Ayem blinked at the little figure in front of her, having spaced out completely in the time it took for Mary to reappear. Sharp child, she thought without really knowing why. Pointy child. So pointy.

A sudden globule of blood snapped her into the present moment and her smile wavered. I try so hard...

"Grazie might be coming," she said aloud. "She's around the corner." Ayem's foot tapped. She'd set aside money to transport the Kelawar, but even though the price of a tagalong prostheticist was a fraction that of a spacefighter, she was hesitant about paying Grazia's ticket on a whim. Ayem turned over the black card in her fingers and gave it back to Mary, along with the rest of the stuff in her pockets (minus the lint).

"Here. How did you get this?"

@Antarctic Termite @SIGINT

Grazia, meanwhile, had a bit of trouble with the card. Figuring out how to work the cashbot. She had never held such a thing before, maybe once or twice, but not for too long. But soon, she figured out how to work it and began to head on back. They're probably waiting for me! Can't just up and disappear on them. She said out loud, talking to herself.

...Only to be faced with another gruesome sight.

The small child was armed to the teeth. She didn't even know that many knives could be hidden on one person. Approaching the group slowly, she had her hand close to one of the many pockets on her outfit. In particular, she was reaching for the lasergun she had... It wouldn't harm either of them, but it was certainly painful. Act casual. she told herself.

Waving to the two, she greeted them again. So um... How was the carwash...?

"Uh, this thingy...?" Mary held her hand out for the black card, seemingly not understanding what it really meant to hold one. "Papa gave it to me." She said simply, "He runs a buncha businesses and corparayshuns and stuff, and, and he's got, like, so much money. So if I wanna buy something, I just swipe this thingy and he pays for it." The girl blinked innocently, placing the card in her other back pocket, across from the balisong. "He let me have it so that I could get things like food and hotels n' stuff while I was out. He said there's a limit on it, but I forgot what it was...and there were a bunch of adults with me, too, but they all died or something. _{Seong was my favorite.}"

"GRAZIEEE~!" In the middle of her rambling, her face lit up like a christmas tree, and she charged across the sidewalk to give her a biiig hug. "The whirly soap tunnel was awesome!! It was all, like, whirl whirl whirl, and like, soap soap soap, and I was all like, aaaahhhhhh, and then I was clean!! It was the most fun ever!! I'm gonna keep getting my clothes dirty so I can do it again!" Looking up at her with a smile that looked like it was trying to escape from her face and fly away, Mary pressed on. "How was the cashbot? Was it a bot with cash? Or was it...something else!? Like, like a bot with...with...vegetables!!"

Even after the fall of the crazed dictator Arcturus Mengsk and the death of the dark Xel'Naga Amon, Rave Mallard is still a man on the run, though for once it wasn't from a government agent or official who had a personal bone to pick with the now pardoned Spectre who'd played hide-and-go-seek with Dominion Ghosts and hunter-killer squads for years, even after joining Raynor's Raiders with the rest of the Spectres. So when he heard that contact had been made with the rest of the galaxy at large and trade opened, he'd stowed away on the first transport he could find.

Several hours later and a bumpy ride that hadn't been expected, and the Spectre found himself in a spaceport above the planet Frixion Prime, a technologically advanced planet with a mix of races that he'd never seen before, and the only one he recognized was the humans in the crowd. As he approached a shuttle to the surface, he noticed that they were asking for ID and payment, so he instead slipped the system and cloaked, hiding onboard in the back for a less bumpy but much more crowded ride. The planet scape itself reminded Rave of Korhal and his experiences, good and bad, there and he couldn't help but frown behind his helmet. As he moved through the crowd, his cloak disabled for the time being, he noticed a group of beings gathering and his senses immediately went on alert at the sight of the child with the knives.

