P
Perilous Siege
After Hate Machine
Before Who Ordered the Robot?
188604
Construction Site
Having taken a role as overseer of the Vekimen and Ragnarok joint effort to build the resort, which would be named Nath Building if she had any say in it, Aashi was there at the construction site.
Baking down on her was the 188604 sun and the Vekimen were on lunch, carnivorously forcing themselves on raw, dead animals. Wanting to beat the meat and the heat, Aashi went inside the semi-constructed lobby. She had asked Jace to come visit the site as she wanted to get to know the young clone and understand him better, as she was apt to try to do with those on Uso's crew.
The pilot certainly didn't have to think twice about accepting the invitation Uso's first privateer had sent to him, and not least because Uso's orders had been for him to get acquainted with the rest of her people. She was the captain of one of the few vessels that the new country had press-ganged into a ramshackle fleet, crucial parts of the the upcoming battle against a NMX fleet.
It was probably for the best that he take the chance to correct any bad images that he had instilled during the trip to New Belfast.
Outside the lobby, the Seraphim landed in a thunk, plasma thrusters pulling the mecha from a certain crash into a gentle landing. Moments later, a figure that was the spitting image of Alex emerged into the lobby, sporting a sweat shirt and baggy pants in order to cope with the sweltering heat.
Aashi smiled politely, knowing he had a mouth on him and wondering what he would say after she told him, "Nice to see you, Jace. It would seem I see you more than when you're actually around, since you have a double wandering around without you."
The mention of his clone elicited a hearty laugh from the boy, his own smile better described as feral then polite. "So you've been hanging around Alex then? Yeah, I ran into him in Koga's bar, all though we didn't talk much before he had to run off. Must be pretty amazing having two of me around."
Nodding slightly as she brushed a hand through her hair in what looked like a lazy gesture, she replied, "Better than amazing. It means I can try to figure out more about the two of you and your intertwined past, if you don't mind me doing so."
"What's their to figure out?" He raised a eyebrow at the pirate queen in fron of him, leaning against the hastily erected bar that the Vekimen had built. "I'm a open book. Psychopomp realized they had a pretty sweet deal going with Alex, decided to make a few copies. I was one of the ones they pumped out, they trained me till I was perfect, and after Uso got her hands on the original she realized she couldn't have just one either."
"Rest is history."
"I can tell it's something you have no qualms with," she cooed. "I like knowing that. From my own frame of reference, I may have trouble grappling with the idea of being one of many. But you, you have no such problems. Mind if we do something I've done a few times with Alex? It's where I touch you and you're able to feel my emotions while I can feel yours. Normal interaction would take weeks to culminate into what we can find out in seconds this way."
"I figure their's no reason to sweat knowing you're cut from a prime mold." He gave her a bit of a...questioning look at Aashi after he proposition. "Ah yeah, I've heard about that ability of yours. Iromakuanhe, I mean, natural empathetic affinity. Well, I usually don't have problem with commanders fishing around my nueral implants, and this isn't all that different. Warning you though, your missing out on weeks of charm and wit getting to know me this way."
Aashi gave a genuine laugh, wondering if she would get to see the same feelings of self-confidence and charisma when she touched him.
As her hand went on his, she opened up an empathic link and he was able to feel all of her compassion for others, her daring nature, and the way she looked at the universe around her with open eyes. She felt...
As Jason shoulder's slumped and his eyes seemed to glaze over, a feeling of invincibility that only youth could give flowed into her. The emotional energies that comprised the young man before weren't that different then someone would expect simply from sharing a room with him. A sense of euphoria at the position he had found himself as strong as the disdain he had for anyone who couldn't meet his standards of competence. A boundless ambition to carve a place for himself in USO and the sector at large, and on the surface the confidence he had in his ability to do so seemed supreme....
But it was a false bravado, supported by a desire to measure up to the expectations of his new allies and the fear of being sent back if he didn't meet them. His heart was certain that he lived in a universe that crushed you at the smallest sign of weakness, waiting to devour you or throw you down in to the pits of obscurity. He knew he was lucky, blessed with skill and a chance to prove himself, but to live life like this was to walk a narrow path towards a mountaintop while vultures circles you above, any misstep threatening to send you down to be devoured.
Aashi took a moment to comprehend the intricacy of feeling and emotion she gained from just the brief moment between the two of them and understood more fully the complexity of his mind and just where it was he came from, where he wanted to go, and what he wanted to avoid on his way there.
He was an alternate to Alex in such grand ways. He didn't have the lack of self-worth, but quite the opposite, while maintaining an understanding of the fallibility of life and the difficulties to be overcome while striving for greatness.
"Your..." she trailed off as her hand lifted from his. "Your understanding of what you've yet to achieve and how to get there is both awe-inspiring and troubling. Awe-inspiring because it took me years in solitude to grasp awareness of such things and troubling only because it reminds me of the reality that is all to easy to turn one's back to."
"That...that Jason let out a great exhale that he hadn't quite been aware that he was holding as he was seperated, both physically and mentally, from Aashi. "I uh...I appreciate the respect. You seem like you have life by the ropes too. I'm sure you're the kind to trouble reality, if you catch my drift." He had recovered enough to look her in the eyes, adopting a shark toothed grin. "Real Devil-may-care, punch-the-world-in-the-throat-for-shitting-on-you type. Got goals, plans, no illusions. Am I right?"
"You've got quite a few things right," Aashi mused. She then asked, "What do you say we go blow off some steam in town? Trust me, it's the perfect place to 'trouble reality', or at least close to. We can always hit up Koga's."
"What, The Cockpit? Yeah, that place is pretty tight. He was renovating it last time I hit it up with the VDTF captain." He waved out his hand to smack Aashi's. "Sounds like a plan."
With that, Aashi swung her hips around and walked with him out of the semi-constructed lobby, wiring hanging everywhere and pillars with no ornamentation stood as she left them behind.
By his side, she asked, "What do you expect to do there? When I looked into your feelings one thing I couldn't see was how you felt about what his business does... and I'm not talking about serving burgers."
The boy shook his head, letting out another chuckle. "Bit rude to have you take me out there and abandon you for one of Akemi's girls. Don't have the money anyway. Figure I could bum a drink off of Koga and we talk a little, swap stories. Not that I have too many good ones yet."
"The imperative word is yet," Aashi said and soon enough, they were at the burger-based brothel. Aashi walked up surreptitiously to the entrance of it with Jason and was delighted to see Akemi was standing right outside looking on as more and more people came by to look at his establishment after it had been declared an embassy for the Neko aspiring to kingship.
The man quickly turned his attention to Aashi and Jason once he saw them. "Hey, how's it going? I've got even more new stuff in stock now."
"I like the way you think." Striding over to the the most accomplished offworlder businessman that he knew at the moment, he held out a hand to shake. "Koga, my man. Haven't seen you since you hooked up with Zahen. Which reminds me, mind hooking me and captain Nath up? We were hoping to chill out at your place."
"It would be quite beneficial to kick our feet up with you," Aashi said coolly.
The little space kitten happily took the hand and gave it a good quick shake. "Sure bud. Just having her in here will get me more customers to make up for whatever you order."
He then gave Aashi a very fast once over and smiled before turning to lead the way into the tavern.
Aashi followed the kitten with a purr of her own at the quasi-compliment.
"Shit man, you should be offering that everytime I was in here. I had half the bar with their tongues on the floor when I first waltzed in here. Hell, I think most of them got free drinks out of it." He couldn't supress a smirk as he followed Akemi and Aashi inside, the feeling of nostalgia sinking in. "Say man, Aashi tell you bout that hotel she's building on the beach? Starting to look fucking sweet."
"Well yeah," Akemi answered as he headed for a table that was being freed up for him. "Actually she did. I was gonna build a shop in there. I'm growing really attached to this place though. It's already a landmark with a good reputation and I'm greatly adding to it." By the time he was about finished speaking he was seated.
"There's no reason not to expand while you can," Aashi said. "Or I might get some of my friends to put in a kebab restaurant, or the like. My contacts are still fresh in my memory and I'm not afraid to bring in some competition." She said it all with a glint of pleasure in her eye, knowing she would like to continue to have a working relationship with the little man and hoped her bluff would be seen as just that and Akemi would realize there was good reason to open up a store in the soon-to-be finished resort.
"Oh yeah, I've heard of those famous Iroma kebab stands they have all over the place. Tried one at New Belfast, pretty great stuff." Jason took a seat himself, proppin up both legs on the table and leaning back in the chair almost far enough to tip it over. "Wonder if you could get that one ice cream place that the same company owns too...You been out of the astral cluster long, Aashi?"
"Oh yeah," Akemi interjected, "Treasure Trove Frozen Treats. I've dealt with them before. I was pretty helpful to the Iroma once with the whole Asura 3 thing. Maybe Aashi heard."
"I was in the Astral Cluster for years, poking my head in and out, staying away from Yams as much as I could, before ending up here a few months ago, Jace. Akemi, I heard through a few pirate yarns that were spun about the whole thing. I think that ruined any relationship I will ever have with a Lorath and solidified plenty of pirates' idea of just what Neko are capable of. Were you one of the ones that tried speaking Saalsari or did you take more of a tertiary role?"
