I sense a disturbance... (OPEN TO ALL)

[Anonymous]

Tetroneaque was busy again with one of his inventions.  This time the Empire had desired the creation of a new mode of transportation.  Since their development on faster than light travel was barely creeping along, they decided alternate methods for high speed travel were needed.  Thus, once again they turned ( albeit reluctantly ) to Tetroneaque.

The little kitsune scientist tinkered with his various gizmos and gadgets.  It looked like some laboratory out of a bad science fiction monster movie, with various objects seemingly having no function.  However among all this chaos the little purple furred kitsune went about quickly.  He tweaked one device and then another.  Everything in the room seemed to be connected to a huge engine like device in the center of the spacious room.  Various cables and wires connected everything.  There was no other life in the room besides Tetroneaque, as no one would volunteer to work with him and he desired no assistants that might get in his way.  All in all it worked out fine for him.  The government paid him well, furnished him with a lab and all the resources he could ever want, and left him alone to do as he pleased with his free time.  In exchange he developed weapons and other useful technology for them.

"Anther few twists here..."  He commented to himself.  He had taken to speaking out loud, even though there was no one else within miles.  Sometimes he simply liked to hear his own voice.

"That should do it."  He declared with satisfaction.  "Now for the test run!"  His tone was nothing short of gleeful.  He quickly hurried across the room and grabbed a small robotic creature that resembled a ten legged spider with a large red light on top of it.  He activated the tracking drone and placed it in the massive device in the center of the room.  He slammed shut the opening and went over to the control console and began to type away.

The machine whirled to life, the lights dimmed, a sound like thunder, then the machine went silent again and everything was normal once more.

Tetroneaque opened the device and the drone was gone!  He hurried back to the console and checked the tracking coordinates.  To his delight it seemed the tracking drone was still whole and now was across the continent at another government facility!

"SUCCESS!!!"  He cried and jumped with joy.  He did a little dance, almost tripping over his own feet he was so happy.

"At last it seems the matter transporter is successful!  I can send any object anywhere I want with this thing.  I can smell that big fat raise already."  He declared.  Then a thought came to his mind.

"Hmmm... I can send a little drone across the continent with such this facilities' generators.  I wonder where I could send one if I used more energy."

He wasn't about to theorize about it when he could simply test his device again.  He grabbed another drone, activated it, then tossed it into the matter transporter.  He went to the console and began to channel the lab's power into the device, then using his access from the government, diverted the nearest city's power all into his lab.  The entire facility began to grow dim as it fed all the energy into the device, and the city nearest the lab experienced a black out.

However everything started to fall apart after that.  Sirens and alarms began to blare, warnings going off across the facility.  Tetroneaque tried to shut down the power and abort the experiment, but it was already too late.  He had no control anymore!  The entire place started to shake and the matter transporter was glowing so bright it hurt to look in it's direction.  Tetroneaque shielded his eyes and curled into a ball, petrified with terror now.  Never had any of his experiments gone quite so far wrong.  His sensitive ears were ringing and he thought he hear something like metal tearing, followed by a near deafening pop.

Then almost as quickly as it had started, everything stopped.  The lights were all off now, with only the dim emergency lights giving off a glow.  Tetroneaque was still shaking in terror down on the floor, but slowly uncurled and stood up.  He was panting.

"Okay... now let's see where that drone ended up."  He stated matter of factly, wanting to see the results of his last test even if it had damn near killed him.

He stared at the monitor a few moments.  The readings didn't make any sense.  Apparently the drone was still in the same spot.  He went over to his machine and opened it up, but it was empty.

"What the blazes?  Something is wrong...."  He stated and checked the readout again.  Then a third time.  Then a cold chill went down his spine.  Instead of checking where the tracking drone was he decided to see where his lab was.

"Oh no..."  His heart sank.  His own location was nowhere on the maps, or even any star chart.  As far as he could tell, he and a sizable chunk of his lab where clear gone from the planet.  He wasn't even in his own galaxy anymore!

He instinctively tried to fire up his machine again to reverse the experiment, but no sooner had he tried that the machine simply melted.  He danced away from the puddle of molten metal, which cooled more rapidly than he would have thought possible.  His machine was gone, and he had no replacement parts to rebuild it.  In fact, near everything on the matter transporter had been custom built to his specifications.  He was stuck where ever he now was.

He decided to activate the external cameras of his lab, as well as the weather sensors and waited for them to boot up.  The power surge he had inflicted on his own lab was still taking some time to recover from and what systems were left were sluggish.  Soon enough though he was greeted not with the lush river valley his lab had been situated in, but a desert like wasteland with a different colored sun above it.

"Well... I guess this makes me the first kitsune to explore another planet."  He said with a chuckle.  He waited for the sensors to indicate the climate outside, or if there was even an atmosphere for him to breathe in.  He was glad that he had designed his lab to be airtight as he waited.

[Anonymous]

Svindri, fed up with the noise and bustle around her in Tynova, decided to go for a walk. A long walk. Using the money from the temporary job as a waitress she'd gotten she bought a pack, food, water and a few more things to shelter her from Mars' harsh atmosphere. Once she was certain that her body could withstand the environment she trekked to the gates of the city and left.

Walking was an easy thing for her as whenever a muscle got tired or sore she replaced it with another. The replacements weren't usually as efficient as the muscles meant to do the job of walking, but they meant she walked a long way in a day - a lot further than any human could. The Mars air was harsh and she welcomed it, breathing deeply as she felt the sand scour her insides. It was like using a rough towel when you really wanted to scrub yourself properly dry. The air humans breathed was soft and not refreshing like the sharp air over the Eir Ocean or as tasty as the air in the human-named 'Wastelands' back on Earth.

