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RP: LSDF Val'ta [Prologue] - Sing about the Valleys

Luca

The Ultimate Badass
🎖️ Game Master
I'm singing about Atlantis love songs,
See the moon trip, farther and farther, hang on
Sing about the Valleys of Home
Valleys of Neptune is rising...
rising...
Valleys of Neptune is rising...
rising...
Valleys of Neptune is...

Rise on baby, rise on...
Rise...
Rise, baby now...

Jimi Hendrix - Valleys of Neptune

Lor, LSDF Space Station, Corridors to Briefing Theatres

A keyring was twirling with a jingle along the groove of a dark finger, at the edge of the keychain was a gold-plated key on a chain, the plating on the interior of hole the keyring was grinding away and flaking. In the other hand, there was a cellular communicator, currently in contact with someone. "We're going where first? ... There?" A lorath lmanel woman of six foot three, white hair, green eyes, and a long stride mumbled into the communicator's receiver, passing by LSDF soldiers and troopers and rolling her eyes. "Right, really. I thought this was an exploration vessel, not a go-places-we-already-know vessel."

This woman, sixty years old (and looking about thirty) had seen enough of stuffy, well-treaded academies, having to explore vast books and reams of knowledge accumulated over many many centuries of Lorath history instead of vast continents, and doing favours to involving Kaserine to grease the wheels of officials with loose morals. Today, she felt like being organic - well as organic as she could come across for today's first briefing to a troop of about a hundred soldiers, mostly Lorath, but some oddballs including Yamataians, Jiyuuians, and Nepleslians in the mist - who were being looked at with equal parts novelty and suspicion by the other staff.

"Fair enough. Your mechanic kept on telling me that this thing could... pierce the heavens?" The woman replied. She was dressed in her uniform (though she'd much rather be in her shorts and walking through a forest) with the captain's patch prominently displayed on the right shoulder, her ship's patch on the left shoulder, reading 'LSDF VAL'TA' on a circular field of white gradient to cyan blue with pink text and markings; while the verdant green stripe of Lmanel heritage was on her left arm. Her right arm was bare of any further statement or marking.

"I think the Goddess would be quite displeased if this ship pierced the heavens," she replied to a long winded explanation on the other side, "she'd pierce right back I reckon," the woman giggled as she rounded a corner and looked up at the sign on the ceiling. The briefing theatre she was supposed to be looking for wasn't far. "I'd love to chat but I've got a crew to address, tell your mechanic I'll, uh," she segued into accented Trade, "pierce the heavens."

With that, she clapped the phone shut and looked for the back entrance to the theatre. She could find her way through sprawling forests so thick the vines and undergrowth choked out sunlight and concealed all sorts of dangers; Striding across long plains and savannah for days on end navigating by stars; Climbing tall mountains with all of her might and muscles. But here? Well, she stopped and asked directions for how to enter discretely.


Lor, LSDF Space Station, A Briefing Theatre
A theatre of seats surrounded by red-curtained walls, occupied by about a hundred-odd Lorath Self Defence Force soldiers were sitting together and waiting in dim light, gazing lazily at a well-lit, polished wooden stage with a parapet and a projector on the back of the stage with the words 'LSDF VAL'TA' and its logo emblazoned onto it, while speakers were playing a tastefully subdued, instrumental mix of the Lorath national anthem. In some sections of the crowd, people were eating duqs. Sweet, beautiful duqs.

A fraction of the soldiers were allied to DATASS while the rest were Lorath or Jiyuuian through and through. The captain's identity for the most part had been an enigma open for speculation. Some rumours included that they liked their kaserine a lot - not that there was anything wrong with liking your kaserine on Lor. One group was placing bets on whether they showed up as a man or a woman.

Exploration in the last couple of years were usually done by probes, drones, merely documenting the place instead of getting their hands dirty. Just because a drone was able to grab a topographical map of the line, observe the atmospheric conditions, plot out the biomes, do some rudimentary geology scans, gather weather patterns and report back worked didn't necessarily mean that people would actually find the place pleasant to live in, or business contractors worth investing in.