Akemi sat upright for a moment, puffed out his chest and cockily titled his head upward and to the side as if trying to give Aashi a dramatic profile shot to absorb as if he was certain she was about to see him in a new light. "I was in fact the first one on the ground to do so. I had people saying we should sneak up on the crashed ship to gain an edge if things went sour but I said forget that and just went out there wearing the toughest armor available and ended up flying over the crew's defensive line before anyone else and making it clear we weren't the bad guys."
"What was your plan if they ended up shooting at you?" The young man asked curiously, a bit suprised to hear the local tavern owner had a place in one of the most famous international incidents in recent years.
The Neko folded his arms. "Be awesome. Slap their shit if they gave me trouble. Like I needed a plan buddy. I'm irresistible."
"In the short time I've known you, I've grown to like you and this story makes me like you all the more," Aashi said to Akemi. "So tell me, were the Iromakuanhe you met very friendly once they ascertained you weren't the enemy? Did they identify themselves at all? Also, what kind of ship did they have?" Aashi was delighted to hear a story straight from the cat's mouth and wanted all of the information about it that she could get for the time being. Her mind raced at all of the questions she could ask and all those she didn't remained in the forefront of her mind for when she could.
"They were friendly enough," her elf eared buddy casually replied. "No one gave me any trouble. The first person I met who gave a name was Anka Borislaw at the line and then I met the captain Mu'Tasim Farouk and this cute living computer chick called Garuda. She really liked my ears. The ship was a Vajra class cruiser." The retired Yamataian veteran held up his hands at his shoulders, turned his palms to each other and started volumetrically projecting images across his chest of the people, the crashed ship and what one of its kind would look like in perfect condition.
After a moment of looking quite stunned and excited, she said, "I am impressed, Akemi! That is quite a skill you have! And that's an Astral Vanguard ship alright, another enemy I avoided and outwitted for years. That was probably a FIOMNI you encoutered, the living computer, that is. Though most of our computers are living. Organoid Natural Intelligence, they're called, or NI. This banter makes me miss my ship, I'll tell you what..."
"Ooh, tell me what?" Akemi asked eagerly, his eyes lighting up as he leaned forward with fangs put on display by a big, toothy smile. His hands clasped the edge of the table as if to help contain himself. "Keep in mind I was also the guy that went to all the news outlets saying you guys weren't responsible for anything bad that happened."
"I had so much in that ship, years of plunder! Years of stealing and getting untold billions. I had VANDRS in that thing! And do you know what I miss the most? The ship! The oldest ship I'd ever come across and the best there ever was. She was my first ship, and, because of Uso, not my last. But damn," Aashi said emphatically, "damn was she good."
"Oh," Akemi said mildly, his enthusiasm clearly deflated as he leaned back and rested his hands on the table. "And here I thought you might be about to tell me you were going to make an exception and offer me your body to show your gratitude."
"Well, that's the thing," Aashi said unsurprisingly, "there isn't really anything that would drive me to make an exception."
His interest piqued by the woman empathetic description of her vessel, Jason decided to ask. "Whatever happened to it anyway? Got caught? Had to scuttle it? Mutiny?
Aashi slyly took a drink from the bartender and replied, "That's the thing about the past, it's passed and eventually, so is the right time to talk about it. I would say that story is expired." Aashi herself was a bluffer by nature, liar to be more exact, and she was at home lying her way out of the complicated and confusing conundrum.
"So you're pulling the mysterious past schtick then? Fair enough, I won't push the subject." He took a sip of his own drink, the look on his face meaning he clearly found it to his liking. "What about the story about how you ended up piloting a freighter for the empress and desiging a hotel halfway across the sector from the Astral Cluster?"
"There is a something about having self-worth that leads to work. I have more than a bit of the former and so the latter always follows. Captains never retire, they just find a different sort of ship to head, as I did. It means a great deal to work for Uso, she reminds me a lot of myself when I was first starting out. I'm happy to help her."
"Did you take over any planets when you first started out? Am I talking to some sort of Queen of Pirates?" He leaned over to her, a look of enthusiasm in his eyes. "But yeah, I understand you perfectly. Not sure if I ever see myself building a five star resort, but if I ever didn't have anything to do but just lie around, wasting away...fuck, I'd probably go crazy."
Aashi was taken aback by the phrase and replied, "A bounty hunter called me Pirate Queen before he shot me just recently. I think that gives me the ability to allow myself to be called by that nomenclature. I never took over planets, but set up shop on a few asteroids in the El Bazr Fields of the Iruotl System. I have a few friends with ships I gifted them over the years and they're out and about. If I wanted I could call them together, have my own fleet to do with what I please. Take back the El Bazr Fields, set up an arcology there. Maybe set up a deal with the Vanguard and work against the New Veyrin. Maybe I'll stay here building resorts and new palaces for the Empress. I can tell you one thing, I'll never go crazy."
"Dang," Akemi said. "I guess that makes me small time. Speaking of conquering places there's this one here called Tolmasch that's basically lawless and run by bandits that I'm slated to try to conquer or at least clean up a little."
"You're going to need help?" Aashi asked.
"Good luck with that. I know I'll probably be busy myself with some projects of my own." He flashed the owner of the establishment, or at least the owner's sugar daddy, a smile. "Have to admit, I know since you're a neko you had to have seen action, but I'm a little suprised you were involved in famous shit like that Akemi."
"I can believe it," Aashi interjected.
"Oh pshhh, whatever man," Akemi replied. "All I did was fight some guys and happen to be in the right place at the right time to gain some fame. Thanks for saying that though. What I'm really going to need is people to find out where to start and to actually run Tolmasch when I'm done with it. I'm gonna try my best not to become indebted to anyone. Part of me was thinking I'd just keep my plan a surprise so people might suddenly think a bit better of me when they saw some success but I just can't help myself. I always want to add what I can to a conversation."
Aashi took a sip before saying, "What do you see being necessary to run it? You'll never be indebted to me. You should know that, Akemi."
"You're welcome. And as far as Tolmasch...geeze, I haven't bothered to attach names to all the places on this planet, but I imagine it's the same wherever you go. Show the people there you're untouchable and will punish whoever doesn't follow Uso, and your bound to find some collaborators who want to get on your good side. Seems like it worked here, at least."
"Aw come on man, I didn't do much." The Neko squatted the air with a limp hand. "I might hold you to that if you keep it up. All I really wanna do is take the place back for this guy who is Smithee's friend who used to control it. He might not even be alive but I wanna do something for my pal. If he is alive he's in deep cover so I gotta do something in Tolmasch draw him out like kill a bandit leader in his name."
He paused for a moment. "Fuck doing things in Uso's name. I do everything in mine. I'm the cool alternative. Being under her is no fun. I'm my own mewser. People follow me, not the other way around."
Aashi was a little put off by this, but showed little signs of being perturbed as she idly took a swig of her drink and felt the effects quickly thereafter. She had had a quarter of the drink and was already feeling tipsy.
She looked over Jason and asked, "Do you feel the same?"
She wasn't the only one who appeared a bit offputten by how the Yamataian phrased things, suddenly becoming very intrested in his own beverage. "No, I'm going to say I'm quite fine doing things in the name of the women with a fleet and private army who bought all my stuff and got me out of the hellhole I used to live in."
"At least over the dude whose bar I occasionally drink in. No offense, Akemi. You, Aashi?"
Akemi had a simple reply for that. "I'll have you know you're seated in the embassy of the Kingdom of Koga now thank you very much."
"I look to Uso as I would to my own Captain," Aashi replied in kind. "Tell me, Akemi, why are you now the head of a kingdom?"
"Well I got permission from Uso to start one so I'm calling myself king," Akemi answered casually. "It might sound silly now since the only thing I have is this tavern but it's going to attract me the attention I need to meet the people I'll want to help me start and manage one and eventually I'll have the land. I get one rich land owning noble to work under me and I'll officially be able to say I've got one."
"I think," Aashi said after taking another long gulp, "that whatever you do, you're going to be great at it. No, really, really great. You came here to do this," she waved her hand around the tavern. "And now you're doing this." She waved her hands in front of Akemi's person at the last part of her statement. "What do you chalk it up to? Charisma? Experience? A kitty's natural talents? Between you and Uso, I'm starting to think I'm onto something with that last idea, you think so?"
"Fuck lady," Akemi said before mentally giving a Neko waitress an order, "don't get crazy drunk whenever something bothers you. I don't wanna make it sound like I'm blaming you but your bud got beat up the last time you got drunk when you were upset with me. You gotta take it easy pal." The server floated on over and deposited some Emrys Contraveisalgia tablets in front of Akemi which he pushed towards Aashi. "Take three of these so you don't have a nasty hangover.
"Are you even done with your first? Guess just about anyone can end up being a lightweight." He let out a hearty laugh. "Wouldn't worry too much about me getting my ass beat though. Worst comes to worst I always have a giant robot to call in."
