“I think a word that could fill your sentence would be exhilarating!”
Matilda saw the Elf take a bow and felt inclined to do the same, maybe it was religious but she felt as if she would be disrespectful not doing it. She performed a slight bow and as she came up she saw the Ursine pass by.
“Hey, do you want to explore the laboratories?”
Ymir was very confused of what he saw, a bear walking on two legs while dressed like a normal human being. Being nervous he put his hand on the right side of his hip to reach after something, only to remember that he did not have his knife with him. He breathed out the breath he did not even know he was holding in. After he calmed himself, he realised the bear is probably is just another species of something he has not heard of before. He looked around and saw that nobody else was freaking out about the bear looking species, so Ymir thought he most likely was correct about the observation. This was meant to be a safe place he reminded himself, nobody is here to create trouble. He waved hello to the bear looking man, hopefully that person did not notice Ymir’s nervous attitude just a second ago.
Seeing Ymir wave to him, Kaleva waved back and casually walked toward him.
“Greetings,” Kaleva stopped in front of Ymir and bowed his head slightly. “My name is Kaleva Lehtonen, I’m a marine mammalogist from Asendavia. I hope I didn’t frighten you too badly, I understand that not many of my kind are seen outside of Northeastern Yasteria,” Kaleva gave Ymir a small smile.
Damien Nakano was in shock when he received the email that his application for an internship was accepted at the International Sealab for the next year and would be sponsored by his university, the Imperial University, and the Masako Council.
Since he was a chitoun he had dreamed of the ocean after watching Oceans of Planet Urth on the television with his kindle.
Growing up on the Masako Nekomimi Reservation had no access to the ocean. The best view you got was the tops of the Izumi Mountains to the south and nothing but jungle everywhere else. True they had access to water but jungle water was taught to be dangerous, which is was, especially for chitouns.
Nekomimi start their schooling young and as a result they have the option of their last year of high school to take their conscript service before they enter university and they only have to serve a year as part of the agreement the Masako Council has with the Imperial Government.
His queenie wasn’t thrilled thar he wanted to be a marine biologist and leave the den but his tommie was supportive of him because unfortunately the Masako Nekomimi is matriarchal like many of the other tribes and to be a respected tom you needed to make a name of yourself.
He was taken out of his deep through as he was leaning on the rail staring at the water when his pinna heard the distinct sound of bubbles as from where he was standing on the dock waiting for the submarine from Sealab to pick him up. He was alone on the dock as his connecting flight was delayed so he missed going with the main group but he was ready for an adventure.
Ymir gives a small bow towards Kaleva, “Name is Ymir Olavson, I’m a student from Norgsveldet it is a pleasure metting you. And I am sorry iwas a little nervous there, never have i seen your speciec before so was unsure to react” Ymir said scratching the back of his head.
“I think I’m not yet completly used to being in a place that is as safe like this” Ymir crossed his arms and looked around the room. Looking at wonderfull view that is the occean. “Well seeing how I do not know much about Asendavia, mind telling me how it is”
Kaleva nodded, “Asendavia is quite nice. Although humans are the majority nearly everywhere in Asendavia, there are still plenty of opportunities for those of other species such as myself, though some are still admittedly prejudiced in their views. I grew up in a rural town about 30 or so miles southwest of the city of Khiyev, capital of the aptly-named Grand Duchy of Khiyev. I’ve mostly stayed in eastern Asendavia, visiting places like Khiyev, Tungrad, and Zhelelovka, all old and beautiful cities. I’ve also visited the Drangleic Cathedral in Drangleic, which is said to be the oldest Cathedral in all of Asendavia, being a few thousand years old or so. Speaking of that, actually, Asendavia’s quite religious. In fact, by law you’re required to be a member of one of the state religions, whether it be Ademarism, Celanism, or so on. Personally, I have no problem with this, in fact, I think it’s a great way to help unify everyone. But uh, stepping away from religion, Asendavia is just overall pretty good, speaking as a native, I have no real complaints. Anyway though, how about you? How’s Norgsveldet? You mentioned you’re not used to being in a place as safe as here. Is Norgsveldet not safe, or…?”
