LSS: Voyage of the Starry Seas

Idris sat on the edge of the boat. The sea wind rustled her hair. The waves roared below. She had never seen the ocean before and now it surronded her. All sides. Like another cage.

She briefly thought of jumping off the ship. It would be easy. She couldn't hear anyone. But, someone would notice. With her luck, someone would appear behind her as soon as one leg dangled over the edge. And even if she managed to fall, they would catch her. Like a sea monster on a harpoon. And they would drag her back on the ship, flailing and flopping, and tie her in place. Make one wrong move and the prison is quick to hold on even tighter.

She hugged her knees and shivered. It was cold. Idris was always cold. The ice lived deep in her bones like a birthright. She could never quite shake it off.

Sefarina and Juniper made it feel a little warmer. The ice felt more like a well in winter around them. She wished that was enough to relax and trust them. But everyone is kind until their rules are broken. And Idris' only skills seemed to be breaking rules.

"You never fucking listen!" A hand slapped across Idris' face, sending her tumbling to the floor.

She wasn't quite guant yet, but she was still frail. Her arms were littered in bruises, scraps, and cuts. Her childish face was already sporting a black eye. She quivered on the floor, supressing a whimper. "I'm sorry, Papa." She wiped her tears, wincing as her knuckles brusied the swollen skin.

"Sorry doesn't do shit! How many times are you going to blubber to me and still not change a damn thing?" Papa loomed over her. His shirt was wet. That was why this was happening. He had asked his seven-year-old to pour him a glass of whiskey. She had managed to get it into the cup without spilling, but the walk back was what got her. She had tripped on the piece of peeling carpet in front of Papa's chair and splashed some across his chest. She was going to get a towel, but Papa was faster.

"I didn't mean to! I didn't!" Idris sniffled.

Papa smashed his boot across her fingers. She screamed and pulled her hands to her chest, whimpering and rocking back and worth.

"Oops, I didn't mean to!" He sneered down at her.

She sobbed, the pain taking over her little mind. She was sorry. She was so sorry.

But that didn't do anything.

Idris shook her head, standing up. Community service wasn't sitting around. She had things to do. She stifled a cough into her arm, barely wincing at the pain. Her chest ached. But, she couldn't remember a time where it didn't. So, she squared her shoulders and solidered on.

First, she had to mop the deck. Cold and water were never a great mix, but a chore undone was only ever disaster.

But, of course, Idris was only ever a disaster magnet.

Standing long enough to mop the deck always made her dizzy. The dizziness would only get worse until she sat down long enough for her body to stop protesting existence.

She did not sit down fast enough.

All it took was a strong head spin to have her slip on the slick ground, face-planting in her own work. Her sweater and pants were soaked, the chill sinking in even deeper. Her teeth chattered, but she didn't have the strength to get up just yet. She just needed a moment to rest.

Idris gasped for breath as she woke with a start. She was covered in snow and wet down to her skin. She shrieked and stood up, trying to wipe the snow off of her. But it stuck to her clothes. "M-Mama! Mama help!" Her nose was running and she could barely move her fingers. She was so cold.

What had happened to get her out here?

She looked around. There was river, still gently flowing along. "H-Help..." She stumbled her way to the river. Maybe it could guide her to help.

"Idris? What are you doing out here in this weather?"

Idris turned around. "M-Ms. Hawthorne?" It was the lady who lived down the street. Idris had only met her once or twice. She was dressed in a cut off looking top and skirt but somehow not shivering. She remembered her well, because of her blue hair. No one had blue hair.

"Are you okay there Idris? Its so cold."

"I... I don't know." She shivered. "I... I..."

A blanket was being gently draped around her as Ms. Hawthorne pulled her into a sort of half hug. "Let's get you warm honey and back to your house."

Idris nodded. "T-Thank you." She sneezed.

"Bless you, little angel." She patted her back. "You're most welcome darling. How did you get so wet? Did you fall in the river?"

"I... I woke up in the snow..." She nestled into Ms. Hawthorne. "I... I don't know how..."

Ms. Hawthorne gently rubbed her back. Was it her imagination or was some of the water starting to slowly dry up? "Aww that's okay cutie. Do you have some place to go back to angel?"

She nodded. "I gotta get home. Mama's going to be so mad."

"Why is Mama going to be mad sweetie?"

"Because I'm out here all alone. And she's probably real worried."

"Alright baby. We'll get you home then. Do you know where?"

She shook her head. "I... I don't know where I am."

"I'll get you home then sweetie. I think I remember. Give me a moment." She looked out towards the river for a few moments. "Yes I see it. Come on then angel." She pulled Idris just a little closer.

Idris sniffled, getting warmer only making her shiver more. "O-Okay."

They walked a few steps together before Ms. Hawthorne just scooped her up. "Come on, lemme take you home darling."

Idris squeaks, but lets out a weak giggle. "T-Thank you. You're so warm."

"Aww I'm glad you feel warm angel."

Idris clung to her. Mama wasn't warm like this. Papa definitely wasn't warm at all.

They slowly made their way back until Idris could see the familiar view of her house coming up in front of them. They were very close now.

The house was old. The paint was peeling and the porch was more holes than wood at this point. A shovel leaned against the stairs up. "T-Thank, Ms. Hawthorne. I'll go inside now."

"Okay sweetie." She gently set Idris down but before Idris could go toward the house, Ms. Hawthorne put a gentle hand on her shoulder. "Here. A little gift for you, for being so brave and coming back all that way with me."

"Oh? I never get gifts." She tilted her head.

Ms. Hawthorned knelt down to her height, smiling softly at her. Was she imaging it or did Ms. Hawthorne's eyes look like little fireflies, all glowing. She rummaged in a pocked in her skirt somewhere and pulled out a small locket. It was in the shape of a heart. There was a small S inscribed onto it. She opened it to show it was empty.

"This is for you to fill. Someday. With a little picture of the people who love you. It will help guide you someday. This little S meant something to me once upon a time, and maybe one day it will mean something to you." She gently put it in Idris' hand. "Don't worry about losing it. When you have a picture to put in someday, it will find you. This little lady knows her way home. And her home is.." She gently placed a hand over Idris' gently beating heart. "right there. Keep her safe with you."

Idris nodded. "I gotta hide it or Papa will break it when he gets mad."

Ms. Hawthorne gently kissed her forehead. "Don't worry about it too much for now baby. A man like your papa could never even leave a scratch on it. You don't worry about it too much till you have a picture to put it. Its when you have a picture inside it that you should keep it safe. Until then she will know her way home to you."

Idris nodded. "Like magic."

The woman winked. "Exactly like magic."

Idris giggled. "I'm still gonna hide it just in case. It can be our little secret."

"Yes it willl." Ms. Hawthorne giggled. "A little secret."

Idris nodded. "Thank you, Ms. Hawthorne." She ran to the little rose bush she liked to water and dug a little hole. She placed the locket in it and buried it. "There we go. Safe until I need it."

"Perfect Idris. You're so smart!"

She grinned. "Thanks."

The door swung open. "Idris!" A middle-aged woman wearing a worn dress walked out. "Where have you been?"

"Mama!"

"Be safe sweetie," whispered the woman. There was a gentle breeze after, smelling sweetly of honeysuckle.

Idris nodded and walked up the steps. "I... I woke up in the snow, Mama. I don't know how I got there."

Mama groaned and came down the steps, grabbing her wrist and dragging her inside. "Wyatt! Ms. Hawthorne brought Idris home!"

Papa was sitting in his chair, sipping from a beer bottle. "Oh."

"Oh?" Mama sighed. "Did you hear me talk about how Idris has been missing? She's covered in snow, doing Stars know what--"

"I know. I put her out there."

Mama let go of Idris' wrist. "What?"

"She was snoring last night, so I took her out. Took her far enough I couldn't hear her anymore."

Mama sighed, looking between Idris and Papa. "Okay. Just..." She rubbed the bridge of her nose. "Just warn me next time? So I can find her."

Papa finished his beer. "She's fine. Maybe she'll learn to stop being so fucking loud."

Idris shrank in on herself. "Sorry, Papa."

Papa spat on the floor. "Shut the fuck up and get out of my sight."

Idris nodded and scampered to her room.

"Idris? Why are you on the floor sweetie? Did you fall?"

Idris looked up, blinking the spots out of her eyes. Sefarina was holding out a hand to her, leaning down. She accepted the hand and nodded blearily. She was soaked. Sefarina gently scooped her up.

Idris groaned softly, leaning against Sefarina.

"What happened angel?"

Idris mimed writing something down. Sefarina was warm. Like Ms. Hawthorne was warm.

Sefarina produced a little paper and a pen from her pocket. "There you go sweetie."

Idris wrote down. "Got dizzy. Tripped on the wet floor. Don't worry, I'll clean it up."

"Aww sweetie how about we get you cleaned up first from the wet floor?"

"I'll be okay. I don't have anymore clothes."

"Hmm only one pair of clothes?"

She nodded. "No shopping in prison."

"Come with me. I"ll get you some."

Idris nodded. Sefarina stood up Idris still in her arms. "Let's go."

She nodded, biting on her thumb.

Sefarina gently carried her back to her cabin. Idris felt her heart start to pound. She didn't know why. Once inside, Sefarina started to search through a closet. Idris shrank into herself even more.

She pulled out a few clothes and gently offered them to Idris. She slowly took them.

"You can put them on sweetie."

Idris nodded.

"I'll leave the room to give you some privacy okay?"

She nodded. Sefarina stepped out, closing the door behind her.

Idris looked at the selection of clothes Sefarina had given her. It was a short dress in a gentle yellow color and leggings to match. There was also a large fuschia towel. She peeled off her old clothes, cringing at the smell. Maybe she should shower.

Immediately, shivers of disgust and fear washed down her spine. No. Absolutely not. No.

She frowned at the dress. She didn't want to ruin it, corrupt it with her essence. Maybe she should just... wipe herself down with a washcloth. With her undergarments still on. She could do that. She wrapped the towel around herself and knocked on the door.

"Yes honey? Are you all done?"

Idris just knocked on the door again.

The door opened slowly. "Please feel free to close it immediately if this isn't what you meant."

Idris stepped back. Sefarina opened it up fully and frowned slightly. "Do you not like the dress sweetie? I can get somehing better." Sefarina was already moving for the closet.

She shook her head and mimed writing something down. Sefarina was already handing her a pen and paper before she'd even finished miming it.

She shakily wrote out, "I want to wash first. I don't want to ruin your dress."

"Aww baby don't worry about my dress, but getting a little wash would be good for you honey, if you feel up to it."

She nodded.

"How do you want to do this baby? A little bath? Washcloth? Shower maybe?"

Idris couldn't help but flinch at the last one. "Washcloth."

"Of course sweetie, right away." Sefarina quickly made her way to the bathroom, emerging a few minutes later with a small basin of mildly hot water and a little blue washcloth with a few flowers woven into the design.

Idris blushed at the thought, looking at the floor.

"Are you alright?"

She nodded shyly.

"Will this be good enough for you to get clean honey? Do you need any other help?"

Idris nodded and then shrugged. It wouldn't be enough for her hair, but she had given up on her hair a long time ago.

"Looks like you have a small problem with it there honey. Come on. You can tell me."

"I don't know if I need anything else. But, this is enough to get clean."

"Are you sure its enough for everything you could possibly need, body, before soap,after soap and of course for your hair."

She sighed. "Probably not for my hair. We would need an actual sink for that. But it doesn't matter. It's not touching the dress."

"I can help clean that too sweetie. You can use my sink."

"You're going to help?"

"If only that would help of course and you're fully open to the idea.I don't want to force anything on you that you don't want to do."

Idris shrugged. Sefarina was warm. She liked that warmness. And what if saying no was breaking a rule? She nodded hesitantly.

"Are you completely sure? You can change your mind at any time and you are allowed to say no."

She nodded.

"Wonderful. How about we start with your hair really quick then, and while it dries you can work on the rest of your body?"

She nodded shyly, walking up to her. Sefarina gently guided her to the bathroom and to whre the sink was. She obediently followed.

"Alright sweetie, let's find out what temperature of water is your favorite. Do you want to do that yourself or would you like some help?"

She held up two fingers.

"Help?"

She nodded.

Serafina turned it on to a gentle pace and started to slowly fiddle about with it. "Get a feel for what you like and tell me when to stop okay?"

She nodded again and put her hand under the tap. Serafina kept adjusting it, little bit by bit so Idris could get the full range. She didn't put her hand over Sefarina's until it was quite warm. Sefarina immediately came to a stop.

"Is that good?"

She nodded.

"Alright sweetie, now for the actual washing. Are you feeling brave enough to let your hair touch the water?"

She tensed and slowly edged her head to the water.

"A little bit closer sweetie."

Idris did so. The water now was gently flowing across her hair. Sefarina softly took a hold of it and very carefully began to wash, gently parting each strand one by one, the grease starting to slowly wash away. It sent shivers down her spine, but not in an unpleasant way. The position was a little awkward though. But the soothing feel of it was enough to make Idris hold perfectly stil. Sefarina kept going, gently braiding through every single strand of hair. It took more than one round, her hair matted with so much grease that the water was fighting a losing battle but Sefarina kept at it. After what seemed like hours of washing, Sefarina pulled away.

"There you go sweetie, hair all clean."

Idris stood up, feeling a little dizzy. She ran her fingers through her hair. Sefarina beamed.

"Sorry, that must've been a little uncomfortable, but look at youu. You're hair's so prettyy."

Idris smiled shyly, looking at herself in the mirror. Her hair was curling again, no longer glistening and heavy. Sefarina came up from behind, gently running a hand through her hair.

"Look at you. Don't you look like a little princess?"

Idris hugged Sefarina. Sefarina hugged her back, holding her close and giving her a gentle squeeze.

Idris pulled away and smiled.

Idris leaned against the window, watching as people walked by on the faraway street. Mama was sowing in a rocking chair, gently rocking back and forth as she worked.

"Mama?"

"Hmm?" She kept working.

"When will I be allowed to go out by myself?"

Mama froze. "Why would you want t do that?"

Idris shrugged. "I wanna make friends. Fall in love and get married like you and Papa."

Mama set her work aside and stood up. "You don't need that." She closed the curtain, guiding Idris away frm the window. "I;m all the love you'll ever need. Why would you want to leave me?"

Idris frowned. "But-"

"No buts. You're going to stay with Mama forever. And you're never going to have to worry about love."

Idris blinked the vision away. Sefarna was special. The most precious thing Idris ever known.

"All good Idris?"

She nodded and mimed wiping herself off.

"Oh yes, right away." Sefarina quickly fetched another towel, this one yellow as well and offered it to her. "Do you want to do it or do you want some help darling?"

Idris shrugged. She didn't know what Sefarina wanted. What Sefarina wanted was most important.

"You're not sure what you want?"

She nodded.

Sefarina patted her back gently. "I know you probably spent a long time not being able to choose anything for yourself, so its hard now to think of what you want, but on this ship you can make those choices okay?"

Idris nodded slowly. So was... not picking breaking the rules? Did she have to pick?

"I know you've lived under many rules, in prison and before that in the prison disguised as a family home, but there's no rules here. You're a free woman."

Idris slowly shook her head. There was never freedom for her. No matter what she did.

"Yes you are baby."

She went back to grab the paper and wrote down, "I'm still on Community Service. I'm still a prisoner."

"I am the one who must judge if you completed your community service. The way I see it, you have completed it."

Idris tilted her head.

"I'm not lying. Libra had already begun the paperwork for you to be free. With Sag's help, it is genuinely down to a simple yes or no by me wether you go free or not. I say yes."

Idris blinked.

"Its true sweetie."

She swallowed. Freedom. That was never in reach before. What was the catch? How would she ruin it?

"Are you okay sweetie?"

She blinked, shrugging.

Sefarina pulled her into a hug again. "I've got you."

Idris latched on as tears suddenly filled her eyes. She sobbed into Sefarina's chest. Sefarina gently cradled her. She clutched her shirt. She softly stroked her back.

Idris sniffled and looked up to Sefarina, wiping her eyes. Sefarina smiled softly at her.

She pulled away. Sefarina offered her a tissue. She gently took it and blew her nose, coughing weakly into her elbow. Sefarina gently patted her back again.

Idris gestured for them to continue. She still needed to actually clean herself. Sefarina nodded.

"Do you need help with that too sweetie?"

Idris nodded. She was feeling weaker with all of the emotion and the awkward position from the shower. She should sit down and let Sefarina help her.

"Alright baby, do you want to sit down?"

She nodded.

"In the bathroom darling?"

She hesitated before shaking her head. No. That didn't feel safe.

"Then where would you like to sit sweetie?"

She shrugged.

"How about the bed?"

She nodded.

Sefarina gently lead her out to the bed. "Alright honey, let's take a seat."

Idris sat on the bed, hesitantly pulling off her towel. Her undergarments were still on, but she still felt verh exposed. She was very aware of how unsightly she was, gaunt with bones sticking through the skin.

"Where do you want to start baby?"

She shrugged, trying not to squirm.

"Face? So that your whole face is all radiant and smiling like when June cleaned you up a little earlier?"

She nodded. That sounded good.

Sefarina was gentle once again, basically cradling Idris' head in one hand while she very carefully wet the cloth and started to wipe at Idris' face. She started with her cheeks, gently rubbing them clean of any dirt before moving onto her forehead, then her nose and a little touchup under her chin and ears.

Idris was shaking with the urge not to cough.

Sefarina gently pulled away. "You can cough sweetie."

She bent over into her elbow, hacking. She had been holding it in for too long and now everything burned.

Sefarina patted her back. "DId you hold that in for a while, that's the bigget coughing fit I remember seeing?"

She nodded weakly, trying to clear her throat to ease the pain. Her wheeze was definitely worse.

"Sweetie were you holding it on so you wouldn't accidentally cough on me while I was cleaning you up?"

She nodded again.

"Angel. I love you, but you're care too little about yourself sometimes. Next time if you have to cough, pat me on the arm and cough okay, if you accidentally end up coughing on me, its not the end of the world."

Idris' eyes widened as she shook her head.

Idris walked ino Dr. Gin's office and sat down in the chair. She already knew her breath was too shallow for him to say anything good.

"Inmate Peaks." He nodded, not offering a greeting.

"Yes." Idris looked at the floor.

"I take it the medicine hasn't helped. Much."

Idris shook her head, clearing her throat.

"Hmm. That was about the last idea I had."

Idris looked up. "Huh?"

"I think you need to be transferred Inmate Peaks."

"Tranferred?"

"Yes transferred. There's a high risk of you infecting others and right now it doesn't appear I have the means to cure whatever it is you have. I can't have others coming down with it too."

"Transferred where?" Idris hugged herself.

"Maximum security."

Idris gasped. "No. No, no, no!"

"It's for your own safety and everybody else's. This is the right choice Idris."

Idris couldn't breathe. She couldn't breathe. She was going to stay with serial murderers and child... hurters and...

She shook her head. "No! No! I won't get anyone sick! I won't! I won't! I promise!"

"I know you're not trying to. But this is dangerous and unknown."

Idris started to cry, choking on her sobs.

"Let's not make a scene now."

Idris shook her head. "No! Please! Please!"

"Now now. A scene will make this worse "

Idris hiccuped. "P-Please."

"No begging will change this. It's out of my hands."

Idris sobbed harder.

"They promise it will be okay "

"It never is. It never is."

"This might be different "

Idris broke into a coughing fit, kneeling into her elbow.

The doctor put a mask in front of her. "Wear this."

Idris took it and put it on. "Now I can stay?" She sniffled.

"That's not enough protection. We have to keep people safe."

Idris shook her head, wiping her eyes.

"You will be fine "

Idris gasped for breath. Infecting people is what ruined her life. Her corruption ruined her life.

"Idris? Are you alright?"

Idris hiccuped, shaking her head.

"What can I do sweetie? Do you need to see June?"

She shook her head again. She needed to stop being corrupted.

"What's wrong honey? Can you write?'

She weakly nodded.

Sefarina offered her the paper and pen. Idris wrote out, "I can't corrupt you. I can't corrupt you."

"You're not going to corrupt me sweetie. June said it wasn't infectious."

"That's why I was transferred. I corrupt people. I'm dangerous."

"That's because your doctor was not skilled enough to correctly diagnose you. He wasn't sure if it was I infectious or not and he picked the safe option."

She shook her head. "Not safe. Not safe."

"June promised it was ."

"Not the safe option."

"June said it was safe sweetie."

"Transferring wasn't safe."

"What do you mean baby?"

Idris shook her head.

"Can you write?"

She hiccuped.

"Baby? Do you need help honey?"

She nodded, coughing into her elbow again.

"What can I do sweetie?"

She hiccuped again and shrugged helplessly.

"Some water? Your plant? Hug? Kiss? Pat to the back?"

