Chapter 9 & 10 Intermission 1: Shopping Spree

[CadetNewb]

Co-authored by: Ray of Meep (GM), Acewing13, ArsenicJohn, Ikate Keda Studios, PaladinGreco, Piston1937, TheCountryWarrior

2320, 2nd day after landfall on Earth
Syracuse outskirts, Grau Lancers HQ

The military base was incredibly old, but nonetheless functional. Built by American forces nearly two centuries ago on the island before they left, letting the now-GDW handle their own defense as they formed the American Union; the site was made of brick and concrete, a far cry from the radiation proof composite and metal plating of Daheim One, but somehow managed to survive the near environmental collapse and all the human chaos that came with it.

The building surrounded a common outdoors area from three sides, which itself was surrounded by the mountainous wildreness that the GDW governments sought to recultivate. It was clearly renovated recently, before the Lancers arrived the day before, with newly paved common exercise grounds and internal insulation. The plumbing system was checked out, and the whole facilitiy was hooked back onto the electrical grid. Given the small size of the Lancers, everyone was given their own room.

A wild rooster cried out in the distance before the datapad alarms went off, signaling a new dawn. Sol rose above the peaks, giving some small warmth to the cool morning.

Castle was up and running long before the rooster decided to cry bloody murder to the heavens. He had kept up his morning drills through all his deployments and he wouldn't stop just because his legs got sore. He was also making great use of the fact there were no cielings other than the blue sky above and giving his back some lessons in proper posture, which was almost as alien a subject as gravity on ship was. By all that is good in the world he was really enjoying the chance to just strech out without feeling like a collection of noodles in soup or being compressed down to half his size.

This happy mood didn't stop the want to go ring the roosters neck but lucky for the cock he had four more laps to go around the yard before he could go for breakfast. He hoped they had something that wasn't freezedried, canned, or vacumn sealed. He had had enough space food on the ship and he would hunt down the damn rooster and cook it if that's what it took to get some actualy food around here.

---- Meanwhile.... ----

Sera was also out running with Hannibal when the rooster started screaming. She had her hair up in a ponytail and wore a navy blue sports bra and matching shorts. What her body lacked in the chest she made up for with her perfectly toned body and shapely round butt. Her dog ran beside her, panting heavily by the end of the workout. She slowed to a stop when she finished her last lap, and walked back to the doors to the interior of the base. She opened the door and walked inside, holding it open for Hannibal, who wiped his paws on the rug like a gentleman before entering.

November 23, 2020

Chat:


Reestablishing connection...

"What is this shit?" Beatrix asked, rubbing bleary eyes as she looked at the packages in the kitchen. "I didn't come to Earth to eat fucking MREs, no matter if they're Italian or not."

They made a beeline for the kitchen and walked up behind Bee. “Beatrix. I take it you’re not a morning person?” Sera asked, getting a bowl for Hannibal and filling it with water. She set it on the ground and got herself a glass, adding crushed ice from the refrigerator. The dog lapped his water up happily.

She gulped down most of the glass and sighed. “There’s nothing in the fridge I’m afraid. If you’re that opposed to MREs, we should take a trip to get some groceries.” She suggested.

“Morning, ladies.” Derek said as he walked into the kitchen just after Sera made her suggestion about grocery shopping. He’d just finished his own workout, and had been drawn to the kitchen by Bee’s grumpy voice. He figured he'd see what was up before hitting the showers... “From the sound of it, there’s nothing good on the menu, huh?”

"Not unless you want something that was inedible the day it was packaged," Beatrix replied, sighing as she dropped the MRE into it's box. "And there's no coffee, not even instant." Looking over at Sera, she nodded and said, "Yeah, sounds like a plan. Preferably with a pastry of some kind to tide me over until something can be scrounged up." She walked over and sat down by Hannibal, holding out her hand so the dog could sniff it. "Do we have transportation? Didn't look too hard last night."

Derek thought back a moment. “Yeah, I saw a few jeeps and a couple of trucks in the motor pool while I was doing the drone conversions yesterday. If we’re doing a serious grocery run, we should take one of trucks….” Derek’s voice trailed off as he opened one of the completely

November 23, 2020

Chat:

Reestablishing connection... empty refrigerators, leaned in, saw it was empty, grimaced, and closed it again. At least someone had plugged it in the previous day, a thing he silently thanked them for. Probably Ulrike, he figured. With that thought, he turned to the others, and continued speaking: “Yeeeep, we’ll be taking the trucks into town. We should grab a real breakfast when we get there, then plan meals, and finally go shopping for what we need after. Oh," Derek paused as something occurred to him at the last moment, "and we should see who else is interested in coming with us.”



Hannibal sniffed Bee’s hand, then looked up at Sera and she nodded. He moved closer to Bee, then pushed his head up against her palm, trying to encourage scratches behind his ears. At sitting height he was a little taller than Bee, so he flopped down beside her on his belly. Sera laughed, the sound of her laughter almost melodic. “He likes to have his belly rubbed too.” She offered.

“I can’t blame you, you’re tired of space food. And I might end up killing someone if I don’t get my espresso.” She said seriously, breaking out into a grin afterward. “Should we ask Mrs. Grau if she wants in?”

Derek nodded to Sera. "Yeah, we should."

Castle walked in breathing a bit harder than normal, he had a towel around his neck and quite a few patches of sweat sticking his shirt to his upper body. Upon hearing the talk of space food he looked to everyone else in the room. "Please tell me there's some actual food here?" He didn't sound like he was pleading but it wasn't far off.

"We're gonna go out and get some shopping," Beatrix replied, scratching the pooch behind the ears. "See what we can find in the nearest city. Hopefully get some pastries and coffee at the very least so I don't go crazy."

"Hey there, Jami." Derek greeted the giant. You're just in time to join us for breakfast over in Syracuse. We're gonna get some real food while we're out so we don't have to resort to MREs."

The massive man nodded and the wild not yet chicken pot pie got to live another day. "Sounds good just let me go get some cleaner clothes on before you try stuffing me into one of those jeeps." He wiped the new sheen of sweat off his forehead which did little against the persperation that kept spreading all over him. "Though maybe a shower wouldn't go amiss either?"

The dog wagged his tail happily and closed his eyes. Sera sniffed and backed away from Jami. She was noticeably much less sweaty than the giant of a man. “A shower would be appreciated.” She said, fanning the air.

A sweet, earthy smell hit the crew moments before their dazed dog walked in on them, a smoking rolled cigarette hanging from the corner of her muzzle, but the smell certainly wasn't of tobacco. Luna looked at everyone, seeming no worse for wear as the end of the joint glowed brightly, and she let out a trail of smoke from her nose. "Morning everyone," She hummed, aloof as ever as she looked around. "Are we going anywhere?" She was wearing a pair of simple, but short shorts, and a loose crop top with very low cut arms. Her hair was tied up lazily out of the way. All together, she did look the part of a hippy, and looking at her from the side made the kids not being there a good idea.

"Good morning, Luna." Derek said in greeting as the dog morph hippy entered the room. "We are. You're invited."

"Oh," Luna said, giving a soft, but full faced smile. "Sounds interesting, I might come," She said, a cloud of smoke puffing from her nose and mouth as she spoke. "Can I have a window seat?"

"All the seats are window seats." Derek began as he took a seat. "The choice to make is jeep or truck."

 

[CadetNewb]

"Which one has fewer seats?" Luna asked.

"The truck." Derek replied.

"I suppose I'll take the truck then," She smiled. "Who's driving that?"

Derek smiled. "I am."

"Oh," Luna said, nodding her head lazily. "Should be fun then!"

