2020-10-26 - The Continuing Adventures pt 2

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The Continuing Adventures Part 2

Summary: Continuing from last time. Liyara and Yoiko enjoy a meal in Outpost 17's promenade and eventually someone with a flaming sword shows up and tries to kill them. It's a Monday, right?



Who: Liyara, Yoiko Hax
When: October 26th, 2020
Where: Outpost 17


Liyara-icon.gifYoiko Hax-icon.gif

The information contained within this log is to be considered information gained Out of Character (OOC).
This information may not be used as In Character (IC) knowledge or in roleplay unless it has been learned in-game or permission has been granted by the parties involved.

Questions should be directed to staff.


...previously.

[H17] Lower Promenade(#5750R)
The station's promenade is designed to facilitate the needs of the travelers as they come and go from the station. Along the outer walls are various shops in a sort of strip mall. These stores come and go fairly quickly and provide goods from both the local region of space and beyond. Due to the nature of the Hideki Sector, it's not uncommon to find things from other multiverses on sale here as well.

The main eye-catching feature of the Promenade is the large gardens area which surrounds the Promenade Bar. Plants of all kinds can be found growing here with plenty of space for guests to walk through the trees or sit down for picnics. An elaborate system of hydroponics keep the plants healthy without any evidence of anyone coming to water them and thanks to the lights in the ceiling of the upper deck there's more than enough light to keep them alive.

In the absolute center of the Promenade is the small Promenade Bar. Surrounding the cylindrical shaft that houses the computer core for the station are rows of alcohol from every corner of the known multiverse locked behind thick, frosted glass cases. Two semi-circle bartops surround this which the staff work behind to serve drinks. The bartops themselves each house six barstools forcing patrons to either stand or leave with their drinks should those twelve stools be taken.

Local rules require that alcoholic drinks remain on the Promenade, explaining the lack of stairs to the upper level.


Free-floating Space Installations are beyond rare in the Forgotten Realms. Being a Toril native herself, Liyara has never been on one, though she has seen a single such outpost from a distance. It's quite a treat for the half-dragon, and now that she's no longer attempting to keep up with the local decorum, her excitement is much more visible on her face. Her red hair parts around her horns in exactly the right way to allow her eyes unfettered access to the world. And oh, is she taking it all in. Piercing, brilliant viridian eyes practically drink in the sights.

A lovely garden, which much be sustained by the lights above - full spectrum lighting, then. A mall composed of shops from various universes, many of them clearly related to the nearby multiversal gathering point - how many are staffed by refugees from Twisted? And of course, a bar. Every place needs a bar.

After some deliberating, Liyara virtually dragged Yoiko to a place with an open flame for a logo. Someone's a sucker, but it does happen to be a restaurant, so Liyara feels completely justified. Of course - she doesn't know what any of the items are. She's not from around her, just ignore the tail and wings and... heat. She just exudes it, when she's excited.


Yoiko can't help but smirk seeing Liyara enjoying herself, following closely but not really leading. Not since they left the turbolift. After stressing her out over the whole tuning fork thing, the least she could do is take a back seat and let her friend play tourist for a while.

With a tilt of her head she eyes the strange menu of the restaurant Liyara picked, her mouth voicelessly reading off words in a language that is clearly confusing her. "I literally have no idea what half this menu says." At least there's numbers next to them that seem to be traditional Earth ones. Humanity's influence extends far and wide, obviously. "Why is it we waste so much time making universal translators only to write stuff in a language no one can read?"

Oh well, at least it's warm and it's not fabricated. Yoiko shrugs and picks a number at random. It's not like she doesn't have the ear of the Station Commander if she ends up with something disgusting.


"I miss my spectacles." Liyara says absent-mindedly, as she looks over the menu for a moment. She adopts a bit of a mocking tone as she mimics her past self. "I don't need to memorize the ritual for 'comprehend languages', I'll just never take these off!" She scoffs and scoots back in her seat. "I'm regretting it now, believe me." She runs her finger down the menu for a moment, and then just jabs at the number four. What could go wrong?

With the choosing out of the way (for now,) Liyara looks up to Yoiko with a warm smile. "Your outpost is actually very comfortable. I had expected from the designs I'm familiar with... well, it didn't look like your federation valued creature comforts much." The Federation and Starfleet are not synonymous in that regard, Liyara...


Yoiko grins, "Well, we've got a little bit of luck on our side honestly. Normally we don't have this much space." She's referring to the Promenade. "Because this is a Deep Space Outpost that's been repurposed it was already built expecting people to not see fresh air or plants for months if not years on end. Half the reason we've been so slow to get it set up is simply because it was all decommissioned after the Organian Peace Treaty. Took me months to get all the electrical systems online again. It's been a rough year but it'll be worth it in the end." Obviously Yoiko has forgotten the time discrepancy between the station and Twisted.

"I still need to reach out to the Doc and let him know that we have everything up and running." Her voice lowers conspiratorially. "I personally felt he could wait until after we met up again." She smiles warmly, "You were higher on the priority list." Okay, maybe not technically but Liyara doesn't need to know that.


