MOMO entered the Hangar on the Elsa to find it surprisingly quiet despite the fact that there was a signature on her sensors. She climbed up the stairway to the tier that stretched around the backs of the E.S. units and spotted the unique tall orange-haired realian she'd expected to find there.
"Need something?" Canaan asked without turning, as he slid a small translucent data card in and out of a drive on the back of the Asher. His sensors had picked her up some time ago as well.
She walked across the tier towards him. "I don't want to bother you, but I wanted to talk to you," MOMO replied meekly, bouncing on her heels.
"I think that I can handle a conversation and basic craft maintenance at the same time," he replied, sounding almost insulted.
"Oh, okay," MOMO continued. "Well you're kind of a special realian, like me," she said. "There's not any more who look just like us..."
Canaan turned and began to walk in the other direction, expecting her to follow. "Yes, and?"
"Ah!" MOMO stammered and bounded off after him as he paced towards a console near the Zebulun. He inserted the same card and began to tap his fingers against the surface of the computer, inputting commands at lightning-fast speeds. "Well I just wanted to ask you-"
"If you've got something to ask," he said flatly, "just get to the point already."
"Right," she agreed and took a deep breath. "I'm sorry, um... Your emotions are repressed, aren't they?" MOMO asked sadly. "I heard Jr. and chaos say something about it."
Canaan responded very quickly without giving the matter any thought. "If they are or if they aren't, it doesn't really matter."
MOMO looked down at her feet, not entirely satisfied with that answer. "Oh," she mumbled. "Well um... does that mean that you are never unhappy? Or that you never feel like you're not wanted?"
"Of course we all feel negative emotions," Canaan explained. Though his voice was monotone as always, he sounded more than a little irritated by the question. "But I know where my place is, and being there is all that matters. That's something all realians understand."
MOMO leaned over towards him curiously. "But don't you ever want to be human?" she asked, trying to make eye contact with him, but he remained focused on the keys in front of him. "Humans get to choose where they belong. They can be things to others that realians well... just can't."
Canaan finished the task at the console and huffed a short breath through his nose, almost a laugh if that was even possible. "Why would you want to be human?" he asked her, cold eyes of the same color falling on hers. "If you were human, you'd have absolutely no use to Rubedo, now would you?"
She gasped slightly at the blunt answer and stepped back, returning some of his personal space that she hadn't meant to take. "But I- well..."
"Humans are born into classes and they're expected to fulfill roles just like Realians are," he said in slight annoyance as he tossed the card he'd been using into a box of supplies before snapping it shut. He lifted it and gave one last glance at MOMO before heading to the engine room. "The whole idea of changing destiny, or whatever, is just something they came up with to make themselves feel more empowered. We've all got our jobs to do. Being human would just make you too weak and untalented to hold the position you do now... or is the idea of being 'real' more important to you than helping Rubedo?"
"N-no, it's not!" MOMO stammered, and then approached the idea with new resolve. "The most important thing is to help Jr. and Ziggy because I want to be there for them!"
"Good," he said, though his tone wasn't particularly one of approval. "It makes my job easier if we understand each other." He nodded towards a smaller crate. "Now would you help me transport some of this? Pick that up and I won't have to make two trips."
MOMO smiled and obliged. "Well that's not really my job," she said, "But I guess I could help out."