Sera took a drink of water and waved at Luna. She noticed the smell, and Luna’s mood, and her suspicions about Luna being on something grew. Still, it wasn’t her place to say anything. “Good morning, Luna.” She said. “We’re going to get some breakfast and some groceries. We’re in Italy, it would be a sin to eat crappy MREs in the birthplace of pizza.”

Luna slowly turned to Sera, and smiled. "Breakfast sounds good..." She said, running her arm across her muzzle.

"Alright, everyone's hungry," Bee said, giving Hannibal a last few scratches before standing up. "Let's get going."

"Aww, you guys don't like MRE's?" Ulrike made a fake whine as she came into the kitchen. Finally out of her jumpsuit, she was now in tan military fatigues, with her jacket unbuttoned, a white shirt underneath. She looked quite relaxed until she saw Luna with a joint. With Eberhard's comment back on the ship and now putting two and two together she frowned.

"I suppose I should be glad that I didn't take the cookies." Ulrike crossed her arms. "Do I want to know where you got the goods you're smoking now?"

Luna looked at Ulrike with a confused expression, then pulled the point from her muzzle and looked at it. "What does this have to do with my cookies?" She asked softly, putting the joint back in her muzzle.

Ulrike paused, then shook her head. "Nothing I suppose. Still, I'd like to know where you got this stuff you're smoking now. Did you go dig out a plant or something?"

Luna looked at Ulrike, then shrugged. "I went for a walk as I could not sleep. I met some people a few miles outside base. I think they were called backpackers?" She asked, then smiled. "One of them had these little cigarettes. They smelled nice, so I tried one. He gave me a few more," she explained. "Why? Is something wrong with it?"

"Huh. Nothing, though you should start doing medical scans, and please don't smoke it on missions." Ulrike warned.

Luna just continued to stare at Ulrike, them looked at everyone else. "Could someone enlighten me on why my cookies were brought up?"

"At a guess," Derek began, "she probably thinks you baked some into the aforementioned cookies." He shruged, then added: "I knew a few 'bakers' back in the service, and they loved them some grassy pastries. They tasted pretty good, if you ask me."

Luna blinked, then looked at Derek. "Of course I baked the cookies?" She half asked. "Is this why human cookies..." She paused. "How do I say this politely..." She asked, before looking at Ulrike. "Suck?"

Sera blinked and looked from Ulrike to Luna. “I think that she believes your cookies are “mood enhancing”. You do seem to be a bit spaced out at times, to be honest.” She said cautiously.

"So," Luna said, frowning. "People think I am drugged because my personality... Offends them?" She asked. "That seems... Rude. Though, I suppose that is to be expected from children," she sighed.

"It's just hard to differentiate when you're on something or if it's just the Aos Si mannerism." Ulrike explained herself. "In this case though, I know that the 'children' comment is the Aos Si. Remind me how old you are again?"

"Old..." Luna said softly. "Old enough to be well into my adult life when humans attacked my planet..." She added, keeping her eyes on Ulrike.

Castle decided he wasn't needed in this discussion. He shook his head and started walking out of the cafeteria going to find the showers. He hoped someone wouldn't attempt to drag him into this burgoning catfight.

"That was a century ago." Ulrike nodded. "You're at least as old as some of our oldest elders." She blinked. "Well then, we can have this conversation later. Everyone else, get into something nice. Beatrix looks like she's dying to spend cash and I want myself a morning pizza too."

Luna looked at her outfit, then smiled. "This is nice. I suppose I saved myself a step."

Ulrike made a face, taking off her jacket. "Derek, grab a hold of her. Ms. Luna, I am NOT letting you dress like a stripper on human streets."

"I think I have well established I am old enough to choose what I wear," Luna said, looking at Derek with a face that was somehow both kind, and screamed it was a bad idea to grab her. Then she looked back at Ulrike. "You are lucky I wear anything at all. Clothes chafe..."

"Yeah, they do. But this is human society and we abide by human customs." Ulrike inched closer as if she was trying to snag a wild animal with her jacket stretched out.

"Humans do not seem to care about my people's customs," Luna said, frowning at Ulrike. "I really, strongly suggest you not do what I think you are about to do. It will not end well for either of us..."

"Hold it!" Derek finally shouted at the both of them, and then looked at Ulrike. "Don't do this, Ulrike. This is not how diplomacy works." He then looked at Luna. "I have a better idea, anyway. Instead of forcing you to wear something that chafes, how about we get you something that doesn't? This is a shopping trip after all."

"FYI," Beatrix said, "Humans aren't good at caring about other human's customs, let alone aliens. We're dumb like that," she added with a shrug. "Though, there was that one time Ulrike had us wear stripper outfits in public..."

Derek arched an eyebrow with a mixture of 'this is news to me' and 'tell me more' written on his face, but he remained silent.

Ulrike's face went red out of a mix of embarassment and regret. "That was for a mission!"

"You let us dress like strippers on human streets though," Bee said with a grin. "Heck, she's got fur, so she'll be less naked then we were."

Luna's demeanor was less, happy high, and more exhausted and irritated at the moment, never taking her eyes off Ulrike and her jacket. "I do not like being assaulted..." Luna warned. "And I will not be scolded on morality and decency by an authoritarian child..." She added.

"Look, I just don't want people gawking at you." Still red in the face, Ulrike withdrew her jacket and threw it over herself. "Just don't punch them in the face if they do, Joan punching her asshole of an ex-husband in public already put us on thin ice."

"I am not so immature," Luna said, standing up. "I'll meet you at the truck Derek, I need to grab something," she said before leaving the kitchen

"Alright, be there after a quick shower." Derek responded over his shoulder. Then he sighed. "I really do need to wash up before we go. So if you ladies will excuse me..." He nodded and turned to leave. However, as he walked past Ulrike, he said: "I need to speak to you this evening, if you have a moment, ma'am." and then continued on past.

Sera raised her eyebrows and finished her glass of water. She crunched on the ice that was left silently until Luna and Derek left. When they were out of earshot she sighed. “Well, that was awkward.” She said, pursing her lips. “I really thought you were right about the cookies, ma’am. As long as she’s able to function does it actually matter, though?”

"Right..." Ulrike said nothing more, stepping out the room.

 

[CadetNewb]

=======truck========

The Sicilian country side looked fairly clean, as the jeep led the way while Derek and Luna were taking care of the truck from behind. There was the occassional cluster of houses sitting next to vertical farms, fields of solar arrays, and the large fusion powerplant; but other wise, it was swaths of green and brownish grass on the hilly slopes, along with patches of evergreen trees.

Derek was the one driving, while Luna in shotgun. Luna had her head rested against the windowsill, puffing on another one of the joints she had as she happily let the wind hit her face. She had made it back to the truck, looking far more 'normal' than her irritated self from the kitchen, and she had a small backpack nestled between her legs in the foot well.

Derek looked over at the lady wolf morph, eyes trying not to linger on the view provided by the fluttering over-large tank top she was wearing in the breeze of the opened cab window. Best not to bring that up-- yet-- or stare. He looked at her face now, and several questions sprang to mind, but most importantly he wondered about her being an Aos Si. True, he had heard Eberhard say as much back on the Dalheim One, but Derek had failed to connect the dots. It was Ulrike’s little display earlier over what may or may not be Mary Jane’s Special Recipe Cookies (tm) that had finally caused the notion to click for him. Though, before Derek got to that topic, and the ones after it, he needed to break the ice….

“So,” Derek began as he turned to look at the road again, “I feel there is more to the weed story than you shared back in the galley.”

Luna eyed Derek from the side, then looked back out the window. "I suppose. It isn't particularly interesting, so I only said what Ulrike wanted to hear," She said, shrugging her shoulders slowly. "Why, are you curious?" She asked, cracking a slight smile.

“Idle curiosity.” Derek replied as he glanced her way with amusement showing in his eyes. "You'll find me less... concerned about certain matters than others. But still curious."

