Regalo
Regalo awoke with a yawn as his fur bristled. He slowly uncurled from his position and stretched out on the immensely large bed. Reaching out, he felt the dip in the bed where John usually was only to find it oddly cool. How. Just. How in the name of all that is good does he wake up early every morning?! Every morning he is up! Early! We were up until the early hours of morn how did he still manage to wake up before me! Regalo mentally pondered as he shuffled to the bathroom. Choosing his setting and began brushing the dust out of his fur. What should I do for a celebration meal if they win the competition? He wondered as he switched from his broad comb to his fine comb for his face. Regalo regarded the deathworlder fruit that John had acquired a while back. Regalo had hidden the fruits from John in stasis underneath the Domain root Krzkz that John loathed. In the human’s defense Regalo didn’t particularly enjoy the bitter taste either but it made for a great hiding spot. They have a good consistency for a paste… What did he call it? Pee Bee and Jay? Some of the Milo dough baked would also be good to get that extra crunch… When did I become so experimental? Regalo remembered a day where he dared not stray from the recipes Mother Mamfa taught him as a cub. “We may have autochefs but it’s always useful to know how to cook”. Regalo had sealed many a mating contract thanks to the blessed mother’s recipes. Blessed, there’s another word I never knew, he tangentially thought. He’s rubbing off more than I realize. Regalo shook himself of any loose cleaning powder and stepped out. He returned to the room and clothed himself in his one piece, deciding on the green one with several pockets instead of the green one with waist hoops for his tools. As he lumbered to the dinner he could hear John doing that peculiar whistling noise. John had tried to teach him, despite Regalo explaining to him that his snout couldn’t form the shape required to whistle. Regalo arrived at the common room.
“Morning sleepy head!” John mirthfully called out from the kitchen as the Gaoian sat with the girls on the couch.
“You slept in a lot. Late night?” Hegan asked.
“Indeed. John and I were up very late into the night.” He yawned in response.
“What? John was here when we arrived, wasn’t he Hegan?” asked Vanima.
“He was.” Hegan affirmed.
“Well my dad and I were always morning people. A new day is a new beginning!” The human called out. Regalo sniffed the air and found a soft sweet scent had permeated throughout the common room.
“What are you making John? I adore its scent.” Regalo
“I’m making some space pancakes!… Sorta! Kinda… Honestly at this point I’m willing to just call them amorphous space pastry.” The human joked as he flipped a brownish blue patty on the pan. Oh have mercy on me John, Regalo thought as he resisted the urge to simply snatch the ‘pancake’ from the pan and devour it. He tried to ignore the intoxicatingly sweet scent and sat down on the couch with Hegan and Vanima and watched the news with them.
“New victories on the warfront as we march on against the Alliance rebels. All of these victories can be attributed to the brilliance of our generals and the bravery of our soldiers. We have Krrtktptp on the ground for more.” The Kwmbwrw caster said. It cut to a Vzk’tk standing next to parading troops.
“It’s a beautiful day here on Vurkatec as our soldiers freed the citizens from the bloodthirsty Alliance.” The broadcast then switched back to the anchor.
“Next up are the finalists who will be participating in the Performing Arts Competition are as listed!” He happily announced. Pictures of several Rrrrtktktkp’ch with their names listed underneath. Finally the list ended with John and Vanima. Well Done you two, Regalo thought as he set the table.
“Oh thank the stars we made it.” Vanima breathed in relief as she and Hegan rose from the couch.
“And you dared question my methods.” John teased as he placed the last pancakes on a plate.
“Well it’s not that I questioned them! I just… Didn’t really have faith in this one.” Vanima retorted.
“So long as we’re confessing, I didn’t have much faith since Vanima isn’t a trained performer like you.” Hegan added.
John shook his head, his face scrunched up for added effect.
“Did you believe in me Regsy? Did you have faith?” The human asked as he set the table.
Always the actor.
“Don’t I always?” Regalo chittered as he played with the human’s dramatic display. John smiled broadly and served out everyone’s portions, leaving the lion’s share to himself.
“Truly I am lucky to have a friend in you unlike others.” The human chuckled as he eyed a chirping Hegan and a smiling Vanima. They ate in silence as John lamented the lack of maple syrup, apologizing for what he considered a subpar meal. If I ever visit Earth, I’ll probably die of a sugar overdose… Y’know that’s not a bad way to go, the Gaoian mused as he ate the obscenely sweet pancakes.
“John how much sugar did you put in this?” Vanima asked. Clearly not a fellow sugar aficionado.
“Not enough,” the human replied with dead seriousness. Regalo paused for a moment before nodding. When Regalo was finished with his plate he looked over to John and could almost see the gears turning in the human’s head. And here I thought today was gonna be quiet. “I wanna see some art.” He declared. Regalo stopped mid-step and looked at his friend.
