Wait, Who Did Curiousity Kill?

[Tabigarashu Madara]

Hirou was curious.

This was, technically, a constant state of affairs, in all fairness. Nothing new. Business as usual. But the part that set it apart from the every day ho-hum of the Nezumi's standard curiosity was how BIG the subject of the curiosity was. It made the curiosity itself bigger. Which was quite a feat, really.

Hirou snuck through the caverns that were, probably actually corridors. The tinkerer had never been on a "too big's" ship before. The scale was- well, it should have been intimidating, but there was just so much to see Hirou couldn't really manage a proper fear response. Nose twitching, tink moved along where the floor met the wall, scampering on all fours. With a pause every couple of yards, soft ears swiveling to catch the barest trace of sound, the Nezumi was cautious despite the excitement. There was no way to know when the creature that owned this ship would show back up, and Hirou hoped to have found the cock-pit by then.

Because why *build* a Nest-Ship when you could just *find* one?

Hirou had been raised to believe that stealing form the "too bigs" wasn't *really* stealing. After all, they had everything. They wouldn't miss a little something, here and there. This..... pressed the boundaries of that. But, so long as no one showed up to claim the ship as their own, it was as good as finding it, right?

Right.

There were doubts. Mostly because this ship was significantly bigger than any Nest-Ship in the history of forever (Hirou's admittedly already poor grasp of history tended to fade in to a tangled mess too far beyond a couple generations back). And of course getting it back home was kind of potentially a deal breaker. And if the "too big" came back and took offense-

Best not to think about it.

A cavernous doorway loomed just ahead. Hirou's nose, then the rest of their face peered around the corner. Black, glittering eyes widened at the sight.

Now THIS was a cockpit!

Forgetting all sense of hesitation, Hirou scampered in to the room. Rearing back on two feet, long tail helping to counterbalance, tink walked across the floor in awe, taking in everything. Reaching a mammoth sized chair, the Nezumi scrambled up the side quickly before leaping the divide on to the control panel.

"I have no idea how I'm going to get this home," Hirou squeaked. "But I'm going to figure it out!"

Now. What button to press first?

[member="Zofia Marek"]​

 

[Zofia Marek]

It was another day on Trevel'ka filled with the usual things in the life of a privateer captain. The last merchant they'd run down was dumb enough to run from them, which was annoying. He was, however, smart enough to understand his situation when the warning shots passed over the nose of his ship. Or, rather, up it in this case. All the shots had passed ahead of the ship, save a single turbolaser. The shot had connect with the tip of the 'nose' of the merchant vessel and was probably the reason the ship had come to a hasty stop. Still, it needed addressing.

"I know I stamped the papers that brought him on board, Wrehla, but his medical documentation mentioned nothing about his sight problems or the fact that his gunnery certification comes from a community institution on," Zofia checked the datapad in her off hand again to reread that section of the man's file. "... Raxus Prime? I didn't know that had a community college, much less an education system."

Wrehla yowled in reply as she made a few gestures with a massive furry arm. The big female wookiee was the Quartermaster on the Hellion and her bellowed Shyriiwook blasting through the chatter on the bridge or the sounds of blasters as melee swirled around.

"No, we can't just dump him off somewhere, much as that might be appropriate. Apparently his cousin works in engineering which... If my suspicions are correct, might explain the upside down labels last time I inspected the reactor. I don't need his cousin and friends causing trouble because we fired the man. We'll put him through some vision correction procedures next time we pull in to New Holstice. Once that's done, we'll just have to train him up ourselves. In the meantime, have Ensign... Athol, I think his name was? Have Mr. Athol shift to secondary gunner and put someone capable of accurately seeing the targeting data as the primary. That should solve the issue for now."

The pair entered the command bridge as Zofia finished her statement. Wrehla grunted a short reply and lumbered off to make the necessary arrangements for Ensign Athol's future, the doors closing behind her fuzzy form as she exited the other side of the bridge. Setting the datapad on the console on top of the command dais, the Cathar woman gracefully plopped down in her chair and rubbed at her eyes for a moment.

"Need to catch up on sleep," she muttered to herself as she stifled a yawn, the tiny creature before her going unnoticed as she kept her eyes closed for a moment or two to quiet the burning sensation of fatigue. "Should be able to get a nap after the supplies are loaded, probably."

[member="Tabigarashu Madara"]

 

[Tabigarashu Madara]

For a long minute after the Cathar spoke, everything was quiet.

Hirou stood, absolutely still, frozen in place with a paw on a button. Glittering black eyes STARED at [member="Zofia Marek"], unblinking. Eventually, there was a twitch of the nose, a flick of the ears, and the Nezumi eased back, settling down on their haunches to watch the "too big" sprawled out in the chair.

This was actually a first for Hirou. The first time tink had ever been this close to a 'too big' before. Technically, the first time ever encountering one. Ever. Head tilting, the Nezumi studied the gigantic creature in the chair, whiskers twitching furiously as tink tried to figure out the inevitable-

What now?

