{"sf1_id":1638161,"sf2_id":"rnaqNr5n","title":"Horseman, Raven, and Sentinel","author":"A Smiling Face","words":39931,"posted_at":"2020-10-12T17:18:31.000Z","tags":["HMOFA","Human","Raven","Romance","Sci-Fi"],"url":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/1638161-horseman-raven-and-sentinel","original_url":"https://sofurry.com/s/rnaqNr5n","image_url":"https://cdn.sofurryfiles.com/submissions/thumbnails/30/32/3032d857-d7b7-4cc8-95b4-a4a48b5f2178","description":"Final update before I rewrite the mess of this story. I may finish the final sex scene but I haven't found my inner horniness to complete it as of short","content":"\\\u003eAnother day, another dollar. You groan awake on the ship, groggily rising and following through on your morning routine\n\n\\\u003eRise, piss, dress, groom, comb.\n\n\\\u003eThe subtle droning of the engines in the back is the only sound you hear apart from the metallic thuds of your tennis shoes on the corridor floor.\n\n\\\u003eYou make your way to the cafeteria, the same breakfast bar as always.\n\n\\\u003eEggs of three varieties yet all taste the same, red strips called bacon, \"fresh\" fruit, some fried alien insectoids, pancakes, finally you come to the only two things you eat in the morning.\n\n\\\u003eNutrisoup and Coffee. Ship grown algae mix and four-month-old coffee. Yay.\n\n\\\u003eThe taste of boiled spinach and salt fills your mouth each spoonful, the intense bitterness of coffee washing it away each sip.\n\n\\\u003eYou think back to your life on earth. Of your twisted view of the future, and that space travel was far out on the horizon.\n\n\\\u003eYou think of where you were that day, the day he showed up. You were working away at your first real job. The stammering sounds of the office silenced as everyone rushed to the break room T.V watching the leaders of the world stand in shock. There he was, the man who you now work for, Mr. Human as he calls himself. One day we thought we were alone, the next, you got a letter saying you had a better job available.\n\n\\\u003eYou don't regret leaving Earth, not for a second, but you do miss people, real human people, not aliens. Old friends and family are now literally on the other side of the galaxy.\n\n\\\u003eThe scrape of metal on plastic snaps you from your trance, and with it it signals that breakfast is over.\n\n\\\u003eYou put the mug, bowl, and spoon in the cleaning device, then leave as the doors hiss shut behind you.\n\n\\\u003eNow comes the next part, morning fitness.\n\n\\\u003eAs you have nothing to do for the next week you decide firstly to warm up with cardio.\n\n\\\u003eThe light thumping of feet on equipment snaps you out of any trance, all you can think about is the last time you made planet fall.\n\n\\\u003eYour brow furrows as you remember sitting at a restaurant eating a meal in your lonesome when two men in armor come to escort you to the ship.\n\n\\\u003eThe whiz of plasma bolts and roars of chain-gun fire seem to still be fresh in your mind.\n\n\\\u003eYou notice that you're running faster as you remember each enraged scale-covered face.\n\n\\\u003eYou feel yourself turning red as you recall one of the men handing you a pistol, and how you emptied it into the coming horde.\n\n\\\u003eTime passes while you angrily run.\n\n\\\u003eAn hour has passed as you wrap up sorting memories and cardio, your face is speckled with sweat while your shirt is soaked through in some parts\n\n\\\u003eNext is the punching bag.\n\n\\\u003eThe unique sensation of your fist being forming a mini crater in the bag as it smooths out with every blow.\n\n\\\u003e\"Wir gehen weiter als alle. Wir kommen für die Menschheit. Wir träumen von die beste Welt.\"\n\n\\\u003eThe three-sentence phase engraved in your mind; the German phrase coined by Mr. Human to describe why he wants people.\n\n\\\u003e\"We go farther than all. We come for Mankind. We dream of the best world.\" you translate to English.\n\n\\\u003eYou repeat the saying as you work out, each time ever so slightly intensely.\n\n\\\u003eYou end the workout smiling.\n\n\\\u003eYou take shower while staring out into the abyss of fantastic blues and violets.\n\n\\\u003eYou've been near this place before, after returning from the incident.\n\n\\\u003eThe silver glints of a thousand vessels make their way towards the only thing worthwhile in this system.\n\n\\\u003eThe wormhole in this system is unlike anything else in the galaxy.\n\n\\\u003eYou've been down the tears in reality before, the vast expanse of all in between seemingly pressed on the surface of the singularity.\n\n\\\u003eThis wormhole is a most fantastic sapphire blue, maybe from the fact that it's artificially created leads its color.\n\n\\\u003eYou had an odd feeling around the thing though, it seems, or lest it brings out loneliness.\n\n\\\u003eThe deep sapphire blue radiates the feeling like radiation from a quasar.\n\n\\\u003eYou've stopped showering for some time enchanted by the stars but unfortunately under its spells.\n\n\\\u003eThe eerie silence of forever is almost intoxicating as every pump of your heart booms like thunder while your conscious screams all of its damning convictions.\n\n\\\u003eThe silence is shattered in but a single moment, the hiss of a hydraulic seal fills the air.\n\n\\\u003eTurning to face the door you see an obvious non-human.\n\n\\\u003eIt stares at you, the scarred gouges where its eyes used to be glowing the neon blue of robotic eyes.\n\n\\\u003eWhile unsure of its species you know it's a sentinel, a retired front-line veteran with his sight stolen then returned.\n\n\\\u003e\"Pardon\" is all the thing says before the door hisses shut again.\n\n\\\u003eYou decide that it is time to leave after another minute or so, dressing in yourself in one of your many button-down shirts and a pair of jeans.\n\n\\\u003eAfter dressing you see the non-human again, he's a Jici, a race similar to the Korvan, a smaller variety of genus Korvus, with a broader build, shorter tails, and bark-brown scales rather than the tans and greens of the proper Korvans.\n\n\\\u003eYou spend the day trying to learn new skills, notably how to use plasma-bolt weapons, as you tried not to burn off your hand by putting it on the wrong coil.\n\n\\\u003eThe hiss of air burning around the projectile scares you a little each shot.\n\n\\\u003eIt whistles as it travels, followed by the target blooming into a bouquet of molten mixture.\n\n\\\u003eThe bubbling ooze of whatever is then stored in a heat-sealing container to be used in any manner of purpose, mainly for heating ice crystals to use around the ship.\n\n\\\u003eYou go back to your quarters, turning on your TV equivalent.\n\n\\\u003eThe screen shows the armed forces of Omega Corporation. The metal clad soldiers sending volley after volley of plasma bolts at some unseen target.\n\n\\\u003eTanks tear small trenches through the ruined city's roads, the distinctive roar of a chain gun fire shakes the camera recording it.\n\n\\\u003eYou finally see the reporter, a Raven female, her eyes fearful and speech a little stressed.\n\n\\\u003e\"Goodeven-\"the whiz of an energy blast stops her mid-sentence and she and the cameraman rush into some sort of a field bunker.\n\n\\\u003e\"Sorry about that everyone. I'm reporting live from the planet of Draak. The Omega Corporation has sent ten million soldiers to secure its investments planet side, they're fighting some sort of sleeper androids\" Ms. Yeomem is interrupted by a large, armored, man wearing a a face concealing mask, \"Ma'am you and your crew have to leave the fighting has escalated, nearby systems are to send a total force of a hundred million to arrive within the month. It is not optional; you must leave NOW\" The cameraman follows them out of the bunker.\n\n\\\u003eYou gasp as you see the city, the drainage ditches are trenches, half the buildings are collapsed and the other half are bombed-out, beyond a wave of smoke tall, multi-legged silhouettes are surrounded by a dull metallic swarm.\n\n\\\u003eblue light flashes from the swarm-infested dust cloud, each met by one from the trench.\n\n\\\u003eAs the camera man boards a vessel an arch of super-heated metal is flung by the trench-line, missing by ten feet or so, instantly followed up by earth shaking pound of a cannon.\n\n\\\u003eThe feed then cuts to a pair of two shocked anchors.\n\n\\\u003e\"BREAKING NEWS\" shouts the man, before the female cuts in, \"Congrats to all you humans! There is now world peace and ZERO PERCENT unemployment, as Mr. Human has taken power of your home world.\" the man speaks again \"Every human that can work either has a job or has been conscripted into the newly formed Galactic Marines, and will be serving in the Draak system against the ancient androids on the planet.\"\n\n\\\u003eYour eyes are wide as dinner plates when the next words leave the news anchor's mouth\n\n\\\u003e\"A word to people living on New-Life terraformed planet or who work for Omega Corp or one of its subsidiaries, you may receive a letter in the coming days which will bring you into the Galactic Marines.\"\n\n\\\u003eApparently Mr. Human had built a thousand system empire in a single day, using all the right moves.\n\n\\\u003eFuck.\n\n\\\u003e\n\n\\\u003eThe next two days are the tensest it's ever been, the shooting range is packed with people just trying to learn to shoot.\n\n\\\u003eYou land in silence, a platoon of \"Galactic Marines\" board and distribute letters to almost everyone aboard, the Jici sentinel is one of the few who stay aboard.\n\n\\\u003eAfter you are escorted off the ship you are loaded up onto military trucks and driven to an office of sorts.\n\n\\\u003eYou enter, armed guards on every street corner the locals are being herded into similar buildings.\n\n\\\u003eYou wait in line for an hour, then are handed a sheet.\n\n\\\u003e\"Fills it ooout Uman\" says the middle-aged Falcon on the other side of the desk, the thick accent forefront in every word she said.\n\n\\\u003eThe sheet is a questionnaire of sorts, asking you what you would do in certain situations, it takes you about five minutes for the fifty questions.\n\n\\\u003eYou hand it back to the desk this time greeted by a rat lady, she flips through it, looks up at you and says \"Go down that hall, out the back door and onto the ship with a big thirty on it.\" She hands you a card with your name and a pin number as well as a pair of dog tags.\n\n\\\u003eYou walk down the hall, exiting into the morning sun, lines are formed around several of the destroyers, notably 10.\n\n\\\u003eOne of the soldiers asks you what ship you're going to. After you answer all he says, \"I'm so, so very sorry for your family.\" No humor, no jesting in his voice.\n\n\\\u003eThe man stationed at the entrance to the ship himself stands noticeably shorter than you, a felid.\n\n\\\u003eHis eyes look like they belong on a corpse, but they light up a little after seeing you.\n\n\\\u003e\"Welcome to the hard-line soldier, good to see more humans. Your race can take a war of attrition better than all others.\"\n\n\\\u003eYou frown, confused. The felid notices.\n\n\\\u003e\"Son, you have been assigned to the 30 Series, our job is to make our enemies' lives hell. How? Trench warfare and sieges, we're called the hard-line for a reason.\"\n\n\\\u003eFuckFuckFuckFuckFuckFuck\n\n\\\u003eFrom this moment onward, you knew things weren't going to be calm, safe, or sane.\n\n\\\u003e\n\n\\\u003e\n\n\\\u003e\n\n\\\u003eA year and a half pass and you were right.\n\n\\\u003eScarily right.\n\n\\\u003eThe androids were simply the test, the war got bad after their creators, the Jeewol, showed up.\n\n\\\u003eThey wanted their old homeland back, something taken from them eons ago.\n\n\\\u003eThe insectoids arrived in the trillions, and the fronts consumed systems.\n\n\\\u003eNow, you're sitting in a trench filled with the smiling and grateful dead.\n\n\\\u003eThe air is a matte yellow, the dirt is dead and toxic to the touch.\n\n\\\u003eWhere once you fought alongside a hundred different races now there are only four.\n\n\\\u003eMan\n\n\\\u003eMachine\n\n\\\u003eRaven\n\n\\\u003eRat\n\n\\\u003eThe women were pulled from the front three months in, with the ladies gone the gloves came off, militarily.\n\n\\\u003eNuclear carpet bombings of continents, poison gas that makes all metal rust to dust, bio-engineered creatures that consumed all, and devices that could turn oceans to steam in a single second.\n\n\\\u003eThe worst things though were the disease strikes, to walk through the rivers of pus and burst exoskeleton.\n\n\\\u003ePurifications were worse than capturing the trenches, sitting in the bunkers that felt like ovens as the area around you was being sterilized from orbit with heat rays to ensure every last particle of whatever are in those weapons is totally denatured.\n\n\\\u003eThe tops of the bunkers would become molten slag, and the earth would melt the soles off your boots three days after the fact.\n\n\\\u003eYour army group is the first to hold out against the Jeewol without the usage of disease strikes or the locusts, and from the fact that Rema is still inhabited, since you haven't used and steam bombs.\n\n\\\u003eYou've held them here for three months, each day chipping at your soul just a little bit.\n\n\\\u003eWho would've guessed that sitting in a grave-deep hole filled with poison while mortars, airstrikes, artillery and assaults keeping you alert would grind you down.\n\n\\\u003eFew things compare to the first assault you go through, the chaos of it all, the screaming, the pops and sizzles of plasma hitting their marks.\n\n\\\u003eYou sit in the trench cleaning your carbine, ensuring the cleaner covers every inch of the composite material is damn near reflective.\n\n\\\u003eAs you finish your stomach drops, you turn to your faceless comrades, every one of them is on edge.\n\n\\\u003eIt tears the air apart. No one's heard that sound since the war began\n\n\\\u003eA Sharp whistle.\n\n\\\u003e\"CHAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGEEEEEEEEEEEEE\" shouts colonel before going over the top\n\n\\\u003eYou haul ass over the dirt mound straight into no man's land\n\n\\\u003eThe wiz of plasma bolts and cackling of electrical arcs.\n\n\\\u003eTanks the size of houses tears their way from their entrenched positions with strenuous growls of their engines\n\n\\\u003eA faint whoosh, the entire Jeewol trench line bursts into flame\n\n\\\u003eThe black form of an aircraft fades as you reach the trench.\n\n\\\u003eThe barbed wire is flattened by the months of artillery bombardment poses no threat to the tide of men pouring out of the trenches.\n\n\\\u003eThe flames have died down as you prepare to dive into the Jeewol trench.\n\n\\\u003eTwo hands wrap around your ankle,\n\n\\\u003eBefore looking you already trained your gun.\n\n\\\u003eThe insectoid begs \"Please, kill-end\"\n\n\\\u003eThe creature has had its lower end ripped from the rest of its body.\n\n\\\u003eYou say a silent apology before turning the Jeewol into a pile of charred gore.\n\n\\\u003eYou meet up with your squad at the entrance to the bunkers.\n\n\\\u003eThe charges have been planted; a quick glance tells you to take point.\n\n\\\u003eThe rat with the switch slinks behind you, his flexible mask twitches excitedly as he rubs his finger over the detonator.\n\n\\\u003eYour squad of 10 has taken point at the T shaped break from the bunker.\n\n\\\u003eA bubbling hiss followed by a wave of heat signals the breach.\n\n\\\u003eTwo sets of green compound eyes\n\n\\\u003eOne trigger pull, two eyes gone.\n\n\\\u003eA blue flash from behind you and the other set is no more.\n\n\\\u003eThe remaining Jeewol in the bunker are unarmed, so Sarge calls in a MP team to take prisoners.\n\n\\\u003eThe rat agrees to meet back up with us at the Jeewol artillery positions.\n\n\\\u003eYou and your squad start working your way through the winding maze of fortifications.\n\n\\\u003eEach corner is another firefight for a while.\n\n\\\u003eIt switched from pulling a trigger to thrusting your bayonet.\n\n\\\u003eThe hisses and death-screams you can never get used to.\n\n\\\u003eThe first to die is Sarge, a set of claws to the throat.\n\n\\\u003eNext is the Raven, plasma bolt.\n\n\\\u003eNow all that remains is men and a machine.\n\n\\\u003eA shrapnel cannon at the other end of a trench ensures that only men remain.\n\n\\\u003eThe first human to fall had his legs stolen from him by a wire trap.\n\n\\\u003eThe next got a tear in his mask and was shot by another member of the squad.\n\n\\\u003eAn act of mercy, to be fair.\n\n\\\u003eThe last to fall was the silent fellow, and died as he lived, silently.\n\n\\\u003eA pipe blown from some godless distance wound up impaling him through the neck.\n\n\\\u003eDied before he knew he was dead.\n\n\\\u003eThe squad is halved, and finally you can see your target.\n\n\\\u003eTwo of the four men left take point on a heavy machine gun.\n\n\\\u003eYou and the Brit make a mad dash to the nearest cover.\n\n\\\u003eA steel hand comes out of nowhere.\n\n\\\u003eThe vice grip fortunately doesn't crush your windpipe instantly.\n\n\\\u003eA blue flash and the sensation of heat on your chest signals the deactivation of the machine.\n\n\\\u003eYou trudge on, the will to not die overwhelming the desire to catch your breath.\n\n\\\u003eThen you hear it.\n\n\\\u003eA faint whistle.\n\n\\\u003eSlowly getting louder.\n\n\\\u003eThe first battery of guns is engulfed in an inferno and turns it into a heap of half-molten metal.\n\n\\\u003efor the first time in months you see the sky unaltered by the poison.\n\n\\\u003eThe red of the planet's sky being revealed by the change in pressure from the blast.\n\n\\\u003eAnother whistle but you can seem to pinpoint where it is.\n\n\\\u003eYou hear Brit scream before.\n\n\\\u003eNothing.\n\n\\\u003eJust falling.\n\n\\\u003eYour face hurts though, eyes wet.\n\n\\\u003eFor whatever reason you can seem to open your eyes.\n\n\\\u003eYou try to stand.\n\n\\\u003eBut each time your legs buckle.\n\n\\\u003eThen it hits.\n\n\\\u003ePain.\n\n\\\u003eEverywhere.\n\n\\\u003eAt first you try to bear it.\n\n\\\u003eYou begin to heave.\n\n\\\u003eA female scream.\n\n\\\u003eWhat?\n\n\\\u003eThere haven't been women on the front in over a year.\n\n\\\u003eJust where in the hell are you?\n\n\\\u003eYou try to rise once more.\n\n\\\u003eAnd fall once again.\n\n\\\u003eThis time you fall back into the bliss of unconsciousness.\n\n\\\u003e\n\n\\\u003e\n\n\\\u003eWhen you wake, you are dazed.\n\n\\\u003eDespite the fact you can't seem to open your eyes the world seems to be spinning.\n\n\\\u003eBeep, beep, beep, and the shouting of what seems to be at least a half-dozen men and women.\n\n\\\u003eHospital.\n\n\\\u003eYou think.\n\n\\\u003e\"How is he alive?!\" yells what you think to be a doctor.\n\n\\\u003e\"HELL IF I KNOW\" yells a panicked feminine voice.\n\n\\\u003e\"The front is at least ten miles from here, how could someone in this condition make it that far.\" angrily states the doctor.\n\n\\\u003e\"Must not be me\" you think before drifting back into a state of unconsciousness.\n\n\\\u003eYou wake again.\n\n\\\u003eStill unable to open your eyes.\n\n\\\u003eYou hear the Colonel speaking.\n\n\\\u003e\"I'm so sorry Anon, no one should have to go through what you have...\"\n\n\\\u003e\"What?\"\n\n\\\u003e\"Good to see that you're awake\" he says\n\n\\\u003e\"What happened\"\n\n\\\u003e\"Danger close artillery sent you twelve miles from the front lines. Every bone up to your hips shattered, both of your arms are broken.\"\n\n\\\u003e\"What?\" a hint of panic in your voice.\n\n\\\u003e\"Don't worry Anon, you'll be back up and running, but you won't be serving anymore. Plus the last bit of your recovery won't be here on Rema. You'll be shipped out in a week at the earliest.\n\n\\\u003e\"Colonel, where am I? I can't open my eyes.\"\n\n\\\u003e\"Anon, you have no eyes for now.\" says the Colonel\n\n\\\u003eYou try to move your hand to your face\n\n\\\u003e\"Sorry Anon, you can't move at the moment either, they can't risk you damaging anything else.\"\n\n\\\u003e\"Sir\" Is there anyone else in the room?\"\n\n\\\u003e\"Well Miss introduce yourself.\" The Colonel beckons\n\n\\\u003e\"H-Hello Anon, I'm Julia Yeomem, I found you after you landed\" says the voice.\n\n\\\u003e\"Thank you, Julia.\"\n\n\\\u003e\"Farewell Anon, best of luck.\" Says the Colonel\n\n\\\u003eThen the closing of a door and thud of heavy boots on tile.\n\n\\\u003eA pit grows in your stomach. the almost inaudible claps of machine gun fire and mortar blasts trigger things.\n\n\\\u003eDespite the inability to see, you can see every face from before the air turned yellow.\n\n\\\u003eThe smiling recruits that turned into decayed corpses.\n\n\\\u003eEvery face that fell.\n\n\\\u003eEvery broken mask that filled with gore and red.\n\nThat Korvan with a cough, one of the few people you would've called a friend.\n\n\\\u003eHis body twisted, but his face wears that signature smile.\n\n\\\u003eBut like all the others, he decays.\n\n\\\u003eFirst the softness of skin and scale.\n\n\\\u003eSecond in the lining of blood vessels.\n\n\\\u003eBy the time the last of the veins have run dry the mass is nothing but bone and what little armor is left.\n\n\\\u003eThe smiles, or frowns of the dead are seemingly always portrayed through their masks or skeletal faces.\n\n\\\u003e\"Anon are you alright? Do I need to call a nurse for more painkillers?\" Coos Julia\n\n\\\u003e\"No, I can't feel a thing as it is.\"\n\n\\\u003e\"Oh.\" Julia mumbles.\n\n\\\u003eYou lie on the bed for forever and yet what seems like a very short period of time.\n\n\\\u003eAlas you fall asleep, this time consenting to unconsciousness.\n\n\\\u003eYou wish you hadn't though.\n\n\\\u003eThe dreams were that of you being subject to a disease strike.\n\n\\\u003eYour body decomposes into fist sized pustule before bursting.\n\n\\\u003eThe yellow goop thinned by blood.\n\n\\\u003eTo look in a mirror to see just your eyes remaining in your face.\n\n\\\u003eWhen your body hits the floor, you awake.\n\n\\\u003eYou feel wet.\n\n\\\u003eEverywhere.\n\n\\\u003eYou stay there locked in a single position.\n\n\\\u003eTime is a non-factor on what comes next.\n\n\\\u003eThe recurring nightmare that every man in the trenches has.\n\n\\\u003eThe horseman of progress.\n\nThe glow of fire glows through the eyes of his mechanical horse.\n\n\\\u003eHe wears a mask over his face, one of wide smiles, of good intention.\n\n\\\u003eHe sits there, in the pitch darkness.\n\n\\\u003eThe grind of gears, the metal hoof rising.\n\n\\\u003e\"no\"\n\n\\\u003eThe entity approached with clacking.\n\n\\\u003eThe smiling mask drops on its face, the illusion shattered.\n\n\\\u003eHis eyes burning with the fire of hell, but tired and worn.\n\n\\\u003eHis smile dead with the plight of the past.\n\n\\\u003e\"Oh Anon, how tragic. Ironic isn't it? How you can see me in full with no eyes\" the horseman mocks.\n\n\\\u003eYou get the feeling that you're about to be \"lost\" to the future.\n\n\\\u003e\"Why not just kill me when I was on the brink horseman?\"\n\n\\\u003eThe eyes of the entity dim for a second.\n\n\\\u003e\"I'm not here to kill you Anon, quite frankly I have a plan for you. Not that you're obligated to it.\" States the Horseman.\n\n\\\u003e\"What?\"\n\n\\\u003e\"The person who you owe your life to is lying to your right. She hasn't left your side since you've been interred into this place.\" Says the horseman\n\n\\\u003e\"How does that change anything?\"\n\n\\\u003eThe entity smiles \"She is the plan, both of you hurt. Feel the pain together, but do remember the voice, it will be what heals you.\"\n\n\\\u003e\"Get to the point\"\n\n\\\u003eProgress frowns \"You really don't get it do you? Both of you play a key role in the plan. I am not gonna let those four old riders outdo me again.\"\n\n\\\u003e\"So, I'm a game piece to you?\"\n\n\\\u003e\"Yes and no Anon, the four horsemen, the new ones, Progress, Preservation, Pleasure, and Purity, we are the Horsemen of Eternity. Without preservation there is no progress, and without progress there is no preservation. Only death, famine, war, and pestilence. Same goes for the balance between pleasure and purity, lean too far on one and you place yourself before the lances of the apocalypse.\"\n\n\\\u003e\"And what does one newly crippled soldier do with your grand plan?\"\n\n\\\u003eThe horseman sighs. \"Anon, you play into the balance critically, for no other reason than that us new horsemen are trying to set a new balance, this war, and its unevenness has killed more people than any other before. Mr. Human as you may call him inadvertently created us by escalating the conflict. For that if you give into death there will be no more life, and thus the apocalypse is beckoned forth.\"\n\n\\\u003e\"So the little tragedies add up, don't they.\"\n\n\\\u003e\"Finally, you get it\" beams the horseman. \"I think I'll see you again Anon.\"\n\n\\\u003eThe mechanical horse rears up, a hiss of steam rather than a neigh.\n\n\\\u003eIt launches into a full gallop, and into the nothing.\n\n\\\u003eAgain, you sit in the emptiness, nothing but darkness.\n\n\\\u003eWhelp.\n\n\\\u003eNo more hallucinations, or \"visits\". \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; -First Update End\n\n\\\u003eYou drift in the unfathomable pain of comatose.\n\n\\\u003eAgain, time seems to speed up, slow down, freeze, and go in loops.\n\n\\\u003eA whirring wakes you.\n\n\\\u003eThe high-pitched squeal of metal on bone.\n\n\\\u003e\"Hurrr\"\n\n\\\u003eYou can't form words.\n\n\\\u003eThe icy mechanical voice breaks the whirring.\n\n\\\u003e\"You will be unable to speak for the next-\" A string of unknown clicking \"-seven hours and seventeen minutes.\"\n\n\\\u003eThe whirring continues with intermittent clicking, hydraulic thumps and hisses, and electrical clacks.\n\n\\\u003eYou should be feeling something, some sort of sensation.\n\n\\\u003eYou realize that you must be drugged to high hell.\n\n\\\u003eAh well.\n\n\\\u003eYou slip back into the nothing.\n\n\\\u003eIn the nothing your mind wanders, black feathers, diseased faces, and the same place but with a thousand skies.\n\n\\\u003eAlas a new place is presented, a dead tree.\n\n\\\u003eWhelp.\n\n\\\u003e\n\n\\\u003eTime passed and the not-quite-there tree looms in deathly ominous nothing.\n\n\\\u003eUnlike the subtle and slow reawakening of the past few times this time you are yanked violently from comatose.\n\n\\\u003eCries, shouting doctors, and all sorts of beeps and compressing sounds.\n\n\\\u003e\"Miss this man was at one point CONSCIOUS?!\" Shouts a stressed doctor\n\n\\\u003eA Nurse shouts after \"Not only that sir but also able to speak and eat as unimpaired as possible!\"\n\n\\\u003e\"FUCK FUCK FUCK! WHY DID NO ONE TELL ME THESE THINGS!\" Shrieks the Doctor.\n\n\\\u003eJulia is the next to shout \"WE BOTH TRIED. NOW WHAT'S WRONG WITH HIM.\"\n\n\\\u003e\"Well for starters he's a fucking human, out equipment is calibrated for Anjekans, Ravens, and Rats not fucking HUMANS.\" The Doctor barks\n\n\\\u003e\"AND? The only difference between a human and an Anjekan is a lack of wings and solid bones.\" Shouts back Julia.\n\n\\\u003e\"THAT'S THE FUCKING ISSUE! WE REBUILT HALF A SKELETON AS IF HE WAS AN ANJEKAN.\" The Doctor retorts.\n\n\\\u003eYou raise your sore arms to cover your ears. The noise is far too much.\n\n\\\u003eSuddenly the room is silent.\n\n\\\u003eA hand is placed on each wrist and your arms are pulled from your ears.\n\n\\\u003e\"Why?\" you say a hint of sadness ringing through it.\n\n\\\u003e\"By the Gods of Goda...\" mumbles the doctor.\n\n\\\u003e\"See, the procedure worked.\" says Julia\n\n\\\u003e\"...Maybe.\" Says the doctor after a few seconds.\n\n\\\u003eWith a newfound voice the doctor speaks \"Please Mr. Anon, try to make a fist.\"\n\n\\\u003eYou clench a tight fist which is followed by the audible \"Oh's\" of the nurse and doctor.\n\n\\\u003eAfter a period of silence, a feathery embrace and a beak rests on your shoulder.\n\n\\\u003eThe nurse ruins the sweet moment \"Well Anon, you'll be transferred to the Medical Station orbiting Mars in two days for your new eyes.\"\n\n\\\u003eJulia pipes up next, \"Miss, will I be able to accompany him to Mars.\"\n\n\\\u003e\"I'm not so sure about that Ms. Yeomem, you might have to take that up with the local MedCorps Officer.\" Says the nurse.\n\n\\\u003eThe Doctor chimes in again \"He's in the main office to the left of the room. I can take you there if you'd like.\"\n\n\\\u003eYou didn't even know that the MedCorps even existed, you were all too familiar with the Hosplitar that served with you who would \"send home\" soldiers who were wounded in the trenches.\n\n\\\u003e\"Mr. Lefo, could you watch over Mr. Anon while I take Ms. Yeomem to the MedCorps Officer?\" Politely asks the Doctor.\n\n\\\u003eMr. Lefo accepts, and the door closes behind the two.\n\n\\\u003e\\\u003c\n\n\\\u003e\\\u003c\n\n\\\u003e\\\u003c\n\n\\\u003eYou leave Anon in the hospital room, a feeling of pity and sadness in the pit of your chest.\n\n\\\u003eYou can hardly bear to see him smile without bursting into tears.\n\n\\\u003eThe Doctor turns to you \"How was he like when you found him, I heard that he was the 'miracle'?\"\n\n\\\u003e\"He was trying to stand, his visor had broken into his eyes, but he thought something was over them. He fell then went unconscious, I screamed, and within a minute a transport was there using three paramedics to lift the limp body of Anon onto a stretcher and the last led me into the vehicle.\"\n\n\\\u003eThe Doctor was in awe, his beak was wide open, \"You mean after a ten-mile fall, losing his eyes, and rupturing several organs he was conscious and able to move?!\"\n\n\\\u003eYou nervously laugh, \"Yes.\"\n\n\\\u003eThe Doctor mumbles something about how that shouldn't have been possible and how humans must be bred for war.\n\n\\\u003eYou have a bit of a heaviness in your heart, almost an anxiety about the previously unknown man's health.\n\n\\\u003eAs a matter of fact, you only knew Anon's name after his former CO was called in to identify a human where he too was in utter awe at his survival.\n\n\\\u003eYou still remember the exact words too \"Anon you mad bastard, we thought you had joined the rest of your company in the grave. No, I guess the 2nd Regiment's 4th Company remains with a single man clinging to life.\" He then turned to you \"Ma'am I don't know you, but I do thank you, if he's all that survives I would be more than grateful for the comfort that at least one man survived than madman's offensive.\n\n\\\u003eYou had yet to speak with him at that point, but you had silently promised the Colonel that you would take care of him.\n\n\\\u003eYou'd grown attached to the man, his scared and rugged body waking something long hidden in you.\n\n\\\u003eJust something you'd never really noticed until you could see a man's muscles and scars, something not found in Ravens.\n\n\\\u003eAnd well, you're quite glad no one came in that room during that night as they might've heard your heavy breathing.\n\n\\\u003eNothing ever came of it but there is something about him.\n\n\\\u003eThe ding of an elevator you'd forgotten that you were at snaps you from your \"fonder\" thoughts.\n\n\\\u003eThe Raven Doctor tries to make small talk; you are quite obviously out of it.