The peaceful times are over. Moloch von Zinzer was murdered, and Nine was sentenced as his murderer. Everyone in Cartesio knows that.
Although life goes on, it seems the town of Cartesio isn't going to forget the tourists' transgressions. Not only they commited larceny in the cinema, they also murdered and executed in their town! It's no surprise their hospitality towards the visitors has cooled down considerably.
Not only they're maintaining a tense cordiality with them, they also have started talking behind the visitors' backs. All kinds of rumors are starting to sprout, yet nobody seems to be willing to say it to the tourists' faces. Talking directly to most passerby makes them distrustful, and nobody seems to want to be in close quarters alone with them.
It's only matter of time before the relationship between tourists and Cartesio starts degrading even further.
In the lobby of the motel there's a few more brochures, and
the maps have been updated once again.
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cartesianism2018-10-14 10:52 am
*would be, mrr typing..
[Seeming fairly unperturbed, Keith walks right into the room, glancing around the armory. Each box is at least labelled with what's inside them, so finding the pepper spray isn't the hard part.]
There.
[Problem is it's sort ... in the middle of a stack by the door, sandwiched between "ammunition" and "camping supplies."]
Hold on, I'll get it. [He leaves the door open and starts lifting the top box up and out of the way.] What would you rather talk about?
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What's your home like?
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Probably filled with dust and cobwebs by now. I haven't exactly been home in three years.
[Not what she's getting at, he realizes, but he's generally a lot better with direct questions than open ended ones.]
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[She continues on after a moment, her voice remaining mildly curious.]
Why's that?
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Hard to make regular visits back home when you're fighting a war millions of light-years away.
[It's stated fairly matter-of-factly, like that's just... normal.]
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[A very large understatement.]
What were you fighting?
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An advanced race of aliens that want to either take over or destroy entire planets.
[Kneeling down, he starts opening the box. Again it's all matter-of-fact. He knows how this all sounds, and his tone seems to be getting dryer and dryer for it, like an unspoken yeah, call it crazy whatever. He looks up at her.]
The Galra. [A beat.] I was fighting the Galra.
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I... But, your biography thing?
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...I'm half-Galra, yeah. Doesn't mean I support the destruction of the universe.
[He'll hand Natalie her pepper spray as he stands up again. It's not really her fault that he's so tired of Galra sympathizer accusations, but... it's tiring.]
Not all Galrans are in lockstep with central command either. It's not like all Galra are the same, you know.
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...I'm not accusing you of anything. And - you can tell me to back off anytime you want, just so you know.
[She's curious, but she has enough boundaries of her own to know just how aggravating it can be to have them disregarded. She doesn't want to do that.]
But I don't know, actually. That's why I was asking.
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Sorry.
[Feels awfully like their first conversation, huh.]
I don't mean to get irritable. It's just -- a lot of people back home make being part Galra out to be some big deal and think it's okay to just assume we're all out to do them dirty, but ... [Sigh.]
Our most valuable allies in the war are Galrans who've formed a network of informants trying to take the empire down from within. It's never all good or all bad.
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[It's blunt, but she means it to be understanding in her own way.]
You don't have to apologize, though. Sounds like there's a whole ton to be irritable about there.
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It's because people have been enslaved. Or they've had their home plane destroyed. Galra don't have a bad reputation for nothing.
[There's an attempt at a smile, but it's not all that convincing. It took Keith a pretty long time to accept his own heritage really.]
Not that any of that really matters here. But what about you? This the longest you've been away from home?
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[And that's an important distinction, to her. All the same, she nods.]
Family vacations usually last a week at most, so I'm not in the habit of being away from home for nearly a month. Besides, those aren't on nearly the same level as this.
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Heh. The people in Cartesio need a vacation from Cartesio.
[Just saying. They're all just so distressed about everything. But more seriously:]
You miss your parents? Home?
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[It sounds lightly amused, too, but the question removes some of that from her voice. She pauses for a moment too long for it to be natural, before pushing the words out.]
Yeah, sure. I mean, basically anywhere beats being here, right?
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Home's never a good topic, seems like.
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Maybe that's what we all have in common. I've cracked the code.
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Want a bear trap as a prize?
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Yeah, of course. I absolutely want a bear trap, which I definitely have a use for. Mighty hunter, and all that.
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I keep one set by the door while I'm sleeping.
[HE IS 100% SERIOUS HERE, NATALIE.]
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[He kneels back down to start closing that box back up and get his room reorganized. He considers doing so in silence, but he's trying not to be so awkward, so after a moment he simply picks what they were talking about back up.]
We were planning to go back to Earth before I woke up here. I wanted to see it again, but... not like this.
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Not by having to do... What he wants you to do, you mean?