Chapter One: "Hello Again!"
Amelia was not someone you would say was an average joe, going through life doing the same routine every single hour of every single day. That's partly why she had become a freighter pilot when she needed the money and not some other job in New London. Her blood craved adventure, she had an itch that was only scratched when she was out in the cosmos, where she met space itself, what hell of an adventure that was!
But despite that amazing adventure, Amelia now found herself planetside.
Permanently.
Her ship was destroyed, she had a debt to pay to the medical ship that had picked her up and with the council having quickly taken steps to help the planet heal and a vaccine to be made for the many illnesses, it left Amelia with no reason to go out into space.
Still, she found herself staring up at the stars more often than not, wishing that she could be up there.
"Amelia Watson!" Her boss shrieked, breaking through the happy fog in Amelia's mind.
The blonde in question turned and looked at her boss, who scowled at her, "Yes?"
"You're doing it again!" She growled out the words, "Remember what I told you!"
"That if I-"
"You're fired!" Her boss howled, Amelia flinched and her coworkers snickered.
The blonde glared in their direction and they all returned to their work. When she turned her eyes back to her boss, she saw a letter of termination in her hand and took it.
With a frown she stood up and made her way to the door, "I'll get my stuff."
While she made her way to her desk she looked at the letter and read through the reasons, sure enough, her constant spacing out was top on the list. However, there was one reason on the list that caught her eye.
"Smuggling? Really?" Amelia scoffed and arrived at her desk, where she stuffed the letter in her back pocket and collected the few things she had brought to the office into a box, and left.
The drive back to her apartment on the fridge of Londinium was a long silent one, where Amelia's frown grew. It was only matched by the slowly intensifying downpour of rain.
Despite the horrible morning, Amelia arrived back home with a small smile on her face, at least she'd be able to surprise Mikki!
She turned off the hover car and made her way into the apartment complex, it was not the best-looking building or had the best Landlord. She swore there were chipmunks in the walls, but it was still home, at least until she could keep a job long enough to move.
She huffed and made her way up to the second floor, where she saw a woman in a large grey hoodie struggling with her door. She was standing in front of Amelia's door, was she her new neighbor?
Amelia stopped a few feet away from the woman, "You okay?"
The woman jumped and turned toward Amelia, her charcoal eyes seemingly looking straight through Amelia before she ducked her head slightly, "N-no, I'm fine."
"Your door is stuck, isn't it?" Amelia smiled.
The hooded woman sheepishly nodded, "I, um, locked my keys inside by accident."
"Alright, just let me grab something from my apartment real quick, give me a minute," Amelia cracked her knuckles and made her way into her apartment, she grabbed a lock-picking set she bought a while back for the Sunfish, and returned to the hallway.
The woman blinked at Amelia, "Y-you have a lockpick set?"
"I owned a starship," Amelia explained and got to work, "You'd be surprised how many things use old locks like these in them."
"So, um, what's your name?" The hooded woman asked.
"Amelia Watson," Amelia answered, she bit her lip in concentration for a moment then paused to look at the woman, "What's yours?"
"N-Ninomae Ina'nis," The hooded woman introduced herself.
"So, Ina'nis," Amelia began, "Why are you covering all of your hair, bad hair day?"
Amelia was so concentrated on the lock that she didn't notice the way the other woman flinched and went pale, "Y-you could say that."
"I'd try to help, but I was fired from a hair salon a few months back," Amelia chuckled, "I made sure to apologize to the clients though, hopefully, they don't come for revenge otherwise I'd have to disappoint them a second time."
There was a click and Amelia stood up and turned the doorknob, "There you go!"
"Thank you so much!" Ina'nis hugged Amelia and went to her door before she paused, "Call me Ina, that's what my friends call me."
Amelia felt herself blush under the friendly gaze and rubbed the back of her neck, "Um, sure, you're welcome Ina! If you need anything else just knock."
The blonde then entered her apartment and placed her lock-picking gear next to her box of office junk and huffed.
"One good interaction and you turn into a tomato, really Ame, get a hold of yourself!" The blonde lightly smacked herself upside the head and made her way over to the fridge and opened it.
"What about Cereal?" Sana's voice asked from above her.
Amelia shrieked, "Holy shit! You can't just sneak up on people Sana!"
"I didn't sneak up on you," Sana laughed lightly, "You just never noticed me, I've been here since you walked in the first time."
Amelia blinked at the much taller woman and sighed, she closed the fridge and sat down at her table, "Sana, you can't just… show up in my apartment."
"I didn't harm anything," Sana said confused, "I even played with Mikki, he's asleep on the couch by the way."
