From jillyharris@triton.net Sat Feb 8 13:44:56 2003 Date: Sun, 23 Jun 2002 00:37:43 -0400 From: Jilly Harris To: Cantina Subject: FoE Role-Play: Amicizia [ The following text is in the "iso-8859-1" character set. ] [ Your display is set for the "US-ASCII" character set. ] [ Some characters may be displayed incorrectly. ] Important Role-Play here! Amicizia by Jilly Harris, April Randall and Renee Gunn (Note: This takes place a day or two after Midalah's rescue on Nebula but before Midalah remembering all that had occured) Midalah walked outside and shook her head at the mess that was once a garden. She looked at the ship and walked towards it. M'lissa followed Midalah and frowned at the sight that beheld them. She could still remember the garden as it once was and the memories it holds are numerous. She watched Midalah and brushed her fingers along some of the broken roses. Midalah sighed as she walked towards the Shadow Phoenix to seek out Lon. Midalah stepped closer to the ship. "Lon? Are you in there?" she called. M'lissa glanced over at the ship as she moved in and out of the damaged plants. Mia turned at the sound of a voice calling for Lon. Where had he gone? She stood up and made her way to the exit. Midalah glanced at M^̉lissa with a raised eyebrow. "Lon?" she called again. M'lissa looked and shrugged as she picked one of the undamaged flowers and walked over towards her. "Perhaps he's inside the palace?" Mia appeared at the hatch then and looked back and forth between the two strange women that were there. M'lissa raised a brow as she looked at Midalah. Midalah nodded and raised her eyebrow more as she looked at the girl in Lon's ship. She swallowed as a flash of jealousy coursed through her. "I'm looking for Lon Solo, is he in there?" she asked. Mia looked around. "I thought he was out here, working on repairing his ship. He's gone?" Mia took one more look at the two women. She tried not to stare at the one with white hair and white eyes. Midalah tilted her head to the side. "You must be Mia," she said, trying not to sound harsh at all. M'lissa watched Midalah feeling the jealousy. She could sense the tension in the air. She smiled softly at the young female pilot. "That's right," Mia said after a moment. "How did you know me?" "Lon mentioned you to me," Midalah said with a slightly tight smile. "You must be the woman that demolished my gardens." She looked around then and grinned slightly at her. M'lissa looked, "Nearly completely." Mia managed a small, somewhat fake smile. "You must be Midalah, then." For some reason she was surprised the queen was still wearing a crown after all that had happened to her. Midalah nodded. "Yes, I am Midalah," she said. "Thank you by the way for all you did for my planet." Mia gave a small respectful nod, feeling a little relief that the queen wasn't angry with her for the damage she'd done. "You can thank Tara Alderson for hiring me." M'lissa watched fiddling with the flower thinking calm thoughts as she felt Midalah's uncertainty and slight jealousy towards the girl. Midalah smiled genuinely for the first time. "Ah yes," she said. "Tara always seems to look out for my interests. Though they run with her own, therefore she is protecting her own as well." "That's usually the way things go with people in this line of work." Mia kept her voice indifferent. "Mmm," Midalah said with a nod. She tried to look her over without being obvious about it. Sizing her up in a manner of speaking. "Tell me, would you be interested in a job? Or rather a number of jobs?" M'lissa watched trying to gauge the expressions. It was something she had to learn if she was going to be senator at some point. Mia raised an eyebrow her curiosity peaked. "What do you mean?" "I'd like to offer you an exclusive contract to Nebula for jobs," Midalah said. "First choice." Staring at the queen, Mia tried to hide how surprised -- and pleased -- she was. "You don't even know me," she pointed out. "Why are you asking? How do you know you can trust me?" "Because even though Tara hired you, there aren^̉t many people who are trustworthy enough who would risk their lives the way you did," Midalah said. M'lissa looked, "Plus you're talented." Midalah nodded. "Those two traits are not often found in one person," she said. Mia found herself more surprised than she had been in a long time. What good stroke of luck had brought her to Nebula? "Thank you," she said sincerely. "You're welcome," Midalah said. "When I'm hired to do a job, I don't back off when things get tough. Although I have to admit I wasn't expecting to face an entire armada," she gave them a small smile. Midalah lifted one corner of her mouth. "Believe me when I say usually we don't have that kind of welcoming party," she said. Mia looked down for a moment. "Even if that is true, I can't accept your offer. That's not the way I operate. I run my own smuggling company off of a ship." M'lissa watched for Midalah's reaction. She new it wasn^̉t the answer she wanted. "Would you be interested in any jobs as they came up?" Midalah asked. Mia studied the queen carefully. "I think that would be mutually beneficial for both of us." M'lissa smiled, it would be a good arrangement. Not the one they originally intended, but still beneficial Midalah nodded. "I'm also offering you a house on the planet," she said. "Whenever you feel the need to rest, you have somewhere to go other than a ship." The queen had something up her sleeve but Mia couldn't tell exactly what it was. "That's very hospitable of you," she said, trying to get her to reveal her plan. M'lissa watched Midalah surprised that she'd given her a house on the planet with the feelings that she was sensing. Midalah watched the other woman. "I hope you'll be willing to take advantage of that," she said. "Think of it as a thank you for all you did." "That's a very big thank you," Mia pointed out. "But I accept." Midalah smiled. "You'll just need to let me know how I'll be able to get a hold of you for jobs when they come up," she said. "You can contact my ship, the Parallax. Or you could always ask Lon to get a hold of me, he knows how." Mia paused. "You do know Lon pretty well, don't you?" M'lissa bit her lip as Lon's name was mentioned. //Calm. Breathe. Count to ten.// Midalah straightened and her eyebrow almost disappeared into her hairline. Her voice was hard as she spoke. "Yes, as a matter of fact, I do." M'lissa looked at the flower in her hand thinking, //Here it comes.