"You flatter me." Liyara replies easily, and grins just as easily. "Though I imagine it didn't require a great deal of effort to convince yourself to delay. He seems to take delight in tormenting, and you don't strike me as the type who enjoys it." There's a glimmer of mischief in those green eyes - but the dragonborn changes the subject quickly. "A full year, back amongst... well, I don't want to say homogenous. A full year back amongst the uniforms, then." Due to a few tricks Liyara has been practicing while Yoiko was gone, it's been near a year for her, as well. Tree-based time dilation is the best kind of time dilation.

"So once Starfleet stopped needing to keep an eye on the space Orcs, they no longer felt the need to maintain this station?" Space Orcs?!? "I suppose that makes sense, though how you could simply abandon a space station is, frankly, beyond me." The logistics of re-supplying are probably a large part of that, Liyara.


"You flatter me." Liyara replies easily, and grins just as easily. "Though I imagine it didn't require a great deal of effort to convince yourself to delay. He seems to take delight in tormenting, and you don't strike me as the type who enjoys it." There's a glimmer of mischief in those green eyes - but the dragonborn changes the subject quickly. "A full year, back amongst... well, I don't want to say homogenous. A full year back amongst the uniforms, then." Due to a few tricks Liyara has been practicing while Yoiko was gone, it's been near a year for her, as well. Tree-based time dilation is the best kind of time dilation.

"So once Starfleet stopped needing to keep an eye on the space Orcs, they no longer felt the need to maintain this station?" Space Orcs?!? "I suppose that makes sense, though how you could simply abandon a space station is, frankly, beyond me." The logistics of re-supplying are probably a large part of that, Liyara.



Yoiko can't help but laugh at the space orc comment. "Well, the Orcs where Klingons, but essentially. Right, you wouldn't know about the Organians. Basically the Federation and the Klingon Empire where forced to start peace talks by these people who had evolved into some upper life forms. The treaty they signed changed where the Neutral Zone between our political powers was kept. The Klingons lost a lot more than we did in the deal, but they had also tried to destroy a few of our outposts." She gestures her hand as if trying to speed herself along. "The long and short of it was that this station got left behind. The most important technologies where stripped out and she was left in a kind of ship graveyard."

She pauses long enough to look around wishing their drinks had arrived before continuing again. "Anyways, when I got back to my ship the Captain, Jonathon, and I went back to Command and explained the situation. They decided to pull the station out of mothballs and have her towed here. Jon's now been assigned to oversee the entire station and like I said earlier I'm getting a field promotion to Captain so I can lead the Vesuvius. She's going to remain in orbit as well in case we need a show of force and I'll be slowly overhauling her as we" The woman chuckles lightly to herself. "I'm sorry. I'm rambling. You don't want to hear any of this." She snickers again and adds, "It's funny. I spend so much time in my own head while people yell at me that I need to be more open and here I am spilling my thoughts on you."


Liyara listens and nods along at the explanation of the Organians. She actually had heard of the treaty, but she would much rather let Yoiko explain it than point this out. Not only is this Yoiko's world, but in truth the redheaded dragon could listen to Yoiko talk for a while. Being a walking exposition dispenser is one of Liyara's hobbies as well - she's not likely to judge someone for it.

When Yoiko pauses and looks around for drinks, Liyara gestures to someone she saw in the back, and something in the look she gives him causes the drinks to come out much faster than they might have otherwise. It's just a certain... presence. She turns her attention back to Yoiko as the woman continues, and a slow smile grows on her face as the blonde Trill just talks herself out for a bit. When she apologizes, that smile turns into a playful smirk. "Oh, I want to hear all of it, I promise." Her eyes glitter again, and she winks at her companion.

"I think you'll find my lust for knowledge to be quite formidable." Oh come on now, who talks like that?


The idea of rambling on about such boring, mundane matters bothers Yoiko more than she can articulate. But thinking on it a moment gives her an idea. "How do you feel about music? My last host was a musician. Personally I'm a bit obsessed with 20th century Earth music, but I think one who 'lusts' for knowledge like you might appreciate something from my people." She gives a wide pinball smile and holds up a finger, "I'd have to run down to Fabrication, mind you, but I could get it made quickly." Yoiko lowers her hand and sighs, "Might be faster than our order." With a nervous smile she tries to push past what she's decided in her mind was an awkward moment. "Or if you really 'lust' for knowledge, you could ask me something." She looks down at her uniform and frowns, "I'm really regretting not changing clothes before we left actually."


"What wouldn't I want to learn?" Liyara leans back in her chair, making a show of spreading her arms wide to take in everything with the gesture. "When I first arrived on Twisted, I pored through aging, decrepit tomes in what passes for their library. I learned of the way their interconnected networks function, how their agriculture had advanced well beyond Torilian techniques, what kind of projectile weaponry they favored, the state of various systems of their 'modern' government, and the power of MP3s." She says the last as though it is of completely equal footing with the other things. "It's all still in here." She taps the side of her head, smiling.

