[StarRail PSL]

[themightybosstone]

[The world was one of a constant, strange, cyclical war.

When the night fell on the highest moon of the furthest month, a Howling Storm took the planet, cut its cities off from each other and the visitors from their homes, When the Storm's first whining, hot wind struck, the imposing gates of the iridescent metal of this world would close, folding up and over, in a wall only Qlipoth could love.

The thud of bodies, the scrape of claws, mandibles and fangs added to the cacophony that the setting of the red sun provoked. It ebbed in the morning, but never enough to be safe. Never enough for the walls to come down.

In defiance, however, in these little hubs of survival, the nightlife was something quite impressive. Loud music played, lights blared, the night market was a roar of throats - the call of sellers and the flirtation of buyers.

All to carry on like a shield wasn't holding back the certain death of nearly everyone in the spaceport.

But you're here, waiting for the tired relief of morning. For the spaceport to open back up in a week.

It should have already ended. It SHOULD have been open yesterday.

But the Storm is longer than it's ever been here...]

Comments

[themightybosstone]

I make a great breakfast.

[He flops down on the bed, propped up by his elbows, knees wide apart.]

So. Wanna see how much this baby can take? [HE PATS THE BED.]

[vitainmorte]

[






huh?????????? ]

... "Take?" Don't-- break it, those are expensive to replace...?

[themightybosstone]

....

Oh.

Uh.



Kay.

I'll be careful?

[vitainmorte]

[ BE CAREFUL WITH WHAT??? She just looks deeply confused and,




Actually. It's best to save face here, possibly, so. She'll extend her telepathy a bit, just for whatever surface thoughts are running through that thick skull. ]

[themightybosstone]

[ For all of the impenetrable plating for blunt force damage called his skull, she slips in without the slightest awareness or resistance.

In Foxians, there's always that undertone of a need to touch the sky, an upward leaning that takes all of them. In Borisins, there's that boiling, slathering thing, that wants to rend, hurt, tear, survive, CREATE MORE. In Sett, there's both, firmly kept under a boot.

The rest of his thoughts skitter like marbles.

She's really pretty!

She seems confused!

The place she stabbed me still hurts.

That's kinda sexy.

Uh, something seems wrong?

Nah, she's just playing.

Maybe I should ask?

Ugghhh, my tail hurts leaning back but it would be awkward to move NOW.

I can't believe she wants to have sex!! SHE FELT IT TOO IN THAT FIGHT!!

Maybe if I lean to the side I can get the tail AND still look cool-]

Val?

[vitainmorte]

[ ah,

She's so startled by that he might get the brief feedback of her mortified bafflement before she locks the connection down, but it's clear on her face anyway-- the blatant confusion and embarrassment and, strangely, the edge of nervous fear that makes her feathers flatten and slim down against her wings.

He thinks she wants to have sex with him? Felt what in that fight? Is that what he thought she invited him in for? Is that the kind of person he thinks she is? He thinks she's pretty???

She takes a step back. ]

I-- um.

[themightybosstone]

[ Well that sure wasn't HIS. He doesn't do EITHER of those emotions???

His eyes widen, realizing- Oh shit. Halovian. YEAH. THEY DO THAT.

And uh. That's a .. reaction? ]

Uuuuuuuuh? OKAY WAIT, um.



No?

[vitainmorte]

-- No! No, I'm not-- I don't--

[ she's just completed flustered, but instead of explaining herself she just.

Turns and swiftly walks back up to her cabin, where he can hear the hiss of the door sealing. Then silence. ]

1/2

[themightybosstone]

...

[themightybosstone]

SOME OF US CAN'T READ MINDS Y'KNOW!!!

[She can hear down the way.]

[vitainmorte]

[ there's no answer. In fact, he probably won't see her around for most of the rest of the night.




He might hear the door open sometime after midnight though, and if he comes up he might notice in the dim light of the cockpit someone's sitting in the drivers seat. And the unmistakable smell of brandy, probably. ]

[themightybosstone]

[He doesn't enter the cockpit, just leans against the wall outside of it, crossing his arms.]

So uh, sorry about that.

[vitainmorte]

[ her head turns, slightly, a clink of ice in a glass as she shifts her hand as well.

There's a long moment before she responds, voice quiet. ]

...

I'm sure you must be used to sleeping with women who invite you back with them. But don't insult me by assuming I have such-- such loose control of my faculties.

[themightybosstone]

Aint THAT common.

... is that insultin' me too or is it a like, general venom?

[vitainmorte]

[ ignoring that, ]

Your apology is appreciated. ... though I don't understand what you misinterpreted to mean I wanted to do anything like that, or why you thought my trying to kill you could mean I felt-- that way.

[themightybosstone]

[Oh. She picked that bit up. WELP. HE BLOWS A HUFF OF AIR.]

It aint the tryin' t'kill me part. It's just, you know.

There was a CLICK and, well, when you skidded back and cocked your gun and just blew that whole bug's head clean off in one shot it was- you know.

Pretty hot.

[vitainmorte]

[ She turns a little more to look at him over the back of the chair, brow furrowed. What are you TALKING about ]

... No, I don't know. I was just-- doing my duty.

[themightybosstone]

Seriously? You got NO idea??

[vitainmorte]

Why would I?

[themightybosstone]

Don't ask me. Yer the one who can see outside yer head.

[themightybosstone]

If I were you, I'd TOTALLY check myself out from other people's eyes.

[vitainmorte]

[ is that an invitation... her frown deepens. ]

You're overestimating Halovian telepathy.

[ ... but he offered(?) And she's pretty tipsy. So she does extend it again. ]

[themightybosstone]

[It's less thoughts and more senses and memories now. Little flashes of the play of the muscles on her back and blood and adrenaline on the air, the things they fought didn't have fear but they did have PAIN and they KNEW them as pain. The pinkish purple ichor splashed over her halo and wings, the set of her jaw and the predatory, narrowed eyes.

The heart races faster-

Overlapped with a little of now, her uncertain air, the confusion and hesitance, the furrowed look that pinches her brow. The bite of the air that is alcohol. The line of her neck and the throb of her blood.

Deadly, beautiful. The stiffness earlier gone, now more like a golden hound at rest.

Unavailable. There's a little regret and resignation there.]

I really don't know much about it. I mean, it SEEMED to pick up what I was thinkin' earlier.

[vitainmorte]

It can't see-- through other peoples' eyes, or...

[ But it can visualize those thoughts, as they transfer, as strong as the imagery is and... frankly, she doesn't know what to do with it, a reality in which someone is looking at her that way. It's not like she doesn't know that Halovians are, on average, fairly attractive to other races-- they do tend to have a natural charisma and draw and many of them take full advantage in their careers and love lives-- but to have it so blatant is... strange? She's not a charismatic leader or idol, or even particularly good conversation. And yet... even if the draw is purely physical, it's strange, especially tangled into the battle-fever.

She would have never considered the artful splatters of blood or grime, or how they made her look, or the way her muscles tensed under flesh. Her single-minded focus didn't allow that kind of vanity in battle, and outside of it it was nothing more than an annoyance to have to clean off her halo and feathers. And now--

She flushes dark, her neckwings awkwardly folding partially over her face as if to hide her from his gaze, as she huddles back into the seat and throws back the rest of her brandy. And pours another glass. The-- regret, what was that about? Just from giving up a potential conquest, perhaps? Yes, surely. ]

[themightybosstone]

[ If she hasn't pulled out of his thoughts, the image of her tucked in under her wings tugs a bubble of humor that doesn't show on the borisin's face. The tail twitches, and he gives a broad, aimless gesture with one clawed hand. ]

Got two glasses?