Date on Freeport 1

[Laura C.]

(// story as it was played by me and Rodnas, part 2 // )

Waiter appeared at the table, asking for order. Laura wanted to say something but then stopped before that, looked at Trueno and waited.
"Perdon, Laura...what do you want to drink? Uhm...and shall we dine as well?" he quickly asked.
"Okay, why not," Laura said shortly, again waiting and looking at Trueno.

"Damn, what to choose?!?!" Trueno cursed in his head "...this house stuff is all weird! A bottle of rum? No, no, no...propably not. Fancy coctails like I saw in Libertonian neural net shows? No clue about those! Wine? Not with Sirius all out war with Gallia. Sake? Might be too blunt. Madre mio! But too late, waiter is here!"

As the waiter asked what they want to order, Trueno startles a bit
"Buenas noches señor, uhm...I think we both take your recommendation, sí? And the matching drinks as well, bueno? Gracias."
He nodded again in Laura´s direction looking if she is ok with that, as well as getting her to continue.
"Close one," he thought.

Waiter wanted to say something but Laura was faster. "Do you have Gran Canaria salmon? I don´t remember exact name, but you know what I mean, right?" she said and waiter nodded. "With grilled potatoes please. And another...uhm, and a glass of white Rioja wine."

Waiter again nodded and looked at Trueno. "For you sir, I can recommend our chilli steak. It is good with Bret...with lager...but also red wine is good too," he said, probably noticing that it is not good idea to say "Bretonian" in front of Corsair.
"Maybe you can try red Rioja, señor. Do you know this wine from Grand Canaria?" Laura added.

"Bueno, I will take the steak, with Bretonian lager," Trueno snorted a bit when he said "Bretonian", obviously amused and pleased by the carefull waiter. "And maybe a glass of that Rioja, for comparison, sí?" he added and then gestured to the waiter to move on, focusing back on Laura.
"Now, where were we? You said you had a good way here. For once low life free? You came in lanes through the ice field or the gas nebula?"

"Ice field, I came from the direction of Bretonia," she said. "But I was thinking if the da...meeting there is not too dangerous for you. I mean, Omega-3 is still under control of Bretonians. Or they have no patrols here?"

Trueno slightly blushed at the almost mention of the d-bomb.
"Well, señorita....as you already noticed...I am a Corsair...and finding a path to fly unseen and unhindered is...crucial for business, sí? Who would take notice of one lone ship? The Bretonians are quite busy nowadays with the neverending wars." He leaned in a bit.
"Now, you only traveled through Bretonia?"

Laura noticed his reaction for that word. It seemed that he is little shy.
"Shy Corsair. How cute..." she thought. When waiter brought drinks, she sipped from her wine. And as she started to drink third glass of wine for last two hours, she started to be less and less shy. And moreover, she liked this wine, it was delicious. How pity that it was so hard to find in other parts of Sirius except close to Gran Canaria.

"No actually, it was quite long way for me. I had to travel from Okinawa, so through Liberty, which I don´t like to be honest, and then through Bretonia," Laura answered finally. "It is the longest way, but I didn´t want to risk the way through warzone of Taus and Leeds. And Rheinland is...Rheinland. More criminals and revolutionists than law protectors these days..." she added.

"Okinawa?" Trueno nodded knowingly, "a good place to live in." His mind raced in order to categorize.
"She skipped Rheinland...might be a gas miner? Does it matter? So far everything is bueno. What now, though? Was something expected?" Trueno openly laughed at the comment on Rheinland, only briefly but honestly and openly.
"Sí...Rheinland is...difficult at times, isn't it? You seem you get around and saw quite a bit of Sirius, señorita. How is that if I may ask?" he said. "Now don't be a bounty hunter, sí?" he thought to himself, smiling at the irony if it would be true.

"I...moved a lot when I was young. And also, my job is transport pilot. Well, freighter and then transport pilot to be exact. So I had routes almost everywhere on inter-Sirian houses basis, but I visited Gallia also. If you put this together, the result is that I know a lot. Most of the time, my home is whole Sirius and my ship..." Laura explained. "...Everywhere...and nowhere" she added half to herself, looking at the glass in her hands.
"What is your way to make a living, señor?" she asked after few seconds of silence.

