Forums » Sci-Fi Roleplay » Travellers (Semi-Open RP between Tara and Catrin)

Catrin laughed. "That you are. Except for having an overprotective AI - I hope he won't eject me into space to get rid of my corrupting influence." She chuckled again, then she grew a little more serious. "You are being very generous with your help, Tara. Thank you. I would like to start relatively low, if I can manage. While your expert sounds like he can manage all that in the given timeframe when beginning after breakfast and pausing for a lunch break, I would like to start low; functions, after all, carry responsibilities. Well, most of them do. So I will just do my best not to put you into trouble for now, which, means studying, studying and more studying." She smirked and raised her empty glass. "And some more drinking before that." She stood up and got herself another mixed drink, a fruity one with bright-coloured layers.

(That sounds like an excellent idea! I'm very curious about the plot you have in mind, too )

Tara went up to get more wine, once she was sat back down she drank a little of it and giggled, "Oh my, I've drank far too much of this already." She grinned, "But in this day and age, with hang-over cures galore, cloned organs and nano-machine blood-scrubbers, there's no such thing as 'too much' of this excellent wine."

Tara sipped from her glass again and smiled languidly, "It'll be nice to see Aerin again. It's almost as much a home to me as my birth-world, New Mytheia." Tara smiled wickedly, "And I know Thyr's eager to get back too. I think all of that talk bout his old war-hero days has got him thinking of his old superior... I bet he's going to try and contact her when we get back."

Catrin laughed, raised her glass and took a sip. "Mmm. Or this excellent mixed drink." She drank some more.

She smiled. "I wonder how that would go. Do you think he'd tell us about it, if he would contact her, or would he be secretive?" she asked, smiling again.

Tara smirked, "Well, that depends on what happens when we get back, I mean he might decide to look her up as soon as we've established a connection to the 'Net, or he might wat until we reach the Aera System. If he contacts her via the ship, then there's no way he can hide it from us, since they'd have to exchange interface subroutines, especially since she's still in military service." She sipped from her drink and then 'shrugged', "Of course if he waits until we get to the Aera System then he'll be close enough to a major relay to meet her in cyberspace itself." She then giggled, "But even if he tries to be secretive about it, I'll wring the truth from him... I might have to bribe him with a new shield array or some kind of weapon, but it'll be worth it for the juicy details."

She grinned, "I wonder how she'll react to him finally getting a name, hm? Euthyra, One Who Served... certainly fits him... I hope she likes it. I'd actually like to meet her myself, if she's half the AI Thyr claims it'd be fun. I mean, she's supposed to be an old war-hero."

Catrin laughed. "Well then, I hope he is secretive about it, it's always fun to watch the two of you bicker, so a little haggling could be even more entertaining," she said with a wink, then hiccupped with a surprised expression. "Oh dear. In any case," she paused a bit in order to focus, "her reaction to him getting a name could be interesting, yes. Are you interested in old war heroes, to want to meet her?"

She eyed her drink with suspicion before looking back at Tara. It seemed to contain more alcohol than she had expected. Or was it one of the previous ones?

Tara smirked slightly, "Well, bickering can be quite fun sometimes, and I wonder how high his price will be for the gossip... mmm... as for my interest in old war heroes... well, it's always fascinating to meet someone so very old. I mean, she's old enough that if she were a Terelain she'd be a Revered Elder, and Thyr is too I suppose. The world was very different when they came online. Terelian was a mighty empire spanning the galaxy, and though they were created at the end of our last golden age they still saw our people at their peak, when we reached such glorious heights that some say we might have surpassed even the Ancients." Her eyes sparkled, "I might be just a Xenoanthropologist, but I've always had a deep love of history, especially ancient history. I suppose that's what happens when your mother is a Loremaster who knows all of the songs and old tales."

She drained the last of her wine and stood up to get another, but suddenly she swayed, "Woo! Oops!" She sat down heavily, "Spinning...woo... Either Thyr's doing some crazy manoeuvres out there, or I drank way too much wine." She giggled, "I... I should lie down... um... sh-should get Thyr to make me a hangover cure in the morning... I'm not looking forward to getting my skull pounded on by a drunken Dragon trying to play my head like a set of drums."

Catrin was finishing her drink throughout Tara's explanation, and she was smiling and nodding in all the appropriate places. When Tara tried to get up, she nodded. "Yes, me too, I believe. And making him get you a cure sounds like a good idea - as opposed to letting him let you suffer like the last time," she giggled.

