Futuristic Somewhere In The Stars Dwells A Lost Soldier...

[Irish_Dragon_76]

The ship shook Donovan awake as it finally stopped at its destination. Donovan quickly opened his eyes and looked around the ship, taking a moment to fully wake up. He leaned the pilot chair into its correct position and scanned what stood in front of him. A planet an old smuggler friend of Donovan had told him about; he heard it was a good place to lay low for a while and hoped to do just that. According to the ship, the planet was commonly referred to as 'underground'; Donovan assumed it was due to the fact it was heavily used for black market trade and other works of that source. Donovan took back manual control and made his way down to the planet surface, already thinking about his next few moves. Suddenly, Donovan was struck with a mild feeling of guilt as he remembered Nanome, who he had promised to get back home; Donovan took in a deep breath and continued his descent to the planet surface, doing his best to ignore the guilt eating away at him.

 

[PopcornPie]

As Nanome slept, she made little movements that vaguely looked like running, chasing someone even. And, indeed, she was. She dreamt about when she had begun school, and began to fit in with the rest of the students. It took her a while to find someone who wasn't annoyed by her boundless energy, but, eventually, she came to the right person.

A kid slightly newer than her wasn't having nearly as good luck finding friends, and, during a class trip to the lake, Nanome spotted her sitting on the beach, waiting for something exciting to wash up. The idea of feeling gray during such a colorful day just wouldn't sit with her, so she tried to approach, only to get swiped at. The new girl unleashed at least a month's worth of anxiety and annoyance at Nanome, telling her that she was fine, she had no business hovering over her, and that she would make friends on her own time. Her sharp tongue hacked away at Nanome's heart, and she sat on the sand a little further away, devastated. For a while, it was just them, the waves, and the seagulls. Sunlight baked Nanome's back, and she wanted to go play with the other kids, but sorrow kept her weighed down, and it kept the other girl down, too. She kept her head turned slightly, listening to the students' games and catching whatever she could in the corner of her eye. Finally, she sighed and turned to the crestfallen Nanome, struggling to open her lips again until she startled them both by creaking out a "sorry". Determined to keep her mouth from sealing itself back up, she explained how she'd been homeschooled for most of her life, and how she hadn't seen much human interaction due to anxiety issues, and that she knew that Nanome was just trying to help. Just when it seemed that they'd have their first, albeit painfully quiet conversation, both of them found themselves crashing facefirst into the sand. "Tag!" Called a boy with frizzy copper hair hair. Wanting revenge, Nanome sprang to her feet and gave chase-but not before inviting the other girl to play, too. And, having the same motivations, she agreed. That was how Nanome ended up sprinting around the beach with her new friend, Sanya, hot on her tail.

Now, in her dream, she was seeing Sanya again, along with all their other Earth friends, roaming the Earth sand, silhouetted against the Earth sun. It felt like a fake memory now, after spending so long in space, but she would never, in a million years, doubt that it was real. Those friends were real, and they were waiting for her. The cheerfulness and coziness of this dream was real, and she wouldn't have minded if Donovan never woke her from it.

Then the rest of her real memories came in.

Nanome could hear a metallic sound behind her, sort of like a fork clanging against a plate. Knowing full well that Sanya and everyone else was barefoot that day, her skin went cold when she looked behind her and saw metal boots instead of dainty girl feet. Outside her field of vision, more appeared. No, no, she couldn't let the dream outrun her and leave her with the soldiers. She turned her attention back to the beach in front of her, ready to pick up the pace, but she couldn't; she was trapped behind another row of IDS soldiers. When her vision got a greenish tint, she looked down and saw that she was now wearing armor, too, with the standard plasma cannon held tight in her hands. Terrified, she looked up, only to immediately wish that she hadn't; the peaceful beach day had turned into another bloody battle, with the sky a sickly yellow and the sand dirty concrete. Alien ships shot at and crashed all around them, and many of them were tackled and stabbed by enemy field troopers. Somehow, in the midst of dying screams from friend and foe alike, a new screech sounded, one that wasn't human or alien at all. A missile had been launched high above Nanome and her troops...and aimed exactly at her on the way down. Boom.

