The "Tail Thrasher" pulls up close to the mining station owned by Copernicus's mates. The Eidolon is in tow, and the odd visitor is riding along on the Chirr'T'Thar ship with Leda, Sirius and Tulee. A short distance from the station, a mile diameter silver circle hovers in space.
Sirius purrrs, "We've permission to dock captain."
Zephyr peers out at the circle, ears swiveling curiously. "Is that a..ship?"
Leda gets a mischievous grin on her face for a moment, then wipes it off. "Good." She kicks the thrusters in, accelerating towards the station at exactly the maximum approved acceleration.
The giant circle starts to shimmer, taking on a blue glow as Sirius shakes his head, "Nope. That's our regulators attempt at a dimensional gate. Whoops, Leda, incoming alert from the gate, be careful as you head in to dock."
Zephyr, noticing Leda's grin, can't help swishing his tail a little, a smile on his own muzzle as he stands beside the console. o O {Looks like she's maybe not one for flying by the regs either...Dockmasters hated me...)
Leda hits the retros, slowing the ship back down gradually. "They say why?"
Zephyr's ears flick again as he turns to Sirius. "Gate? Long distance, or doesn't this ship have a trans-light drive?"
Sirius hmmmms at Leda, "Apparently, it has to do with how the gate functions. You DO remember our one trip through it? Yes, very long distance. Supposedly even dimensional transport. We know we can at least get our old galaxy."
At this point, the gate flares up, the portal opens and...spits out two small ships that go tumbling for the few seconds it takes their pilots to regain control.
Leda hmmphs, and drifts towards the dock, hitting the retros on full at the next-to-last minute instead of exactly the last.
Zephyr stares at the large circle. "That's something I'm pretty..ah..familiar with. Unwillingly." He blinks, standing up straighter to watch the two ships.
Zephyr peers over Leda's shoulder (and back) at the console. "How's the regulations here concerning..." He grins..."Not exactly 'by the book' landings?"
Sirius mutters something about not needing it if they hadn't been moved to another galaxy and then purrs, "Well, all cleared to dock."
Leda grins as she turns around. "Oh, they're a little looser than in some places, but you still don't want to damage the equipment."
Zephyr, satisfied, grins back and crosses his arms. "Good. Damaging the equipment is not a problem." His eyes sparkle. "I've just been known to scare the fur off a few docking controllers, is all."
Sirius chuckles, "True. Though the ladies who own and run the station often do more damage than anyone else. Oh, he thinks he can scare Ceres? ;)"
Tulee even smirks at that comment.
Sirius purrs, "We have permission to dock your ship also Zephyr. Is your docking mechanism still powered?"
Leda chuckles. "Trust me, the person running this dock doesn't scare easy. She's the sort who'd come out into the bay and literally throw your ship out if it got into trouble."
Zephyr looks around puzzledly, then looks at Sirius. "Ah...The docking port should still be on auto. Don't know about station keeping thrusters, though, they're pretty iced up. Have you got tractors?"
Zephyr blinks at Leda. "You're..kidding, right?" His tail swishes once. "One of your race?"
Sirius just chuckles.
Leda just smiles innocently. "Yes... we have tractors."
A black feline face appears in one of the port windows and waves. Only problem, that window is facing AWAY from the station.
Sirius purrs, "Captain, I'll tell them to dock Zephyr's ship using the tractor fields. And then we can get out of here too. ;)"
Leda says, "Sure thing."
Leda waves back to the face at the window.
Sirius purrs, "Oh, there's one of the ladies now. Libra. A bit more stable than Ceres, but that goes without saying. ;)"
Zephyr smiles warmly and nods. "Thank you. Oh..and yes, so you don't have to get all uncomfortable asking, you seem like such nice sorts..Yes, I have funds to pay for all this." He chuckles. "You're not taking in a spacer bum, don't worry."
Leda grins. "Good. We built our rep as traders for the most part, even if said rep isn't very current in this part of space."
