Upon Vestia: Chapter Thirteen

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"Probably," Asher said. "That's the consolation prize."

Tala had returned to Vestia after the painting was finished. She had eaten something, washed paint out of her fur, and was heading for the gym to exercise a bit. She heard the growl, and went to investigate, sniffing the air at the unfamiliar odor of whoever it was. She had smelled traces of this creature before, but never so strongly.

The reptile was sniffing at Vestia's walls, slowly traveling towards the cafeteria when he scented Tala nearby. There was a small hiss as he was caught by surprise of the unfamiliar scent, and it turned its eyeless face to stare at the woman, the large creature growling softly, but otherwise didn't seem to be acting any more aggressive than that.

Tala caught sight of the creature, and snorted in surprise, pawing the ground with one hoof. This creature was strange. "Are you sapient, creature?" she asked it. It didn't look sapient, but then again, neither did humans most of the time, so who could tell?

It tilted its head lightly, still wary of the stranger but tamed enough to not brutally maul anything. Its claws nervously tapped against the floor, the sharp protrusions clicking on the tile.

Very peculiar. "Where did it come from?" Tala asked Vestia.

"Merith's room. It's his pet," Vestia said blandly.

"Perhaps Merith should consider investing in a leash," Tala said with a snort.

The word "leash," caused the creature to snarl a bit, quickly sidestepping Tala and beginning to circle, its growls nervously rising as the claws tapped against the floor...

"It knows more words than it lets on," Tala said grumpily. "Is this Merith here, Vestia?"

Vestia would contact Merith, if he was on the ship.

Merith was actually napping in a rec room when he was summoned. When the situation was explained, there'd be a crackling sound as he winked out of existence and into the kitchen, searching in the freezer for raw bits of meat. Meanwhile the creature was still incredibly wary of Tala, but had enough curiosity to start taking slow, careful steps forward.

Tala watched the creature suspiciously. She wasn't scared of it--she had fought plenty of bizarre animals over the years--but she knew better than to turn her back on something that big and toothy.

The creature came right up to Tala's face, and began to sniff at her out of discovery.

Tala was confused for a moment, but then she shrugged and sniffed it back, as if it were a minotaur of her own tribe. It was only the polite thing to do.

The creature snorted in surprise, quickly stepping back and shaking its head before staring at Tala in silent confusion. Apparently, though, Tala had done something right, as suddenly there was a purring sound, like a large cat, and it began to slowly rub its spiny flank along her side. It stop and jerked its head up excitedly when Merith called out, holding up a decent sized tenderloin and wiggling it around in the air, and the creature made a squeaky noise of glee and quite literally pounced on Merith, who busted out laughing at its antics.

"Your creature is very interesting," Tala said to Merith, watching it with interest.

"Hah. You'd think he would be aware he's a lot bigger than a lapdog." Merith chuckled underneath the almost crushing weight of the creature, who absentmindedly sat on him as it tore away at the meat vigorously. "One of the last of its kind, but probably a big softie compared to its brethren."

"It is a creature of smelling. That is charming," Tala said. She approved of creatures that used their noses a lot.

"Yeah, it relies on smell. Its eyesight is terrible." Merith explained, pushing the big animal off with a grunt.

Tala nodded. She approved. "You are not out in the city," she commented, "You are not a tourist?"

"I flew around for a bit, but I've mostly been napping once the painting was done... Though... I should be touring a bit more, shouldn't I?..." He sat up, beginning to stand.

"Perhaps," Tala said. "I am not overly fond of the tourist lifestyle myself, but some people are. Such as you?"

"Actually, before Vestia picked me up for... reasons... I was a bit of a hermit." Merith chuckled.

Tala swished her tail happily. "The life of the hermit does appeal at times. If I were not so fond of companionship, I too would consider that option."
She flicked her ears. "You smell like that insect who assisted with the painting. You are a shifter?"

[Excellent idea, i'm sure they're more than capable of dispensing painkillers and bandaging minor wounds.]
He started putting the board and pieces away.
[Which gives us an hour or so to do whatever we want. ] Odd, he really was rather enjoying just spending time with Asher and not working. It was nice. Maybe he really was a bad influence. encouraging Kay to goof off and all that, but there wasn't any work to be done! not that such facts usually stopped him from finding work to do. Mmm.

---

--his-- --true-- --form-- --is-- --strange--. --He-- --is-- --a-- --half-- --breed-- --yes?-- Swarm asked vestia. They were everywhere most of the time, which meant nobody really had any secrets. So yes, they had witnessed his conversation with his brother while everyone else was painting. They were curious about those two and their history, it sounded complicated. But they were more curious about the oddness of Kay's parentage. Half breeds of any sort were facinating and this ship seemed to have a lot of weird hybrids on it.

Merith nodded, "My species has the ability to shift. I chose that form for nostalgic reasons. I noticed you weren't as fond of it as I was, however."

"I really am a terrible influence, aren't I?" Asher laughed and tried to help, even though there were five pieces total to put away, and Kay had already basically done that.

~~
"Yes, I think he is," Vestia said. "I don't know the details, but shifting is awful for him because of that."

"I only saw him when he was a cat, and then he changed back in Tala's room so I couldn't watch," James said tragically.

~~
"I was only annoyed by your desire to be silly while painting," Tala said. "Magical painting is improper."

[Absolutely the worst.] Kay handed him the box to put away.

---

--we-- --regret-- --we-- --cannot-- --share-- --our-- --memories-- --as-- --you-- --can-- The swarm told James.

Asher took the box back to the closet, happy to be a bad influence. "Now what do we do?" he asked, carefully setting the checkers board on top of a stack of game boxes.

~~
"Ah well, I'll just have to make sure I'm there when he shapeshifts someday," James said. "I'm sure it'll happen again."

Swarm bobbed up and down. --full-- --moon-- --maybe?-- hey they were curious what happened then too.

---

Kay shrugged. [I'm not sure. Honestly i'm quite happy just to spend time with you. Private time without an audience.] He looked awkward. Yeah he really didn't like affection in public.