"They were a couple of kids," Luna said, turning to Derek, "By your standards I mean. Apparently just finished highschool, and wanted to explore the country side," She said, turning back to look out the window. "I stumbled on their campground. They thought I was a Chongwu, and I corrected them. They seemed enamoured by the idea that I was an alien from another planet, so they asked me to talk with them for a bit," She said simply. "They had these cigarettes, I liked the smell, so I asked if I could try one. They obliged happily. Then most of them went to bed," She said, looking at Derek again. "They were acting a little weird after smoking, but I figured they just were relaxing."

“Oh, they were.” Derek said, amusement evident in his voice while he kept his eyes on the road. “Marijuana does that, among other things, to humans.” He paused for a moment, then added in a speculative tone: “But, apparently not to Aos Si, judging by your earlier behavior.”

"Hmm," Luna said, looking at the joint. "I don't feel any different," She said, going back to looking out the window. "Anyway, one of the boys who had been quiet the whole time was the only one to stay awake. He had been staring a lot, but he didn't say anything while the others seemed to trample over him. So we talked for a bit, he was a bit of a loner by the feel of it, only brought along because this group was the only friends he had," She sighed with a frown. "He offered me some more of the joints if I let him pet me. So I agreed," She said, almost sounding longing.

One of Derek’s eyebrows climbed upward at the last sentence Luna had said. What she’d said had been a little odd, sure… but how she said it threw up so many interesting flags. And so “Pet you?” left Derek’s mouth; his bemusement was obvious.

Luna nodded. "Though, I feel he had more on his mind than a simple pet the dog," She said. "I don't really care, so I let him have his innocent fun. He seemed rather preoccupied with my chest, however."

Derek started chuckling even before Luna was done with her little story. That was a twist he never saw coming. Yep, she’d let some random stoned teen in the Sicilian countryside cop a feel, and she was totally blasé about it. “That kid is never going to forget this. And his friends are going to be super jealous when he tells them about it.”

"Good," Luna said, looking at Derek. "They should feel bad for treating him so poorly, and if I can create enough memories like that in humans to make sure what your kind has done to mine never happen again, I will consider my life well spent."

Derek nodded and fell silent, clearly lost in thought. (Pin for later)

Luna also remained silent, tossing the butt end of the joint out the window and rolling it up. She then sat there, turning to look at Derek. "Dog catch your tongue?" She finally asked. "You seem so entertained with my excapades with young teens."

“Very much so, on both counts.” Derek admitted sheepishly as Luna’s words brought him back to the here and now. “I must admit, I also thought you were a Chongwu or a Xinren Daqin when we first met. And!” Derek grinned in spite of himself. “And, I wasn’t fast on the uptake when Eberhard mentioned it back on the ship.”

"It's fine," Luna said simply. "Most people think I am a Chongwu, I generally need to let them check for my serial number for them to believe I am not," She explained. "Also, I can't interface with technology wirelessly, which I am happy about. I think I would go crazy if I did..."

“I’m with you in that,” Derek began, “There are novels and movies and what not that explore the idea of being linked to the net, and all that entails, but I feel that the actual experience of it would be something wholly different. Perhaps indescribably so. None of the Chongwu I’ve spoken with about it could give me a description I could parse, at any rate. So I think crazy… pretty accurately describes what it would do to me, too.”

"Any other prying you'd like to do?" Luna asked coyly.

“Guilty.” Derek nodded and grinned. “But we’ll skip checking you for Schrodinger’s barcode.”

"Should I take that as a no?" Luna asked.

“Well, I’d be interested to hear a bit about the Aos Si and Aos Si customs.” Derek said. He was given a permission slip to be curious, and damned if he wasn’t cashing it in.

"That is a broad question," Luna said softly. "It can vary wildly from distances as small as different districts in a town," She explained. "My village was in the forests at the foot of a large mountain range. We spent a lot of time with the trees," She sighed. "We..." She frowned, looking back out the window. "It has been so long... It's fuzzy to think about..."

“How long is so long?” Derek asked idly.

"By your count? A hundred years..." She frowned. "My village was destroyed..."

“...By CCP and the Daqin.” Derek finished for Luna. He paused for a moment, realizing the woman had actually been there when it happened, and then continued in a low tone of voice. “You’d think after thousands of years of history that people would learn, and maybe stop doing things like that, but they don’t.”

"It is a product of your age," Luna said, looking at Derek. "We were examples. A few of us were left alive..." Luna frowned. "Those of us they could confirm to be in the Military. It was to show us what happened if we fought..."

“An example was made.” Derek said in his best documentary narrator voice before letting out an exasperated sigh. “Setting aside the ever tragic, dark, depressing, and episodic reruns of ‘the real bad decisions of humans in power,’ or we’ll be here all day….” Derek’s voice trailed off before he started back again in a more curious tone. “If you didn’t get the super furry treatment, how did you end up as a lycan-morph?”

"Magic," Luna said, ignoring the rest of what Derek said, but that was probably for the best. "It was more of a... Deliberate accident," She added.

“Magic… what?” Derek said in spite of himself. Luna had just up and said ‘it was magic’ in a very straight forward tone, like she was serious. It took him a good minute for his brain to recover from the temporary soft-lock. “Sorry, can you say that again? I missed the rest,” he admitted earnestly. It was the first time he’d skipped a beat in their conversation.

"Oh right," Luna said. "You don't believe in magic?" She asked rhetorically, thinking for a moment. She looked at Derek, and waited for him to blink. When he opened his eyes, "Luna" was not Luna. She was a dark skinned elf with the same off white hair done up in the same messy updo it had been before. Her markings had been replaced with what looked like ash based paint, and she was looking over her nails. "This is a simple trick," She said, looking Derek in the eye, before reaching out and grabbing his wrist. He could feel fur that he couldn't see, and she placed his hand on her chest. "But it only affects your eyes. No point in trying it," She sighed.

 

[CadetNewb]

“Honestly, no? I’ve never--” And then Derek blinked. His mouth remained slightly open, but failed to enunciate the next unspoken word. A word that would remain unspoken… forever. Whatever he’d been about to say disappeared from his mind along with the vision of his apparently former lycan-morph cab companion. Now, he was just staring at a drop dead gorgeous dark skinned elf woman, and he found that he could not look away. Normally, Derek would have long ago realized he was being rude or about to be rude, but then having a mental BSOD wasn’t a normal state for the man.

Whether fortunately or unfortunately (the jury is out on this one) for Derek, Luna, rather the smoking hot Aos Si sitting where Luna should be, reached out, and grabbed his hand. She was also saying something to him, but his mind didn’t parse any of it. He put up no resistance at all when she pulled on his arm, and placed his hand upon her chest. And that’s when things got really weird. Now Derek was looking at an elf, but feeling the soft, warm, fuzziness of Luna instead of the smooth skin his eyes told him to expect. His brow furrowed in consternation, and he began to gently rub a bit to confirm that he was indeed feeling fur. Well, yes, that was indeed fur covering Luna’s breast still, a fact he’d confirmed by brushing over a previously exposed nipple. Were Derek properly cognizant, he probably would have enjoyed the sensation, and also have aborted the gentle, very slight squeeze he gave to Luna’s breast while he proceeded to experience what was best described as a psychological plane crash.

A small part of Derek’s brain noted that Luna had spoken to him, but the words were utterly meaningless. It was just sound. His brain was too busy with more important matters than to concern itself with something as trivial as the lane departure warning…. It was becoming very insistent, however.

Luna waited a moment, before reaching over with her other hand and pressed the autopilot button. She had, actually, let go of his hand a few moments before and was just looking at him as the car started to bring itself back on the road. She waited, patiently, for a few moments more, before clearing her throat. "Are you really this lonely?" She asked, dropping the illusion quite suddenly so he was once again looking at the furry, dog faced Luna he was used to. "It seems you're pretty lonely."

