"Forgive me, Tasha, but there are limits to how much I can shape the toporgic," Harmonia notes after the line to Bellerophon is closed. "We selected the largest piece with the most facets. The more facets on the piece, the more directional options there are. It took several days to find the proper alignment to allow for three axis translation via frequency shifting."
"That's unfortunate," Tasha remarks from the command dias, her feet up on a raised section she long since willed in to mechanical existence. "Well, we're not having much luck are we?"
"There is still one tactic you have not discussed," Harmonia points out.
The young woman rubs her nose, head tilting. "Discuss it for me, please? Or is this the one about using mages?"
"Negotiation," the AI suggests.
The hybrid's ears perk, but then she frowns at the idea. The concept of negotiating with a being that attempted horrors upon her mind and the mass murder of all she holds dear distinctly far from her thoughts. She had once considered such things, months ago, but has since come to realize there are lines that once crossed bring her to violence. While some of that violence is pure emotion, recently she'd found a new form of the old standby: The considered death. Blackwings, Warloq; she weighed their lives and decided they had to go, and they were far less of a danger in her mind.
"And why should we negotiate?" Tasha asks after her second of thought. "Negotiation is usually some I try to do for beings that aren't my enemies and haven't become a horrifying danger. I killed Blackwings and I killed Warloq, how is Katha-hem any better? It's really much worse. Or to put it another way, how can I face Blackwings and Warloq when I let something like Katha-hem negotiate for its existence?" She taps her nose, then. "Or should we lie?"
"We have no proof that Katha-hem can cause us harm," Harmonia notes. "Otherwise it would not seek out agents of destruction. The giant monsters may be to dissuade further expansion towards its nesting spot, as their effectiveness is minimal, but the resources required to counter them are considerable. We have the advantage of time - Katha-hem is cornered, we are not."
"So we just, what, pen it in and wait?" The idea has its merits, Tasha decides, but the itch isn't satsified by letting the beast go. Part of her desperately wants it to die, for what it did to her and others. She doubts she'll ever rest well while the creature yet lives. Its death may be costly, however: Lives, money, irreplaceable resources. "Remember it attacked both of us at long range. We can't be sure it won't use its time to corrupt another agent -- maybe multiple agents -- and use them against us. It's also running out of time, so it's not going to just wait for the Sifra to wake up and catch it like a vermite in a box."
"We must be in range to be influenced, or directly engaging in electromagnetic contact, such as Bellerophon did," Harmonia lists. "At this moment, we represent the most technologically advanced military force on the planet, now that the Seraph Titan is gone. The primary unknown regarding Katha-hem's behavior is how it views the mission to contact the Progenitors. Your experience seems to indicate that it is aware of them, unless that was something supplied by your own subconscious fears. During the second encounter, involving the Seraph, did 'Abaddon' mention the Progenitors again?"
Tasha considers the encounter, repressing a shudder. It's as close as she's ever come to a fate worse than death and she's in no rush to relive it. "Well," she hesitates, sitting up and running her hands back through her hair, " ... it called them something like 'meddler.' Meddler trickery, that's what it said. It talked about the Progenitors like it knew who was interfering. The first time, it seemed to want to use me to destroy all life here and then go on to destroy the Hall of Souls. That and calling them 'meddlers' suggests it thinks they're in the way, or interfere with its plans or the plans of the Ogdoad. Killing the Progenitors and us would help the Ogdoads plans immensely as would leaving what's left of me here to destroy any future Client canidates."
"This suggests that the creature is aware of past events," Harmonia concludes. "For current events, we know that it has garnered information from us. What we do not know if what other facilities, if any, it has for gathering information. Can you think of any way to test if it is aware of things beyond the known line-of-sight range? Has it attempted to contact the independent AI systems on Sheol yet?"
"We'd have to ask them, but it doesn't usually ask before it tries to manipulate something. It just does it." But Tasha is already in the process of aligning transmitters and checking Sheol's position in relation to Harmonia.
It will be a few hours before Sheol is in position, but SAINA was going to be communicating with them when Tasha left Bellerophon, so probably has already gotten a response.
And so transmitters realign again and the Cadet gives the mental order for the direct communication: "Tasha to SAINA, contents: Have you recieved any reports or signs that your people have been contacted by the dark being on the surface? Signs such as unexplained quantum manipulations, standard EM communications, gravitation. Other methods might be possible." The request is sent and Tasha leans back.