“You want to see art?” Vanima asked.
“I wanna see alien art! I mean I’m in an alien society, eating alien food, with alien friends but the only bit of alien culture I’ve actually partook in is the fashion show, this competition and a really shitty soap opera. I mean are you guys just not interested in other species’ culture?” John asked.
Vanima shrugged whilst Regalo and Hegan ducked their heads. “We are interested but other species’ culture doesn’t really cater to a wider galactic audience. If it did they’d have to water it down to the point where it’s bland.” Hegan explained.
“I mean would you particularly be interested in watching the latest Qini fashion show Regalo?” Vanima asked.
“About as much as you’d be interested in reading Keeda Tales.” He replied. John nodded along. Maybe I will have a quiet-
“You all make valid points but seem to operate under the delusion that that will stop me.” The human smiled broadly as he got up and gently placed his plate in the sink. “Hegan, are there any big museums here?” John asked as he fixed his shirt. Hegan looked to her coms for a moment before answering.
“The uh… Something Institute of Art. I’m sending you the coordinates now. It should be open around now if you manage to orbit to the day side.” John looked to his communicator.
“Yeah shouldn’t take too long if we hurry.”
“We?” Regalo asked knowing the answer.
“I’ll need someone to appreciate the art with me of course.” John chuckled as Regalo reached over and ruffled the human’s shaggy curls.
“It’ll be Vzk’tk art and some Rrrrkt if you’re lucky. Qini art is just a lot prettier than what they could make.” Vanima scoffed. John snorted and Regalo shook his head.
“Come on Regsy, adventure and art awaits us.” John announced as he stormed off to the hangar. The girls giggled as Regalo sighed and followed John.
John
John was quite excited at the prospect of sampling alien culture. He knew that while The Mistress, and what little the musician gleaned from the Qinis Festival of Beauty technically counted as culture, John still looked forward to seeing the interstellar equivalents of Picasso and Michelangelo.
“You really are giddy aren’t you,” Regalo noted as he caught up with him.
“Of course I am! This is the first real bit of culture I’m gonna experience!” Regalo chittered as they entered Prestissimo. John booted up the nav system as Regalo took a seat on the floor behind him. Ok coordinates are in just gotta wait… There we go locked on.
“This is shuttle Prestissimo requesting permission to take off. Destination at these coordinates.” John waited a few moments before a reply came through
“We have you Prestissimo. This is Trade Station 151197 you are clear for take off, please adhere to the route provided,” The coms crackled back. The system lit up as the vectors of John’s flight path were downloaded. A lot less freedom in the city systems… he noted.
“You’ve gotten quite good at piloting John. Maybe I should teach you the basics of ship engineering,” Regalo joked. John groaned adding to the Gaoian’s amusement. Please no, science doesn’t like me. The coms crackled to life as John adhered to the flight plan.
“Are you feeling like your ship isn’t fast enough? Try the new fusion reactor from-“ John cut the transmission off as he switched off the public coms, leaving the ship to ship and ship to control tower links open. John leaned back into his chair in a comfortable silence with Regalo. John looked out the windshield. Millions of little blips seemed to shift in the darkness. Man, look at all those spaceships. This shit is like driving a car to the store for these people… Oh God I bet some time in the future there’s gonna be this really shitty kid who’s like ‘but mooooom! I don’t wanna go to Martian Summer Camp! Mars is boring!’ fucking fuck you kid Mars is awesome and you are gonna appreciate interstellar travel do you hear me! John mentally fumed as he started the reentry procedures. The ship rattled a bit as John took a hard reentry.
“Why must you do a manual reentry every time? The nav system can do it for you y’know,” Regalo complained.
“Yeah but it’s so much faster when I do it,” John replied. Ok up shields to max, shifting power from forward thrusters to landing thrusters… Soon the rattling stopped and Prestissimo was comfortably flying through the planet’s stratosphere, away from any of the underlying commercial flights.
“Why must you always choose the quicker options instead of the safer one?”
“Life’s too short to play it safe Regsy. You gotta go out there and grab life by the balls!” John laughed as he accelerated to Mach 3 as directed by the nav unit.
“You’ll forgive me if I’m not terribly keen on grabbing life by its metaphorical genitals.”
“You fuddy duddy.”
“You lunatic.” The nav system beeped, signalling John to descend and decelerate. Slowly the city came into view. This one looked vastly different to the one John and Vanima performed in. The buildings were minuscule compared to the soaring towers of the other one. However, what it lacked in grandeur it more than made up for in grace and elegance. John could almost feel the age of the city he descended in. In some ways it reminded him of London how the old seemed to blend with the new. One moment John could be having a beer with friends in a 300-year-old pub and walk across the street into a Tk-Maxx. Buildings that seemed to have been built millennia ago stood alongside spires similar to the ones in the first city.
