World Tree MUSH

     After piloting her ship through a few airborne and even space vines, the CloudRunner emerges in the Lylat System, with Krystal in the pilot's seat, and Martin sitting directly behind her in the fairly cramped cockpit. There were controls back there for the weapons systems, in case Krystal had the luxury of having a gunner while she focused on flying, but she of course warned Martin not to touch any buttons. 

     Soon Corneria would come into view through the transparent cockpit. It was a mostly blue planet looking quite similar to Earth, with wispy clouds dispersed among it's atmosphere, and several large land masses breaking up the oceans. "Almost there Martin, enjoy the view while you can, also, make sure you're good and strapped in and you hold onto something, we'll be entering the atmosphere soon, and that can be a little rough."

     Martin was apprehensive at first, of course, since he was plunging into the unknown and all. However, Krystal didn't seem like she was planning anything nasty for him, so curiosity won out in the end. He was quite obedient when she told him not to touch anything, knowing that he was dealing with things he knew nothing about, and as expected, he was quite amazed by the ride to Krystal's world... or some version of it, anyway.

"That's it? Er... Corneria?" he asks, curiously, as he peers around Krystal's shoulder at the planet through the ship's windshield. Her warning is sufficient for him to strap in tight and grip the fox's seat in front of him though, somewhat worried. "How 'rough' do you mean, exactly?"

     Krystal nods at Martin's question, even if he can't see her. "Yes, that is indeed Corneria. Wish I could show you Cerinia, but that would require some time travel unfortunately. Corneria is still pretty incredible though. It is pretty densely populated, as the majority of the population of the entire solar system lives on Corneria, and despite this, they have built their cities in harmony with nature, allowing it to retain the it's beauty, and clean air and water. Much of the population is made up of canines, but there are some rabbits, toads, pigs, and monkeys sprinkled in." She explains, then pauses a moment before changing subjects to answer Martin's other question. 

     "As for how rough it'll be. Well, we're going pretty fast. Have you ever rubbed your hands together to warm them? Well the air will be moving against the sides of the ship fast enough to have the same effect. It may for a bit even look like the very air around us is on fire, but don't be alarmed, my ship is designed to withstand the stress of re-entry, and though the air may also bump us around a bit, it shouldn't be too bad." As she says this, she begins to turn the ship slightly toward the planet, and it begins to descend into the atmosphere. Not super sharply, but still, in a few minutes, the wings of the ship will begin to heat up.

     Martin listens intently to everything Krystal has to say, trying to picture it in his mind. All this space stuff is still pretty hard to grasp, really, no matter how hard she may have tried to explain it to him. The practical demonstration has helped a fair bit though. "I don't know what pigs or monkeys are, but it'll be nice to see /some/ familiar sorts around. I take it they're all as different from the counterparts in my... world, as you are?"

His grip on that seat tightens as the ship starts its descent toward the planet's surface, eyes darting between the friction-heated wings and the quickly growing surface. "I... trust you." he mumbles, the fur on the back of his neck standing up as it sinks in that if /anything/ goes wrong, he probably won't be seeing tomorrow.

     "By different, you mean not horrible rotten and bad?" Krystal wonders as she focuses on piloting her ship toward the surface. Fortunately for Martin, just as the re-entry was getting so intense that the turbulence was like what you'd imagine it would be flying a fighter jet through a bad thunderstorm, and the edges of the wings are starting to turn slightly orange from the heat, Krystal engages the ship's reverse thrusters to slow down and before long things settle down and though they are still traveling at supersonic speeds, the ride is smoother and the ship no longer looks like it's about to turn into a burning cinder. 

     She banks a turn toward Corneria City, and before long the ship is slowing down even further as she prepares to land. Moments later the ship is touching down on a landing pad on the edge of the city with a view of the ocean off to the west. "Well, we're here. See, promised I'd get you here in one piece."

     Martin's thoughts turn toward the rabbits of his homeworld. Meek, cowardly, stupid creatures who are taken advantage of by everyone that comes across them... if they aren't killed and eaten. "Not /all/ of them are horrible." he mumbles some more, biting his lip as he watches things heat up more and more... and then the reverse thrusters kick in, and they slow down a bit. Breathing a sigh of relief, he settles back in his seat again and takes a few moments to get his breathing back under control until they land.

