Roshaun had most certainly not, as Dairine called it, 'ditched' a meeting to spend the afternoon with his partner at the Crossings.

It was partner bonding, was all.

That was his story and he was sticking to it.

Besides, watching Dairine gush over the new technology coming out was far more entertaining than listening to his financial advisers drone on for several hours.

It wasn't the assassinations that his father had wanted to avoid when he passed on the title, Roshaun knew now. It was the ever-present paperwork and meetings.

Roshaun lightly bit the inside of his cheek and carefully muted his thoughts as Dairine made a soft squeak in the back of her throat before darting towards a stand of the new light-swords coming out. They hadn't been partners for all that long, but he knew well enough to not comment on the fact that she was adorable when she did that unless he wanted an argument on his hands.

… Granted, that didn't stop him from doing it when he felt like needling her.

Look, it wasn't his fault that he enjoyed bickering with her so much. It was refreshing to have someone to do that with.

Spot gave a small mechanical sound from where he was resting in Roshaun's arms, nominally to avoid being stepped on by any of the other Crossings patrons, but privately he suspected that the computer-Manual hybrid was just being lazy. Roshaun looked down just as Spot extended a stalked eye to regard Dairine, speaking aloud for both of their benefits.

"Nita says that she and Kit are here, and will meet you by the food court closest to the Stationmaster's kiosk. She adds that she will do her best to prevent Kit from eating all of the blue food while they wait."

Roshaun frowned, doing a rough mental calculation in his head. "That is several kilometers away."

Dairine shrugged. "Yeah. Better get going then. Spot, let Nita know we're on our way, but we'll be a little bit."

Roshaun shot Dairine a concerned look as she broke into a trot, then reconsidered. Better to get started now, besides, Dairine had been the one doing most of the running around up until now. Hopefully she wasn't too tired already.

Ten minutes later, Roshaun was regretting this. He was having to jog along to keep up with his smaller partner, which wasn't fair considering that her legs were so much shorter than his. He was already starting to tire and slow, despite outpacing her in the beginning, while Dairine still looked entirely comfortable.

Another five minutes, and Roshaun groaned as he stopped and stumbled over to plop onto a bench in a rest area, gasping for breath. He ignored the flash of worry across their partner bond, and felt more than saw Dairine sit down beside him.

"Are you okay?"

Roshaun was too busy sucking air into his lungs, so he resorted to speaking over their bond. 'I don't understand how you are! Your legs are shorter than mine, how did I get tired before you did?'

Dairine paused, biting her lower lip like she did sometimes when deep in thought, then brightened. 'Quick question. How did ancient Wellakhit hunt prey?'

Roshaun blinked, turning to regard her warily. 'What?'

'Trust me, I'm going somewhere with this.'

He hesitated, then mentally shrugged. 'Ancient Wellakhit would wait in trees for prey to pass underneath, then drop down and attack with teeth and rudimentary tools. Why?'

Dairine nodded in satisfaction. 'That explains it. Terrans evolved to be persistence hunters. We're not that fast, but we just kept going after prey at a steady pace until they basically dropped from exhaustion.'

Roshaun had caught his breath enough to talk, although his legs were still hating him. "Seriously?"

"Seriously. Some tribes still do it. A Terran in decent shape can run for hours without stopping."

"Hours?!"

Dairine nodded. "It makes sense that you can't keep up, Wellakhit evolved from ambush predators." She paused, then blinked. "Wait, teeth?"

"Yes?" Shrugging, Roshaun opened his mouth wide, and a few seconds later felt a curious finger prod at one of his fangs. Roshaun knew personally that they were impressive, a full three centimeters in length.

"Oh my gosh you guys actually have fangs. That is awesome."

"You mean you don't?" He closed his mouth to regard his partner curiously.

"Nothing like yours. See?" It was Roshaun's turn to study Dairine's teeth, and yes, her eyeteeth could barely pass for fangs at all, like a child who still had their milk teeth.

"Those are adorable."

"They are not." Dairine snorted and crossed her arms. She paused, and Roshaun's only warning was a sudden wave of mirth across their bond before she burst out laughing.

"What now?"

"Oh my gosh, Wellakhit are what happen when humanoids try to cat."

"… What," Roshaun said flatly.

"There's an animal, on earth." A sudden image of a spotted quadrupedal creature that looked like a larger, bulkier version of the earth Worldgating team members popped up in his head. "It's called a leopard. They hunt exactly like how Wellakhit would, ambushing prey from trees. They're big cats, so therefore, Wellakhit are what happens when humanoids try to cat."

Roshaun gave her a dry look. "And yet we're not the crazy ones who will chase prey for literal hours."

"Hey, I'm not the one who had to stop for a break after fifteen minutes."

The argument took them a full half an hour, but by then Roshaun was ready to get walking again.

Provided Dairine didn't start jogging again, anyways.