Derek’s cognitive dissonance came to somewhat less abrupt end when Luna dispelled the illusion. It took him a moment to return to planet Earth, but he retracted his hand once he had. An abashed “Beg your pardon, ma’am” was all Derek managed to say as the mental gears began turning once again and his face turned a little red with obvious embarrassment. He had a LOT to unpack. But before that… it finally occurred to him to look at the damn road! And realize they hadn’t crashed while he was on vacation from reality as he whipped back around to reflexively take control of the vehicle once again. Derek noted that they were not in fact dead, and that the autopilot was engaged. His face turned redder as the implications of, and possible consequences to, his actions dawned on him. Derek managed to add a glum “Thanks,” before falling silent again and just letting the autopilot do its thing.

"Pardon for what?" Luna smiled, looking at the road again. "I put your hand there. Though, if you really are that lonely, I wouldn't mind sharing a cot a night or two, mostly platonically," Luna smiled. "Living in space can do some unfortunate things to people. I can understand wanting a cuddle."

“Still, that was inappropriate of me.” Derek muttered, then sighed as his nerves settled. He was totally in ‘ahh, fuck it’ territory now. “Platonic cuddles are fine, but more than that and I’ll have to insist you meet my wife first,” he said as he held up his hand to show his wedding band.

"Ah, young love," Luna smiled coyly. "I would not concern yourself. I do not make it a habit of being so... Promiscuous?" She asked, shrugging her shoulders. "As for what is, and is not inappropriate, I suppose I can be the decider of that hmm?" She asked. "Do you presume to be the first man who has done such a thing to me? If anything, allowing a little bit of touching has made my life significantly easier."

“Ah.” Derek said, unable, for once, to come up with a proper response.

"You know," Luna said, stretching her arms out a little. "You're kinda cute when you're flustered. If only you were a little older, hmm?" She asked, looking around the cabin.

“I think I’d have to be Aos Si to successfully live that long.” Derek laughed in spite of himself. “Dear me. Trying to imagine what it must be like to have a hundred or two or more years of life experience….” He let his voice trail off and sighed. “Even for someone my age-- no, scratch that. Even for a human my age, and with my life experience, it’s the same level of cute pretentiousness as a 5 year old trying to describe what it would be like to be a human adult to me. It’s adorable, but unrealistic. And, actually,” Derek’s tone changed from amused to curious as he turned to look at Luna, “just how old are you, anyway?”

Luna was silent for a moment. "Hmm," Luna said, thinking about it. "I am finding it difficult to give an age you might understand," She said, leaning on the door. "Though I do remember reading about a bunch of conflicts you had. I believe you called them world wars?" Luna asked.

“Huh?” Derek sounded confused for a moment (and to be fair he was) then he quickly switched mental gears as he fell back on his knowledge of history. It was a bit of a relief, actually. “Yeah, we had two of them. The first one was from 1914 to 1918, and the second was from 1939 to 1945.”

"I was about Jacobs age when the second one started," Luna said softly.

Derek’s eyebrows rose. “Huh.” He did some quick mental math, and guessed she was somewhere north of 390 years old. ’You’ve aged well’ is such a throw away comment to someone who was fast approaching four centuries of life, but looked to be in her early 20’s by human standards. “I cannot begin to fathom what it must be like to live that long, and that’s not even considering staying in such great shape at the same time.”

"Boring," Luna said frowning a little. "Days go by where I sit and ask myself why I am still alive. What more can I do? Then I think maybe things will get better. Sometimes they do, sometimes they go horribly wrong. I go through more days like that, ask myself the same questions, and that is more or less how I have lived the last 150 years at least," She explained. "Sometimes I start learning something new. And then I work on it until I am good at it, then I occupy myself with something new. I do that, until I can't remember that skill I all but mastered a century or two before. I've lived, doing many jobs. Classy jobs, scummy jobs. Ones that made me proud, ones that made me hate myself. Just to experince it," She said, looking at Derek. "It's not hard to imagine. Just depressing."

Derek nodded. He thought about the elderly people he’d met over the course of his life, and how most of them had reached this kind of zen state where they were largely unconcerned with matters and potential consequences that would bother younger folks. They had lived their lives. What was the world going to do to them now, this late in the game? The mindset was easy to understand, conceptually at least. At 42, Derek was not even close to attaining this himself. It would be a while yet. Still, those were humans at age 70 and up, and the woman next to him was half way to being six times that age. This went a long ways to explaining her general attitude.

After a moment, Derek realized.... "I don't know what to say."

"Not many do," Luna said, letting out a doggish yawn, stretching out as much as she could. "I think I could use a nap. Pardon me a moment," She said, undoing her seatbelt and squirming around until her head was resting in Derek's lap. "Autopiloit should be able to handle this, and you look like a comfy pillow," She said, her head in to him to get comfortable, laying on her side facing him.

"Nap time?" Derek asked jokingly. "Well, that's fine."

"That's good," Luna sighed. "That would mean I don't have to take the choice away," she mumbled, before being quite obviously out like a light.

Derek sat there for a few more minutes just quietly letting his brain play catch up. He eventually felt the usual need to do something, so he reached out, took hold of the steering wheel with his right hand, and flipped the autopilot off with his left. Driving a transport truck was not an especially brainy task. Derek certainly proved this point right this minute, since he took up the functions of an autopilot, and stared unfocused out the window while his mind continued to process the idea of Magic. He’d find out later that his free hand had been gently stroking Luna’s hair-- petting her head one could suppose-- for the remainder of the trip, but at the moment, he was not conscious of this.

 

[CadetNewb]

40 minutes later

The skyline of Syracuse was dominated by rocket lauch pads and air traffic control towers. The historical city was left intact, but out on the ocean floated a small arcology, with the height of a skyscraper but with the same diameter at the base, reaching upward in the form of a slightly tapered wedding cake, painted in a limestone white that attempts to match with the old city. In it were the dwellings and business centers of the non-native residents of the island.

The Lancers were asked to park their vehicles in a parking lot on the outskirts of the city with a public transit station next to it.

Jami stepped out of the Jeep his concealed pistol and body armour neatly hidden under his millitary camo shirt and cargo pants. This succeeded in making him look only mildly threatending instead of the imposing faceless soldier look he had usualy when he left the base, but earth had these silly weapon prohibitions which made Jami leave his suit, heavy weapon and harness on the rack at base.

Sera opened the door and Hannibal jumped out first, then she followed him. She had changed out of her workout clothes into a casual white floral print blouse, knee-length white dress skirt with floral print, and comfortable sandals with no socks. Her perfect toenails were painted light pink. She also had taken a few minutes to put on some makeup, the effect only accentuating her natural beauty.

Despite her earlier grumpiness, Beatrix had also taken some time to dress up. She'd opted for a red low-cut blouse, with sleeves going down to her wrist, though the slits running down the forearms helped keep her relatively cool. She matched it with denim capris and sandals, to stay comfortable in the Mediterranean heat. To top off her outfit, she'd put her hair up in a bun and just enough make up to make her green eyes and full lips pop.

Ulrike, in comparison to the other two ladies, was less radiant. Her pale skin made her somewhat unsettling to planet-borne who've never seen a space-dweller before, and she didn't put much effort into treating herself, instead wearing a simple, white collared shirt and a patterned grey skirt, with a pair of tech-integrated sunglasses. Noticing Derek and Luna haven't left the truck yet, she walked over to the side of it.

Oddly, Ulrike could only see Derek sitting behind the wheel in the cab, and he was just staring off into infinity. He very clearly did not notice th e woman. There was no sign of Luna, at present. Weird.