Once they're on the ground, the mouse warrior nods slowly, the confidence returning to his voice. "You did, yes. I'm sorry if it didn't seem like I trusted your skills, I really did. It's just... new to me." he explains, peering around through the cockpit windows.

     Krystal does pick up on Martin's thoughts about the rabbits where he comes from, and she further replies to his statement as she gets out of the ship and offers Marin a hand to get out himself. "Well, of course all have different personalities, but as an example, though I haven't met him, Peppy Hare retired now, but he started out serving in the Cornerian Army, before eventually pulling out to become a founding member of Star Fox, a team of space fighter pilot mercenaries who helped save the galaxy on several occasions. I also met a toad by the name of Beltino, who is the head engineer for the company who built my ship, and has a son in Star Fox. Anyway, I won't say that everyone here is nice, but most are. Anything you'd like to do while we're here? There's plenty of shopping deeper in the city, some parks around the outskirts, one being a bit to our right, and beaches and forests outside it."

     Martin follows Krystal out of the ship, gladly accepting her hand- it's quite soft, he notes- as his footpaws touch down on good old terra firma again. The mention of Beltino also brings to mind the savage toads of his home, particularly a rather harrowing adventure on the way to Salamandastron in which he and his friends were captured by an army of the nasty creatures in the marshlands...

Those thoughts are interrupted when Krystal asks where he wants to go, however, and the mouse warrior ponders for a moment or two. "Let's go to the park, then. It seems to be the closest, by what you've said. Besides which, I've... never been in a city before, so one thing at a time." he says, nodding to the blue fox.

     Krystal nods and closes the cockpit of her ship and turns back to Martin. "The park it is then!" She says with a smile and begins walking toward it with him. "I keep forgetting that so many of the things that feel like commonplace stuff to me, are totally new for you, probably best we take it slow. If you thought the city back in the cradle was big, it's nothing compared to Corneria City. Anyway, what would you like to do at the park? I could get us some food and we can have a picnic maybe or perhaps we could have a friendly spar. Maybe even one then the other?" She asks with a grin. "Thoughts?"

     "It's certainly a lot more civilized than what I'm used to." Martin agrees, heading toward the park with his newest friend. As she gives some suggestions, he chuckles a bit and says, "Why not spar first, then get food? I know I always work up an appetite when I practice my swordplay."

     Krystal nods to Martin and grins a bit. "Sure, sounds great, I'm sure I'll be ready to satisfy my appetite after a spar. I suppose if you'll be using your sword, I'll use my staff. Just want to go till we feel like taking a break?" Krystal asks as she looks over at Martin, the two now nearing the park, just a bit further to walk.

     Martin nods as his fingers touch the pommel of his sword, caressing the red jewel that serves as its sole decoration. "Sounds fine to me. This will be my first sparring match with it since it was reforged... if you don't count fighting a small army of searats." he says with a small chuckle, a part of his mind feeling more at ease as his footpaws make the transition from concrete to grass.

     Krystal nods, enjoying the feel of the grass against her feet also as it tickles over the sides of her sandals. She pulls out her staff and at the push of a plate, it extends to normal length. "My staff does some fancy things, but to be fair, I'll just use it as a melee weapon, at least for now. If once we get going you decide you want some extra challenge, we can always take things up a notch. Sound good?" She asks as she takes her staff in both hands, looking Martin over a moment. "As my guest, you may go first."

     "That sounds fair." Martin agrees with a nod, taking up a position several feet from Krystal and drawing his sword. "With that in mind, I'll avoid going at full force as well. This sword and I can do some real damage." Holding the blade in front of him with both hands, he eyes Krystal's stance, looking for openings. Despite her beautiful figure and an outfit he wouldn't exactly associate with a warrior, it definitely seems like she's accustomed to battle...

A certain mousemaid comes to mind, but he takes a deep breath and pushes those thoughts back. No use getting caught up in sentimental memories right now. Giving Krystal the once-over a second time, he takes a step forward and swings his blade experimentally at her hip to see how she reacts.