When all her leg muscles and arm muscles screamed at her (she'd walked on her hands for some time too) for rest she stopped for the night, making camp in a little pocket of greenery tucked in beside a cliff. The break from the noise of the city was peaceful to Svindri. Even she, who enjoyed bustly noises more than a lot of her kind, needed a break from the constant life sounds sometimes. Out here was the perfect solution. She could hear a lot of things around but they were all inanimate sounds, created by the wind hitting various textures and rock shifting. She slept.

Svindri spent many days like this, relaxing in an environment that would have killed many humans by now. Most of this territory was not terraformed yet and remained untouched by human influences. Svindri's skin-suit, bought to protect her flesh from the sandstorms protected her well and she needed no other protection, unlike most races.

She was ending her fifth day when she found she had no food or water left. Admonishing herself at her lack of foresight Svindri immediately sat down and entered a trance before she could panic. Breathing slowly she began to meditate and spread her mind as far as she could, probing for life forms which felt emotion.

About a mile to her right a confused being suddenly popped into her awareness. The confusion gradually changed to disappointment. Svindri didn't wait for any more emotions but got up and shook herself off and forced herself to begin walking in the direction of the being, keeping an emotional tie to them so she could be sure she was walking in the right direction.

When she reached the being she was surprised to find a small building sitting on a dune haphazardly, as though someone had dropped it from space. Looking up Svindri saw nothing in the sky. 'Why would I?' She thought to herself in amusement at her own silliness.

After a moment of apprehension she realised that if she didn't approach this building she might die out in the wasteland. The thought of slowly dying of thirst did not appeal to her and she loped up to what she thought was a door and banged on it.

"Let me in! I'm very thirsty! Please?"

She looked a right fright, with skin made orange and hair disappeared because of the skin suit she'd had to put over them. Her legs bent at strange angles under the knee so she could use the least sore muscles for standing and she snorted often, her little orange nostril flaps flaring.

[Anonymous]

Tetroneaque was pacing back and forth, trying to figure out what he should do.  The readouts indicated that the atmosphere was breathable... but only just.  It would likely kill him within hours if he simply went outside.  However, he had the prototype space suit he had been tinkering with still in his lab.  The reinforced exosuit.  He thanked his deity and whatever powers that be for it making the jump.  He had no doubt he could modify it a bit for his own use easily.

His food supplies and water though would only last a week tops, even though it was enough to feed a human family for three or four months easily.  Preliminary scans indicated no food or water sources within his scanners' effective radius, which meant he'd need to brave the outside world.  He was trying to think of the best way to lug all his supplies with him as he went exploring when his concentration was shattered by a very loud knocking on the metal blast doors to the outside.

He leaped toward his control console and forced the cameras to monitor that area.  Soon enough he saw a very strange creature on his screen.  It was orange and appeared totally hairless at first glance... and most disturbing of all was the complete lack of tails!

"What is that thing!?!"  He blurted out in horror, then taking a few calming breaths he thought things through a bit.

Ok, maybe this is simply one of the local inhabitants of this world.  I can't simply go judging them on looks alone... no matter how freakish they look.  This may be an excellent opportunity to try and communicate with an alien species.  But no need to take chances...  He thought to himself as he absently stroked one of his three large bushy tails.

He pressed a large button on his console, opening the blast door for the odd alien but keeping the next door closed.  It was an airlock of sorts, designed to decontaminate anyone and anything coming into his facility.  He waited for the alien to enter so that he might shut the blast door, give them a gentle spritzing of disinfectant, then admit them into the lab proper... under heavy scrutiny of his defense system though.  Small turrets came down from the ceiling, trained on the alien.

He activated the loud speaker system.

"Please come inside.  Don't try anything funny and no harm will come to you."  He said over the speakers then slapped a hand to his forehead as he realized the chances of the inhabitants of this planet speaking his language was slim to none.  In fact, his language sounded more like a series of barks, yips, and growls like a fox might make.

"You don't have an idea what I'm saying do you?"  He asked rhetorically, and then began pondering how he might communicate.  This had never occurred to him, as his home planet had a single, unified language.  Regardless, he left the main door open.

[Anonymous]

As Svindri stood in front of the big door-like things she wondered what the person inside was like. She had no preconceptions on who would build such a weird little building and then dump it in the middle of Mars though she really didn't think the person would be fully sane.

While she was asking herself the possible reasons for the sudden burst of horror the big doors in front of her slid open. With only a twinge of apprehension she walked forward, looking around in curiousity at the unfamiliar place. She spun as the doors shut behind her quietly and then coughed as she was suddenly sprayed with disinfectant. Once she realised what it was she inhaled deeply and smiled as she tasted the tang of an effective and well-scented disinfectant.

She noticed as turrets came down from the ceiling and bristled at them but didn't make any movement, even though the doors in front of her (she'd turned back around) were open. She was listening as carefully as she could with her ears plastered against her head. It didn't work very well. She hadn't had to hear anything out in the Wastelands and it had added to the silence to have her hearing diminished until it was like a human's.

A voice started speaking and she strained to hear. The voice was unlike any living being she'd heard before and it was dulled by the skin suit. Frowning, wanting to hear more of the speech, she opened her mouth and stiffened her fingers to rip the suit from the sides of her mouth, as that was the easiest place to get. Quickly, shaking her head to help rip the suit she pulled it off her head, showing her blue skin and releasing her skinny mane of pale green hair and almost green fur-covered cat-like ears. They moved of their own accord, doing their best to catch all of the barking, yipping noise.