Idris shrugged helplessly again, all of the options making her feel more trapped.

"Do you want me to leave? Cover you up? Stop taking?"

She practically pounced an grabbed Sefarina's arm. She couldn't leave.

"Okay sweetie. I'm not going to leave."

Idris whimpered.

Sefarina gently patted her back. "I'm here sweetie."

Idris hiccuped.

"Not going to go anywhere."

Idris slowly backed away, going back to sitting on the bed.

Sefarina sat down beside her. Idris looked up. She started to gently stroke her back.

She held a hand out for the washcloth. Sefarina was probably tired.

"Why baby?"

She gestured to the tears still on her face.

Sefarina gently wiped them off with her hands. "There's my pretty face."

Idris melted into her hands.

Sefarina pulled away. "There you go "

Idris cleared her throat, blushing. She gestured to the rest of her body.

"Want me to continue cleaning sweetie? Are you feeling up to it?"

She nodded weakly.

Sefarina smiled sweetly and got up, gently kneeling down in front of her. "Let's start on these legs, shall we?"

Idris nodded and uncurled her legs.

She started to gently wipe down her leg, starting from her knee and working her way down, gently pulling Idris foot up to get at the bottom. Her nails were broken and cracked, a couple of them growing into the skin.

"Sweetie do you want me to help polish up your nails a little too? I have something that can smooth this out a little bit. If you'e willing of course."

Idris nodded.

Sefarina quickly got up moving to her little dresser and grabbing a few things out of a drawer. It was a small nail file and nail clippers. She went back to her position. "If it hurts tap on my shoulder, okay?"

Idris nodded.

Sefarina started to work on her nails, trimming the ones that were a little too broken, and gently filing down the ones that were not as badly damaged. Idris felt a little embarrased. She was so gross. How di Sefarina even stomach touching her? Maybe she was barely getting through it so it wasn't as gross.

Sefarina finished up after a few minutes, coming away with her tools and hands that had stains all over, but she was grinning.

"There you go, your feet are looking so pretty. I have to wash my hands though before cleaning up more, or I'm going to make you dirty instead of clean." She giggled as she showed the stains on her fingers.

She flushed, turning her head down. "Sss..." She choked a litle and coughed.

Sefarina was by her side in a flash. "Sweetie? Did you just try to say something?"

She nodded.

"Be gentle baby. It looks like your voice is really not used to trying to speak."

She grabbed the paper and wrote, "Sorry. I know I'm gross. You can stop."

"Girl what? I'm having so much fun helping you get back to the beautiful angel you are. You'll have to order me to stop if you want to make me stop."

She blushed even harder. "Okay."

"That's better." Sefarina knelt down again to be at her level. "Sweetie you are not gross, okay? You've been terrified of a shower because of very valid reasons and you had no one to help you get through it. But you have me now, and we're going to clean you right up."

Idris nodded. "Thank you."

"Of course sweetie. Now let me wash my hands and we can do more, okay?"

She nodded again, hugging her knees. Sefarina was quick, practically running to the bathroom and back, clean hands now ready to wipe down more of Idris.

"Before I do above your knees, how about I do your hands too sweetie, so I can help with the fingernails there too while I have the tools out?"

Idris held out her hands. Her fingernails weren't as putrid, but they were cracked and there was obvious dirt. Sefarina was gentle again, wiping all the way up to her shoulder, gently scraping off all the accumulated dust and grime all the way down to her palm before Sefarina very gently took her hand in hers and began to clean each finger, trimming and cleaning the nails as needed.

"You'll never have to feel gross again, not on my watch, not unless you actively chose being clean is something you don't want."

Idris swallowed, gripping her hands.

"Inmate!"

Someone knocked on the door to her cell. Her isolaton cell. She had been here for days? Months? Ever since the... doesn't matter. She's been here for so long.

Idris shakily got to her feet as he door opened.

A prison guard walked in. "Your desginated shower time. Come on."

She nodded. The guard guided her to the showers. It must've been night with how deserted the hallways were. She had no windows. The only thing that gave her any sense of time was the small meals they gave her.

She wasn't used to seeing the showers empty. There was always ten, fifteen people here. Even with the guard clearly trying to not look at her, her skin was crawling. She could still hear shower talk. She started tearing up, but turned on the water anyway. It was cold. The water was always cold.

You're probably the cutest inmate in here.

Idris shuddered, shaking her head. She tried to grasp the soap in her hand.

Come on. You can't fault us for wanting a taste.

Her breath sped up. The water was cold. It was so cold.

Now stop fighting and let us in.

Idris yanked herself out of the water with a scream. She was sobbing as she pulled her clothes back on, even when she was soaking wet. She rushed to the guard at the entrance, unable to stop crying. The guard looked a little confused, but led her back without asking questions.

She felt dirty. In the inside of her skin. Like liquid seeping into fabric. The outer stain main be gone, but the mess remains out of sight, molding. She was molding.

When the guard closed the door to her cell, she welcomed the isolation. Nothing could touch her. She could spend the rest of her life trying to scrub away at the stains. Maybe she never could. Maybe she was broken beyond repair, soiled beyond cleaning. But no one would tell her that when she was all alone.

Ms. Hawthorne was wrong. She would never find someone for that locket. She would die in prison. The judge had told her so. "You will die in prison for your love of violence and obscene cruelty." She hiccuped. At least she was alone. No one could hurt anymore.

Idris sniffled, wiping her eyes.

"Sweetie? Are you okay?'

She nodded slowly and whimpered.

"You're crying again baby. Did you remember something bad?"

She nodded.

Sefarina hugged her gently."I've got you now baby. You're safe. You're safe. You're free."

Idris nodded and hugged her back. Sefarina softly stroked her back, letting her calm down again. It didn't take as long for Idris to pull back, blushing even harder. She was a mess. An embarrassing mess. Sefarina probably wanted her out of community service to get rid of her.

"If you have no place to go after your community service is over you're coming with me." Sefarina smiled. "You're not going anywhere near your old place."

Idris nodded.

"Aww reallyy? I've always wanted a friendd. Mom and Mama are always a little busy, its rare they're both at homee."

Idris nodded faster. But, something in her didn't seem to like the word friend in there. It was probably nothing. She had never had a friend before.

"Maybe we can even find a new house together. Mom and Mama have been hinting that I'm 27 and I should probably have my own place."

Idris blushed even harder.

"You like that sweetie?"

She nodded shyly.

"I'm glad to hear that."

Idris smiled softly and laid down. It was probably the best position for this part. Sefarina smiled gently down at her.

"Ready to move onto your body sweetie?"

Idris nodded.

"Wonderful!" Sefarina smiled softly and get the washcloth ready again, giving it a quick cleaning again to get it nice and ready for her. She started with Idri's stomach, gently guiding it around her and covering her front before gently booping her side.

"Can you turn around to your back honey?"

Idris obliged, settling on her front.

Sefarina moved onto her back, this time gently washing down the entirety of her back, slowly removing everything that had been accumulated for years now. Sefarina ended up having to go and wash the cloth multiple times as she did this, cutting away through the dust, layer by layer until Idris felt the cool cloth properly on her skin for the first time in a long, long time.

Idris wondered if Sefarina would comment on the scars she was uncovering. The grime did a good job of burying the thin, pale lines, but now they were bubbling to the surface again. Littered across her arms, her back, her chest.

Sefarina seemed to finally finish, the washcloth not returning for another round. "You've had a long life sweetie."

Idris rolled back around, looking up at Sefarina.

"You've got so many scars. More than enough for a lifetime."

She looked down, shrugging.

"I hope that you have no more. You dont deserve any more."

Idris looked back up and shrugged again.

"I'm sorry you had to go through all that sweetie. No one should ever have to."

She reached out to gently hold Sefarina's hand. Sefarina took it gently. She smiled softly. Sefarina gently squeezed her hand.

Idris pulled her hand away to write, "What now?"

"Well there's a few area I haven't touched yet angel. I want to make sure you're comfortable before trying to clean there or if you'd rather handle them yourself."

Idris shrugged and gestured for Sefarina to do it. Her touch was so soft and Idris had never felt as safe as this before.

Sefarina nodded. "I'd be honored sweetie."

Idris smiled softly.

"You can flip around again sweetie, I'll finish your back up and then we'll do the remaining parts on the front."

Idris went back around.

Sefarina started on her thighs at the back, gently working her way up, going across her undergarments as well. Idris shivered. She kept going, the area even more in need of attention than her back had been. How was Sefarina so soft and unbothered? She had every right to gag and kick Idris out.

Sefarina just kept at it, gently wiping away, going through to a whole new washcloth before she finally pulled away and announced that Idri's backside was now fully clean and ready.

Idris shivered a little. Her skin was so sensitive and prickling. She turned over, able to run her clean hands over her back.

"How does it feel sweetie?"

She nodded.

"Good?"

She nodded again.

"Glad to hear it my angel."

Idris gave her hand a quick squeeze before pulling back to let her work. Sefarina smiled softly and got to work on her chest, gently outlining her shoulders and working her way slowly down. Idris watched Sefarina's face. She had a gentle smile, eyes focused on her task intently, nose twitching ever so often as she occasionally bit her lip to focus on a particularly stubborn piece of dirt. She genuinely looked happy. Sefarina wasn't quite like anyone she ever knew. She didn't know if even Ms. Hawthrone could do this. She was probably an old woman now.

It took Sefarina some tiime to finish up on her chest, doing her best to be as careful as possible before finally dabbling a little on her undergarments too. She shivered again, but trusted Sefarina enough to let it happen. Sefarina was especially soft there, her touch feather light but just firm enough to get all the grime off. Maybe Sefarina called her an angel, but it was obvious that Sefarina was a real one.

Sefarina smiled as she finished up there too. "Almost done now baby."

Idris nodded. She felt so much better. Lighter and fresher.

Sefarina finally made it to her upper thighs, gingerly making her way up. Idris was shaking now, but she didn't make a move to stop Sefarina. Sefarina was slow here, taking her time. It was maybe the grimiest part of her entire body and Sefarina seemed to notice employing a third new waschloth for this.

Idris was flushing again, her stomach flipping with embarrassment. She occasionally coughed into her elbow, trying to angle away from Sefarina has much as she could.

Sefarina continued the way she had all this time, just being as gentle as she had been all thi while just maybe being a little bit extra careful about where exactly she was cleaning in that moment.

Idris greatly appreciated it. Idris greatly appreciated her. Sefarina gently made her to the underwear last, cleaning it with as much caution as she's ever seen a person handle something. Idris was quaking. It was an awkward position and she felt bad Sefarina decided to do it and not tell her to do it herself. Sefarina probably hated it. Sefarina maintained her speed as gently as she could, slowly brushing it as carefully as she could without causing any trouble for her.

Idris gently grasped her hands and pushed them away. That was enough. Sefarina didn't need to do it anymore.

Sefarina stopped. "Sorry sweetie if I went too far."

Idris shook her hand and gently patted her hand.

"Oh you just thing its enough and you're all clean and good to go?"

She nodded.

Sefarine beamed. "I'm glad. Looks like we're done then. You can put on the dress!"

Idris nodded and picked up the dress. How was it going to fit her? Sefarina was massive compared to her,

"Want to try it on angel? See how it fits. This is one of my older ones, so it should hopefully fit you."

Idris slipped it on.

Sefarina watched before breaking out into applause. "So beautiful. Look at you. Looking like a supermodel."

Idris did a little spin.

Sefarina beamed. "You're so prettyyy!"

Idris blushed, looking down.

Sefarina beamed and hugged her gently. "There you go my precious angel. Look at you, taking away from the horribly unfair years that were forced upon you just a little and that beautiful you is already coming out."

Idris hugged her back. She felt strange. Equal parts afraid this wasn't real or it was too fragile to last and so overjoyed that she was getting further from prison. Prisoners didn't wear pretty dresses.

"Idris Peaks. A beautiful, wonderful, free woman with a bright, bright future ahead of you." Sefarina lined her up with the nearest mirror. "Wouldn't you say?"

Idris looked at herself. She was clean. Even when living with her parents, there was always dirt from the field or blood from a cut. She had never been completely clean like this. She ran her fingers through her hair. It was blonde. A real, bright blonde. And now that her hair was drying, it was really curling. It would get frizzy soon. She couldn't help but grin. Her hair was clean enough to frizz.

Sefarina held onto her gently, admiring the smile on Idris face with a simple little smile of her own.

She cleared her throat. "Thank you," she whispered.

Sefarina gasped. "Did you j..just?"

Idris blushed and clammed up again. Her throat hurt and saying such a simple phrase took much effort than she thought it would.

Sefarina hugged her happily. "Good to hear your voice is just as pretty as you are. I'm sure June will help make you get it back properly."

Idris nodded.

Sefarina beamed. "Oh I'm so happy for you honey."

Idris blinked, swallowing. If she had her way, Sefarina would be in that locket. But Sefarina didn't want that. She was an angel. And angels only stay in the highest levels of stars. And Idris was barely crawling her way out of the ground.

She rested her head against Sefarina's side. Her jacket smelled like honeysuckle. It was so nice.

She walked away from Sefarina, clearing her throat. She had a job to get back to. She opened the door.

"Idris?"

She turned around.

"Be safe sweetie. Whenever you need to, call for me, just think of me. I have a habit of knowing even if you aren't shouting."

Idris nodded and smiled at her.

"Wonderful. Thank you Idris!"

Idris waved and walked out.

Nicky hummed quietly to herself as she petted the large 50 caliber machine gun in front of her. It was a top of the line model, produced just three months ago, giving it just enough time to have a good solid bit of testing without being even remotely approaching the definition of old. It was the perfect kind of weapon she liked to have onboard. Just enough clearance to it that she could mess around with it and make it better and better without it be so old that had t to think about various limitations. Pisces had really gone all out.

The weight was maybe the only tiny bit of concern. They'd gained at least five pounds at this point from the little things that Nicky had quietly added on. Nothing special of course, just removing the completely unnecessary things like a fire rate limiter (Really? Were they in 2400?) and adding on a bit more of a guidance system to the rather rudimentary iron sights.

Sure, it was in fact a giant hosepipe of titanium reinforced lead that was meant to be aimed by the color left behind from the incendiary tracer rounds it fired like you aimed a water stream but that didn't mean a little bit of extra accuracy would hurt. Bullets were expensive at the best of times and on an expedition like this, they were limited. It wasn't like they could just go mining for this. This wasn't Minecraft. Heck, they couldn't even do it it in Minecraft, even with the release of update 5.21 they were still adamantly refusing to add guns to the game to have a "more authentic experience" or whatever. At least mods still existed. Gunpowder and two copper nuggets did not unfortunately magically make four bullets. Definitely not the special issued kind needed for this thirsty young lady.

She gave Sparky another gentle pat. Her latest little addition, just a little counterweight to the front of it, to give it the ability to move just a little bit better on the gyroscoping recoil absorbing stand it was placed on looked to be in good working order. This girl was ready to lay down some proper fire now. She had maybe two more ideas in mind but those she would have to run by Will and then Sefarina and possibly Idris. The girl couldn't be cleaning around a dangerous device she did not know the full capabilities of, that would just be plain rude of her.

Hmm, maybe it was time to track this Idris down first, the other two were just a holler away but trying to get a hold of Idris was like the search for bigfoot. All evidence pointed to the notion she was there, some people had even managed to have actual interactions, but Nicky only had blurry image for a crowded meeting to be sure she existed.

Idris seemed to clean only when Nicky wasn't there and at any other time she tried to track her down, she was either with Sefarina or making concerning noises in her dorm. Neither of which were great times to have a talk with a person. No, Nicky had to try and catch her either just walking about which was proving to be completely impossible, having some food, which seemed impossible given Gray's mysterious dislike of her or the option she was actually going for, be there when she came to clean near one of the guns Nicky was working on. It was for advise about them in the first place.

So she went ahead and planned it out, practically staking out this particular gun, which was the one she'd ended up doing the most modifications on anyway, giving it maybe one more clean than was strictly necessary and letting Sparky have maybe one too many whispered conversation about doughnuts for anyone else passing by to think she had all of her marbles.

Idris had come and gone. Mostly gone, really. She stepped on the deck with a mop and bucket, spotted Nicky, and immediately disappeared downstairs. Other times she was following Sefarina around as two two discussed something about "Gray" and "knives."

Nicky didn't know what to make of that second part but hopefully it was more about how impeccably Gray was keeping the knives cleaned than any planned murders in either direction. That would probably end up being a rather awkward moment on board the ship and Nicky really, really did not enjoy awkward moments like that one. Not since that one time.

Three years ago.

Nicky was just starting out in the realm of customizing ship weaponry, having graduated up from being just a lovely mechanic only responsible for maintaining and taking charge of firing. It was her dream job. She's been customizing things for many many years but they finally trusted her enough to start doing it on actual ships and actually ring in all of those little discoveries that she'd made on her own.

It had meant the first time she'd really managed to get fully lost in crafting up a ships' weaponry. Now those had been rather old. A model with guns that were old enough she'd been supplied with a set of antiques and a whole list of limitations to adhere to when it came to being allowed to actually play with it. That had only resulted in her getting lost in it more, even when she was quite simply trying to just up the fire rate of it just a little bit. It came with a limiter, naturally, but this one was old enough that just popping that off wouldn't be wise, nor would it do a whole lot. She had to find a way to upp it with that still in there.

Luckily, it was also old enough that the limiter was a physical mechanism, not a programmable part. Rewriting entire things of code to reflect different parameters on an old machine she barely knew the intricate details of was not her idea of a good time, but making a little clever construction of metal and plastic to her bidding was what she thrived on.

That's when she'd heard the whisper about a gun.

"Naomi is getting out of line. She noticed that one of the cleaners had a bruise on her wrist. If she founds out it was me, I could lose my job." That was Becca. The second mate. She was... hurting people?

Someone shushed her. "It's going to be fine, Becca. Calm down." That was Jackson. Captain Jackson. "We have means of getting rid of her."

"How? We can't just throw her overboard. Someone could see!"

"Keep your voice down." Captain Jackson cleared his throat. "Look. Nicky is new. She's new to weapons. We can get Naomi down there. Take care of her. Pin it on the new girl. We're the only witnesses and no one would ever believe Nicky."

"Except for Zodiac Libra!"

"We say we don't take it court if she accepts a demotion to custodian. We scare her, she listens."

Becca sighed. "Okay. Okay. Good plan."

"Good. We'll try to get here down there tonight."

Nicky gasped quietly to herself. They were going to do what? And to pin it all on her. What was this? Was that? Huh? She shook her head quietly to herself. What on Earth was going on Earth was going on there. Maybe it was a prank? Right? They knew she could listen in? Surely. Were they all actually secretly evil?

"What if Nicky decides to go to court?"

Jackson hummed. "We kill her too. Suicide from guilt."

Nicky almost dropped her wrench. Where the heck was this going? She had to do something surely. Maybe warn Naomi. That was probably the best idea. Or was that exactly what they wanted? Some sort of extra evidence to pin a murder on her. Well that didn't matter. Naomi's life was in danger for doing the right thing no less, she needed to know this. Nicky couldn't end up in more trouble as a result regardless.

She snuck off toward Naomi's cabin hoping to be able to find her there. Maybe if she could get across some sort of warning. She didn't really have a great plan. It was the Captain and the second mate up against them. Their only viable plan was probably going to go something like jump overboard and swim for it, but that wasn't exactly practical.

Either way, before she could overthink it too hard, Nicky was knocking on the closed door of Naomi's cabin.

Naomi opened the door wearing rumpled pajamas. "Nicky? What's up?" She blearily rubbed her eyes.

"Are you able to talk? In private?"

"Sure." She opened the door wider and gestured for Nicky to come in.

Nicky quickly slipped in. "You're going to want to close that and lock it behind you."

She nodded and closed the door. "Why lock it? Are you okay? You look like you just saw a ghost."

"I might be looking at one."

Naomi blinked. "What the fuck does that mean?"

"Sorry. Umm. Take a seat maybe? You'll wanting to be setting down when you hear this one."

Naomi sat on her bed. Nicky took a long deep breath thinking of the best place to actually starting getting all of this horror out.

"Well I won't beat around the bush. Captain Jackson and Becca want you dead."

"Did... you have a bad dream?"

"No. No. No. I was fixing the front canon just a few minutes and I overheard them talking in the captain's cabin which just so happens to be right below that. I don't think they realized I could because if I hadn't been modifying it from the ground up, the panels normally in place there would make it soundproof."

"Okay. But... why would they want me dead?"

"They were talking about you noticing something wrong with the cleaners? Becca seemed especially worried like maybe she was responsible for actually doing the hurting."

Naomi gasped. "One of the cleaners has this bruise on her wrist and was being really cagey about it. I was going to send her to Med but... wait Becca acted responsible?"