Ymir gave a slight sigh, but smiled anyway. “No Norgveldet as a nation is quite safe, but I lived in a town named Helhall in the northern parts of Norgsveldet that is dealing with immense rise of crime. Gang violence is quite usual there, ever since the town dealt with financal issues in 2010. A real shame, i remember when i was a small child it was so much more beautiful. With temples that you could pray. My teenage years was years being plague with being avaible to know how to fight, since you could not always rely on the police to come. Though the prime minister past some new police reforms 3 months ago, hope it better the situsation. But Norgsveldet is quite safe, only the town that is dealing with huge financal issues is having such issues like my town. Though there is things i have issues with my country, but when it comes to religion we are also quite religious. Not as much like Asendavia seems to be, but more and more people reject secularism back at home. Our king being the head of our religion, Asatru. Norgsveldet probly not as diverse like Asendavia is in species, the only ones we have outside humans is elves and nekomimi. In fact our crown princess is half neko, and I myself has some elven blood in me from my mother side.”
It felt like the room had gotten louder, although perhaps that was just Alara’s elven sense of hearing. “Yes,” Alara said, “I think exploring the labs would be great.” She would be lying if she said she wasn’t excited to see them. Research was, after all, what they were all there for. She stood up and looked around. “Although… I don’t actually remember where they are, do you?” She had left all her welcome paperwork in her room, which is probably where her map was.
Damien was looking around and sniffing as he exited the submarine with one of his suitcases and his messenger bag. His other suitcases would be taken to his room he was told before he left the submarine.
As he walked towards the hallway he seen the reception desk he was told to stop by for his access badge and room keycard.
He spent less than five minutes at the desk checking in and collecting all his information. He was looking at the map, it was weird to have something in paper and not digishared directly to his phone.
He was fumbling around with the map as he oriented himself to where the docks were and seen he was approaching the laboratory area.
Its was at night,1 hours before midnight.Neo was still awaken,he has a mysterious box in the desk.he pick it up and called a little backup.he called Dr.Brian.Neo and Brian exit the room while everybody else asleep. Passing by some security and moving to the airlock.Both of them swim 2km to east from the Sealab.
Brian curios about that box.He questioned neo"hey,what inside that box.“Neo reply"just an old tapes.nothing much"Brian Questioned again"Why bring those tapes,And why in here?”,Neo reply"well,its tough to explain,um…
its like you have eaten all the food at the plate,but you have a mark at your mouth,still have the ability to taste the food while the food is already eaten".after 2 hours they split up and put those 2 tapes in rock formation.
After those tapes hidden,Brian still curios of that tape,he questioned Neo,"Since our job is done,well what is inside of those tapes"Neo reply,"Its just and old testing video tapes from abandoned site 15,nothing much,well… we must get out of here before someone found those tapes.
Both of the swim back to the lab,leaving an abandoned tapes on the sea,hoping never founded
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“Ah, we have a few nekos over in Asendavia, nowhere near as numerous as humans, ursines, or vulpines, but a decent minority. We don’t have any elves though, and I don’t think I’ve ever actually seen one, speaking of that. Shame about that gang violence though, we don’t really have a problem with that over in Asendavia. The serious criminals are sent to labor camps up in the Arctic, others go to normal prisons. If there’s one thing I WILL criticize about Asendavia, it’s that the legislature isn’t that… effective, I suppose. It really doesn’t have any true power to do anything on its own. The system has worked for a long time though, so there is that. At least it’s better than how Asendavia was hundreds of years ago, with human sacrifice, slavery, and more. On a lighter note, I feel the urge to explore the rest of the sealab, would you care to join me?” Kaleva asked.