"I-I don't know what those'll do to me," Aashi said, eyeing the tablets. "My body just processes alcohol very very fast. I'm going to be fine, I will be. As long as we stick together and don't go wandering off alone, I think we'll be fine. That's the only reason those guys we beat down, Akemi," she gave him a wide smile, then continued, "that's the only reason they beat up Ulysses. Ah, you should meet him, Jason. He's Captain of the Necromancer. It holds up to its name. A bit better than a freighter, you'd be impressed."
As an afterthought, she said, "Thanks for these," and popped the Contraveisalgia tablets into her mouth and made a sound as if enjoying the taste.
"Probably just hangover cures Aashi, I wouldn't worry too much about Akemi drugging you or something. Though admittedly I'm not sure they're made for Iromakuanhe physi-" Jason found himself being cut off as she thanked the businessman for the medication and downed the three pills with gusto. "You know what, never mind."
"Bartender, little more for me and the lady." He gulped down the last of his drink after shouting this, slamming the wooded cup on the table. "As far as meeting Cap'n Ulysses, I'll put it on my to do list. Probably a good idea to familiarize myself with the fleet as much as possible 'for we all head off war. Hopefully it's much harder to kick his ass when he's not planetside. "
Akemi mentally got a barmaid to bring Jason a comically large stein and Aashi a sweet pink alcohol free drink. "I just wanna make sure you have a good time and don't regret it. The more delicate you act the more I wanna protect you. Like I'd love to take advantage of you being sloshed because you're smokin' hot but that'd be no fun when you're all no sex for me. At least no fun in the long run."
Aashi laughed and shook her head, then ran a hand through her long hair, which faded from black to blue midway through and said, "No, it would probably end with your body parts all around your establishment. I don't know this yet, but do Neko have any religion to speak of?"
"I will pray to whatever god set me up with free drinks here." He said as he appraised the almost laughably huge container she had provided him with. "So sure, lot here who the Yammies make all their blood sacrifices too."
"Blood sacrifices, you say?" Aashi asked, amused.
"Oh yes, don't you know? The Yams sacrifices thousands of souls to sustain their empress and the rest of the Ketsurui. Why, I hear they slaughtered millions of freespacers just to feed her insatiable hunger." He teased viscously, wondering if Akemi would play along.
"Oh yeah, totally," Akemi readily agreed, "I'll fucking kill for another season of a show I really like or just to make an episode air faster." While he spoke he got their server to gently toss some Combat Candies in gum and chewy chunk form on the table.
"Oh yes, the cartoons, the horrible Yamataian Cartoons." He waved the stein about with a crazed look in his eyes, beer sloshing about as he did so. "Litanies to the supremacy of their empire. They infect the minds of their plebians, turning them into listless basement dwellers who never question the decisions of the noble clans.
"Even the poor people of neighboring countries become infected, shouting the supremacy of Yam culture and drawing back into their own world of custom body pillows and pirated streams."
Aashi was speechless and remained so before she picked up a candy from the table and chewed on it, swallowing.
"Is that the reason why Yamataians are unpopular on other worlds? Because they sacrifice to their cartoons while snuggling cartoon women and revering them above all else?" she asked after taking another candy and popping it into her mouth. "We have problems like that in the Astral Cluster, too. Minus the sacrifice."
Akemi scoffed. "More like because they have shit taste and are mad jelly we've got the better shows."
"I see the astral cluster is a dark land indeed. You must have been tough to thrive there." He shot up from his seat with a gusto, red faced and steely eyed. "Koga, show the works of your people. We're strong to resist their dark temptations, I'm sure..."
Akemi silently, solemnly pulled out his communicator and ordered it to volumetrically project an image of a cute little animated girl running after her stoic love interest, falling on her ass and letting out a high pitched whine. As she fell a long, detailed, up close shot of her briefly exposed panties occurred. When she sat up with her legs splayed she stuck out her tongue, winked and gently tapped herself on the side of the head with a fist. "Uguu! Moe-chan is such a klutz!"
Aashi laughed aloud and slapped her knee with her hand, saying, "That's the kind of religion I expect out of Yamatai."
"Do not be seduced by their weeaboo wiles, Aashi-chan." He wrapped an arm around her neck, grinning ear to ear. "Before you know it you'll be calling Akemi sempai and begging for his attention."
Aashi eyed Jason from the side and smiled in an unknowing, but sly, way. "Will I, now? And what will I be calling you?"
Akemi tilted his head and shook it slightly as his lips formed a toothy smile. "If only, I'd love to fuck the shit out of her while she wore a schoolgirl outfit."
"I'll be your precious, innocent Nii-san, of course." Unsuprised by the man's response, he added. "Well, innocent compared to our Nekovalkyrja friend of course."
"Yeah, he'd be your adorable little otouto you can technically jump the bones of any time since he's not blood related," Akemi said.
Unable to fathom where the two of them got such utterly lewd concepts, Aashi went along with the joke and asked, "So that would make you, what? My brother, I'm guessing. You know, I think the two of you would have a lot more fun with my twin. She's much more," Aashi searched for the right term, then found it, "open than me."
The Neko decided he'd keep going with the tropes because it was easy and fun. "I dunno, maybe I'd be your really zealous volleyball club manager that keeps holding you back long after all the other students have left so I can give you extended one on one coaching and flexibility training so you can win the championship. And of course despite all the extra exercise your skills actually get worse so I just keep getting harder on you. Eventually you completely give up on improving so I'll keep singling you out and berating and punishing you for being utterly hopeless."
Aashi's smile was slightly bemused and then she said, "I now remember why I don't engage in such activities. They seem all too overcomplicated."
For his part, Jason let go of the captain and staggered back into his chair. "I admit, this didn't come up in of the briefing programs that mentioned volleyball. I wonder what dark secrets lay at the heart of other sports."
"Well I could always give you guys some quality Yamataian comics to read so you can see how simple and common place such scenarios are," Akemi suggested smoothly.
"I'd enjoy those quite a bit, I think," Aashi said, deeply interested and not at all unsettled, despite having never had relationships quite like the ones Akemi detailed for them.
"I'm not sure that my body is ready for that." Jason responded, looking fairly enthused by the idea himself. "But if Captain Nath is up for it...."
"I would like to see more of Yamataian culture," Aashi ventured to think the exploits he was exemplifying were not just common place but expected in a society that she had simply heard rumors about and only ever been on the fringe of.
"I'll think it straight to your communicator and his Mindware," Akemi replied doing just that. He made sure to include some hentai that was really extreme both in terms of ridiculousness and harshness of the sex and plot.
Aashi checked her comm and noticed the exceedingly incestuous relationship and said, "It reminds me of the Vekimen. Minus the icky scalies."
"I'm sure more then a few acts in here remind Akemi of Commander Zahen." The young man wiggled his eyebrows at the older one in front of him.
Akemi smiled coolly. "You guys should search for horns to see what's done with 'em. If you like exotic fantasy stuff there's some troll and elf in there."
Aashi laughed light-heartedly and said, "I wouldn't want to guess what you would do with horns, Akemi."
"Personally I'd think a Iroma would be a expert on their uses." Jason added teasingly, admiring Aashi's own. "Though given your profession, I wouldn't be suprised if you gored a fucker with them before...or are they too brittle for that?"
"If they break, though it would hurt, they'll grow back in a matter of a few months, so there is nearly no concern there. I was once tied up..." Aashi scrolled through the hentai and found a bondage one and pointed to it, "Like that! I was tied up like that but had mobility of my head, so I managed to pierce directly up the jaw and into the mouth of my captor. That wasn't a fun mission, we were sent to board another party of pirates, Nepleslians, and I was able to gore the captain, your word, not mine. We took over the ship and ran it and the crew into an asteroid after escaping with our lives and a few technologies we sold to their Nepleslian rivals."
"You'd rather find out what I'd do with them through first hand experience right?" Akemi quipped. He wondered how much Aashi cared about having her horns touched considering how casual she was in general despite her whole abstinence thing.
Akemi certainly was quick-witted and Aashi liked that about him. Not willing to dissuade him from his exploitative thoughts, she replied to him in a nonchalant air.
"Penetration is what you're referring to, I assume?" She was trying to sound all-knowing, but had only heard that insertion was the bread and butter of this sort of encounter, not knowing that there were other more subtle and untalked about nuances to it.
"Well sure, it'd be nice to go there. I'm kinda just hoping to get to touch yours to be honest," Akemi admitted. Though it might be fun to tease and try to be witty with her the Neko didn't really want to mess with the woman given her stance towards sexual intimacy and the easygoing nature of their conversation. Rather than expend effort to charm he figured he'd get right to the point and see how things would go since he liked to charge forward and take silly risks.
"Well they are what I hear with and I don't want to be deaf for the time it would take to grow back, so do be careful, but, sure, do what you will." She stood up and turned around, back facing Akemi as she knelt down to be even with his sitting position, though she knew he could manipulate gravity and fly up to her height, she didn't want to make him work too hard if she could help it.