"Becca did. She was practically pleading to the captain to do something about it and that's when they jumped to the whole they could silence you thing."

Naomi stood up and started to pace. "What do we do? Should we call control?"

"I honestly don't know. I only snapped to attention to it so hard because their grand plan to get away with killing you is to blame the whole thing on me and apparently pressure me into taking a plea deal or apparently if I talk too much, I'm going to 'Commit Suicide out of Guilt'". She emphasized hard on the air quotes.

"Glittering stars, what the fuck? We have to do something or we both die."

"Yeah. That's the part I got to before running out of ideas myself. I mean. How much are we going to really do? Captain Jackson isn't exactly the most respected out there but he's still a captain and Becca is second mate. Our word against theirs won't look great on any day but while we're still on this ship I don't know if anyone else will be brave enough or not in their pockets enough to help us.

"We have to get a council in front of Zodiac Libra. He can tell when someone is lying."

Nicky nodded. "Zodiac Libra is the only one who can properly judge this. To be fair that is why us both dying is on the cards right now. Although if they kill me too, they're probably going to mess up and get caught but I think we'd both prefer the we're alive and then they're in prison approach rather than them going to prison for our murders."

Naomi nodded. "Definitely. So we need to get to land."

"Yes. Do you know how far out we are? I'm really not the best with that sort of thing."

"Uh. We should still be in range with Pisces' tower"

"Oh? We are. Enough to get out a short wave radio broadcast? From one of those ancient things?"

"I think we could pull it off. You know tech, right?"

"I know a bit of tech."

"Then let's work together to live." Naomi held out her hand. Nicky took her hand cautiously but optimistically.

"I think that's a wonderful plan."

Naomi nodded. "Let's try to keep ourself from acting too obvious. We don't want to put ourselves in an awkward spot."

"Yeah, its about to get just a teeny tiny bit awkward on board."

Well at least they knew Gray being a former prison warden was more likely to bust someone for hurting someone than actually be secretly abusing someone. It didn't appear that Idris could even kill a small insect if she tried and Sefarina really didn't seem to be the type although to be fair she was probably the most capable and hardest to predict out of all of them.

Idris stepped out on deck. At least, it could've been Idris. She looked wildly different. Her hair was curly and she was wearing a yellow dress. She spotted Nicky and was just about to turn around again.

"Idris!"

She flinched and slowly looked to Nicky.

"Hii! I've been trying to track you down all dayy. But you're busier than the captain it looks like!"

Idris blushed.

"And looks like I know why, someone got a proper makeover from the looks of it." Nicky pretended to fan herself. If she was being 100% totally and completely honest with herself she would remove the word pretended. "Didn't know we had a supermodel on the ship!"

Idris' face got even redder somehow. She cleared her throat, playing with her hair

"That hair is absolutely gorgeous. Did you do that style yourself? Can you teach me how to do it? Is that something they teach in cleaning class? Omg you look so cool."

Idris whimpered, shrugging.

"Oh sorry did I talk too much?"

She shook her head.

"Alrightt. But you have to tell me more about this hair. Its so gooddd."

Idris pulled out a little slip of paper and a pencil. "I just washed it. It's a mess."

Nicky giggled. "Honey if that's a mess" She gestured to her own partial rat's nest after working for hours on the machine gun and then just roaming about. "Is a trash can."

Idris quickly shook her head, her hands a shaking mess now. "It's beautiful!' Sh squeaked and erased it. "It looks good."

"Aww thank youuu cutie." Nicky giggled happily.

Idris looked like she was about to faint.

"Idris? Are you okay. You're looking a little bit overwhelmed. Been working a little too hard there? You always seem to be working, you should really take more than like a single break."

Idris nodded, but didn't seem to be listening.

"Well I have the perfect opportunity for a small break for you. I wanted to talk to you a little about cleaning the guns and around them. I'm making a few modifications to them so you need to change a few things about the way to clean them."

Idris seemed to listen again and nodded, the intense blush fading from her face.

"Wonderful, do you have a minute to follow me over to Sparky Q over there?"

She nodded.

"Perfectt!!!" Nicky practically skipped her way back to where the gun was mounted, just a little ways behind where Sefarina usually stood. It would be her job to shoot it should something go wrong enough to require it.

Idris followed her, tensing around the weapon. Nicky patted it gently

"Don't you worry about this lady. She's very well trained. That safety is not turning off unless some wants to turn it off really, really badly."

That didn't seem to calm her down, but she nodded anyways.

"How about we sit down beside her. I think that'll make it a little easier for me to show you the things I want to show you anyway."

Idris sat down, a good foot away from Sparky Q. NIcky sat down beside her.

"Alright, more hair secrets first or the secrets of Sparky Q?"

She squeaked.

"Come on nowww, you can make cute noises all day but you have to pickk."

She shakily pointed to the gun, blushing hard again.

"Sparky Q firsttt?"

She nodded.

"Arighttt, so if you look at it, tell me what you see. Like a difference from when you last cleaned it?"

"Second mouth and new leg."

"Oooh you're sharpp. That's great! This will make this significantly easier!"

Idris seemed to glow under the praise, shyly looking at the ground.

"Are you okayy honey?"

She nodded.

"Alright then. So naturally I think you can see why the cleaning needs to be a little careful, you want to watch that second mouth and avoid touching the leg too much just in case it retracts."

Idris nodded.

"Wonderful! Anything else you think you would want to do, just based on your expertise?"

She shrugged.

"Nothing you can think of?"

"I'm not exactly a professional."

"Well you have experience. That counts for a lot still."

"Not particularly. This is my first job."

Nicky huffed. "Well you still have a sharp eye. Do they spot anything?"

Idris furrowed her eyes in confusion.

"Hmm?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Do you think any other advice needs to be given out with regards to cleaning?"

She shrugged.

"Alrighttt, that's final then. I think that's about everything I wanted to talk about on this station for the moment. I am not entirely sure if the front barrel is going to looks like for us in terms of actuall meaningful change in the cleaning approach."

Idris nodded.

"Alrightt. Want to go over there and say hi just in case?"

Idris shrugged and stood up.

"Alighty then. I suppose we have nothing to lose. Let's head over."

Idris slowly approached it, eyes wide.

"Alll good Idris?"

She weakly nodded.

"Just making sure there. You look a little bit worried there."

Idris swallowed.

"Well here we are now at old lady Jane."

Idris was barely breathing.

This was a much bigger lady, the cannon having only the barrels even visible, as the stuck out from the frontside gunner ports of the shop, massive, and much more aimable, controlled by Nicky down in the dedicated little control area for the gunner. They were the ship's most powerful weapons, firing a long projectile at incredible speed, neutralizing quite a lot of things that would dare to stand in its way.

Idris seemed to be able to tell the power levels and seemed to think that the gun would up and pin her to the ground.

"Idris honey? Are you okay?"

Idris didn't respond, her eyes locked on the gun.

"How about we sit down baby?"

Idris backed away from the gun and sat down, eyes still locked on it. Nicky sat down carefully putting herself between Idris and the gun. "You're safe sweetie."

Idris snapped out of it, immediately flushing. "Sorry. I get nervous around guns."

"That's alright."

"I still clean here, I promise!" Her handwriting was more of a scrawl now. "I don't know how to clean guns, so I usually just spray them from a distance. I can be better, though!"

"Girl no. You don't have to clean them. I'm just guiding you on how to be careful cleaning around them."

Idris nodded. "I'll be the most careful."

"I trust you will be my angel."

"Why are you calling me pet names like Sefarina does?"

"Hmm? Pet names. Or. That's just how I talk to everyone honey."

"Everyone? Everyone on this ship? You call Sefarina, Rune, Gray, Darvi honey?"

"Some people are not as receptive to it, but to the people that aree."

Idris huffed.

"Whatt?"

"That's what Sefarina says too. But I just want to get to the bottom of this."

"You think there's a grand conspiracy to call you pet names?"

She nodded, looking petulant.

"Aww, and who do you think is in on this grand conspiracy?"

"You, Sefarina, and Juniper."

"Mmm Hmmm and what's our goalll?"

"I don't know!" She underlined the word "know."

"Aww you're trying to find out what it is?"

She nodded.

"Have you made any progress?"

She huffed and shook her head.

"Aww, so you just have to keep enduring the torture of being called sweetie and honey by us? Nicky had a small smirk on her face as she asked this.

"You aren't helping your defense."

"What defenseee?" Nicky raised her hands in surrender. "A defense implies there was an offense."

"Your conspiracy to call me pet names."

Nicky huffed. "Alrighttt. I'm a full on conspiracy nut it would appear then."

Idris pouted. "I just want to know why me."

"Its not just youuuu."

"Who else on this ship?"

"Uhhh. June? Aquarius I think. Willlow."

"Fine. Sorry."

Nicky giggled and scooped Idris into her lap. "Cause you're such a cutie honey."

Idris squealed.

"And we love youuu." She grinnned and gently nuzzled into Idris' hair. "And you're looking extra cute today."

Idris whimpered. Her face was cherry red and she was shaking.

"Awww." Nicky hugged her tightly and softly stroked her hair.

Idris whined.

"You're the light of this ship you know, holding it all together. Did you know? The ship claimed you as its favorite person the other day. On a couple of days actually. Will keeps talking about how awesome the ship thinks you are."

Idris hid her face.

"Why you hidinggg?"

Idris squirmed.

"Come on now. Show us that cute face!"

She whined louder.

"Come onnn! You can show uss!"

She lowered her hands.

Nicky beamed, gently booping Idris's cheeks. "There's our pretty girl. Good jobb!"

Idris squirmed, pouting.

Nicky grinned and gently booped her nose. "You're amazing! I'm so happy to have you with us."

"You just met me."

"I met you twicee beforee. Every single interaction that I have ever had with you has only been a wonderful one."

"You've never talked to me directly."

"Well I have now."

"Not long enough to know about me."

"Well I know enough about you I think."

"What do you think I'm like?

"I think you're hardworking, someone who was quite hard done by several things in the system and someone trying to make an honest living now."

Idris flushed. "That's very basic traits."

"Basic maybe, but very important ones. The sort of ones that define a person's core greatly."

"That doesn't mean you know me."

"Welll I know enough about you with what I've seen and my ability to gauge people that I think you're amazing. If I turn out to be wrong someday, I'll be very surprised."

"You should still get to know me."

"That is in fact what I am doing right now."

"How?"

"Talking to you? Spending time with you?"

"I thought you just wanted to tell me about the guns?"

"Well I needed a good excuse to lure you into my clutches so I can keep you for some time and have a proper conversation! You're slipperier than hot lubricant on a summer high noon."

Idris blushed. "Sorry. What do you want to talk about?"

"Well. Now that I've got you here, do you want to talk a little about how you got the job on this ship maybe? If you're comfortable with that. I find that often tells people a lot about who you are."

Idris squeaked. "Oh. It's not a... pleasant story. Gray already talked about it in the meeting."

"Well I wasn't paying full attention, and I'd rather get the story right from the source. I think that's where you often find the least biased opinion. That might sound wrong, but trust me on that one."

Idris sighed and played with her hands. "I'm here on community service."

"I see. For some sort of petty crime?"

Idris shook her head, tears bubbling into her eyes.

"Aww sweetie, did I remind you of something terrible? You don't have to tell me if you don't want to."

"Murder."

"Aww, who hurt you so badly you had to murder them?"

"My parents."

Nicky cradled her tightly. "Oh sweetpea. Parents are...they're maybe one of the best things you can ever have growing up and to think they only hurt you, and so badly too. I'm so sorry you had to go through that."

Idris shrugged. "It was the worst mistake of my life."

"It was not a mistake I think baby. If you'd continued to live in an environment so bad you felt you had to kill them, they would've killed you."

Idris wiped her nose. "No one here knows how it happened."

"Well that includes me too. But I've seen enough things to figure out what could happen. I'm sorry to inform you that you don't have the determination or soullessness of a cold blooded killer. Or even the wild eyed desperation of someone killing out of passion and hate. You have the guilt and regret of someone who had to kill or be killed."

"I beat them to death with a shovel."

"Uh huh. Now how about you tell me what it was that they did to you my baby."

Idris was shaking. "I ran away. They-" She stopped writing a tear rushed down her face. "locked me in the shed for three days."

Nicky wrapped tightly around her. "Oh my angel. That's horrible. I'm so sorry that you had to go through that with your own parents."

Idris whimpered and shivered.

Nicky gently stroked her back. "Let it out angel. Let it out. I got you. I got you."

Idris wiped her eyes, sniffling.

Nicky pulled out a little tissue, softly dabbing at Idris' eyes.

Idris' lip wobbled.

Nicky softly cleaned her face of its little tear stains, dabbing down to her cheeks. "Idris Peaks. Survivor. That should be your job title."

"I still have to clean. Zodiac Libra gave me an activity log."

"Mmm Hmm. I thought as much. But who has to approve whether your duty was done or not. I'm sure someone has to sign this activity log and authorize it right?"

She nodded. "Sefarina and Rune."

"I see. And what have they told you about your duty?"

Idris shrugged.

"Are they satisfied with how much you've done? Does Sefarina look like she'll sign it and approve you? Does Rune?"

"Sefarina says I've already done my community service. But Zodiac Libra needs proof."

"Sweetie I don't know if you've noticed but you've spent about 90% of your time doing as much work as you can. The ship can't stop singing praises about how cool you are. I think there's more than enough proof. The literal ship will tell Zodiac Libra to take that gavel and shove it up his ass if he says you haven't done enough."

Idris flushed. "This is our first full day on sea."

"And the ship is already in love. Imagine how attached the ship will be once you've been working for a week or two."

Idris squirmed.

"Aww, too scared of facing the facts there little angel about how awesome you are?"

Idris huffed. "What are you trying to accomplish?"

"Just letting you know how awesome you are while I flex on you about how I was accurate in predicting you're a good person."

"But why do you care? Why are you calling me angel?"

"You're a good person with a good soul that's been wronged deeply. Anyone with half a heart would care. And you are an angel."

Idris squirmed.

"I have provided several points of proof on the angel thing." Nicky crossed her arms like she was daring Idris to challenge her.

"But it's such a... close petname."

"Awww you don't like it?"

"I just want to know what it means to you."

"I think you're wonderful."

"In what way?"

"In every way to be completely honest."

"Can you explain?"

"Well. I think you have a wonderful heart. A kind heart that seeks to help others. A kind heart so weighed down by guilty even thought you were simply trying to survive when you had to .do your thing. You hold no happiness, and barely any relief even though you'd be entitled to that easily."

Idris blushed harder, more tears springing to her eyes.

Nicky was back at it, gently dabbing away at Idris' tears, clearing it all way gently swoosh after gently swoosh.

Idris sniffled. "Sorry."

"Sweetie, why are you sorry angel?"

"Crying."

"Honey you're allowed to cry." Nicky shook her head fondly and hugged her a little closer. "This is a traumatic moment for you to remember all that."

She shrugged. "Not a great way to meet someone."

"How is this not a great way to meet someone?"

"Crying is awkward. No one wants to see it."

"Laughter strengthen bonds and heals wounds. Laughter is the glue that carries on a friendship. Happy moments. But crying, relying on someone else, that is the foundation of every strong friendship, the bedrock on which everything else is built. If Crying is awkward you're not among the right people." Nicky pulled Idris just that little bit closer.

Idris leaned against her and nodded.

"That's a good girl." Nicky gently leaned in and kissed her forehead. "Do you want to hear a little story about bonds that were forged in the fires of sadness? I think there's something that maybe you'll like."

Idris squealed. "Did" Her hands were shaking. "call me a good girl?"

"I didd." Nicky giggled. "Aww did you like that?"

Idris whined and put her hands over Nicky's mouth.

Nicky giggled. "Alrighttt. Well do you want to hear this story?"

She nodded and pulled them away.

The two of them collapsed heavily against the railings overlooking the engine. The door was locked. They were safe for the moment and the signal had come back through. Pisces sending a Sagittarius ship out to do a "routine inspection" during which people would be arrested and things would happen.

"That was a hairy one wasn't it Mi?" Nicky was panting hard from the excitement. Keeping several wires coursing with electricity together as they transmitted their emergency broadcasts back and forth.

Naomi wasn't any better, visible sweat on her forehead. "I think I'm starting to gray."

Nicky chuckled. "Yeah I think I'm already a little gray. Definitely going to have a few wrinkles from holding that thing together."

Naomi giggled. "But it seems to have gone well."

Nicky nodded. "Oh my god I think I'm going to cry."

"I think that's normal."

Nicky let out a shaky breath. "Yeah. Maybe. Oh god. And here I thought I'd just gotten my dream job, modifying weapons."

"Hey, it's still experience."

"Girl, if they don't make this some sort of double experience reward I'm suing." Nicky laughed, that forced little laugh that tends to come out when you're too hopped up on adrenaline to cry.

Naomi patted her back. "They better."

Nicky sighed softly. "Yeah. Both of us. You pulled off a damn near heist boosting all this right out under Becca's nose. You got some skillz girl."

Naomi giggled and flipped her hair.

Nicky let herself collapse a little more. "Thank you for going along with this crazy scheme."

"Thanks for saving my life."

"You're quite welcome. Hey I was saving my own hide too at the same time really."

"True. We're both saved."

"We're both saved." Nicky opened her arms. "Hug?"

Naomi hugged her.

NIcky hugged her back tightly. "Thank you again. It meant so much to have someone to listen to me."

"Thank you again."

"Of course. Wouldn't have been able to do this without you at all."

Naomi grinned. "Maybe just a mutual appreciation then, yeah?"

"I think I can take that offer thank you very much."

"Awesome!" Naomi patted her on the shoulder.

Nicky patted her shoulder back and finally pulled away, letting herself collapse back against the bars again.

"We're almost home free."

"Yes. Just have to wait for Sag's ship to get here and blow their horn three times. That's our signal to come out and we'll be safe. I'm remembering that right right?"

Naomi nodded. "Yep!

"I'm glad."

"So, now we wait."

"Now we wait."

Idris blinked. "What happened to her?"

"We were both saved. She's one of my best friends to this day. We've worked together many more times since under much better captains. She actually moved in next door to us not too long ago."

Idris smiled. "Must be nice to have a friend like that."

"She is quite a nice friend."

Idris nodded and her smile turned a little sad.

"Idris?"

She looked up.

"Are you alright?"

She nodded.

"You look a little downcast just then."

She shrugged.

"Well, I can be you friend. Would you like to be friends?"

Idris blushed and nodded.

Nicky beamed. She loved making new friends. She offered a hand to shake.

Idris shook it slowly. Nicky shook it gently. This was a beautiful moment. The start of something wonderful.

Darvi wasn't sure what jacket to wear. Sefarina had surprised her with something very casual, but Rune seemed much more professional. Would it impress him to go with something formal? Darvi frowned. Curses. Why was no one on this ship kind enough to share the dress code beforehand?

He sighed and grabbed something more informal. They were drinking. Drinking usually wasn't something you did outside of parties. And hard liquor wasn't exactly ballroom material. Probably.

He threw it on and buttoned it before making his way to Rune's cabin. She knocked on the door.

Rune opened it almost immediately, Janus curled around his neck. He smiled brightly and creaked the door open wider, "Hello! Come on in, I have bourbon... tequila, which in my opinion isn't the best choice, but to each their own." He took to the side and gestured to his cabin, "Sorry about the mess. Janus makes it hard to clean sometimes."

Darvi stepped inside. "It's perfectly fine." Zodiac Gemini was much worse in terms of cleanliness. And she had maids. "Janus is a lovely snake."

Rune nodded and closed the door behind him, "I'm sure she appreciates that. She always loves getting praise, don't you?" He poked Janus and the snake slithered from his neck, onto his arm in approval. He walked towards the mini bar he set up and grabbed a bottle of bourbon, "Want a glass?"

Darvi nodded. "Sure."

Rune grabbed two glasses and filled them halfway, "I would use ice, but I'm trying to avoid the kitchen as much as possible. Gray intimidates me, surprisingly..." He handed Darvi a full glass, and took a seat on one of the three chairs near his desk.

Darvi took it and sat beside him. "He's definitely... intense. Quick to argue and blame others. Probably more bark than bite, but all it takes is one snap to cause harm."

Rune nodded once more and took a large, almost too large, sip of his bourbon, "I've realized that. We're really lucky to have you here, you know. For some protection."

Darvi took a small sip. It was bitter and sour, but that was a taste they had long gotten used to. "I'm lucky to be here. I'm far from the best choice."

Rune glanced at him, "You don't give yourself enough credit. I don't know why you doubt yourself so much. Care to enlighten me?" he took another sip.

Darvi choked slightly. "What's up with you and Sefarina psycho-analyzing me?"

"I can't speak for Sef, but I just want to get to know all my crewmates," Rune shrugged, "but don't worry. If you don't want to answer, I won't push you. We can change the subject if you'd like?"