After the explosion, everything went quiet. Nanome opened her weary eyes to see endless stars looking back at her. She, once again, was surrounded by floating wreckage that could once be put together to form a ship. Her breaths stifled and turned into whimpers, partly recovering from the shocking transition, and partly knowing that somewhere among those stars was her Earth. And she was probably floating away from it, right into the path of a star that was red and swollen, like her eyes after she'd finished crying in terror. It was running out of energy, fast, and Nanome didn't need IDS training to know what was going to happen next. If Nanome's ship was still in one piece, she could've revved it up and gotten away. Without it, all she could do was try to swim away as the star collapsed behind her, killing them both in a slow burst of light.

Upon waking up with a sharp gasp, Nanome moaned and hugged her uninjured leg. Not even in her dreams could she find solace. Not even in her dreams was she home. She could only hope that would change soon.

 

[Irish_Dragon_76]

After some time of mapping and navigating his way into the atmosphere, Donovan finally made it to a good place to dock; for a smuggler haven, it was a relatively organized area. Over a dozen ships were coming in and coming out of the main docking area, which appeared to be holding quite a few ships, much like Donovan's. It wasn't as organized or full of security as the Earth docks were, but it was good enough to keep people from crashing into one another. Within half an hour, Donovan was docked and the ship was secured in a large hangar area; looking through the window of the cockpit, it was clear that the hangar was once used by military forces; Donovan assumed this part of the planet was used primarily as a military outpost back in the day.

After a minute of thinking and cursing to himself, Donovan made his way down the hall, ready to talk to Nanome and hope she would take the news alright. Donovan knocked on the door lightly and waited a moment. "Hey, friend..." He started, "I've got some bad news... The going-back-to-Earth plan didn't quite go as expected..." Donovan waited for a response, hoping Nanome wouldn't take a violent turn and use her IDS training to commandeer the ship and take him hostage or simply end him right there.

 

[PopcornPie]

Nanome was trying to drift back to sleep when her door creaked open. When she saw Donovan standing there, her eyes flashed with relief for a second before noticing the remorseful expression on his face. Once he delivered the bad news, her heart began to pound. "'Not as planned'? W-what do you mean?!" She stammered, gripping her collar. "Y-you mean...are we out of fuel? Were you able to land us? Where are we?" She began to roll out of bed only to realize-shit-that she was still in barely any condition to walk while her injuries healed. She needed a crutch, or a wheelchair, something that could help carry her weight, but no such thing was around. All she could do was ask more questions, throw more panicked conclusions into the air. "So are we even more lost than ever?! No, I was the lost one, because I was stupid, and now, because of my utter failure to follow orders, we're both lost!" Whimpering, she shook herself. No, no. Lost in space she may be, but she was still a well trained soldier, and she had to act like it. Hell, even back on Earth she wasn't this afraid. "S-sorry." She sighed. "I-I guess it's just leftover stress from my nightmare. It's nothing. So, anyway," She asked slowly, reluctant to come back to the subject. "Where are we?"

 

[Irish_Dragon_76]

Donovan, now inside the room, was taken by surprise when Nanome began throwing sudden questions of what was going on; he tried to interject, but Nanome slowly began to compose herself, bringing a feeling of calm back into the room. "It's alright, but... There was a change in plans." Donovan started, speaking calmly and carefully. "If we went to Earth, I'd be put into prison or forced into military service before I could even start my ship. My dad was thrown into that bus, and the last time I saw him within a three year period of him being gone was in a jar full of his ashes. I don't want to be like my dad, Nanome, I won't let that happen to me..."

