The sun rises on the city of Chareka on Tharhome, and finally has the audacity to peek in on the sleeping pile of the Skygazer family, where Copernicus is still "purrring" loudly in his sleep.
Zilvar sits off to the side, quietly watching the sun be brave. He has become accustomed to waking early...a habit that a few days of being civilized again do not break.
Metora, one of Coper's moms, kicks at him with her hind legs tell he finally wakes up and gives the family some quiet. He finally pulls free of the pile of sleeping felitaurs and streeeetches.
Copernicus licks his nose and whiskers, then notices Zilvar and quietly purrs, "Morning. So how are you doing?"
Zilvar glances over and smiles a little, crookedly. "I am awake. Little hungry. Wondering if you were ever going to wake up."
Copernicus fluffs out his fur, "Oh, eventually. So, you want to raid the kitchen or catch breakfast ourselves."
Zilvar arches an eyebrow, "The kitchen will do fine. I haven't had to catch my food for a day or two."
Copernicus pads off towards the far end of the living quarters to the kitchen, "Well, then just don't open anything without asking first. You set it free, you have to catch it. :)
Zilvar flows to his feet and follows. "Oh...I doubt there's much fear of that."
Copernicus starts rummaging through compartments and pulls out some cheese, cooked and brazed meats, a few small fowls, some fruit, some milk and something that looks like small onions, "This should give us a start. Have a seat."
Zilvar snags a seat...and the food. As Coper places food within reach, it seems to migrate in Zilvar's direction.
Copernicus chuckles as he wolfs down food (in honor of his guest, of course) and notes there is enough food here even for the felitaurs, so Zilvar is in no danger of starving. In between large bites, he purrs, "So, gate isn't scheduled till later tonight, what do you want to do today?"
Zilvar finishes crunching on a bit of bone, "Hadn't really given it much thought. The only thing I was worried about is taken care of now that the contract is signed."
His large ears flicking slightly in thought as he tosses a chicken sized piece of foul into his mouth and downs it with a couple of crunches, "True. It went fairly well. Even though we're a pretty peaceful race, we understand aggression well enough. :) Well, I can show you around a bit. Anything in particular you want to see or do?"
Zilvar halfsmiles, "I have a strange urge to go shopping. I've got several million credits, and have never had anything like it before. I expect my loan to be paid in full after the Super Dreadnought is finished, if not the explorer, so I'm not really worried about the money.
Copernicus egads, "Promise me you'll stay away from my mates, ok?"
Zilvar blinks a few times, then leans his head back and laughs! "Oh...I can promise that, I think."
Copernicus purrs, "But otherwise, sure. What are you in the mood to buy?"
Zilvar shakes his head, still chuckling, "I do not have anything in particular in mind to buy, really. I have never really been a tourist before.
Copernicus purrs, "Well then, let's see what's for sale. I think some Chirr'T'Thar sometimes put out booths near the Epigee tower. Just don't show it off too much, buying someone out with their own money is annoying. ;)"
Zilvar halfsmiles, "I can't afford to waste too much. I'll have a couple hundred engineers to pay off shortly.
Copernicus nods, "They'll do good work for you. Course, you're going to have to deal with a lot of folks flirting with you. ;) You're still too heavy to carry, so lets get walking." and leaps into the gravity tube and floats to the 50th floor from the 1st.
Zilvar pads over to the gravity tube and stretches out, relaxing down to about the 48th floor or so. "I like these. Gotta get some installed on the station."
Copernicus's tail flicks and he grins as he pads outside into the early morning sun, "Shouldn't be a problem."
Zilvar follows after, adjusting his cloak, "I've gotten used to carrying my rifle. Feels weird to have left it behind."
Copernicus looks over his shoulder while his four feet keep padding forward, "Well, nothing personal, but having a bipedal wolf carrying one of THOSE weapons...you understand?"
Zilvar shrugs, "Coper..they weren't wolves. I don't care what they looked like. They weren't SMART enough to be wolves...
Copernicus nods, "I know, but even we're guilty of reacting to appearances sometimes. Especially when a couple thousand lives were lost. Ah, good. Some of the 'toy makers" are out today." as he points to some brightly colored umbrellas that seem to be hovering with no support over some tables of odd gadgets.