Oh that can't be good, right? I mean, kid looks like a mugger. Then again, I'm new here...you know what, let's not draw attention to myself. Keep going. His own person was somewhat intimidating anyways, what with the AGR-77 and katana on his back and the C-150 holstered on his hip, never mind the six knives also on his person and the two pairs of claws hidden in the wrists of his armor. With that said, he decided to stop at a store about a block from the group and take a look at the wares, which happened to include energy blades meant for combat use.

--In the weapons store--

"This is a... beam sword?"

The proprietor, an A.I. that had introduced itself as Dashernines, bobbed its cylindrical frame up and down, watching Akagalcia with an unreadable expression. She suspected it was a golem and not the actual housing for Dashernines' spirit. Its colors spoke of bronze and tungsten and other metals she knew. The lights though, particularly the green one that followed her ever since she'd entered the shop, reminded her of Him. They were the first truly familiar thing she'd seen since she'd arrived four days ago.

She held the strange power-handle tightly in her hand, bladeless, and held her kukri in her left, comparing the feel of both. The near weightlessness of the handle felt wrong. She thumbed a button, and the beam sword sprang to life, a lance of suspended plasma extending outward and stopping against the blade of her kukri. There was tension, the plasma field clearly trying to extend farther outward but unable to pass through her weapon. She held them there for a few seconds, deaf to Dashernines' ringing protests at the treatment of his wares, then turned her wrist to point the plasma field upward, watching as it reached its full length. Dashernines had already stopped trying to communicate, staring at her kukri and whirring as diagnostic scans continued to fail.

Akagalcia, meanwhile, was fascinated with the beam, still ignoring Dashernines. She brought the field maybe an inch from her nose, closing her eyes and sniffing at the ionization, curious what element the field she felt was trapping...

...why did it smell like hair?

Akagalcia coughed, wrinkling her nose and scowling as she moved the field away from her face and, more importantly, her hair. She lifted her thumb from the button to let the beam retract, and set the power-handle back on its neat little display stand with all of the writing in front of it. Buzzing... what was that buzzing?

"I said, what is that weapon made out of, miss?"

Akagalcia turned to Dashernines, still annoyed but oblivious to the tuft of burning hair at her feet. She held up her kukri for the golem.
"You've never seen shuld-ah... you've never seen steel before?"

A blessedly simple language. If nothing else, thank you for that, Zed.

As the door slid open, Rave immediately noticed a strange looking woman with crazy long hair and blue tinged skin speaking with the robotic proprietor of the store about the blade hilt in her hand. Passing the pair and leaving them be, the Spectre began looking at a shelf of curved energy blades, as well as several gauntlet based ones. If he was honest, the Psion could probably never let go of his katana, even if it was impractical for most types of combat in the Koprulu Sector. The carapace of a Zergling was tough enough to shrug off several Gauss rounds before finally giving, and never mind how strong a Roach's carapace was since it usually took two Marauders to bring one down, but every armor had a weakness, a joint or opening that could be exploited and used to put an end to it's wearer. And that was where the katana had excelled, as many dead Dominion marines and Zerg could attest to.

Still, it had sentimental value as being one of the few things that hadn't been remade a dozen times by Stetmann in an effort to improve it that Rave owned, and was his favorite weapon. That said, he picked up a hilt with a similar design to that of his katana's and activated the blade, an icy blue beam of plasma coming to life and ending at standard katana length, and he was convinced that he'd be buying an energy blade anyways. He turned about the same time as the robotic owner repeated his question and Rave frowned as the woman replied. "You've never seen shuld-ah... you've never seen steel before?"

Now, the Spectre hadn't seen the kukri knife stop a blade of pure plasma, so the owner's question did seem odd to him as well. Of course, he knew that if something exceedingly uncommon had happened, then the robot had good reason to question her. With a sigh, he flicked off the hilt and approached the pair, clearing his throat as the visor on his helmet raised up so that he could ensure better eye contact. "Ma'am, what he means is that something wasn't normal about the knife doing whatever it did. So I can better make a case, do you mind repeating whatever it was you did?" At this point, the robotic owner chimed in.