Donovan paused for a moment, realizing the fear that he had been hiding inside himself all this time. The same fear his father likely felt before being caught for the same thing Donovan was doing; a fear of death by institution. Donovan took in a deep breath and sunk the memories deep down into his chest, allowing the feelings to settle and disappear. "We're on a smuggling planet; off the radar of the IDS. I don't know how long I'll be staying, but maybe we can buy you a new ship to fly out of here and back home. I know it isn't the best plan, but its what I got." Donovan finally got out, speaking in a matter-of-fact tone. "I'll see about getting you a crutch to prop yourself on, unless you have any questions." He added, standing between the doorway.

 

[PopcornPie]

Nanome listened to Donovan's explanation, swallowing back the hurt. As much as she hated it, it was the best plan they could come up with, at least at the moment. Even still, since they were so far away from Earth, it would make for a long, lonely flight home, and she'd had enough alone time for a long time. "You're sure nobody will mind? I mean, I am an IDS...I wouldn't be surprised if we've performed raids here before." She looked down at her sturdy, yet small body. Being a lone IDS soldier on such a shady-sounding planet wasn't the only problem. Well, at least there was an easy, effective solution: staying by Donovan's side at all costs. So she really didn't have that many questions about the planet, aside from the obvious concerns. The other thing he told her, however, brought a myriad of questions into her nervous mind. "Your dad?" Well, of course his dad, everyone came from a dad. But he once flew with the IDS? Somehow, she smiled with sympathy. Was that why Donovan was so kind to her? Was she a reflection of his father's days flying as a naive young soldier?

 

[Irish_Dragon_76]

Donovan thought on the issue of Nanome's military background; he wouldn't be surprised if many of the people here would enjoy taking down an IDS soldier, deserter or not. "Right... You'll probably have to ditch the military gear, mainly the damaged clothes. I might have an extra coat or something if you'd like more than just the pants and the T-shirt." Donovan said as he slowly started building up an idea of what he'd do next. "Also, I hate to say it, but we're gonna need to sell your ship for parts." Donovan added apologetically. Donovan paused once again, now thinking about his father. His memories of him were faint, overall, like some sort of good dream that turned into a terrible nightmare. "Yeah, I had a father. I don't anymore..." Donovan said solemnly. Without another word, Donovan exited the room and went back to the cockpit; he sat down in the pilot seat and stayed there, taking in a couple deep breaths while he sat in overall silence. He knew a dock master would be coming to secure the ship, possibly ask for payment as well, but for the moment, Donovan needed some time to himself; some time to think on a few things. "What would he do next?" Donovan mumbled, thinking of his father. He would always do what was morally right; Donovan's father had a saying that Donovan never forgot. "Greed will kill you, hate will hurt you, but kindness will save you, sometimes in ways that don't seem like saving." Donovan didn't quite understand what his father meant by that, but he knew it was still the most important thing he ever told Donovan.

After a few minutes alone, Donovan returned to Nanome with a better variety of clothes, mainly just a different set of pants, a few coats, some T-shirts, and a pair of crutches. "I broke my leg a year or so ago and kept the crutches, looks like they came in handy. Also got some better clothes, if you'd like. I'm sure we can buy you some more fitting clothes, but this should do for now."

 

[PopcornPie]

Nanome nodded somberly. "Well, good luck finding any parts that haven't been blown to bits." She chuckled weakly, with even more dread building in her heart. If she managed to make it home in a ship that wasn't her own...well, hopefully either the communicator would work or there'd be just enough safety precautions on it to keep her from being blasted to smithereens along with it. And that was assuming that she'd survive on the smuggling planet without being mugged or kidnapped. By now, she wasn't sure if she was more scared for her life before or after her rescue.

She found it in her to smile with gratitude again when the new clothes and crutches were laid out in front of her. Once again, she wriggled out of her military attire, immediately slipping into the blue shirt. Nanome dug her fingers deep into the slightly dirty, but soft, fabric, staring at it nostalgically. Putting on the pants was a little tougher due to the cast, but if she could maneuver her tiny ship between the walls of a ravine while both chasing an enemy and being chased by its backup, she could manage. And manage she did. Now for the hardest part of all: the crutches. She pressed them down on the floor, trembling and weak like a baby giraffe. Such a strange situation she was in, but, at the same time, she'd never felt more on Earth than she had now, not only wearing casual clothing but having to learn something on her own, without any instructors.

