The Nightwing

Minn

Saein was awake moments after her, asking if she was okay. She was definitely not, but she had to calm down. "I'm fine," she said, out loud and to herself. I'm fine, I'm fine, I'm fine. Holding her knees, she still rocked back and forth, green eyes flitting across the floor, here, then there, trying to find something that would never appear.

Why was she with Bond? He had known her. Called her by name. But she hadn't met him until signing on with the Nightwing. What was going on? Why couldn't she remember? And why would Bond hide it?

"I...saw...another memory...I think it was a memory. It wasn't a dream. Dreams feel real, but this WAS real. Really real. Too real...I..."

She covered her pink face with her pink fingers. "Bond was there. He was there before Nightwing. In my life. Without me knowing. He was there and he...he...was..."

She didn't want to say it, unsure of what completely happened. Snapping upright, she turned to Saein, but didn't touch her. She didn't want to shock her friend. Trembling, she grasped her hair and looked away just as quickly. Saein's concern was so genuine. So real. Just like Bond. Bond was there, and real, and touching her and smiling and...

Whining loudly, she curled down over her knees. "What is wrong with me!?"


(she's losing it...it's okay...)

"Oh well err...." Eddie scratched the back of his head sheepishly. Of course card games would be hard for someone who couldn't see what cards they had. "I find no joy in beating someone at a game with unfair advantages." he remarked, opening the top of the container that held the pieces to the chess set. He was glad there wasn't candy in it.

He had began taking the pieces out one-by-one (because he was too cautious with his new chess set to just pour them out) when Ann had spoken about Saein. He stopped and raised an eyebrow while looking at her. "Are you sure?" he asked. "I think that Saein's just nice. Maybe it is because I haven't been a jerk?" he chuckled. "It's a very nice set regardless. You can find physical Chess sets anymore since holographic sets have been invented. A shame, really. But it's all the more reason to appreciate it. You can tell her I enjoy this set for me. And I'll make sure to tell her again. That way, she'll probably never want to make me another present." he laughed.

Maria

Maria was too busy slurping down soup to her heart's content to pay attention to other people. However, she paused so she could say something out into the air, disregarding whether other people were in conversation or not. "Just realized somethin', ze," she mentioned, "I aint too sure what I'm suppose t'be doin' when I aint blowin' up stuff, ze." However, somehow, this caused her to grin.

When she finished, she seemed to have paused for a second, but look ready to pounce, for some reason. Then, out of the blue, she started tickling the air beside her whilw giggling, as if it were a small child. Of course, she did seem slightly crazy doing so.

Though, she then stopped, but then suggested aloud, "Well, if I aint got nothin' t'do, y'all wanna see some Magic, ze?" and added a giggle at the end.

Rokunam

"I understand the Steelbeam's concern, but I can manage well just fine." Rokunam had to admit that he disliked when people treated him like an old man, simply because he had a different figure from most humanoids (including being hunched-backed) and had a course voice. Though he was, as some would say, middle-aged, he wasn't in need of constant help, and in fact, if anyone, much of the crew, especially the females, were the ones in need of constant help. Also, in theory, Exburnans can only grow wiser and stronger, but that has neither been confirmed nor denied. Well, Rokunam wasn't the smartest, nor the strongest, but he wasn't a Nine either (an Exburnan pun often refering to ones who are cocky or unintelligent, which seemed to be quite fitting for the Caroline-Marie).

Saein

Saein switched on the light, keeping it dimmed, only just enough light to see, and to stop seeing what remained of her dream. “Bond?” she wondered aloud. That didn’t make sense. If Bond was here to help Minn, why would he throw a smoke bomb into her kitchen? And if he wasn’t here to help her, wouldn’t it make things easier for him if she didn’t remember? Pranking right in front of her in the kitchen was an odd way to not draw attention to himself. Maybe... Maybe Bond also didn’t remember? But then it was a huge coincidence he was here. “Ergh.” Saein was not awake enough to figure out this mystery. She did notice Minn stopped before telling what role he seemed to have had in her past.

"What is wrong with me!?" Minn whined.

That was a much easier question, one she knew the answer to. Minn probably meant it as a rhetorical one, but Saein replied anyway. She moved over and sat down next to Minn on the floor. “Minn.” She gently tidied the girl’s hair. “No matter what you have done, no matter what others have done to you, I could never think there is something wrong with you.” She tried to imagine how Minn felt. “It seems someone somehow tried to erase some of your memories. It’s only normal to be confused and upset now.”