"Her knife stopped the plasma blade from extending when it met the flat of the blade. Steel doesn't stop plasma!" Rave's eyes immediately narrowed at the bot. Normally he would say that AI and their robotic bodies couldn't have tone inflections that indicated underlying motives, but after dealing with the Protoss and learning of the Purifiers through Jim...

"Ma'am, is this true?"

@Zarkun

"Ma'am, what he means is that something wasn't normal about the knife doing whatever it did. So I can better make a case, do you mind repeating whatever it was you did?"

Akagalcia turned her head sharply, whipping her hair to one side as her gaze came to rest on this... rogue? He was covered in dangerous looking weapons. And he smelled... awake. Her scowl softened and she remained quiet as the proprietor explained what it had seen, blustering as though it had been stung. Akagalcia only watched the man, biting her lip as if chewing on his question and all of the others swirling around her in this little shop.

"Ma'am, is this true?"

"True?" She brought the blade to her nose, closing her eyes again as she sniffed loudly. "I don't think so. This is made from iron and carbon. It smells just like it, doesn't it? She spun the blade in her hand to catch it by its spine and offered it to Rave, handle first. "Why shouldn't steel stop sunfire?" Just how awake are you? she wondered.

It only occurred to her as she offered the blade. He made this... He knew her love for good tools, but why would He ever make a gesture of such a simple thing as a work knife? Her expression softened still further as she eyed the kukri, the faintest hint of confusion on her face. Did everything have to be a test, even now?

The woman seemed as confused by their claims as the owner was that it had happened at all, even offering the Spectre her knife. As she did so, her thoughts echoed asking how awake he was and Rave frowned at that. Awake? Did she maybe know he was Psionic? As he took her knife and closed the visor again, flipping to the magnetic vision, he spoke to answer her question about the steel and plasma. "Well, no, it shouldn't. Plasma is a liquid gas at such a high temperature, any metal it comes into contact with basically melts or vaporizes on contact. If the proprietor would provide a sample of steel..." The robot hustled into the back and came back with a block of machined steel, setting it on a table used obviously to demonstrate how well built the blades were.

The psion beckoned for the woman to follow him and approached it, igniting the ice blue blade of the energy blade he'd picked up and then holding it in front of him after handing the knife back. After a moment of focus, a single slash carved through the steel block, where the blade had met it slagged into molten metal as the two halves fell to the floor. "That's the usual result of untreated steel versus plasma. Doesn't end well for the metal, as you saw." The robotic owner quickly picked up the two blocks and carried them back towards the back, muttering to itself about how odd it had been that a demonstration be needed at all since common sense dictated that was how it worked. When the robot was through the doors, Rave's visor rose again and he locked eyes with the woman. "A warning for future interactions with psionics; guard your thoughts and guard them WELL. Unguarded thoughts can betray more than you want." The Spectre paused a moment, unsure if he should press on, but ultimately deciding to do so, though much quieter as he had noticed the sudden lack of a machine body whirring it's movements on the other side of the door. "And what did you mean when you wondered how awake I was?"

He'd heard lots of different terms people who were unaware of Psionics and what they could do had used, witch, witchdoctor, psychopath. But awake? That was a new one, and one he wasn't sure he wanted to hear again, since it spoke volumes about a normal person comparatively.

@Zarkun

Akagalcia watched the demonstration with an expression that became more and more carefully blank. She had a great deal of patience for teachers, and it was good to roll all of these new words around in her head, plucking meaningful ones from cumbersome syntax and letting them shape her. This place, these people... she had to communicate more detail while she was here. They thought less, letting sounds do thinking for them. Of course sunfire could melt steel. But steel could refuse! She had seen it, could feel the field containing the plasma obstructed by the kukri's matter! But... golems can't. She had to remember.

When Dashernines disappeared behind the doors to the backroom, Akagalcia turned to smile at Rave, eyes glinting with mischief... but then caught his stare.

