An HFY Tale: Drop Pod Green

Miss La had been fearing the question ever since the ship had passed by the station, internally sweating when she had been having lunch in the massive restaurant level.

Bearing a massive white skull atop a black painted hull, the flat, heavily armed ships were extremely hard to miss. The students had all seen it pass by the station on its way to the current planet that the Humans were fighting on, but Miss La feared what was on board that vessel more than the student's questions.

If anything, she was unsure how the students would react knowing such beings were held on the surface of Earth, lurking in the "kennels" under the watchful eye of their "vets".

The real reason why the Humans had managed to fend off the Pactless.

Miss La left her room with dragging, sluggish steps, having been unable to fully sleep the entire night as she struggled to formulate her thoughts on what those students were going to ask her when they arrived.

The little delivery bot, to her surprise, had been waiting at the door as soon as it opened, bearing two vanilla lattes.

"What's this?" Miss La had asked, leaning down to grab one of the offered cups.

The little delivery bot had wagged a clawed hand at her. "Come on now; No reading, no major bandwidth draws, and you forgot to put in your order. That means you are worried about those students asking about the ship."

"Even we scholars of Humanity have good reason to feel uncomfortable when we see a Midnight Alcove." Miss La replied, walking down the hallway as the little delivery bot trundled along beside her. "A ship of iron bars and cells, armories, and monsters that not even I can mentally wrap my mind around. Have you ever been around one, A.I.?"

The little delivery robot shook its head, wheels whirring near Miss La's shins. "Of course not, they don't allow A.I. on those ships, nor would I want to be. Normally I like the Human temples, but the ones on those boats have an energy that not even we can contemplate in our binary."

"The students are not going to like what they hear." Miss La murmured, taking a slow sip of her latte before clicking her tongue and closing her four eyes in a sigh. "No one likes what they hear when they learn of the disease. It's why the Pwah and Kafya are suspicious of Humanity as a whole."

By some way, the delivery bot managed to shrug with its delivery arms. "Sounds like a 'you' problem there, teach'."

"Thank you for reminding me." Miss La grumbled.

With a cheery wave, the delivery bot handed Miss La her other Latte and turned the corner, speeding off towards the restaurant level. "Good luck with the students!"

Miss La grimaced, mocking the little robot in a sing-songy, false happy voice. "Good luck with the students, meh meh meh…"

It didn't taken long for Miss La to reach her classroom, and found with a glare of annoyance that all the students had arrived well before her, ready and waiting to pepper her with questions.

Miss La still found herself standing outside the classroom, building up the energy to dive into this particular dark corner of the Humans and the afflictions their war of survival had impregnated them with.

She knew she had to get in there eventually, so she strode into the classroom with as much calm air as she could, trying to not betray her unease. Towering above many of them, Miss La tossed one empty latte into the trash slot, set the other one down on her desk, but did not bother sitting down.

Miss La straightened her sweater, popped the hem, then crossed her arms under her chest, causing the fibers of the sweater to stress outwards with a quiet groan of the fibers.

"Alright." Miss La said aloud, grimacing. "Who's first?"

Every hand within the classroom raised into the air, which the Kojynn applied in duplicate. Miss La however instead turned to Lirya, the only white furred Kafya in the room that was still sitting on the opposite side of the room to her race.

More like they were sitting on the opposite side of the room from her… Miss La had read up on whatever the hell was going on with that, and had found it rather depressing.

White furred Kafya were seen as "cursed", as they were devoid of color and as such were "un-Kafya like". This was doubly so due to Lirya's black eyes, forming the ying and yang of having all colors in her eyes, but lacking any color to her fur.

What had really bothered Miss La was that while researching the whole thing, she had hit a literal roadblock; Any and all information on the white furried Kafya stopped as if it had been memory holed or erased, and no amount of deep data-stream searching could pull anything to her attentions. There was a rumor that Kafya leadership was murdering certain white furs that "shined too brightly", but again it was like pulling anvil scales.

She tried to rope in a few bored A.I. to help her, but even they were surprised when they hit an absolute data desert, scrubbed clean of any mentions of white furred Kafya. They were still searching, as far as she knew, and she waited with curiosity to see what they could dredge up from the data-streams.

"Yes, Lirya?" Miss La asked, pointing a muscled hand at the white furred Kafya.

Her eyes sparkled like obsidian jewels, clearly happy that her teacher had remembered her name… something she did not hear much nowadays.

"The black ship." Lirya asked, pointing out towards the door. "With the white Human skull, what was that?"

All the eyes in the room turned from Lirya to Miss La, whose jaw tightened to such a degree that her facial scales flexed. The Skalathir's muscular blue tail twitched disquietly, her muscles flexing against her sweater as she stressed.

"Whatever I say, now," Miss La began, her voice measured but tense, "Should not, and should never, change your opinion about Humans or the planet down below us. All races of the stars have their shadows and monsters that hide inside them, and Humanity is no different."

Miss La bared her teeth for a scant moment, then slowly began to pace along her little teaching platform. "However, if it was a competition… Humans have the scariest monsters this side of the Mentha Kloren."

"Milky Way, according to the Humans." A male Pwah with deep purple hair murmured, eliciting a few chuckles from those nearby.

"Indeed." Miss La said, but her voice held no humor, causing the chuckles to dry up as if a re-entry engine had kicked on above a puddle.

Miss La mildly enjoyed their sudden looks of unease, it would get them in the right mindset for what she was about to say.

