"You haven't even unpacked," Rebby notes, holding up one of the new outfits for Gwen. "Did you get a fancy collar for Goldie?" she asks.
"It's hard to accessorize a little dragon," Kai claims.
"Rebby can accessorize anything," Lad claims.
Shona arrives at the dorm room, bringing 'pizza' from the cafeteria. "So no Kala yet? What do you think's going on?" he asks, having only gotten the basics over his tablet.
"They could both be drunk by now," Rebby suggests, and looks to Kai, who should know, but the apparent human isn't saying anything, just lying on a top bunk with one leg hanging down at the knee, rocking back and forth.
Gweneth, meanwhile. is up on the top bunk -- Goldie's bunk -- and is presently on all four and rapidly pawing the bed opposite Goldie, who is doing the same. They've both had a lot of caffeine, with Gweneth's tail being a danger to life and linb past a certain elevation. Every so often they'll play pillow tug-of-war, roll over, bounce up and down, run around the bed, and otherwise enter a fury of motion and squeaky, raspberry, and growly sound noises.
Lad looks up with a bit of concern. Should he get Gwen some... squeak-toys maybe? Rebby is checking out Shona's pizza. "No peppers?" she laments, until the Vartan produces a shaker of pepper flakes.
"Maybe we should just call Kala?" Shona suggests. "Instead of just waiting around. Or call one of the twins, they might know what's happening."
"Hmmm, do you want to do the honors then?" Galahad asks the Vartan, whose feathers poof out a bit at the suggestion.
"Right," the Karnor says, and taps his earpiece. "Call Ashera," he says, and waits to see if the senior sister answers or not.
Eventually Gweneth ducks her head, nuzzle scoops Goldie up, then curls in to a ball around her and ends up with both their heads just off the edge of the rim, looking down. In the light of the room, her scales scatter light like prismatic mirrors, causing a rainbow cascade of points in the dim lighting, then she blurts out, "I learned about school and history and toy store and coffee foam cloud still water! Mamma is here! Daddy is not here. Kala is with momma, at the crossroads of then and now. The plants grow in the metal garden. Data pads on sale now half price today only. Thousand-thousand lives buzz like bees in a crystal jar where honey is work and study and flowers are the cosmos."
"Ashera here, you want to know what's going on," a calm and confident Karnor voice responds, sounding slightly distracted.
"How did you guess?" Galahad responds. "Maybe I was going to confess my love for you. But since you mentioned it, what's going on?"
"Half-price?" Rebby asks, perking up.. only to remember that their gear is all free.
"When the direction and velocity are known, it's not hard to calculate the outcome. And besides, this is the fifth time I've been asked in the last twenty minutes. Mother landed shortly before Kala headed towards the building talking and not smiling, it's a small school. People talk." Ashera drawns in a deep breath exhales, seems to take a sip from something if the clunk of a mug is any indicator, and then adds, "Besides, Kala had it out with Professor Hakeber and Kai. The Professor people understood, but Kai? At any rate, the rumor mill is in full swing."
"How can there be rumors when mom and Kala are the only known elements?" Rebby breaks in. "We just left the admin building a few minutes ago!" "Fifteen minutes ago," Lad corrects. "Whatever!" Rebby says, throwing her hands up. "It was not that long ago. I didn't think there were that many students in one of mom's classes in the first place!"
"Anyway... so to confirm, Kala and Tasha are still together, right?" Lad asks.
"You forget our mother isn't just the Dean, she is an interGalactic figure. There are students -- and parents, faculty, staff, locals -- who follow her beyond the confines of our classes. She is a public figure, and has public following." Another pause, another mug sound. The sound of a hover car engine starting up. "It's nice to think we're all private students, but we are always under some form of scrutiny. I've heard rumors about Gweneth as well, far fewer about Kai."
"They seem to still be together, or at least mother appears to still be on campus-- Wait." And so Ashera waits, and the sound of the hovercar goes silent; she must have turned off her vehicle. "Ah. A taxi is coming in to land on the roof. The meeting may be about over."
