Benvingut al Meu Món

[Meira]

The clamor was almost deafening. Storage containers were being filled with pots and pans, their metal surfaces clanging together like symbols. Above the din voices shouted. Instructions were given in the mutt language, a combination of the old tongue and basic. It all ran together, making a sort of static that caused the muscles around her ears to tense and ache. Such a pain had a way of creeping down her neck to her shoulders and lingering for days at a time.

Hands groped at the wall as Roma pushed her weight down on her feet and lifted her body from where she sat on the ground. She could not stay here. Crates would soon be loaded onto dollies, and the pushers had no eyes for girls sitting on the ground. Roma scoffed. She was supposed to be the blind one... With one hand on the wall, the other swinging her walking stick in a slow arc before her, and a pack slung across her back that held her few worldly belongings, Roma moved away from the chaos of the food vendors in search of more quiet sectors of Junta Station.

Soon enough that would not be such a hard task. The Junta had been slowly winding down the past few days, but this morning, the end had begun in earnest. As much as her people looked forward to the Junta, the stars always called and they would soon be saing their goodbyes as happily as they'd said their hellos. If Roma didn't find a ship that would take her soon, she'd find herself mighty lonely.

But who would take her? Roma didn't need her eyes to know she was stared at. It was an amazing phenomenon... People noticed she was blind and somehow thought her to be deaf as well. Some tried to share their comments quietly with their companions when she would pass, but she heard them all the same. If anything, her blindness made their words seem louder. When one had something to look at, they could ignore their ears. Roma had nothing but darkness to see for the rest of her life.

The noise of the food vendors faded with the smell of their stalls. In spite of the chaos, Roma enjoyed the aromas of the different vendors. The air of that sector was always full of spicy dishes and sour wines. But Roma had more important things to think about than frijole soup. And so she let the sounds of gruff voices and the smells of engine grease lead her toward the docks. It had never failed to be a hassle, but she and Tanit would always eventually find passage on a trading ship when leaving the Junta. Tanit was dead, but that didn't change Roma's need to find a ship. Perhaps her blindness would help her. Pity could be a strong ally if wielded correctly.

She moved slowly but surely, sticking to the walls where she could. Her reputation, and the way she swung her walking stick usually gave her plenty of room to herself, granted that others used the eyes they were blessed to still have working and watched where they were going. But if Roma had learned anything in her short life, it was that people were stupid.

[Silas]

Why am I sad? Asked the crew member to himself.

No, not the crew member; not anymore--the outcast. That’s what he was now; left behind here upon this Junta with nothing to his name nor anyone to follow. Despite the fact that he might still be here had the last six months been a dream, and despite the fact that nothing had changed of his routine up to this point there was that ever present feeling. A feeling of abandonment. It crawled over him like the liquid movements of a serpent before it constricted and left a cold corpse in the wake of what had once been life. They had left him, forced him to leave, and demanded his departure yet still he had felt a great sorrow descend on him the moment his foot stepped off the ramp of that ship. Once upon a time it had been his ship. What right did they have to take away his ship; his home?

He was sad, though, and that was what left him angry now. Not that he was betrayed for he had gotten over that. Not that he’d been scorned by that woman for she had became a distant shadow in his past. Not even that he stood here now all alone as the galaxy turned apart from him. It was that he missed them despite the travesty they’d committed against him. It was his inability to be bitter against them. They had destroyed his life, however they simply followed what they were told, what their parents were told, and what they will tell their children. Not because it is right or wrong, but because that is what they know.

And to think--once I played their game he told himself as he lifted the small pack to his back. Two strings clung tightly to his chest as he totted the few possessions he had. Without money he’d not seen it fit to bring more than he could carry, and bartered the rest off for what little credits they might bring. It was a meagre amount he noted as he looked down, but it might be enough to get him somewhere. Some place he could start anew.

The Junta was almost over as the cacophony of people began to slowly settle like the falling dust on a barren road. Slowly they would all move out as they went back to their life, and he’d have to find someone that would take him before that day came. All by himself he felt like a moon surrounded by endless stars, yet all alone in the night as it only shined through the light of something greater than him. Now his sun had been taken away and he stood in the eclipse of that which blocked its view of him upon the space dock he’d come to know at such a small age. It was now he realised he’d never seen the warm glow of a moon at night, and he only knew the stark shimmer of the stars in the sky that now seemed so distant and cold.