Tara giggled, but then her face darkened "Oh yeah... I remember that 'traditional' hangover. Honestly, I would kill that man...um... computer...uh... whatever, if it wasn't for the fact that it would crash all my ship's computers and wipe my archives." She smirked, "But I... shall... have... REVENGE!" She punctuated her statement with a few wild, melodramatic gestures, culminating in her jumping to her feet, one hand held triumphant in the air.... and then she promptly fell over onto her tail in a heap, "Ooowww... too drunk... balance gone... cute butt in pain... owww..."

Once the inebriated academic managed to struggle to her feet, all of her preternatural Tereain grace and elegance lost to drink and humiliation, she started stumbling and weaving her way towards the door, "That...never happened." She said, mustering as much dignity as she could... which was surprisingly little for a thousand year old cat-lady.

Tara spent the rest of the night huddled in her bed recovering, and most of the next morning was spent suffering the after effects of her excess, much to Thyr's wry amusement and slight exasperation. The ship exited the Jump Lane, emerging from the Jumpgate of their target system, but they didn't stay long in the small, but slightly better-established and more prosperous human system. They passed almost three weeks going from Jumpgate to Jumpgate, starsystem to starsystem, travelling through the Earth Empire and then the territories of a few even smaller and even less significant species until they arrived in the Terelain Star Kingdom, the Third Kingdom of Terel.

They passed very quickly through the territory of the Terelains. Being the oldest extant civilisation in the Known Galaxy, their technology was amongst the most advanced anywhere, and as a result the range of their Jumpgates was far greater than the more primitive Human devices. In a few days they had travelled from the very edge of the Kingdom to its very heart, emerging from Jumpgate connecting the Auna System, home of the ancient colony of New Amra and Aera System, home of Aerin, Birthworld of the Isthenir, Gillorians and Terelains, the Jumpgates were a historical marvel, for they were the first Jumpgate pair constructed by the Terelains, the oldest functioning non-Atlantean Jumpgates in the Known Galaxy.

Arriving in the Aera System, near the heavily terraformed planet of Kiralis, eighth planet out from the star of Aera, they were hailed by the Gateway Station that controlled all traffic through the Jumpgate. A Terelain with smoky grey fur and large yellow eyes appeared on the holographic display of the cockpit, he bowed his head in greeting, "Ilendi-Scholar, it has been some time since you lasted visited fair Aera, I trust you are well?"

Tara smiled warmly, "Sarin-Knight, it is good to see you too... and yes, it has been thirteen years since I was last here. I've been studying a pre-space-flight civilisation in the Near Frontier."

"Such a long time to be amongst Flicker-Lives, without the luxuries and comforts of a true home... truly your passion for knowledge humbles me, Honoured Scholar. In any case, be welcomed home from your journey, you are here to log your findings with the Institute and recuperate at your home?"

She nodded, "Yes, and I carry no goods, legal or otherwise, though I do have an additional passenger aboard."

"It has been noted." He said pleasantly, "I was just about to ask."

"A young woman from the outer colonies. I picked her up after her ship's life support malfunctioned. I'm taking her to some relatives on Aerin." Tara said smoothly.

"I see, most fortunate for her, and most generous of you. Then you are both welcomed to Aera, and may enter orbit of any of her worlds. Your AI has completed registration with our systems, you are free to proceed."

"Thank you, Sarin-Knight. Oh, and he has gained a name; Euthyra, or Thyr for short." Tara said.

"I see, forgive me, I shall update our records. Good bye, Ilendi-Scholar."

Tara flashed him another smile, "Quite all right, good bye, Sarin-Knight."

Once the displayed winked off she flopped back in her chair, letting out a breath, "Well... good. That was...um... nerve-racking."

"They wouldn't have shot you out of the sky just for having one more person on board than they thought you would." Thyr said dryly, his hologram appearing in a nearby chair.

"Yes, yes, I know... but the Knight of Aera take their duty very seriously. Some of them are known to be a bit.... trigger-happy."

Thyr shook his head, chuckling, "Well, we're still in one piece, so I suppose we lucked out. Shall I set a course straight for Aerin, or do you want to show Catrin the sights of the 'Crown of the Kingdom'?"

She 'shrugged', "I'll ask her and see what she wants to do."

Catrin nodded solemnly. "Of course. Never happened," she said completely seriously, not batting an eyelid. She managed to make her way to the bathroom and to bed shortly after Tara left, without any accidents, and slept soundly, waking up quite refreshed.

She spent the next three weeks mainly studying, and her knowledge of what was going on improved quite rapidly. When Tara was communicating with the Gateway Station, she was in her room, reading up on the finer details of Terelain etiquette. Once she was called to the cockpit, she abandoned the open file and went quickly, smiling at Tara when she entered. "As we don't seem to be under attack, I take it it went well?"

