Planet Yamatai
Uesureyan Fields
YSS Kaiyō II
Wardroom
Inside the Fuji-class starship's lavish wardroom, a four-foot figure sat upon her chair quietly, enjoying a... Well, the term "snack" would probably not fit her current selection of food. Arbitrated Shan's little fingers picked a strawberry by its green leaves, keeping it aloft as she devoured chunks of its bright red flesh at a time. Competing for plate-room with the strawberries was a sliced banana, globs of peanut butter smeared and stuck to each circular segment; a personal favorite of hers. It wasn't really a surprise to anybody that the smallest person on the Starship Kaiyo had an impressively large appetite; her balloon-like swollen belly, so large and heavy it made walking alone an arduous task, contained a wonderful pair of unborn children.
"Hello," Eden's voice came as she walked into the calm wardroom. "I remember a day when I would call you Shan-hei. You have certainly moved to different heights, Iemochi-heisho."
"Welll... Thank you, Shosa. Honestly, those days don't feel very distant, do they?" She had washed out her mouth with a bit of water before responding to the Exec. She gave the golden-eyed woman a nice, comfortable smile. "I don't think I could have done it without the help of the rest of the crew... And certainly not without your guidance." Just above Arbles's giant tummy, her chest swelled in and out steadily, pulling air through the sieve of her lungs.
"They do," Eden said, "to me. Perhaps only to me. Thank you for the compliment, Heisho." The hime-cut and gilded eyed woman said, "I have been meaning to ask how your pregnancy is going, Arbitrated."
"Prrretty good, actually!" A sweet lil' smile was sent towards the black-haired beauty. "I still have a bit over a month to go, by the estimates. The babies are developing quite nicely, hehe... We're keeping their genders a surprise, did you know?"
"That's good to know," Eden said. "I am guessing they are not the same gender? Or else you would have said 'gender' as a singular word."
"Well.... We know that they're not identical twins, but we don't actually know their genders, ehehe..."
"And here I thought I had it all figured out!" Eden said coolly. "I guess I was wrong. We'll just have to wait and see. How has your experience back on the Kaiyō II been?"
"It's been... Okay, so far. It's kinda coming back to me a bit more slowly than the first time I spent such a long time on a ship, probably because of these two." She patted her belly softly. "It's sort of... Comfortable in a way though, you know? Coming back to it all when so many important memories came from here..."
"I see what you mean," Eden said, eyes sparkling as she looked on at Arbitrated. "I am happy you have found it comfortable coming back. I will leave you to your time of reflection unhindered, from here on."
"Oh, no - it's alright if you'd like to talk, Eden-sama!" Even without a formal military rank to signify the black-haired woman's status, it was pretty clear that Arbles still looked up to her old captain. "Talking from time to time is nice for things like this... It keeps the mind from spinning out of control by its own thoughts, y'know?"
Eden blinked a few times while she processed the latter statement from the Elysian. Finally, she sighed and her face went a bit slack as she thought on it, until a smile reappeared.
"You're right, I might as well take a seat," she said and sat down on one of the chairs in the wardroom, looking at the hydropnics on the walls slowly, as if savoring their appearances before she'd have the chance to savor them in a meal. Blinking again, she asked, "Do you have any hopes, dreams, for your children?"
"Hmm... I do, really." Her geode-like irises sparkled softly, like stars in a thin atmosphere's nighttime, as she spoke. "I hope that they get to make the big life choices for themselves. What sort of lifestyle they want, stuff like that... But, I also want them to make smart choices. Choices that they don't come to regret because they acted rashly... She sighed. Looking around at those same hydroponic walls, Arbles let her thoughts wander for a few moments. "At a time, I'd have liked for them to be born on Elysia, back at home. But... Well, with all that happened there, it's safe to say that I'm... Pretty nervous about that."
Another pause, but shorter and more of a breath. "What about you? What do you hope for, for your- for Misaki and Kikyō?"
"What I hope for," Eden said, "is irrelevant... They'll be the way they are, regardless. The most I can do is hope I, myself, am supportive of what they do."
Arbles frowned. "I'd hope so... I'll be honest, back when you three were together... Well, I kinda wanted to be like you. Having a nice family, only with Mochi." The frown wavered a little bit, fading slightly but remaining.
"Yes," Eden said, smiling as she distantly gazed at the plants on the wall. "It was nice. It's... different, now."
The ex-Shan was silent for a few breaths. It was pretty clear that Eden didn't really want to talk about that subject right now. She only hoped the taller neko wasn't bottling up her emotions about it... That almost never ended well, even if the effects took years to become apparent.
"Well... To be honest, Eden-sama, I'm still a bit nervousabout... About my own children. I'm... not sure if I'm up for the task, you know? Do, uh... Do you have any ideas on what might help me out, or...?"