"I'm sure you could regale me with an infinite wealth of scientific principles and findings." Liyara actually says this a hint dismissively. "And I would find it fascinating." She waves a hand as if to dismiss the thought. Then she leans in and gives Yoiko an excited stare, right in the eyes. "...But not so fascinating as what you choose to tell me, what you think is most important, most interesting, and most exciting." Ah. Make it personal, then?


Yoiko blushes and swallows hard. Feeling quite put on the spot, the Trill woman begins to rub her hand nervously. When she speaks again her voice is much quieter. One might almost call it mousey. "I /want/ to tell you everything. I do." There's a little more emotion in her voice, but only long enough to say, "It's exciting to open up to you." Her gaze drops down to the table they sit at, however. "But it's different when I ramble off and when you ask me to pick a subject." When her gaze comes up again there's a scared innocence in her eyes making her seem like the frightened little girl she probably once was. "There's also a lot of taboo subjects I'm not /allowed/ to talk about." This has more to do with her species than her profession, not that Liyara would know that. "I've put a lot of thought into what I've already said to you and I think part of it is that intoxication I felt being on Twisted, but part of that is also that you feel like such an outsider. So much of that baggage isn't there when I tell you things." She forcefully puts her hands in her lap to stop fidgeting with them. She doesn't speak after that, partly because she doesn't know what to say.


Yoiko's reaction causes Liyara to dial it back a notch or two. The pattern that's started to emerge isn't one of mixed signals after all, but one of conflicting emotions. This isn't a problem Liyara typically has; she's usually a very decisive personality - for better or worse. She furrows her brows for just a moment, then smiles and places her empty hand on the table, palm up and open.

"I'm not a dream, or an escape." Her eyes light up as she gives another of her musical laughs. "By all accounts, I am a wild and crazy storm, and I cannot promise I will not pull or toss you about." Her fingertips curl up very slightly, as if waiting for something. "...But I can promise I'll listen."


Seeing the upturned hand, Yoiko instinctively reaches out and holds it. Hopefully that was the gesture being made. But to herself she thinks, o(maybe I wasn't being clear enough.) "Let me try it another way. Let me tell you about my people. I know I've mentioned it before, but maybe..." Her voice quiets so as not to make it easy for anyone beyond their table to overhear. "I come from a race called the Trill. Most of the Federation thinks I come from a world they call Trillius Prime. The only experience they have with us are as traders or cargo carriers. My people don't open up to others. In our society doing so is taboo. It comes from a lot to do with our symbionts." She takes her free hand and holds it just under her ribs as if to illustrate the point. "Our doctors don't even know they exist. Honestly if I hadn't been on Twisted I would have never breathed a word about them to you. Not because I don't trust you, but because we're bred from childhood not to say a word to anyone about them. Even the process of getting joined isn't discussed publicly even though it's one of the great honors of my people."

The woman shakes her head, tugging at Liyara's hand slightly. "I don't think you're a dream even if you do look as pretty as one." She smiles finally, even if it does feel a little forced. "And I never thought of you as an escape. I've lived two other lifetimes already. I've watched loves grow old and die. I know that what matters is the fleeting moments of happiness you get." She says all this and then sighs heavily. "But I come from a people that demand secrecy. There's a difference between freely giving information and volunteering that knowledge." A slight blush rises on her cheeks, "One is a lot easier to do than the other."


Yoiko was being plenty clear enough - but Liyara lacks... well, a lot of things. In this case, it's easy to write it off as context, but more importantly perhaps, Liyara actually hasn't had a lot of close, interpersonal conversations with people about their feelings. It's just... not really come up. The closest she's come are the conversations she had to endure with Korrin, and he wasn't exactly a subtle person.

"...Ah." She sounds like she is starting to get it a bit more now, although who knows what she actually realized? "Well..." She begins, and then someone finally comes out from the back with two very large bowls of what appear to be noodle soup. She waits patiently while they're set down, glances at them briefly, and then shrugs. "Maybe I should interrogate you someplace else then." But the food just got here! She glances down at the food, which actually smells quite tasty, whatever it is. "I've formed no emotional attachment to this dish."


At the sight of whatever these ...soups? Yoiko shrugs. "Hey, look. We went through a lot of steps for this food. Either we eat it or take it with us. I'm not letting you just abandon them!" She grins playfully. "You can't cast aside these bowls like you can our feelings! Have you no shame!?" There's an infectious bit of giggling but she does her best to wrangle them back quickly. "I don't much care where we are. It's not like we're being spied on. I'm just explaining my own trepidations." She squeezes her hand once before letting go. "Up to you, though. I'm fine either way."


Yoiko's improvisational drama draws a grin from Liyara, and she returns that squeeze of the hand before looking back to the food. "Well, if you're going to symbolically link the food to our relationship, I think I have to eat it now." She takes the utensils set beside the soup - chopsticks apparently - and looks at them dubiously. "...Right." Moving right along from admitting she doesn't know how to use those, then.