One very lovely looking female felitaur, with a lush cloud leopard fur pattern notices Zilvar and churrrrrs, "Hello handsome. How would you like a remote control fur groomer?"
Zilvar arches an eyebrow at the female, then grins lopsidedly, sketching a lazy bow, "Milady, I'm afraid that my idea of being groomed is somewhat less than respectable. I'm afraid it would only gather dust..."
The felitauress smiles slightly and purrs, "Well, we have claw sharpeners. Fur dyes, though I prefer your colors. Oh, and how about a 3 D mirror?"
Zilvar straightens, "3D mirror?"
With a smirk, she quickly pulls out a hand held disk with a touch pad to turn it on, and a dial. She puts it in Zilvar's paws and purrs, "Press the pad, then rotate the dial. ;)
Zilvar gives her a dubious look, then does as instructed.
A holographic image of Zilvar appears in front of him, real as life. And the image rotates with the movement of the dial.
Zilvar laughs and turns the dial around a few times. "A vanity item, to be sure.
Copernicus chuckles as the lady felitaur smiles seductively (which looks rather predatory to non felitaurs) and purrs, "Well, it can be nice to make sure your fur is nice all around.
Zilvar sets the imager down, "And who would I be trying to impress, Milady? There are, I guarantee, no others like me anywhere nearby."
The felitauress slinks by, rubbing her flank and tail around Zilvar, "Well, I'm impressed."
Zilvar chuckles, "Somehow, I'm not surprised...How much...for the mirror?"
Another predatory look, this one of a saleslady, as she purrs, "For you, a mere 350 credits."
Zilvar crosses his arms, "Surely you jest...I could put a good down payment on a shipment of them for that. 150 is still too much, but I could part with it I think."
Ears perk, and tail twitching she growls, "150 doesn't even cover parts! I can probably let it go for 300."
Zilvar laughs, "For that cost, I could hire someone to build one for me! 180, or I look for someone to build one from scratch!
Just a slight show of fangs as the felitauress purrs, "250. You'll have trouble having someone work that cheaply. ;)"
Zilvar rubs his chin, "225, unless you throw in something else with it."
After a moments thought, she finally relents a little, "250 and some remote controlled fur trimmers, so you can keep that lovely backside looking nice."
Zilvar removes a small paycard from his cloak pocket and sets it on the counter, "Deal."
With a triumphant churowwwl, she takes the card and finishes the transaction, and hands the two items to Zilvar. Business over, she purrs, "I am Marta. I see you're a friend of our regulator (as she winks at Copernicus), so, do you have anyone to spend the day with yet?"
Zilvar drops the items into the inner pockets of his cloak, "Besides Copernicus? No..I did not expect to spend much time out and about today."
Marta sighs, what a way to ruin a seller's rush. Oh well. She purrs, "Well, if you change your mind, let me know. I enjoyed the barter. :)"
Zilvar smiles ferally at Marta, "I'm sure you did. I have a fairly good idea how much it was really worth, after all."
Marta smiles, "Well, I do this more as a hobby from time to time. Not the way I make a living. Have a good day. You too regulator."
Copernicus has been quietly chuckling as the two faced off and waves to Marta, "C'mon Zilvar."
Zilvar pads off after Copernicus, chuckling, "Never try to barter with a telepath. She only overcharged me by about 150%.
Copernicus grins, "True enough. But you made her day. ;) I didn't know you were a telepath? A lot of us are mild empaths, though I still think we're just good at body language. You up for something more useful? They have some electronic organizers up ahead."
Zilvar nods, following after, "I don't really advertise the fact. I was not a very strong telepath until I got to Genesis."
Copernicus nods and grins, "Well, you'll run into one or two who you probably can't read. And maybe quite a few you wish you couldn't. Here we go, portable electronic data organizers. I'm sure they can be networked with your base. Look around."
Zilvar arches an eyebrow at Coper before turning to the booths and padding quietly through them, examining each of the organizers in turn."
A wide variety of devices are offered, most with very straightforward user interfaces, ability to network with many systems, reconfigurable on the fly, and some also offer various levels of security.
Zilvar finds one that interests him...predictably it is by far the most expensive piece of machinery for miles around.