"Hm, no familia to work with? No casa to call home? That is...interesting....at least you learnt tolerance to new things or so it seems." While saying that he looked in her direction.
"My way of making a living?" he narrowed his eyebrows, pondering on how to answer. Then he looked directly at her, attempting a joke as well while raising his glass.
"Don't we all live on murder, plunder and pillaging?"

He gauged on her reaction waiting how to proceed.
"Was that too much? Madre mio, this look like a minefield here!" he thought and took a hasty sip from his glass.
Laura stayed frozen, looking at Trueno.
"What do you mean? I´m not murdering, plundering and pillaging."

Trueno cleared his throat.
"Ehm, perdon, I was joking señorita." Now his eyes roved left and right, obviously that was unexpected.
"What I wanted to say, well...uhm, I am a Corsair and of course I serve the empire and all that, sí...but uhm, if we are talking about making a living...I am a tradesman, so to say. A trader, yes, trader."
Even a child would propably see that he is not fully lying but surely truth is something else. He seemed a bit uncomfortable with this, waiting if Laura has more questions.
"You know...I, uhm, own a distillery for rum, sí?" Trueno nodded fast to reinforce himself, "sí, a distillery for the famed Maldava cloud rum! Did you ever hear of it on your travels?" That seems to be a relief to find somethign he can easily speak honestly about.

Laura looked quite closely at Trueno.
"Tradesman you say. Interesting. May I ask in what type of ship you arrived here?" she said little sharply.

It seems his mind has settled again. Laura recognized he has that piercing look again, and his voice is back to eloquent again as well.
"Well, sí, sí, of course, I took the liberty to use my trusted Titan of course! No ship navigates a lone hombre safer through open space! You know, security is an issue, even for a Corsair, especially while leaving his home space..."
"I understand. So you use Titan for travels. Do you pilot any other types of ships?" she threw another question at him.
"Ah sí, sí! But if you want to know how I am situated señorita, it is no shame to ask directly...I heard that in Kusari speaking of pesetos is...inappropriate at times but for me as a Corsair, it is well within the green area to speak openly about what one has!"

Laura was not sure if he is evasive or if he means it or both.
"Now, rest assured that there is no need to worry about my pesetos. I can offer my madre, my padre and my two hermanos to live with me in a casa on Crete and no one goes to bed hungry!"
This certainly made Trueno smile.
"Have no worries, I am the living proof...I am no osambre after all."

Laura looked straightly in Trueno´s eyes. "That is interesting. But which other types of ships you pilot or command when you work for Corsair empire?" she said, apparently waiting for specific answer.
Trueno seemed a bit irritated at being pressured, maybe a bit surprised.
"Well, of course I command and pilot everything if I am told to do so, have no doubt."
He nodded, then made an open hand gesture.
"And for trading, nothing beats a Raba transport at that after all, so I own one of those. And for those bigger deliveries, a Z-Line transport comes in handy as well, sí. And how about you? You said you live basically in space? I guess you take on the comfort of a freighter or a small transport?"

"Z-Line transport? Which one is it?" Laura asked curiously.
"And no, I spent some time in freighter, then lot of time in BWT transport, but now for some time I´m pilot of train class ship. Well, captain, as it officialy called, but in company which I work for, "captain" means first pilot."

"It is the Nereides, the humble sea spirit that brings a sailor home safely...fitting name for a ship, sí? So...you work for a company...hmm...ahem...well, do you mind me asking for which?"
Trueno reddens slightly his mind racing.
"Puta madre mio et mierda! Don't tell me I met her before!"

Laura finished her glass of wine and ordered another, despite she thought that maybe it is time to take a break in drinking before she will start to be drunk.
"Red Hessian Blood Diamonds Mining and Selling Iniciative" she said in strange way, looking at Trueno, trying to suppress smile and act suspiciously seriously in compare to previous talking.
"Time to try out his sense of humor," she thought, waiting which response this will have.

Trueno was trying to take a sip from his glass and almost choked when heard this.
"What?!!!" His head rushed up from his drink, and after a shock second realized he has been had.
"Hmpf, bueno señorita, seems like you caught me here...now you don't have to tell me for whom you actually captain that train of yours, sí?"
He thought for a moment.
"Not that I am not interested, don't get me wrong...but I respect your...privacy after all, sí? Everyone needs some secrets don't you think?" he smiled. That will keep his dealings out of the talk for sure!