Ulrike raised an eyebrow, knocking the door on Derek's side before trying to pull it open.

Derek seemed to snap back from the far reached of space and time, and finally looked down to see Ulrike standing there with ‘what is going on here’ written all over her face a moment before she reached for the door handle. He stopped petting Luna’s head, grabbed the inside handle and helped his boss open the door. It didn’t really occur to him at the time how Luna resting her head in his lap in the manner she was might look to any outside observers. Instead he just said “Sorry, was lost in thought.”

"Uuuhhh..." Ulrike looked at Derek's dazed state, then looked down at Luna, whose poor excuse of a sleeveless shirt was dragged downward to one side, revealing one side of her chest. She then noted the autopilot of the truck. "... I hope your wife is okay with this. I mean... did you... ?" She started asking.

“Huh?” Derek looked confused. Well, perhaps befuddled was a better word. He was clearly not tracking what Ulrike meant. "What about my wife not being okay with a shopping trip?"

"Not what I meant." Ulrike pointed to the unforunate position Luna was in Derek's lap. Closer inspection revealed a wet patch on his pants in the crotch area, also next to Luna's mouth.

Derek looked down, and then it all clicked. Instead of looking embarrassed or guilty or any number of things Ulrike probably expected, though, Derek started… chuckling? He glanced over to see the severe wardrobe malfunction, and just shook his head at it before looking back at the sleeping woman’s head. He’d decided covering her up was a lost cause, so he didn’t even try. I mean, why should he? She didn’t seem to mind. “Hey, we’re here.” Derek began, still sounding slightly amused, while jostling the lycan-morph’s shoulder gently.

Curious, Bee walked over to the truck and chuckled at the sight. "You going to need a change of pants?" she asked with a smirk.

"I'm not wearing pants..." Luna muttered as she stirred awake, lifting her head up a little and looking at Ulrike. "Oh hi... That drive was not near long enough..." She mumbled, dropping her head again and closing her eyes.

"I was talking about your pillow," Beatrix replied, looking at Derek. "Guess you're stuck there. Want us to bring back food?"

"Well, that would be awkward since I'm buying. I did suggest breakfast out after all." Derek said with a grin. "I'll be fine. I didn't even notice, so it didn't soak through."

Luna's ears perked up at the mention of food, and Luna once again reluctantly lifted her head, licking at her jowls. "Did... Did someone say foooood?" She asked, looking at the group. "I want food..."

Sera had been surprised by the drastic change in Bee’s appearance. In the bright sunlight the difference was much more obvious than in the car. She found herself gazing at the taller woman’s eyes and averted her gaze, her cheeks darkening with embarrassment. She was glad Derek and Luna were currently the center of attention. Her eyes widened when she did finally walk over to get a look at the two.

“It looks like Luna may already have had sausage for breakfast.” Sera said, winking at Derek. “Jokes aside, you might want to visit the washroom before we get on the tram.”

Derek nodded. "Sure thing."

Luna pushed herself up into a sitting position, stretching out and yawning as Sera spoke. "Did I? She asked at the sausage comment. "It must not have been that satisfying if I don't remember it, and am still very hungry..."

Beatrix snorted at Luna's comment, tried to stop herself for a few seconds, then burst out into laughter, leaning against the nearest person to her, Sera, to keep herself upright. "Oh, that was great!" she said, wiping away a tear.

Unable to hold back her laughter, Sera caught Bee and burst into a fit of laughter. Due to the height difference her face was pressed into Bee’s shoulder. The fact that Luna didn’t get the innuendo made the comment even funnier. Her laughter began to subside and she became aware of the blonde leaning against her. She breathed in a burst of Bee's flowery scent. Flustered, she stabilized Bee and backed away, releasing her.

"Pffftttt." Ulrike held back her own giggle. "Seems like we'll need some medical cream for Derek."

Derek found himself laughing in spite of himself.

Luna looked at everyone with no small amount of confusion. "Uh... Why are we all laughing suddenly? I didn't think I was that funny..."

"You were," Bee said, still chuckling. "You were. Keep that one in mind if you want to insult a guy in the future."

Castle took one look at the group of his team mates gathering around the truck and decided to bite the bullet and be team liason. Grumbling under his breath he walked up to the booth and started hashing out what it would take for him to get breakfast.

"Derek, you wanted to have a talk this evening, right?" Ulrike started after Jami. "Add this to the list for the conversation."

Derek chuckled. "You both will and won't be disappointed."

"I still don't..." Luna said, before her brow furrowed a little as she tried piecing it together. Then they popped back up with a victorious "oh!" Followed by her eyes widening as the whole situation clicked. "Oh..." She said, much deeper this time. "Oh... I'm sure Derek can be quite... Satisfying... I just do not have the experience to confirm that..." She said, seeming to more feel bad at insulting Derek's... Manly capabilities than embarrassed.

 

[CadetNewb]

Venturing into the historical city of Syracuse, the Lancers would find small businesses already open and running for the day. The men, women, and children here were informally dressed in comfortable and loose shirts and dresses. The streets were dominated by lanes of slow moving trams and pedestrians, with only the occassional truck or car that was allowed in across the city borders. Groups of school children could be seen walking to the local academy, jeering at each other with datapads in their hands, while the occassional adolescent could be seen through a window studying online. Meanwhile, the adults were busy at their crafts. A man could be seen carving wooden trinkets for space-born visiting Earth.

For the Lancers, it was the smell of breakfast goods that lured them to a small shop, blocky and in limestone white, with residential floors above it like most other buildings in Syracuse. Before they could enter though, their path was blocked by a large man, tan and Earthly, could be anywhere between his 40's and 80's with decent healthcare. "Sorry," He flatly addressed the party in Italian. "Animals not allowed in the place." He pointed to the skimpily dressed Luna.

"Excuse me?" Ulrike stepped forward and confronted him in slow Italian of her own.

The man looked up and down Ulrike, before replying. "Sorry, donn spaz, you'd make the rest of my customers uncomfortable."

"Space lady?" She asked rhetorically and incredulously, realizing her thinner, paler, and taller nature. "Look, I'm not---"

"Doesn't matter." The man thumbed towards a set of tables and chairs under a tent roof next to the entrance. "We can serve you outside though."

Derek stood back while this little exchange took place, and frowned at first, clearly unhappy about the implication that Luna was just some animal, and even less happy when the bigotry of Earthlings against Spacers reared it's ugly head. He was just about to suggest the whole crew take their business elsewhere when his gaze shifted to the place the man offered to have them served at.... and a particularly smug grin settled on Derek's face for a moment. Well, alright, if the bigots here want to seat the party at the entrance to their establishment, where all the supposedly bothered customers would have to pass them by to enter or leave the building, and the party was still visible to them inside... well, far be it for Derek to interrupt this bigoted idiot while he was making a mistake. It would be rude, after all.

"Sure, we'll take that table." Derek said suddenly to the large restaurateur in fluent Italian. At least it damn well better be, since he'd gone ahead and married one! "Do you take orders digitally, or traditionally?" It was a valid question. Some places still used old fashioned folding menus as part of the 'authentic dining experience.' It was silly, of course, but some people liked that.

"Either way is fine." The man suddenly changed his tune upon Derek supposedly compromising. Probably helped that Derek was speaking fluent Italian instead of the mix of European languages that was commonly said by foreigners around here. "If you want, I'll get you the paper copies."

"Digital will work fine for us." Derek said almost amiably as he reached into a pocket, and took out his personal minicomp. He looked for the restaurant's scan code, found it on the wall nearby, labelled in Italian of course, and scanned it to get a copy of the menu. It was better this way anyhow, since he could project the items on offer as holograms rather than have his companions deal with a language barrier. If the locals were going to act like this, fine, but the people he'd invited out to breakfast were going to have a nice meal anyway, in spite of the locals being... locals (read: total tools). "It's been a while since I've been dirt-side, and I wanted to share what the foods here are like with my companions. You never know what you're missing until you've had it, and I certainly miss it." The implication there was this was the chef's opportunity to show off... and also not disappoint a fellow Earthling who may or may not be Italian himself.

