Stressful Downtime, Part II
Starfox: Liberation
Chapter 5: Stressful
Downtime, Part II
Alaric quickly left the bar, he did not want the
ones he had just met to follow him. The less they knew, the less they would
suspect, and he wanted to keep it that way. The human stepped outside the bar
and observed the area around him.
Outside was bright, the gentle sunlight felt like a
silken blanket upon his scarred form. This world seemed pleasant enough, and he
would have liked to stay longer than a few days. But he still felt the mission
looming over him. The faster he accomplished it, the faster he could earn his
freedom. The human pulled up the map app on his comms bracer and scrolled
through it, looking for a hotel to call it a night. The thought of a soft warm
bed was something that compelled him to walk faster. Alaric read a few of the
reviews for the closest hotel and decided that it would work well enough for
him. A holo popped up on his bracer and the human followed the directions, only
partially paying attention to the glances he was getting.
As he walked, he thought back to those lylatians he
had met at the bar. They were a very odd bunch. And that blue coated vixen gave
him an uneasy feeling. He didn't like the way she was looking at him, as if she
could see into his soul. The man shuddered and continued on his way. Alaric
chuckled softly to himself. The male fox, whose name was the same, seemed to be
a likeable enough character, although his friendly and charismatic attitude
somewhat grated on his nerves.
The bird was callous and straight forward, and
Alaric found him to be the most understandable. Although he could serve to get
knocked down a few pegs. The feline and the dog however, where a little too
curious for his taste. If there was one thing the human despised more than his
past, it was people bringing it up. The last thing he wanted was to be reminded
of what he had done.
The toad seemed to be a little naïve as well. But he
was also rather bright from what Alaric had gathered. No doubt he was the
team's brainiac. All in all, they were an interesting group, and Alaric wished
to have nothing to do with them. He would have to cut his visit here short, and
leave after he spent a little time with his new friends from the starport.
After all, he had promised them he would stay and he always kept a promise.
Alaric stopped outside a short three story building,
painted a rich blue color with windows placed symmetrically on every floor.
This was the place.
The human stepped into the lobby and walked towards
the receptionist's desk. Two concierges were standing behind it and smiled
warmly at him as he approached.
"Welcome to The Deep Blue. How can I help you
today?" The one closest to him, a male raccoon, greeted.
"I need a room for the night, one bed." Alaric
replied as he looked around the lobby. A few guests were either just arriving
or just departing, wheeling out an assemblage of luggage. When he looked back
at the desk, he saw the concierge typing away at the screen in front of him.
"We have a room available on the third floor, and two
on the second floor."
Alaric nodded. "I'll take one on the second floor."
"Excellent, it will be 150 credits for the night."
The raccoon explained as he looked up from the screen.
In response, Alaric stuck out his bracer and he got
it scanned.
The concierge reached under the desk and pulled out
a card, sliding it across the maple surface and towards the human. "Here is
your room key. Take the elevator and go right all the way to room 215, enjoy
your stay!"
Alaric picked up the card and gave the raccoon a
smile and thanked him as he headed towards the elevator. It was a quick walk
towards the room after he exited the elevator and he slid his card. The light
flashed green and the human stepped inside.
In the interior of the hotel room was dark, and Alaric
flicked the switch, illuminating his surroundings. There was a single bed
connected to the left wall, a table with a chair near the blinded window, two
small bureaus on either side of the bed, and a TV was built into the wall.
At the sight of the comfy looking bed, Alaric
exhaled heavily and walked towards it. He didn't bother with getting undressed
and simply dropped onto it. As he sunk slowly into the foamy mattress he let
loose a contented sigh and closed his eyes in bliss.
It had been too many years since he last slept in a
real bed or even a bed in general. "This....this is nice." He muttered to himself
as he relaxed completely. At that moment he knew he wasn't getting out of this
bed for the next eight hours at the earliest. He set an alarm on his bracer for
ten o'clock and leaned back further into the sheets.
It only took him a few more seconds to fall asleep.
Fox and the others entered the lobby of the hotel
they planned on hunkering down at for the night. The vulpine led his group to
the front desk and greeted the two workers. "Hi, my friends and I were hoping
you had some rooms available." He said with a grin.
"Of course, we always have spare room for the heroes
of Lylat!" The grinning attendant answered enthusiastically.
"That's awesome!" Fox grinned back.
Soon, they got settled in, and even got a 45%
discount on their rooms. As they were walking away, the attendant called out.
"Please enjoy your stay at The Deep Blue."