"As you know, the Humans spiked in their civilization's power level after their near-destruction by the Pactless." She began, still pacing slowly as she spoke. "Due to the munitions used by the Pactless, Humanity suffered under a few genetic mutations. You would know them as 'stung' Humans, since we covered them and all the odd little colors they tend to come in. The Humans took the recovered technology and began to rapidly rearm and re-tech themselves to combat any other forces that could come from the stars and attack."

Miss La drew in a long breath through her draconic nostrils, then turned to face the class fully. "But there was another genetic mutation, one that no one knew about until decades after the war with the Pactless. A mutation that was unleashed upon the Ur to devastating effect."

"Another mutation?" A Kojynn male asked, his four hands steepled in interest. "I had believed there was only one mutation, the ones who are stung. There has been no mention of a second mutation to the Humans."

Miss La nodded. "Because it is not spoken of in polite conversation, and due to its use in the war against the Ur, it is not really spoken of at all out of respect. It is only really brought up when a Midnight Alcove is spotted, and people start asking questions about what lies inside the black ships."

"I saw a schematic of the ships, on the data-stream." Tyllia said quietly, her yellow fur fluffing slightly and bright, lilac eyes wide. "It's just… cages, row upon row of cages."

"Cells." Miss La corrected. "Steel barred cells for the containment of the R.I.S. units."

The room was quiet, and slowly, very slowly, Lirya raised her white furred hand.

"... R.I.S. units?" She asked, her black eyes wide.

Miss La nodded, her voice low with warning. "R.I.S. Redemption. In. Sacrifice."

"Redemption?" The male Kojynn asked, his mask sprawling with lines of both worry and intrigue.

"Redemption." Miss La replied, her voice even. "While the stung Humans gained odd colorings to their hair and eyes, others instead became ticking time bombs, an untraceable fuse that is hiding in hundreds of thousands of Humans. Despite the best efforts of their medical scientists during their Resurrection Directive phase, they never realized there was a curse lurking amongst the newly reborn, laying in wait for a trigger in order to fully blossom within their minds."

Miss La, arms still folded, stopped on her stage and stood before them fully, eyes filled with sorrow. "It is not their fault. How could they have known? How could they have understood that the slapdash and horrible weapons of the Pactless altered their very DNA? The stung were born immediately bearing their oddities, pink and blue hair where once blonde and brown should have stood, how would they have known something darker lurked beneath?"

The Qua-quid screen came to life with the press of Miss La's index finger to her thumb pad, and the Skalathir half turned, unfolding her arms to gesture with a hand. "Here we see a normal Human, male and female."

Upon the screen was a normal male and female Human, non-stung of average build and height. They were pouring coffee into cups that sat on a stone countertop, steam rising from the brim as they smiled at each other.

"Their ferocity is known, their ability to engage any enemy they see as a threat if they are shown as a threat to things they hold dear, such as friends and family." Miss La said, feeling a lump slowly forming in her throat. "But they hold back, a limiter placed into their bodies by their very humanity, a greater self that allows them to be the monster that can scoot spiders onto paper, to go out of their way to help a turtle across a road. But that ferocity comes from a place deep down, a feral place within the mind that has been tempered and controlled by thousands of years of development, thousands of years of culture and codes that kept them in check."

Miss La turned back to her class, her face now dire. "What do you think would happen if suddenly all the bars and chains were removed from the gate, and the doors were allowed to fully swing open?"

The room grew colder; Lilgaran hoods flared, the masks of the Kojynn stopped displaying code and light, the Drafritti looked uncomfortable for the first time during these classes, while the Kafya and Pwah shared uneasy glances.

"You get a monster, a real, monster." Miss La said, her tone quiet. "You get the raw, feral form of a Human and all the horrifying things they are capable of. Strength, bloodlust, speed, the ability to fight for hours on end, smiling with bared teeth as they tear, shred, and kill until either they simply pass out from exhaustion, are killed themselves, or are darted by their handlers."

Miss La pulled up an image of an R.I.S. trooper, the blonde haired woman smiling ferociously at the screen while thick Ur blood streamed down her face, armor halfway torn to shreds and her left arm missing at the elbow. The students drew back, though Lirya kept still, her black eyes staring at the screen; Despite the damage to her arm, the grievous wounds trickling crimson blood, the Human seemed unbothered, eyes wide in pleasure and…

"She's afraid." Lirya said quietly, pointing to the woman's eyes. "I see fear… and loathing. Self loathing."

Miss La was surprised; Both she and the other scholars had come to that conclusion after years of study and interviews, but this odd little white Kafya had picked up on the cues purely off of sight alone.

"You would be accurate." Miss La said, causing Lirya to smile to herself and sit up proudly. "These Humans are unlocked, unbound, but highly aware of how broken they are. They do not feel pain the same as other Humans, or have their control, but they are fully conscious of how wrong everything is. They love pain, they love to hunt, to chase, to kill, to spread terror and slaughter until their very bones and muscles give out. After the first wave of children from the Resurrection Directive aged, murders and killings began to skyrocket in certain areas, not following any kind of pattern that usually came from a more standard murderer or killer. This caused Humans to begin hunting these killers… and instead found mothers, fathers, sons and daughters all unbound, released from the confines of their humanity and unlocked to be the animals they were always meant to be in the wild. The activation of the altered DNA within them happens randomly, sometimes not until the age of seventy, but is triggered by stress, fear, anger, rage, hunger, desire, any strong emotions that have been closely tied with Humans."