"I think I can guess why you were granted such an honor, but is there a reason why," Liyara gestures to Yoiko in general, "it must be kept secret? Is it perhaps the source of an infinite and unknowable wisdom that the universe will rise up to war over? Perhaps it makes excellent tea? Just let me know when I'm getting warm."


For an Engineer, Yoiko doesn't know what to think of the bowl of noodles and stares at them blankly. In a perfect world it'll be mistaken as her considering the questions but if it comes across that way it's just a moment of luck. To answer though, "There are only a few hundred symbionts on Trill. It's why it's such an honor to be chosen for joining. It's a way of passing our culture directly into future generations."

She shakes her head, gesturing wildly. "Could you IMAGINE how some of the barbaric idiots out there would react if they got it in their heads they could be granted immortality by stealing our symbionts?" She shudders, "The worst part is they can't survive in just anyone. That's another reason my species is so rigorously screened before being allowed to apply for a joining. If anything where to go wrong I would have to make the trek back home immediately. If anything happens to me or my symbiont my life would be over in minutes."

After a moment's thought she picks up the chopsticks and stares at them, trying to make sense of them. "Honestly even on my world we keep their location secret. Very few are even allowed to care for the unjoined symbionts. All I know is they're kept in a cave somewhere."


That draws a small grimace from Liyara. "I don't have to imagine. Once had a madbeard try to chop off my arm." She gestures to her left arm as if it's important that she point out WHICH one was going to get chopped. "Said if he ate it, he would gain my powers. I admit, I was briefly paralyzed by the enormity of his stupidity." She sounds sympathetic.


'Mad Beard' sounds like an apt description of a few people Yoiko has known over the years. Most of them Klingon. "Well. Wow. Your past romances must be some amazing wizards." There's no elaborating on that particular statement, just a wide grin. "I mean, I've heard of experiences being magical, but that's a whole new level." Yes, still going. "But seriously, the closest I could come to share is a ritual that would involve going back home and getting a priest involved. It's a bit strange, but it lets us place the memories of our past hosts into others. It's usually only done after taking a new host." She pauses and looks suspiciously to the side. Then she starts counting on her fingers. "...I might have to reach out to my family later."


"Wizards?" Liyara thinks of Elminster and is filled simultaneously with irritation and rage. She represses it quickly. "No." She shakes her head, and doesn't dwell further on the subject. She's already repressed her feelings about Adeline today - she doesn't need to bring those memories back up. She takes her chopsticks and fishes at the noodles, having marginal success for her first time, but not really knowing precisely what she's supposed to do.

"But I wouldn't mind adding an engineer to that list." She says, looking pleased with herself and almost like she's not aware she said it. She's paying attention to soup now! Things slip out.


Finally fed up with trying to figure out these sticks, Yoiko just picks the bowl up and sips it before even considering trying them again. She pulls the bowl away again just in time to hear Liyara's potential invite and inhale part of it before swallowing the rest down. Completely robbed of her cool, she starts to cough as she grabs a napkin to wipe her mouth.

In the back of her mind she can't help but think, 'It's going to be like huh?'

Watching Liyara use the chopsticks is enough of an example and the future Captain tries her hand at them as well with at least a passing success. Managing to eat at least two bites of her noodles, Yoiko sighs at the bowl. "This isn't the most efficient way of doing this."


Finally getting the noodles into a clump that looks like it won't scatter everywhere when she lifts them, Liyara lowers and turns her head a bit to get a good angle on the food. So her head is tilted already when Yoiko nearly chokes on her food. The dragon blinks and then flashes a quick grin. "Don't worry, I was also inept with these in the past." There's a single beat, and then the noodles slip off of her chopsticks right in front of her face because she waited too long. There's a quiet splash, and then spicy noodle broth just splatters her, mostly in the eyes. She winces more out of embarrassment than anything.

"...I still am. But I was, too."

Fortunately, her eyes don't well up with tears or get red with irritation. Liyara just calmly wipes her face off with a little sigh. "...I think maybe this calls for a different approach." She pauses for a moment, shrugs, and then just lifts the bowl and tips its edge to her lips and starts drinking. Well, that's one way to do it. Incredibly uncouth, but eating is not a place Liyara showcases a lot of dignity to begin with...


Yoiko can't help but grin as the dragonic woman gives up and starts drinking from her bowl as well, "When all else fails" Feeling partly justified for sipping from the bowl just seconds before she does the same. "See? Much more efficient." She drinks from it again before smiling, "We should go tell them they're doing this wrong. Teach them the error of their ways." There's a knowing nod in agreement with herself before she takes another drink and sits the bowl down.

"I wonder what the statistics are for people giving up versus doing this whatever the proper way is supposed to be?" That in mind she glances around at the still mostly empty deck musing to herself that it's probably better there's not really anyone around to witness this.