Laura smiled provocatively, satisfied with the result.
"Definitely, I agree. Some things need time and trust. I think that it is enough for me to know for now that you are not one of that cruel Corsair raiders, and for you that I´m not working for Bounty Hunters, Red Hessians or Bretonia Armed Forces. Right?" she said and smiled at Trueno quite nice.

Trueno nodded in agreement. "Sí, sí, fair and square. But speaking of trust....how comes that you actually came to be here? I mean...with Concordia and all that stuff? I mean...if I may ask..."

"You mean how it happened that I´m on blind date with Corsair on Freeport half of the Sirius far from my current home?" Laura said half jokingly, half ironically. Probably almost empty fourth glass of wine started to have its effect. But then Laura stopped talking, looked at Trueno and stayed quiet for few seconds, thinking what to say and her smile faded away.
"As you said before when you understood it - no family, no real home. Woman will start to feel lonely after some time, despite it is used to feel lonely." Laura finished glass of wine.
"You know, there is lot of men around space shipping. But when I seriously started to look around, I spent a lot of time in Liberty, where every third man is total idiot in my experience. And lot of time in Kusari. I don´t know if you know Kusarians. Their xenophobic and scornful attitude to everything from outside Kusari. Try to imagine how they deal with a girl who look like me, but speak with Bretonian accent and know only basics of Kusari language..." Laura stopped talking, looking at the empty glass in her hand on the table.

Trueno looked a bit surprised and thoughtful.
"Ah, the emptiness of space..I see." He ponders for a bit.
"Well, it is true that the Kusarians have a quite rustical sense of how to live and how...life should work out, switching from one conservative regime to another. And the Libertonians...they live too good for their own sake, growing mad on the splendors they own... It weakens an hombres mind and soul, let me tell you!"
Trueno seemed to come to a more agreeable point.
"But...sí...well, familia, that is a good thing to travel space after all," he thoughtfully rolled his glass between his hands, "familia, everyone should have one, no doubt...it is a basic need after all. Hmmm...señorita, what about your familia?"

Trueno doesn't seem all too sure about asking that subject, but it makes him thoughtfull aswell. But just after he said last two sentences with question in the end, he noticed that this wasn´t probably good idea. Laura froze for few seconds, then answered with cold voice.
"I don´t have any family, señor Trueno. They died in accident when I was very small child."
While still looking on the table without any even short look at Trueno, she touched her face. Maybe hiding a tear in her eye? Then silence appeared again at the table.

"Mierda, that was surely one thing we don't have in common then," Trueno cursed in his head. Then scratched his head and make an apologetic movement. When he saw what might be with her eyes, he turns his head slightly away so "he doesn't see" and Laura can keep her face.

"My, my honest apology señorita...maybe that was not a bueno starter conversation. Ahem...you know...well," he took a short break, "you know señorita...I am not hmmmm...well versed in this kind of uhm...meetings....I kind of you..." he lifted his hand a bit off the table and looked back at Laura.
"Familia...well, I have more of it than you can wave a stick at! I mean...if you...by any chance drop by Crete, I will share a slice of familia with you...sí?"

He smiled, maybe a bit clueless and gestured to the waiter to bring a fresh round of drinks, waiting to see if Laura lightens up abit or not.
"So you are offering me to share your family. That´s...nice, really," she said silently, trying to smile. "Now excuse me please," she said, surprisingly stood up and quickly leaved the table close to the waiter and without any other word she quickly headed towards toilets.

Just after few steps, the tears started to flow down her cheeks. After she arrived to the toilet and locked the door behind, she started to cry at full blast.
"Why he did this? Why he asked and talked about this? Why he had to ruin the date with this? Why I, I had to ruin it?!" she thought, angry at Trueno, but much more at herself.
"But this also happened because you drank too much. Get drunk on the first date. Date with Corsairs and you are the one who is drunk! Damn, you are so stupid! Okay, another attempt failed. Time to go home, hopelessly alone again. Good job, really!"

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On a ragebreak. Or ragequit. Time will tell.