"Thanks, I think we will!" Fox replied as they
walked away.
The human was awoken by a soft trilling coming from
his comms bracer. Curious, he sat up from the bed and saw that a call was
waiting for him. Alaric accepted the call and spoke into the device. "Alaric
here."
"Hey Alaric...its Collin!" The upbeat and friendly
tone of the hanger mechanic filled the small well furbished room.
"Oh hey, Collin." The human replied as he scratched
his cheek, realizing who it was.
"Hey, just calling to make sure you are ready for
the day!"
"Yeah sure, sure..." Alaric assured the excitable
canine as he got up from his bed. "I was just getting ready to leave my room."
The human looked to the time and saw that he was awake an hour earlier then he
would have liked and frowned ruefully.
"Sounds great, Janet, Cassie, and I are at the
hanger where your ship is, so head on down!"
"Right, I'll be there in a few." The human said as
he hung up the call. "Looks like the bed will have to wait for another time."
He sighed morosely as he looked at its fluffy splendor. Well, at least he
should be having some fun today before he had to leave and look for The
Undying.
Alaric only needed a few minutes to get his morning
sanitary ritual done before he left. He was still in his outfit from the day
before and he had not brought anything else with him, so he really had nothing
else to worry about.
The human exited his room and walked down the hall,
taking the elevator which dropped him off in the lobby. Alaric stepped off the
lift and headed towards the doors. On his way out, he heard the elevator open
again and he felt the need to turn look back.
What he saw made him groan. How had they managed to
meet again?
The team from the bar stepped out from the elevator,
having been packed in like sardines. The human did not desire another meeting
with them so he turned and made for the doors.
"Hey Alaric!" He heard the familiar friendly voice
of their leader call out to him in surprise.
But the human ignored his greeting and slipped
through the doors of the hotel and out into the streets. Not wanting them to
catch up with him, Alaric marched down the street and took a sharp left down an
alley. He followed it until he reached the other side and slipped into the
crowd.
It took him only ten or so minutes to get back to
the starport and the hanger where he was supposed to meet the trio. At first,
he was startled to see his ship missing, but saw that it had been moved to the
inside of the hanger.
He walked across the heated tarmac and stood in the
entrance of the hanger, and when he saw his ship his jaw dropped in disbelief.
Gone was the rusting hulk he had the day before,
replaced by a shining blue and silver beauty. He was understandably awed to see
such a drastic transformation in such a short time.
"Hey there Alaric!" He heard a pair of voices call
out almost in synchronous before he felt two pairs of fuzzy arms wrap around
his waist from behind him.
The human turned to see the two ginger tabbies Janet
and Cassie, holding onto him tightly as they beamed up at him with wide grins.
Their tails swung side-to-side at that same rhythm and they were hard to
distinguish from each other.
"Hello." He replied and hesitantly hugged them back,
still unused to such easy physical contact.
"Hey there, glad to see ya!" Collin shouted from
somewhere above him.
Alaric released the two orange and red felines and
looked up to see the canine sitting atop his ship, covered in grim and waiving
down with a tool in his paw. The dog slid down the side of the ship and jumped
off, landing next to Alaric. "Like what we did?" Collin inquired as he wiped his
sooty paws off with a stained rag.
"How did you do so much so fast?" Alaric asked as he
looked back to his ship.
"Fortuna has the best mechanics this side of
corneria!" The canine boasted with a grin as he wagged his tail and scratched
at an ear. "Besides, all we had to do was patch up the hull and give it a new
paintjob. We didn't get to the interior."
"Either way, this is amazing work." Alaric praised
openly. He knew good work when he saw it and this truly was something." The
human could always work on the interior himself. He had already started and he
found the work soothing for his troubled soul.
"Yes well now that you're here, you ready for a tour
of the town?" The canine asked as he took off his tool belt and set it down on
a table to his left. "The others can finish up on the hull." He gestured a paw
behind him to the seven other mechanics who were working on the ship.
"Sure, I'm ready when you are."
"Fantastic!" Cassie squeaked and pulled his arm
towards the hanger's exit. Janet just rolled her eyes at her sister's eagerness
and followed after her with Collin in tow.
Alaric and the trio spent a good portion of the day
walking around the resort city and showing what they considered to be the
highlights. There was the war memorial, commemorating the soldiers from Fortuna
who lost their lives, a museum for the history of the colony, and finally they
went to the sprawling park that was in the center of the city.