“Regsy get up here and take a look!” John excitedly called out as he marveled at the sight. John felt Regalo’s paw on his shoulder as he let out a hiss that John interpreted as a whistle.
“Quite the view, reminds me of the city of Wi Kao after the renovations,” Regalo noted. How is he not impressed?!… I guess he’s used to seeing really awesome stuff. John landed in what seemed to be a spaceship parking garage. He popped open the windshield and hopped out. He caught Regalo and set him down then leaped up to catch the edge of the windshield and pull it down again.
“John, this is a bit away from the coordinates Hegan gave us.”
John shrugged at the statement.
“This is where the nav system told me to land.”
Regalo scratched his chin before replying.
“We’ll have to walk it seems. It shouldn’t be too far.” John nodded and walked arm in arm with his friend. The city was brimming with activity as flying cars soared above and below vaguely in lanes. Blue giraffes of all sizes were milling about with the odd white giraffe here and there. Not a lot of other aliens here… John mentally noted. “This building right here should be the museum.” Regalo gestured to their right. The building looked like what would happen if renaissance and modern architecture had a child and that child went on to be a Victoria’s Secret model.
“Sweet baby Jesus Mary n Joseph,” John mumbled as he took in the sheer size of the building. They began walking up the steps to get to the front door. The steps were much too large and high for either of them to traverse comfortably. Ok what the fuck, who needs this many stairs?! This is just absurd! Haven’t they heard of escala- Oh my God the escalators are all the way over there.
“John why couldn’t we have taken the escalators?” Regalo panted. John wiped the sweat from his brow.
“That, is a fantastic question Regalo,” John panted as they made it up the final few steps. John brushed his curly locks of hair out of his face and collected himself before he entered the museum. It was eerie how no matter where one went, museums seemed to have the same ambiance no matter where on Earth, or in space for that matter, the museum was. What John assumed were tourists milled about. There was a café where large families sat at tables eating whatever it is they served in space giraffe cafés. You’d think this place was straight out of the Victoria and Albert Museum. A large foyer greeted them, which lead into a room with a stupendously high ceiling.
“Hello and welcome to the Akdskrrkkdskd Museum of Art, renowned for having the largest collection of Vzk’tk and Rrrrtktktkp’ch art work in the galaxy! You’re just in time to join the tour group!” A towering Vzk’tk exclaimed excitedly as she led the pair to a group of other Vzk’tk. Jesus, someone loves their job. The tour guide was a large Vzk’tk with combed blue fur.
Krrzktk
“Hello everyone and welcome to the Akdskrrkkdskd Museum of Art. Please do not touch any of the artwork and stay with the group at all times. I am Krrzktk, and I will be your guide today,” Krrzktk recited from memory. Great, another group of Vzk’tk, please have some form of intellect augments. He led the way into the modern era gallery. They stopped at the first painting. The painting was monstrously large and depicted a scene from a café on the homeworld before their species had discovered FTL. “All paintings in this wing of the museum were kept in stasis as to preserve them. Akkrkr Vnktzktz painted this during the early modern era. As you can see She went into great detail depicting this scene, so much so that even the ripples of this patron’s glass of water are drawn.” He used a laser pointer to show the figure in question far in the background. The group snapped pictures of the painting. He was about to move on before a voice called out from the group.
“What does the painting mean?” a voice called from within the group. Krrzktk paused and looked to the group. Everyone parted to reveal a Gaoian and a strange bipedal creature he couldn’t recognize. What are they doing here? It was quite rare to have none Domain species in the museum save for the academics and these two didn’t appear to be academics. Those piercing binocular eyes unnerved Krrzktk despite it being so short that the tour guide didn’t even notice it at first. Nonetheless, he answered the question with one of his own.
“I don’t understand the question. This is a painting.”
“Yeah I know that but what does the painting mean,” the creature restated. What do you mean what does it mean? It’s a painting! Mercifully the Gaoian spoke up.
“I believe my friend is trying to say what impression is one supposed to get from the painting.”
Finally! A question that makes sense!
“The painting is supposed to give you the impression that this is a café in the modern era on the homeworld,” Krrzktk answered dutifully before moving on, gesturing towards other notable paintings. What got more and more on his nerves was that idiotic biped that kept asking what the paintings meant!
“Look sir! These are paintings. What more do you expect from paintings?” Krrzktk exasperatedly asked as the biped posed the question for the umpteenth time.
“I don’t know man! Yeah these are some really pretty paintings n all but what is the meaning behind the painting? Why did the artist choose that scene? How do the colours set the mood?” The infernal creature blathered; as if such things mattered. Surely the accuracy of how well the scene is represented is all that matters in art, thousands of hours are spent to get the most accurate representation, what do feelings have to do with it?
“Sir these paintings are the most accurate representation of their subject and for that they are the masterpieces that are shown here,” Krrzktk replied tersely. The creature ejected air from its mouth and remained silent for the rest of the tour.
