Stumbling Through Zeltros (Open~)

[Moonfire]

Lorelei's mind was clouded as she stumbled through the streets of Zeltros, the red skinned people hollering and singing, the streets overcome with hedonism already, the sun falling gently behind the buildings. The Pleasure Planet was so vastly different from those that she had visited on her journey here, hitchhiking her way across the galaxy on the search for her mother.

Here alcohol flowed down the streets like a river, spice and various other substances and their sweet smoke filled the air, curling and wafting lazily from the various clubs that lined the paved roads that Lorelei walked clumsily. People danced in the streets, clad in tight bright colors and sheer netting as they flaunted and expressed their pheromones without care. The air, the smell of everything made Lorelei dizzy, she felt like she was losing control over her feet, over her heart and mind. Everything about this planet was wrong, terribly, inexplicably wrong.

The young girls face twisted with sickness as she tried to keep her wits, where was the space port? She could have sworn it was somewhere near here, but as the light dimmed and the clubs came to life it was harder and harder to navigate the streets of the city.

"Hey sweetheart, you okay?" Came a silky male voice as a hand wrapped itself casually around her waist, pressing her back against a tall, muscular man in a tight, sheer sleeveless shirt. Brown eyes looked up at the man who was, undoubtedly handsome as he smiled back, his pheromones piercing through her judgement, filling her with happy-fun feelings.

"Why don't you come inside with me? I'll buy you a drink" The young man asked, as he carefully directed her towards a club, the oddly clothed girl merely staring up at his visage, unblinking. With a shake of her head she regained herself, or at least some part carefully rejecting the man's offer before tearing herself away, explaining politely she needed to find the spaceport before stumbling back onto the street.

[A®heim]

Ahhh, Zeltros. They say one should never mix business with pleasure, but it would seem fate would have it no other way this time around. Sean took a deep breath through his nose, closed his eyes, and relished in the spiciness of the air. Most cities this dense had a choking atmosphere to them—smoke and fumes infused with light and noises raucous enough to be nearly palpable—but only one word could describe the atmosphere of this place: exotic. Across the narrow street, his eyes locked with a young native woman who fixed him with a shy smile. He raised his eyebrows and answered with a roguish grin of his own. “I know we’re here to find a certain girl, but I’m starting to think that being so picky is self-destructive.”

“Sean, don’t be creepy.” A slightly tinny voice commented from his shoulder, emitted from the sharp, metal beak of a remarkably avian droid.

“What? Sean said with mock innocence, “I can’t enjoy myself once in a while? Not sure if you noticed, bird, but we’re on Zeltros. They call it the Pleasure Planet for a reason; the guys are going to expect stories. Pleasurable stories!”

“Yeah, see, that’s also creepy.”

“That’s just because you can’t appreciate such…carnal indulgences.”

“I like to think that makes me the superior lifeform.”

But you’re not alive.

“Thank you for shattering my fantastic wishful thinking, reminding me of the cruel rift torn between my own artificially mockery of life and purity of the living soul.”

“Someone’s gotta keep ya grounded, bird. Can’t have your head in the clouds all the time.

Canid Augmented Terrestrial System designation twenty-four stared unblinkingly back and forth between the friendly banter of man and droid. Not that one could tell if 24 ever blinked what with the faintly glowing visor over his eyes. Of course, 24 wasn’t even sure if he could blink. His view went black for a moment as the protective shutters closed briefly over his photoreceptors. Okay apparently he could. He noted this absently in the little virtual logbook where he kept all these sorts of little “useless tidbits”; useless maybe to a conventional mind, but 24 referenced such things constantly—they were his own unique ties to the world outside that sprawling subterranean laboratory he had spent his entire life within until this day. These lists were the lifeline he could cling to and find comfort in during moments such as this that escaped the comprehension of his usually infallible processor.

His mouth cracked open and a long, telescoping needle flickered out momentarily. When it had retracted, his jaw snapped shut again and his visor sprang into life—long, but familiar lists of scrolling words, numbers, and other raw data obscured his vision of the strange, unfamiliar world around him. He found immense comfort in these lists, much like his other ones. They allowed him to see the world through a filter he was accustomed to.

. . .

ATMOSPHERIC COMPOSITION STABLE:
NITROGEN 774980
OXYGEN 215390
ARGON 9179
CARBON DIOXIDE 398-95
NEON 19-22
HELIUM 7-29
METHANE 2-62
KRYPTON 0-89
HYDROGEN 0-84
NITROUS OXIDE 0-7
CARBON MONOXIDE 0-1
XENON 0-07
OZONE 0-06
NITROGEN DIOXIDE 0-02
IODINE 0-009
AMMONIA 0-004

HIGH LATENT PHEROMONE CONCENTRATIONS DETECTED:
CLASSIFICATION: ANDROSTENES-16
ALPHA KETO-HYDROXL 32-2
ISOAMYL ACETATE 9-17
VALERIC ACID 1-63
GAMMA 17-CARBOXYL

. . .

Sean barked a short laugh and shook his head. He let out a long sigh and stared longingly down the street. “So when do ya think this gal in gonna show up, anyway?” The arrangement for this insertion was a bit of a stretch from the norm. Of course, with how many times the Wizard switched up that norm, there could hardly be a norm. This time around, the propositionee was a young half-zeltron girl with a penchant for the medicinal—and a bit more. That in itself wasn’t the unusual bit; the unusual bit was that the poor lass had positively no clue they were coming. According to Phae, the idea was to “investigate the dynamics of a sudden bonding in the face of mutual trepidation” or some other nonsense along those lines. Sean suspected the real reason was they couldn’t keep track of her nomadian travel antics long enough to contact her with a formal meeting place. Not that those anything-but-informative messages were any less cryptic than what they were supposed to do now.