Alaric sat on a bench with the three and watched as
the locals and tourists alike walked and played in the park. "This was
nice...thank you." He looked to them. He had never spent a whole day just having
fun before. And it was something he would treasure.
"Of course, we were glad to do it!" Cassie responded
with a smile as she sat next to him.
"She's right! We had fun too!" Collin backed up the
feline with just as much enthusiasm. "Now, let's go get something to eat!"
Alaric nodded in agreement when his bracer suddenly
started to beep. "Give me a moment." The human excused himself and stood up
from the bench, walking a few feet away and accepting the call.
"This is Alaric."
"Alaric, what is the status of your mission?" A
dreadfully familiar voice demanded over the comms line.
Alaric grimaced and replied in a slight growl. "It's
progressing, Wallace."
"Is that so?" Wallace claimed with an unamused tone.
"Then why are you still on that planet?"
"I needed to get my ship refueled and repaired. You
gave me a piece of shit!" Alaric snarled at the small bracer as if it was the
man in question.
"We gave you what you needed, nothing more nothing
less. But that doesn't matter; your ship should be adequately renovated by this
time. I want you off that planet Alaric! You have a mission to accomplish, or
have you forgotten?" The Commander asked with a sneer in his voice.
Alaric sighed heavily and closed his eyes. "No...I
have not...I'll make sure to leave immediately."
"Good, now get moving." The line cut off.
Alaric stood there, fists tightening in frustration.
Just when he was starting to actually enjoy himself, he had to be painfully
reminded of his real reason for all of this. Alaric did his best to calm down
and reluctantly turned back to the trio who had been waiting for him at a
polite distance away.
"Ready to go?" Collin asked eagerly.
"Uh...about that." Alaric sighed and rubbed the back
of his head. "I can't. My boss called and he wants me to get the ship I have to
leave."
Collin and the two girls visibly deflated at that.
"So soon?" Janet asked with a frown.
"Yeah, he's pretty adamant about it."
"But we had so much more planned!" Cassie mewled
sadly. Her tail limply flopped and her ears were laid back.
"I know, but there's nothing I can do about it."
Alaric told her gloomily.
"Can't you just stay one more day?" Collin requested
hopefully.
"It's...complicated." Alaric replied slowly. "I don't
really have a choice in the matter. Let's just say I need to do as he says if I
want to keep this job."
"Okay..." Collin muttered as he looked down at the
ground. "I understand."
"Tell you what..." Alaric said as he came up with an
idea. "I'll come back as soon as I finish the job. And then I'll stay here a
whole week. How does that sound?"
His idea made them smile and cheer up. "Promise?"
Cassie asked, looking up to him with her soft green eyes.
"Promise." Alaric swore and smiled at her.
The human said his goodbyes and left them at the
park, heading back to his ship. As he walked the path back, he felt depressed.
But he was also determined. The sooner he did what was asked of him, the sooner
he could get out from under his chains and become a free man.
Alaric entered the starport's main hall and made his
way to the small exit that would drop him off in the hanger. Yet before he
could get far, he turned a corner and collided with someone in his rush to
depart, sending himself and the other person falling to the ground in a heap.
Alaric quickly brushed himself off and helped the
other person to their feet. "Sorry about that, I'm in a rush."
"It's quite alright." The other person, a female by
the voice, replied. Something about her voice struck him as familiar and he
looked up to see who it was.
Alaric groaned in annoyance. "You again?' He
muttered as he looked into the white and blue muzzle of the cerulean vixen.
"Yes, we seem to have crossed paths once more haven't
we?" She remarked, muzzle curving into a smirk.
"Where are your friends?" He asked, looking over her
shoulder.
"Around..." She answered cryptically and flicked her
long ears. "So, why are you in a hurry? All set to find your missing ship?"
Alaric didn't like how she knew what he was doing.
"Yeah...what of it?" He demanded suspiciously.
"I was merely curious." The vixen answered. "Would
you perhaps like some company on your voyage?" She asked him out of the blue
and throwing the human through a loop.
Alaric was baffled and a little upset by her offer.
"No, I don't want too many people in my ship. Besides, we only just met. What makes
you think you can trust me?"
"I was only speaking for myself, and call it a
hunch." She explained in her strange way.
Alaric sighed. "Look...I appreciate the offer." He
said, although he really didn't. "But I think it would be best if I go alone."
She stared at him for a minute with her predatory
emerald eyes and stunned him with her response. "Why do you wish to be alone? I
find that a voyage is always better with some company, don't you?"
"I..." Alaric didn't know what to say in response.