"I would say, do not put your preconceptions of them on them. Let them be their own people," Eden replied. "It's a lot easier said than done."
"Mmmm.... Yeah, you're right. It's just... I rather would love to see them grow in potential instead of wither and wallow. I've seen several people do that..." Nodding slowly, the redhead closed her eyes for a few moments.
"I would love to see that for your children, too," Eden said. "Pushing them further than their own hopes and dreams is not advisable, but guiding them to those things is, by me, at least."
Another nod. "I'll need to remember that. Give them the.... The motive, the incentive to grow how they want..." With a cute , smol smile, Arbles looked up to Eden with her wonderfully sparkling eyes. "Yeah?"
"That's about it," Eden said with a return smile, which was thin and small, but there. "It's a learning experience, though. No matter what, you won't be fully prepared for them."
With a chuckle, Arbs replied, "Yeah, that's for sure! Life isn't very interesting unless you've got to improvise a lil' bit!"
Eden gave a small laugh, too, and looked about, "Are you here to just eat strawberries or is there something else I can make you?"
Arb-Arb contemplated her options for the moment, her partially-depleted plate of fruit resting untouched for the moment - forgotten about in the conversation. "Well, I originally just wanted some fruit.... And it's actually getting a little bit late to have something significant come to think of it! I'm sure the cooks would be a bit unhappy if I came to supper witha - er, fuller belly!"
Eden laughed more fully this time and thought to ruffle the woman's hair at that comment, but held back and simply put a hand on hers.
The black-haired woman said, instead, "I really do enjoy having you on the ship. You're full of life, in more ways than the two inside of you."
Cocking her head to the side by a few degrees, Arbles's hair shimmered and cascaded with the sudden mothion - almost a full river of reddish-brown locks sprung from her head, and it was quite the sight - like if all her height had gone into hair length instead of making her the size of a normal person.
Arbs asked, "What do you mean by that?"
"I mean, well, it's hard to describe a play on words. I simply mean you're vivacious."
"Ah. Yeah, I can see that a bit, now that you mention it! I like helping people feel happy when I can, and... I dunno, I just kinda... do!"
"Thanks for understanding, Arbles," Eden said, removing her hand. "I need to go take care of some things. Have a wonderful evening," she added as she began to step out of the wardroom.
The bubbly, candy-winged birb smiled cutely and waved with her free hand, her other hand already sneeaking back towards the gown of red, heart-shaped fruits.
Uesureyan Fields
YSS Kaiyō II
Wardroom
Inside the Fuji-class starship's lavish wardroom, a four-foot figure sat upon her chair quietly, enjoying a... Well, the term "snack" would probably not fit her current selection of food. Arbitrated Shan's little fingers picked a strawberry by its green leaves, keeping it aloft as she devoured chunks of its bright red flesh at a time. Competing for plate-room with the strawberries was a sliced banana, globs of peanut butter smeared and stuck to each circular segment; a personal favorite of hers. It wasn't really a surprise to anybody that the smallest person on the Starship Kaiyo had an impressively large appetite; her balloon-like swollen belly, so large and heavy it made walking alone an arduous task, contained a wonderful pair of unborn children.
"Hello," Eden's voice came as she walked into the calm wardroom. "I remember a day when I would call you Shan-hei. You have certainly moved to different heights, Iemochi-heisho."
"Welll... Thank you, Shosa. Honestly, those days don't feel very distant, do they?" She had washed out her mouth with a bit of water before responding to the Exec. She gave the golden-eyed woman a nice, comfortable smile. "I don't think I could have done it without the help of the rest of the crew... And certainly not without your guidance." Just above Arbles's giant tummy, her chest swelled in and out steadily, pulling air through the sieve of her lungs.
"They do," Eden said, "to me. Perhaps only to me. Thank you for the compliment, Heisho." The hime-cut and gilded eyed woman said, "I have been meaning to ask how your pregnancy is going, Arbitrated."
"Prrretty good, actually!" A sweet lil' smile was sent towards the black-haired beauty. "I still have a bit over a month to go, by the estimates. The babies are developing quite nicely, hehe... We're keeping their genders a surprise, did you know?"
"That's good to know," Eden said. "I am guessing they are not the same gender? Or else you would have said 'gender' as a singular word."
"Well.... We know that they're not identical twins, but we don't actually know their genders, ehehe..."
"And here I thought I had it all figured out!" Eden said coolly. "I guess I was wrong. We'll just have to wait and see. How has your experience back on the Kaiyō II been?"
"It's been... Okay, so far. It's kinda coming back to me a bit more slowly than the first time I spent such a long time on a ship, probably because of these two." She patted her belly softly. "It's sort of... Comfortable in a way though, you know? Coming back to it all when so many important memories came from here..."