Without missing a beat, Liyara calmly offers up an unexpected response. "I could whip up a commune ritual, and we could ask your local deity. They're going to have to get used to a sudden influx of petitioners, after all." ...Who would even answer the call? That could go horrendously wrong, here. Anywhere, really, but especially in a place where the few deities people are aware of have a reputation for being...

...

...Capricious. Liyara tilts the bowl back further and actually swallows more of the soup and noodles than seems likely to fit in one mouth and throat at a time before setting the bowl down. It's already half empty. She wipes at her mouth very not-daintily and grins. She's got mischief in her eyes.


Raising an eyebrow at the statement, Yoiko's mind suddenly focus on that idea and gets hopelessly lost. "What even is the deity for the locals here?" As she ponders she leans an elbow on the table, resting her chin on her upturned knuckles in a classic 'thinking' position. "Now I have to know. Would we end up with whatever the locals on this station worship, or something that governs over Twisted?" She lays her other arm across the table, resting her free hand on the first arm. "People used to say the Devil was in charge of the city for a while. I'm not sure if I'm ready to meet him myself." Any possible mischief is lost to her as she can't help but keep pondering what the result of this thought experiment would be.


Liyara, who has already swallowed her food and placed her bowl down, manages to burst into a coughing fit. "Asmodeus?!" She manages, surprise evident in her tone and her chair tips back dangerously far for a moment. She takes a second, breathing in deep and adjusting how she's sitting. Her tail wouldn't have let her fall anyway, but her wings had gotten ready and tensed. These things happen. "...I don't... I don't think so. I'd know." Would she? Why's that?

The redhead clears her throat, and then leans forward on the table, putting her elbows on it to look predatory and gleeful where Yoiko only looks thoughtful. "You want to find out, though? What're you doing with your next ten minutes, anwyay?" ... Oh no.


Liyara, who has already swallowed her food and placed her bowl down, manages to burst into a coughing fit. "Asmodeus?!" She manages, surprise evident in her tone and her chair tips back dangerously far for a moment. She takes a second, breathing in deep and adjusting how she's sitting. Her tail wouldn't have let her fall anyway, but her wings had gotten ready and tensed. These things happen. "...I don't... I don't think so. I'd know." Would she? Why's that?

The redhead clears her throat, and then leans forward on the table, putting her elbows on it to look predatory and gleeful where Yoiko only looks thoughtful. "You want to find out, though? What're you doing with your next ten minutes, anwyay?" ... Oh no.


The name Asmodeus gets a strange blink from Yoiko as she tries to place the name and it fails her outside a few ships here and there. She watches Liyara closely as she converses briefly with herself and returns an innocent smile of her own at the question. "I've got as long as I need." Of course her smile corrupts ever so slightly and she can't help but add, "But there are other things I could think of doing with ten minutes." She lets her words hang over the table a moment before she sits back and chuckles, "I guess if you'd rather use those minutes to see what gods or demons reside over this region of space we could do that too."


That draws a single, surprised blink from Liyara, and she covers quickly with a smirk and lidded eyes. Her voice drops an octave and she leans over the table a bit. "Well. I could be persuaded, I suppo--" The dragon stiffens suddenly, and furrows her brow. She glances off to her left for a moment, tilting her head slightly like she's listening to something, and looks upset. "...What kind of safeguards does this station have against teleportation or other dimensional travel?"

That's definitely a mood killer for 99/100 people.


Yoiko glances around conspiratorially herself before leaning closer and lowering her voice, "Well. I've convinced them to relax the protocol for using the transporter for screening, which lets me use it without anyone finding out" She illustrates this point by tapping her chest insinuating her symbiont. "Aside from that our sensors are calibrated to detect transportation EQUIPMENT more so than actual transporting." She leans back at that point, her voice raising back to a normal level, "But that said, DISMENSIONAL travel isn't something we know how to screen for. The most security can do is detect someone unauthorized appearing suddenly on the station. Someone DISSAPEARING would actually go unnoticed so long as it wasn't someone being actively searched for." Oh, don't worry. Talking tech is never a mood killer for Yoiko Hax. "Why? My quarters is too good for us to be naked in?" She grins widely at that. "It's the gray metal walls, isn't it? It wasn't my first choice but…"


Liyara looks concerned as Yoiko describes the defenses, or basically the lack thereof, and it takes her a full second to realize that Yoiko did not in any way transition out of flirty talk with her. For someone with a brain as fast as Liyara's, that's practically an eternity. "Wh-- Oh, you're incorrigible!" It's an observation, not a complaint. She sounds almost as amused as she sounds frustrated.

Not bothering to explain, Liyara darts out of her chair, reaching for Yoiko's hand with the intent to drag the blonde out of her chair and start running. Liyara can run *pretty fast*, but she actually sort of needs Yoiko to keep up, here. "...I need a window. No elevators!" They're turbolifts. Not elevators. Technically they don't necessarily even go up and down depending on your destination and starting point...

Liyara probably isn't that concerned with the technicalities.