Regalo
Regalo leaned over and whispered in John’s ear. “Why do you keep asking those questions? They’re just paintings so why not enjoy their beauty.”
John scratched his head before answering. “I don’t know. Its just, it feels like they don’t have a soul y’know?
Ah yes the ever-elusive “soul”.
“I thought you said that only living things can have this ‘soul’?” Regalo asked. Soon enough the Modern era tour was over and the duo decided to forgo the rest of the museum tours and sat in the café enjoying some strange green leaf.
“Well you’re not wrong but you’re not right?”
I’m going to go insane trying to understand this soul.
“Ok so how am I wrong and how am I right.”
“Alright so yeah only living things have souls. That is the religious definition of a soul but art has a soul too. For art to have a soul it’s gotta express a certain emotion. It’s gotta make me feel, y’know?”
Ah so human art is about eliciting emotions… How does one elicit emotion with paintings?
“Ok so to summaries a religis soul is what living things have,” Regalo said, struggling with the word religious. “And an artistic soul is the emotion that a piece of art elicits?” John nodded his affirmation. Regalo pondered the concept for a moment before it clicked. His music! Suddenly, what John was trying to communicate made sense. Their art must be like visual music. Instead of sound it’s colours coming together to form an emotion. How would one do that? “How would one go about creating human art?” Regalo asked.
John scratched his chin as he gnawed on a root. He nodded in agreement at some unheard statement before answering. “Good art shouldn’t just show you the place it should make you feel like you’re there. Like that painting of the café we saw in there? Didn’t feel anything, the dude might as well have just made life easy and taken a picture, honestly. The best art can touch the heart of millions. There’s a little something for everyone to feel when they look at good art.” John looked off wistfully. Sadness? In my brother? I think not! Regalo tentatively reached out and patted John’s head, snapping the human from his thoughts.
“You know what John? I will make this good art you speak of. I’ll put my ‘heart and soul’ as you say, in it and you will feel what I feel. Come we have work to do!” Regalo declared. John seemed stunned to say the least.
“Y’know, usually I’m the one who goes off on some quest and you follow me,” the human chuckled.
“Well it’s about time I show you that we Gaoians can also take charge and make great cultural works!” Regalo declared as they rose from their seats and left the museum. Regalo had no previous experience in any type of painting. The closest he had come to painting was sketching on blue prints and even then he’d still scan it to a hologram form to make the final adjustments. Sadly, real life does not come with an undo button.
“Well ok Mr. Gaoian, take charge and dazzle me,” John amusedly chuckled as they marched back to the shuttle. If I am to draw anything I’ll need some supplies. Regalo searched for nearby art stores on the local internet when he found it. The place specialised in ancient art supplies according to several reviews Regalo passingly skimmed. They quickly left the museum and returned to Prestissimo.
They hopped into the shuttle. “Ok John, I want you to take us to these coordinates,” Regalo instructed as he sent them to the nav unit. John studied the coordinates for a bit then nodded.
“This is Prestissimo to Control Tower can you hear me.”
“This is Control Tower we hear you Prestissimo” the voice crackled from the coms.
“Making adjustment to the flight plan I’m sending you. We’re laying over at these coordinates then departing for the station over.” There was a minute of silence before the coms spoke again.
“Alright Prestissimo the server was just updated with your new flight paths have a safe journey, over.”
Regalo marvelled at how quickly John had picked up piloting. He remembered the nauseating first try when they flew The Lost Minstrel in some dead system. Soon enough the human got better with every trial and had taken to reading the flight manual. Regalo knew that if he questioned John as to why the rules were in place he’d be met with the same blank look when he asked John about physics. He felt Prestissimo gently rise from the ground and take off. “You’ve really got a handle on flying ships John,” Regalo congratulated. John chuckled abashedly as his face did the odd thing where it flushed red and smiled proudly.
“Thanks Regsy.”
Wonder how well he’d fly if he was given proper lessons? Maybe talk a One-Fang into teaching him someday. Regalo chittered as he reminded himself of a Keeda Tale about a Gaoian that tried to fly. “Now, please land somewhere closer, my paws are still aching from that dull museum tour,” Regalo complained as he massaged his soles.
“Might I suggest investing in a pair of shoes?” John replied with a humorous lilt to his voice. Regalo quirked his head in a Gaoian eye roll.
“I’ll never truly understand your human insistence for clothing. I mean wouldn’t it be more comfortable to let it all hang loose!” He chittered.
“Well sure it’d be more comfortable if I didn’t mind freezing to death in the winter,” John retorted. Regalo felt the shuttle descend as he steadily walked to the cockpit. They were landing in a very small town surrounded by picturesque fields of blue and pink. There won’t be any shortage of scenery to paint here it seems.
