Spaceship Parking, and then [Location Redacted], The Mainland, Wednesday Afternoon

[firstofitskind]

Liam had been deliberately vague in the note he'd left Verity on Christmas about where exactly they were going and why, but when they decided to make the trip he'd promised her today, he did make sure to mention that she'd want to dress for weather that was warm and humid.

He showed up shortly before the time they'd handwavily agreed to meet at the spaceship parking in the junkyard, just to quickly run his shuttle through pre-flight diagnostics.

[ooc: for the one who is mentioned!

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[firstofitskind]

"I'm hardly one to throw stones regarding atypical childhoods, all things considered, but that must have been one hell of a household to grow up in," Liam said, shaking his head.

[arboreal_priestess]

"The stories I could tell you," Verity said with a fond laugh. "Though I didn't realize how weird they were until we started school and we realized how tame and boring the other kids' games of hide and seek were."

What was even the point if you couldn't lay ambushes or dig pit traps?

She tilted her head. "Did you know that you were the only one when you were...maturing?" That seemed a good way to put it, right?

[firstofitskind]

"Yes," Liam nodded. "Ha'gel- my father- understood that he likely wouldn't live much longer past the Joining with my mother."

[arboreal_priestess]

Wordlessly, Verity reached up to twine her fingers with his, squeezing gently. Sympathy didn't seem entirely appropriate here, so she went instead for a quiet gesture of I'm here.

[firstofitskind]

Oh, just wait until he finally tells you something about his other father, Verity. That's a whole 'nother can of issue-filled worms. For now, though, he was just going to give her a small, grateful smile for that gesture. "I think the fact that I 'matured', as you put it, so rapidly is because I wouldn't have been able to influence the situation on Earth as a child? But I don't really know for sure." There were a lot of things about his Kimera side that he didn't really know for sure, to be honest.

[arboreal_priestess]

"Makes sense," Verity said. "People aren't inclined to listen to children and I don't know how much hand-to-hand combat you saw, but being child-size would be a distinct disadvantage."

One that could be overcome, sure, but why put in the extra effort if it wasn't necessary?

And then, to lighten the seriousness of her answer, she added, "Also, they probably wanted to skip the 'but whyyyyyyyyy?' phase of childhood."

[firstofitskind]

"I met Da'an when I tackled him to the ground in order to save him from being assassinated," Liam explained. "I suppose I might have been able to do that as a child, but he probably wouldn't have offered me a job afterwards. And... I may never have had a 'but why' phase, but during my first few days? I was very- blunt, I guess you could say. It took me a while to learn about the concept of a brain-to-mouth filter."

[arboreal_priestess]

"My filter didn't kick in until I was about fifteen," Verity said with a grin. "We're still waiting for Antimony's to develop."

It could happen any day now. Any day.

[firstofitskind]

"I once asked a friend point-blank if she'd been talking about sex when I walked into the room, because someone else had 'helpfully' just informed me that 'sex is the only thing that gets a smile like that'," Liam admitted sheepishly.

[arboreal_priestess]

Verity burst out laughing, which sent the skrill skittering several feet away. "Oh god," she said, holding her sides, "Who's job was it to then explain that to you?"

And now she had all sorts of questions about Liam and sex, but those were probably better asked...later. When she had a little more of a right to.

[firstofitskind]

"That you shouldn't just open a conversation in a public place with someone with an invasive question about their sex life? Augur got to stammer out an explanation of that one, considering he was the one to get me into that mess in the first place."

[arboreal_priestess]

"Well, that's only fair then," Verity decided. "He got you to say it, he gets to explain when it's actually appropriate." She lifted an eyebrow at him. "Do I want to know how much he explained to you? Or was sex just kind of included in the basic package?"

[firstofitskind]

Liam coughed. “More or less?”

Emphasis on the ‘less’, really. Pretty much everything Liam knew on the topic was either a) genetic memory or b) looked up on the internet.

[arboreal_priestess]

That was a very vague and unspecific answer. "I'll keep that in mind," Verity said, eyes dancing.

[firstofitskind]

"Well, uh, good?" Because, yes, eventually, there would probably have to be- discussion.

But maybe not when the skrills were watching, Verity, oh my god.

[arboreal_priestess]

Verity wasn't pushing the conversation further! It was a little soon for that, skrills or no skrills. But she was definitely amused and it showed.

"So, what can you tell me about the dietary habits of skrills in the wild?" she asked, blatantly changing the subject. Her expression suggested that while the mating habits of the Kimera-human hybrids might have been off the table now, it hadn't been forgotten.

[firstofitskind]

That was a good question, actually. Liam knew how they'd gained sustenance when paired with a human Implant, but now that that was no longer the case... he glanced over at the Queen, who chittered at him in reply.

"The short answer is- photosynthesis, sort of?" he translated. "The local animal life can't exactly consent to sharing their energy, so they make do with taking what they need from the plants. Since they're no longer expected to act as weapons, they don't actually need very much to get by."

[arboreal_priestess]

The skrill had more advanced ethics and morals than most humans Verity knew. Oi.

"And in return, they probably work to keep the plants healthy, yes?" she asked. "Not quite symbiosis, but more like sustainable caretaking?"

[firstofitskind]

"Not that the plant life around here needs much help," anymore, anyway. "But they do what they can."

[arboreal_priestess]

"So, then how do they spend their days?" Verity asked. "What do they do? Do they primarily spend their time harvesting energy for the, uhh, colony? Or maintaining their home? Or do they have a culture and society they're advancing? What is it like, a day in the life of a skrill?"

[firstofitskind]

Liam shrugged. "Right now? A lot of exploring. They've been here.... three? years, now," which, yes, he'd been the one to put them there, you'd think he'd remember, but he'd also spent a year kind of dead, which tended to mess with his perception of time a bit. "But it's a big jungle. Still pretty new to them."

[arboreal_priestess]

Kathy felt that whole 'being dead messing with your perception of time' thing pretty hardcore.

"That makes sense," Verity said, nodding. "Are they looking to map out the whole jungle? That could potentially be a very useful tool--a way to map it out without being invasive. A lot of good could come of that. In the right hands, anyway."

Which really narrowed down whose hands that information should go into.

[firstofitskind]

It was a hell of a thing to have in common! Though being incorporeal and one with the universe was somewhat less traumatizing than being a flesh-eating zombie, that's for sure.

"She says that's an interesting idea," Liam relayed. "Something to consider for when they decide it's time to reveal themselves."