"Belinda, how do you feel when looking at the stars?"

Belinda hummed, closing her eyes. She was wearing a long dress. She was kicking her legs since they didn't touch the ground. The principal of the Constellation Division leaned against his elbows.

Darvi stood by the doorway as their parents stood around Belinda.

Belinda opened her eyes and grinned. "Like they're friends! They love us and I love them."

Darvi crossed their arms, frowning. That was stupid. Stars were balls of gas light years away. How could they love anyone?

The principal laughed. "Your daughter is amazing. I think she's ready to be a part of the next ceremony."

Darvi's mom started crying, hugging Belinda. "My precious girl. We're so proud of you."

Darvi wished she could leave. Her skin felt icky.

The principal glanced at Darvi. "Darvi is... progressing as expected."

Their father sighed. "She'll figure it out, eventually. She was always less open to ideas than Belinda."

She felt tears rise to her eyes. Belinda was always primed to get her constellation before her. Was that right?

"I have to go to the bathroom." She walked out of the room before her parents could say anything. Let them be happy over Belinda. She could be good too. She could be.

Darvi cleared their throat. "I mean. I've sort of been average my entire life. There's always someone better than you."

Rune poured more bourbon in his glass, "I see your logic, but you're only here if you're the best of the best in what you do."

"Ehh, no Zodiac wants to give up their best guard. They might think Zodiac Cancer is wrong, but none of them want to feel unprotected." Darvi sighed. "My Zodiac sees me as a friend first. So, he wanted me to come for me."

"I can understand that," Rune studied him, "I don't want to trigger anything but... If it helps, I think you're one of the best guards I've seen. Just from the little times I've seen you get so worried about Sidney... most guards wouldn't care that much. You have a good heart, and that's what I'd look for if I had one."

Darvi shrugged. "She's Zodiac Kin. If anything happens to her, every person on this ship might die. I think Princess Sidney needs to grow up some." He sighed. "A lot. But, I think there's a good person in there. I'd hate for something to happen to her before she finds it."q

Rune extended his glass for a cheers, "Cheers to that."

Darvi clinked their glass to him before taking a drink.

Rune did the same and leaned forward, resting his elbows on his broad knees, "So enough about the past... How are you liking the rest of the crew so far?"

Darvi coughed a little. "I think... it's a bit of a mixed bag. I trust Sefarina's captain skills, but it's clear that the some Zodiacs haven't taken this expedition seriously. Zodiac Libra using this expedition to punish Idris is... utterly absurd. I'll be surprised if she survives the first island. And Zodiac Cancer broke into my room to drop Sidney off. So, there was no choice there. Zodiac Aquarius was a bit of a surprise, but being a Zodiac will hopefully give us a decent power at our disposal. She seems a little... excitable, but Zodiacs don't like being told no. So, I think Sefarina took the path with the least conflict. Piss off one Zodiac and the whole thing could get shut down."

Darvi looked up to Rune before his face started burning. "Sorry. That was a lot."

"Oh no," Rune waved his hand, "Don't worry. I like to hear everyone's opinions. As for Idris, I think she's a sweeheart. It's unfortunate what happ'end to her, though I think only Rina and Juniper know the truth. I'd rather not ask. Aquarius, though..." he shook his head in disbelief, taking another large swig of bourbon. He ended up finishing the glass. He looked to the bottle and grabbed it once more, "I don't know. I'm honestly questioning Rina at this point, only because... she knows what these types of expeditions can do to people. I think It was a rash an immature move to allow Aquarius on the ship-- and being a Zodiac should only emphasize that fact. We're putting a ruler at risk, and so far from what I've seen... she's not mature enough to take something like this serious. This isn't a playground, we'll encounter challenges that children should not be involved in..."

Rune shook his head again and took another full swig, "Don't tell Rina I said that, though. She makes the decisions, and I don't want to ruin our relationship. I just hope that Zodiac Aquarius will be of more help than she is a liability."

Darvi's stomach turned. Maybe Sefarina's fears were real. "She already knows you feel that way. Well, she was worried about it, at least." Darvi sighed. "I don't know if I should be telling you this, but she feels terrible about upsetting you. It's sent her down quite the spiral."

Rune shrugged and leaned back in his chair, "Rina could never upset me. I'm not upset. She's been my friend for ages, I could never hold a grudge. But I just... I don't know," he looked down at his glass and swirled the liquor around, "I just wish she would've talked to me about it first, instead of me finding out from the meeting. I would've liked to be informed. No matter what I say, Rina knows best. She always does. That's why she's captain."

"I understand that. It was a surprise for most of us." She took another sip. "I blame the constellations for picking such nut cases for Zodiacs."

Rune chuckled and raised his glass... again, "Cheers to that again, my friend!" It was clear the alcohol was starting to get to him, as he raised it a few inchest to the left of Darvi's.

Darvi closed the gap. "Did you know I went to school with Zodiac Gemini?"

"Whaaaat?" Rune filled his glass, and Darvi's, "Elaborate."

"She was a year younger than me. I think her old name was... Vanessa? Violet? Something with a V. He was in charge of the school play every year."

"Oooh. How did Gemini even get picked as Zodiac anyways?" Rune took another sip, "I always wondered that."

"I have no fucking clue." Darvi was feeling warm. Not unpleasantly, but things were getting foggy. "The old one dies and the Constellation draws names out of a celestial hat or something. There's no rhyme or reason."

"A celestial hat sounds fucking ridiculous. Like it came from a fantasy book or something," Rune laughed, "if we all were drawn from celestial hats to do stuff, we'd all be fucked. Imagine Juniper being a Zodiac. Sister would turn her ship into a floating log."

Darvi laughed. "Oh stars. She would have legally mandated nicknames."

"Yep. And and instead of guards, she'd have plants!" Rune cheered, gulping down the rest of his drink, "Hm. I wonder what I would do if I was a Zodiac. Maybe I'd greate a mandate that we shall live with no rules... although, that may cause havoc. I'd have to think on that. What about you?"

Darvi snorted. "I actually wanted to be Zodiac Gemini. I had notebooks of plans for what to do for my reign."

"I wanna hear it," Rune smiled, "come on, Zodiac Darvi. Tell me."

Darvi sighed. "It was all the ramblings of a non-binary teenager."

Rune raised his eyebrow, "And you don't believe you would do the same things your wrote, now? If you were to become Zodiac?"

Darvi grumbled. "I haven't really thought about it. I mean, off the top of my head." She frowned. "I wanted Constellation Learning to be private. Instead of a big classroom with everyone all together, I was thinking more of a private tutor model."

Rune took a sip of his drink, head kind of bobbly, "Ooh. I didn't even think of that. I could see how that would be a plus when it comes to education. One-on-one tutoring would definitely be helpful to some students. When I first got my gift from the constellations, I honestly wished I had one on one training. Though, shadows aren't usually gifts people get-- and becoming one with the universe was only the first step in mastering them. I think if I would've had one on one training, I would've been more versed in my powers."

Darvi nodded. "Yeah. My gift was pretty easy. The languages were a surprise though."

"Can you speak... french?" Rune asked, smirking.

Darvi hummed. "Peut être."

"What does that mean?" Rune looked astonished.

Darvi snorted. "It means 'maybe.' I understand any language I've ever seen. I can speak any language I've ever heard. My constellation just pumps the knowledge into my brain."

"Hmmm..." Rune looked around, "What about Janus? Can you understand her? Are you a parselmouth, too?"

Janus slithered over to them, her long green body moving up the back of Rune's chair with ease.

"That one's a bit more complicated." Darvi let himself shift into a python, curled up where he originally sat. He raised his head.

Rune jumped at Darvi's transformation, but a sly, slick, and amazed smile was plastered across his obviously drunken face.

Darvi bobbed their head towards Janus. Hello, Janus.

Janus propped her head with Darvi, Hello... can you tell this drunken fool to feed me? It's been almost an hour since my last feed.

How much did he give you?

Just one rat. Sometimes he feeds me birds. Depending on what he's feeling that week.

How often does he feed you?

Every two weeks, unfortunately... Janus slithered to prop herself up on Rune's shoulder. Rune just watched them, seemingly starstruck.

It should be two rats every two weeks. I can tell him that. Darvi loosely curled around the arm chair.

Thank you! Ah. I've been trying to hint to him that he's underfeeding me, but sometimes I sneak a rat or two when he's not looking.

I'll tell him. He cares for you, so I'm sure he made an honest mistake. I'm sure he'll fix it.

He better, or I'll keep sneaking rats. And oh, also tell him that I like sunbathing. I know he thinks I'm nocturnal, but nothing's better than sleeping on the deck while the sun shines on my scales!

I'll tell him that too. Darvi unraveled from the chair arm and settled back into the seat before turning back into his true form.

Rune had taken about three shots during the time that Darvi was Speaking to Janus, so his head bobbled like a balloon.

"You're underfeeding Janus and she needs more time in the sun."

"W-What?" Rune looked to Janus, "Well, I'm sorry that I'm underfeeding you. But you never make it seem like you wanna go outside during the day. More sunbathing time it is! Thank you Darvi!" Janus moved from Rune's chair to Darvi's, and propped herself on Darvi's lap.

"She likes falling asleep out there. Common cold-blooded thing to do." Darvi took another drink, helping Janus make the transition. Changing forms had burned most of their buzz, but they could get it back.

"Oh, so now you'd rather be with Darvi than me, huh?" Rune chuckled, "Understandable. It's easier to connect with someone that speaks your language. That's super cool, though."

Darvi chuckled. "If she ever seems unhappy, you can bring me in. I'm not a vet, but it's easier to help someone you can talk to."

"Mhm..." Rune filled Darvi's glass back up, "It's the same for humans, too. Sometimes I talk to them and I don't even know what they're saying, even if it's english. I'll have to call you in for those times too," Rune chuckled with him.

"I got you." They held out their hand for a fist bump. Okay, maybe they were still a little buzzed.

Rune fist bumped them and smirked, "You're fun to hang out with, Darvi. Seriously."

There was a quiet knock on the door.

Darvi wiped his forehead. "Made extra plans in case I was lame?"

"Never," Rune stood, only to find that it was extremely hard to walk. He stumbled over to the door and opened it, revealing Sefarina, "Oh, look who it is!" Rune opened the door wider, "Come on in Captain!"

"Sefarina!" Darvi grinned. "You look beautiful."

Rune rolled his eyes and stumbled back to the chairs, "Oh no. Did Rina rizz you, Darvi?"

"I think one would say I rizzed her."

Rina coughed. "Wow, you are drunk drunk."

"Hey, I deserve it for dealing with all this shit," Rune raised an eyebrow, "And I haven't gotten drunk since... you know, so all good on this side!" He poured himself and Darvi another glass of bourbon, "Have you come to join us?"

"I just heard a lot of noise and thought I would track it down." Sefarina sighed softly.

"Sounds like you," Rune nodded, "Come, have a drink. We just finished talking about what we would do if we were Zodiacs, and Darvi so politely talked to Janus for me."

"Sounds like you two had fun."

"Join us, Sefarina! Come onn. For me?"

"Join you how exactly?"

"Sit," Rune pulled over the third chair, and poured another glass of bourbon-- this time for Sefarina, "and here. Let loose a little."

"It makes you feel all warm and fuzzy."

"I think I'll survive," Rina chuckled, "but I can sit down for a little."

Rune made a face and poured what remained in Rina's cup into his, "More for me, then!"

"More for us, you mean!"

"Oh yes," Rune snatched Darvi's cup and poured half of his into theirs. The alcohol slightly spilled all over Rune's lap, but he didn't care. He handed the glass back to Darvi.

"Cheers!" They wobbled their glass before drinking half of it in one sip.

"Cheers, matey!" Rune did the same, eventually glancing at Sefarina, "I'm surprised Aquarius hasn't driven you mad by now, fam! She's a handful, y'know."

"She's quite the character but Gray seems to have taken to her quite a bit, so she's mostly over there doing her thing."

Rune nodded, "Glad she's found someone here."

"Gray's mean. If someone makes him nicer, I think we'll all win."

"I think that calls for a...." Rune raised his glass again, waiting for Darvi to finish his sentence.

"Cheers!" Darvi raised her glass.

They clanked glasses and took one large gulp.

"Sefarina, why do you look so sad?" Darvi wiped their lips. "We're having fun."

"I'm doing alright." She flashed them both a small but tired smile.

"You should sleep," Rune looked at Rina with a worried look on his face, "We can't have our captain too tired to navigate, right?"

Darvi frowned. "Talk to usss."

"Uhhh sleep is not an unwise option yess." She nodded slowly.

"I can walk you to your room." Darvi wiped their forehead.

"I think we all need to sleep, honestly," Rune chuckled, slightly leaning in his seat.

"It does look thas way, but I think before we get to that I'd like to know more about what the two of you have been plotting in here."

"Just what I told you earlier, Snakes and Zodiacs and thoughts on everyone here so far. Darvi talked to Janus for me. I think we've been secretly planning on how to finish this bottle, quicker, without noticing it, too." Rune held up the empty bottle.

"We finished it?" Darvi gasped. "Wowww."

"Record timing too! I think the fastest I've ever finished one was in a full day. We did it in an hour," Rune chuckled.

"Woooo."

"Hmmm. Look like I should probably rephrase the bit of fun thing," Sefaring giggled. "Anything in particular that got you both drinking."

"We're besties now!" Darvi waved her hands.

Rune high fived Darvi, "Yep! Drinking buddies always become besties. Though, don't worry, nobody can replace you Sef."

"We can all be besties now!!" Darvi grinned. "Though, Sefarina and I are a bit more." He giggled.

Sefarina giggled. "You guys really had a big moment to cherish there or least to get through half of that bottle. Anything I need to know?"

"Nothing important," Rune leaned back in his chair.

Darvi sighed. "You two need to talkkk. You're both upset and you guys are best friends and you need to talk before it gets worse." He downed the rest of his glass. "Please!"

"Hmmm. Well that sounds just a little bit important there."

Rune almost choked, "Uh... I mean. I'm not mad. Just dissapointed. But it's fine, I'm fine. Rina and I are fine."

"Come onnnn. Let's talk and make up." Darvi grabbed both of their shoulders. "Come on."

"Hmmm. What makes you disappinted to that degree?"

Rune groaned, "I just wish you would've told Aquarius to hold on so you could talk to me about it first, that way we could've came to an agreement together-- or atleast talked to me about it as soon as you said yes. I didn't like the way I found out. And I have my own personal reasons, that you know about, as to why I don't want to lose anymore people on a ship, and a child is a huge liability. That's all. It's not a big deal, honestly. I'll get over it, I'm a grown man," he chuckled awkwardly, slightly embarassed.

"Welll I'm sorry about that, Aquarius took us all a little bit by surprise there."

"But we make decisions as a team, especially one that big-- a whole Zodiac who's a child joining our crew," Rune flashed a quick smile, "It's okay, though. Hopefully she'll be okay."

"Sorry." Rina held her head in her hands. "I was being stupid in that moment."

"No," Rune took her hand, "It's okay. You're not stupid. We make mistakes, as do I sometimes. Everyone does. It's all good here. You're still like a sister to me, and siblings have disagreements. No need to blame anyone, now. We talked about it, it's done." Rune smiled lightly.

"Oh I don't blame you at all. I've just bee doing horribly all week. Just my own fault."

"Neither of you have been horribleee. Two peope disagreeing doesn't mean one is horrible." Darvi groaned.

"No you haven't been doing horrible, Rina," Rune moved infront of her "You've been great. And doing what you're doing is hard. I'm not saying you blamed me, I'm saying you should stop blaming youself. Don't forget why Sag picked you-- because you're the most reliable out of everyone on Sag's ship. Don't undermine yourself just because of this one little incident. You've been doing fine."

"I try. But it has been more than just the one incident."

"Forget everything else, focus on the present and the future. What happened in the past doesn't matter," Rune was a bit bobbly still, but looked like he was trying to get somewhat sober.

"Can I? Would that be responsible?"

"Yes, it'd be the most responsible thing to do in order for you to have a clear head and mindset, Rina," Rune lifted her chin, "Keep your head up. Let's show the Zodiac's what a great leader Sefarina Santiago is."

"Well I'm only a great leader cause I have a great second in command."

Rune smiled and blushed, "Oh, stop it. You're the one that vouched for me. If it wasn't for you, I'd still be back at Sag camp."

Darvi sniffled. "You guys are so fucking sweet. My best friends getting along again."

Sefarina leaned in and gave Darvi a gentle kiss on the cheek. "Drunk you is definitely getting recorded for future weaponizing."

Darvi grinned. "A beautiful woman just kissed me, Rune. I'm so lucky." He turned to Sefarina. "Are you single?"

Sefarina giggled. "Ooh my. A beautiful Darvi asking me if I'm single." She fanned herself looking very taken aback. "Whatever shall I do?"

"Offer to be my girlfriend." Darvi's grin felt too big for her face.

"Awww." Sefarina swooned dramatically. "Oh please dear Darvi, could I be your girlfriend? I would be so honored."

Darvi grinned. "That's how you rizz, Rune."

Sefarina fell to her knees. "All hail the Champion of Rizz DarRizz Esther."

Rune laughed, "I'll take notes, Zodiac Darvi!"

Darvi raised their empty glass. "Yeah!"

Sefarina grined and patted Darvi on the pack. "Zodiac Darvi, now that just sounds so very right."

"it's never gonna happen."

"It might," Rune shrugged, "I'd vote for ya. If we did have the chance to vote."

"Gemmy would have to die."

Rune looked at Darvi with a smirk on his face, "Oh, really? Sounds like we have some planning to do." he joked.

"Don't make me arrest you. I can beat you in a fight." Darvi snorted.

Rune raised a challenging eyebrow, "Hm. That's a strong assumption. Maybe you could, but you'd have to catch me first. And my shadows are pretty convincing, if I do say so myself. Not many people even make it past them. If you did, I think I'd still put up a good fight... maybe."

"Gemmy doesn't have to die. That's such a strong word. We can convince her to retire from life. For legal purpose, this is a joke." She winked heavily.

"That works too," Rune chuckled.

Darvi sniffled. "It's my legal job to stop you."

Rune smiled, "So you're saying..." he leaned forward, "If I went to... convince Gemini to retire, you'd try to stop me, even if that means you'll be guarenteed her spot? Hypothetically, of course."

"Retire from life? Yes." Darvi snorted. "Also, I wouldn't be guaranteed shit. The stars hate my ass."

"But if you were garanteed shit, would you still stop me?"

"Legally, of course."

"Why?" Rune made a face, "What if... just why? You did say earlier you always wanted to be a Zodiac."

Darvi grumbled. "Don't worry about it."

Rune frowned, "Nope. Now you gotta tell me. Or you're finishing a whole other bottle. And that won't be nice. Come on, spit it out Darv."

Darvi hid their face and mumbled it.

"What was that?" Rune put a hand to his ear, "A little louder."

Sefarina proceeded to whip out..an energy bar, munching on it like popcorn as she watched the exchange.

"She was my first crush!" Darvi groaned. "Oh stars."

"Oop--" Rune broke out laughing, and ending up rolling on the floor, "Gemini was your first crush? Oh my stars. That is funny."

"Shut the fuck up, Rune! I was nineteen. It was my first job."

"You crushed on your boss, who is also Gemini, who is also crazy," Rune chuckled, trying to catch his breath, "That is hilarious. That made my night. If it makes you feel any better, I had a crush on my superior as well. Not Sag, though, just someone I worked with back in the day."

Sefarina snickered. "And old habits die hard it looks like cause guess who's crushing on their boss again."

"You shut the fuck up." Darvi felt like there were about to melt. "That is clearly completely different."

"We're just messing with you, Darvi," Rune finally found the strength to get up, and wobbled to secure himself on the wall, "The More You Know: Darvi Esther Special Edition. Great lore right there. Comical."

"I regret telling you." Darvi groaned. "Last thing I need is you blackmailing me."

"I would never," Rune looked concerned, "And even if I did, that's not even good blackmail."

Sefarina giggled. "Rune is a blackmail expert." She winked. "Okay more like a black male expert. If you want some dirt of your own."

"It's a ship of queers."

"I am not!" Rune turned a bright shade of red and turned from them, "Rina is a sick female expert, if you know what I'm getting at. Since we all wanna be 'experts' in something."

"Dude, if you're gay, it's chill. I'm gay. Rina's gay. Belinda's gay. June's gay. Probably the ship is gay."

Rune grumbled a barely audible response.

Darvi put a hand to their ear. "Come on."

"I like men and women," He said quickly, back still turned, "But nobody knows that."

Darvi lifted their hands. "I won't tell a soul."

"Thanks. My parents would be... very upset, to say the least," Rune finally turned around and sat down, cracking another bottle open, "This calls for a drink."

"That sucks dude. Those people are rare nowadays. Do they live in some old-times cult?"

