An~Old~Newness (Esmerelda)

[Mikael Dorony]

Resupplying. The bane of every captain's existence. It took time, and time was money. It took money...and well, yeah, money was obviously money as well. It also took patience, and he had little enough of that at the moment. His last job had gone south, leaving him with nothing but a bill and an empty fuel tank. He'd been forced to limp to Dardania on nothing but fumes and the hope that he'd make it. TwoStep had made it, but barely. He'd practically docked her with nothing but momentum. He'd probably been fortunate even to get docking permission. There were some rumors about the crew of the Dardania. Maybe that's all they were, but he still counted luck as being on his side. That didn't change the fact that the resupplying had left him with absolutely nothing to do but sit on his ass and wait for the green light to take off again. There weren't really any jobs to be found on a place like this, so he would be forced to fly somewhere else, maybe out on the rim, or the core... Somewhere where he could find a job, or pick up a package... Sure, this station had mail that had to be delivered, but the pay sucked. He'd barely make a profit, no matter where he delivered it. More than likely, he'd be losing money, because there seemed to be couriers already working for the station, and they had their job set in stone. Better pay, too.

With a sigh, Mikael slouched forward over the bar, running a finger idly over the edge of the empty glass that sat before him. Some things were worth the wait. He had to keep telling himself that. He loved flying through space, watching it go by around him. Sure, this was still space... but there wasn't anything moving. Space stations were almost worse than being planetside. There was a sense of unimaginable boredom that seemed to linger over him, growing every second he spent trapped there. With few other options, he'd sought out the bar. At the very least, he'd get drunk enough to forget where he was for a few hours. That should put him right for a bit. Then he could stumble his way back to TwoStep, fall into his bunk, and sleep it off, listening to the sound of the fuel being pumped on board. Probably the most comfort he'd get.

His next drink arrived on schedule, and he shifted his gaze to the brown liquid. For a space station, the drinks weren't bad. Not as good as most planets in the verse, but pretty damn good for a station. He wondered, absentmindedly, if they had some sort of fermentation system worked into the power core. He'd seen it before, but the product usually tasted like piss and kicked like a mule on the way down. The effects were usually doubled on the way back up, if one was unlucky enough to drink too much. He glanced at the chronometer again. Three hours... Had he really been sitting here that long? Damn... He definitely hadn't been drinking enough. He could remember most of it...

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[Esmerelda Torres]

I ' V E. B E E N. C O L L E C T I N G. Y O U R. W O R D S.

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Esmerelda wasn’t liking this life of hiding out. With a cropped wig atop her head, it’s how she got by planet side. But up at the space station she could let her wavy locks down and walk around uninhabited. With a little bit of her own money, she had secured a single occupant quarters until she could figure something out. She wasn’t sure where she would go once she knew she couldn’t stay here. Esmerelda no longer had a place to go home and couldn’t go back. Everyone thought she had murdered her husband but that wasn’t the truth at all. Instead she had just supported his own decision because she had loved her husband. Apparently that had blinded her from the reality of the fact that his family was a completely different class then what she was used to. If she had been on Bernadette then people wouldn’t jump down her throat like that. But she couldn’t even go back there.

If she led anyone to her brother and revealed that she had lied about even more would not be something that went over well. No, she had to find someplace else to live and a backdoor way to get to the funds her husband had set up. But Esmerelda knew as soon as she set back down on any of the planets she’d be followed ot where the money was hidden. Until his passing she didn’t even know. At least up here she didn’t have to worry even if being in space wasn’t her favorite thing. Esmerelda would fly as few times as possible. Which is why she was staying on Dardania until she had a destination in mind and someone to help her get to her money. What she needed was a decoy who could go to where it was hidden undetected then bring everything to her to put into her own account. After she created a new identity anyways. But that required those funds so she could get everything forged.

