I hear voices, voices in my mind
Voices from the past that always seem to find

For someone who had spent their entire life alone, Talwyn was trying to spread her wings. Figuratively of course. First she had tried to have a stand for trading at Nemus, but people kept looking at her slightly weirdly. And now she was at the drop again, inspite of the fact that she doubted anything there was for her. She was not disappointed, although had been a little hopeful Luna had been there. Of course, she knew before even arriving that she wasn’t as her hawk Zip showed no signs of familiarity when they reached the drop. The lone girl was attempting to talk to some short and gruff watcher, exclaiming about how she thinks that perhaps the gentleman was a bit too short to be a watcher. After all, people could just walk right over him. Then Colette flashed in her periphreial.

She walked away, mid sentence, pushing past anyone in her way without a care in the world and that usual little skip in her step.... Hell, the girl even took pleasure in running for her life from Vespers or getting knocked around by giant worms. She had not attempted to ride one again, but you better believe she would try a few more times. She was adamant she was just going about the whole situation the wrong way. Maybe try to find a baby first. That was her goal after returning from the drop. ”Healer! Hi!” What was the girls name again? She had forgotten. Healer seemed to work fine though, as names were uninteresting anyways. Why would you ever want to be called something someone else named you? What a silly thing. Luckily she was able to name herself when she became five years of age.

She hadn’t seen Colette since the Scorch. She hadn’t seen her in the daylight, but she remembered fondly of the little contraption mirror the girl had that played music. It was perhaps the fondest memory she had of being on PE. To be able to dance, so freely, and have the music building in that small cave was magic. That was the reason she had spent the rest of the Scorch hiding away, widdling away for her violin. She had the urge to create, and when that happened she became one with her own world. So she had Colette to thank for that, even if she had suddenly and abruptly vanished away from the healer the night they met.

The girl was dressed in her surprisingly white sundress, with her violin strapped around her shoulders awkwardly via a vine, and her toolkit slung as well. Along her beltline there was another twine, fastening a few wooden daggers with intricate designs of wolves and hawks. Her feet, as always, were bare and padding along the uneven ground effortlessly. And, to finish off the look, was her innocently beaming smile as she skipped towards her healer acquaintance. ”Hi! Why do you look so sad?” Curiosity compelled her to ask whatever crossed her mind, her head tilting slightly to the side as blues watched and studied the healers face. She had noted that the kit Colette had opened, was definitely not what she was wanting.

Colette was packing up when she heard someone addressing her as "Healer" (seriously??), and noticed Elizabeth, the girl whose injuries she treated the other day. It was a pleasant surprise, and lightened her mood a bit, as she smiled in the newcomer's direction. Liz was probably the weirdest person around here, even more weird than her, which made Colette sympathize with the girl immediately. She was seriously mentally ill, having to deal with a split personality, which needed serious and professional treatment, something Col couldn't prove her with, but at least she could try and serve as an informal therapist and, more importantly, a friend. She was naturally drawn to Elizabeth's childlike, naive personality, and also felt a great deal of curiosity towards her. She wanted to know more about her story, her background, but she didn't want to let her 'professional' (or so-called 'professional') interest get in the way of her feelings of friendship.

She noticed that Liz carried her violin strepped on herself, which made her think of her long lost synthesizer again, and feel just how unfair life can be. Some people can carry their instruments with themselves anywhere they go. But not her. She had to wait until the next drop, or the one after that, or the one twenty years from now until she could finally play Bartók or anything. Why did I chose piano the first place? Why did my parents chose piano for me? What were they thinking? Of course, dad wanted me to continue in his footsteps, becoming a celebrated concert pianist, something he aspired to, but never came to be. Yeah. That's it.

"Look who's here! Elizabeth, Queen of England herself!", the young Canadian smiled as she approached the other girl, "How are you? What've youbeen up to lately?", she asked, then smirked, when she thought about Liz's imaginary friend, "And how's Collie?"