Zephyr glances around at the bridge crew again, obviously curious about the race...then at the face at the port. He does a double-take, then just stares..."You have field-effect suits? Nice..."
Sirius blinks, "Field effect suits?"
Zephyr nodnods. "Whatever's generating her atmosphere containment field." He chuckles. "She's breathing something, and there's not much out there...Except I don't see any corona effect. What sort of field is it?"
Leda smiles. "Hang on."
Leda gives the ship a little shove with the maneuvering thrusters, then bounces it back. The resulting 'Crack the whip' shakes everyone on the bridge, but more importantly, gets Zephyr's ship to coast towards the next dock.
Libra waves and then spreads her wings as the ship bounces against the dock. She gives Leda a pretend mean look then moves off in space. All that she has on is some jewelry, and a tool belt.
Sirius chuckles, "You are such a show off Leda."
Tractor fields snag the Eidolon and guide it to the nearest docking port.
Zephyr keeps watching the feline outside. He moves closer to the port, fascinated. "I've seen fieldsuits, but they're usually emergency-only...They don't last long, and there's no microparticle protection. Um..Where's her generat...er..." He stops, just...staring. He hasn't even noticed the ship's movement, just subconsciously curled his tail to balance. "She's...ah..How..."
As Zephyr follows Libra's movement to the next window, he can see a variety of similarly clad Chirr'T'Thar working on the outside hull of one of the inner rings of the station.
Leda grins, and gives another short burst with the thrusters to bring her back in line with her dock, bringing it to a dead stop literally within arm's reach of the dock.
Zephyr turns...slowly away from the port, ears lowering. "You.." He swallows. "Can survive in vacuum? Your race? That's...mm..." He forces a nervous grin. "Impressive?"
Sirius shrugs, "For a couple days. Longer if we're not too active. Then we go into a coma and need to be rescued pretty fast. Course, it takes a lot of food to do that. ;)"
Tulee grins from her station, "Captain, will we have some leave time?"
Leda turns back to Tulee. "I don't see why not, for a little while. We may get called back out to finish up some of the defense system grid, but if we don't hear anything in the next two hours, consider yourself on leave for a bit."
Zephyr turns his head quickly as Leda finishes docking. He can't help smiling at her ability, though distracted. "Nice. Zero drift." He goes wide-eyed for a second. "I can't live in vacuum, you know! Watch the hatch..."
Zephyr shakes his head in wonder. Too much after just waking up. "I have a _lot_ of questions for you people." He chuckles. "I hope you won't mind a curious fox around?"
Leda says, "Oh, don't worry. We can work in vacuum, sure, but it's not comfortable, especially not to keep switching back and forth too often. We don't just keep it pressurized in here for your benefit, after all."
Tulee nods, "Membranes seal over our eyes. And mouth, nose and other openings seal closed, and won't open until exposed to atmosphere for at least an hour. Makes some things rather inconvenient. ;)"
Zephyr breathes a sigh of relief. "Good. I mean...I sort of figured that from the fact that you're talking, but I didn't want to have to deal with walking through the back door into hard vacuum."
Tulee giggles, "You're too cute to do that to."
Leda chuckles. "Just waiting for them to finish sealing the hatch."
A *thunk* that is more felt than heard goes through the ship, and Sirius purrs, "Hatch secure and sealed. Mooring latches in place Captain.
Zephyr says, "So you have built-in spacesuits? That's..." He pauses and grins embarrassedly at Tulee, ears turning pink inside again. "I..cute, um..I mean incredible! Did that evolve naturally?" "
Leda goes "Yeeho! About bloody time. Let's get moving, folks."
Sirius nods, "Any orders pertaining to the ship before I leave Captain?"
Leda says, "Just keep things in readiness in case somebody misses a spot in the defense grid and we have to go patch things up."
Zephyr's ears stay pink as he turns, tail lashing slowly back and forth. Nervous habit? He grabs the duffle he'd taken with him off his ship, adjusts his pouchbelt, and prepares to follow the 'taurs.
