Futuristic Uknown Crisis: Intermission

[Nimbus]

Intromission: Ji-Eun "June" Moon

Starring in, "I can't believe it's not NASA!"
_____________________________________________________________________________________

June had no idea what a Durgothian croquette was, but she though it sounded vaguely German, which made her think of schnitzel and that one time she tried to deep-fry some leftover bulgogi because she was bored. If there was tough alien meat, maybe she could marinate it in a similar treatment, slice it real thin and wrap it around a croquette, tied together with a strip of leek or spring onion. Or chop it fine , mix it with potato and a savory sauce and fry it up like a croquette.

She weighed her options out loud, "Steak and croquettes? Or steak croquettes? Maybe Both?"

June had a bit of a process, where if she didn't know what an ingredient was, she would observe it using as many of her senses as possible. Since she could peek over Cathal's shoulder as he worked the titanohulud steaks, June decided to peruse the produce section first. She found a globe shaped fruit with the softness of a pear but a sourness more on par with lemon pickle, a nutty-tasting root vegetable she thought might do for a potato substitute, and a cadre of dangerous-looking fungi that she poked at from a distance with a chopstick. She scooted around a slab of pink fleshed fish to seize what she thought might be a very distant relative of garlic - perfect to season both croquette and not-quite-beef steaks. The moment she touched it, however, her eyes began to tear and her nose leaked a bit. She dropped the pepper or radish masquerading as an alium on the counter, frantically waving her hand in front of her face - like it would help any bit.

"Waaa! This's so hot, my Nana can feel it! M' makeup's not running, is it?"

 

[Graystone713]

Kevin Starr
I can’t believe it’s-OH NOSA​

“... I... Am mostly familiar with earthside cuisine? Like, I know a few foreign equivalents to earth ingredients, but-... What. The actual fuck. Is THAT doing in OUR kitchen?”
Said Kevin, relatively calm until he saw IT. June had picked it up for the briefest moment and dropped it, the mere touch of the overconcentrated capsaicin in that unholy thing affecting her despite coming nowhere near her mouth. It was unmistakable, impossible to miss, and something Kevin and the twins had asked Chaya to ban from the ship. She had honored this request. For THAT. Was a Sitrian hellbulb. The first known plant of any type to break the Scoville scale, and that to this day, easily held down the record for the spiciest anything in the known universe. Kevin knew this. And he knew it did not belong anywhere near this goddamn ship.
“Miranda, you can’t just bring a hellbulb into our kitchen! I specifically told Chaya to ban those because they almost killed both Cathal and the twins! I-I can’t believe this. Stand clear, I’m gonna toss it in the incinerator. Then we have to wash everything it touched. Especially that hand.”
Said Kevin, stomping and clomping over to the spice that Tina still had nightmares about, and had frightened her into running at a dead sprint away from the kitchen just because she scarcely overheard its name. Anyone attempting to locate her would find her sitting in a faraway corner of the cargo bay, holding onto a bottle of chocolate milk the way a terrified and desperate man holds a weapon.

 

[ValtheStarGal]

Miranda Menendez
I Can't Believe It's N-oh Dear...
​

[Oh no, June found the hellbulbs], Miranda beams to Altis, Kevin already springing into action before she could stop him: for such a timid person, Kevin sure could move when he wanted to. Before she can object, the hellbulb is in his hand, and then down the incinerator chute, the faintest traces of its spice lacing the air along the trajectory leading back to Kevkev's gloved hand.

"That was for the Sitrian curry..." Miranda starts to say. She paces over to the table and checks the containment seals on the tube in which three more of them are contained: there should be four, and Miranda isn't sure how one of them fell out while the other three are in place. The strength of the hellbulb's loose spice is enough to make her eyes water, even with the offending bulb disposed of and the others safely contained. She is careful to tuck the container away and try to get a grip on the situation: thinking fast, Miranda shuffles through the bag and finds a tube of yogurt-like paste that she draws out and presents to June.

"Here, this is from the same planet, synthesized from an organism that feeds on hellbulbs. It won't stop the burning right away but it should get it under control in a hurry. I was very thankful to find out about it when I did: just about everything on Sitri worth eating had some kick to them. Eat it like yogurt - it should feel cool and sweet on your tongue."