It was soon finished and she sighed. Leaving the top of the skin suit to hang down from her neck she walked into the main room, not really noticing her surroundings as she pondered the language. Her mouth and vocal muscles were already reforming as they molded themselves to the shapes she thought might make the sounds. Clearing her throat in a higher pitch than she normally had, she then tried to copy the sentence the being (whom she hadn't even looked at yet) had said.

"You don't have an idea what I'm saying do you?"

It came out with a few off notes and immediately Svindri shut her mouth and frowned, tweaking the positions of a few tiny muscles. It was nearly right...she tried again twice and the second time it came out pitch perfect. Svindri smiled, please with herself. She had no idea what she'd said but she'd said it right at least.

Now that she'd figured the mouth and vocal chord configuration necessary for the being's language she looked up to see what she was mimicking. Seeing its appearance she squawked and staggered backwards, nearly falling over a small metal object which beeped at her angrily. Pulling a face at it she moved forwards again and looked at the strange thing again. Purple! Well. That was new. Svindri glanced down at her own blue skin, covered and made orange by the skin suit, and giggled. It took all sorts. And it had a tail too. No, three of them! Didn't they get in the way? Maybe they were prehensile, like monkey's tails.

"Errr, hello," she said tentatively, wondering if she could even speak properly with the new vocal chord arrangement. She could feel them flexing in ways they didn't normally (which didn't mean much to a Bellinese) and her voice squeaked and she suspected if she tried to go low she'd be mute, but it worked.

"Do you understand me?"

[Anonymous]

Tetroneaque was surprised to see that the alien wasn't really orange after all, but had some sort of skin hugging exosuit.  The blue skin was at least more close to what he thought of as normal, and the fur on her ears was a little more settling.  He still thought she looked funny, whatever she was... if she was indeed a she.  He thought she looked like a she anyway.

She made a noise that almost sounded like she was mimicking his last sentence.  His ears perked up at this.  She seemed to be preoccupied with something as she approached him, then she looked up at him and startled a bit.  He had to smile at that, apparently he looked as strange to her as she did to him.  She almost tripped over one of the tiny cleaning drones that scuttled about to keep the lab tidy, even in this new place.

He was about to hop down from the control area to try and communicate with her with hand signs or body language when she suddenly started to speak his language!

"Yes!  Yes I do understand you!"  He cried with glee as he bounded down the few steps to stand in front of her.  He didn't seem to be quite so cautious anymore.  The small turrets in the ceiling slid back up into their hiding places.  

She looked even more odd up close, and she was taller than him.  He didn't seem to mind though and was smiling.

"So you can speak my language, where did you learn it from?"  He asked, curiously.

"Oh but I'm being rude!  Allow me to introduce myself, I'm Tetroneaque Swiftpaw Tailchaser.  Would you like some refreshments first?"  He asked.  He idly wondered if she would be able to eat and drink the same items as he, and vice versa.

[Anonymous]

It seemed she'd gotten the sentence correct, based on what she'd heard so far. The pronunciation had probably been incorrect, but it had been good enough for the being to understand her.

Suddenly the being started speaking quickly and raced down towards her. It looked very short at such a close proximity and she decided to call him a male, because she couldn't see any protruding breasts. Her own breasts were rather flat, as Bellinese tended to be, but you could see them. Svindri couldn't see any on this being at all.

She couldn't catch most of what he said, either. He was speaking too fast and too excitably. She shook her head and quickly thought. "Slow," she said awkwardly, hoping she was saying the right thing. Having a perfect memory, adjustable vocal chords and being an empath made learning languages easier, but she still had to work hard at it.

Svindri did catch something about 'understand' and 'you' and she gathered he was trying to introduce himself or something, but the rapid speech which went in that sentence was too fast for her so she couldn't understand it.

"Uhhh, Tetro?"

It was a tentative stab at where she thought his name might have come in the introduction.

"Svindr. Svind."

The end of her name squeaked out as it was naturally too low for her new vocal chords to handle. Realising this, she shortened it to an acceptable level. She really had to get him talking more so she could take in more of what he said. Peering around him, she saw a control panel of some sort. Stepping past him she went up to it and pointed at it with an inquiring expression. Hopefully he'd get the idea.

[Anonymous]

Tetroneaque cocked his head to one side as he saw the somewhat confused expression on the alien's face.  She seemed to still be trying to grasp his language, though he thought just moments before that she was able to speak it easily.  His suspicions were confirmed when he heard her say the word 'slow'.

Oh!  I'm speaking too fast for her!  He suddenly realized.  He would have blushed with embarrassment if his race had been capable of blushing.

Despite his rapid and excited speech, she still seemed to grasp his name or at least the first part of his first name anyways.  He heard the word 'Svind' a few moments later after his own name, and realized she must be trying to introduce herself too!

"Svind.  Svind."  He said the name twice slowly, trying to wrap his tongue around the unusual pronunciation of an alien word.  The fact that he had such a hard time saying her name only made the fact that she spoke his language at all more impressive to him.  He was about to repeat what he had said earlier more slowly when she suddenly stepped past him and toward the control console.

He rushed up next to her, momentarily afraid she might press one of the buttons.  He was relieved when she only pointed at it with a curious expression on her face.

