World Seed

Author’s Corner: Greetings. Salutations. Enjoy.

For the next hour or so until dinner, Sharon and Tokemi were talking with each other. Okay, so Sharon was talking and Tokemi was enjoying the cuddly softness of her fur. I wasn’t getting jealous, I swear!

Anyways, when Celeste sent us the message that it was time for the big meeting, Tokemi suddenly seemed worried. Smiling down to her, I picked her up and held her in my arms. “Just stick with me, and there’s nothing to be afraid of, alright?”

She nodded weakly at that, but Sharon pouted at the sudden loss of fluffy loli. Hah, take that! My turn with her. After leaving the room, I set her down so that she could walk next to me, though she still held on to my hand. And every time we got near someone in the halls, she would flinch slightly. I wasn’t really that concerned, seeing as how she was just born today. If not for my intervention, she likely wouldn’t even be able to speak yet.

For a moment, I considered the pros and cons of using my Soul Arts to teach babies. However, I got rid of that idea because of its inherent silliness. Instead, I focused on the agenda for the upcoming meeting. This was… probably not the nicest way I could go about it, but it was something I had to do nonetheless, for her sake.

When we arrived at the mess hall, I was… overwhelmed. In all honesty, this was the first time I had seen the entire crew in one room. I didn’t quite realize how many of them there were! The mess hall itself was just barely big enough to accommodate everyone, and it was easy to spot the mix of races. Elves were still vastly more common than any others, but now there were also several from other races as well.

I wasn’t the only one that noticed this, because I heard a small whimper from beside me, and the hand I was holding tightened around my own. Shaking my head, I gently pulled her along. Necessary evil… necessary evil… Though thankfully, Tokemi was still walking on her own, just hesitantly.

Moving to the front of the mess hall, I cleared my throat to get everyone’s attention, as if it wasn’t already on me and the stranger I was almost dragging along. Then, I began speaking, using my com as a mic to transmit my voice throughout the room.

“Everyone, I’m sure you all have heard some news today. I’m here to help clear it all up, and to let everyone know what is happening. First of all, I would like to introduce someone new to the ship.” I was planning on bringing my hand up to pat Tokemi’s head, but she refused to let my hand go, so I sighed reluctantly. “This is Tokemi, and she’ll be joining us starting today. I’d like to ask everyone to be kind to her.”

I gave that a moment to sink in before the outbursts started. Most of it was just ‘Welcome to the crew’, but there were a few others as well.

“She’s so cute…”

“So fluffy looking! Where did you get her?”

“Tokemi! Let’s be friends!” That last one was said by the only other little girl on the ship, who was roughly the same age(physically) as Tokemi herself. Of course, she said that while running at the girl, and jumped into the air to give the girl a big hug.

Unfortunately… that was when everything froze.