Now that those drones and probes had gone out and gathered the data it was time for a group to get their hands dirty and see if these planets were as interesting as the data the drones gathered. The briefing everyone in this room had received told them that they would be those brave people. They would be channelling the spirits of the brave folks who ate the first mushrooms, not knowing whether it'd kill them or sustain them.

The captain of this not-motley was still trying to find their way to the stage from behind though, so the soldiers had an opportunity to look around and converse if someone else caught their eye. They'd been waiting for about fifteen minutes, and the captain was due to show up in five...
 
"If she doesn't come in as a woman now she'll be leaving my cabin as one tonight," a slender elfin eared male Neko boisterously boasted, his voice oozing obnoxious hubris and emanating from behind a toothy, shit eating grin, "if she's even able to that is." To further accentuate his surety and perhaps provoke his new partners he draped an arm over his chair and turned to leer at whichever neighbours seemed most reserved. "You're all invited too of course." Since this was Akemi's first time joining a crew of aliens he figured he'd make the most of it and try to rouse some fun out of them while testing the waters. He'd love to bother some cute looking L'manel or an easily flustered Fyunnen. As soon as he'd entered the room he'd begun gawking at everyone and taking note of the most adorable of aspectations.
 
Lor, LSDF Space Station, A Briefing Theatre
A nearly six foot tall woman with tan skin and a slender face and teal half rim glasses resting on her nose was seated in one of the chairs looking over briefing documents. This woman stood out because of her rather large wings for a Lorath, but also the strange long bodied winged cat that was crawling over her and her seat. The green stripe on her uniform indicated that she was Lmanel, so the creature must have been her aspect partner.

“This assignment is going to be a lot less scary than the last, Rhiq. Besides you’ll be there this time from the start, I don’t have to go through the trouble of sending you later with cargo. So you don’t have to worry.” She was speaking softly but not to herself or anyone around her, rather it was to the animal on her shoulder.

The said creature, Rhiq, licked her cheek and then placed his paws on top of her head. like it was patting her.

Ny’za giggled in response and stroked Rhiq on the back. “Yes yes, that’s allowed too.”
 
Lor, LSDF Space Station, A Briefing Theatre

In contrast to the nearly six foot tall woman, there was another woman that sat near by her that seemed to be barely four foot and a half. Her face was child like, her body was even more child like, there was almost nothing about her that seemed unchild like except for the look of slight deadness in her eyes that follows by someone who has seen tragedy. Sitting nearby her with its head in her lap was a large canine-insecta type animal with a long bone like tail which is protectively wrapped around the belongings of its beloved master.

The name of her animal happened to be Ta'cee, and it was her personal Ciztic; the animal she was bonded with and the one she loved very dearly. She was gently petting her head while watching Rhiq and Ny'za with a slight smile. "Mm... Rhiq seems lively today, Ny'za." She looked down at Ta'cee who perks her ears and begins panting ever so lightly at the attention, before her eyes fall on Rhiq, she clicked a few times, and then let out a playful growl before relaxing again. Ta'cee had been taught not to threaten other animals, especially not Rhiq.

Jiji looked towards the Neko quietly as he came bolstering in, and shifted in her gray and red uniform that also had the green stripe, as if the fluffy canine like ears she had didn't give it away to begin with. She paused a moment, and then chuckled at the silliness of Akemi, before going back to looking at Ny'za and petting Ta'cee, who gives Akemi a glance, before going back to relax.
 
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A New Tur'listan, as evidenced by the ears, sat it up in front, white hair accented by a ponytail that exploded in colour. It was the first step in a new section of a long process of many boring steps to. . .

"If she doesn't come in as a woman now she'll be leaving my cabin as one tonight - if she's even able to that is. You're all invited to of course!"

J'ann wheeled about to glare at the male neko. How dare he talk about a captain that. . . well, J'ann didn't even really know the captain of this project all that well, but this obnoxious individual was one of them. His hands tightened in their fitted leather casings, but unfurled when he turned back forwards and took a moment to breathe and readjust himself.

