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The Cohen Clover

Angie Mae & Anin 2

copyright comidacomida 2020

Once everyone had arrived The Parlor took on a festive air. Together again, the Pod celebrated in earnest, and, according to the Tikk attendant at the food counter, Dr. Cohen had authorized some distribution of alcoholic beverages. Angie Mae was not the least bit surprised to see almost everyone take immediate advantage of the offerings, but Angel put them all to shame. Despite most nations taking part in the Unity Programme had a drinking age of somewhere between 14 and 18, most places in the United States still had a minimum age of 21, thus despite it being legal, Angie Mae still declined.

Drinks for Phins and Humans were passed around by other Pod members, most of whom were drinking responsibly but, like Angie Mae, Seraph declined, as did Coaster. Although there had been minimum opportunities to partake over the years in the Unity Centre, Angie Mae thought she remembered Coaster having a fondness for alcohol. During a break in the conversation she brought it up. "Not drinking tonight?"

Coaster offered a good-humored click-trill, giving his and Andy's two offspring a gentle bounce in his arms. "Well... with Jim and Splasher here I decided it would be better to keep a clear head."

That statement, of course, opened the floodgates of questions as, for the second time that afternoon, everyone made a big fuss about all of the little ones; Cherub was not immune, nor was Charlie and Clicker's little one, Jared. The parents keeping an eye on their offspring gathered them up and put them into a play circle of sorts; since most of them were closing in on a year old the human babies were shifting position constantly and crawling; Splasher, being the only calf, put them all to shame, walking around them in circles with the aid of his tail.

Angie Mae listened in on the conversation in general even as she watched the children. Although she'd never really felt the call of motherhood she could still appreciate the plethora of cute faces and enjoyed observing the antics; she could very much tell that Cherub was going to grow up to be as dynamic and as outgoing as his mother while Splasher would undoubtedly be a handful. Jared and Jim seemed content to 'banter' back and forth in baby-talk, busying themselves with trying to grab and hold onto one another's hands, squealing all the while.

Even while admiring the amazing aptitudes and developing personalities of the babies and calf, Angie Mae's mind assessed the unbelievable nature of what she was looking at. Every one of the little ones were half or three quarters Phin, and half or one quarter Human-- they were a blending of the two separate species into a crossbreed, and yet they were nigh indistinguishable from the race which they more closely resembled. Granted, Splasher had hazel eyes, which were not normal for a Phin, and both Jared and Jim had silver hair, but they were otherwise non-spectacular for their respective physiologies. Cherub, however....

Angel and Seraph's little one resembled a normal baby in most aspects, but his skin had a large amount of pigmentation, which wouldn't have been anything abnormal considering Angel's dark skin tone, but the little one's hue was almost Longos-gray. According to the doctors at Station Zero it was a perfectly normal condition for offspring born to a Human parent of dark skin tones; apparently there was a mom at Station Zero from Paupa New Guinea whose half-Phin son was Human in appearance but an even darker shade of gray than a Longos.

She was snapped out of her musings when Roller sat down at the table next to her, having returned from a trip up to the food counter. "This place is a lot better than what they had at The Academy."

Angie Mae turned to regard him. "Oh? What was that like?"

Her former partner began dividing up the crab and seaweed salad he'd ordered and it didn't take long before she realized what he was doing. In the final weeks she and Roller had been together they learned a lot about one another; one of those things was that they each had different kinds of sea weed they preferred. As she watched, the Longos meticulously picked out all of the Gracilaria from the salad and set it to the side of the tray closest to her. He responded to her question as he worked. "It was as worse compared to the Unity Center as the Unity Centre is compared to here."

She smiled, accepting the tray from him when he offered it to her and, unsurprisingly, he handed her a fork, having obtained two from the counter. "Well, you're here now, so you'll have plenty of time to enjoy The Parlor, just like the rest of us."

Before he started eating, Roller speared a large chunk of crab and moved it over to join the seaweed on her tray. "Company is more important than food... I'm glad that I'm back with my Pod again."

Angie Mae felt her cheeks blush a little but she nodded through it. "Everyone was so excited when we heard you'd be joining us."

Roller offered a human-like nod. "Yes... but I understand that not all of us are working in Special Projects?"

She nodded back, chewing on a small fork-full of the flavorful algae and taking advantage of those several seconds to formulate her answer. "Right... just you and me. I'm the only pod member who's been over there."