Luna looked between the three people talking, leaning closer to Beatrix and Sera. "Why is he pointing at me while he's talking?" She whispered, not looking away from the conversation at hand.

Jami stood at the back of the group. Though he didn't need to be the tallest to see where the original portion of the conversation was going. Though he didn't quite get the chance to turn around and look for another restraunt before Derek managed to save breakfast by talking italian to the buissnessman. Castle was glad for this, thanks to his morning PT and general size he was already very hungry and didn't want to spend all morning looking for a place that served the more exotic members of the team, or so he assumed.

Sera was about to give the man a piece of her mind when Derek spoke up first. She forced a smile at the man and nodded, speaking in Italian with a mainlander accent. “My dog is quite well trained. My friend Luna, on the other hand, has quite the temper. I will be kind to you and not tell her you referred to her as an animal.” Sera said, gesturing to Hannibal and then Luna as she spoke.

She took Hannibal’s lead and turned back to Luna and Bee. “Let’s take the table closest to the street. Luna, you should sit in the most visible seat.” She said.

The man looked deeply annoyed, but he said nothing otherwise, instead grunting and going back into his restaurant.

Luna looked at all the members of the group as the owner huffed off and shook her head. "I suppose I will have to fix this..." She said, stepping around everyone. "I will be back in a few minutes," she said, following the gentleman into the store.

Jamison decided Luna's actions weren't his problem, whether it was the fact he was very hungry at this point or that he didn't want to get in between a female, no matter what speices, and something that annoyed her was immaterial. Basic instincts on both accounts indicated sitting down and reading through the electronic menu would be the optimal option in this case. So without much more thinking on his part the big grunt pulled the small brick of a mini comp off his wrist and scanned the code before moving to take a seat at the indicated table, luckily the chair didn't have arm rests or Jami would have had problems.

Being more fluent in French than Italian, Beatrix had been mostly standing off to the side, giving Hannibal a few head scratches while waiting for the negotiations to finish. She chuckled at Sera's suggestion and looking over at the table. "Hmm, what's more visible? Closer to the street or having her face the street?"

Sera watched Luna walk away with concern. She didn’t want them to end up being arrested and making a big scene. Turning to address Bee, she said, “I’m thinking facing the street.” Leaving the rest up to Luna, she marched over to the table, sitting in a chair with her back to the street. Bee sat next to her, making sure Hannibal was in head scratching range.

Before anyone else could get appropriately comfortable at the table, Luna poked her head out the door and smiled at everyone. "We can sit inside now," she said, in a cheerful daze. "He's just been having a bad day, table is set up for us!" She said, slipping back into the restaurant.

Derek raised an eyebrow at this. "Well, alright then. Let's head back inside." He declined to say what he thought Luna had been up to, and instead just stood up and headed inside.

The restaurant was a typical, small mom-and-pop shop. There were a few patrons inside sitting at tables, most couldn't help but glance in the Lancers' direction, not just because of Luna, but also due to the space-born looking Ulrike and Derek, hulkish Jami, and the comparatively well dressed and normal looking Sera, Beatrix. Cooking could heard behind a thin wall, and the aroma of food filled the entire room.

As the team sat down, the same man who blocked them earlier greeted them with an upbeat smile, and drastic contrast to a couple of minutes ago. "Welcome! Sorry about earlier, what can I get for you all?"

"If you have a special," Luna said lazily, smiling at the man. "I would love to try it."

On another day, Beatrix would've been more interested in figuring out what Luna had done to get them out of the Sicilian sun, but she had her sights set on other matters. "You're from around here, right?" she asked Sera. "Got any suggestions on what to try?"

Jami looked at the man suspiciously then to Luna, from what he heard about earlier she was rather prone to sexual offers and the mans change in mood seemed rather abrupt. Keeping said theory to the owners change of heart to himself the big lunk took his seat and looked over the menu, listening in for what the special might be.

Sera looked at Luna with clear suspicion, though she didn’t say anything about what had just happened. She looked down at the menu after Bee asked her for suggestions, brushing a stray hair out of her face. “If you don’t want to be thought of as a tourist, something light and sweet. Un cappucino chiaro, a cappuccino with milk covering the top, and croissant ai frutti di bosco, croissant with berries.” She answered slowly. “Though I believe that ship has sailed. A few slices of pizza or small sandwich with un caffe wouldn’t be likely to get strange looks.”

"Uh huh," Bee said, pulling up a menu. "Kinda more in a lunch mood at this point anyway. Pizza's always good, though I'm pretty sure it's not the pizza I'm used to. Hmm, what are you going to get?" she asked Sera, tilting her head to the side.

"We'll order everything that was just mentioned." Ulrike nodded to the man. "A cappucino for each of us, a croissant for each of us, and then a medium pizza." He nodded with a polite smile, then walked off with the order. Ulrike then turned to Derek and winked. "You're footing the bill, right?"

 

[CadetNewb]

"Yep." Derek smiled. "Order whatever you like."

The order came a few minutes later, a mix of breakfast and lunch. A sizable cheese pizza sat in the middle of the table, and in front of everyone was their own hot beverage and a sweet croissant. As they ate, Ulrike began musing. "We've got quite the shopping list today. I reckon it'll be faster if we split up. Derek, can you go with Beatrix and Sera to the local distributor? I'll take Luna and Jami to the arcology, see if Texas-rex meat is on sale. It's been a while since I got a bite."

“Sure thing,” Derek replied before taking another bite of pizza.

"Texas... Rex?" Luna asked, looking over the pastry and pizza, attempting to navigate how to eat it without making a scene... Then ate it regardless because she was a dog.

Jami looked up at the mention of Texas Rex after his name then looked mildly disapointed when it was only going to buy some meat, even if dinosaur in origin. He took a piece of the italian styled pizza and started munching on it while day dreaming of hunting dinosaurs.

Hannibal sat beside Sera on the floor, watching while they were served. She considered ordering some meat for the dog, coming to the conclusion the owner of the place might be insulted. Allowing him in was one thing, but serving him was another matter. She took a sip of cappuccino and smiled. “Even after only a week in space, I already missed real cappucino.” Sera admitted, taking a bite of croissant.

The dog looked up at her and she nodded solemnly at him. “You’ve already had your breakfast. We’ll get you some fresh meat at the store after this, I promise.” She said soothingly between mouthfuls. He seemed satisfied, returning his head to its resting place on his front paws.

“Hmm. I’ve not actually tried T-rex before.” Sera said, giving Ulrike a curious look. “To be honest, that’s a bit adventurous for my taste. I don’t often try new foods.”

“I haven’t had any Texas Rex in a while, but it’s worth a try.” Derek said to Sera. “I can make a few dishes with it. If you’re worried about new foods, we can start off with something bite sized, so you can decide if you like any of them or not without having to go for a full serving.” He looked thoughtful for a moment before adding: "Tell me what you normally eat, and we can prepare some of that, too."

“Anything that can be found on Earth. I’m still a little wary of foods originating from other planets.” Sera responded. She finished her cappuccino and continued. “I know, I know - it’s irrational. I suppose if everyone else is having some I could be persuaded to try it.”

"I can make a pretty good sandwich." Ulrike smirked. "There's a way to fry the whole thing without making a mess everywhere, really useful when you're floating in space. Back when Eberhard and I were grunts we made those things all the time. Helped keep the protein bars at bay for a while."

