It seemed to Audrey that no matter where someone was in the universe, there was nothing quite like a cafeteria to leave you feeling unsure where you belonged.
She could tell that people were staring at her as she tried to decide where she should sit. Some of them clearly thought they were being sneaky about it, and others didn't bother to hide their interest. From what she'd seen so far, she was the only one from her planet on the ship. The dining hall was full of people with a wide variety of features and colors, but she couldn't see any green. She didn't like standing out this much, but considering what she'd left behind back home, it was probably for the best that she couldn't spot anyone else who looked like her.
Hovering next to the doorway, Audrey considered going back to eat dinner in her quarters, but forced herself to push the idea aside. Her first two days had already been spent holed up in her room. She'd justified it to herself as wanting to get settled in, but now that she was fully unpacked and had learned what all of the buttons did, she couldn't really use that excuse anymore.
As soon as she'd laid eyes on the advertisement for a cruise on the Starship Viridian, she'd convinced herself more and more every day that she had to get aboard. Everything about it was just perfect for her. It wasn't one of the overwhelmingly huge liners that was practically the size of a city, but still a nice, well-made ship that offered a comfortable stay and could be trusted not to fall to pieces if they bumped into an asteroid. And most importantly, the brochures showing all of the places they would stop along their path looked absolutely breathtaking. She'd worked so hard to be here, and it would be a waste to spend the whole voyage in her quarters instead of getting out there to finally see what space had to offer. She was far away from home now, and she needed to start getting used to enjoying the trip without constantly being afraid.
Still, the idea of going up to a crowded table and just hoping that they would be friendly was nerve-wracking enough that she almost convinced herself to turn around again. Perhaps she needed to find a way to start small.
A group who appeared to have come together finished their meal and got up to leave, and now that she could see to the table behind theirs, Audrey finally spotted one other bit of green in the room, on the shirt of a man sitting alone in the corner He was one of the few people who hadn't been looking at her, and instead he seemed to be busy with reading something. She couldn't tell from a quick glance what species he was, but he looked just a little bit smaller than her, and he seemed harmless enough. She decided she'd try sitting over there, and hopefully the worst thing that would happen would be him ignoring her and keeping his nose buried in his book.
As soon as she had sat down, a screen built into the table lit up with a menu, trying to prompt her into ordering something. When she hesitated, it began to cycle through some suggestions that appeared to be the most popular choices from her home planet. Audrey worried that choosing one of those would make her stand out more, and she was here to experience something different from home anyway, so she directed it to show options from other planets.
There were… a lot of choices to pick from. So many that she hardly knew where to begin. She looked over to where her table-mate was absent mindedly eating his own dinner as he read, and decided she'd try to find something similar. But as she soon realized, she didn't know the name of it, and had to resort to typing in descriptions in the hope that the computer would figure out what she meant.
It was something roughly rectangle-shaped but cut into halves, one part in his hand and the other still sitting on the plate. It looked like there was a soft and spongy material being used to hold some sort of brown paste and a squishy-looking substance of a deep purple color. Whatever it was, she wasn't having much luck with getting the computer to understand what she was trying to describe.
"Would you like some help with that?"
Hearing a quiet voice, Audrey looked up and saw that the man she was sitting with had noticed she was having trouble. Feeling quite a bit embarrassed, she gave him a flustered smile and nodded. "I thought I'd try the same thing you were having, but I can't seem to figure this thing out."
He offered a brief, reassuring smile in return before he looked back at the table and started pushing a few buttons. "It's alright. It took me awhile to get the hang of it, too."
Wanting to memorize the name for later, Audrey watched closely as he typed in three letters, 'PBJ.' She wondered how it was supposed to be pronounced.
The food materialized hardly a few seconds later, and by that point, Audrey was very curious to see what it would taste like. It was sweeter than she'd expected, but a little bit salty too, and the taste was surprisingly comforting for something she was just eating for the first time. If all the food from his home planet tasted this good, she would definitely like to try more of it.
