Canis lay on a mountain-like pile of blankets and sheets strewn about the floor in disarray, snoring. A tame growl escaped his lips at every exhale, tongue flicking his nose several times before lolling out from the corner of his maw. His partner, in the meantime, lay comfortably wrapped in a thick quilt, resembling a burrito, on her bed. She was a picture of innocent and restful sleep.
The morning came and went, the duo dreaming it all away, until a call on the high speaker across the ship jolted them awake.
What was the message? They couldn’t say, but they were fully conscious by the time it was finished.
Phantom groaned, unwrapping herself from her blanket-burrito and stretching out across the bed with a yawn. She lay there a few moments, recollecting her thoughts and gathering the will to get out of bed.
“Mutt. You ‘wake bro?”
Canis looked at the high speaker, expression neutral, razor-sharp-teeth-filled jaws going wide- almost to the point of unhinging. He yawned and chuffed in reply before resting his head once more, ready to go back to sleep.
“Imf donwatan-gommfo.” He grumbled, eyes closed.
Phantom sighed looking over at him.
“I’m not even going to pretend to know what you said, but, yo- hey it's time to go.”
He barely replied, one could’ve said he didn't hear a word of it, if only for a flick of his feathered ears.
The girl’s eyes narrowed, and she hopped off the bed at the challenge. She readjusted her pajamas, and crossed her arms.
“Come on Mutt. Time to get up. I’m sure we were expected on deck hours ago.” When Canis still did not answer, she took a hold of the biggest blanket in his pile and tugged with all her considerable might.
Instead of going tumbling to the cold space-grade steel floor, the Mimic kept his feet on the ground and spun around to grab the fabric in his jaws, catching her off-guard and almost making her lose her hold on the blanket. Quite an agile little creature he was. The Mutt held the blanket with his jaws and latched onto it with both his residual- but useful- 3rd set of paws.
Tommy veered quickly and yanked back, the blanket which went taut between them.
So started a game of afternoon tug-o’war.
“Oh you wanna go? You wanna go Mutt?!” She taunted gleefully, pulling at the blanket and dragging it from side to side in a bid to loosen her companion’s grip. The Mimic growled, clamping down harder. She refused to give ground.
The “game” went on for quite a bit. Tommy would drag Canis to one side and he would shake out the fabric so harshly it nearly knocked her down- before launching himself in another direction at full speed. Both refused to release the blanket. Both tried to fend off each other's attempts to destabilize them the best they could, even as their “rope” started to unravel at the seams. The Mimic struggled, claws clicking along the floor and accidentally knocking his bag over, spilling its contents in the process. Finally the pair both gave one last, vicious tug- the blanket promptly ripped in two, the stuffing inside exploding outward. Canis skidded across the floor along with his backpack, and Phantom hit the bed in a sprawled mess. Blanket guts floated around them, gently falling to the ground
Beads of sweat ran down Tommy’s face, Canis was panting heavily- both were grinning like idiots. They bursted out laughing- for they were truly a ridiculous sight to see.
“Yeah! That's what you get… I always did wonder what was in that bag… snacks…” Tommy muttered between breaths when she calmed down a bit, motioning to the packs of tiny bones, and eggshells, with the more commonplace treats of almonds, peanut butter, and water that had spilled out of Canis’ rucksack.
There was also a military-issue Galactic-Standard ID, and as Canis reached down to pick the small wallet-like identification up, something golden slipped out and flitted to the floor.
“What's that?” Tommy perked, curiosity glittering in her slate grey eyes. She hauled herself up and swept the item off the floor before Canis could retrieve it, looking over what she now realized was a ticket- to the Galaxy Express 999.
His ears swivelled towards her, the usual reaction when he focused in on one specific thing or another. The Mimic twisted his vocal cords slightly, too lazy to change appearance.
“Old memories… that’s the train ticket I used when I left Linus.” He motioned lazily with a paw, “I can remember almost everything… but sometimes having something like it helps. Galaxy Express 999, direct Linus to Tobito. I'm almost worried, some days, that I’ll forget.” He chuckled “I keep it with me… even if I don't know what it means exactly. They couldn't just make it simple…” He mutters reading off just some of the confusing letters. He was, of course, referencing the jumble of intergalactic-approved acronyms that the various powers of the universe used on official documents. Canis huffed, poking and sniffing at the ticket. Phantom chuckled.