There's no resistance from Yoiko as her hand is grabbed and she's pulled to her feet, although she does hesitate just long enough to give an apologetic wave to the waiter before the two dart too far away from the table. An unhealthy jog in no general direction lasts only for a moment before she steers them towards the turbolift anyways.

"YES elevators." She pulls Liyara in and grabs one of the handles mounted onto the wall. "Docking Ring." Yoiko directs her guest to grab one as well so the elevator can start moving and with a whoosh and a few seconds of humming they find themselves back where they started outside the transporter room where the large windows surround the corridor. The same windows the dragoness casually leapt out of. "The downside is we're right across from the security office, but any other deck would have us surrounded by high ranking officers or medical staff."

With a huff, Yoiko crosses her arms. "Also I don't want to be corrigible. Let me have my fantasies about the two of us and a possible lack of sexy lingerie. I don't interfere with your fantasies." She playfully sticks her tongue out in a show of immaturity, although the option is there to take it any other way.


There is a flash of an irritated look from Liyara when Yoiko guides them into a turbolift, and the whole three seconds in there, she looks more nervous than a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs. Liyara springs out the second the lift doors open, and she looks around for those giant windows with wide, green eyes. "I realize, this isn't the right time..." She starts running towards the windows, quickly pulling ahead of Yoiko, when maybe three inches from her face, an honest-to-god fullblade bursts out of the air in a swirl of coruscating plasma.

The greatsword's big brother's bigger brother, the weapon has a full five feet of blade, and the blade itself is a solid ten inches wide at the base, and two inches thick. And the entire thing is giving off *heat* on levels that will set off environmental alarms pretty much immediately. Liyara falls backward in a graceful dodging motion like something out of earth's old martial arts movies, but her eyes lock with Yoiko's as the blade starts passing over her torso, and heading straight towards the blonde. The dragon twists in the air so that her tail can wrap around the weapon's hilt before it can proceed any further.

With the blade secured, Liyara slams all four of her limbs down into the ground to try and skip faster towards the windows, and spins around again so she can see them. Even as she spins, golden light surrounds her, and she finds herself right back outside the window in time to hurl the sword with a twist of her waist. It flies off away from the station, and a moment later an excessively handsome man in what appears to be tiger-hide armored coat appears holding it. For the briefest of seconds, he cuts a cunning figure, his blonde hair nearly matching the golden fur mane around the coat's neck. Then his free hand flies to his throat and his ice-blue eyes widen as he simultaneously starts suffocating, freezing, and internally boiling.

The handsome man doesn't explosively decompress, thankfully for everyone's lunch, but he does shudder, shiver, and glare at Liyara for a full second. The dragoness smiles and waves at him politely, before he just shakes his head and vanishes as quickly as he came, taking the burning blade with him. Liyara sighs, and then slides into a shadow, popping back up next to Yoiko as the sigh finishes.

"...But I was under the impression lingerie was supposed to be pleasant to look at." ...What? Oh. Right. ...What?


There's a lot a three lifetimes of experience and at least one full round of Federation training. Nothing that happens after the turbolift doors open qualifies as something Yoiko was prepared for. She has roughly enough time to emit a very girlish high-pitched yelp before getting sprayed in the face with foam from the fire suppression system. You'd think in the future they'd have some fancy forcefield that would come out of nowhere, but no. Foam. A thick white foam that seems to come down from the ceiling in sheets like an automatic car wash. It only lasts for about a moment, but then so does the conflict itself leaving Yoiko falling on her rump covered from head to toe in suds. She doesn't bother moving as the lights flick yellow and back, signaling the computer turning on a hazard alert and quickly cancelling it.

Very carefully she pushes herself back to her feet about the time three armed red-shirt wearing security officers arrive and are dismissed. "It's fine!! It's fine, just an accident." She lies before looking over at Lyiara suspiciously, "I hope?" Most of the foam on the floor is already dissolving away but it's very apparent Yoiko needs a fresh uniform.

"God, I'm going to have to write so much paperwork now."


The 'accident' happens so quickly that Liyara is actually back in the station again before the foam begins 'suppressing' the 'fire', and her surprise is noticeable. "Gack! Pheck. Mleh." She scrapes the foam off of her tongue, because she had the poor fortune to be speaking when it sprayed out. She flicks it off of her hand afterward for a minute, considers flaming up to burn it all off before remembering what probably sparked this foam in the first place.

"Ack. They don't like fire in the Federation?" She looks somewhat put out, but then she shakes most of it off, and her dress just... ceases to be foamy. That's just handy. She watches the security show up and be dismissed, and waits until they're gone before she wears a look of contrition. "Well, I certainly didn't mean for it to happen, but I wouldn't call it an accident." She frowns, then. "Not sure why Hoshi is trying to kill me, but it seemed pretty intentional." Her tail flicks in irritation behind her, and she looks Yoiko up and down.

"...Maybe we should continue this conversation after you get to your clothing artifact." Clothing artifact? "...The one that makes clothes." Her tail flicks back the other way. "...Because yours are soaked." Thank you, Liyara. She might have missed it.