Now that she had a closer look, Audrey tried once again to guess where he might be from. His features could fit with a few different planets she was aware of, and just looking at him wasn't enough to tell her how many hearts he had, or how strong his senses were. He had poor vision, she could at least tell that much from the glasses he was wearing, but she couldn't be sure whether it was typical for his species or if it was especially bad for him.
His face began to flush red as she thought it over, which both ruled out a couple of species and made her realize she was being rude. It always left her feeling awkward and shy when people stared at her and it looked as if he felt it even more strongly. She always wished people would simply talk to her, so she should give him the same courtesy.
"My name is Audrey. What's yours?"
He looked a little caught off guard, as if he wasn't very used to people introducing themselves. While Audrey was used to being stared at, she got the sense he was more used to being invisible.
"It's Seymour."
"I just joined the ship at the last port." She said. Hopefully, she hadn't ruined things and she could manage to get a full conversation going. "Have you been here for long?"
"About a year." He took another bite of his food, and Audrey started to worry that he might not be very interested in talking to her. Perhaps she'd already made him too uncomfortable. But when he finished chewing, he glanced up and said, "I think it's a good ship. I hope you'll like it here."
Audrey beamed at him. "I'm sure I will. Getting on this ship is a dream come true for me."
"What made you want to travel with us?"
Audrey paused, suddenly wanting to consider her words carefully. She'd probably just scare him off if she unloaded her full reasons after they'd only just met, but she supposed there wasn't any harm in telling him some of the less unpleasant parts.
"It's mostly just that I've never left Areole before, and I thought it would be nice to see more of the world. How about you? I guess you must really like travel, if you've been here a whole year."
"Oh, I'm actually on the crew. I work in one of the research labs." Thinking she must not have spotted it, he tugged at the upper left of his shirt, where a small design and his name were stitched into the fabric.
Audrey had rushed onboard in a hurry, but now that she thought of it, she could vaguely remember seeing the same logo on the outside of their ship.
"I'll bet that's just fascinating! What kind of research are you doing?"
Any last traces of shyness seemed to be fading away, and she could tell that he must really enjoy his work.
"I'm studying xenobotany. We've been gathering plants from a lot of the planets we stop at, and then I work on doing some tests and recording observations."
Audrey beamed at him "Oh, I love plants! We don't have many back home, and I've really been looking forward to seeing some planets with more of them."
Seymour smiled back at her, and Audrey was glad she'd decided to sit with him. She already liked him quite a bit.
"My biggest dream has always been to see Earth." She continued. "I've heard it has the largest amount of plant life out of any known planet in the universe, and the widest variety too."
Seymour's eyes widened and he sat up straighter. "That's where I'm from."
Audrey couldn't help but let out an excited squeak. She'd been dreaming about the greenest known planet for as long as she could remember, but she'd never met a real Earthling before. She should have known someone as nice as him must have come from such a wonderful place.
Eagerly, she asked him, "Is it true that there's places where the whole terrain is covered in thousands of tiny plants? So many it turns the ground green?
Seymour looked a little confused for a moment, as if he'd never heard it described that was before, but then he realized what she was asking about. "Oh, you mean grass! We didn't really have that where I grew up, but I know there's parts of the planet where it's really common."
Audrey had always worried that those stories of plants carpeting the ground might just be a myth. But if someone who'd actually lived there said it was real, then she figured it must be true.
Seymour wasn't used to seeing anyone look so enraptured when he talked about plants, and after a moment of plucking up his courage, he decided to ask, "Would you maybe wanna come see the greenhouse? We don't have any grass, but there's a lot of other plants. I could show you around, if you'd like."
"Really? I'd be allowed to come in?"
Seymour nodded. "Yeah, it's no problem. Civilians are free to walk around most of the research spaces, just as long as they're not working with any biohazards."
The part of the ship he worked in didn't exactly get a lot of visitors, not when there was a lounge, a gaming deck, and a swimming pool for people to spend their time in, but Audrey looked very excited about the idea.
"Sure, I'd love to!"