No, it won't do to get mad. I'll just let some Fyunnen with prejudices throw him out. No need to get riled up at a foreigner who won't last a week in our military.

The small individual ran his ponytail between two of his fingers, sighing.
 
Akemi caught the daggers sent his way and gave the man a goofy ear to ear grin and a flurry of little waves with his right hand held in front of and close to his shoulder. "Aaaaaah," he exclaimed quietly, "I just want to steal all the L'manel's ears and make them into a quilt and take all their animals prisoner. Aaaaah. How do you resist the urge? You guys must be paragons of self-control. Look at it, it's a fucking cat bird." Akemi swiftly pointed to Rhiq. "It's just like my Yamataian cartoons. I wanna steal it and pet it into submission." Despite the raven haired Neko's overly casual nature J'ann would surely find himself choosing his words carefully were he to glimpse the badge of the illustrious Mighty Mew Mew caste fashioned to its sleeve; a tiny purple patch bearing the outline of a feline face made just yesterday.
 
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Lor, LSDF Space Station, A Briefing Theatre

"He's worried about me, he doesn't want something like last time to happen." Ny'za smiled softly and gently picked Rhiq off her head, putting him in her lap and petting him. Ny'za looked relaxed, but Rhiq was a little more restless since he was concerned for his partner.

However the relaxation did not last very long as the neko spoke up again, it made the Lmanel's ears twitch and she looked back at him with a very serious glare. "If you try any of that I will grind you into feed and ship you to Yabeu." Saying she was angry would be an understatement, jokes about a Lmanel's partner were not something taken lightly.

Rhiq too seemed more than a little agitated, hissing at Akemi form Ny'za's shoulder.
 
Lor, LSDF Space Station, A Briefing Theatre

She smiled gently at Rhiq and reached over petting him, before returning to petting Ta'cee. "Well its wonderful that no matter what happens, we'll have these two to watch our backs as well as our own." She kissed Ta'cee on the nose and then grinned as the insectoid wolf looked at her clicking a few times.

It wasn't long, however, until her attention was brought to the Neko who could have just racially insulted them and got less hostility. Her ears were back, and her eyes lidded in a lofty glare as she bared her teeth much like a wolf would, bristling her hair even. After a momentary growl she spoke up. "You come anywhere near Ta'cee, I'll just let her devour your kitty-cat body... Ciztic don't discriminate on what they eat, you know." Ta'cee, noticing her partners agitation turned her gaze towards Akemi now, slowly standing up to her full size; A large five feet in length, and almost four feet in height, her bony tail slapping the ground almost in a whip like fashion causing it to echo around the room as bone hits metal. She began clicking quick decisive clicks towards Akemi, an aggitated warning click, to those who knew anything about animals.

Jiji didn't really do much to stop the threats from her Ciztic, instead, she gently stroked her back and just stared down Akemi, seeing what the Neko would do.
 
"Pfffffffft, that cat-bird is a jillion trillion times cuter. Go ahead and come at me," Akemi replied dismissively, upturning his palms and repeatedly curling his long, dainty fingers, clearly designed for maximum stroking efficiency. "If you guys share some kind of link I'll just cuddle you to death to molest your masters by proxy. I'll kill four birds with two hands." Not one to be outdone the Neko rapidly wiggled his ears and purred while putting his fangs on full display with an unrelenting smile. It was difficult but he attempted to stare down both animals and occasionally flash a determined look at each L'manel. "I wish I had a tail."
 
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Unbeknownst to Jiji and Ny'za, an old familiar face was but a few rows away from them in the briefing theatre. The L'manel was dressed in the black standard issue uniform of the LSDF, with green armband and medic insignia upon it and her rank indicated that of Trooper. Hand made necklaces of many colored beads and materials wrapped around her green-ringed neck like a choker, seeming to tell a tale of where she had been better than she probably could. Her pale face and short, somewhat spiky alabaster hair gave the older woman the edgy look of one who had definitely seen things both good and bad in her time and developed an attitude along the way to cope. She had no animal companion by her side, but that seemed to suit her just fine.

