OPIA

chapter four

 "Can you show me the picture of the lemur again, Peppa?"

I jump slightly, having drifted off into my own thoughts without even realising. Ritika is seated next to me today, hopeful eyes flitting between me and the tablet before me. Across the table, Bart rolls his eyes and simply continues his turn. We're in the middle of playing a space-themed version of Uno— ironically fitting. We chose this rec room and this late hour to play because we all tend to get a little... enthused about it.

I bring up the picture on the tablet, pushing the flatscreen device towards her. With a squeal of barely-contained glee, she takes it into her hands and coos.

"Glad you managed to escape death for another day," Taupaz speaks up, low, soft tone barely reaching my ears through Ritika's obnoxious fawning.

"Barely," I snort, recalling Seamus' barely-impressed visage when I returned a few hours ago. "It's not good enough, but it's a start."

"That's what he said, huh?" Bart asks, attempting to make the most of the momentary distraction to discard more cards than is allowed. Taupaz smacks his hand without even needing to look. Chastised, Bart grumbles and plays a legal move.

"Yep," I sigh, nudging Ritika so she actually takes her damn turn and I can play. It's not often we all have an evening free of work that aligns with the others, and I don't want to waste the opportunity. "I think anything short of a full feature documentary on the Rheians is going to not disappoint him, at this rate."

"Probably," Ritika agrees, placing down a plus four card. "Sorry."

"Don't say it if you don't mean it," I grumble, begrudgingly playing my own plus card I had been saving for when the direction got reversed.

"You did what he asked, though? You came back with an observation log on one of the natives."

Bart's words are surprisingly serious, which is unusual for him. I can't help but appreciate the brief moment while it lasts. Historically, he tends to say something afterwards that completely ruins the sentiment of the first thing.

I let out a sigh before I can stop it. "Barely."

I did encounter a Rheian earlier, but my 'observation' lasted for all of three minutes. As soon as the Rheian female (I'm guessing, based on the similarities in our anatomy) got the fruit she was picking, she was crouching with strong legs coiled and then the next second she was gone, form disappearing into the trees.

Which means that although I was returning with an observation like requested, it was also a somewhat... disappointing observation. It was mostly visual, commentary on the figure and features. I didn't exactly have a wealth of behaviours to record.

But, well... I'm also sort of to blame. I spent most of the time simply staring, mesmerised, after all. I could barely help it, though. The Rheian was standing there looking like an extraterrestrial goddess; everything about the visual was majestic. Her limbs had been long and strong, but each movement was filled with grace. When she shifted it was fluid, reminding me of a cat slinking across the top of a fence, with just a hint of the power that lay beneath her skin slipping out. I also hadn't been able to stop glancing at her tail, wondering whether it was something they always used like she did or if it was mostly for decoration with minimal ability. I could go on and on, because honestly there has barely been five consecutive minutes all evening where I haven't been thinking about giant purple aliens.

"You're doing the lords work," Ritika's chortle brings me back from my reverie, and I look around to see my tablet back in front of me and her card being placed on the pile. A whole round had pretty much gone by while I was off with the fairies, but it didn't matter much — she skipped me, anyway.