Turning to regard everyone as June takes the tube, Miranda says: "The, ah, the idea was to present you all with a feast with ingredients sampled from all the planets we explored on the Lili, including Sitri, the homeworld of the apparently infamous hellbulb. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that word of it has spread...even if no one knew of Sitri until we first explored it about four years ago. I didn't realize I was violating a contraband rule by bringing them aboard - although having been where you are, I certainly understand why you have that rule."

Miranda pauses to collect herself before continuing, an upper hand on the back of her neck: "We, ah, wanted to tell a story of sorts. We've been all over and turned any number of things into food, so we thought we'd do the same for you all! We'd have stir-fry from Tygan, pan-seared Azulean Salmon, Riognachian elk burgers, Akheti titan-worm steaks - then the aforementioned Sitrian curry, croquettes made from Durgothian ingredients, Cloudmouth rolls from a gas giant, surf-n-turf from a Europan iceball and savannah planet, and much more besides! We thought it would be a fun way to tell you about the worlds we've explored!"

"Not many of these ingredients have such a...dramatic effect," Altis says, taking some of the pressure off of Miranda as she also paces over to the table to take stock of those particular ingredients. "We'd prepared everything so we could neutralize them before serving them to you, but it looks like we've been foiled in that effort. All the same, we'd be happy to press on, if you like? We can take care of the more exotic ingredients, unless anyone's feeling adventurous?"

 

[wickedlittlecritta]

Cathal McKay
I can't believe it's not NASA!​

Cathal said, "Don't ruin my fun, Kevin. I want to have round two with the peppers. I didn't know about the yogurt the first time." He kept tenderizing the meat, like the third round of intergalactic warfare was not, yet again, about to erupt in his kitchen. "And is anything really, truly banned? That's quitter talk. We're not quitters." He turned and brandished the tenderizer first at Miranda and Altis, and then at Kevin. "And for the love of god, let's not turn this into an awkward family dinner. Anybody gets shouty in here in today and I'm going to take you to the toliets and give you a swirly personally." He gave them both an extra frown, and then turned his attention to June.

"How's that yogurt stuff?" he asked curiously, leaning in a little closer to look at the tube.

 

[ValtheStarGal]

Miranda and Altis raise their hands - both sets, in Miranda's case - as the tenderizer is brandished at them.
[What's a swirlie?] Miranda texts Altis
[I don't know, and I don't want to find out] Altis beams back at her.
"We just want to make some food together and have a good time," Miranda says, speaking for both of them, their arms lowering steady as Cathal's attention passes to the Sitrian formula.

 

[CelticSol]

Elias and Eppie Cross​

I Can’t Believe it’s Not NASA!​

Spoiler: Eli Intro - Extended!

As it turns out, getting blown to shit by a Jiian shock trooper is not the worst fate possible.

It’s intergalactic customs.

He gets held an extra half hour longer than everyone else on his flight, courtesy of his Paradiso ID listing his dead name and gender and his NASA ID listing his actual name and gender, and additionally gets flagged for carrying a weapon he’s licensed to carry under four different permits, including by NASA, who owns the fucking station, that is under his actual name. He’s just about ready to get double-arrested for assaulting an officer because, no, his NASA ID isn’t forged, his home system’s government is just transphobic, and yes, he is authorized to carry this weapon, when he is saved by the metaphorical bell; the customs officer’s dumbass, high tech, walkie-talkie bullshit earpiece buzzes a little tune, and he excuses himself to answer it.

Elias pulls petulantly at the cuffs holding his hands to the table, tempted to do some impressive contortion moves to get his boot in reach of his bound hands to get the lockpick kit he’s got stashed there, but knows Eppie will end up with no bodyguard and a dead brother if he even dares. Also, Angelica Cross would probably astral project to the afterlife to kick his ass, a concept as horrifying as it is plausible when one knows the magic his mother is capable of. He kind of wishes he could transfer a message to her, because if there is anyone capable of sorting out this mess, it’s Angelica Goddamned Cross.

