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Introductions

Pods and Arwings escape almost arbitrarily from Mothership's bay as the organic flying vessels crash themselves into the side of it.
Tearing. Molding. Morphing.
The structural integrity bends and adapt as flames erupt within the hangar. Shots being fired from inside.

A lone pod floats into the atmosphere of a nearby planet. Gravity takes hold and the outside of the pod is coated in a layer of flame. Encapsulating it and trailing behind it like an aural tail.

It blinks out of site as Mothership begins to bleed.

frontier

The water is as still as Krystal's reflection painted on it. Sun gleaming ever so slightly off the tip of the steady spear.
Just beneath the glass like surface, shadows movie quietly. Carefully, as to not cause disturbance.

Her grip tightens ever so slightly.
Eyes narrow.

She strikes the water evoking a splash, quickly withdrawing a dying fish at the end of her weapon. Flopping and wriggling as its energy erodes and it slowly dies.

Later, over her campfire, she cooks the fish on angled pikes protruding from the earth over the flame.
She takes a bite. She tries her best to enjoy it. The simple act of eating.
Flesh tears away from the carcasses body between her teeth. She tries not to think about it.

The wind picks up. Her ears sway ever so slightly in the breeze.
The sun is going down. She regrets not being able to push on longer, but she sighs and watches the remaining time of the day dwindle.

Once the sun is gone and the sky is black and the only light left is the warm glow from her campfire, she crawls into her meager shelter and closes her eyes.
She didn't have too terribly much time to work on it, and she knew that, so it's pretty basic. A few sticks and a blanket of foliage she put together hastily while her meal cooked.
Keeping her spear close, she tries not to let anxiety keep her awake. She tries to think of something comforting, something that makes her smile.

The pretty sunset.
Her mother's voice.
Miyu...

Her grip around the spear tightens and so do her eyelids. A single tear rolls down her cheek.

"You're one of the new recruits, huh?"

Krystal doesn't even consider that Miyu would be talking to her until she feels a soft pinch on the skin of her arm. She halfway flinches and blinks twice before looking.

"Whoa, you okay? I didn't mean to scare you."

Krystal nods and composes herself. She'd been sitting by herself at one of the corners of a break room table. Lost in thought. She hadn't imagined anyone would have wanted to talk to her, of all people.

"You sure? Cat got your tongue?" Miyu smiles slyly at her own joke, admiring her own cleverness.

Krystal doesn't get it. "Cat...?"

"It's an old saying! How have you not heard that before?"

Her eyes shift nervously away from Miyu to the corner of the room in embarrassment. "I don't..."

"Hey, it's okay. Don't be such a sadsack, huh?"

"Sad...sack?"

"Wow. You're not from around here are you?"

She shakes her head. She looks back at Krystal nervously.

"Where you from?"

"Cerinia."

"Oh, I've never heard of it. Not from the Lylat system, eh?"

She shakes her head.

"How exotic." Miyu grins.

Krystal blinks. "Er. Yes."

"I bet it's beautiful there."

She shakes her head. "Not anymore. Gone. Er. Destroyed."

Miyu's smile drops instantly. "I'm so sorry. Now I feel like an ass."

She shakes her head. "No. Don't be sorry, I mean. You didn't destroy my planet."

"What happened? If it's okay if I ask."

Krystal looks waywardly.

"It's okay. Hey. We'll change the subject okay? You got a name, or are you just the cute vixen at the break table?"

Her cheeks grow hot and her eyes dart towards Miyu again before retreating once more. "Krystal."

"That's a pretty name for a pretty gal. My name's Miyu." She extends her hand. "Nice to meet you."

Krystal looks at her hand and looks back at her face. She smiles warmly. Instead of grabbing it with the opposite hand, she wraps her fingers around it with her closer hand and pulls it in, gently holding it with both.

"Miyu," she says, smiling. "Lovely."

Miyu, caught off guard, smiles goofily. "I gotta say, Krystal, that's the best handshake I've ever gotten."

Krystal looks confused. "Did I..." she cocks her head and looks at their hands. "do it wrong...?"

Miyu snorts a bit, giggling to herself. "Don't you worry about that, hon. How about letting me see that pretty smile again?"

It's involuntary. She feels an emotion she can't exactly describe. Not quite embarrassment or shame, but on the more positive side along those lines.
The flutter of her heart inside of her chest.

The presence of another startles her.

"Already hitting on the newbies, huh?" the girly dog asks, scooting her chair up across the table from them. "Miss, is this woman bothering you?"

Krystal looks at her, concerned. "N-no, she would never hit me. Miyu seems very nice and gentle."

The dog barks laughter. "Where'd you pick this one up, Miyu? A dinosaur planet?"

"Fay, you're such a bitch," Miyu says, rolling her eyes. "That doesn't mean what you think it does. It's a turn of phrase."

"That's where Star Fox found me, yes," Krystal says timidly. "A planet with dinosaurs."

Fay blinks and howls more laughter. "This one's funny, Miyu. A real keeper."

Faint bells ringing in the distance of Miyu's mind, she looks at Krystal then at Fay. "I don't think she's joking. You were recruited on that recent mission just outside the system, eh?"

Krystal nods.

"What were you doing out there, hon?"

"I fleed from my planet to the first I could find. Fox, he. Er. Saved me. I owe him a debt so here I am."

"Of course you owe him a debt," Miyu sighs. "Like that sleazy furbag would save anyone but his own ass for free."

"You might want to be careful, Miyu," Fays says, forking a glob of innocuous meat into her cheek. Chewing and gulping. "Fox just might have his eye on your little lady friend there."

"Fox can kiss my ass," Miyu says, her mouth contorting towards one side of her face.

"Is..." Krystal looks up at Miyu, noticing she has her full attention and regrets getting it. "N-nothing, nevermind."

"What's up, sweetie? You got a question?"

Krystal bites her lip apprehensively. "I shouldn't meddle in your personal affairs."

"Oh, hon," she says, trying to laugh away Krystal's discomfort. "Please meddle, I'm an open book. I'd just love to tell you anything and everything."

"More open than some of us would like," Fay says through a chewed up wad of food. She swallows again and stabs a new lump with her fork and takes another bite, not bothering to look at them.

"Don't mind her," Miyu mutters through a fleeting glare. "What was your question, dear?"

"Is Fox your mate? Is that why you would like him to kiss you there?"

Miyu blinks, taken aback. Fay howls again, almost choking on her food. She pounds on the table, fist wrapped around the handle of her fork.

"Ugh. No, nonononono. Another figure of speech," Miyu says, mortified, almost shuddering. She looks at Krystal than at the ceiling, her voice slightly distant. "Fox is... not my type. In any sort of capacity."

Krystal cocks her head at Miyu, meeting her eyes with her own for longer than a brief second for the very first time.
She begins giggling and a smile slowly spreads across Miyu's face. Krystal looks away, free hand covering her mouth as her eyes shut tightly and her shoulders bounce rhythmically with her laughter.

"Pardon me, please, I shouldn't have asked, but it was just such an absurd thing to say."

Miyu looks down at Krystal's hand in her own and back up to her eyes, smirking. "Yeah, we're full of bizarre old sayings in this part of Lylat."

"I'd love to learn them! They are wonderfully absurd."

"Say, how would you like a tour of Mothership after lunch? I know the ins and outs of this place like the back of my paw."

"Pass," Fay says.

"Yeah, I wasn't talking to you, doofus."

Krystal had already been taken around Mothership when she arrived, but she enjoyed the company of her new friend.

"I would love to," she says.