Glacial Differences

[Cleveyet Bar-Atoch]

"Pengauani," came the correction. "A slip of the casual on my part, and for that I apologize."

The Herglic, Gradoona, seemed quite perplexed beyond the outward appearance of their run-in, and he had a good notion as to why, but it was one that he chose not to act on. Yet.

"You are Engineer Pod-Floewander, yes?"

[Gradoona Pod-Floewander]

"Huh." She monotoned in response to the full name of a species she'd never once heard of before, honest!

She watched it - him emote and talk an tried - tried so hard - to not imagine what he'd look like on a kebab. With the crispy skin and all the schmaltz and oh dear there she went again.

At the mention of her familial, Gradoona faintly nodded her beak in the affirmative.

"Guilty as chaarged, but moost foolks just caall me Gradoona."

[Cleveyet Bar-Atoch]

"Ah."

He seemed to pause, as thinking through the notion of calling her by her first name. So new to the station and its' denizens, he opted to hold off on settling himself into such a first-name basis. As it was she had a strange, slightly worrisome look on her face. It made him take the slightest of half-steps back.

"I think that for now I'll stick with Ms. Pod-Floewander. More professional and all. Don't you agree?"

[Gradoona Pod-Floewander]

Honestly? Um...no?

Gradoona gulped, feeling completely hemmed in and with no obvious escape routes. She dipped her beaked muzzle, which pronounced her double chin a bit as she looked down at the tiny compliance officer, who definitely shouldn't be put on a grill with a can of lager in his wow hole.

"The oonly time I ever goo by the family name is when I'm in trouble oor The Numbers are aaskin'."

Her blowhole sighed mournfully and Gradoona pleaded her case.

"I'm just askin' to meet me in the middle here. Today's kiiinda started weird with the whoole youu...being...a pengu-err-pengauani...thing."

The Herglic glanced away, a fleeting look of wistful wanting in her expression.

"I think I'm haaving an existential crisis."

[Cleveyet Bar-Atoch]

"As I'm not a therapist, I'm not trained to assist you on that front."

There was a certain level of detachment in his voice, and Bar-Atoch gave a look past the Herglic to the toolbox that she'd dropped so unceremoniously. It sat there, silent and waiting. A fin was placed over the top of his pack as if to steady it, despite the strap being slung across his body and holding it fast.

Another moment, and he let out a breath, turning to continue on his way.

"I look forward to working with you, Engineer Pod-Floewander."

[Gradoona Pod-Floewander]

Bewildered, Gradoona could only nod absently to Cleveyet's parting words. Her little eyes darted left and right, and she at last haauuumed in resignation.

"Whaat just haappened?"

[Mags Sondeeta]

In Bar-Atoch's wake, the only witness to Gradoona's lamentations was a thoroughly unimpressed Twi'lek who'd witnessed everything.

"You were speaking to a fat, eerritating bird, and 'e made you look like a fool."

Without a further word, Mags walked off.

[Joey Rabeak]

Despite its size, word traveled quickly through Jovan Station about the arrival of new starfighters, and among the live wire of gossip within Titan Squadron, word was almost instantaneous. Of them, Jofar "Joey" Rabeak was closest to docking bay two, and his boots clapped along the floor as the freshly-minted Nehantite pilot dashed along, intent to be the first of his squadron to actually see the new craft.

"Excuse me, pilot coming through!" he said to those he wove through, a smile on his muzzle bearing his white teeth. While it might have only been his third day aboard the station, Joey was already feeling quite at home, and his official Alliance pilot's uniform was starting to break in, moving easily with him as he navigated the crowd coming the other way.

A quick sidestep took him around a Twi'lek pilot, still in her flightsuit, and then it was straight on past the login desk and into docking bay two. Or at least that was the plan until someone's suitcase found it's way right in front of his foot as he prepared to move around Gradoona, and the suitcase... squawked? Tumble-stepping to a halt, scarcely managing to avoid falling or connecting with a bulkhead, Joey spun around to see what it was he'd hit, only to realize in horror it was someone's pet!

"Oh, shit! I am so sorry!" he said aloud, and made his way back to help the little pet... bird-thing back onto its feet, before glancing around for its owner.

[Cleveyet Bar-Atoch]

Twice in almost as many minutes. A grim thing for anyone who'd been knocked off their feet or shoved roughly down at any point in there lives.

But, helped back to his feet, Bar-Atoch could appreciate the thought as well as the apology. Though, the expletive could've been avoided.

For the second time he gave himself a dusting over, flippers brushing down his front before a myriad of tiny, thin feathers floofed momentarily, and his entire body gave the slightest of shakes, puffing out for a fraction of a second. And just as soon as they had, they once more flattened down.

"Think nothing of it, Sir. One becomes... used to things like this happening."

[Joey Rabeak]

As words, actual words, started coming out of the avian bowling pin's beak, Joey's attention returned to it in full force, pink eyes going wide. "Oh, Garfife... I... I thought you were someone's pet," he admitted. Blinking back to reality, Joey immediately realized his poor choice of words, and he stood up, attempting to look respectable.