     Krystal wonders a moment what exactly Martin meant in that he could do some serious damage with his sword, did it have some special properties that she wasn't aware of? She listened a moment with her telepathy, but soon shifted to focus on the spar. 

     Krystal may not have the combat experience of Fox or Wolf, but she's seen her share, certainly in more recent times on Sauria. As Martin steps forward and swings his sword toward her hip, she swiftly swings the bottom end of her staff toward the blade to deflect it, while balancing on that leg and aiming a kick at Martin's midsection.

     Martin's thoughts give no further answers regarding the nature of his sword, only the sparring match itself. As his blade is deflected, the rest of his body moves along with it, turning to the side so that Krystal's kick scrapes along his back rather than landing a direct blow. This is immediately followed by kicking off the ground with his back leg to throw his weight into a shoulder tackle now that he's in close.

"Not bad, not bad at all." he compliments Krystal with a smile in the meantime.

     Krystal would just have to ask him about it later. For now, she had other things to worry about, like Martin going in for a tackle while she's still a bit off balance from her kick. Knowing she had no chance of stopping the tackle, she instead moved with it, bracing for the impact with her staff held horizontally across her chest as she dropped lower and regained her footing while turning her body to avoid the brunt of the tackle and swinging her staff toward his back, hoping with his added momentum it would send the mouse sprawling.

     Martin finds his tackle being deftly countered, but he continues twisting his body as he falls in order to come to a controlled roll and halt, stopping in a kneeling position facing Krystal with his sword held ready in one hand while the other provides an extra point of balance. "You're definitely not new to this." he observes as he stands up again, grasping his sword's hilt with both hands. That smile is still there too, as his eyes lock with Krystal's.

     Krystal nods at Martin's comment, and since he doesn't immediately launch another attack at her, she takes a moment to respond. "I was already trained in combat by my father before I left home, but fighting the Sharp Claw tribe on Sauria certainly gave me plenty of practice, not just at fighting, but also in going up against foes which are larger and stronger than myself." She smiles and moves forward, quickly poking forward with the top of her staff, aiming a strike to the top of Martin's head, then dropping low and attempting to sweep his feet with a follow up swing from the other end.

     "I see." Martin responds, but any further words are put on hold as he deflects the staff away from his head... and barely reacts in time to avoid sprawling flat on his bottom by moving one footpaw back, balancing on it as the other is swept out from under him by that staff. It's a bit precarious, but he hops back out of the staff's range and regains his footing.

"Much the same as me, then. As I said before, my father taught me the basics of using a sword as well." he says, darting in to swing his sword at Krystal's shoulder, only to pull back at the last second and redirect the arc of his blade toward her ribs, turning it so that only the flat has any danger of making contact. The sword seems incredibly light in his hands, almost weightless...

     Krystal tries to deflect the strike of Martin's sword toward her shoulder, only to realize it's a ruse, and while she tries to avoid the real strike toward her ribs, it still lands as she tries to turn away from it. She backs away a few steps holding the spot with one hand. That certainly stung, but if it wasn't the flat of his blade, she'd certainly be in much worse shape. 

     "So, we do have a bit in common." She says with a grin, still rubbing the spot where he got her for a moment longer. She then moves in close, striking at his chest with her staff and quickly following up with a knee to his gut.

     "It certainly seems that way." Martin responds with a grin in return, deflecting the staff with his sword and leaning back to soften the impact from Krystal's knee, one hand leaving his sword's handle to try to wrap around the fox's leg. Next, he'll twist his body in an attempt to drag her off her other foot and throw her on the ground. He makes a mental note to thank the Long Patrol hares for teaching him how to do things like this, if he ever sees them again.

     The strike to his chest is deflected as expected, and the knee to his gut doesn't seem to have the intended impact. Before she has time to plan another attack, Krystal feels Martin's arm wrap around her leg and as he twists, he manages to pull her off balance and the next thing she knows she's eating grass as she lands flat on her face. She chuckles a bit and gets back up. "Where did you learn that one? That was good!"

