As Aitana patted Nimdorn on the head, the young elf boy looked displeased, but didn't stop the feathered woman. He did however, mutter and grumble, "Mom smelled like wine too."
"I wanna pop this inter-dimensional sales-woman-thing, but we're low on ammo, and we don't know what will happen if we poke the hornet's nest," Hoshiko used the old idiom. She glanced at Sakura. "With magic, that thing might be able to literally rot our brains," the princess admitted, frowning as she became visibly displeased with the idea. "You know what, how about we sign on too!" Hoshiko suddenly lit up with excitement. "I don't have a high opinion of the Aos'Si either Wen, but it looks like the service its boss gives might be real. We could see how this works out! I mean, how much Catonite could it want?" She gestured to Aitana. "And if we join them in paying it for its service, they'll probably think we're paying their gods homage or whatever too, right? That'll make convincing them to work with us easier!"
"You're...not very happy to be here, are you?" Hoshiko cautiously asked, carefully buying time for their VR discussion.
"Happy? Oh, I'm absolutely happy to be here," the eyeless creature replied, its voice dripping with sarcasm. "I'm most eager to be sent to the farthest reaches of the galaxy, where nothing important happens, and the locals have been blasted back into the age of steel," it bemoaned its fate, much to the horror of both Nimdorn and Nimue.
"It sounds like you've been rather stressed by this," Hoshiko sympathized. "Maybe a popsicle would help?" the princess opened Jun's cooler. A long, lanky, feathered arm reached out from under its wings to pick one up.
"Oh, finally, someone understands! It's absolutely awful! I'm completely miserable here!" Its eyeless head stretched out on a long neck to eye the popsicle more closely. "Hm. A frozen confection," it remarked, and took a bite. On the word 'frozen' however, something struck Hoshiko's mind.
"I'm sorry if we came off cold Reina," she apologized to the biologist. "It's just that...last time magic stuff happened, Wen got taken over by a space ghost, and a woman who thinks she's a Goddess threw a tantrum," she explained. "I'm weirded out, and I'm not even sure how to take any of this!" In meatspace, Hoshiko stepped over to Reina and turned off her thermal shunts to give the long woman a warm hug.
"I wanna pop this inter-dimensional sales-woman-thing, but we're low on ammo, and we don't know what will happen if we poke the hornet's nest," Hoshiko used the old idiom. She glanced at Sakura. "With magic, that thing might be able to literally rot our brains," the princess admitted, frowning as she became visibly displeased with the idea. "You know what, how about we sign on too!" Hoshiko suddenly lit up with excitement. "I don't have a high opinion of the Aos'Si either Wen, but it looks like the service its boss gives might be real. We could see how this works out! I mean, how much Catonite could it want?" She gestured to Aitana. "And if we join them in paying it for its service, they'll probably think we're paying their gods homage or whatever too, right? That'll make convincing them to work with us easier!"
"You're...not very happy to be here, are you?" Hoshiko cautiously asked, carefully buying time for their VR discussion.
"Happy? Oh, I'm absolutely happy to be here," the eyeless creature replied, its voice dripping with sarcasm. "I'm most eager to be sent to the farthest reaches of the galaxy, where nothing important happens, and the locals have been blasted back into the age of steel," it bemoaned its fate, much to the horror of both Nimdorn and Nimue.
"It sounds like you've been rather stressed by this," Hoshiko sympathized. "Maybe a popsicle would help?" the princess opened Jun's cooler. A long, lanky, feathered arm reached out from under its wings to pick one up.
"Oh, finally, someone understands! It's absolutely awful! I'm completely miserable here!" Its eyeless head stretched out on a long neck to eye the popsicle more closely. "Hm. A frozen confection," it remarked, and took a bite. On the word 'frozen' however, something struck Hoshiko's mind.
"I'm sorry if we came off cold Reina," she apologized to the biologist. "It's just that...last time magic stuff happened, Wen got taken over by a space ghost, and a woman who thinks she's a Goddess threw a tantrum," she explained. "I'm weirded out, and I'm not even sure how to take any of this!" In meatspace, Hoshiko stepped over to Reina and turned off her thermal shunts to give the long woman a warm hug.