 

[Irish_Dragon_76]

"You gonna be alright on the crutches?" Donovan asked, watching Nanome carefully as she tested her balance on the crutches. Not a moment later, a soft dinging noise, accompanied by a red light above the doorway of the room, sounded off. Donovan looked over at the light, knowing it meant someone waiting outside ship now. "Looks like the dock master's finally made it to us..." Donovan said, mainly to himself. Without another word, he left the room and walked to the ship entrance. It was a large door, like a garage door that opened and closed like a drawbridge. Donovan pressed a few buttons on a nearby panel and the door slowly opened up, revealing a sickly looking man in a large, brown duster coat.

"Hey, so, you got money for this space, yeah?" The man asked before quickly wiping his nose with his wrist.

"Yeah... I've got money..." Donovan replied, feeling as though something didn't quite add up with the so-called dock master.

"Oy, you damn runt!" A voice suddenly echoed outside of view. The sickly looking man suddenly bolted away without another word and a larger man came into view. "Sorry 'bout that friend, got a couple no gooders hopping about the place, taking my business for themselves. I'm the dock master, as you may have figured, and taking this spot will be a good wager of 100 marks." The large man said.

"100!?, the hell kinda port is this?" Donovan exclaimed. The busted fighter in the cargo hold would barely be worth 200 in it's current state.

"Well, I did scare off the riffraff and all, which I think is worth the extra 40, and business has been pretty bad this week, so I'm having to raise some prices here and there. You understand, being a man of business yourself, yeah?" The large man haggled; he was obviously an expert at selling anything at any price, with his perceptive eye and silver tongue.

"85 and no more..." Donovan replied. "And a lightly used IDS fighter radar unit, lightly used." He added, knowing, the way he described it, would add on an extra 60, easily.

"You drive a hard bargain, friend..." The man said. "But you've got a deal!"

Within half an hour, Donovan had paid the man out of pocket and carefully tore out the "lightly used" radar unit from Nanome's fighter. The dock master looked at the radar unit with a questionable glance, but said nothing before walking away. Donovan went back to the fighter craft and began doing a stock check on every tradable piece of the ship; in the first few minutes, it wasn't looking to be the best. Most of the computer-oriented parts were fried or shattered, screens had been cracked or were completely missing, and most of the metal pieces were scorched, warped, or torn to shreds. Donovan was hopeful that the pieces further inside the ship would be in better shape.

 

[PopcornPie]

"The dock master..."

Thanks to the sinking feeling that she'd get in trouble if she was spotted, Nanome listened to their conversation from inside the storage hold. To hide from the strange man wasn't the only reason; she just had to say goodbye to Fighter O-7. Once she lost interest in what Donovan was up to, she laid her hand on what was once the door that gave way to the ship's innards. Those pipes and gears inside had gotten her through so much, she'd had to brave so many planets and make so many emergency repairs. Some days, it seemed like it was the end of the line for it, but Nanome always found a way to get it running again. On the flipside, together with their squadron, they pushed back the enemies one explosion at a time, and Nanome always danced and whooped in her seat with every victory. It was just so rewarding to see her pilot training pay off. Heck, she'd spent so many days just learning to start it properly...it felt like she was losing, not a hunk of metal, but a beloved mechanical steed. All because of her carelessness.

She let out a little gasp when she saw the dock master coming alongside Donovan, inspecting her ship. Donovan took a piece, the radar unit, and the dockmaster left without noticing her or even making a comment about the state of the ship. "So...he bought it?" She asked slowly, reluctantly helping Donovan look for salvageable pieces. Maybe the fuel tank could be saved with a metal patch or two, the turrets could still respond despite being bent, but several gadgets, including the clock, were beyond hope, and the battered engines just puked black smoke whenever she tried to start the ship. And she gave in to her temptation to try it a couple more times, just in case, by some miracle, O-7 would fly again after all. But all that happened was smoke pouring from every open hole as the engine whined and sputtered, also trying its hardest to stay alive. Finally, it gave up, and with a few loud bangs, it stopped revving for the final time. Even if it was clear that this was the end, Nanome couldn't leave the seat. It was hugging her goodbye.

