Somnambulance [Retconned]

[Toaster]

Finding someone to talk to had been surprisingly easy. Maybe even a little too easy. Olivia was still angry with herself for not noticing the false wall in her quarters aboard the freeport sooner. It had been through mere chance, when she had collapsed against the bulkhead beside her cot during an unusually sudden migraine, that she had noticed its strange hollowness. A few exploratory touches later, and a sheet of thin metal had come clean off, revealing a hole the size of a dinner plate in the wall. Peering through it, she had found a surprised face staring back at her.

The face belonged to a young Zoner who - to no surprise of Olivia's - went by the name Ears. Pressed on the matter of the listening hole, he had admitted that he had installed a number of these throughout the station's habitat sections, allowing him to spy on travelers as they came and went, collecting rumors and information that he could later sell in the freeport's bars. He admitted to having gotten frustrated with Olivia; she was too quiet, didn't speak with anyone aboard the station unless absolutely necessary, and remained alone most of the time. But something about her that Ears couldn't put into words had captivated the young man and he couldn't help but keep observing her.

And so, Olivia had found a conversational partner. That had been roughly two weeks ago.

Her initial anger at the youngster for spying on her had quickly evaporated in lieu of finally having someone to talk to. Someone to take her mind off her own problems. Someone else's voice to listen to for a change.

Every evening for the past two weeks, the mercenary had returned to the freeport from her lonely treks around the system and its neighbors, quickly finding herself in her small quarters, sitting with her back against the wall. Her and Ears would discuss the day's news and rumors through the small window that connected them - Olivia was too wary of her "fits" to risk speaking with the boy face to face. She would tell him about what she saw in space, what ships she encountered, what they were hauling, and in return, Ears would reveal what newcomers had arrived at the station, whom they had met with, what had been discussed behind closed doors. Neither shared much in terms of personal information.

It was a strange agreement they had come to, but it was good enough for Olivia's needs. No replacement, perhaps, for the friends she had left behind in Liberty, but better by far than spending all day with only herself to talk with.

"Alright, Ears," Olivia muttered, stifling a yawn as the boy finished his retelling of a heated argument between a group of Bretonian miners and Rheinic transport crewmen. "I need to get some sleep."

"Sure thing, Sable," Ears' voice rang hollowly through the listening hole. "Same time tomorrow?"

Olivia chuckled quietly. "Same time as every day."

She got to her feet, raised the thin metal plate from off the floor, and reattached it to the bulkhead, covering the window to Ears' compartment.

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Olivia Sable