Tara turned around and waved cheerily, "Yep! I knew they'd let us through. To be fair, we wouldn't know if we were under attack, I mean the Knights would have blasted us so fast we'd have been vapour before anyone but Thyr realised it."

"Yes... and I'd have to watch them kill me, whilst being helpless to do anything about it. No weapons, no shields, and no ability to outmanoeuvre anything in the fleet..." Thyr said.

"Aw don't be like that. We're too cuddly to be shot at." Tara said.

Thyr shook his head, sighing, "I've never been called cuddly."

"Really? Well that hologram of yours is quite-" She cut herself off quickly and hurriedly said, "Do you want to see Harkesh before we go to Aerin? See the would you were created on?"

"I have vivid memories of the Great Shipyards of Harkesh, Tara, however they are one of the wonders of the galaxy, or at least I think so.. hm, but you want to go to Aerin don't you? For the festival?" The AI replied, wisely not mentioning Tara's slip.

"Oh, the festival won't start properly for a day or so yet." She said airily.

Catrin burst into a fit of laughter when Tara called them 'cuddly'. "Yes, I suppose that is a viable defense strategy. Being cuddly..." She continued giggling. "Unless it's a hug attack, then you'd be defenseless."

After she calmed down a bit, she turned to Thyr. "Wouldn't you like to see what has changed? It probably won't be the same... or will it?"

Thyr's tail flicked in the 'shrugging' gesture, "It's only been thirteen years since we left the Kingdom, They might have made a few modifications, but nothing overly dramatic.... Change comes slowly and gradually within Terelian. They're like glaciers; slow, unwieldy but implacable." He smirked, "It is something of a comfort; I can go out amongst the younger races, were everything is change and flux and chaos, and then return here to find order, stability and the familiar. This gets mistaken as stagnation of course, but that's just because the other races have a different perception of time."

Tara nodded, "Yes... hmm... well, we can always visit Harkesh later. Let's head home, Thyr. Plot a course for Aerin."

"Done. We'll arrive in two hours. I'll have the holographic systems ready when we come close to the Three Sisters, so you can perform the Rrital"

Tara smiled warmly, "Thank you." She looked over at Catrin, "The Rrital is the ritual respectful greeting all Terelains give to the homeworld and the Three Sisters once they come in sight, especially the Three Sisters. After all, they are the most important deities in our religion... well, except Tia'Ren and Terenen I suppose."

Catrin nodded. "I see. What does the Rrital involve?" She wasn't sure if she wanted to participate, but knowing what it looks like was always useful.

Then she gave Tara a curious look. "What will you do after arriving? Do you have any plans?"

Tara tapped a few symbols on the holographic interface in front of her, then turned her chair all the way around so she was facing Catrin, "Well, the Rrital involves bowing, then ritual submission to the Three Sisters, burning incense and the recital of a prayer or hymn. The ritual itself is a modified form o an ancient rite performed during the zenith of the Triple Full Moon, to ensure a safe journey for those who have passed on. Whilst we still perform the original rite, the Rrital's purpose is to greet the Three Sisters and acknowledge the primacy of the homeworld as the place of the birth of Terel and all our kind."

She then paused and considered Catrin's next question, "When I get home I'm going to call the Dean of the College of Life so that he knows I'm back. The College of Life is the section of the Royal Institute of Knowledge that deals with things like psychology, sociology, politics, biology and anthropology, after he's been informed of my return I'll submit the findings of my research to a xenoanthropological journal. After all of my work stuff is done I'll go to my house in Oberoth and see how it is doing, fix anything that needs fixing and then I'm going to go and enjoy the Festival of a Thousand Years."

"I shall upload some of my subroutines to he SenNet, participate in the Festival, call up on some old friends.." Thyr said.

"Like Aelya?" Tara asked slyly.

"Perhaps, if she's still active on the SenNet, but I'm not hunting her down specifically." Thyr said... was that defensiveness in his voice?

"Suuure you aren't... and I'm a Gillorian." Tara giggled, "Thyr and Aelya sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-"

"Tara... you are one thousand years old, not twenty. You are acting like a kitten!" Thyr said.

"So you're telling me you don't want to see more of her, hm? That you don't want to show off your shiny new name and hologram? That you don't want to compare byte-"

"Tara!!" Thyr cried out in mortification, throwing his arms in the air.

Tara started laughing so hard he fell out of her chair, "Hhaha-owwwhahahah!!!" She was holding her sides, tears were gathering in her eyes, "The...hahah...look...on...heheh...face!"

Catrin nodded. 'Ritual submission,' huh? She would sit this one out. Nevertheless, she smiled at Tara. "Thank you for explaining."