The nurse finished to heal his small wound on the arm. He fell while training himself in the exercise room as he wasn’t very careful. As he was about to leave the infirmary, he said “Bye, thank you!” in a very strong northern ayaupian accent. Basically, he was an asconian, a human living in Ayaupia, recognisable by his alveolar trills and rounded vowels, sounding as a very rustic, hardy person, despite his young age. Being 19, he still has a juvenile face, with no facial hairs and thin lines. His delicate features and short hairs make him look younger, but his voice makes him sound 4 years older. Of an average build, he’d exercise himself very often, so often he ended there. A short time after his arrival, he immediatly decided to do some exercise, to wash out the stress he accumulated during the travel, and about being trapped in a giant tube in thousands of meters under the sea, as jumping and moving around is a great way for him to relax. He remembered receiving some strange look from other people, probably because of his tanned skin, of a brown color, so brown, it looks as he would have been under the sun for months. He was as well completely lost, coming from a far distance country, therefore having to do multiple stopovers to finally get to the destination. That’s why he came so late and alone, as very anxious and a bit tired. That’s why he didn’t ask to himslef, what a weird idea to practice some gym right after arriving here.
Uvrastal was a freshman directly graduated from the Cayoo Federal University, after he migrated from his rural native land. There, he was perceived as an uneducated, backlog and boorish young man, often mocked because of his way of speaking, and by what he was wearing. Despite all the progress from the government into federating ayaupians and banning all sorts of discriminations, he still felt uneasy in the capital city. In front of the gentrified, upper class and well mannered citizens of Cayoo, he was feeling ridiculously small, he’d be called a “small child”. Therefore, he looked away, to foreign colleges and universities, where he would have no issue about being accepted because of his exceptionally good level in biology and that almost no one else in Ayaupia applied for the Sealab.
He quietly left the infirmary, to wander around the place. In front of the coffee machine, he sees a group of people chatting with some drinks. He decides to join them - after all, why wouldn’t he try to meet new people. Thus, he shyly approaches the persons standing there, a hand behind his neck. He has never met foreigners before, nor he has seen such different people as he walks toward them.
"It would be my pleasure, we are going to spend a while here. So it’s better get started exploring so that we now the base better. " Ymir said with enthusiasm. He still don’t know how he feels about his new friend, though he seems friendly enough. As they explore the sealab, thought they could talk while on the way “So tell me some things about yourself? What is your motivations to come here”
“Yes yes, follow me!” Matilda led the path. She took Alara down a few turns which led to the laboratories. With each door labelled like an old fashioned classroom, she looked back at Alara, smiled, and pushed one of them in. A small gust of trapped air tickled her face.
“Wow, this is amazing!” she could not believe her eyes. The funding back in Louzarian Universities were excellent but this kit was a league above.
“State of the art…” she smirked. There was so many little things to take in. This was the DNA testing room. A rack of untouched centrifuge tubes were on the side next to several analysis kits. To the right of that was a large refrigerator with biohazard labels, and on the other side of the room was centrifugation equipment. She briskly turned to her companion.
“What do you think?”
“Well, I’ve always been fascinated by the sea, so I just went down the path that would allow me to be around the sea and study it. Truthfully though, I wanted to be a race car driver as a little kid, but as I grew older, I realized that it probably wouldn’t be a good profession to get into, so I went with my next favorite thing, the ocean. The University of Yoria is typically known as the best university in Asendavia for anything related to the ocean, and I would’ve gone there, but I wasn’t accepted. My second choice was a university in Drangleic, but I didn’t get accepted there either. Thankfully though, I got accepted to Halkanger University in Tungrad, which was my third choice. Now, before I went down to Tungrad, the only proper city I’d been to was Khiyev, and even though it’s considered as one of Asendavia’s more important cities, it’s also by far the smallest of the major cities, by a very wide margin. When I arrived in Tungrad, I was overwhelmed by just how big it actually was. Besides that though, my university experience was actually quite tame. I got my bachelor’s degree at 22, I worked as a research assistant for a year, and then I went back and got my master’s at 25. I actually met my wife during the 3rd year of my bachelor’s. She was in her 2nd year for a BA in linguistics when we started dating. We got married a few years ago and our son was born a year ago. Right now I work at the Tungrad Institute of Marine Biology, which is actually owned by the Duchy of Tungrad, so we don’t lack for funding often,” Kaleva went on.