“I can help with that… I learned most of ‘em by heart- you know, ‘cause I wanted to leave Melder asap.” The girl sat on the floor right next to the Mimic, atop some blankets, simultaneously picking a bit of stuffing out of her hair.
“Ok so,” She pointed to the first line. Canis shuffled closer to see, head resting in the crook of her arm.
Galaxy Express 999 - ticket #374 - Issued 17.03.3043 Std-G
“It’s quite straightforward- train designation, followed by ticket number, and finally the Standard Galactic date it was issued. That’s what Std-G stands for. Standard Galactic… ‘Cause you know, every planet has different time, and dates, and all that stuff.”
Canis chuckled. “Really? I hadn’t realized… I thought it meant something else.”
Tommy scrunched up her nose in distaste. “You’re so nastyyyyyyy.”
Her companion’s head tilted in the confused manner dog’s often displayed. “What?”
She waved her hand. “Nevermind. Now this part-”
Joplin Station - Pier 23 - 1:30 Linus-Std Time
Passenger: Canis L.L.L Familion
Direct recruit - Cadet Class
“This part’s all pretty uncomplicated. Station and dock, where the train is supposed to be, and local-standard time of departure.”The mutt poked Tommy’s hand. “I know that. It’s just all those…. those…”
“Acronyms? Come on Cancan, they’re handy! Beats writing so much all the time.”
She turned back to the ticket, eyes narrowing in focus.
“You were a direct recruit? To the SDF?” She had moved along, to the last two lines.
“Oh that one I know! SDF is the Space Defense Force, military power behind the Galaxy Railways, GR, and there’s a mini group within the SDF called the SPG, Space Panzer Grenadiers!” Canis grinned, as much as one could with a canine muzzle. His lips curled resembling a vague, happy snarl.
“I never knew that... or that you were in the SDF at all! You never said anything.” Tommy booped him on the nose, as if in revenge for not telling her. He shrunk back. “It was a little while ago…” He whined, trailing off and letting the conversation drop for a moment or two. Tommy’s eyebrows rose but she didn’t comment, wondering if she had overstepped or… something.
“Anyhow, the whole ‘Destination’ part is confusing. What is a ‘Green Tea S-S’? Or a ‘qd.234’? And what’s an ‘ETA’??” Canis huffed, twisting till he was lying on his back and looking at the ticket upside down.
Phantom distractedly started scratching under his chin.
“Well, you see, destinations are stated as such: port, town or city- but that’s optional- planet, solar system- that’s what the ‘S-S’ is, quadrant of the galaxy, and galaxy itself. So, by what’s written here you were heading to the SDF HQ, on the planet Tobito, in the Green Tea Solar-System, in quadrant 234 of the Nautilus Galaxy.” Tommy frowned, going over what she had said and trying to see if she had forgotten anything.
Canis chuckled under his breath, the sound coming out as something similar to a friendly dooking, tapping his paws against the floor. “It's so weird that they named a Galaxy after an octopus…. Hey that means there's a Galaxy named after me!”
“Oh! ‘ETA’. That’s easy. Estimated time of arrival… And dates go by day, month, year by the way. Just so you’ll know.” It took a moment for Tommy to realize what he had said. “You? What do you mean mutt?”
“We be related to Nautilus… ses?? Nautili?? Octopi! We are related to Octopus…. Es….” He trailed off, vouching instead to loll his tongue and look up at Tommy with wide, adorable puppy eyes.
Phantom ignored it. What a cold person....
“I had to do a lot of papers growing up…. Education… blahhhhhh!”
Tommy snorted. “Yeah, no duh. You got into the direct recruits for the SDF! Education must’ve been a thing.”
“But I hateeeeeee reading and writing…” After all, mimic or not, animals were not designed to be able to communicate with symbols on a piece of bleached tree pulp.
“Oh stop whining mutt….” She sighed. “We should get ready now. Harlock’s gonna skin us alive enough as it is.”
~~Can Canis and Phantom please come to the deck? They are 5 hours late to the crew meeting, and the crew have been WAITING FOR LUNCH FUCKING-- Mii… what are you doing?- No. Noooo. Stop. Come on stop. No. Nn- DAMNIT.~~ The high speaker cut off with an ear-piercing shriek of microphone feedback.
“See, I told you. Now we’re in deep shit.” Phantom growled.
Canis whined and ploppled back into the blankets with a groan.