\n\n\\\u003e\"You know Ms. Yeomem, I'm free on evenings.\" is the only sentence that makes it past your ambiance filter.\n\n\\\u003e\"Doctor, I'm both not interested in a hookup or a date.\"\n\n\\\u003e\"Ms. Yeomem, I simply want to get you out of the hospital, the front has moved twenty miles from here and it's quite safe from literal raining men.\" The doctor plainly states.\n\n\\\u003e\"Sorry Doctor old habit.\"\n\n\\\u003e\"It's fine, but seriously, get out of the hospital every now and then. You've been in here for the past two months.\" The doctor says.\n\n\\\u003eThe elevator dings, a small crowd of visitors, nurses, surgeons, and plague corps adorned with their bio-hazard symbols.\n\n\\\u003eThe two soldiers stand at the front of the door, the elevator dings into a silent metal box.\n\n\\\u003eThe two soldiers break the silence, \"Can believe that the human was the first to lead an offensive. Four million of the 34th's finest in two fucking hours. Those men were irreplaceable, one of the FEW survivors of the nearby 17th Division is right upstairs.\"\n\n\\\u003e\"I get it man, your brother died, but at least it was quick, painless even, that's more than we deserve.\"\n\n\\\u003e\"We follow orders, I don't think any creature other than a HUMAN would even think such things.\"\n\n\\\u003e\"Aren't you from Ilko?\"\n\n\\\u003e\"So?\"\n\n\\\u003e\"The planet that was saved by the bio-bombing campaign. 'bout a month ago.\"\n\n\\\u003e\"Fuck you.\" snapped the Ilkan.\n\n\\\u003e\"Hey, you lost your brother not your fucking homeworld like me.\"\n\n\\\u003e\"Oh yeah, where are you from?\" the Ilkan barks\n\n\\\u003e\"Draak, you know the now irradiated wasteland of a planet.\"\n\n\\\u003e\"Oh, sorry man.\" the Ilkan slinks.\n\n\\\u003e\"Yeah, now shut the fuck up.\"\n\n\\\u003e...\n\n\\\u003eOkay that happened.\n\n\\\u003eFinally, the final ding, it opens then into a great hall of medicine.\n\n\\\u003eNew statues have been erected, gods, symbols, notably Saint John and Jesus, Apollo, the Reaper held at bay with a shield, and a DNA strand made from two serpent's fangs barred.\n\n\\\u003eYou must've missed the sudden explosion of faith on the planet.\n\n\\\u003eI guess dying people try to find salvation.\n\n\\\u003eAh well you've been trying to save someone else.\n\n\\\u003eOff to the right of the elevator the Doctor leads you through an unassuming door and into what appears to be the local HQ for both the plague corps and MedCorps.\n\n\\\u003eA NCO points you in the direction of the MedCorps transfer office.\n\n\\\u003e\"Room 42, on the left.\" the young hawk says, almost cheerily.\n\n\\\u003eHe stares as you leave towards the line of temporary offices.\n\n\\\u003eSitting at the least interesting office is bored man.\n\n\\\u003eAnd you have to deal with a stoned, likely uncaring officer.\n\n\\\u003e\"Soooooo Ms. Yeomem riiiight?\" lazily says the man\n\n\\\u003e\"Yes\"\n\n\\\u003e\"Doctor Que've informed me you'd be coming. I take it you're here because of Mr. Anon.\" the man says, not so much as trying to hide his boredom.\n\n\\\u003e\"Yes\"\n\n\\\u003e\"Here's some papers, we get so few requests you'll be auto-approved.\" he chimes while reaching under his desk to find the right folder.\n\n\\\u003eWith a light smack a folder lands on your side of the desk, you open the folder to find three papers.\n\n\\\u003eYou reach into a mug full of pens, and with periodic thumps and swishes, the name Julia Yeomem is signed on every paper needed, the dates filled out in galactic standard.\n\n\\\u003eThe man looks almost asleep.\n\n\\\u003e\"Sir I need your signature here.\"\n\n\\\u003eThe man snaps awake \"Right, right, right.\"\n\n\\\u003eIn a rush he signs.\n\n\\\u003e\"Alright, tomorrow I'll send your card up to Anon's room to find you.\"\n\n\\\u003eYou leave the hidden HQ and towards the elevator.\n\n\\\u003eBy the time you get back to Anon's room, he's out cold.\n\n\\\u003eYou decide to give him a hug, rest your beak on his head for a while, then turn on the T.V to catch up on recent events.\n\n\\\u003e\\\u003c\n\n\\\u003e\\\u003c\n\n\\\u003e\\\u003c\u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; -Second Update End\n\n\\\u003eThe next few days pass with a nice, relaxing routine, with minimal movement.\n\n\\\u003eWake up, eat with Julia, distract yourself from the pain until mid-morning snack, listen to an audiobook, eat lunch, sleep.\n\n\\\u003eOne thing passes through your head on your one night in the hospital on Rema, \"And for a time it was good...\"\n\n\\\u003eThe day begins with a gentle waking from one of the nurses, and with it a question.\n\n\\\u003e\"What do you want for Breakfast Mr. Anon?\"\n\n\\\u003e\"Ask Julia I don't particularly care.\"\n\n\\\u003e\"Sorry Anon she's packing for your transfer to Mars. Did you forget.\"\n\n\\\u003eYou honestly have no idea how long you've been here, less so of forgetfulness more so being unable to determine if time has passed.\n\n\\\u003eWhelp.\n\n\\\u003eIn the awkwardness you lie \"I guess I had, sorry ma'am.\"\n\n\\\u003e\"It's fine sir, I'll get you a stock breakfast for the blind, is that okay?\" states the nurse.\n\n\\\u003e\"Thank you ma-\" the sound a door closing cuts you off.\n\n\\\u003eYou lay there and wait, and wait, and wait some more, until finally the door opens again.\n\n\\\u003eFrom what sounds to be a burly and large man comes \"Oops, wrong room, get well soon.\"\n\n\\\u003eOkay that just happened.\n\n\\\u003eBack to waiting.\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\n\n\\\u003e\\\u003c\n\n\\\u003e\\\u003c\n\n\\\u003e\\\u003c\n\n\\\u003eYou cram all you can into the two suitcases, all your remaining worldly possessions.\n\n\\\u003eWell, at least it isn't atomized or radioactive, unlike your ex and your entire homeworld.\n\n\\\u003eYou miss the green forests, moss covered mountains and the lovely brass ingrained in the near black wood.\n\n\\\u003eNot that annoying prick though, he can stay dead for all the shit he tried to pull.\n\n\\\u003eRegardless you pack up what little you have, ten articles of each clothing.\n\n\\\u003eEach piece holds some sentimental value; from the blouse you wore on Draak to dress you wore to your grandparents funeral.\n\n\\\u003eThen there's the once that used to be white, now its blood-stain brown.\n\n\\\u003eComplements of your favorite Anon.\n\n\\\u003eYou would throw it out, but there's something about it that you think might be important later.\n\n\\\u003eInto its own plastic bag and tied up it goes.\n\n\\\u003eYou look over to your watch, its holographic timer displays a green 22 Minutes counting down by the second towards 0.\n\n\\\u003eYou brush your hand into the light, and it dissipates into a cloud, then you swipe the watch itself.\n\n\\\u003eA simple wrap and click and the gold-plated band is wrapped around your scaled wrist being the only thing of discernible different color.\n\n\\\u003eYou haven't properly bathed in the past week and being in a military hospital you reek of musk, the metallic smell of blood.\n\n\\\u003eThe worst bit is your feathers; they're starting to curl at the edges.\n\n\\\u003eUggghhhh, the thought alone ruffles your feathers.\n\n\\\u003eWith your last twenty minutes you fill the bowl-shaped tub with nice hot water.\n\n\\\u003eYou place in some feather conditioner, soap, and an un-curling agent.\n\n\\\u003eYou strip, removing each layer with a degree of bliss underneath each.\n\n\\\u003eFinally, you step into the clear bowl of water.\n\n\\\u003eAnd then you bend over and rummage through it.\n\n\\\u003eSuds, water, and grime fly across the small bathroom.\n\n\\\u003eBrown flakes mixed with white bubbles; metallic shards make the floor look covered in glitter.\n\n\\\u003eYou stand there in a now half-empty tub, still dripping wet but no longer covered in suds or grime.\n\n\\\u003eAnd for the favorite part of your childhood.\n\n\\\u003e3\n\n\\\u003e2\n\n\\\u003e1\n\n\\\u003eGo!\n\n\\\u003eSHAKEY SHAKEY SHAKEY, from booty to your beak you gotta shake shake shake.\n\n\\\u003eAnd in under a minute you are dry as your sex life.\n\n\\\u003eFeeling refreshed you hose down the bathroom with a bit of pep in your step.\n\n\\\u003eYou take your two bags and march down the hall, getting to the elevator and with an over exaggerated leg lift you press in the down button with your foot.\n\n\\\u003eIn your walk to the train station you notice an excess of soldiers.\n\n\\\u003eNot combat troops by those in the logistical section of the military\n\n\\\u003eCheckpoints being taken down, engineers removing HE charges from buildings, and filling traps with concrete.\n\n\\\u003eThe train is on time with only one MP on the train for the first time in God knows how long.\n\n\\\u003eOn the ride there you can see 30 Series Siege Tanks being run along the industrial lines.\n\n\\\u003eTanks and the likely culprit of Anon's newfound lack of eyes, the famous 1 ton inferno shell.\n\n\\\u003eThe fire painted on the warhead is a clear sign of the model.\n\n\\\u003eAfter your line splits off from the one headed to the military station the hospital complex comes into front view.\n\n\\\u003eThe billboard displaying miracles and impossibilities shows a pre-wound face of Anon.\n\n\\\u003eYou could only tell from the name, and to put it gently you needed to cross your legs.\n\n\\\u003eYou are going to have this human so help you.\n\n\\\u003e\\\u003c\n\n\\\u003e\\\u003c\n\n\\\u003e\\\u003c\n\n\\\u003eYou never did get breakfast, but you did have your arm casts removed before you get wheeled out.\n\n\\\u003eDown the hall, a few personnel gasped and whispered \"I thought that guy died weeks ago\"\n\n\\\u003eGee thanks.\n\n\\\u003eYou get wheeled to the bottom floor where you are put in a wheelchair.\n\n\\\u003eFucking finally, you can move somewhat now.\n\n\\\u003eBack on the move you are wheeled onto a med-ship, and according to the speakers due to head to the Martian Orbital Medical Complex, or the MOMCOM as the Plague Boys called it.\u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; -Update 2.5\n\n\\\u003eBoarding is easy, up a ramp, onto an elevator and into your new, albeit temporary quarters.\n\n\\\u003eThe room is rather nice; it smells of lavender and lemon and soothing music plays quietly.\n\n\\\u003eThe PA system gives a countdown of departure and the groups that are currently boarding.\n\n\\\u003eFirst is families, then the elderly, then those who are accompanying the wounded or ill, then individuals, and lastly the 2nd Division of 80 Series 17th Army.\n\n\\\u003eThose guys were hard but were much too honorable to serve in the trenches, oftentimes they would help storming fortresses and raiding supply depots.\n\n\\\u003eThey never did have the stomach to trench clear though, the melee was never their strong suit.\n\n\\\u003eAs you reminisce about the killing fields the gentle sound of footsteps eludes you.\n\n\\\u003eUntil your door opens, the gentle but audible footsteps were feminine, not the heavy brutish footsteps of veterans or the loud yet careful steps of fathers.\n\n\\\u003e\"Hey Anon.\" Julia jovially says, a bit of coo coming in at the end.\n\n\\\u003e\"Julia\" you nearly rejoice. \"I didn't think you were coming with me to the MOMCOM!\"\n\n\\\u003e\"Yeah well\" she sighs \"When you find the human who refuses to die the MedCorps tend to let you follow him.\"\n\n\\\u003e\"I didn't refuse to die, I just thought it was someone else.\"\n\n\\\u003e\"What?\" Julia says inquisitively.\n\n\\\u003e\"I thought my eyes were just swollen shut due to gas exposure and my legs were crushed by some debris.\"\n\n\\\u003eIt isn't glamorous, but the truth is the truth.\n\n\\\u003e\"I guess that makes sense then.\" Julia coos with a bit of melancholy.\n\n\\\u003e\"That's why humans are the best species we've seen at war; you are simply able to detach from it entirely\" She says under her breath.\n\n\\\u003e\"No\"\n\n\\\u003e\"What?\" Julia says with a startle.\n\n\\\u003e\"You're wrong.\"\n\n\\\u003e\"How, you just said you did think you were the one who sustained wounds that should've killed a squad of other race's men\" She says a bit of harshness in tone.\n\n\\\u003e\"Humans are good at it because we don't know anything else.\"\n\n\\\u003e\"What does that even mean?\" She demands.\n\n\\\u003e\"Do you know our history? We haven't had a period of more than a decade without a war breaking out somewhere. It is a fear of every man that you would one day get a white piece of paper calling to a war he never wanted, to die for a cause he never believed in, and from thirteen THOUSAND years of this humanity hardened its heart.\"\n\n\\\u003eYou pause to take a shallow breath and realize your rather aggressive tone\n\n\\\u003e\"That is why humans are good at war, not because we like it but because we know it to be our fate from birth.\"\n\n\\\u003eThe room is silent apart from your monitors.\n\n\\\u003eA whisper can be heard from where you think Julia is \"Never had I heard it from a human I guess.\"\n\n\\\u003eShe speaks up, unaware that you clearly heard her \"I have to get to work, I'll be back in a few hours. Goodbye Anon.\"\n\n\\\u003eWith that she walks out of the room and leaves you alone with your thoughts.\n\n\\\u003e\n\n\\\u003eWhir.\n\n\\\u003eClack.\n\n\\\u003eA steam release.\n\n\\\u003eOh God no.\n\n\\\u003eNot again.\n\n\\\u003e\"Hello Anon.\"\n\n\\\u003eWhy now.\n\n\\\u003e\"It's been too long.\n\n\\\u003e\"Hello Progress\" you choke out, as if you had a set of Jeewol claws pressed against your throat.\n\n\\\u003eYou see the mechanical horse rise from the nothing on your left.\n\n\\\u003eIts masked rider looking down on where your body would be.\n\n\\\u003e\"How are you today Progress?\"\n\n\\\u003eThe entity speaks again \"So-so, Death is getting stronger as the Galactic Marines throw themselves head first into hell. On the plus size the spread of Christianity has allowed Purity to go haywire, your species basal hedonism has empowered Pleasure to an ungodly extent, and preservation has been getting stronger steadily. As for me I too am getting stronger as every faction gets better and better technology.\"\n\n\\\u003e\"Wow\" you say nonchalantly.\n\n\\\u003e\"Oh, don't be like that Anon, you're helping all life receive our quartet's gifts. I Cho-, never mind, I came here to tell you something.\"\n\n\\\u003eThe masker rider of progress dismounts his steed of bronze and steel.\n\n\\\u003eHe leans just over your left shoulder and whispers \"Soon you will be healed. Soon you will have to get to work Anon. You and I want the same thing, for things to progress.\"\n\n\\\u003eHe leans back up, mounts his steed and fades back into nothing.\n\n\\\u003e\\\u003c\n\n\\\u003e\\\u003c\n\n\\\u003e\\\u003c\n\n\\\u003eAnon's view of humans and war is an alien one, but you suppose the theories of a race that hasn't fought a war for over a thousand years and refuse to get involved in this one wouldn't know.\n\n\\\u003eOr maybe it's the view of one who's world knows nothing else.\n\n\\\u003eAs you leave the room you hear him start quietly talking about Progress.\n\n\\\u003eOdd but anyone could be after six weeks in the hospital.\n\n\\\u003eYou walk down the worn hallway of the obviously salvaged vessel. Decay seeps into the corners of every hallway.\n\n\\\u003eThe rumble of the ship is nonexistent but it is very slow moving, or at least compared to the warships of the ten thousands of systems fighting the Jeewol.\n\n\\\u003eThe most eerie bit is that there are no windows on this vessel.\n\n\\\u003eRegardless, you are still employed even if you are bound to care for Anon.\n\n\\\u003eYou cross two other medical hallways, one you hear nothing, the other has muffled sobbing from some rooms.\n\n\\\u003eGod this is not a fun place to be.\n\n\\\u003eYour room is simply adorned.\n\n\\\u003eRust patch on the main wall, a plain white cot with Imperial issued blue sheets, and a fat orange folder on the fold out desk.\n\n\\\u003eThat's new for sure.\n\n\\\u003eWithin the folder is Anon's file, all the photos, documents, and videos.\n\n\\\u003ePIs and inter-system media companies are a match made in heaven.\n\n\\\u003eMixed with your personal experience with Anon and what corporate is willing to provide you have all the tools to make the story of the year.\n\n\\\u003e\"Inside the War: Life in the 30 Series.\"\n\n\\\u003eBoom, title.\n\n\\\u003eYour excitement with the project falls as sharply as Anon's quality of life did after conscription.\n\n\\\u003eYou knew it was bad but this.\n\n\\\u003eThis is different.\n\n\\\u003eOnly four races could serve yours's among the unfortunate few, ironically called the Iron Pillars.\n\n\\\u003eWith your skim through done, the videos to use already sent to you.\n\n\\\u003eYou begin to compile the video elements, write scripts, and start on effects, but you need more.\n\n\\\u003eAs you dig through more impersonal documents containing more numbers than letters a dreadful feeling sets in.\n\n\\\u003eYou know Anon has seen some of these things based on the scars all over him.\n\n\\\u003eYou have to make a call to someone.\n\n\\\u003eYou flip through the list of business contacts.\n\n\\\u003eAh, there it is.\n\n\\\u003eMr. Yel-Elo\n\n\\\u003eGod, I hate this guy\n\n\\\u003eRing\n\n\\\u003eRing\n\n\\\u003e\"Hello? This is Mr. Yel-Elo speaking, who is this?\"\n\n\\\u003eHello Mr. Yel, this is Ms. Yeomem. Are you sure this story can be aired?\"\n\n\\\u003eThe director of publication appears to hesitate a moment before responding \"That's Mr. Yel-Elo to you woman. You were asked to do a report on the 30 Series.\"\n\n\\\u003e\"Sir this section of the military will not be family friendly for a primetime viewing.\"\n\n\\\u003e\"Ms. Yeomem... I think I know what the audience wants to see, after all I have been doing this for well over three hundred years.\" Mr. Yel-Elo says condescendingly.\n\n\\\u003eGod You hate this prick.\n\n\\\u003eMr. Yel-Elo you do realize you will be showing an uncensored video of most atrocity-class weapons in action. If you anger the people enough you may disappear like Mr. Louhik of Lazarus Media.\" you reply with a bit of annoyance in your voice.\n\n\\\u003e\"Do not compare me to that damned Ancie woman. I am much more powerful and have many, many more friends.\" he bitterly replies. \"Just send in the story and I'll make sure you keep your job, and if you don't, I hope that this \"Anon\" character can feed two people.\"\n\n\\\u003e\"Yes sir\" you cave.\n\n\\\u003eBack to work.\n\n\\\u003eThe story is grim, uncut videos of steam bombs rolling over civilian centers, early disease strikes in urban areas, and a bird's eye view of a fallen fortress, both inside and out.\n\n\\\u003eIt's what Mr. Yel-Elo wanted so it's what he'll get.\n\n\\\u003eYou need a closing video.\n\n\\\u003eYou sit taking a deep breath, Anon would be perfect if he was awake.\n\n\\\u003eActually, you need to check up on him.\n\n\\\u003eYou press the button to release the failing hall light onto you.\n\n\\\u003eNope, it's even darker in the halls.\n\n\\\u003eWhat?\n\n\\\u003eYou go back into your cabin and grab a light.\n\n\\\u003eYou pass the hallway with the sobbing in silence.\n\n\\\u003eMuffled cheers can be heard in the other.\n\n\\\u003eIronic.\n\n\\\u003eWhen you do get to the hallway Anon is in a sense of dread falls over you.\n\n\\\u003eLike a predator stalking its prey.\n\n\\\u003eFrom the corner of your eyes you can almost see two burning coals.\n\n\\\u003eThe closer you get to Anon's room the more intense the feeling grows.\n\n\\\u003eAs the automated door hisses open you swear where Anon's eyes used to be a glow emanated for but a second.\n\n\\\u003eFuck today is creepy.\n\n\\\u003eAfter the seal hisses shut Anon wakes up.\n\n\\\u003e\"Julia? Are you there?\" He quietly asks into the darkness.\n\n\\\u003e\"Yes Anon, I'm here.\" You say in a sanguine, motherly voice.\n\n\\\u003eOh God that's embarrassing.\n\n\\\u003eAnon snorts.\n\n\\\u003eIf you had visible skin you would be redder than a lobster after a kool-aid man bukkake.\n\n\\\u003eHe then transitions into that laugh you love so much.\n\n\\\u003eYou almost hate to ask your next question.\n\n\\\u003e\"Can you help with a report?\"\n\n\\\u003eEven though he's blind he faces dead at you \"Yeah, sure. What do you need a blind man to help with?\" he says with a waking voice.\n\n\\\u003e\"Could you tell me what happened after the women left? During the war that is.\"\n\n\\\u003eGod that was hard to say.\n\n\\\u003eAnon frowns, even without his eyes he conveys a great deal of pain with his frown alone.\n\n\\\u003e\"We dove headfirst into hell. The first day the women left I was in the last hold of Draak. We were surrounded, then in a flash of atomic light, we weren't. Then carpet glassed the continent. We boys on the walls called it the fireworks. Then we launched a counterattack. Then we left Draak for good after giving it a good-bye steam bomb.\n\n\\\u003eYour audio recorder has been on since you entered the room, and for whatever reason you feel dirty.\n\n\\\u003e\"Where did you go next Anon.\"\n\n\\\u003e\"Some industrial world, I saw the Canids go mad as they sat in a trench filled with their kind's children's skeletons. Our trench line was on the ruins of a school. The first Felids also started going mad here too come to think of it.\" he says, lament ingrained in his voice.\n\n\\\u003e\"What happened to the mad?\"\n\n\\\u003e\"We put them down.\" He replies with the same lamenting tone.\n\n\\\u003eHoly shit, what?\n\n\\\u003e\"I'm sorry what?\" is all you can say.\n\n\\\u003e\"We led them into a bunker's empty armory and opened fire. Not one still lives, and half-way through my next deployment the Iron decree was issued.\" He says, still lamenting.\n\n\\\u003e\"Did you win?\"\n\n\\\u003e\"No.\" He says, still lamenting.\n\n\\\u003e\"Where did you go next?\"\n\n\\\u003e\"That hellscape known as Folidae\" He states, anger hidden behind false calm.\n\n\\\u003eEven you wince at the name.\n\n\\\u003eYou had to report from inside of a disease-strike'd bunker. alone with the corpses.\n\n\\\u003e\"You want to talk about it.\"\n\n\\\u003e\"No. I lost too much in that godless land.\" Anon growls, and accent previously unknown seeping into his voice.\n\n\\\u003eYou respect his decision but write in your own experience in its place.\n\n\\\u003eJust thinking about it makes your feathers feel withered.\n\n\\\u003eAfter a long session of Q\u0026A you finally have all you need.\n\n\\\u003e\"Anything else Julia?\" Anon asks that accent still in his voice.\n\n\\\u003e\"Can I get a hug?\"\n\n\\\u003eHe pats his chest \"Come 'ere Julia.\"\n\n\\\u003eYou flap onto his chest.\n\n\\\u003e\"Urph!\" Anon groans.\n\n\\\u003e\"S-Sorry Anon.\"\n\n\\\u003e\"You just winded me that's all.\" He says.\n\n\\\u003eHis embrace is cool and firm.\n\n\\\u003eYou can barely feel his heartbeat through your feathers.\n\n\\\u003eYou two lie there just enjoying the quiet.\n\n\\\u003eYou feel Anon drift off to sleep.\n\n\\\u003eMight as well join him in his rest.\u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; - Update 3\n\n\\\u003e\\\u003c\n\n\\\u003e\\\u003c\n\n\\\u003e\\\u003c\n\n\\\u003e\\\u003c\n\n\\\u003e\\\u003c\n\n\\\u003eYou wake up the same way you went to sleep.\n\n\\\u003eCovered in a feathery figure.\n\n\\\u003eWhat?\n\n\\\u003eOh right!\n\n\\\u003eJulia fell asleep atop you last night after interrogating you about some of the worst of the war.\n\n\\\u003eWhy?\n\n\\\u003eYou'll ask when she wakes up.\n\n\\\u003eIn the meanwhile, you reflect upon your time in the hospital\n\n\\\u003eFor a while you could do little but wriggle your neck some, as if trapped in a cocoon of gauze and casts.\n\n\\\u003eFortunately, you were unconscious for most of that.\n\n\\\u003eYour arms sustained a nasty break each but have healed now.\n\n\\\u003eAs for your lower half, you think your bones might be shards not powder.\n\n\\\u003eYou're basing that on the fact that it feels like your femurs feel like a tube of sewing needles.\n\n\\\u003eA familiar feeling washes over you as a set of feathers brush your nose.\n\n\\\u003eAnd you were enjoying the moment too\n\n\\\u003eAh\n\n\\\u003eAH\n\n\\\u003eACHOO!\n\n\\\u003eSonofabitch\n\n\\\u003eA set of talons wrap around your leg casts brushes of wind rush over your face.\n\n\\\u003eAnd a very startled CAW! can be heard.\n\n\\\u003e\"HOLY FUCK THAT HURTS!\"\n\n\\\u003eYou fight the pain for a few moments.\n\n\\\u003eAnd then you pass out.\n\n\\\u003e\n\n\\\u003e\n\n\\\u003eAfter a time, you awaken.\n\n\\\u003eYou feel a tenseness in the room.\n\n\\\u003eYou move your head around trying to hear breathing in any corner.\n\n\\\u003eFar left, two, one much heavier than the other.\n\n\\\u003eBefore you can try to identify the people a strange voice fills the room\n\n\\\u003e\"Well Ms. Yeomem, tell us why you were in here after hours and almost lifted him off the bed?\"\n\n\\\u003e\"I can answer that.\"\n\n\\\u003eThe voice gasps \"How are you even awake?\n\n\\\u003e\"I wasn't killed instantly, so why am I alive?\"\n\n\\\u003e\"True but irrelevant Mr. Anon\" snaps the other woman.\n\n\\\u003e\"If I had eyes and legs you wouldn't be oh so prideful Ma'am\" you growl\n\n\\\u003e\"My husband is in the 40 Series mister; it doesn't get harder than that\" The woman growls\n\n\\\u003e\"30, I was a trencher, the 40 Series couldn't hold Folidae for a month even during civilian evac.\"\n\n\\\u003e\"Oh, you were a replaceable, typical human.\" The woman remarks\n\n\\\u003e\"You're a Falcon yes?\" You say hiding your hateful tone.\n\n\\\u003e\"A True-born.\" She smugly says\n\n\\\u003e\"On my way to the second line I helped extinguish the rebellion on Folcal Minor. My division alone was sent to break the 1st Royal Army. I must say for the finest warriors of a world they put up a pathetic defense, I held a whole building under siege from an entire company before I alone had finished off every last one. Laser weapons work wonders against feathers, just so you know.\" You slyly remark\n\n\\\u003e\"You are a monster Human. You have no respect when you speak of the dead, no honor, not a shred of compassion, you killed my kind and feel nothing.\" She growls\n\n\\\u003e\"Lest humans are not compelled to rebel against the races trying to save them, yet here you are defending traitors.\" you snap back.\n\n\\\u003e\"TRAITORS?! TRAITORS?! They weren't traitors, they were freedom fighters, fighting for their people!\" She passionately spouts\n\n\\\u003e\"Even blind I see more than you, they killed all non-falcons planetside, we were the Empire's workhorse, we are those who break the wills of the prejudiced, and you are in dire need of a breaking.\" You growl back.\n\n\\\u003e\"Do not speak of Falcons like that or you will get the claws like so many before you.\" She coldly states\n\n\\\u003e\"Don't mess with mankind, woman, or you shall feel its crushing weight against your kind.\" You reply in kind.\n\n\\\u003e...\n\n\\\u003eThe room is silent for an eternity\n\n\\\u003eUntil Julia speaks up \"Ma'am why were you in here in the first place?\"\n\n\\\u003e\"His monitors noted he was in pain so they put me in.\" She whispers.\n\n\\\u003e\"Oh, yeah it passed.\" You awkwardly state.\n\n\\\u003e\"How did it even happen?\" She says.\n\n\\\u003e\"H-Hey! Don't look at me Doc.\" Julia stammers out.\n\n\\\u003eAfter a moment passes the weight in the air breaks you.\n\n\\\u003e\"I sneezed.\"\n\n\\\u003e\"What's a sneeze?\" says the doctor\n\n\\\u003e\"Achoo.\"\n\n\\\u003e\"What are you trying to convey human?\" she says annoyed.\n\n\\\u003e\"Forced, violent jerk forwards some mammals do for no reason.\"\n\n\\\u003e\"You mammals are so weird, and I used to think Ancie anatomy was janky.\" She states.\n\n\\\u003e\"Sorry for being a human.\"\n\n\\\u003eYou would've rolled your eyes if you had them\n\n\\\u003eWell you don't\n\n\\\u003eYou can hear the mocking voice of yourself quietly saying \"get fucked\"\n\n\\\u003eWell fuck you too.\n\n\\\u003e\\\u003c\n\n\\\u003e\\\u003c\n\n\\\u003e\\\u003c\n\n\\\u003eAnon seems to be getting better, both physically and mentally.\n\n\\\u003eHe seems to be getting less and less happy being blind a unable to move\n\n\\\u003eYou assume anyone would.\n\n\\\u003eStill he should be happy he's alive.\n\n\\\u003eYou stand there amid the tenseness of an angry falcon who looks like she's about the slash the throat of Anon\n\n\\\u003eAnd Anon looks like he's about to start a one-man-war-of-attrition.\n\n\\\u003eWhelp.\n\n\\\u003eThe doctor leaves the room shortly after the long silence resumes\n\n\\\u003eThe leather claw coverings thud in frustration as she leaves\n\n\\\u003e\"You alright Anon?\"\n\n\\\u003e\"I'm just tired Julia, I'll be going back to sleep.\" Anon wearily says, his former energy gone.\n\n\\\u003eYou wait for Anon to fall asleep, all the while you are writing away on your notebook.\n\n\\\u003eYou start trying to write out how you intend to lay out the special.\n\n\\\u003eRaw Footage\\\u003eAnon Talking about battle\\\u003eExplanation of equipment\\\u003eRema holds\\\u003eDraak/Folidae\\\u003eHope?\n\n\\\u003eNo that sounds too up and front about the horror maybe\n\n\\\u003eRema holds\\\u003eHope\\\u003eRaw Footage\\\u003eDraak/Folidae\\\u003eEquipment\\\u003eRaw footage\\\u003eAnon?\n\n\\\u003eBetter but hope and Rema should go at the end.\n\n\\\u003eAlright, Draak/Folidae\\\u003eAnon\\\u003eEquipment\\\u003eRema\\\u003eRaw Footage\\\u003eHope.\n\n\\\u003eGot it!\n\n\\\u003eWith glee you walk out of Anon's quarters.\n\n\\\u003eThe two halls have people mulling between the patients, nurses making rounds and doctors peeping in and out of rooms.\n\n\\\u003eThe hall you're on has families and teenagers running around, two Korvan teenagers are locked at the lips, and a young human mother with two kids already and a third on the way.\n\n\\\u003eShe's pale skinned like Anon, maybe she's from Anon's home country.\n\n\\\u003eAs you approach the older child points and starts to tug on her mother's skirt \"Look Mamma, Look! It's a big bird!\"\n\n\\\u003eOnce you get close enough the girl asks you directly a very odd question \"Are you Big Bird's sister?\"\n\n\\\u003eWhat?\n\n\\\u003eWho is Big Bird?\n\n\\\u003eUnfortunately, in your confusion all you do is bawk out \"What Big is Bird?\"\n\n\\\u003eThe girl goes into a giggling fit\n\n\\\u003eThank God you have feathers otherwise you'd be redder than a Hori communist's flag.\n\n\\\u003eHer mother finally turns attention away from her stroller bound son.\n\n\\\u003e\"Oh, pardon little Beth! She just speaks her mind.\" she apologetically says.\n\n\\\u003e\"I actually wanted to ask you a question Miss.\" You awkwardly coo.\n\n\\\u003e\"Oh! Go ahead!\" She cheers.\n\n\\\u003e\"Are you from the \"South?\" I think Anon calls it that.\" You are finally able to say normally but curiously\n\n\\\u003e\"Anon? And there are many \"Souths\" so to speak\" She says a bit concerned\n\n\\\u003e\"Anon the Human from the planet we were just on.\" You say also a bit concerned.\n\n\\\u003e\"Oh! The almost-but-not-quite dead fella who was on the news for a day.\" She says\n\n\\\u003e\"Are you from the same South?\" you cheerfully ask.\n\n\\\u003e\"Hun, he's just a white guy he could be from South Russia all I know.\" She answers comfortingly.\n\n\\\u003e\"Are you from a \"South\"?\" You inquire\n\n\\\u003e\"Born and raised in the South of the U S of A~!