She must want a explanation for it.  Probably to help her learn my language better.  Well if it means we will be able to communicate more easily I'll tell her about everything in my lab if I have to!  He thought to himself.

"That is the laboratory's main control console.  It lets me monitor and direct most of the automated systems in the building."  He began, being careful to not speak too fast with his speech.

"Such as this area here,"  he pointed to one part of the console, "controls the outer security systems such as the surveillance cameras and outer door controls."

He began explaining each function in detail.  Every time he went over something he glanced toward Svind to be sure she understood his words, even if she didn't quite grasp what ever little thing on the console did.  He figured it would all be excellent practice to help her understand more and more of his own language.

[Anonymous]

Tetro repeated Svindri's name slowly, getting it right but obviously having trouble with it. Perhaps her language would be too difficult for him to speak at all?

After Tetro realised what she wanted he started talking and they walked around his lab, him chattering away and her nodding gravely, unconscious mind filing furiously and conscious mind working out the patterns and nuances of his speech. In a few more days she'd be able to discuss his whole lab fluently with him, but if conversation turned to any other avenue she'd be rather stuck.

Nagging thirst brought Svindri to a halt and she snorted a few times and looked at Tetro, wondering how to convey she needed a drink. Sign language probably worked best. Hopefully he drank the same way she did. Miming holding a glass and lifting it up to her mouth she tipped her head back and moved the muscles in her neck to simulate a human Adam's apple. She couldn't tell through Tetro's fur whether he had the same equipment but it was worth a try.

She hoped he would get the message. Her throat was feeling the after-effects of the drying wind. It hadn't hurt but Bellinese needed moisture too.

[Anonymous]

Tetroneaque was happily talking about the different functions of his lab, his three tails swishing back and forth happily behind him as he did so.  He wasn't sure if his new acquaintance was really learning all the little ins and outs of the lab, but he continued to talk about it.  He figured the more he talked, the easier it would be for her to understand him fully.  Svind seemed to have an incredible aptitude for learning speech.

He was about to show Svind his tools when she stopped and suddenly snorted a few times.  He paused and cocked a fuzzy eyebrow at her as she made an odd motion.  He wasn't quite sure what she wanted at first.  After a few moments he realized she must be thirsty!  It only took so long because his own race used much wider brimmed bowls instead of narrow glasses for drinking, due to their long muzzles.  Yet a race without such a trait would be easily able to drink from a narrower container.

"Oh!  Your thirsty!"  He declared.  Instead of going for anything fancy he decided that simple water would probably be best.  After all he didn't want to inadvertently poison his new friend.

"Follow me please."  He stated and lead the way toward the kitchen facility.  His soft soled boots making nary a noise on the metal floor.  He padded to another room, almost as large as the main room they had just left.  There were several large refrigerators, cupboards, ovens and other food storage and preparation devices in the room.  The kitchen looked like it could easily have enough food to feed a small army.

He went over to a cabinet and removed two large but shallow bowls.  He set them on the table and then fetched a pitcher of cold water from the refrigerator.  The kitsune filled both bowls and then placed the pitcher back where he got it, next to a great deal of other liquids of various colors and textures.

He picked up one bowl with both hands and lifted it to his mouth, drinking a rather large gulp.  He hadn't really noticed it till now, but all his talking had left him a bit parched as well.  After taking a long gulp he set his bowl back on the table and motioned toward the other one, indicating Svind should drink.

"Please, drink!"  He offered.  Then he wondered if she might be hungry as well.  Tetroneaque was starting to feel hungry, as he had missed his mid afternoon meal with his little incident and all.

"Are you hungry?"  He asked, not really sure what Svind might be able to eat, and even less sure of what might taste good to her.  He suddenly realized he had a lot to learn about dealing with aliens if he was ever going to fit in around here... where ever here was.

[Anonymous]

All the while as Tetro had been talking Svindri had been keeping one eye on his tails. They were very interesting and thought if they became comfortable enough with each other she might ask to touch them. It might be taboo in his culture so she'd had to tread carefully. They were very enticing though.

Once Tetro had realised what she needed he said something. She hoped it meant something along the lines of 'you're thirsty' because that was what she interpreted. If it was then she was on the right track. 'Thirsty' was just a guess given the context but she had recognised the sounds in 'you're'. Svindri grinned. She was doing well! She would make her mother, an expert linguist, proud.

Svindri followed Tetro's light step into a simply massive kitchen. Her eyes widened in disbelief as she took in all the food storage and preparation areas. Surely he must have a whole family here, then, if so much food was needed. She hadn't felt any more presences though and her sharp ears even when used to their full capacity could not hear any living being's noises other than theirs. Was it possible that all this food was for Tetro?

Of course! He would have brought all this food in preparation for a long trip and a landing where he could possibly not digest the native food. That made perfect sense. Once she could talk she'd ask him how long he'd been travelling and how long he'd planned to be.

Svindri watched with interest as the furry, fox-like male (she still hadn't had confirmation on gender) bustled about, fetching some drinks for her and him, pouring a clear liquid into two shallow bowls. Svindri puzzled about the shape of the vessels until she saw how Tetro used his. Ahh. The bowl was necessary for his muzzle's shape. She looked down at her bowl and sniffed the fluid. It looked like water and it had no smell. She'd never heard of any substance which was poisonous to the Bellinese so she shrugged and lifted the bowl to her lips carefully before putting it down again with a frown. This wasn't going to work. Her default human-like mouth was not going to hold all the water which would spill from the wide brim.

