text | calling across the cosmos

[genice]

There's quite a few of us who are new arrivals, yeah? I'm told we should make ourselves comfortable and get to know our neighbors. It's been eight months since I last really moved anywhere, so hello! My name is Victor Nikiforov. If any one of you feels like discussing our new location or occupations or anything else, please join me for a drink!

[ He even includes a ping for the bar he's at. Conversations up to this point have been anything but promising. So here he is. In space. Surrounded by space people. Talking to other "we did not want to end up in space, probably" people. ]

Also, three questions! Who is fond of dogs, is there anything like Instagram on these, and who knows anything about figure skating?

Comments

[masterstudent]

[...This guy... No, Victor is not endearing himself to Tigress. But neither can it be said sulking in her room is doing her duty to the valley. And, in a place she is loathe to admit, the feeling of being trapped in a room with only her rage for company is not one she had ever wanted to go back to.

She can...do this. Be polite. Courteous. A master.]

The atrium has a peach tree in blossom. If you wish to talk we can find no spot better.

[This is her offer. An olive branch. ...Of sorts.]

[genice]

[ Victor just... pauses. He has no idea what a blooming peach tree looks like. He does however, know how to do a search to figure that out, and has no trouble talking to people, so... he glances down at Makkachin. Ready for a walk? Asking the dog prompts a wag of the tail, and then he types a response on back. ]

Wow, sounds like an adventure. Under the peach tree in blossom? Got it.

[ What he really has to do is pay his tab (done) and figure out if the request for a name change of his place of "employment" has gone through. It's such a normal thing in such abnormal, strange circumstances, that it makes things feel even more surreal.

Regardless, with Makkachin on a leash (he's been told this must be so) and at his side, Victor does eventually find what he thinks is a blossoming peach tree. He looks between his comm, held in hand like a phone instead of on his wrist, and the tree in question. Makkachin sniffs around the base of the tree, leash trailing behind him. ]

... This looks like a peach tree, and it seems to be blooming...

[ Fingers resting on his lips, he finally decides that yes. This is the right tree. And how did Tigress know there was just one such tree blooming right now? ]

[masterstudent]

[Tigress knew because of course there's only one dramatics . I MEAN.... It was a familiar sense of home. She'd smelled it as soon as she'd walked into the atrium the first time. And from there she had naturally sought it out and found solace under it until the presence of too many strangers, all potential foes, had forced her to retreat to her room.

But she's not in her room now. Rather she's been waiting for some time. So when Victor arrives a tiger stalks out from behind the venerable trunk. ...Walking on two legs, but that's natural of course. Tigress's eyes instantly go to the dog. Also natural. Though the...bondage...confuses her. Still she inclines her head the slightest in greeting.]

Mr. Nikiforov. [Her eyes glance up to the non-dog of the two here.] ...And friend.

[She sounds the slightest bit uncertain. The slightest. There's a microscopic question there. But respectfully her eyes turn back to the dog!!]

You didn't mention him in our communication.

[genice]

[ Two days in space and in a big emotional funk is nowhere near enough time to inure Victor to the sheer strangeness of what might happen. Tigress sure had said her name was Tigress.

He hadn't expected a bipedal tiger to end up meeting him under a tree, like out of some crazy movie he's probably seen once when failing to nod off fast enough. Victor goes very still, Makkachin responding to his tension by pulling his head up and moving closer to his owner with a whine. Victor uncurls the fingers of one hand, rolling his wrist to invite Makkachin closer.

It takes a moment for what she's said to register. She hadn't been looking at him when she addressed him — she'd been looking at Makkachin. THen she'd looked his way as his dog moved to add in friend.

A niggling suspicion takes root in his mind, turning this incredible absurdity into something even more absurd. So absurd, it cuts right through the rest of his complicated feelings and leaves him laughing through the fingers that'd been pressed against his lips. ]

Makkachin. His name is Makkachin.

[ Dropping his hand away from his mouth, he smiles at the feeling of Makkachin nudging his nose into his other hand. ]

This is my dog, Makkachin, and I'm Mr. Nikiforov.

[ He's talking to an anthromoporphic tigress and he can't find it in him to even be scared because she just addressed his dog as Mr. Nikiforov. There's something so inane and understandably confusing about that in this moment that all he can feel is amused relief. He even waves with his right hand, light glinting off his ring.