Sirius nods, "I'll have them top off our fuel levels. I'll catch up with you shortly Captain."
Leda grins, and opens the hatch, almost prancing out.
Zephyr pads out a bit more cautiously, testing new scents and sounds, fascinated.
Tulee waits behind Zephyr, apparently being polite. His question about evolution having been forgotten, or ignored.
Once in the corridor, a small black creature 'drops' from the ceiling and attaches itself to Leda's back.
Leda acks! And reaches around to grab at her back.
Zephyr's ears flick back as he crouches a bit, eyeing the new...arrival. He glances nervously at the ceiling.
Charon's remote squeeps and dodges the groping hand by climbing atop the felitaur's head instead.
Leda loudly clears her throat. "You!"
Tulee has already disappeared. Apparently she had plans to meet someone.
Zephyr backs up a few paces. "Who? What _is_ that?"
Charon looks upside-downishly into Leda's face. "Yup. Is that the alien with the rude spaceship?"
Leda says, "Yes, it is."
Zephyr blinks. "Rude? Eidolon's not rude, she's just a little short with strangers sometimes, so...Hey! When were you talking to my ship? He pads closer to peer at the thing, making sure it's not about to spring up onto his face or something. He's heard stories in dark spaceport lounges.
Leda tries lifting Charon up off her head. "This... is a remote of the much larger 'living ship' outside."
The half-meter long dragon looks back at Zephyr curiously. "I found it first! It beeped at me and told me to stay away."
Zephyr pauses. "Living ship? And everyone else can live in vacuum." He rubs his eyes and mutters. "Why do I suddenly feel obsolete..."
A rapid succession of "thunking" sounds gets closer and closer, till suddenly a large fuzzy white with block spots object bounds into Zephyr and bowls him over and purrs, "Welcome to our station! OOOOH. He IS cute!"
Leda snorts. "Don't..." she starts to say, but gets interrupted.
Ceres, a snowleopard patterned felitauress, picks Zephyr up in her arms and hugs him. "So how long are you going to stay?"
Zephyr YELPS loudly in surprise, getting tumbled over scrabbling, tail flying in a fluffy arc. He wriggles, takes in some air, and then stares wide-eyed at his...capturer. His muzzle opens, then closes again. "Um...hi? Stay? I don't know..." He looks halfway between struggling for control and panic for a second, then forces himself to relax and try to hug back. o O {Custom here? Yeep!}
Ceres murrrrs at the return hug and then headrubs before letting him down, "Well, I hope it's for a while. I only have time to welcome you, then I gotta get back to work. I have to help position another asteroid. Good to see you again Leda. Oh, my names Ceres, who are you?"
Charon watches Zephyr's reactions closely, and decides he's not a remote-controlled lifeform of the Eidolon's computer.
Leda chuckles. "Now, now, you know we're supposed to give them a little time to get over the culture shock before pouncing them too badly."
Ceres just pouts at Leda.
Zephyr's ears splay at the headrub, but his eyes are still a little wild, his tail lashing back and forth nervously. He grins just as nervously, then chuckles and softly shakes his head. "Um..Nice to meet you? And thank you." He starts to pick up his scattered belongings and brushes at his fur, grinning, but entirely confused...
Charon pipes up, "Yeah, whatcher name? Where're you from? What's your favorite flavor of ice-cream?"
Zephyr shakes his head again, realizing she'd asked a question. It takes him a minute or so to think straight. "Oh. My name's Zephyr, Zephyr Blackpaw. Just 'Zeph' is fine..."
Ceres brightens, "Well Zeph, I hope to see you soon. Maybe you can sleep with my mating group this evening. I've gotta go now." and suddenly leaps away, bouncing back and forth along the hallway, even off the side walls. That explains the "thunking" sound, and the numerous little dents all over the place.
Leda chuckles.