The cop returns, a rather sour expression on his face of a grown man that just got the chewing out of his life, before he unlocks the handcuffs, “We ran an additional background and it checks out. You’re free to go. Your luggage is outside.”

Elias stands, but not even military training is enough to hold his tongue, and he hisses under his breath as he passes by the godforsaken officer, “C’est qu’est-ce je t’ai dit, intutile putain de merde, va t’faire encouler,” He throws the door to the interrogation room with perhaps a little too much force than what is necessary, but it feels satisfying to hear it slam against the wall.

He limps to the front foyer, the excessive amount of sitting in a cramped shuttle triggering the pain that linger in his right knee since his injury. Spotting his luggage at the front desk, his cane leaning against edge, he heads over, grabbing his large duffle bag and swinging it over his shoulder, taking the cane. The cane was almost obsolete to him, as his mother even cleared him for active duty prior to shipping him off, but it took pressure off his leg when he endured the worst of his pain, and it doubled as a weapon if the situation called for it. Plus, it looked pretty kickass.

Eli heads out the doors to the customs office and into the Arrivals lobby, scanning the crowd for Eppie. She is remarkably easy to spot, despite being shorter than everyone in the area - the sole exception being an actual, literal child - with her pale pink hair, holding a bristol board that says Congrats on completing rehab, Elias! in her arms. She looks up from a holo as he approaches, and he can’t help the smile that cracks his glower as she lights up like a Christmas tree.

“Looks who is back from the dead!” She crows, holding the sign aloft like a trophy of victory before she unceremoniously throws it on the ground to hug him. He picks her right off her feet in the embrace, hugging her tightly despite the way it pains both his chest and leg to do so. When he puts her back down on her feet, she puts one of her hands on his shoulder, “Did customs hold you up again?”

“Yes,” He growls, running a hand through his hair, but shakes off his frustration best he can, “I’m going to pretend it was my stellar personality that got me out rather than you ripping the cop a new asshole for detaining me.”

Eppie bats her eyelashes innocently, “Why, Eli, I would never do a thing like that.”

“You’re Angie’s daughter - of course you would.”

“Touché! Hey, let me take your bag,” She notices the cane as she reaches for the bag, a flicker of concern in her eyes as they look back to him, though it is just as quickly swept away by a mask of nonchalance, “You know, for you to have this job, you do need to be cleared for combat.”

“And I am - my leg just bugs me if I don’t stretch every once in a while it, and it’s easier to walk on it with the cane if I can’t,” Knowing it is beyond pointless to argue with Euphie, Eli hands over the bag to her waiting hands, watching her shoulder the heavy weight with a surprising amount of ease. When Eppie gives him her ‘you’re full of shit’ look, he sighs, “Mom was the doctor who cleared me for combat, Epps. Do you really think she would even consider it if she didn’t think I would be okay?”

Eppie purses her lips, then shrugs,“True. I still you should’ve gotten the whole thing lobbed off and joined the Cross Cyborg Squad. Dad would’ve shown you all the tricks with the new leg.”

“Next time I run into a Jiian shock trooper, I’ll be sure to request they just fucking rip my entire leg off instead of just crippling me.”

“Well, I mean Goody would probably be more than happy to help you with that if you ask him real nice.”

Elias snorts, then retorts, “You said yourself he is a softie. For fuck’s sake; Euphie; you didn’t even know he was a Jiian rescue until a couple of days ago.”

Eppie throws her hands up in surrender, “Listen, you’ll understand why when you meet him. He is a big, wholesome boy who has done nothing wrong in his entire life. The boy sometimes has fucking stickers on his face, Elias. Stickers,” She shakes her head, putting a hand on his shoulder to guide him to start walking, picking up her sign as she passes by it , “But real talk, if your knee starts really bothering you, we can fix it up on the ship. I mean, we just got a geneticist on the team, and she grew whole new limbs on Miranda. I’m sure she could hook you up and make you good as new.”

“That’s Miranda’s sister, right? Altis?”

“So you do listen to me when I talk.”

“I either listen to you gushing about the cute girls you’re into-” Elias grins as he notices Eppe’s cheeks burst into colour, “-or I get to listen to mom and dad debating their topic of the day.”