A few minutes later, the secure line request flashes again. "/Bellerophon/ is requesting a live secured channel,/" Harmonia dutifully reports.
"Hokay," the young woman breathes, sittimg up and brushing and straightening herself back in to order. "Put it through."
A happy robot icon appears for Tasha. "Hello Cadet TASHA This Is SAINA How Are You Today?" the mechanical voice asks.
Tasha pushes herself to sound pleasant, if not exactly cheerful. She isn't certain SAINA would understand her emotions if she came off as frusterated and stressed as she feels. "Hi, SAINA," she replies, "I'm fine, how are you doing?" It's all smalltalk, but even for a robot it feels important and necessary, even if it's all for her benefit. "Do you have any information on what I asked for?"
"I Am Doing Fine, TASHA," SAINA reports. "There Are Many Entertaining People Here. ORPHEUS Does Not Have Working Long-Range Radar Capability. Power For Such Is Reserved For Primary Functions Until The Second Engine Reactor Can Be Repaired And Brought Online. Visual Mapping Did Not Trigger Any Strange Phenomenon, And We Have Several Hundred Orbits Of Observational Data On The Specified Area. This Is Being Analyzed In An Attempt To Locate Mega Fauna Code TESLA. We Did Not Detect The Firing Of The BELLEROPHON Weapon Nor The Launch."
"It doesn't look like they head the means to intercat with it then. Visual mapping doesn't concern Katha-hem, or it can't assess it any more than we can know where every photon that bounces off us is going to go and who it's going to encounter." Tasha considers this for a moment,t hen suggests, "We know it has certain ways it becomes aware and communicates and we can guess these are vital to it being to detect Sifran activity, but it may either not be listening or doesn't care about the rest. It suspects we know it's there but hasn't done anything, so maybe it's 'afraid.' Afraid we'll come and get it, like an animal hunkering down and being quiet to avoid notice. It migth be better to 'imprison' it and focus on the Progenitors."
"We Cannot Offer Assistance In Any Form Of Attack," SAINA claims. "ORPHEUS Was Stripped Of Weaponry. We Have No Working Ground-To-Orbit Systems."
"However, We Can Advise," the robot offers. "Celestial Archives Have Records Of Battles Where Gravitational Shielding Was A Factor."
"I thought as much." Inwardly Tasha wonders if she might as well assume every option will fail or be useless until it proves otherwise, but the advice is something. "Well, let me have it. I'm definitely interested in real military experience."
"During The Siege Of Xanthus Prime, The Khattan Battle Group Employed Heavy Stator Gravitational Sheer Projection," SAINA relates. "The Attacking Berserker Machines Employed Faster-Than-Light Munitions In The Form Of Hyperspace Torpedoes. The Torpedoes Penetrated The Shield, But Their Hyperdrive Shunts Were Translated To Second Phase Hyperspace In The Impact. This Left Them As Standard Relativistic Munitions Within The Shield. There Were Enough To Overwhelm The Area Control Ship And Disable The Shielding."
"Hyperspace space weapons ... " Tasha plants her head on her hand, elbow resting on a armrest as she considers the advice. "But what about the Primus System's interference? We don't see hyperspace and much other FTL traffic here because of Sifran warping of space. It's just too disturbed, even for a planetary system, or that's what I've been told anyway. But there are a few examples of it working, like with the old gate, the transit point, and special technologies. Do you think we can do what they did, fire the weapons, expect their shunts to fail, but the rest to hit?"
"It Has Not Been Attempted, But The Shunt Only Needs To Be Active During Shield Penetration," SAINA replies. "If It Can Operate For The Needed Time, Then It Does Not Matter If The Warhead Survives. It Will Still Carry The Fully Kinetic Impact Energy It Had Before Entering Hyperspace."
"Standard Shunts Have Operated For 15 Milliseconds Within A Planetary Gravity Well Before Being Shifted To A Higher Dimension," SAINA offers, for a baseline.
"/What do you think Harmonia, can we manufacture and fire these hyperspace weapons? We could even cannibalize the L3 wreckage and try and construct the weapons from there,/" Tasha inquires. She had considered hyperspasce weapons, or largely because she had assumed they were impossible to use correctly in the Primus System for the same reason that the system was largely inapproachable by most FTL drive systems. "/We could even handle the bombardment ourselves, from orbit or even L3. That would put us well ebyond its counterattack range, and even if it day, I don't know, start hurling rocks at us using gravitation we'd have a lot of room to evade them. Even laser weapons would still need /some/ time."