John deftly landed the ship in an open air hangar that resembled ancient helipads that were fitted out to hold small shuttles like Prestissimo. “Ok the computer says that this area has been designated as a historical town. The birthplace of about 60% of all artists born on this planet were born here blah blah, some dumb science thing about the flowers here, blah where’s the coords… ok our destination is just down the street from here. Can your aching paws handling a little more walking?” John teased. Regalo playfully nipped John as he popped open the windshield of the shuttle. The human chuckled then hopped down from the cockpit. Regalo moved to do the same but required a bit of help from John to hop down safely. The two strolled down the cobbled road. A soft breeze carried the sweet scent of innumerable flowers currently in full bloom. The sleepy little town was oddly comforting, lulling Regalo into a drowsy mood. Regalo yawned and suppressed a chitter as John also yawned. “Man, I don’t know what it is about this place but I could really go for a nap.” The human stretched his arms and shook his head.
“I’m glad it’s not just me. Maybe it’s our late night finally catching up with us,” Regalo yawned the last word. John shrugged as the arrived at the store. Regalo felt the familiar shiver of a decontamination field as they passed the doorway. The drowsiness faded very quickly after passing the field. Must be something outside causing the drowsiness. John said something about the pollen, he pondered. Regalo shrugged off his thoughts and took in the little shop. Save for the art tools being designed for the larger Domain species hand it was like any typical old fashioned art stores. Regalo himself still preferred to design starships on old fashioned blueprints rather than use a holodesigner. He’d later scan the blueprint to a holodesign with a computer for the sake of the builders who actually had to put the ship together. There were canvases of varying sizes as well as every colour of paint one could ever want.
“Yknow I think I’ll paint something too.” John announced as he picked off a canvas and a can of white and black paint. No colours? I thought Hegan said he was trichromatic. Regalo picked out a paw sized canvas and a few tubes of the principal colours, yellow and blue. He picked out two force field paint brushes as well as two pallets. The brushes were a Locayl invention that utilised a small force field emitter to create any type of tool an artist desire. “Hey Regs, who do you think has the best art out of everyone?” John asked as they walked up to the counter. Regalo scratched his chin then answered
“I would say I’m rather fond of Locayl sculptures and Guvnurag paintings.” John nodded along as if in agreement but Regalo was never sure what truly went on in his brother’s mind. They paid and left the store in search of a good view to paint although John didn’t seem to care where they stopped
“Yknow I think the Qinis have some good art. I mean yeah their clothes are super uh… showy but they are really pretty.” Ah I see what you were thinking.
“You really do love art don’t you John,” Regalo commented as he set up at a spot he deemed good enough.
“Well yeah I like all types of art. Art’s the most important thing a civilisation can develop.”
“Oh? Wouldn’t you say technology would be more important?” John mulled over the question before replying.
“Personally I don’t think tech makes life better. It makes it easier to live but it doesn’t make it worth living. What makes life worth living is all the beauty in the world and the culture that spawns. Like a play that touched millions makes life worth living or a painting that’s enchanted people for centuries makes life worth living. All the beauty we see and can appreciate makes it worth living. Sometimes it ain’t easy to see but we all gotta try.” Regalo slowly reached over and gently patted the human’s thick hair.
“You’re very sensitive John.”
John burst out laughing.
There we go.
“Thank you for your astute observations Regalo,” John chuckled as he set up next to the Gaoian.
The two then began painting after Regalo explained how the brush worked to John. Regalo tried painting the blue field before him yet it it seemed sketching with rulers and pencils didn’t translate much to oil painting but at least it won’t look awful. Ok I got the sky part but how do I make the blue field stand out from the blue sky?? Why did the field have to be blue?! This is awful. This just looks terrible. Oh father damn it that’s the wrong shade of blue… Stay calm Regalo, deep breaths, you can do this… No you can’t because it’s still the wrong shade! Ugh never mind just go with it. Too late to turn back now. Regalo quickly ran out of room to make mistakes on his small canvas and waited for the paint to dry before he could add a second layer. He looked over to John and gasped.
“What? Is it that bad?” The human asked eyeing his work unsuredly. Bad? Bad?! I suffered for an hour making mistakes and here you are creating mountains and trees in a single brushstroke! John was painting a snowy mountain. Each brushstroke brought to life another crag in the mountain. Every light dab gave a tree its snow covered branches. Each broad stroke defined the sky. Compared to the art at the museum John’s painting was laughably crude and in detail yet Regalo was far more drawn to this piece than any one painting in that droll tour. He could almost feel the snow crunching on his paws. He could imagine the soft stillness of winter morn.
“Are you blind? It’s breath taking,” Regalo replied, patting his friend on the back. John smiled at him before turning to look at his work.
“Yeah I guess it’s ok. Honestly this is nothing compared to some of the art majors I know.”
