Space Bunnies!

Chapter 19: Today

One month into their journey, Kai was in a state of solid rest on their daybed in the cockpit, Bodi was on active watch, he was hunched over in his chair, boots off for comfort and legs crisscrossed, he was writing something. He's always been a scribbler. He sometimes wrote his feelings, but other times he wrote fictional stories most of the time he wrote what it would be like to be an exobiologist on one of those fancy new Dynamic Patrol Starships. The amber glow of his PDA lighting up his face as the ship traveled on autopilot in darkness. He typed on the display, his fingertips racing to keep up with his mind, the two were running with fury, to avoid losing the train of thought and entering writer's block. He got two pages of his short story done. Before going back to reread and correct what mistakes he could see.

For now, it was about an explorer captain and his crew, who get eaten by a massive space monster... it was a work in progress, and the theme of the story would probably change again shortly. His emotions no longer existed for writing sadly, so he put the device down and went over to his fully unconscious brother, it was so weird... he was used to resting in a liquid state, and his brother was the same. "What? What's going on..?" Kai started groggily, he groaned and slowly opened his eyes. "Is there a problem with the rigging?" Kai continued as he sat up and stretched out. "No, there isn't. I was just watching you." Bodi watched Kai slump slightly, the bags under his eyes appearing again.

"So you seriously just woke me up for nothing?" Kai said growling lowly in annoyance, his facial features adjusted accordingly. "You shouldn't even be sleeping like that anyway. You should be in your bucket. Regenerating like a normal Omeocoon." Bodi said settling into the seat next to his brother. "I can. I just... I like to dream. Sometimes. Normally dreams are weird and unpredictable. But sometimes... they can be really nice. You know?" Kai informed, and Bodi looked at him as if he were insane. "No... I don't... that's very strange." Bodi added with a look of concern next. "Uh, excuse me? You're one to talk." Kai chortled, it was clear between Bodi and him. Bodi was the 'strange' one. "What's it like? Do you feel pain? Can you like... control it?" Logical questions, because Bodi had never had a dream before like most of his people. He didn't know what it was like. As far as he knew it was a land that did not exist. An untouchable realm.

"Yeah, actually. Since we don't rest like this often, most Omeocoon who do tend to be aware of the fiction of a dream. And therefore we can control it. And I do have some limited feelings. Like... if I kissed someone for example. I might be able to 'feel' the kiss. More or less." Kai informed, Bodi leaned to rest on his brother's shoulder. And Kai put his arm over Bodi's resting frame. Bodi looked up at Kai confused with raised eyebrows, disrupting the comfort setting in. "Why would you be dreaming about kissing?" Bodi asked with those same arched eyebrows. "The contents of my dream don't matter. Do you wanna try it?" Kai asked... Surprisingly Bodi shook his head in denial. "I have my own way of dreaming."

"You mean your writing? I read it. It's terrific. That's a productive way to bring out your emotion." Kai started changing the subject rapidly.

"Wait? Did you read my story? Did you go into my bag?!" Bodi stared.

Kai's eyebrows shot up toward the ceiling, the same with his eyes as he avoided eye contact, a light blush developing on his cheeks as he realized he probably shouldn't have mentioned reading the story. "Well... yeah. I was cleaning up... and it was open. I just took a peek." He chuckled sheepishly.

Bodi hit his brother's arm quite harshly, which prompted Kai to rub his arm and Bodi sat up scooching away from his brother like he had some kind of disease or something. "I don't want you messing around with my stuff!"

Kai laughed softly. "Fair enough. But seriously, your writing is impressive. I like how you channel your emotions and creativity into those stories."

"That doesn't excuse you from invading my privacy. And you call me the idiot?!" Bodi crossed his arms and turned away. Offended.

"Look, I loved the way you wrote the Captain! He's great. And the fact that he's an Omeocoon. Shows that you're just using what you know." Kai swiftly scrambled, placing a hand on his brother's shoulder.

Bodi surprisingly turned back toward his brother. "Don't go through my stuff again... but you like it..?" Bodi said diplomatically.

"Yes, I like it! But giving the Captain a crazy brother who's evil and is the main villain... a bit cliché don't you think..?" Kai scratched be back of his head, not because of an itch, but because he was treading on thin ice.

Bodi crossed his arms and turned away again, inclining his head toward the ceiling a little. "I'm mad at you again."

"Well don't leave your dirty socks on the floor and I won't read your story— I mean seriously? You're almost 15! You don't even need socks! You know like 90% of our people walk around without shoes right?" Kai retracted his hand.

"I don't have to age if I don't want to maybe I don't wanna be 15, you know how Omeocoon biology works. And also, we wear boots! " Bodi said lifting one of Kai's feet to demonstrate his point since he was not wearing his at the moment.

"Yeah... that's why I said 90% duh. I hate those tube socks. Where'd you even get those?"

"From a thrift store on Thion Five. They were comfortable walking around the ship... the floor gets cold sometimes. You know we don't care for the cold. And I'll start using the wash more... but it's kind of hard when there's no garment repossessor on board, so I use the water from the planets we land on." Bodi defended himself, and Kai just scoffed, even now Bodi was constantly trying to convince Kai to land on a planet and take a peek. "Look, we won't be stopping for a while, so just do the best you can to clean up after yourself, and you can keep your weird habits." Bodi nodded eagerly, it was a deal, but Kai knew that it was just going into one ear and out the other. For someone so ambitious, his brother was quite lazy. The banter continued as the ship continued through space laughter filling the cockpit as they peacefully watched. The time was just about 0345 hours.