"Itadakimasu," Akemi said with a goofy grin as he leaned over to gently run his fingers down Aashi's horns. He figured it'd be fun to experiment so he first tried stroking the lengths using only his fingertips and then gave them a squeeze at the base using the entirety of his hands. As the man tested their sensitivity he made sure to pay close attention to any reactions from the Iroma.
Feeling nothing much more than the way her head moved only slightly as he fingered her horns and gripped them, she smiled and said to him, "As good as you always dreamed it would be?"
"Nah, I was hoping you'd uncontrollably moan in ecstasy or something," Akemi answered as he let go and settled back down. "I guess you're just not one of the sensitive ones."
"My sister might just give you what you want, she's like that. I make up for it by being sensitive in other ways..." she said with an air of confidence in that she knew what she was talking about and she was being covertly sensuous, but the truth of the matter was that she was sensitive in the way that she often found herself crying on Ulysses shoulder instead of sensitive in the way that she was trying to imply. How Akemi and Jason took interpreted it was up to them.
"You mean like what went down back at the hotel?" It was definitely an experience that he wasn't going to forget anytime soon. "I suppose sensitive is one way to describe that."
Aashi didn't know if Jason had truly enjoyed it and asked, "Is there anything else you've heard about the Iroma that you'd like to try?"
"Well, now that you mention it..." He cocked his head to the side in a way that indicated he was thinking. "One of the meatspace instructors for the SSI once mentioned this...'spice'" The young man accompanied the last word with air quotes. "That if you have enough of it or get it unprocessed, you get these extreme reactions. Look at the world a whole new way, see the future type shit."
Akemi's face lit up as he grinned and chuckled. "I'd sure like to try everything there is to try," he quicked interjected. "More seriously though I gotta say as swell as your sister surely is you're the one in front of me right now and I'm far more interested in you. I know this might be a really personal question but if you don't mind me asking, how long have you been all off physical stuff? Did you take a vow or something?" As interesting as super alien spices were the Neko had to get in what he'd been itching to say as soon as Aashi mentioned her sibling again.
"We have a lot of spices that have... effects, actually," Aashi replied to Jason. "Rohk'so is the one I happen to have on hand. Would you like to imbibe?" Aashi handed him the package of the spice and said, "Go ahead." To Akemi she said, "Well, thank you. You always are too sweet. I was captured and taken prisoner for a terrible number of years and found myself contemplating the finer parts of life. I didn't make a vow, then, but I made a decision to not allow myself to be drawn into the pits of sexuality and romance. The both of them became apparently detrimental in years to come as I saw my crew members succumb to them. I think I made the right choice. Have you ever been in love, Akemi? And please, have some, as well. I won't stop myself from enjoying it, too."
"I guess sort of but I never found myself in a really deep romantic relationship where I wouldn't welcome another partner," Akemi answered smoothly. "I don't wanna sound like I'm saying I know what's best for you and looking down on your way of life but I hope one day you can enjoy greater intimacy again. I'm sure it probably sounds really sleazy but you could always try a relationship with me. I'm pretty low maintenance and easy for attractive women to manipulate so you wouldn't have to worry about me dragging you into any pits."
"I think there are quite a few attractive women on this planet who would wish that was true. At least if they could get you to stop being the clingy type" Jason looked up from the box of opening the box of spice to flash Akemi a smile. "But probably a step up in class from you propositioning her for sex a few minutes ago. Now come on man, you want to try some of this with me?"
"Well I don't think it's sleazy of you to proposition me like that," Aashi replied. "I find it gentlemanly of you to ask and I have to say I find you to be one of the most affable non-Iromkuanhe I have yet to meet. There likely are a few souls here that wish they hadn't, though, for whatever reason. I hope they come around to my way of thinking," Aashi told him. Then, looking to the un-had rohk'so, she said, "Go on!"
"Fine, fine. If I see how either one of you dies after taking this, I'll make sure to save your life for free." The young man joked before he started to eat it, clearly enjoying the flavor. "You going to try some, Aashi?"
"Oh, yes," Aashi said as she ate away, beginning to feel the effects of enhanced lucidity and clear-thinking immediately.
"Awww. You're a super nice Iroma too." Akemi reached out to pick up the box and scoop a little spice out on his finger which he then gave a dainty lick. "Mmm. It's pretty good. Reminds me of how I'm selling Elysian Psomi. It's a fast growing fungus you can make taste like anything that can have effects on the mind."
"Yeah, these days you pump the right chemicals into something and BAM! Can make fungus taste like cake and make you feel like you shot yourself up with Prime. Makes me wonder how people lived before we had all this shit..." He glanced around the room, suddenly remembering that was a bit of a dumb thing to say given what sort of planet he was on. Scooping up some more of the Rohk'So, Jason eyes darted around the room, taking the world in a whole new way."Not well, I suppose."
"Now let's see if I can unlock its psychedelic effects." Akemi poured a little spice on the table and pulled out his KS card to arrange it all in a thin neat line before bending over to snort it up his nose while pressing one nostril closed.
"Woah," Aashi said, watching Akemi. "Not how I expected you to do it. Points for taking it like a champ, too. I'm definitely 'under the influence', now. I can feel it, can you, Jace?"
"I'm....definitely feeling something right about now." Jason pupil's had already dilated, and it looked as if all the tension had melted from his body. "Hopefully this doesn't have any weird after effects on Neplesians."
"Dude look at your eyes," Akemi said as he held up two hands together straight and flat and made a volumetric projection of Jason's face. The Neko was pretty fine with the experience. It was certainly stimulating but it wasn't overwhelming him. He simply felt very calm, pleased and extra alert. If drugs ever made him feel uncomfortable he cautiously regulated their effects.
"Hopefully not," Aashi said, not knowing fully what the effects possibly could be and wondering if she was doing a good job of keeping the young man safe. At the same time, she was perfectly aware that no Iroma had ever died from rohk'so and didn't expect any ill effects in Jace. "Try to think very hard about what it is that you can do and accomplish, Jace. Try to concentrate fully on this one thing, where your abilities and strengths will take you."
"Aw man," Akemi said quietly, "I was hoping we'd play weird mind games with him and make him have a nasty episode while we giggle like chuckle-fucks." He felt a little bad about not remaining silent for Jason's benefit but he couldn't resist kidding around.
Jason craned his neck over to get a better look at the picture, given how small the display was, gazing into his eyes. "Oh, that? Nothing to worry about, tends to happen to humans when your on this sort of stuff. Usually not that fast though." Not that this knowledge seemed to bother the Nepleslian all that much, "What, you mean just as a general life tip or while I'm on this stuff?" This time he was addressing the woman across from him, resting his face on his palms. "Usually people hit up places like this to avoid thinking about shit like that, but I guess I can try the whole self-visualization thing."
"Try it," Aashi said with some amusement tinging her voice. "You might be surprised."
He reached out to grab Aashi's hand, smirking at the woman. "Want to come along for the ride." Jason inhaled a deep breath, holding it in his chest while he closed his eyes, before slowly exhaling while he did so. He had quite a few skills to his name, from technical knowledge to being a crack shot, but the one that deined him the most was his ability as a pilot. Snippets of victorious battles against worthy rivals flashed through his mind, but his lone frame was quickly supplemented by a ever growing squadron. His mind drifted away from the cockpit toward the bridge of a carrier, small at first, but eventually on par with the flagships of great nations.
As it grew it was joined by other vessels, first a few, then a flotilla, then a fleet. Scenes like the wreckage of great battles in the void of spaces and planets bearing the marks of the ages greatest weapons were juxtaposed against monuments to his victory in a grand city unlike any on the planet they ruled yet, and the flag with him on it that Uso had promised unfurled overhead. Somewhere he made his home, a wondrous estate filled with riches and captivated beauties. People cursed his name, their rage only matched by their impotence while others praised it. Adoration, hatred, respect. All clung to him like flies to honey.
"Might as well reach for everything, right?"
Aashi had gone through the full gamut of Jace's emotions as he imagined his future victories and was astounded by how little he underestimated himself. Compared to that which he was cloned after, he was astonishingly confident and charismatic.
"You certainly have your life figured out," she offered. "Akemi, where do you see your future going? Jace's is going far, I can tell that much."
"My visions of the future are pretty boring," Akemi answered shrugging ever so slightly while tilting his head to the side. "Befriending and banging Arccos. Her being like my bigger sometimes dominant sometimes submissive boyfriend. Wearing pretty, gaudy clothes like a doll. Befriending and somehow fucking that tank Spacer just because she's grumpy and cute and I don't even think she has the necessary equipment. Curling up with you just because you're nice and you've got hips for days. Hardcore diddling and befriending this Van Banning bodyguard Neko named Kiri who's really violent and maybe a Mishhu Neko. I just wanna make friends with attractive women and have fun."
"I'm not sure if boring is the correct word for sleeping with a bunch of women, but it's definitely more grounded then what I'm hoping for." On the other hand given the disposition Arccos had for him, he wasn't sure it was particularly more plausible. "Sounds like your pretty content with your life though if that's all you want Akemi. Kind of admirable."