“Be that as it may we aren’t amongst them. I didn’t know you could paint though.” John shrugged in response
“I dunno man, I used to watch and paint with Bob Ross all the time as a kid. I don’t really practice it like singing or the violin. I just did it for fun. This isn’t my best one either. I usually paint boats but I was feeling mountains this time around,” he rambled.
“Regardless I’m hanging it up by the shield.” John blushed a bit. He leaned over and took a look at Regalo’s painting.
“Whoa! I didn’t know you did abstract art!”
What.
“All those swirls of blue and yellow. I think they represent the different tones of emotion. Like how we can be different kinds of sad and different kinds of happy? Is that what you were going for?”
Go with it.
Regalo leaned back and with his ears facing forwards proudly. “I’m surprised you were able to grasp the deep and complex message of my art.” John nodded at the painting clearly impressed by it. Maybe I should paint more…
“Yeah these’ll look great on the wall by the TV. Living room’s wall looks kinda barren so this’ll be good,” he said, gently picking up the two canvases. They got back to the shuttle. John laid the two paintings against the inside of the shuttle. Regalo sat on the floor by then as John strapped himself into the pilot’s seat.
“Why did I not install seats in the back?” Regalo asked out loud as John arranged a flight plan with the control tower.
“You’re the engineer,” John chuckled as they gently took off. Regalo had to hold the paintings as the rattling of exiting the atmosphere got bad.
“It’s rough every time,” he complained.
“Fast too,” John retorted.
He makes a fair point.
They flew in a comfortable silence with the low rumble of the reactor at the far back of the shuttle. When they arrived at the hangar doors of The Lost Minstrel John stopped the shuttle. He patted himself down before sighing.
“Regsy do you know the code?” John asked. Regalo’s ears flattened in confusion.
“Don’t you have the remote?”
“Nah I forgot it on the night stand.”
“Oh… why don’t you have the code memorised?”
“No, I thought you would!”
“Why would I memorise the code! You’re the pilot!”
“Yeah but I’m an idiot so you should’ve accounted for that!”
“How am I supposed to account for your laziness! So much for that big complex deathworld brain of yours,” Regalo teased.
“Hey you leave my brain out of this he’s doing a lot of work and is pretty anxious sometimes.”
Anxiety and negative feelings? In MY brother? We must correct this.
“What’s got you feeling anxious? You can talk to me John.”
The human sighed then scratched his head.
“I guess it’s just the stress of performing all the time. I mean our entire livelihood depends on me doing well. Hell this whole thing hinges on me playing perfect every time. I can’t have bad concerts like I did on earth where I didn’t play that well or it was an off day. Out here I can’t have those it’s gotta be a 110% every time or it’s all over.” John let out another sigh. Regalo’s ears flattened in shock.
“John.”
“Yeah?”
“You are the singular most amazing being I’ve ever had the fortune of meeting. Every night before we go to bed I thank the Fathers that I ended up with you. Your kindness knows no bounds and you do everything with passion even the boring things like reading a flight manual. I know you’re giving it your all but do you really think your all is 110%?! You’re all is 200- no 300- yknow what? Numbers can’t even begin to define what your all is and you know why? Because you’re John Orion Ash and there’s nothing you can’t do you hear me?” Regalo got up and shuffled determinedly over to John. “You are my strength John. Without you I wouldn’t even be here, so let me be your courage. Let me put your fears and worries to rest.” John chuckled a bit, earning a confused quirk of the head from Regalo.
“Come ‘ere you fancy bastard.” John reached out from his seat and hugged him. It was a bit painful but Regalo took it as a sign of deep affection from the human. After a while the hug sadly ended.
“Now let’s call Vanima about the entrance code.”
AS JOHN AND REGALO LEFT, Hegan
“Leaving us with the dishes. What rude boys,” Hegan joked as she pulled up a chair to the sink and stood on it as to be able to do the dishes.
“Here, let me help,” Vanima said as she got up. They silently washed the dishes.
“They really are always together aren’t they,” Hegan commented in an attempt to break the awkward silence. Vanima giggled a bit before replying.
“I wasn’t joking when I said I can count the amount of times I saw them apart on one hand.”
“Like two peas in a pod.”
“What’s a pea? And how are they like two of them in a pod?”
“It’s an idiom John taught me. It means they’re very similar or very close, I forget which. He has a lot of convenient little sayings like that.” Vanima awkwardly nodded and the silence resumed. I really do need to break her out of that shell… another human metaphor. he’s rubbing off too much. “So what do you feel like doing today?” Hegan chirped as they finished the dishes. Vanima seemed taken aback by the question.
“I was thinking of reviewing the scan of John’s intestines,” she replied softly.
“And let the boys have all the fun? I think not! Come on let’s go to a park together.”
Poor girl… she’s in shock.