Elizabeth, with her usual on-to-the-point demeanour, not much trained in social skills, asked her why does she feel sad. The girl was good observer, that's for sure. She could've been a great therapist, Col thought with a smile, I should get an appointment with her. "I'm not sad. Just disappointed.", she replied, not much convincingly, "But that happens often in life.", she shrugged.

Then, another person arrived to the drop, this time someone Col was not familiar with. It was another girl, greeting the two of them. She apparently knew Elizabeth, as she was much more easy-going with her and more reserved when talking to me, Colette thought. It was one of those things psychologists easily grasp when observing someone. The girl searched the drop for her belongings, then found a pack of books waiting for her. So, she's a reader. Good, Col thought. She had hundreds of books stored digitally in her small tablet device, and could read them anytime she wanted, but having real books - that was something different. She loved the touch, the feel, the smell of books, rolling the pages, feeling the paper with her fingers. That was pure magic. She envied a bit the newcomer for having real books of her own even if their number was much lesser than her collection of digitalized volumes.

"Yeah, I got all my medical stuff.", she replied to the girl's question, "Now I can save the colony from an outbreak of the Martian flu.", she joked, then glanced at the stranger and her package, "I love books."

@wynand ezra kay

credit to nat of adoxography.

Now it was truly apparent that Liz and the new girl knew each other already, indicated by the awkward hug Liz gave to the newcomer, who apparently wasn't much thrilled by this (as Mr. Spock would say) outburst of emotionalism. She observed the new girl, who seemed to be feeling a bit uncomfortable around, but neverthless, she was trying to interact and blend in with the others. "Yeah, tough gig.", she smiled at the stranger, trying to look friendly, "Well, it basically have everything I need. If someone falls from a cliff or gets a stomacache from eating too much of this alien whoknowswhat meat, they can just ring me. Now I have everything from an MRI scanner to a pack of leeches and voodoo dolls.", she explained when she inquired about the contents of her large medical package, hoping she would get the sarcasm in her words.

Turning back to Elizabeth, Col again realized just how observant this woman was, and how much she tried to help her in her own way, which was kinda cute. "Hey, don't worry about me. Really.", she shrugged, "I'm happy. Truly am. I got a great big package and it's truly useful for my work. In fact, I don't have to rely on medieval medicine techinques anymore. Now I have a portable hospital on my disposal.", she smiled, "I just miss playing the piano.", she then added, with a nostalgic smile, thinking about Bartók and Chopin like old friends she was missing quite much.

Colette looked at the books the new girl was holding. Not exactly Tolstoy or James Joyce, she thought, reading their titles: mostly survival guides and combat technique manuals. Useful, of course, on a place like this, but totally boring. But before she could actually read into them, Liz suddenly grabbed the book from her hand, and began to obsessively smell it, looking like a Buddhist monk who just reached the state of Nirvana. The other girl's remark was quite good, almost as if it were made by Col herself, she had to admit. But something else came as the true surprise. How did she address Liz? What was going on? "Tal? Who's Tal?", she asked the two others surprised, "I thought you're called Elizabeth.", she then looked at 'Liz'.

Then, to add something brand new to the mix, another person arrived, another newcomer, but this time a man. And he was a sight to behold. A tall, burly bald guy, so muscle-bound he looked like a WWE wrestler or something. And it seemed he even had the demeanour of a wannabe wrestler, as he made some forced 'signature move' and addressed the 'ladies' like if they were just waiting for a big hulky man like him to cheer them up. Oh, yeah, another great representation of the eternal male ego, she smirked, like if we didn't already have that on this planet. Neverthless, his introduction seemed friendly enough, so, hopefully we can get along. Also, before even hearing his real name, she named this newcomer 'Mr. Clean' based on his physical similarities to a well-known advertising figure.