Before Who Ordered the Robot?
188604
Construction Site
Having taken a role as overseer of the Vekimen and Ragnarok joint effort to build the resort, which would be named Nath Building if she had any say in it, Aashi was there at the construction site.
Baking down on her was the 188604 sun and the Vekimen were on lunch, carnivorously forcing themselves on raw, dead animals. Wanting to beat the meat and the heat, Aashi went inside the semi-constructed lobby. She had asked Jace to come visit the site as she wanted to get to know the young clone and understand him better, as she was apt to try to do with those on Uso's crew.
The pilot certainly didn't have to think twice about accepting the invitation Uso's first privateer had sent to him, and not least because Uso's orders had been for him to get acquainted with the rest of her people. She was the captain of one of the few vessels that the new country had press-ganged into a ramshackle fleet, crucial parts of the the upcoming battle against a NMX fleet.
It was probably for the best that he take the chance to correct any bad images that he had instilled during the trip to New Belfast.
Outside the lobby, the Seraphim landed in a thunk, plasma thrusters pulling the mecha from a certain crash into a gentle landing. Moments later, a figure that was the spitting image of Alex emerged into the lobby, sporting a sweat shirt and baggy pants in order to cope with the sweltering heat.
Aashi smiled politely, knowing he had a mouth on him and wondering what he would say after she told him, "Nice to see you, Jace. It would seem I see you more than when you're actually around, since you have a double wandering around without you."
The mention of his clone elicited a hearty laugh from the boy, his own smile better described as feral then polite. "So you've been hanging around Alex then? Yeah, I ran into him in Koga's bar, all though we didn't talk much before he had to run off. Must be pretty amazing having two of me around."
Nodding slightly as she brushed a hand through her hair in what looked like a lazy gesture, she replied, "Better than amazing. It means I can try to figure out more about the two of you and your intertwined past, if you don't mind me doing so."
"What's their to figure out?" He raised a eyebrow at the pirate queen in fron of him, leaning against the hastily erected bar that the Vekimen had built. "I'm a open book. Psychopomp realized they had a pretty sweet deal going with Alex, decided to make a few copies. I was one of the ones they pumped out, they trained me till I was perfect, and after Uso got her hands on the original she realized she couldn't have just one either."
"Rest is history."
"I can tell it's something you have no qualms with," she cooed. "I like knowing that. From my own frame of reference, I may have trouble grappling with the idea of being one of many. But you, you have no such problems. Mind if we do something I've done a few times with Alex? It's where I touch you and you're able to feel my emotions while I can feel yours. Normal interaction would take weeks to culminate into what we can find out in seconds this way."
"I figure their's no reason to sweat knowing you're cut from a prime mold." He gave her a bit of a...questioning look at Aashi after he proposition. "Ah yeah, I've heard about that ability of yours. Iromakuanhe, I mean, natural empathetic affinity. Well, I usually don't have problem with commanders fishing around my nueral implants, and this isn't all that different. Warning you though, your missing out on weeks of charm and wit getting to know me this way."
Aashi gave a genuine laugh, wondering if she would get to see the same feelings of self-confidence and charisma when she touched him.
As her hand went on his, she opened up an empathic link and he was able to feel all of her compassion for others, her daring nature, and the way she looked at the universe around her with open eyes. She felt...
As Jason shoulder's slumped and his eyes seemed to glaze over, a feeling of invincibility that only youth could give flowed into her. The emotional energies that comprised the young man before weren't that different then someone would expect simply from sharing a room with him. A sense of euphoria at the position he had found himself as strong as the disdain he had for anyone who couldn't meet his standards of competence. A boundless ambition to carve a place for himself in USO and the sector at large, and on the surface the confidence he had in his ability to do so seemed supreme....
But it was a false bravado, supported by a desire to measure up to the expectations of his new allies and the fear of being sent back if he didn't meet them. His heart was certain that he lived in a universe that crushed you at the smallest sign of weakness, waiting to devour you or throw you down in to the pits of obscurity. He knew he was lucky, blessed with skill and a chance to prove himself, but to live life like this was to walk a narrow path towards a mountaintop while vultures circles you above, any misstep threatening to send you down to be devoured.
Aashi took a moment to comprehend the intricacy of feeling and emotion she gained from just the brief moment between the two of them and understood more fully the complexity of his mind and just where it was he came from, where he wanted to go, and what he wanted to avoid on his way there.
He was an alternate to Alex in such grand ways. He didn't have the lack of self-worth, but quite the opposite, while maintaining an understanding of the fallibility of life and the difficulties to be overcome while striving for greatness.
"Your..." she trailed off as her hand lifted from his. "Your understanding of what you've yet to achieve and how to get there is both awe-inspiring and troubling. Awe-inspiring because it took me years in solitude to grasp awareness of such things and troubling only because it reminds me of the reality that is all to easy to turn one's back to."
"That...that Jason let out a great exhale that he hadn't quite been aware that he was holding as he was seperated, both physically and mentally, from Aashi. "I uh...I appreciate the respect. You seem like you have life by the ropes too. I'm sure you're the kind to trouble reality, if you catch my drift." He had recovered enough to look her in the eyes, adopting a shark toothed grin. "Real Devil-may-care, punch-the-world-in-the-throat-for-shitting-on-you type. Got goals, plans, no illusions. Am I right?"
"You've got quite a few things right," Aashi mused. She then asked, "What do you say we go blow off some steam in town? Trust me, it's the perfect place to 'trouble reality', or at least close to. We can always hit up Koga's."
"What, The Cockpit? Yeah, that place is pretty tight. He was renovating it last time I hit it up with the VDTF captain." He waved out his hand to smack Aashi's. "Sounds like a plan."
With that, Aashi swung her hips around and walked with him out of the semi-constructed lobby, wiring hanging everywhere and pillars with no ornamentation stood as she left them behind.
By his side, she asked, "What do you expect to do there? When I looked into your feelings one thing I couldn't see was how you felt about what his business does... and I'm not talking about serving burgers."
The boy shook his head, letting out another chuckle. "Bit rude to have you take me out there and abandon you for one of Akemi's girls. Don't have the money anyway. Figure I could bum a drink off of Koga and we talk a little, swap stories. Not that I have too many good ones yet."
"The imperative word is yet," Aashi said and soon enough, they were at the burger-based brothel. Aashi walked up surreptitiously to the entrance of it with Jason and was delighted to see Akemi was standing right outside looking on as more and more people came by to look at his establishment after it had been declared an embassy for the Neko aspiring to kingship.
The man quickly turned his attention to Aashi and Jason once he saw them. "Hey, how's it going? I've got even more new stuff in stock now."
"I like the way you think." Striding over to the the most accomplished offworlder businessman that he knew at the moment, he held out a hand to shake. "Koga, my man. Haven't seen you since you hooked up with Zahen. Which reminds me, mind hooking me and captain Nath up? We were hoping to chill out at your place."
"It would be quite beneficial to kick our feet up with you," Aashi said coolly.
The little space kitten happily took the hand and gave it a good quick shake. "Sure bud. Just having her in here will get me more customers to make up for whatever you order."
He then gave Aashi a very fast once over and smiled before turning to lead the way into the tavern.
Aashi followed the kitten with a purr of her own at the quasi-compliment.
"Shit man, you should be offering that everytime I was in here. I had half the bar with their tongues on the floor when I first waltzed in here. Hell, I think most of them got free drinks out of it." He couldn't supress a smirk as he followed Akemi and Aashi inside, the feeling of nostalgia sinking in. "Say man, Aashi tell you bout that hotel she's building on the beach? Starting to look fucking sweet."
"Well yeah," Akemi answered as he headed for a table that was being freed up for him. "Actually she did. I was gonna build a shop in there. I'm growing really attached to this place though. It's already a landmark with a good reputation and I'm greatly adding to it." By the time he was about finished speaking he was seated.
"There's no reason not to expand while you can," Aashi said. "Or I might get some of my friends to put in a kebab restaurant, or the like. My contacts are still fresh in my memory and I'm not afraid to bring in some competition." She said it all with a glint of pleasure in her eye, knowing she would like to continue to have a working relationship with the little man and hoped her bluff would be seen as just that and Akemi would realize there was good reason to open up a store in the soon-to-be finished resort.
"Oh yeah, I've heard of those famous Iroma kebab stands they have all over the place. Tried one at New Belfast, pretty great stuff." Jason took a seat himself, proppin up both legs on the table and leaning back in the chair almost far enough to tip it over. "Wonder if you could get that one ice cream place that the same company owns too...You been out of the astral cluster long, Aashi?"
"Oh yeah," Akemi interjected, "Treasure Trove Frozen Treats. I've dealt with them before. I was pretty helpful to the Iroma once with the whole Asura 3 thing. Maybe Aashi heard."
"I was in the Astral Cluster for years, poking my head in and out, staying away from Yams as much as I could, before ending up here a few months ago, Jace. Akemi, I heard through a few pirate yarns that were spun about the whole thing. I think that ruined any relationship I will ever have with a Lorath and solidified plenty of pirates' idea of just what Neko are capable of. Were you one of the ones that tried speaking Saalsari or did you take more of a tertiary role?"