 

[Irish_Dragon_76]

Donovan was happy to see Nanome moving around again and gladly took her help in taking stock of salvageable parts. He could tell she wasn't exactly happy to see her ship the way it was, let alone see it's parts getting marked for sale by a junk rat like Donovan. "Yeah, he bought it, more or less." Donovan replied as he popped open the control panel. Seeing that most of the components were fried or melted to one another, he closed it up before letting out a long sigh. He got out of the pilot seat and made his way over to the engine; Nanome had taken the pilot seat and was checking the main controls, after a couple tried to activate the engines, it was clear that the ship would never fly again; not any time soon, that is. "Looks like the igniters, a few fuel tubes, and some odds and ends pieces are good, other than that, this ship's gone." Donovan said, making a mental note on the working pieces; he could probably sell them at 25% normal price and the broken ones 10% below normal price. Donovan paused for a minute and looked up at Nanome, who was sitting idly at the controls, she seemed to be in deep thought. "So... What happened out there, anyway?" Donovan asked, breaking the long silence.

 

[PopcornPie]

"So there is stuff they can use...that's good, I guess..." Nanome looked down to the floor of the ship, wondering what they could do for the rest. Would they have to?...Well, hopefully she wouldn't be around to see her beloved scrap bucket be melted down. In fact...shit, how would her commander feel about what she'd done? Was she not instructed to care for her fighter as if it was a living pet? Was she not ordered to always keep it clean and repaired? Was she not commanded not to try flying off and battling on her own?

Speaking of which...Donovan had finally asked what had happened to her. Her head hanging, and with a lump in her throat, she slowly murmured her story. "There was a siege on this moon..." Thanks to all the panic she'd endured, she'd forgotten its name. "I was flying with my squadron, we were all going to take the enemy Yuxorgs out, together." That last word cut at her tongue on its way out like a ball of knives. "It was going good...but I noticed one enemy retreating. I thought they were going to get help, so I chased them, blasted away from my group...but I found out that it wasn't going for help. The help was already there, and they let me know it." She shivered, hugging herself, remembering just how close she'd come to losing a limb, or, worse, her head. "The blasts were bad enough, but I think I got smashed against a bunch of asteroids, and I ended up careening away...I might've even blacked out, I'm not sure. But when I woke up, I knew just what had happened, and, as you can see," She wiggled her throttle, taking note of the crackling sound it made. "I had no way of flying back on my own. Thank God my communicator was still working, but I had my doubts. I just kept sending distress messages until you came." Although everything else was motionless, she had moved her eyes to look at Donovan, but her bangs obscured them. "Before you, I didn't get any kind of response from my allies, my enemies, nobody...I didn't recognize anything around me...Commander's going to kill me..." She whispered through a few soft whimpers.

 

[Irish_Dragon_76]

Donovan brought himself up to the cockpit where Nanome was sitting and put a hand on her shoulder. "It'll be alright; despite how everything looks right now, it will turn out fine. Take it from a guy with some experience in disaster..." With that said, Donovan patted her on the shoulder and hopped down from the cockpit. "Now, I don't know about you, but I think I'm just about half starved enough to try out the local cuisine; care to join?"

 

[PopcornPie]

Nanome's stomach spoke for her. "I'd love to." She replied happily, climbing out of the cockpit. It wasn't just for her health; she needed something to put her mind off what she left behind. "You think they'll have Dunkamander? I love Dunkamander..." Thinking about their succulent tails and meaty legs was making her drool, making her concentrate so hard on the image that she almost forgot how to use her crutches. "They usually make us a good variety of food with the IDS, usually whatever they can find on the planets they assign our squadrons to." She stumbled on the rough ground, but didn't mind too much. A little food in her system meant her wounds would have the energy to heal faster, right?