Aran'ya had her long, lanky legs crossed casually and was enjoying one of the duqla's like many of her peers, sliced into juicy portions and garnished. It was just fermented enough as to remove the citrus flavor of the seeds that she disliked, as the sweet taste and hint of opiate came through. This made it such a unique fruit indeed, and the biochemist was keenly away of all the many substances the wonder fruit/vegetable could contain at various stages. But who knows... there could be something even more amazing lurking just beyond, if the briefing beforehand that she sat through could be believed. In all truth, she wasn't really sure why she felt drawn to take this assignment with the Val'ta, just a gut feeling in her animal hunter soul that something important in the vastness of space was waiting out there for her... or perhaps could it be... someone, instead?

Her thoughts were shattered by what appeared to be a trash talking, lecherous Nekovalkyrja guy a few rows behind her. Aran'ya wasn't certain if he was serious with half the things coming out of his mouth, but she couldn't resist the urge to fire some comments back at the out of place alien. She thusly turned her head with impressive flexibility, her hazel eyes seeming to shift colors slowly into the red spectrum as they glanced Akemi's way. "Hah, really...? Your bedroom's the one place no one will boldly go tonight," Aran'ya replied with a snarky grin, slipping another slice of duqla into her mouth vaguely seductively to emphasize her point. "And if the rumors about the captain are true, you just might be the one leaving a girl instead."
 
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Lor, LSDF Space Station, A Briefing Theatre

Off to the side of the gathering, Nein'isha had been caught up in a conversation with a small group of their peers, discussing the future of the mission and proposing theoretical tasks and events that they might find themselves involved in. This conversation had died down as the Yamataian male piped up drawing the attention of the small cluster of Fyunnen along with much of the gathered crowd. Now like many others her golden eyes watched the small male wondering if they were suicidal or merely overconfident in their self image.

She briefly considered calling out a response of her own, however what had begun as a general rowdiness had turned into an insult to the L'manel as a whole. Not being an officer it wasn't her place to step into the argument, after all she wouldn't want to earn the ire of the L'manel who might see the overture as an assertion that they couldn't defend their own pride. For now she would remain silent, and hopefully the Captain of the Val'ta would arrive soon to bring about some order, or at least one of the officers wold step in.
 
Lor, LSDF Space Station, A Briefing Theatre
From behind the curtains, the captain of the Val'ta was going over the last of their notes for the speech. As well, they were handed a card noting that there was someone who would be on the Val'ta, but would not be attending the briefing, having already been briefed. She clicked her tongue as she looked at the photo on the card that was passed her way - yes, card. Whoever else was on the Val'ta aside from everyone on the other side of the curtain. "Good to know they have the expertise... but I do worry about their previous track record. He does look rugged though."

She could overhear the crowd getting rowdier and rowdier. Soldiers - could never trust them not to keep their discipline straight in large numbers. They were only human (or, uh, Lorath, mostly) after all. "Dim the lights and start the video," Porrim ordered the stage crew, moving into position at the sideline of the stage and concealed by curtain, watching the lights dim and a corner of the crowd.

Around the more active and perhaps giddy members of the audience, their attention towards Akemi, characterised by growls, cracking knuckles and billy clubs patting against palms (what were those doing in a theatre anyway?) and the glances of guards not involved with the Val'ta mission, only there in the theatre to keep order. The screen was coming down on the stage and a projector at the back of the theatre started to run, a square of white overlaid on the screen at first.

Cut to black. The rumbling in the background of the Lorath national anthem came to a gentle stop, now an image of the outlines and sharp edges the eponymous ship as viewed from above was gently fading in on the black screen in a shade of cyan.

"Welcome, soldiers!" A voice could be heard, a Lorath woman speaking the native language, while for foreigners subtitles came up in Trade and Yamatai-go together at the bottom of the screen. "This is a Lorath Matriarchy, with cooperation from the Defence Arrangement Treaty of the Alliance of Signatory States." The colours of the signatory states flew for a brief moment, with the Lorath blue dominant while the Yamataians and Nepleslians were on the outliers. "This is an exploration mission, for expanding the territory of known space."