"A warning for future interactions with psionics; guard your thoughts and guard them WELL. Unguarded thoughts can betray more than you want." Delight and confusion, at once. Certainly he was awake. But... not? She frowned, cocking her head to one side. Whoever heard of guarding thought? "And what did you mean when you wondered how awake I was?"

"How... I mean how truly you want to know the world!" Akagalcia couldn't contain her excitement, spreading her arms as if to gesture to the ends of the stars and not the walls of this little weapons shop. "Do you want to taste iron from tin, copper from falwaur? Do you want to see the ways to stitch a flower from soot? To feel steel deny sunfire?" She spun on a heel, snatching the power-handle she'd set back on the display and activating the plasma field again as she brought both of her hands together and held the blade parallel with herself, her brown eyes staring past either side of the blade's neon green glow at Rave. "Do you feel the color of spirits?" She brought the blade closer to her face. "Do y--"

The double doors to the backroom hissed open again, Dashernines floating through. Akagalcia fell silent, letting the blade in her hands retract. She set the power-handle back on its display again, looking a bit sad. She traced her finger along the lip of the handle's field casing and pulled her hand away calmly and sucking away the pain in her fingertip. No... it is definitely not defective. The steel simply refused. But I don't know why.

She looked up at Rave, still smiling, but much cooler now that Dashernines was in the room again. Golems taste like sorrow. "Akagalcia. You?"

The excitement that came from the strange woman as she began to shoot off questions as if they answered his own, though the first one certainly came the closest to it. How truly I want to know the world? I was born into this universe, though until recently it was only the Sector... Still, he let her continue her speech, though he was ready to intervene should she forget that was a blade of plasma she had near her face. However, before she could finish, the droid owner of the shop came back out and she replaced her hilt solemnly on it's stand, and then turned around again.

After a moment, she smiled again and introduced herself as Akagalcia followed with asking for his own name. Instantly, his first reaction was to give only the alias that used to give Dominion Ghosts something to think about before pushing on, a moniker that had given him just enough anonymity back in Koprulu that his enemies approached with caution. Then his brain caught up and he caught himself just before the words left his mouth. This was a new start, better to give his real name than an alias here. "Rave. Rave Mallard, Spectre with Raynor's Raiders, not that that means much out here."

"Excuse me sir, but are you going to pay for that blade?" Mentally facepalming, the Spectre turns to the droid and, after several minutes of working out the currency translation, buys it for 200 credits, which translated into 2,000 bits, somehow. Turing back to Akagalcia, he beckons out the door.

"Sorry about that. Anyways, how about we find somewhere a little more private for the rest of our conversation?"

@Zarkun

"Rave. Rave Mallard, Spectre with Raynor's Raiders, not that that means much out here."

Raider, rogue, reaver, roar... You certainly don't look like a shadow. Or a duck. Akagalcia watched as Rave negotiated with the golem, confronted again with the understanding that she had no favors in this place. It was not the first time she had found herself in a metropolis, unable to read and no one willing to explain how people somehow were willing to live with so many others nearby. She survived now as she had before--everyone threw away food she could eat, water was plentiful and freely given, and she needed nothing but the tools at her belt and the things in her sack.

She fingered at the hilt of her kukri, half-listening as Dashernines and Rave quibbled about credits and bits. When they were done Rave made for the door, gesturing for her to follow. "Sorry about that. Anyways, how about we find somewhere a little more private for the rest of our conversation?" Akagalcia joined him out on the street, watching this spectre with a quizzical smile. "I will join you. I have no favors or friends yet. This place is very different to me." She cocked her head again. "Wait... What are you sorry for?"

It was not the first time someone had apologized to her. Yet, since Akagalcia had been left here, no one who had apologized to her had ever done her any harm. It made all of the ugly, dazzling, stifling harmony surrounding them seem like some... accident.