\" She beams\n\n\\\u003e\"Sorry for bothering you miss.\" You try to cheer as you sulk a few doors down\n\n\\\u003e\"It's no problem Miss.\" She smiles.\n\n\\\u003eAfter closing the door. You lean against it and drop down some.\n\n\\\u003eInhale. Exhale.\n\n\\\u003eYou rise back up and walk over to your desk.\n\n\\\u003eA bottle of Reman wine with a red ribbon and letter sits on it, to its' right is a glass.\n\n\\\u003eThe glass is clear, odd, no one has produced clear glasses in forever.\n\n\\\u003eYou sit down at the desk, removing the note from the wine and putting the two safely on the center of your yet-to-be-used cot.\n\n\\\u003eYou run a claw along your beak, smooth and cool to the touch, just like always.\n\n\\\u003eWith your other hand you clack your claw on the desk.\n\n\\\u003eAcross your desk is a twisted collage of twisted corpses, technical documents, and Anon's file still in its folder.\n\n\\\u003eThough front and center are a bunch of Anon's photos from training.\n\n\\\u003eYou get a little flustered looking at some.\n\n\\\u003eBut the gore and hardware really make it less than enjoyable\n\n\\\u003e\"I don't get paid enough for this\" you grumble before tidying up the desk.\n\n\\\u003eAfter drafting up the special's lineup you send your planned idea to the editing department.\n\n\\\u003eYou hope to get a reply by tomorrow.\n\n\\\u003eYou look at the letter, the red wax seal of the Royal Court.\n\n\\\u003eLeaving only a small pink discoloration on the manila envelope.\n\n\\\u003eInside is a handwritten letter.\n\n\\\u003eDear Ms. Yeomem,\n\n\\\u003eIt had come to my attention that you are in the care of a man from my homeland. For your troubles we have sent you two gifts, courtesy of the Court as of current, in the form of a bottle of wine native to your world and crystalline wine glass, a masterpiece of a young Anjekan Glazier working under an Italian master. Unfortunately, this is the extent of the gratitude I can send at the moment, the War is consuming most of my time.\n\n\\\u003eSincerely, Mr. Human\n\n\\\u003eYou shuffle over to your bed\n\n\\\u003egrab the wine.\n\n\\\u003ePOP\n\n\\\u003eBefore you let your mind fully process the magnitude of this event you've already poured a glass of wine.\n\n\\\u003eYou let the sweet taste of the blue alcohol wash over your tongue tempting you to drink more.\n\n\\\u003eYou give in.\n\n\\\u003eSoon you sit there hiccuping.\n\n\\\u003eAnd now very, very horny.\n\n\\\u003eAfter two more glasses of wine your hand had crept down to the edge of your pants.\n\n\\\u003eYou're still thinking but more so on two things, ensuring your ladylike modesty and being far from modest\n\n\\\u003eYou creep over to the door, and press the \"do not disturb\" button, the green light turning red.\n\n\\\u003eFirst to the floor is your pants.\n\n\\\u003eYou rub one scaled finger over your burning intimacy gasping faintly.\n\n\\\u003eYou look up towards your desk, only to see a pick of Anon when he was younger.\n\n\\\u003eYou rise to grab the photo of him from training. Your finger never leaving the crevice in your panties.\n\n\\\u003eThe electric tings of pleasure stop you in your tracks causing your knees to bend inwards and eyes to roll back a little.\n\n\\\u003eTwo more quivering steps and you've fallen onto your cot, the restraint you once had gone.\n\n\\\u003eYour scaled fingers force a movement of your hips, grinding and intensifying the erotic energy throughout your boy.\n\n\\\u003eYou set the image on the pillow so that Anon's eyes seem to be looking into yours.\n\n\\\u003eYour hand is soaked in juices, your tongue bitten down on by your beak, your left breast cupped and squeezed in your other hand.\n\n\\\u003eEach grind of your hips, every squeeze of your breast causes ever increasing electric lust.\n\n\\\u003eSlowly you begin to moan, \"A-Anon...\"\n\n\\\u003eAt last you slide one dull-clawed finger inside, intensifying every lewd action\n\n\\\u003eYour beak raises slowly towards the ceiling, saliva dripping from your beak as all you can think about is sweaty muscular Anon in 30 series uniform.\n\n\\\u003eThe way the under-suit grips to the muscles, the unbuttoned greatcoat leaving just enough room to imagine.\n\n\\\u003e\"Decadent...\" Is all you can moan out as you imagine what you want him to do you.\n\n\\\u003eAs your mind begins to tingle you lose even more modesty.\n\n\\\u003eAs your hips take control for the last few moments it feels like your intimacy feels as if it is burning\n\n\\\u003eYou finally reach climax, falling forward you continue on instinct before falling out as the euphoria of the moment fades.\n\n\\\u003eYour lone finger slides out with slick, the hand on your breast letting go.\n\n\\\u003eYour foot-claws are fully tightened. twisting the bed sheets.\n\n\\\u003eYour breathing is still heavy.\n\n\\\u003e\"Anon\" is all you can say.\n\n\\\u003eYou roll over the other side of the cot, grabbing the heavier blanket.\n\n\\\u003eYou throw it over you and fall asleep.\n\n\\\u003e\\\u003c\n\n\\\u003e\\\u003c\n\n\\\u003e\\\u003c\n\n\\\u003eThe rest trip passes with little difference\n\n\\\u003eJulia seems to be more relaxed but a bit embarrassed around you.\n\n\\\u003eTurns out your regiment had killed the Falcon Doctor's brother, cousin, and first love all in one go.\n\n\\\u003eNeedless to say, when they listed off the names etched into the monuments of those the units' kills it caused quite the commotion.\n\n\\\u003eThe Sobs were unreal.\n\n\\\u003eShe didn't even know they were dead.\n\n\\\u003eThe next doctor was the previous one.\n\n\\\u003eSo rather uninterested with the who.\n\n\\\u003ePractical and respectable.\n\n\\\u003eAs you near the destination you hear the PA come over the room \"All right everyone, welcome to the Sol System, we will be arriving at the Mars Orbital Medical Complex in a few hours. Pack your belongings and prepare for departure.\"\n\n\\\u003eYou've been here before but not for treatment. It was for prisoner escort and wounded escort.\n\n\\\u003eNothing was worse than watching the less fortunate men of your Series pass while countless personnel and machines did their damnedest to keep them from doing so.\n\n\\\u003eIt was two weeks on the ship from Folcal Minor and one week on the MOMCOM.\n\n\\\u003eYou stood outside the bio-weapons development division's holding cells, but mainly just watched the News or caught up on T.V from earth.\n\n\\\u003eAnything to drown out the screams, even through six feet of sealed titanium alloy you could still make them out.\n\n\\\u003eRegardless, you won't be near that black asterisk in space, you'll be getting new eyes.\n\n\\\u003eF U C K\u0026nbsp; Y E A H is the only thing that shoots across your mind when you think about it.\n\n\\\u003eYou're rather giddy to be honest. The thought of seeing again is rather tantalizing.\n\n\\\u003eWell everything apart from that damnable horseman and the vivid dreams.\n\n\\\u003eThe telltale creaking of metal alerts you to the activation of finely tuned air jets.\n\n\\\u003eThe end of the droning rumble and its replacement with a rapid shaking one means that the ship is decelerating.\n\n\\\u003eAfter an hour or so a ring is felt throughout the ship, we've docked.\n\n\\\u003eAnother hour had passed, and the pressure has increase, and that anti-microbial smell has hit you.\n\n\\\u003eAfter a few more minutes a nurse comes in.\n\n\\\u003e\"Hello Anon, we've already prepared a surgeon for you.\" The man happily says before wheeling you away.\n\n\\\u003e\"You should be very happy Mr. Anon, the Crown has enrolled you into a special test treatment, you'll still be getting ocular replacements but eventually your eyes should grow back. How cool is that!\" He continues.\n\n\\\u003e\"Are you from the Midwest? \" You ask amid your confusion on the intentions the Crown has for you.\n\n\\\u003e\"Kansan and Proud!\" He beams.\n\n\\\u003eAfter you leave the ship obvious by the intensifying anti-microbial smell, and the PA system welcoming us the nurse steps aside and you stop.\n\n\\\u003eAfter a moment or so he wishes you farewell and tells you that a robot will be taking me to my operating room.\n\n\\\u003eThe automaton tells you details in a text-to-speech engine to make a 2008 flash game proud.\n\n\\\u003eAfter going through a maze of turns and winding halls you arrive at your operating room with an electronic beep followed by the hum of magnetic lock.\n\n\\\u003eWhirring can be heard as something lowers from the ceiling.\n\n\\\u003eCLICK\n\n\\\u003eA living voice can finally be heard.\n\n\\\u003e\"Be Calm Anon, the procedure will be required you be awake but you will feel no pain\" Says a voice that can best be described a serpentine.\n\n\\\u003eA prick can be felt in your neck as a minute amount of fluid is injected.\n\n\\\u003e\"This medical cocktail will deactivate your brain's pain receptors for a while as well as sedate your muscles.\"\n\n\\\u003eNo different than a combat stimulant.\n\n\\\u003eYou can feel nothing but tension and movement\n\n\\\u003eIn the breaks of the sounds of mechanical whirring you hear a deep, concentrated breathing.\n\n\\\u003eWhispers of \"Perfect, Hoooo..., and Oh God\" can be occasionally heard over the hours.\n\n\\\u003eAfter about a half hour you hear the sound of a stretched fiber being cut.\n\nAfter something is placed in your now empty right eye socket, then something else.\n\n\\\u003eThe process is repeated on what was your left eye.\n\n\\\u003eSomething else descends from the ceiling.\n\n\\\u003eRight where your eyes were a series of clicks and whirs begin.\n\n\\\u003e\"The Operation is completes hooman, I will now be turning on your eyessssss.\"\n\n\\\u003eA flash of light washes over your vision.\n\n\\\u003eA spider-like medical robot is mere inches from your face, every tool looking equally painful\n\n\\\u003e\"Can you sssssssssssssee hooman?\"\n\n\\\u003e\"Perfectly\" You respond, astonished at being able to see again.\n\n\\\u003eYou had almost become comfortable with your blindness to be fair.\n\n\\\u003e\"Good, goooood.\" Says the serpentine surgeon.\n\n\\\u003eYou turn to look at him.\n\n\\\u003eA four-armed snake, his elongated body is sprawled around him.\n\n\\\u003eHe turns to you, his hooded head coming into full view.\n\n\\\u003e\"No hooman, most among my kind only two arms.\" is all he says before turning away.\n\n\\\u003eAs if he forgot something he turns back around to say \"Your legs will be fixed tomorrow, they after you will be taken off the medicine hassss prevented you muscles from atrophying. You should be cleared to leave here in a week.\" Then turns back around.\n\n\\\u003eThe grin you have spreads from ear to ear. You do that dumb yes thing with your arm in excitement.\n\n\\\u003eAfter a few more minutes of the surgeon mulling about he walks over to a small tracked robot, slides a newly printed card into it then it springs to life.\n\n\\\u003eIt takes your hospital bed and wheels you out of the room. Down a hall and into a room.\n\n\\\u003eThen it just leaves.\n\n\\\u003eAlone and in the dark.\n\n\\\u003eAh well, at least you know its dark.\n\n\\\u003eAs the excitement wears off it becomes all but impossible to sleep.\n\n\\\u003eIts like your eyelids are made of lead.\n\n\\\u003eLike before you let the need for rest consume you.\n\n\\\u003eThe first half of the next day is another session of wide-eyed mechanical whirring, clicking, and implants.\n\n\\\u003eYour right leg was cut is four places at the thigh and once in the calf.\n\n\\\u003eYour left leg only received two cuts in the thigh while your calf got two.\n\n\\\u003eAfter your unconscious meeting with the metal spiders. You were woken up only two see two enormous needles sticking out of your legs, injecting their sickly green cocktails.\n\n\\\u003eNeedless to say, you were rather exhausted after the whole ordeal.\n\n\\\u003eAll you could do was stand up and hobble around until the Serpent Surgeon pointed towards the door and hissed \"Outs hooman.\" - Update 3 (I think?)\n\n\\\u003eYou barely make it to your bed before fall asleep.\n\n\\\u003eTick, tink, Tick, Tink\n\n\\\u003eThe sound of the metallic forces a quick prayer from you not quite asleep body.\n\n\\\u003eHe's here again.\n\n\\\u003e\"Hello Anon~\" Chimes the entity behind you.\n\n\\\u003eYou turn your head to stare the being in the eyes.\n\n\\\u003eHe sits, old and young, atop his mechanical horse.\n\n\\\u003e\"Oh, you thought you were going mad?\" he says sounding almost disappointed.\n\n\\\u003e\"A little\" you murmur.\n\n\\\u003e\"I can't hold the beliefs the blind against him.\" He shrugs off.\n\n\\\u003e\"Now to the reason I'm here. You need to Earth, that is all.\" He states with a aura of overwhelming authority.\n\n\\\u003e\"Why do I need to go back to Earth?\" You demand\n\n\\\u003e\"First off, your sister got married about a year ago to an Anjekan from the 70 Series, the poor boy is still out on the front but I think he'll live. Second off, you need some time away from this science-was-once-fiction world you're in, go for a walk, airfare is basically free at this point, see your world before you explore another.\" The entity suggests.\n\n\\\u003e\"My sister married an Anjekan?!\" you exclaim\n\n\\\u003e\"What? Did you think she was a lesbian?\" The horseman questions\n\n\\\u003e\"Kinda...\" you whisper, a singe of shame in your voice.\n\n\\\u003e\"Ah well, the firstborn is due when the Halik Campaign is over.\" He says almost in passing\n\n\\\u003e\"How do you know all this?\" You inquire\n\n\\\u003e\"I see all progress of all things; development, gestation, creation, even schemes. That is because I am them\" He answers.\n\n\\\u003e\"I have gotten to my point Anon, say hi to Julia for me, farewell.\" He states before riding off at a trot.\n\n\\\u003eBefore he fully leaves your vision you fall asleep hunched over your bed.\n\n\\\u003eThere is no dream, just the blackness.\n\n\\\u003eWhen you wake up there is no drone of an engine, no beeping of equipment, no distant machinegun fire or artillery.\n\n\\\u003eIt is just silent.\n\n\\\u003eWhich is something you cannot say you've ever truly heard.\n\n\\\u003eYou rise sore from head to toe.\n\n\\\u003eYour face reels from the initial steps.\n\n\\\u003eNot moving your legs for several weeks or maybe a few months at this point may be the cause.\n\n\\\u003eThat or the fact your legs until yesterday resembled a tube-shaped collection of bone fragments.\n\n\\\u003eHmmmm.\n\n\\\u003eYou wonder.\n\n\\\u003eRegardless of your legs, you need to get up to speed.\n\n\\\u003eHeh, legs and speed.\n\n\\\u003eAs you reach the first turn on the hallway you see a group of four men in white cloaks whispering among themselves.\n\n\\\u003eTo get down the hall you limp past them, them remaining silent the entire time.\n\n\\\u003eOne calls out as you prepare to move down the next asks \"Are you Mr. Anon?\"\n\n\\\u003e\"Yes, why do you ask?\" you say concern dripping from the back half of your sentence.\n\n\\\u003e\"We have a question for you.\" Says the now visibly masked figure, revealing a pistol.\n\n\\\u003e\"Ask.\" You say, both coldly and concerned.\n\n\\\u003e\"Do you feel anything off with your ocular implants?\" Asks another one of the cloaked figures.\n\n\\\u003e\"No. Why?\" You ask with increasing inquisitiveness.\n\n\\\u003e\"Just ensuring the implants took well that's all.\" A different one of the figures responds with a disturbingly coolly.\n\n\\\u003eThe last of the four wishes you farewell before resuming the near-inaudible whispers of their conversation.\n\n\\\u003eUnsettled you begin, you walk down the halls, while still in moderate pain.\n\n\\\u003eA towering Equil nurse guides a Dracon on an ambulance sized stretcher while a small army of pusher droids drive the Dracon further.\n\n\\\u003eYou worm your way through the winding labyrinth of sterile-white surfaces and the less-than comfortable glow of UV and LED lights.\n\n\\\u003eYou pass all varieties of species, humans being the most numerous, but Korvan, Equil, Anjekans, Rats, and a myriad of bird species all in equal minority.\n\n\\\u003eCries of new life can be heard, after turning a corner, the hissing and beeping of the hallways of the wounded having ceased.\n\n\\\u003eSinging mothers and cheering fathers.\n\n\\\u003eYou continue your search for wherever you are supposed to be.\n\n\\\u003eAfter at least a dozen or so more turns the sheer size of the growing MOMCOM sets in.\n\n\\\u003eThe last time you came here it was little more than a silver dot above the green blistered planet of Mars.\n\n\\\u003eAt long last you come to a window.\n\n\\\u003eWhat you see is more reminiscent of Earth than of Mars.\n\n\\\u003eThe once pockmarked surface now shows large swaths of green.\n\n\\\u003eAn ocean has formed somehow.\n\n\\\u003eThe red desert of Mars still wraps around the poles and to the tropics but after that it has been consumed by blue and green.\n\n\\\u003eHow in the name of God...\n\n\\\u003e\"HEY, YOU THERE!\" Shouts an angered man.\n\n\\\u003eTwo black armored and armed figures are running towards you.\n\n\\\u003eIn a brief moment of reaction instinct took over.\n\n\\\u003eYou charge towards the two figures.\n\n\\\u003eFighting a year of reaction you force yourself to stop before slamming the smaller of the two figures.\n\n\\\u003e\"Sir, this is a restricted area, state your business or we will have to escort you away from this section.\n\n\\\u003eRestricted area.\n\n\\\u003eOn the MOMCOM\n\n\\\u003eThat makes no sense.\n\n\\\u003eUnless\n\n\\\u003e\"Did the Bio-Weapons Development Division connect with the main MOMCOM station?\" unwittingly saying\n\n\\\u003eBoth of the armored figures freeze, giving you enough time to figure out what they are.\n\n\\\u003eA human shorter than you, not saying much as you were always a taller fellow.\n\n\\\u003eA Korvan of average height, his species revealed by his tail.\n\n\\\u003e\"How do you know about the BWDD?\" The human says still astonished.\n\n\\\u003e\"After the Folcal Minor rebellion I came here to drop off a couple of captured Jeewol.\"\n\n\\\u003e\"You're 30 Series?\" asks the Korvan.\n\n\\\u003e\"Formerly, until my eyes were gouged out and legs shattered on Rema.\"\n\n\\\u003e\"You were one of the people that escorted the Jeewol?\" a newly calmed human asks.\n\n\\\u003e\"Yes, sorry if they won't stop screaming.\" You apologize.\n\n\\\u003e\"They can make noise?\" the human questions.\n\n\\\u003e\"Jeewol in general or the prisoners?\"\n\n\\\u003e\"Both\" answers the Korvan.\n\n\\\u003e\"Jeewol can talk like any other race, that shouldn't be a surprise to anyone.\"\n\n\\\u003eBoth the Human and the Korvan take a step back.\n\n\\\u003e\"Good God\" mumbles the Human.\n\n\\\u003e\"You said you were blinded, yes?\" nervously asks the Korvan.\n\n\\\u003e\"Yes, and I am terribly lost.\" You answer, your concern growing in your voice.\n\n\\\u003e\"Hey, dude you stand guard, I'll escort this guy to the directory.\" The Korvan says to his buddy.\n\n\\\u003e\"Yeah, you do that.\" Says the human.\n\n\\\u003eThe walk back through seems guided by memory.\n\n\\\u003eEach turn is known and familiar.\n\n\\\u003eAfter about an hour of silence you arrive at a massive hollow space.\n\n\\\u003e\"Here you go Mister, go over to any of the desks and they should help you out.\" says the Korvan before vanishing into a crowd of blue and white uniforms.\n\n\\\u003eIn the center of the cylindrical hollow stands a behemoth of a man armored in silver detailed in bronze.\n\n\\\u003eThe presence of one of the million is both worrying and relieving.\n\n\\\u003eNo one dares go near the Imperial Scion, mainly out of fear.\n\n\\\u003eYou hurry toward one of the desks.\n\n\\\u003eThen you feel its grip on your shoulder.\n\n\\\u003eAn armored hand shining in the light.\n\n\\\u003eThe menacing figure lets go of your shoulder and waves his hand to signal you to follow.\n\n\\\u003eAs if travelling in the wake of a great ship the crowded area breaks before the Scion like water around a rock.\n\n\\\u003eNot a soul dares so much as touch a Scion.\n\n\\\u003eYou are guided into a separate room guarded by two of the Scion's retinue.\n\n\\\u003eInside is an Imperial Herald, a smaller Felid adorned in silk and gold.\n\n\\\u003eThe Scion closes the door and removes his helmet.\n\n\\\u003eLong brown hair and a Mediterranean complexion.\n\n\\\u003eYou sit across from the Herald, in an eerie silence.\n\n\\\u003eThe Scion glares down at the Herald.\n\n\\\u003e\"No Scion, I demand respect, I demand a formal greeting.\" Snarks the Herald.\n\n\\\u003eIn the blink of an eye the Scion's blade rests silently just below the Herald's neck.\n\n\\\u003eA voice from a room away can be heard.\n\n\\\u003e\"Sorry to do this to you Anon, but we needed to inspect this Herald's performance. And loyalty\" The voice chilling you to the bone.\n\n\\\u003eTurning the corner is another towering figure wearing a helmet adorned with a horned animal skull.\n\n\\\u003eHe walks over to you, sets a document in your lap before turning to glare at the Herald.\n\n\\\u003e\"Stand Anon, this meeting is over. My Scion shall take you to whom you owe your life.\"\n\n\\\u003eAs you stand to leave the Herald vomits onto the table.\n\n\\\u003eThe door is sealed behind you as the Scion leads you.\n\n\\\u003e\\\u003c\n\n\\\u003e\\\u003c\n\n\\\u003e\\\u003c\n\n\\\u003eA single loud knock is heard on your door causing you to jump a little.\n\n\\\u003eYou approach the door cautiously, a strange energy about it.\n\n\\\u003eWith a hiss the sterile white of the door is replaced with the glow of silver.\n\n\\\u003eYou look up at the armored figure, a Scion.\n\n\\\u003eHe nods his head and leaves, revealing what was behind him.\n\n\\\u003eAnon.\n\n\\\u003eA pure joy takes hold as you lung towards Anon, wrapping your arms around his neck.\n\n\\\u003eHe grabs your legs and carries you back into the room using your toe-claw to seal the door shut.\n\n\\\u003e\"Soooo Anon, how was meeting a Scion?\" You joke.\n\n\\\u003e\"A very, very talkative person to be sure.\" Anon replies, playful sarcasm dripping from his voice\n\n\\\u003eYou rest your head on his shoulder.\n\n\\\u003e\"This is nice.\" you whisper\n\n\\\u003e\"Yeah\" Anon whispers.\n\n\\\u003eYou tighten your grip and Anon returns in kind.\n\n\\\u003e\"I would kiss you but I have not the faintest clue how.\" Anon says, embarrassed.\n\n\\\u003eYou lean up and lick his nose.\n\n\\\u003eAnon stands there in a glowing-eyed shock\n\n\\\u003eAfter a snort-like noise he breaks into a wholehearted laugh.\n\n\\\u003eAfter a moment of embarrassment you too break out laugh-cawing.\n\n\\\u003eBetween fits of giggling Anon sets you down on the bed, he slinks down into the desk chair.\n\n\\\u003eFor a moment he just looks tired and distant before a milder smile returns to his face.\n\n\\\u003eHis lips mouth something before he looks up at something not quite there.\n\n\\\u003eHe looks towards you and says, \"Anything on your mind?\"\n\n\\\u003e\"No, not really\" you lie.\n\n\\\u003e\"Cool\" is all he is able to stay before his head starts to bob towards sleep.\n\n\\\u003eYou help him rise up and set him on the bed, the moment his head hits the pillow he falls asleep.\n\n\\\u003eThen you cuddle up beside him.\n\n\\\u003e\\\u003c\n\n\\\u003e\\\u003c\n\n\\\u003e\\\u003c\n\n\\\u003eYou dream of the front once again, but there is no more artillery, no hissing of aircraft, no cracks of gunfire.\n\n\\\u003eYou crawl out from the trenches to see no corpses, no melee.\n\n\\\u003eJust an eerie calm, the four species of the 30 Series begin to trickle into no-man's-land, the Jeewol soon follow.\n\n\\\u003eThe hisses of releasing CO2 from the gasmasks of both sides get faintly louder as each faction nears.\n\n\\\u003eThe dream ends as the two forces meet each other, the first handshake\n\n\\\u003eAnd the dream ends.\n\n\\\u003eThe soft glow the stations \"night lighting\" barely illuminates Julia's black sleeping shape, the clawed arm draped across your chest, the beak nuzzled on your shoulder\n\n\\\u003eHer breath is calm and warm against your neck.\n\n\\\u003eCalming in a way.\n\n\\\u003eYou lay there wondering \"How did I get here\"? in a reflection sense.\n\n\\\u003eYou took the stars full of hope, had it crushed in the grinding glacier of war, and lost you sight, had it restored and now you're here.\n\n\\\u003ePoetic\n\n\\\u003eGotta write that down\n\n\\\u003eBut now its time to enjoy the moment.\n\n\\\u003eYou drift back to sleep\n\n\\\u003eNo dreams this time\n\n\\\u003eThe next time you wake up it is to the sensation of light pressure.\n\n\\\u003eYou open your eyes to see Julia laying atop you, her arms placed on your shoulders, her breasts pressed ever so gently against your chest.\n\n\\\u003e\"No speaking Anon, just let me enjoy the moment.\" She whispers sensing that you've woken up.\n\n\\\u003eYou move your arms up and wrap them around her waist and pull slightly.\n\n\\\u003e\"Hmmm, nice~\" She hums into your ear as her grip on your shoulder tightens.\n\n\\\u003eYou stay locked together in that embrace before a thunder knock sends Julia up like a rocket and diving to the ground in search of cover.\n\n\\\u003eYou walk over to the door, pulling the open latch, to see the Scion from yesterday with an almost equally imposing woman of a similar complexion dawning similar armor.\n\n\\\u003e\"The station can no longer support you two, we are to escort you two out of here.\" is said in the ice cold voice of the Scion.\n\n\\\u003e\"Great special though Julia\" Says the warmer but dominating voice of the woman.\n\n\\\u003e\"What?\" You manage to say through your shock.\n\n\\\u003eJulia shouts a \"Thanks Maria!\" from inside the room.\n\n\\\u003eYou peer over to see her shoving two last outfits in a suitcase.\n\n\\\u003e\"Wait you know this woman?\" you call to Julia\n\n\\\u003e\"Yeah, Yeah that Scion is her husband, She's an Amazon.\" She says almost as if it is casual.\n\n\\\u003eWell now you know Scions have bedroom lives.\n\n\\\u003ePlease get that thought out now.\n\n\\\u003e\"Do I have any luggage?\"\n\n\\\u003eThe Scion's cold attitude breaks the more jovial mood \"You're wearing it trenchman, a new 30 Series uniform was shipped to Julia's condo planetside along with all your belongings in storage.\n\n\\\u003e\"Hun, lighten up.\" pleads the Amazon.\n\n\\\u003eAll she gets is a head shake.\n\n\\\u003eShe returns in kind\n\n\\\u003eAn audible click can be heard as Julia extends the handle of her suitcase.\n\n\\\u003e\"Ready to go Maria! What dock are we headed to.\" Julia asks.\n\n\\\u003e\"Seventeen me and Gael will take you there before saying our farewells.\" The Amazon says.\n\n\\\u003eJulia and Maria make small talk along the way to dock, while you and the Scion remain on obvious high alert.\n\n\\\u003eYou note the presence of the white cloaked personnel in the corners of hallways and behind bends.\n\n\\\u003eThe Scion seems to view them with a much more intense scrutiny.\n\n\\\u003eThe Scion speaks \"You are more vigilant than most of your Series that come here.\"\n\n\\\u003e\"How so?\"\n\n\\\u003e\"You still see what is in front of you.\" Is all he says before resuming his silence.\n\n\\\u003eWhat.\n\n\\\u003eYou press the thought to the back of your head before continuing forward.\n\n\\\u003eYou really never considered the fates of your mates who didn't die within five minutes because of how few they were.\n\n\\\u003eAfter a few more minutes of walking through the winding halls of the hospital section you come to an area of people-moves and shops reminiscent of an airport back on Earth.\n\n\\\u003eYou note an even wider variety of species wandering the shops compared to who was working the hospital.\n\n\\\u003eA group of Rakti Spiders walk by on six legs, one of which is a recent mother obvious by the four silk spinning little ones on her abdomen.\n\n\\\u003eBehind them are a pair of Kiliak Spiders, only on two legs, each holding a twin with one set of arms, two bags with another, while the last two arms either hold the other's hand or swing gently as they walk.\n\n\\\u003eTwo families are at the play area, a family of foxes and the other of ferrets.\n\n\\\u003eThe words \"You know my eldest daughter married a Human?\" can be heard from the ferret mother followed by a mock-disappointed \"I won't be surprised if Geli joins as a number two.\" from the fox dad \"Hey!\" the Ferret mom protests as her husband starts to laugh.\n\n\\\u003eThe Scion's neutral expression lightens into a small curve of his mouth.\n\n\\\u003eYou reach the end of the massive area and into a hub of smaller passageways.\n\n\\\u003eYou and the group walk up a spiraling walkway up to terminal 17.\n\n\\\u003eThere Julia and Maria share a hug, you try to shake the Scion's hand, and then you wave the pair off.\n\n\\\u003e\"Come Anon, ships to the Elevator leave every half hour.\" Julia says power walking herself towards the docking port.\n\n\\\u003eYou almost have to jog to catch up.\n\n\\\u003eOnce you make it there the waiting screen shines in big bold letters\n\n\\\u003e25 Minutes Until Next Shuttle.\n\n\\\u003eYou can feel a bit of mild fury rise up in your chest before letting out a long sigh.\n\n\\\u003eJulia sits down at the nearby bench, her left eye twitching ever so slightly, arms crossed.\n\n\\\u003e\"Off by five fucking minutes!\" She hisses under her breath.\n\n\\\u003eShe takes a deep breath before closing her eyes and calming down.\n\n\\\u003e\"You okay?\"\n\n\\\u003e\"I just hate waiting.\" Julia says\n\n\\\u003e\"Well, its not waiting if you use the time well.\"\n\n\\\u003eShe chuckles \"What? you wanna talk about my special?\"\n\n\\\u003e\"Sure, I was either blind or unconscious when it aired. I think.\"\n\n\\\u003eYour waned massively in that last bit and she felt it.\n\n\\\u003e\"It aired two nights ago, you were not unconscious.\" She asserts.\n\n\\\u003e\"True, sorry.\"\n\n\\\u003e\"It went great, mainly thanks to the fact it proved humans to be empathetic creatures.\"\n\n\\\u003e\"What?\"\n\n\\\u003e\"Wait, you don't know about the stereotypes surrounding humans?\"\n\n\\\u003e\"Absolutely not.\" You say astonished\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\n\n\\\u003e\"The first humans the galaxy knew about came into focus when I was fourteen. That was the Mr. Human now the Founder, his million Scions and million Amazons waged their secret war. All of his soldiers from \"Europe\" those things are damn near indestructible. From that the first stereotype was made, that all humans were hulking, silent, battlefield masters and terrifyingly cunning.\"\n\n\\\u003e\"I didn't even know of Mr. Human until about a year before the war started.\"\n\n\\\u003e\"Oh, I know.\" Julia says matter-of-fact-ly.\n\n\\\u003e\"During the war your kind took on a new face, not indestructible, but loyal and unrelenting, those that could do whatever asked. Your kind now shares that with the Anjekans.\" She says almost remorsefully.\n\n\\\u003e\"I still have no idea what an Anjekan is to this day.\"\n\n\\\u003e\"Literal angels, but with wings of all variety of colors, whites, browns, grays, blacks, even red.\" She says almost scholarly.\n\n\\\u003eYou finally sit next to her, throwing your arm over her shoulder.\n\n\\\u003e\"What on Earth are we gonna do?\"\n\n\\\u003e\"You act as if we're married, or on Earth.\" She says playfully.\n\n\\\u003e\"Still, what am I gonna do once I'm at your place?