Miss La sighed, activating the next image that showed a male Human teenager raging in a chair, tied and bound by straps as he howled… but with that same feral, intense grin. "They are not mad… or insane. They are just… broken. They can speak, use logic, even operate advanced machinery, but they are extremely unstable. When fed a constant supply of violence and bloodshed, they can manage their symptoms to the point they themselves are… controllable. Lilgaran and Kojynn medical researchers developed a kind of tranquilizer that takes the edge off of their minds for a while, allowing them to even be sociable, but do not be confused; Underneath an R.I.S. member's muscle and flesh is a cold blooded, uncaring killer that only mourns their actions in their sleep, or when they are left to their own quiet."

"So… on that ship…" Tyllia said, remembering just how large that ship had been.

"Are hundreds of Humans like that, some of them veterans of the Ur conflict and still able to go toe to toe with anything they are thrown at. They are the modern rendition of the berserker, a warrior of ancient Human history, but not by choice. They are an ailment of the Pactless war, still infecting Earth and their colonies to this day. While it would be more benevolent to kill them, these broken Humans instead prefer to serve, to gain some form of redemption through service to the Human race and their allies. This in turn allows them to follow the paths and codes of their religion, as they hope to gain salvation in the afterlife by turning their curses and sins to duty." Miss La said, bringing up an image of multiple veterans of the Ur conflict, all of them baring their teeth in wide, malicious grins while their 'vets' lingered behind them. There were three males and two females, all bearing tattered remnants of combat armor. "These three men here are the Three Brothers, their entire family line activating during an outing of recreational football during Thanksgiving. The entire genetic line had the altered DNA, and after a stray dog attacked their own beloved family hound and her puppies, they all activated at once, ripping the dog to shreds and nearly killing all of their neighbours before Vets could arrive. Only the three eldest brothers remain, the rest of the family perishing during their combat against the Ur."

Miss La then gestured to a red haired woman who looked like a predatory cat, though that may have just been due to the massive gauntlets she wore on her hands, bearing long, curved knives. "This is Cat Claw Cate, who activated after being the victim of a violent rape. When they found her, she had already ripped off both the arms and legs of her rapist, and was gouging out his eyes with her thumbs. Authorities had been alerted by the man's screams, who died shortly thereafter from blood loss."

"Then there is Madeye Milly." Miss La sighed out, gesturing to the blue haired woman who bore bright, orange eyes. "She bore both genetic markers, a stung Human who turned out to be a living bomb. After being asked to marry her boyfriend of five years, she had been happy, preparing to make a new life with the man she loved. Her fiancé, however, was caught in the middle of a robbery and killed, the perpetrators being a pair of rogue Dornucha smugglers attempting to make off with Earth-made emeralds to sell on the black market."

A female Pwah actually shook her head, looking aghast. "Dornucha smugglers? How did those finned-headed scumbags get down to Earth in the first place?!"

"Hiding within a Kojynn trading barge and deploying a slip-skiff, they had hoped to skip right off of Earth, regardless of the damage it would have done to the surrounding area. Instead, they were gunned down by Human authorities, and created a monster that killed seventeen Drafritti and Kojynn families out of grief." Miss La said, her eyes softening as she stared at the vacant eyes of Madeye Milly. "The loss of her happiness, and it being stolen by off-wordlers, made Milly into a demon-made-real, tearing through non-Human life like a blender."

The room was quiet as Miss La brought forward the next image, a legion of Humans chained to the ground in kneeling positions as their armor was placed upon them by mechanical armory arms.

"They were not bad people." Miss La said quietly, her voice easily carrying above the silence. "They were good people who had no idea what they were, who became beasts when the wrong thing happened to them at the wrong time. They now live as weapons, thrown at an enemy in the hope that they can be redeemed in their death, to pay for their sins and to die as soldiers instead of murderers." She turned to the students, her strong draconic hands flexing. "That ship you saw, bearing a white skull on a black hull, carries the damned. Broken Humans who are only seeking to find peace in their death fighting against an enemy. All of you know where the Humans are currently fighting, a young world where the inhabitants were being stolen by flesh traders. That R.I.S. vessel carries not one, but three Companies of these damned souls who are biting at the chance to die fighting for such a worthy cause."

Miss La then raised her head slightly, bearing down on her voice with authority. "You did not see soldiers passing us by, on that ship. You saw people who desire to die as good, rather than bad, no matter how much damage they take in the process. They are tired, frayed, and exhausted to the soul, bound in the flesh of murderers, killers, and slaughterers of the highest degree."

The rest of the class went on for the remainder of their time, Miss La explaining the rest of the more "celebrity" of the R.I.S. members, mostly the members that survived the Ur conflict and had made a name for themselves. By the time the class ended and the students had left the room, Miss La only saw Lirya and Tyllia remaining, so she settled in for more questions.

"I assume you are wanting to know if your sister is safe or not." Miss La asked Tyllia, sitting down on the top of her desk with a groan of its legs.

"Yes." Tyllia said, keeping her distance from Lirya.

Miss La smiled, though it didn't reach her eyes. "She'll be fine. All R.I.S. members have a Vet behind them, armed to the teeth. If they get out of line, the Vet either kills them or tranqs them, keeping the more valuable members under control and usable another day. They may be seeking a redeeming death, but Humans are not wasteful of those with talent."

