She breathed in, sucking in the warmth from the steel tube caught between her lips. Leaning back against the wicker chair she’d placed in the empty balcony, Day looked over the brightly lit city outside her dorm room’s large window. The different hues of gold and silver illuminated the shadows of the people milling by while a mauve sky climbed the horizon.
She rolled her shoulders as she shifted her limp body. Pulling away the thin tube, she puffed out a twisting phantom. The orange light from the tip of her e’lba, the thin tube that encased the ground fragrant herb at the end, created rough shadows against the backwall.
A saccharine smile slowly faded into existence as she plopped her feet over a girthy planter, the e’lba’s bitter minty taste filling her chest. It's warmth filling her chest. Despite the lack of an acrid cooling bite, this was comforting to her, centering.
[Miss]
A small round head hovered to her side, it’s top display casting a warm pink light on the dark balcony and its only occupant.
“Yeah?” She breathed in again.
[You have a call request.] Its small arms raised, offering the thin jadeite colored holo-band. The band now vibrated ever so lightly.
“Oh,” she interspersed between an exhaled breath. The smoke dancing in the dim light of the room. She flipped the e’lba off in her hand. Bare feet hit the floor as she stood with a stretch, leaning over the tiny robot next to her. In the dark, she felt around for the groove above the balcony’s doorway. When she finally wedged the e’lba securely, she picked up the still vibrating bracelet.
With a few quick nudges, a large holo-screen hovered above the coffee table.
“Is the cloaking device on?” A soft yet rugged voice came through the intruding holo-screen. Across the screen, an older man’s face came to life. There must have been a time he’d been handsome, she mused. The years may not have been enough to wear away the intelligent eyes nor the noble upbringing of this man. Had it not been for the large scar that split his face into two form the brow, she was sure that he’d be more well-received.
“Yeah,” she replied dryly as she pulled her long dark hair from the confines of the towel, she’d threw on earlier. She ran her fingers over it, a jewel on her nail caught on one of the loose strands.
“Status report?” Curt. Typical.
“It went well.” She sat on a chaise she’d purchased that afternoon, legs crossing in her lap, as she begun to run a bejeweled brush through her hair.
“And Francesc?”
“He lives in the same dorm as Silas Blakely.”
The older man nodded in understanding.
Day looked up at the call screen floating just above a set of fine books she’d brought with her. They were things an old man from one of the rural Republic stars she’d visited had given her after her foray deep into their community. He’d had wrapped it up in a tanned hide made from a creature they’d had preying on their villages for ages. It was an important gift, one that, in the hands of others, would have made them wealthy beyond measure or powerful beyond their imagination. Such a significant artefact laid strewn over the pearlescent coffee table of a twenty-something university student used to hold down a piece of a broken-up catalogue.
“How is my daddy?” She threw away her pink towel at the pearl-colored bot she had brought with her. It’s soft body peeking from behind the adjacent leather sofa. Alfred reached up its tiny arms to catch the falling towel. It’s top display adopting a character image: ┌( ಠ_ಠ)┘.
“He is well. Listless but going about his day as usual.”
Alfred caught it. (≧◡≦) Pulling the slightly damp towel to his chest, the little bot hovered above the ground a little and twirled.
There wasn’t much to say to her uncle, she’d thought beckoning her little bot to her side. It rushed to her, the towel dragging on the ground. She could not help but rub its head helplessly. Kawaii is justice.
Day traced out a simple star on its forehead as a silent sign of praise. Alfred adopted one of its cutest faces (▰˘◡˘▰) before running away to the utility hub and putting away the towel.
“That’s good.”
“Miss,” the older voice began,” you have to stick to the pla –”
“I know. You do not need to nag me, uncle. I am not a child.”
The older man considered his miss, the tiredness in her eyes were obvious despite how it hid behind those indifferent purple eyes. “No, you’re not.”
She rocked her body back. “I can get it done faster.”
“Speed is not the issue. Miss, it must be done right.”
“It will.” She bit back at him, eyes narrowing at the accusation.
The older man sighed, the silence flooding the room once again. “I mean no offence, miss. I was just hoping to remind you to be safe, and not make any unnecessary sacrifices.”
“Mhm, grace.”
Soren, on the other end of the line, took in a deep breath before echoing the platitude. The call ended.
Day allowed her body to fall back into the plush chaise, dangling her feet over the edge. The overhead synthCrystal displayed the sky that blanketed her home planet, the three minor moons arranged in a neat row above her head. It gave her comfort knowing that she’d still be able to see them rise and fall in this strange hostile place.
It was only eight thirty-three. It was so early to be cooped up, yet she hoped that sleep could take her sooner. It wasn’t like she could head outside and dance the night away as she usually did until the early dawn. Ceski should also be resting now. She hoped, as she did for herself, that he would be able to sleep.
Turning over, the looked at the busy little bot hovering all around the room. She’d asked her father to make it cute and soft. Looking at its pearl wrapped body and the lively little faces it was making; it lifted her spirits after that depressing call. She’d wished he was simply that, a little cute household bot who could only do chores and make cute little faced. She didn’t want to have to use him for anything else. No one wanted to be used as a weapon even if they were born for it. No one deserved to be used like that. No one.
[Does miss want huggie?]
“No, miss, doesn’t want huggie.”
[But current analysis of owner’s mood registers huggie protocol standards.]
The old mad had such sick hobbies. “No, Alfred, miss doesn’t want huggie.”
The little bot tilted its head to the side. [Master said need and want are different. Huggie protocol is needs-based.]
Day chuckled, knowing she couldn’t win against the old man not even through the little bot he’d put by her side. She nodded as she rubs the little pink bot on its head. “Okay. Alfred, engage huggie protocol.”
[Right away, miss!] The little bot whirred into overdrive, dodging into the closet and pulling out a hulking mass of synthetic down, fiber, and faux fur. It was a stuffed Rorchan of the water planet LX-233. In real life, it had hard pincers, a thick shell covered body, and little feelers on the tip of its mouth. It walked around with little legs and, in adulthood, stood to be the heigh of three men. It was aggressive and very deadly even to an experienced hunter.
When she went on a trip to hunt another aquatic beast, the Tlel’t’an, she had happened to come across a humongous Rorchan that nearly toppled their whole ship. It was a vibrant scarlet with blue and gray speckles; in the light of the single dim sun of the planet, it’s every move was followed by the crystalline glow of its shell. It was so stinking cute that Day’s heart had stopped when it fell into her line of sight.
She did not think twice to ask her father for a stuffed miniature Rorchan. Her father, after besting the beast with a military grade mecha and three large missiles, did not even blink when he sent pictures of the beast to one of his assistants. Upon their return, Rorchan shell in tow, they were met with seven little stuffed Rorchan for her to hold. To this day, there was not one ship in their retinue that did not have a huggie protocol.
Day laid on her back with her legs were wrapped around it as she held it in her arms. She rocked her body side to side mindlessly. Tomorrow was the first day of university. She would have to enter a whole new environment, a new battle. Thinking about it like that pumped her up. Plans be damned, she thought as she resolved herself to living and acting on her own.
“We only fucking live twice, anyway.”
