fandomhigh | BWI Airport Portalocity Lounge, Saturday Morning

One moment, there was nothing in the lounge except seating, banners, balloons, and a sign reading 'FANDOM HIGH'. The next moment, a swirl of a portal opened up and a small, white cat-like creature hopped out of it with a flirt of his tail. The concept of interplanetary travel was not new to Kyubey and he was mostly of the opinion that it just made sense that interdimensional travel was not much different, aside from the scale.

With a jump up onto a nearby bench, Kyubey glanced around at the airport—it looked much the same as any human airport that he'd seen--before settling down, head resting on his paws.

He was early, as he'd meant to be, which meant he was the first one here. Good, good. He'd get a chance to see the quality of the new students before gauging the potential of the current ones. The lure of so much energy, just waiting to be harvested… well, he couldn't be careless.

With a twitch of his ears at that thought, Kyubey waited.

Watched.

[~~Please to be waiting for the~~ OCD is up, up, and away!]

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"Student?" Tisarwat blinked a little, surprised that the little creature she'd assumed was just someone's pet or perhaps some wild animal rummaging around the Station (she wouldn't be at all surprised to discover that it would be infested with some sort of vermin, but at least this vermin was cute?) began to talk to her. So not a pet at all, or, if it was, an intelligent one capable of speech.

Interesting.

"No," she said, "I already finished my Aptitudes." Just a few months ago, in fact, though, with everything she'd been through in those months, it felt like years ago. Thousands of them, in fact.

"Is the place where this shuttle is going a school?"

And with that, she had to tamp down a sudden sting of panic rising from her gut, putting to mind words like re-education. But Fleet Captain wouldn't do that to her! Would she? After everything she'd done for her?

But then again, if Tisarwat had already served her purpose, and all that remained was...her..perhaps she had simply been deemed...obsolete.

Maybe re-education really was what was best for her now...

With a tilt of his head, Kyubey studied that answer, and the one who gave it, with an unblinking red-eyed stare.

"Yes," he said cheerfully. "Fandom High School! It is a place for students from all sorts of circumstances. Though I understand there's a town attached to the school, so perhaps you'll be there to work instead, if you're… really not a student."

Tisarwat didn't even know what she was anymore.

And this thing was...cute, yes, but also creepy, she decided, that blank stare matched with that cheerful voice. She shifted uncomfortably where she sat, hiding it by making it seem like she was just adjusting the fish in her lap.

"I guess I'll find out when I get there," she said. "What's your name?"

Kyubey shrugged his tail and daintily leaped down off his bench to pad over to sit at her feet, looking up.

"It's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Kyubey," he said politely. "What's your name?"

Cute, but creepy, but...polite. There was at least that, and Tisarwat smiled a little, nodding her head.

"Tisarwat," she offered. "It's a pleasure to meet you, too, Kyubey. Are you from this planet?"

Aatr's tits, she didn't even know what planet this even was. But she didn't want to seem stupid by asking, and it seemed impolite to just ask outright exactly what Kuybey was.

It wasn't like he could help not blinking!

Kyubey tilted his head at that question.

"I'm not," he said easily. "From that question, I would guess you're not either?"

"You guess right." Tisarwat smiled at that, appreciating the insight involved in turning the question back around at her. And, in a moment, decided to take the risk she had previously avoided.

"Honestly," The smile went a little sheepish, and she made a small gesture, "I'm not even sure what planet this is."

She didn't recognize it. At all. Which was equal parts disturbing and exhilarating.

"The locals have very limited space travel," he shared, since it was true. "As such, they refer to this planet simply as 'Earth' and their sun and solar system as the Sun and the Solar System."

Which was unlikely to help Tisarwat out all that much.

"They call this galaxy the Milky Way," he added, "and this planet is the third planet from their sun."

On the contrary, this was all...incredibly helpful. And...terribly interesting. Fascinating. Tisarwat leaned forward, careful of the fish.

It wasn't every day someone came across a whole galaxy that even the Lord of the Radch had never even heard of, after all.

"You're so knowledgable." Tisarwat's smile was grateful. "How many planets in this system? Any of particular interest?"

He was knowledgeable!

"That depends on what interests you," Kyubey said, doing a loop around one of her ankles and then hopping up to sit one seat over from her, wrapping his tail around his feet.

"There are officially eight planets in this solar system though public opinion is mixed on that as, until quite recently, there were nine instead--one was reclassified."

A conflict of opinion regarding classification? Tisarwat's head tilted as Kyubey respositioned himself.

"I can't imagine the citizens of the entity in question were very pleased about that," she mused.

"Oh, no," Kyubey said, with a shake of his head that had his ears flopping about around him. "No other planet in this system has citizenry."

There was a significant pause from Tisarwat; the fish seemed to burble slightly.

"Is this by choice," she asked, "or happenstance?"

Kyubey fixed his eyes on the fish.

"I don't follow?" he said sounding politely confused.

Also: fish.

Tisarwat's lilac eyes follow Kyubey's red.

"This fish has already been eaten once," she informed him. "I think she prefers this state.

"And what I mean to ask is, why only this planet? What disqualifies the others from citizenry?"

BWI Airport Portalocity Lounge, Saturday Morning

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