When Akagalcia asked what he was apologizing for, Rave shrugged, looking for somewhere to eat as they walked. "For the AI, since I knew the thing wouldn't apologize for interrupting us itself. Kinda makes me miss the adjutants back home..." Shaking his head wistfully, he walks in silence for several minutes, eventually turning off the main thorough fare towards a side street in a less nice neighborhood. Hopefully they wouldn't draw as much attention there. A bar stood out, it's sign reading as Nova and the Spectre nodded to himself, that would do.

"So what part of the universe are you from? Koprulu Sector maybe? Some unexplored corner of it? Or somewhere else entirely?" She was currently the only person he knew, so the psion figured making small talk would only help to keep the mood light.

@SIGINT
Such an odd girl... Grazia said, observing the young girl as she rambled on about the card. Buying things with her father's credit card when he isn't around? ...Wonder if father had one of those... Grazia thought to herself. She'd hate to me living off her late father's expenses, but the idea of having money at all times was a pleasant prospect.

But, her train of thought was cut off, as the knife wearing girl ran up to her, excited as ever and covered in soapy water and blood. Acting casual, Grazia chuckled Weeeell... Guess you were lucky to go through one. They're meant for cars, ya know, not little girls.... And the cashbot? It was a bot that takes money to pay for things.

Akagalcia was content to let Rave lead her on in silence, her steps landing just a little more lightly as they meandered into a slum district. 'Little Athredan'... this was where she had found some of the best trash--lots of cooks and keepers that knew what they were making, but not what they were throwing away. Too, whatever culture had made its home here in Little Athredan had a public bath house in their neighborhood too. Not filthy, not clean, not hungry, not full... but more comfortable than she'd been in almost thirty years. The apartments stood high enough in parts to remind her of the canyons from her childhood. It was a bustling little area and somehow even Akagalcia's mismatched pelts and supple leathers fit in with half of the styles of dress she'd seen here.

When they stopped, she saw Rave staring across the street at Nova. It was noisy, cavernous, and somehow always cramped, situated near one of the least expensive docking hubs in the region. It was a well traveled bar on a well traveled block in Little Athredan surrounded by cheap hotels and hostels. It smelled like every element in the world, and sounded like every creature if you waited long enough. Akagalcia loved it.



"So what part of the universe are you from? Koprulu Sector maybe? Some unexplored corner of it? Or somewhere else entirely?" It was a ginger question, like a cat leaning into her ankles.

She didn't mind.

"I'm still not sure if I am from this fab-uhm... this universe. I lived with a teacher for a while. We grew impatient with one another. He threw me here. It is very different to me." She starts towards the bar, then hesitates, looking up at him. "If... if you're hungry, I don't have any favors here. You would be feeding me." Akagalcia's expression grows steely, eyes narrowing. "I serve for favors."

Rave's eyebrows furrowed in confusion when she spoke of her teacher, but he didn't pry, stopping outside the bar and listening to her. Then her tone changed as food became mentioned and he frowned. Serve? Apparently being a decent person doesn't exist where she's from. Rave beckoned her inside and waited until they were seated to speak, indicating he'd take some whiskey to the bar tender. "Look, I don't know if the concept of just doing something to be nice is familiar to you, but that's what this is. Order some food, a drink if you're up to it, and let me worry about paying. Thanks to the Dominion back home, money isn't exactly an issue for me. Or, won't be until I manage to tick off someone important in accounting anyways." With that said, Rave began perusing the thoughts of the surrounding patrons.

In his time on the run back in the Koprulu Sector, such searches had turned up bounty jobs that had kept him fed, revenge opportunities to punish a former Confederate who'd been involved in the atrocities he'd committed before joining the Sons of Korhal, and helped him dodge Ghosts on the hunt for him, since they had a habit of leaving quite the impression on those they questioned. Here, it informed him that a hustle had failed after one of the hustlers had left, that the hustler who'd left had left with the son a an arms dealer who was now in prison, and the second hustler had left after a heavily armed and augmented lizard person, called a Sykrott after some additional digging was done, went after a red-haired man with a dog. He sighed, taking the name and appearance of the arms dealer before retreating to his own mind with a sigh. "Seems we missed quite the party earlier."

