[quote=@Starlance]
“You should've asked that [i]before[/i] you took a swig." she laughed, greatly amused by her comrade's reaction. "Because it looks like a mix of reactor coolant and spent fuel to me, no offense Orky. What did it taste like?"
[/quote]

Eldrid queasily lifted up his head and smiled. Well, he certainly wasn't going to be looking forward to when that stuff came back out now thanks to Orky's warning, but he grinned all the same. "Come now. I finally have a safety net, the [i]privilege[/i] of being pleasantly surprised, what's the point of that if I don't exorcise it in leisurely moments like this?" He looked warily back down at the liquor. "Though maybe I should exorcise that atrophied emotion a little less strenuously in the future. It tasted like it was biting my tongue."

As the robot, Legion, came around and placed food in front of all of them and dutifully refilled his now emptied cup with something that wasn't quite as strong Eldrid watched Kelan and his...partner in fascination. Yes, partner was the right word for it. "I didn't think that was possible." he said, taking out his omni-tool and typing out some observations on the strange pair. That had the makings of main character. "Though, then again, the Ascendancy never really bothered us with how to interact with [i]friendly[/i] aliens."

[quote=@Letter Bee]
She then looked at Eldrid; her next words were, "Wait, you're Eldrid Cole?! I [i]loved[/i] Starless Space! But wait, they said you were dead!"
[/quote]

Eldrid laughed scornfully. "Yes, I think they put me down to being lost in a freak mudslide." he said, not looking up from his notes. He finished Khelen and started on Orky. It wasn't every day you met a real, honest to god orc in real life. He spoke casually and dismissively, as though he were critiquing the hackneyed plot of an airport paperback instead of describing his own life. "Not really a lie. I got an invitation to a...it's been years now, god, it was called... can't remember. Some sort of young artists creative retreat sponsored by The Sunshine Foundation. A summer camp deal. A month of s'mores and workshops and mingling with other kids like you while appreciating the splendor of nature. It was supposed to inspire us to incorporate the beauty of the Earth into our work. For about two weeks that's what it was, just long enough for us to get the letters home. Then they swooped in, picked up the lot of us, and collapsed a whole mountain on the campground. As far as symbolism goes it was effectively the burial of our old lives."

Orky's backstory, however, had inspired what was perhaps a more understandable reaction. Eldrid watched him stare at Stella, or through Stella, before he calmed down. "What Stella said, don't worry about it. God knows we've all be there. This is a ship full on kindred spirits, eh Stella?" He said, trying to reinvigorate the festive mood. He picked up his cup and put it to his lips, sipping before staring at the cup in amazement. "I can still taste the liquor. Uncanny."

Meanwhile, under the table, he curled back the two fingers he had pointed directly at Orky from the moment he'd gotten that frightful look on his face.