Yoiko waits until most of the foam on the floor seems to dissolve away before walking back to the turbolift with a look of defeat. "Okay, so excusing the two really obvious jokes I could be making about the situation - you want to tell me what a Hoshi is and tell me why you needed a window so bad? Did you KNOW that was about to happen?"

The doors open letting a very confused blue person out who's antennae seem to move to further express the look of shock on his face. Yoiko just shakes her head at him as she motions for Liyara to follow and requests a lift back to the deck her temporary quarters are located on.

When they eventually arrive, her boots can be clearly heard squelching with each step. She says nothing as she walks into her quarters, leaving room for an explanation. Luckily the door will shut behind Liyara as soon as she steps inside. The Trill woman doesn't even stop to think about modesty as she walks towards the gray door at the rear of the room past her bed, pressing a button to keep it open, and strips off her clothes with her back turned. (Yes. The spots go all the way down to her feet.) Stepping into a circular standing shower with fogged glass, she then proceeds to scrub herself clean as best she can. Minutes ago there would have been a standing invitation and a deliberate delay, but for now she simply turns off the water, dries her hair on a towel hanging in the shower, and comes out again with it wrapped around herself.

She says nothing yet about Liyara's explanation choosing instead to comment off-topic. "There's a new thing called a sonic shower being tested for use on starships. It uses sound instead of water." She frowns as she sits down on the edge of her bed. "Sounds ghastly, doesn't it?" It's all she can think to say until she thinks about things a little more…


"Hoshi is an old friend of mine from my rebellious, anti-monarchy youth." Liyara clarifies almost-helpfully. "And I didn't know *what* was about to happen... But I knew something was, and I knew I needed to get away from people." She glances at Yoiko meaningfully as they walk - it's pretty clear really she mostly just wanted to get clear of Yoiko. "I knew he wouldn't be able to fight in space, so a window with sight outside of the station seemed logical." She gestures around them.

"I mean no offense, but it's a little... Mistledale-esque around here. No place for a fight. I'm sure he didn't know that or mean to start a fight around innocents. But five minutes ago I'd have told you I was sure we were on good terms. So." She sounds vexed, too, for what it's worth.

Once they're in Yoiko's quarters, Liyara watches, indeed curious if the engineers spots go all the way down, but the heavy flirtatious air that had surrounded them is gone now. Dissolved in the foam, with the 'fire'. There's a metaphor there if someone wants to reach for it.

"... Sonic showers? That sounds terrible, and I don't even *like* water."


Yoiko nods. The conversation about the showers being a good enough distraction from what just occurred. "Right? Imagine the awful noise they probably make when they need to be repaired too? Yeah, sure. Water reclamation on most ships is nearly a deck on by itself, but we'd be having to clean and purify that water anyways. Why wouldn't you want to use water?" She shakes her head, unintentionally causing a few drops of water to fall around her. "It's supposed to be faster, so maybe it's a time saving measure?"

With a slightly exhausted sigh she rises to her feet again and goes to the rounded dresser in the corner of the room to dig out some clothes. Her hand comes to a rest on a uniform dress but she pauses, turning to face Liyara as she leans against the closest wall. "I know this was all probably very unexpected and I know this hasn't been the best visit, but..." She bites her bottom lip pondering the best way to ask this question. "You're welcome to stay as long as you like. I could even get you temporary quarters if you weren't comfortable?" Comfortable 'here' goes deliberately unsaid. Her words hint at a question she isn't sure if she should blurt out or not now that things have become more serious and 'real' once more. It's an important question however. Her choice of clothes depends on it!


"Water reclamation..." Liyara repeats the phrase to herself, having thought almost nothing about the long-term logistics of wildspace travel. It probably helps that she doesn't actually need water to live. Carbon-based lifeforms be damned, elemental magic-based lifeforms are an entirely different breed of beast. The dragon-woman shakes her head to clear it, and gives a thin smile. "Aside from the plasma sword, I thought it was an altogether pleasant visit. I'd certainly not turn down the offer ordinarily." Ordinarily.

"...But if Hoshi is going to start coming after me now that I'm out of the singularity, we've only got about eight hours or so before he sleeps off the chill of wildspace and tries again. And I don't want to..." Liyara pauses, and makes a face. "...I like you too much to think about what I'd do if you got hurt because of me." She crosses her arms under chest, and shakes her head. Her horns peek out of her hair again as the red tresses settle around them. "Which I'll vehemently deny if anyone asks."


The slightest bit of crimson spreads across Yoiko's cheeks as Liyara responds. With a slightly embarrassed laugh she reaches for the uniform dress and her under-clothes before making her way into the bathroom and getting dressed. "It's okay, I understand." There's a brief hint in her words that it wasn't quite the reaction she was hoping for, but she steps out in a red uniform dress, showing it up a little before fetching a new pair of longer boots. Yes, she's still in uniform but it's also the first time she's gone without slacks in probably years. Of course if Liyara where sticking around longer she would have gotten out something else entirely...