@Zarkun

"Look, I don't know if the concept of just doing something to be nice is familiar to you, but..." Akagalcia waited patiently for him to finish speaking, watching his body openly. He seemed confused. Cautious. He was just as lost as she was, but much more comfortable with the world around him. He fit in this place. She wondered if Rave fit everywhere he went. That was valuable. "..oney isn't exactly an issue for me. Or, won't be until I manage to tick off someone important in accounting anyways." Favor was valuable too.

When he fell silent Akagalcia had been preparing to explain herself, fitting words together and finding them messy again and again... but she noticed the weight of the silence. He was sensing, though she couldn't guess how. But he smelled different. More awake, like the wakefulness of fingers swollen with blood from a good march. In the few moments it took Rave to survey the bar in his way, Akagalcia ordered some food, repeating an order she'd heard a couple of days ago that smelled nice. She didn't even finish ordering before Rave was back. "..shelwaedfa unmai? Su gan maud shalah."

As the server continued his rounds Akagalcia pulled a brown clay mug from the sack at her back and set it in front of her. Then she focused back on Rave. "Seems we missed quite the party earlier." She looked around the bar, closed her eyes, and sniffed. He wasn't wrong. After a moment or two, Akagalcia opened her eyes again, smiling at Rave. "I know how I know that... but how do you know that?"

When she looked around, Rave half expected his unexpected friend to ask what he meant, but she soon closed her eyes and sniffed the air, almost like a hound dog would before declaring which way the prey was, before looking at him with a smile.
"I know how I know that... but how do you know that?" And once more, the Spectre wondered if she'd even encountered someone with psionic powers before, but answered the question directly anyways as to make sure.

"I'm a psionic, a person who's mind has been honed into a powerful weapon and tool. With it, I can essentially reach into another person's mind and know what they're thinking, they're feeling, and every piece of knowledge they've ever known, even if THEY can't remember it for some reason. I'm also, and this is unique to only a few psionics, able to produce and control ice and reduce the temperature in an area to create deadly blizzards and ice storms. I'm basically what's called a Crytokinetic. There's more, but the only part that pertains to answering your question is I read the minds of the people here. As I said, unguarded thoughts are dangerous things."

When his whiskey arrived, Rave took a moment to remove his helmet, which allowed a better view of his red hair and green eyes, along with his face. Taking a moment to enjoy the drink, he then ordered a simple burger and french fries with ranch for the fries. "So since you arrived here, seen anything interesting?"

@Zarkun

Honed. Psionic. Cryokinetic. It was the most complete lesson she'd been given on this language since she'd arrived here. The more Rave spoke the more Akagalcia listened, eyes closed, brow furrowed in concentration. It wasn't going to be easy for her to communicate with him if she wasn't certain about how. She could feel her mind shifting, as it had so often when she tried to twist fire and heat in her fingers since arriving here, fumbling like a novice. This was acclimation. Zedar hadn't explained it half so clearly. In all their time together, he had only shown her how to feel it. But this was...

Their drinks arrived, Rave's whiskey and Akagalcia's pitcher of rice milk and... she still couldn't put a name to the liquor they put in this stuff. She only knew it was purple and it turned the milk too. She filled her mug and had a sip. "So since you arrived here, seen anything interesting?"

Akagalcia's eyes went wide. She threw her free hand to gesture all around the bar. "Have you not seen anything interesting since you arrived here?" She snatched her hand back into her lap, smiling apologetically at another server whom she'd almost pushed into a table. She looked back to Rave. "This place... My world, before I was taken, was nothing like this. My tribe hunted animals and used ...psionics... it is all we knew, to live and travel and search and fight. There were cities, there was seekegatha-erhm... there were civilized places. But no one knew the ingredients for sunfire or how to trap air and float rocks into the deepsky. No one even thought of it. Everything here is interesting, Rave. This world is different to me. And no one seems to know what I know, or know that they know what I know when they do know what I know."