Saein looked away, distracted by her own pain. “I... I had a bad memory dream. Someone I... important died right behind my back. I blame myself.” She needed a deep breath between every sentence. “I’m here for you, but I also really need you right now.” Tears started flowing. She tugged at Minn’s hand. “Come back to bed and hug me, please?”


Annarein

“Saein is nice” Ann agreed. “She’s also always very busy. I’ll tell her you like the set.” She giggled at the idea of Saein getting annoyed by everyone telling her Eddie liked the present.

After a pause, she said “I’m glad she didn’t make you a holographic set, that would have been even more difficult for me.” She reached to feel the shapes of the pieces. “If only I could get Ip to understand that colors are important in games...” Ann picked up a knight. “This one is different, does it have a special role?”

Maria was giggling about something, Ann probably was the only one who didn’t look at her thinking she was crazy. The genkshi suggested showing them some magic tricks. "Well, if I aint got nothin' t'do, y'all wanna see some Magic, ze?"

“Oh I’d love to see it. That would be real magic” Ann quietly said to herself. The right corner of her mouth twisted up.

Tom sensed the annoyance in Rokunam's voice, so he decided to be very careful about the way he spoke next.
"My apologies. I hope you can forgive me for making assumptions, it's one of my many downfalls." He looked around awkwardly. Having finished his pastry, he was at quite a loss and caught himself tapping on the table.

Saein and Minn had departed, presumably to get some sleep. He figured he should get back to bed soon too, but was distracted by Maria proposing a mini magic show. Tom didn't believe in magic, and as such he assumed this to mean some clever trick of the eye, an illusion at best. He took pride in working out the way magic tricks were done, it made him feel smart. He had forgotten that the only experience he had of 'magic' tricks were those performed by human tricksters from his home planet...

Minn

Saein was comforting her, but didn't seem to be in an state to do so. Minn nodded furiously pulling her back to the mattress and fighting tears as she clung to her tightly, nearly shaking from the effort. "I'm sorry," she whispered, once she knew she could managed speaking evenly again. "About...your important person."

She buried her face down into Saein's shoulder, curling her legs around hers. Distantly she wondered if Saein was alright, but held tight anyway. It did help, little by little. Her words, her hug. No, maybe nothing was wrong with her, but someone had done something. They had taken part of her mind and it was driving her crazy. Bond must know something. She vowed to confront him as soon as possible, but not right now. Right now, she was hugging Saein and that's all she needed.

Saein tensed up when Minn hugged her. It wasn’t too bad, they were already touching before the hug started, and soon she could relax. “Girlfriend” she admitted. “She was my girlfriend.” She wrapped her arms and legs tight around her friend, responding to and imitating Minn. She added “It was a long time ago.”

Saein cuddled Minn, every once in a while she said something like “you’ll be alright” or “it’s going to be okay”. She wasn’t sure if she was saying those things to herself or to Minn. Being held made her feel loved, and feeling loved chased away her feelings of guilt. She wished she could sense Minn’s feelings like she was used to in hugs. Instinctively she hugged her tighter to feel more, which didn’t work. She moved to look at Minn’s face, which didn’t have the readable freckles of her own kind but at least gave her some information.

Minn had such an interesting look. On Wen, at least in places where warm clothing was needed, she would not stand out at all when seen from behind. Seen from the front, she was obviously not a firni. Nobody had green eyes or pink skin. This somehow made her prettier than any firni could be, or maybe Saein liked everything that made Minn look special because she liked Minn. The difference didn’t matter, seeing Minn gave Saein happy feelings. The way Minn had curled her legs around hers gave Saein a different kind of happy feelings, which put a pattern on her face that Minn had not seen before. With a small smile, she continued watching Minn and started playing with Minn’s hair. She wasn’t sure if this was a good moment yet.

After a while Saein decided to risk it. She tilted her head, put her face close to Minn’s, and closed her eyes.

((Looks like I’ll soon get to use a line I’ve been sitting on for ages... But of course anything can happen to postpone it...))

As Maria's magic 'show' came to an end, Tom stood and stretched. Not that metal is at all stretchy, but it was more for the sake of body language than anything. He was tired. Having cut short his earlier nap in order to get some food, he decided to go back to bed. He began the walk back to the barracks fairly slowly, not wasting too much energy. Come to think of it, he was running low on energy a lot quicker than usual. Perhaps it was something to do with the way Regina had repaired him.