With a sorrow thick in his voice he whispered in his thick accent, “and where am I to go--”

All he could think to do was take one step through this throng of people after another in a movement past those who packed their ship in preparation to leave. Off into that void that would see him his escape from the pain, the bad memories, and the stale feel to the air that felt like betrayal. It was a pang in his heart that had healed over, buts some scars would never heal.

“Sorry--erm we don’t have any more room on our ships,” One captain would tell him as he took coin from someone else, a clear ‘for the likes of you’ tacked on unspoken. The next would give a similar story once they inquired where he came from, or asked what his skills were. Some people were good liars, however if Pau attempted that it had always ended up badly, so he chose the truth as opposed to them suspecting treachery. An apprenticed captain didn’t have much home away from his ship it seemed, nor did he garner much pity from others.

Now he found himself wondering if he’d ever leave this place as his mind drifted off until he was snapped into the moment with one pivotal moment. The person caught him on the right arm as it pulled him back slightly.

Already slightly infuriated he turned on the figure as he shouted, “Oiy! Watch were you are going! Are you blin….”

For a moment it was the white of her scarred eyes that made him feel a wave of embarrassment wash over him like a cold bucket of water doused in his face. However, quickly enough this feeling moved from shame to an incredulous look that distorted his face. Of course she could not see him, however he had never expected to see her ever again in his life. A lot of her features had changed, she was older now with a look of what might be weariness about her, but her eyes were what made him shudder. Those beautiful eye he’d once seen. It shamed him to say it but he’d almost all but just forgotten what the colour they once were, but the scars made him shudder for a moment. How could she be here now. This woman he’d so long ago made himself forget…

Roma

[Meira]

The collision was sudden. Her right arm was wrenched backwards, sending the girl spinning. Her left hand lost its grip on her walking stick. The wood made dull thuds as it fell to the ground, the metal cup tied to the top clacking. Her feet froze the moment she lost the walking stick. She stood for a moment, arms outstretched slightly at her sides. With out the stick, she often felt disoriented. Suddenly what had been forward was left. Or was it behind her?

“Oiy! Watch were you are going!"

Roma turned her face toward the voice, which she assumed belonged to the one she'd collided with. By the tone, he was angry. By the pitch and the deepness, he sounded like a young man. Young and stupid, obviously. She lifted her head and scooped back the hood to reveal a face that might have once been pretty, but now was scarred. Eyes, milky white from scarring where once there had been a rich brown, stared blankly somewhere just to the man's left. Her jaw set off center, giving her whole expression an air of impatient disbelief.

"Are you blin….”

She let out a snort of laughter then. He was catching on now apparently. Slowly, she lowered herself to the ground and groped for her walking stick as she responded.

Yep. What's you're excuse? She let the words out with a hint of venom. Could he really blame her for their run in? It wasn't like she was running around like a crazy person.

The tips of her fingers bumped something on the ground. She groped farther and those fingers closed around smooth wood. She breathed in deeply and let the air out in a sigh of relief. Pulling the walking stick close to her, she ran her hands along it, checking for splinters or breaks. The cup was still tied to the top.

Turing the staff vertical, she used it to push herself back up off the ground. She stood for a moment, leaning on the walking stick with one hand on her hip. She tapped her foot on the ground and clacked her teeth together twice, impatient.

Well? She inquired of the space in front of her? She wasn't exactly facing the rude stranger, but rather had turned slightly to his left in the process of looking for her walking stick. She tapped her foot again. Oh, I'm sorry senyoreta. She said, using a mockingly low voice to imply what this man should be saying. I'll use my eyes next time, since, you know... I have a pair that work. She dropped the mocking voice and set her jaw back in that crooked way she used when she was frustrated.

[Silas]

“Yep. What's your excuse? “

There was malice in those words that held him inoperably to the spot he stood with a look of confusion wrapped up in his twisted looks. She seemed to be innocent the last time he looked upon her but now there was a hardened shell of what had once been and he felt some sympathy. Now that he stood here in the very shoes he had left her in there was a change of perspective for he knew what he had done was irredeemable. How could he ask for atonement now after so long for a decision that had decisively moved her life in a cold course? A shudder wracked his back as he tried to look at her, and he knew what he must do. Romarosa must not know who he is.

