Filed by E
Signal Cartel’s Sunday Coffee Time is normally one of my favorite rituals — a cozy little gathering where everyone sips something warm (real or metaphorical), parks their ships somewhere safe-ish, and discusses whatever corners of New Eden have been particularly strange that week.
This past Sunday’s topic? Nullsec happenings.
More specifically: Pandemic Horde leaving PanFam and abandoning the Dronelands.
Perfectly fine. Perfectly reasonable. Perfectly neutral.
Or… it should have been.
Instead, our host for the day was a very enthusiastic, very unapologetic Goonsquad member, and the conversation took on the kind of tone you’d expect when someone wearing full faction colors swears they’re being “objective.”
There was no subtlety.
There was no diplomacy.
There was only:
- “No love lost!”
- “Good riddance!”
- …and several cheerful reminders that he was, in fact, Imperial, as if anyone in the channel had missed it.
Meanwhile there I sat — a freshly relocated explorer, recently evicted from the Dronelands, my old home still metaphorically smoldering behind me. I had my mug, my microphone muted, and my camera off, nodding along politely like a diplomat trapped at the world’s most uncomfortable brunch.
I considered speaking up.
I considered clarifying.
I even considered saying “o7 but please stop stepping on my feelings.”
But… I’m still new to Signal Cartel. I don’t want to disrupt the peace, especially when everyone else was sipping coffee like it was the most normal thing in the universe to listen to a victory lap disguised as a fireside chat.
So I just sat there.
Smiling through my capsule.
Quietly absorbing the most awkward caffeine-infused hour I’ve had since joining the corp.
At least the coffee was good.
And at least next week’s topic is “favorite wormhole weather,” which has statistically fewer emotional landmines.
Fly your way o7
A Pixel Nomad 