     Martin offers a hand to Krystal as she gets up, chuckling as well. "That, I learned at Salamandastron. It wasn't just my swordsmanship that they honed." he explains, just as his stomach starts to rumble. "Oh... guess that means sparring time is over, heh."

     Krystal takes the offered hand and sticks her staff into the ground a moment to brush herself off before grabbing it again. But by then she hears Martin's stomach growl and he says that means sparring time is over. She grins and laughs a bit, once again pressing a plate on the shaft of her staff, causing it to shrink down to a more portable size which she then slides into a strap on her back. "Sounds good, let's go find something to eat. I'm not sure they'll have food around here that's anything like you're used to, but what do you like?"

     Martin laughs with Krystal about the whole thing, picking a bit of grass from her fur that she missed. "Well, mostly things I could forage out in the wilderness, usually in the form of a stew or soup. Occasionally I'd come across some friendly folk who would share bread or cheese, sometimes even pudding. Fish, sometimes, if there wasn't much edible vegetation."

He looks around, trying to guess what might be available. "Where exactly would we go around here for food, anyway? Try to find someone hospitable enough to share their dinner?"

     Krystal grins at Martin's explanation of what he usually does for food, and hrmms in thought at where they could go. "Well, I don't think I know anyone around here well enough to join them for dinner, maybe Fox, but something tells me he's not exactly a chef, and he's probably not around anyway. But I'm sure we can find somewhere that will serve us some food. There is actually a really good place in the city I've been to a couple of times. Do they not have restaurants where you come from, places where you can pay for someone to make food for you?" She wonders curiously.

     Martin listens to Krystal speak, curious about this mysterious "Fox" person (and wondering if they are literally a fox, and by extension, why a fox would be /named/ Fox), and then she brings up restaurants and he just tilts his head and gives her a confused look. "I've... never heard of such a thing, no. I suppose it's similar to a king or chieftain having their own private cook, or maybe something like Salamandastron's mess hall?" He still seems a little stumped by it though.

     Krystal nods. "Yeah, probably something sort of like that, though pretty much anyone can go to these if they can afford the price of the food, though some have dress codes. The place I was thinking of in fact, now that I think of it, is a little more upscale... Last couple times I went there I was certainly dressed nicer than this. But it's far anyway, we'd have to take a shuttle down or something. I'm sure we'll find something if we keep walking." In fact, as they continue on, they soon pass a sign about a new bar and grill which opened up, and Krystal looks at it, wondering if Martin has ever had anything alcoholic. "Do you drink?" She asks as she looks back at him.

     Martin's head is practically spinning with all this information, so many new things to take in at once. "Oof... I'd appreciate something simpler, yeah." he agrees, following her up to that bar and grill. As she asks him about his drinking habits, he nods and says, "Yes. I assume you don't just mean water, but stronger things? They're rare where I come from, outside of the established homesteads and fortresses at least. I have enjoyed some wine at times though, and... once, /only/ once, I tried a little seaweed grog that the corsairs are so fond of. Never again."

     Krystal gags at the idea of an alcoholic beverage made from seaweed. "Yeah, that sounds pretty awful. They should have some wine at this place, along with beer and some stronger stuff like whiskey and the like. Do you mostly eat vegetation by choice, or because meat is usually pretty scarce where you're from? This place will probably have more choices on that end than fruits and vegetables. Should have fried potato strips at least." She explains. "In any case, looks like it's the next block up from here, so at least it's close."

     "It was. It very much was." Martin says with a slow nod as he recalls that awful taste, the combination of burn and brine and... uuuuugh. Shaking his head to get rid of the awful memory of /seaweed grog/, he starts heading in the direction indicated. "Meat is pretty scarce where I'm from, yes. Especially if you're not keen on the idea of eating civilized beasts. Fish, the occasional bird eggs, sometimes a bug or two if nothing else is available. Not fond of that last one though, too many crunchy bits that get stuck in my teeth."

     "Well, shall we then? Don't worry about paying, it's on me this time." Krystal offers with a smile as she picks up the pace toward the pub. Before long the place is in view. It's a modest size place, but looks to be fairly popular. Krystal heads for the entrance and leads Martin up to the bar, taking a stool herself and gesturing to the one next to her for Martin. A female bartender greets them and sets down a menu for both. She is a canine, looking much like a cocker spaniel, with droopy ears and wavy fur in a golden brown color, and a slender figure.