He sighed and trudged along a little farther, and was just turning the corner into the corridor leading to the barracks when he noticed he was feeling a little warmer than usual... wait, not warm. Hot.

Tom ran a few feet up the corridor and realized he was getting colder, so he turned around and headed towards the front of the ship. The heat gained intensity the further he went, and he heard a dull whine ignite in his back as his cooling system kicked in. Something was terribly wrong.

Eventually reaching the cockpit, he was confronted with a blinding light, rendering the entire room invisible. Damn these modern designers and their obsession with chrome. He stumbled towards the driver's seat, and finding no-one in it, shouted to MAK for help.

"MAK! What is going on?"

No answer.

"MAK? Answer! MAK? ... MAK?!"

It was then that the truth of the situation dawned on him. The searing light from the cockpit window, a thought previously pushed to the back of his mind, made itself known again as he squinted through the glass. He was able to shut out just enough light to confirm his suspicions. A blazing white ball appeared in the centre of his vision, no larger than a football held at arm's length.

They were travelling towards a supernova.

This, Tom reasoned, must be the only explanation for the lack of warning or change of course, and the intense radiation from the blast must have shorted out MAK, along with the on-board cooling systems. He was rather surprised he was still functioning himself.

He spun round, looking for some control to turn the ship around. In doing so, he noticed Dedrik, who had succumbed to the heat and passed out on the spot. He ran over and picked up the limp Vasparti, hurriedly carrying him away from the bridge and down the corridor to the elevator, where it was cooler. He wasn't able to remotely send him down to the medical bay, but this would have to do for now.

Running back to the cockpit, he dropped into the pilot's seat.

"Now. Let's see here..."

Tom found the main control joystick and gripped it firmly. There was no time to lose. The ship's hull would be melting any time soon.

Maria seemed to be having fun, preforming to a very small audience, Rokunam thought, at least if his speech pattern was normal. Though, it didn't seem like anyone was giving her much interest, but nonetheless, it seemed she was entertaining somebody, as she continued on. Much of it was small scale illusionry stuff, of which Rokunam had to admit, he couldn't figure them out himself, without looking into where she learned them in the first place. However, it seemed as if everybody was ready to 'call it a day', even energetic Maria was yawning. Though, Exburnans like Rokunam were good at conserving their energy, and because Rokunam hadn't discharged once, he could go for a couple more hours. Though, there was a disturbance that both aliens could feel.

"Argh, dunno if it's cuz I'm tired," Maria said, "But I'm itchy all t'be heck, ze." She kept scratching herself all over with no regard for who was watching. Her face was becoming flushed as well, and not just because she was tired. Rokunam was feeling something too, of the opposite effect, but it may have simply been the ship passing by a star or something. "Before the Caroline-Marie rests," Rokunam said, standing up, "She must clean up the dining hall." "But why~, ze~?!" Maria complained, with a yawn, "I'm really damn tired, swear I'm gunna fall asleep in this here kitchen o' whatever. I dun care where I do it."

Rokunam already turned for the door. It was typical for Genkshis to be the ones who have to clean, among other things. However, it wasn't that Rokunam disliked their kind, far from it. He didn't even mind her disrespectfulness and the annoying hiccup of a voice she had, with that horrendous twang and stupid sounding sentance ender. No, it wasn't any of that, but it was simply her mind. Rokunam did know who this girl was, the younger her, and she litterally reminded him of a person and time in her past of which he did not want to look back upon. It was one thing for others to mention it, but another to be reminded of it himself.

Rokunam turned. "Does the Caroline-Marie-" he didn't finish his sentance to see the Genkshi right at his two hoofed feat, totally passed out. At first, Rokunam was wondering if she was serious when she claimed she'd fall asleep anywhere, it wouldn't be awkward for her if she actualy did anyway, Rokunam was actually somewhat worried that she may have slept in a bed. However, her normally pale skin was completely flushed in a pinkish-red, as if she'd fallen asleep on the moon of Vega without UV protection fluid (or room service). Rokunam crouched over her and placed his hand over her forehead. She was the moon of Vega. Though, Rokunam himself wasn't feeling too hot, as his skin breathed to keep itself cooler without the secretions of body fluids, so he didn't electrocute himself.

But enough about alien sweat, because the point that needs to be made is that Rokunam was rather unsure of what was going on or what he should have been doing.