With that, a cutesy, chibi-fied version of the Val'ta jumped up from the bottom of the screen, and behind it, a map of the stars, focussed on the Lorath trio of planets came into view. It started travelling a long and convoluted route, which when completed resembled a lopsided figure eight with the Lorath system in the centre and the top half squished into a scribble tangled all of the unexplored Lorath territory that was claimed in YE36.

Val'taMapOfFuntimes.jpg

The miniaturised Val'ta jumped from place to place, happily announcing that "We're going to go explore together wherever!" once it reached its endpoint and jumped for joy. Meanwhile, behind the curtain, Porrim sprayed something into her mouth from a spritzy bottle which could fit in your pocket, then stepped on stage. As she was walking, a podium rose out of the stage. She grasped it by the sides and scanned her gaze at the audience. It definitely seemed like there was still excitement amongst the audience, and she waited for it to die down as the lights were upon her.

"Good afternoon ladies, gentlemen," Porrim announced once conditions were suitable, "My name is Mil'ana Porrim 'Sightseer' Lmanel, and I will be your captain for this venture." Her voice was firm, rustic, loose - though she spent too much time talking to trees instead of people. To Lorath listeners, there was a difference. The Northern Lorath accent tended to favour a more guttural, deep, and sharp with contractions of the words - often lacking feeling to Southerners. The Southern dialect, by contrast was more lilting, loose, full of extra words, slang and vivacity - sometimes failing to get to the point. Most Lorath who travelled were somewhere in the middle.

"As your leading officer, I will be responsible for guiding the ship through the proposed map behind me, leading ground exploration missions, coordinating the vessel's resources, facilities and crew through my executive officer; ensuring the crew's safety in the advent of hostile action, and ensuring that our findings reach home. To this end," Porrim raised her hand, "we have a purpose-built exploration vessel. The Val'ta."

The map faded away behind her as schematic diagrams, deckplans and such were visible behind her. "This is a long distance, mothership vessel responsible for acting as a mobile observation post; Sending probes and drones to inspect planets, having those drones and probes return for analysis, then send out followup shuttles of exploration personnel to see if habitation is suitable. Indeed, we also have the capability of modifying our vessel beyond the cosmetic without the need of a shipyard if the mission demands it so."

Then she smiled. "And it can cut asteroids in half, dive into gas giants," Porrim's singsong voice was really coming out and concept renders of the Val'ta doing just that based upon extensive tests and simulations were on screen behind her as she noted them, "slice through oceans, and even cut enemy ships! That point is lined with a thin film of Zesuaium. So sharp that a perfectly spherical ball of it can cut you if its thrown right!"

Was that a joke?
 
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Jiji looked aggravated that the Neko could just speak like that after insulting them in such a way. She looked like she was about to speak up again before closing her mouth, followed by her eyes and grunting. “It’s not worth it.” Was all she could say before she did a sharp whistle, which caused Ta’cee’s ears to go up and the Ciztic to eye back towards her partner. Ta’cee then turned and moved back to sitting next to Jiji and laid her head on Jiji’s lap. However, right as she stopped Ta’cee her own ears raised in alert as she heard another familiar voice.

Jiji stood up and looked down the rows before she smiled brightly. “Aran’ya!” She cried out in joy, as she waved to her. She was excited to see her old friend, and the one who saved her life the day she was piloting the shuttle when she was hit into near unconsciousness by the sudden arrival of the large ship that would later have saved them. She quickly moved around the rows and over to Aran’ya’s row where she promptly gave the fellow L’manel a decently large hug. “It is so reassuring and good to see you again, Aran’ya… I’ve not heard from you since the… incident.” She stated carefully not knowing how Aran’ya had recovered from the incident on the Akahar. She stepped back and gave the L’manel a rather large, childlike grin as her Ciztic comes walking over lazily and gave Aran’ya a few licks on the hand in recognition before yawning and laying down on the floor next to Jiji.