"Do they get medical services?" Lirya asked, her ears perked in interest but side-eying the yellow Kafya beside her. "In battle?"

"No." Miss La replied. "If they die, they die. Now while I understand Tyllia staying behind, since her sister is currently on the planet that ship is heading to, I'm not sure why you stayed behind, Lirya."

Lirya played with the tips of her padded fingers, clicking her nails together as she mulled over the words in her head.

"Well…" Lirya began, looking over at Tyllia and then to Miss La. "Is there no way to… you know… fix them?"

Tyllia seemed interested in this as well, blinking at Miss La as her own ears perked.

Miss La, however, smiled sadly, crossing her thick, muscular legs with another groan of the desk. "No, Lirya. I'm afraid there is no way to fix them, and there have been no signatures found within the genetic code yet. Whatever weapon the Pactless had used, it had irreparably damaged the genetic code of some Humans, and done so invisibly. You would think some Kojynn or Pwah would be able to figure it out by now, but no headway has been made in years."

"So they are cursed, forever?" Tyllia asked, a little disturbed by the idea. "All Humans are left to wonder if one bad day will change them into a monster?"

Miss La sighed, rubbing at the corner of her lower left eye. "I'm afraid so. It is still rare, mind you, roughly only one in eight thousand having the chance of having the affliction, but that still leaves plenty of Humans to bear the mark. More odd is that there are some Humans that go their entire lives without activating the genetic time bomb, only gaining a few moments of rage before they die of old age." She then chuckled, blinking her eyes. "I guess that at least lets their descendants have some kind of warning, take the tranquilizer as a precaution until they die…"

"Why do they get nicknames?" Tyllia asked, grimacing. "It almost sounds like… glorification."

Miss La actually laughed this time, wafting a hand at Tyllia. "Oh, Humans will do that automatically. Celebrities come in all shapes and sizes, and the more well-known of the R.I.S. members gain their own followings as they survive and make a name for themselves. There are entire trading card games down there designed around the R.I.S. survivors, their battles and estimated kills marked on cards, along with special abilities that can be used in the game. Quite popular, really."

"Are they really so mad?" Lirya asked, still picking at her fingertips with her nails. "Do they not find peace, even for a short time?"

Miss La turned to the white furred Kafya, tilting her draconic head. "They do, for a time. After long, climatic battles they feel more at ease, sometimes remaining normal for years on end as a matter of fact. What matters is that they can get all that energy out of them, to be let loose and able to kill for as long as possible to satiate the monster inside of them. As dark as it sounds, the Humans treat them the same way they do Earthen dogs; They let them run for as long as possible so they get tired out, and are able to be as peaceful as they can be for a while."

"How long do they need to… be active, for?" Lirya asked, worry etching into her eyes.

Tyllia grimaced. "Active is the right word… killing sounds so…"

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"I know." Miss La said politely, nodding towards Tyllia. "There is no easy way to put what they do, the whole thing is a mess and scares the combined Inner Dolcir Coalition to their very bones." She sighed, leaning back on her hands just to mog the two smaller Kafya in front of her, her sweater protesting with a stretch of fabric. "If an R.I.S. Company can land and initiate a combat for up to five hours, that buys their members a few months of peace. A full day of combat, that buys them a year. If the Company can run hot, butchering for a few days at length, that buys them a couple of years, all times having the ability to be spaced out with tranqing."

While Tyllia stared blandly at Miss La's face, Lirya was instead staring at Miss La's stomach and legs, having never realized how much muscle their teacher actually had.

"Uh…" Lirya murmured, then blinked, looking up at Miss La's face. "What do they do, during their time of lucidity?"

Miss La shrugged. "Read and watch movies, mostly. As they start to grow hungry they have to be heavily tranquilized, but at some point the blood lust starts to make them grow mad, only subsiding when they know they are about to go into combat. Over time their dosage increases until they are left completely unconscious, in which they dream."

"Oh." Lirya and Tyllia said at the same time, tails wagging with interest.

"I interviewed Madeye Milly at length during her short time of lucidity, and she does a lot of knitting… mostly baby clothes, which is heart breaking, but I did respect her request to take them down to Earth for newborns." Miss La murmured, remembering the massive box she carried with her, full of booties, hats, and gloves. "She would knit while binge watching series and movies, eyes wide and ingesting them like food. She told me that when they have to put her under, all the way under, she replays them in her head, dreaming of a life she could have had."

Tyllia frowned. "She watches romances, doesn't she?"

"As many as she can get in before the madness takes her." Miss La replied dourly. "In her mind, she is with her dead husband-to-be living the life she wanted. When she wakes, the illusion is shattered and her body turns the sorrow into rage. The Humans, after she made a name for herself and survived more battles than I have the taste to name, gave her a pair of maces, the heads shaped into hearts."

"Do they always get such weapons?" Lirya asked, intrigued.

Miss La shook her head. "No, fresh R.I.S. members are given simple bladed weapons, hafts of steel given an edge. The more veteran and robust members are slowly given their own weapons, or more unique weapons like Cate's claws. The Three Brothers, for instance, wield Lilgaran butcher talons, a specialized melee weapon designed to tear through flesh and armor alike. They are heavy, very heavy, but the immense strength of the Humans allows them to be wielded with deadly ease."

Tyllia went to ask another question, but Miss La held up a massive clawed hand, her blue scales catching the light. "If you want to know more, just go buy a few packs of the cards from the shops, they can tell you more than I can about what those Humans use. I've been talking for nearly two hours, and there is a hot cup of coffee calling me from my room. Now shoo."