Luna finished her pastry, looking at everyone else as they spoke about the Texas Rex. She resigned herself to the idea that no one would explain what it meant, and went back to quietly eating. Then she looked around, and noticed some of the no smoking signs, so she sighed and stood up. "When we've figured the day plan out," She said, starting to slowly meander off. "I will be outside."

The meal in general was pleasant, and rather short, giving the eating habits of the military personnel involved. After Derek forked over the bill with his credit card, the rest of the party joined Luna outside, quietly indulging in a joint, ignoring the curious, and disdained, eyes of passerby.

Ulrike stood by the Aos Si druid and Jami. "This is where we split up." She addressed Derek, Beatrix, and Sera. "You should find the distribution center soon enough. I threw directions into your datapads just in case. We'll head off to the arcology now."

----------------------------

Syracuse Arcology

The public tram led straight into the gargantuan architecture across a sea bridge. Along the rails was a roadway for cargo trucks and personnel vehicles of the priviledged. A station at the center of the layered-cake building handled to in and out traffic. Droids were at the ready to take crates off the trams and the trucks.

Stepping out, Ulrike checked her data pad. "Let's see... the distribution center here should just be a minute walk away." She then noticed the line of droids moving to and from along a single direction. "That should be it."

"Could we not grow a garden?" Luna asked, looking at all the droids. "We have more than enough land, and it really does feel like the beginning the the growing season. I could make everyone some of my cookies if I had a while garden of supplies," she smiled, dazed as she munched on her cookies.

Jami was glad he had chosen to not sit between the two females on the ride over. Not that he was unused to being a big wall between people but he was more comfortable with punches and bullets rather than witty remarks and inane arguments. Stepping off, to the obvious relief to the trams suspension, he looked at the distribution center and had some hope spark for not being forced to eat MREs.

"I still want to know if those are filled with drugs or not, but now's not the time to test that out." Ulrike looked at Luna with curiosity. "But if you want to buy supplies for a garden, go right ahead; it won't be too expensive."

Following the droids carrying crates, the three found themselves in the middle of a large warehouse that spanned multiple floors inside the arcology. In front of them was a couple of kiosks that allowed them to create a shopping list. There was also an option to call for a receptionist.

Jami looked at the kiosks and then to the two definetly smarter people in their fireteam. He then decided that calling it a fireteam even in his head was probably not the best mindset for a social outing, not that he did anything about it. Standing there like a big lump on a log he waited for the girls to do their shopping, and kept an eye on them waiting to see who maxed out the cards first.

"Huh. They do have it on sale." Ulrike licked her lips and tapped the kiosk, getting a whole frozen box of Texas-rex meat. She looked at Luna. "You said you wanted gardening supplies?"

Luna shook her head as if coming out of a daze. "I'm sorry, hmm?" She asked, looking about. "I was contemplating how absurdly racist your obsession with my cookies is, and how I could best deal with it," She said, starting to walk ahead of the group. "Also, your 'drugs' don't affect me, as I have discovered. You seem to have a habit of fixating on little details," She sighed.

Ulrike put her hand up with a frown. "Hey, I didn't expect you to grow drugs on the base. I was just wondering if you wanted gardening supplies because you liked plants, given the instructions you gave to Eberhard to take care of the ones still on the ship. If you really wanted drugs, you wouldn't be getting them from a distribution center anyways."

Luna stopped and looked at Ulrike. "Give me one good reason you think my cookies are drugged? Right now."

 

[CadetNewb]

Jami sighed and looked around at the surrounding grey walls of the distrobution center. He was again glad that he wasn't in between the two females. Not that he would mind watching a catfight, or cat and dog fight in this case, but both combatants had way too many clothes on for that to happen and this definetly wasn't the place.

Ulrike looked up and put a hand on her face. "Alright, you got me there. You Aos Si act completely different that I can't tell whether you're on drugs or not. There's this stigma in human culture that people hide drugs in cookies. If I drop the subject, will you do the same?"

"Please hold such assumptions until you have actual proof," Luna frowned, looking at the kiosks. "But otherwise..." She said, scratching her head. "I don't actually think I have money?" She said, returning to her dazed tone.

"I'll take care of it. So do you still want the gardening tools?"

"It would be nice to have something to do on my downtime," Luna said simply.

Shoulders relaxing that his teammates weren't gonna start ripping eachother to shreds he took the chance to move up to a kiosk and scroll through the options for a new mini computer. His current one was a big banged up if still functional and he wanted to see what newer models were like. He also looked for some detection equipment that would be useful later.

Ulrike tapped away on the kiosk then found an assortment of outdoor tools and supplies for Luna. "I think we're done here. It's a bit pricey, but peanuts compared to keeping a ship alive, so I think we can afford to splurge a little. Let's go."

As the three left the distribution center, Luna attracted curious glances, but the denizens of the arcology thankfully kept to themselves. That is, until a somewhat corpulent fellow rode past, then in front of the group, on a handless segway, which seemed to bend ever so slightly under his weight. He looked unkempt, with untidy, short brown facial hairs and a shirt with one of those popular video game titles' logo plastered on the front. However, it seemed he was fairing quite well, with name brand shows and shorts, a fancy belt, and one of the higher-end datapads at his waist. Ulrike looked slightly surprised at first, not because of the man stopping in front of them, but rather due to her not seeing a fat person after working so long in space.

The man didn't waste words or time with pleasantries. "Hey, how much does the Chongwu sell for?"

Jamison Butterworth had heard many moronic people say many stupid things over his life long carreer as both a goon and a marine grunt but that singular question seemed to poke all the wrong buttons in his brain, with great efficiency no less. His veiws on humanoid slavery weren't particularly bright and the already dim veiw of the land whale sunk below the point where Castle tended to just punch the offender until they stopped being offensive and move on. Cleching his fists behind his back he let out a breath and looked to Ulrike who was defacto team leader for this situation for a response, whether that was shooting the man on sight or ignoring the man baby and walking on Jami could care less, though he would prefer to clean up the gene pool a little bit in this case.

Luna, on the otherhand, was stunned, with a slack jawed expression at how forward the proposition was. Her jaw worked as she tried to form words, but the ony thing she could manage was a whine, looking at Ulrike.

"Look," Ulrike frowned, "She's not Chongwu, and she's not up for ---"

"Oooh!" The man's eyes lit up. "So she's one of those aliens!" That seemed to get some attention from the passerby, with dozens more glances too many landing on Luna. "In that case, I'll pay big!" He drew a credit card and showed it to Ulrike, whose eyes went wide. It was enough to keep the Grau Lancers in good shape for an entire year.

Luna looked at Ulrike. "Please don't sell me?" She asked. "I don't know how your employment works, but please don't sell me..."

It didn't take long for that little wall of restraint his training had instilled in him to break. Jamison's teeth grinding was almost audible. He was never a knight in shining armor type but in this case he really didn't care. In his deep and very calm voice he said "She said no. Now fuck off before I have to call an ambulence to carry off your corpse." He meant it too, given any chance at all he would gleefully put this disgrace of the human race in the ground. He followed this up with a looming smile filled with very sharp, almost vampiric, teeth and using every centimeter of his almost seven foot height to tower over the little shit.

Ulrike took a surprised look at Jami then sighed with a smile. "Kid, talk to my rep." She addressed the land whale, who was going pale at this point. There was a mix of surprise, horror, and anger on his face. He was clearly the type who was never told no for his entire sorry life. "You wouldn't---" He sputtered out.

Castle kept smiling enjoying the terror instilled in the current enemy. "I wonder why people always say that? It's almost as if they are daring me to do it?" His fingers cracked one by one as his fists tightened. "But you are right. I'd just leave your festering body in a dumpster and not bother the authorities."

The tub of lard tried to step back, nearly falling off his personal vehicle. "What is your name?" He mustered out a question.