\" You ask.\n\n\\\u003e\"Hopefully take me to dinner.\" She snickers.\n\n\\\u003eYou open your mouth to comment and raise a finger before finding a distinct lack of rebuttal.\n\n\\\u003eJulia just smiles, it's hard to tell with the beak but you've got it now.\n\n\\\u003eYou feel a bit of sadness.\n\n\\\u003eI guess you can take a man from the war, but not the war out of the man.\n\n\\\u003e\"You okay Anon?\" Julia says looking concerned.\n\n\\\u003e\"Just thinking of old comrades, I can't really stop.\" You say without a lie for once.\n\n\\\u003e\"Are they okay.\" She concernedly asks.\n\n\\\u003e\"They passed, all of them.\" You say remembering the faces of all those who are lost.\n\n\\\u003eYou look out the window, seeing a faint reflection of yourself.\n\n\\\u003eYou and Julia aren't alone.\n\n\\\u003eThe Brit is there too, his hand on your right shoulder.\n\n\\\u003eSarge too, standing to the left of him.\n\n\\\u003eThe lost Korvan ruffles your hair.\n\n\\\u003eThen they all die again.\n\n\\\u003eYou go tense\n\n\\\u003eA Jeewol approaches from behind.\n\n\\\u003eYou can feel your breath ramp up.\n\n\\\u003eThat primal fear is back.\n\n\\\u003eYou start instinctively looking for cover.\n\n\\\u003eYour arms lock into the way you used to hold your gun.\n\n\\\u003eYou blink to see a broken land, it's the factory world Garova, wires hang from the ceiling, the smell of industry sinks into your lungs.\n\n\\\u003eYou see the twisted shapes of the 0 Series operatives, the world's last Scion, his jaw hanging by a few strands of tissue crushing the head of a Jeewol, the compound eyes popping like berries in his fists before collapsing into muscle spasms.\n\n\\\u003eYou no longer have your gun, you can't seem to find it.\n\n\\\u003eYou feel a grip on your shoulder and ignore it.\n\n\\\u003eThe grip turns into an embrace of a sort\n\n\\\u003eYou left Garova.\n\n\\\u003eYou were blind.\n\n\\\u003eYou blink again to see the station.\n\n\\\u003eJulia looks panicked, a nearby family looks shaken.\n\n\\\u003eYou notice Julia is holding you tightly.\n\n\\\u003e\"What just happened?\" She asks in fearful demand.\n\n\\\u003e\"I was just on Garova, how did I get there?\"\n\n\\\u003e\"You never left the station.\" She states.\n\n\\\u003eThe father of the nearby family approaches, he's one of those Anjekans Julia was speaking about.\n\n\\\u003eWings of brown complement his blue suit.\n\n\\\u003e\"Sir, what Series are you from?\" He asks in a scholarly voice.\n\n\\\u003e\"30, proper.\" You answer.\n\n\\\u003e\"You got PTSD, honestly expected knowing your deployments.\" he replies in that cool examining voice.\n\n\\\u003e\"I should've guessed!\" Julia remarks.\n\n\\\u003e\"What Series are you from Sir?\" You ask.\n\n\\\u003e\"70, though I served during the Silent Wars.\"\n\n\\\u003e\"Dear do you know that man?\" Calls the man's wife.\n\n\\\u003e\"No, but he's a former soldier like me.\" He calls back.\n\n\\\u003eThe Anjekan woman and her four kids all walk over, her wings grey speckled white.\n\n\\\u003e\"So who are you two?\" Julia asks cheerfully, her fearful demeanor seemingly faded.\n\n\\\u003e\"Oh I'm Cato Alter and this is my wife Amaya, you?\"\n\n\\\u003e\"I'm Anonathan Incognitius.\" You answer\n\n\\\u003e\"And your wife?\" He inquires.\n\n\\\u003e\"Wife?\" you reply.\n\n\\\u003eJulia glares at you for a second.\n\n\\\u003eThe realization hits you like a slap.\n\n\\\u003e\"Oh! That's Julia Yeomem, we aren't married, I actually haven't the faintest clue where we are.\" You say\n\n\\\u003eAh is all he says before he makes the smuggest face you've ever seen.\n\n\\\u003eThe four of you make small talk regarding the war, how to deal with PTSD, and life in general for roughly 15 or so minutes.\n\n\\\u003e\"You can control it Anon, just make sure it doesn't control you.\" Is his final words on the matter.\n\n\\\u003eThe ride to the space elevator is awe inspiring.\n\n\\\u003eYou find yourself gazing out onto the planet's almost organic mixture of industry, wildlife, and agriculture from orbit.\n\n\\\u003eOnce you get to the elevator you and Julia part ways with the Alters, exchanging a healthy handshake with the adults and enough waving to land an aircraft with the kids.\n\n\\\u003eThe decent is incredible.\n\n\\\u003eYou stare as more and more details come into full view though strangest of all is rivers that flow in some areas.\n\n\\\u003eIts a grid-like delta, entering an island dotted ocean.\n\n\\\u003eThe cities are not in bubbles anymore, a change from a year ago.\n\n\\\u003eAs you reach the surface you notice even Julia is fascinated by the surrounding planet.\n\n\\\u003eAs the roads and railways begin to become noticeable you find an odd shimmer around the green-topped buildings.\n\n\\\u003eA parade is going on in a nearby town indicated by the flower-like colors of its streets.\n\n\\\u003ePeople come into view, first as pinpricks, then as little lines, and finally a whole person.\n\n\\\u003eThe landing area is a ways from the nearest settlement, maybe two or three miles.\n\n\\\u003eThe doors without a hiss, as they had already been pressurized to the surface.\n\n\\\u003eWell according to the screen inside at least.\n\n\\\u003eThe pressure in your ears tells a different story though.\n\n\\\u003eA large yawn and your ears popping like a dozen packages of pop-rocks confirms your suspicion.\n\n\\\u003eBefore you shut your mouth again Julia snatches your hand and her claw and pulls you out of the elevator pod.\n\n\\\u003e\"C'mon Anon, I am starving, and home is like a half hour away.\" She says not even trying to face you.\n\n\\\u003eAfter the feathery tugboat of woman pulls you from the elevator you take a deep breath of Martian air.\n\n\\\u003eIt seems metallic. Like the smell of a scrapyard after rain.\n\n\\\u003eI would say you talked about galactic politics, but it was mainly Julia ranting about dealing with politicians from the Ancie Hegemony, and the Hori, of which is ruled by two \"cults\" one of passion, one of reason.\n\n\\\u003eThat and she apparently is a Sentillian Nationalist, of which the company she works for is not.\n\n\\\u003e\"That prick Yel-Elo thinks he can get away with anything I swear. Once he groped down a human chick and tried to take her lover to court after he showed up and threatened him? HR was up his ass for a year and what does he do? He continues to grope interns. I swear some human or ancie is gonna shoot him one day.\" She rants on.\n\n\\\u003e\"Who's Yel-Elo?\" You ask nervously\n\n\\\u003e\"My boss is older than your civilization.\" She says, still tilted.\n\n\\\u003eYou chuckle after she says \"Those damned politicians get nothing done! They just try to erase each other's laws all the damned time.\"\n\n\\\u003e\"What's so funny?!\" She barks.\n\n\\\u003e\"You just summed old Earth's politics?\" You laugh.\n\n\\\u003e\"Wait seriously?\" She says with shock.\n\n\\\u003e\"Yep, looks up the U.S's politics.\" You continue.\n\n\\\u003e\"You better not be joking.\" She says before activation her hologram watch.\n\n\\\u003eAfter watching a 15 minute not-Youtube video on the politics of the old U.S Julia just stops, dead in her tracks.\n\n\\\u003e\"People actually could stand that?\" She asks concerned.\n\n\\\u003e\"Oh hell no! My generation made Civil War 2 jokes left, right, and center.\" You cheerily.\n\n\\\u003e\"Civil? War?\" Julia asks inquisitively.\n\n\\\u003e\"Two groups in a nation too centralized to be a rebellion, and too large to be a revolution.\" You explain.\n\n\\\u003e\"Weird\" Is all Julia says.\n\n\\\u003eIf your conversations with Julia represent anything about the galaxy at large its' that war, for whatever reason, is extremely rare and when it does hit it really isn't that bad.\n\n\\\u003eEven back in the trenches the other races thought war was something rare and glorious.\n\n\\\u003eThat may explain why their minds broke before their bodies.\n\n\\\u003eJulia has started to listen to music evident by the more rhythmic movements of her body.\n\n\\\u003eA more pronounced sway of her hips, flaunting a tight butt, and nice legs.\n\n\\\u003eThank God for short-shorts.\n\n\\\u003eJulia weaves her way through the town's streets.\n\n\\\u003eLeft.\n\n\\\u003eRight.\n\n\\\u003eLeft, left, right, right, center, left.\n\n\\\u003eRows of dutch-style houses pressed against each other mark the town center, the smells of bakeries, cafes, and smoke fill the area.\n\n\\\u003eJulia turns to you tapping her watch.\n\n\\\u003e\"Sorry if you wanted to go home first, I'm starving so I thought we could get lunch first.\" She says cheerfully.\n\n\\\u003eAfter a moment of silence she speaks again \"...If that's okay with you?\n\n\\\u003e\"Yeah, yes, sorry I'm so used to not having to answer things.\" You say tripping over your words.\n\n\\\u003eShe guides you to a small cafe on the left side of the square. A small Danish flag hanging over the door.\n\n\\\u003e\"Hej Julia!\" Calls a distinctively Scandinavian man \"And I see you brought en Man!\" he follows joyful.\n\n\\\u003e\"Christian! Sorry I've been offworld for so long!\" Julia cheerfully says.\n\n\\\u003eChristian is an older block of a man, an inch or so shorter than you but almost twice as broad in the shoulders, he looks like a retired fisherman or lumberjack.\n\n\\\u003eWhat hair is left on his head melds with the snow-white of his beard.\n\n\\\u003e\"So what can Jeg get you two for midday meal?\" He asks confidently.\n\n\\\u003eJulia picks two sandwiches from the menu \"Two leverpostej fur Julia, og fur du?\"\n\n\\\u003e\"Oh I'm Anon.\"\n\n\\\u003e\"Anon? really?\" He says.\n\n\\\u003e\"Seriously my parents named me Anonathan, so Anon for short.\"\n\n\\\u003e\"I hope your sibling have less stupid names.\" He laughs.\n\n\\\u003e\"Nah, we Incognitius's all got weird names, we got Nobrody, Unsean, and Nonexistcadence, just to name a few.\"\n\n\\\u003eChristian breaks into a Santa laugh.\n\n\\\u003e\"And what will you be having Mr. \"Incognitius\"?\" He chuckles.\n\n\\\u003e\"One egg and herring, and one of whatever Julia's having.\" You say grinning from ear to ear.\n\n\\\u003e\"Julia whatcha ya wanna drink?\" You ask.\n\n\\\u003e\"A Coffee\" She says.\n\n\\\u003e\"Got it, and for you Anon?\" asks Christian.\n\n\\\u003e\"A Coke I guess?\"\n\n\\\u003e\"That'll be 14 and a half Crowns.\"\n\n\\\u003eJulia tries to get up to pay but you're too quick, he's taken your bill.\n\n\\\u003eHe hands you back a five crown note and four scepters and \"Enjoy your meal, the weather is fantastic.\"\n\n\\\u003e\\\u003c\n\n\\\u003e\\\u003c\n\n\\\u003e\\\u003c\n\n\\\u003eYou and Anon head to a table for two just outside the shop.\n\n\\\u003eYou're the one holding the door for once.\n\n\\\u003eHe sets down the tray before you're able to sit, and pulls out your chair.\n\n\\\u003eThat is so weird. Is it some sort of human custom?\n\n\\\u003e\"C'mon sit.\" Anon beckons.\n\n\\\u003eYou sit down in the chair, and he pushes you forward.\n\n\\\u003eIt's nice but why?\n\n\\\u003e\"Why did you do that?\"\n\n\\\u003eAnon just stares.\n\n\\\u003e\"Manners.\" Is all he says before seating himself.\n\n\\\u003eThis is your first dining experience with a human proper.\n\n\\\u003eHe pours the bottle of \"Coke\" into the cup Christian gave him, only about three quarters full.\n\n\\\u003eYou dig in bringing the sandwiches to your mouth and using your beak to take bites out, like every other Avian.\n\n\\\u003eHe uses the utensils to do so, cutting pieces and using the fork to bring them to his mouth.\n\n\\\u003eBut why?\n\n\\\u003eEverything about his manner is different while eating, his back never touches the rest, his hands never go below the table, and his elbows never touch the table either.\n\n\\\u003eIt seems formal, regal in a sense.\n\n\\\u003e\"Why are you being so formal?\" You finally ask, the aura finally breaking you.\n\n\\\u003e\"I'm not.\" He says plainly.\n\n\\\u003e\"Then why do you look so unnatural?\" You ask in retort.\n\n\\\u003e\"Manners and formalities are different.\"\n\n\\\u003e\"No they aren't\" you protest.\n\n\\\u003e\"Wrong\" He says in an annoyed tone\n\n\\\u003e\"What's the difference?\" You demand.\n\n\\\u003e\"Manners are expected, the natural step up from simply getting food in your mouth, formalities, however are more than manners, fancier for a nicer situation.\" He lectures\n\n\\\u003e\"Example.\" You demand in a harsher tone\n\n\\\u003e\"Manners for your mother, formalities for a foreigner dignitary.\" He provides plainly.\n\n\\\u003e\"Alright, it's still strange to me.\"\n\n\\\u003eAnon seems puzzled, before setting down his utensils.\n\n\\\u003eHe seems abnormally tense about eating with his hands, but after the first bite he seems to relax.\n\n\\\u003eHe sighs before taking another, the bodily tension gone.\n\n\\\u003eYou decide to bring up the next topic of conversation.\n\n\\\u003e\"So, where do you go from here?\"\n\n\\\u003eAnon takes a bite of his next sandwich, looks to his left, his right, swallows.\n\n\\\u003e\"No idea, I haven't figured out what to do.\"\n\n\\\u003eYou are both relieved and concerned.\n\n\\\u003eRelieved at the lack of a lover, concerned about a lack of a career.\n\n\\\u003e\"What did you do before you were drafted?\" You ask.\n\n\\\u003e\"I was the navigator aboard a ship, it was pretty easy work.\" He answers, fondly remembering something.\n\n\\\u003e\"Really? Those jobs pay really well.\" You say.\n\n\\\u003e\"It was just a lot of map checking, yeah generally I'd have to do minor course adjustments here and there but the ship's computer did most of the work.\" He explains.\n\n\\\u003eF U C K I N G\u0026nbsp; R A D\n\n\\\u003eAnon is a walking fantasy at this point.\n\n\\\u003eTwo uniforms and a suit.\n\n\\\u003eMuscular\n\n\\\u003eAnd not an asshole\n\n\\\u003eIf he was more receptive or you were more aggressive you wouldn't be such a fucking virgin.\n\n\\\u003eThe only downside is his PTSD. Of which you need to look into.\n\n\\\u003eAh well, you need to drag yourself back planetside and him home.\n\n\\\u003e\"What kind of job are you interested in?\" You ask a closing question.\n\n\\\u003e\"Actually I'm going to be going to school, the Empire promised land and an education to all 30 Series vets who survived.\" He says\n\n\\\u003eWhat\n\n\\\u003eYour shock is worn on your face, as he asks what's wrong.\n\n\\\u003e\"I'd just never heard of that.\" You answer your beak never quite closing.\n\n\\\u003e\"Yeah I'm gonna try to finish engineering school.\" He says cheerfully\n\n\\\u003e\"You never finished?\" You ask\n\n\\\u003e\"Ran out of money, so with the AA I did have I started to work for Maersk.\" He answers.\n\n\\\u003e\"Maersk?\" You ask again.\n\n\\\u003e\"Shipping company.\" He answers unphased.\n\n\\\u003e\"Were you the captain?\"\n\n\\\u003e\"No, I maintained the engines first before moving up to being the navigator.\"\n\n\\\u003e\"Uniform?\"\n\n\\\u003e\"Only in port.\"\n\n\\\u003e3 Uniforms\n\n\\\u003eMhmmmm\n\n\\\u003eYou ask one final question\n\n\\\u003eNot understanding the social cues around it\n\n\\\u003e\"How much did these jobs pay?\"\n\n\\\u003eAnon places his hand on his face and begins to mumble the only words that you can hear \"How rude...not Earth...Like Women and weight...Salary...\"\n\n\\\u003e\"Did I do something wrong?\" You say, brow furrowed and anxious.\n\n\\\u003e\"Just old Earth social norms, you just asked the rudest thing you could to a man.\" He answers\n\n\\\u003e\"Sorry...But what's the rudest thing you could ask a woman?\" You ask curiously\n\n\\\u003e\"Her weight.\" He states, like a fact.\n\n\\\u003e\"A hundred and twenty American pounds.\" You state in the same tone.\n\n\\\u003e\"I would ask if you were made of feathers but...\" He says jokingly.\n\n\\\u003e\"The answer to your question, in no particular order is 45,000 Euros, 390,000 Crowns, and 59,600 Crowns.\" He Answers.\n\n\\\u003e\"How long did you work as a navigator?\"\n\n\\\u003e\"'Bout a year and half.\"\n\n\\\u003e\"Did you ever stay in port or anything? Like what worlds did you see?\" You almost plead.\n\n\\\u003e\"The first and last time I did that a race riot occurred on a planet. Unrelated but still... It gets to you.\" He answers, going quiet for a few seconds.\n\n\\\u003eHe hasn't seen the galaxy, well not it at peace.\n\n\\\u003eHe looks as if he is lamenting something, something deeply personal.\n\n\\\u003e\"We'll see the galaxy, the parts you haven't seen, the not ruined parts.\" You try to console.\n\n\\\u003e\"I'd hope.\" He says the sadness leaving him.\n\n\\\u003eYou know something happened to him but now is not the time to ask.\n\n\\\u003e\"Holy shit!\" Anon exclaims.\n\n\\\u003e\"What?\" You ask nervously\n\n\\\u003e\"This is the first real meal I've eaten with new eyes!\" He continues.\n\n\\\u003e\"I guess?\" You follow up.\n\n\\\u003eYou think back to what you've eaten, some meal bars and other snacks.\n\n\\\u003eHe's right.\n\n\\\u003eYou hadn't even considered that.\n\n\\\u003eWeird.\n\n\\\u003eWhile you were lost in thought Anon had returned the plates, utensils, and cups all in one go.\n\n\\\u003eHe has proven to be very peculiar, but in a good way.\n\n\\\u003eThough he also seems very high strung, almost on guard every moment.\n\n\\\u003eYou need to find out way\n\n\\\u003eIf not for personal reasons than just to prove you've got this whole reporter shtick after a long vacation to yourself.\n\n\\\u003eAnon now turns onto you.\n\n\\\u003e\"You work as a reporter, right?\" He asks\n\n\\\u003eHe takes your hand and pulls you to your feet, overdoing the force resulting in you crashing into his chest.\n\n\\\u003eYou wrap your arms around him\n\n\\\u003eHe whispers \"Your tired ain't ya.\"\n\n\\\u003eHe lifts you up and begins to carry you as you walk out of the town near-empty town square.\n\n\\\u003eAs soon as you reach the next intersection he stops, looks around, and realizes something.\n\n\\\u003eHe then lifts you higher, placing you on his shoulders.\n\n\\\u003e\"Where to?\" He asks.\n\n\\\u003eYou giggle, \"Go left and go down seven houses.\"\n\n\\\u003e\"Left or right side?\"\n\n\\\u003e\"Right.\"\n\n\\\u003eYou're anxious, you really have no reason to be.\n\n\\\u003eEven Anon seems abnormally sharp.\n\n\\\u003eThe silence breaks\n\n\\\u003e\"Something isn't right\" He says coldly\n\n\\\u003eWhen you get to the house he sets you down\n\n\\\u003eThe door was wide open\n\n\\\u003e\"Stay here.\" Anon orders.\n\n\\\u003eHe silently slinks into the house.\n\n\\\u003eAfter checking through the main rooms he beckons you inside.\n\n\\\u003eYou creep up the walkway, dread filling you.\n\n\\\u003eAnon stands there calm seemingly with a chef's knife in his hand.\n\n\\\u003eYou stand in the living room as he prowls every room.\n\n\\\u003eA scream then a black mass flies from the bedroom\n\n\\\u003eIt tries to scamper from Anon but he's much too quick and precise.\n\n\\\u003eIts back foot is caught in Anon's iron grip.\n\n\\\u003eAnon drags the mass to the wall before grabbing its neck with one had and grabbing the knife with the other.\n\n\\\u003eNO..Please...I didn't...Wasn't...hurt it tries to choke out.\n\n\\\u003eYou get involved\n\n\\\u003e\"Anon! What are you doing.\" You cry out\n\n\\\u003eAnon's knife rests on the thing's neck.\n\n\\\u003eAnon turns before going back to trying to end whatever was in your house.\n\n\\\u003eYou grab his shoulder with a claw to try to get his attention and he shrugs you off.\n\n\\\u003eAfter raising the knife to kill the thing he hesitates and drops the knife.\n\n\\\u003e\"Who are you?\" He demands, his voice like a murderous glacier.\n\n\\\u003e\"Cal... Cal Brevois\" It chokes out.\n\n\\\u003eAnon drops him to the ground.\n\n\\\u003eWhy the fuck is he here?\n\n\\\u003eCal left you soon after your homeworld was rendered lifeless.\n\n\\\u003eYou were together for like three months tops\n\n\\\u003eThe two of you didn't even get physical, from the fact he was a nervous wreck your strick parents.\n\n\\\u003eJust like every other one, but he wasn't a massive asshole.\n\n\\\u003eWell he was unique in his compassion.\n\n\\\u003eHe tries to crawl away before Anon kicks him his gut\n\n\\\u003eHe buckles over\n\n\\\u003eAnon stares down with murderous intent.\n\n\\\u003eAnon's blood-lust subsides in the next moment.\n\n\\\u003eCal looks up to him as if he's a demon or something.\n\n\\\u003eCal turns to you next\n\n\\\u003e\"So how have you been since school?\" He asks, almost begging.\n\n\\\u003e\"Good, I've been a reporter for two years now.\" You say warmly.\n\n\\\u003e\"And the human?\" He asks next confused\n\n\\\u003e\"I saved his life and traveled from Rema to Mars to be by him.\" You say warmly again.\n\n\\\u003e\"Weird. Your parents said that you wanted to see me.\" He says\n\n\\\u003eAnon moves away from Cal as he stands up, shedding most of his coldness with it.\n\n\\\u003ePTSD and the 30 Series is a scary combo.\n\n\\\u003e\"Sorry\" He says in passing.\n\n\\\u003e\"It's okay\" Cal says fearfully looking up at Anon.\n\n\\\u003e\"So 'Cal' how did you get in here?\" Anon says like an inquisitor.\n\n\\\u003eCal stutters out \"H-Her pa-pare-parents ga-gave me a-a key.\"\n\n\\\u003e\"Oh\" Is all Anon says.\n\n\\\u003eCal sits on the couch and lets out a nervous sigh.\n\n\\\u003e\"What's your deal man? I was washing my hands?\" Cal says\n\n\\\u003e\"Old habits from the trenches, sorry.\" Anon says still icy\n\n\\\u003e\"Oh, you were 30 Series, sorry man.\" Cal say looking down.\n\n\\\u003eHe both guys seem tense, but Anon is going back to a more \"civilian\" state and Cal's anxiety is going down.\n\n\\\u003eAnon takes a deep breath \"Sorry I overreacted Cal...\" His muscles tense up before he continues \"...I should've asked who you were first.\"\n\n\\\u003eCal seems nervous still.\n\n\\\u003eAfter a time in silence Anon goes to the restroom and Cal quietly makes himself scarce.\n\n\\\u003eGoddammit\n\n\\\u003eAnon likely just won you a screaming phone-call and a less-than-welcome weekend visit.\n\n\\\u003eAnon comes out a minute or so later his face glistening with water.\n\n\\\u003e\"What the fuck just happened?\" He says\n\n\\\u003e\"You almost killed an ex my parents liked.\" You say sternly crossing your arms\n\n\\\u003e\"Shit.\" He says looking around the room.\n\n\\\u003e\"His name was Cal right?\" He asks still gazing\n\n\\\u003e\"Yes\" You say still rather frustrated.\n\n\\\u003e\"I owe him a drink.\" He says snapping from his staring.\n\n\\\u003eWith that he rushes from the house\n\n\\\u003e\\\u003c\n\n\\\u003e\\\u003c\n\n\\\u003e\\\u003c\n\n\\\u003eThat was a fucking disaster\n\n\\\u003eLike a steaming mountain of pig shit level disaster\n\n\\\u003eAll you saw was a Jeewol.\n\n\\\u003eYou need to get this shit under control\n\n\\\u003eAnd liquor isn't an option\n\n\\\u003eMaybe therapy?\n\n\\\u003eAnd you passed him.\n\n\\\u003e\"Cal! Sorry about trying to kill you!\" You shout\n\n\\\u003e\"What do you want Anon?\" Cal sulks.\n\n\\\u003e\"To buy you a I'm-really-sorry-I-tried-to-kill-you-drinks!\" You say\n\n\\\u003e\"Sure\" He says still sounding down\n\n\\\u003eTo be fair you would be too if a dude threw you down a hall and nearly killed you.\n\n\\\u003eYou put a hand on his shoulder \"Hey man do you any bars in the area?\" You ask nervously\n\n\\\u003e\"Follow\" He says\n\n\\\u003eAfter winding through the streets he guides you to what appears to be a house with a patio\n\n\\\u003eYou get the door for him.\n\n\\\u003eHe walks to the bar where a busty cow is leaning on the counter \"Not feeling too hot, eh?\"\n\n\\\u003eCal just nods.\n\n\\\u003e\"I'll be taking his tab.\" You say\n\n\\\u003e\"Lady issues?\" She asks Cal\n\n\\\u003e\"Nah, he tried to kill me. Now he's saying sorry\" Cal says with a not-quite-smile on his face\n\n\\\u003eThe cow lady begins to wide-eyed-ly pour a mug of beer,\n\n\\\u003e\"On the house\" She says turning around to quickly tend to another patron\n\n\\\u003eYou sit down next to Cal as the Cow turn around to tend to you\n\n\\\u003e\"So, uh, Beer?\" She asks nervously\n\n\\\u003e\"The local kind if there is one.\"\n\n\\\u003e\"One New Houston coming right up.\" She cheers with a bit of anxiety seeping into her speech.\n\n\\\u003eYou get your mug and take a long drink before turning to Cal.\n\n\\\u003e\"Before I ask anything else, you need an apology snack?\"\n\n\\\u003e\"On-i-on r-ings\" He solemnly sings.\n\n\\\u003e\"Uh Miss? Do y'all got onion rings?\"\n\n\\\u003e\"You can call me Gen and yes!\" She says\n\n\\\u003e\"One large order please.\"\n\n\\\u003e\"Coming right up.\" She says\n\n\\\u003e\"Aye! HALOK! Large Rings!\" She calls out.\n\n\\\u003eCal's eyes widen as he sees her flank.\n\n\\\u003e\"She's cute\" Cal says.\n\n\\\u003eSo Cal's an ass man.\n\n\\\u003ePatrician taste.\n\n\\\u003eHe begins to drink like a fish.\n\n\\\u003eEach time he orders he flirts a little harder.\n\n\\\u003eHours pass and you're both hammered and Cal is flirting to a very receptive cow bartender.\n\n\\\u003eThe place is nearly empty bar with a small herd of sheep in one corner needing occasional pitchers.\n\n\\\u003eYou and Cal have been chatting and as the drinks have poured so has the honesty\n\n\\\u003eHe never served in the series but after he and Julia's homeworld was \"cleansed of life\"\n\n\\\u003eYou realized that neither of them know what happened, or have ever said the name of the planet.\n\n\\\u003eBefore you can really focus on that a statement shattered your line of thought\n\n\\\u003e\"Coming here was a mistake.\"\n\n\\\u003eYou turn to face Cal who wears a saddened smile.\n\n\\\u003e\"I came here to try to reconnect with Julia because her parents said she would like it.\" He continues.\n\n\\\u003e\"Then you, and now I'm here.\" he finished.\n\n\\\u003e\"Two whiskeys, JD if you've got it.\" You drunkenly ask\n\n\\\u003e\"Two Danny's coming right up.\" The cow says cheerfully.\n\n\\\u003eTwo iced cups slap against the counter and Cal just looks at you and then to the cow girl.\n\n\\\u003e\"C-ca-can I-I g-get a num-numb-number?\" He drunkly and nervously stutters.\n\n\\\u003eAfter saying that he falls from his stool and falls asleep.\n\n\\\u003e\"I take it you'll take care of him?\" Gen asks.\n\n\\\u003e\"Not unless you wanna take him home.\" You say suggestively\n\n\\\u003e\"With pleasure\" Gen says biting her lip.\n\n\\\u003e\"HALOK, JESI! You're closing tonight, the keys are in the back.\" She calls to the kitchen.\n\n\\\u003eShe then walks out from behind the bar, throws Cal over her shoulder and walks out with a pep in her step.\n\n\\\u003eShe then stops cold in her tracks, turns and says \"That'll be a hundred and twenty for the evening.\"\n\n\\\u003eYou hand her six twenties and a ten and say \"Enjoy your tip.\"\n\n\\\u003e\"'till Mornin' humie\" She says\n\n\\\u003e\"You can call me Anon.\" You say.\n\n\\\u003eWith that out of the way you finish your whiskey and make your way out.\n\n\\\u003eYou walk down the streets, into a barren bit of land.\n\n\\\u003eYou claw out a shallow grave.\n\n\\\u003eAnd go to sleep.\n\n\\\u003e...\n\n\\\u003eA bright light wakes you.\n\n\\\u003e\"Sir why are you sleeping in a grave?\" says a voice\n\n\\\u003eWhat, this isn't a grave\n\n\\\u003e\"What grave are you talking about?\"\n\n\\\u003e\"The one you're lying in\" The voice says sounding almost annoyed\n\n\\\u003e\"Sir this is an arty bed.\" You say\n\n\\\u003e\"Arty bed?\" The voice questions almost confused.\n\n\\\u003e\"You know, the arty is slammin' the Jee and you need a napper.\" You say more than a bit hungover.\n\n\\\u003e\"Arty? Jee? The hell you on?\" Say the voice.\n\n\\\u003e\"Nothin' Sir but me and a lad got shitfaced last night and I just got out of the 30.\" You say a pounding headache beginning to throb in the center of your head.\n\n\\\u003e\"Just got out of the 30 humie? Yeah you and I are going to the station.\" He says before ripping you from your arty bed.\n\n\\\u003eThe light is blinding and you see a very, very smug looking Folcal staring at 'cha.\n\n\\\u003eHe throws in the back of some kinda car before sarcastically yelling \"Hope you're comfy humie.\"\n\n\\\u003eYou sit in the back of the cruiser as the cop laughs his way all the way to the station.\n\n\\\u003eOnce you get there you can see two more cops facepalm as he marches you out.\n\n\\\u003eHe's grinning from ear-to-ear.\n\n\\\u003eAs you pass the doors you see the secretary shake her head.\n\n\\\u003eYou get the feeling this guy isn't the best cop.\n\n\\\u003eHe walks you into intake as his boss walks in.\n\n\\\u003e\"Lany, you're fired.\" He says.\n\n\\\u003eThe color leaves his face.\n\n\\\u003e\"He's a human he is bound to commit some crime.\" He protests.\n\n\\\u003e\"This world is 90% human.\" the boss says.\n\n\\\u003e\"So?\" He demands.\n\n\\\u003e\"So? That guy looks like he got out of the service not too long ago, just look at his eyes.\" The boss says.\n\n\\\u003e\"And?\" He questions\n\n\\\u003e\"AND?\" the boss shouts.\n\n\\\u003e\"Look, you've got so many complaints against you it would take a month to list them all out, but to name the ones that got you fired I'll do you that. First, you enforce old Folcal law not Imperial, you are known to be prejudiced against humans, and lastly you hate returning soldiers to their own homeworld. To be entirely honest if an inquisitor were to inspect our force you'd be the first of the force to be shot.\"\n\n\\\u003e\"What about me sir?\" You ask.\n\n\\\u003eThe boss turns to the Folcal officer \"What was he doing?\" he demands\n\n\\\u003e\"Sleeping in a self-dug shallow grave.\" He smugly says.\n\n\\\u003eHe turns to you \"You ex-30 Series?\" He asks annoyed\n\n\\\u003e\"Yes sir.\" You comply\n\n\\\u003e\"Lany, he was probably drunk off his ass last night and didn't want to disturb anyone.\" He says disappointed.\n\n\\\u003e\"Sir! He was trespassing!\" Lany Protests.\n\n\\\u003e\"Lany, give me your badge and gun. Now.\" The boss demands.\n\n\\\u003e\"I have done nothing wrong!\" Lany shouts.\n\n\\\u003e\"Sir is he still an officer?\" You ask curiously\n\n\\\u003e\"No.\" He says.\n\n\\\u003eTaking that as permission you slam Lany into a wall, proceeding to headbutt the back of his head.\n\n\\\u003eThe boss looks startled as Lany's unconscious form begins to fall to the floor.\n\n\\\u003e\"And what do you think you're doing?\" He asks curiously\n\n\\\u003e\"Making a citizen's arrest.\" You say.\n\n\\\u003e\"Alright, let me get those cuffs off, you're free to go.\" He says.\n\n\\\u003eWith a clink you're free.\n\n\\\u003e\"Can I get a ride home?\"\n\n\\\u003e\"Eh sure\" the boss says.\n\n\\\u003eThe ride home is silent apart from the officer stopping to ask what you want to eat for breakfast.\n\n\\\u003eYou arrive at Julia's with a Mickey Dee's bag with three hash browns and a large coke zero.\n\n\\\u003e\"Stay out of trouble man.\" The boss cop says as his farewell.\n\n\\\u003eYou see Julia looking out of the window with a look of fear and shock on her face.\n\n\\\u003eYou stride up to the door for two clicks to be heard and the door swings open.\n\n\\\u003e\"What the hell happened last night?\" She quietly demands.\n\n\\\u003e\"Me and Cal got shitfaced, a cute cow took him home, and I dug me an arty bed.\"\n\n\\\u003eShe leans her neck in and blinks twice.\n\n\\\u003e\"You. Got. Cal. Laid.\" She says.\n\n\\\u003e\"Yes!\"\n\n\\\u003e\"And then you got arrested?\" She asks\n\n\\\u003e\"No, I went to sleep first.