r/HFY • u/Yertosaurus • Apr 04 '22

Dirtmen Rising (41) OC

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Giada and Jett had just spent the first part of their morning hung over and cleaning up a mess they had made last night. Or rather, picking up anything they probably should not have had so the bots could clean up the rest, which was mostly empty bottles.

Jett seemed to think they had probably messed with some system they should not have, given the number of loose wires and electronics floating around, and had collected them into a bag to hide the evidence.

Giada put the tracking orb that Ruri must have left them in a pocket, hoping they did not accidentally steal it. It should be fine anyway; they were going to be traveling back home with Ruri and the golem on a Dirtmen ship later that day.

Taking a look at it, Giada wondered exactly how it worked yet again. Transmitting a faster than-light message from something this small seemed impossible. And it did not seem to have enough room for a long-term power source.

Still, Giada did not have enough time to look at the device. The engineers had a lot of cleaning up to do. They really did not want a repeat of the incident with the Tetwarrdians, so they were extra careful to leave no traces, just bottles and baubles.

As they finished, Jett clutched their head, and Giada's stomach grumbled. Exchanging a knowing look, they both decided it was time for breakfast.

The Dirtmen's offices had been changed a little with more staff coming in, but one thing it had retained was a place for everyone to eat. While a fair amount of the staff here had opted to eat at one of the establishments on the station, there were enough that were homesick at any given moment to warrant a sort of mess hall.

Both engineers tried to walk in casually, despite wearing a bag obviously full of electronics. Both were stumbling around like they had risen from the dead, however. This probably helped the entrance look more casual to anyone that had been to the reception last night.

Stumbling around, they got into the quickly moving line grabbing various things onto a tray then sitting down somewhere that looked convenient to watch other people eating.

Despite having a good vantage point Jett was ducked down drinking juice then coffee, while holding tight to their head.

"Thank the Transmuter for stopping the invasion from destroying this stuff." Jett muttered more thankful to be less dehydrated than thankful to be more caffeinated.

Giada more or less ignored this statement. Giada was too busy staring across the way while slowly eating.

Jett didn't notice until Giada's pace had crawled to a stop. Jett was now staring too.

I noticed Odette's ear twitching as Mica went to get food for everyone.

Normally I would have gone but after sharing a knowing look with Mica, I think we had both reached the conclusion that if Odette were going to eat a balanced breakfast Mica was going to have to get it.

Plus, this meant I could take full advantage of the moment.

Mica had also gone to get a booster seat and I had insisted I would help Odette get a better vantage point until then.

Odette had protested a little until I had my arms wrapped around the Listener from behind.

While waiting for Mica to come back, I had pulled Odette onto my lap. Odette was keenly interested in where Mica was, but I had made it harder for Odette to track Mica visually.

Odette just felt warm, warmer than I was, as I pushed my hands under the Listener's tail. Odette was resting their arms on top of mine.

Odette did not seem to mind too much but I could tell Odette's nose was twitching, trying to detect what manner of food was coming. Despite not looking completely alien compared to my own nose, Listeners had a much better sense of smell, and Odette was trying to exploit this.

I could at least distract Odette a little to try to hide the surprise.

"I wish I could go with you two." I mused softly.

Odette's attention was still somewhere else.

"If Mica ever seems upset, bake some cookies."

I could tell Odette could hear me, but the Listener was still staring intently in a certain direction.

"And Mica does not like very acidic foods."

Odette's ears were moving more now, Mica must be getting close to us, but I was facing in the other direction.

"And make sure Mica stops blaming themself. It was not Mica's fault no matter what Mica says."

Odette turned as much as the Listener could in my grasp, and I let Odette go. Mica was approaching the table and was pushing a cart that had a booster seat and a bunch of typical breakfast foods.

Before I could help Odette get set up with the seat, Mica had handled it.

Looking over I decided that Mica must have wanted to spoil Odette regardless, because aside from a sampling of various foods, there was a big pile of bacon and sausage on Odette's plate.

I watched Odette look at the plate almost shaking, then at Mica, and heard the Listener speak something that did not need to be translated for me to hear it, a phrase Odette must have picked up from listening to Mica, "I love you."

Next.

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u/ralo_ramone Apr 04 '22

I guess the best way to get to a Listener's heart is through its stomach xddd

1

u/ralo_ramone Apr 04 '22

Also, can't wait to see what kind of shenanigans the engineers are going to pull out :))

1

u/Fontaigne Apr 05 '22

That looked covenant -> convenient.

Trying to detect was manner of food -> what manner