After a moment's thought and calculation she touched the skin around her mouth. How elastic was it? Smoothly she worked her muscles forward, testing to see how much of a 'muzzle' she could form. When she felt her skin start to get tight she stopped and felt her face with her hands. Her new mouth was not nearly as long as Tetro's but it would probably work. She lifted up the bowl and tried drinking again. This time it worked and she was glad. She set down the bowl after drinking most of the liquid. It had been water, or else some other thing which tasted like water did. Either way it hadn't hurt her.

She brought her muscles back in quickly and her face settled back into its normal shape. Then it occurred to her that Tetro probably wouldn't have seen anyone like her before and she glanced at him. Was he okay with this?

Svindri then remembered that while she had been tasting the drink he'd asked her something else. Considering that they were in a kitchen she assumed it to be about food. She mimed scooping food from a plate on the table into her mouth and then chewing and swallowing. She couldn't work out how to tell him that she could eat anything. Maybe...maybe saying 'any' would work?

Now, let's see. The 'y' in any was the same as in thirsty, so she could use that sound. This was assuming that it was the same in Tetro's language. Nevermind. She could always try.

"Any."

She gestured to the food storage around her, repeating the word and then the eating mime. Would he get what she meant?

[Anonymous]

Tetroneaque watched in disbelief and fascination as his new friend seemingly stretched her face to better drink from the shallow bowl of water he had prepared for her.  Then just as suddenly her face went back to normal, at least what passed as normal for her he supposed.  One of his ears twitched of it's own accord, making him suddenly realize he was staring.  He looked away quickly and scratched behind his ear, trying to look like he hadn't been staring.  He then looked back, about to ask her how such a thing was possible.

Yet before he could question her she answered his question about hunger.  It sounded like she said 'Any' (though her accent was still a little hard to understand) and she made a motion to encompass the room.  He supposed that meant she could eat anything, or she was hungry enough to eat anything he might have.

A huge grin suddenly lit up his face and his tails went to waving back and forth frantically.  He simply loved to cook, but he hardly ever got to cook for anyone but himself.  This was simply too good a chance to pass up!

He put on two gloves, pretty sure that his guest wouldn't want any purple fur in her food.  Tetroneaque dashed about, grabbing various ingredients and setting them on a rather large, cleared, counter area.  There were many odd items he chose.  A vegetable that looked like a blue tomato, something that looked like a cross between an eggplant and a garlic clove, and too many other oddities to adequately describe.  A large, sharp, blade found its way into his hand and he went to work, quickly chopping the veggies in the way he pleased.

A quick hop netted him a rather large, though lightweight, bowl from a nearby shelf.  He swept the assorted chopped food into it and then set in on the stove, where a nice blue flame appeared.  While that was simmering he dashed over to the cold storage unit and pulled out a huge hunk of meat, easily enough to feed thirty humans.  It was from a grazing type of herbivore that was quite similar to a cow, though with a slightly different texture and flavor.

He cut the huge hunk into smaller steaks, and  sautéed  them on a separate area on the stove.  He was humming as he worked, since his race was incapable of whistling thanks to the way their mouths were shaped.  He paused a moment to look over at Svind and gave her a big toothy grin, happy to have someone to cook for.  His attention went back to his cooking though quick enough.

There was a large spice rack near him as well, though to a human it would appear as a collection of practically every natural poison one could conceive of, plus a great many that none of them would recognize.  To a kitsune's palate though, they were some of the best spices one of his race could wish for.  He took a bottle of manticore venom and sprinkled a decent amount over the vegetables, causing a puff of steam to come off the hot metal.  That was only the first of several spices that would be lethal to most other species, though he didn't know that.

After about twenty minutes working over the stove he seemed satisfied.  He went and got two large platters from another cupboard and placed them on the table, one at his usual place and the other in front of his new friend.  Then he began to set the food on the platters.  The meat first, then the seasoned veggies over that, with the sauce he had prepared over it all.  It smelled scrumptious to his finely honed nose, and the presentation would have done any restaurant on his homeworld proud.  He hoped his friend would enjoy it.  The portions, while being huge, were only normal for the five foot tall kitsune.  He grabbed two sets of utensils as he came back over, which were quite normal.  A fork, a spoon, and a knife were all included with each set.

As he sat down to eat, a small robot similar to the drone he had used as a test subject earlier that day, came and scooped up the dirty dishes near the stove and carted them away to be cleaned.

"I hope you didn't mind the wait.  Please enjoy!"  He said and then began to devour his own food in such a way it was as if he hadn't eaten for weeks, even though this was his second meal of the day.  Despite his almost barbaric table manners, not a bit of the food got onto his white lab coat or fur.

[Anonymous]

A sudden and strong urge to giggle hit Svindri as she saw Tetro's ear twitch. She'd felt his shock but the little twitch of the ear was a very cute signal of his surprise.

Suddenly he was a whirlwind of small cooking thing with fur. Svindri watched in amazement as he cooked very well, with obvious talent, and very quickly. Something she noticed near the end of his cooking frenzy was that the portions he was dishing out were huge. Enough to last her a whole day, probably. She thought perhaps he made food in big batches and stored it for use on other days. Her mind could not come to the conclusion that a small being like him could eat such a massive amount.

When he had placed two very large helpings on the table and sat in front of one she was forced to admit that it looked like this was a normal meal for the fox-like being. She picked up a fork and dug it into the food tentatively, watching Tetro dig into his food with great gusto. He was a very rapid and dramatic eater - much like his cooking, actually - but also quite neat. Svindri wondered if this was a character trait or a racial one and if it applied to everything they did or just food.

