Man, you look just like I feel [Open]

[meat_mooks]

Despite the uproar that had taken place only a day earlier, it was all quiet at the Susono Inn. Well... mostly quiet, anyway. It was home to some of the most stubborn crew members on the ship, almost all of whom had gotten involved in the brawl with the Kessek.

Allenby's arm had been broken. Simon had taken a hard one directly to the ribs. Zouichi would probably take a week to get back to real fighting form.

And Howard... well, it would probably take Howard a while to recover from what had happened.

[Visitors welcome!]

Comments

[on_errantry]

Rhiow had a weakness for scritches. It was the worst-kept secret on the ship, but she wouldn't tell anyone about Howard's.

"You're more important than you think, because the Daligig tried to make an example of you and underestimated how many friends you have. I'm not sure we can stop those people on the crew who care about you from retaliating - but if we don't, we risk everyone's life, and now we know that we risk Stacy, too. I'd like to think that on our best day we're a match for the Kessek on board, but the Daligig have direct access to Stacy's brain. I'm afraid they'd reprogram her if she ever stood up for one of us again."

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

"There was going to be retaliation anyway. The holograph memories Sakura showed everyone in the Sensoriums were the tipping point. Punishment just accelerated it."

Howard bites the corner of his lip, trying to get his thoughts straight enough to think about anything big picture when his mind keeps getting sucked back to hanging up there, waiting for Punishment. "Has anyone tried talking to Stacy about it? I always just assumed she was our enemy, so..."

So it's still hard to believe she intervened.

[on_errantry]

"What's stopping them from doing to us what they did to the last crew?" Rhiow asked, looking up at him with her ears laid out to the side. "And what do we do if we overcome this small party and they come back with a fleet? They believe Sshe-ta's attitude. We can use that. If your friends aren't successful and get captured, we need to be able to stop them from inflicting Punishment. Maybe if they believe we're willing to lock up our own..."

It was a cautious introduction of a very risky plan. "We weren't sure if we could trust Stacy until now, and we need to find somewhere we can talk to her without worrying about being overheard."

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

"You want them to transfer all the governing power over to us." Howard squints a bit, staring at the wall. It rings a bell, something he was talking about with Tarrant. "It could work. Leon thought it could, and he was the one babysitting the Daligig the most."

Then again, he also got repodded. Howard glances over at the bruises on his wrist from being suspended by tentacles.

"Could you send Programming and Neuropathy to talk to her directly?"

[on_errantry]

"I think they're worried about a shipwide rebellion. I think they also believe there are only a handful of ringleaders, and that if those are removed the rest of us will fall in line. They're arrogant and the believe they know the best course of action for us. If we show them that we agree, by putting the 'troublemakers' in the brig and then requesting an assignment as opposed to demanding control..." Rhiow shrugged her tail. "They'll repod all of you, or worse, if we don't do something to protect you first."

She licked her whiskers, thinking. "It could work. It would have to be some time when the Daligig weren't working on repairs, since that part of the ship was very damaged."

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

"I didn't ask for this." An obvious statement, if a whiny one. The idea that he's in need of special protection because someone, at some point, decided he's important rankles. "So you want to put on a show of brigging some of us to get favor with the Daligig. You're going to need a bigger show than that riot at Punishment, because they already feel like they've dealt with that."

He frowns. "I wouldn't know. I'm no good with computers."

[on_errantry]

"None of us asked for this," Rhiow said gently, butting her head against his hand. "We're trying to make sure we all come out the other side alive and together." She put her whiskers forward. "I'm sure we'll have something bigger than that little skirmish soon enough. There are a lot of angry people on board right now."

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

He keeps petting her head. Emergency Rations, as if jealous, curls up by his feet.

"You think it'll work? Nobody trusts the Council as is. You're going to have to run a campaign of information to get everyone to go along and not just fire back at you."

[on_errantry]

"We can't keep using the omnicomms until they're secure," Rhiow said. "I have a very important cover to maintain, and so does Sshe-ta. We'd need to meet in person and in a true blind spot to present this to everyone. Tell the Farseer the same - no more communication over the network until we have a way to lock the comms down."

Rhiow twitched one of her ears, mulling over the problem of trust and transparency with the Daligig on board. "I want to make sure that when this boils over, nobody dies and nobody gets Punishment."

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

"You can talk to Space Racist yourself. It's not like I've got special privileges telling her what to do just because she's dating my friend. And that's literally the stuff we communicate about. I'm not organizing a revolution behind your back or anything, and I've already told you that." Regardless of how cranky he is, he continues to pet Rhiow.

[on_errantry]

"I only ask you to tell her because it's more likely you'll see her first," Rhiow said dryly, with an expression Howard would recognize from his own cats. "I missed the meeting on the planet because I was sure I was about to make a breakthrough following the Daligig - I have no idea when and where you're meeting next."

