[h3] Mark A. Lopez[/h3]

[quote=@Bingelly]
[h3]Vitiafa of Endiohon[/h3]
[hr]

"Sol is a beacon." The priestess began before Ren once more inserted herself. She let herself be interrupted

Vitiafa watched as the two other women interacted. A maelstrom of emotions flowed from the the younger Kiel, but the elder remained silent. It was better to let the infection drain from the agonizingly fresh wounds than to let Ren's concerns turn septic. Vitiafa expected the outburst, of course, now the crew had moments to stop and breath. She had to let them do so. 

The clinking of glasses, however, covered a quick glance down at one of the rings on her hands. A simple silver band, a rosy crystal sat entombed in its setting in the center of of the band. The light caught it and it refracted through the cuts in a mirror of the emotions in the room. Her heartbeat quickened with all the intensity of a child jolting back from a shock. With a blink and a breath, however, the water was calmed and the ship was steadied.

"May traveler guide you to your pool, Reenneesuash, though preferably before he guides us to Sol." She stifled a laugh after a sip of her tea. "Though I used to swim in rivers and lakes when I was younger. It was calming, in the water. I'd walk out just far enough to where I could float and I would meditate. To listen to the birds, and the fish, and the amphibians was renewing. I never did care for the rush of Eden, or the cities on the colonies."


[/quote]

Mark didn’t announce himself right away. He leaned against the bulkhead just outside the room, catching the tail end of Vitiafa’s words. Rivers, lakes, meditation, listening to birds. For a second he just stood there, arms crossed, brow slightly raised.

He let out a quiet breath through his nose.

“Yeah… alright.”

There was something about the way she said it. The Kiel was so calm and steady, like none of this was falling apart around them. He didn’t buy into the whole spiritual angle, not really. Back where he grew up, if something broke, you fixed it and if you couldn’t fix it, you worked around it. There were no prayers involved.

Still… he got the point, some people preferred to rely on such things. He pushed off the wall and stepped in, making his presence known.

“Water helps,” he said, “Back on Shinar, we had irrigation canals running through most of the fields. Not exactly scenic rivers or anything, but on hot days, you’d sit by them, and splash a bit when others weren't looking.”

He glanced between the two of them, then gave a small nod toward Vitiafa.

“Not much for the whole ‘listen to the universe’ thing,” he added, a faint smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth, “but I get it.”

Mark rested his waist against the edge of the table.

“I grew up on a farm world. Whole place ran on crops and machinery that’s older than most of the people working it. Most folks were fine with that but I wasn’t. I used to tear into anything I could get my hands on. Engines, loaders, old harvest rigs. Drove my old man crazy.” A faint exhale, almost a chuckle, “EDF was my way out. Signed up the second I could.”

He tapped his prosthetic lightly against the table without thinking, "I ended up doing field repairs. Though I still saw combat, and this was the result of one such case.”

A short pause.

“Now that I'm here and with all the resources available I've been thinking on stuff I can make that could take some of the load off all of us," Mark shook his head as if reminiscing, "now that we're probably the last of Eden, mine as well find ways to stay busy..." 

Mark looked back at them, “I don’t really care if Sol’s a beacon, myth, or just a direction on a map.” He gestured vaguely, “It’s something to move toward. That’s enough.”