—

Tyllia and Lirya found themselves in the same elevator, heading up towards the mercantile quarter of the station. Tyllia was standing on the far left of the elevator, while Lirya was standing to the right, hands clasped in front of her as she tried not to make eye contact with Tyllia.

Not that Lirya would, as the white furred Kafya had been taught to never look a yellow fur in the eyes, no matter how nice they may act.

The silence could not last forever though, as it was a very long elevator ride that ran priority.

"... Surprised you got onto the station." Tyllia muttered, more to break the silence than to acknowledge the white fur.

Lirya nearly jumped at the words, then started fidgeting with her pawed fingers again. "Yes… well, shisi and caracara were able to get me off world, they were quite excited to have me be in Human space."

"Shisi and caracara." Tyllia mused, lifting a brow. "You must be from one of the outer worlds, explains why you're even still alive."

Lirya's eyes threatened to burn with tears, but she managed to wrangle her emotions; Of all the Kafya she had to deal with on her home planet, a smaller colony world, the yellows had always been the most cruel… the most blunt.

"Yes… well." Lirya said quietly. "I am here now, so."

Tyllia smirked. "Your parents figured you were safer here, then, likely spent their entire savings to get you all the way to this station. I'd even wager the Humans gave you a scholar-card with a preloaded funding-slate so you could afford food."

Lirya was struggling a bit now, her vision going a little blurry; It was true, afterall.

Lirya had arrived with a bag of third-hand suits, patched by her mother and barely afforded by her father, just so that she could possibly fit in with the other Kafya. The Humans already knew of her financial status and had preapproved her for a funding-slate, giving her a generous amount of "dollars" on her thick piece of oval ova-plastic.

Lirya was still terrified of using it to buy anything other than food, and was now sitting on a rather substantial chunk of change. She had been urged by her Human support staff to buy whatever she liked, but she still felt an immense sense of fear, even when she finally broke and bought a single pack of socks.

The station was chilly, and she couldn't stand the feel of her numb toes for any longer than she had willed herself to suffer.

"How much do they give you anyway?" Tyllia asked, pulling out her data-slate and tapping along it to open her messages. "A couple hundred Earth-credits so you can buy stuff from the food court?"

Lirya glanced at the yellow furred Kafya, then back down at her feet, trying her best not to sniff before she spoke. "Four thousand a month…"

"Four…" Tyllia turned to look at the white Kafya full on for the first time, finger poised above her data-slate. "Four thousand a month?!"

Tyllia winced, fidgeting faster with her pawed finger tips. "W-Well, they knew how p-poor shisi and caracara were, s-so they-"

"What are you wearing these old suits for?!" Tyllia nearly shouted, gesturing to the old and patched Kafya full body outfit that were the norm on their home worlds. "You can afford Human clothes, like me!"

Lirya's ears drooped. "Caracara made them for me…"

"Ugh." Tyllia groaned, running a hand down her face with a roll of her eyes. "You empty-headed white fur, don't you think your mother would like to see her little midnakankra walking about in expensive Human clothing? You could buy some, send them off home, and your parents could sell them to make extra money."

Lirya's ears, once drooping, perked up as her eyes went wide. "Huh?!"

"Oh please, do you have any idea what the yellow, blacks, and blues would pay for a couple of sweatshirts?" Tyllia scoffed with a flip of her hand. "You think the Humans are able to sell this stuff on our planets? Hell no, they have to be sent back by other Kafya."

Lirya's mind buzzed; Her parents would be able to afford better food gels and nutrition bars, as well as get out of the old hab-unit they were currently living in. A green and brown having a child was odd enough, but the child coming out white had caused them to lose nearly all the good job opportunities in their community.

They had been able to afford a first-landing hab unit, a leaky little thing that was barely staying together only thanks to her father.

"I can…" Lirya looked to the yellow fur beside her, tail twitching with nerves. "I can buy clothes and send them back home?"

Tyllia shrugged. "I mean, yeah. You being here means you're under Human watch anyway, so no one is going to bother your parents when the package arrives. Since you bought them and sent them home, they can sell them as they please." She sniffed, tapping along her data-slate again. "Just don't send too much at once or the local door-knockers will get suspicious and claim they're running a smuggling ring. A few sweaters and a pair of pants every month won't pull too much attention."

Lirya, having no idea that was even a thing, turned to Tyllia, her white tail giving a slight wag. "... Thank you."

"Don't." Tyllia said, raising a yellow finger in warning. "Do not thank me nedwo, the last thing I need is someone thinking I'm rubbing tails with you or something."

Lirya nodded, turning away quickly and staring back at the elevator door. "Of course! Of course, my apologies."

Despite the warning, Lirya smiled to herself, her tail giving another wag, something that made Tyllia suck her teeth in annoyance.

When the elevator door opened, Tyllia beat a hasty retreat from the presence of Lirya and sped off to get a coffee, leaving the white furred Kafya on her own.

Lirya was not big on fashion, but knew that she probably looked the part of the "broken outcast" in these suits, no matter how much she loved them due to her mother's patches and repairs.

She wouldn't throw them away, obviously, but likely keep them as a memento of home.