Jami didn't answer the little twerp and took a threatening step foreward.

"Luna..." Luna said quietly, before looking at Ulrike. "I mean... He did ask..."

"Ulrike Eberhard." She put a shoulder on Jami's shoulder, signaling him to stop. "Feel free to tell that to your parents or whatever. I'll be happy to talk to them."

The tub of lard looked even more surprised. "Do you know who I am?"

"Someone who thinks it's okay to buy and sell living people..." Luna said softly. "Without consideration to their thoughts and desires..." She added. "Like right now, as, well, how do I put this nicely..." She said, tapping her muzzle in legitimate thought. "You look like a housefire? That was in another housefire? I would really rather not be owned by you, as that would involve breathing your air..."

Castle relaxed and just continued to glare down at the little shit.

The fatso went red, getting off his personal vehicle to get into Luna's face. Ulrike put her slim but firm arm in front of him. "Kid, I don't give a damn who your mama or papa are, if you haven't gotten the hint. Get lost or I really get Jami to dump you in the seawater."

Luna didn't flinch. "I would really rather not have to defend myself..." She said softly. "You might want to not try and go through Ulrike... Or eat her..."

He looked to push past Ulrike, but was met by a death glare. Seeing Jami standing solemnly beside her, he backed off and got on his handless segway. "You'll regret this!" He cried out as he rode off.

Ulrike sighed and shook her head chuckling. "No we won't. I feel bad for his parents. The rest of the guys are going to love this." She took out her datapad and showed a video of the entire exchange to Luna and Jami.

"How does he look bigger on your datapad?" Luna asked in a disgusted awe.

Jami groaned internally. He hated being recording while threatening to murder someone, it never ended well for him in the past. Not that he could do much in this case other than trust that Ulrike wouldn't be stupid with it. So he put on his grumpy face and followed his squad mates.

 

[CadetNewb]

Syracuse Old City

The distribution center in the old city was a large and simple blocky warehouse, with a parking lot in the back for cargo trucks. The interior was as expected: air conditioned, with goods stacked in crates several stories tall, with the gentle whirling of fans in the background. Droids moved crates across the floor, and up and down, with a handful of engineers overseeing the entire process.

A receptionist, a young lad in his twenties, probably just came out of college, wearing a collared shirt and jeans, walked over with a data pad. "Good day," He remarked in common GDW dialect with an Italian emphasis. "How may I help the gentleman and the two ladies?"

"Yep," Bee said, stepping forward to take charge. "We're doing some shopping, enough food for twelve or so people for a month or so and some dog food." Looking back at her colleagues, she asked, "Anything specific you guys want?"

Sera nodded at Bee and addressed the man gravely. “The place they’re putting us up at is a total disaster in the food department. My friends are foreigners, I would appreciate if you would help me show them real homemade Italian cooking. You know what I need.” She said, flashing the younger man a wink and a smile. “I trust you will help a lady show off to her friends.”

Derek smiled quietly at Beatrix and Sera's approach to shopping, and said nothing. He preferred to wait and see if it worked out or not first. Besides, Ulrike was handling most of his shopping list anyhow, and he could just wander off and pick up the few things left on his if need be. In the meantime, watching this unfold could be fun.

"Certainly!" The lad nodded. "We have fruits, vegetables, along with synthetic cheeses and meats in bulk. If you're looking for the real deal that comes from the AU, we have that too, though it'll be a bit more expensive."

"Let's get the real stuff," Bee replied. "Been a while since I had proper animal protein. What do you guys have alcohol wise?"

The lad smiled. "Our wine is the best, imported from Austria, Greece, with locally sourced as well. However, we do have a large assortment of beer and whiskey as well."

Sera blinked at Bee. She wasn’t sure they had the money for that much real meat. “I suggest we only get enough organic meat and cheese for maybe four days. Chicken, beef, and tilapia would be great. For the cheese, let’s go with mozzarella, asiago, and…” She tapped her chin in thought.

“Oh, some ragusano!” She exclaimed, remembering the cheese the locals enjoyed the most. “And of course, we need a case of Incisa della Rocchetta Sassicaia. For the rest, I think we’ll take whatever synthetics you recommend. Derek, any special requests?” She asked, turning back to the lone man in the group.

Beatrix looked at the other woman with a raised eyebrow, slightly annoyed at being overruled. "Look, if you're worried about Ulrike yelling about the cost, I'll cover the difference between the organic stuff and the real deal. That trust fund won't spend itself," she added with a smile.

The shorter woman looked at Bee with wide eyes. She regained her composure and bowed her head apologetically. “O-oh, didn’t know you were that well off.” She said, glancing back to Derek. “In any case… anything you want?”

Derek holds up his datapad and nods. "Yeah. I've got a few things to get. Mostly herbs, spices, and canned goods." He smiled. "Though, if we can nab some fresh veggies and dairy goods...." the man trails off whistfully.

The lad nodded. "Dairy goods, can I assume you want the real deal as well, given that you're buying actual meat?"

"Kind of." Derek began, "We'll take lactose free milk. It tastes the same as normal, but it doesn't bother folks and it keeps for months instead of a week, or two if you're lucky. And I don't mind synthetic egg substitutes. I've had both, and it's as good as the real thing nowadays." Honestly, most synthetic meats were as good as the real thing these days, and tofu could easily be seasoned so you could never tell the difference. But once real meat was brought up, he knew better than to mention any of this. There's just something about having the real thing that makes people still go out of their way for it... It was all psychological, of course, but if it made people happy, he wasn't going to rain on their parade. Though, to be fair, Texas Rex meat was one thing the meat producers hadn't been able to copy yet, along with a lot of other xeno species. But the Earth ones? Nah, the lab folk had those down perfect, especially after over 300 years of trying to get it right.

"So long as we include AU chocolate milk, I'll be happy," Bee replied, smiling at the thought. "That's the best."

Sera giggled at Bee and tried to suppress it, causing her to snort loudly. She blushed and covered her mouth. “The way you smiled was so cute,” she explained. “You are easy to please it seems.”

Beatrix chuckled, before saying, "I don't know about easy. I do get a lot of pleasure out of simple things, I suppose."

The lad made eye contact with eye contact with Derek, glancing at the two ladies, then looked back at him inquisitively, all the while tapping the Lancers' requests into his datapad.

Derek smiled and shrugged at the lad in a casually unconcerned way, but said aloud: “Sure, we can get some chocolate milk, too.” He wasn’t about to start speculating/gossiping about his teammates. He knew Beatrix was mostly just happy to be here, and Sera found Bee adorable… heck, so did he. What he did or did not suspect about the latter’s behavior didn’t really matter in the grand scheme of things, and he found it amusingly cute, too. As far as he was concerned, it was all good. Derek looked at Beatrix and added: “I’ll send a quick message over to Ulrike if they don’t have it here.” He looked back at the lad and asked “Do you have it here?”

Hannibal pressed his nose into Sera’s palm, reminding Sera that he was there. “Throw in an extra piece of beef for Hannibal. He deserves a treat after eating the liquid space dog food.” She added, rubbing the big dog behind his ears.

"Of course." The lad nodded politely.

"Alright," Bee said with a grin. "You guys got almost everything. Wonder if the other group is doing as well?"

---- Later.... ----

Syracuse Parking Lot

A couple of trucks were arriving just as the Lancers regrouped. Droids came out the backs of the trucks and moved crates of supplies onto the Lancers' own vehicle.

"So, how'd it go?" Bee asked Ulrike's group.

Jami looked to the other members of his team and kept his mouth shut.

"Uh..." Luna said, scratching her head with her oddly confused expression. "Someone tried to buy me? From Ulrike?" She half asked, looking at the group. "I do not know if he wanted to have sex with me, or eat me for dinner. Both options seemed just as likely?"