Garridan chuckled at Lya's responses. Seeing the girl get so animated was amusing. First she pointed at the ship, then the sky; it would be hard to misinterpret the actions as something different, so he just went with what he assumed her question was.<br/><br/>"You're asking if we'll really be able to leave, right? I'll need to take a look inside the ship before I can say for sure, but the hull seems to be perfectly fine, and if the outside didn't take any damage I can't see why the inside would be any different. The STC-12 is a sturdy little ship. I wouldn't still be here if I assumed it wasn't going to work," he told her, smiling widely.<br/><br/>He stopped talking for a moment to look back at the ship, suddenly realizing something. "..Besides. If the ship doesn't fly, and we can't get out of here, how do you think the UG is going to feel during the next supply drop? I don't think they'd be too happy to lose contact with their ship, only to find it crash landed here. If we can't get off of this planet now, we're more or less screwed. Even before this even, there was already more than enough fuel for the metaphorical crossbreed fire; what do you think is going to happen after? We either escape now, or we're all probably going to end up dead." His words were perhaps a bit blunt, considering the relative youth and nervousness of some of those gathered, but those were the facts of their situation. Sugar-coating it wouldn't help anyone.<br/><br/>------------------------------------<br/><br/><span style="font-weight: bold">A sort of frightened silence fell over the group after that comment. Gwendel let his eyes wander for a moment before they settled on the sun that was beginning to sink below the horizon. "I suppose it's best not to worry about that too much until we get inside that thing," the Graecian Neko said, a soft smile on his face. "So then, time for some shut-eye?"</span><br/><br/>------------------------------------<br/><br/>As the group fell quiet, Garridan couldn't help feeling bad. Maybe it could have used a<span style="font-style: italic">little</span>bit of sugarcoating.. Before long, though, the deafening nothingness was replaced by Gwendel speaking, suggesting they each head to sleep.<br/><br/>"Yes, that might be a good idea," he began with a nod. "I'll stay here overnight to make sure nobody messes with the ship. It would be best if the rest of you gathered up whatever belongings you might want to keep; doing a basic systems check shouldn't take long, and there's not a whole lot stopping us from leaving immediately after that."<br/><br/>------------------------------------<br/><br/><span style="font-weight: bold">Gwendel nodded in agreement and stood, giving a wave and smile and heading off to gather whatever he might want to take with him. Others followed suit until there was little to keep Garridan company beyond the fireplace and Nakutaro, who'd decided there was nothing he needed and that he'd rather sleep by the warmth of the fire.<br/><br/>After a moment the Seharian boy lifted his eyes from the glowing embers and set them on Garridan, asking the question that had been on his mind for a little while now. â€œDo you really think it will work?â€ he asked. â€œGetting off this planetâ€¦ and not just getting brought back?â€ Something told him the UG wouldnâ€™t just sit back and let them escape in their own cargo ship.</span><br/><br/>------------------------------------<br/><br/>After the majority of them had left to their own 'homes,' there was a brief period of silence, during which the remaining parties simply sat there and stared at the fire. Garridan ended up leaning forward, his elbows resting on his knees and his chin in his palm. The noiselessness did not last long again, however, as Nakutaro spoke up. He raised an eyebrow at the boy's words, and gave a light chuckle, though not in merriment.<br/><br/>"Kid, we'd be<span style="font-style: italic">beyond</span>lucky to just be 'brought back' if they caught us. They already think crossbreeds are a threat; they set aside an entire planet just for us, with no feasible way out. And now, on that very same planet, a ship of theirs crash lands and the crew are nowhere to be seen. What would your first assumption be, if you were one of them?" He paused for a moment here, letting out a long sigh. "..This ship affords us an opportunity to leave the planet, yeah, but it also puts us in a position of do-or-die. Either we<span style="font-style: italic">do</span>get off this planet and get far out of their clutches, or we die trying. It's as simple as that."<br/><br/>------------------------------------<br/><br/><span style="font-weight: bold">Nakutaro listened with a child-like interest to Garridan's lecture, his mouth held just slightly open. "Oh," he simply said, turning back to look at the fire. <span style="font-style: italic">It sounds like... if we stay here we're dead for sure.</span> The sandy eyes that, under normal circumstances, would be sightless stared into the white heart of the fire. <span style="font-style: italic">I really don't think I want to die..</span><br/><br/>Seharians usually didn't sleep. If, for some reason, it was very cold, like below freezing, they could fall into a state like hibernation, but that didn't happen on Seharia, it was hot even at night. Beyond that, it would need to warm up before they could wake again. So even being half-human, Nakutaro's Seharian genes still took dominance. He'd stay awake by the pleasant warmth of this fire all night long.</span>