Making her way along the many stores, Lirya was not sure where to go first, turning left and right as she coursed her eyes along the many different styles of clothing. Multiple Humans had stopped to ask her if she needed help, and despite desperately wanting it, she had politely declined; White furs always had to decline, to grovel and shy away, something that had been instilled into her by the Kafya-at-large since she was but a small kitling.

"You don't have to do that here, you know."

Lirya spun around towards the voice, and took a step back; Sitting on a bench, arms spread out along the back rest, was the oddest looking brown furred Kafya she had ever seen.

Eyes the shade of a warm latte and fur chocolate brown, the Kafya was clearly fully seated within the arms of Human fashion; Her thick lips were pierced, a single hoop on the bottom lip that gleamed in steel, and long bangs drifted across her right eye, casting her face in soft shade. Around her wrists were bracelets that bore short, studded spikes, and her clothing was that of the general "alternative" fashions that Lirya had seen in some of the windows.

Ripped black pants, tall laced Kafya combat paw-boots, and an off-shoulder top that showed off more fur than Lirya had ever seen in her life, completed the Kafya's look. She was a prime example of the "Human infected" Kafya that Lirya had heard warnings of, the rogue Kuwai that turned their backs to the Kafyan ways of life.

"W-what?" Lirya asked, quickly placing her hands in front of her as per usual, submissive both in tone and posture.

The brown fur clicked her tongue, an odd sound due to the bottom lip piercing. "Jeeze, knock it off will you?" She stood, smacking her large brown tail to dust it. "You look like I'm about to cuff you on the back of the neck for talking to me."

Lirya smiled with a strain at the corner of her eyes, as that had happened quite a few times in her teenage years, as well as getting kicked square in the chest and launched out of a shop on the main street of her town.

"Go on, relax." She said, shaking her hands with a jangle of her studded bracelets. "Loosen up there, ghost fur."

Lirya's ears drooped slightly, but she unclasped her hands, giving them a little shake with an uneasy smile.

"... That'll have to do for now." The brown Kafya said with a quirked brow, then offered her hand towards Lirya. "I'm Mohki."

"Lirya." Lirya replied, taking the woman's hand uneasily.

The quirked brow was joined by its sister as Mohki looked surprised. "Lirya? Isn't that the name of an ancient mood goddess or something?"

"You know of the old ways?" Lirya asked quietly, instinctively looking over her shoulders and stepping closer. "How?!"

Mohki shrugged. "Information is a little looser the farther away you get from the heart planets. We had an oooold, old elder that knew a few teachings that had been passed down orally. Lirya, the white moon of the first planet, the great white Kafya that danced with her brother, a black fur speckled with starlight."

"I've never met another Kafya that knew that!" Lirya nearly giggled out, taking Mohki's hands in hers. "I thought only my parents knew!"

"Easy there, moon fur." Mohki said, though she was grinning at the clearly excited white Kafya in front of her. "Now, I have to imagine that you are looking to buy some clothes, right? If you're like me, you're going to be sending some home, too. I'd be willing to wager your poor parents are put up in the bricks."

Lirya tilted her head. "Bricks?"

"Poorer area."

"Oh… yeah." Lirya replied, frowning. "Old hab unit from the first colony."

Mohki visibly grimaced at that tidbit. "Fuck's sakes."

"Who?"

"Nothing. Here, let's get you set up with some basic fare, I think."

Lirya followed behind Mohki, more out of habit than anything else, and was led into a store that sold more basic, well rounded Human apparel. Being white furred, Lirya was able to fit into any color with ease, though Mohki appeared to treat brighter colors with the same disdain as someone would when finding shit on the bottom of their shoes. The only color that appeared to pass her muster was dark red, which she tended to linger on before handing the clothing off to Lirya.

Under the careful eye of Mohki, Lirya gained over two weeks of outfits, as well as some small items that she could mail to her parents in order to generate a little more income on her home planet.

After a quick stop at the auto-tailor, Lirya's new cargo pants were tail-ready, and she was shoved into a changing room by Mohki.

It was awkward at first, requiring Mohki to pop her head under the changing room door and issue pointers on how to get the Kafya-adjusted bra on, but Lirya found her way in the end.

A small issue arose when she pulled on a fresh long sleeved top, woven from cotton and linen with small ties down the arms. As Lirya pulled it on, she found it ended right below her rib cage, leaving her fur covered stomach open to the air.

"... Mohki." Lirya said flatly, giving the hem a few small tugs to see if it had some auto-level function. "Where is the rest of it?"

"Rest of what?" Mohki asked, popping her head back under the door with data-slate in hand.

Lirya gestured to the uncovered portion of her white stomach. "The rest of the top?"

"That's it."

"That's it!?"

"Yeah, that's it, what's the problem?"

"I'm naked! That's the problem!"

Mohki snorted. "It's just your stomach Lirya, worried some Human is gonna see your belly button or something?"

"But I'm not fully covered!" Lirya quietly shouted in a panic, running her fingers along her stomach fur. "What if someone sees?!"

Mohki leveled her eyes at the silently hyperventilating white Kafya, eyebrows neutral. "Lirya, we're not on a Kafya world, you don't have to hide every inch of your fur."

"But what if someone sees?!" Lirya repeated, going to take off the top. "What if I'm reported!"

"Ah ah!" Mohki shouted, reaching up and slapping at Lirya's hands. "Stop that! You're on a Human station, no one can do a damn thing to you and your parents have immunity! For fuck's sakes you're carrying around a data-slate issued by the UAA government, relax!"

"But…" Lirya said, cowering under the correcting hands of Mohki.