'Oooh I'm being one of those people! A sociologist!'

Svindri sniffed at the food. It smelt very enticing. Picking some up with her fork she placed it in her mouth and chewed thoughtfully. The flavours were very intense - far more so than human food. In fact it was harking back to the food she cooked at home. There were definitely flavours that she'd never tasted in there before too, though. One of them was very strong and gave the whole thing a zing which left her feeling refreshed. She dug in properly, eating more politely than Tetro but probably not neater. The food did not feel very filling and the strange new flavour kept it fresh and light so it was not too long before she was sitting in front of an empty plate.

"Good," she smiled at Tetro.

What now though? She didn't have to help him clean up; there was a little droid thing going around making very faint beeps and efficiently cleaning. She looked around the kitchen and suddenly yawned. Oh yes, she'd been walking all day, hadn't she? Perhaps she ought to ask Tetro if she could sleep. She hadn't felt any dangerous emotions at all since she'd been there and she was tired. By morning she should have enough of his language processed to be able to talk to him better. It would work even more successfully if she had a tape of his language to listen to overnight.

"Sleep?" She mimed closing her eyes and snoring. Then she stopped and frowned for a second before miming holding a headset and placing it on her head. "Listen to you. Your....words." Then she mimed sleeping again, while still showing that the headset was still on. "Sleep with words?"

[Anonymous]

Tetroneaque was happy to see someone who enjoyed his cooking as much as he did.  A huge smile lit up his face as all three of his tails swished back and forth rapidly.  He had finished awhile before his guest had simply watched her eat.  It was a curious thing to see another sentient race tasting his cooking, and he simply contented himself to watching.  Soon enough though she finished her meal as well and the little service drone swept away her platter and utensils for cleaning.

He listened to her trying to make a complete sentence.  Again her accent and grammar were a little hard to understand, but it seemed every time she spoke it was that much clearer to him.  The little motions she made with her hands over her ears was a little amusing to him and he had to stifle a chuckle.  After she spoke though and made the motions some more he finally got the idea.

"Oh!  You're tired and want to sleep.  I can arrange a sleeping area for you easily enough.  It will take a little while though, as I don't often have guests."  He stated, speaking slightly slower than usual so she would grasp what he was saying.

He then continued, "But as for getting a recording of my language to listen to while you sleep, I don't really have anything like that."  His ears flicked involuntarily a few times as he thought, then with a small yip of excitement he came up with what he figured would be a decent alternative.

"However, I can set the intercom system in your sleeping area to play through the music I have saved on my mainframe.  I have quite a collection.  Would that be satisfactory for your needs?"  He asked as his tails stopped swishing and simply let the ends flick back and forth.

[Anonymous]

Svindri worked hard to understand Tetro as he started talking and she gathered that he was going to set up some place for her to sleep but it might take him...a while? because of some reason she didn't understand. 'Oh I can't wait until tomorrow,' she thought, impatient to be sleeping and processing his language.

The next thing he said she completely missed and she tried not to look too confused. Then he let out a little barking sound and she jumped. Then he said more she didn't catch, except for one word. 'Music'. "Music?" She asked, thinking quickly. "I can. Yes. That is good." She nodded to add emphasis and yawned, quickly covering her mouth with her hand.

Svindri turned to sit down as she waited for Tetro to go get things ready. If the language barrier wasn't so great she could offer to help but as it was she rather thought even working out how to say that coherently would take as much time as it would take him to work everything out himself.

In the morning it would work.

[Anonymous]

Tetroneaque nodded and then leaped from his seat, eager to get things ready for his guest.  He padded quickly down the hall and toward his own sleeping chambers.  Inside he opened up a rather large set of doors, revealing a second set of sleeping gear very similar to the one in the center of his own room.  Quickly enough a pair of the spider like drones came in and helped him pull the large pillow like bedding into the room, and then down the hall toward another room.

This room was rather barren, as it had been unused storage space.  It was a simple room with metallic walls, floor, and ceiling.  A single row of lights along the rim of the ceiling encircled the entire room, giving adequate lighting.  A couple of small speakers could be seen spaced evenly around the room, much like every other room in the facility.  Tetroneaque and his two helpers pulled the huge red pillow into the center of the room and let it drop.  The bedding resembled nothing no much as a giant round pillow with a deeper area in the center, kind of like a donut.  A third drone came in shortly after as the first two left, it deposited an arm full of smaller pillows onto the depression on the bed.  They looked like they had seen a bit of use, and one still had a tiny tuft of purple fur on it.  It was obvious that these were Tetroneaque older bed and pillows.  The little kitsune could never bring himself to throw anything useful away.

The third drone left and the first two returned as the kitsune was arranging the pillows on the bed into what he thought was a comfortable fashion.  The first drone that returned went about setting a few plush rugs down to make the room appear a bit more cheery and comfy.  The other one had some blankets that it set on the edge of the bed, leaving the folded things there.

Tetroneaque took a few steps away from the area he had prepared and have a satisfied nod, pleased with the results.

"Your room is ready!"  Tetroneaque called to Svind.  His tails were once again swishing back and forth rapidly, showing off his good mood to the world.

The drones all went back to their regular tasks as the eccentric little fellow trotted back to the main area of his lab.  He went to the control console and began to type away very rapidly.  He was creating a playlist of all the music he had with lyrics.  He routed the playlist to only play inside the room he had set up, as he preferred silence when he slept and didn't want the music coming through the speakers in his own room.