24 shook himself from his reverie and looked up questioningly at the man.

“I’m not certain; starport and public speeder transit records indicate she should still be in the city, but…” His visor flickered a multitude of colors as it swept the surrounding crowds. Staring upwards, the tern-like construct spread his wings and took lightly into the sky, ruffling Sean’s hair with the warm burst of the repulsors. He circled around for a minute or so before gliding back and alighting again on his shoulder. A few less savory-looking individuals eyed Sean nervously, suspecting him maybe to be a bounty hunter with a seeker droid. The thought made Sean chuckle as it always did. “Spyglass isn’t picking her up anywhere.”

“Thought that little system of yours could find anyone. Ya saw her up there last time, why can’t ya find her now?” Sean asked chidingly.

“Unless she went inside. Facial-recognition doesn’t work through solid duracrete, Sean.”

“What about the hound dog here? This girl is kinda zeltrosian, right? That means she reeks!”

“Sean!”

“What? I mean in the sexy way.” Ayer slapped one of his wings to his face with a short tink of plasteel on durluminum. This was a gesture he had seen organics do many times over the years and he had long ago discerned its meaning.

24, who had just been listening patiently up to this moment, startled slightly as it occurred to him that of the present company, he was most befitting the description of “hound dog,” and his long, sharp jaw cracked open in a slight canine grin. This was a gesture he had seen organics do many times over the months and he was fairly certain he’d discerned its meaning. “Agent Mu’haro is correct. Even though she is only half zeltron, her pheromone composition sample is on record. It’s a Republic-mandated requirement upon emigration. Helps them keep track of their movements throughout the galaxy.”

“Splendid! So you could, like, literally sniff her out, huh? Just like a real boy! I’ve made several complaints that Ayer here can’t sing like a canary. Glad to see PF is finally taking some steps in the right direction.”

24 lowered his head a little, looking away. This was a rather strange thing to do he later realized, as he then had to look back only a moment later to address Sean again. He attributed it either to bashfulness or humility or some other odd emotion like that and jotted it down on one of his lists to ponder later. “To describe it as literal might be a stretch, but I can detect her unique chemical signature from a close enough distance.”

Sean raised an eyebrow and looked at the canine droid expectantly. “…well are you close enough.”

24 stared back at the man as if he had asked if egg salad was made from eggs and answered slowly. “I would…imagine so, yes, considering she just stepped outside the establishment across the street from us.”

Sean’s eyes snapped up to the same place he had flirted shortly with the girl earlier only to find she had been replaced with another pretty face, glancing around almost bewilderedly even as a dashing young zeltron wrapped his arm around her waist from behind.

“It’s hard to pick out now; partially because her glands are nearly vestigial, but also because the composition is becoming diluted by those of the gentleman who appears to be courting her.”

“Welp,” Sean shrugged up the long, thin bag slung across his shoulder, nearly dislodging Ayer in the process, “Guess I better be the knight in shining armor then. If I don’t get to have ignorant, sinful fun, nobody does!”

“But you are wearing cloth polyester clothing…” 24 objected fruitlessly to Sean’s back as he strode into the street.

Ayer glanced back to answer for him. “It’s an expression. Means he’ll be fulfilling the role of a character in such a garb. You’ll get used to ‘em.”

Expression. Listed.

Sean had only made it about halfway across before his ‘mark’ disengaged herself from the company of her ‘assailant’. That was good, showed she had a steady head on her shoulders and a strong will. Even from what little he could remember from her file he could tell she would make an excellent agent. Assuming she accepted. Sean’s musings were interrupted as she stumbled into the street and nearly into him. “Woah, hey. Careful there.” He spread his arms pacifyingly and took a step back. This next part was the tricky one—getting their attention long enough to break the news without getting a weapon pulled on him. In total this had happened about every time but once. Maybe twice. The Wizard’s unfathomable love of the “fugitive-with-a-heart-of-gold” types made sure of it.

Still, in the end his tactic had never failed. “You Lorelei Kal…vaari Montez…Castillo deVela? Ha!” He glanced up at Ayer still perched on his shoulder. “Told ya I’d get it.” He returned his attention to Lorelei again with a proud smile. “I practiced it the whole ride over. Shh shh, don’t say anything, I want to see what happens if I do all the steps in one breath: Hi I’m Private First Class Sean Mu’haro currently moonlighting as a sort of talent agent for Project Familiar which you’ve never heard of before because we can never do anything right but it’s okay because if you answer ‘yes’ to the very important question you will be asked within the next 10 minutes it’ll all be explained to you eventually anyway but if you say no you will continue to never have heard of it before aside from just now when you heard it.” He held up a finger, spun around, clapped twice, and gave two short whistles. “Here boy!” He spun back around and gestured to 24 who had slinked up next to him uncertainly. “This is CATS-24, I know it looks like a dog but that’s just R&D being funny I guess—it’s an acronym, Canid…Augmented…Terror Spatula or somethin’—doesn’t matter, what matters is that if ya say yes to that same question I mentioned earlier, it’s yours. So do you want the question right now in public without any details, or,” He gestured in the direction of the starport. “In private with all the details first?”

He hooked his thumb at his bemused-looking partner on his shoulder. “Also that’s an Ayer. He has an acronym too but it’s not as funny. Say hi, Ayer.”

Ayer gave a low bow with his wings spread out. “Pleasure to meet you Ms. deVela. I apologize for my counterpart’s antics, I would however strongly recommend the latter option. There is much more at stake here than his…demeanor might suggest.”

Sean ignored the barely-veiled insult and nudged 24 lightly with his knee. “You too.”

((*Tosses the reins*))