Needing a drink, Esmerelda made her way into the bar. A soft sweater clung to her arms as she gazed around. Her eyes fell on one figure who looked familiar but she wasn’t entirely sure. The lighting reflected the night time-or what the station considered the after hours. She moved her body around to try and get a side glance at the man. It took a few moments before she got a good angle and a fond smile formed on her face. He definitely had an older appearance about him but the same kind yet aware eyes were there as well as a scar along his cheek. Those were features she always remembered most. Even when he ran with her brother, Esmerelda always thought he was the odd ball. The others always wore hard looks on their faces while he would let his grin peek through every now and then. When this man had been on her home planet as a boy they had been friends. They both went through their initiation into the gang around the same time which had been a big thing. Plus the fact he wasn’t all about the attitude appearance had helped because she once had a light spirit. Not that she didn’t know how to take care of herself because she did. She had used that in many a situations when the group ended up in a fight with another, now lesser, gang or in a tough situation doing something to prove themselves. That was a different lifetime for Esmerelda but not one she easily forgot.

As she figured she had been creepy long enough, she moved her body to go sit beside the man. His focus was intent on the glass before him, something even younger she had noticed. With a smile on her face she grabbed the bartender. ”I’ll have the same thing as him.” In her most recent lifestyle she had many more luxurious drinks so it was hard getting use to the less expensive stuff again. But slowly her taste buds were getting used to it again. Not like she would settle someplace with a wealthy holding again. Esmerelda was getting grounded about things and knew she would have to be real that she’d have to live a life under the radar. Once her drink was in her hands, she took a hesitant sip before turning her head to Mikael Dorony. ”I guess you’re still untouchable. Doubt I can say the same for me.” Untouchable Mayhem had been the gang they had ran with. Not the most fierce one but it took years before the feds had arrested even one of them but hardly anything was able to stick.

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notes;; nothing now
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[Mikael Dorony]

Damn...were the drinks finally starting to get to him? He couldn't even pinpoint where that voice had come from. It had sounded so familiar, too. Well, familiar in a distant sort of way, if that made any sense. Of course, right now, nothing made sense. What his eyes were telling him didn't make sense. There definitely weren't three drinks on the counter in front of him. Blinking rapidly, Mikael managed to solidify the three images back into one, shaking his head to clear his thoughts. Ah, so he wasn't that drunk... He was just half asleep. That made sense. He hadn't really had that much yet. Green eyes, much clearer than they had been, tried to find the voice. Ah, there it was, right next to him. That face... oh, he was definitely drunk now. No way someone like that would be all the way out here, in the middle of the 'verse. She'd gotten married, right? Hadn't her husband died or something? Nah, she'd killed him...killed hi-... That was what the cortex had said anyway. He didn't believe it.

After all, back then, hadn't she tried to stay out of the fights? She hadn't liked them, the violence, the adrenaline. That had been her brothers realm. Nothing to worry about, then. The law lied when it suited them, or when they didn't know the whole truth. Until she told him otherwise, she was innocent. The rest of the 'verse could believe whatever it wanted to. For now, he'd believe his memory. It had worked out all right for him so far. Esmerelda... Torres. Yes, that was the name. Not hard to remember, after all. That brought him back, to the times when he hadn't been free, back when he was still caged on the ground. He'd found his sky since then. That was his freedom. No man was going to be taking that away anymore.

He turned to her, then, a trace of a grin on his lips. "Been a while, Ezzie..." The old nickname rose unbidden to his lips, and the grin grew wider, just a hint of the old memories rising back to his mind. "I would have sworn I'd never see you again. Or any of the others, for that matter." With a grimace, he downed the remainder of his drink in a single gulp. "But there's only one place I feel untouchable... And this ain't it. No more Mayhem for me, no more chaos... Just give me back my sky..." His voice, tinged with bitterness, framed his thoughts as he glanced at the viewport in the side of the bar that looked out into the stars. Well, this was a grand reunion, wasn't it? Not even a minute had passed, and he was still trying to get as drunk as possible... Some of those memories...really weren't the type he wanted to think about right now.

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[Esmerelda Torres]

I ' V E. B E E N. C O L L E C T I N G. Y O U R. W O R D S.

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Only in the last month had Esmerelda become nostalgic. Yes, before that she had thought of her childhood but nothing that drew deep feelings in here. But since that night weeks ago, her emotions had been out of whack. Now, she dug out the few old photos she had. They had long been tucked away into her Bible that she said had been her mothers. Her husband had never touched it out of respect for her. Now she pulled them from their respective spots and gazed over the faded smiles. Looking upon them she felt her heart strings pulled like when she held the locket from the man. Inside held a picture of him that she couldn’t bear to look at lately. But his face was one that stayed etched in her mind either way. Just like the ones of her brother, her parents, Kara, Semantha, Dylan and finally the man before her.