Tetroneaque went to Svind and showed her the sleeping area.  He made sure he had her full attention when he showed a couple very important things.

"This,"  he began as he pointed at a small device on the wall next to the door inside the sleeping area, "is the speaker controls.  You can increase the volume of the music, decrease it, and turn it off and on."  He demonstrated what each did as he spoke to help her understand more easily.  Some of his music was playing gently over the speakers already, so the demonstration went easily enough.  Then pointing to a door directly across the hall from the room he had set up he began to speak again.

"That room is the lavatory, where you can relieve yourself and wash up if you have need."  He couldn't think of any gestures he could add to that which wouldn't seem lewd, so he simply spoke without gesturing about that bit.

"Is there anything else you want before I retire for the evening?"  He asked, his tails slowing their swishing to a less erratic pace.

[Anonymous]

Svindri followed Tetro when he came and gestured for her to follow him. She yawned as she went, quickly getting more and more tired now that she realised she was. She followed him into a mostly bare room with a big pile of pillows in the middle. Svindri went up to it and examined it with interest. So instead of beds, Tetro's race slept on giant pillows! That was strange. Most people would call her version of a 'bed' strange anyway, as they were very flat, hard and wide mattresses which allowed Bellinese to fully relax all their muscles and spread out a bit. They looked like squished humans when they did it.

There were some blankets beside the pile of pillows and for some reason there were more blankets scattered around the room. Svindri inspected one. It appeared that they were not blankets but rather those strange things called 'rugs' which were for walking on. Svindri shrugged and went to stand next to Tetro by the wall.

He pointed at something on the wall and Svindri leaned in to see a little knob, which the fox-thing proceeded to fiddle with as he said things. As he fiddled the music which Svindri had been half-listening to and fully memorising as she looked about first got louder, then quieter, then disappeared fully and finally came back. Svindri realised he was telling her the functions as he demonstrated them and, grasping the knob, she repeated both his actions and his words.

A strange thing she'd noticed was that copying Tetro to work out the language seemed to be easing her echolalia. Because she repeated so much the urge for it didn't happen as often. It was a novel experience for her.

Tetro then said something where Svindri caught most of the words except the important ones. From 'That room is the ______ where you can _____ yourself and ___ up' she gathered that it was probably a bathroom of some kind but she quickly walked across the hall and ducked into the room to check. It was indeed a bathroom and she nodded, said "ok" and went back to Tetro.

"Is there anything else you want before I retire for the evening?" She repeated him, though she didn't understand 'retire' or 'evening'. She understood 'anything else' well enough, though, so it worked all the same. "No, I am good." She noticed now that his tail swished about and suppressed an urge to stroke it. "Good...sleep?" She ventured, knowing it was wrong but not knowing the word for night.

[Anonymous]

Tetroneaque was glad that he seemed to have gotten his points across with the bathroom, sleeping area, and the intercom controls.  His new friend was indeed a quick learner when it came to languages it seemed.  He smiled his toothy little grin when she wished him "Good sleep."  He nodded and said, "Sleep well."  To let her hear the little subtle differences.  Still grinning, he turned and left to give her some privacy and to let her get some rest.

He went to the bathroom since it seemed she didn't need to use it yet.  He wanted to clean himself, not for being particularly dirty, but simply out of habit.  He removed his clothing and placed it all, even the boots and gloves, into a small alcove in the wall.  A quick 'whoosh' and the clothing vanished as it was sent to the laundry room.  The little purple kitsune hopped into the shower and started the water.  It came out at the same comfortable temperature it always did, having been set by Tetroneaque himself long ago.  He let out a contented murring noise as the warm water flowed over him.  He simply contented himself with the sensation of the water flowing over his furry hide.  After a few minutes he reached for a smaller nozzle over toward the side of the shower, he pressed and held the button on the top and it began to squirt out a sweet smelling gel on the kitsune.  Tetroneaque placed the nozzle back in its place and then started to rub himself down, quickly lathering up with the shampoo like soap.  He throughly cleaned himself and rinsed off.

The sopping wet kitsune went over toward another area of the bathroom that would never appear in a human one.  It was a large clear cylinder with a large vent near the top and a great many tiny holes on the bottom in the floor of it.  As Tetroneaque stepped into the entrance sealed behind him.  He shook himself like a dog might, and then the drying chamber started.  The many tiny holes in the floor let out warm streams of air, quickly evaporating the moisture from Tetroneaque and carrying it out through the vent at the top.  It only took about thirty seconds and then shut off as the door opened.

Tetroneaque stepped out and saw that all his fur looked crazy.  It was all poofed out, making him look twice as fluffy as usual.  He didn't seem to mind though as he left the bathroom, still not clothed.  He had forgotten he had a guest, as he hardly ever had one.  He simply walked down the hall toward his own room as he always did every night after his shower.

[Anonymous]

"Sleep well," she repeated, smiling. He had such a cute little grin. Svindri saw Tetro as a big toy, which was probably quite mean to him, but who could help being charmed by a short, foxy-like thing with tons of enthusiasm?

Svindri didn't bother washing up, not being of a race who was particularly worried about cleanliness. She would have to in the morning, though, because races like humans saw dirt and smell as antisocial and although it might be different for Tetro's people, the fact that he was washing and she hadn't detected any smell around him other than a strange, cat-like muskiness suggested to her that they were pretty clean people.