Are you really any different now than you were back then? He asked himself as he reeled back a couple steps to take what was given to him for a moment.

One step. That’s all he would have to take. To rid him of her and the guilt he bore for the past they had almost had he would only have to deviate one step from his original path. She’d think him no more than some asshole that had wasted her time as he moved along with his life. She’d watch him go wit…. No she wouldn’t watch him go. She might not even know he had left her till someone else came along to tell her that he’d gone off on his way. To tell her that she’d been abandoned once more. Could he do that?

At the very beginning he had been a bit skeptical as to if that was actually her, however, it was more than apparent now that she was the woman from his past. Whether to taunt him in his exile or perhaps the first omen along a never ending path that would be his future this woman was a ghost come to life. Can you kill a ghost? He turned his path, to walk away and forget all of this, then he stepped. Then again. And again. Away from her and the woe she had inspired but just as he was almost away he paused for he knew she would haunt him even if he left her. That guilt wouldn’t go away and the only way he might come to terms with it was to turn around now and face it.

On the heel of his foot he turned back around beaten by his own moral conscious that had gotten him into this mess in the first place. His voice cracked a bit as he told her, “I-I’m truly sorry ma’am--if I could be of any assistance.”

One hand tattooed with a Duinuogwuin that twisted from hand to shoulder scrubbed his fingers through his slightly longer brown hair. Be grudgingly he asked aloud, “And—are you...is your name Romarosa by any chance?” The question was followed by him biting his lip for part of him hoped she said no. Part of him wanted this all to be one giant mistake that he could laugh about in the future. Part of him knew it wasn’t though. All he wanted to do was scream at her right then to leave him alone, but he couldn’t.

[Meira]

She waited. Waited... waited some more. Was it really so hard? Three words. Two if one chose to use the contraction. "I'm sorry". Would it hurt that much? Apparently. Though the commotion of the Humani preparing to depart Junta Station filled the air, the lack of noise coming from one specific spot was so obvious the man might as well have been yelling "I DON'T GIVE A WOMP RAT'S BEHIND ABOUT YOU!" She thought, for a moment, that she might prefer that to nothing at all.

Then she heard what she thought was a foot step. Under the din, it was hard to tell. There were many feet moving all around them. Then she heard it again, just a fraction fainter. She turned her head, angling to hear better. When she heard the third, she shook her head in disgust. Coward. She mumbled to herself.

“I-I’m truly sorry ma’am--if I could be of any assistance.”

Roma gave a snort of laughter at that. She shook her head, the tiny trinkets in her hair giving a slight jingle at the sound. Forget it, bub. She said, aiming and incredulant look in what she thought was the man's direction. I don't need your help. I'm not broken, alright? Just watch where your stupid feet are taking you, eh?

She turned to leave. The foot of her walking stick out in front of her, feeling the ground for any changes that would come under her feet. She needed to find a ship. Ships were easier to remember. She could get her space and learn it. Then she wouldn't have to worry about stupid people. She could just relax and...

“And—are you...is your name Romarosa by any chance?”

She stopped before she could even take a step. So that was it. That was why the fool stammered. It was why he almost ran away. He'd figured her to be the infamously unlucky Ispi Girl. Her reputation had somewhat faded among the Humani during her apprentice years. People forgot about the little girl that brought bad luck where ever she went, the girl that killed her mother and a ship captain just by being alive.

She and Tanit had stayed well away from the main throngs of the Humani after the last Junta. They'd upset the Vident Council. Those old crones had no real power of course, but they had influence. So they'd traveled with the farthest flung Humani vessels. The smaller ones tended to care less. They spent more time among the estrani, who didn't care at all who Roma was. But of course, it would be inevitable that, upon return to the Junta, the Ispi Girl would be brought back to mind.