“Uhm sure I’d love to. I read about this new holopark designed by a Guvnurag in sector 6 nearby we could go to?” She suggested. “Then what are we waiting for? let’s go!” Hegan excitedly squeaked as she hopped off the chair. The pair left the ship with Vanima tentatively leading them.
“So Hegan… Where’re you from?” Vanima asked.
Good! She’s taking the initiative!
“Well I was born and raised on Rauwrhyr our home planet. I had 10 brothers and a sister so my family was a bit of a local celebrity in my sector for having 2 daughters.”
“Are females that rare in your species?”
Hegan chirruped in confirmation.
“Some families don’t even sire any girls and the one that do are usually well off.”
“I see. Are you close with your sister?” She shyly asked.
“Oh absolutely! I’m even an aunt now. She had 3 kits with her first husband and 5 with her second.” “Is that a lot?”
Hegan twitched her ears in denial.
“You usually get 6 or 7 but quality over quantity right?” Vanima giggled at the joke. “So what about you Vanima? What’s your story?”
Vanima shifted uncomfortably in her dress before answering.
“Well… as you may or may not know I’m rather short.”
“Really? I wasn’t aware,” Hegan commented craning her neck up to make eye contact. Vanima stifled a giggle before continuing.
“Well for a Qinis I’m rather short. I’m vertically challenged as is the technical term. It’s because of my bones. I was born with a defect of having very dense bones which means I couldn’t grow much.”
“Wait if you have dense bones then how do move? Forgive me but Qini aren’t exactly known for their strength.”
“I underwent Corti gene therapy shortly after I was born. The muscles made me look rather bulky.” She mumbled.
“I wouldn’t say you’re bulky. I mean have you seen John? He’s nothing but bulk honestly.”
“Really? I wasn’t aware,” Vanima replied with a smile. Hegan suppressed a chirp at the remark. “But yes, my bulkiness wasn’t a very pleasant sight so I didn’t really have many friends growing up. Or any for that matter,” she sighed dejectedly.
“Well now you have 3 friends. Two of which may or may not be a bit insane,” she joked. Vanima smiled in response.
“Yeah I suppose I do.” They had arrived at the holopark. They walked around taking the strange flora before deciding to sit down on a bench under a Krrtk tree.
“Oh you picked very well, everything here looks so real,!” Hegan excitedly bounced a little on the bench.
“I’m glad you like it. I wasn’t sure for a minute if you liked holoparks.”
“Well I haven’t been to any but I have friends who tell me that it’s just as good as real parks and the Guvnurag who designed this must be very good.”
“Well all that meticulousness must pay off then.” They sat in silence for a bit taking in the scenery for a moment.
“How did you end up at a war front station if you were raised on your home planet?” Vanima asked.
“As you know I’m a trained psychologist certified in Vzk’tk and Rauwrhyr therapy. I was researching the effects of war on the psyche around the time the Dom Al war broke out and y’know I wasn’t gonna learn anything if I stayed at home so I went to one of the war front hospitals since they’re guarded under the combat laws and interviewed soldiers about their experiences,” she answered.
“And you left that research to study John?”
“Well of course! There are hundreds of millions of other doctors researching the effects of war on soldiers but how many people get to study the psyche of a sapient deathworlder?”
“I’d guess around the same number of certified Corti zoologists.”
Hegan let out an uncontrollable trill of laughter while Vanima giggled quietly. Hegan collected herself before asking. “What kind of medicine do you specialise in?”
“I’m certified for Qinis and Celzi. I’m a general surgeon. I was thinking of specialising in gene grafting but surgery was a lot more fun.”
“Any reason why you went into medicine?”
Vanima once more nodded. “Yes, at first I wanted to go into medicine to sort of help people not become like me but the more I studied it the more I liked it so I decided to go into surgery. After that I met John and you know the rest.” She said, gesturing the general surroundings.
“Out of curiosity, what’s the strangest thing you learned about John?” Hegan asked.
“No doubt his immune system,”Vanima replied without hesitation. Hegan was caught off guard by the quick response.
“Why his immune system?”
“He has carnivorous cells.”
“What? How’s that possible?”
“I don’t know but his cells don’t try to disable the pathogen like ours it literally eats it and then kills itself to take it with him.” Hegan was horrified and fascinated by the fact at the same time.
“I suppose at the rate John’s cells reproduce it’s a pretty good system,” Vanima noted. With that disturbing fact killing the conversation they sat in silence, admiring the scenery.
“Today was rather fun,” Vanima said as she and Hegan rose to go home.
“I’m glad you thought so too. I was wondering if-” they were interrupted by Vanima’s coms ringing.
“Hello? Oh hi Regalo how was your day? Mhm. Oh that’s funny, anyway the code if 1337SP43K. The pleasure’s mine. See you soon.”
“What happened? Why did they need the ship code?”