Something about this vixen kept throwing him off. Never before had he had so
much trouble talking with someone. It was as if she knew things about him, and
that unsettled him. And yet at the same time, it intrigued him.
"What could you have to lose?" She enquired with a
toothy grin.
The human in fact, had a lot to lose. "Won't your
friends miss you?"
"They'll understand." She answered quickly, still
grinning unsettlingly.
Alaric mulled it over, and against his better
judgment, he decided to let her, even though he was certain that his orders
specifically stated that it was a bad idea. It was strange; he felt as if he
was being subtly manipulated, as if this was not entirely his choice. He didn't
like the feeling one bit. "Fine, but I don't want to hear any complaints." He
warned grumpily.
"Of course." She nodded her muzzle and grinned
victoriously.
Alaric just grumbled and motioned for her to follow
after him and to his ship.
Krystal smiled as she followed after the human. She
bent her personal rules a little bit and gently nudged the human into letting
her come along. The vixen had went to the starport and waited to bump into him.
She had a gut feeling that sticking with this human was important. Something
was happening, the winds of fate were circling around this man, and she
intended to figure out why.
"Well, here she is...The Serpent's Lair." Alaric
announced, making the vixen look up.
His ship was surprisingly large, about half the size
of The Great Fox. It looked like an old refurbished freighter, colored in the
blue and silver of the lylatian fleet. It was long and had a smooth angular
outline. The main body of the ship was boxy and tapered to a broad tip at the
front.
"It looks beautiful." The vixen complimented.
"Yeah well it was a piece of shit a little while
ago." Alaric grunted noncommittally. "You lylatians are pretty good at fixing
things."
"Slippy is the best mechanic I know." Krystal
replied.
"Slippy...that the little toad who stuck up for you?"
Alaric inquired, looking back at her with his crimson eyes.
"Yes."
"Brave little squirt." Alaric shook his head ruefully.
"Come on then, let's get this show on the road." He sighed and stepped up the
ramp, boots clinking against the grated metal.
Krystal sedately walked up after him, only a little
worried that her plan was not exactly a wise one. But it was too late to turn
back and so she entered.
The human stood at the top of the ramp and when she
was up there with him he pressed the large red button built into the wall. The
ramp's hydraulics hissed and it slowly eased closed, bathing the room in
darkness.
Alaric walked away from her and flicked a switch
near a door, turning on the ship's lights.
Krystal was surprised to see the conditions the
inside of the ship was in. It was decidedly different from the outside. Parts
hung from the ceiling, loose panels covered the walls and she could see wiring
sticking out. There was also junk scattered across the floor. It was not a lot,
just a few bits of metal but it made the ship look like it was deserted,
besides the out of place cornerian supply boxed loaded into the hold. He must
have come here to pick up supplies she summarized.
"Sorry about the mess, the man who I got the ship
from was an asshole." Alaric told her as he gestured for the vixen to follow.
She did and saw that the further she went into the ship, the better it looked.
"I spent some time fixing it up, but I've only had
it for a day or so." Alaric clarified as he led the vixen deeper in. "Some
sections are closed off; I haven't gotten to them yet. But the crew quarter's
is mostly intact, and I'm sure there's a room for you." Alaric and the vixen
took a short path from the cargo hold and made it to the crew quarters. It was
just a small collection of individually sealed rooms, and he opened the first
one. Alaric looked inside and saw that it was a complete disaster. 'Well, not
that one." He mumbled to himself and opened the second door. The second room
was distinctly superior, and was in the same condition as his. It looked pretty
much the same besides the fact it didn't have a desk, which gave it more space.
"You can bunk here." Alaric realized something as he said that. "Uh...I don't
think I caught your name." He said to her as he wiped a hand down his face, humiliated
that he forgot such a key detail.
The vixen smiled and shrugged it off. "That's
alright, my name is Krystal."
"Krystal...beautiful name." Alaric stated as he turned
around. "In any case, I have to input the coordinates for the last known
location of The Undying. You are free to roam around the ship, although there
isn't much to see at the moment." He remarked over his shoulder as he walked
away. Alaric was rather confident that she couldn't really do anything bad to
the ship, at least nothing worse than it was already, and so he was comfortable
with leaving her alone.
Krystal watched the human disappear around a corner
and smiled softly. He was a rather interesting character to be sure. The vixen
turned back to her new quarters and her smile faded. The room could be better,
but she had slept in worse conditions. As she walked inside and toured her new
living space she began to realize how sudden her impulse to follow him was. All
she had were the clothes on her back and her staff. Everything else was back on
The Great Fox. But, she supposed that was what adventure was about, taking
chances and living in the moment.
