Vigdis buried her face in her hands in resignation when Ixtaro took a bite of the bread, her mind drawing up the good doctor’s character sheet. High intelligence, above-average charisma. Wisdom was a three. Let’s hope the bread was edible or that she hadn’t dumped her constitution either. [color=00AEFF]”Stomach pump on standby…? How does it taste, doctor?”[/color]

[color=00AEFF]”Oookay, you two need to calm down. Nellara, we’re aware of what he’s doing, and I doubt your motives are as pure as you claim. That’s fine, it’s only natural to desire profit. But like the Ascendancy as we’re told, most of our societies have moved past religious and noble titles, so they mean little to us either beyond being respectful to foreign cultures, and we’ve generally come to see the peaceful resolution to problems as the preferable one, so [i]whichever side casts the first stone will not win much favor with us[/i].”[/color] She addressed Nellara and Silbermine at the same time, hopefully making that clear by pointing at them both. At least she was suspicious of Nellara’s claims, she couldn’t speak for anyone else. Which was her next point. [color=00AEFF]”Just wait for our commander, so she can… here she is, wonderful.”[/color]

Vigdis had come out here to test a hypothesis and get to know people, diplomacy was above her pay and past her tolerance for bullshit. She was more than happy to leave the actual dealings to someone else, only interjecting when Zey said her piece. [color=00AEFF]”Maybe let’s hang onto those metals, Captain. Especially those the locals [i]can’t make[/i], because that’s the [i]entire supply[/i] available to us, we don’t know for sure how much we’ll need ourselves, there’s always hidden problems that could crop up later.”[/color] Remembering their interaction from four days ago, Vigdis phrased it as a suggestion, even though a voice in her mind was saying it in a completely different tone. Still, she was relieved to see Zey wasn’t just nodding to whatever the locals were saying. Appeasement never worked.

But with the Captain present, Vigdis took a step back, subconsciously toward Kareet, the only person present beside the Captain who so far hasn’t said anything stupid. Maybe Shirik, the tree man hadn’t said much at all. [color=00AEFF]”I’m so glad I chose to become an Engineer and not a diplomat. Imagine if this was your job, no thank you.”[/color]