"So that's where he is," Amelia looked over and smiled before she turned back and frowned at Sana, "It's just that… sometimes humans need time to… prepare for interactions, not that I don't enjoy hanging out with you, I love it, but…"
"Oh, Mumei told me… you're an ex- no wait, an introvert?" Sana smiled when she recalled the right word.
"Yes," Amelia couldn't help but smile at the giddiness of the concept, but her frown returned just the same, "But there are other factors too, I need to clean, make myself look presentable which-"
She paused and looked down.
"-I need to return my uniform, God damnit!"
Sana tilted her head "Why would you need to return to your work uniform?"
Amelia's frown deepened and she rested her head in her hands, "I got fired."
"Oh," Sana walked over and gave Amelia a comforting squeeze on her shoulder, "If you need any help just let me know."
"Thanks, Sana," Amelia put her hand on Sana's and squeezed back, "It's been a rough few months."
"Do you want to talk now?" The concept asked.
Amelia's gaze drifted to the only picture she had brought to the office, one of her and her parents, "No. I… I think I'm fine for now."
"Okay," Sana nodded, "If you need anything else, just let me know."
Sana then marched over to the kitchen and materialized an Apron that read 'Orbit the cook' which made Amelia snicker, "Don't tell me you bought that apron!"
"Fauna agreed with you," Sana smiled, "It was funny."
The concept's smile disappeared and she got serious, "Now, what do you want for Lunch!"
Not even an hour later both Amelia and Sana were chowing down on some grilled cheese sandwiches. While they ate in silence Amelia watched Sana take stock of her surroundings, after all, she hadn't arrived that long ago.
The silence didn't last long, Sana let out a shocked gasp and ran over to a shelf in the corner of Amelia's small apartment, where a small terrarium sat.
Amelia watched with amusement as the concept took an interest in the object, "What is this?"
The blonde raised an eyebrow, "All your time alive and you've never seen a terrarium?"
"So that's what it's called," Sana replied astonished before she turned back to Amelia, "I think I've seen a few here or there, but they fall into Fauna's purview, so I don't know too much about them."
Amelia smiled at the wonder still present in Sana's voice and glanced at the object before she turned to the concept again, "Maybe we should make one!"
"That would be amazing!" Sana was giddy, "But how long does it take?"
"Not that long," Amelia then glanced out the window and her frown returned, "But in this weather, it might be better if we put that down the line."
"I don't mind," Sana sat down and smiled at Amelia, "Just being here is nice!"
Amelia felt herself blush and glanced down at her plate, "So, uh, what was it like before council intervened?"
Sana tilted her head, "What do you mean?"
"Before the Council intervened in the war and revealed yourselves, what was it like, how did you all operate?" Amelia explained, "I've been curious for a while now."
"Oh, well I'm the only member who was known by anyone," Sana explained, "My role as speaker of space had me help stop empires from ripping the fabric of space itself as well as keep barriers that hold this dimension together."
"There are other dimensions?" Amelia echoed, shock clear in her voice.
"Yeah," Sana nodded, her smile faded for a moment, "Almost three thousand years ago the barriers were breached by an attempt to use a wormhole generator as Faster-Than-Light travel, I intervened and stopped the beings assaulting the rift by getting Yatagarasu to cleanse the planet."
That name sounded familiar to Amelia, but she didn't know why, before she could ask, Sana moved on, "Kroninii sat in the space between time making sure everything follows the proper flow."
"Are time travelers real?" Amelia leaned forward anticipating Sana's answer.
The concept simply smiled and shrugged, "I wish I could say."
Sana moved on, and her smile grew slightly, "Fauna kept nature as healthy as she could, given humanity's expansion, and Mumei watched out for Humanities' many dark groups who wanted to overturn the status quo."
"Okay wait," Amelia stopped her, "So is Mumei a concept?"
"She's part of the council, but no." Sana explained, "She's an embodiment of everything humanity is, when humanity and their ideas fade from the universe so will she."
"That's… sad." Amelia frowned.
"It is…" Sana frowned as well, "It's…" she paused, "Part of our reason for our intervention in the war between Earth and Atlantis was because we were afraid we'd lose her…"
Amelia leaned forward, "Really?"
"I've observed the expansion of their empire for a thousand years after their exodus only once before had a race resisted them as much as Earth had," She paused and stared off at a memory Amelia know brought her a lot of pain, "Let's just say that Earth would be just as barren as your moon had we not intervened."
"Well…" Amelia swallowed at the prospect, her brain was screaming at her to change the subject, "Let me tell you about the time I punched a lady in the face because she was being disrespectful."
Sana laughed, "Now that sounds like a story!"
"Spoiler alert I got fired for it," Amelia chuckled.
She didn't know when she realized it, but she was happy again, just being here with Sana brought a smile to her face once again.
Hopefully, this was a sign of things to come!