Immediately, the caninoid’s expression brightened. His long ears pricked upright, his optical display turned distinctly cheery, and his entire tail began to wag. A hapless chair at a nearby table was sent scooting across the floor from the sheer force of excitement.
“Oh boy! Hello, new friend: Rebecca!” Gospel popped up from the floor, and scrambled forward to be sitting next to the table, instead of lying down a few feet away. He was almost tall enough to look her in the eye even from there, but he dropped his head down onto the newly cleared table. Issimo was always teasing that he looked ‘too cute’ that way.
“Perhaps Gospel can have…pets?” He asked hopefully.
Oh my god, that was adorable. Rebecca was definitely reminded of the various dogs she pet in her lifetime. Though those generally tended to wag their entire bodies rather than just their tails, she still found it adorable.
“Yes, you can.”
She gently pet Gospel’s head, absolutely reminded of one of the Great Danes she met several years ago. That one had been a complete sweetheart and loved plopping his head right on her lap.
“Oh.” Caught red-pawed, Gospel laid down on the floor several feet
from the table, and lifted his head. This stranger wasn’t afraid of his
size and sharp points? Score!
“Hello!” The caninoid chirped, starting to wag his long tail a few segments at a time. “Am Gospel. You new friend?”
Rebecca chuckled a bit, putting down her paperwork as well to cross her arms on the table. She probably would have been more scared of him had she not known that Great Danes existed and pet quite a few in her time. A bunch of sweethearts, they were.
“It’s nice to meet you, Gospel. Yeah, I’m a new friend, I’m Rebecca.”
Rebecca’s face was bright red before she buried her face in her hands, the music she was singing to still going in the background. Looks like she was far too embarrassed to respond right now.
“Ooh….I don’t think I could stand the silence if I turned off my audio feed completely.” Issimo gave a mock shudder at the thought. Sure, he turned his down sometimes (sensitive hearing made crowded lounges and firefights an absolute pain), but to turn it completely off?!
“I was born for music. Silence just hurts!”
“That’d also be why I wouldn’t recommend it.”
She was rather thankful that she had her own room at the very least, though that was a thing for all division commanders. Rebecca stood up, stretching her arms over her head as her back made a popping noise, indicating it was recalibrating from sitting for so long.
“I’m gonna go submit my division report. See you on the command deck later?”
“Pfft.” Issimo cracked a smile as he corrected his missed typo, and scrolled through his report one last time to make sure there were no more mistakes. “Not with the way my suitemate snores.” He laughed. Besides, he still had too much to do tonight.
After submitting this report, he still had to finalize the tournament roster for Black Lake’s monthly showdown. That alone would take him the rest of the night.
“Oof, I know that feeling. I used to have one that snored all the time and then I got my own room. I turned off my audio feed so I could sleep and kept missing meetings by accident. So I wouldn’t recommend that unless you really wanna sleep.”
She snorted before looking over her own division’s report. She had to submit it in a little while, after which she’d retire to the VR room for training. Her division seemed to be in high spirits today and it was wonderful.
“I did? Aw, 똥.” Issimo took back the data pad with a frown. “I thought I got them all. Mmm…must be more tired than I thought.” He mused out loud. “Thanks for catching that, Rebecca.”
“Hey, it’s no biggie. Glad to help! It looks pretty good otherwise!”
An eyebrow raised, she looked back over at the other for a moment.
“Once y’submit your report, make sure to get some sleep. It’s been pretty quiet around here, so y’can get a full cycle.”
Back in the Game 