Lunar Winter (Nothing is Free RLC)

Not long after the discovery of the first seed, the climate on Moon Delta starts to....change.  "Hey, wait up!" Charlene calls from a distance behind, panting, "You aliens are way too freakin' fast." Tulip ignores Charlene and holds out her hand to catch a snowflake, admiring the winter clothes Blanca brought back from the "requisition centre". Whatever that is. It's been...a long  time....since she's seen snow. She's sure of it. But when...and where.... has she seen it before? As hard as she tries, nothing comes to mind. "You should tell Blanca to requisition you some running shoes," Tulip calls out snarkily. "We don't have enough credits!" Charlene gasps, "The computer said so!" "Did the computer also tell you to run like an old lady?" Charlene's comical overreaction of stopping to stomp and whine at Tulip for being "mean" make the stupid joke worth it.   Blanca has her own mysteri...

Living with Charlene proves to be an exercise in patience, even on her "better" days. "I'm not going to wear sunglasses inside," Tulip snaps, tiring of having to talk about this again, "Just don't look at my eyes if it bothers you so much." Charlene snorts, "Exactly what a lunarling would say. Just admit what you are, I'll leave you be." "What the fuck is a lunarling?" It's one of the many phrases Charlene calls her, but she never explains what any of them mean. She supposes "lunarling" is better than moon mite or space trash. Charlene giggles, "You would know better than me." Charlene's pursuit of "the truth" is unceasing. She leaves Tulip alone for a few hours, or even days, then ambushes her with more questions.  "If you're human, why don't you eat food with us?" Charlene asks behind Tulip's head one day. She jumps, and whirls around with supernatural speed.  ...

T's first memory of this place is running into Charlene.  "Oh- uh...hi," her first words to her future flatmate were inelegant, "Uh.... do you live here too?" Charlene just shrugged. "I guess."  She started muttering to herself about rocks and dust, the words too jumbled together for even T's hearing to pick up. As she walked away, T belatedly looked up, calling urgently, "Wait! There's only one bed!" Over the course of a few days, the two got to know each other a little. T learned that her name was Charlene, and she was quite young.  "I don't remember a whole lot," Charlene confessed in a lucid moment, "I think I used to go to a university. It was...really big." "Do you remember the name?"  Charlene shook her head. "Just the mascot. Go Llamas!" T's expression fell. She'd seen just how many of the old movies and tv shows on the intranet featured a Llama as a school mascot. Charlene c...