“Speaking of dad, your voice is tripping me out. If you had a bit of a Russian accent, you’d sound just like him.”

Eli drops his voice an octave to replicate the distinctive, accented, deep tenor of Samuel Cross, “Euphemia, was you that drank last of my vodka?”

Eppie pales, then smacks Eli in the arm as he cackles, “That is so not funny! Dad almost kicked my ass for stealing that!”

“Man, I’m so glad you pointed this out - the possibilities are endless.”

“Oh, go fuck yourself. Terrifying impressions aside-” She snaps with a roll of her eyes, then shifts to hold something out to him. Raising an eyebrow, he takes the small item and unfolds it to discover it’s a t-shirt. He holds it out to read ‘Team Nine Doesn’t Suck’ and looks at Eppie, eyebrow raising even further. She unzips her sweater and proudly displays a matching t-shirt, looking at him with an expectant grin.

Elias deadpans, “The whole team has matching shirts, don’t they?” Her grin just grows wider, which just makes him sigh as he hands her his cane to pull it over his head. He strikes a lackluster pose to satisfy Eppie, “Happy?”

“Estatic,” She chirps as she hands him back his cane, continuing through the docking bay and through the crowds of people towards their ship. Eppie chats away, as she often does, and Elias listens quietly, as he often does, sometimes adding commentary but usually just listening to her chatter about the crew or a past mission or anything that pops into her pink head. He watches her expression carefully, her body language, a question he’s had gnawing at his head since Eppie’s open invitation to NASA at the forefront of my mind.

“Eppie,” Elias asks, when she is between two stories, “Why am I here?”

Eppie’s expression tightens to a very slight extent - anyone who didn’t grow up with her would miss it, but Elias doesn’t - before she feigns confusion to his meaning, “What do you mean? You’re here to be my bodyguard on missions. I mean, sometimes the security team can’t be with me on a mission and I’m useless with a gun-“

“Euphemia,” Eli interrupts gently as he takes her by the arm and forces her to stop walking, though his very rare use of her full name is enough to make her rambling grind to a halt and staggering her stride as she looks at him with wide eyes, “We both know that this is not what that is about.”

He says nothing else, doesn’t elaborate at all; he simply looks down at his older sister as he waits for her answer. Nervously running a hand through her hair, Eppie shifts uncomfortably foot to foot, looking everywhere but his face. It takes almost a full minute of squirming and fidgeting for her to answer, “I had a really bad panic attack in front of the crew. Like… Everyone. The whole team, except for the newbies who weren’t there yet.”

Eli nods, but prompts her further, “You’ve had attacks before, Euphie. Why was this different?”

“I just… I don’t know. I’m just really not doing any better? I’ve been taking my meds every night now, I still do my video calls with Dr. Beatriz every other galatic tuesday, but on Ferav? I had a complete meltdown after the mines. It took me three hours to be mentally stable enough for Donny to clear me to rest in my room. And no one blames me or is holding it against me as being unfit but-” She waves her hands uselessly as she speaks, her extreme as openly pained as Eppie would ever allow herself to show, “For fuck’s sake, Eli - I live on a goddamned space ship. The idea of getting into a shuttle makes me want to crawl out of my skin and I have to get in one every single fucking mission.

“But listen to me talk to you about this,” She says with the most pained laugh he’s ever heard, “You’ve gone through worse than a little anxiety - fuck, you got blown up, and I’m complaining about going on a little spacewalk.”

Elias shakes his head, taking her by the shoulders, “I wasn’t clinically dead for over five minutes, Euphie,” She doesn’t say anything to that, focused intently on the ground, so Elias just continues, “It is a literal miracle that you even survived. You should be fucking brain dead. I think the only person who fails to see the severity of what happened to you is you. We all have our scars - if you think I don’t shit my pants whenever I hear fireworks or loud bangs, you’d be wrong - but scars heal over. One day, it will stop being so raw. I do think that you are likely always going to carry this with you, but do I think it will hold you back? No, I don’t. Because you still went into the mine, you still get into the shuttle, you still live on a spaceship. Maybe you need a little more support right now, but you won’t always. You will get better - this shit just takes a while to stop hurting.”