Zephyr watches Ceres bounce away, hopelessly confused but fascinated anyway. It's _extremely_ fortunate that his race has strong innate adaptability. For his sanity's sake. He glances at the little black thing again. "From lots of places, and I've never gotten the hang of ice cream. My people didn't farm, so I didn't grow up eating frozen protein fluids from domestic animals. Besides, it gets all over my muzzle." He grins again, looking at Leda. "How's that?"
Leda helps Zephyr back up. "Sound good. You'd better get used to getting bowled over. You're the first friendly space visitor we've had in a while, and as you've noticed, we're an exuberant lot."
Charon bobs his head, "Yeah! They're all crazy!"
Leda baps Charon's nose. "As if you're one to talk."
Zephyr chuckles softly, making sure he's got everything. "I'll keep my ears perked. Not a problem if I know it's coming." He grins at the little...thing. "This thing thinks that? So I'm _not_ losing it. Good." He stops for a second. "Wait...first friendly ...you've had unfriendly?"
Leda nods. "A bit. 'Swhy we were out setting up a defense grid, just in case we got a repeat visit."
The minidragon rubs his nose.
"Trouble magnets," the remote comments.
Leda says, "And you aren't?"
Leda grins. "Anyhow, Zephyr, what say we go on a quick tour of the station, so you'll at least know where to go if something happens."
Charon puffs out his chest and claims, "Nope!"
Zephyr waves back in the direction of the airlock. "Well...once my ship's fixed up, it..ah.." His ears wilt a little. "It looks like I've got nowhere in particular to go. And I do owe you, I could have drifted till the end of the universe, pretty much."
Zephyr giggles at the little dragon. "He's fun to have around, rr?"
Leda says, "At times... at other times he can be a royal pain. And you think _we're_ crazy..." She grins.
Charon hmphs, "I'm only a kid. You're grown ups, and don't have any excuses."
Leda lifts her nose, and hmmphs right back.
Zephyr grins back, eyes sparkling, and curls his tail. "Crazy? Nah...Crazy is what they call good pilots who aren't afraid to go for a decently showy landing, things like that. Crazy's good." He smiles more. "A tour sounds good...And if I can help in any way, I'd be glad to...though nothing involving vacuum. It's bad for my health."
Charon asks, "How often do you need to sleep?"
Zephyr blinks. "Sleep? Good, at least some here sleep yet." He chuckles. "About four to eight hours out of every 24, depending on what I've done."
"What do you eat?" the remote asks.
Leda says, "Sounds good. Anyhow, we can start on the tour, around this way... there are multiple levels with varying gravities."
Zephyr looks at Leda. "Does this just keep asking questions?" He looks back at it again. "Meat, fresh if possible, freshly-killed even better, fruits, berries, fish...er...water creatures, and other plant matter, sometimes."
Zephyr follows Leda, nodding and looking around at everything with wide eyes and ears, nose and whiskers quivering, fascinated.
Leda nods. "He keeps asking questions, yes."
Charon asks, "Can you tell the Chirr'T'Thar apart by their scents? What are your whiskers for? Can you see microwaves?"
Leda goes on a quick tour of the station, stopping at all the 'hot spots', but also going through all the more important things, like the communicator panels, the location of the medical facilities, and the control area to stay out of.
Leda also takes Zephyr down into the rec facilities area, and the large open arboretum...
Zephyr starts to answer one question, then pauses. "Charon? If I have the ship send your...big self a data-dump of information about my species, can you assimilate that?" He carefully takes note of everything of importance on the station, the escape routes, emergency equipment...and also pays careful attention to area's he's to stay out of.
"What's the fun in that?" Charon replies. "How did you incorporate collapsed matter into a variable-phase metallic matrix?"
Leda says, "A what?"
Zephyr rolls his eyes and looks pleadingly to Leda for help. "I didn't, I didn't build her, I just fly it. He's talking about Eidolon's armor , Leda. It's...what he said. Very dense, and not always there, basically. I have no idea how they made it, but it does a pretty good job of keeping most anything hard, hot, or exploding _outside_ without damage.