Discussions were no reason to stop good scritches. Rhiow was thankful Howard realized that.

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

"I don't know her. I didn't go to any meetings on the planet because I thought I'd be out of here. I'm not organizing anything, and if you think I have any insider knowledge as to when we're meeting next, if there even is a 'we', I don't have it." He turns his head so he's facedown in the pillow.

[on_errantry]

Rhiow took a deep breath and let it out in a long sigh, suddenly reminded very much of Arhu. "I'm sorry," she said again. "I forget that not everyone here volunteered their lives to this sort of thing. The People are somewhat used to being uprooted suddenly at the will of others."

She valued the partnership between cats and humans, but sometimes the humans were terrible. Sometimes cats were terrible, but they generally weren't big enough to do the humans any harm. "I think this must be what it would be like if the People one day decided you ehhif needed to go. Something like that wouldn't last long."

You saw...NOTHING.

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

He turns his head. "I'm not a revolutionary. I'm just a kid who's going to lay hella low when everyone else decides to do this thing." Then it's back to sucking on the pillow.

Well, that's just fitting. In his more self-pitying moments Howard gets all worked up about how just wanted to be normal, live a normal life, go to and skip school and get a stupid job when he grew up. He's far too used to being uprooted suddenly by now, but that doesn't mean he wants to play along.

"Hff fgg ff ehfff?" Howard says into the pillow, before turning his head to reiterate, "the fuck is ehhif?"

Right. Nothing at all.

[on_errantry]

"Our word for you," Rhiow said. She tucked her head down onto her paws and simply laid next to him, not demanding any more attention. "I know what your word for us is, I just can't pronounce it. The consonants are impossible."

She sighed a little, closing her eyes. "All my life I've been very supportive of the symbiotic relationship between our two species. Even if we're good for each other though, ehhif take... liberties with the People that I can't really explain. I can imagine how you feel - completely powerless to make your own decisions about your own life. I know how that is very intimately."

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

"Must be the teeth and the scratchy tongue." Howard sighs and contorts his mouth into a contemplative expression. He hasn't considered how Rhiow might know about such things, but then again, being sensitive to others has never been a strength of his and he's not about to start now. Not when there's selfish teen angst to get in.

"Sorry. But you've got the same rights as everyone else here."

[on_errantry]

"I know, and I'm very grateful for that. I want to see that continue for everyone on board. You included. You want to leave - what you want is to go home, I know, but I'm not even sure I believe what they told us about restoring our universes anymore. That would be a very large timeslide and getting it to take would need a lot more energy than this ship can provide."

She shook herself - now was not the time to get into a theoretical discussion about how it might be done. "Anyway, what I'm saying is that once we're successful, if you want to be dropped off on the nearest friendly planet I will do my best to make that happen for you. But you are useful to us, whether you like it or not, and we would appreciate what help you can give in the meantime. After you've rested a while, of course."

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

"Nuh uh. I'm not going home. You can't make me go home." There's an edge of panic in his voice, which he tries to temper. "The nearest friendly planet would be way better. Not all of us want to bring our worlds back. Not all of us think that's smart or even..."

He pauses from petting Rhiow as he looks for the right word. "...Or even merciful."

He sighs and pets her again. It's a strange part of growing up, learning to consider factors beyond yourself. At first he didn't talk about leaving the worlds to die because he didn't want people angry at him, and he didn't want to bring his world back because that would mean he'd have to live there again. Now it's more complicated - now he doesn't want to do those things for the same reasons, but also because how fair is it to condemn a multiverse because of one awful planet? How fair is it to bring a planet of suffering children back just so they can die all over?

How awful is it to hope, deeply and sincerely and honestly, that there is no way to restore the universes?

"Anyway, there's nothing I do that everyone on this ship couldn't do if they pulled their weight. But yeah, I'll help. I mean, in secret. I'm not going to paint a target on my head while the Daligig are still on the ship. I don't got your form of security."

[on_errantry]

"I won't make you do anything," Rhiow said quickly, her ears going back at the strength of his reaction. Now he definitely reminded her of Arhu, and she felt a surge of anger at the unjustifiable cruelty of the universe. The Lone One at work, as always. "If you ever need it - and I mean if you ever even think that someone is coming to get you - call me on the comms, and I will come and get you out of there. I can be there instantly."

She's not naive enough to think that Howard won't be watched, after this. Of course he'll be watched. She wants to make sure that he's safe.

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

"No offense, but I've got people who I'd put my life in their hands with way before I'd go to yours. Er, paws." Ignoring the tortured grammar of that sentence, Howard frowns. "But I'll keep it in mind. Thanks."

[on_errantry]

"The offer stands," Rhiow said, her whiskers twitching in an effort not to break into a feline smile. "Any time. I'll leave you to get some rest now - I think the other residents would like their den back."

She flicked her tail over at Howard's two cats. One of them was glaring at her like they'd like to take strips out of her ears.