Upon Vestia: Chapter Twelve

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"Yep, all alone on a desert planet with a weird bird." Ellie scowled, "False gods. So gross. I hope all immortals die soon." She paused, "Umm, well, I hope the immortals I like stick around for a while longer though."

Third followed him casually, the fox paw plodding along the floor as he looked up at Matt in thought.

Matt glanced back at the fox. "What? You wondering how I manage to keep my job when I slack off so much or something else?" He grinned. "Really, I just hate penal servitude and community service. I'm the worst probation officer ever." He snickered. "but shhh, make sure you look good and miserable when you see Vanessa so she thinks i'm super mean."

"Vanessa isn't unintelligent. She would know you are lenient. There is no point in hiding it." He suddenly smiled, "I think she knows that we will slack off, but seems to be giving me a free pass."

"Doesn't that like.. freak you out a bit? " Matt frowned. "It'd freak me out. You don't think she's planning something horrible do you?"

The fox tilted his head, "No, no it does not, 'freak me out.' Vanessa is a character that I trust, albeit she seems to have a lot of weight on her shoulders. There are times where she will pause in her lessons and become silent and glassy eyed, as if she was trying not to cry. And then she takes a deep breath and continues as if nothing has happened. She is an enigma. I do not know what to think of her, but I do trust her."

Matt paused, nodding slowly. "Immortals man, the amount of awful shit you must all see and endure. It's a wonder you don't all go totally mental. One lifetime's hard enough."

---SILVER DEVIL CREW ARRIVES---

James peered out of the Silver Devil and shuddered. Oh man, it was the sort of place where he had been flattened by a support beam!
He had expected that of course, but it still brought back memories.

Tala wandered down to the airlock as well. She'd seen parts of Vestia yesterday of course, but she was mildly curious to see more.

Rigel and Dawn came out with the others to see Vestia more than either had before. It would be Dawn's first time on the ship and she was curious

Rey skipped down the hall with a shifted Cassi in tow. Cassi's human form had fair skin with dark brown hair and caramel amber eyes. The girls both stopped when they saw the strangers step out of the airlock, staring with wide curious eyes.

Tala sniffed the air disapprovingly. "Children."

"Oh hush," James told Tala, rolling his eyes. He smiled at Cassi and Rey, and waved at them. "Hello, I'm James. Are you guys the ones who make sure visitors park their ships correctly? Because our pilot is notoriously bad at parking."

Rey stared up at Tala with wide eyes as Cassi giggled, "Aw, it can't be that bad. Miss Vestia has new passengers?"

Tala looked at the girl with mild distaste.

"Be nice to them, Tala," James told her. To the girls he said cheerfully, "She's not as mean as she looks, don't worry. And yeah, we'll be staying here for a few weeks. Hopefully you guys don't mind."

"Hehe, we shouldn't mind." Cassiopeia shook her head. "Vestia has lots and lots of room. It's fun to play hide and seek with Rey, Jay and Kaleb. It takes forever to find everyone!"

"That's good," James said. "She has a hundred floors, right?" He shook his head, looking up at the incredibly high ceiling of the shuttle bay. "Man, it's almost like being outdoors in here." Which was actually a bit unnerving to him, but he didn't mention that.

"I think it's cool." Cassi admired Vestia's size. "It's so OPEN!" Her voice echoed across the area, and she laughed. Rey grinned as well and let out a warbled, "Whoooo!" Which would reveal her lack of a tongue and the reason why she had not spoken and why her voice wavered.

James noted Rey's lack of a tongue with some concern, but decided it was probably none of his business. He laughed happily at their excitement.

"Anyway, welcome to Miss Vestia!" Cassi said cheerily. "What are you gonna do first?"

"Thank you!" James replied. He thought the question over, "Hmm, well since there are a lot of people here, I guess I'm planning to meet a lot of people. I also want to explore a lot though. What do you recommend doing?"

Cassi nodded eagerly. "Making friends is good. Sonata says lots of friends means lots of people to help you and make you happy. So, I think you should do what you say you're gonna do." Rey nodded in agreement eagerly.

James nodded in agreement. "Everything is better when you have friends. Being alone is no fun."

Cassi and Rey both nodded. "Hey! I know who you could meet first!"

"Ooh, who would that be?" James asked curiously.

"Sonata!" Cassi said excitedly. Rey seemed to like that idea, and also nodded quickly.

"Who's Sonata?" James said, interested. Asher should have told him all these peoples' names and life stories months ago. It would make things to much simpler.

"Come see!" Cassi began skipping away happily, Rey nodding and motioning them to follow.

James smiled and followed the girls, looking around at the sights as they passed. "Sonata isn't scary, is she?" he asked, pretending to be nervous.

"Only if she's angry. But she hardly ever does. She almost beat an entropium once, using her bare hands!" Cassi puffed out her chest proudly. "I bet if she hadn't been poisoned, she would have beaten them good!"

Rey seemed to be scared of that memory, shaking her head at the displeasure. Cassi returned to the present. "But no, she's not scary otherwise."