The tabby colored felitaur who is hawking the wares is grinning slightly as he explains all the wonderful features and feeps.
Zilvar holds up his hand and looks at the 'taur, "How much?"
"Three thousand credits. I'll throw in the leather cover. ;)"
Zilvar rubs his chin, "Extras. How many, how much?"
Whiskers twitching, "Well, it has most of the features included. We have some memory and processor upgrades. We can also give you a set of repeater stations so that you can keep a clear signal no matter where you are in relation to your control center." It's clear this male has heard of Zilvar.
Zilvar halfsmiles, placing his card on the counter, "OK."
Copernicus is also browsing, and has purchased one that he plans on customizing, then pads over to Zilvar as the salesmale packs his purchase, "You like the expensive toys, don't you?"
Zilvar chuckles at Copernicus, "Always."
Copernicus nods, "You're as bad as Ceres. ;) So, anything else you're interested in buying or doing?"
Zilvar slings the computer over his shoulder and nods to the 'taur salesfurson, "I've spent enough, even if most of it was business related. What do you suggest?"
Copernicus hrrms, "Well, we can eat. Or we can play some games. I think we have some stealth tag going on somewhere."
Zilvar says, "Stealth tag???"
Copernicus purrs, "You sneak up on folks and try to pelt them with small globes of colored paints. ;)"
Zilvar arches an eyebrow, "Oh really? That sounds interesting.
Copernicus grins, "Despite our supposed "civilization", we're still predators. ;)"
Zilvar halfsmiles, "Lead on, then."
Copernicus finally enters an area surrounded by a small force field. Inside, is a complex 3 dimensional jungle, and a vending machine for the paint spheres. "You should like this, no flying allowed."
Zilvar grins lopsidedly at Coper, "That helps, yes."
Copernicus grabs several handfuls of spheres into the pouches at his waist and purrs, "Course, this place makes it easy for us to get up in the trees, and normally we're not bad climbers anyhow. You want to team up or go solo?"
Zilvar takes off his cloak and deposits it and the computer near the entrance. He takes several of the spheres, "Solo, I think. It has been a long time since I had to work with someone else.
Copernicus chuckles and nods, "It says there are a good dozen or so competitors in here. Watch out for the females. :)" and slips off into the vegetation, and blending in rather well. A voice calls back, "The spheres break with a small amount of impact. No need to go overboard."
Zilvar takes a few of the spheres, depositing spares in his pouch. He gives Copernicus a few second head start, then ghosts into the brush, and up into the trees.
Copernicus is up in the trees himself, and is slinking around, trying to hear out, or smell out someone to plaster, alert to anyone after him. He hopes.
A smallish female drops out of the branches over Coper, yelling some horrible battle cry and letting loose with several handfuls of the little colored spheres!
Copernicus dives to the ground, and throws his own spheres, growling as his tail is splattered. He growls back as he hears her scream "monogamist!" "No need to be obscene!" and then dives for cover.
The female catches herself on the branch that Copernicus was occupying and swings off in the opposite direction, giggling that her trap worked.
Copernicus swings around and moves quickly on the ground, moving to get ahead of the female, and get even. ;)
Said female, still giggling to herself, takes up an unlikely perch on a small branch, waiting for some hapless 'taur to try to sneak by overhead.
Copernicus moves in front, carefully, then tosses one sphere so it lands on the ground behind her perch.
The little huntress spins around, throwing three or four spheres in the area of the sound...it is to her credit that she's really GOOD at throwing at nothing...
Copernicus throws two handfuls of spheres at the female, trying to time it for when she faces back towards him, figuring a little chest decoration would look nice. ;)
Meanwhile, at least one pair of eyes has been trying to follow Zilvar, with limited luck.
The girl looks confused, and turns around, ducking her head to search the ground...consequently getting a face- and chest-full of paint. "EEEEWWW!!!"
Zilvar marks a few of the hiding places as he moves, smiling to himself.
Copernicus shouts, "Watch who you call a monogamist next time!" and then disappears, quickly.
Lots of paint pellets fill the space where Coper was standing a second before, "EEEEWWW!!"
Copernicus mentally grumbles just a bit as his tail gets pelted again, but chuckles as he pads off, looking for his next target.