Despite Phins lacking the kind of expressions Humans could use, Angie Mae had learned out to read them and she could see that Roller looked distressed. His words said as much, especially in his tone. "Oh, Angie Mae... I hope you still found time to get together with everyone. I know Humans seek companionship as much as Phins do."

Smiling, she reached out to pat his forearm comfortingly. "Well, yeah... of course! The Parlor here is available for everyone. No, I might not get to see everyone during the day or at work, but we're hanging out here all the time."

Roller's posture relaxed slightly as he served himself up a fork of crab and seaweed, speaking before shoveling it in. "Good. I have been worried about you."

She rolled her eyes and gave him a light elbow. "Yeah? Well that's nothing compared to me worrying about you."

He finished chewing, and gave her a playful squeak before adding dryly "Oh... so we are having a contest now over who was more worried?"

Angie Mae gave him another light elbow. "No... it's just, almost the whole Pod was here with me, and you went off to the Academy alone. I didn't even know if I'd ever get to see you again, or... to... you know... thank you for--"

Even as she was saying it, the young woman realized she was taking the discussion down a path that would only destroy the positive air of the get-together. Fortunately Max joined them, and it gave her a chance to cut short things that would have ruined the mood further. Taking a seat across the table from the two of them, Max smiled. "It's really good to see the two of you together again, you know."

Unable to help herself, Angie Mae smiled, and she saw the equivalent on Roller's beak. He reached over and gave her hand a light squeeze as he reiterated her earlier statement, but without the mood killer at the end. "Even if we're not all in the same division, the whole Pod is together again at Station Zero."

At that point Carver joined them as well. The Amplus, as usual, looked like he was smiling, and the tone to his voice further reinforced his seemingly endless positivity. "It will be great starting the work week with everyone, and getting our the new additions brought up to speed on all of the projects."

Roller offered a double-click of agreement. "Yes. And it will be good to meet everyone." He turned toward Angie Mae. "Are you getting along well with your new partner?"

Despite the pleasant tone he used, Angie Mae knew Roller well enough at that point to catch the faint upward inflection of his voice, suggesting that he was trying to hide some of his concern for her, which made sense considering how difficult a time she'd had transitioning from Walker to him back when they'd first met. The situation she faced at Station Zero was far different and, much to her joy, she was able to confirm that she had indeed handled it well. "Oh, definitely. Anin is a bundle of joy. In fact, I think he's around here--"

Once her gaze met Max's she saw him shake his head. Angie Mae only had to offer up a questioning glance before he explained. "He said something about it getting really loud so he was going to head back to his apartment."

She wasn't surprised in the least, except for her own lack of attention to the fact that new additions to the room wouldn't have been an easy thing for her Ikali companion to handle, especially while she wasn't there to keep him calm. Letting out a long sigh, she nodded before looking back to Roller. "I'll introduce you to him on another day... he gets a little shy among big crowds of new people and he's still getting used to the rest of the Pod as it is."

Roller did not hide his surprise. "You've all been here for a year and he still isn't used to everyone?"

She had to go back and explain the slow integration, and that she herself hadn't worked with him for any great length of time prior to a week past. They strolled as they talked, excusing themselves from the noise of The Parlor to make a lazy circuit of the courtyard. Eventually Angie Mae took a seat on an open-backed bench beneath one of Station Zero's many mangrove trees. Roller joined her as she concluded "So, now that Anin is done with his integration and we're both full fledged research assistants instead of interns, Dr. Cohen wants us to get more work time together."

Roller nodded thoughtfully, still displaying his command of Human non-verbal communication. "It makes sense. I am glad everything is working out for you and that you have found a partner that is a good fit."

Angie Mae reached out and took hold of one of her ex-partner's hands and, suddenly, she felt her eyes tearing up as thoughts of the past returned unbidden. "You were a really good fit too, Roller. I-I'm sorry things turned out how they had back when-- you know. I-- I really... I really wish that--"

His fluke slapped the mason wall behind the bench softly, but firmly enough to make a distinct sound that caused her to halt her statement. Roller shook his head, gently pulling his hand out of hers before relocating it to her cheek, thumb hooked under her chin as he offered a smile. "You have nothing to apologize for, and no wishes that need to be granted, Angie Mae Kline. We have both made it and no matter the path we took to get here, here we are."