"Kai can erase people's memories, so no surprise there," Lad says in exasperation. "Do you have eyes on the taxi?"
Gweneth peers down, Goldie beside her also peering down. "There are two paths but only one, mother comes, and then it's done; for where does the dolphin swim, but here, and there, and back, again."
Rebby looks up at Gweneth, and then holds up a slice of pizza for the girl. "That could mean.. umm.. Kala is coming here? Maybe?" she guesses.
"I do. Just touched down, seems to be holding. I think I see--" There a clunk, followed by a heavier clunk, and then the sound of a slammed door. Largely inaudible whispers follow, and then Ashera is back. "Can't stay long. Have things to do, need to drive. But- Ah, there she is. And there's Kala, walking with her. Turned to face her, hand on shoulder, I think she's smiling? Mom is. A hug. And-" Asher'a voice becomes fainter and more distant as it seems to recede in to the distance, then:
"You're a nosy lot, not that I'm surprised. Fine. I'll tell you: I spoke with mother just a bit ago. Ashera and I are on for you-know-what. Kala and Gwen are... Out's not the word. Reassigned. Got it? Good. We have places to be. Study hard." And then silence for a moment as Ashera comes back on. "IF you don't mind Fiera, as I was saying, well, you heard her Bluntness. I'm getting the eyeball, so I guess that's all your getting. I need to hear this first, myself. Anyway, take care. We're around if you need us."
Gweneth simply takes the pizza and feeds it in to her muzzle without so much as sitting up. It's like watching a recycler shredder.
"So... that cleared up nothing," Rebby says. "Kala better be coming back now, or.. I'll call her! And chew on her tail when I get the chance."
Shona tugs on Kai's dangling leg, and asks, "Why are you so quiet?"
"I'm discussing something with Galatea," is Kai's reply.
Explaining and yet explaining nothing, further, Gweneth lifts and arm -- or rather uncurls it as she was sitting on them like a cat -- and points at... a wall. Perspective members may notice the arm is moving ever so slightly, angling toward the group.
"For the past ten minutes?" Rebby asks. "Isn't that, like, a year for you guys?" Kai does not respond, but just keeps swinging her leg. "I swear you are all doing this just to aggravate me!" Rebby bursts out.
"Kala is on her way," Lad interprets Gweneth's actions, figuring she's actually pointing towards Kala.
"Stay calm and have a Fizie Pop," Gweneth urges. That's a commercial catch phrase from one of the vending machines out side campus!
Instead, since no Fizie Pop is available, Rebby scarfs down more pizza, causing Shona to say, "Hey, that was for all of us.."
Kalalani opens the door, head shaking, eyes fixed ahead, muttering to herself -- until she sees the crowd! At which point she jumps back, hands up, as if she were about to be jumped. "What the hell are-- OH FUCK ME THE RUMOR MILL!!" There's a long groan, and then she just walks over to her bed and drops face down, pulling a pillow over her head.
"We have pizza," Shona says, trying to entice Kala out from trying to hide under a pillow.
"Hey, what happened?" Rebby asks. "I'm going to start poking you if you don't answer."
Lad just.. sighs at Rebby.
"Give me a minute," Kala grumbles.
Gweneth then vaults the bed with alarming speed, lands like a cat with Goldie in her arms, then gently places Goldie on Kalalani's back before curling up next to her.
"Thanks," Kala mutters with uncertain, tired, and I-don't-have-the-energy, energy.
"I've never seen you so... worn out," Lad says, and pats Kala's tail. "But you still have your voice, so I assume you weren't shouting the whole time."
"I can't poke her now, you're blocking all the best spots," Rebby notes, and slides off the other bed to the floor, where she sits cross-legged. "Lad and I are Karnors. You're supposed to feel better just from having us nearby. Would it help if we rubbed your butt?"