 

[Irish_Dragon_76]

"Well, they may try and sell you what they insist is Dunkamander, but hey, maybe the food here is better than the people." Donovan replied as him and Nanome left the docking bay. It wasn't too long before Donovan, and possibly Nanome as well, caught on to the scent of food being cooked. Following the scent, Donovan found himself looking at what was likely the town square, which was packed with merchants, panhandlers, beggars, and the occasional buyer who wasn't selling stolen watches while haggling for random goods. Surprisingly, the food being sold appeared to be of relative quality. "Well, this seems to be the place we want to be; knowing the people though, I doubt food will be at a reasonable price..." Donovan put a hand into his back pocket and wrapped his fingers around his remaining cash, which was very little at the moment. "We should be alright though, see anything you like?"

 

[PopcornPie]

Nanome's eyes trembled. "Wow, that's a lot of people...I hope my hair isn't recognizable." She held a lock of silver between her fingers, watching the sun shine off it. This was the uniform hair color of a trained soldier, yet she was going to go down there and buy food like an ordinary citizen. It was almost humiliating, even if nobody down there knew who she was. All those years spent learning how to shoot aliens down, and she never learned how nto actually walk among them. She was usually just kept safe back at base. To get her mind off her people fright, she turned her focus back to her hunger and looked at the different stands. Gigapine fruit looked too hard for her weak little jaw. On the other end, the pureed Zemaquale looked too soft and gooey to eat neatly, let alone on the fly as Donovan probably hoped. And then there was the Yergaude, which just looked downright disgusting. She couldn't see any Dunkamander anywhere. "Um...what would you recommend?" She looked at Donovan trustingly, genuinely curious.

 

[Irish_Dragon_76]

"Hmmm..." Donovan hummed as he looked around the square. After taking a minute to scan the different food shops, one finally caught his eye. It appeared to be a Kebab style shop, selling all sorts of grilled meat products. "How about that one?" Donovan pointed out the store in question, adding, "It's been a while since I've had a decent Earth-style meal that didn't come out of a tube..."

 

[PopcornPie]

"Ooh, I wouldn't mind that..." Nanome licked her lips. She sniffed the air, immediately picking up on a warm, burnt smell that exacerbated her starved drooling. "Looks so good...I guess anything does to me right now." She joked, looking for a clear way down to the shop. The crowd covered every square inch, and all together they created one intimidating mass, one that could effortlessly swallow them both. "It's so disorganized, so dangerous..." She mused, fiddling with her fingers. "I mean, I've been in a ton of battles, but I think I'd rather be shot than trampled!" But she knew she needed to trust Donovan this time, it was her turn to be the helped instead of the helper.

 

[Irish_Dragon_76]

"Yeah... this is a pretty big crowd..." Donovan said, quickly looking over the large mass of people, hoping to find a good path inside the crowd and to the Kebab. "Alright, follow me closely." Donovan put his hand on Nanome's shoulder so not to lose her in the crowd as he plunged straight into the mass; slowly, he shuffled through the thick crowd, pushing a few idle people along the way. All-in-all, it took almost three minutes to make it to the kebab. Not even five seconds passed before the owner, still taking orders, called out Donovan and Nanome.

"You gonna buy something or just stand in the way of customers? Come on, I'm running a business, not a rest stop, what do you want?" The man barked. Behind him were two other men, quickly working on food. Meat and assorted vegetables were being chopped, fried, sauteed, and served in quick succession. The business, despite being owned by an apparent jerk, was a successful and efficient one.

"We're here to buy, what do you got?" Donovan asked, speaking over the loud crowd around them.

"It's a Kebab, we sell Kebab style foods; what's this, a trick question?" The man replied.

"Just give us something we can eat on the go..." Donovan finally said, tired of the man's attitude. He tossed the little money he had on him and hoped it'd be enough for a decent meal.

"Coming right up." The man said, pocketing the money. He turned around and began yelling at the men behind him, whether it was too loud to understand or if the man was speaking another language was unknown to Donovan, but he imagined the words weren't worth hearing anyway.

