Aaaand the talks were already deteriorating, despite the fact she stayed silent and as inoffensive-looking as she could and let the people-person do the talking. This Holy Vei looked to have been sanctified via inserting a long, blessed object somewhere it shouldn’t be, because that would explain the stick up her arse. Not that Astrid hadn’t expected someone with the word ‘Holy’ in their title not to be so arrogant she might as well have been French. But perhaps worst of all, she wasn’t even completely wrong, and Astrid had to bite her cheek lest she’d say something about a prison colony in a stereotypical Australian accent.

Seeing Francesca briefly whispering something to the Captain, Astrid used the time to speak up, for one to try and mask the crew’s internal communication a bit and because she wanted to test something. “Exploration has been driven by more than just expansion. Columbus sailed West because he was sick of wasting time sailing around Africa, and Magellan sailed South because Columbus got lost. The Chinese crossed the entire continent along the Silk Road to trade. And let’s not forget the United States sending men to lady Luna of all places to stick it to the Chinese.” That last one was purposefully incorrect, as Astrid wanted to see if Vei would catch it or not. And with that done and Francesca again taking point, Astrid returned to being silent and inoffensive looking again, trying to think of a good way to weasel out of Vei linking her choice of attire and her point of exploring to conquer.