Esmerelda tilted her head to lean it against her hand. It was funny how time changed people. She herself had left her old moves rusty and a softer side had come out. Maternal instincts she figured despite not having any children. It hadn’t been in the cards for her which was fine. She had never seen herself having them anyways so she wasn’t heartbroken. Plus she wouldn’t have been able to run like she did after everything fell apart. Mikael seemed to stay the same as always except for some lines that formed as time passed. But they weren’t bad line-in fact that made him even more distinguished. If it was possible for someone to get even more distinguished as they aged, Esmerelda figured her old friend was the perfect candidate for it.

A smile formed back on her lips as she chuckled. When was the last time she had been claled Ezzie? She honestly couldn’t remember. ”Yes well I never thought I’d be on a space station either but things have changed...” Esmerelda wasn’t sure what he had heard about the tragedies that had happened over the last month. Her eyes fell a little as she thought about what had transpired. How did she tell people the truth without sounding like she was insane for hiding this secret? Even when she had told the cops he had committed suicide no one believed her because she didn’t come from the lifestyle his family did. That and Edwin had moved so much money before he had died. Then would her old friend even believe her side of things? Somewhere she hoped he would. After all they had been close before departing ways so many years prior. Esmerelda knew her brother believed her but right now she just couldn’t turn to him. She had to find somewhere to go eventually. A space station was no where for her to stay.

”So I’m guessing you have a ship? Never took you for one running a crew.” While he had leader like qualities, she just couldn’t place him taking charge of a crew. Would be funny to see that though. Maybe Esmerelda would bug him until he flew off. Right now she needed familiarity to keep her from going insane while this hunk of metal circled Athens.

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tagged;; mik
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notes;; nothing now
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[Mikael Dorony]

Time changed a lot of things, Mikael had always told himself. Despite this incredibly useful piece of life knowledge, he found, more and more, that he was one of the few exceptions to that rule. Honestly, how much had he changed? Since the beginning of his youth, he had always been watching the stars. They had captured him with their presence, grabbing his heart and pulling it into the endless 'verse. Many people he knew could attest to the fact that he spent a good deal of his time watching the night sky. He always had. Even now, he couldn't help his gaze from shifting to the viewing window in the wall of the bar, that looked out upon the endless expanse of space. It was his heaven, really, that place, in the middle of the black, where he was the only light. TwoStep, while she was a ship, was also his home, and the only one that he had ever felt truly comfortable in. Even back then, when he had run with Untouchable Mayhem, Ezzie, her brother, and the gang, he hadn't fit in as well as some of the others. His two feet might have been on the ground, but he had been staring at the sky the entire time. When the opportunity had come for him to rise to that sky... he had taken it, and never looked back. Now that the past had come to sit with him, quite literally, he felt almost embarrassed that he had left so readily. He couldn't even remember if he had talked to any of them before he had left. He knew he hadn't talked to her. He wouldn't have been able to simply walk away if he had. No... if he had stopped and talked to Ezzie... He would have looked back...countless times.

Now, things had changed. She had grown in her own right, changed into something almost unrecognizable. Her marriage had surprised him. He had heard about it back when it happened. Someone had sent him a wave with the information, but the source had been encrypted, and he hadn't wanted to look to deeply in it. There were plenty of informaion specialists who could find him the original sender, but sometimes, it was best to let the past stay past. Then the cortex had gone crazy a few weeks ago with a bulletin with her name and appearance, issuing a warrant for her arrest. Of course, legally, he wasn't supposed to have access to that part of the Cortex, but he had always found that information on federal activities often led to an ease of flight in certain areas, especially when it came to the core. Not that he cared about her case. She was an old friend, and those were hard enough to come by that he wasn't willing to convict her in his mind without an extremely solid case. Until then, he would believe what she said about the matter, and he wouldn't bring it up without forewarning. Losing a loved one was seldom painless, and loving a lover... well, pain was a difficult thing to cope with at the best of times. He didn't really want to feel what she must have been feeling at that moment.

