Young Writers Society

Blue blinked, a slightly bewildered look on his face. He was a literal devil/demon. Whatever these Galra were, they must been pretty annoying to deserve being compared to him. He smirked, then shrugged. "I don't quite know what these Galra are—" He dragged out the 'r' in the word slightly, savoring the sound. When he spoke again, he sounded bitter. "—and while I imagine that that's a stinging insult to many in your universe, it is not in mine."

"We've gotten off on the wrong foot." Blue's tone shifted. He was more neutral now, more professional. "My name is Blue Twitter Bird von Pink Rabbit's Foot Keychain—" A pause. He knew it was a stupid name. "And I am genuinely sorry for being so annoying. It seems that the customs in your home are much more.." He took a second to think of the right word. "They are less polite in mine."

James's shoulders scrunched up in apprehension when he heard his name from an unfamiliar voice, and as soon as he turned around, Ari started screaming.

Okay, well, not screaming, but he was being loud, and overexcited, and James didn't recognize the fellow behind him. But there was an odd sense of familiarity in his mannerisms, and his gut feeling when he first woke up caused him to lose whatever normal sense of guardedness he might've had in response.

First, he gave Ari a pat on the back, hoping it would calm him down.

"...Maahes?" he asked hopefully.

Dante was slightly relieved to be addressed somewhat calmly. With a curt nod at James, she opened her mouth to attempt polite conversation (attempt being the key word), only to be drowned out by Ari's squeal.

She stuck a finger in her ear and winced, sincerely hoping that the man wasn't referring to her when he said that they could all be friends. She figured that a relationship like that was already turning out to be dastardly on her part- on multiple levels.

"More old friends?" She spoke up, glancing at James. The bitter tone was creeping back into her voice, "what, were you all a boy band or somefin'?"

"Nope!" Ari said cheerfully, not even sure what a boy band was. "James 'n me are outlaws! 'n I don't know who he is but he looks real nice!" He then turned to Maahes and stuck out a large, muddy hand. "Hi, I'm Ardeshir, but ya can be callin' me Ari! I mean, you can call me Ari!"

Maahes hesitantly shook the hand that Ari extended, more than a little confused by both the fact that he had such a bubbly personality, and that someone with such a bubbly personality had managed to become close to James. Then he drew his hand away, carefully wiping it on his shirt. "I'm Maahes," he confirmed. This whole situation was really throwing him off. James rarely figured out it was him that quickly, and he wasn't used to seeing James around someone that he actually cared about. It was weird.

Sune peeked around his arm.

"You know him?" he asked. Maahes nodded in confirmation. Apparently Ari knew who James was and that he was an outlaw, so he guessed he could say a little more. But he really wasn't sure what he was supposed to say in a situation like this, especially when he was so used to James being secretive.


"Darunia Vain," she begrudgingly introduced herself. "But you can call me Runi. I'm Haggar's right hand man - er, woman - and I'm one of the higher ranking members of Zarkon's fleet. At least, I should be. Zarkon knows a little secret of mine that makes things a little difficult. But, hey, Lotor's in charge now, and he's pretty cool with having women who aren't totally Galran be in positions with a lot of power."

James smiled. It was... odd. Not because he never smiled but because he rarely ever smiled genuinely. But to be reunited with two people - his friends - even in this, the most bizarre of situations - he couldn't help but feel a certain sort of relief. He knew Ari would be a handful, and the two others down the hall who were some other kind of alien, along with Dante would make for an interesting group, but having two people he actually enjoyed and who cared about him as much as he did them made all the difference.

He gestured to Ari, putting a hand on Ari's back again before Ari could reply with his boundless enthusiasm.

"Yes. Ari is a friend I met in the Outlands. As outlaws, we were both caught by a group of bounty hunters and worked together with a few others to escape. Though Ari and I haven't stayed together that whole time, we have remained good friends. I trust him with my life," he said, before gesturing from Ari to Maahes. "And Ari, this is Maahes. We've met a number of occasions each under peculiar circumstances, but Maahes has proven to be a faithful and trustworthy friend in times of trouble. I believe you'll find that Maahes has a pure-hearted kindness much like your own," he continued, looking up at Ari, before he looked over at Maahes's companion.

"I don't believe I've met you before. I'm acquainted with Vala and Cameron, but not you. What's your name?"

"I'm Sune," was the quick response that his companion gave; a second later, Sune had ducked a little further behind him and was undoubtedly looking at James with a wariness that shouldn't have been there. Maahes turned back to get a better look at Sune.

