<div class="floatleft">(http://s14.postimg.org/w25qb344t/Diahvatar.jpg)</div><table class="bbc_table"><tbody><tr><td><strong>Character name:</strong></td><td>Diah</td></tr><tr><td><strong>Location:</strong> </td><td>Landing Pad</td></tr><tr><td><strong>With:</strong> </td><td> Layla, other new arrivals</td></tr><tr><td><strong>Doing:</strong> </td><td> Talking</td></tr></tbody></table><br/><hr/><br/>It didn't come as a big surprise when few new arrivals had questions for Diah -- most of them, when stepping out of their pods, were either disoriented, despairing, fuming with anger or in a mild shock; not the kind of state ideal for rational and logical discussions. But Diah still made the same speech and offer, or something much like it, for any new arrival that showed up -- in harsh environments such as this it sometimes paid to present yourself as a "reasonable one" and establish a 'we're-all-in-this-together-so-let's-not-make-it-worse-for-each-other' attitude straight away.<br/><br/>(Not able to physically intimidate like, say, Harrin, Diah used other ways to get her ways around the Cooler. And given that she after three years and in the new mine now held the lucrative job title of Underground Supervisor, something had to be said for her methods.)<br/><br/>No, Diah wasn't surprised at the less-than-enthusiastic response she got from most of the newcomers. She hadn't expected much else -- but now they knew her face and would associate her with the calm. reasonable attitude she's presented. And given that she was the only Quyllian in the settlement, and noticable with her small size, orange eyes, light purple skin and completely pald head, they would more likely than not remember her.<br/><br/>She was, however, surprised at the identity of one of the newcomers. Layla had been -- well, okay, she hadn't been a close friend, but of the people Diah had worked for in the slave trade, the woman from the desert planet was one of the more memorable ones. One of the galaxy's most notorious slavers, Layla had on one occasion hired Diah as a "freelance agent" to employ her hypnotic abilities in order to secure some rather lucrative and profitable slave tradings...<br/><br/>Her orange eyes widened ever so slightly when she spotted the woman in the crowd. And then, as said woman came up to her to confirm her identity ("It's been a while, Diah"), Diah looked up at her and smiled winningly.<br/><br/>"Layla," she greeted. "Got you too, did they? Terribly sorry." (She didn't sound terribly sorry, it was true, but the sentiment was there.)<br/><br/>"I guess I made the same mistake as you, huh?" said Layla.<br/><br/>"Looks like it. I thought for sure you'd manage to weasel out of getting caught, but it seems I was wrong.. and now we're here. Welcome again to the Cooler. Home of the frozen." She shrugged -- and was surprised again at Layla's next words:<br/><br/>"Put me to work. Whatever needs to be done, I'll do it. Don't give me something easy."<br/><br/>Diah raised her hands up on front of her chest, palms out. "Whoa, whoa -- slow down there, partner. We'll find something for you to do, don't you worry about that. But save that eagerness until you're actually down in the mine; that's where you'll need it." She let her hands fall to her side again and -- because she had noticed Layla's wandering eyes said, sweetly: "By the way, feel free to continue checking out my breasts." She arched her back to thrust out her ample chest, and the transparent Smartex left nothing to the imagination.