Zilvar flings a single paint pellet at some poor-unsuspecting taur, managing a nice shot right between the ears.
The girl jumps out of the tree and heads for the convenient cleaning shower outside, "EEEEWWW!!!!"
Trying to time her shot with Zilvar's, one small female tosses a couple at Zilvar's backside, having kept deathly still for quite a while.
Zilvar senses something, but does not move quite quickly enough. The paint pellet slaps against his shoulder as he plummets from the branch he was standing on in controlled freefall. He twists as he falls, chucking a pair of pellets at the ambusher.
She turns tail quickly, and gets a colorful behind for her efforts. And off in the distance, the sound of Copernicus yiping and four female voices saying "Get him" can be heard. Moments later a Copernicus of many colors walks over to the showers.
Zilvar hits the ground softly, marking three other hot targets on impact. A handful of pellets fly just before he dives into the bushes to avoid a pre-emptive strike
Copernicus returns to the game, and looks around for targets. He hmmmms, then his eyes adjust and the jungle becomes shades of heat. Darn, most of the felitaurs are blending in, but....hey...Zilvar. :)
Zilvar flicks an ear and closes his eyes for a moment...then grins.
Zilvar takes to the trees again, tossing a pellet at an unsuspecting taur before he reaches the altitude he wanted.
Copernicus slowly sneaks around up in the tree tops himself, following Zilvar's heat trail as best he can.
Zilvar drops to the ground again, backtracking under his own trail, watching the branches for signs of his pursuer
Copernicus blinks and thinks, . o O (This makes no sense. Wait a minute, he said he was a telepath...Shoot. Think about naps or something).
Zilvar smiles a bit as the 'taur fades into the background noise...but the trap is laid.
Copernicus does his best to keep his mind blanker than normal, while following Zilvar's trail, but trying not to go in the expected path, as Zilvar obviously knows he's coming.
Zilvar waits, perfectly still. After a few moments, his body heat fades more into the background, dissipating slightly with his body being at rest.
Moving rather silently for such a large predator, Copernicus slowly stalks towards Zilvar.
Zilvar waits for a few more moments. Seeing no motion, he ghosts back into the brush a bit further, breaking up his pattern with the foliage.
No real noise can be heard over the normal sounds of wind rustling through the leaves, and felitaurs yelping from being hit by paintballs, but, if you're paying attention, two white ears with black spots can be seen sticking out of some foliage about 20 feet away, rotating slowly to listen.
Zilvar becomes a statue...
Copernicus slowly raises his head above the ferns, eyes focused, hand raised with paint spheres.
Zilvar lets fly at Coper's nose, diving to the ground at almost the same moment!
Copernicus ducks, but gets a red stripe across the top of his head. He leaps towards the direction of the throw a moment later, paint spheres ready.
Zilvar rolls to the side rapidly, tossing a paintball at the onrushing 'taur each time he rolls onto his back!
Copernicus flattens to the ground and throws a shotgun style handful of paintballs at rolling wolf, but not before taking several in the flank.
Perhaps the only thing that saves Zilvar from getting a great deal of paint on his person is the fact that he's prone, and it is difficult to hit a moving, prone target unless you are on top of it. He still takes several hits, but it comparatively unscathed as he rolls to his feet and grins at the 'taur. "I'm out of ammo, I think....'
Copernicus nods, "Me too." as he stands up.
"We're not!" as a barrage of paintballs comes from all four sides from 6 grinning felitaurs.
Zilvar jumps, leaps, twists, and otherwise evades. When he falls to the ground, he is somewhat more colorful, but not a dripping Picasso, as might be expected.
Zilvar looks at himself, "Good thing I drip dry."
Copernicus does his best, but being so much larger, well, none of his spots are black anymore. He waves his surrender and purrs, "C'mon, lets clean up and get ready to take the gate back. Hope you had some fun. :)"
Zilvar nods, "It was interesting...:)
The felitaurs chuckle, before disappearing back into the foliage. Copernicus leads his wolf friend to the showers. "Well, I know I had fun."
Zilvar chuckles as he cleans off and gathers his things, "I'll have to wear my armor next time. It masks my heat signature."