"I'm sorry, I mean, I'm not familiar with your race, sir," he attempted to backpedal. "I didn't realize you were sapient. Er, not saying I ran into because I thought you weren't, that is. I mean, uh, it was just an accident all around. Are you okay?"

[Cleveyet Bar-Atoch]

"Not to worry, Sir. It's the unfortunate reality of any of the shorter species."

His beak partially opened in an approximate half-smile as his throat let out a churtling sound.

"Not many beings are aware of the Pengauani race, so that you do not know of us is no slight."

A flipper came out there, extended out in an offer of a conciliatory handshake.

"Officer Bar-Atoch, at your service."

[Joey Rabeak]

"Officer?" the word came out in a higher pitch than he'd intended, and the moment that it took Joey to come back to attention was longer than he would have liked. But when he did, he leaned down to take the tip of that flipper in his fingertips and give it a light shake.

"Lieutenant Junior Grade Joey Rabeak," he introduced himself. "Pilot for Titan Squadron. Just came down to see the new ships that arrived. Are you part of their crew?"

The idea of a cute little penguin attempting to fly an A-Wing, his helmet far too large for him and bouncing all over the place gave Joey a good laugh inside, though he was careful not to let it slip out.

[Cleveyet Bar-Atoch]

Bar-Atoch shook his head, a quasi-amused expression twisting up one corner of his beak as his brow skewed.

"Heavens no, Sir. Not got the best body type to do much good in a cockpit."

He gave a pat to his shoulder bag.

"I'm with personnel and compliance. I've been assigned to this station to act as its' compliance officer."

[Joey Rabeak]

"Ah, nice to meet you," Joey replied as he stood back up from the handshake.

The friendly, calm demeanor of his exterior masked well the thoughts inside his head. Personnel and compliance? He's an HR officer! Ha! Dad's totally going to flip when he finds out we've got an HR officer!

Paws finding his pockets, the Nehanite's head cocked in mild curiosity as he ventured. "I'm a bit new here, myself. Did our old compliance officer get transferred or something? Or did we even have one?" he mused. "Not sure if we did. No real issues I've heard of that need addressing, though."

A thought came to his mind suddenly which would explain why he'd not heard anyone bellyaching about getting called into the compliance office, yet. "Oh, wait, compliance officer for whom? We've got Alliance, Cizerack, and Imperial offices here. And the Bounty Hunters Guild sub-office, but I dunno that they deal in compliance all that much."

[Cleveyet Bar-Atoch]

"For now I'm strictly Alliance. No need to dip a flipper into water that isn't mine, unless asked of course."

Lieutenant Rabeak seemed a man full of questions that he was perfectly comfortable to muse aloud the possible answers and conjectures to; it was not unwelcomed, and in fact a bit refreshing to have someone who continued along the lines of logic and conclusions. But, the name rang a bell, and without having to consult his scrawlpad, Bar-Atoch lifted a fin up to rest at the bottom of his beak while angling his body up slightly to afford Rabeak a critical eye.

"Joey Rabeak... kin to one Anauri Rabeak, Chief Engineer on the station?"

[Joey Rabeak]

A proud smile turned up Joey's muzzle, followed by a light chuckle. "Oh, yeah, he's my dad." he answered. "Funny thing, though, neither of us knew the other was here until I got assigned to Titan Squadron. Total coincidence."

His tail swayed behind him, mildly nervous. There was still the matter of Nehantite law stating that Anauri could not have any contact with Joey, but thanks to the rules and regulations of working for the Alliance, there was precisely fuck-all that Nehantish could do about it. "He's not military, though," Joey elaborated. "He's a civilian Alliance employee."

[Cleveyet Bar-Atoch]

"Ah, I see."

Drawing out the last word, the Pengauani afforded a strange look then to Lt. Rabeak. He did not doubt the young man's words, and deep down there was a sort of amazement at such good fortune, not to mention a small bit of romanticizing of the notion of kismet in the galaxy at large. But that part he kept tightly lidded, letting it appear however that his thoughts dwelled on the explanation given as to each role father and son played.

It was a moment that lasted for a fraction of a second however, and Bar-Atoch finally took a step back, blinking and casting eyes past the Nehantite.

"Best go see to that ship, Lt. Rabeak," an encouraging flipper waved at the air in a tight circle. "I am sure that it is... " What was the best way to describe fighters? "... impressive."

[Joey Rabeak]

"Sure hope so," Joey nodded. "Anyhoo, catch you later, dude. Sorry about running into you, and all that."

That had to suffice as a goodbye, as the fresh pilot dashed off into the docking bay to see the new arrivals, knowing it would bean a bit of bragging rights to be first.

[Cleveyet Bar-Atoch]

Turning back around, Bar-Atoch once more trundled on his way, passing through milling bodies and intent on making sure that he would not be mistaken for a snack or bowled over any more today. Tomorrow was another story, and something to dwell on for the future, but today was today. It was fresh and mostly-early. He was just arrived to his new home for however long the higher-ups chose. And from the reports that he'd been provided - both personnel and general updates - Jovan Station had become something rather intrinsically valuable. On the sheer scale of beings going about their daily lives on a space station, the Pengauani had to marvel. There were a surprising amount of bodies coming and going at all times.

It was going to be a new experience, he knew that much.