When she doesn’t look up from her feet, Elias pokes her forehead to tilt her head back until she looks at him, “You will get better. You will be okay. But like I’ve been telling you since forever, being vulnerable and admitting you’re not doing well is okay. Shit happens. You seem tight with basically everyone in the crew, and I’m positive they’re all more than happy to try and help you get through this. Okay?”

Eppie looks a little misty-eyed, but she nods regardless, wiping at her eyes with the back of her hand. He releases her, and she steps back, speaking with a bravado and nonchalance that is both typical of her when she is trying to get over a vulnerable moment, and occasionally infuriating, because she uses it to avoid the vulnerability in the first place, “Well, anyway, I’m excited for you to meet everyone. I didn’t actually tell any of them - besides Commander Hekkiah - that you were coming on board, so I had to do all of the paper work for you that Donny usually takes care of to get you on board.”

As they pass by some guards, Eppie just waves to them, smiling in the sort of way that tends to disarm people. Elias almost tears out his eyes at the way they just fucking let them through, no IDs requested or questions asked, but he supposes there are perks to having a massive social media following - everyone and their cat recognizes you as Eppie Cross, xenoanthropologist extraordinaire and the alt girl from that NASA UCC team. They walk together to the airlock, Eppie enters in the code to get inside and the doors open with a swish and hiss of hydraulics.

“Now, lets see if anyone’s going to make it easy for us to find them,” Eppie says as she opens up a holo to check her messages, once they’ve dropped Elias’ things off in his new quarters, “Oh! Well, Miranda invited me to help her with food.”

Elias raises an eyebrow, “I don’t think I’m going to be invited to that sort of feast, Epps.”

Eppie’s cheeks burn a brilliant red as she smacks him, which just makes Eli cackle, “Oh, ha ha. You’re so funny. Almost everyone is in the kitchen, making a meal, together.”

“Ah, yes, some classic exhibitionism.”

“Elias!”

“Okay, okay, I’ll - hey, stop hitting me!” He shoves her hands away, still snickering at the indignant expression on his sister’s face, but saves her any further teasing for her little crush.

Eppie rolls her eyes, throwing her hands in the air, “You’re such a pain, I don’t know why I invited you.”

“Because you loooooove me.”

“Whatever,” She grumbles, leading the way towards the kitchen. Even down the hall, she can hear the chattering - and Kevin screaming about a hellbulb pepper? - of her teammates together. As she turns into the door
way, Elias on her heels and keeping up despite his limp and cane, she calls out into the kitchen, “Look out, everybody - we’ve got a baby on board!”

Elias flushes at his obnoxious sister, covering his face with his hand, “Jesus Christ, Eppie-”

“Guys, this is my baby brother, Elias, who is going to be joining the Team Nine security to keep an eye on me so Cathal doesn’t have a heart attack! Elias, meet Cathal, Miloj, Donny, Kevkev, Altis, Miranda,” She punctuates each name by pointing to the person, but pauses as she points at Ji-Eun, “And you have to be Ji-Eun. Sorry to have missed your landing party, but I had to save Elias from customs. I’m Eppie, it’s nice to meet you!”

 

[TrashRabbit]

Donovan
I can't believe its not nasa​

Donny had been watching the kitchen endeavors, still sipping his coffee. But he almost choked as Eppie introduced her brother, he wasn't expecting a surprise. He sputtered and put down his coffee. "What?" He pointed at Elias and then at himself and then at Eppie as he put two and two together that she must have done all the paper work for him. Which meant she knew it wasn't actually that hard. He was busted. He threw up his hands, "Welcome to the team, I guess!" He then crossed his arms exactly like the meme. He looked at Cathal like you-better-not-be-in-on-this.