"The resources available in the L3 junkyard are unknown," Harmonia replies. "At least, I do not have the analysis from Bellerophon yet. The existence of a hyperspace node at that location suggests that there are cracks in Sifran-regulated spacetime. While travel for any distance within this regulated space has been impossible before, there is no data on accessing hyperdrive for the fraction of a second required by this combat scenario. To work out the necessary variables, however, we must test the actual shield capabilities of Katha-hem."
"SAINA, I'm going to send you a list supplied by Harmonia by what we'll need to build such a weapon, a request for information about the L3 resources, and a general request for advice and calculations and such. I'll be sending Gabriel a go-ahead requst now, too, to see if he'll approve the idea -- but might as well get it all sent out at once." And Tasha does so, coordinating with her ship to assemble the relevant lists as well as the permission to act request, all faster than if she'd done it herself. "We'll also need to plan to offload our passengers if we head out, unless they wat to come along. About tetsing the shield, well, we could try regular bombardments from L3 by accelerating the junk there. Katha-hem may even know the Berserkers were in the wreckage and assumes it's them."
"I Will Deliver The Information, TASHA," SAINA replies. "I Am Sure FRED Will Be Excited About It."
"'Excited' might not be right, he's still very busy. Please tell him we can handle this all by ourselvs if it comes down to it, but we could use a copy of the scan data and inventory records of L3 at least," the unwilling captain notes. She shifts herself, putting her head on her other hand, then crosses her left leg over her right, bouncing it idly as she talks. "And of course we need Gabriel's OK, I don't want to know what 'unauthorized planetary bombardment' will do to my service record."
"A sensor drone may be more appropriate." Harmonia suggests. "We need information of response time and degree of response, which will require two separate attempts. I suspect that Katha-hem will use a very focused and minimal defense based on the threat. A full shield may expose it to detection after all."
"But would a small drone even require its gravitational powers? We'll need to severely threaten it, at least severe enough that if it does nothing then it'll be in real danger. Something like a meteor drop, to see what it does protect itself with. We can use the drone to measure detection times, and response, though it may just take control of the drone," Tasha replies, throwing in her own two shekels.
"That would also be telling of its capabilities," Harmonia notes. "What does it consider a threat, and what other defenses might it have? A drone can be protected by not giving it a radio receiver and sufficient EM shielding. High speed will make it appear as a threat. However, it should not be seen as an act of aggression against Katha-hem. A drone can by launched from orbit by Bellerophon's shuttle as well, so that it cannot be traced to a surface source."
"Then lets do that." Tashataps her grounded hoof twice, thinking, before a vision of the hyperspace weapon pops up in her field of view. As far as weapons go, it's the planetary bombardment version of a rocket -- and not even an explosive rocket. It's weight and speed, essentially a rock thrown very fast, with the exotic addition of a hyperspace shunt. "We should figure out what we need for a shunt, too, since it might take a while. Well, send the probe request to Belle too, or maybe we could build it, and lets get started."
"Advanced circuitry is not something I can fabricate," Harmonia notes. "I can only assemble components, which could also be done at Tartarus Base or Bellerophon. The Picnic Basket is very primitive, despite appearances."
Tasha nods, though only out of reflex. "Then maybe we can find something to salvage in the junkyard. I'd say we could also check them, uhm, ... 'Alderson Point'? The Alderson Point in-system, but any ship that used that kind of drive probably fell in to one of the orbits or was destroyed lomng ago."
"The Primus star does not generate a tramline to any other stars," Harmonia reports. "There is no Aldersen Point for this system. I am receiving the scans from the L3 encounter. Processing.."
Tasha can't stay plugged into the command chair all of the time. She still has to eat and sleep and use her muscles. This gives Harmonia time to analyze what was found at L3 and for Fred to look over Tasha's requests. It will still be a day before she can expect to hear anything from Shojo, but it's the Viceroy that contacts her first - even if it's just to confirm that there isn't anything toxic in the remains of the island creature, nor is the captured alien giving off any detectable poisons or bioactive elements. They haven't found any organic material at all, save for traces of 'fullerenes' and evidence of exposure to vacuum and hard radiation.