Damien had started to round the corner but he seen a human and to his amazement a Ursine poking their heads in one of the labs, obviously looking around, but instinctively he froze for a moment and took a stiff of the air. Standard flight or fight glitch as he thought of them which living and growing up in the jungles of East Malaysia can do that.
He was going to continue on his way but curiosity also got the better of this neko as he approached them. He was naturally quiet when he walked, even in shoes, but he was already listening to their conversation with his pinna.
He stood far enough back he would hopefully not startle the Ursine but close enough to look into the lab but as always he couldn’t keep his mouth shut when he seen the equipment.
“A series seven DNA sequencer! I can’t wait to get my paws on that! Uni only had a series four and that was slow.”
He seen both of them jump a little and turn around. He slapped his mouth and gave a big grin. “I’m sorry! I get excited easily.”
As Ymir was walking next to his new ursine friend, he listened to Kaleva talking about his life. A small smile spreading to his lip. Despite the relative scary appearance of Kaleva, he seemed to be a kind soul. As he listened however, he heard some very silent steps behind them. Instinctively his body stiffened for a small while. He calmed himself again, a small sigh leaving his lips. Despite his efforts of trying calm himself, his instincts or rather fear has not made himself fully to relax himself. Even his professors have stated he need to work on leaving that part of him in the past. He saw Kaleva giving him a concerned look. Giving a nod of reassurance to his friend, he decides that what he heard was probably nothing. Just as Kaleva was about to talk again a loud voice spoke behind them. Ymir turnaround almost immediately, and despite not wanting to admit it was slightly scared by the sudden voice. His hands turned to fists, as he turned around. Almost thinking he was about to be attacked. However, all he saw was a nervous male nekomimi with two coloured hair and different eye colours then he normally used to see. He gives an annoyed sigh as he calmed himself and gives the stranger a small smile.
“I won’t lie you gave me a small scare there” Ymir said softly.
“Hey Miss!” Alexi calls to Matilda as she stands in the Lab. “Sorry to bother ya, but where’s the MRDK Lab?”
Alexi Sarchov was lost, as usual. He was never good with directions, and this large facility did not help. Despite this, he admired the place. As an engineer and researcher, he was extremely impressed. Didn’t change the fact he was lost, but maybe this girl knows the place.
Kaleva jumped slightly when he heard a voice speak up from behind him and Ymir. Turning, he saw a young male nekomimi with heterochromia.
“Ah, hello there. You gave me a little bit of a scare, but it’s quite alright. I’m Kaleva, from Asendavia. This here is Ymir,” Kaleva gestured to his companion, “He’s from Norgsveldet. I don’t recall seeing many nekomimis when I arrived here, who are you, if you don’t mind telling us, of course.”
Uvrastal felt like a ghost: nobody dared to look at him, nor they considered to come or talk. Completely ignored by other people, the observation area seemed to be the best option to occupy himself. He briefly watched some pictures of his best friend on his phone, as he missed him and felt alone. He remembers the good times before he left Nistur and Valap for the capital city, where he didn’t stay a very long time. He doesn’t feel very at ease with this place, as he has a strong accent in staynish, even with a highly good level in that language. He never went in foreign countries and never met foreign people, and feels anxious about that. He doesn’t know if he will be kind, smiling, if those people will receive a good feeling from himself, or if they will appreciate how he is.
Now in the middle of the observation area just next to the main room, he looked at all the fish, corals and sea ferns surrounding the sealab. He has never seen such beautiful and colorful marine species before. He always knew the ocean through fishermen and seafood, as tuna and shrimps. He never knew about various sorts of seaweed, corals, goldfish and more. This was such a marvellous scenery, that he took time to behold, as he was alone, he had all the time to watch what he has never been able to see in his entire life. A unique moment, and he was just feeling it.