     "That's very kind of you, Krystal. Thank you." Martin says, smiling back as he follows her to the pub. Once they're inside, he takes a seat next to the blue fox, looking around. "A gathering place not unlike the food hall at Salamandastron. It still seems a little strange a concept to me." As the bartender comes up, Martin smiles and nods at her as well, then looks down at the menu, trying to decide what to have. He doesn't want to impose after all, but some of these look rather enticing...

Krystal decides to let her hair down a bit and go for some traditonal bar food that she can share with her friend, rather than anything fancy. She orders a beer, not cheap but not pricy either, some french fries with cheese and bacon, and some spicy buffalo wings. The bartender nods to her and turns her attention to Martin, asking what he wished to order in addition to that. "Order whatever you like, really." Krystal offers with a smile.

Martin watches Krystal order some things he's not overly familiar with. Cheese, sure, beer too, but french fries? Bacon? Buffalo wings? "This will be an adventure for my tastebuds, if nothing else." he says with a small grin, then glances at his menu a moment longer before shrugging and confirming he simply wishes to order the same as Krystal. Glancing back to her, he says, "I'll trust you to have good taste."

"A mouse trusting a fox? Such progressive times we live in." Krystal says while offering Martin a playful wink. "I suppose just a beer then, and if we still want more to eat when we finish what I ordered, we can order more, maybe some nachos, that would be good." She speaks in a pondering tone, at which the bartender nods and smiles. "I'll get that order in for you right away." She then turns away and heads over to a computer terminal and punches in the order so the kitchen can get started on it. She then gets a couple of beers from the tap and brings them over for Krystal and Martin. "Let me know if you need anything." She offers kindly before moving on to assist other patrons. Krystal smiles as she looks over at Martin. "So, what do you think of this crazy gathering of worlds so far?"

Martin chuckles a little, giving Krystal a gentle shove. "Oh, none of that. I've known plenty of foxes, and if you're the scheming type, you're a lot better at hiding it than most." he says, then briefly wonders what nachos are before nodding to the bartender as she goes off to handle the other patrons. Grabbing hold of his beer, the mouse warrior gives it a little sniff, whiskers twitching, before taking a sip. "Huh, not bad. Not the best I've had, but it's a far sight better than any grog I've tasted." As Krystal asks him about the worlds, he takes another sip of his beer and swishes it around his mouth a little, swallowing slowly. "Hmm... It's interesting, that's for sure. A lot to take in, definitely. In fact, the more it sinks in just how many of them there are, the more I think I'll never see my old friends again."

Krystal nods about the beer after taking a sip herself. "Yeah, I've had better too. They have better you can order here also, if you don't mind paying a bit more. If you want we can try one for the next round. As for the worlds, it's interesting. When I found this world, or well, galaxy of worlds, it gave me hope. I thought, maybe in this version my planet was still around. That wasn't the case of course, and in the end, I feel it's for the best. Probably would have been awkward meeting friends and family that aren't really the people I actually know, but imperfect copies of them. For you though, I wouldn't give up hope. I know hear it's possible to find your way back, as for how though, that's a lot more sticky." Just then the wings and cheese fries arrive, both offering plenty to share between the pair. Krystal takes a bit of both and munches on the food.

Martin nods as well at the suggestion of buying some better alcohol for the next round, then silently plugs away at his beer while Krystal talks. Once she's finished, he takes a deep breath and nods one more time. "Yeah, I hope so. If we /can/ find it, I'll do whatever I can to make it back. I can't imagine what must be happening there without us." he says, seeming like he's about to slip into some deep, dark thoughts until his stomach rumbles loudly at the presence of food. Glancing over what's on offer, he first chooses to try one of those cheese fries, tentatively licking it before scarfing the whole thing down, which is quickly followed by another fry, then another, until he's nearly demolished half the plate on his own.