"My mother follows Christian values," Rune sighed, and drank straight from the bottle, "My father just... is my father. He doesn't like anything I do."

"That's fucking weird man. Christianity like that is dying out."

"They're very weird."

"Yep," Rune handed the bottle to Darvi.

Darvi poured himself a glass. "This ship would kick their asses. You know that?" She passed it back to him.

"Oh, yeah," Rune took the bottle and took another swig, "I wish. They would run before we even got a chance."

"I'm fast. They can't outrun a cheetah."

"Aha!" Rune grinned, "Indeed they can't!" He took another drink.

Darvi took another swig too. "We'll get those fuckers."

Rune glanced at Darvi and Rina, "I appreciate you guys. Good friends indeed. Here's to fucking up this expedition, one stop at a time!" Rune raised his glass.

Darvi raised theirs. "Fuck yeah!"

Rune clanked glasses with Darvi and took the liquor down with ease. Darvi quickly followed suit, finishing the glass off. Rina giggled at the two of them, smiling fondly.

Rune yawned, and slumped back in his chair, "Alright, guys I think we should call it a night. I need to sleep."

Rina checked her watch. "Oh yup, that's late. Naim said land could be up ahead, we might actually have to be up and about tomorrow. Best get that sleep."

Rune nodded and unsteadily moved to lay on his bed, "Okay, G'night fam."

Darvi stumbled up to grab Sefarina's hand. "Can I walk you back, captain?"

"I think I can walk you back Darvi." She giggled. "As cute as that offer is, you're the one with trouble walking."

"It's my job to be the escort." Darvi opened the door.

"I think just this once we can switch it up just a little."

"Nahhh." Darvi leaned against the door, slowly slipping down.

"Sweetie you're barely upright as it is. Let me help youu."

"I'm fineeee."

"Are you now?"

Darvi nodded.

"How about we try it? Your cabin is right on the other side of mine anyway."

"Fineee. I'm basically walking you to yours anyways."

"That's my partner. Come along then. Let's get to this cabin. Just on the other side of this one."

"Can'ttt. You can sleep there because Sidney is already there."

"Awww I'll sleep in my cabin honey, you can go guard Sidney."

"So we walk to your cabin and tuck you in."

"Yours firstt."

"I can't tuck you in if I'm in my cabin."

"I can tuck myself in Darvi, don't worry."

"But you don't have to."

"I knowwww."

"So help let me."

Sefarina huffed and pulled Darvi into her arms. "Come along young Darvi."

Darvi squeaked.

Sefarina giggled as he practically carried Darvi across to their cabin.

"What did Rune mean by you being a sick girl expert? Does he think I'm sick?"

"No honey."

"Then what did he meannn? Tell meee."

"He was talking about Idrisss. At least I'm pretty sure."

"Do you like Idris?" He leaned against her.

"I think Idris is amazing."

"Amazing how?"

"I think she's very resilient and very hardworking and worthy of admiration for surviving through the horros that she did."

"But do you... like like her?"

"Whatever do you mean?"

"Like... d you wat to kiss her?

"Ohhhh. I think she's cute, but I've never considered her that way. I'm always trying to make sure she's getting the care she needs."

"Why don't you think about it?"

"I guess I've been too busy thinking about her needs and getting her medicine and making sure that she's treating herself well."

"Why? Do you want to kiss her?"

"Hmm? What do you mean why?"

Darvi sighed. "Look. I... I don't mind if you like Idris. I... might like multiple people too. So, if you want to get with Idris, I don't mind. Is all."

"No I mean I genuinely don't know. I haven't thought of this." She pouted. "I'm just wondering where this is coming from."

"Rune said you were an expert after you teased him for liking men."

She giggled. "Well I have spent a lot of time with her. I could see myself liking her like that I suppose. If she's willing. The poor thing doesn't exactly have great experiences. She might not be ready for a relationship or want one at all."

"She seems to worship you."

Sefarina huffed. "She seems to finally trust I want to help her."

"And follows you everywhere and lets you cradle her. If you laid down on the floor, I'm sure she would curl up and sleep on you like a cat."

Sefarina giggled. "I don't know about that."

"I do."

"Well maybe I'll think on it more if you insist." Sefarina huffed.

"Thank you. Now let's tuck you in."

"Let's get you to bedd."

"You to bed."

"You to bed."

Darvi huffed.

Sefarina giggled and carried Darvi to the door.

"There you aree darling. Off you go to get some sleep."

Darvi huffed. "Fine. At least you don't have to tuck me in. I'll be up in an hour to check the ship. So, don't even worry about it."

Sefarina frowned. "An hour is wayy too little."

"Gotta do my patrols for an hour. Than sleep for another hour."

Sefarina hummed to herself for a moment. "You can skip this one patrol."

"But then I'll sleep for two hours and be more tired for my next patrol."

Sefarina huffs. "You're going to be hungover."

"I'll make it work."

"Or? Hear me out. Brilliant idea. Just take a couple of extra hours of sleep."

"Sleeping for that long is uncomfortable."

"Oh I didn't realize. Up to you then honey."

"It hurts my back to hide under the nightstand."

"Why are you hiding under the nightstand?"

"Best place to sleep. Turn into a little bug and hide away."

"There's a bed?"

"Too exposed. Can be stabbed from any angle. Plus, Sidney's there."

"But good sleep? Also who's going to stab you?

"Pirates."

"There are no pirates out here."

"How do I know?"

"Because there's been nothing out for about a day now."

"All it takes is one night."

Sefarina huffed. "So everyone else is just going to get stabbed?"

"Nooo. That's why I do constant patrols."

Sefarina huffed. "Then you can do patrols but sleep normally?"

"No. If I slept for five hours straight, that would be five hours no one knew what was happening on board."

"Not every day if that's such a big problem, just today because of your hangover."

"Who's going to watch the ship then?" Darvi stumbled to Sefarina. "I have to keep everyone safe or they'll die and it'll be all my fault."

"I'll take over for tonight."

"Nooo. Captain needs to sleep." Darvi was sinking against Sefarina.

"I'm alright to miss a bit of sleep."

"Pleaseeee." Darvi wrapped around Sefarina.

"Awww what do you need?"

"You tucked in bed all sleepy."

"Finee." Sefarina pouted and made her way into her cabin.

Darvi grinned and held the door open. "Come on."

She slipped inside and towards the bed.

Darvi stumbled to her.

She scooped Darvi up and set him down on the bed. "Now you are getting some sleep."

Darvi squeaked. "S-Sefarina. Your beddd." She didn't let go of Sefarina.

Sefarina climbed in too."Now you have no avenues of escape."

Darvi huffed and curled around Sefarina.

Sefarina grinned and pulled them close.

"I'm still gonna get up to patrol..."

"Sure you will Darvi."

"I will. I-" He yawned. "You're so warm."

"Awwww I'm glad you find it warm and comfy." Sefarina gently patted his back.

Darvi felt their eyes slipping closed. "So..."

They were asleep before they could finish.

Juniper stood at her work table, wearing a bright green lab coat and surgical goggles. Her fingers traced her instruments, ranging from clusters of dormant stem cells, each one a tiny universe of potential. June smiled to herself-- this was her favorite part about being a doctor. She slid on a pair of gloves and got to work, starting off with the vial labeled "GF Mix 7.3", a complex brew of growth factors. She swirled the vial gently, watching as the liquid caught the light from the lamp beside her.

She used a micropipette next to draw a small amount of the growth factor, and then she introduced those factors to the culture medium by surrounding the stem cells. The liquid dispersed, and a silent ripple of change began to spread across the microscope. She smiled even wider. She observed the first signs of response. The stems cells started to show signs of life. They elongated and shifted, their membranes shimmering as they aborbed the new instructions. The growth factors stimulated the cells to divide and proliferate.

She occasionally and carefully added in an abundance of nutrients and signaling molecules, which ensured optimal growth. This instructed some cells to become muscle tissue, others formed nerves, and others resembled blood vessels. She felt as though she was conducting a biological orchestra.

Once everything looked good, June performed a number of checks on the stem-cells. She scanned for markers of differentiation, and confirmed that the cells had transformed into the desired types she wanted. She looked into the microscope again, one last time, and noticed how beautiful everything was turning out: she saw the new tissue forming in stunning detail, each cell moving dramatically under her glass sheet. She was ready.

She looked out the door and called for Sefarina, "Rina! Idris! I wanna try something!"

Rina practically came running in with Idris held in her arms. Idris looked... radically different. She was free of dirt and her hair was clean and softly curled. She smelled... nice. Like soft, floral soap. And she was wearing a yellow dress with little daisies on it.

Juniper looked shocked, but smiled wide, "Oh, my gosh! You look beautiful, Idris! I'm sorry to take you out of that dress, it's gorgeous, but I need you to put this one on," June reluctantly handed her a hospital gown, "and I promise after today, with what I've done, you'll feel so much better. I just know it! I'll explain the whole process once you have that on."

Idris took it and looked for a place to change.

"The bathroom is that door right there," June pointed to the long, wooden door next to her bed.

Idris nodded and entered.

June sat and waited for Idris to come out, leaning against her desk.

Idris came out again with the hospital gown on, flushing slightly at its short length.

"Take a seat on the medical chair for me," June smiled at her encouragingly, "Are you ready to start your first treatment?"

She nodded.

"Okay, so," Juniper started her explaination, "I'm going to start off by injecting these stem cells I created into your most prominent muscles. Like... your arms, abdomen, and calves. It shouldn't hurt one bit. The stem cells will begin to integrate with the existing fibers in your body, promoting regeneration and strengthing your body. With time, you'll feel the difference as you move more freely; and you'll be in less pain. How does that sound?"

Sefarina stood almost protectively behind Idris, looking like he was ready to fight the dieases itself if it came to that.

Idris seemed to be tense at the idea of a needle, but just nodded.

"Like I said, It won't hurt," June picked up the vial of stem cells and put them into a syringe, "You shouldn't even feel a pinch. I'm pretty good at this. Only the untrained doctors make it hurt."

She walked over to Idris and flicked the syringe before rolling up Idris' sleeves, "You ready? First one's going in now."

Idris yelped and tore herself away. She coughed and wheezed, leaning away from the needle.

Idris looked at Rina, "Can you get a tissue for her? I would, but my hands are sterile," she looked back at Idris, "There's nothing to be afraid of, hun. It won't hurt, and you should feel significantly better instantly. And I won't have to do this again, unless we need to. And after this first one, you'll want to do it again. I promise."

Idris whimpered, covering her face. She was clearly ashamed, but didn't seem to calm down.

"Do you wanna wait?" June took a step back, "I can wait, though I think it'd be better if we do it now. It's up to you, Hun."

Idris looked up to Sefarina. Sefarina was already there with the tissue gently holding it out to Idris as she held her gently.

"Are you afriad of needles sweetie? Do you want to look at me while June does? Focus on me so you won't even notice it going in?"

Idris nodded.

"Okay, I won't even countdown. I'll just do it, and once it goes in, you won't even realize it's done. Okay?"

Idris nodded, not looking away from Sefarina.

June flicked the syringe again, just for goodluck, and gently inserted the needle into Idris' arm. She pushed the toggle down, and before she knew it, she retracted and held the empty syringe in the air, "Look. All done. Did you feel that?"

Idris shook her head.

"See, I told you!" June smiled, "And you did great. How do you feel?"

She shrugged.

"Stand up, walk around. You should feel even better tomorrow, but I want you to let me know how moving around is. Does your step feel a bit lighter? Flail your arms, do they move better?"

Idris sat up, blinking slightly. She stood up.

Juniper just watched in anticipation, hands glued together.

Idris gasped slightly, bouncing on her toes.

"Sooo?" June asked, giggling.

Idris did a thumbs up. Sefarina clapped, letting out a little cheer.

"Yay!" June clapped with Sef, "Can we continue with the next three injections?"

Idris nodded, still hesitant, but laid down on the chair.

"Look at Rina for me," June filled another syringe and put on a new pair of gloves. Idris complied, giving Sefarina a small smile.

Juniper didnt say anything and instead bent down to be near Idris caf. She injected the next one, "Now test this one out. All done."

Idris swung her leg.

"Sooo?"

Idris grinned.

"I'm so glad it's working! I knew it would do something, but ah!" June smiled wide, "Okay, we have one more injection, but this one's going in your abdomen. It should help repair anything going on internally. But like I said, it may take a few days to feel the effects. Ready?"

Idris nodded.

Juniper refilled the syringe again, "Lay down flat for me and open your gown a bit so I can get to your abdomen. This one should just complete the whole thing."

Idris laid down and slowly opened the gown just a bit.

June injected the last shot quickly, and took a step back, "Now sit up without using your arms. Can you do it? Does it hurt?"

Idris grunted as she slowly sat up. She was a little out of breath, but she had managed to do it.

"Were you able to do that before, Hun?" June asked and grabbed a notebook, scribbling some notes down. She wrote about how Idris took the medicine, her reactions, and the gameplan from this point on.

Idris shook her head.

"Yay!" June sat down at her desk, "I'll be sure to document all of this, and you're all set. How's that Aloe plant treating you?"

Idris slowly slipped off of the chair and nodded.

"Ahh this is beautiful to see. Thank you so much June for all the work you've put in."

"Of course! The pleasures all mine!" Juniper said happily.

Idris pulled out a slip of paper. "Thank you" She drew a small heart next to it.

Juniper giggled and smiled wider, "You're welcome, Hun! Now go get some rest. The next few days, my doctors orders are that you rest, eat, and sleep. Okay?"

Idris nodded, yawning loudly.

"That's normal," June reassured Idris, "After injections like these, you're gonna be tired. But nothing to worry about. You need sleep anyways!"

Idris hummed and rubbed her eyes and slowly stood up. Exhaustion seemed to take over her small frame. She slowly hugged June, resting against her stomach for a moment.

June embraced her and rubbed Idris' head soothingly with her nails, "Aw, poor thing. Soon you'll be in your bed, nice and asleep."

Idris shivered, humming in contentment.

"Rina, can you take her to her room and make sure she gets some rest?" June looked to Rina.

Rina nodded."Of course. I'll make sure she gets all the rest that she needs."

Idris looked to Rina and smiled shyly.

"Good," June guided Idris over to Rina, and started walking towards the door, "Let me open this for you. Thank you again for trusting me. I promise I won't let you down!"

Idris clung to Rina, sinking into her side. Rina smiled softly, gently escorting her out.

"Thank you again June, you've been amazing. Take care of yourself."

Idris hummed and weakly waved. They made their way out.

June sighed and closed the door behind them, leaning against it. She slid down the door slowly. This was going to be a wild ride, but Juniper was more than ready for it.

Belinda didn't know exactly when Darvi started to see her as a rival.

She liked to think that they had a happy childhood. Their parents were loving and supportive. She never had a moment where she felt like they weren't proud of her. So what made Darvi so bitter? Did he just feel entitled to the spotlight?

The two of them were never quite close. She would hear her friends wish they had a twin. A twin was supposed to be your best friend for life. But Darvi never seemed to get that memo. Belinda would be lying if she said it didn't sting.

"Darvi! Darvi! Mom said she was going to take us to the bookstore today." Belinda grinned, leaning against Darvi's doorframe. "Do you want to come?"

Darvi sat at their desk, chewing thoughtfully on a pencil as they scanned a large textbook. He sighed, rubbing her temples with the heel of her palm. "I can't. I'm studying for the algebra test."

Belinda snorted. "Studying? For that? It's so easy. A baby could take that test."

Darvi hunched over their desk. "Maybe it's easy for you, Belinda! But that doesn't mean everyone who struggles with it is a baby."

"Wait, you're struggling? Like, don't understand it?"

"Clearly, Belinda! Otherwise, I wouldn't be studying. Would I?" Darvi snapped his head towards her.

"I mean, it's high school algebra. I took that ages ago." She giggled. "Wait until you get to college algebra."

"Get out."

Belinda was taken aback. "What?"

"I said, get out!"

She stood in the doorway, her fists curling. "Fine then! Stay at your desk forever, for all I care!" She slammed the door shut behind her.

She sighed. It was rather disappointing to think of events like that. She was sure there had to be a better way to handle it. But, two kids weren't exactly the best candidates for conflict management.

Belinda looked to Juniper. She was at her desk, white dreads pulled up into an intricate braid. She was writing something, going over notes of some sort, "So, Belinda," she hummed, "I figured out how I'm going to cure Idris. But, it's gonna take some time. I have all the elements figured out, from the stem cells to the hydrotherapy to the meditation tactics, but I don't know. I mean, it looked like she was healing already when I gave her the medicine, but who knows? What if something goes wrong?"

Belinda walked over and started massaging her shoulders. "You've already done more for Idris than anyone in a long time. I'm sure everything will turn out okay."

Juniper pondered for a moment and seemed to sink into Belinda's massage, "What would I do without your amazing hands, Belly?" June groaned slightly and closed her eyes, "But what if? Like... What if she doesn't recover fully? Then what?"

"I'm sure she'll still be better off, even if she doesn't fully recover." Belinda sighed. "I won't lie. It's been so long that she may not ever be fully as strong as someone her age should be. But, she'll still have a chance to live. One she didn't have before you." She gently kissed June's head.

"That's the thing," June spun around but held Belinda's arms in place on her shoulders, "I want to make history. I want to prove to everyone, everything, including the stars, that I can do this. That I can somehow twist fate and make her stronger, and fully recovered. I can do it, I know it, but I need more time. Who knows how long this expedition is going to take? Once I'm done here, my mom will request for me back at her ship, and I might not see Idris again. I need to figure this out."

"I'm sure your mom will be nothing but supportive of you. And if she's not, then that's something we can figure out together." Belinda sighed. "A lot of things are uncertain once we're off this ship, but I don't want to lose you."

"If the stars can help it, you'll come back with me, right?" June asked, slightly concerned, "I... there's a place for you in Virgo. You can be a teacher, a librarian... a writer, anything you want."

"We'll make it work." Belinda grinned. "It'll be our own adventure."

June grinned with her and pulled Belinda closer to her by her waist, "Speaking of adventures... when are we telling Darvi about us? How do you think she'll react?"

Belinda sucked on her teeth. "We need to tell him sooner than later. I don't want him finding out through someone else or piecing things together."

"Well, if they don't like it, I don't care," June bit her lip in concentration, "All that matters is whether you're happy. And I hope you know it doesn't matter what he thinks. They sometimes... I've heard they tend to overreact sometimes. That can be a good thing or a bad thing in this situation."

Belinda sighed. "We shall find out."

"I'll go with you," June blurted, "Would you like that? Or would you rather do it alone?"

"I'd like the moral support. I just hope that you don't think of me differently if... it gets ugly." She averted her gaze.

June chuckled, "Belly Bee, my love, I could never look at you differently." June poked her in the belly playfully.

Belinda shrieked, squirming. "Don't you start, ma'am."

"Ooh, I'm ma'am now?" June started tickling her.

Belinda fell into cackling, squirming. "June! No!"

June finally let up and sighed in happiness, "Come on' butterscotch," June held out a hand, "lets go handle this. Once we get it out of the way, I'm sure you'll feel much better."

Belinda huffed and took her hand. "Attack me and then try to act like the bigger person. Wow."

"It was the best kind of attack," Juniper kissed her on the cheek.

Belinda sighed. "Let's go then."

Juniper nodded.

"Darvi's probably trying to beat the world record for how quickly someone can eat lunch right now. So, let's check the dining room."

"Sounds good!" June said.

The two of them walked to the dining room, and sure enough Darvi was there. Devouring chicken and rice like it was a sin.

"I don't understand how you eat that for every meal."

Darvi looked up. "Hmm?"

"Hey, Darvi!" June smiled and slid into a seat across from him.

Belinda sat beside her. "So, we have something to tell you."

Darvi looked up. "Oh? What is it?"

Juniper swayed as if music was playing, "I found the loveeeeee.... for meeeeee...."

Darvi blinked. "What?"

"We're... dating." Belinda sighed.

Juniper tried to break the awkwardness, "Darlinggg just dive right innn.... Follow my leeeeead!"

Darvi looked between the two of them. "Oh. Okay. Hope you have fun."

Juniper paused her singing and looked skeptically at Darvi, "Hm. That was not expected, but I'm not complaining."

Belinda's mouth fell open. "Who are you and what did you do to Darvi?"

He shrugged. "Why would I care?"

June looked to Belinda, raising an eyebrow.

Belinda scoffed. "Because it's unprofessional? Unsafe for the crew? Cringe?"

"We're not cringe, we're in looooove," Juniper said dramatically, placing a hand over her forehead as if she was swoon.

"It's your life. Just try not to have an ugly break-up." Darvi went back to eating.

Belinda hummed, narrowing her eyes. Darvi was acting very differently. Much too calm. "You're getting some, aren't you?"