There were a number of things she'd wanted to say since her last time speaking with Roller; there were unanswered questions, and considerations she hadn't even thought up until recent weeks. There was something Angie Mae needed to know, but she couldn't get the words out. Instead, she asked a different question. "Did you have a good partner at the Academy? They give you a partner there, right?"

Roller's hand slowly came away from her face and returned to his leg as he nodded. "Yes, I did have a partner. He was annoying at first, but we found common ground. In a way, it made me think of the partner I had before him."

It was exactly the kind of answer she expected from the quick-thinking, quirky Longos and, despite the lengthy time they'd been away, she felt all of that time disappear in a breath. Although he'd had his hand on her face, she mimicked the gesture and, before she could psyche herself out or think better of it, Angie Mae leaned over and flexed her legs so she could ease herself off the bench and press her lips to his beak.

It wasn't a lengthy kiss, and it wasn't a slow one either; it was as long as it needed to be in order to tell Angie Mae what she desperately needed to know. As she eased back on the bench she quickly spoke up before Roller could. "I... just had to know."

He remained looking at her, beak parted slightly, eyes blank. "Had to know what?"

She felt her face redden. "If there was a-- I mean... I haven't really ever had much experience with boys, and I..."

Roller blinked. "You wanted to know if there was something between us?"

Angie Mae felt her face redden more. "I... yes."

He cocked his head to the side slightly. "I enjoyed the kiss, Angie Mae... but... I think of you as a friend."

In every teenage romance movie she'd ever seen, Angie Mae recognized that statement as the death knell for the protagonist's heart and yet, in that moment, she felt only relief. Letting out a long breath, she fought hard to keep her expression neutral. "Oh... good.... Me too."

He reached up and took her hand away from his face before giving it another squeeze. "I am glad we can agree on that then. You are my BEST friend, and I like it that way."

In a way she was confused by how good that statement made her feel, but it still made her happy. Angie Mae was far more excited to know where they stood then to stumble her way into a romantic relationship-- she really wasn't ready for one anyway. With that pressing unanswered question finally gone from her mind she was able to have a much more relaxed evening with Roller: her best friend.

* * * * *

The following day started the same as any other Saturday for Angie Mae; as a member of Special Projects she had her own apartment and Saturday was her cleaning day. She awoke early, did some morning calisthenics, and began her task of straightening up her bedroom, sweeping and dusting the main room, and was just getting started on moving dishes from the drying board into the cabinet in her kitchen when she received a message on the data pad she'd left on the counter. She only glanced at it briefly before she stopped everything she was doing an answered it, pressing the CONNECT button. "Good morning, Nathan!"

Dr. Cohen had always insisted that he be treated like a normal person out of work, and that meant foregoing any official title. His smiling face appeared via video feed on her data pad. "Good morning, Angie Mae. Did I catch you at a good time?"

She smiled back. "Nothing that couldn't be interrupted... I was just putting some dishes away. What can I do for you?"

He got right down to business. "I'm finishing up the roll out for the Unity Centre in Riparian Earth and I needed to run a few things by you. Are you available today in an hour?"

Angie Mae glanced to the clock. "Noon? Where would you like to meet?"

Nathan pressed a few buttons and she saw the calendar reminder pop up on her data pad. "I know it's technically a day off, but I think this would be best to discuss in the office. See you there?"

She nodded. "Yep. See you then."

Taking the hour to finish up her work in the kitchen then get properly dressed for the day, Angie Mae headed down the stairs and made for the labs several minutes ahead of schedule. When she arrived in the work area she saw that Nathan, with the help of an Amplus she didn't recognize, had several tables pushed back and was in the process of arranging a small circle of chairs in the cleared floor space. She closed the door politely behind herself, but with a little more force than necessary to herald her arrival.

Dr. Cohen looked up immediately. "Oh! Angie Mae! You're early... as usual!"

His ear-to-ear smile identified his statement as a playful jab at her; her idol's casual demeanor had taken some getting used to but she usually found herself far more calmed by it than annoyed. That day was no exception. "It looks like we're expecting some other?"

Nodding to her, Nathan gestured to the Phin. "Thank you for your help, Dredger. I think Ms. Kline and I can handle everything from here."