Krystal nods to Martin's statement. "I wonder about my world too. I didn't play so huge a part in things that I think I'll be missed terribly, but Star Fox losing their lead pilot will certainly have some repercusions. Especially as the Wolf from my old world seems to, as far as I've gathered between the one of this world and the Fox from mine, seems like a much more dangerous threat. If that made any sense at all. This whole parallel universe thing can really give you a headache." She says with a light laugh. She then watches as Marin tries the fries, and then proceeds to devour them. "Um, I think I'll put in that order of nachos now..." She says with a giggle, then continues eating, but at a more reserved pace.

Martin realizes how quickly he's been eating, and suddenly stops just as he's about to grab another of those fries. Hurriedly swallowing the mouthful of chewed-up potato he already has, he blushes slightly under his fur and mumbles an apology. "Sorry, I just... half a year in a dungeon, you know..." Then, sheepishly clearing his throat, he nods and speaks up at a normal tone. "Yes, I can see how that would get confusing. I don't know what I would do if I met someone from another version of my own world."

Krystal eats more of the wings and fries, and sips at her beer before offering a smile at Martin's apology, now more glad she was offering the poor guy a good meal. "Oh, yeah, I can imagine that being pretty rough." She says empathetically, then nods at the prospect of meeting alternate versions of people you know. "Supposedly there is another version of me out there somewhere. If I ever meet her, now that will be interesting." She says with a chuckle and finishes off her beer and orders two glasses of the best beer they have on tap, which are soon brought out along with the plate of nachoes. Apparently the bartender had heard Krystal earlier.

Martin reaches for one of the wings, making sure to eat more slowly this time so that Krystal is able to have as much as she wants too. "I mean, I had some pretty good meals after I got out, but it becomes a force of habit." he says, gnawing at the bone that's left over when he's done with the meat. This is soon set aside (probably for later) though, as he decides to try out these "nacho" things, washing them down with some of that new beer that's arrived. "Hmm... greasy, but I can't complain about the flavor. This is pretty good beer too." he says, grinning as he licks bits of cheese from his teeth. "Are all restaurants like this?"

Krystal sips at her glass of beer while she lets Martin have first go at the nachos, watching his reaction to both the beer and nachos. She follows soon after, eating a few of the chips covered in cheese, seasoned meat, and spicy salsa. She nodded in agreement as well, they were pretty good. The question about restaurants makes her smile a bit and shake her head. 

 "In some ways yes, in that you go to them and pay money for someone else to make food and serve it to you. But there are lower end places that some wouldn't even say are classy enough to even be called a real restaurant, which specialize in serving cheap food quickly for people who are in too much of a hurry to sit down and have a more formal meal, up to much fancier places which serve high class expensive food and drinks, and often have an expected level of dress of those who eat there. I'd say, this place falls somewhere on the lower middle of that spectrum. Does that adequately answer your question? Also, is there anything you want to eat after this, or do once we're done eating? We could go on a stroll through the city, find a hotel room and relax for a while, spar some more, whatever you want."

Martin makes sure to try out a little bit of everything, though keeping a tight rein over himself so he doesn't go and gorge too much. Not just for Krystal's sake, but also because, well, he doesn't want to go and make himself sick now, does he?

After the explanation of restaurants, the mouse warrior nods and hms. "This is a lot to take in, I have to admit. Relaxing for a while sounds like a good idea, just so I can process everything I've seen and heard so far." He doesn't even question what a hotel is, though as he finishes off another nacho (dipped in salsa this time), he brings up something else Krystal mentioned. "Alternate versions, huh? So maybe there's a world where Tsarmina never took power..."

Krystal nods and eats a bit more of the food that is left and then slowly sips at the rest of her beer, deciding she's had enough to eat for now. Honestly getting a chance to unwind and digest their bar-food dinner sounded like a great idea. "It is a lot to process when you first find out about all these different worlds and how they are different from your own, and I imagine even more so for you with the tecnology gap between many of them and your own. As for alternate versions, I guess anything is possible. I believe there could even be alternate versions of each of our worlds where neither of us exist."