"Oh plenty of shouting, it's just hard to shout for long when she's just there with that expression, you know, love and concern and infinite patience and what do you call it, diplomatic something or other, I don't know. I'm exhausted." Goldie gets picked up, Kala rolls over, and then Goldie goes right back down, with Kala resting her head on her pillow now, staring at the bottom of the upper bunk. "You know hows he is, right? Like nothing phases her, because nothing does. Like, what was I going to say to her? She had a meeting with the Archon of the Star Empire like a month ago. It's not like she even made me madder, it's like, uh, Gwen's the poetic one... Like a pool draining. She took everything I threw at her and just listened to it all, and at the end... She just smiled at me. Like, really smiled. And you know what she said?"
"Hmm, was it, 'we all have to grow up sometime' or..." Lad suggests. "Oh! 'I was just like you when I was your age'. I bet it was that one."
"It was that one, but like, Universal Animal special version," Kala confirms, snapping her finger as she points at Lad. "And also, 'I'm proud of you, for standing up for Gwen'. Then she told me she agrees... What was it... Oh, with what I said and, like, she knows it's hard and unfair. And then she said she agrees Gwen and I aren't made to go fight wars. But she knows we want to help. So she just... " Kala lifts her hands and flaps them in the vaguest of possible indicators, "Offered me a ship. To explore the stars, and everywhere. "You want to escape us, you want to get away from all of this, so you can be free. But you can't walk away from us, because you care too much, and you won't abandon everyone as much as you want to be free. So be free, fly far, go see the universe -- and tell us what you see. We need someone to check all the things we never did, and, like, be a scout. Scout. Take Gwen with you. Let her see the universe. And come back and tell us about it. Or call for help. I still want you to study, you'll need it, but it's for your own good, too. Not just for us. It may save you out there. It may be the key to everything." Or, well, mostly like that. And no touching my butt, I'm having a moment here."
"Wait.. so the classrooms do have cameras then," Rebby says, a bit dazed. "But also a ship? What did she mean by that? What ship? Do we have more we don't know about?"
"Well Professor Nose Breaker probably told her a lot, I saw her too, briefly, and she was there for a little bit," Kala answers, rubbing her own nose. "But yeah maybe they were spying. I guess I don't blame them knowing what Gwen can do and this being her first day and all. Oh, yeah, the ship. It's supposed to be, like, some long range fast scout. I've never seen it before, and she didn't show me anything. Said to be patient. They're working on it. You know all those stories she used to tell us, about these things that were out there, but they never had the time to go check on them? That stuff, that's what I'm supposed to go look at."
"Not just you and Gwen though, riiiight?" Rebby prods. "I mean, she wouldn't really send you two off by yourselves would she?"
"Naw if mom wants to kill us I'm pretty sure she can just, like, incinerate us like she's the sun or something. Well, me, maybe Gwen could put up a better fight. I'd just be roast fish on a chair platter. No, there's supposed to be crew. I'm not even sure I'm captain, just, like, the pilot and in the chain of command. Gwen's there to learn and, I guess, she's guard duty too. There's supposed to be others," Kala relates.
"I'm sure there'd be more for Gwen to do than just wait for trouble," Lad says. "Can't risk her getting bored and stuff."
"Guard duty!" Gweneth barks from where she's become a ball next to Kalanai. "Monsters beware, there's a new sheriff in town!" That is also a commercial line, from Karnor Kid & The Great Unknown, a Western space adventure set in the 'lawless fringes of space,' presumably including this station.
"Monsters? I'd hope there wouldn't be many of those," Lad says. "But at least we know what Kai is talking to Galatea about now, if Tasha isn't just going to buy something. It would probably have all sorts of weird drive systems."
"Apparently if we find something worth fighting, we call it in. Dial in the space cavalry: us, the Titanians, the Waymakers, whatever needs to answer the problem. Oh, and Fiera and Ashera are going to handle the war-war stuff. So. There's that." Kala frowns, though. "So, you know, they could show up, too. Fiera was there for a bit, just listened all at-ease like, nodded, got passed something on her datapad, and left. You think she's mad at me?"
