Emerald is watching the news in her ship. She had picked up some people for a job. She was going to ferry them to the nearby asteroid belt because for whatever reason, they each either had a ship in the shop or didn't have a ship. When she sees the news, her eyes go wide and she sits up. "Oh no..."

If anyone happened to be watching the news at the time, it reported another super nova. Not just any star, though. Most novas happen near lifeless planets... but this one wiped out Planet Hullajin, home world of the Hullajins. "Thankfully, the nova had been predicted 100 years ago with relative accuracy, so the inhabitants picked up and left with time to spare last year. Unfortunately, there had been some inhabitants who stayed behind, unwilling to leave their planet behind. JJX News sends its sympathies to those who had friends or family on Planet Hullajin."

Emerald fidgets with her tail, an almost inaudible dog-whimper escaping her.

  There's that terrible feeling like you just kicked a puppy... Oh wait, no, Emerald is just sounding like that happened.  The partial Cyborg edition Darkthorne looks to his pilot/host and asks softly, "Were there a lot of people you knew there?"

  Technically, Joe also had a relative on Hullajin... But it was hard to feel as sad about that when Great Grandpa Billy wanted to go out from "An exploding planet like a badass" instead of a hospital bed.

Emerald takes in a deep breath... then headshakes. "No... I just... it's tragic is all. Nothing close to home for me." She looks up and over at Joe. "Thanks, though... got bored? We should be arriving in an hour."

Yeah... it's the kind of job you stay on site for several days then go wherever for your days off.

  Joe nods, "Losing out on a whole world is kind of a big deal, yeah.  No matter what the philosophical stances are in our scale compared to the whole universe."

  He shrugs in regards to the boredom question.  "You can only play solitaire inside your head so many time before looking for something more grounded in reality.  Though admittedly, this sort of subject and situation wouldn't be my first choice."

Emerald nods and turns off the TV as she stands up. "Then let's play a game. I've got a holotable we could play Hell Gate or something if you like."

  Joe says "Since it's your ship and entertainment, might as well play what you like best."  Also that way, if he was a sore loser (which is isn't, he hopes) he can always blame it on her having more practice.

  "I promise not to direct interface unless we end up with a Co-Op game." Of course, such things are a double edges sword.  You can't blame your controller when you do that sort of thing anymore.

Emerald giggles. "It's alright... I'm pretty good at this game. You can interface if you like. Or not. Whatever suits you."

She walks to the table and gets the game started. It's a nice game. Full of explosions, ship battles, and like Chrono Trigger, it has your choice of timeline to go to. Emerald is a really good sport, regardless of when she wins or loses. And she loves teaming up with Joe against the computer.

Professional Wrestler Dinosaur is going to PILEDRIVER YOU SO HARD!

  Joe might have even won at least half the time if he didn't try to finish things off with the "Extinction Event Suplex".. or start things off with it... Basically using it every chance possible.  "Double 360 controller motions just don't have the same feel to them without having to wrestle with the controls. It's cool"

Emerald gives Joe a knowing smile and nods. "I've heard that from other cyborgs... by the way, if I may ask... were your cybernetics your choice or chosen for you?"

  "A bit of both.  Lost some of myself while working under contract, big enough establishment and I had a good enough track record they offered to cover equivalent replacements.  I sprung for some extras because I figured if I was getting bits of me replaced anyways, may as well make those bits better.  Not like I'm gonna take out my other eye and replace that just to have a matching set and stuff like that, even though plenty of people go for that."

  Joe shrugged, "So I didn't ask for it in the first place, but I embraced it only so far as what I had to take."

Emerald nods. "How's it been? You ever miss being fully organic? Or do you like the change? Or both?"

  "Hard to say.  There isn't enough of me missing to really feel the impact.  An arm, eye, bit of skull.  Some people have auxiliary limbs installed, or even end up half a brain in a mechanical shell.  I'm still close enough to normal as to almost not matter compared to people with high grade omnitools."

Emerald nods. "And people don't tease ya? You don't get phantom limb? Sorry if I'm being invasive I just... sometimes wonder what it's like."

  Joe says "Well, less developed worlds I can get some looks, but considering I tend to wear a jacket usually only the one eye is noticeable.  As for phantom limb, I've heard some of the cheaper 'You are lucky to have anything at all' models that can still be a problem.  But the higher quality civilian stuff and all the military grade parts that's worked out."

  He shrugs,  "Even though 'lowest bidder' is still a true cliche for a lot of military and mercenary projects, not having your soldiers being distracted by their own bodies in the middle of combat is considered worth the investment."