A Walk on the Edge, Part 2

Posted on Wed Dec 13th, 2023 @ 3:48am by Cadet First Class Pallas & Captain Callisi Verra

Mission: Memphis Island
Timeline: After "A Walk on the Edge, Part 1"
2039 words - 4.1 OF Standard Post Measure

Callisi was used to looks. She stopped caring about them recently.

Hand in hand, when not a more direct contact. A nudge, a smile, she could let herself just BE around her. Such a dream. She had found more connection here, afar, with an ali.....

She found someone, to be at peace with. To just BE. How long they stood at the cliff face, the rabbitess couldn't say. All that mattered was that she wasn't alone. The cliffside looked over the expanse, looked over the beach, saw the blue of the ocean. Something about this moment made her smile, then made her actually giggle.

"This place, reminds me of a deployment. Transporting two Dalacari R.A.D. shooters off of some paradise planet. Green beaches, beautiful water. Had about six hours to kill, so I'm there ankle deep in the most beautiful water I had seen till then, and they don't go anywhere NEAR the water. Turns out, Dalacari sink." she offered.

"Paradise." It was an apt word, one that Pallas hadn't fully understood despite all the holos she pored over growing up. Before this, the only world she had seen besides Ardana was Earth; her three years at the Academy and traveling with the other Outties during downtime had shown her a slice of what paradise could be. Memphis Island, too, was paradise. Clean air, beautiful water, yes, but more than that, freedom. Freedom from want and freedom from fear. But now, "paradise" took on another meaning for the cadet. She squeezed Callisi's hand and her eyes sparkled happily as she turned her eyes away from the crashing waves, for a moment, looking instead to her Ts'usugi companion. "Density of that type is uncommon among carbon-based sentient species that the Federation has encountered," Pallas mused. "In all four quadrants. Even the Founders in the Gamma Quadrant float. At least, when they want to, that is. Given the usual need of significant bodies of water that accompany evolution to the point of sentience, buoyancy tends to be an advantage. Any idea how they got that way?"

"Well, Dalacar is a higher gravity world than most. One and a third, by the measure. When we visit on leave we have to stick to the visitor centers where they normalize the gravity." she rolled her eye, "And before you ask, of COURSE we jumped the fences to see who could stand up in Dalacar Gravity the longest. I know it's murder on the knees, ankles, and hips but, well, we did it anyway." she smiled slightly. "They don't sink in their own oceans, just abroad. Think maybe that's a piece of it?"

Pallas kissed Callisi on the nose. "You are very cute when you do science, do you know that? I think you've figured it out. While higher gravity should make them lighter on other worlds, not heavier, it would also likely lead to them evolving with significantly higher body density and higher muscle mass." She thought about it for a moment longer. "Liquid water itself is the same everywhere, so the principles of buoyancy are, too. Whether one floats or sinks has to do either with other substances in the water--like salt--which makes the water denser, or the percentage of a person that is lighter than the body of water. My guess is that what you've witnessed is a combination of both: Dalcar's oceans are likely very dense, and the Dalcari probably are too. Body composition-wise, I mean. Not the other kind of 'dense.' Sometimes I worry about these universal translators..." She realized she was off on a rant, and giggled at herself, squeezing Callisi's hand again. "So how about you? In your story you were only ankle deep in the water. Do you not like to get wet?"

The cyclopean rabbitess looked cross-eyed at the nose kiss. As the explanation continued, Callisi followed as best she could. At the end, though, she actually giggled. A rare sight reserved, in theory, just for Pallas. "No no, I've seen Dalacari act incredibly dense, so it's all around accurate." she smiled, amused. "Oh, don't you get it confused, I *love* swimming. I have to be careful not to get too much water in the optic, and salt water HURTS..." she pointed out. "So I have to wear a mask before I really go under but, no. No I like the water." she offered, before her glance moved off of Pallas and over to the crashing waves beyond. "Visiting the beaches of worlds I visit is something we used to do before a drop."

"Beach dreams are common in the blink." she paused, "We never abandoned our Slower than Light technology, refining it further and further. Now we have a device called a Blink Drive that allows for an incredible burst of speed for a fraction of a second. First time you go through a Blink alone, say, as a Pilot... I guess the mind isn't used to travelling that fast. You see things. Usually, you see a beach. They say somewhere in the universe, there's your beach."

"Some say it's lucky to find your beach. Others say that the beach you see is the beach you'll never return from." she offered. "I prefer the former."

"The latter does not sound like it would be the worst thing, though. If you had the right company, perhaps?" Pallas thought aloud, then blushed. "That was really too much. Sometimes I can be too much. Comes with reading too many books, I think."

The response Pallas received was a gentle squeeze of her hand, and a soft smile, "No. No I think that's just fine. I don't know if I could really just settle down. I.." she paused, thinking, "I don't know if I COULD settle down. I'd always want to just.... go. Be there." she offered, "And, you now, with the right company, anywhere would be fine."