"Collapsed matter doesn't react with normal matter because the gluons are replaced by strange quarks," the little dragon says, as if it's obvious. "But it's sticking to the hull through some sort of field effect. Very unusual."
Leda says, "If you've got antimatter missiles in your armament, I can understand the need for that sort of armor..."
Zephyr swivels his ears confusedly at the little dragon. "Um...yes, it is. If you say so. Why not try to figure it out?" He glances back to Leda again, giving her a 'help me!' look. "Welll...those missiles are sort of a last resort. I don't want to even remember how much they cost, even with questionable origin, the price hurt." He thinks..."You don't have weapons like that?"
"Not on their bodies, no," Charon says.
Zephyr looks around..."This station is very, very nice for a private station. If the crew's only what I've seen, and you're just starting to run into raiders...that'll get worse. They'll tell their buddies. I've seen it happen, all over. So if I can help you with designs you might be able to replicate... or anything like that?" He tilts his head.
Leda says, "Well, we could probably make them if we were that desperate, but we've got other things to be putting production capabilities into right now."
Zephyr keeps walking beside Leda, inspecting everything they pass. "Such as? If you don't mind me asking, I mean." He grins.
Leda says, "Well, getting that ring out there actually stable and running. That's why we moved into this system, it wouldn't work out by ours. Space was too stable."
Zephyr when walking alongside Leda, can't help but notice that her face and torso are standard felinoid, and rather attractive. He glances subtly every now and then, but doesn't do more...probably wondering about diplomacy, taboos, everything he's run muzzle-first into at times during unresearched first contacts.
Leda shows Zephyr around the arboretum for a little while. "We keep this space around to have something to relax in, mostly."
Charon glances over to the hastily patched bulkhead Andromeda nearly destroyed.
Zephyr looks up, then at the trees...and sniffs happily at the familiar scents of leaves. "Important. And something I understand, a lot. I used to stop off to solitary-hunt on forested worlds a lot on trade runs. Had to, or I'd go nuts."
Leda grins. "You hunt, too?"
Zephyr grins, showing his sharp teeth, then raises a black paw with its claws extended. "Yes, I do. Best dinner is one I've just pounced."
The arboretum is a large section of the outer ring of the mining station. From one side the hole in the smaller arboretum can be seen through the transparent walls and ceiling. Numerous alcoves made of vegetation allow privacy, and a few do have some Chirr'T'Thar making use of them. Also, small lizards and signs of small mammals, mostly rodents, can be seen, heard and smelled everywhere.
Leda chuckles. "Good. Should get along just fine."
Charon has little to add or ask at this point. Since he doesn't eat, he's not horribly interested in how others go about it.
Zephyr's eyes sparkle playfully again. "What do you usually hunt?" He sniffs. "There's some kind of rodent in here...good to eat, or no?"
Leda grins. "Part of why we keep them here."
Zephyr strains to listen to other sounds he hears, focusing his ears on echos from other places in the open area. He flicks his ears towards one pocket of vegetation where he hears the movements of what sounds and smells like other 'taurs...then pauses. His ears flick towards another, then turn a bit pink inside..."Good!" He grins embarrassedly. "Erf. Heard...ah...some of your species engaged in a bit of...al fresco romance, sorry about that." His ears stay a bit red.
Leda grins. "Yes, that's another common amusement of this place."
Zephyr keeps padding along, ears now politely angled to avoid the privacy areas. "Oh." He chuckles and grins. "Amusement..."
From behind, someone calls out, "Zephyr? Zephyr Blackpaw?! That is you!"
Leda chuckles, then turns at the voice.
Zephyr freezes and turns around. "Who?"
Another blurr, with the same white fur and black spots as Ceres, bowls Zephyr over. This blurr resolves into what appears to be a winged snowleopard, and not a taur.
Charon looks as well.