"I see what you mean," Eden said, eyes sparkling as she looked on at Arbitrated. "I am happy you have found it comfortable coming back. I will leave you to your time of reflection unhindered, from here on."
"Oh, no - it's alright if you'd like to talk, Eden-sama!" Even without a formal military rank to signify the black-haired woman's status, it was pretty clear that Arbles still looked up to her old captain. "Talking from time to time is nice for things like this... It keeps the mind from spinning out of control by its own thoughts, y'know?"
Eden blinked a few times while she processed the latter statement from the Elysian. Finally, she sighed and her face went a bit slack as she thought on it, until a smile reappeared.
"You're right, I might as well take a seat," she said and sat down on one of the chairs in the wardroom, looking at the hydropnics on the walls slowly, as if savoring their appearances before she'd have the chance to savor them in a meal. Blinking again, she asked, "Do you have any hopes, dreams, for your children?"
"Hmm... I do, really." Her geode-like irises sparkled softly, like stars in a thin atmosphere's nighttime, as she spoke. "I hope that they get to make the big life choices for themselves. What sort of lifestyle they want, stuff like that... But, I also want them to make smart choices. Choices that they don't come to regret because they acted rashly... She sighed. Looking around at those same hydroponic walls, Arbles let her thoughts wander for a few moments. "At a time, I'd have liked for them to be born on Elysia, back at home. But... Well, with all that happened there, it's safe to say that I'm... Pretty nervous about that."
Another pause, but shorter and more of a breath. "What about you? What do you hope for, for your- for Misaki and Kikyō?"
"What I hope for," Eden said, "is irrelevant... They'll be the way they are, regardless. The most I can do is hope I, myself, am supportive of what they do."
Arbles frowned. "I'd hope so... I'll be honest, back when you three were together... Well, I kinda wanted to be like you. Having a nice family, only with Mochi." The frown wavered a little bit, fading slightly but remaining.
"Yes," Eden said, smiling as she distantly gazed at the plants on the wall. "It was nice. It's... different, now."
The ex-Shan was silent for a few breaths. It was pretty clear that Eden didn't really want to talk about that subject right now. She only hoped the taller neko wasn't bottling up her emotions about it... That almost never ended well, even if the effects took years to become apparent.
"Well... To be honest, Eden-sama, I'm still a bit nervousabout... About my own children. I'm... not sure if I'm up for the task, you know? Do, uh... Do you have any ideas on what might help me out, or...?"
"I would say, do not put your preconceptions of them on them. Let them be their own people," Eden replied. "It's a lot easier said than done."
"Mmmm.... Yeah, you're right. It's just... I rather would love to see them grow in potential instead of wither and wallow. I've seen several people do that..." Nodding slowly, the redhead closed her eyes for a few moments.
"I would love to see that for your children, too," Eden said. "Pushing them further than their own hopes and dreams is not advisable, but guiding them to those things is, by me, at least."
Another nod. "I'll need to remember that. Give them the.... The motive, the incentive to grow how they want..." With a cute , smol smile, Arbles looked up to Eden with her wonderfully sparkling eyes. "Yeah?"
"That's about it," Eden said with a return smile, which was thin and small, but there. "It's a learning experience, though. No matter what, you won't be fully prepared for them."
With a chuckle, Arbs replied, "Yeah, that's for sure! Life isn't very interesting unless you've got to improvise a lil' bit!"
Eden gave a small laugh, too, and looked about, "Are you here to just eat strawberries or is there something else I can make you?"
Arb-Arb contemplated her options for the moment, her partially-depleted plate of fruit resting untouched for the moment - forgotten about in the conversation. "Well, I originally just wanted some fruit.... And it's actually getting a little bit late to have something significant come to think of it! I'm sure the cooks would be a bit unhappy if I came to supper witha - er, fuller belly!"
Eden laughed more fully this time and thought to ruffle the woman's hair at that comment, but held back and simply put a hand on hers.
The black-haired woman said, instead, "I really do enjoy having you on the ship. You're full of life, in more ways than the two inside of you."
Cocking her head to the side by a few degrees, Arbles's hair shimmered and cascaded with the sudden mothion - almost a full river of reddish-brown locks sprung from her head, and it was quite the sight - like if all her height had gone into hair length instead of making her the size of a normal person.
Arbs asked, "What do you mean by that?"
"I mean, well, it's hard to describe a play on words. I simply mean you're vivacious."
"Ah. Yeah, I can see that a bit, now that you mention it! I like helping people feel happy when I can, and... I dunno, I just kinda... do!"
"Thanks for understanding, Arbles," Eden said, removing her hand. "I need to go take care of some things. Have a wonderful evening," she added as she began to step out of the wardroom.
The bubbly, candy-winged birb smiled cutely and waved with her free hand, her other hand already sneeaking back towards the gown of red, heart-shaped fruits.
