Cloudsea - The Chronicle of Alice Van Vaugen

Alice laid there on the floor of the void and listened to the voices.

"Well, I guess we're all in agreement one one thing. Lets see."

She sat back up and started going through the ingredients she had grabbed.

"Of course I know how to cook! It was one of the many skills my parents and guardians insisted I had to learn. Can't survive on pre-packaged foods and wild meat and vegetables badly burnt on a cook fire, can you? I mean, sometimes it's just not a choice. But if you have a choice... It should at least taste good, right?"

Salt. Sugar. Milk. Cream. She even remembered eggs! Those were a little tricky, because again, she didn't have a container ready... She had found some cloth on sale, and removed a piece to bundle up to make a safe carrying receptacle for the eggs. She looked at the various little bits she had grabbed for 'flavorings'.... and she realized she had no idea what Qhen liked! Had she worried about that already? Oh well! No time to worry about that now! She grabbed what she needed, loaded it into a bowl and set to work! Luckily she remembered to bring her kitchen file-knife to help dispatch the salt and sugar crystals.

When Alice came back out, a little bit of time had passed. It was starting to get dark, and Qhen was sitting in the living room.

"Hey Qhen."

"Oh. Alice... I didn't hear you come in."

"I was in the voidspace. I learned how to make a key so we can go in and out of it as long as we have enough of a flat surface to make a door on."

"...That's... pretty cool. I don't get it, but that's cool. . . Uh..."

"Before you start- Can I interest you in some ice cream?"

". . . Really? You... found some?"

"Better, I MADE some! I had an ice cream churn, and all I had to do was find some ingredients... which I stored inside the voidspace until I got back here."

"Huh. That stuff is kinda convenient, huh? Well, sure, I'd love some!"

Qhen stared at her bowl.

"... Is this chocolate and..." -nomf- ". . .Sizzleseed?"

"Yeah. It's something I've always liked. If it's not your thing, I made some plain vanilla. It's in the icebox."

"Well- No- I mean- ... I've never had anything like this."

"What, ice cream?"

"No, a handmade meal and- ... Uh, never mind. Thank you, it's quite lovely. The spice really goes well with the bitter chocolate you used."

". . . Thanks."

. . . Qhen and Alice sat there and enjoyed their desert in awkward silence.

"So... You're going to stay, aren't you?"

"... Yeah. I just thought maybe I could ask a favor...?"

"I dunno. Maybe? What's the favor?"

"I was thinking- Maybe when you call your friends back... You could ask if they might stick around for a little bit? Maybe a day or two...?"

"Uh- I could TRY? They're not- .. really my friends- but I can try. Why?"

"Well, I wanted some help clearing the buildings as quickly as possible. Cleaning up rubble, and I wanted to recover as much supplies as I could from the houses. They don't need to know about the part where I plan on stashing what I can in the voidspace for safe keeping."

Qhen looked up from their bowl, and slowly tilted their head.

". . . Alice, you really have NO idea where you live, do you?"

Alice looked up from her bowl now, and looked at Qhen, and tilted her head to match their angle. She was trying to read Qhen- which IS one of the skills she supposedly learned- but when you don't speak to people very often, it kinda gets rusty. She's not sure what kind of face Qhen is making.

"... No. Like I said. I haven't really... gone out much. I was surprised to find the ingredients I needed for the ice cream, really."

"Well, the island itself isn't too big. It's made up of two structures. You're sort of situated between the two of them: The forest, and the town. They're roughly the same size... When I traveled around, checking the list you gave me, I counted- if I was to guess, a couple hundred houses? Every house that was three or four stories looked like individually owned floors... There were maybe almost... let's say a couple dozen- 'other' buildings of various sizes?"

"Oh. ... Meaning... it would take an amount of time to clean up that would be unreasonable to ask your crew mates to help with. I understand."

Qhen just made another face that Alice is desperately trying to decode.

"That's... not what you wanted to hear. You wanted me to say..."

". . ."

"... I'll... come with you?"

". . ."

"I'm not good at communicating, Qhen."

"Clearly I am not much better."

"Yeah but- I can't just ask you to stick around and wait for me to finish my work-"

" . . . "

". . . o-oh.

". . ."

"Qhen... Would you like to..."

( ) "Stay with me?"
( ) "Stick around until I'm ready to leave?"
( ) "Help out for a while?"
( ) "Uh- I've got a guest room?"
( ) "Sleep in my house and read my books and help me raid the hundreds of homes for useful items?"
( ) "Have some more ice cream?"
( ) please help I have no idea what to say. also we really need to figure out what it is I'm even doing. Like... what am I hoping to achieve by doing this? It's not like I need money- maybe. If I don't leave on this airship with Qhen, will I have another chance? I haven't looked around at the airship yards... Could I just.. live here for the foreseeable future? you know what after Qhen talks to their people and everything is said and done, maybe we can all just sit around and talk about the future for a little bit. deal?