The Amplus provided a succinct click-trill of ascent before adding in English. "You are welcome, Dr. Nathan Cohen. My mate Alex said I needed to get out a little so he is watching the little one. Thank you for the chance to help out."

Angie Mae gave the large black-and-white fit a wide berth as he made his way past her toward the exit. Dredger seemed pleasant enough, but his size brought up the unpleasant feelings of anxiety. She pushed those thoughts out of her mind as she moved forward to help her boss put the ring of chairs together; there were five in total. It begged a question. "So... I take it this talk includes more than the two of us?"

He smiled in return, taking a seat in one of the chairs himself. "Yes. Yes it is. I wanted to invite all of the staff that will be transferring with me to Riparian Earth to a planning session."

She nodded thoughtfully at that statement before doing a double-take. "Wait-- transferring? You mean..."

Anin emerged from behind one of the work counters, bobbling his way over toward the circle of chairs. "Nathan is taking four of us with him back to MY Earth. He thinks you and I will be a good pair to have there!"

The Ikali's whiskers were quirked up at almost a 45 degree angle; it was a huge smile by any indication. He reached out to pull at the lever, lowering the seat next to Angie Mae as far down as it would go before climbing up into it. She had trouble coming up with a response to her partner's statement, but Nathan saved her the trouble. "I can understand that things may be moving fairly quickly for you, but you don't have to be too concerned; the transfer is still three months away, so there will still be time to prepare."

She wanted to ask more questions, but just then the door to the lab opened and two more Phins entered; one was Roller. Angie Mae stood up to greet her Podmate, exchanging a hug with him before he sat down next to her on the side opposite Anin; the Ikali peeked around her at the Phin. She wasted no time. "Anin, this is Roller. He was my Partner back at the Unity Centre. Roller, this is Anin; he's my work partner here at Station Zero."

Anin, despite easing a little further away in his chair, slapped one of the legs with his thick rudder-tail, making a convincing-sounding non-verbal Phin greeting equivalent. Roller responded with one in kind, glancing at Angie Mae before tick-click-trilling his positive impression of the Otter's knowledge. Anin interjected, replying right back in Phin "Thank you. I am learning."

Unlike Humans, the Ikali had a better capacity to replicate some of the Phin sounds. A Human who knew the language could manage to speak perhaps 100 to 120 words of the Phin language; Anin, who was considered the expert among his kind, was up to nearly 3000. Angie Mae didn't have to explain that to Roller for him to be impressed; surprisingly, Anin went right past his usual timid introductory phase and jumped right in and struck up a conversation-- for all of two minutes before Nathan got down to business and started the meeting.

* * * * *

The Special Projects division had a small party that evening; celebrations were not uncommon among the group and Saturdays WERE the chosen day for it, so it only made sense that they would welcome the new members to the team. It was a relatively quiet affair with far fewer attendees than the welcome party the prior night at The Parlor-- the fact that the Special Projects Division was limited to eleven members (including the two new recruits) meant that the gathering was fairly intimate.

Nathan and Angie Mae were the only Humans present, while Heather and Aiden rounded out the Cohen family's participation (and half-Phins). There was an Album researcher named Quick Counter, and Roller, along with the other new recruit Gamer, were the Longos members of the team. In addition to Anin, the Ikali were also represented by a female Nokali named Nanna, who was shorter than Anin by about as much as was shorter than Angie Mae herself.

Since Anin was a Lokali, he was relatively tall for an Ikali, despite only being about as tall as young teenager Human. Nokali, Angie Mae knew, closely resembled North American otters while Lokai like Anin were more like sea otters. Almost an hour of the meeting turned out to be explaining the difference between the varying species of Ikali to the newcomers; it didn't help that all of the Ikali sub-species also ended in 'kali'. It was, of course, a reoccurring theme in their language that related words have related sounds.

Once introductions and the impromptu training session came to a close everyone began to spread out into their own individual groups for socialization. With the three Cohens engaged in conversation with Roller and the other newcomer Phin and Anin chatting with Nanna, Angie Mae took the time to decompress and absorb what she'd learned. Going for a walk, she left the central hall and chose a quieter, more out-of-the-way place to think: the pool.