Krystal sat on her new cot and flipped open her
comms bracer, deciding to call Fox before they left communications range. The
other vulpine picked up immediately.
"Where are you?!" He demanded worriedly.
"I decided to accompany the human." She responded,
looking around the cabin absently as she spoke, trailing a furred digit across
the bed and drawing up a thick smudge of dust.
"What?!" Fox yelped, sounding as if he had just
choked on something. "And he just dained to let you go?"
"No...I helped make his choice easier." Krystal
explained, wiping her sullied paw against her pants.
"So you influenced his mind...if he finds out he isn't
going to be too happy about that Krystal." Fox warned.
"I can take care of myself Fox, and besides, if you
follow my beacon in the bracer, you will be able to track his ship."
Fox was quiet for a moment. "I see....that's a clever
but dangerous plan. We don't know what he is doing here, or what the ship has
to do with anything. What if he tried to hurt you?"
"I said I can take care of myself, and I have a
feeling that he wouldn't. He's a little strange, but I know he is a good man. I
can feel it."
"If you say so, Krystal..." Fox said uncertainly. He
was clearly not enthusiastic with her plan
"Anyways, we'll soon be out of radio range so I won't
be able to contact you until we exit shockspace."
"Okay...stay safe Krystal. I'll let the others know."
"Will do Fox." She responded and tapped a claw on
the disconnect tab, ending the call.
Krystal looked up from her communicator and sighed.
This was the first time she would be separated so completely from her friends,
and she felt a small sliver of unease at the prospect. But she was an experienced
mercenary and she knew she could handle separation anxiety.
Since she was stuck on his ship for an unknown
amount of time, she decided to occupy herself with exploring. Krystal exited
her room and began to wander the ship.
Alaric was standing on a small stepladder with his
upper torso inside the ducts of his ship. He plotted a course for the ShockPoint
beacon he arrived with and set about to once more work on his new ship. It was
his plan to keep it after he finished his mission, if they allowed him his
freedom.
The one time soldier was trying to get the wires in
the duct to function. For some reason the air conditioning unit for the ship
stopped working. Thankfully the O2 scrubbers were still working, but it was
starting to get hot, and he wanted to get that out of the way quickly. As he
twisted two wires together, there was a sharp fizzing pop and they sparked,
burning his hands. "Shit!" He hissed and yanked his fingers away, shaking and
then sucking on the burnt ones. "Fucking piece of shit!" He growled and smacked
the wall of the vent in frustration. Yet as he was treating his wounds, a soft
wind came through the duct. "Well at least you're working now." He muttered and
climbed out of the vent, closing it back up.
Alaric stepped of the small ladder and dusted off
his hands. That was one out of thousand problems fixed. All he had to do now
was check up on the engines, clear away the remaining debris in the rooms and
halls, fix the elevator for the other two decks, finish with the bridge check
on the ship's reactor, unpack the new supplies, and that was just the start.
Thinking about what he had left to do made the human sigh and rub his eyes in
exhaustion.
"Problems?" He heard a half curious and half amused feminine
voice inquire from behind him. Alaric was confused as to who the owner of the
voice was, but then remembered that he had allowed that strange vixen onto his decrepit
ship...and he was still foggy as to the reason why.
Alaric turned to face her, and hesitated before replying.
It was the first time he allowed himself a good look at his guest. She was
wearing a red T-shirt, and dark blue almost black jeans. On her hindpaws were a
pair of wooden sandals and her manicured nails were colored red. Her tail poked
out from rear of her pants and was long and bushy with a white peak. Strange
white markings were tattooed into the fur in an almost hypnotizing pattern and
he could see the hints of other marks just under the sleeves of her shirt. She
had a blunt narrow whiskered muzzle that looked almost dainty. Her muzzle was
white, and ringed with a deep sea of cerulean fur. The vixen also had a long
mane of hair that went down to just past her shoulders and it flowed free. All
in all, she was surprisingly beautiful.
"Uh...yeah, I have a few thousand or so problems. This
ship was falling apart when I got it, and after some work in a hanger and of my
own hand, it still is ready to fall apart." Alaric explained to her, mentally
shaking off his sudden infatuation. Now was not the time for such thoughts. He
had far too much on his plate to have to worry about something like that.
Although...he had never had the chance to explore that option before...Alaric
sighed internally, and it looked like he would still be refraining.