"But nothing." Mohki said, now reaching up with both hands to correct Lirya's top while her data-slate balanced on her stomach. "Treat this as your first lesson in liking yourself. You're a nedwo on a Human station, no one is going to drag you off into a dark corner and take you out just because you have moon fur."

Lirya's heart was hammering in her ribcage as she looked down at herself, shoulders and stomach showing more fur than she ever had in public. "But…"

"No buts." Mohki said sternly, tugging Lirya's cargo pants down another inch to show off her hip bones. "Now put on those station socks and come on out, time to be who you were always supposed to."

Despite the statement, it still took a lot of coaxing from Mohki and a lot of offered praise from the store staff to finally get Lirya to leave the dressing room. Once out in the open air, and still trying to tug down on the hem of the crop top, Lirya nearly crumbled to pieces over the explosion of chatter from the Human store staff.

Being called "cute" and "adorable" was not something Lirya was used to, and she could feel the sweat pouring down her back and tail.

With her extra clothing on the way to her room via a helpful A.I. delivery vehicle, and the parcels to her parents sent down to the shipping terminal, Lirya slowly became accustomed to her clothing. Walking beside the brash and open Mohki slowly built her confidence, the brown Kafya making sure to glare or bare her teeth at any Kafya who threw a sidewise glance at Lirya.

The warnings from her weren't ignored; Mohki came from a warrior clan of high repute on the fringe planets within Kafya control, a clan that was further marking themselves with the curious piercings that Humans had introduced to the arm of the galaxy.

"Are you sure this is fine?" Lirya asked, looking down at her sleeved arms and open stomach. "Humans wear this stuff?"

Mohki smiled. "Of course. Probably warmer stuff up on the station, but you need to get out of that Kafya shell you've been wrapped up in. I know how moon furs were treated, and this is the best place you could ever be."

"... Alight." Lirya murmured, though she was enjoying all the smiles she got from the Humans, Pwah, and Kojynn.

"So what did you want to do next? I saw the balance on that card of yours, you didn't even make a dent in it." Mohki said, reaching up and stretching her arm muscles and back.

Lirya watched her; She was very lithe, much like a yellow fur, but it was always fascinating seeing how much muscle the war-like colors had. "Well, I was hoping to buy some trading cards."

"Trading cards?" Mohki asked, cocking a brow. "What do you need trading cards for?"

"Miss La mentioned that Humans have them for members of the R.I.S., and they piqued my interest I suppose." Lirya replied, going back to fidgeting with her pawed fingers. "What do you do on the station, if I may ask?"

Mohki pointed above her. "I work at the docks."

"The docks?" Lirya asked, surprised. "Not station security?"

"What? A warrior clan Kafya can't relax and just lift heavy stuff?" Mohki said with a wink, then clicked her teeth. "I don't like the Kojynn though, they like to show off and haul around more stuff than me."

After a bit of negotiating with the map of stores, the two Kafya found the single store that carried the trading cards, a little place that was made up of mostly gaming tables and a long wall of merchandise.

According to the store owner, most of the stuff people wanted came from Earth directly via mail shuttles, as there was little sense to have a huge stock of gaming stuff on an orbiting space station.

Lirya was happily talking to the heavy-set Human at the counter when she froze, her eyes locked at a glance towards the door. Both the man and Mohki were confused until they looked, spying Tyllia standing in the doorway with her arms crossed.

Tyllia looked Lirya from toe to ear tip, her face judging with raised brows. "Wow, from body suits to crop tops in only a few hours, you nedwos work qui-"

Her words were cut off as a pack of playing cards thwacked off her forehead, causing the yellow furred Kafya to stumble backwards.

"What the shit?!" Tyllia howled, rounding around to say something else before spying the larger brown Kafya.

Mohki, without missing a beat, picked up another pack of cards and brandished it. "You want another one, daquihass?"

Being called a "pissfur" by a brown was a heavy slight to a yellow, but Tyllia knew full well that Mohki could make her suck on her own foot. Plus, she had that lip piercing and was wearing all black, which put her in the fringe Blackmoon warrior clan.

That didn't stop her fur from standing on end in rage, Mohki following suit as Lirya shrunk backwards behind the brown Kafya.

"I would like to avoid calling the station's current lead female to take care of this." The Human said, sighing out while running a hand along his growing bald spot. "She doesn't like how many calls this store generates in the first place, during game nights. I warned her about slaughter tournaments but she still sends me hate emails…"

Lirya, despite her trembling tail and fingers, leaned around the shoulder of the lowly growling Mohki. "Um… Tyllia. Could we just open cards?"

Tyllia's eyes snapped to Lirya's, which were glancing back and forth between her and Mohki, and it took everything she had not to growl back. Getting upstaged by some military dirt stomper was going to make her look bad… but she really wanted to look at the cards, too.

"Fine." Tyllia spat, crossing her arms. "But I'm not sitting next to your bodyguard."

Lirya placed a hand on Mohki's shoulder, which oddly enough seemed to instantly ease the brown Kafya's ire. "Mohki?"

"... Yeah, sure." Mohki muttered, flexing her strong fingers. "But if the butter dog gets uppity, she's going to get a fresh one."

—

"Ooh, a rare." Lirya said with a happy trill to her voice, pulling up the card that bore Gunner Mason. "He looks right mean, too."