It had been easy to claim this was no different than salvaging, as long as no one was on the ship. It was just a really big salvage, right? No one to claim it, no one to contest it. Hirou knew that was shaky logic, but had been cheerfully willing to simply not worry about it. Taking things, unnoticed and uncared for by the 'Too Bigs' was a proud and age old Nezumi tradition.

But now, now this was actually stealing. And risking being caught. One of the things that had kept the Nezumi safe for so long was that most beings in the galaxy simply didn't know they existed. And their stories supported that being a fine idea- the number of Nezumi betrayed by the 'Too Bigs' was an alarmingly high number, if the Mukashi were to be believed- and Tabigarashu Madara Hirou did believe them. Mostly. But the utter lack of ANY stories saying the opposite seemed suspect. Not that Hirou would say that to anyone of course. The 'Too Big' were NOT to be trusted. But actually stealing from them wasn't right either.

The Nezumi's tail drooped.

Maybe the supplies would be unsupervised, Hirou thought, brightening up immediately. That would be okay then. Hirou didn't put too much thought in to the problems with this particular view of stealing/salvaging. It was probably better that way.

Slowly removing a paw from the button tink had been about to try, Hirou stayed on all fours. For another moment, the Nezumi watched the great creature in the chair, making sure his or her (how could you tell, with giants like this?) eyes were still closed before scampering quietly along the control panel.

Hirou was so intent however, on making sure that the 'Too Big' was still unaware of their presence, that it was all too easy to misstep.

Clawed paws scrabbled on the slope of the control panel and despite the best intentions possible, Hirou let out a small squeak of dismay before tumbling, tail over ears, half way down. Grabbing hold of a lever to try to arrest the fall, the Nezumi accidentally activated it (whatever it was) and a blaring warning klaxon filled the control room.

"Burning Nests," Hirou muttered.

 

[Zofia Marek]

The klaxon woke her up entirely and, from the sounds of things, the rest of the bridge as well. Moving out or reaction rather than intention, she snapped a hand out and slapped the override button on the console before her, immediately silencing the alarm.

"Where did that come from?" she called to her crew. She managed to keep her voice steady despite the sudden start the klaxon had given her. A steady scan of the bridge revealed confused and mildly startled faces, but nothing else.

"Cap'n," came a voice from the sensors terminal. Pemrum's face rose up over the computers a moment later. "The computer is telling me that the trigger console came from your command panel. Could you have... hit it accidentally?"

Zofia picked up on the silent, unspoken question rather than the one Pemrum had asked. Her crew knew she was tired and running herself harder than she ran them. Pemrum wanted to ask if her captain had dozed off for a moment and hit the control with a wayward limb, but didn't want to potentially undermine Zofia's authority.

"My console?" the Cathar stated, a frown creasing her forhead. She hadn't fallen asleep, she knew that much. At least, she thought she knew she hadn't fallen asleep. The klaxon control was a lever and one that was set away from where she could have accidentally tapped or bumped it on accident. She turned and looked at the offending control and the frown deepened as she realized she didn't quite understand what she saw.

The lever had been switched, but not by her. Clinging to the control and having some difficulty on the sloped and rather slick surface was a small, furry creature. It looked like a rodent of some kind, but obviously wasn't... quite on par with the average rodent, especially when it seemed a little more intelligent than that by the use of Basic, however faint and squeaky the Basic used was.

"What..." the Cathar said as she lowered herself just a little to peer better at the creature on her command console. "in the world?"

[member="Tabigarashu Madara"]

 

[Tabigarashu Madara]

In addition to speaking basic, the tiny pair of goggles and a shoulder strap studded with tiny tools also gave the creature away as something beyond your basic pest problem.

Hirou had been so busy trying to get footing on the slick surface, that the arrival of the 'too big' actually went unnoticed for a second.

Scrabble scrabble-grab-frantic scrabble.

But the sound of what seemed like a very large voice actually froze the little Nezumi in place. Not letting go of the lever, Hirou's head slowly turned to look over their shoulder. The looming face of [member="Zofia Marek"] filled the sky. Black eyes blinked twice, very slowly, as the two just stared at each other.

Whelp. I'm dead, thought Hirou.

"Er. Um."

There was a beat pause while Hirou cleared their throat. What was cycling on mental repeat was the phrase please don't eat me please don't eat me. What came out instead however was:

"Hi. Um. You..... have a very nice.... er.... ship."

​Oh yes Hirou, let's try to play it casual.

 

[Zofia Marek]

"Thank... you...?" was the only thing the Privateer could really manage at that moment. The situation was so bizarre she was almost wondering if she had indeed fallen asleep in the command chair and this was all a dream. From the tiny creature's size to the tiny goggles and tools, everything screamed that she was dreaming, but the logical and rational part of her mind ground into gear.

