Story Mode!

Eri was startled to suddenly have the attention of the other Ixi focused on him. He paused for a moment to think about which question to answer. Only one was truly relevant to why he was here. But, introductions first. Looking around, Eri found an unoccupied seat, and began.

"Hi, my name is Erûm, but my friends call me Eri or Eroo. I want to be a scientist, I don't quite know what kind yet, but the sciences have always drawn me in since I was a child. I can just as easily see myself doing conservation work in the rain forest, or participating and setting up studies to make space travel easier. That's part of why I came here today in the first place, to learn," Eri said, a fine tremor going through his body.

"Oh, so ya don't know if you wanna join the Canopy or Galaxy?" Kashe boomed, leaning forward with a grin.

Eri, rubbed his neck, "No, not really. Ya see I find both interesting, but I want to learn more about them before deciding either way."

The group chuckled knowingly. Zhaya turns to him with a gleam in her eye.

"Well, if you do decide to join the Canopy, we'll be lucky to have you," Zhaya said, offering a paw to him.

He shook it firmly, but was still unsure, being around the ringleaders. He'd heard stories about them, but actually meeting them and talking to them in person was a different matter entirely. Kashe shook him out of his thoughts.

"Go on, what you said earlier can't possibly be all that you have to say. Surely you've dreamt about what you'd do in the future?" they prodded.

Eri fought to keep his paws still, and words poured out like sand, "Well, I've always been interested in the chasm. Something that is nigh unknowable with radiation levels that high? Absolutely amazing, and terrifying. Something worthy of both learning and respect. It's like wandering where the Sky touches the Ground, but magnified in both beauty, horror, and danger. I find it captivating. So, you could say one thing I can see myself doing is studying the chasm and those who live within. I've heard stories and tales from those who go chasmjumping. Beauty and horror in equal measure, with a heaping dose of confusion for good measure. What's not to be interested by?"

The others were leaning towards him, focusing on his words. 

Zhaya whistled and grinned, "Well, when you put it like that, I can see how it fascinates you. You also mentioned the forests?"

He was really getting into it now, "The whole idea of having a rain forest underground, something that's usually wild on other planets, being carefully maintained from seed and very much not naturally made here. I've heard of the rain forests on Earth, and how they can be. The history of those places and their people. The way they interact with their rain forest. I also understand the Canopy handles resources and such. To be honest I've never paid much attention to the rangers' duties and all that. I've seen a few, passing through here. But the pull to the Ranger lifestyle some of my peers had, I never felt that. What got my attention was the reports published about the rain forest. Things like growth rates, what effected the plants, how the plants affected each other. Unexpected symbiosis and mutualism. Every pre-print felt like a prologue to something new and exciting! And they still do. Just this morning I was reading a report about a vining plant that for years was thought to be a very complex system for a plant with an unusual genome, but still one species. Turned out it was eight to twelve species depending on conditions. And that's all that's known so far! Even on our own planet there's so much wonder and beautifully strange and unexpected things to learn."

Zhaya nodded her head and chuckled, "I remember that report. There's several teams right now working on studying how that kind of mutualism could've arisen, and what the functions of the different species within are. Huh, you really do stay on top of the reports released, don't you Eri?"

Kashe leaned over and patted his back, but even sitting down he felt half bowled over by Kashe's voice, "you've got some hard things to think about for your future there Eri. Your choices seem especially tough. But don't feel limited by them, either, you hear? You've got a long life ahead of you. So don't go rushing feeling like you have to make any decisions now, and that you need to stick to them for the rest of your life."

Eri nodded his head. "Yeah, today was just the first step in a long decision process. I don't want to jump into something and flounder because I didn't check something that I shoulda."

The other Ixi all nodded their heads and murmured agreements and approvals. Then another turned to him and asked him another question.