An attempt at discussing the weather:
“My, the vacuum is hard out today…”
There is something about human nature that compels them to look up at the stars. And, once in space, staring out a window at them will suffice. Shayde had managed to perform both, thanks to a pillow pit in this particular lounge.
The faintly luminous cushions gave enough light to find her by. Lounges like this were deliberately dim so that observers could see the stars as well as the ships that made Amalgam Station vital.
She seemed to be at rest, but there was some subtle tension radiating out of her.
It took him a few minutes to realise that this particular observation lounge was the one closest to the Sol system.
There was also something about human nature that made them look back to the place they came from.
He couldn’t ask if she was homesick. She had to be homesick. Starting a conversation on the obvious was… inane.
“Vacuum’s hard out innit?” she said.
He almost jumped out of his clothing. “You… know I’m here.”
“Aye, and I ken ye want tae talk. Or ye think I need tae talk.”
He sat primly on the edge of the pillow pit. “Psychologists say that talking helps.”
“I cannae get back to where I was. I’m forced tae move on. What’s tae talk about?”
Rael thought about this. “The legitimacy of your emotions. Where you are in the healing process. Whether or not it would do you any good to see what’s happened to the places you used to know…”
“Eh. D'ruther not. I’ll just sit and stare and cry in the dark.”
“Then I’ll sit in the dark and pass tissues.”
They watched a cargo vessel sail past, escorted by tug drones. Blinking to the night together.
“Thanks,” she said at length.
Someone on micro-debris patrol went past in their life suit, straddling a small vehicle and trailing a net.
“You’re welcome,” murmured Rael. He passed a tissue.
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