1. Owen Phoenix stared out over his estate front lawn, eying the approaching sky car as he did so. Today
was a special day. Not far down the road, one of his closest friends and business partners was building
his own home and today he had come to visit. Well, “business partner” was a loose term for his
association with him. In reality, his friend Kell knew next to nothing about business and how to make a
credit. But he was an able pilot and soldier and his input meant a lot in convincing the CDF to accept
contracts from his young company. Kell had earned quite a bit of respect from the higher ups for
quelling rebellions on Zoness, and if he says to trust a virtual unknown in the weapons industry, then
maybe there was something to him.
Owen pulled himself out of his reprieve and smiled as the approaching skycar landed on the path inside
his gated estate outside Corneria City. After a moments wait, the door swung open to reveal a middle
aged husky wearing a casual suit. The husky's short black hair waved in the cool breeze as he offered
his paw to his companion. His daughter, Sasha. The young, bleach blonde girl took her father's paw
timidly and stepped onto the gravel path with a feeling of both curiosity and trepidation. She was about
13 and was growing fast, too fast for her father's tastes.
“She seems a little shy. Just like you fan-fara.” Owen looked back towards the front door of his home
with a smile.
With a sigh his young 12 year old daughter stepped onto the front porch with him, her own brown hair
waving in the wind. “Please dont call me that in front of them dad.”
“I won’t. I promise.”
With that Owen descended down the steps from the granite porch and offered his paw to his
approaching friend. “Good to see you arent gaining too much weight.”
“Ha. It’s a wonder too. I never realized how easy you folks have it out here.”
Owen simply widened his smile as he shook the larger husky's paw, turning his head to look over his
shoulder as he did so. “And who might you be?”
Sasha smiled as best she could and offered her paw to the older fennec. “Im Sasha. Nice to meet you
Mr Phoenix.”
“You can just call me Owen. And its nice to meet you too.” Owen took her paw as well and shook it
lightly. He then turned back towards the porch.
“Fara, come down and meet our neighbors!”
Fara sighed and did as she was told, after a quick adjustment of her teal dress. She slowly stepped
down and approached the smiling older husky. Kell patted the younger fennec on the shoulder when
she arrived and pointed her to his daughter. “Its good to see you again Fara. This is my daughter ive
told you so much about, Sasha.”
The two girls simply stared at each other for a moment and not a soul moved. Sasha decided to put her
best foot forward so she smiled and did a little curtsy with her red dress. “Hi! You're very pretty. Im
Sasha!”

2. Fara was a bit taken aback by the girl's eagerness but managed to smile back and return the curtsy. “Hi!
Um, yeah, im Fara.”
Owen stifled a chuckle at his daughter's tameness and motioned towards his home. “Well, there's not
much point standing around out here. Come on, lets go inside and we can talk.”
As the group ascended back up the stairs into the lofty, multi-story home that the phoenix family
occupied Sasha could only marvel at the flawless, shining wooden floors and granite corners and walls.
Her own new home has caused her jaw to drop but this was another level. She had grown up in a
middle class home but with her father becoming a partner of Owen Phoenix, her own standard living
had gone up. But nothing like this. The ceiling was a white pearl accented with shining white lights that
brought a feeling of flight that many people had commented suited Owen well. The fennec had
dedicated his life to space flight and the results were shown in the extravagance of his home.
Owen led them into one of the living areas where a large, spacious room was occupied with a couch
and felt chairs along with a fireplace. Owen nodded to Kell and spoke to the two girls. “Why dont you
girls stay and get to know each other better? Me and Kell need to discuss some things alone. Is that
okay honey?”
Fara's ears flashed red in embarrassment and she gritted her teeth with her response. “Yes dad, thanks
for embarrassing me.”
Owen and Kell laughed and left the pair alone together. Sasha sat down on the couch while Fara sat on
one of the chairs. There was another moment of awkward silence as the pair thought of something to
say, and again it was Sasha that spoke first. “So...your dad seems nice.”
Fara sighed and rolled her eyes. “Yeah, though sometimes he gets on my nerves. Though I got a feeling
all dads are like that.”
Sasha grinned. “You got that right. Im just glad he's not saying some of the things he calls me
sometimes. Talk about being a dork.”
This brought a smile out of Fara. Maybe this girl wasnt so bad. Sasha spoke again, eager to learn more.
“Where is your mom? I havent seen her yet.”
Fara's smile faded. “Um, I dont have one? Ive...never met her. My dad says she left when I was just a
little kit.”
“Oh”
Another moment of silence.
“Im sorry, I didnt know.”
“Its ok. Like I said, I really didn’t know her. But...” This time it was Fara's turn to be bold. “How about
your mother? Is she nice?”
“Ha, she’s as much a dork as he is! You know, sometimes she just sits in their room playing video
games all day. What a nerd!”

3. The pair laughed at the absurdity of it all and spent the next few minutes speaking in hushed tones,
getting to know each other and slowly but surely a friendship was forming.
xxxxxxx