\"\n\n\\\u003eShe places a claw to her forehead.\n\n\\\u003e\"I'm gonna need to sit down.\" Julia says wide-eyed.\n\n\\\u003e\\\u003c\n\n\\\u003e\\\u003c\n\n\\\u003e\\\u003c\n\n\\\u003eThis is getting a little too much for a first night.\n\n\\\u003eYou wanted to relax, watch a movie, maybe go out again with Anonathan.\n\n\\\u003eNo, instead he got your ex laid at a bar, got so drunk he dug an \"arty bed\" and got arrested.\n\n\\\u003eWhat an absolute let down.\n\n\\\u003eThe grumble of your stomach reminds you that breakfast has yet to be eaten.\n\n\\\u003eYou look over to Anon who is sitting on the floor with a soda and what seems to be a huge tater tot\n\n\\\u003eWhere the hell did he get that?\n\n\\\u003eYour claws tighten, scraping the carpet a bit as you walk into the kitchen.\n\n\\\u003eYou dig through the fridge to find cheese in a milk carton, pickles, and what appears to be topsoil in a costco box\n\n\\\u003eTruly, a fine set of inedible once ingredients\n\n\\\u003eThe pantry bears even less prospect, a half-empty flour jar, rice, and cake mix.\n\n\\\u003eYou want cake\n\n\\\u003eAnon seems to have produced another large tater tot from his bag.\n\n\\\u003eHoly hell does it smell good.\n\n\\\u003eHe turns to look at you, like a finch staring at a cracker.\n\n\\\u003eSoon another massive tater tot is produced.\n\n\\\u003e\"You want hashbrown?\" Anon says as if addressing a pet.\n\n\\\u003e\"Yes\"\n\n\\\u003e\"Then come and get it\" he says before getting up\n\n\\\u003eThat light brown fried goodie is gonna be yours\n\n\\\u003eJust as your hand reaches the \"hashbrown\" in Anon's hand he swipes it away.\n\n\\\u003eYou look up to him like a puppy denied their favorite toy\n\n\\\u003eHe's grinning like a mischievous cretin before dashing out of the back door, the door left slightly ajar from his sudden and unexpected burst of speed.\n\n\\\u003eGod Dammit.\n\n\\\u003eYou follow at equal pace to see Anon running towards the canyon.\n\n\\\u003eThe \"hashbrown\" is in his hand.\n\n\\\u003eYou will have your prize.\n\n\\\u003eYou sprint after Anon, your lighter frame and keener eyes giving you a distinct edge in agility.\n\n\\\u003eAnon has the stamina and form but he seems to be slower.\n\n\\\u003eGood.\n\n\\\u003eLess time between me and breakfast.\n\n\\\u003eThe chase continues for just a little while longer, Anon abruptly coming to a stop to catch his breath.\n\n\\\u003eAs he is recovering you snatch the hash brown from his hands with a simple pluck.\n\n\\\u003eThe thing is crunchy with a soft interior, like the oil seared Nebver back when your homeworld still held life.\n\n\\\u003eHome.\n\n\\\u003eThe forest returns to your mind, the memories of the planet, of your hometown.\n\n\\\u003eHow many generations had lived on that planet?\n\n\\\u003eIt doesn't matter anymore does it?\n\n\\\u003e\"You okay?\" Anon asks\n\n\\\u003e\"I'm just a bit hungry.\" You lie.\n\n\\\u003e\"How does \"I miss home\" come from \"I'm hungry\" Anon asks half jokingly.\n\n\\\u003eWait.\n\n\\\u003eWhat.\n\n\\\u003e\"Oh no...\" You say trailing off.\n\n\\\u003eYou couldn't keep your thoughts out of your head.\n\n\\\u003efuuuuuuuuccckkkkkk mmeeeeeee.\n\n\\\u003ePlease actually.\n\n\\\u003eBut not in the field.\n\n\\\u003eAnon looks at you as if you're going mad.\n\n\\\u003e\"What?\" You ask.\n\n\\\u003e\"You trying to use the force or something Julia.\" Anon laughs.\n\n\\\u003e\"Just needed to think about something.\" You respond with faux prude.\n\n\\\u003eThank God he can't read thoughts.\n\n\\\u003eWhew.\n\n\\\u003eThat means that Sutzi was wrong.\n\n\\\u003eHeh.\n\n\\\u003eYou jolt a bit as Anon places a hand on your shoulder and pulls you close.\n\n\\\u003e\"Ain't it prudy?\" He says a drawl of some sort in his voice.\n\n\\\u003eNo more words are exchanged, the only noise is that of the rushing of the spring winds through the fields.\n\n\\\u003eAnon is warm, his arms are strong but he seems oddly distant for how close he holds you.\n\n\\\u003eYou turn to look him in the eye.\n\n\\\u003eA single tear is in his right eye, gently illuminated by the artificial eyes in the sockets.\n\n\\\u003e\"Hey what's wrong?\" You ask earnest concern dripping from each word.\n\n\\\u003eHe turns to you, and asks a simple question.\n\n\\\u003e\"Tell me what this place really looks like. I do not trust my new eyes.\"\n\n\\\u003eYou are slightly taken aback.\n\n\\\u003e\"W-why?\" You protest.\n\n\\\u003e\"Just to sooth my nerves.\" He replies before returning to his thousand yard stare.\n\n\\\u003e\"Well the red mountains look like they have beautiful patterns carved into them, the flowers in the field are every color imaginable with purple and white being the most common by a slim margin.\" You say with a tad of scholasticism in your voice\n\n\\\u003e\"Everything I see up close has the slightest green hue, I didn't notice it at first, but I'd never seen a daisy with a hint of green before.\" Anon explains\n\n\\\u003e\"So the flowers are called daisies?\" You ask.\n\n\\\u003eYou had always wondered what the flowers were but you were never on Mars long enough to buy a book on them.\n\n\\\u003e\"Yeah, Daisies, the name Daisy is in reference to a singular flower, my little brother was an amateur botanist and he'd bring home all sorts of flowers.\" Anon says, seeming to find comfort in the memory.\n\n\\\u003e\"Huh.\" You say remembering the Bivone wet nurse of the same name on Rema.\n\n\"It'd be funny to see a big tiddy Bivone with that name.\" Anon says with a chuckle.\n\n\\\u003eIf your face didn't have feathers you would've lost all color.\n\n\\\u003eMaybe humans subconsciously read minds.\n\n\\\u003eYou're gonna try to test if it's a coincidence or not.\n\n\\\u003e\"Why?\" You ask, hiding the inquisitorial aspect of your tone.\n\n\\\u003e\"Cause Borden Milk's mascot is a cow\" He says.\n\n\\\u003eSeeing you are still clearly confused he speaks once more.\n\n\\\u003e\"Named Daisy.\" He finishes\n\n\\\u003e\"Why would that be funny?\" You ask.\n\n\\\u003e\"Big tits can be called cow tits, or milkers. Most milk is from cows. It makes sense...\" He says.\n\n\\\u003e\"...I think\" He follows.\n\n\\\u003eThat.\n\n\\\u003eThat's fucking dumb.\n\n\\\u003eLike what the fuck.\n\n\\\u003eThat's some next level mental gymnastics.\n\n\\\u003e\"Is that some kind of inside joke I'm not part of?\" You ask.\n\n\\\u003e\"You could say it's, \\*only human\\*\" he says.\n\n\\\u003eThen winks.\n\n\\\u003eGoddammit.\n\n\\\u003e\"Why are you like this?\" You demand with a sigh.\n\n\\\u003e\"Not sure really. I was calm and collected at one point, but I don't have a spaceship, to my knowledge at least.\" He says.\n\n\\\u003e\"What changed?\" You ask, concerned.\n\n\\\u003e\"Four years and two eyes I guess.\" He says resuming his gaze unto the mountains.\n\n\\\u003e\"What happened really during all that time, I've heard some of your stories but I feel like there's a lot missing.\" You respond.\n\n\\\u003e\"I... I really don't wish to speak of my service in depth.\" He responds, as if carefully choosing his words.\n\n\\\u003eYou can respect that.\n\n\\\u003eFor now.\n\n\\\u003e\"Hey, Julia, what's being an interstellar reporter like?\" Anon asks.\n\n\\\u003eThat catches you off guard.\n\n\\\u003eYou look at him and stare.\n\n\\\u003eAnd stare.\n\n\\\u003e~stare~\n\n\\\u003e\"You okay Julia?\" Anon asks with a raised eyebrow.\n\n\\\u003e\"Ah-uh, yeah, just zoned out a bit.\" You say.\n\n\\\u003e\"Ah\" He says as if a great revelation has overcome him.\n\n\\\u003e\"Well I guess it's mainly writing about events and organizing videos and articles while travelling from region to region.\" You say.\n\n\\\u003e\"Sounds nauseatingly mundane quite frankly, I figured the job would bring you to protests and business conferences all over the galaxy.\" He remarks.\n\n\\\u003e\"It wasn't always like that...\" You say trailing off.\n\n\\\u003e\"The empire changed that?\" Anon asks.\n\n\\\u003e\"No, it was before the empire, during the terrors.\" You say.\n\n\\\u003e\"The Terrors?\" Anon asks\n\n\\\u003e\"The Terrors. I became a reporter at their peak.\" you say.\n\n\\\u003e\"What were they.\" Anon asks, looking more awkward than normal.\n\n\\\u003e\"Wait you don't know?\" You ask.\n\n\\\u003e\"No, I don't\" He says.\n\n\\\u003e\"This really isn't the place, and I'm not one to speak about it given how separated my homeworld was from the wider galactic arm.\" You say.\n\n\\\u003e\"Fine, I won't ask about it anymore.\" He says.\n\n\\\u003eThat was partly a lie.\n\n\\\u003eLess so about home.\n\n\\\u003eMore so the Terrors.\n\n\\\u003eThey affected home, but your village was irrelevant to the wider planetary conflict.\n\n\\\u003eThat's partly why you had so many guys at your high school.\n\n\\\u003eDraft dodgers.\n\n\\\u003eEager, horny, cowardly.\n\n\\\u003eRather unlike Anon, both to your relief and dismay.\n\n\\\u003eHe gets up and begins to walk towards the canyon.\n\n\\\u003e\\\u003c\n\n\\\u003e\\\u003c\n\n\\\u003e\\\u003c\n\n\\\u003eYou hang your toes over the edge of the alien canyon\n\n\\\u003eThe itch that commands you to join most of your squad scratches at the back of your mind.\n\n\\\u003eYou pay it no mind.\n\n\\\u003eYou turn to see Julia sitting a few dozen yards away.\n\n\\\u003eA black shape in a sea of color.\n\n\\\u003eYou look at your hands.\n\n\\\u003eA real good look at them.\n\n\\\u003eYou remember the last time you did this.\n\n\\\u003eThe first day you became a navigator.\n\n\\\u003eThose hands are no more.\n\n\\\u003eCalloused, scarred, rough and your only pair of them.\n\n\\\u003eYou're not keen on raising your pant legs anytime soon.\n\n\\\u003eAs you find yourself lost in thought before the great scar on the planet carved by some ancient dry river.\n\n\\\u003eYou look down the chasm seeing the river below.\n\n\\\u003eIt's blood red.\n\n\\\u003eYou feel two arms wrap around you.\n\n\\\u003e\"Hello!\" you exclaim.\n\n\\\u003e\"Hey~\" Julia says with a playful but somewhat somber cheer.\n\n\\\u003e\"What brings you over here\" You ask in an oddly fatherly way.\n\n\\\u003eJulia laugh-caws.\n\n\\\u003eYou smile what you can, your lips not quite wanting to get that perfect arch.\n\n\\\u003eYou sit down, your feet dangling off the rocky ledge.\n\n\\\u003eJulia presses her head through your arms and rests on your lap, her legs extending out behind you.\n\n\\\u003eYou run your hands through her feathers, embracing the spine-like stems and the down like fluff of them.\n\n\\\u003eYou lean back laying.\n\n\\\u003eYou run your fingers through whatever feathers are adjacent to your arm.\n\n\\\u003eThis goes on for some time as you take in the ever black martian sky.\n\n\\\u003eThe stars of the night and a sun like that of Norway.\n\n\\\u003eYou look at Julia, she's shifted her body to have her chest rest on your abdomen.\n\n\\\u003eFor whatever reason the look in Julia's eyes have taken on an innate lust about them.\n\n\\\u003eHer eyes narrow and tongue slips to the right of her beak ever so slightly.\n\n\\\u003e\"Anon...\" She says between shallow heated breaths.\n\n\\\u003eWhat the fuck.\n\n\\\u003eWhere the hell are you petting.\n\n\\\u003eYou turn to see your hand between her thighs.\n\n\\\u003eAh that's it.\n\n\\\u003eI did this.\n\n\\\u003eMomma didn't raise a quitter.\n\n\\\u003eYou slide one of your freehand's fingers into her beak.\n\n\\\u003eHe tongue begins to twist around the digit like a mating snake.\n\n\\\u003eWith your right hand you pull down her denim short shorts to reveal a soaked pair of violet panties.\n\n\\\u003e\"Please...\" She whispers in your ear.\n\n\\\u003eOhh fuuckk.\n\n\\\u003eYou move her panties aside, letting her sex glisten in the morning sun.\n\n\\\u003eShe stares at you her eyes pleading \"Don't tease me any longer\"\n\n\\\u003eYou begin to rub it with two fingers, her back arching at the touch.\n\n\\\u003eYou put another finger in her mouth and she lightly bites down on them.\n\n\\\u003eShe begins to squeeze her one breasts through her yellow tank top.\n\n\\\u003eHer eyes roll back and close after your fingers enter in burning intimacy\n\n\\\u003eTight, hot, wet.\n\n\\\u003eHer breath begins to match the speed of your wrist's movement.\n\n\\\u003eYour raging erection is now clearly visible through your jeans.\n\n\\\u003eShe shifts her upper body once more highlighting her inhuman flexibility.\n\n\\\u003eShe begins to stroke your bulge through your pants.\n\n\\\u003eAs she teases more you finger her faster.\n\n\\\u003eYou want more.\n\n\\\u003eYou want to make her yours.\n\n\\\u003eEverything.\n\n\\\u003eYou slide your left hand down the neck of her shirt, under the bra and unto bare breast.\n\n\\\u003eShe begins to moan ever so slightly\n\n\\\u003eIt soon picks up until it reaches its crescendo.\n\n\\\u003eHer tongue droops from her mouth, her foot-talons wrapped into tight fists.\n\n\\\u003eYou watch as her eyes flutter as she climaxes.\n\n\\\u003eHer moans switch to coos.\n\n\\\u003eAnd lastly to a CAW.\n\n\\\u003eShe seems to mold your body.\n\n\\\u003e\"You...aren't...finished...\" Julia coos still drunk with pleasure.\n\n\\\u003eYou unzip your pants and Julia pulls back your boxers.\n\n\\\u003eA stunned \"woah...\" can be heard.\n\n\\\u003eYou gasp as you feel something wet and hot wrap around your member dragging it down.\n\n\\\u003e\"Mmmmhmmm\" Julia coos as she swings her hips onto your chest.\n\n\\\u003eStaring at you is Julia's dripping sex.\n\n\\\u003eIt looks delicious.\n\n\\\u003eJust as your tongue reaches her clit a sudden burst of pleasure washes over your as her winding tongue twirls over your tip.\n\n\\\u003eThe feeling alone is that of euphoria.\n\n\\\u003eThe gentle swaying of her tail feathers only seems to drag more attention to herself.\n\n\\\u003eA grin creeps across your face as you begin to dine in aggressively.\n\n\\\u003eYou grab her ass, spreading it pushing your tongue deeper into her intensely hot intimacy.\n\n\\\u003eShe responds with more vigorous usage of her tongue, playing with your member in her beak moving it side to side as her tongue coils around.\n\n\\\u003eUp\n\n\\\u003eand\n\n\\\u003eDown\n\n\\\u003eIt feels like she's wanting.\n\n\\\u003eEager even.\n\n\\\u003eShe wants to please.\n\n\\\u003eHer tongue's tip begins to fondle your balls.\n\n\\\u003eYou can feel she's getting wetter by the moment.\n\n\\\u003eHer insides are tightening around your tongue.\n\n\\\u003eThe tongue coiling along your phallus tightens in kind.\n\n\\\u003eShe stops supporting herself with her arms.\n\n\\\u003eOne arm is clearly gripping a breast with the other is keeping her up.\n\n\\\u003eYou see her back arch.\n\n\\\u003eSlowly the pleasure has been building in your mind.\n\n\\\u003eFirst as little tingles\n\n\\\u003eNext as a pulsing shocks.\n\n\\\u003eThe current feeling is irresistible\n\n\\\u003eJust as her back arches, forcing her tongue away from your member\n\n\\\u003eYou shoot your ropes onto her beak adorning her black features with thick white bands.\n\n\\\u003eYou watch as she licks them off one by once.\n\n\"Tasty, if on the salty side.\" She beams\n\n\\\u003eNo doubt in your mind.\n\n\\\u003eYou did it.\n\n\\\u003eYou're in love for the first time since college.\n\n\\\u003eYour heart is throbbing more than her dripping sex.\n\n\\\u003eYou pick up your little lovebird.\n\n\\\u003eShe panicky\u0026nbsp; pulls up her panties and shorts.\n\n\\\u003eShe snuggles against your chest as she wraps her arms around your neck.\n\n\\\u003eShe forgot to do the same with her top\n\n\\\u003eHer perky tits are still exposed.\n\n\\\u003enice\n\n\\\u003eJust the right size too.\n\n\\\u003eShe cuddles you as you carry her back\n\n\\\u003eIs this what your dad was always talking about?\n\n\\\u003eIf so you owe him the nicest bottle of bourbon Kentucky has to offer.\n\n\\\u003eFor some reason you can't explain you feel the overwhelming urge to protect Julia, more so than before.\n\n\\\u003e\"Hey, Anon, you okay?\" She says looking up to you with bright grey eyes.\n\n\\\u003e\"Yeah, just a bit shocked that's all.\" You say unable to look her in the eye as you tell your half-truth.\n\n\\\u003eThat stung a bit more than it should've but it was for the better.\n\n\\\u003eYou keep carrying her towards the house noting how light she was.\n\n\\\u003eShe coos and hums periodically.\n\n\\\u003eGod that's so damn cute.\n\n\\\u003eIt makes you want to put her on her knees and do that tongue coil thing.\n\n\\\u003eBut the head on your shoulders much prefers this arrangement.\n\n\\\u003eYou have her open the door and plop your little bird and your butt on the couch.\n\n\\\u003e\"You know Anon, I'd never done anything like that before...\" She whispers.\n\n\\\u003e\"In general or with a human?\" You ask curiously.\n\n\\\u003e\"At all with someone else!\" She says with a smile.\n\n\\\u003eThat's so fucking adorable.\n\n\\\u003e\"Well was it good?\" You ask\n\n\\\u003e\"Couldn't have asked for better, though I would like to know how I taste...\" she says with an almost shy way.\n\n\\\u003eYou reflect on the flavor.\n\n\\\u003e\"You were sweet with some tang.\" You say looking down on your clearly embarrassed companion\n\n\\\u003eThe two of you just watch the t.v for some time, talking during commercial breaks.\n\n\\\u003eIt starts with politics, differing opinions on the local sector leader.\n\n\\\u003eShes straight environmentalist.\n\n\\\u003eYour beliefs align differently but it's not like the old U.S.\n\n\\\u003eHealthy exchange of ideas and reasoning.\n\n\\\u003eShe talks about how she thought steam bombing is unethical.\n\n\\\u003eYou strongly disagree.\n\n\\\u003eA bit more heated debate between the two of your.\n\n\\\u003eHer personal loss verses your personal experience.\n\n\\\u003eSoon for whatever reason your tongues are wrapping around once another.\n\n\\\u003eThe full aspects of kissing lips to beak have not been worked out as you're technically biting her beak to keep everything locked together.\n\n\\\u003eFrom there whatever was on t.v became a backseat to the main event.\n\n\\\u003eSomehow the two of you started a game after your unexpected makeout session\n\n\\\u003eEach time you hear \"We'll be back after the break...\" the two of you engaged in a duel of who could get in each other's pants first.\n\n\\\u003eYou lost the first round and got jerked off as you watched some sort of alien romcom.\n\n\\\u003eJust as some creature with three eyes came on to say \"And we'll be back after these messages\" you came straight into her mouth.\n\n\\\u003eBefore she could anything but swallow you flipped her up on your lap and began to slowly tease her.\n\n\\\u003eNaturally your efforts intensified as a Korvan version of Ron Swanson tried to tell you how to prepare fried chicken.\n\n\\\u003eWith an arched spine and a caw the starting sound plays.\n\n\\\u003eNot letting her get the upper hand you pull her butt towards your face only to feel a tongue wrap around your phallus.\n\n\\\u003eYou lose again.\n\n\\\u003eBut did you \\*really\\* lose?\n\n\\\u003eThe next segment is on alien jewelry.\n\n\\\u003ePlatinum earrings only fifty creds a set.\n\n\\\u003ehow\n\n\\\u003eThough your focus is mainly how you're joystick is Julia's plaything for the time being.\n\n\\\u003eAs another commercial announcer readies the race she milks you onto her beak.\n\n\\\u003eJust as \"-these messages\" finishes you flip the bird so that your face is between her legs.\n\n\\\u003eShe's so light you can comfortably hold her in an arm supported missionary position.\n\n\\\u003eShe droops her head back to watch whatever's on while you watch your work play out.\n\n\\\u003eEvery time you focus on her clit her head swings back up to watch you with fluttering eyes.\n\n\\\u003eJust as \"after the break\" plays once again her foot-claws dig into your shoulders, her spine arches, and she caws once more.\n\n\\\u003eYou stop counting the wins and losses.\n\n\\\u003eIt just flips every break.\n\n\\\u003eCome lunchtime you two need to go out and buy groceries.\n\n\\\u003eProbably a good thing for the two of you as couch oral, handies, and fingering had done a number on the both of you.\n\n\\\u003eThe local shop is rather small but has all you need.\n\n\\\u003eAs you walk between the open pallets of food you mark things off the list the two of you quickly made.\n\n\\\u003eBread\n\n\\\u003eeggs\n\n\\\u003eCold cuts and sliced cheese\n\n\\\u003ecan of mushroom soup\n\n\\\u003eminiwheats\n\n\\\u003esupposedly those are popular in the galaxy now\n\n\\\u003emilk\n\n\\\u003eDeli mustard\n\n\\\u003enesquik\n\n\\\u003ea myriad of earth and alien vegetables.\n\n\\\u003eJust about one of everything from the McCormick spice rack.\n\n\\\u003efresh pork chops\n\n\\\u003eFresh blue something you've never seen before.\n\n\\\u003eA bag of chocolate chips.\n\n\\\u003eflour\n\n\\\u003eother baking essentials\n\n\\\u003eA bottle of \"heat suppressants\" for Julia\n\n\\\u003eNot your place to know.\n\n\\\u003eAnd on sale flank steak.\n\n\\\u003eYou slide a bottle of Stubb's barbecue sauce into the cart.\n\n\\\u003eYou're paying so what does it matter.\n\n\\\u003eFuck it Irish cream too.\n\n\\\u003eNothing beats Cronus Chocolate Milk.\n\n\\\u003eOnce you get back to Julia's place the competition resumes.\n\n\\\u003eShe blows you as you make sandwiches.\n\n\\\u003eIn retaliation you pull up behind her as she's cleaning up.\n\n\\\u003eThe flavor of today has been no penetration after all\n\n\\\u003eActually why is that?\n\n\\\u003eYou whisper into Julia's ear \"Why has the rule been non-penetrative today?\"\n\n\\\u003e\"I want to savor being a twenty virgin a little longer\" She says with a smile on her face.\n\n\\\u003eShe wasn't joking.\n\n\\\u003eThat's hot as fuck.\n\n\\\u003eWell you're not gonna ruin the fun.\n\n\\\u003eYou press your member between her thighs.\n\n\\\u003eHer back straightens and you grab her wrists.\n\n\\\u003eYou begin to move your hips slowly feeling her intimacy\n\n\\\u003e\"What are you doing?!\" Julia demands\n\n\\\u003e\"A Thighjob.\" You reply.\n\n\\\u003e\"What's that?\" She asks\n\n\\\u003e\"You'll see.\" you say trying your best to sound seductive.\n\n\\\u003eSee quickly learns the rules of the game\n\n\\\u003eEach time you move forward she grinds on your dick\n\n\\\u003eShe's lubed you up nicely\n\n\\\u003eHer thigh feathers feel like silk when wet.\n\n\\\u003eIts euphoric\n\n\\\u003eAnd it erotic beyond reason\n\n\\\u003eShe turns her head back shoving her tongue in your mouth\n\n\\\u003eYou take your hands off the counter's ledge and take hold of her tits.\n\n\\\u003efluffy and firm\n\n\\\u003eJulia starts pressing you back until you are pressed against the wall.\n\n\\\u003eShe takes control of the situation moving her hips in subtle but notably different patterns.\n\n\\\u003eYou take your hands off her breasts and move to her hips controlling the motion yourself.\n\n\\\u003eSlowly you once more take control\n\n\\\u003eYou bend her over the island and keep at a pace that keeps you both \\*well stimulated\\*\n\n\\\u003eShe decides it's her turn once more forcing you back first onto the couch.\n\n\\\u003eThe way she rides is heavenly.\n\n\\\u003eShe's constantly turning her head to make sure you're enjoying it.\n\n\\\u003eIts the cutest fucking thing.\n\n\\\u003eYou hear the quietest little moans\n\n\\\u003eIt's like she's trying to remain modest in some way\n\n\\\u003eGod that adorable.\n\n\\\u003eThe gentler sensations of the thighjob is driving you mad\n\n\\\u003eIt's not the familiarity of her handjob\n\n\\\u003eNor the alien sensation of her weird tongue blowjob thing.\n\n\\\u003eIts something else entirely\n\n\\\u003eIt seems to have a similar effect of Julia\n\n\\\u003eShe's getting more and more into it as she somehow does a thighjob reverse cowgirl\n\n\\\u003eYou aren't gonna make her do all the work\n\n\\\u003eEven if you really\n\n\\\u003eReally\n\n\\\u003eREALLY want to lie back and enjoy the show.\n\n\\\u003eYou spin her around\n\n\\\u003eShe doesn't miss a beat while you work.\n\n\\\u003eThe look on her face is that of bliss\n\n\\\u003eHer eyes are gently fluttering.\n\n\\\u003eYou pick up the pace as you feel yourself reaching orgasm\n\n\\\u003eShe starts moaning louder and deeper.\n\n\\\u003eShe wraps her arms around your neck.\n\n\\\u003eIt forces her clawed feet onto your shoulders.\n\n\\\u003e\"Please... all over... my body\" she whispers between moans.\n\n\\\u003eYou finally release covering her in your seed.\n\n\\\u003eFrom her beak to just above her sex lines of white can be seen.\n\n\\\u003eShe's still breathing heavily.\n\n\\\u003e\"A-Anon, can you take me to the shower.\" She asks between tired breaths.\n\n\\\u003eYou just pick her up and walk where she points.\n\n\\\u003eToday so far has massively improved.\n\n\\\u003eAll because you petted her horny switch by accident.\n\n\\\u003eFor all it's worth you've gotten pretty worn out yourself.\n\n\\\u003eYou set Julia down in the tub portion of the shower and turn on the water.\n\n\\\u003eJust hot enough to steam.\n\n\\\u003eShe lathers herself in some feather shampoo and sensually cleans herself off.\n\n\\\u003eYou do the FOB fiver and just sit between her legs.\n\n\\\u003eShe looks up at you.\n\n\\\u003e\"What are you doing?\" She says teasingly.\n\n\\\u003e\"Just enjoying the show.\" You respond.\n\n\\\u003e\\\u003c\n\n\\\u003e\\\u003c\n\n\\\u003e\\\u003c\n\n\\\u003eToday...\n\n\\\u003eToday was something special\n\n\\\u003eYou and Anon shared several of your firsts\n\n\\\u003eYour still rather timid about giving up your virginity\n\n\\\u003eIn no part helped by Anon's considerable size.\n\n\\\u003eThe afternoon passed quickly\n\n\\\u003eYou went clothes shopping with and for Anon.\n\n\\\u003eThen you went for a short hike down the canyon.\n\n\\\u003eBefore you knew it was evening.\n\n\\\u003eThankfully Anon had put the steak in a marinade in the morning.\n\n\\\u003eYou know this cause you could taste the components on his tongue.\n\n\\\u003eNow as you lie here next to Anon you can't help but run your fingers along his scars.\n\n\\\u003eSo many\n\n\\\u003ePerhaps it was the fact you could see them\n\n\\\u003eOr perhaps it was the fact that you felt safe around him\n\n\\\u003eBut there was something to it that made you feel...\n\n\\\u003eSaddened?\n\n\\\u003eSomber?\n\n\\\u003eSomber, it's not like you could've changed his fate before you met him\n\n\\\u003eStill, you've seen the man rise from the hospital bed his own doctor said he would die on.\n\n\\\u003eYou feel attached to him, more than ever.\n\n\\\u003eYou close your eyes and press yourself against his chest.\n\n\\\u003eAnd\n\n\\\u003eGo\n\n\\\u003eto\n\n\\\u003es-l-e-e-p.\n\n\\\u003e\n\n\\\u003eYou dream of a forgien coast, of fine white sand.\n\n\\\u003eBehind you is Anon, wearing nothing, but so are you.\n\n\\\u003eThe water is crystal clear more so than anything you'd ever seen back home.\n\n\\\u003eYou lie down on one of two towels placed atop the sand.\n\n\\\u003eDespite the sun beating down you it's relaxing.\n\n\\\u003eThe salty air\n\n\\\u003eThe gentle sounds of low waves on the beach.\n\n\\\u003eIt feels natural, as if this place was a home you've never known.\n\n\\\u003e\n\n\\\u003eYou wake up not to Anon's face, but to the spinning fan and a cold bed.\n\n\\\u003eYou hear the crinkle of paper as you roll over.\n\n\\\u003eIt reads “Hey Julia. Sorry I woke up at four-ish and decided to go for a run.\"\n\n\\\u003eYou crawl out of bed and everything is sore.\n\n\\\u003eFrom the tongue to the legs everything aches.\n\n\\\u003eYou throw on your robe and walk into the bathroom\n\n\\\u003eYou brush your tongue and beak to get the taste of morning breath off of it.\n\n\\\u003eYou grog over to the couch wearing nothing but your robe.\n\n\\\u003eWith a press of a button the T.V turns on.\n\n\\\u003e\"Good Morning Mars! It's Eight AM on the New Houston Time Zone, or 11pm Military Standard.\"\n\n\\\u003e\"What the fuck even is Military Standard?\" You say aloud before scratching the place where beak meets flesh with one claw.\n\n\\\u003e\"Today the Jeewol have been repelled from Rema, Mr. Human has titled this new offensive the Apocalypse Campaign. So far over five hundred worlds have reclaimed and only thirty million of our own have perished, while nearly two billion Jeewol have perished thanks to the deployment of better armor, chemical weapons, and three new fleets.\" The female Korvan host says.\n\n\\\u003e\"In other news our Ancie allies towards the galactic mid rim are reporting a new threat has already claimed over a hundred worlds. They are refusing to share details to the Sentillian envoys demanding a private rendezvous with Mr. Human to disclose the information. Mr. Human has refused, claiming that his envoies are an extension of him.\" Continues the Male Fennox.\n\n\\\u003eYou change the channel.\n\n\\\u003eYou don't want to think about the war, or politics, or any of that.\n\n\\\u003eIt's a channel you've never seen.\n\n\\\u003eIt's called Hallmark.\n\n\\\u003eAfter a commercial for some Christian Living supercenter near Olympus Mons the show begins.\n\n\\\u003eAfter watching for five minutes you wonder how in the seven hells a single mother with no job ropes the multi millionaire cowboy sports star, that might be a prince..\n\n\\\u003eThe credits roll after a wedding and the next movie starts like clockwork.\n\n\\\u003eThis time the human woman is closer to you in color, but more of a brown in the skin rather than the black your feathers are.\n\n\\\u003eOh, she's a single mother too\n\n\\\u003eWow.\n\n\\\u003eIs this what human men have to deal with to pick up a female mate?\n\n\\\u003eYou watch a movie that is supposed to be a romance but seems more like a tragedy.\n\n\\\u003eMan loses his job due to a totally bullshit reason\n\n\\\u003eHas to move back with his parents for another bullshit reason\n\n\\\u003eSingle mother, the dad just “walked out\"\n\n\\\u003eWhat the fuck does that even mean?\n\n\\\u003eThe movie has the woman about to be kicked out of her house for not paying her mortgage\n\n\\\u003eBUT WHY?! SHE'S A BRAIN SURGEON\n\n\\\u003eThe more you watch the more and more questions you get before you get to a wedding that seemed to come out of nowhere.\n\n\\\u003eJust as the next movie starts Anon comes in with a box of something.\n\n\\\u003e\"Whatcha doing Julia?\"\n\n\\\u003e\"I have no idea Anon\"\n\n\\\u003eHe sets down the box on the breakfast table and leans over the couch.\n\n\\\u003eYou look up to Anon, he's covered in sweat.\n\n\\\u003e\"The Hallmark? Seriously Julia?\"\n\n\\\u003e\"Is this really what human dating is like?\" You ask.\n\n\\\u003e\"Good God no. I mean every girl wants to be the woman in a Hallmark movie, but even they know that's wishful thinking.\" He answers earnestly.\n\n\\\u003eoh\n\n\\\u003eIts wish fulfillment the channel\n\n\\\u003e\"Well who watches it then?\" You ask Anon\n\n\\\u003e\"Old women, single mothers, divorcees, and for some reason bored married men wanting to sleep.\" Anon replies snarking at the end\n\n\\\u003eI'm Sorry What.\n\n\\\u003e\"Do the men watch it to fall asleep or something?\" You joke at Anon.\n\n\\\u003e\"Jokes aside. Absolutely, my old man told me to do that when I couldn't sleep.\" He says with a grin.\n\n\\\u003eOld Man?\n\n\\\u003eHuman slang is weird\n\n\\\u003eYou look over at the digital clock by the T.V\n\n\\\u003eIts 10:32 AM\n\n\\\u003eAnd you haven't eaten.\n\n\\\u003eYou get up and Anon heads towards the shower.