Akemi sat upright for a moment, puffed out his chest and cockily titled his head upward and to the side as if trying to give Aashi a dramatic profile shot to absorb as if he was certain she was about to see him in a new light. "I was in fact the first one on the ground to do so. I had people saying we should sneak up on the crashed ship to gain an edge if things went sour but I said forget that and just went out there wearing the toughest armor available and ended up flying over the crew's defensive line before anyone else and making it clear we weren't the bad guys."
"What was your plan if they ended up shooting at you?" The young man asked curiously, a bit suprised to hear the local tavern owner had a place in one of the most famous international incidents in recent years.
The Neko folded his arms. "Be awesome. Slap their shit if they gave me trouble. Like I needed a plan buddy. I'm irresistible."
"In the short time I've known you, I've grown to like you and this story makes me like you all the more," Aashi said to Akemi. "So tell me, were the Iromakuanhe you met very friendly once they ascertained you weren't the enemy? Did they identify themselves at all? Also, what kind of ship did they have?" Aashi was delighted to hear a story straight from the cat's mouth and wanted all of the information about it that she could get for the time being. Her mind raced at all of the questions she could ask and all those she didn't remained in the forefront of her mind for when she could.
"They were friendly enough," her elf eared buddy casually replied. "No one gave me any trouble. The first person I met who gave a name was Anka Borislaw at the line and then I met the captain Mu'Tasim Farouk and this cute living computer chick called Garuda. She really liked my ears. The ship was a Vajra class cruiser." The retired Yamataian veteran held up his hands at his shoulders, turned his palms to each other and started volumetrically projecting images across his chest of the people, the crashed ship and what one of its kind would look like in perfect condition.
After a moment of looking quite stunned and excited, she said, "I am impressed, Akemi! That is quite a skill you have! And that's an Astral Vanguard ship alright, another enemy I avoided and outwitted for years. That was probably a FIOMNI you encoutered, the living computer, that is. Though most of our computers are living. Organoid Natural Intelligence, they're called, or NI. This banter makes me miss my ship, I'll tell you what..."
"Ooh, tell me what?" Akemi asked eagerly, his eyes lighting up as he leaned forward with fangs put on display by a big, toothy smile. His hands clasped the edge of the table as if to help contain himself. "Keep in mind I was also the guy that went to all the news outlets saying you guys weren't responsible for anything bad that happened."
"I had so much in that ship, years of plunder! Years of stealing and getting untold billions. I had VANDRS in that thing! And do you know what I miss the most? The ship! The oldest ship I'd ever come across and the best there ever was. She was my first ship, and, because of Uso, not my last. But damn," Aashi said emphatically, "damn was she good."
"Oh," Akemi said mildly, his enthusiasm clearly deflated as he leaned back and rested his hands on the table. "And here I thought you might be about to tell me you were going to make an exception and offer me your body to show your gratitude."
"Well, that's the thing," Aashi said unsurprisingly, "there isn't really anything that would drive me to make an exception."
His interest piqued by the woman empathetic description of her vessel, Jason decided to ask. "Whatever happened to it anyway? Got caught? Had to scuttle it? Mutiny?
Aashi slyly took a drink from the bartender and replied, "That's the thing about the past, it's passed and eventually, so is the right time to talk about it. I would say that story is expired." Aashi herself was a bluffer by nature, liar to be more exact, and she was at home lying her way out of the complicated and confusing conundrum.
"So you're pulling the mysterious past schtick then? Fair enough, I won't push the subject." He took a sip of his own drink, the look on his face meaning he clearly found it to his liking. "What about the story about how you ended up piloting a freighter for the empress and desiging a hotel halfway across the sector from the Astral Cluster?"
"There is a something about having self-worth that leads to work. I have more than a bit of the former and so the latter always follows. Captains never retire, they just find a different sort of ship to head, as I did. It means a great deal to work for Uso, she reminds me a lot of myself when I was first starting out. I'm happy to help her."
"Did you take over any planets when you first started out? Am I talking to some sort of Queen of Pirates?" He leaned over to her, a look of enthusiasm in his eyes. "But yeah, I understand you perfectly. Not sure if I ever see myself building a five star resort, but if I ever didn't have anything to do but just lie around, wasting away...fuck, I'd probably go crazy."
Aashi was taken aback by the phrase and replied, "A bounty hunter called me Pirate Queen before he shot me just recently. I think that gives me the ability to allow myself to be called by that nomenclature. I never took over planets, but set up shop on a few asteroids in the El Bazr Fields of the Iruotl System. I have a few friends with ships I gifted them over the years and they're out and about. If I wanted I could call them together, have my own fleet to do with what I please. Take back the El Bazr Fields, set up an arcology there. Maybe set up a deal with the Vanguard and work against the New Veyrin. Maybe I'll stay here building resorts and new palaces for the Empress. I can tell you one thing, I'll never go crazy."
"Dang," Akemi said. "I guess that makes me small time. Speaking of conquering places there's this one here called Tolmasch that's basically lawless and run by bandits that I'm slated to try to conquer or at least clean up a little."
"You're going to need help?" Aashi asked.
"Good luck with that. I know I'll probably be busy myself with some projects of my own." He flashed the owner of the establishment, or at least the owner's sugar daddy, a smile. "Have to admit, I know since you're a neko you had to have seen action, but I'm a little suprised you were involved in famous shit like that Akemi."
"I can believe it," Aashi interjected.
"Oh pshhh, whatever man," Akemi replied. "All I did was fight some guys and happen to be in the right place at the right time to gain some fame. Thanks for saying that though. What I'm really going to need is people to find out where to start and to actually run Tolmasch when I'm done with it. I'm gonna try my best not to become indebted to anyone. Part of me was thinking I'd just keep my plan a surprise so people might suddenly think a bit better of me when they saw some success but I just can't help myself. I always want to add what I can to a conversation."
Aashi took a sip before saying, "What do you see being necessary to run it? You'll never be indebted to me. You should know that, Akemi."
"You're welcome. And as far as Tolmasch...geeze, I haven't bothered to attach names to all the places on this planet, but I imagine it's the same wherever you go. Show the people there you're untouchable and will punish whoever doesn't follow Uso, and your bound to find some collaborators who want to get on your good side. Seems like it worked here, at least."
"Aw come on man, I didn't do much." The Neko squatted the air with a limp hand. "I might hold you to that if you keep it up. All I really wanna do is take the place back for this guy who is Smithee's friend who used to control it. He might not even be alive but I wanna do something for my pal. If he is alive he's in deep cover so I gotta do something in Tolmasch draw him out like kill a bandit leader in his name."
He paused for a moment. "Fuck doing things in Uso's name. I do everything in mine. I'm the cool alternative. Being under her is no fun. I'm my own mewser. People follow me, not the other way around."
Aashi was a little put off by this, but showed little signs of being perturbed as she idly took a swig of her drink and felt the effects quickly thereafter. She had had a quarter of the drink and was already feeling tipsy.
She looked over Jason and asked, "Do you feel the same?"
She wasn't the only one who appeared a bit offputten by how the Yamataian phrased things, suddenly becoming very intrested in his own beverage. "No, I'm going to say I'm quite fine doing things in the name of the women with a fleet and private army who bought all my stuff and got me out of the hellhole I used to live in."
"At least over the dude whose bar I occasionally drink in. No offense, Akemi. You, Aashi?"
Akemi had a simple reply for that. "I'll have you know you're seated in the embassy of the Kingdom of Koga now thank you very much."
"I look to Uso as I would to my own Captain," Aashi replied in kind. "Tell me, Akemi, why are you now the head of a kingdom?"
"Well I got permission from Uso to start one so I'm calling myself king," Akemi answered casually. "It might sound silly now since the only thing I have is this tavern but it's going to attract me the attention I need to meet the people I'll want to help me start and manage one and eventually I'll have the land. I get one rich land owning noble to work under me and I'll officially be able to say I've got one."
"I think," Aashi said after taking another long gulp, "that whatever you do, you're going to be great at it. No, really, really great. You came here to do this," she waved her hand around the tavern. "And now you're doing this." She waved her hands in front of Akemi's person at the last part of her statement. "What do you chalk it up to? Charisma? Experience? A kitty's natural talents? Between you and Uso, I'm starting to think I'm onto something with that last idea, you think so?"
"Fuck lady," Akemi said before mentally giving a Neko waitress an order, "don't get crazy drunk whenever something bothers you. I don't wanna make it sound like I'm blaming you but your bud got beat up the last time you got drunk when you were upset with me. You gotta take it easy pal." The server floated on over and deposited some Emrys Contraveisalgia tablets in front of Akemi which he pushed towards Aashi. "Take three of these so you don't have a nasty hangover.
"Are you even done with your first? Guess just about anyone can end up being a lightweight." He let out a hearty laugh. "Wouldn't worry too much about me getting my ass beat though. Worst comes to worst I always have a giant robot to call in."