”Yes... I own a ship. Don't have a crew though. She's a bit small for that. TwoStep sleeps four, or two comfortably, but she runs just fine solo, and that's the way I've always done it.” For the first time, he fond a trace of loneliness creeping into his voice at the words. That was something he had never felt before when discussing this. It was... unnerving, how the appearance of something from his past could bring back the nostalgia of having people to come back to. ”And you? How are you making your way through this empty 'verse? I would never have expected you to be caught up in the black like me.”

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[Esmerelda Torres]

I ' V E. B E E N. C O L L E C T I N G. Y O U R. W O R D S.

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Even if she hadn’t admitted it then, Mikael was probably the closest thing to a good friend Esmerelda had as a child. While she had been close to her brother, he couldn’t tell him everything. And she had never gotten along with other girls very well so she had always run with the boys. She hadn’t shared every intimate thing with Mikael(after all, what guy wants to hear about a woman’s puberty years?) but her thoughts, feelings and dreams had been told to him. Sometimes she had talked a bit too much and didn’t let much room for him to talk back. But he had never seemed to mind. Maybe she had taken his friendship for granted and that contributed to him wanting to leave. She knew it was unlikely he’d stay for a long time but he had just left. one morning she went to see him and he couldn’t be found. And after that, except when she felt nostalgic, she hardly thought of him or anyone else. That left a guilty knot is Esmerelda’s stomach.

Esmerelda sipped at her drink as she listened to him talk. Her life hadn’t been nearly exciting. In reality, it had been very boring. She lost all the fun of her life and even become mundane with her routines. She become another mold of the rich Purple Bellies. At this point she was just fairly even and liked things that everyone seemed to like. Mikael though didn’t seem to have lost himself. He still seemed to be as interesting as the first time she had met him. ”Well I don’t think I’d expect anything else from you. Even as a kid you always argued with my brother and Zack.” Her accent from her childhood had slightly disappeared over the years. A way for Esmerelda to fit in she figured. She had tried so hard to do that, that right now it was a bit odd just sitting here with someone from her past. She felt guilty because she hadn’t kept in contact with anyone. When she waved her brother it was maybe once a year. He understood why she did it and encouraged her to keep going because she was happy. Not that his gesture went unnoticed. Esmerelda helped him out when he wanted out of his old life. She moved him to a better place to live and set him up with some job interviews by saying she was an old employer. Estefan had helped her find happiness and she wanted the same for him. Esmerelda hoped to see him and his new wife soon. Apparently they had a little one on the way. But she probably wouldn’t get to meet her niece or nephew anytime soon.

When the questions turned to her she stiffened before she downed the rest of the drink. ”Another, please,” she said while avoiding his eye contact. How did she explain why she was here, so far from her own home. Unless he already know. Still not looking straight at him but off to the side a little, she lowered her voice some. ”Just hit a rough patch back home. Trying to find a new place to go to while I figure out my next step.” It was a round about way to say that she was on the run. A look at him she couldn’t entirely tell if he had heard what had happened in her life. But would he still believe her like he did years before? That all she did was be a good partner to her husband who wanted to leave before his disease progressed? Esmerelda felt tears rise up and she turned away to wipe them away. She hated people to see her weak like that so she wanted to stop the tears before they progressed.

”Right now Dardania fits me just fine. I’ve been traveling light so when I find someplace to go it’ll be easy to just pick up and go”

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notes;; nothing now
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[Mikael Dorony]

Back then, things had been different. He had never been part of what could be considered a group mentality, so yes, he had argued constantly with the leader of the gang. He had changed slightly since then. He no longer spoke with the street rat's accent, or, at least, his voice had grown softer over the years, with less curses and swears. His personality, he supposed, had grown softer as well. He didn't get into quite as many fights as he had used to, leastways, not unless he was drunk and bored. Fortunately, that happened less and less frequently these days. Most times, he failed to drink enough to let it happen. Right now, he didn't want to go that far. After all, It was the first time he had seen Ezzie in years. At the same time, seeing her brought back memories, ones that he thought had been forgotten. The feelings, too. They... He frowned, looking at his empty glass. They were still there, hovering in the back of his mind, but she had changed. He could tell that much just from looking at her, listening to her voice. She'd lost the roughness around the edges that had made her so much fun. Now, she was just Esmerelda, not Ezzie. Not really. He was still Mikael. He had always been Mikael, running away from the chains that held him to the ground, reaching towards that endless sky with everything he had.