Darvi choked, doubling over.

Juniper grinned.

"Oh stars, you are!" Belinda giggled. "Who is it?"

"No one!" Darvi covered their face. "Shut up."

"Lemme guess, lemme guess... Hm. Sidney?" Juniper gawked at Darvi.

"Oh, absolutely not!" Darvi scoffed. "Holy Andromeda."

"Hmmm.... Willow?" June raised an eyebrow.

Belinda smirked. "It's Rina, isn't it?"

Darvi coughed loudly, hiding her face again.

"It is Rina!" Juniper pondered, "Huh. I never suspected Darvi as someone that would fall in love with the boss. Good for you, Darvi!"

Belinda giggled. "Oh, you haven't heard? Darvi finds women in power hot."

"I mean that's understandable," June shrugged, "I think the same about you. Because you have power over me," June winked.

"Oh stars I didn't have to know that. Oh fuck." Darvi covered their ears.

"Oh, stop it, Darvi," Juniper smiled at him, "How'd that happen between you and Rina, anyways?"

"She invited me to... a tea party."

Belinda cooed. "Darvi likes the cliches."

"Shut up!" Darvi waved their hand.

"A tea party? Like... I'm confused," Juniper looked puzzled, "What kind? Did you sit on little chairs and sip out of a teacups like destinguished people, with your pinkies up?"

"We drank tea. And... talked." Darvi messed with the rice on their plate. "About stuff. And kissed."

"Sefarina and Darvi sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G," Juniper hummed.

"First comes tea!"

"Then comes the feelings!" Juniper added.

"And then comes the adult kissing!"

"We're just pulling your leg," Juniper chuckled, "Good for you, though, Darvi. Maybe she'll help you enjoy life while you still can. Take a break and go on a baecation after this or something."

Belinda took Darvi's hand. "I am very happy for you. You deserve to be happy, even though you seem allergic to it. Breathe, girl. I hope you enjoy it."

June nodded.

Darvi sighed. "Thanks, Belinda. I hope Juniper is your fairytale girl."

Belinda giggled. "She's better than a fairytale."

"Aw, shucks," Juniper blushed, "I try. I'll also protect Belly Bee with my life, I promise. So don't worry, Darvi."

"Good." Darvi smiled. "Or the captain and I will team up to hide your body."

June paled, "Mr. Flytrap and Mrs. Mugwort wouldn't like that. Then who would water them?!"

"I'll take care of them, Junebug." Belinda patted her wrist.

"Don't hurt Belinda and you don't have to worry about that." Darvi smiled.

"Well, I have poison on my side." Belinda grinned. "And I'm not afraid to take down the captain."

"We don't need to take down anyoneeee." June grinned, "I could also just make you sick enough to where you can't even move to catch me. But like. That would take a lot of brainpower. So I'd rather not. And I don't like doing mean things. But like I said... I don't intend on letting anything hurt my snuggle muffin, so no worries here!"

Belinda giggled and snuggled into Juniper. "My knight in flower power armor."

"Ooh. Flower power armor..." June contemplated, "That needs to happen!"

"Yes!"

"We should work on that! We can make you some too, my BumbleBee!"

Belinda gasped. "We should!"

"Yay! Darvi, you want some too?" June looked to Darvi.

Darvi cleared their throat. "I'm good. Thanks for the offer."

"Party pooper," Juniper frowned, "When is your birthday, Darvi?"

"Same as hers."

"For ya'll birthday, I'm going to give you both flower armor!" June clapped.

Belinda squealed. "Yay!"

Belinda always liked birthdays. Not just hers, but others' birthdays. She liked giving people presents. That's why she was so happy to be a twin! She shared a birthday. She got to give gifts and get them.

But Darvi? Darvi always seemed to hate their birthday.

They were turning twelve today! Which was such a big deal! Belinda was so excited.

"Darvi! What are you hoping to get today?" Belinda was painting her nails a lilac color while she rested on her stomach on the floor. "I wonder if we're old enough for Mom to give us makeup."

Darvi was trying on a button-up shirt, trying to find a position to make her chest look flat. "I don't want makeup."

"But everyone at school is wearing it! It looks so pretty." Belinda sighed longingly. "Maybe it'd make your face look less angry."

"Makeup's so girly." Darvi ruffled their hair, trying to make it look messy. Dad had taken her to get it cut short. Like super short. They both always had long hair and now Darvi barely looked like Belinda anymore. How were they supposed to switch places now?

"What's wrong with being girly? A girly girl got her constellation before you! You still don't have it."

Darvi froze. "I think I'm ready now." She quickly left, shutting the door behind her.

Belinda sighed. Darvi was so senstive! She always said something mean and then as soon as Belinda defended herself, Darvi got all snappy. It wasn't fair!

She blew on her nails, trying to get them to dry faster. Darvi was so stupid. She wanted a fun twin sister who liked her and treated her nice but all she got was a big poopy head who thought girly stuff was dumb and hated being with her.

She groaned and stood up. She should check on the party.

As soon as she stepped out, Mom swept her into a hug. "Happy birthday, precious girl!"

Belinda giggled. "Thanks, Mom!" She pulled away and held out her hands. "Look! I did my nails."

Mom grinned, admiring her work. "Great job, baby."

Belinda did a little twirl. "Where's Darvi?"

Mom sighed. "I'm not sure. But don't worry about her. Enjoy your day, baby."

Belinda grinned. "Okay!" She ran into the kitchen to snack before the party.

~

The party was so much fun! All of Belinda's friends came over. And Darvi's weird friend came over, so Darvi wasn't mean to her or her friends.

But, then it was time for presents. Belinda got so many cool things, including an entire eyeshadow palette and three lip tints! She was so excited for Mom to teach her how to do makeup.

All of the wrapping paper was thrown away and the group was about to disperse back into games, when Mom and Dad came back out, grinning.

"Belinda, we have an extra special gift for you."

Darvi's head snapped to look, her eyes wide.

Mom kneeled in front of her. "We really should have given this to you a few years ago, but we were waiting for Darvi to be able to get hers." She glanced at Darvi with a frown before looking back to Belinda. "But it's clear she's taking her sweet time, so you shouldn't have to wait."

Darvi took a step back, but Belinda ignored her. This wasn't about her.

Mom pulled her hands from behind her back, holding a velvet jewelry box. Belinda gingerly took it ad opened it.

It was a snake pendant, inlayed with sparkling green gems. The chain was silver and looked so delicate, like it was woven by faires.

Mom smiled and gently put the necklace on her. "And you never have to take it off. Let it be the sign the stars love you."

Belinda grinned. "It's so pretty! I love it."

"It is. And now you match Dad and me. Our baby girl. The youngest of our family to get our constellation. You're so amazing."

A door slammed. Belinda looked up to see Darvi gone and her friend running out the door, probably chasing her.

Mom sighed and stood up. "Darvi!"

Dad groaned. "Don't. If she's going to throw a fit, let her tire herself out. She's not ruining Belinda's day."

Mom stared at the day before shrugging. "I guess." She kissed Belinda's head. "Darvi's just jealous. She knows she doesn't work as hard as you. Don't let her bother you."

Belinda giggled. "She's just being a poopy head."

Mom nodded. "Yes. A poopy head indeed."

Belinda giggled. "Maybe we can finally have a good birthday together, Darvi."

Darvi's face shifted, their body tensing. "We probably won't be out here long enough to celebrate together." He stood up. "I have things I need to do." He threw away his half-eaten lunch and put his plate in the designated tray before marching out of the room.

Belinda sighed. Still just as sensitive. Nothing ever changed.

Juniper sighed with her, "You okay?"

"Yeah. Darvi's just always been bitter. Bitter I got my constellation first. Bitter I got my dream job. She's chronically miserable. I'll be surprised if Sefarina and her last for more than a week. Darvi can just never seem to be happy."

Juniper frowned, "Well, Sef seems like the type of person that might bring the bitterness out. She might take it and throw away the key."

"I hope so." Belinda leaned against June. "For Darvi's sake."

June kissed her head, "You hungry while we're here?"

"Yeah, let's get some food."

Juniper got up and walked over to the buffet, Belinda on her arm. She spotted some blueberries, "Oh! My Favorite!"

"Blueberries are so good!"

Juniper playfully threw one at Belinda.

Belinda caught it in her mouth and grinned.

"Ooh! A secret talent is catching strawberries in your mouth?" June studied her and threw a piece of chicken on her plate.

Belinda did a twirl and caught it.

"A multi-talented girl!" Juniper clapped for her and whistled.

Belinda bowed.

Juniper grabbed her own piece of chicken, "I wonder if Gray can make smoothies."

"We can ask!" Belinda grinned.

"Well, I'm scared to. He seems so meann."

"I can ask."

"Awww," Juniper smiled, "You'd do that for me?"

"Of course!"

Juniper finished her plate with salad and waited for Belinda to finish her plate, watching with admiration.

Belinda made herself a hearty salad, adding a variety of vegetables and topping it all off with Italian dressing.

They made their way back to the table Darvi was sitting at, "Are you nervous at all? for this expedition?"

Belinda sat beside her. "A little bit."

"What are you nervous about?" Juniper picked at her salad.

"We have no idea what we're going to face."

"That's true... we gotta think of it like an adventure!"

"True!"

Idris had barely been in prison for a month. It was loud. It smelled like pee and blood and sweat. All the floors were sticky and the walls spoke of the endless horrors that they had witnessed. It was suffocating being around so many people that could snap on a dime.

But Idris belonged here. She would belong here for the rest of her life. She would be nothing but a prisoner. She would never have a life of her own. She killed her parents thinking it would save her, that she would learn what life was like outside of a box. But she was just put into another box with worse people. One that would kill her, that wanted to kill her.

Papa never wanted her to die. He just wanted her to be good. Maybe he wasn't so bad. Maybe Idris was just very, very evil. She sniffled, wiping her eyes. She had managed to scrape together a few coins to buy something from commissary.

"It's actually four coins miss, instead of three." The big, bulky man at the counter basically glared at her, "and you're holding up the line."

Idris was shaking and looked over the table. There was a small journal. Maybe that would be nice to have. She hesitantly pointed to it. "This?"

"3.50." The man said, "You need 50 more cents. Either cough them up, or get out of my line, freak."

Idris dug through her pockets and pulled out everything she had.

The guard looked over it with disgusted eyes, and took the extra change. He basically threw the journal at her, and then shut the window back before screaming, "NEXT!"

Idris flinched and picked the journal off the floor, hugging it to her chest. She ran off, looking at the floor to try and avoid trouble.

Another guard bumped into her as she ran, "No running! Do you not read or understand simple english? Get on, rat!"

She stopped running. "S-Sorry." She didn't look up, holding her journal protectively.

"Well get on, then! Before I take you to solitary!" he stared at her with the darkest eyes. He kept going, trying not to run but still trying to hurry.

The cell blocks were the heart of the prison, they twisted and turned in a serpetine motion; like a maze. The walls were constructed with black brick, their surfaces damp and cold to the touch. Each cell was a cramped, claustropobic cube, barely large enough to stand or lie down in, with narrow slits for windows that allowed only the faintest slivers of light to penetrate through. Idris heard the wailing and screams of the other prisoners, they knawed at her frail and sickly body as she stepped towards her own cell. Atleast she had the journal.

Another guard flashed before her, and the door magically opened wide, "Go on in. Don't make me regret allowing you an inch of freedom. Scram."

Idris hurried inside, sitting on her bed.

Idris' roommate, Ivory, was sitting in the corner, reading a book. She glanced up at Idris as she walked in, "Did you get food?" she asked desperately. Ivory wasn't in the best shape either: her eyes were sunken in, and she'd recently gotten over about four cases of food poisoning within the last month. Today, Ivory had her hair in an oily ponytail, her curly black hair somewhat framing her face. She also hadn't used the restroom in about a week, so the guards threatened to take her away and to the infirmary-- which honestly, was worse than the cells themselves.

The infirmary was a small room that composed of only one bed, and they were usually occupied by the more [i]wealthy patients. Others waited outside for hours, sometimes days, to be seen.

Idris shook her head. "Out."

Ivory groaned and accidently slammed the back of her head on the wall behind her, "Ouch!" she rubbed it, face full of pain.

"Sorry."

"Why are you apologizing?" Ivory leaned forward and picked up her book that fell, "Aren't you hungry?"

She shrugged. "Don't need much. But, was too slow for you."

"I was sleeping when they brought our trays around," Ivory stood and walked to the window, glancing outside, "Look! Idris! A butterfly! Come look!"

Idris walked over and looked through the window.

And sure enough, there was a butterfly flapping its wings in circles outside their cell. It's upper wings were made of an iridescent blue, shimmering like the surface of a lake. They seemed to glow with radiance, shifting through colors of sapphire and indigo. Along the edge, a border of velvety black framed the wings, dotted with tiny, pearl-like spots that glinted like stars. The lower wings told a different story, they were a softer, more subtle range of colors. Hues of sunset orange and gentle gold blended seamlessly. Delicate veins of crimson and amber traced their way across them, like rivers of molten lava.

"It looks like hope." Idris sighed.

"Have you ever seen a butterfly this beautiful?" Ivory smiled wide, her rotten teeth casting a mild smell in their small space.

She shook her head. "Never."

The butterfly ended up perched on one of the bars. Ivory tried to fit her hand out to reach it, but couldn't no matter how hard she tried.

"And it's out of reach." Idris sighed.

A loud knock came from outside the door. "I'm coming in." The door opened to reveal one of the prison's wardens, Gray.

Idris scrambled away from the widow, hiding her journal.

"Just a routine checkup, you two. Nothing major."

Ivory paused and moved to the corner. It seemed like she was trying to look as small as possible.

"Ivory, you reek. I swear, someone needs to send you to the infirmary." Gray said, putting a hand to his forehead.

She didn't respond. She just shook her head and studied him.

"Idris. What's behind your back?"

Ivory tried to distract him from Idris by throwing her book at him.

Gray did a full 180 turn and glared at Ivory. "You know, I really wasn't going to send you to the infirmary earlier. I wad thinking about it, but never did so. You're coming with me to the infirmary now."

Ivory shook her head violently.

Gray yanked Ivory off the ground, all the while glaring at Idris. "I'll be back later."

"Please! Don't let them hurt her!"

Gray scoffed. "You literally killed your parents with a shovel."

"She didn't! Let go! Let go!" She started tugging her away from Gray kicking and pushing him away.

"Oh, you want to go to the infirmary too? Okay. Maybe then you can get your wheezing thing checked out."

Ivory started screaming, "NO! Stop, Idris! I'll be fine!"

Idris started sobbing, coughing and wheezing as she tried to pull Ivory away. "P-Please."

Gray yanked both Idris and Ivory out of the room, quite literally dragging them across the concrete floor to the infirmary.

Ivory didn't make a sound, besides a slight squeal because of his tight grip.

Once they arrived, Gray plopped them on the floor of the infirmary and left.

The line wasn't long today, and by the time they got there the last person had just left from inside the room. It was cold, almost too cold, and the non-sterile medical equiptment stayed laid out all over the place. It smelled of death, more death, with an extra dose of death.

Ivory immediately crawled to the corner as an older woman walked inside, hunched over. She had eyes like a python, with bright, scarce, red hair that was intricately curled. She glared at the two girls, "Get on the bed. Now."

Idris was shaking, holding Ivory's wrist as they slowly backed on to the bed.

The woman leaned over them. She studied their faces, and then pulled a needle from her jacket, "Hold your arms out. The both of you."

Ivory shook her head, "No."

"Child, I said give me your arm. Now."

Ivory hesitated and looked away, holding a shaky arm out. The doctor punctured her in the wrist, and let the blood drip into a vial. She looked to Idris, "Your turn."

Idris whimpered. "P-Please---"

"You have no choice. Hold it OUT."

Idris started slowly holding her arm out.

The lady did the same to Idris, and held the vial under Idris' arm. She shook it up and put it into a machine next to them. The thing blinked red after a couple seconds. The doctor sighed. She turned back to the girls, "Ivory, you're up first. Follow me to this room."

Ivory took one last look at Idris and smiled faintly before following the lady into the room, "I'll be quick. Wait for me."

Idris nodded. "O-Okay. Be super quick."

Ivorny nodded with her, and slighty brushed her hand across Idris shoulder as she followed the doctor into the room. The door slammed behind them.

Within about thirty minutes, all Idris heard was screaming. And these weren't normal screams, these were bloody, gurgling screams that shook the whole area. It slowly faded, along with the violent shaking of the metal against wall. The doctors voice murmered through the door, "Fuck!"

All of a sudden, an alarm went off, and guards came rushing into the room.

Idris stood up. "IVORY! Ivory please! Ivory!"

The guards pushed Idris back to the floor and rushed into the other room.

"Is she dead?" One of them asked.

"What does it fucking look like? I don't know what happened!" The doctor's voice sounded a little too calm.

"Well, what'd you do?" Another guard asked.

"I just gave her some injections and she started seizing."

"She was able to scream while seizing?"

"I guess so, but she was screaming prior so maybe that's why," the doctor slammed something down on the table, "Time of death... ten forty one am."

Idris sobbed. "Ivory! Please! Where is she? She's not dead. Please!"

One of the guards poked his head out of the room, "Shut your trap! You shouldn't even be here! Know your place, rat!"

Idris sobbed, coughing into her elbow. Her entire chest ached. Everything ached. Ivory was dead. She was dead. She couldn't breathe. Ivory was dead. She was next. The doctor was going to kill her.

The guards finally came walking out, Ivory's body being carried by the bigger one. Her body was completely limp, and foam slash spit covered her clothes. Her mouth was hung open as if she'd been trying to breathe, and her eyes weren't closed. They didn't even bother closing her eyes for her.

Idris' stomach surged and she vomited on the floor. It was all bile, barely any of that. The only person ever kind to her. The guards made a disgusted face at her and looked back at the doctor, "The next one's ready for you, Doc," they chuckled and exited the room.

The doctor poked her head out, "Let's go. I've had a bad day. No time to waste."

Idris stumbled to her feet, tears still pouring down her face. She was next. Why? Why did Ivory die? No. She couldn't have. But she did. She did.

The doctor led her into the same room. It smelled of Ivory still. She gestured for Idris to sit on the same bed, which was covered in bodily fluids and smelled like death. It always smelled like death in here.

Idris shook her head. "A-Anywhere else. Please."

"Did you not hear me? I'm not in the mood to play games. Sit. Now."

Idris sat down, cringing. This was Ivory's blood. Ivory's dying breath.

The doctor took out some injections from a drawer and held Idris still, "Don't move, or the same thing that happened to your friend will happen to you. She wouldn't stop shaking."

Idris held deathly still, afraid of evening moving.

The woman pulled the syringe back and violently shoved the thing into Idris' thigh. She removed it quickly, as if it was an epi-pen. Idris cried out before freezing. "S-Sorry. Sorry. Sorry."

The doctor rolled her eyes and threw the needle in the trash, "You're free to go. The guards told me to tell you to take your cellmates things and put them near the door of your cell. Now get out of here."

Idris slowly stood up. She stumbled back to her cell, sobbing. Her thigh hurt. Her chest hurt. Her heart really hurt.

She glanced around, and noticed Ivory's bed half done, her book laid open on the floor, and there was really nothing else there. Besides her constellation book, which stayed hidden under her mattress. Idris saw her pull it out a couple of times, but everytime Idris asked about it, the answer was extremely vague. Something about accepting that you're nothing but a speck of life in this universe.

Idris took her books and hid them under her mattress. She wasn't going to let them take away the last bits of her only friend. She grabbed Ivory's blanket and put her face into it. She sobbed, rocking back and forth with it pressed tightly into her face. It was cold. Ivory would never warm it again. Ivory would never show her butterflies again. Ivory would never count the stars and use them to tell the future again.

Ivory would never see another again.

Idris would never be anything more than a prison. She would know nothing but death and hurt ever again. Any spark of joy was always doomed to extinguish in her hands. She would never grow old. She would never fall in love. She would never be free.

Never in a million years.[/i]

Idris woke up with a start, gasping for breath. Her chest felt like someone was sitting on it. "I-Ivory?" She looked around, gasping.

Ivory's smile. Ivory's screams. Ivory's death.

She wailed, covering her ears. When was the doctor coming? When was the doctor coming to kill her?

There was a knock on her door. "Honey?"

Idris screamed, slamming against the headboard. She was here. She was holding that needle ready to send her to Ivory.

The door opened and Sefarina came running in. "Baby? What's going on? Did you have a bad dream?"

It was Sefarina. Just Sefarina. She would protect her from the doctor. She sobbed incoherently, choking on her sobs.

Sefarina immediately scooped her up. "I've got you sweetie. You're safe. You're safe."

Idris curled around her, shaking.

She softly stroked her hair. "Hold onto me angel. I'm here. I'm real. I'm not going to let anything bad happen to you."