"I-I don't know what those'll do to me," Aashi said, eyeing the tablets. "My body just processes alcohol very very fast. I'm going to be fine, I will be. As long as we stick together and don't go wandering off alone, I think we'll be fine. That's the only reason those guys we beat down, Akemi," she gave him a wide smile, then continued, "that's the only reason they beat up Ulysses. Ah, you should meet him, Jason. He's Captain of the Necromancer. It holds up to its name. A bit better than a freighter, you'd be impressed."
As an afterthought, she said, "Thanks for these," and popped the Contraveisalgia tablets into her mouth and made a sound as if enjoying the taste.
"Probably just hangover cures Aashi, I wouldn't worry too much about Akemi drugging you or something. Though admittedly I'm not sure they're made for Iromakuanhe physi-" Jason found himself being cut off as she thanked the businessman for the medication and downed the three pills with gusto. "You know what, never mind."
"Bartender, little more for me and the lady." He gulped down the last of his drink after shouting this, slamming the wooded cup on the table. "As far as meeting Cap'n Ulysses, I'll put it on my to do list. Probably a good idea to familiarize myself with the fleet as much as possible 'for we all head off war. Hopefully it's much harder to kick his ass when he's not planetside. "
Akemi mentally got a barmaid to bring Jason a comically large stein and Aashi a sweet pink alcohol free drink. "I just wanna make sure you have a good time and don't regret it. The more delicate you act the more I wanna protect you. Like I'd love to take advantage of you being sloshed because you're smokin' hot but that'd be no fun when you're all no sex for me. At least no fun in the long run."
Aashi laughed and shook her head, then ran a hand through her long hair, which faded from black to blue midway through and said, "No, it would probably end with your body parts all around your establishment. I don't know this yet, but do Neko have any religion to speak of?"
"I will pray to whatever god set me up with free drinks here." He said as he appraised the almost laughably huge container she had provided him with. "So sure, lot here who the Yammies make all their blood sacrifices too."
"Blood sacrifices, you say?" Aashi asked, amused.
"Oh yes, don't you know? The Yams sacrifices thousands of souls to sustain their empress and the rest of the Ketsurui. Why, I hear they slaughtered millions of freespacers just to feed her insatiable hunger." He teased viscously, wondering if Akemi would play along.
"Oh yeah, totally," Akemi readily agreed, "I'll fucking kill for another season of a show I really like or just to make an episode air faster." While he spoke he got their server to gently toss some Combat Candies in gum and chewy chunk form on the table.
"Oh yes, the cartoons, the horrible Yamataian Cartoons." He waved the stein about with a crazed look in his eyes, beer sloshing about as he did so. "Litanies to the supremacy of their empire. They infect the minds of their plebians, turning them into listless basement dwellers who never question the decisions of the noble clans.
"Even the poor people of neighboring countries become infected, shouting the supremacy of Yam culture and drawing back into their own world of custom body pillows and pirated streams."
Aashi was speechless and remained so before she picked up a candy from the table and chewed on it, swallowing.
"Is that the reason why Yamataians are unpopular on other worlds? Because they sacrifice to their cartoons while snuggling cartoon women and revering them above all else?" she asked after taking another candy and popping it into her mouth. "We have problems like that in the Astral Cluster, too. Minus the sacrifice."
Akemi scoffed. "More like because they have shit taste and are mad jelly we've got the better shows."
"I see the astral cluster is a dark land indeed. You must have been tough to thrive there." He shot up from his seat with a gusto, red faced and steely eyed. "Koga, show the works of your people. We're strong to resist their dark temptations, I'm sure..."
Akemi silently, solemnly pulled out his communicator and ordered it to volumetrically project an image of a cute little animated girl running after her stoic love interest, falling on her ass and letting out a high pitched whine. As she fell a long, detailed, up close shot of her briefly exposed panties occurred. When she sat up with her legs splayed she stuck out her tongue, winked and gently tapped herself on the side of the head with a fist. "Uguu! Moe-chan is such a klutz!"
Aashi laughed aloud and slapped her knee with her hand, saying, "That's the kind of religion I expect out of Yamatai."
"Do not be seduced by their weeaboo wiles, Aashi-chan." He wrapped an arm around her neck, grinning ear to ear. "Before you know it you'll be calling Akemi sempai and begging for his attention."
Aashi eyed Jason from the side and smiled in an unknowing, but sly, way. "Will I, now? And what will I be calling you?"
Akemi tilted his head and shook it slightly as his lips formed a toothy smile. "If only, I'd love to fuck the shit out of her while she wore a schoolgirl outfit."
"I'll be your precious, innocent Nii-san, of course." Unsuprised by the man's response, he added. "Well, innocent compared to our Nekovalkyrja friend of course."
"Yeah, he'd be your adorable little otouto you can technically jump the bones of any time since he's not blood related," Akemi said.
Unable to fathom where the two of them got such utterly lewd concepts, Aashi went along with the joke and asked, "So that would make you, what? My brother, I'm guessing. You know, I think the two of you would have a lot more fun with my twin. She's much more," Aashi searched for the right term, then found it, "open than me."
The Neko decided he'd keep going with the tropes because it was easy and fun. "I dunno, maybe I'd be your really zealous volleyball club manager that keeps holding you back long after all the other students have left so I can give you extended one on one coaching and flexibility training so you can win the championship. And of course despite all the extra exercise your skills actually get worse so I just keep getting harder on you. Eventually you completely give up on improving so I'll keep singling you out and berating and punishing you for being utterly hopeless."
Aashi's smile was slightly bemused and then she said, "I now remember why I don't engage in such activities. They seem all too overcomplicated."
For his part, Jason let go of the captain and staggered back into his chair. "I admit, this didn't come up in of the briefing programs that mentioned volleyball. I wonder what dark secrets lay at the heart of other sports."
"Well I could always give you guys some quality Yamataian comics to read so you can see how simple and common place such scenarios are," Akemi suggested smoothly.
"I'd enjoy those quite a bit, I think," Aashi said, deeply interested and not at all unsettled, despite having never had relationships quite like the ones Akemi detailed for them.
"I'm not sure that my body is ready for that." Jason responded, looking fairly enthused by the idea himself. "But if Captain Nath is up for it...."
"I would like to see more of Yamataian culture," Aashi ventured to think the exploits he was exemplifying were not just common place but expected in a society that she had simply heard rumors about and only ever been on the fringe of.
"I'll think it straight to your communicator and his Mindware," Akemi replied doing just that. He made sure to include some hentai that was really extreme both in terms of ridiculousness and harshness of the sex and plot.
Aashi checked her comm and noticed the exceedingly incestuous relationship and said, "It reminds me of the Vekimen. Minus the icky scalies."
"I'm sure more then a few acts in here remind Akemi of Commander Zahen." The young man wiggled his eyebrows at the older one in front of him.
Akemi smiled coolly. "You guys should search for horns to see what's done with 'em. If you like exotic fantasy stuff there's some troll and elf in there."
Aashi laughed light-heartedly and said, "I wouldn't want to guess what you would do with horns, Akemi."
"Personally I'd think a Iroma would be a expert on their uses." Jason added teasingly, admiring Aashi's own. "Though given your profession, I wouldn't be suprised if you gored a fucker with them before...or are they too brittle for that?"
"If they break, though it would hurt, they'll grow back in a matter of a few months, so there is nearly no concern there. I was once tied up..." Aashi scrolled through the hentai and found a bondage one and pointed to it, "Like that! I was tied up like that but had mobility of my head, so I managed to pierce directly up the jaw and into the mouth of my captor. That wasn't a fun mission, we were sent to board another party of pirates, Nepleslians, and I was able to gore the captain, your word, not mine. We took over the ship and ran it and the crew into an asteroid after escaping with our lives and a few technologies we sold to their Nepleslian rivals."
"You'd rather find out what I'd do with them through first hand experience right?" Akemi quipped. He wondered how much Aashi cared about having her horns touched considering how casual she was in general despite her whole abstinence thing.
Akemi certainly was quick-witted and Aashi liked that about him. Not willing to dissuade him from his exploitative thoughts, she replied to him in a nonchalant air.
"Penetration is what you're referring to, I assume?" She was trying to sound all-knowing, but had only heard that insertion was the bread and butter of this sort of encounter, not knowing that there were other more subtle and untalked about nuances to it.
"Well sure, it'd be nice to go there. I'm kinda just hoping to get to touch yours to be honest," Akemi admitted. Though it might be fun to tease and try to be witty with her the Neko didn't really want to mess with the woman given her stance towards sexual intimacy and the easygoing nature of their conversation. Rather than expend effort to charm he figured he'd get right to the point and see how things would go since he liked to charge forward and take silly risks.
"Well they are what I hear with and I don't want to be deaf for the time it would take to grow back, so do be careful, but, sure, do what you will." She stood up and turned around, back facing Akemi as she knelt down to be even with his sitting position, though she knew he could manipulate gravity and fly up to her height, she didn't want to make him work too hard if she could help it.