It was at this point that the lights dimmed and she looked around for a moment before the anthem started and the screen began to fade into Cyan. She quickly waved to Aran’ya and moved back to the seat she had next to Ny’za, Ta’cee naturally followed her every step of the way looking a little annoyed that she kept getting comfortable only to get interrupted by Jiji moving. She watched the screen with fervor, studying the map and their route before nodding to herself. She smiled a bit as the captain showed herself, and she paused a moment before muttering to Ny’za; “Wow…she’s pretty…” She took a deep breath and relaxed listening to Porrim do her captain spiel, and explaining everything about the ship and their mission.

Admitedly, She wasn’t so sure if that was a joke or not though.
 
"Awww," Akemi moaned emphatically, genuinely disappointed, "I thought you and your bird thing were worth it. You're cute." His gaze then fell upon the newcomer to the fray. "Heh, is that because a bed 's too civilized for whatever beast thing you are? Would you rather I just bent you over any old place on the ship like a dog?" A barely audible laugh escaped his mouth as his smirk became even more stupidly smug. "I gotta say I like your hairstyle and necklaces. They're pretty cool. Mind sharing some of those duqla?"

When Porrim appeared and finished saying her first bit Akemi couldn't resist the urge to respond. "Awesome!" he exclaimed, thrusting a fist diagonally into the air. He obviously knew he shouldn't say anything but the captain just seemed so proud and happy and casual. He loved the way she sounded and didn't want to leave her hanging after that last boast. Hopefully despite his rude behaviour she'd see him as a kindred spirit. Akemi certainly thought she could be one.
 
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Lor, LSDF Space Station, A Briefing Theatre

Ny'za gritted her teeth at Akemi's continued remarks. She was notably restraining herself, from commenting and turned around away from them to look back towards the front. It was then that Ji'xa shouted after noticing Aran'ya. Unlike Ji'xa, Ny'za wasn't the kind of person to get up and shuffle through the crowd, so instead she offered her friend a wave from her seat while she tried to calm Rhiq down, stroking his back with her other hand.

When the presentation started the large winged L'manel watched closely, paying attention to most everything. It did concern her a little at the fact that it looked like they would head into uncharted space right after they finished with the known stuff, but she figured the logistics guys knew what they were doing.

The comment about it cutting through things though actually had her interested, if the Akahar had such a feature things would've went way better back then.
 
Aran'ya grunted once as Akemi refused to be cowed, firing back with more lewd insults. She wasn't one to easily let a comment like that slide, however. The L'manel then gave a malicious smile in return, as her two canines slightly morphed to something more akin to needles one would expect on a poisonous snake or insect, and her spiky hair started to stiffen and resemble more of a pale pincushion. "You should look but don't touch, if you know what's good for you," she uttered in warning to the rude Nekovalkyrja in reference to herself and her adornments, certainly seeming a far cry from the more cuddly beasts present nearby. When he still had the nerve to ask for the duqla, Aran'ya laughed a bit mockingly, "Desperate for scraps? Guess we know who the dog is now, eh?" The Lorath woman then literally chucked a slice of the fruit at his head like one would their lowly, starving hound, hoping maybe the opiates in it would act quickly on his mood. "Eat it and mellow out, already."

It was about that time she heard the familiar voice of Jiji cry out, and before the Medic knew it the childlike engineer was upon her with a big hug. Aran'ya's hair relaxed and her eyes softened to a blue-green as a more casual smile crossed her face and she gave a brief squeeze back. "Good to see you're well, little bit... still haven't quite grown up, eh?" The older woman laughed once, and then got a little more serious when she mentioned the incident. "Sorry I haven't kept in touch, been staying busy, moving from place to place. The Goddess says devils find work for idle hands," began the L'manel with a slightly more somber tone, and then she noticed the Ciztic coming over for a lick and gave it a good-natured scratch under the chin.