\n\n\\\u003eWhatever is in the box smells heavenly\n\n\\\u003eSavory, sweet, and bready all at once.\n\n\\\u003eYour beak fills up with saliva as you wait for Anon to get out of the shower wondering what could be in the box.\n\n\\\u003eIt reads in bright red letters “WAR GOD KOLACHES\"\n\n\\\u003eSo whatever they are its called kolaches\n\n\\\u003eNice to know.\n\n\\\u003eAs you hover over the box of kolaches the curiosity of what a kolache is gets the better of you\n\n\\\u003eYou slowly raise the lid with a single black claw\n\n\\\u003eInside are twelve rolls of three different shapes.\n\n\\\u003eFour long tubular ones, four circles with some sort of filling that smells of fruit, and four circles with something inside but the smell is hard to make out.\n\n\\\u003eYou close the box up quickly\n\n\\\u003eAnon is singing a song in the shower but you can't make it out.\n\n\\\u003eYou're tempted to go and spy on him.\n\n\\\u003eLike a peeping tom.\n\n\\\u003ePeeping Penny?\n\n\\\u003eYou pull out one of the breakfast chairs, letting the just ever so slightly warm ray of the sun from the window set on your feathers.\n\n\\\u003eYou stare at the box of kolaches reflecting on the past few weeks?\n\n\\\u003eNo\n\n\\\u003eNot weeks.\n\n\\\u003eIt's been far longer\n\n\\\u003eMonths.\n\n\\\u003eFor three months you watched a man, not of your kind, not even of the feather, beak, or claw.\n\n\\\u003eBut why?\n\n\\\u003eAgain that question\n\n\\\u003eWhat? And Why?\n\n\\\u003eYou feel like an idiot.\n\n\\\u003eLike a child unaware of how the world around you works.\n\n\\\u003eAnd you know quite a fair bit of how it works.  \n\\\u003eYou watched the shadow war\n\n\\\u003eBecause you were hidden from it\n\n\\\u003eThen you went out into the galaxy\n\n\\\u003eYou and you alone forged your path from there.\n\n\\\u003eThen came Draak\n\n\\\u003eAnd Bav'd\n\n\\\u003eAnd Lisiki\n\n\\\u003eThe path you tried to forge came to a screeching halt as you watched species you'd never seen before fight war far larger than anything that had come the the past hundred generations of your kind\n\n\\\u003eFor all your grief, for all the people you've watched die, you know many people have had it far, far worse.\n\n\\\u003eHowever comforting that is it doesn't help the heaviness in your heart.\n\n\\\u003eYou look up to the window\n\n\\\u003ethe strange flag of your neighbor dancing in the morning breeze\n\n\\\u003eFor something you know nothing about the way the stars ripple along their blue corner while the red and white bands flow in the wind just seems calming, like everything will someday be fine.\n\n\\\u003eThough knowing that he's someone from “America\" Anon would probably say that they were genocidal maniacs who caused a dark age or something.\n\n\\\u003eOr not  \n\\\u003eInformation on human nations is hard to come by in a way you understand, well before you learned standard.\n\n\\\u003eEh.\n\n\\\u003eWhat does it matter anyway, all those nations are gone.\n\n\\\u003eYou look back at the box of kolaches.\n\n\\\u003eYour stomach growls at you.\n\n\\\u003eIt's hard to resist opening it and eating them, but you think Anon wanted it to be a treat for the two of you.\n\n\\\u003eFor a man who fell from the sky blinded and broken, he is rather kind.\n\n\\\u003eAnd scarily full of energy.\n\n\\\u003eThe muffled singing of Anon stops as does the water\n\n\\\u003eYou do your best to try to remain happy as your mix of anger and hollowness slowly fades.\n\n\\\u003eRavens never were good at getting over things, especially feelings.\n\n\\\u003eAnon comes around the corner to the little breakfast nook.\n\n\\\u003e...\n\n\\\u003eWhy is he just staring at you?\n\n\\\u003e“Anon?\"\n\n\\\u003eHe shakes his head and seems to snap into a more normal state.\n\n\\\u003e\"Have you had any of the Kolaches?\" He asks with a slight smile.\n\n\\\u003e\"Uhhh. No? Was I supposed to?\" You ask once again, feeling like an idiot.\n\n\\\u003e\"It's rather nice of you to wait for me.\" He says skirting the question\n\n\\\u003eThe meal is nice.\n\n\\\u003eThe long ones had a sausage inside of them, the ones that smelled of fruit were made with native Earth fruits, and the enclosed ones were filled with meat and cheese.\n\n\\\u003eAfter breakfast Anon puts the eight leftover ones in the fridge, and you go back to the couch.\n\n\\\u003eHe asks if he can use your computer\n\n\\\u003eSure go ahead.\n\n\\\u003eThe midday is spent in a lazy silence, Anon totally quiet doing whatever it is on the computer and you lazing around watching T.V and movies.\u0026nbsp;\n\n\\\u003eSometime in the afternoon you must've dozed off on the couch and woke up with Anon at your side and a blanket over your body.\n\n\\\u003e\"Oh hey. You're here now.\" You say with that veil of sleepiness.\u0026nbsp;\n\n\\\u003e\"Yeah I just had to check to see if my family moved and some happenings on Earth\" He says casually.\n\n\\\u003e\"What's been happening on Earth?\" You ask with curiosity rather than confusion.\n\n\\\u003e\"There's peace in the middle east for the first time since the dawn of civilization.\" He says smiling.\n\n\\\u003eNot even gonna ask.\n\n\\\u003e\"Well what's the dinner plan Anon?\" you ask.\n\n\\\u003e\"I was gonna ask you that.\" Anon responds.\n\n\\\u003e\"Well we went to the store yesterday. I could prepare some of the vegetables we got and mix it with some meat.\" You reply.\n\n\\\u003eAnon laughs and covers his face.\n\n\\\u003e\"What's so funny?\" You say embarrassed\u0026nbsp;\n\n\\\u003e\"Oh it's nothing really, I just forgot how much difference there is in food around the empire.\" He says\n\n\\\u003e\"So you're cooking?\" You tease.\n\n\\\u003e\"Give a man a fish, and he won't be hungry for a day. Teach a man how to fish and he will never go hungry.\" Anon quotes.\n\n\\\u003e\"What are you trying to say\" You ask.  \n\\\u003e\"I'm not cooking, I'm teaching you the basics.\" He says.\n\n\\\u003eSo Human's cook greens.\n\n\\\u003eThis is the closest thing to blasphemy in Avin space.\u0026nbsp;\n\n\\\u003eBut if it's sin, so help you.\n\n\\\u003eChicken, a bird cattle thing, is covered with spices and herbs before being cooked\n\n\\\u003e\"Hey Julia is eating birds taboo among bird people?\" Anon asks as he takes the chicken off the skillet.\n\n\\\u003e\"It's no different than you eating a fellow mammal.\" You say.\n\n\\\u003e\"So you have all sorts of bird-cattle?\" Anon asks.\n\n\\\u003e\"Sorta?\" You respond remembering the giant insects your family raised for silk and milk.\n\n\\\u003e\"I guess everywhere has its chickens.\" He says.\n\n\\\u003eSure\n\n\\\u003eIt's a simple meal. Good, not excellent, but a fine way to end a day and easy on the gizzard.\n\n\\\u003eThe evening is quiet, it's just the two of you in the dimly lit living room, the sun just beginning to set.\n\n\\\u003eYou watch some old Earth science fiction movie called “Ender's Game\"\n\n\\\u003eGot it pretty spot on.\n\n\\\u003eMinus the whole child generals and mindless swarm.\n\n\\\u003eBut the brutal spectacle and training in zero gravity was spot on.\n\n\\\u003eIt was odd how humans fantasized about this, it's like they'd been at war for so long it was almost calming.\n\n\\\u003e\"Is all you humans do is think about war?\" You ask Anon.\n\n\\\u003e\"Not really.\" He responds.\n\n\\\u003e\"Then why is seemingly half your fiction and legend so rooted in it. Hell even the bible has near constant war from Heaven all the way down to the Holy Land?\" You prod.\n\n\\\u003e\"It's less so war and more so suffering. Suffering is life, suffering is strength, suffering is everything, without suffering you never mature, you'd never grow wise, you'd never find God.\" He reflects.\n\n\\\u003e\"Why is suffering so essential to you humans then? You prod deeper.\n\n\\\u003e\"Because for less than a hundred years, everyone suffered, forever and always, and then one group almost suffered not at all. My kin being among those privileged few.\" He says\n\n\\\u003e\"Did you wipe out the lesser breeds?\" You asks curious\n\n\\\u003eAnon seems taken aback, his mechanical eyes seeming to show shock.\n\n\\\u003e\"What? Don't the first to reach zenith exterminate the lessers?\" You ask.\n\n\\\u003e\"No! What do you mean lessers? Do you mean blacks? Asians? Who?\" Anon asks\n\n\\\u003e\"Lessers. Weaker subspecies, those who refused to progress. A lesser race.\" You say explaining what you think is basic galactic social developmental theory.\n\n\\\u003e\"Subspecies? Wait you mean races?\" He exclaims\n\n\\\u003e\"That's another way of putting it I guess.\" You say\n\n\\\u003e\"NO! We didn't kill them, we tried to help them.\" Anon protests\n\n\\\u003e\"Jeez just joking…\" you lie through your beak.\n\n\\\u003eYou're not quite sure Anon believes you but he doesn't seem to be confident enough to call your bluff.\n\n\\\u003eHe gets up and when he gets back he sits on the adjacent couch.\n\n\\\u003eLooks like the lessers still breathe air on Earth.\n\n\\\u003eThat and the empathy arose early.\n\n\\\u003eHow odd for a species to do such things but it was likely far out of their control.\n\n\\\u003eFucking humans.\u0026nbsp;\n\n\\\u003eAttractive, disciplined and more confusing than string theory\n\n\\\u003e\"I'm going to bed\" you before getting up.\n\n\\\u003e\"Night see you in the morn.\" Anon says.\n\n\\\u003eHe doesn't join you before you fall asleep\n\n\\\u003eHow disappointing.\n\n\\\u003e\\\u003c\n\n\\\u003e\\\u003c\n\n\\\u003e\\\u003c\n\n\\\u003eIt's sunday morning.\n\n\\\u003ehe first one you can see in a long time\n\n\\\u003eYou eventually joined Julia but she was fast asleep.\n\n\\\u003eIt was the morning sun that woke you up like a warm hug.\n\n\\\u003eIn the air hangs the faint smell of sulphur and steam\n\n\\\u003eYou quickly dress and make sure to grab the rosary you have neglected to wear since the day you lost your eyes.\n\n\\\u003eA moment of hesitation comes over you as your hand rests on the door handle to the outside.\n\n\\\u003eYou know he's here again.\n\n\\\u003eYou slink your way towards the biggest building in the town.\n\n\\\u003eAs its walnut doors come into view seven bells ring.\u0026nbsp;\n\n\\\u003eA man in a white gown with hair to match pushes them open before returning into the building.\n\n\\\u003eInside are row after row of wooden benches.\n\n\\\u003eYou take a seat in the far right of the center of the mass of benches.\n\n\\\u003eThe smell of sulphur seems to grow stronger the longer you stay in the church.\n\n\\\u003eNot again.\n\n\\\u003eYou can feel anxiety singe in your chest as the church roars with silence during.\n\n\\\u003eYou sigh once the priest takes the altar.\n\n\\\u003eThe Bell rings once more and the man in the gown begins to recite\n\n\\\u003e\"Gloria Patri, et filio, et spiritui sancto…\"\u0026nbsp;\n\n\\\u003eIt is time for morning mass\n\n\\\u003eLatin Mass.\n\n\\\u003eAs the priest gives his sermon you clasp your hands tight and keep your head bowed in a praying position.\n\n\\\u003ePrayers are recited, sermons given, and wine and bread delivered.\n\n\\\u003eThe bell rings eight times now and everyone but you leaves.\n\n\\\u003eThe priest comes over to you.\n\n\\\u003e\"My child what ails you?\" He asks.\n\n\\\u003e\"I need to confess, father.\" You reply\n\n\\\u003eThe priest guides you to the booth. Only one door is open.\n\n\\\u003e\"I am not the one who listens to your sins in this church.\"\n\n\\\u003e\"Then who does father?\" You ask.\n\n\\\u003e\"The old priest, he's too weak to give sermons now.\" He says with a frown.\n\n\\\u003e\"I understand father.\" You say remaining cordial with the white haired man.\n\n\\\u003eYou go into the booth and close the french doors taking a deep breath as you flip the lock over the knob handles.\n\n\\\u003e\"What burdens you mind, young man.\" Says an exhausted yet wise voice.\n\n\\\u003e\"Forgive me Father. For I have sinned.\" You say feeling guilty about the seed of doubt that last night's conversation planted in your mind.\n\n\\\u003e\"Confess them to me child.\" The priest chokes.  \n\\\u003eYou hesitate for a moment.\u0026nbsp;\n\n\\\u003eYou decide not to lie, but tell a full truth.\n\n\\\u003e\"It was the war father. I have killed many. By the end of it I seemed to enjoy watching my enemies die. Now that I look back-\"\n\n\\\u003e\"That is not what weighs on your soul.\" The old priest croaks.\n\n\\\u003e\"How-\" You protest before being cut off again.\n\n\\\u003e\"The Lord lets me see your soul, child. Confess unto me honestly..\" He says his voice envigored slightly.\n\n\\\u003eYou let loose your sins and your face flushes with the heat of shame. Every word you speak lightens a burden on your heart but it weighs on your mind.\n\n\\\u003eThe priest clears his throat once you've confessed far more than just sin.\n\n\\\u003eHe tells you a basic “thou shall not sin\" and to pray for salvation.\n\n\\\u003eIt is poor advice but you do feel better.\n\n\\\u003eOnce you leave the confession booth the smell of sulphur returns in full and the feeling of being watched begins.\n\n\\\u003eBy the time you're back at Julia's home the feeling is unshakable and you swear that you see a pair of glowing red eyes staring at you in your peripheral.\n\n\\\u003eYou find Julia vacuuming the floor of the living room, her tail plumage shaking to the rhythm of a song she's listening to through headphones.\n\n\\\u003eYou begin to explore the house beyond what you've already been in.\n\n\\\u003eA Small study filled with paper and pictures.\n\n\\\u003eA guest bedroom empty except a single sheetless bed.\n\n\\\u003eYou sit on the bed, the muffled sound of the vacuum and the smell of sulphur being the only things to herald your “guest\".\n\n\\\u003eThe grinding sound of metal gears and hiss of steam approach from behind.\n\n\\\u003e\"Hello Anon.\" The voice calls, this time as if it were two people speaking at once.\n\n\\\u003e\"What is that you want progress?\" You demand\n\n\\\u003eThe world around you seems to shift.\n\n\\\u003eHe says nothing but stare at you and raise a hand with a single gloved finger pointed at you\n\n\\\u003eThe world shifts fully.\n\n\\\u003eThe smell of sulphur still lingers.\n\n\\\u003eThere's no bed here.\n\n\\\u003eYou know this place.\n\n\\\u003eIt's Keeg city.\n\n\\\u003eFolidae\n\n\\\u003eYou're not in a trench\n\n\\\u003eNor or a bunker.\n\n\\\u003eNot a chokepoint or any other form of defensive construction.\n\n\\\u003eYou're in the ruins of a hospital in the company of dead comrades.\n\n\\\u003eSome have a hole in their temples, others a set three in their chests.\n\n\\\u003eYou remember today perfectly.\n\n\\\u003eThe Jeewol aren't the targets.\n\n\\\u003eAnd it never happened officially.\n\n\\\u003eYou close your eyes taking a deep breath of what should be stale air, trying to harden your heart to what is to come.\n\n\\\u003eAs you open them you're back in the guestroom, the horseman still staring at you with a mix of contempt, apathy, and what seems to be eagerness.\n\n\\\u003e\"You need to let that day go.\" The split voice of the rider says,\n\n\\\u003eYou look at the red hot coals of eyes. “And would suggest going about that?\" You say resentment mounting inside you.\n\n\\\u003e\"That isn't a suggestion Anonathan.\" The horseman says flatly before simplifying not being there anymore.\n\n\\\u003eNo fade it just isn't there anymore.\n\n\\\u003eYou think about the Horseman's demand.\n\n\\\u003eYou can't just do that.\n\n\\\u003eNot that one.\n\n\\\u003eYou remember it all too well.\n\n\\\u003eCivilians, soldiers…\n\n\\\u003e... traitors\n\n\\\u003eNo lasers, no plasma, no bullets.\n\n\\\u003eJust blades, clubs, hammers, and mauls.\n\n\\\u003eYou stop smelling ulphur.\n\n\\\u003eThe hiss of steam fades into silence.\n\n\\\u003eBut the memories of Folidae remain.\n\n\\\u003ePanic wells up.\n\n\\\u003eA tear rolls down your cheek.\n\n\\\u003eA lump in your throat forms.\n\n\\\u003eYou fight down the feelings.\n\n\\\u003eYou walk into the living room where Julia is dusting the top of a bookshelf.\n\n\\\u003eYou wrap your arms around her chest and rub your cheek against the downy feathers on the back of her head.\n\n\\\u003e\"You alright Anon.\"\n\n\\\u003eYou don't respond, you just close your eyes and try to forget.\n\n\\\u003eJulia lets you rest on her.\n\n\\\u003eShe seems to understand that something isn't right\n\n\\\u003eYou and her just stay like that for a while, eventually pulling away.\n\n\\\u003e\"I'm gonna finish cleaning, why don't you find something to do?\" She says quietly before reaching up on her toes and finishes off the top of the bookcase before walking off.\n\n\\\u003eYou turn to face the door seeing your unpacked belongings.\n\n\\\u003eMight as well \\\u003eShame you never got to use them, some of the “newer” ones have some lovely scaled tiddies. \\\u003eYou wonder what Series Nobrody is in these days, he’s of that age now. \\\u003eYou hope its 10 or 100 \\\u003eThose are pretty safe. \\\u003eWell safer than the 30 for sure. \\\u003eUnfortunately you know he’s either breaching ships or sitting in a trench simply for being a human. \\\u003eAs is life in the Sentillian Empire \\\u003eYou dug through some of the less important and fun stuff while thinking of your younger brother, namely the box of twinkies your uncle sent and the fifty packet bag of Kool-Aid that Ty gave you with the note “Fighting actual bugmen? Get some BoolAIDS.” \\\u003eThe Fillipeno shit \\\u003eYou sort out the Playboys, snacks, and the folders upon folders of recruitment paperwork. \\\u003eOnce you shake the bag a small notepad and your old silver crucifix fall to the carpet floor. \\\u003eThat would’ve been nice to have. \\\u003eYou open the first crate and with a hiss it reveals the cardboard box you originally packed it all into. \\\u003eSome clothes, your old navigator uniform, and more paperwork and mail. \\\u003eOh great, Jack's Storage is threatening to put my Unit up for auction. \\\u003eThe next letter is an apology and a notice that payment will be taken directly from your checking account. \\\u003e”No additional fees will be charged” Like that’s true. \\\u003eNow on the guest bedroom bed lies a bunch of cringy tees and cargo shorts from almost a decade ago, your navigator uniform, about 10 pounds of paper, and the previous stuff. \\\u003eDid you not have socks? \\\u003eYou feel a pair of eyes on you for a second before it fades. \\\u003eYou move aside the metal shipping crate and open the next with another hiss. \\\u003eThe remnants of a cardboard box that seems to have burst cover something bound in Harbor Freight paracord and duct tape. \\\u003eAh yes. \\\u003eThat’s where the socks went. \\\u003eYou peel the duct tape off the paracord flipping it around to get the half-roll’s worth off the insidious package. \\\u003eAn outdated laptop even way back when with a terabyte hard drive, 8 gigs ram upped from 4, and a disc drive so you could watch the stash of porn DVDs you found in the attic. \\\u003eYou lift up the laptop and with a visceral cringe four DVDs show their covers. \\\u003e”NAZIS LOVE PHAT BLACK ASS” “ISABELLE BLOWS AND THE RIDERS OF THE LONG DICK” “SPACE WHORES; THE VIBRATOR CUMS BACK” and worst of all “Shokushu reipusuk?ru dai 3-kan” \\\u003eYou close the box quickly with the red of shame on your face. \\\u003eHigh School was terrible… \\\u003eCollege less so. \\\u003eOnce more you feel a pair of eyes on you. \\\u003eBeneath the laptop and porn is the rest of your belongings that you thought you’d need in space, socks, a box of trojans, underwear, smartphone, and a pad of paper with some nice pens. \\\u003eYou hope Julia doesn’t walk in to see the condoms or the porn. \\\u003eThat would be a hell of an awkward conversation no matter which way it went. \\\u003eAt the very bottom is your wallet with two cards, one for imperial crowns and the other for U.S dollars. \\\u003efucking finally. \\\u003eyou have access to your old work account. \\\u003e”Hey Julia! Wanna grab a bite to eat?” You call out \\\u003eIn an instant a black shape pops out from the right of the door frame. \\\u003e”Yes.” She says before slipping back out of view. \\\u003eShe was definitely the pair of eyes. \\\u003eYou pray she didn’t see the porn or condoms. \\\u003eActually why were there condoms? \\\u003eQuestions for another time. \\\u003eYou cover the less than holy items with the laptop and cringe inducing tees before pocketing your wallet. \\\u003eWhen you leave the room there’s no raven to be found. \\\u003e”Julia? Where are you?” \\\u003e”Changing” She calls out from her room. \\\u003eAh. \\\u003eThe funny thing is that you actually have no idea how much you made a navigator. \\\u003eThe Spider-like Anarcharid said it was good pay. \\\u003e”Betta dan nao fo show” he said in his strange tongue while clicking his mandibles \\\u003eIt was weird. \\\u003eComparatively at least. \\\u003eYou brush the dust off your shirt and go to wash your hands. \\\u003eAfter cleaning up you put on your socks and shoes. \\\u003eYou wince as you stand finding your formerly shattered legs to flash with pain as weight shifts onto them. \\\u003eIt’s clear now why they offered you a cane in the hospital. \\\u003eNo matter you’ve hurt worse and for far longer than the two seconds it takes to stand up. \\\u003eYou find your vision almost seems to have a static overlay a bit and a slight green tint seems to wash over everything before color vanishes for a moment before returning to normal. \\\u003eAnd then it begins \\\u003eWhere the metal meets the eye socket begins feels like acid is being secreted from the implant. \\\u003eA bead of sweat slides down your forehead and you put your hand to your eyes pressing down onto the lenses of the. \\\u003eCan you never escape pain? \\\u003eIt haunts you like a spectre. \\\u003eNo matter where you go since you left the frontlines. \\\u003eYour once shattered legs still resist your usage of them, and now the machines of men do the same \\\u003eYour mind is broken, it shows you a creature that haunts you, a myth from the frontlines. \\\u003eAnd your heart? It doesn’t hurt, it aches, it feels undeserving. \\\u003eAs you wait for Julia to ready up the question as to why she likes you remains beyond you. \\\u003eThe pain flares but not enough to do much more than press harder onto your eyes. \\\u003eYou’re not special, you’re just a broken man with little left to offer. \\\u003eSo why? \\\u003eYour looks are little more than scars and glowing eyes. Your skin is pale as a corpse from being in the full body armor non-stop and your time in the hospital. \\\u003eNot to mention the whole being human aspect when she’s a raven. \\\u003eWhat could be remotely attractive about your personality? It’s not like you’re some sort of comedic genius or stoic badass type. \\\u003eJust a broken soldier, plain as a white wall these days. \\\u003eYou sit there and trace back the events that led you here. \\\u003eYou left earth for an opportunity \\\u003eThen got drafted. \\\u003eThe pain flares again causing you to wince a little and take a few shorter breaths. \\\u003eSaw things no man should see and did things nobody should be asked to do. \\\u003eThen one day, because of either hubris or a simple miscalculation or slight defect in hardware you were sent into the red sky you had so longed to see. \\\u003eBut you couldn’t see it. \\\u003eYou were blinded, and when you hit the ground miles away, barely alive, broken. \\\u003eBefore that you were just a body in a grave. \\\u003eHell even before the war you were nothing, not a loser, nothing. \\\u003eYou feel your face go red as you think about the past. \\\u003eYou didn’t even have your first kiss until you were eighteen, you’d always steered away from drugs after a death in the family because of them. \\\u003eYou didn’t care enough to fit in with the academic types, they tolerated you, most of them knew you were just a mass of unused potential and your two close friends in highschool were of different cliques. \\\u003eThe pain surges causing you to rear your teeth and you feel a tear roll down your cheek as your breathing becomes heavier. \\\u003eNot a damn person showed up to any party you hosted, too out in the boonies for them to go. \\\u003eCollege wasn’t much better at the start, just the local community college for the first two years as that’s what your father would pay for. \\\u003eEven then your social life and skills were pathetic. \\\u003eSure you loomed over the average person in Pensacola, but that didn’t help your case. \\\u003eYou were an aggressive man when you were young, your endless fighting with your younger brothers and the order to protect your littlest sister had made you quite a bottle of aggression. \\\u003eThat’s why you were a bit handsy with that uninvited guest a few nights ago. \\\u003eBut that wasn’t there anymore, \\\u003eNot like it used to at least \\\u003eIn it is the hollow feeling of missed opportunities, regrets, and the senses of unbelonging and undeserving. \\\u003eThe pain surges again, it’s almost like you have eyes behind the metal that is throbbing to get out. \\\u003eSo why? \\\u003eWhy does the raven girl like you? \\\u003eWhy does she cuddle up against you on the couch? \\\u003eWhy is she excited to see you? \\\u003eYou can’t find an answer. \\\u003eIt seems far too good to be true. \\\u003eDo you have money you don’t know about? \\\u003eIs she in just as much pain as you? \\\u003eShe sometimes seems so distant \\\u003eSo alien \\\u003eYou take your hands off your eyes and stare at the floor. \\\u003eYou remember her mentioning “lessers” as inferior groups \\\u003eIt seemed so off, so wrong. \\\u003eWhat did she really mean? \\\u003eYou had a nasty migraine at the time so it was lost on you but it seemed wrong in context. \\\u003eAre the aliens racist? \\\u003eWell it doesn’t really affect you does it? \\\u003eAll of these questions run through your head as you stare at the vinyl floor of her entryway. \\\u003eOccasionally you hear the clicking of your eyes refocusing as the pain mellows. \\\u003eYou begin to let your mind rest. \\\u003eAnother tear rolls down your cheek. \\\u003eYou didn’t deserve this. \\\u003eBut you sure as hell didn’t deserve what you got. \\\u003eAnd that can’t be changed. \\\u003eSo you’ll have to make the best of the hand you’ve been dealt. \\\u003eJust like everyone else on earth. \\\u003eNo, that’s not right \\\u003eGalaxy. \\\u003eLike everyone else in the whole goddamn galaxy. \\\u003eCan’t let it get you down. \\\u003eBeing a mopey piece of shit is why you feel this way in the first place. \\\u003eLike your father always said; “A man must always be strong, smile, it mocks any sort of weakness.” before slapping you. \\\u003eYou do your best to force a smile until one comes naturally. \\\u003eThe best deception you can make. \\\u003eYou wipe the tear stains off your face and stare out the window, there are kids laughing and playing in the street and an obvious widow weeping on the stairs to her home. \\\u003eYou wonder if the kids even know what war and death really are. \\\u003eLet them remain innocent. \\\u003eThat’s all you can hope they do. \\\u003eYou sigh, in an attempt to clear your mind. \\\u003eWhat’s taking her so long? \\\u003eGiving in to the desire to escape your thoughts \\\u003eYou decide to go see what’s up \\\u003eAs you approach the master bedroom you hear the clacking of her claws against the floor. \\\u003equiet “no”s and “that’s not right”s can be heard as she scurries around the room. \\\u003eYou move into the doorway and watch her zipping around between the vanity, closet and dressers. \\\u003e”Need a hand or two?” You ask. \\\u003eShe freezes. \\\u003e”y-y-yeah” she stammers. “C-c-can y-you help me find m-my p-p-panties?” She says her face feathers flared in embarrassment. \\\u003e”Weren’t they in your suitcase?” you question looking for the bags. \\\u003eJulia stands still for a second. \\\u003e”I’m an idiot” she murmurs before running out into the living room. Her violet skirt flipping up with her tail feathers and showing off her bright pink pussy. \\\u003eYou tail behind her as she rushes towards the two open bags in the living room. \\\u003eShe bends over and her tail hikes up giving you an unobstructed view. \\\u003eHer ass is just to spankable \\\u003eYou give into your lizard brain and give her ass a playful spank. \\\u003e”Boo” Julia says. \\\u003e”Not enough?” You respond confused. \\\u003e”Come on Anon! I’m bent over and have no underwear on, I know what I’m doing.” She says. \\\u003e”And?” You ask. \\\u003e”At least finger me!” she pouts. \\\u003e”You spend like 10 minutes trying to find panties and you want me to finger you?” You ask smugly. \\\u003e”Yes” she pouts. \\\u003e”Well…” you say slowly moving your hand to her nethers \\\u003e”You have been a good bird haven’t you?” You tease. \\\u003eHer demeanor changes. \\\u003e”This is going to sound really weird Anon but I kinda need this to be decent.” She says in a less than confident way. \\\u003e”What?” You ask while rubbing one of her buttocks \\\u003e”I’m in heat. It happens every year, I ran out of heat suppressants yesterday so you either make me cum now or I’ll be a horny mess before we get to the store.” She explains. \\\u003e”Got--” you cut her short by sliding two fingers into her. \\\u003e”Got it” You say. \\\u003eYou move behind her fully and grab her shoulder with your spare hand and begin to move her onto your finger. \\\u003eHer whole body trembles as you get your two fingers in fully. \\\u003eYou push her forwards a bit and place your hand like a finger gun over where your dick is. \\\u003eYou begin to finger her while going through the motions of fucking her. \\\u003eIs this a fingerfuck? \\\u003eYou don’t know, you haven’t seen porn in almost a decade and promiscuity was never within your grasp. \\\u003eYou slowly start to get into a rhythm, her tight folds clamping down onto your fingers like a vice as she gets wetter and wetter. \\\u003eAfter your second stroke her already raised tail feathers fan out. \\\u003eYou move the free hand from her shoulder to her hips and continue on \\\u003eShe feels like oiled velvet inside. \\\u003eSo easy to move your fingers through \\\u003eHer shivering coos turn to quaking moans as her back arches more and more. \\\u003eYou pick up your pace moving just a little faster. \\\u003eA clawed hand slowly moves past the black feather arch and grabs the hand you have on her hips. \\\u003eShe’s holding on tightly onto your wrist and her tail feathers shake and her grips on both your wrist and on your fingers tightens. \\\u003eHer legs tremble and knees almost buckle under the sensation. \\\u003e”Th-Thanks” she stammers between heavy breaths. \\\u003eShe shakely stands up and takes a pair of scarlet red panties from the bag and slides them up her long slender legs. \\\u003eYou just now realize that she balls her feet like fists to put them on. \\\u003eInteresting. \\\u003eShe turns to face you, her eyes locked on yours. \\\u003eShe reaches out and puts a hand behind your head and presses her beak to your lips. \\\u003eYou put your arms around her waist and pull her close. \\\u003eIt all flows so naturally. \\\u003eShe slides her tongue from her beak and into your mouth, it twists around yours \\\u003eHer eyes close and she embraces you tightly. \\\u003eIt feels so right, but so undeserved. \\\u003eYou