With Niki jumping on her lap and Sonja taking a hand of hers, Traudel sighs once more. But a corner of her mouth was slowly climbing, while Niki was being gently patted."Thanks you two. I am ... i am just so ... ... uhhff, where do i begin? I have a feeling i am overwhelmed by things, ja. And nein nein, it is less my need to put up a strong facade. I am well aware of not being the strongest weapon in the Kaiser's arsenal. At least not in direct combat. That is fine with me. I know my worth, most of the time. I believe my issues are more along the lines of ... noticing 'faceless' enemies do have faces, so to speak. And are more than simply an unnamed mass to fire at. It starts to take its toll on me."
Staring at the ceiling for a bit, Traudel exhales in a long drawn out fashion."The first Nomad encounter was ... not what i had expected. I knew only about reports and word of mouth. And was bracing myself for assaults on my mind and immediate hostilites. I ... ... was not prepared for what followed instead. That Nomad did communicate with me, i saw... rough shapes and just 'thought' concepts. It was strange. They were about ... well ... about water. Or a sea. A-and swimming in that - together. Playfully even. It felt like i was interacting with a child. Which made this whole meeting all the more abstract and surreal. It did start to shoot at me, we fought for a while and it managed to get the upper hand. Then it stopped, decided to let me be in my burning ship. It could have finished me then and there, just like that. But nein, i was spared. By the Kaiser, not just spared but even received reassuring and encouraging images of a 'next time' and 'being better'. It departed afterwards, allowing me to return to safety." While talking, Traudel had stopped several times to cuddle Niki. Realizing this, she blinks and gently smiles at the cat on her lap. Starting over again.
"This somewhat pained me. It seems so many different people and beings refuse to treat me like they do most others. Am i ... am i just not worth it? Is it that? Or is it the other direction? Me being worth all that extra attention? And if so ... why? I do nothing different. To be honest, i would have found it way easier to deal with if that Nomad would have just ... did what i thought it would do." With cluelessness in her voice, she takes another piece of candy from the bowl.
"The second time? Another Nomad, but this time i was not alone. It observed and kept its distance to us, up until some Unioners had left. While investigating and getting closer, it flew around a little. Did not fire. But started to glow more and more, our instruments went crazy. It did that twice - the second time vanishing completely from our scanners. Granted, that might have just been a scout or something. But... it was quite close to the first encounter i had. So perhaps there was a connection." Lifting her shoulders several times.
"You said you had a lot of Nomad encounters. Have they done something like that around you, too? Is that ... common? Did people just not bother telling me otherwise?"