Idris held on as tightly as she could. Sefarina held her gently, continuing to stroke her back, now dabbing gently at her cheeks with a tissue.

Idris' lip wobbled. She was going to lose Sefarina. She was going to lose everyone. And somehow she would end up in another cell, another shed, another waiting place for a hole in the ground.

"I've got you baby. You're free from that place now. You're with us. With me. Remember us going home together. We're free together. Living together. You're free baby."

Idris shook her head and weeped. Sefarina continued to rock her gently, hugging her as tightly as she could. "You won't lose any of us. Or ever go back into that prison."

She shook her head harder. It was inevitable. Idris was a curse. She had the infirmariy's death woven into her skin. She was the bad omen.

"Sweetie that's not going to happen. Remember what Willow said. You cheated death. You're a survivor. This is your chance now. You'll be free."

Idris reached for her paper. Serafine handed it to her along with a pen.

She wrote with shaking hands. everyone around me dies. I am a curse.

"No baby no. It won't happen. Not to us. We're a strong team."

Everyone is strong until they die.

"We'll be with you baby. I promise. We're not going to die."

No one survives. No one. I'm a curse. No one should be near me. No one died when I was in solitary.

Something fell out of the breast pocket of Sefarina's uniform as she pulled out another tissue to dab at Idris' eyes. It was a small photograph, printed on old paper, about the perfect size to fit in a small locket, pre cut into a circle. It smelled faintly of honeysuckle.

Idris picked it up, locking confused at Sefarina.

"Oh sorry sweetie. Just an old photo of mine. I don't know how that got in there though. Strange. I could've sworn it was in my closet."

Idris held it to her chest, sobbing. For some reason it felt like a butterfly on cell bars. It felt like hope.

And this time it was in her grasp.

Aquarius hummed quietly to herself as she slowly walked about her cabin. It was quite the neat little space. Nothing compared to the quarters Aquarius had back on her ship of course, now that was a crib and a half, but this was still pretty good quality and absolutely worth putting up with for the experience that a wonderful voyage like this would offer. The bed was...left with much to be desired. It wasn't that bad.

Aqua could jump up on it totally fine and do the trampoline game that she liked to do before bead no problem, it didn't look like the bed would give out any time. They'd really gone ahead and managed to make the bed trampoline safe. She hadn't been expecting that since the one she slept on normally had to be custom made cause all the pishy poshy wishy washy ones she'd been offered were so soft, but broke so quickly. What was the point of "sleeping like it was on a fluffy cloud" if the bed couldn't even support a mildly fun activity. There was just no fun in that. No she needed a bed that could take a beating and still be comfy and this one surprisingly fit the bill, almost exactly on the beating front. The comfort front was lacking a tiny but if Aqua was being completely honest, she really was not noticing the difference. At least not a big enough difference to lose out on any sleep. Not the past two days anyway.

Aquarius giggled to herself. She might just have to track down whoever made these beds for Pisces and see if they were willing to put in just a little bit more effort on the comfort and she might have an actually good mattress supplier for the foreseeable future. Things to note down for later, that much was certain. Aquarius was going to come away from this with some good notes for the future if Aquarius had anything to do with this. She chuckled to herself. Her mother would be very proud of her now. Well sort of. She would rather Aquarius took more notes about complaints of increasing theft of bicycles or the sudden random bits of coral that were starting to gather on the hull of their ship but they were so boring and there were already really good people put in charge to take care of that stuff. Aquarius didn't need to get her fingers into every single pot. She knew what she was doing there. Everyone was like Aqua do this, Aqua do that. But that's not how you ran a ship, as this one woman army that was supposed to know everything. Know you just needed to know one thing. How to pick someone trust worthy. And trust her, Aqua had a very accurate method based in the world's most wonderful substance. Ice cream. Once someone was trustworthy and an expert in that field, that place handled itself much better with Aqua only having to check up at important moments and make sure the person hadn't turned to the dark side.

It really was the way to go. She shook her head and went back to admiring the cabin. The little desk. Now that was a real beauty, able to unfold enough to be a desk for some proper mapping and craziness with those massive old papers but it was also able to fold up so that it wasn't going to be a bit clutter either and she could just write down things in her little notepad or make a couple of little journal entries. She was definitely going to have plenty to put in her journal this coming few months with all of the things that were about to go down here.

Well its not like Aqua knew that things™ were about to go down or anything. She wasn't a seer. Nope that was that one other girl... Pillow or Willow's job but Aqua did know that an expedition like this was ridiculously serious, like the kind of stuff that made the history books and on a regular basis would be brought up in conversation for years to come. Aqua knew that all too well. It was kind of another reasons she wanted to do this. Forced to become a Zodiac at 16 years of age came with its many many drawbacks.

Sure everyone saw the partying kid, the one that had the money and the wealth to just take some ice cream and throw it at people an commission engineers with literal hours to go to invent entire new systems. And those were very real and very awesome things Aquarius did have. But then no one saw the kid. The sixteen year old who had friends, a social life and a normal childhood brewing with several years to go before having to face the horrors of adulthood.

That kid had to be a zodiac, attending parties with people who'd been doing this job for years and had to pretend not just to actually be interesting in all the horseshit some of them liked to argue about, but also to understand all that horseshit and have an opinion on all of that horseshit. That kid had to forgo their friends except for secret meetings in the palace when there was a free moment had to avoid being an actual carefree child. Aquarius had to be Aquarius, not the little 15 year old that had been a bright student. Sally-Anna Allen, the kid who was always the most joyful and going out with everyone, spreading laughter but also the kid who had some time to just play some video games and hang out with people, screaming out words that made sense to no one but the group of them, able to laugh at the big pish posh Zodiacs and their weird customs and talk about how Cancer should definitely be locked in a box for the rest of her life or how Sag was going to impose a rule on what haircuts people could have next on her ship.

But then BAM. One day and suddenly Aquarius Allen is the newest zodiac on the block, the one kids make fun of and make predictions of what the next crazy thing she'll do is. No one had really understood that, not her mother, not her mama, not even her grandmother. They were all too enamored, too afraid or too focused on licking her boots to get favors. She hated that one by the way. Pro tip for getting a favor out of Zodiac Aquarius. Treat her like a normal human being. It wasn't hard, and it makes her life that much better to live. I mean sure she had powers, ones that could rival almost everyone else bar the other zodiacs, that was the nature of her gift and her being chosen but that did not overnight turn her into some kind of all knowing saintly god or some kind of all powerful or even a freaking adult. She was a sixteen year old who had to deal with the their equivalent of an entire freaking country and no one wanted to goddamn help. They all either thought her word was the sacred law of the land that must not be broken lest Pandora's box break open and curse them all or they thought she was that classic Child Emperor™ who could be exploited with sweets and ice cream and would be too dumb to see thinly veiled insults and little policies that would make them more powerful than her. They could fucking take an ice cream and shove it up their gilded asses. The only people in her court so to speak that survived where the ones who recognized the proper relationship. They were all smart people making smart decisions, Aquarius just happened to be able to veto them all, but she wasn't dumb enough to just go after her whims. Well she hoped she wasn't.

She'd spent long enough learning how to acquire those skills, mostly because she'd wanted to be lawyer when she grew up and surely Aquarius had seen something in her through that which had been why Aquarius had been willing to let her assume this position. Zodiacs were chosen on a whim, sure. It wasn't some sort of universal skill check out there to pick the absolute best candidate but whoever did get picked couldn't be incompetent. The Zodiacs were divas, quite a few of them, but none of the were dumb or selfish jerks who just wanted to do stuff because they could. They all were chosen through well thought out decisions or that's what Aquarius had concluded from all the information she'd managed to gather. Another area no one seemed to ever notice. Aquarius was the kid™ sure. But she knew it and embraced it, studying hard so those stupid bigoted bitches didn't know what hit them when fucking Aquarius came a knocking. In a way she was still playing video games, she's just specced into Intelligence and Charisma instead of Strength and Dexterity.

She giggled to herself. She hadn't pulled that gem out in court just yet. No she was saving that one for a really good moment, one of those history book moments where this was going to go ahead and be recorded down somewhere. I mean surely that was quote worthy somewhere and then it could go down in history. If she could get video games into the quote book of the Zodiac she would've accomplished something in life as one of the few teenage zodiacs. Got to represent her people after all. Maybe they weren't all completely 100% wrong when they said she was the party kid.

Aquarius turned to her little chair next. Now this was the next little marvel of engineering in this place. There were quite a lot of those scattered about this ship honestly. Call Pisces stingy and antisocial in like fifteen ways which was pretty true in most situations to come but this one will go down as one of the only times that Pisces actually went all out and made sure that they did in fact have all the best tech at their disposal. They really had managed to think of practically everything. The chair, could be both a nice professional writing chair, comfy enough to it down and have a moment in without worrying too much and without getting sleepy. It was the actual perfect blend for such a thing. Then of course the char didn't stop, there, it could fold up into a little stool that was shorter and more appropriate either for your foot while reading from the bed or just high enough to be a little stool for the table. That had slightly less practical use than the whole office chair mode or the footstool but it was a feature and a feature was a feature. Maybe it could be used in a duel as a surprise attack.

Then of course there was the part that Aqua liked the most about this chair. Rocking chair mode, which allowed it to turn into a cushioned and absolutely beautifully balanced rocking chair, that was just absolute heaven to sit down and read a book in. Not the stuffy law stuff of course, but a little bit of fiction. Yes, contrary to the popular belief, including her actual page in the book about her life, she did actually read books. She liked them quite a lot actually. She read mostly trashy little romance novels, not exactly the most classical thing in the world, but hey it was something. It was a good way to take a nice break honestly, go away from the stuffy nonsense that law could sometimes be and all the other crazy texts that Aquarius had needed to add to her collection post being a zodiac. It was tough work. Aquarius picked up the latest little book that she'd been taking a look at recently while going reading herself to sleep last night. It had been a bit louder than she was used to with the waves so much closer to her than in her home on the zodiac ship.

She read through the pages again.

Saliana Tervine had officially woken up to the worst day ever. Okay, that was an exaggeration. Correction, that was a massive exaggeration. The only thing bad about this day was that she’d been called into work on an off day. Of course, normally that then led to more bad things, which is where her mind had drifted to as she put on the comfiest clothes, she could get away with wearing to work.

Hoping she didn’t currently look ridiculous in the sweater she’d put on over her yoga pants, she stumbled out of the house, bee lining out of pure instinct to the nearest coffee shop. Whatever was about to be thrown at her head was going to need a nice strong helping of caffeine to survive. Maybe she shouldn’t have stayed up until six in the morning gaming just because this was a day off. She was no longer in college, or sixteen.

She stumbled into the coffee shop; her hands already outstretched like she was some sort of caffeine seeking zombie. Thankfully, most of the people around her didn’t look too much better off so she managed to blend in long enough to stumble out there with her dignity – mostly – intact. She was unlikely to recover from the thorough look of disappointment a woman who couldn’t have been more than a year older than her had given her. The pantsuit, the sensible hairstyle. Sally shuddered at the memory. That was never going to be her.

That image was still haunting her very soul as she finally stumbled into the briefing room she’d been instructed to go to. Her supervisor Ray as usual didn’t say a word. That was one thing she liked about the guy. You could walk into work wearing a clown costume and he wouldn’t bat an eye as long as the work got done. Sally personally thought allowing the clown costume was a step too far, but she wasn’t complaining. Getting kicked out of a place wearing a clown costume would’ve been far more embarrassing than the laughing Sally had endured from the moron she’d brought in for questioning that day. It had been a good clown costume and that idiot was completely tasteless.

“Glad you could make it, Sally,” said Ray as she sat down. “Sorry for calling you in on your off day, but it’s been a day and a half.”

“When is it ever not,” said Sally, with a sigh. “What happened this time and what do I need to do?”

“Nothing too bad. We just had a very old signpost send a signal after well, a troubling amount of time. But you don’t need to worry about that. We’ve got the teams actually on duty running after that and making sure that’s all okay. I called you in to replace one of those teams on a training run.”

“Training run?” asked Sally, confused. She checked the date and let out an involuntary “Ohh”. “It’s that day of the year.”

“Yes. We don’t want them tangled up in this mess before they’re even really start work nor do we want them to miss out any training because of said mess. Think you can do it?”

“Well like I said over the phone. I’m always up for it. I can definitely handle some training. I know what lesson to teach them first.”

Ray chuckled. “I can guess.”

“I know. I know. This sweater is clean. I promise.”

Ray raised his hands. “I didn’t say a word.”

Sally grumbled. “You never have to.”

Ray didn’t respond to that, walking towards the door. “You know which room to go to.”

“Regrettably I do. You’ve disturbed my day off multiple times now.”

Ray rolled his eyes. “No one ever guaranteed that those days would actually be off.”

“I know, I know.” Sally waved her hand in front of her face. She needed this perfectly sound logic out of her face now. She had some newbies to terrify.

“Try not to terrify them,” said Ray as he walked out.

“I wasn’t…” Sally shot out. Every time. Every single time. One day she’d keep her mischievous smirk hidden well enough. One day.

Shrugging as she shook a theatrical fist in Ray’s direction, Sally got up from her chair. It was time to haul herself in the direction of the new trainees and try her hardest to look alive and non-sleep deprived. Thankfully the caffeine was already working its magic. All she needed was a cold splash of water from the nearest water fountain and she’d be as good as new.

With that goal in mind, Sally set off. Much like she had grumbled about earlier, this was far from her first time picking up this particular shift although usually the agency wasn’t simultaneously chasing down a mysterious problem at the same time. Maybe she should actually avoid terrifying the newbies this time.

She still hadn’t come to a sufficient conclusion on that matter when she opened the door to the room they’d be in.

Immediately four faces turned towards her. She grumbled only slightly as she got a glimpse of Jake and Stacey. They were good kids. Just not good enough. She immediately snorted at her thoughts. Kids. They were hardly a year younger than her. What was becoming of her?

The two new faces were much more interesting. She recognized one pretty quickly. Safiana Vialena. That name had made a few rounds for graduating that young. For someone who was supposed to be a terrifying force of nature she looked much more like someone better suited to be a pre schoolteacher. That was not the sort of face that could terrify your neighbor’s cat, much less a seasoned killer. Sally knew better than to judge from that though. Rumors didn’t form in these channels without good reason.

The other one was different. Instantly Sally could tell this one had seen the uglier side of life. She would not be one of the two who got to stay behind in this room.

“Hello. Were any of you expecting me?” asked Sally, keeping her voice casual.

All of them shook their heads, as they should have.

“Good. No one expects me,” said Sally, plastering a sufficiently evil smirk onto her face. “That aside. I’m here to look over some potential training here. Jake and Stacey you two already know the drill, but I’ve heard we’ve got some fresh blood today.”

Safiana squeaked. An honest to goodness mouse like squeak. Who was this girl? And more importantly did her powers involve mind control? There was no other explanation Sally could see for those rumors from earlier.

The other girl got to her feet immediately, walking over. “Serafina Gianova.”

Sally nodded. “Sally.”

If the girl was even remotely surprised Sally couldn’t tell. This one was very good. “And you miss?”

Even if she knew the girl’s name, that was just a matter of principle.

Safiana stood up, a little shaky on her legs as she walked over to offer a hand. Sally shook it with some apprehension and had to immediately hide here surprise. Damn the girl had a grip and a half. She could give Anna a run for her money.

“Safi,” she supplied. Her voice matched the face and the expressions, but Sally had to bite back a proud smile at the introduction. The firm handshake, the use of the nickname, this girl was playing games like nobody’s business. The rumors did have substance after all.

Sally nodded. “Wonderful. All right everyone back to your seats. We’ll start with the very, very basic stuff. Well, not like I’m going to go over it or anything. If you’re sitting here, you would’ve spent plenty of hours in simulation rooms identical to this.”

Everyone nodded.

“Yeah, so sit down. I’ll talk you through well whatever comes up. If you’re lucky there won’t be any and you can all spend the day figuring out where exactly the mess hall is, trust me that is a much more vital task that you might think.”

No one batted an eye, besides of course Safi who proceeded to make some sort of high-pitched squeal of surprise before a very poor attempt at masking it.

Everyone resumed their seats as Sally walked up to the massive screen in the center. Thankfully the thing was currently on. They’d remembered to do that at least. That was always a positive sign.

Currently it was dark, as this part of the map usually tended to be. These things didn’t have any direct links to sensors in the field. All the alerts that came to this particular situation room had to be routed through another sector after they’d been identified as menial enough…correction… safe enough to be handed to the newbies.

Sally changed a glance back at the new squad. Everyone was looking intently at the screen, or possibly her, Sally could never quite tell the difference.

“Alright you’re lucky, it won’t be li….” A loud beep interrupted her. Sally sighed. She just had to go and jinx it. Of course. Why ever not? Resisting the urge to mutter a choice word or two, Sally continued. “Correction, You’re unlucky. Get ready. We might have to actually get out on the field here. It varies from mission to mission of course, but there’s no telling with these things.

On that note, Sally spun around to look at what exactly the notification was. She raised her eyebrows. Purple. That was rare. Normally they only get yellow class anomalies down in here. The number of teams tied up in whatever chaotic nonsense was happening at the moment had to be ridiculous for a purple class to sneak down here. Either that or someone in the middle of whatever stress that caused had made a mistake. Whatever it was, Sally just shrugged, tapping the dot on the screen. They could probably handle a purple class.

She chanced a look back at the newbies. Now wasn’t that an enlightening picture. Stacey looked on the verge of screaming. Jake was squinting like he was trying to get his eyes to refresh their image. Serafina looked bored. Bored. That girl was something else when it came to emotions.

And then there was Safi. That was the look a five-year-old gives a chocolate cake. Sally didn’t know if she should be happy about the enthusiasm or genuinely terrified. She decided to go with happy for now. It was the safer thought process to be wandering down.

They could definitely handle a purple class.

Sally turned back to the screen, reading through the details. Decoding the coded jargon, she mentally took the important things down. Murder. Mysterious Circumstances. Magic. Odd Patterns. Oh, this was very, very doable. It wasn’t an active situation, just some good old fashioned detective work. Who had even marked that as a purple class. Maybe that was the mistake. A yellow class being accidentally tagged as a purple class.

Just as she was about to announce that particular idea the door behind her opened. Sally spun around on instinct, expecting Ray to be the one standing there, probably there to check if she’d gone through with her threat of terror after all.

Instead, she took a double take as the ridiculously tall form of one Scillianna Sylvianna, officially the most unpronounceable name of this entire agency made its way in. Anna walked up to Sally, and she had to try very hard not to shiver as she looked up at the giant.

It wasn’t enough that the woman was a solid seven feet tall, she could give the Hulk insecurities with the amount of muscle she possessed. Sally tried her hardest not to make a peep.

“Sally. Hii. I’ve been looking for you,” she announced. Sally was never, never ever going to get used to how friendly and soft that damn voice sounded. It did not belong coming out of a body like that.

Sally took some comfort in the very clear squeak by one Ms. Vialena from behind her. At least she wasn’t alone in this.

“Anna, to what do I owe the pleasure?” asked Sally once she finally managed to get herself completely under control. One day she was going to casually high five Anna and not freak out. That day was extremely far away, but that was something to worry about at a later date.

“Its about that actually,” said Anna, pointing straight over her head towards the screen. Sally found herself twisting into an even more uncomfortable position than her current one to look at it and frown.

“Huh?” came her highly intelligent response.

“That one’s mildly urgent. And this is the only set of agents we can call, so you need to suit up, grab two of this lot and get over to the other situation room.”

“Wait what?” asked Sally, the shock of that statement finally snapping her completely out of her Anna induced trance.

“I think you heard me, Sally. I’m not joking. This is pretty bad. The sector lighting up is just twisting so many things into a mess right now. The whole agency is like the spool of wires in one of those old supply closets.”

“Right. Right. Right. Because today of all days is the best for that to happen.”

Anna shrugged. “Bad guys don’t take days off or consider our feelings on literally anything.” She placed a massive hand on Sally’s shoulder. “Don’t worry. We’ll be fine. Get over to the room okay. And bring two of them. Its their lucky day, I guess. Especially if we succeed.”

With that bomb successfully dropped, Anna was gone faster than she’d arrived, and Sally was left to stand there trying to look like she had the faintest idea of what to do next.

Anna of course had managed to completely forget to whisper any part of that conversation so of course Sally now had to deal with the fact that whoever wasn’t getting picked was probably going to end up hating her.

This was not the sort of decision one needed to be making without proper sleep and the bare minimum requirement of caffeine. Sally let out a sigh. Well, if the trainees here didn’t get used to people making tough calls early in the process, they were going to have trouble later on anyway, so it was probably for the best that she had to do this. It’d teach them something. At any rate, that’s how she was going to avoid feeling horrible about this.