"For giving her something to do?" Lad asks, but then shrugs. "I can't figure out what she's thinking most of the time. She puts up a mask."
"Man she is like, the maskmaster. I don't know how she does it. I know she's my sister, but, like," and here Kala holds her hands to her head and makes an outward explosion gesture. "I used to think maybe I was 'the bad one,' then mom told me I'm probably the most like her, so huh."
"Most like her may not be good, you know," Rebby points out. "I mean, you're more like my mom than I am, except for the studying part. And I don't think you have a fetish for Silent-Ones."
"So, is this something Gweneth wants too?" Lad asks, looking to the curled-up girl. "Probably won't know until she can step aboard it though."
"Yeah I don't know either, my family is weird. We're like pizza. We're all pizza, but you can put whatever you wnat on top, and sometimes someone just puts a mountain of toppings on some slices. Or something. I'm a pilot, not a poet." Kala rubs her nose, then sits up, transferring Goldie to the center of Gwen's curl. "Uhhh... Well as far as I know Gwen just heard about it. From me. Why, did she seem to know? She has, like, mental abilities and she's a demi-god or something."
"She knew where you were," Lad explains. "I don't know if she was privy to everything that went on between you and Tasha though, or maybe just... the concept or feeling or something," he notes, twirling a hand around. "I'm not sure she could explain it herself in any straightforward way, because... uh... she never says anything in a straightforward way."
"Wow she sure doesn't! She means well, though, don't you you peach headed dragaboo!" Kala leans down and hugs Gweneth, ruffles up her hair and rub-rub-rubbing her cheeks so intensely is distorts her face and makes her look silly. Gweneth doesn't so much as feign resistance, absorbing the affection and wagging her tail throughout.
"Well, what are you supposed to do in the meantime?" Rebby asks. "Still go to class, or go back home and wait?"
"Huh?" Kala pauses her ruffling up, looking over. "Eh, more class, but I guess I don't feel so bad about it now. Like, I get it, important, helps my future, could keep me alive, yadda yadda. Could keep Gwen alive, too. Big dragon she is, but space is like, so much bigger. So I'll do it. I might not be good at it, but I'll do it. Mom was willing to meet me half way and I know this will cost her, so, I guess I can stick around. I didn't really want to leave everyone behind and high and dry anyway. I just didn't like where things were going."
"What about Gweneth then?" Lad asks. "Is she supposed to take classes too, or just absorb stuff by osmosis. Which might actually be something she does, I don't really know."
"So she can go to class if she wants to, or not. See, your mom's like, afraid of her, because she does the mind-talky stuff. You know. The stuff they won't talk about, something happened. Don't bring it up. I'm not supposed to tell anyone unless it's important, and I guess this is. So Gwen's going to sit in the back and Kai's going to mute her, more or less. Thing was, Gwen was taking notes. I saw them later. She was paying attention. She didn't deserve to get nose flicked and yelled at like I did, and that's... Uh that's why I went off on her. And Kai." It's about here the group may realize Kala's looked everywhere except at Kai.
The only visible part of Kai, to Kala, is the leg that's dangling down from the top bunk, swaying back and forth. And it's not like she ever gets upset about things being said about her. When things actually go wrong, she just fixes them.
Kala now considers the leg for a long moment, then just shrugs her shoulders, leaves her hands behind her head, and falls back. "Eh, Kai's like mom. Invincible mountains of power and stability. I'd say like dad but well he's dad and he flirts with my girlfriends."
"My mom would too, if she was the flirting type," Lad claims.
Rebby looks like she's about to say something, then has second thoughts. Shona doesn't. "Hakeber is very flirty," he points out. "But your dad is better at blowing raspberries, Kala."
"It runs in the family." Kala makes a very squeaky-rasbperry noise, drawing it out.
And then Gweneth starts making a raspberries sound, which is more growly and hissy than Kala's, which has a bit of a 'accent' compared to the Phin variety.