"Wearing something like this isn't really practical when I have to crawl around in ducts should machinery break down, but it's not like I'm going to be doing that anytime soon." That's a fancy way of saying she put this on for Liyara's sake. "You /could/ stay though. I'd love to run tests on our shields against your magic. See if maybe we can keep unwanted visitors from simply appearing and waving swords around." She could probably make that into a more compelling argument but she likes Liyara too much to do that to her.


When Yoiko comes back out, Liyara doesn't make any effort to hide her enthusiasm for the engineer's choice of dress, her viridian eyes literally glowing with appreciation. "It looks good; you look good. I've never understood the point of hiding your beauty - it's one of your weapons. Like your mind, or your strange anti-fire-foam." That's not a weap-- you know what? No point in trying to explain that.

"Your mind gives you power over reality, your beauty gives you power over..." Men? Some women? "...People with eyes." Sure, that's as good an explanation as any. The redhead shifts a bit, her eyes drifting down to the boots, and then back up to Yoiko's eyes. How do you say no to someone like that?

"I'd like to stay." She sounds genuine, and her smile warms a little. "Well. I'm not sure I'd like to give an entire galactic government the means to block my magic." She confesses her hesitance readily. "But I'd like to work on the problem with you anyway." Mixed signals, there. Is she staying, or going? "Next time he'll send in an exploding tanglefoot bag or some..." She wiggles her fingers dismissively. "...stupid runepriest thing. He's given me his warning shot." Liyara looks into Yoiko's eyes for a moment, and then uncrosses her arms and crosses most of the space between them, locking their gaze.

There's something about those too-green eyes - something more expressive than should be possible. They're endless wells of elemental emerald, and deep within they hold gaping chasms of an inscrutable feeling. Could it be fear? Liyara's voice is low and hushed when she speaks, very melodramatic, but no less vulnerable for it.

"I can't..." A swallowed whisper becomes a hesitant step back, and she looks uncertain. Her voice rises and hardens, cracking a bit. "...won't. I won't be held responsible for what I do if you get hurt." That's almost sweet.


Rather than draw this out further as most people with emotions are want to do, Yoiko takes the initiative stepping forwards and just kissing her on the lips already. If Liyara doesn't fight it she'll hold there for a moment before backing off and letting out a laugh. "Stop being lame."

This time she's the one to back away, reaching for a hairbrush and leaving the woman to stand awkwardly. To be fair it'd probably be the same reaction should her kiss be rejected but with a little less mirth to her words. "I need protecting about as much as you do, which is to say not much. Yes, you're a dragon who can apparently breathe in space and I'm a fleshy meat sack with a slug inside them, but I'm also days away from officially being the captain of a Starship whose mission involves going to uncharted and dangerous worlds for the sake of knowledge and exploration."

She pauses but deliberately holds up a finger to shush Liyara before continuing, "I've survived an explosion that ripped one of our starships apart, I can survive whatever your 'friend' throws at us too but not if you don't give me a chance. You've got magic, I've got science. Let's meet somewhere in the middle and see where it gets us."

Putting down the hairbrush, she grabs a handful of her hair and ties it back in a ponytail with a hair tie that was wrapped around the brush. "Also, it's not like we have to do it HERE. I was on Twisted for a year before three months passed here, and I've no intention of letting Starfleet neuter you of your magic - or even realize you have it." She marches over to her concealed safe to grab a black case with a strap and put it on like a purse.

"ALSO, I'm not giving you a choice. Let's head out. I'll deal with the paperwork when I get back."


Liyara is certainly surprised when Yoiko just steps forward and cuts through this emotional turmoil the dragon keeps building up. She blinks, then lets her eyes close for a moment until Yoiko steps back, and then she'll give a tiny little laugh. Lame. "What does that even mean? I can walk." She actually looks a hint unsteady on her feet, despite saying that, but it's only a brief moment before she opens her eyes and smiles. Bad mood gone! Who knew it was that easy?

Rather predictably, she opens her mouth to object when Yoiko says she doesn't need protection, but the engineer has a finger up! Liyara actually looks a bit embarrassed at that, and holds her tongue. She nods at Yoiko's suggestion, and then smiles again when the woman forcefully suggests they're going now. She holds the back of one hand to her forehead and mocks swooning. "A rescue. My hero."


Yoiko lets out a laugh. "Look, I've got that shuttle I was working on back in my 'apartment'. You could probably get it outside so we can actually fly it around without ripping a hole in reality. You and I know Twisted is inside a black hole. You've got some asshole trying to kill you. Let's change the specifics and set a trap for them when they show up again." She holds up a finger again, pausing herself this time, as she walks into the office side of the quarters and grabs the weird tuning fork communicator hybrid, putting that in the purse-like satchel for now. "Look, we did it once, we can do it again. Maybe it's something between the two of us, maybe it's a side effect of our realities overlapping because of Twisted? Who knows. But why not take advantage of it?" She ponders a better way to word that, glancing down at the satchel with a grin, "Let's rewrite our character sheets."

Epilogue...



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