 

[TrashRabbit]

Goody
Whats the sound​

Goody reluctantly sent a group text; [Her name is Nikki and she's from Avalon. I didn't get the memo while I was on shore leave. My bad.]
Donovan replied quickly, [I knew this was an elaborate prank. are there any more team members coming aboard that we aren't going to tell me about?]
[No this is probably the last one,] Goody assured him.
Goody did his best to breath. He'd gotten so worked up earlier- of course it was a child's prank. He put on his shirt and his shoes and headed down the hall and met Nikki and Miranda in the open crew quarter. He had his hands on his hips and said, "I guess you're having a lot of fun?" he asked in his artificial calm sounding customer service voice. He gives miranda a little thankful wave- from what he'd read this girl had been through a lot. He supposed he should be thankful for her sake that she was still capable of mischief and laughing. "I'm Goody- I'm your parental unit while you work with NASA." He had read his emails quickly and he knew, exactly why Commander Hezakiah had arranged for the girl to join the team and why Avalon had backed her decision. If all the clues pointing at her origin were right then it might not be safe to let her lose on Avalon just yet. Plus if she was as good as the dossier said it was almost worth the pranks to have her around.

 

[Faelinara]

N7KK7
What's That Sound?
​

Watching as Miranda calmly made her way to the bed, the young girl pulled off her helmet and smiled roguishly. Not what one would think for a twelve year old! Long lobbed silver and platinum blonde hair hung over one side, covering her eye and ending just beyond her chin. The other half, completely shaven, with what looked like a giant dragon's claw of a device, clasping her skull. Two fingers clutched under her ear, covering her left temporal lobe, the other two spread over the half of her head that was shaven. Everything about this girl read enigmatic, and cyberpunk, from her high collared punk jacket to her love for the black and neon palette.

Just as Miranda caught the gold and pink color of Nikki's eyes, the eccentric young girl spun on the balls of her feet ever so softly to face Zephyr's direction. Lowering in a squatted position and grabbing her knees, she reached out her pointer finger gently toward their face, in a general location where she thought their nose would be, and gives a light giggle, "Gremlin, I like that. Not much to tell really. I'm pretty ordinary."

As Goody walked into the room, the mech-critter climbed down from the vent it was hiding in and perched itself on Nikki's shoulder, curiously regarding Goody.

"Oh so much fun, Thank you!" Nikki replied as she looked up excitedly at him, rising to her feet. She lovingly glanced at Miranda, then at Zephyr, resting her eyes on Goody. "I can see already that I'm going to love ALL my new friends!"

 

[Graystone713]

Kevin Starr
I can’t believe it’s not Food network!​

Kevin stopped. Miranda and Altis only had the best intentions. Guilt weighed heavy on him, like an anchor attached to his suit. He wanted to apologize, but it felt wrong to apologize for protecting the team. Then Eppie and her brother appeared and he just... he couldn’t. He was going to leave.
“I... I’m gonna leave. And I’m gonna tell Chaya you’ve got contraband. And... I... I guess I’m sorry. You want to do a good thing, but you never should’ve brought those on board. I bet there’s more things, too... I should go.”
With that, Kevin pushed through Eppie and her brother, walked out, and clomped down to his quarters. He went in, locked everything down, ordered a new keycard lock for his vent, and... Well. He put on a movie and got to cooking his own thing. However, before he forgot, he did text Chaya.
Miranda and Altis are cooking with contraband. Hellbulbs. Cathal is in the kitchen, actively enabling. The sisters have good intention, but I’m still worried. Please advise.

 

[Nimbus]

Intromission: Ji-Eun "June" Moon

Starring in, "I can't believe it's not hot NASA!"
_____________________________________________________________________________________

In short order, June learned what exactly had attacked her senses - Hellbulbs! That would be a cool band name. Or a MASCOT with stick figure legs and cute bug eyes, beloved by sports fans all over the Galaxy. June imagined an announcer rattle off - "the Team 9 Hellbulbs are charging towards the goal. The game's tied with 6 minutes left - can they make a stellar play before time runs out?"

June pouted just a little bit as Kevin threatened the wrath of the commander over what was apparently the most "hella nope" fruit on the Nope-spice scale, a bit of consternation and her Aquilan accent peeking out, "I appreciate the concern, but I'm not dyin' yet. If this yogurty stuff Miranda got here's the antidote, it'll all be fine as floss." She gooped a little more on her fingers and her lips, but smeared some on her chin in the effort. Then she said, "ah what the Hellbulb," and make a light mask for her face.

"Got any cucumber slices?" she joked.

"It's working...and doesn't taste too bad either. Here," she dabbed a bit of the yogurt on the top of Cathal's nose and tried not to giggle, "have some more."