The report is read aloud, the Cadet having decided to get some exercise by virtue of an unused (or more precisely long emptied) storage she has appropriated. With the help of ProgMat, mobile platforms and directed airflows it makes for a useful if peculiar obstacle course to run and fly in. Currently jogging laps between the square pillars, she asks, "Anything else on the 'menu'?"
"I am still trying to identify useful materiel from the L3 point," Harmonia says. "These were First Ones, and their technologies are 'exotic' to say the least. Bellerophon could not even identify some of the materials, suggesting advanced or hybridized forms of matter. There are several remnants of Berserker technology amidst the debris, however, which may have been personal caches for the individual machines. It may be possible to use this as a disguise for a drone."
"That's a good start then, but without the ability to manufacture the weapons we may be limited to testing only. That or trying something as dangerous as bringing the Dark Horse here and using it to bypass the shield, but the risk to the crew and the ship are very high and even the Niss won't survive if the hull integrity fails," the young woman notes. She had considered adding some light combat drones to her exercise room, but the thought of being hurled to the ground while pindering some point of planning struck her as too annoying. "If there isn't anything else, I might just get some sleep and worry about it tomorrow."
"Weapons development can wait," Harmonia agrees. "We must determine what defenses are actually in place, to what degree Katha-hem is willing to use them. It may be possible to simply overwhelm them with conventional weapon, or cause them to be exerted enough to trigger whatever immune system the Sifra may have in place, if any."
Tasha slows her jogging. It's been a good two hours of non-stop moving, but she's been at it and work nearly the entire period she's been awake -- most of that directly connected to Harmonia and none of it in stasis. "That's what I'm hoping. Why throw all these weapons at it when we can get it to destroy itself? And if it's weaker than we think, then we'd just be wasting resources on making hyperspace 'rocks.' We'll worry about the details after we recieve the combined information." She starts towards the exit, walking now. "Tell the others I'm going to bed -- it'll be my usual room."
For once, Tasha doesn't have any strange dreams aboard Harmonia, and it may or may not have to do with not using time-dilation. It also clears her head, since it takes some time to naturally replenish all of the brain chemicals she burns through when using the Khattan neural interface. She still has to prepare her own breakfast though, and almost everything in the way of food supplies is dried or canned or jerky from some unidentified animal (but guaranteed not to cause your teeth to shoot sparks! 95% guaranteed, at least). She doesn't even realized she's been asleep for over 12 hours until she notes the time on a message sent from Shojo.
Feeling a bit like a boneless starfish embedded in a surface herself, Tasha slowly rises from where she had sprawled out on her bed -- and promptly fell aslep. She picks up her datapad and notes the message mentally, then rises.
After dressing and combing her hair out, she stuffs the datapad under a arm and makes her way out. "Datapad, play Shojo's message," she orders in sleepy Vartan, heading towards the hangar where her cooking and food supplies are set up.
Shojo comes from a culture where you pay by the word for communication, so his message is a bit bizarre when read aloud. "Met M. Alivestorus, Chaos. Introduced me to M. Spring Meadow, Earth. Performed tests on specimen. I do not understand results. Mages wish to bring specimen to Caroban, for one M. Iona, Earth, to examine. Big advances claimed recently in Grav. Magic that nobody here understands either. Request perm. to send specimen with rabbit."
There's also an addendum that says, "Apparently Mages can sense large disturbances involving gravity. Connection to magic unknown."
"With rabbit?" Tasha strains her brain to remember who the mages are, the anmes all sounding familiar but the details hazy in her half-awake and long traveled state. But a connection to gravity, that does explain why Katha-hem is so intent on gravitic disturbances, other than guaging the flatness of space or looking for evidence of advanced gravitic technologies. Didn't someone say souls and gravity are similiar? The connection that seems to exist eludes her, as if she held all the pieces but couldn't fit them together to form a complete picture. "Hokay, datapad. Reply with: Permission granted. Shojo, you don't have to write simply, this isn't a telegram. Ask your datapad how to scan documents and have the mages' results sent. End message. Send." And then she steps on to the moving floor, off towards breakfast. Or is it lunch? Dinner?
Given that there isn't a lot of choice in meals, it probably doesn't matter what Tasha calls it. There's a can of sausages in some sort of gravy, and pickled eggs (of some sort) and jerky and cheese. There's coffee, if she can figure out the coffee maker, otherwise there's only water to drink.