play with her tongue, twisting it with yours. \\\u003eLike mating snakes, your tongue and hers twist around one anothers. \\\u003eThe longer this kiss goes on the more your heart aches for an answer. \\\u003eSoon she pulls back, her eyes opening slowly. \\\u003eLike zircon disks with obsidian dots placed in the center. \\\u003eStrange. \\\u003eThey were more sapphire yesterday. \\\u003eShe wraps her arms around your neck and leans against your arms. \\\u003eYou can still feel her shaking with little residual tremors. \\\u003eYour stomach grumbles not unlike a whale call. \\\u003e”Lunchtime.” You say. \\\u003e”Lunchtime.” She repeats back. \\\u003eThe two of you leave her locking the door behind the two of you. \\\u003e”Where to Commander Anon?” Julia asks. \\\u003e”I was only ever a lieutenant at most, and even then that was only as an in field promotion following the death of the COs and most of the NCOs in my company.” You say, your militaristic straightforwardness killing the would be tease. \\\u003e”What?” Julia asks. \\\u003e”Nothing, just instinctive responses.” You half-lie. \\\u003eThe two of you walk down the street together. \\\u003eYou grab her hand and pull her close to you as you walk down the cobbled streets of the Martian village. \\\u003eThere’s a slight breeze that ruffles through your slightly long hair and makes little ripples in Julia’s softer feathers. \\\u003eWhat season is it actually? \\\u003eYou were hurt at the start of spring \\\u003e”Hey Julia what time of year is it?” You ask. \\\u003e’Technically it’s still summer on Mars but it's early autumn on the standard calendar.” \\\u003eYou missed your birthday. \\\u003eThough that is for other reasons. \\\u003eLike having no eyes \\\u003eWere your legs fixed by then? \\\u003eEither way you lost six months of your life. \\\u003eBetter than all of it to be sure. \\\u003eYou turn to see Julia staring at you. \\\u003eIt’s an inquisitive stare \\\u003e”What’s on your mind Julia?” You ask breaking the silence between you that dominates your walk down the avenue her home is on. \\\u003e”You seem to be lost in thought constantly. Is something the matter?” She asks. \\\u003eYou weigh your options. \\\u003eTell a half truth and let what weight on your mind remain as ever present as it’s been \\\u003eOr tell a full truth and have a chance of losing what you have. \\\u003e”Yes, a fair few things actually.” You say. \\\u003e”Care to share?” She asks as you round the first of many corners. \\\u003eYou hesitate \\\u003e”Man up” the voice of your father snaps. \\\u003e”Why do you love me?” You ask inquisitively like a student asking a professor why he \\\u003eBefore she can speak you continue. \\\u003e”I can’t figure it out, you find me blinded and broken and drag me to a hospital. I wasn’t supposed to live, and yet you were there for a total stranger, a total alien who scraped by on the skin of his teeth. So why?” You clarify and restate. \\\u003e”I suppose you became a bit of an anchor to reality for me.” She explains turning away. \\\u003eYou can feel your brow furrow. \\\u003e”Care to explain?” You press. \\\u003e”You have other things to share first, no?” She says, a previously unheard accent slipping through. \\\u003e”Yeah, I’m either being haunted by the Horseman of Progress or I have PTSD, neither is particularly good. Oh and I think I need to go back home to tell my mom and father what happened.” You list. \\\u003eYou pause and think about any other issues. \\\u003e”And then there’s my job situation.” You lament \\\u003e “and I need new clothes.” You finish. \\\u003e”oh…” Julia says as if not expecting an answer that honest. \\\u003e”Like I knew you had issues but I was wondering if humans have something like a heat or rut?” She clarifies. \\\u003e”Nah.” You say flatly. \\\u003e”Really? You have smelled like heat the entire time I’ve met you?” She presses. \\\u003e”Can raven men only get it up at certain times of the year?” You ask. \\\u003e”Of course, most races are like that.” Julia says almost condescending. \\\u003e”Funny, we humans are quite the opposite, we can get it up anytime of year.” You reply. \\\u003e”Wait seriously?” Julia says in disbelief. \\\u003e”Ayup.” you say letting a little bit of your Beaumont accent sneak in. \\\u003e”Wild.” She says seemingly pleased with that answer. \\\u003e”So.” You say. “An anchor?” You ask with a smirk. \\\u003e”fuck” she whispers. \\\u003e”Well I am a Journalist right now, I was a reporter, then the company said the front was no place for a woman when I was on Rema.” \\\u003eShe scratches her beak for a second. \\\u003e”I was walking back to the apartment all of a sudden I hear a meaty thud and, and, and these sickening cracks.” \\\u003eShe seems choked up as she speaks again. “I turn and I see what I think, I knew, was a dead man, but I see him, you, rise on broken legs reaching out bleeding from his eyes…” \\\u003e”I’d rather not talk about this right now Anon. Please, just wait until we get back home.” She pleads. \\\u003e”I take it my fall from the heavens wasn’t quite like the guys at the bar make it sound?” You joke trying to lighten the mood. \\\u003e”I guess” Julia says turning away from you but tightening her grip on your hand. \\\u003eMaybe seeing your broken self may have been just a tad traumatic for someone. \\\u003eYou pull her close and continue walking through the winding maze of the town. \\\u003eThat being said it was entirely possible that you had just grown numb over the… \\\u003eYear? \\\u003eTwo years? \\\u003eHow old are you? \\\u003eKicking a small rock on the road snaps you from your thoughts. \\\u003eYou turn to see an “all american” diner type place, arched glass windows and red and white tablecloths with navy blue umbrellas. \\\u003eA middle aged couple and their kids sit outside eating big old hamburgers. \\\u003eAnother couple, this one of dog-folk, share a milkshake in the cool midday weather. \\\u003e”You ever been to a diner like that before?” You ask Julia, the idea of juicy burger and fresh-out-the-fryer onion rings being a far too tempting prospect. \\\u003e”No, it wasn’t there before.” She says looking over the establishment. \\\u003e”You want to try it?” You ask. \\\u003e”Anon, the concept of a burger and fries is pretty common these days.” Julia says. \\\u003e”I’d imagine so. BUT, have you ever had it Americana style?” You ask again. \\\u003e”Americana? Was that some local Earth nation?” Julia asks. \\\u003e”Maybe, maybe not, I’ll tell you over a milkshake if you’d like.” You propose. \\\u003e”That sounds like an excuse to eat there if you ask me.” She says learny of your proposal. \\\u003e”Is a hamburger not your forte?” You ask. \\\u003e”Bit of a problem with a beak.” Julia says turning to you pointing at her obsidian black beak. \\\u003e”What about chicken strips?” You ask curiously. \\\u003e”Never heard of those.” She responds. \\\u003e”It’s basically a strip of chicken deep fried in batter.” You explain. \\\u003e”Sounds easy enough to eat.” Julia says raising her beak. \\\u003eYou look up the sign. \\\u003e”Nicky and Lab’s All American Diner.” With the face of Dog and Bearded man. \\\u003eYou open the doors to see a tall, slender, and clearly middle aged dog person manning the counter. \\\u003e”Welcome to our diner, will you two be seating inside or outside?” She asks. \\\u003eYou turn to Julia. \\\u003eShe shrugs. \\\u003e”Outside, the weather is really too nice to pass up today.” You say to the woman. \\\u003eAs the two of you approach the counter a large bearded man emerges from the kitchen. \\\u003e”And what will the two of y’all be a havin’ today?” He says, the same east Texas drawl you hide on full display. \\\u003e”Well from a man from down south like yerself I’d half expect a brisket sandwich.” You say your accent unhinged. \\\u003e”Another Texan lost in space?” He says. \\\u003eJulia and the dog woman are clearly confused. \\\u003e”Ayup.” You say. \\\u003e”I’m from outside Corpus and you?” He asks. \\\u003e”Just outside Beaumont.” You say. \\\u003e”Longin’ fer a taste of home I see.” He jokes. \\\u003e”’Spose so Mr. Nicky.” You say back. \\\u003eHe laughs. \\\u003e”I ain’t Nicky, that’s my wife, I’m Lab.” He jokes. \\\u003e”Seriously?” You ask. \\\u003e”Ayup.” He answers. \\\u003e”And how exactly did you get the name Lab?” You ask. \\\u003e”Moved to Houston to work in an oil lab.” He explains. “Wife left me about a decade ago and took the kids, came to hate it, so when the King came down I jumped on the opportunity to do what my old man did.” He says. \\\u003e”We all become our parents a bit one day don’t we.” You respond. \\\u003e”Mhmm.” He hums. \\\u003eYou look over the menu. \\\u003eChicken strips are on there. \\\u003e”Well you ready to order?” Nicky asks. \\\u003e”Yeah. Can I get an order of chicken strips, a “I-10 West” burger, a large “fried fun”. You say. \\\u003e”Hey Julia what’s your favorite kind of icecream?” You ask, \\\u003e”Chocolate I guess?.” She asks. \\\u003e”A Large Chocolate milkshake and two large cokes.” You finish your order with gusto. \\\u003e”That’ll be 17 crowns and fifty seven scepters.” Nickey says after ringing you up. \\\u003eJulia reaches for her purse. \\\u003e”I got this” You say pulling out your wallet and paying for it yourself. \\\u003e”Last transaction was four years ago. Were you in the service?” Nickey asks. \\\u003e”Lost my eyes and was forced out.” You say. \\\u003e”Explains weird eyes” Lab remarks. \\\u003e”Rude” Julia protests. \\\u003e”Ain’t bothering me hun” You reply to her. \\\u003e”Really?” Julia asks. \\\u003e”I mean check this out.” You open your eyes really wide with your fingers and let the slight light from it shine onto the napkins. \\\u003e”What the fuck” Julia and Nickey say in unison as Lab start bellowing like a Southern Santa Clause. \\\u003e”Okay bright eyes.” He laughs before going back into the kitchen. \\\u003eNickey puts her hands on her temples and smiles. \\\u003e”I can’t believe I married that man before seeing how he is with his own.” She says with a smile. \\\u003e”And what is a Texas?” She asks. \\\u003e”A state in the old country of America.” \\\u003e”So it’s a region.” She responds. \\\u003e”With a very proud history and culture.” You continue feeling a bit of pride well up in your chest. \\\u003e”Makes sense when your entire species was in a perpetual stalemate of a war for twenty thousand years.” \\\u003e”Not a fan of humans?” Julia asks. \\\u003e”No, just not a fan of their women. Total bitches almost all of them, wired to swing like monkeys from strong man to strong man rather than just staying with one and building up with him.” Nickey says. “You should’ve met the ex-wife. Total Bitch, and I say that as an actual bitch.” \\\u003e”You’re pregnant?” Julia exclaims \\\u003eNickey nods. \\\u003e “Congratulations!” Julia praises. \\\u003e”Shush. I want it to be a surprise for Lab.” Nickey says. “Here lemme get your drinks and I’ll show you to your table. ‘Kay?” She instructs grabbing two cups from behind the counter. \\\u003e”Whatcha wanna drink?” She asks. \\\u003e”Coke Zero if you have it.” You answer remembering that one time you and your father tried the stuff in Target and stopped buying the red cans. \\\u003e”We sure do!” She says. \\\u003e”And you young lady?” She asks Julia. \\\u003e”Same as him I guess?” She answers unsure. \\\u003eNickey fills two “Coca-Cola” brand glasses from the taps behind the counter, the one next to it is labeled “Black Possum Beer”. \\\u003eAs she fills the second glass she looks up and her black nose twitches soon followed by the rest of her snout. \\\u003e”It just dawned on me that I don’t know either of your names.” \\\u003e”I’m Anon” You say. \\\u003e”And I’m Julia.” Julia follows. \\\u003e”You two share a last name yet?” She teases. \\\u003e”No, not yet?” Julia says seemingly down. \\\u003e”Well how long y’all been together?” She asks before being astonished at her use of “yall”. \\\u003e”We met about six months ago at a hospital on Rema.” you answer as you can tell Julia is uncomfortable. \\\u003e”It wasn’t a very nice place to be from either of our perspectives.” You continue. \\\u003e”I’ll take that as “please show us to our table.”” Nickey says handing you and Julia your drinks and leading you outside. \\\u003e”Sorry in advance if you get a splinter from the benches, the winter was not kind to them.” She says before swishing back inside, her tail wagging the entire time. \\\u003e”So. America and Texas, what are they?” Julia asks before taking a sip from her drink \\\u003e”America, land of the free, home of the brave…” Is how you start your explanation of America. \\\u003eShe asks questions about things. \\\u003eNormal ones, like demographics and how the average person lived. \\\u003eSome strange questions at that. \\\u003eLike “slave cullings” at the end of the first civil war, or “why not make a vassal or puppet of” certain nations like Israel or Japan. \\\u003eIt would seem that Raven culture used to be a fair bit more brutal. \\\u003eFar more than it now from what you can piece together from your experience. \\\u003e”Now, Julia, before I tell you about Texas I want to know about Raven society.” You say. \\\u003eShe takes a long sip from her coke and begins to talk about her home and people. \\\u003eShe talks about her people, how the men on her planet would talk a big game about literally anything. \\\u003eBeak shades, clothes, whatever little personal achievements. \\\u003eA species that peaked in highschool. \\\u003eIronic given that you never thought of ravens as particularly prideful creatures. \\\u003eMaybe ravens and peacocks aren’t all that different when it comes to mating. \\\u003eYou push the thought of a peacock man and a raven man appearing ond “dancing with the stars” to impress a bird girl from your mind. \\\u003eIn your moment of thought she moves from her home planet to why she was there. \\\u003eAnd it’s not a species wide cultural thing. \\\u003eIt’s a spartan esc father who was in their race’s version of the IRA minus the politics and add in genocide. \\\u003eA hardass motherfucker. \\\u003eJust like your father. \\\u003eHe made basic easy. \\\u003eShe talks about her time as a reporter. \\\u003eCombat zone after combat zone as she learned of a curious masked figure leading an ever growing army. \\\u003eShe talks about the first horse people she saw. \\\u003eTowering figures of muscle disciplined to an unimaginable point. \\\u003eThen the Anjekans. \\\u003eThe literal angels who become like the mass production units from Evangelion once they get PTSD \\\u003eEvery flavor of culture from the blank white cities that were spectacular under ultraviolet lenses to the crystal forests on far flung planets. \\\u003eShe laments that she was only ever there when people started dying. \\\u003eWar, genocides, riots, famines, whatever the tragedy of the quarter was. \\\u003eShe takes a long sip of her coke before continuing. \\\u003e”For all the tragedies I saw none would top my exes…” She says. \\\u003e”Pray tell.” you ask curious. \\\u003e”They were nothing special. No joke, talking a big game couldn’t hold a half decent conversation.” She laments \\\u003eYou look back on your two exes. \\\u003eThe one freshman year of college. \\\u003eAnd the one from sophomore year to graduation. \\\u003eThe one that did more than just break your heart. \\\u003e”I wish I could say that about my failed relationships. The second one ripped my heart out with a smile.” You say unable to look her in the eye. \\\u003eYou recall the day after graduation before pushing that smile from your mind. \\\u003e”Ripped your heart out? With a smile?” She asks for clarity. \\\u003e”She broke my heart with an unforgivable mix of gaslighting, smoke and mirrors, and lies, wearing a smile as she did so.” You say. \\\u003e”Was she a political science major?” She asks seemingly a little unsure. \\\u003e”No, liberal arts.” You say. \\\u003e”Not even going to ask what that is.” Julia says throwing her hands up. \\\u003e”I really couldn’t tell you myself.” You reply back trying to get away from the subject as images of scarlet red lips and milk white skin begin to once more appear in your mind. \\\u003e”Say, Anon, what defines a good mate in your culture?” She asks casually. \\\u003eYou reflect on the dating scene in the 2020’s. \\\u003eComing to a conclusion you say “If one existed I couldn’t find her. I was looking for someone who was cute, someone I saw having a future with, someone who cared and who would love me and encourage me to do better. Somebody who could be the mother to my children. Somebody who was inexperienced as I was.” You take a sip and feel a lump in your throat form. “I didn’t think it was as much of a pipe dream as it turned out to be.” You say feeling your heart grow heavy as you resign yourself further. \\\u003eYou see Julia clearly observing you. \\\u003eStudying you like a jeweler would a raw gem. \\\u003e”Say, what makes a good husband in your culture Julia?” You ask, her gaze breaking your resolve. \\\u003e”In most raven cultures a man must be desirable enough for women to seek him, he must be wealthy, fit, and likeable. That wasn’t the way in the mountains of Rema, men had to pursue females, and in order to test them they had to show weakness, so that she may prove her worth. Rema is a very poor planet, and a very isolated one at that, if anything the war has helped it develop and now will have some visitors that aren’t draft dodgers, outlaws, and debtors. Before I left that rock I thought a good mate was vulnerable and trusting. I kept the trusting bit, ditched the vulnerable.” She explains. \\\u003eShe tilts her head some towards the ground and continues. “When I met you, broken as you were something spoke to me the more and more I thought about how you stood up with shattered legs, a broken arm, and a shredded pair of eyes. You were the first man who somewhat resembled my father, and I liked what I saw.” She says. \\\u003eYou think back to your mother. A stern hand like your father but she made you soup after slapping you, whereas dad would belt you once for screwing up and once again if you cried. \\\u003e”Odd, you are nothing like my mother. She’s a strong woman, strong enough to deal with pops but she wasn’t nearly as, feminine as you are.” You say your degradation of your already poor social skills showing once more. “My momma was from good stock and a fairly good family, my old man though, he came from dirt and carved out his place in the world the hard way.” \\\u003eJulia seems to reflect on that for a moment. “Huh, I’m living my mother’s dream. She was a teacher who wanted to be a journalist. Went to Rema to find work, got stranded and found love instead.” \\\u003eWhat is taking the food so long? \\\u003eThe two of you awkwardly sip from your cokes for a moment. \\\u003e”You play vigim games?” Julia asks \\\u003e’What?” You say the archaic slang catching you off guard. \\\u003e”Video Games? Like Return of the Fire Kings?” She asks. \\\u003e”I knew what you meant. It's just I haven’t heard that term in almost twenty years. I used to, but I didn’t have space for a decent PC on board the ships I was navigating on. I’ve never heard of Return of the Fire Kings though.” You answer. \\\u003e”Well RotFK is a VR game. Its a fantasy RPG where you have to kill dragons, the so called Fire Kings, and save the world.” She explains, clearly giddy. \\\u003eShe never struck you as the gamer type. \\\u003e”Sounds like Skyrim but continue on.” You remark. \\\u003e”Well you start off getting woken up in the next age by a witch or wizard, your choice, and then you have to fight off a small group of undea-” She says before being cut off but Lab’s bellowing voice. \\\u003e”One order of hot fresh onion rings! Far better than the worthless rings of saturn.” Lab says cheerfully while Julia seems a mix of embarrassed and angry. \\\u003e”Thanks Lab” You say before he returns inside whistling. \\\u003eJulia snatches an onion ring and messily crunches it before seeming to lighten up. \\\u003e”As you were saying lovebird” you say before the sheer autism of the statement hit you. \\\u003e”Well, after being free- Wait did you call me lovebird?” Julia asks clearly pleased with the remark \\\u003eWell now you have to stick with it. \\\u003e”Is there a problem with that lovebird?” You say trying your best to sound like “the most interesting man in the world” from the Dos XX commercials \\\u003eJulia seems to ponder it for a moment. \\\u003e”I was called sweetbeak once. I dunno about lovebird” She says. \\\u003e”I literally have no idea what conventional attraction is among your people.” You say flatly. \\\u003e”Same.” She says. \\\u003eYou grab one of the still steaming onion rings. \\\u003eIt smells of oil and spices, the crunch is perfect but the onion is a little raw and tastes the part. \\\u003eChewing on it is pleasant. It feels almost like kosher salt and onion on the tongue. \\\u003eYou look up from the plastic tray of rings to see Julia either taking it in two bites or one and without actually moving her beak crunches it up and swallows it. \\\u003eThe more you eat and watch the weirder and weirder it seems. \\\u003e”Hey Julia, how do you, like chew?” You ask the curiosity getting the better of you. \\\u003eWithout speaking Julia flicks her head up at a 45 degree and opens her mouth to point at lines of teeth-like structures embedded into her beak. \\\u003eShe closes her mouth and moves back to a normal. \\\u003e”Saw those ridges?” She asks. \\\u003e”I \\*totally\\* didn’t” you say sarcastically. \\\u003e”Yeah and I’m white. Either way I use my tongue, something you are quite familiar with, to press food against it to chew it. It works pretty well.” She says with a wink. \\\u003eYou can feel your face warm with embarrassment before your stomach growls. \\\u003e”It would appear I’m a bit too hungry to be honry.” You remark to Julia’s amusement. \\\u003e”Yeah well I’m both.” She says cupping her breasts. \\\u003eYour snort \\\u003eShe giggles. \\\u003eYour dick calls your bluff and you can feel an erection grow in your pants. \\\u003e”That’s honesty I’ve never heard from a girl back home.” You say. \\\u003e”Come again?” She says, her strange accent slipping through once more. \\\u003e”Back home most girls never talked about those kinds of feelings.” You say. “Well at least to me, I ain’t what ya call the most handsome man alive.” You correct yourself. \\\u003e”Makes sense.” She says plainly. \\\u003e”I’m sorry what?” You ask caught off guard. \\\u003e”It’s a bad look to be a slutty gal. I don’t know what you did before but you have a look about you that radiates judgement.” She responds. \\\u003e”So easy lays exist in the ravens.” You conclude. \\\u003e”Every. Single. Race has its own flavor of broken whore.” Julia says coldly. \\\u003e”I take it you’ve seen a fall from grace then?” You ask. \\\u003e”Yep.” She replies. \\\u003e”Everybody knows at least one” You remark. \\\u003e”Really?” She says astonished. \\\u003e”Just part of growing up. The sins are sins for a reason.” You say rubbing your cross. \\\u003e”I suppose.” she says seemingly saddened. \\\u003e”Now I still need an explanation on what the Fire Kings are.” You say. \\\u003eJulia descends into a full on nerd rant between onion rings. \\\u003eYeah it’s just a bigger version of Skyrim but it’s full vr and “””supposedly”””” not very buggy. \\\u003eJulia really likes to play Dark Elves as they have a raven aethstetic about them. \\\u003eSame reason you played Nords in Skyrim \\\u003eIt was actually for Warcry because you were shit at magic \\\u003eUnimportant Details \\\u003eWell it seems gaming has moved passed your shitty laptop \\\u003eNo matter \\\u003eYour train of thought is disrupted by the arrival of your main course \\\u003eLab leaves quickly with a “here ya go” as he sees a family of eight enter the door \\\u003eThe burger is delicious and Julia seems to enjoy her chicken strips \\\u003eYou pay special attention to how she eats \\\u003eShe uses her clawed fingers to break it apart \\\u003eThen she puts the whole chunk in her beak \\\u003eYou hear crunching but her beak doesn’t move at all \\\u003eIt’s quite fascinating \\\u003eMore so that you’d initially thought \\\u003eYou two were hungrier than you thought \\\u003eGiven how mouth’s only opened to put more food in. \\\u003eThat or extreme awkwardness ensued. \\\u003eCome the end of the meal you leave a five crown note and leave quietly as you see Nick busy as bee tending to the family of eight \\\u003eYou let Julia take the lead back down to the grocer, along the way you make small talk about some flowers and the buildings \\\u003eHeat suppressants acquired the two of you make it down to the bank \\\u003eThe teller is an older human man, full head of grey hair \\\u003eFit as a fiddle despite his wrinkled face \\\u003eYou had him your bank card and ask him to tell you the balance on the two savings accounts \\\u003eThe man looks around \\\u003e”Sir, your eye color doesn’t match” the ID photo on our side” He says. \\\u003e”Normally, I’d assume you’ve lost your eyes, which seems to be the case, however due to the nature of your accounts this’ll have to be taken over in person. Would you like to meet with the proper people now?” He asks. \\\u003e”Absolutely.” You say. \\\u003e”Also, unless that woman there is the missuess she’ll have to wait in the lobby.” He says. \\\u003eJulia sits herself down in the lobby and starts fiddling around on what seems to be a holographic phone \\\u003eNeed to get one of those \\\u003eHe tells you to go to the fourth room on the left \\\u003eYou comply with a thanks \\\u003eThe person in the office titled “Account Support Manager” is a ten limbed squid person swirling around frantically \\\u003e”Bonjour Humain, je suis prêt à vous aider avec tous les problèmes de compte que vos quelques appendices ne peuvent résoudre seuls!” It rambles in a masculine voice \\\u003eYou raise an eye \\\u003e”English auf deutch bitte?” You say confused \\\u003eThe squid leans to its phone. \\\u003e”Puis-je mettre la main ici” it asks. \\\u003eAbout twenty seconds later another squid walks in \\\u003e”Pardon my husband, and myself too, we were told français was the human tongue over Anglaise so we learned that. I’ve picked up enough to work here.” She says a mix of french and her original accent laid on heavily. \\\u003e”I’d ask how, but I need to get home soon\" you lie \\\u003e\"A shame, all you sentinels have interesting stories\" the female says \\\u003e\"Sentinel?\" You ask eyebrows raised. \\\u003e\"Those who have a new set of eyes\" She clicks \\\u003eYou swear you’ve heard the term before \\\u003eoH \\\u003eThe Korvan fellow on ship you used to work on \\\u003eHe was called a sentinel, but you simply assumed that was because he was the leader of the onboard security team \\\u003eRegardless you soon state your issues and the couple gets to work, the female translating what you have to say into either squid-talk or french \\\u003eMaybe squiddish doesn’t have words for standard banking operations? \\\u003eheh \\\u003eSquiddish \\\u003esounds like yiddish \\\u003eyou snap back to your train of thought and they soon produce a bank statement for you \\\u003eSo it was account inactivity \\\u003eThey though you up and died \\\u003eRude \\\u003eAnyway the bank decided to use my inactive finances for investment \\\u003eSo now you have a considerable amount more cash than before \\\u003eIs this God’s way of returning the favor for maiming you? \\\u003eCause over the past ten years you’ve now saved about a one and a half million dollars in savings alone \\\u003eHaving no living expenses help greatly boosted that \\\u003eThough your corporately managed investment portfolio and 401k are still unknowns \\\u003eBut give that you maxed out what you could but in your 401k and 20% of what you made into investments so neither of those should be too bad \\\u003eThough you were really early 20’s when you started that, it's been seven or eight years since you started working \\\u003eFuck \\\u003eYou’re almost thirty \\\u003eJesus the past ten years went by quick \\\u003eYou walk out the lobby slowly trying to piece together the past ten years \\\u003eThere Julia stands at the coffee machine filling a styrofoam cup with some brown liquid \\\u003eIt ain’t black ration coffee that’s for damn sure \\\u003eOf which you saw in the grocer the other day \\\u003eYou wave at Julia and she leaves as quickly as her cup fills \\\u003e”How’d it go?” She asks quietly \\\u003e”Far better than I expected.” You say \\\u003e”Oh, how so?” She asks \\\u003e”Better topic for behind closed doors.” You say hushedly \\\u003e”A human taboo?” She asks \\\u003e”More like a way to prevent bad things from coming your way” you ask. \\\u003eThe pair of you walk back hand and hand \\\u003eHer hand is surprisingly soft despite her scales, not unlike a python though it’s far warmer than any snake you’ve held \\\u003eThat being said, it’s rather pleasant and Julia talks about how her last year of college ended a week from today two years ago \\\u003e”Wow.” You say, the remark snapping you back to reality \\\u003e”What about it is so interesting?” She asks \\\u003e”Nothing, it's just my last year of college was six or seven years ago. I hadn’t figured you were so young.” You remark \\\u003e”Is that a bad thing? Do humans go for older mates like the Kaknei?” She asks \\\u003e”Generally youth is valued, though there are, maybe were? Social movements to try to change that. How’s it in your culture?” You ask, careful to make sure you ask a question in return. \\\u003e”Generally men prefer young women, though there are some that prefer older ones, others- actually describing every fetish and deviant group of humans would be a waste of time and incomplete, I’m CERTAIN new fetishes have arisen in my absence, I just wonder how deep the depravity has gotten.” You say quickly \\\u003e”Wow, a subject you don’t seem to know something about.” Julia remarks \\\u003e”I know enough to know I know nothing and little else.” You remark \\\u003e”What is that? Some sort of religious saying?” Julia laughs \\\u003e”Not at all, I believe it was Plato. Or was it Socrates?” You say trying to remember your 8th grade history class \\\u003e”The hell are either of those?” Julia says still giggling \\\u003e”Greek Philosophers, their people invented threesomes, though another culture, the Romans, discovered you could add women.” You laugh. \\\u003e”Seriously?” Julia asks \\\u003e”The Philosophers part? Yes, the other part? I couldn’t tell you.” You say \\\u003e”Then why say it?” She asks \\\u003e”Old joke, force of habit.” You answer. \\\u003e”What’s the joke about? Were these Greeks famously gay?” She asks \\\u003e”Yes.” You say \\\u003e”I thought gays were persecuted in ancient times?” Julia asks \\\u003e”Depends on the region and timeframe, in the bronze age? I don’t know. In the classical era to late antiquity we know it was somewhat tolerated, though from the dark ages to the end of the world wars it was often punished with death.” You pause. “That being said, I don’t know the world's history, mainly just Europe and American history.” You correct \\\u003e”What’s your people’s history?” You ask genuinely intrigued \\\u003e”Our scientists have determined the common ancestor of the Avins, my people, and the Korvans, the Dracon and Korvanic