"Hello there, Mr. Daario.", she turned to the guy who towered over her like some statue, responding to his introduction. Then, she realized she haven't even introduced herself to the girl with the books, "I'm Nicolette Anna Blanchet. Anna after my grandma's first name. She was the first Canadian woman who used a refrigerator as a musical instrument.", she said with a large ear-to-ear Jaws 4D smile.

She then watched as the wannabe wrestler took out a large rifle from his package, and began to clean it. Yeah, another useful tool just like her medial equipment. It seems everyone around here knew how to use such weaponry, except her. In fact, she never even fired a gun before. Back on Earth, she was a vocal pacifist, one of those 'flower power kids', and totally condemned the use of firearms. She even signed petitions to make gun laws more strict in Canada. But here, everything was different. Here rifles and large knives were the means of survival and not the playtoys of guys with a small penis, and she realized it might be useful to learn how to use them. She'd had a better chance against those giant worms and Mugatos out there. That was something she scribed on her non-existent 'to do' list.

credit to nat of adoxography.

Colette almost laughed when 'Elizabeth' (or Talwyn as she was really called) told her she gave a false name because she thought it'd be nice to have someone call her that way. Elizabeth is a pretty name, she actually agreed on that. This was so pure and so child-like, so much missing from the so-called 'normal' and 'adult' people, it almost made her want to hug the other girl. Rather, she just gave her a big friendly Col-ish smile, sort of as a sign of forgiveness. "If that's the case, you know, I can actually call you Elizabeth.", she said, "I like that name too."

"Crazy witch lady?", Col then looked at the other girl, who had not yet identified herself by name, "I'm sure I need to arrange an appointment with her. My left ankle is hurting like hell since last week. I might be cursed or something.", she laughed slightly.

Then, there was 'Mr. Clean', the muscle man, who didn't seem to realize she was saying 'Mr.' kind of sarcastically. Rather, he began another large-scale demonstration of an overblown macho man ego, and started to act like if they were all here to get overwhelmed by his greatness. Music the food of love? What kind of awful fake poetry is that? It probably comes from a novel by John Green or Nicholas Sparks or someone else of those who Col truly hoped got killed by a gigantic lava flow when the Earth was destroyed. Definately among the worst 'pick-up lines' she's ever heard in her life.

"Well... My grandma made the refrigerator sound like a honky tonk piano in E major. But some other artists, especially in China and the former Yugoslavia could make it sound like a medieval harpsichord.", she explained, telling the guy total nonsense. But hey, what he was telling was totally nonsense too.

Then, she just rolled her eyes when Mr. Goliath told them he's never brought this gun around women. Now she was completely sure he had a dick smaller than that of Atom Ant. Right, he certainly knows how to impress girls, she frowned sarcastically, while watching Liz and the other girl reacting to him. Then, American Sniper handed the large gun over to the darkhead to hold it (in fact, he looked at her first, but seeing the not-so-impressed look she gave to the weapon, he decided to give it to the other girl instead), who looked into the scope, sized the giant and apparently heavy gun in her hands, and then suddenly gave it to her.

Oh, damn, this IS heavy! Col couldn't even grasp when she was suddenly handed the gigantic weapon, which probably weighted like a thousand kilos. Her being only about 50kg, she felt she needed to be double of that to handle this gun properly. She felt like if her arms were pulled out of her body by a massive force, while trying to hold it. Also, she felt strange. This was probably the first time in her life she carried a real gun, and felt like if she were touching something truly evil, the instrument of the Devil, which will make her hands melt in pain. Never knew this day would come. Neverthless, out of pure curiosity, she raised the gun as much as she could to look into the scope, and try to aim it. It took only about a minute, then she quickly handed it back to André the Giant, relieved that she won't need to carry it anymore. She now felt she needs to make a campfire and sing Kumbaya for hours long straight.

"Yeah... not bad...", she said simply with a shrug. Well, next time we'll hopefully have someone's small portable A-bomb arriving or at least some napalm in case we need to discipline those farmers a bit.

@wynant ezra kay daario naharis