"Itadakimasu," Akemi said with a goofy grin as he leaned over to gently run his fingers down Aashi's horns. He figured it'd be fun to experiment so he first tried stroking the lengths using only his fingertips and then gave them a squeeze at the base using the entirety of his hands. As the man tested their sensitivity he made sure to pay close attention to any reactions from the Iroma.
Feeling nothing much more than the way her head moved only slightly as he fingered her horns and gripped them, she smiled and said to him, "As good as you always dreamed it would be?"
"Nah, I was hoping you'd uncontrollably moan in ecstasy or something," Akemi answered as he let go and settled back down. "I guess you're just not one of the sensitive ones."
"My sister might just give you what you want, she's like that. I make up for it by being sensitive in other ways..." she said with an air of confidence in that she knew what she was talking about and she was being covertly sensuous, but the truth of the matter was that she was sensitive in the way that she often found herself crying on Ulysses shoulder instead of sensitive in the way that she was trying to imply. How Akemi and Jason took interpreted it was up to them.
"You mean like what went down back at the hotel?" It was definitely an experience that he wasn't going to forget anytime soon. "I suppose sensitive is one way to describe that."
Aashi didn't know if Jason had truly enjoyed it and asked, "Is there anything else you've heard about the Iroma that you'd like to try?"
"Well, now that you mention it..." He cocked his head to the side in a way that indicated he was thinking. "One of the meatspace instructors for the SSI once mentioned this...'spice'" The young man accompanied the last word with air quotes. "That if you have enough of it or get it unprocessed, you get these extreme reactions. Look at the world a whole new way, see the future type shit."
Akemi's face lit up as he grinned and chuckled. "I'd sure like to try everything there is to try," he quicked interjected. "More seriously though I gotta say as swell as your sister surely is you're the one in front of me right now and I'm far more interested in you. I know this might be a really personal question but if you don't mind me asking, how long have you been all off physical stuff? Did you take a vow or something?" As interesting as super alien spices were the Neko had to get in what he'd been itching to say as soon as Aashi mentioned her sibling again.
"We have a lot of spices that have... effects, actually," Aashi replied to Jason. "Rohk'so is the one I happen to have on hand. Would you like to imbibe?" Aashi handed him the package of the spice and said, "Go ahead." To Akemi she said, "Well, thank you. You always are too sweet. I was captured and taken prisoner for a terrible number of years and found myself contemplating the finer parts of life. I didn't make a vow, then, but I made a decision to not allow myself to be drawn into the pits of sexuality and romance. The both of them became apparently detrimental in years to come as I saw my crew members succumb to them. I think I made the right choice. Have you ever been in love, Akemi? And please, have some, as well. I won't stop myself from enjoying it, too."
"I guess sort of but I never found myself in a really deep romantic relationship where I wouldn't welcome another partner," Akemi answered smoothly. "I don't wanna sound like I'm saying I know what's best for you and looking down on your way of life but I hope one day you can enjoy greater intimacy again. I'm sure it probably sounds really sleazy but you could always try a relationship with me. I'm pretty low maintenance and easy for attractive women to manipulate so you wouldn't have to worry about me dragging you into any pits."
"I think there are quite a few attractive women on this planet who would wish that was true. At least if they could get you to stop being the clingy type" Jason looked up from the box of opening the box of spice to flash Akemi a smile. "But probably a step up in class from you propositioning her for sex a few minutes ago. Now come on man, you want to try some of this with me?"
"Well I don't think it's sleazy of you to proposition me like that," Aashi replied. "I find it gentlemanly of you to ask and I have to say I find you to be one of the most affable non-Iromkuanhe I have yet to meet. There likely are a few souls here that wish they hadn't, though, for whatever reason. I hope they come around to my way of thinking," Aashi told him. Then, looking to the un-had rohk'so, she said, "Go on!"
"Fine, fine. If I see how either one of you dies after taking this, I'll make sure to save your life for free." The young man joked before he started to eat it, clearly enjoying the flavor. "You going to try some, Aashi?"
"Oh, yes," Aashi said as she ate away, beginning to feel the effects of enhanced lucidity and clear-thinking immediately.
"Awww. You're a super nice Iroma too." Akemi reached out to pick up the box and scoop a little spice out on his finger which he then gave a dainty lick. "Mmm. It's pretty good. Reminds me of how I'm selling Elysian Psomi. It's a fast growing fungus you can make taste like anything that can have effects on the mind."
"Yeah, these days you pump the right chemicals into something and BAM! Can make fungus taste like cake and make you feel like you shot yourself up with Prime. Makes me wonder how people lived before we had all this shit..." He glanced around the room, suddenly remembering that was a bit of a dumb thing to say given what sort of planet he was on. Scooping up some more of the Rohk'So, Jason eyes darted around the room, taking the world in a whole new way."Not well, I suppose."
"Now let's see if I can unlock its psychedelic effects." Akemi poured a little spice on the table and pulled out his KS card to arrange it all in a thin neat line before bending over to snort it up his nose while pressing one nostril closed.
"Woah," Aashi said, watching Akemi. "Not how I expected you to do it. Points for taking it like a champ, too. I'm definitely 'under the influence', now. I can feel it, can you, Jace?"
"I'm....definitely feeling something right about now." Jason pupil's had already dilated, and it looked as if all the tension had melted from his body. "Hopefully this doesn't have any weird after effects on Neplesians."
"Dude look at your eyes," Akemi said as he held up two hands together straight and flat and made a volumetric projection of Jason's face. The Neko was pretty fine with the experience. It was certainly stimulating but it wasn't overwhelming him. He simply felt very calm, pleased and extra alert. If drugs ever made him feel uncomfortable he cautiously regulated their effects.
"Hopefully not," Aashi said, not knowing fully what the effects possibly could be and wondering if she was doing a good job of keeping the young man safe. At the same time, she was perfectly aware that no Iroma had ever died from rohk'so and didn't expect any ill effects in Jace. "Try to think very hard about what it is that you can do and accomplish, Jace. Try to concentrate fully on this one thing, where your abilities and strengths will take you."
"Aw man," Akemi said quietly, "I was hoping we'd play weird mind games with him and make him have a nasty episode while we giggle like chuckle-fucks." He felt a little bad about not remaining silent for Jason's benefit but he couldn't resist kidding around.
Jason craned his neck over to get a better look at the picture, given how small the display was, gazing into his eyes. "Oh, that? Nothing to worry about, tends to happen to humans when your on this sort of stuff. Usually not that fast though." Not that this knowledge seemed to bother the Nepleslian all that much, "What, you mean just as a general life tip or while I'm on this stuff?" This time he was addressing the woman across from him, resting his face on his palms. "Usually people hit up places like this to avoid thinking about shit like that, but I guess I can try the whole self-visualization thing."
"Try it," Aashi said with some amusement tinging her voice. "You might be surprised."
He reached out to grab Aashi's hand, smirking at the woman. "Want to come along for the ride." Jason inhaled a deep breath, holding it in his chest while he closed his eyes, before slowly exhaling while he did so. He had quite a few skills to his name, from technical knowledge to being a crack shot, but the one that deined him the most was his ability as a pilot. Snippets of victorious battles against worthy rivals flashed through his mind, but his lone frame was quickly supplemented by a ever growing squadron. His mind drifted away from the cockpit toward the bridge of a carrier, small at first, but eventually on par with the flagships of great nations.
As it grew it was joined by other vessels, first a few, then a flotilla, then a fleet. Scenes like the wreckage of great battles in the void of spaces and planets bearing the marks of the ages greatest weapons were juxtaposed against monuments to his victory in a grand city unlike any on the planet they ruled yet, and the flag with him on it that Uso had promised unfurled overhead. Somewhere he made his home, a wondrous estate filled with riches and captivated beauties. People cursed his name, their rage only matched by their impotence while others praised it. Adoration, hatred, respect. All clung to him like flies to honey.
"Might as well reach for everything, right?"
Aashi had gone through the full gamut of Jace's emotions as he imagined his future victories and was astounded by how little he underestimated himself. Compared to that which he was cloned after, he was astonishingly confident and charismatic.
"You certainly have your life figured out," she offered. "Akemi, where do you see your future going? Jace's is going far, I can tell that much."
"My visions of the future are pretty boring," Akemi answered shrugging ever so slightly while tilting his head to the side. "Befriending and banging Arccos. Her being like my bigger sometimes dominant sometimes submissive boyfriend. Wearing pretty, gaudy clothes like a doll. Befriending and somehow fucking that tank Spacer just because she's grumpy and cute and I don't even think she has the necessary equipment. Curling up with you just because you're nice and you've got hips for days. Hardcore diddling and befriending this Van Banning bodyguard Neko named Kiri who's really violent and maybe a Mishhu Neko. I just wanna make friends with attractive women and have fun."
"I'm not sure if boring is the correct word for sleeping with a bunch of women, but it's definitely more grounded then what I'm hoping for." On the other hand given the disposition Arccos had for him, he wasn't sure it was particularly more plausible. "Sounds like your pretty content with your life though if that's all you want Akemi. Kind of admirable."