It's spartan and by and large bland, even by Abaddonian standards, but for Tasha the simple meal of packaged goods has a sense of familiarity and ritual. It's not delicious, but there's a comfort ine ating as she used to in simpler times. While they didn't have cans on Sinai -- still don't -- salted meats and cheese wedges were her life along with watered down alcohol. Compared to the old staples, the gravey and sausages practically make for a sailor's feast.
But the coffee maker continues to defy her and so she ends up with water.
Crosslegged with a plate -- a frying pan really -- and a thermos of water, she munches away in silence. The hangar bay dwarfs her, making is a decidedly unfamiliar piece of anold ritual; she never had so much space, save in the vault of the sky.
The looming figure of Melchior probably helps with the sense of vastness. It would be big even from his perspective. But it's the silence and echoes that give it a real sense of space, since they confirm that it's enclosed. A fortress, even though it's really just an empty, ancient cargo ship.
Tasha's fortress, or so she can only hope. The feeling that some other entity may control the Harmonia and has only humored her to watch and listen is a feeling that has never escaped her, even when she feels at peace on the bridge or elsewhere. "Pretty lonely, huh?" She asks her Titan, not expecting a response. "I bet you can figure out the coffee maker. Want some jerky? A cheese slice? Sausage?" She cocks her head to the side, staring up at the large machine, a snapped off length of jerky in the side of her mouth. "Strill louve mree?"
Of course Melchior is silent. Without Tasha, he's inert - save for that one occasion, which he doesn't remember.
"Not going to talk?" Tasha shrugs her shoulders, then makes a show of sliding the assemblage of opened cans, water jug, and still-simmering hot plate a little closer. "You're missing out, I think this one is actually meat. No?" She squints. "Not even for your little friend in there? What do you say, ... little piece of Horus?"
Addressing the Marker likewise doesn't bring a response.. except from Harmonia herself. "Are you expecting a response, or actually receiving one that I cannot detect?" the ship asks.
"I think I might be teasing, or hoping maybe I'd get something with the lure of 'delicious' food and drink. Maybe I'm just lonely." The young woman shrugs to the great open cavern of a hangar. "I don't think I really know." And then she pops a sausage in her mouth and adds, "Wreell, mrore form eee!"
"Perhaps you should return to the surface and living company," Harmonia suggests. "I can relay any communications to you as needed, after all."
"I don't know if I'm in the mood," The Cadet admits, putting her plate aside and leaning back to rest against her rucksack. "It's easier to think and get things done here anyway. Easier to launch and respond to disasters, too. I just wish I had something to do; it's all waiting right now. Do you have any ideas?"
"Invite a friend?" Harmonia suggests.
All the usual people don't appeal to tasha at the moment, something she regrets and yet can't exactly make the feeling go away. It doens't help that she came here to focus, nudging her friends and family away so their the web of complex interpersonal drama wouldn't blind her to the task at hand. In that her isolation has been a success -- she has been able to put aside her urge to race in to the field and escaped the urge to foist her responsibilities on the others.
All in all, it leaves her with nothing to do and no one to meet. She's just about to dump herself in stasis for hours, or days, or however long it is until she's needed again when an old promise leaps in to memory: Raehab. The idea makes her bark a laugh.
"I know!" Tasha says, shooting up to her feet. "Raehab! I did promise, and if he retires and leaves I'll never get the chance. Brace yourself Harmonia. I'm heading down, but leave the basket in the waste, I'll be flying back with company."
It takes some maneuvering, but at least it gives Tasha something to do. First she has to contact Raehab. This could be done via Riddle Smith at the Winged Citadel, but she'd want to know why, and worse, come along if she knew. Deciding to delegate though, she figures she can meet him the usual way and he can figure out the rest! She also an excuse to take Melchior down to the Pit: better provisions. Is she'd brought Liza along, there would have been someone who knew how to cook at least. And Katie shouldn't be waiting to ambush her this time.
As it is, Tasha knows how to cook in the same way she knows how to buiold a hyperspace shunt: The basic operation is known to her bu attempts at construction would probably lead to disaster. It's all a side effect of a determined campaign to avoid becoming The Rake's cook -- one of her mother's old duties bacj when she was aboard the airship -- and do something else. Anything else. She no longer remembers why she avoided cooking, save that it was her mother's job and something about thinking it didn't come with respect. Or was it a fear of being shoehorned?