"Too much?" she asked as well, "This is, well, this is new for me. Every step I take, we take, I'm drawing the map as I go."

"Sort of like cartography?" Pallas joked. "I was never much for stellar cartography at the Academy. Seemed like the idea of it was more fun than the practice. Now xenoarchaelogy... that is 'map-drawing' that I can get behind. When we were very young, my siblings and I would run around the ruined neighborhoods of the city. Most of my siblings were playing 'Rebels versus Cloud Minders,' the typical game, but Herak and I would draw our own charcoal maps. Ended up with quite a collection." She looked wistful, as she took in the vista.

Callisi gave Pallas a smirk, "Very much like cartography." she offered with that smile. "I'm not allowed to share any of the maps from home, but maybe one of these days I can show you some approved pictures of the regions." she continued. "My younger brother and I got along well enough. I would be encouraged to bring him with me while I was young, and I kept an e... I watched over him when I was old enough to do so to father's satisfaction."

"The game we played when we were kids was "Emperor". One of us would pretend to be the Emperor, and everyone else was a person of the land. The people would take turns asking permission to approach, and the Emperor would allow or deny the request. 'Oh Emperor, may I take three big steps forward?' and when someone got within arm's reach of the Emperor, the Emperor would step down and there would be a new Emperor. They'd declare one new law we all had to follow, and then play would reset." she explained. A children's game about succession.

"I do have some pictures of us." a pause, "I have a picture of mother somewhere in the index." there was a sadness to her tone there.

It was a tone that Pallas recognized, and she shared in the pause and allowed it to sit as it needed to. After a time had passed and a gust of wind cooled the air around them--which had been getting somewhat hot under the cloudless sky--the cadet took Callisi's hand in her own. "Is it hard to talk about?" she asked.

A gentle squeeze, "It is, a bit, but that just means it's important." she offered, a soft smile on her features. It hurt to talk about, but she weathered the hurt well. She'd seen so much. "I have so few memories of her. Archived videos, a photo. She.." a deep breath. "I'd like to think she'd like you." Callisi looked over to Pallas, a shine to her eye. No, just tears.

"Father? I think he'll talk your ears off." she warned, amused. The moment had passed. The tension left the rabbitess' shoulders.

"Even the more so because of how small my ears are?" Pallas giggled at her own bad joke. " I would love to meet your father, if that is ever possible. To meet the man who helped turn you into who you are." She looked at Callisi's eye with care. "And I would have loved to meet your mother." She bit her lip, not sure of what else to say. After a moment, she began again, "Lykos and Ourania, my parents, you would be very welcome in their home. My mother is a big fan of pilots. She would always point out the different Federation and Ardanan shuttlecraft to us children, explaining to us how they worked, the different engine and propulsion types. I think she wanted us to know that we could fly, too. I am not sure if she knew she was going to turn me into a grease monkey, though," Pallas laughed.

Callisi joined in the giggle of the moment. She allowed herself to be carefree, to be vulnerable around Pallas. "I'll ask the Captain if I can use some Buoy rations to make a call. He speaks maybe seven words of Federation standard, though. Hello, Goodbye, How are you. The absolute basics. My brother knows more, because they started to teach it in school. There's a whole politic about that. Some feel we're losing our cultural identity. Others feel we're becoming a part of something bigger. Personally, I think in order to grow beyond our borders, we need to adapt. We can't head towards the future walking backwards." she cited, maybe a quote.

"I very much would like to meet your parents. I just hope they don't mind the ears." she returned the joke, running a free hand along the length of one of her long floppers.

"They have been eased into it. Already dealt with Vulcans," Pallas grinned. "My tutor, Lieutenant Suvol, became a frequent visitor at our home. She was in the Engineering Corps and I pestered her for a year before she gave in and started giving me reading materials and learning modules. Vulcan ears are not quite as big as yours, but perhaps given how well they took to the Lieutenant, they will assume that the larger the ears, the better the person," she laughed with ease. "I recall from my course study that there was an issue with the Universal Translator not working with the Ts'usugi language at first. Is that still the case? If so, I would not mind trying to learn, if that is physically possible for an Ardanan."

"There's been some progress in the translation systems. Our cultural division and Starfleet diplomatic corps work well together." she started, "It's the first steps to a true alliance: Communication." she paused, and then smirked, "And learning the language just needs dedication and patience, and considering where we are, now, I'm certain you have those two qualities." the rabbitess complimented with a soft glance over. "Though, they're right about the ears." she snickered.

Pallas leaned over and playfully pecked Callisi's ear. "I would not have it any other way. Shall we start now, then? How do I say, 'I could not imagine a better way to spend shoreleave than here with you?' in Ts'usugi?"

Callisi softly smiled at the ear-attention, and leaned in softly to press her forehead to Pallas'. Arms wrapped around to softly hold her close. "That one's easy....."