It was a pleasant evening and, despite having no interest in actually going for a swim, it was nice to take a slow stroll around the water which, rather than being a real pool was, in truth, a 'hole' in the floating island upon which Station Zero was built, providing direct access to the sea. The thought of an opening dropping down some twenty-or-more meters to the sea floor had once been a little imposing to her but, as she took the opportunity to wrestle with her many thoughts she found the gentle lapping of the water against the pool's walls to be comforting in an almost hypnotic way, providing her the kind of white noise she needed in the moment.

There had been a lot of twists and turns in her life that had brought her to Station Zero, and it sounded as though her journey was far from complete; she had presumed at one point that she would end up on Riparian Earth and, in fact, had looked forward to it 'some day', but with that day being much sooner than anticipated she couldn't help but wonder if she was ready for it. The hesitation was silly, she realized; of course she was ready! Still, despite what she knew in her head and felt in her heart there was still that little nagging voice in the back of her head, asking her if she REALLY knew what she was getting herself into.

That voice had always been there but she'd ignored it for the longest time. All that changed however when she ignored it and the situation came back to bite her; she had fallen head-over-heels for Jackson Robberts, one of the other students in her class at the Unity Centre, and he had very nearly raped her. Ever since, every time she heard that little voice and tried to subdue it, the reminder came back and it doubled its volume in her head. Did she REALLY know what she was getting herself into? No... no she didn't.

It got so bad she voiced it aloud. "What AM I getting myself into?"

That was yet another question that went unanswered; Angie Mae hadn't bothered turning on the room's overhead lights, which meant that it required extra attention to monitor where she put her feet. Being so distracted with her own thoughts, the young woman didn't take note of the tie-down her foot encountered and, wheeling her arms to maintain her balance, she stumbled to the side and fell right into the pool. The surge of water swallowed her up and, between the dim light and frothing cascade of bubbles she immediately lost her bearings.

Angie Mae had been a decent swimmer when she was young, but that usually involved a swim suit, not a sweater, blouse, and jeans; the shoes certainly didn't help. Water-logged, she fought to stabilize the movement of her body, which was only made more difficult due to the natural movement of water along the shoreline some several hundred meters away. She had the presence of mind to look for light as a way to orient herself toward the surface but, after pulling herself through the water for several strokes she realized that it was bioluminescent coral, at which point she had to swing herself around, peering for the rectangular pool opening in the blackness overhead that was a floating island.

Humans, she knew, were discouraged from using the pool as it was dangerous to be put into a position in which she found herself. That thought continued pounding into her skull again and again as she fought against what was an almost unbelievably impossible strain put on her buoyancy by the soaked clothes that threatened to drag her downward. Clawing toward the surface, she realized she was making very little progress and had to kick off her shoes then waste precious secons fighting to be rid of her sweater. Her heart was beating against her chest, lungs screaming for air.

Somewhere overhead she caught sight of the rectangle of slightly-lighter blackness, mostly because it was disrupted by a vague shadow, and a splash. In a matter of seconds, a small furred hand wrapped around her wrist and she heard Anin's unmistakable Ikali 'accent' as he spoke in Phin, relying on it underwater to communicate. "I have you. Kick with me."

Despite being smaller than Angie Mae, Anin was a very accomplished swimmer and, after pushing her ahead of him, he was able to use his tail to provide even more forward motion. She lost track of the movement and the motion as her vision started to grow black and, the next thing she recalled was laying on her back, coughing up water as a furred muzzle left her lips, the faint tickle of whiskers brushing across her nose as Anin gave her space.

Angie Mae sat up, turning to the side as her body ejected the sea water; her lungs burned, and hurt even more as air filled them, but it was a good kind of pain. Behind her, Anin gently rubbed her back. He waited until she was able to take a shaky breath without coughing before he spoke softly. "I am sorry I didn't get permission to touch you first, but you were in trouble and I wanted to help."

Somewhere in the back of her mind Angie Mae realized that Anin must have resuscitated her. He had saved her life. She responded by giving him a hug, and laughing, and crying. "It's alright, Anin. Thank you."

He churled softly, hugging her back as his tail wrapped around them to rest next to her thigh on the ground. "You're greeting."

She had to keep herself from laughing as she corrected him "Welcome. It's 'You're welcome.'."

Since she was sitting and he was still standing it let him rest his head on hers and he did so before giving her one more hug for good measure. "Oh. Okay. Right. Thank you."

Something about the Otter make it so that she couldn't stop herself. "You're greeting."