He set down the empty glass, having already decided that he was done drinking for the day. He didn't want to see the memories again, but he definitely didn't want to be a drunken idiot in front of an old friend. No matter how old that friend had become. She was still two years older than him, which made her...what, thirty six now? Marriage had been easy on her, it seemed. She was much softer than she had been. The calluses on her hands had faded, given way to smoother skin. Perhaps it was better for her that way, to become more gentle. He had never really thought of her as fitting in amongst the boys of the gang, more that she was only there because her brother was, too. He found himself wondering absentmindedly what had happened to Estefan. A wave had come across the Cortex some time ago, stating that the gang had been disbanded by local law enforcement, but he doubted that Ezzie's brother had been caught up in that. He had always been smart enough to keep the gang under the radar, as it were, out of sight of any big trouble.

He winced at her reaction, as she looked away from him, her body tensing. A rough patch wasn't exactly the best way to describe it. "You know..." Mikael paused. "Ezzie... I read the bulletin on the Cortex. You don't have to skirt around the truth for me..." He glanced around the bar, then sighed. This wasn't the place for a conversation like this. "But if you're looking for a way off of Dardania... I think I might be able to help, if you don't mind riding with me for a wihle."

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[Esmerelda Torres]

I ' V E. B E E N. C O L L E C T I N G. Y O U R. W O R D S.

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Esmerelda glanced side ways at Mikael. Should she expect anything less from him? Either he had kept tabs on her or he was just messing around. From what she knew probably messing around. Not like he had cared to say goodbye to her when he left. If he hadn't cared that much then then he didn't care to check up on her. When the second drink was in front if her, Ezzie downed half of it quickly. "You can't always believe what those things say." She knew it was bad but not that bad. But no one would get the truth this soon. No, because everyone believed she was a cold hearted murderer. "Someday I'll tell you what happened. But, yeah I've got to leave here. Trying to find someplace to get on the movie." Finally able to face him again, Esmerelda raised a brow. Ride with him? It did sound like a good idea. He had a ship so they could always be on the move. When she ran a hand through her hair, her thought process was going full speed. What would she even do to earn her right on his ship? Not like she had many skills now.

"It's tempting but I'm not the same girl. I don't know how much help I'll be right off. I spent what feels like a lifetime being the opposite of me." Once upon a time, Esmerelda loved to be outdoors. She would do whatever she could that was hands on. Odd jobs were picked up around the town so she could earn extra cash. Their mom had to work overtime to just keep their heads above the waters. And Esmerelda had wanted things so she had to get it. Somethings were gotten in a not so legal way but they were covered up as with other things that had happened. Back then she had been filled with energy and ready for whatever life brought. Being married to a man who was slowly dying had exhausted her. Plus putting up a charade and trying to still help her brother. The woman had been pulled too many directions at once. It had torn her from the woman she once loved to be to one who was lost and scared. Perhaps slowly Esmerelda would find herself again. Just she hoped people didn't expect her to be all rough 'n tough like before.

With her last drink finished, Esmerelda thought about things. Mikael had no crew so maybe it was easier for him to pass through security points. Could help her finally get to the money that was waiting for her. Perhaps she could even cut her old friend in for helping her get there. She'd still need a decoy to at least get the layout of the cameras so they could be knocked out. She wouldn't ask Mikael to do that. If anyone knew her from her younger years they may remember him. It might not take long to remember how close they'd been and follow him. It was no secret that Esmerelda favored him over others because of how different he had been. When she had spoken to her husband about minor details of her past, Mikael had come up. A part of her suspected he had looked more into her past by some questions he had asked. But the man had loved her despite that and never treated her differently. His family, though, may think different as the feds pulled up her records in searching for her. It'd only reaffirm their beliefs about her and who they figured her to be. While she may have lied, she was never a murderer.

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notes;; nothing now
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