peoples as well as the now extinct Saelics, split about four million years ago, and about five hundred thousand years after that all on the now dead world of Jaxnis 4, though we Ravens call it “Akx uon kae” or, the home of life when translated to english. This scattering of our people aligns with the beginning of the legendary War of Souls.” she explains \\\u003e”Please tell me, what is this War of Souls?” you ask now invested \\\u003e”Well, the details are hazy, it being some millions of years old now, but what we do know is that a race was told they were soulless by the Aek-Nia, an unknown, now extinct race. This race then revolted against the Aek-Nia for they were their slaves, and killed every last one before seeking to conquer the stars. They failed, but it was supposedly the first time a war had killed a planet.” She says, telling the story as if it were a religious one. \\\u003e”What happened to this slave race?” You ask \\\u003e”They vanished with the Saelics and haven’t been seen since.” She says \\\u003e”How odd. I’ve seen Avins, Korvans, and Dracon, what were these Saelics described as?” \\\u003e”You seem really interested in history.” Julia says seemingly let down \\\u003e”Is there a problem with that?” You ask \\\u003e”Bad luck where I come from.” She says \\\u003e”Huh, a love of history has always been the pastime of men where I’m from.” You remark \\\u003e”Raven history isn’t very interesting, it isn’t one of heroes, battles, and hope, its colonies, political debates, and economic crises.” She laments \\\u003e”Just because your people’s history isn’t a painting made with blood doesn’t mean it isn’t interesting. Economics drives war, if war ceases to be economical then it will cease to be fought.” You state \\\u003e”I don’t believe that Anon.” Julia says hanging her head \\\u003e”Does the blade itself incite violence?” You ask, quoting Homer \\\u003e”Not inherently, the blade itself is a tool, it can be used for cooking, clearing land, cutting cloth, and many other things.” Julia shares \\\u003e”Violence is no different from what I can tell, ravens, humans, hell even these Jeewol are all kith and kin in that regard.” You share \\\u003e”You’ve seen a violent raven?” Julia asks \\\u003e”Yeah, we had one in my squad, though he’s gone now.” You say \\\u003e”Did he by any chance wear a ring?” She asks \\\u003eYou try to recall the silent fuck \\\u003eYou can’t remember him ever wearing any jewelry \\\u003e”I don’t think so, and I saw his hands and they were just normal hands.” You say now confused as to why \\\u003e”Actually come to think of it I never saw him wear anything other than his uniforms unfortunately, though while possible he had one on I doubt it.” You say \\\u003e”And why is that?” Julia presses \\\u003e”Just didn’t think he was the type? I dunno.” You say \\\u003eJulia still seems uneasy about the ringless raven fellow \\\u003e”You know he’s dead right? It doesn't matter much anymore.” You say trying to sooth her nerve \\\u003e”Are you absolutely certain he’s dead?” She asks \\\u003e”Before I fell from the sky like a fallen angel I saw his chest cavity become little more than a boiling mass of meat in a trench.” You say \\\u003e”GROSS” Julia protests sticking her long tongue out like a fleshy lightning bolt \\\u003e”Look I’ve seen every manner of execution dearest Anonathan, but JESUS I am not a fan of plasma bolts, beheadings, bone piles, eh, I can deal with it.” She pauses to catch her breath \\\u003e”but I cannot stand those flesh melting balls of heat” She finishes \\\u003e”Hi I’m Julia Yeomem and thank you for coming to my ted talk.” She says with a wink \\\u003eThe two of you make stupid internet jokes all the way back home like some sort of nerdy teenage couple \\\u003eNot that you would know what’s that like \\\u003eOnce you get home the two of you plop down on your catch, her beak resting on your chest. \\\u003eYou take her hand with one of your, throw a blanket over the two of you and turn the t.v on. \\\u003ethe first thing you hear is Bill Murr yelling \\\u003eOBAMA OBAMA \\\u003eYou that cracks you up instantly killing the mood you had just set with Julia’s pout \\\u003eThe rest of the afternoon goes by swimmingly, just the two of you watching T.V or milling about trying to find something \\\u003eAfter a while you remember that you need to order those tickets to earth \\\u003e”fak” you say \\\u003e”What?” Julia says down at you. \\\u003e”Trying to order these tickets to earth but I can’t understand this language.” You say looking at the alien symbols \\\u003e”Oh that’s Ancie, how odd.” she remarks before setting your language to English \\\u003e”You can speak Ancie?” You ask \\\u003e”Read not speak. For i have a beak.” she says \\\u003e”Hey that rhymed” You remark. \\\u003eYou get to the select quantity \\\u003e”Hey Julia wanna come to Earth with me?” You ask \\\u003e”What?” She asks. \\\u003e”Like you wanna come with me to Earth? I’m certain my folks would love to meet you.” You say. \\\u003eAnd then it hits you \\\u003eAh \\\u003eThat sounded \\\u003eWell that sounded like taking a girl home \\\u003eThat’s ought to be a bit forward \\\u003eYou turn to Julia who seems to be shocked in her eyes but happy from the way her feathers sitting \\\u003e”Uh are you sure that’s okay?” She asks seemingly shy \\\u003e”Money wise it isn’t an issue, not in the slightest actually.” \\\u003e”Uhh, lemme think about it” she says before scurrying into the kitchen.” She stammers \\\u003eOkay \\\u003e\\\u003c \\\u003e\\\u003c \\\u003e\\\u003c \\\u003eYour heart feels like it's trying to burst from your chest \\\u003eWhat the hell is Anon thinking? \\\u003eWhy is asking you to go to Earth? \\\u003eMore stupid questions \\\u003eHe didn't seem to find an issue with what he said \\\u003eIs it human culture? \\\u003eNo \\\u003eEven among humans Anon is strange \\\u003eMost humans, like every other race, aren’t very bright \\\u003eHumans though are exceptionally arrogant though \\\u003eDoes intelligence come at a cost to social prowess like most other cultures? \\\u003eThat'd make sense \\\u003eYou feel embarrassed and put on the spot \\\u003eYou should give Anon an answer \\\u003eA quick tap on your watch and some hand gestures you pull up your work calendar \\\u003eFile digital forms \\\u003eYou automated that a while ago \\\u003eDo some reporting on some faraway planet \\\u003eFrom where? \\\u003eAh \\\u003eGizanak \\\u003eA mid-rim world recently besieged \\\u003eRich as hell. \\\u003eEarth is pretty much another galaxy to them \\\u003eAn a religious center \\\u003ePerfect \\\u003eSo you can go with Anon for \\\u003eThe next month \\\u003eWow \\\u003eIt’s literally just doing a report on said world and a family there \\\u003eThis is a pretty normal assignment for this time of year but still \\\u003eIt’s a perfect timing situation, and if need be you can justify to stay longer \\\u003eyeah \\\u003esneaky beaky \\\u003eYou walk back into the room where Anon gives you a wink before saying \\\u003e”You made up your mind?” He asks \\\u003e”Lemme make a call to see if work will let me.” You say before walking to your room \\\u003eYou pull up your holophone again and dial into reporting \\\u003eTwo rings later you get a kind “Hello” from Mrs. Genga \\\u003e”Hi, Mrs. Genga, it’s Julia Yeomem, I’m asking about my faraway report assignment, will Earth be fine for the report?” You asks trying to hide your excitement \\\u003e”Ah, Hi Julia, by Earth do you mean, Nova Terra, Neuerwelt, or any other human colony?’ she asks \\\u003e”No, I mean Earth, the one where Mr. Human was born.” you ask \\\u003e”OH.” She says. “Are you certain you’ll be able to make it?” She asks \\\u003e”Certainly, I’d be going with someone born in the “Texas” region of the planet.” You say not even bothering to hide it. \\\u003e”Absolutely, have you finally found another Raven who intends to make you his missus?” She asks \\\u003e”Not quite, remember that man I found on Rema?” You say \\\u003e”Yeah the one that you made the smash hit on about the brutality of war.” She says \\\u003e”Wasn’t he an Anjekan?” She asks \\\u003e”No, he’s a human, and the one I’m going with.” You say \\\u003e”Ooh, that makes the report all that much more interesting, well the Texas region is not very well explored, or really much of Earth at all beyond the Holy sites for obvious regions. If at all possible could you do a more in depth into the climate and lifestyle of the locals in the surrounding areas? Earth is a rather interesting planet given it’s military and economic sophistication far exceeded the rest of the galaxy from a structural point of view and seeing the region that gave rise to the Founder I think would be rather popular.” She requests \\\u003e”Uh sure, but could you Inmail me that? I’m not near a pen and paper at the moment.” You ask while grinning ear-to-ear \\\u003e”Sure, I’ll tell Mr. Yel-Elo that I’ve greenlighted Earth. He’s a miserable bastard but if the higher ups hear he turned down a trip to Earth they’ll turn him to sashimi.” She says. \\\u003e”Thanks for the reassurance, I’m certain he hates all of us Avins but he wouldn’t dare ruffle your feathers.” You say \\\u003e”Yeah Yel-Elo is a Phisk and a proud one at that, I’m not sure he does it actively but he is an asshole for the ages.” She snickers \\\u003e”You could say that again.” You say breathing a sigh of relief and more than giddy \\\u003eYou feel your thighs begin to tremble uncontrollably with excitement \\\u003eIs so rare to go somewhere that has the chance of being nice for work \\\u003eThat being said \\\u003eEarth is a hundred thousand year old warzone \\\u003eAnd that’s where you’re going \\\u003eWith Anon \\\u003ehehe \\\u003eHopefully one day you can take him to Rema after the war is over to see the forests in the North along the archipelagos and icy mangroves. \\\u003eOne day \\\u003eHopefully \\\u003eLook out your window for a moment, seeing the sunset wash over the field of pioneer flowers \\\u003eIt’s oddly melancholy \\\u003eIs the fact that you know they’re temporary? \\\u003eOr the fact they’re tools? \\\u003eFor life to be used like that \\\u003eNo different than a soldier or colonist \\\u003eUsed, replaced, and forgotten. \\\u003eThe kids who run the streets will tell their kids of the pale pinks, blues, whites, and violets, while their kids will know nothing but endless forests of saplings. \\\u003eEach subsequent generation would never believe this endless plain of beautiful flowers \\\u003eYou can feel yourself slowly get lost in thought \\\u003eIt’s nice \\\u003eSlowly the realization that this field of orange dirt and beautiful flowers will one day become a forest filled with animals and streams \\\u003eThat the canyon that runs will one day have vines running across it while the river beneath is filled with life \\\u003eA world alien to this one \\\u003eOne you’ll never see \\\u003eFunny how that is \\\u003eTwo people a thousand years apart will one day look over this same stretch of dirt wondering what it’ll look like or what it once did \\\u003eWill flowers like the ones in that field grow in their flowerbeds or be forgotten forever? \\\u003eTime will tell \\\u003eTime you won;t be around for \\\u003eSo why not just enjoy these flowers \\\u003eYou knock on the window just to make sure you’re still grounded in reality \\\u003eYour claw digs into your palm with a bit of a pinch \\\u003eWhat were you in here for? \\\u003eRight call corporate and see if you can go to Earth \\\u003eWith Anon \\\u003eA wave of shame washes of you and you put your hands over your warm beak \\\u003eYou’d let yourself get distracted \\\u003eYou quickly make your way back to the living to find \\\u003eNobody \\\u003eAnon isn’t anywhere to be seen \\\u003e”Anon?” you call \\\u003e”I’m out here Julia” he calls from what seems to be outside \\\u003e“Come out here and join me.” He beckons \\\u003eYou carefully make your way to the back door \\\u003eStanding out in field the two moons of Mars standing behind him like glowing white eggs \\\u003eBut you can only see the two glowing green eyes staring out like backlit emeralds \\\u003eIt’s like a spectre or sentinel \\\u003eOminous and almost menacing in their own right \\\u003eYou hesitate for a moment as you feel your feet tighten as your instincts scream about the danger of the man in the field of flowers \\\u003eYou can feel your heart want to go out to him, your heart pounds and it yearns \\\u003eYour heart wants you to throw your arms around his neck while your nature seeks to run and hide from Anon \\\u003eYou take a step outside the door feeling your nature overridden by the longing of your heart \\\u003eYou walk out to Anon who approaches in kind \\\u003eThe two moons catch some of the scars on his arms causing lines to glow across his arms \\\u003eIt in some way it's comforting \\\u003eOn the other hand it's saddening \\\u003eHe wraps his arms around you, his skin is cool at first before his warmth begins fill your feathers \\\u003e”Everything go fine” He whispers. \\\u003eYou nod \\\u003e”Glad to hear it” he whispers \\\u003e”Look up at the sky” he says as he pulls away from you and sits down in the flowers. \\\u003eYou stare up at the sky \\\u003eIt seems like any other \\\u003eA miasma of glowing white specks \\\u003e”Come sit next to me.” he beckons once more \\\u003eYou do as he asks \\\u003eHe points up to a line of three stars \\\u003e”That constellation is called Orion’s belt. I would always look for it in other systems but never could. It’s funny because around one of those stars is Daknae where I did basic, and even though I was there I still looked for it.” He says. \\\u003e”Who’s Orion?” You ask, curious as to who it is. \\\u003e”Orion? Orion was a great hunter but a terrible man. A Greek myth, befitting of their people during the time.” He says. \\\u003e”Are there any other constellations named after these Greek myths?” You ask. \\\u003e”Plenty.” He says. \\\u003eHe reaches up and points out the whole of Orion, a few of their long unpraised gods, and many of the other tragic characters of their mythos. \\\u003eIt would seem the Greeks were a people of hedonism with the king of their Gods being a rapist, adulterer, cheat, and vengeful. \\\u003eDespite this Anon seems to treat these “greeks” with a degree of respect with his tone \\\u003e”Tell me Anon what befell the Greeks?” You ask curious as to their downfall \\\u003e”The Greeks still exist to my knowledge, they live in Greece as they always have.” He says \\\u003e”How? I figured a people as hedonistic as they would surely be wiped out or replaced.” You protest \\\u003e”Oh they were conquered, reduced to a fraction of their influence, for nearly three thousand years they were under the thumb of other peoples, and I suppose are again. The Romans then the Turks, then the Italins, Germans, and Bulgars, and now the Empire too I suppose.” He explains \\\u003e”The old Rovan had a myth about a civilization of hooded serpents, how they came across another who resembled themselves, but this other civilization was rich, far richer than the hooded ones, how their cities smelled of perfume and spices, how every night they would eat red meat and fine wines.” You say remembering the story from when your father told it to you as \\\u003e”And what happened to these rich snakes?” Anon asks, turning to face you with his glowing eyes. \\\u003e”Well the hooded snakes entered the city hoping to trade their egg-laying frogs for a great many and the serpents eyed their women and their snakes eyed their men, seeing those who had stayed with their mates for the first time.” You continue \\\u003e”And so the snakes and serpents offered their fine wines, fabrics, scents, spices, and all they had for the hand of their sons and daughters, to which the hooded ones all declined deeming those within the city to be unworthy. The many merchants within the city sought to purchase their frogs for their feasts and the hooded ones left as quickly as they came.” you tell \\\u003e”So what happened next?” Anon asks listening intently \\\u003e”And that is where the story begins.” you say smiling as the story comes back to you in full. \\\u003e”Pray tell?” Anon smiles. \\\u003e”Within this city called Ik, and it’s neighbors Ariic, Amkur, and Qua, their were each four who had been cast out from the rest of their peoples for the debts of their parents, and at the river that divided Amkur and Ik the sons Ariic and the daughters of Qua met. The children being little more than soft-scales were taken in by the hooded snakes, who were herding their frogs in the swamps. Not long after the king of the hooded snakes died, and the tribe split in two between the oldest son, Uban, and the other Oner, and the oldest Uban gave to his brother half the tribe and with them two of both the Sons of Ariic and Daughters of Qua, not long after as Oner led his tribe towards the sea between Ariic and Qua he found their the Sons of Ik and Daughters of Amkur, and as his brother whom he loved had given him the children of Qua and Ariic he sent him half of the Ikkers and half the Amkurites to his brother Uban who accepted the addition to his tribe with joy.” You say the words flowing freely from your beak. \\\u003e”This almost sounds like a biblical story.” Anon remarks. \\\u003e”Well these hooded snakes had but one god.” You remark, beaming with pride from your 2nd most popular report. \\\u003e”Well please continue the story of Uban and Oner” Anon asks. \\\u003e”So many years passed with the hooded snakes raising the children of Ariic, Amkur, Qua, and Ik and the soft-scales had become grown. Since the giving of the Ikkers, Amkurites, Quan, and Ariics, Uban and Oner had started herding new animals, with Uban herding the large reed-eating lizards and Oner raising the floating vines and using it to harvest the fruit, crabs, and the leaves to eat along with their frog eggs. So hearing of each other’s success they decide to meet at the valley between Ariic and Ik to celebrate Uban’s first child, Erken, and so the two met and their tribes spoke and traded. For the children of the cities they saw their other halves for the first time in many years and two, a daughter of Qua, Slin, and a son of Ik, Hamar fell in love with another. Uban and Oner saw the pair and decided to wed them, and so Slin and Hamar were wed. In exchange for Slin’s hand Oner gave to Uban ten of his floating vines and Uban gave him four of his lizard cows and bull as a gift. Soon the two left and Oner led his tribe to Ariic to sell frog eggs.” You say before taking a pause. \\\u003e”Is that it?” Anon asks. \\\u003e”No I’m just taking a breath, my mouth is getting dry.” You say. \\\u003e”Anyway, when Oner went to Ariic the merchants were shocked to Slin and Hamar wed and together, and once more the people offered them vast material for the hand of one of their tribe, to which Oner, like his father, refused much to the dismay of the people of Ariic. And so Oner sold the eggs and found that Slin and Hamar were confused with the people of the city and so they asked Oner, who had raised the children as his own why the people of this city were so strange, to which Oner said that they had no god.” You explain. \\\u003e”This definitely is a story from the Snake Bible.” Anon remarks \\\u003e”Yeah well I was the reporter assigned to the eight week excavation, so I got to help digitize the book we found in the tombs.” You beam \\\u003e”Well you sound very proud of that, please go on, tell me or Uban, Oner, Slin, and Hamar, and the cities of Ik, Ariic, Qua, and Amkur.” Anon asks of you before laying back down \\\u003eEmboldened you continue “Well another year had passed and Oner and Uban met again at the valley, and this time a daughter Qua and a son of Amkur fell in love, the Quan snake Kual, and the Amkurite serpent Bekan, and this time Uban gave to Oner a dowry of lizards and Oner gifted him the floating plants. The two departed and Uban went to Amkur to slaughter and sell some of his herd to which the people of Amkur noticed that Bekan was one of their own, and demanded that Uban give Bekan back to them which Uban said no and so the King of Amkur, Bekan’s uncle, Vinak, challenged Uban to a duel over to who would have Bekan. Bekan being a son of Uban begged Uban to allow him to fight Vinak in his stead which Uban allowed. The next day Vinak and Bekan fought, and the younger Bekan, who had lived his whole life among the nomadic hooded serpents was far stronger and bested his uncle Vinak who had lived decadently within Amkur. Vinak then cast Bekan from the house of Amkur, and Uban and his tribe sold their goods and so Uban led his tribe from Amkur with Bekan being seen as an outsider no more. Every year after when Uban and Oner met wherever it was another pair of the city children wed among the two tribes, however, because of the work Uban and Oner had put into their tribes, believing that if they led their tribes well that they would have to raise a family with no fear, but the brothers were beginning to have their scales sag before they had found wives among their tribes. The brother’s each sired one son, to which Uban’s son, Ubik, was raised among the family of Bekan and Kual while Oner’s son, Oneb was raised by Hamar and Slin as their own, as Uban and Oner had done with them.” You finish. \\\u003e”Are Oneb and Ubik important later in their mythos?” Anon asks curiously. \\\u003e”Yes but the main point of the story is the importance of family, and how family can be more than blood, Bekan could have joined Amkur and lived lavishly, but stayed true to his family with Uban, or how Hamar and Slin could have usurped Oneb but chose to stay true to thier father Oner.” You explain. \\\u003e”Are there any other stories following Hamar, Slin, and Oneb or Bekan, Kual, and Ubik?” Anon asks. \\\u003e”Yes but if you want me to share them you have to share a legend with me.” you bargain. \\\u003e”Then let me tell you the story of Gilgamesh, King of Uruk, who feared death, and Enkidu, the wild man sent by the Gods of Sumer to stop him from oppressing the people of Uruk.” He begins staring at you with glowing green eyes. \\\u003eThe story is not dissimilar to the Greek one seemingly starting with Enkidu being able to speak to animals, however with Enkidu being civilized with a prostitute sent by Gilgamesh later Enkidu loses this ability. Enkidu then goes to challenge Gilgamesh and is defeated but the two become friends and the people of Uruk cease to be oppressed. \\\u003eAnon claims that the prostitute is a metaphor for the pleasures of the flesh and Enkidu represents innocence and the purity of nature that is needed to stand up to the oppressor. \\\u003eIt’s strange really, the meanings are less clear but are. \\\u003eA well of curiosity builds within you. \\\u003e”Anon are there any happy human myths, one with truly good characters triumphing over evil.” You ask. \\\u003e”None that I can think of, I’m sure there are some, or were, would probably be more truthful to say.” He says before pausing. \\\u003e”Actually I take that back, do you know the story of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table?” he asks. \\\u003e”Never heard of it.” You say \\\u003e”Wonderful. So It all begins a long time ago in a land far, far away called Avalon.” Be begins \\\u003e”There are many legends around King Arthur, but tonight I’ll tell you about their quest for the Holy Grail.” \\\u003eIt begins with Sir Galahad, a knight of Arthur, King of Camelot in the land of Avalon, having a vision of the Holy Grail, the cup Jesus Christ, son of God, had drank from during the Last Supper. They were told that it was in Britain and that Camelot was unworthy of the Grail and that it needed to be brought to the city of Sarras. Arthur assembles a host of his most valiant knights, the so called Grail Knights led by Galahad. Along the journey they experience many miracles and sail on the ship of Solomon to the island city of Sarras \\\u003eThe story is bittersweet in its end, with the Knights Galahad the pure of heart, Bors, and Perceval seeking the grail by command of Arthur. \\\u003eGalahad dies having joy in seeing the Grail ascend to heaven, Perceval, not absolute in his faith, becomes a hermit in the forests around Sarras, while Bors is the only one to return home. \\\u003eThe conviction and piety of the men is amicable, though Anon swears Lancelot was in there somewhere as he would later mortally wound Arthur at the battle of Camlann. \\\u003eIt would seem no human legend ends with a happily ever after outside the ones made for children \\\u003eA cool breeze blows across the fields bringing the smell of rust and sweet flowers over the two of you. \\\u003eYou turn to Anon laying in the grass, twiddling with his hands over his face. “What makes us who we are?” you ask. \\\u003eHe stops twiddling and seems to reflect on the question. \\\u003eHe rises and rests on his arms. \\\u003e”When I was younger I would say our choices, but now? I am divided between experiences and something I still can’t quite put my finger on.” He says. \\\u003e”And what about you Julia, what makes you, you?” He asks, staring down at you. \\\u003e”I don’t know” You say turning away from his gaze. \\\u003e”I suppose that’s the mystery, you can’t define what makes you, because only others can define what separates you from them.” He says \\\u003eHe pauses for a moment \\\u003e”I suppose the definition of you is less of what the components that make you up are but rather the divisions.” He says. \\\u003eYou reflect on that \\\u003e”I disagree, I think it's the connections between people that make you you. Because to someone who has never met or seen you there is no you. Does the fact we are separate species make us who we are to one another? I’d say it's what we share that defines the you. If there is no connection there is no you. I would not know you if we shared no bond.” You protest \\\u003e”A valid point, but too much connection and there becomes know you, there is us, where we are indiscernible, the same, no you, rather us.” He raises. \\\u003e”Such connection is impossible though, the gap created by the difference of bodies keeps us from a perfect seamless connection, the collective self one might say.” You remark keeping with the theme of rhetoric \\\u003e”I do not believe in seamless connections Julia, because if we were the same they’d be no beautiful imperfection that make up who we are, and it is those same little imperfections that score the edges of the self to let us bond.” Anon explains. \\\u003e”Then you admit that it is the bonds between people that which defines them!” You cheer \\\u003e”But those bonds would never exist without the differences” Anon winks, feeling absolute assertion. \\\u003e”I think we’re arguing in circles Anon.” You say the refreshment of a philosophical debate washing over you. \\\u003e”I wouldn’t say that but…” He pauses for a moment \\\u003e”Oh right how’d you call go?” He says changing gears. \\\u003e”What?” You say reeling from the shift \\\u003e”You left to make a call, I already bought the tickets but if you can’t go I can always refund it.” He says \\\u003eaww \\\u003eYou can’t help but feel happy about that \\\u003eIt’s probably one of the nicest thing anyone’s ever done for you \\\u003e”Well when’s the ship leaving?” You ask \\\u003e”Thursday, there’s one tomorrow but it was booked full.” He says with a shrug \\\u003e”You got a name for the ship?” You ask \\\u003e”Yeah, the Bactrian” He says \\\u003eSo it’s a Camel Shipyards production \\\u003eMakes sense, they’re the most prolific sub-light ferry manufacturer in the Orion spur \\\u003e”I take it you can come” He remarks \\\u003e”Spot on.” You reply the fuzziness of joy still tickling your heart \\\u003e”Great.” He says before something catches his eye \\\u003eHe mumbles something as you try to scan the stars for whatever he’s staring at \\\u003e”What?” You say trying to see what he said \\\u003e”Just talking to myself” He says \\\u003e”That’s the strangest thing about the stars to me. I rarely ever got to see them on planets no matter where I was.” He says \\\u003eYou scooch over next to him and can finally understand his mumbling \\\u003eHe’s talking about Jupiter \\\u003eHow he can see the orange and tan stripes and the red dot on its surface \\\u003eHe seems so enthralled by it all with this childlike wonder. \\\u003e”It’s kinda cute how you talk about the planets, it seems so oddly innocent.” You remark \\\u003eYou smile as you see Anon’s face fluster, the red of his cheeks lit up by his glowing eyes. \\\u003e”Thanks.” He says his eyes lot leaving yours \\\u003eHe leans over and puts his forehead on yours his warm breath washing over your face \\\u003eHe then places a hand under your beak raising your head to so that you’re staring directly into is glowing emerald eyes \\\u003eHe then puts peck on beak and gives you a wink \\\u003eThen he pulls back leaving you flustered under your feathers and your heart trying to pound out of your chest \\\u003eYou then grab his head and force the tip of your beak between between his lips and snake your tongue around his \\\u003eHis eyes go wide in surprise and you can’t help but smile devilishly \\\u003e”No words” you say in your native tongue, letting your throat speak free of your tongue \\\u003eYou pull tight around his tongue, just enough so he feels pressure \\\u003eThe taste \\\u003eIt’s a unique one on the mouth \\\u003eRaw, faintly salty, and savory \\\u003eLike a milder raw meat dish \\\u003eYou slowly pull back your tongue making sure Anon gets a good look at both of your silvia's glistening on your tongue in the light of the two moons of Mars \\\u003eAnd then give him a wink. \\\u003eHe stares at you wide eyed for a moment before seemingly gathering himself \\\u003eA devious smile worms across his face and you can feel that you’ve matched frequencies with hum \\\u003eYou smile wide and he pounces, pressing you into the flowers \\\u003eHe playfully bites your beak holding it shut with his teeth \\\u003eWith his hands he begins to take off your tank top, your heart beating like a drum as he stares at you with an primal lust \\\u003eIt’s something hard to fight \\\u003eThese types of desires \\\u003eAt least that’s what you tell yourself as you give yourself to them freely \\\u003eYou place your hands on Anon’s hips and inch towards his belt all while he aggressively kissing at your downy neck \\\u003eIt’s intense how the lips of a man on your neck can feel so hungry \\\u003eHe moves one of his hands past your raised tailfeathers taking a handful of your butt sending a shock of pleasure through your body \\\u003eHis need drives you crazy \\\u003eIt's all you could’ve wanted and more, all his focus on you \\\u003eYou’re the only girl in the world to him \\\u003eYour chest feels like a pulsar has replaced your heart \\\u003eThe pounding of your heart drowns out any other noise, like a thunderstorm. \\\u003eYou bite your tongue as you feel him begin caress your breasts \\\u003eThe feeling of pleasure is nothing compared to how intent Anon’s gaze is on you. \\\u003eThe attention, its absolute, the world could be burning and he looks like he wouldn’t notice. \\\u003eHe slips his hands underneath your shirt","series":{"name":"Sci-Fi Stories","next":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/1661996-bun-story-planned.json"}}