This is crazy. This is all crazy. Maybe he'll just wake up from this crazy, insane reality to find it's just a dream. Talking tigers? What's next? Philosophizing ants? ]

[masterstudent]

[Tigress's head quickly turns back and forth between Makkachin and Victor several times. What. Of course she is too polite to say such so instead--]

He is your...prisoner?

[She's not sure she approves of this. Even prisoners have rights to be treated humanely. ...animaly. Fuggin anthropomorphic animal canons cries in a corner]

[genice]

[ Victor looks down at Makkachin, running his hand over the fur on top of his head. ]

More like my family. Isn't that right, Makkachin?

[ Having no idea what he's agreeing with, but liking Victor's tone of voice, Makkachin gives a small wag of his tail. Yeah! Yeah. He's a good boy. Whatever his pack leader is saying is good. ]

[masterstudent]

I...see.

[Said in the tone of she doesn't see at all, but she's not going to further question this insanity. Anyway...]

If you still want to talk there are sitting rocks on the other side of the tree.

[Like. Exactly that. Some flat rocks popping up out of the hillside that can be sat on. Nothing fancy here. Of course Tigress likes it that way, but Victor may feel differently.

...She's still so confused by the dog question. Anyway she'll be heading for the rocks, not waiting for an answer.]

[genice]

( He watches her head around the tree, feeling Makkachin lean in to his leg and letting his smile fade. It's starting to penetrate just how alien this all is. It's unlikely he's in some elaborate set-up. That hadn't been any suit, that hadn't been prosthetics. He was really in some place far removed from where he'd promised he'd be, and that galls him.

The tight feeling in his stomach from earlier returns as he moves forward, circling around the opposite side of the tree to the stones that Tigress had mentioned. Makkachin trots along at his side, sniffing as he goes. He ends up whining and cautiously approaching what his senses say is an overlarge, weird moving cat with a low, uncertain wag of his tail. Friends? He's ready to make another one.

Victor wonders if he is, but he does need to sort through what he's been hearing. His smile is wan, most the amusement settled to the side alongside the shock and surprise he doesn't have the desire to deal with. Taking a seat on one of the stones, he crosses his hands over his knee, idly playing with the ring on his right hand. )

Tigress, this is very strange for me, and it is likely very strange for you too. Have you talked with many of the crewmembers of this ship yet?

[masterstudent]

[Taking a seat herself Tigress reflects the composition of the rocks. Stone. Inmovable. A rigid force despite the fluffy fur. At least until Makkachin comes over. Is the dog a child...? SO CONFUSED. But awkwardly holding out a paw to it???]

I have. They express little remorse for what they've done. Finding a new home for their people is their focus.

[The tip of her tail twitches against the ground. The only sign of her anger.]

[genice]

( He tips his head her way, watching her from the corner of one eye. )

For activating their engines and bringing us here?

( He's not debating that the priority here is finding a world to colonize. That's been the consistent by-line, whatever the root truth. He's trying to understand what she thinks has been done.

Meanwhile, Makkachin pushes his head under her paw after sniffing, not sure what to make of the strangeness of what his nose says and what his eyes say. Even what his ears tell him doesn't match to the experiences of his life. )

[masterstudent]

[Slowly...oh so slowly...Tigress scratches behind Makkachin's ears. Victor says it like it's an innocent act. And Tigress agrees. It was-- at first. But these people have obviously known about what their engines do to others and haven't cared to address it. She can't blame them.

But she's blaming them anyway. As such she looks away, expression this side of sour. As sour as a stick in the mud can appear anyway.]

For activating their engines and bringing us here.

[Yes. Just going to repeat what he said. It's an answer in itself and she would not elaborate on her...less kind feelings.]

[genice]

( Makkachin sets his head on Tigress if he can, panting in his happy way as he enjoys the tentative ear scratches. His tail wags in a slow, lazy arc, as if he's trying to reassure the both of them. (He is.) )

Wow. ( At her statement? The parroting? Something else entirely? ) I can imagine they find the benefits worth the risk. I wonder why something so flawed can be considered necessary... I don't understand how something like this can work, but I guess there has to be some kind of exchange. We're being pulled here. Yet people aren't being pushed away? That seems strange to me.

( All said idly, taking threads of conversations he's had so far with members of this crew. He introduces it as a meditative commentary, allowing for conversation, but also just allowing it to be words he says to an audience with... far more fur than he expected. )