Engine curiosity

Posted on Tue Jun 9th, 2020 @ 7:22am by Alison Bliss & Noah-Jade True

Mission: Fortune & Glory
Location: Aboard the Fortune's Echo
Timeline: About 6 months ago

Alison walked toward the aft. Dressed in tight fitting jeans and cut t-shirt to expose her midriff, she had was unarmed, except of the heavy boots. Since Noah started working on the ship, things began to improve at much faster rate. He certainly was a good mechanic, which they needed, considering Alden was capable to do basics and she could do even less. She felt like saying that to him.

Alison stopped in the entrance and leaned against the bulkhead.
“Hey.” She waved softly before she crossed her hands holding her elbows. “How are things here?”

"Oh," Noah said, not bothering to hide a bit of honest surprise at another person near the engine. It had been surprising quiet here, with the parrot still asleep in a cage beside his bed. Today he was a bit more messy than usual; with various stains and grime on his hands and clothes. Such was life. Noah wasn't a messy person - especially not after growing up with high standards on appearance - but it wasn't worth cleaning up just to continue working on the engine. If only ships weren't so messy!

"Things are good, good..." Noah shrugged. "Honestly I'd say this ship is better off than it looks. Which still isn't great, but we'll take what we can." Not that the ships condition bothered Noah - if it was good, well, great, but if it was bad... job security. Though he didn't know why Alison would be checking in on him. To be fair, he knew he was fairly clueless when it came to social situations. Did he miss a meal again? Was his bird bothering somebody? Did the captain send for him? The engineer looked at Alison as if expecting an answer.

Alison raised one hand briefly in calming gesture.
"Sorry to startle you." She said softly. "I am here just for a friendly check up." She said reassuringly. "And maybe a chit chat if you are up for it."

She could sense that Noah seemed to be clueless why she was here. To be honest, she wasn't really sure. At least not sure how to tackle the oddity she read about him.
"So, how do you know Alden?"

"Be my guest," Noah with another shrug, motioning with his arms for her to enter the engine room. He didn't hold the gesture long before looking back towards the spot he was working on in the ship; a panel was pulled off the wall, exposing a series of wires and fuses underneath. To be honest, he was only halfway concerned with continuing his work. A part of him just wanted something to busy his hands and eyes while he talked with Alison. He was never sure what to do with his hands when speaking or where to look at people - looking them in the eyes for more than a few moments just felt wrong - so he had gotten in the habit of almost always holding something. Half the time that something was his bird. It wasn't a lack of confidence that prompted this though - at least not anyway. Maybe when he was younger, when he picked up this habit, he had been a less confident person.

Noah thought for a moment how to answer the XO's question, pulling one of the wires out and stripping off the insulation so as not to seem inactive. Should he mention that he knew Alden's old lover? Then again, that would tie him to the Alliance, and, well, he wasn't quite sure this lady knew about Anouk. It wasn't his place to tell about somebody else's past. Most the ways he thought of introducing himself without seeming too vague tied him to the Alliance as well. Maybe he should just deal with it? Lying never suit him. Though he still wouldn't mention Anouk; that information wasn't necessary. "I was the mechanic of the ship that captured Alden during the War. I never really supported the Alliance's cause though. I was always kind to Alden, and I left the Alliance behind soon after that." Was it really that soon? It was less than a year, sure, but the way he said it implied cause. He didn't leave because he saw how they treated Alden and Anouk. He left because he was a coward.

"I'd appreciate you not spreading that story too much, by the way," Noah added, putting the wire back into a slot and using a screwdriver to secure it in. "Some folk find it hard to look past my old career." To be truthful, he wasn't sure Alison wasn't one of those folk who'd overlook his time in the Alliance. But if he just spoke nicely of her and assumed trust, he might guilt her into becoming one of them.

"And now it's your turn to share." He asked with a dry tone, made even more noticeable by his Core-world accent, taking out a second wire. "How did you meet Alden?"

Alison bounced off the entrance and entered deeper into the engine room. She gave the room glance over double-checking what changed since her last visit here. She could sense Noah’s… awkwardness. She wasn’t sure exactly what it was. Noticing what he was working on, she took a position allowing him to continue. Maybe a distraction of continuing the work would make things more natural for him.