Leda acks, taking a few steps back.
Copernicus purrs, "So you are ok! I wondered what happened to you and Wyn."
Copernicus's form blurrs, and suddenly a normal looking Chirr'T'Thar male is standing over Zephyr. He reaches down to help the fox back to his feet.
Zephyr's turn wasn't quick enough...with another YELP!, he's tumbled, his possessions and tail again flying. He gasps to take in air, then peers confusedly up at the newcomer as he stumbles to stand. "Er...who?"
Copernicus blinks, "Who? I was the one who helped pull you from your craft before it exploded. You know, Copernicus Skygazer?"
Leda shivers. "Copernicus, please don't do that in front of people."
Copernicus frowns at Leda, "Sorry it bothers you Captain. It's not like it's entirely under my control."
Zephyr tilts his head, looking even more confused than before. "I'm sorry, I...um..think you've got me mistaken for someone else? How'd you know my name?" He blinks. "Pulled...Exploded? When? My ship's outside...Copernicus? And I hope it's not about to explode."
Copernicus sniffs, "Your scent...IS slightly different. Well, a fox who looked just like you crashed on a planet I was staying at, and his name was Zephyr Blackpaw. You're not him?"
Copernicus is looking rather hopeful.
Zephyr keeps staring. "No, I'm Zephyr Blackpaw all right. But I haven't crashed on any planets. And as far as I know, I'm the only Zephyr Blackpaw. Well...unless you count my namesake."
Copernicus frowns, "Your namesake?"
Zephyr nods. "The one I honored by taking the name of at maturity. The one from another side of the family that looked scarily like me in the old holos I found. He was lost on a mission of one my race's first faster-than-light ships, and has always been a hero in the history books for it. Brave fox." He chuckles. "But that was...um...with the time I spend in stasis....537 standard years ago."
Copernicus hmmms, "Considering how time and space worked on this planet, anything was possible."
Zephyr tilts his head. "I was born about two centuries after he was lost...Wait...you're saying you _met_ someone else with my name? Looked like me?"
Copernicus nodnods, "He was a good friend for nearly a year. I helped pull him out of a space ship that had crashed, and exploded shortly thereafter. Your scent is even similar."
Zephyr's eyes go wide. "Sounds like he did survive, then...That's..." He shakes his head. "And you're that old, to remember that?"
Copernicus chuckles, "For males, we're lucky to live to 500. No, I'm only in my early 30's. As I said, this planet did strange things. Including pulling people from various times and dimensions."
Zephyr looks beyond hopelessly confused now. "So that was..._recent_ to you? So he's still alive? I mean...in some time, I guess we all are, but.." He shakes his head. "This day has been..."
"Interesting?" Charon prompts.
Copernicus sighs, "I don't know actually. The female wolf that he was courting, well...she and he apparently disappeared at the site where a set of mountains destroyed themselves. Knowing those two, they probably survived, but who knows where they went to, and when I saw you...Well."
Copernicus's whiskers droop slightly as he realizes he STILL doesn't know about the fate of his friends.
Zephyr nods slowly. "If he survived a drive failure that lit up half a quadrant with the residual explosion, I'd say.." He smiles. "..that my family just seems to produce wandering survivors. He's probably okay, and he found a female wolf, you say? I must be the next to carry on the tradition...or who knows? Maybe we'll meet someday." He pauses as he watches Copernicus. "But you thought..._I_ was a friend you had lost. I'm sorry." He hesitates...then, having seen what he has of this race, pads forward to offer a soft hug.
Copernicus nods and hugs, and then headrubs, "Well Zephyr, welcome to Nexus station. There are a few others here who knew the other "Zephyr", so you'll have to deal with that."
Copernicus peers at Charon, "If I remember, you had left before he arrived?"
Zephyr splays his ears again at the headrub, returning it. "Thank you. And your people already saved me from frozen nothing forever, so I owe a lot. I..." he halfsmiles. "I hope the ones who know the other won't mind..er...'Release 2' being around?"
