Blog Banter #3

This month’s EVE Blog Banter idea comes to us by Roc Wieler of Roc’s Ramblings. Roc's asked us to “write a story about a fellow EVE Blogger, or an EVE player whom has inspired you or affected you in some tangible way. After your story, describe why you chose them, and any Holiday wish you have specifically for them“.

I slouched in front of the monitor, bored out of my skull, and checked my mail for the umpteenth time; nothing, as usual. I'd lost track of the number of days I'd been stuck in this hellhole of a system; and all because our CEO had decided that a move would revitalise the corp. She couldn't have been more wrong: every day, fewer people reported for duty or stayed online for very long. People were quietly moving out, without a word, to other systems; some people had left entirely. Of the twenty-odd members there'd been when I joined a couple months ago when we were based in Placid, less than half remained.

Part of the problem was the system itself. Not the features: the locals. They were vicious in a way that I had been only a few months before, and not for the first time I wondered what had happened to me. I lurked around the system, cloaked always, not giving them the chance to jump me and pound me gleefully into a cloud of dust.

Today, I just couldn't be bothered. I sat in the lounge near the hangars, keeping an eye on the Local comms and drinking tea. The downfall of a pirate; reality was a harsh mistress, and I could barely afford to support what ships and crew I had left. We were all feeling the pinch.

The doors opened, and I glanced up, half dreading it was another of the locals come to mock me for not being an easy target for them yet again.

It wasn't.

I didn't recognise her: a tall, athletic Brutor a bit older than myself, dressed in leather with a bearing only a capsuleer can claim. She ordered a bottle of wine from the lounge staff as she plugged in to the Local channels herself. Wine in hand, she raised a toast to the locals who had quite clearly chased her into the station, as they did so many others. Their response was typically playful-aggressive as they invited her to come out and demanded what her business was in the system.

Making my mind up, I rose, walked over to where she sat, and smiled when she glanced up.

'Mind a little company?'

The woman twitched a sceptical half-grin at me but waved to the seats nearby. 'Why not?'

I claimed a chair and squinted at her. There was no mistake. 'You're a pirate, huh?'

'That I am.' She studied me over the rim of her glass, then said, 'I think you are, too.'

'Lapsed,' I sighed. 'But a health to you. How'd you get stuck here?'

The rims of our glasses clinked and she settled back, crossing long legs in front of her. 'I'm based in Decon, but I got bored, figured I'd do a little exploring. Boy, was this place a mistake!' She laughed. 'This doesn't look like the best place to leave my jump-clone!'

I grinned back. 'There are better places.'

'Why are you lapsed?' When I hedged a second, she arched an eyebrow at me. I slumped back on the padded leather.

'I don't... I dunno. My first corp started to get quiet, people started leaving, some people made rotten decisions... I wasn't having fun anymore, so I thought to bring my sec status back up in a nullsec corp. You can probably guess how well that went.'

'Mmhmm.' She eyed me carefully. 'And now you're here.'

Nodding, I said, 'Now I'm back in lowsec because I don't know anything else, but this corp is dying and, well, you've seen how hospitable the system is. They're no friends of mine.'

The other pilot polished off her glass and refilled it from the bottle on the low table next to her. 'Sounds like you need a fresh start.'

'Fuck, yes,' I snorted. 'I tell you, if I don't get one soon, I may actually give up piloting. This is getting ridiculous.'

'Hmmm.' She savoured a sip of her wine, staring through the glazed outer wall at the distant stars, the curve of the planet the station orbited just visible to the lower right. 'Sometimes you just end up in bad places. Question is, are you gonna do something about it? Or are you gonna let it defeat you?' She finished her second glass of wine and stood.

'Time for me to make a run for the gate.' She handed the wine bottle to me. 'Finish it off and give me a call sometime. I've got a plan in the works you might like.'

I looked at the bottle, feeling bemused; red wasn't my preference, but I could probably mull it to drinkability. 'I'll do that, I think. What's your name, mate?'

She was already at the door; pausing, she glanced over her shoulder. 'Mynxee,' she said, and then she was gone.

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When I first met Mynxee, I was in a very bad state, indeed, and things were only getting worse. It wasn't actually until I discovered that her CEO was a guy I had known only a short while but still respected and admired, that I got back in touch, first through him dragging her into our convo.

You know the rest.

I wouldn't change this. I don't know if I would be so happy anywhere else in Eve, with such awesome and amazing people to fly and hang out with, if Mynxee hadn't come through Antem that day. I certainly would never have started blogging; I can't say for certain, but I may well have quit playing altogether, things were so bad.

So thank you, Mynx. I owe you a lot, and if there's one wish I could have for you, it's that you always remain tops on the killboard, because you are the most formidable and admirable person I've ever known ^_^