Alison listened as he spoke of Alden and his Alliance past. She noticed that Noah was choosing his words carefully. No doubt, there was more than he was sharing. Few years back, Alison would be upset finding out he was in Alliance. But today… she put that behind. To a degree.
“Dahn rahn...” She said softly on the Noah’s request.

“Alden and I? We served on the same ship, and then moved together on another one. And after some time, saving each other lives couple times, I guess we decided we work better together than separate.” Alison said with a giggle. She liked Alden a lot. There was potential for more but they never explored it. “So… how a mechanic gets involved with a prisoner?” She deciding she was not going to let Noah off the hook that easy.

Was she a browncoat then? Noah wondered about their past. And were they a couple? The engineer frowned, just slightly in thought. Then he shrugged as the woman moved on to her next question. "We were stuck in the same ship together. I'd come down to the brig to let my bird stretch his wings; it was about the emptiest room in the ship. Of course we ended up talking." In this, at least, he was being perfectly honest. It's not like he hid in the engine room all the time, especially not when the ship wasn't having issues. He didn't mention how vague her answer was. "He didn't mention me?" He asked with a slight chuckle. Of course he didn't expect Alden to mention a random mechanic acquaintance, but then again, it might've come up. Maybe Alden was talking about birds or something at one point.

"He did mention a mechanic, just never by name." Alison said. "So that is why I am here, curious, and trying to fill in the blanks."

It started look like an interrogation. She was asking, he wasn't really answering, which in turn made her suspicious and ask more. Alison sighed. There were few explanations to that and the most obvious, he was afraid that she was on the Independents side while he likely fought on the Alliance side.
"Listen, Noah..." She said softly. "I fought in the war on the losing side. It was a long time ago and it is time to move on. If you want to come clean about the war, now is your chance. Let's clear the air and move on." She suggested.

Noah frowned. His tone and posture changed to slightly defensive, where it had been very relaxed before, as he cut another wire. What was this, an interrogation? Was this why she had come down here? Had she distrusted him this whole time... or had the captain sent her to do this, on his behalf. "I already told you that I worked for the Alliance. I've got nothing to come clean about. I never fought, never killed anyone," to Noah, nothing was worse than killing, however justified, because each person's own narrative was the most beautiful thing, "I just worked in the engine room all the time. I never wanted to be in a war. I never wanted this war to happen in the first place." He stripped he wire down as he spoke, letting the little colorful pieces of insulation fall to the floor.

Alison signed and lowered her head slightly, looking down on the floor for a longer moment. This discussion was not going the way she wanted. Maybe… it probably was on her that it went this way. She combed her blonde hairs slowly.
“I am sorry. I didn’t want come on hard.” She said quietly, looking back at Noah again. “To be honest, I wanted to know you more. And I wanted to ask about the…” She hesitated not sure how to tackle what she had in mind. “…the vibe I get from you. There is something feminine about you and in the sense I haven’t seen for a while.”

Noah shrugged, seeming to relax a little bit. So this wasn't an interrogation after all... or if it was, it wasn't quite so urgent a one that they'd eschew all notions of social conduct. Normally Noah was the one doing most of the asking when he got into longer conversations with folk. At least now he knew for certain she had been an Independent. For a moment he wondered if she and Alden had met in the war... but that didn't entirely line up. If they did, it was probably after Anuok had gone away. Then again, what did Noah know.

"If I seem feminine to you it's probably because you assumed I'm a man," the engineer said simply, replacing the second wire back into the circuit box.

“I didn’t assume you are a man. If I did, I wouldn’t be here asking about it.” Alison grinned friendly. “You do seem more masculine than feminine but I have my doubts, so here I am really. From your words, I can guess you are not identifying yourself as a man… right?”

Noah paused, glancing over towards Alison. "My apologies then," he shrugged. That was about the most of an apology as anybody would ever get out of the engineer, and he quickly stepped over it. "You are correct. I'm agender." He responded simply, looking back towards the circuit box. It was nice to know that somebody hadn't immediately assumed he was a man. It brought some warmth to his heart, and he almost felt bad that he had assumed otherwise. He was fully aware that he seemed more masculine than feminine, and he didn't think it was worth the effort to try to look otherwise, so he had gotten used to people just thinking he was a guy.