She took another sip of milk from her mug, looking more closely at Rave's features. "Nobody listens to each other much. That's the most different, I think. Everybody needs ten words for one thing. You can make things cold. I can make things hot. You can borrow minds. I can taste the color of the feeling of..." Akagalcia scowled at the mouth of her mug, frustrated. "I still can't find the right words... but it is still simple." She tapped her knuckles to her chest, then extended a forefinger to point at Rave. "We are awake." She then waved the same hand in a spiraling motion. "And most people I've met here are not.

As soon as Rave asked the question, Akagalcia's eyes went wide, she threw her free hand to gesture all around the bar and began her tirade. "Have you not seen anything interesting since you arrived here?" Rave couldn't help but chuckle lightly as Akagalcia quickly snatched her hand back into her lap and gave an apologetic smile to another server whom she'd almost pushed into a table before turning her attention back to Rave. "This place... My world, before I was taken, was nothing like this. My tribe hunted animals and used ...psionics... it is all we knew, to live and travel and search and fight. There were cities, there was seekegatha-erhm... there were civilized places. But no one knew the ingredients for sunfire or how to trap air and float rocks into the deepsky. No one even thought of it. Everything here is interesting, Rave. This world is different to me. And no one seems to know what I know, or know that they know what I know when they do know what I know."

Admittedly, that last part took the Spectre a moment to process and make sense of before he could reply properly, and she'd once more referred to being awake, which by now, he interpreted to mean that they were extrasensorily aware of the world in ways that others weren't. Still, it would seem she was very much not from here, anymore than he was, but the setting, the people, only bits and pieces were new, and this bar certainly wasn't one of them. "Only some of this is new to me, Akagalcia. I grew up in a place where we had interplanetary travel, plasma weaponry, though mainly for vehicles, powered armor. And all that was nothing against the Protoss, who are such powerful Psionics, I've seen them turn a Terran into a vegetable, person who only knows how to breathe and nothing else, with no effort. Their technology is centuries ahead of us."

He shakes his head and takes another sip of his whiskey. "Still, there are advances in technology here that'll help back home, and that's amazing enough for me."

"Still, there are advances in technology here that'll help back home, and that's amazing enough for me." Rave said, setting his glass back on the table. Akagalcia just stared... disbelief slowly spreading across her face. She had never heard of the wakeful using borrowing to break someone. She didn't even think it was possible. Everyone was awake in her world. But here Akagalcia was sitting across from the only other wakeful person she'd met since arriving on Frixion Prime. Of course borrowing could be dangerous for the drowsy.

Her expression softened as she had another sip of rice milk. As she set her mug down, their food arrived; Rave's burger and ranchy fries, and Akagalcia's deep bowl of roasted greens and minced meats. It was a mystery for her, every protein and starch and leaf unrecognizable--a cacophony of smells. She scooped a fist of food into one hand, ignoring her silverware, and plucked a single thick leaf between thumb and forefinger. She smelled it, placed it onto her tongue, and began chewing slowly, closing her eyes and drinking in the... life.



Akagalcia hadn't had fresh cooked food since she'd arrived either. No fresh food... in Little Athredan... a burrow which, if nothing else, had a rich dining scene. Akagalcia swayed in her seat, plucking a couple of other bits of food and plopping them between her lips. It was the food, or it was the liquor, or it was the music. She was happy. --Gulp.

"Everyone here is drowsy, Rave. You're concerned people might look around in my head? I've been worried for days because they can't. We couldn't borrow one another in my world, only tame beasts... but I've never been around so many people who could talk and cooperate that couldn't think together." <I've never thought this loudly and not been heard by everyone nearby.> She half-opened her eyes, watching Rave with a sleepy smile as she plucked another morsel without looking. --Munch, munch. <And I'd never consider breaking what's borrowed. That's not nice.>