"Yes, I see what you mean." She replied as she
looked around curiously.
Alaric looked around with her and saw that this
corridor was still mostly dismantled. Seeing it like that put a sudden hamper
on his drive to fix everything, and his stomach took that moment to rumble
loudly. Then, the human recalled that he had not eaten anything in....you know,
he was not sure when the last time he ate was. Alaric was now glad that he had supplies;
otherwise he would have started his mission on a very empty stomach.
Krystal's ears flicked as she heard the human's
stomach growl.
"How about I get us something to eat?" Alaric
suggested. "I don't think I could take any more repair work at the moment."
"I am a little famished." Krystal decided.
"Alright then, sounds like a plan." Alaric grinned
and walked off.
Krystal followed after him until they entered what
looked like the ship's dining area. It was a surprisingly large chamber, and
was even more surprisingly, in rather good shape. Almost nothing seemed to be
off, besides the heavy amount of dust. Alaric spent a long time cleaning the
room and making sure that everything still worked. When he was finished he told
her to wait there and walked off, a few minutes later he returned with a large
crate labeled simply Foodstuff.
"Well, let's see what you cornerians have to eat."
Alaric said eagerly and pried the crate open with his hands. Alaric looked into
the container and slowly began to frown. "MRE's...." He sighed sadly. "I was
hoping for some real food." He muttered disappointedly.
Krystal giggled at his reaction. "What exactly were
you hoping for?"
"You know, pills that turned into full meals, freeze
dried ice cream, food cubes, space stuff." Alaric grumbled.
"That stuff doesn't exist, excluding freeze dried
foods. Where have you been for the last few years, in a hole in the ground?"
The vixen continued to giggle. But her snickering was quickly hushed when she
felt a rapid change in his emotions and noticed that the human became distant
and he frowned softly. His crimson eyes began to lose their life and he looked
close to tears.
"You could say that." He replied quietly, taking out
one of the MRE's and staring at it intently for a reason she could not fathom.
She watched him carefully and felt guilty for
causing his little episode.
But whatever it was, the human shrugged it off. "Yeah...I
suppose it was a silly notion." He chuckled without mirth and handed her one of
the packages. "Sorry, but these are all I got."
"That's fine." She responded softly and began to tear
open her meal.
She watched as the human grabbed a random MRE and
flopped down dejectedly on one of the chairs. He sat as the other table,
opposite of the one she was at. Krystal noticed the distance and realized that
her comment, had for whatever reason, wounded him deeply, and that was not her
intention at all. She was just trying to find a way to get closer to him so she
could learn more. And instead she managed to hit one of his buttons. It was a
terrible start to their voyage.
"I'm sorry for laughing, it was rude." She apologized
and looked to him with a warm smile.
"It's fine." He retorted a little coldly, disregarding
her smile. "You don't understand." The human ripped into the packaging of his
meal with surprising force.
"You could always enlighten me." She suggested as
friendly as she could sound but was instantly denied.
"No." He grunted harshly before sighing and calming himself
down. '"No, that is something I don't want to talk about, not now, and not ever
if I can help it. Besides, other people might like to tell their life story to
a stranger, but I don't." He said sarcastically.
Krystal winced a little at his scathing comment, but
knew that she partly deserved it.
Alaric realized that he was a little more hostile
then he should have been and so apologized. "Sorry, but it's a sore subject."
'That is perfectly okay, I know what it's like to be
in pain." She replied with a smile.
"You do?" He asked curiously.
She nodded. "Yes, my life has also seen its fair
share of suffering."
He looked at her understandingly and replied softly.
"I think that goes for most everybody."
"Life is full of love and pain in equal measure,
that's what my father always said to me." Krystal told him with a sad smile.
"Never knew my father, or mother, don't know if I
have any siblings either." Alaric decided to share a little part of his story.
After all, she was telling him something, it was only fair.
Seeing him open up slightly made her unusually happy
for some reason. She rather liked the feeling and so she decided to keep
talking to him.
They chatted for an hour or so, mostly about small
things. He seemed to have an odd amount of questions about the goings on in the
galaxy, as if he had been away for years. They would have kept conversing, but
the ship's barely functioning alert system announced that they were nearing the
ShockPoint gate. Alaric excused himself from their chat and left to get the
ship moving.
Krystal watched him depart with. Alaric was turning
out to be far more interesting than she had expected. There was something about
him that she was attracted to, and she didn't know what it was. But she was
going to find out. The vixen was happy that she decided to follow her instinct,
it might have led her to something good, something she needed in her life.