Charon says, "Probably."
Copernicus hmms at Charon and nods to Zephyr, "I doubt it. So, one of my mates, Ceres, has apparently invited you to sleep with us this evening, but I think you were looking for a meal first?"
Zephyr nods! and chuckles, getting his smile back. "I haven't eaten in 357 years, I'm starved." He chances a playful wink at Leda, hoping desperately he's not going to offend someone. "And yes, Coper...that's very nice of her. Yes, my species does sleep gregariously, don't worry. I find it comforting." He smiles warmly. "Besides, my tail seems to always be popular as a blanket."
Leda giggles.
Copernicus smiles, "Then I'll leave you to your hunt. The rodents here are about 5 to 6 pounds. They're fast, but that's about it. Oh, and don't worry if you bound over one of the couples here, they'll probably ignore you if they're busy enough. ;)"
Zephyr's ears blush again. "I...heard." He grins.
Leda grins. "You're cute when you do that, you know."
Zephyr blinks? His ears turn an even deeper shade inside as he looks at Leda, tail swishing slowly. "When I do what?"
Charon pouts. He's cute too!
Leda says, "Blush like that."
Copernicus chuckles, "I do hope you know how to survive with slightly predatory females. ;)"
Copernicus grins and scritches Charon's ears, seeing the little dragon's pout.
Zephyr chuckles and self-consciously covers his ears with a paw, folding them. He grins back at Leda. "I...rrr..."
Charon perks up and transfers himself over to Copernicus' head.
Leda says, "Anyhow, I'd better get going and see how the defense preps are going, see if we're needed to do anything else out there."
Copernicus nods, "True. So far no more attacks, and we're retooling our fleet as fast as we can. Sad to say, it's not that hard to re create weapons we haven't used in a long time."
Zephyr glances at Coper. "Predatory? Oh, I think...er...hope I can? I mean, I'm a predator, too.." He looks back at Leda, seemingly curious but unsure. He gives her a warm grin and a playful wink anyway, though. "Well, if I can help with that in any way, let me know?"
Leda says, "Oh, don't worry, I'm sure you'll be told."
Leda waves, and wanders off.
Copernicus giggles, "She wasn't talking about helping with the weapons. ;)"
Copernicus scritches the little dragon resting on his head and purrs, "Just call on the intercom when you're done eating Zephyr. Someone will direct you to my mating groups's quarters."
Zephyr blinks again, then giggles himself. "I...see." He smiles and nods. "I will. Right now a good stalk-and-pounce, and then...I'll be there soon, I'm tired. Thank you. And...Copernicus? Looks like I'm here, now, I have no idea where I came from. Besides, it's been nearly 400 years there. I wouldn't mind trying to be as good a friend to you and your family and friends as the..other Zephyr was.
Copernicus smiles softly and purrs, "He never got to meet my family, though he did know Melora, and see her while she was still pregnant. Take care Zephyr. I'll see you later."
Charon waves a wing to the space fox. "If you don't eat the bones, can you save them for me?"
Zephyr nods softly and smiles. "I'll see you later. Take care. And yes, Charon, I'll save a bone." With that, he turns to the forest, and, setting down his belongings and pouchbelt, moves off in only his fur in a completely silent crouch, ears perked and swiveling, every muscle tense, every movement precise as he stalks his dinner.
A few of the couples, resting quietly and recovering from their "relaxation", watch Zephyr's action with acute interest. It's so rare to find a fur from a high tech race that doesn't look down on their roots. Later on, Zephyr, belly full, sleeps with Copernicus and his mating group, Melora, Ceres, Libra, Aurora. And their physician Imbri. The two kits don't sleep quite as soundly, but Charon's remote keeps them out of serious trouble. As Copernicus drops off to sleep, he looks at Zephyr and thinks . o O (Like my clan, his seems to be made of survivors. I just know those two have to be ok somewhere. They have to be.)