Lirya had been happily ripping packs for nearly half an hour, going over the stats of the R.I.S. member while Tyllia and Mohki glared at each other from opposite sides of the table, being put on reluctant sorting duty by the white fur and her growing mound of wrappers.

"What kind is he, then?" Tyllia asked, arranging all her female cards in stacks of rarity.

Mohki tilted her head at Tyllia in a rather mocking fashion, fangs bared in false sweetness. "Why, I would wager he uses a gun, yellow fur."

Tyllia scowled, narrowing her lilac eyes at Mohki's milky hazels.

"He uses a brace of pistols, actually!" Lirya chirped, showing the two warring Kafya the card. "See? Carries six Colt Pythons into combat, and is even an Ur war veteran!"

Tyllia grimaced. "I would hate to imagine the body count that maniac has stacked up."

"Could likely wrap the bodies around this station laid side to side." Mohki agreed, both of them leaning down to look at the card's picture.

Gunner Mason looked part man, part metal, a mishmash of steel skull plate and ragged blonde hair. His dark blue eyes looked keen, predatory, but he was clearly losing the structural integrity of his body; His legs were haggard, missing more flesh than his armor was plating, and appeared to have a bad spine judging from the slight forward lean.

"Mean looking bastard." Mohki mused, holding up the card. "Has seen battle on twelve planets and twenty one stations, clearing out Ur. He's old, too, likely going to die on the battlefield or of his wounds."

Tyllia flicked an ear, looking at Mohki. "Is that common? Dying of wounds?"

"Sometimes, from what I hear." Mohki replied, handing the card to the happily wagging Lirya. "Their bodies just give out and get buried, like the rest."

"Makes me wonder about this poor woman." Tyllia murmured, holding up another rare card. "Granny Gray, seventy years old and in service to the R.I.S."

Mohki held out her hand, taking the card when Tyllia handed it to her. She read it over slowly, all while glancing at the crazed woman's face. "Seems she changed over when her daughter had her third miscarriage, drove her mind right over a cliff. Served on nearly every planet during the war, probably why she is one of the rainbow cards."

"How does an old woman survive war?" Tyllia asked, taking more of the standard cards from Lirya.

Mohki shrugged her bare brown shoulders. "Beats me, just one of those Human things. Even the old ones have the ability to rip your head off, or jam their thumbs into your eyeballs if they can find the will to. Granny Gray there is just… a dish of unending will."

"Human spirit." Lirya corrected as she tore open another pack, shuffling through the cards with newfound expertise as the two other Kafya turned to look at her. She looked at them, blinking. "That's their will, 'Human spirit'."

Tyllia frowned, looking down at the female cards in front of her. "Then do they suffer this fate once their spirit is broken somehow?"

"Explains why they are all so tragic in origin." Mohki said, holding up a small selection of cards as she carried on. "Wife killed in traffic accident, first born son found dead in bathtub, death of father, death of mother, calculation error that caused the death of thirty voidmen on their ship, junior enlisted bled out in arms…"

Tyllia held up her own selection of cards, ears drooping as she read along. "Child dead during birthing trials, husband shot and killed during robbery, daughter found to be a victim of rape by family friend, son found hanging from closet due to heart break…"

"... Yeah…" Lirya said, sighing down at the cards. "I do believe that is the theme. Their spirit becomes broken by some tragedy, and something within their broken DNA causes their Human spirit to… over compensate."

"They should have found a way to fix it by now." Tyllia said quietly, setting down the long fan of cards. "It doesn't make sense. DNA can be fixed as easily as a leaky roof."

Mohki pressed her lips together, a Human thing she had picked up after working with them for so long, then let out an angry sigh as she set down her own fan of cards. "Ice cream."

"Huh?" Lirya said with a tilt of the head, placing the rarer cards into the little sleeve book she had bought.

"We need ice cream." Mohki stated flatly, then slapped her thighs and stood up. "Come on."

Tyllia furrowed her brows. "What do you mean 'come on'? I'm not getting ice cream with you."

"Lirya, buy the yellow some ice cream." Mohki said, then took a single step before turning back around. "As a matter of fact, you're buying us both icecream."

Lirya blinked for a few heart beats, then brightly smiled, realizing she was about to have a sweet treat with a friend. "Okay!"

"White furs…" Tyllia muttered under her breath, standing and sliding the rest of the cards into a small box that had held all the unopened card packs.

"Ice cream." Mohki said again, clapping her hands. "Come on, there is a cup of peanut butter chocolate with my name on it, and you two are slowing me down."

Lirya quickly slid a few more cards into their sleeves, then combined the rest of the lower rarity cards into another box. Tyllia stacked the boxes and slid them under an arm, hanging her head back with a weary sigh as Lirya went trotting after Mohki.

"Coming!" Lirya called out in a sing-song way, stepping up beside the brown furred Kafya with her card binder pressed to her chest. "What is peanut butter?"

Mohki laughed as Tyllia brought up their rear. "Oh you're gonna love this stuff, it tastes like happiness pressed into a paste."

"It gets stuck in your teeth, and the roof of your mouth." Tyllia said, annoyed, but at the moment… she did feel like a nice scoop of cherry chocolate chunk.

Mohki turned her head, smiling. "That's the best part! You spend all day licking it out of your teeth while at work."

"Eeewww!" Lirya laughed out, the three Kafya rounding the corner of the store.

The swarm of station chatter and noise swallowed them, Mohki leading the way to the ice cream shop as a second Midnight Alcove slid by the station, unknown, and unseen.