// Mia decided to drop the subject quickly, realizing she'd just stumbled into a hornet's nest. For whatever reason Queen Midalah was angry with Lon, Mia wasn't going to get involved. Midalah's jaw tensed as she forced herself to calm down. She knew Lon probably felt some sort of negative emotion from her, wherever he was, and she didn't want him to question her about it. It was a talk she wasn't ready to have with him just yet. "You can transmit any information as well to the palace at any time," she said. M'lissa hummed softly as she stepped back a bit to pick another flower. Mia nodded. "I'll keep a comm frequency open for you to contact me. If I'm available at the time, we'll make it a deal." Midalah nodded. "All right," she said. "And if you ever need anything, feel free to contact me." "I will," Mia gave a small smile. "Thank you for the offer." M'lissa smiled watching the two women. This might work out to be an interesting alliance. Mia stepped back into the ship. "I've got to get back to Port Lansing soon. Thank you again, Queen Midalah." Midalah stepped back. "Perhaps. I'll leave you to whatever it is you and Lon are doing," she said. There was still a slight edge to her voice. "And you are welcome." M'lissa watched her concerned for her friend and the emotions she was sensing. "Oh, Lon was just making repairs," Mia said with a small laugh. "You know, damages I made to his ship during the firefight. Nothing exciting." Another muscle jumped in Midalah's jaw but she smiled weakly, suddenly very tired. "Yes, I'm sure his ship took a lot of damage," she said. "But better his ship than you." M'lissa continued to observe as she studied one of the plants to examine the extent of damage to it. "You know, he said the same thing about you," Mia said. "I asked if you were safe and he said ships can be replaced, but that you would be fine." Midalah looked at her surprised. "He... he did?" M'lissa smiled at the comment. She knew that was what Midalah needed to hear. "That's what he said," Mia reaffirmed simply. She jerked her thumb behind her. "Look, I've got to get back in there and at least try to help Lon with repairs." Midalah sighed wearily. Her emotions were running rampant in every direction. "Well, when you go back in and speak with him, please let him know I came by?" she asked. "He's not on the ship," Mia clarified. "At least, I don't think he is. Last time I saw him he was heading outside to check the hull. But I'll give him your message." Midalah nodded. "Thank you," she said. She suddenly felt far older than her twenty-two years. With the queen's white eyes, it was hard to read her expression. Mia nodded once more and then stepped back into the ship. M'lissa watched Mia go and looked to her friend, waiting to see what she would do. Midalah looked at M'lissa. "Let's survey the rest of the damage before we head back into the palace," she murmured. M'lissa nodded. "A large number of the plants have been destroyed. Some are damaged but might survive with care, others have miraculously survived." Midalah nodded as they walked away from the ship towards the palace. Midalah made her way into the quarters, a distant look on her face. Emotions ran rampant through her. M'lissa followed her, "She'll be a good ally to have." "Mmmhmmm," Midalah said almost absently as she took the crown off of her head and set it on her vanity table. M'lissa looked, "So why are you jealous of her?" Midalah raised her eyebrow at her as she looked at her. "Why do you think I am?" M'lissa looked at her, "I don't know... just... feel it." Midalah sighed. She was afraid of that. "I can't explain it," she said. "But I feel it." M'lissa looked at her and leaned against the window. "You think of her as a threat?" "I honestly don't know," Midalah said. "This is such a new feeling for me. I need to control it." "To control it, wouldn't you have to understand it first?" M'lissa watched her. "I'd rather control it," Midalah said. "Jealousy leads to the dark side." M'lissa pushed the window open to let some air in. "Why did you give her a place here if you feel threatened by her?" "She deserves it," Midalah said. "And you can keep an eye on her." Midalah looked. "Perhaps," she said. M'lissa raised a brow and looked at her. "Perhaps? You're jealous because of her closeness to Lon." "I suppose," Midalah said. M'lissa raised a brow. "Midalah. You can't control your jealousy if you don't face it." "And I can't let it take me over either." M'lissa looked, "If you accept it, then you can learn to live with it.... denying it won't make it go away." "I never said I was denying it." M'lissa looked, "Then you're jealous of her because of Lon. There's no other reason for it." "I can't help how it makes me feel M'lissa, no matter how unwarranted it may be." M'lissa looked, "I never said it was unwarranted. You have the right to feel jealous. If it were Rand, I'd have felt the same way. You're hiring her to perform tasks for you if she chooses to accept. Yes?" "Yes," "Then why not send her or ask her if she will accept, on a mission, away from Lon. A mission where you could keep an eye on her?" "I don't know yet," Midalah said. M'lissa looked and sighed. "Right." Midalah sighed. M'lissa looked at her. "Whatever you decide to do, you should do it quickly." Midalah nodded. "I know." M'lissa looked, "Why not talk to her again." "That's a possibility I hadn't considered." M'lissa looked. "Talk to her again, but not about business?" Midalah nodded. M'lissa looked. "Why don't I leave you to your thoughts. I want to tend to the gardens. There are some plants I wish to attempt to heal." Midalah nodded. "Thank you, I'm going to meditate," she said. "I've been laxing in that of late." M'lissa nodded. "I suppose that's something I should learn to do." "It could be beneficial." M'lissa looked. "Stop all the little voices in my head from going off at once." She grinned. Midalah grinned at her. M'lissa smiled. "If you need me. I'll be in the gardens... Remembering." Midalah nodded. M'lissa walked out of the room, shutting the doors behind her quietly. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ TRANSMISSION FROM: Jilly Harris TO: The FoE Role-Play list Remember: Please send all non-Role-Play to the General Club list foe@deathstar.org If you have any problems or questions, please send them to: cantina-owner@deathstar.org