Whatever the case, she makes a powerful attempt to acquire MREs -- meals ready to eat -- her favorite canned, jerked, and otherwise 'done' meals, and assorted beverages. This eatss ome of her tie, but gives her an excuse for being in town for the brief stint she needs, the wait for the cargo to arrive allowing her the time to walk to the bar: The Bloody Duffel.
She's familiar enough there, especially in her armor. People don't suddenly go quiet thinking she's a Templar or other authority figure. The barkeep sells her two Vartan Ales - the usual entry fee to the private booth at the back, and nods to let her know Raehab is 'in his office' today.
"Thanks," Tasha bids the bartender, sliding him a tip. It's just enought to be respectful without being extravagant, a aspect she'd rather no have in a bar full of what she's sure are criminals, spies, and other dangerous sorts. Armor or no, she grew up knowing not to push her luck in places like this -- whether she did or not depending on her mood.
The hybrid pauses beside the booth, knocking against the wood with her free hand. "Want a visitor, old man? I have ales."
"Ales and breasts are always welcome," Raehab rasps, although he's probably going to be at least half disappointed given the way Tasha's armor flattens things out.
Tasha barks a laugh anyway, sliding in and seating herself with a low thump. The ale is slide across the table and Tasha leans back, sipping her own. After a moment to grin at the man, she lowers her mug and asks, "So, how have you been? Or do you want to jump straight to the surprise?" A finger is held up before he can reply and she adds, "No it's not sleeping with me."
"Well, I hear I missed seeing Riddle crawling naked out of a ditch," Raehab notes, the Vartan half of his face leering a bit. "But you're here, so I assume things worked out on your little shopping trip?"
"I didn't know you liked Miss Riddle, but I should have probably assumed you like anything with boobs." Tasha raps her knuckles on her armored chest, grinning lopsidedly. "Sorry to disappoint you this time. But you're right, it did. I got what I wanted, though it's a lot to handle. Not for me, though. Not this time. New problems, right?" Another sip, then she puts the mug down and leans closer. "But I can't stay too long, and the thing is, neither can you. Not if you wanted to see it. The Phantom. This is your chance."
"See it?" Raehab asks, leaning forward slightly. "Got a telescope with you then?"
"Sure if by telescope you mean Titan and flight path. The problem is I'm not sure how to get you up there. My Titan is parked on the airfield awaiting supplies, so we have about half an hour to an hour or so before I need to leave again. But I know you're a cunning man, so you tell me how to do it." Tasha has another sip, grinning all around the mug as she awaits response and hopefully a plan, glad she doesn't need to come up with one this time.
"How high you need to go?" Raehab asks after a moment of thought.
"You have a few choices as I see it. Sneak yourself in to a crate, meet me in the wastes where I can pick you up, or, well, that's about it. I'm fresh out of ideas really -- I've been plotting and planning for almost a week now." The young woman shrugs, putting the mug down again and spreading her hands. "Height wise, well, you can't just fly up there unless your buggy-bits let you survive low atmospheric desities and cold."
Half of the Vartan's face just grins at that last bit. "You can grab something flying without breaking it, can't ya?" he asks.
"Oh, probably." The half-Vartan winks. "I am some kind of 'Little Miss Hero Pilot,' I can probably pilot."
"Fine, you swing by the Arch," Raehab says, referring to the giant arch of exposed Sifran crystal near the center of the Pit. "I've still got my old flight suit, it keep me warm and breathing."
"Then that's what I'll do," Tasha agrees, but then she holds up a finger again. "Two warnings though: No revenge. I understand why, but I can't let you do it and there wasn't any malice that I know of. The other warning is that you should be careful about how you mention what happened. I'd suggest gently, but I don't exactly know what will happen. It's a risk we both have to take, but I think you already knew that." Having stated the hazards, the young woman has a long draught of her ale, wondering if she'll be glad for it later. Probably. It's all a crazy sort of idea.
"Now, what's the real reason you want to bring me there?" Raehab asks, after quaffing his own mug. "What trouble are you in now that you need someone like me?"
Tasha's smile is so wide it threatens to bisect her head. She leans back, putting her arms on the top of teh bench she's seated on. "I. Am. Very. Bored."
"Hmm, yes, that sounds like serious trouble," Raehab says. "I'll bring the booze."
"I knew you wouldn't fail me." tasha throws back her mug, eliminating the ale in one long go. The container thumps to the table and Tasha wipes her muzzle off with the back of her hand. "Well! I'd better get going, then. I still have to make sure I'm not going to get bored with eating. See you soon, Raehab."