Martin leans back a bit and pats his belly, letting out a small burp. "Oof, excuse me." he says with a sheepish grin, then nods again at the suggestion. "I guess that's possible too, now that you mention it. I can only hope such worlds have someone who can take my place, and maybe do a better job than I've done. Maybe there's even a world where I was able to save Boar the Fighter from his fate..." Uh oh, getting a little somber now.

Krystal nods at Martin's somber comments, not seeming to take any offense to his burp. "Well, I suppose every world has it's conflict and strife, and some may have more than their fair share, or not enough people to 'fight the good fight' as it were. Maybe now that things are connected, those that need help can get it from other worlds that may have an excess of 'hero types'." Krystal ponders with a bit of a shrug, and after finishing her beer, she pays for the meal and stands to stretch a bit. "Well, shall we go find us a place for the night and leave the next leg of our adventure for tomorrow?"

Martin remains quietly in thought for a few more moments, even after Krystal asks him that last question. An excess of hero types? What he wouldn't give to have such a thing back home, if only to help shoulder the weight of everything that was riding on him. Finally though, he comes back out of his meditation and slides out of his seat, nodding with a smile. "Yeah, let's go try out one of these 'hotel' things. It's been a busy day."

Krystal nods and leads Martin out of the bar, where she takes a moment to gaze toward the setting sun and how it causes the city in the distance to sparkle in the glare of the dying sunlight. She then gets into a self driving taxi that she had ordered a few moments ago as she was preparing to pay the dinner bill. She beckons for Martin to join her inside, where the high tech land vehicle would quickly take them to a nice looking hotel that looked to either be fairly new, or very well kept, maybe both. Krystal gets out and heads inside, then up to the front desk before turning back to Martin for a question. "Do you want your own room? Or should we just get a single room with two beds?"

Martin follows Krystal into the taxi, glancing out the window at all the buildings and other sights passing by as they head toward the hotel. Once they're at the front desk, he (somewhat queasily thanks to motion sickness) says, "Oh, urp... Sorry, just not feeling well all of a sudden. Um... a single room's fine. Probably costs less, and you're the only friend I've got on this planet anyway."

Krystal winces as she notices Martin's apparent motion sickness, and is suddenly very glad he didn't throw up in her ship, but mostly feels bad for the poor mouse. She nods though and turns to the desk clerk for the hotel and smiles. "One double queen suite please." She then fills out the nessicary paperwork on a small tablet attached to the desk, including her payment method, then takes an electronic key cards, offering one to Martin. "Thank you!" She offers to the clerk and heads to the elevator, motioning for Martin to follow her.

 The elevator would take them up to the fifth floor, where Krystal would finally lead Martin to room 504, and open the door to reveal a modest size hotel room with a pair of fairly large beds, a mini kitchen, a small office corner with a desk, and a screen built into the wall across from the beds, along with the all important bathroom, considering how Martin was feeling right now. Krystal takes the bed furthest from the door and smiles. "We can relax and spend the night here, I imagine it's probably more comfortable than what you're used to."

Martin follows Krystal all the way up to their room, seeming a little greener as they exit the elevator. As they enter the room and Krystal goes to lay on her bed, he nods and smiles, then immediately rushes toward the bathroom and closes the door. A few moments later, some retching sounds can be heard. After a bit of silence, Martin's voice calls out, "How do they keep these washrooms so clean? I don't see any water buckets or anything..."

Krystal can't help but laugh at Martin's comment about how the bathroom is so clean. "Well, that's one of the things about hotels. Since you pay to stay here, they hire a team of people to clean and tidy up all the rooms every day, unless you put up the do not disturb sign on your room. Speaking of which, I'm hoping you just ralphed into the toilet, should be a little silver handle up on the left side, if you pull it, it will flush away your lost dinner. Sorry you're not feeling so great. I guess you stuffed yourself a little too much to be able to handle a ride in a fast moving vehicle."

A few moments pass before the flushing can be heard, and a few more moments before running water from the sink follows it. Seems like he figured that out pretty quickly from Krystal's explanation of the toilet. A few more moments, the water cuts off and he finally comes out of the bathroom, looking significantly less green but still a bit... well, like someone who's just flushed away dinner. "Oof, thank you. Just one more thing I need to get used to, I guess." he says, shambling over and flopping facefirst onto his bed.