Her ears perked up attentively when Tara told her her schedule. "So you're going to be busy. Both of you. Any sugestions on what I should be doing?"

She chuckled a bit at Tara's shenanigans, and mid-way through her fit of laughter, she remarked, "For a Gillorean, you're wonderfully masked, Tara."

Tara giggled, "Oh yes, my disguise is utterly foolproof!" She cackled then, but her fake-evil-laughter devolved into another fit of giggles, which were more cute than intimidating.

Thyr smiled slightly and shook his head, "Of course, no one suspects a thing." He said dryly, "As for what you can do, Catrin... well, there is a lot to see. We'll be in Oberoth for the festival, and that city's been continuously inhabited for thirty three thousand years, maybe even that again when you consider the First Kingdom. You can hardly move in that city without bumping into something ancient, interesting, weird or just plain awe-inspiring." He chuckled, "Even the sewer system is a marvel."

"Speaking of marvels... what do you think I should wear for the Festival?" Tara asked.

"You're a marvel?" Thyr asked, his tail and one hand twisting into a 'raised eyebrow' kind of gesture.

"What? Don't think a ravishing beauty such as myself is marvellous?" Tara asked.

"Yes, Tara, you're absolutely... marvellous." Thyr replied dryly.

"Hmph! Enough sarcasm! Will you help me decide or not?" She asked primly.

"Of course, Tara." Thyr said with a nod, "You have to look your best. After all it'll be another thousand years until this festival comes around again."

"Good." Tara said, "I'll put on some outfits, and you can give me your opinion. No peeking whilst I'm changing." She said, in a mock-serious tone.

"You wound me, Tara." Thyr said.

She grinned, "You might be an AI, Thyr, but you're still a male."

Catrin nodded. "I can't see a single scale under all that fur," she said, completely deadpan.

She smiled. "Even the sewer system? Well, that must be something. Is it a smelly marvel?"

Catrin perked up when Tara mentioned outfits for the festival. "Oh! Will you two help me decide after you're done? And don't mislead me so that I don't overshadow Tara's beauty." She gave them both mock frown, then she giggled. "She's so marvellous it won't be possible."

Tara laughed loudly, "Hah! You wouldn't anyway! Gillorians don't have scales! You're mixing them up with Isthenir, the reptilians."

Thyr chuckled, "Indeed, the Gillorians were canid analogues, or at least descended from such... as for the sewer system... it's a remnant of the Old City... tat's right, Oberoth's sewers pre-date every civilisation currently extant, even our own. They also have mana energy conduits carved into their walls, so they double as the city's energy grid."

Tara then rubbed her hands together gleefully, "We can dress up! Put on a show for Thyr here!"

"A...fashion show? Really?" Thyr asked her.

"Don't complain, you're not likely to get an opportunity like this again." She said teasingly.

Thyr smiled and shook his head, "I suppose I'll have to resign myself to such torture... I ca't have you two going out there looking like fashion ejects from thirteen years ago. What would the other AIs think if I let you out there in such a state?"

Catrin smiled and folded her arms. "Hm. I really should look at some pictures of them - what if I see one and don't recognise him, or her!"

She chuckled. "Well then, I think the sewer system will be one of the first places I will visit. How... unusual."

Catrin's tail waved in the equivalent of a raised eyebrow. "A show for Thyr, eh? He seems overjoyed at the prospect. Well then, we can't deprive him of the pleasure." Turning to Thyr, she smirked. "Have you ever been a fashion consultant before? Will my choices of outfit be in good, eh... paws?" She wasn't laughing, but her eyes were shining with glee. "What does this year's fashion dictate for a young adult like me?"

Tara giggled, "Well, you could look up pictures of Gillorians in the historical archives if you'd like, but it's highly unlikely that you'll meet any... they've been extinct for eleven thousand years... isn't that right, Thyr?" She smirked at the AI.

He nodded,"Yes, we were quite... thorough. In any event, there aren't any Gillorians left so there's no way you'll be bumping into any on the street. As for fashion... well, I've never paid much attention to it... Tara?"

"Well, silver was in vogue the last time I bothered checking, but it's been thirteen years, so it might have changed. I'll have to look up a few fashion holos to see what the present style is... I just hope they're not going for a retro theme. I hated the fashion back in the 10,100s." She made a face, "Whoever thought crystal spires and togas were a good fashion statement needed to get their eyes checked. I remember when the streets of Oberoth were so shiny you had to wear sunglasses!"

Thyr laughed, "If you just wear your best jewellery you won't go far wrong. If there's one thing that's always in fashion amongst the well-to-do of Aerin it's shiny metals and gems."

Tara smirked, "Well... we do like shiny."