Her sharp ears picked up the sounds of Tetro washing, including the pitch of the shower water as it hit the various surfaces (ie the shower cubicle and Tetro's fur). It suggested to her that Tetro used water much cooler than she did. Then she heard him get out and the jets of another appliance, with little whooshes of what she had to assume was air. The noise intriqued her and she resolved to try it in the morning.

Finally the fox-being got out of the shower and left the bathroom. Svindri turned her attention away from him and the last impression she got of him was a flash of very poofy fur walking away from her room.

She slept well, her mind churning through the music filtering into the room easily and in fascination (if a subconscious mind can experience fascination). Some called the Bellinese way of learning languages cheating, but since they often went on to study nuances, slang, etymology and dialect there was still a lot of work left for them to do after they worked out how to speak in a language. Not that most Bellinese considered it work.

In the morning she experienced a very shocking few moments before she was awake enough to remember the previous day's events. Why was she in such a strange room, with music playing which was alien to her...yet she could still understand every word? Why did she think in this alien language (by-product of learning it so quick)?

It all came to her in a rush and she laughed, both amused at herself for her panic and relieved that it was a good situation she was in. Hoisting herself out of the giant pillow, she turned and decided she would have one as her bed. For a Bellinese, they were scrumptious. The feeling of literally draping yourself over various bumps and dips was delicious and gave her body a good stretching.

Sniffing her skin to take in the nice smell of her unwashed body she traipsed into the bathroom and shut the door, not bothering about locking it. Not a very private person, she also realised that if Tetro heard noises coming from the room he'd gather she was in there.

Bellinese secreted toxins when they sweated which were toxic to humans (surprise) but very nice smelling and usually tasting to Bellinese. It was considered rather weird to taste your own sweat, but it was definitely a part of mating. Of course, the toxicity of the sweat gave another good reason for washing when in civilisation.

Svindri undressed and jumped into the shower cell, pulling the biggest nozzle she could see in the hopes that it would turn the water on. It did and the water was a bit chilly for her but she sluiced herself quickly anyway. She didn't worry about soap. Soon she was done and she shook herself before stepping out of the shower and going towards the other 'stepping in' sort of place. She did step in and shut the door and suddenly little jets of air came streaming at her, making her hold her hands out in wonder. This was a nifty little thing it was indeed.

All too soon it was over and Svindri was back out and ready to get dressed, still looking at the drying thing. She reached for her clothes without thinking and didn't feel them. Frowning, she looked around, only to see that her clothes weren't where she had left them, in a little platform in the wall. Coming closer, Svindri realised that her 'platform' was actually a hole and that her clothing had been eaten by it.

"Oh dear, how silly am I?" She said to herself, shaking her head in wry amusement. She used Tetro's language without noticing. Without even thinking that Tetro might be bothered by her lack of clothing she left the bathroom, wandering down the hall and peeking into open doors to see if Tetro was about. She didn't go into any closed doors in case they held things she wasn't supposed to see.

Oooh, today was going to be so exciting! She did a little hop-skip and grinned widely.

[Anonymous]

Tetroneaque was comfortably curled up on his own large pillow like bed.  His sleeping position resembling that of an over sized cat, as his three tails curled around him.  He was snoring quite peacefully despite his series of amazing events the day before.  He suddenly sat up and let out a huge yawn as he stretched and then rub at his sleep filled eyes.

He got up from his giant pillow bed and went across his room to grab his grooming kit.  He sat down on a large comfortable chair and began brushing himself.  The chair was situated in front of a rather large mirror, easily large enough to let the kitsune see his entire form.  He had slept with his overly poofy fur from using the drying chamber as his fur always managed to get all messed up when he slept anyway, so he always groomed himself in the morning rather than before bed.

He brushed at himself with a large coarse brush, and then later with a smaller finer brush.  He paid extra special attention to his three large tails, even more so as he suddenly recalled that he had a guest!  He heard the shower start up as he was grooming himself and figured he'd have time to finish up and get dressed.  As he finally had his fur just the way he liked it he put the brushes back and went over to his closet.  He had many identical lab coats, pants, gloves, and soft pair of boots lined up within.  He grabbed the nearest set and dressed himself.  He looked pretty much the same as he had the day before, though his tails were a bit neater and better groomed.

Just as he finished all this his stomach began to growl quite loudly.

"That's right!  I forgot to have my midnight meal!"  He exclaimed in dismay.

He opened his door and went into the hallway only to be confronted by a very cheerful, and very nude, Svind.  He let out a confused little yelp and averted his eyes, blushing quite brightly for a dark furred fellow.

He coughed into his hand.

"Uhm, good morning Svind.  Is there anything I can help you with?  Perhaps a change of clothes before breakfast?"  He suggested.  At least now he was 100% sure she was a female of her race now.

[Anonymous]

Svindri grinned suddenly as she saw Tetro. "Hello, Tetro! You look nice this morning." He looked exactly the same as the day before, actually. Being able to fully understand his language had relaxed her a lot, however, as well as pleasing her.

"Uhm, good morning Svind. Is there anything I can help you with? Perhaps a change of clothes before breakfast?" She repeated his words without thinking of them, instead concentrating on his sudden rush of embarrassment, which amused her and she giggled, watching him go a sort of pinky-purple. "Oh! Am I bothering you?" She looked down at herself. Unlike Tetro, she was completely hairless except for her head and ear hair. Her body features didn't hide behind a layer of fluff. "Well I would have my clothes on but you see, I accidentally put them into the hole which eats them." She giggled again and snorted. "If you want me to wear something, do you have anything for me to wear...please?"

[Wa ha it's short! Take that, curl-up-on-head-and-sleep-thing!]