She knew there were small, sentient creatures in the galaxy that were half the normal size, which meant that there would inevitably be creatures even smaller. The fact that she had never seen this particular species of tiny sentients just told her that she needed to get out more. Or pay attention more. Possibly even sleep more. Definitely sleep more.

The rest of the bridge more or less returned to normal, though a few close to the command dais shot concerned looks. The two marines flanking the door to the bridge remained alert and focused on their captain, but stood immobile. Truth be told, no one really knew how to react to such an intrusion, how exactly to deal with a potentially violent outcome, not that it was a huge concern at this point. Really it was just the absurdity of it all and yet the absurdity was laced throughout with a substantial amount of reality. It was enough to give anyone a small headache but for Zofia, it was a matter of how exactly to respond to the situation. For once in her life, she was profoundly stumped.

"... Do... You need.. any help...?" she asked as her mind registered the tiny creature was struggling to hold on to the emergency lever. Without thinking, she extended a hand just below the small figure in case it wanted to hop down to where it wasn't scrabbling around on slick buttons and metal switches.

[member="Tabigarashu Madara"]

 

[Tabigarashu Madara]

There was a loooooong silence after she asked that, where Hirou just looked at her, blinking very, very slowly.

Was this it then? Was this what all Nezumi saw when they stared at Death? Was death, in one of the many forms the Nezumi faced, indeed, staring back at Hirou? Should tink have said a better good bye to family? Would momma and papa ever know what had become of Hirou? Snuffed out, by the large hand of this.... very.... polite.... 'too big'?

Hmmmm.

"That," Hirou said, very slowly, "Would be right neighborly of you."

And tink took a risk. It was a relatively small thing, physically, to let go of the lever and step on to the giant hand waiting just beneath. But that step. Oh that step.

One small step for Hirou. One giant leap for Nezumi kind.

Hirou couldn't help but flinch slightly, as tiny foot came in contact with large hand. Stepping gingerly, tink slowly allowed all of their (insignificant) weight to settle on [member="Zofia Marek"]'s outstretched palm. Absently, Hirou reached down, pulling up their tail and clutching it in both hands.

Whiskers twitched, black, glittering eyes looked up at the cathar. And waited.

 

[Zofia Marek]

On one hand, the moment was truly surreal. On the other hand, it was also somewhat ludicrous. Zofia carefully turned and placed her hand down on the flat, even section of the command console directly in front of the command chair. Waiting a moment for her tiny guest to hop off onto the level surface, she took a moment to observe the small creature.

It was a mouse. At least, it looked like a mouse. A larger mouse that spoke Basic and carried around tools and goggles and held its tail in an adorable fashion, not that she'd admit she saw it that way. Most species that did what someone from another species found cute or adorable often took it the wrong way. Or it just became outright awkward. Usually both.

Overall, the situation was as perplexing as it was bizarre and Zofia couldn't help but be completely aware of the ludicrousness of it all. That said, she was never one to stay dumbfounded for long, though even she had to admit that this was possibly the longest she'd been in such a state.

"What... Who are you?" she asked after a moment, getting her confusion under control bit by bit. Sometimes the most basic questions were the best way to ground oneself. "And what are you doing on my ship?"

Those were the two most important questions about any unknown person on board vessel they weren't supposed to be on. From those answers stemmed the responses of putting them in the brig, asking more questions, or putting them out an airlock. That said, she doubted they had a cell that could contain the tiny sentient and for some reason the airlock didn't seem appropriate. What was she going to do if the tiny mouse-creature was a pirate? Put it in tiny shackles and hang it from a tiny gibbet on a tiny platform with a noose made from a bootlace? Questions were the priority here. Maybe sleep later.

[member="Tabigarashu Madara"]

 

[Tabigarashu Madara]

Hirou stepped off of [member="Zofia Marek"] 's hand like it was a dream. The Nezumi had been completely prepared for death in that moment- there was a certain disconnect now that it was becoming increasingly obvious that death was indeed not to be the outcome of today's interaction with this 'too big'.

The concept in this case of "yet" was not really impacting them however- There was simply the binary of dead/notdead and right now, the switch was firmly entrenched on notdead, despite Hirou's assumptions of a few moments ago. It was a heady feeling, having dodged certain death. But also disorienting.

Still clutching their tail, Hirou looked up, blinking owlishly at the enormous feline for a couple of seconds as the questions sank in.

"My name is Tabigarashu!" Hirou's voice was bright and excited as they offered the clan name as would be customary in this case. Wait, was it customary? There really wasn't any custom that Hirou was aware of for this situation. But the virtue of 'not squishing the Nezumi' seemed to warrant a certain level of familiarity, right? Not squishing wasn't the same as 'friend' but it deserved some sort of recognition.

"You can call me Tabi if you like. And I didn't know it was your ship, honest," this was true. "Now that I know it belongs to you, I won't take it or anything."

​The whole thing was now getting patently ludicrous.