Dawa hummed to herself, a tune she couldn’t place, as she meandered around her quarters and poked at the furnishings and pre-installed tchotchkes. Her new roommate was due to arrive at any time, and the anticipation had completely ruined her ability to focus on anything, so she settled on making sure all the cleaning bots had completed their tasks correctly (they had).

Her own meager belongings were stashed on the wall and shelf next to her bed, but she had a single plant on a low table in the center of the common area. Ideally, it wouldn’t be hers for much longer; she’d procured it from Joshua’s vast collection when she’d asked his suggestion for a nice, easy-to-care-for plant to present to an unknown roommate who may or may not know the first thing about horticulture. Hopefully, it would be well-received.

Scooting down the corridor dragging her belongings behind her, a young Orion looked more than a little flustered as she nearly collapsed into the doorway of what (she hoped) was finally the right address. She’d tried three separate quarters already and none of them had been hers – much to her embarrassment. Dropping the strap of her duffel bag, she took a deep breath and then slammed a hand onto the wall controls.

Dawa literally jumped at the sound of the chime and trotted across the room to manually disengage the lock, so that she was face-to-face with the stranger when the doors slid open. “Hi! I’m Dawa Vlček!”

She restrained herself from actually hopping up and down in excitement when she saw the young woman’s luggage. “You must be my new roommate! Can I help you with your bag?”

This new woman, supposedly her roommate, was a bit of an assault on the green-skinned youngster’s senses, but that didn’t matter to her anymore. She was home, and she couldn’t wait to sit down and put her feet up. “Ummm, sure? If you wouldn’t mind?” she smiled sheepishly. “I’m Dalaa,” she added whilst stepping aside to accept the gracious offer.

“Nice to meet you, Dalaa. Ha! Dalaa and Dawa, that might get confusing.”

Dawa lifted the duffel bag with a grunt and marched it over to the previously-empty bedroom. “I’ll just put this on the bed for ya,” she called over her shoulder. “There’s a small replicator to your right if you want a drink.”

There was a soft whump sound of the bag on the bed, then Dawa darted back out of the room, still talking. “Your tattoos are beautiful, by the way! Do they mean anything?”

Dalaa looked a little overwhelmed at the continued interest in her by this new roommate of hers, but in a way, it was actually quite… nice? She felt this way because she wasn’t used to people being so amenable to her, and it was actually a refreshing change, even if she wasn’t entirely sure how to deal with it all. Running a finger under her dark, red lips, the Orion coyly smiled.

“They’re a celebration,” she told,  “in honor of my heritage, and my ability to escape the slavery of my ancestors.” Gesturing to the small diamonds beneath her eyes, her coy smile was replaced with a genuine beam of excitement. “These are the most recent,” she added, “honoring my immediate family members that I hope to liberate in the years to come.”

Dawa was finally rendered speechless for a brief moment as she tried to process the implication of Dalaa’s words. “Wow,” she said, fidgeting her hands in front of her. “That is some heavy stuff.”

Unsure of how to properly respond, she reminded herself: ‘When in doubt, be sincere.’ “Well, Dalaa,” she said, “I sincerely hope you do.”

Not wanting to draw the moment out into awkwardness, she quickly turned back to the center table and retrieved the plant she’d left there. “By the way, this is for you! It’s a welcome gift! If you want it. It’s an Earth plant called Zamioculcas zamiifolia. My friend Josh, who’s a big plant geek, says it’s really easy to take care of.”

Reaching out, Dalaa took the gift and smiled in thanks, before a sudden realization dawned. “I’ve never had to keep anything alive before,” she smirked, “other than myself of course. Thank you. That’s very thoughtful. I’m sorry I don’t have anything for you…”

“That’s fine!” Dawa waved her hand in dismissal. “Your presence is plenty enough! I’ll tell you what, if you really want to, you can pay me back by hitting up one of the bars or holosuites with me later. It would be great to finally have another friend on the station! None of my squad members are interested in ‘fraternizing’,”—she emphasized the word with air quotes—”Outside of duty hours. And Josh is great, but our schedules conflict a lot, plus I need more than one person to socialize with, or else I risk completely sapping their life force! Metaphorically speaking, of course.

“Oh, and protip: you can program one of the cleaning bots to automatically water that li’l guy for you! Some people consider that cheating, but I say if you’re gonna cheat anything you might as well cheat death!”

At that moment, the strangest thing happened. It was as if the young Orion’s enter demeanour changed with the smile that filled her green-skinned face. “Later?” she shook her head. ”Why wait? I’m not due on duty again until tomorrow and I’m told there is a whole station of eligible young adults that can have the life force sapped from them after a drink or two…” with that, Dalaa grabbed her new roomie by the hand and dragged her towards the door.

“Oooooookay! Well!” Dawa allowed herself to be dragged along and out the door by her reinvigorated roommate. “I thought you might need to rest up first, but now is good!”

She wasn’t sure if Dalaa was being facetious and following up on her hyperbole, or if the woman just didn’t understand metaphors and was actually ready to wreak havoc via life energy (she’d heard conflicting accounts of questionable veracity about Orion women), but she was exited to find out.