“Apparently they locked themselves out and didn’t have the ship code written down,” Vanima giggled. Hegan trilled once more and they entered the ship. They entered the living room to find John sitting on the couch watching a rerun of The Mistress while Regalo was in the kitchen making dinner.
“Oh what’re those on the wall?” Vanima asked. Hegan looked up and saw two paintings. One was a snow covered mountain top with a forest and she couldn’t even begin to guess at what the second one could be. The second one were smears of varying shades of blue and yellow that Hegan found rather ugly.
“Those, my vertically gifted friend, are the painting Regalo and I made. Look at how good Regalo’s is!” John exclaimed pointing vaguely at them. Ah so Regalo painted the mountain.
“Which mountain is that Regalo? Is it a mountain on Gao?” Hegan asked. The human snorted in a failing effort to hold back his laughter as Regalo sheepishly replied
“No that one’s John’s. I painted the other one…” Vanima raised her hand to cover her embarrassment on Hegan’s part but the Rauwrhyr needed no assistance.
“Oh I’m really sorry Regalo! You’re painting’s good too! I uh… really like the colours?”
Regalo chittered in good humour as John spoke up.
“But yeah, I really like how he used the tones of and different shades to describe the different shades of feelings isn’t that right Regsy?” Regalo seemed to pause for a moment before replying.
“You are correct.”
Hegan looked at the painting once more and could see how the different shades of yellow could represent different types of happiness and how the varying shades of blue depict varying levels of calmness. When you look at it like that it’s not half bad. “I can see it now. Well done Regalo. I didn’t know you had it in you to paint like that,” Vanima praised as she nodded at the painting.
“Well, when inspiration seizes you… uh… it seizes you,” Regalo replied.
“Yeah, you should stick to painting,” John teased. Hegan joined John on the couch. The human laid an arm around her. Oh my stars it really does feel like lead pipes! Hegan shifted, evening out the weight distribution of the human’s arm down the length of her side rather than squarely on her collar bone. Much better. Vanima chose to sit in the arm chair.
“Y’know Regsy does the same thing when I put an arm around him,” John commented.
“Well yes John your arm feels like a lead pipe,” Vanima quipped as she set her com to holographic mode and pulled up a scan of John’s arm. “As you can see here, your arm has a lot of dense stuff which makes it heavy.”
“How scientific of you,” Regalo teased.
“In her defense I probably wouldn’t have gotten it if she was more scientific than that,” John retorted embarrassedly.
“Do humans not teach the young ones any sciences?” Hegan asked.
“We do, I just suck at it. A lot. The only science I was good at was astronomy and that’s just remembering all the constellations.” With that, John turned on the television and began watching a low budget knockoff of The Mistress called Mistresses Of the Large House.
“I found mention of this last night. We did it guys we found a show worse than The Mistress.” John joked
You strange being you.
Hegan was content in snuggling John. The human’s fast metabolism meant he felt like a living furnace. She didn’t mind though; she quite enjoyed the engulfing warmth. Today is good.
Vanima
Vanima was busy doing right ups for experiments to run on John’s gut flora. Most creatures had a symbiotic gut flora but John’s seemed to be particularly resilient to a lot of toxins that would’ve emptied a hundred Qinis of their bowls for the week. Thankfully she wasn’t testing John’s resistance to laxatives. Although I could dump laxatives in his food and see how his gut reacts and get more sample of the flora at the same time! No! You can’t catch me Corti thoughts.
Vanima was going to test regenerative medicines on the flora to see which would interfere the least with them like she did with the pain killers. It wouldn’t do to have him accidentally die of starvation. Deoxymethyldizapamine hasn’t affected it but it has some rather nasty side effects on the being… cloning is too expensive. Her mind then turned to a very new and experimental drug. It was currently undergoing sapient testing in hospitals. Creuzzir could work. She called up some of the published results from animal testing. Regenerates quickly using the being metabolism… oh no side effects? At all? I’ll have to buy some and test it when it comes on the market.
Vanima looked over to John and Hegan to find them asleep on the couch while some banal rip off played on the tv. She decided to get up and help Regalo in the kitchen. The Gaoian was busy stirring a pot of something when she arrived. “Are they sleeping?” He asked. Vanima nodded and Regalo in turn did the adorable duck nod. “Can you chop the Goro roots? Knives and chopping board are over there,” he whispered pointing a finger to the corner. Vanima once more nodded and began quietly and slowly chopping long red roots into thin slices. Vanima could now see why Regalo enjoyed cooking. There was a certain dull monotony that allowed her mind to wander whilst she slowly cut up the root. She thought back to Sefsek. Maybe I’ll go back one day. Not today but one day when I’m all done with travelling. She looked over to the Gaoian as he gingerly sprinkled something into the stew with the most adorable focus face. Regalo had a rather endearing habit of sticking out his tongue just a little bit whenever he turned his full attention to a task. She then turned to look at the snoozing duo on the couch. I’m not done with travelling.