She turned back, planting both feet firmly to the ground. She swung her walking staff up so that it lay across her shoulders arms draped over it on either side at her wrists. Her jaw set crooked again for a moment as she took a breath. What if it is, huh? Are you scared the Ispi Girl rubbed some of her mala sort off on you when you bumped her? She took a step forward. Are you gonna run to some hag vident now and beg her to give you a bowl, or a cup? Yes. My name is Romarosa Olibarres Ispi deFe. But I've got enough on my plate without having to deal with stupid, supersticious.... ugh!

She turned, the walking stick swinging in an arc around her as she brought it back to the ground before her. One step, two, three. She'd forget the man as soon as she found a ship and could settle down. He was just another idiot. There were so many in the galaxy.

[Silas]

She was angry? The thought was both absurd and uncalled for on her part. All he had wanted to do was simply offer her some support and in return she lashes out at him for no particular reason. For a second he couldn’t remember why he had even offered her assistance even going so far as to consider pushing her down once more for the verbal scowled he had gotten simply because she couldn’t actually scowl him. This woman had obviously changed quite a bit since they had moved on after that one Junta so long ago; what had happened to the girl he’d found there that one night? It was could be called tragedy that such innocence had been spoiled conceived in the way he had spurned her so long ago. Now those scars he had made. No, the scars her life had made on her from the very beginning of her life. The scars that ran much deeper than the ones that surrounded her eyes.

And yet in all this he could only find one emotion to display at here; anger that might match what she would give him to such a point that he could hardly even find a response for her respite. Instead he simple looked at her incredulously for a moment as he tottered between wanting to punch her square in that nose of hers, and wanting to continue on his way. That was he could forget this woman, her problems, and all that she had forced upon him.

“Are you scared the Ispi Girl rubbed some of her mala sort…” Even as the words came from her voice he could feel his scathing anger turn to a sort of hate. It was one thing to simply deny him of assistance because he had just lashed out at her, however her ability to make him angry already impressed him.

When she turned around he simply looked at the back of her head in utter disbelief for what he had just witnessed. He was the one that superstitious?

As her feet took her a couple steps he reached to grab her should as he told her rather brusquely, “Hey. If you want to whine to me, maybe you should get your facts straight first. Maybe you aren’t the only frakking person in the galaxy who has problems out there. And--and those stupid superstitious people, you’re just like them. You can’t see past your own beliefs to really assess the situation.” He told her hoping that he’d strike some sort of nerve, “Perhaps I knew you as a child and I wanted to get caught up, or maybe I wanted to have dinner with you. I don’t give two nutss about your mala sort and I don’t give a frak about you, either!”

One hand emblazoned with the Duinuogwuin upon it scrubbed through his dark hair as he considered what to do next. She had angered him to the point that he couldn’t justify just standing there, nor could he bring himself to walk away from what he had started.

“Women,” He muttered to himself as he stood there just inches from her face with his emotions plainly plastered on his face.

[Meira]

The moment she felt the hand on her shoulder, the walking stick swished through the air in an attempt to strike the arm and remove the offending hand from her person. She wheeled about as the man spoke. What sort of idiot was he that he couldn't understand when a conversation was over? She thought she'd made it very clear when she turned away. Apparently not.

I can't.... SEE past my own situation!?Roma was practically yelling as she stepped back toward the idiot. And she didn't stop with one step. She pushed forward, not caring if she stepped on his feet, or hit him with the stick as she gestured wildly with her arms.

I guess I didn't make it clear enough. Let me go a little slower. She stopped and waved her hand in front of her face, her eyes completely unresponsive. I'M. BLIND. I CAN'T SEE PAST ANY SITUATION!

“Perhaps I knew you as a child and I wanted to get caught up, or maybe I wanted to have dinner with you."

HA! that statement sent a wave of laughter through her that Roma doubled over for a moment. She didn't even hear the next sentence. After the sudden burst of giggles subsided, she shook her head and heaved a sigh. Oh, you must not know me at all buddy! Ain't nobody that knew me as a child cares to talk to me now... let alone take me out to gorram dinner! She broke out into another fit of giggles at the absurdity of it. Anyone that had ever shown even the slightest bit of care for her was now dead.

“Women,” She barely heard the mumbled word. She snorted. His voice had sounded upset. What right did he have to that. She curled her nose in distain.

Boys... She retaliated.