As a child my family's menu consisted of two choices: take it or leave it.

[caelestine]

Getting around the ship, well, that's doable for a mouse. A bit of a trek, maybe, even on the small scale that is the ship's living quarters level (he hasn't even tried to go elsewhere), but Caelestine can manage it. He is one of the Guard, after all. But there's one difficulty

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[obscura_prodigy]

Vega's sitting at a table with his chin on one hand, a stylus in the other, and his omnicom in front of him. He doesn't feel like going down to the hangar today, it just... seems like it would take a lot of energy. He's tired. His dreams have been... bad.

He's been staring at his omnicom for a bit, not really seeing the long division on it, when he finally happens to look up.

Is that a... mouse, over there?

"Hey," he calls, wondering if it can talk. It seems like everything here can talk.

[caelestine]

Caelestine stiffens up at Vega's call, almost sliding off the table. He looks over in the boy's direction, vaguely suspicious. He's started getting to used to these "humans", but... their size, it's still horrifying.

"...Hello," he says back, voice appropriately mouse-small.

[obscura_prodigy]

"Are you a mouse?" Vega asks, peering at him. He's quiet, but then again so is the room. And Vega knows to listen harder now.

This is much more interesting than his homework, naturally.

[caelestine]

"Yes," Caelestine says, peering up at Vega. His ears are flattened back a little, trying to keep from being immediately-freaked out by Vega's presence. "Are you a 'human'?"

[bouncywarrior]

Niels sits on the floor beneath the table, staring at Caelestine, tail twitching back and forth.

[caelestine]

This-oh, no, no. This isn't good. This isn't good at all. Cae slides back-not scurrying, no, not the movement that would naturally provoke a predator, but a smooth slide with his paws out of view. He stares down, body still. Don't move, don't move-he doesn't recognize the creature, but he recognizes its bearing.

[indigoblueberry]

Indigo walks into the mess hall, a slight frown on her face. Her collection of spare parts for her project is missing some pieces, and she hadn't had the materials to supply them with tracking beacons.

She scans the area and lets out a frustrated noise before pausing and turning back around. Was that a... mouse? Curious, she can tell it is one as soon as she doublechecks her databanks, she walks over, kneeling to bring her face on the level of the table top. "What is a mouse doing here with weaponry?"

[caelestine]

The mouse's fur bristles as Indigo approaches-an automatic defensive reaction rather than something intentional. A paw slides up and then back down-no, reaching for the sword like that will only make things worse, with his stupid stupid stupid reactions and the difference in scale...

"I'm not allowed to be here?" Caelestine asks, and his voice is small but cutting.

[indigoblueberry]

Indigo watches him, bristle for a moment, eye flickering at the quick scan, then she shakes her head. "You are allowed, as you are a crewmate. Mice are, as you may have noticed, a little rare in these parts." She enhances her audio input/outputs to his scale, to avoid damaging his ears. "Are you here to eat?"

This is the mess hall, after all.

[caelestine]

"...Yes," he says after a moment. (Possibly he, anyway. Even with the audio amplified, it's kind of hard to try and tell a particular gender. "But it's sort of..." His gaze drifts past Indigo over to the tray dispenser. Kind of big, in comparison to him.

[feelnothinatall]

There isn't much of a warning before a hand is making a grab for him; Ahava moves surprisingly quietly when she wants to, apparently.

"A mouse," she says flatly, but the tone implies that 'mouse' is only a breath away from being 'vermin'. "Why is there a mouse on the ship, I wonder."

[caelestine]

Quiet for a human, maybe-but to the sharp senses of a mouse, and a soldier mouse at that, there might as well be a big neon sign. Caelestine scurries to the side easily-and the sword in its sheath across his back flashes out, the unbalanced thing held clumsily in his paws but firmly enough to point in Ahava's direction.

She may want to rethink that whole 'grabbing' strategy, what with the razor-sharp letter-opener-sized blade now in the way.

[feelnothinatall]

The sword got a careful look, as did its wielder. But it was still largely the look of a scientist waiting for the next interesting piece of data than anything else.

"I've never seen a mouse with a sword before," Ahava noted. "Where are you from, I wonder."

[caelestine]

"I could ask you the same thing," the mouse says, his voice small but definitely there. (The ship's translation must be doing something to boost it at least a little, one might suppose, seeing as rodent noises are usually into the infrasound range.)

[sneezure]

He wouldn't have reacted any better on the best of days. Topher has a natural aversion to rats. Mice. Things of the small and rodenty variety.

"Gyah!" His squeal is way too loud and much less than manly, and Topher finds the nearest chair to stand on, pointing accusingly at Caelestine. "Rat! Near the food!"

[caelestine]

Caelestine is left... startled, but kind of confused. And perhaps a nudge annoyed.

"I'm a mouse!" he shouts at the weird, panicky human.

[sneezure]

Topher barks out a nervous giggle, pulling his hands in toward his chest like a frightened girl. "Same family, okay little muridae? We're splitting hairs here!"

Wait. That rat just freaking talked.

"Am I hallucinating?"

[caelestine]

"There has never been a rat in my family," the little mouse insists irritably. "How would I know? You... 'humans' are so strange..."