Aran'ya also saw the wave from Ny'za around that time and returned it with a firm one of her own. She turned back to face Jiji as she got up to move back when the lights dimmed. "I heard the rumors about the animal sanctuary at Yaebo -- looks like you two really were able to get that project going. Maybe when we return to Lorath space mid-mission, I could help you out... I'm a capable veterinarian, after all." The arachnid-aspect gave a sly smile, before she sat back down in her seat to catch the show they'd been waiting for. Hopefully that Neko was too busy sucking on the duqla to make another scene... at least until the briefing was over.

The senior Trooper listened to the briefing intently, trying to get a feel for what the Val'ta truly was going to do. It's captain sure was an impressive type... Aran'ya could feel that she believed in what she said and had a grand articulated vision of what was to come. Even if the truth might be much less glorious, it still was good fodder for the crowd. There wasn't a doubt why command put one 'Sightseer' L'manel in charge of this matter. Of course, people like this needed the more gritty types to handle the dirty work of exploration, and that was why 'Widow' was here. Even with her pessimistic nature she still did feel hopeful that there would surely not be a dull moment aboard the ship... and having some of the old Akahar gang Jiji and Ny'za around was comforting as well. Maybe together they could fully move on from the terrifying shared events they witnessed three years ago.
 
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Akemi's neck tilted forward and darted to allow him to effortlessly catch the offering with his teeth. Upon grabbing it he quickly brought his hands up to hold the treat and started furiously nibbling on it in his best impression of a small rodent. As he did so he whipped his head back and forth as if guarding his treat from potential rivals. "I was really hoping you'd invite me up there to share them with you," he explained halfway through the duqla while making full use of his Nekovalkyrja coordination to rapidly twitch his nose.
 
Aran'ya sighed once. Whoever this Nekovalkyrja was, he unfortunately was part of the future crew of the Val'ta and as such she was going to have to watch out for his physical health. By the looks of the others waving the billy clubs and the cracking of knuckles, he was walking on thin ice already with the crowd. When Porrim made the comments about cutting through stars and asteroids, Aran'ya then slid her glance back towards Akemi as he was chewing into the sweet dessert with rodent-like abandon. "Then maybe you better get up here, before someone decides to throw one of those Zesuaium balls at you," Aran'ya offered surprisingly with what seemed like more truth than sarcasm. Maybe if she could keep him under control, he would leave the rest like Jiji and Ny'za alone... and perhaps there was something about trading insults with a Yamataian that the L'manel found secretly engaging.
 
"Yaaaay!" Akemi cried in a tiny voice zipping out of and over his chair into a seat beside the obliging L'manel using his inertia control. "I'm not too worried," he said as he nonchalantly swiped another duqla. "I'll just bat them away with my trusty Zesuaium sword." Ever so conveniently he happened to decide to wear it on his person today to show off and clasped the sheath to raise it slightly for inspection. "So, what the heck are you? You didn't just allow me over here to better spit venom or something at me right?"
 
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Another green stripe. White thick mane. Cerise watching behind glass. Not short though. No shadows, either, though a crease did sit beneath her eyes, someone having been smart enough to discover the likes of concealer. She was tall. Willowy even; quite the departure. But shrewd. Always shrewd. Elbows to table, hands steepled, her features in deep remarkably unremarkable thought as she took note of those about and of course the briefing.

She'd practically (thankfully not literally) been glued at the hip with Porrim for several months now and quite honestly was glad to experience some personal space which came in the form of sitting on the opposite end of the room, behind the gathering. But she wasn't going to be getting much of that. In this case, she let Porrim do her thing and decided to watch the reactions of those she'd be pent up with for the vaguely defined unit of time.

Occasionally, she eyed the data-slate laid out before her, watching debug reports come in. Everything normal, condition green. Everything normal, condition green. No problems and there hadn't been any in months but a certain pride and possessiveness had her keeping an eye on the ship's status with a compulsion which bordered on the unhealthy.

The speaking voice caught her attention. Face. Identity. Nekovalkyjra. This person was not her experience, but one like her - and a memory she now shared having made the mistake of recalled it from some other instance of herself with instant regret and now layers of emotional baggage she would have been quite happy without.

Immediately, she ceased up, taut and tight.

Play it cool. Act natural.
 
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