"What's wrong?" he asked. He kept his voice quiet. If Sune was uncomfortable, it probably wouldn't help for this conversation to be too easily heard. It would only result in Sune getting more anxious.

"They're outlaws," Sune hissed.

He looked over at James, then back at Sune. "You know Vala," he whispered back. "She's definitely done more than James has in the illegal category."

"Yeah, but she's your girlfriend," he replied. He ducked a little further behind Maahes. "You're getting uncomfortable around James. If he really is your friend, why are you acting like you are right now?"

He opened his mouth to give a reply, only to close it seconds later when he realized he didn't have a good answer to give. Sune gave him a look that clearly said he was convinced he had won the argument.

Dante nodded, watching these exchanges with cool indifference. She silently hoped that her time here wouldn't consist of introducing herself over and over again- she would have enjoyed mentioning her rumored alibi and watching these people squirm, but she knew that there was a very slim chance any of them were from her world, and had most likely never heard of her.

Hearing Sune's hushed comment about James and Ari, she let out a barking laugh. If he was afraid of outlaws, then his time here on the ship would prove to be a fearful experience for him. Besides her, she would have placed a reasonable-sized bet that at least one of the colored people in their comapany had been involved in something outside of legal boundaries.

"James is real nice," Ari assures Sune, kneeling so that he's on eye level with the shorter individual. "He can be a bit scary at first 'n all but he ain't bad, even though he's gruff 'n stuff, but he's only t'at way 'cause he's a real marshmallow. He ain't no outlaw 'cause he's a baddie, either, there's just this evil king he worked for 'n then turned on when he found out he was evil and now t'at king wants him dead. 'n I'm just an outlaw 'caused I helped a thief who was helpin' people who couldn' help themselves!" His voice is considerably quieter but due to its low tones it still carries.

Hearing what Ari said suddenly made Sune feel quite foolish for how he had reacted. Even though he was reasonably wary of both James and Ari, he had acted like some scared little kid. He wasn't. He was eighteen years old, and had definitely seen his fair share of terrifying things in the Pegasus Galaxy. So he straightened to his full height - which wasn't all that tall in this guise - and took a step out from behind Maahes.

Oh dear. This place had gotten crowded fast, and Taber had been blocked by what he was reasonably sure was a giant wall of paper. He doubted it could hold him back, but, if the purple lady wasn't going to push through it, he wouldn't either.

Instead, he walked over to Blue. "That was a neat trick!" Taber said. "Could you teach me to do something like that?"

James's smile faded slowly as Ari proceeded to explain things with a complete lack of subtlety. He looked out past them all with half-lidded eyes and allowed a quiet sigh to escape.

Oh well. If he was going to establish trust it was best for them to be out with it all anyway. At least Ari had spared them many of the details.

As Sune finally came out from his hiding place from behind Maahes, he noticed that Maahes and Sune bore a peculiar resemblance. Which he found odd, since he knew Maahes could take whatever form he wanted. Were they pretending to be related? Could they... actually be related? From what he remembered Spirits weren't exactly like that. They didn't really reproduce like that?

"How do you two know each other?" he asked Maahes. "You uh, bear a resemblance. Was that intentional?"

Dante slowly slithered out from the little group that was circled around her personal space. Not wanting to be obvious and ask someone to move, she awkwardly squeezed past the gap between Ari and James. Hoping that she wouldn't get intercepted again, she made her way over to the wolf man and the colored people.

Of course, in walking over to them, it wasn't her intention to start a conversation. She simply wanted to find a less crowded place to lean against the wall and pick up information.

Noticing that yet another person had joined the group that had previously consisted of her and Blue Twitter Bird von Pink Rabbit's Foot Keychain - who had a name she still couldn't take seriously - she turned to her and gave a casual wave.

"Hey," she said to their newest member.


Maahes and Sune looked over at each other, then back at James.

"No...?" Maahes said. He hadn't noticed the resemblance between their guises, and even now he could barely make out any sort of resemblance. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Sune looking down at himself in an effort to discover where they possibly looked so similar. "Sune and I are friends, and he's my student."

James wasn't going to press it. Obviously, they didn't see it. It wasn't important.

"Ah," he said with a nod. "I see. Well - uh -" he looked around the hall, again, eyeing Dante and the three strangers; the one with the horns, the one with the fluffy purple ears, and the one like a wolf. "Let's go over there and figure out what's going on? Hopefully this isn't anything like the masquerade, but I have a feeling we're going to need to pool our collective cluelessness if we're going to find any answers."