"Talk about a cheery dude, huh?" Donovan said to Nanome, leaning close in order to speak quietly.

 

[PopcornPie]

"Well, he has had to work all day..." Nanome pointed out sweetly, understanding the vendor's plight clearly. Some days she came back from a patrol wanting to do nothing but groan at everyone. "So they take a bunch of meats and puts them on a stick? That's pretty neat." She almost got dizzy watching them work, and could barely follow him in the first place. Unfortunately, she was so hypnotized by their food being prepared that she'd forgotten about the mini translator in her shirt pocket, which quickly got to work itself, and both Donovan and Nanome could fully understand the string of obscenities and orders. As soon as she realized it was coming from her, and not someone in the background, Nanome fumbled with the translator to turn it off, blushing the whole time.

 

[Irish_Dragon_76]

"Yeah, I guess so..." Donovan mumbled, although he agreed, he still disliked people with bad attitudes.

"Yeah, kinda. They do a little more than just shish kebabs, presumably, but I'm guessing that's what we'll be getting." Donovan replied. A few moments later, a slew of commands and insults came from Nanome. Almost every other word was either a swear or an insult, either to the workers or a customer. Nanome began to fumble for something in her shirt, which Donovan assumed to be a translator. "Either your translator is broken, or this guy is just making up insults..." Donovan grumbled. Less than a minute later, the man came back to the front of the stand, holding two long sticks of steaming meat and vegetables. despite the man's attitude, his food appeared to be of good quality.

"There you go, good doing business, have a day." The man spoke, handing the two shish kebabs to Donovan.

Donavan took the kebabs and looked over at Nanome. "Let's try and find a quiet place to eat."

 

[PopcornPie]

"I think my translator is okay...it's pretty protected in my pocket." Nanome held it to the sun, taking note of the dirt on its sides. It was probably from her battle with the asteroids, but it wasn't cracked or crushed. Mostly, she was just hoping the worker didn't hear his own words be thrown back at him. Judging by the delicious smell that was shoved a close to her, that didn't seem to be the case. "Ooh, they're all hot, and..." There went the saliva works again. She carefully took the kebab from the man's hand, her eyes sparkling. "Thank you!" The smell alone perked her right up, and she trotted alongside Donovan as they looked for a place to sit.

 

[Irish_Dragon_76]

Seeing that Nanome was enjoying herself put Donovan at ease. She really didn't seem to fit the description of an IDS soldier. Nonetheless, seeing that the trauma of the recent events were, at the moment, out of both of their minds had Donovan in a happy mood. He felt like he was on a vacation almost, despite that vacation being in a slum city ran by smugglers and criminals from across the galaxy. After walking out of the huge crowd of people, Donovan spotted a place to sit. A few old wooden crates laid in a pile together next to an equally old and rugged building. "Looks like as good as a place to sit as we're gonna get." Donovan said, pointing at the crates. "How's the kebab?"

 

[PopcornPie]

Nanome couldn't speak, even though she had loads to say. Her jaw was glued shut by the succulent meat, not that she was complaining. She could feel it slide down into her stomach, disintegrating into energy and flowing through her veins. With this amazing food in her mouth, who cared what the IDS was having for dinner that evening! While she knew it was smarter to conserve, and she felt a little guilty about it, she gobbled it down with no problem.

 

[Irish_Dragon_76]

Watching Nanome almost devour the entire Kebab within moments made it very clear that she was enjoying it. Donovan had yet to start eating, but seeing as that Nanome was basically finished, he took three chunks of the seven off the stick and handed the rest to Nanome. "You've got quite the appetite." Donovan said, chuckling.

Donovan grabbed a crate and set it upside down before sitting on it. The wall of the building gave a bit of shade from the heat, and having a seat, although it was a splintery box, was relatively relaxing. Donovan looked around his surroundings as he ate his three pieces of stickless kebab meat one at a time. "So, Ms. Space Cadet, what do you think we should do now?" Donovan asked with a joking tone.