with a curious expression when Marshall told her she wanted to ask her something. "Of course," she gave the cue for Marshall to say whatever she needed to say.

“I think so too,” Marshall took the drink sample back from Samira and sipped the rest, then tossed the small cup in the booth trash can. She laughed about the free samples, reaching for her hand again. “Couldn’t agree more. Unofficial free samples that don’t also mean that someone wants something.” She was unfortunately too suspicious of people now. Then Samira was watching her expectantly, and she had no issue launching right into it. “Since my extended family lives not far from here, I decided I’m going to visit them at some point this week. I received a message from my dads from the last mail call with their contact information and some old photos from when we lived here--I also gave one of my aunts a call yesterday, and she and the rest of them seem excited to meet up. What I was wanting to know… was how you felt about potentially coming with me? I would completely understand if it’s too many people to meet, or just too soon in general for something like that,” she finished calmly. It was true that Marshall would understand, and she hoped that she wasn’t putting too much pressure on her. But she also felt it would be a good experience, only heightened by Samira being there. As all experiences were.

Beck gave a small nod. "Haven't been to this one yet. It was new the last time I was here for Sky and Ali's wedding but didn't have the time to check it out then." She paused, debating briefly if this could be a possible shared activity in the future. But were they really at that point of hanging out naked in a sauna together? Probably not. "Doesn't hurt to check it out when you have time. Spas are great for detoxing whatever shit's been going on in your life." She was speaking more for herself than for Marshall. She hadn't a clue what was going on in Marshall's life recently or if she even needed any kind of detox. "Ah." Yeah, there was no way she would've guessed that based on all the gushing Teddy used to do over Marshall. "So you're technically getting in touch with your roots again, being here. That's cool. Unless you're not down with family reunions. Then, not so cool." Families could be weird, she would know. "Yeah, back when I was on the Bat Ray. Not just Twarvu - Kor'Sel'Koo in general. I've been in the business for a while now so it's getting harder and harder to port at places I haven't already been to."

“Makes sense.  You were here for a wedding,” Marshall reasoned.  That meant Beck wouldn’t know from personal experience whether it was a nice spa or not, but that hardly mattered.  “True--well, as long as the shit you need detoxed is more internal than external.”  She hoped that if or when Beck went, that she would get some relief from the stress she had.  As for Marshall, she was doing pretty good.  There were a few great things going on in her life right now.  She probably wasn’t a good candidate for needing a detox--just taking the spa time to relax.  “Yeah, I guess I am,” she nodded at Beck’s words about getting in touch with her roots,  “My whole extended family is here, and they’re very nice people to be connected to, which makes the family reunion thing fine.  But I also don’t really know them since we lived on separate planets, so it’s always just small talk and being on my best behavior the whole time.”  Maybe that last part was less applicable as an adult.  Or maybe not.  Marshall knew next to nothing about Beck having prior experience with the Bat Ray--she also didn’t know a whole lot about the Bat Ray.  “Do you like coming back to familiar places?  Or would you only go to new places if you could?”  She carefully shifted the boxes to one arm and opened the door towards the engineering room, holding it open for Beck.