"Is that the reason for the second name? Jade?" Alison asked curiously. Looking at the person before her... she decided he was more he than she so it naturally slipped in her mind to treat him more masculine. Still, now when he explained it, it made more sense and the extra, not fitting bit, settled down for her for a full picture. It wasn't often she was running into people like Noah. For her, a former companion, and a courtesan... this was just another aspect of life, to which she had no particular feelings. "Should I call you Noah-Jade? By your full name?"

Noah shrugged. That seemed to be his default reaction. "I was going to change my name to Jade, but, well, life happened. You can call me whatever you want." Then he closed up the circuit box, reading over the notes he had tapped to the front of it, written in a mixture of chinese and arabic numerals. "After all, to me names are for other folk to know what to call me. Not for myself. Whatever you remember me best by is the name I want you to use. Don't worry about what I want - I'm happy as it is."

"And what do you want?" Alison asked curiously. It was an opening that she was obviously going to ask about. Noah was the crew, she was interested in his wants.

"Call me Noah-Jade, I guess," the engineer shrugged yet again. After all, it was what he was used to. The name Jade sort of lost its charm, now tainted with memories of Paul's death. He still liked the name, just, well, his thoughts about it were complicated. He wasn't sure he wanted it to be his only name. "Didn't you ever wish to change your name? Maybe as a kid, wishing it were something cooler, or I don't know."

Alison grinned mischievously.
"I went through name changing a lot." She said lightly but decided not to dwell on details here. "Part of the life I was living. But I came back to my original name. I like Alison. It somewhat feel best suiting me." She softly shrugged. "Though I did change the surname... to make sure that no one will trace it back to people I grew up with. As someone on the losing side in the war, I got some attention and I am sure there are a few people willing to hurt people from my past to get to me."

"That's reasonable." Now Noah was curious about what her actual last name might be... then again... did he even know he fake last name? Once again, he was reminded just how bad with names he was. "I wear my last name out of spite. My family kicked me out, disowned me, but they can't take my name. I'm sure their rich, stuck-up asses are just delighted to know that somebody bearing their surname is out here working on the engine of an old Firefly."

Alison nodded slightly. She could sense there were emotions here and a story. Maybe one day she could hear it.
"Are you planning any other ways to revenge on your family?" Alison asked holding her elbows. "Why would they do that in the first place?" She added curiously. Alison was rich in the past. She knew people from the core, especially the rich ones were disconnected with how things really were. Their values, their perception of the world was often so different from 'normal people'.

"No. My parents can go find a ditch to go die in, but I still love my sister," Noah shrugged. "And she'd be upset if something were to happen to our parents. I respect that. I don't mean them any harm, for her sake, but that won't stop me from a bit of quiet defiance like my name." Noah looked back towards the circuit box. There were very few things that managed to get under Noah's skin; but talking about his parents was one of the ones that came closest. "And you know. Why does anybody stop talking to their family? They didn't like the guy I was dating. Things escalated, and they never really liked me in the first place, so here I am. Seems like a pretty common story, from all the folk I've talked to out here." The engineering often preferred talking about people other than himself, but after what seemed like an interrogation earlier, he was almost challenging himself to speak, to prove he had nothing to hide.

Alison could sense that the subject wasn't something that Noah-Jade liked to talk about. She could continue pushing with questions that she had on mind, but the emotions she sensed were enough for her. At least for now. She gave the man in front of her a friendly smile.
"I am sorry to hear that and I am sorry to bring this up." She said conciliatory. "So I guess I have only one more question to you to satisfy my curiosity." Her lips curled playfully. "What's the story with the bird?"

"It was my boyfriend's. After he passed away, I ended up keeping it. Paul's parents weren't animal people, and well, you know." Noah chuckled once. It wasn't an amused chuckled. More like he had nothing else to say. This is how it is. "I couldn't just let them just give away the bird to some stranger."

"Yeah, I wouldn't either." Alison commented and headed out. She stopped in the entrance to the engineering. "Thanks. I know we didn't start off well, but I hope we can find a way to work together. I know I can be sometimes hard and demanding so don't take it personally."

"Thanks. I know I can be..." Noah waved a hand around as if searching for a word. He didn't seem to even realize that he might ought to try to disagree, should've said that she wasn't hard and demanding. Instead he just continued talking. "...strange." He finally thought of a word. "But I mean well." Did he? Honestly he wasn't sure. But he liked the fact that Alison seemed to be at least trying to talk with him, work with him. This crew...

They were nice people.

"Thanks for visiting," he added quietly, barely audible, as the woman headed out.