the ocean

[instar]

Five pigeons, one with a beetle glued to her foot, fly to Seattle and find the aquarium and the orca tanks.

There is one with just one orca in it.

Five pigeons land on the glass edge of the tank.

Comments

[palmofyourhand]

And Ethan rolls his eyes.

[instar]

Bella looks at people looking at her.

"Formally speaking we don't have a leader, and 'prince' isn't a human rank anyway," Bella says, "why do you ask?"

[morphbox]

<I'm... only an aristh. Too young and untrained to fight. That's why I was in the Dome when it fell instead of in the main part of the ship. An aristh must have a prince. Something like one, under the circumstances, will have to do.> He tracks gazes, then bows his head to Bella, tail low. <I will fight for you, Prince Bella, until I can return to my people.>

[instar]

"...I am willing to tell you to do stuff, but if you're going to address me by a title it's going to have to be 'Princess' or else something completely different."

[morphbox]

<..."Princess"?>

[instar]

"Female form of 'prince' in English. I'm not sure why thoughtspeak is rendering it as anything that specific to begin with, but there it is. Perhaps you can't tell - me and Andi and Robin are female, Charlie and Trouble and Ethan are male. I can't really be sure about you, come to think of it."

[morphbox]

<Well, I am a male,> says Ax, and there he stops.

[palmofyourhand]

Ethan snickers.

[morphbox]

<Do females often fight among humans or is this an extremity of circumstance?>

[instar]

"Let me guess. Andalites use a single-sexed combat force."

[morphbox]

<There has been occasional talk of allowing a handful of female cadets, as a test of the idea, but - yes.>

[instar]

"Well, the history of human females and how we interact with combat is long and complicated, but the current situation is, if you want somebody to take orders from, I'm it, and I don't want to be called 'Prince', plus if you go around visibly hesitating to presume human women competent at whatever they happen to be doing because they are female this will be considered degenerate and rude behavior."

[morphbox]

<Princess Bella,> says Ax, and he bows and drops his tail again.

[hold_infinity]

"We have a quick learner," says Robin.

[morphbox]

Ax finishes whatever bowing-related formality he has been doing and swishes his tail thoughtfully. <May I acquire you all and attempt a Frolis-maneuver combination morph?>

[instar]

"Can you take into account the fact that me, Andi, and Charlie are all related and not wind up looking much more like us than like any of the others?"

[morphbox]

<I can try.> He holds out his hands.

[pandion]

Swans touch his left hand.

[hold_infinity]

Robin goes for his right. Likewise Trouble; likewise Ethan.

[morphbox]

Ax acquires them, one at a time.

He closes his main eyes for a moment, thoughtful.

[instar]

"Humans prefer to wear clothes and be only around clothed humans, as a general rule," Bella says when she comes out of her trance. "We didn't think to bring any spare clothes, and we won't be able to check over your combined morph very well in this dim light anyway. Let's see if we can catch you a sleeping seagull, or at least an insect, and then you can fly home with us."

[morphbox]

<I have a bird morph, but it is not native to this planet.>

[instar]

"What's it look like?"

[morphbox]

<Six wings, long sharp beak. Mine is dark magenta.>

[instar]

"It's dark enough that you probably wouldn't be seen, but let's see if we can get everybody a seagull to share anyway."