He slowly peers over at the alien staring at him, before giving a slight wave.

(( I offer you... )) (( A very mean bird. ))

He's sipping some tea to start out the...afternoon. Even heroes can oversleep.

“Gotta say, maybe there’s something to this tea stuff.”

Mineu’s first taste of instant coffee did not endear him to the stuff. He decided that since @wearestarfox.bsky.social didn’t have time to make it, he would help him by brewing a real pot. —last night was a good night. We had no customers so I got to just sketch and listen to music

“Uh-huh. Well, wouldn’t want you to get rusty. Otherwise someone like me would catch you easily.”

“It’s credits, and to be honest I’ve never really checked. We don’t get many visitors from your quadrant. I could just give you a fight though, if you’re REALLY that bored. Doesn’t hurt to shake off the rust every now and then.”

“To be honest…even if I did? It’d probably only keep me out of the red for a month or two. Battleships aren’t cheap to keep.”

“I told myself it was the price of living in times of peace, but this is getting a bit ridiculous.”

“Even freelance work’s been looking pretty slow lately.”

I really gotta get these comms channels fixed. Nothing but the oddest conversations…

“So…babysitter, got it. Guess everyone needs a side gig.”

“So DK adopted, huh. Good for him! Always happy to see someone grow.”

Fox is currently really going to town on some coffee. This is his…third cup? Fourth? He’s starting to lose track.

"Anyways, back to work."

"Uh-huh..."

Fox just blinked a few times, before letting out an exasperated sigh. “Figures. Guess I’ll have to ask her next time I see her.”

“She did, huh?” His chuckles slow a bit as he looks a bit nervous. “What uh…what’d she say about me?”

“Fox McCloud, nice to meet you.” He offered a gloved hand to the taller vulpine. “Inspector, huh? I’m not under investigation, am I?” He chuckled.

“Really? Huh. Small galaxy, I guess. I don’t think I’ve heard her mention you before, Ms…?”

“That outfit…it uh, reminds me of a good friend of mine.”

“What the—“

"I really gotta beef up security. I don't know how all these strangers are getting onboard the Great Fox..."

"Uh-huh. I think I'd like to keep it that way."

"Why are people talking about...y'know what? I don't want to know."

Sipping on some coffee to start the day.

“Thanks, but I’ve got my own team to run.” He gently removed Bowser’s hand from his back. “Just remember, this isn’t permanent.”

“What the—“

Some audible grumbling from the vulpine, but he can’t exactly fight back against the Koopa King right now. He sighs, and nods his head.

"If you didn't stop me from arresting that menace, I wouldn't even be here!" He has to stop himself from getting too agitated. "Okay, you know what? Whatever. As long as I can keep him from causing trouble in YOUR kingdom, I'm fine playing nice a little while longer."

"Okay, sure, let's go back to the part about you NOT keeping my Arwing? There's no way I'm going to stay grounded if I can help it."

"For the love of...ugh, I have some experience with running maintenance on battleship class starships, as well as four years of experience in a military academy."

"Wha-? You can't just impound my ship like that! I'm under no obligation to serve you either!"

Fox rubs the bridge of his snout a few times. All this commotion was giving him one hell of a headache.

"Maybe next time."

One of his ears twitches.

"Foxes, huh."

"Hm...everything SEEMS alright here. Maybe it was just a false alarm."

"...Whole lotta activity going down on that primitive planet."

OKAY!

"Bill, bill, junk, bill, bill..." An audible sigh from the mercenary.

“That’s quite a few brutes on the radar…” Fox murmured, prepping his blaster just in case.

That sizable thud almost knocked Fox off of the emergency hatch’s ladder, one hand gripping tightly for dear life. While being struck by debris wasn’t too uncommon for a spacefaring battleship, it almost never happened when soaring the skies of Corneria. He had a bad feeling about this. Pushing-

ㅤㅤ// C L A I R E N // 〛. • . • . • . • . 〛》 I must find the CHAMPIONS OF AETHER. 》 〛. • . • . • . • . ㅤㅤㅤ #ROARP #MVRP

“Slippy’s been getting some strange readings hovering above the Great Fox for some time now. Something about temporal anomalies? Can’t say I know much about that sort of stuff, but I’d better check it out at any rate.”

“…Huh. Is it me, or does Corneria’s sky look bluer to anyone else?”