And then there was a girl with Pink hair who looked vaguely familiar. June internally went, "Oh Duh!" when she introduced herself as Eppie aka Euphemia Cross, who was on all the official NASA social media channels, helping Feddies de-mystify aliens. She wished she could have Eppie meet Ziggy, because she seemed fun and really, who didn't need good publicity once in a while?

And her brother, wow, she didn't know why he wasn't as well known yet, because he was a cutie. Ah, and he wore a "Team 9 doesn't suck" shirt too! What a good little family this ship was! She ought to someday, she thought, get Jack to come out to NASA - or wherever Team 9 was, at least, so he could see how cool life was out riding the tides of the unknown in space. Or she was pretty sure it was gonna be cool, anyways, since she had so many cool people to explore space with.

"Nice to meet ya, siblings E! Yeah, I'm Ji-Eun but you can call me June. Don't worry 'bout it; I didn't exactly fly through customs either. also," She glanced at her yogurt-covered hands, and flushed slightly when she realized she must've looked quite the sight with alien yogurt on her face. "I guess I ought to mention I don't normally play with my food."

She washed and wiped her hands and face off with a clean tea towel and asked, "Have you two ever had croquettes? You wanna help us make some?"

And they said something to the effect of "Hell Yeah!" and helped make croquettes out of mushrooms, potatoes and proper onions, and sweet potatoes and those alien pear-fruits and even one that had a sweet, jam-like center.

"I think we can start our culinary journey with croquettes and burgwiches* - or curry, for the adventurous - with tea for a light lunch, then work our way over to the more exotic and, um, complex stuff towards dinner," June suggested.

And it was so, because out of all the ideas June had in her life, this one was a good one. They made those elk burgers and, with help from Miranda and Altis, a version of Sitrian curry that was probably less spicy than originally planned, but, they discovered, just as flavorful with the right ratios of yogurt, ginger, cumin and plain old peppercorns.

Once the patties had finished their sizzling and croquettes had cooled just enough, June put some hot water on the boil for her favorite, roasty-toasty soul-warming tea: hyeonmicha. As the rest of the crew transferred their meals to their plates, she poured her crew-mates' tea into a small porcelain cup.

"This's no big thing at all," she reassured any who thought it strange for their guest to be serving her hosts, "But you can kick-flip the favor back to me tomorrow morning, or any other time when I am dead without my tea."

When everyone was seated, June proposed a toast, "to team Nine."

"because we don't suck," Cathal chimed in, hand and child's size mug held high and at a precarious angle.

They almost got through "Team Nine doesn't suck!" without laughing. It was a lively lunch, but something was missing, which tugged at June. She looked over the bounty of her table and realized it wasn't a something that was missing, but a someone.

June saved a pair of croquettes and a small tin of green tea leaves for Kevin. On the top of the tea-tin she wrote in Sharpie, "Mr. Star, You make Team 9 shine!" with little smiley faces inside the 9 and the stars doodled in the corners. It took a bit of guidance from Donny to set the offering next to the threshold of a room that actually belonged to Kevin. June tapped a panel a few times in the semblance of a knock. She wanted to wait until he answered - and this was probably the most difficult thing June had to do since she boarded the suddenthunderbaby666, wait - but got too damned nervous and worried he'd take it the wrong way and get offended or something. So she knocked again before she dashed back into the kitchen.

She persuaded Miloj to hang around for the meat-fest that would be supper, and encouraged Eppie to get her friend and comrade Mako to join for the and they toasted "Team Nine Doesn't Suck" again but this time some of them had something stronger than tea and the croquettes were almost all gone except for a couple of the jam ones - which, June admitted in hindsight, were a bit too much mush in the center.

And, because it is also a very great accompaniment with food and drink, June told Team Nine stories. In return, Team Nine told stories to June, who wondered how anyone could think space was so cold, when you could share it with good people like these.
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*Burgwich(es): n. a portmanteau of hamburger and sandwich, that may mean 1. beef patty burgers with bread 2. Non-beef/Non-meat burgers with bread. 3. Burgers of 1. and 2. and/or sandwiches.