(no subject)

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

Ellen slips into the Bar with a half-armored Dogmeat at her heels. She almost didn't get the door open; there were too many people and too many robots milling around back home, and she's never been able to get to Milliways with people of her own world paying attention close by. Fortunately, no one was looking her way this time. "Good boy," she says to Dogmeat. "Let's see if we can't get that armor of yours adjusted before we go back. Right now I just want a drink."

Dogmeat whufs. Ellen's sentence did not contain the word food and therefore is not of any particular interest, but you never really know.

Comments

[childofrebellion]

Cassian's sitting at a table and trying to sort though intel but also observing Milliways when Ellen enters.

Her dog in armor is unexpected and he learns forward with a small wince and says, "What kind of adjusting does it need?"

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

Ellen glances up and smiles a little. "He's had this armor for a while and there's a few spots where it's chafing," she says. "Over some of his leg joints, mostly. Otherwise it's a really good fit."

[childofrebellion]

"I see, it does look like it would work well. Do you want to sit?" There's space at his table as he moves his datapad.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"The man who made it for him really knew his work," Ellen says as she settles down in the chair. "Thank you. I'm not interrupting anything, am I?"

[childofrebellion]

"No, not at all just doing a little research. What do you want? I need a refill on my caf,"

He offers Dogmeat a sniff of his hand, he smells slightly of bacta and the smells of base; dirt and ships.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"Nuka-Cola would be fine," Ellen says. "They're used to me asking for that here. How are you doing?"

The sniff is fine. There is nothing on the hand that reminds Dogmeat of food, alas. He is going to have to make faces at people until someone drops something, it would seem.

[childofrebellion]

"Do you want anything for him?"

Having pets isn't that common in Cassian's experience and he's not certain of what's the best thing to do.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"Water would be good," Ellen says. "I'm told most of the other stuff humans drink isn't a good idea for a dog. And he's eaten recently, so he doesn't need feeding for a while."

[childofrebellion]

The rat hears the order and Cassian nods, "Oh, I didn't know that. Pets don't work well with what I do."

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"He's more of a combat companion than a pet, at least as I understand pets used to be before the War," Ellen says. "He's better at searching uneven ground than a human is, and he's more alert to a lot of dangers, so he gets sentry duty and rapid response attacks if there's something that isn't a robot bearing down on me. I'm not saying he isn't nice to have as a peacetime companion, mind you."

[childofrebellion]

"I can see that. There are some planets where there's more of a reliance on local animals than droids for transportation and hunting,"

That makes more sense, being able to have a pet requires time and leisure.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

Ellen nods. "We make use of our old robots, and we're working on making more new ones," she says, "but the majority of people in the Capital and Philly areas rely on animals for their extra work assistance. I'll admit, I wouldn't have the slightest clue what to do if you pointed me at a transportation machine like a car or an airship and asked me to use it, though."

[childofrebellion]

"I'd feel the same about most animals. I have my ship and prefer it,"

He's been on planets with that kind of shift but he hasn't needed to use them.

[galen_erso]

"That is not a cat, is it?"

This comes from a man who looks rather like a scruffy version of Dr. Hannibal Lecter and who watches Dogmeat with fascination.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"Hm?" Ellen glances up, blinking. "Oh- no, no, different species of small carnivore. They, um. Have them here, but I don't think I've ever seen one myself, not that I remember."

(It's been a while since she encountered the Milliface phenomenon; she's a little caught off guard.)

"This is a dog. I- are you from a really nasty part of history like me, or just from a planet other than Earth?"

[galen_erso]

"My part of history is nasty enough," the man who isn't Hannibal Lecter says, "but it's not Earth, no. We have two cats, or they have us, but I've only heard dogs mentioned so far. Erm, hello?"

He holds his hand out to Dogmeat in greeting.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"Oh, okay," Ellen says. "In that case, this is Dogmeat; Dogmeat, you can sniff the man, but don't start licking or anything."

Of course not. Dogmeat only licks fingers if he thinks they smell like they might have handled food recently.

"I'm not sure how much spoken language he actually understands, so I'm very sorry if he doesn't actually respond properly. My name's Ellen Park."

[galen_erso]

Galen allows his hand to be sniffed, even licked if Dogmeat is so inclined. The cats lick fingers all the time.

"I'm Galen Erso," he says. "It's nice to meet you, Ellen. Dogmeat."

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

Dogmeat's tail waves happily as he pushes his nose against the man's hand. If he doesn't get food out of the deal, at least he'll get attention. Which is almost as good, right?

"I don't think I"ve seen you around here before," Ellen says. "I mean, I've seen someone else who looks like you, I know that, but... only one of him. Have you been coming here long?"

[galen_erso]

"I've been here for two months, a little less maybe," Galen says. "And you've probably seen Dr. Lecter, who's been here for quite a while, I take it. I've met him, too. We even had lunch with him the other day. It was a bit odd, but nothing I won't get used to, now I got used to being dead."

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"I've been a little busy on my side of the door and haven't been able to visit much these past months," Ellen admits. "And, yes, that's him. I hope he's doing all right."

He was helpful despite the horrible fish head smell, after all.

"I'm sorry to hear you're dead, though."

[galen_erso]

"Thank you."

What else do you say to condolences of your own death?

"He is doing all right, and cooking interesting things," Galen says. "He introduced us to something called tomatoes. It was in everything."

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"I've heard of those- they use a lot of water to grow," says Ellen, who knows better than to push when it comes to a sensitive subject. "We'll try to grow them at home someday, but for now we're still mostly just reclaiming desert land. The tomatoes here have been an interesting taste, though. They don't grow in your world?"

[galen_erso]

"No, they don't," Galen says. "We have planets with enough water, but no tomatoes. We have completely different vegetables, with a few exceptions and similarities."

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"I guess I shouldn't be surprised. Different planets would have different evolutionary histories," Ellen says. "Like wherever Mox and Xur's people come from- they're crew members on a ship in orbit around my world, and their species is shorter than humans, with green skin and small black eyes. I don't know if some of the things I saw on their ship were plants or fungus or something else entirely. Are there a lot of planets in your civilization?"