Awakening, Part 7

“If you really wanted to distract me this morning, you should have brought me here,” Alecha observed.

Tari winced, smiling sheepishly as Alecha grinned back at her. “Was it that obvious?”

“Mm-hm. I do appreciate the effort — but this…” The salt and pepper vixen gestured at the gardens laid out before them. “This would have done it.”

They’d crossed from the J’Ruhn to Terac Lun, just for a change of scenery. The mini-tour of Azainte presented only a small cross-section of local species, mostly velorian with a few feldaran and some others she’d been unable to name; far more as-yet-unknown species milled about in the space station’s public gardens. Some in Councilor attire, relaxing after the day’s session; others clearly aides or pages passing through as they darted from one place to another. Several wore no indication of anything at all — perhaps civilians, sightseers like themselves.

Awakening, Part 5

“I’m sorry,” Tari whispered, nose nuzzled into the crook of Jadyn’s neck.

“Whatever for?”

“Interrupting breakfast for… this.”

“You’ve nothing to apologize for. I should be the one offering an apology for not making this a worthwhile time in your ongoing exobiology research. I kind of let you down, I think.”

“No, no. Trust me, I’m good.”

“Mmm… I will make it up to you, though. It’ll have to be sometime after I actually get more than an hour’s nap.” Yawning, he forced himself out of bed and stumbled into the bathroom. “I really wish I knew why I’ve been so worn out… I guess, thinking about it… I’ve pushed myself a little harder as of late than I’m used to, getting those seals undone… It was a long couple of days before you came into -“

Impending Doom Syndrome

Late-night traffic and pedestrians filled the street outside the bookstore as Jadyn stared out the windows. With both diurnal and nocturnal species calling the city ‘home,’ Azainte almost always buzzed with some level of activity. Very few hours of the day saw the streets completely empty. Not every one of the planet’s stores kept open twenty-eight hours a day, though - the original outlet was one of the few.

The night staff had every part of their routine down to an absolute science. He’d tried to help out behind the food counter, but quickly discovered he was merely a hindrance in his current state of mind. After trying to do other menial tasks, he’d finally volunteered to just stay out of the way as they went about their work, an act that had in no small way relieved the entire crew. Parking himself in a corner of the cafe, he quickly found himself wondering why he’d bothered to come in. Even with the busy spurt that had rolled through not an hour before, they had kept everything perfectly covered.

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