It's about then that Kai swings her other leg over the edge of the bed and drops down to the floor, landing right next to Rebby, who lets out a startled bark. "Alright, I have my work cut out for me," Kai says. "Kala, are you alright with piloting naked if you had to?"
"Ehh sometimes I do now, don't tell anyone," Kala answers without missing a beat.
"Good to know, it will make things easier," Kai says. "We'll be trying something new as well, that will require Gwen to focus."
"Gwen isn't going to be the engine is she?" Shona asks, with a bit of a squawk.
"Nooooo," Kai says, making it sound like 'maybe yes' by the tone and drawing out of the reply.
"Just so long as she's not getting hurt all the time," Kala warns, with a bit of an edge. "Me, I can take it. Mostly. Not too much though. Fiera's your woman for that. Ashera and Sophia are too smart for it."
"Also, how sensitive are your tail flukes?" Kai asks Kala. "And I doubt Gwen would be hurt, unless the ship accidentally gets destroyed."
"Yeah getting destroyed would be pretty ouchy," Kala agrees. "And, you know, I never measured them? I was thinking of getting hair, too. Would hair help? Or, like, not help?"
"Where would you put it?" Lad asks, and ruffles Kala's head... crest? Fringe?
"On my head, get a, you know, fringe reduction. I know it can be done, got it offered to me when I felt left out for not having hair. Might look slick. Kind of curious," Kala answers while scootching over to Gweneth and then petting her head like she's a big cat.
"Pfff!" Lad remarks. "Anyone can have hair. You've got something unique! It's part of what makes you attractive. Like how Gwen has silver scales and a dragon-tail."
"You think you want hair, but you've never experienced wet hair, which would be an issue for you," Rebby adds.
"Eh," Shona says, noncommittally. He probably just likes feathers.
"Hey don't flirt with my sister, she probably doesn't even know what it means anyway. And Fiera and Ashera will probably haunt you," Kala chides without much energy. "And don't condescend me, I put up with a lot of inconvenient things, like legs."
"Try a wig," Rebby suggests. "Then you can just take it off when you want to go swimming. Plus... how many boy- and girl-friends do you already have now?"
"I just can't see it, Kala," Lad says. "But we all grew up with you being... you. Without hair."
"Ehh like some, I don't know. I'm noncommittal and a bad influence, bad investment," Kala insists. "Hey I should get some shades like that guy mom talks about wears in that picture, the old Vartan pilot. And a jacket."
"Pilots do tend to have special jackets," Lad agrees.
"Some!" Rebby says, throwing up a hand. "Do you know how many people I've been with? Two! And they were the Lapi twins so I'm not sure if they even count."
"What, both at the same time?" Lad asks, eyebrows raising.
"No! Don't be weird!" Rebby replies and leans over to punch Lad in the leg.
"Right? I'm so demanding a special jacket. Still, hope it's not just me and my sister. People might start thinking we're like the Sweetheart Seniors. We'll need a crew. I wonder who is going to get stuck captaining us. Not Ashera, she deserves better. And not Fiera, she deserves worse." But Kala grins a little. "And what's wrong with two at the same time?"
"Did you have both of the bunny twins at the same time, Kala?" Lad asks, tail wagging despite having to rub his leg. "We've all pretty much been with at least one of them! Mom calls them 'training wheels' which is a term I had to look up. It has to do with learning how to right a bicycle."
Shona makes a grunting noise, but doesn't admit to anything.
"Hey you tell me, I don't kiss and talk you know? It's weak, and lacks respect, right?" Kala switches to petting both dragons simultaneously now, in mirrored strokes. "I just do what I do, right?"
"So who trained Zach and Zelda then, hmm?" Rebby challenges Lad. "Not their parents."
"I trained them," Kai speaks up.
There's a quiet pause, and then Lad says, "You're hogging all the dragons, Kala, no fair!" He then tries to pet Goldie too.
Kala scoots back so the dragons will not be hogged. "Pet away, just don't complain to me if you get nipped. Gwen doesn't bite, unless you bite her first."