Well, who was she kidding, she was going to feel horrible about this no matter how she did it. She sighed. If Anna said something was urgent and felt the need to personally come over, that meant she shouldn’t waste a full hour making this decision, so she went with instinct.

People were definitely going to call her crazy for this, but before she could change her mind, she pointed at the two newbies. “Safi. Serafina. You’re coming with me. You two. Hold down the fort.” Before she could get a glimpse of two fresh new looks of sadness, she marched out, stepping through the door before she glanced back to see that the other two were following.

Serafina was right behind her. The girl still looked exactly like she had during the handshake. Sally would confidently bet that this girl could outstare Medusa herself. Behind Serafina, Safi looked like she was being escorted to the principal’s office. Serafina still didn’t know what to make of that. Was that whole thing some sort of act to make people underestimate her in which case it could be dangerous to see how effortlessly she used in a situation this serious, or the much worse alternative where that’s just how she normally acted.

Sally tried to not dwell on those things too much as she marched down the corridors and towards the room that Anna had indicated they should get to. As much as she always had that inbuilt desire to try and analyze every single trainee put in front of her to death, this was not the time for it even if it definitely was the place for it.

It didn’t take them long to reach the required door. Sally smiled at the familiar metal. The blank slates they had for doors the higher you went up the situation room tiers never failed to make her smile. It was ridiculous. She knew the blank slates were only this blank because the spells on these had such high specifications that any decoration could ruin the balance and cost the agency a little bit too much per door. And yet she couldn’t help but think it was the perfect symbol to greet a trainee when they stepped into a more advanced training room for the first time.

Before her sleep addled mind could come up with more poetic thoughts about random doors, the door swung open to reveal a smiling Anna, well more like an oversized sweatshirt. She had to look up to see the smiling Anna.

“You came,” announced Anna, completely unnecessarily in Sally’s opinion but she definitely wasn’t about to bring that up at the moment.

“I did,” said Sally, stepping off to the side. “And I brought these two.” She pointed to the two following behind her. Anna took a second to quickly size them up before she nodded.

“Good choices.” Without offering up any more explanation, she proceeded to step away from the doorway. “Come in. We’ve got to get to work quick here. We’re not the first line or anything, but even the back rows have to be efficient if you want to win from a situation like this one.”

I did my best not to roll my eyes at that particular statement, gesturing for Safi and Serafina to walk in before more. I wasn’t even surprised this time when Serafina walked in like she’d been doing it all her life. Safi was a little bit more jittery as she followed suit.

Sally followed after the two of them, turning around almost out of instinct as Anna shut the door behind them. She raised her eyebrows.

“I told y’all to come over here so that I can tell you what to do. Have a little bit more patience Sally. “With that Anna walked away towards the front of the room leaving Sally spluttering a little. She’d been working in this place for far too long. Literally everyone read her like a book.

Trying not to show her surprise, she whirled around to walk down into the room. It was a relatively simple one. This was just about two tiers above the very basic after all. The layout was pretty much the exact same. The layouts really didn’t change much until the very tippy top of the class scale.

The tech being used though was much more complicated. She was confident the two newbies would have no trouble using any of it, it was mostly the same software that ran everything else. Detection tech had to be just as effective across all the tiers after all, they just dialed down intensity in the lower tiers. The only parts of these workstations that were going to be majorly different was the sheer size of everything.

The decor really was the part that would stand out, and as things tended to go, that was about the least useful thing in one of these rooms.

“Sally are you planning on joining us anytime this weekend?” asked Anna, and Sally nearly jumped a full foot in the air.

Sally whirled around, already nodding so fast she probably resembled a bobble head in that moment.

“Coming, coming. I just wanted to make sure it was all… it was all in the right place and all. You never know with these rooms sometimes.”

Anna frowned. “Sally, you, okay?”

“Why would I not be, okay?” Sally asked, trying to sound like she absolutely didn’t know the answer to that question.

“Because the Sally I know can come up with better excuses than that for staring off into space for no real reason.”

Sally gulped. Anna was far too good at turning all the tables on her. This was absolutely, utterly and completely unacceptable.

“I did have a reason. That was a real thing. You can’t prove otherwise, no didn’t you say we had an urgent matter to tend to. Why don’t we go ahead and tend to that one instead of worrying about me.”

She looked up to see Anna smirking, sharing a glance with Serafina. Before Sally could visibly shake a fist at Anna like a cartoon character she marched over. Maybe she needed to take a week off and avoid Anna. That seemed like a smart play here. She couldn’t be this off in balance, and in front of trainees no less.

“Hush you,” was all Sally managed before she got herself to the where the three of them were pointing to the large map at the front of the room.

“No, unfortunately I’m going to have to do this briefing here, so I can’t actually be hushed.”

Sally tried not to respond to that. The less words she used here, the less words were going to end up being thrown at her even more effectively than the ones already used.

“Alright, now that that’s all sorted. Let’s get to work. Before we completely get underway, I have to ask. You two are ready to potentially head out, well who am I kidding, to actively head out and take part in field work. I know you wouldn’t actually be here if you didn’t sign all those forms, but I know very well its one thing to be doing and then to actually be standing in front of your first deployment, especially in an emergency like this one.”

“We are ready to go Anna.” Said Serafina, her voice still that perfect monotone.

Safi, in a fashion that really, really shouldn’t be surprising Sally anymore, just smiled. “Oh, it’s going to be terrifying, but then we did sign up for exactly that so why would we back off right now when we actually get the chance to do something. I’m really excited for this.”

“Well, its potentially a horrifying case of a homicide,” said Anna. Sally had to refrain from jumping up and punching the air in triumph. She wasn’t the only one that Anna was going to be doing that to.

Safi predictably spluttered. “I. I didn’t mean it like that. Its. Umm field work. Excitement. Detective. Training.”

Serafina patted the girl on the shoulder. “Relax, Anna’s just messing with you.”

There was a squeak from Safi, which was a good thing because Sally was about to squeak herself. She did not see that coming. Serafina actually helping Safi out there. Now that, that was… going to get her another jab from Anna. Sally really needed to avoid being distracted right about now.

Anna, meanwhile, was too preoccupied laughing. “I’m so sorry, but the opportunity was just right there and there’s the irrational urge that one simply can’t ignore.”

Safi was nodding along, taking her turn as the room’s resident bobblehead while Serafina gave her two more pats on the shoulder before returning to her stiffer normal stance.

Sally absolutely did not stare for two seconds too long at the very sweet smile Safi flashed Serafina and she absolutely, definitely did not look at the very tiny twitch in Serafina’s own posture before she returned to normal.

Sally took a deep breath. This mission was going to be even harder than she’d initially though, although this particular side quest was going to be a lot more interesting that those normally tended to be.

Before Anna could call her out for being distracted again, Sally gestured to the blinking dot on the screen. “So, homicide. Tell us more. You did say this was urgent after all.”

“I did. And it is.”

Aquarius put the book down, snapping it shut before she ended up getting fully engrossed in it and completely forgetting what she was supposed to be doing. Right. Taking stock of the cabin to put down in her journal and getting it all ready to rock and roll toward the future expeditions. If Sefarina's claims were right it won't be long now before they struck their first land. Aquarius wanted to be ready to go, all the things to document while still on the ship done and dusted and leaving her with the room that she so very desperately needed in order to be able to full focus on the land without taking notes out of order. Zodiac Aquarius was a big lover of chaos and the wonders that it could bring to this world but Zodiac Aquarius was not a big proponent of the idea of chaos in her writing. Those needed to be nice and organized. Those needed to be referred to time and time again, often years after writing and unless there was clear organization there was no hope you'd ever know what on Earth you were referring to years down the line.

Well there was a grand total of one item left to catalogue in this one. The closet. Oh that was the most marvelous invention yet. There was no doubt about that. It was somehow so big and so small and so compact and so accommodating and long story closet, Aquarius was talking this thing home with her. he needed this in her life and like so many many more version of it all over her room. It would make organizing so much better. Who knew the best interior designers worked for Pisces and the best pieces of furniture was born out of the limited space found in a ship. Not Aquarius, that's who.

She studied the closet again, the beautiful finish, the built in full length mirror on one side of the doors because of course they went the extra mile like that. Why would they not go the extra mile like that? These people had either been paid see several fortunes or their families were hold hostage until they produced this. There was no other explanation for how ridiculously amazing this interior design was. This is just not the type of thing that is done with people just working their regular jobs surely. Aquarius really couldn't stop gushing in amazement at the beauty that was this closet. The more she poked around it, the more it seemed to be the perfect closet in existence. This was just reaching heights that Aquarius did not think was possible. She finally finished her little neat note on the closet, as she contained her enthusiasm to only describing its features in the technical and practical sense and not the various creams of joy she'd uttered as she discovered each option. No, that was for the other journal of thoughts of feelings, and she had in fact already written all of that down yesterday.

Aquarius finally turned to the last frontier that she had to brave here before the pages were nice and ready to go for all the things that she found on the new places that they would visit. And that was a comprehensive analysis of everyone here. Okay comprehensive was maybe pushing it just a tiny tiny bit. She needed to be just a little bit more thorough with testing absolutely everyone before she could actually come to a full conclusion on that point.

She started her little evaluation with the captain Sefarina. It was the obvious choice to put in first. The captain, the one in charge, the one who had first vouched for her to even be on the ship. It was not exactly a stretch to say that, Sefarina was in fact the most important person on the ship and so what she does and who she is and how she behaves is probably the most important out of all of them. Maybe. Aqua was thinking of this conclusion for the moment but of course conclusions can change. Rapidly and quickly and with no rhyme or reason. As a woman who dabbled in science she knew this very well and had taken it very much to heart.

Sefarina was. To put it quite simply. An inspiration. Aquarius could never dare to say this out loud. As a Zodiac saying something like this would probably get branded a scandal. One of the reasons that Aqua kept all of her notes very very private with absolutely no one even allowed to be alone with them much less have the opportunity to read with or tamper with them. She didn't even mind too terribly much in the long run with the idea of them being tampered with, it was the fact that these were all very much unfiltered private thoughts that really shouldn't see the light of day unless Aquarius chose to do so with the proper amount of filtering added on top for best results.

Sefarina was the leader that Aquarius aspired to be. Inspiring confidence from all of the crew, well most of the crew. There were a couple of bad apples and there was of course the one person who was too old and had seen too much crap to actually...well give a crap. But even them when it mattered respected her views, listened to what she had to say and above all no one saw here as this threatening looming leader figure, besides the one poor soul in desperate need of lots of therapy. She was a friendly person available and dare she say it, chill and really freaking cool. That was the leader Aquarius wanted to be someday. That one Zodiac who was a woman of the people.

Writing laws and slinging ice cream. Turning tides like nobody's business. The cool Zodiac. The Zodiac that everyone wanted to hang out with and would not be afraid to bring problems to. The Zodiac that wouldn't be just treated like one of the people and appreciated. It was a little ambitious sure. But it was the kind of leader she wanted to be. She wanted to be respected and understood, not feared or revered. She didn't want followers in her court. No, those could be saved for social media and all that other nonsense. She wanted friends. Her people. People able to see themselves as equals and not as a group under someone. Aquarius was in this fight with them ready to sweat and bleed for them.

Rune was up next in Aqua's book. He was arguably the next most important in the hierarchy of the ship. He was after all the first mate. The one who advised the captain and in this case the one who was basically acting captain given the way that Sefarina had arranged all of their tasks. Aquarius had really liked the way that the tasks were delegated there. They were proving to be a really beautiful example of how Aqua herself wanted to run things. One must always let the experts do their thing with full control over the thing they were suppose to be doing. It really did make for a very good environment on board a ship. Both a small one like this and the largest of ships.

Smiling to herself in satisfaction at the realization she'd just come to there. So it was in fact true that her role model whose leadership she looked up to the most was in fact also someone who followed Aqua's preferred method of delegating tasks. Aquarius couldn't believe she hadn't made that connection fully before. Of course. It was plainly obvious. Typical Aquarius moment to fail at remembering that of all the things. She shook her head, turning it back to Rune. Rune was quite an interesting character. Probably not someone Aquarius would put in charge, not that Rune was bad, it just wasn't Aquarius' style. Rune was a little loud and just a bit too dramatic. Aquarius loved a good walk out or a table slam but Aquarius generally liked people who had just a little bit more of capacity to tolerate, not that Aquarius was the most tolerant out there but that was part of the reason. She needed someone who could be a good foil to her own decisions.

Rune was the kind of person that was a good foil to Sefarina who was in fact that very tolerant very calm person. As much as Aqua would try to be like that, she was also aware that it would be deluding herself to suggest that she was capable of being that person who absolutely soaked up pressure. She was not that, not even on her video game team and certainly not as a Zodiac.

Aquarius still chalked him down as a solid example of a leader, not the kind of leader that Aqua herself would want to be, it was a bit too rigid and prone to be called unfun, but that was another type of person who was very approachable and seemed to care a great deal about the care. Aqua knew Rune didn't love her current existence on the ship which had made their relationship just a little bit strained but Aqua was smart enough to understand and not hold it against Rune. She'd seen enough and more evidence that Rune was wonderful at connecting with his crew and making good decisions, he just wasn't nearly as chill and cool as Sefarina. Aqua suspected that was true of most people though. Not everyone could be Sefarina.

She wasn't sure who really came next. Was it the ship guy or the chef guy. Letting personal bias settle that one, Aqua moved onto Gray as the person next most important to the ship. The chef. After all without fuel for the crew, this ship wasn't getting anywhere. Sure Will and the engines is the only reason they kept going but Will wouldn't be able to do anything if Gray wasn't there to cook for all them and keep them going. Aqua wasn't going to exactly sugarcoat it despite the fact that Gray had uncharacteristically it would seem decided to basically adopt Aquarius in this moment and claim Aquarius as something of a daughter. She wasn't complaining at all, not given the stories she'd heard and events she'd witnessed first hand.

Gray was definitely not the kind of person you trifled with, and Gray was also that person you knew that no one else had actually trifled with before. The sort of person that tended to command respect no matter where they went and was incredibly used to getting their way. It was the kind of respect that was clearly earned. There were people who acted that way with no credentials an those were called jerks and tossed out to sea. Gray was different. Gray had worked the long hours in hard places, been through places tougher than most, and come out the other end sanity intact but just a little bit of humanity lost. Well the cuter, chiller side of it anyway.

Not that Gray was completely devoid of this humanity. Gray definitely still had it in him. She saw it in the way that Gray treated her and the other slightly younger person on the ship, Naim. Gray had a little soft spot, especially when he saw someone on the younger side in a dangerous situation, but Gray was very much the rock on every other side. She'd seen it in the way he was vary of Idris. Idris was a kid too, not in the same way Aquarius was of course, she was much older physically and even older mentally in the things she'd clearly seen and done but Gray was still not too trusting. You could tell Gray would care deep down by that moral code and mental shields that had kept Gray going through all the tough times as a prison warden weren't exactly things that you just randomly got rid of on a Sunday morning.

Aqua didn't envy the kind of life you'd have to live to need to get quite that hardened. Only wished that she herself never had to go through something like that. It sounded cool to be tough, don't get her wrong, but the kind of horrors you had to witness to get to that point were just not things she wanted to sign on for. No thank you. Please not her. She shook her head slightly as she finished up the little passage on Gray. It was definitely time for Will next.

Will was the next one to think about. It was hard to form an opinion on Will if Aquarius was being honest. Just in general. Will was that person who was always there when you needed him but generally appeared to be completely absent if you weren't currently thinking of him. Maybe. It had been only three days and it was the start of the voyage. It was entirely possible that Will had just been busying checking on the engines in these delicate first few steps out into the open sea. A lot could be said, and it wasn't like Aquarius had even really talked to Will outside of that first day when he'd given her a hand in dragging all of that ice cream in.

Well Aqua supposed that was one thing that she knew about Will. Willing to help. She giggled at the pun even as she noted that he was also strong. It wasn't exactly the most useful detail to put into an analysis of a person but her knowledge of Will was low enough that this did in fact qualify as some sort of thing to know as opposed to having to face the reality of a section that would be empty. He did not want to be dealing with that. He had to get something down on everybody so he was very much going to go ahead and get something down on everybody consequences be damned. Well that was a bit dramatic, the only consequence would be that some sections would have details that people would consider more random than actually analytical but the notes were all for Aqua to read later anyway.

Aqua giggled to herself. She was going to be that person with a whole folder of information about everyone on board. Well not quite. She was just writing things down based on what she felt but she could afford to pretend. It was cool. Well she thought so anyway. Getting back on track she wrote down a bit more about Will's helpfulness and general willingness to help. He seemed to possess that sort of general sense of gentlemanliness as some people called it, just doing his thing and having a good time and then always ready to help out someone in need of it. Will also seemed to be pretty fun to hang around, I mean a guy who could talk to ships was going to be pretty interesting in a conversation no matter how you sliced it. Even if the entire point of the conversation to determine how much the ship liked you.

Will did have some depressing stories though. From what Aqua could remember, she hadn't actually been present for Will going off on a tangent about a sad story but he'd heard enough from others about just how sad this dude could make things sometimes. It was a small nightmare apparently the very vivid and real sounding stories he could tell just about the most depressing topics that one could think of.

Aqua debated for some time about who the next most important person was. It was starting to be a bit of a difficult to break three way tie before with one hit making all the difference on the end. And so Aqua moved onto documenting her opinion on June. Well Juniper the medic. Aqua wasn't sure if she was allowed to call her June yet given that the medical had gone pretty quickly and not really involved much of anything, but she'd heard plenty of other people on the ship call her June and that seemed to be the most common nickname. She shrugged to herself. She probably didn't have to note down something that detailed about quite literally the nickname but then again it was important information.

Aqua sighed as she went about thinking a bit more on the woman. She'd been very nice, even treating Aqua properly like a child without making it seem disrespectful for the fact that for better or for worse Aquarius was in fact a Zodiac and she did need to be treated in that matter, lest it be fair or not. She also seemed to be really good at her job. Aqua hadn't seen many doctors like her before. She'd been to one doctor tackling more chemical based medicine with pills and hated it. Well hated drinking pills and syrups that tasted like a pepper shaker. The doctor herself had actually been really nice and talked to Aqua really well. Aqua considered that a massive betrayal though. The doctor had promised that the pills would be easy to swallow and the bottle would be tasty to drink. They had both been big lies.

Shaking past trauma away, Aqua focused back on the topic at hand. Long story short, Aqua much preferred medicine done in the style of June, no offense to the other one and June seemed to be really good at it. Well she thought so anyway. It was hard to tell how good someone was from just a simple routine medical checkup. June hadn't even been healing a small cut or anything. But the way it was all spread out, the fact she seems to literally be sleeping there. It just looked lively and worked in, and it looked like a good amount of effort was put into her work. Rina, who was obviously the best probably at judging how good someone is seemed to trust her very well and was even handling a rather complicated medical situation together with her, it looked like she believed she was really good.

Long story short, June was good at her job not just with the awesome plants like the one that could literally do a full body scan way, way, way more conveniently than the six machines you would have to sit through in another hospital but she also had that attitude that Aqua loved in a doctor. It was the kind that was very comforting and made you feel safe, like you would come out of this better than you went in.

Aqua finally moved onto the next person. She'd made a lot of headway now. It was getting a little tough to do more of an exact team ranking, given how equal people were but she finally decided that Darvi was going to go next. There was really only one word that needed to be written down about Darvi. THERAPY. Like that. In all caps. If it were possible to do bold an italics in a written journal she would do that too. As it were she made sure to mark that down in bright red ink. Because boy did that one need therapy. Lots of it. And its the kind of therapy where the therapist is going to go into therapy after helping Darvi. A third therapist might even have to get involved. The poor guard was...just. Aqua had seen this. In the way the guards had reacted after she'd fired the former guard captain on day two of taking over. They had a captain who cared for them and treated them well and a Zodiac who of course invited them all to have ice cream with her like every evening and made sure to check in on them individually.

It had taken them upwards of an year to actually get used to the fact that they were in fact valued and weren't needed to be watching their back 24/7. It had been quite the revelation. Darvi reminded her strongly of this. A guard who'd was always on duty clearly because someone had pushed them to that point and probably beyond it. She'd seen the Lady Sidney try to hug Darvi on multiple occasions and the way Darvi threw her off. That was quite literally pure instinct. Aqua knew that developing the instinct to shrug off a person trying to touch you even if it was a light touch that was literally just to show appreciation came from quite literally PTSD. Not even just being jumpy or overtrained. That was trauma in action right there. Pure trauma.

Darvi had been through the ringer and then some before she ended up here. Aqua had been quite glad to find out Rina and Darvi had ended up getting together. First of all poor Darvi had been pining so hard it was getting quite literally painful to be watching all of this unfold. Genuinely. Aqua was about to go and enforce some sort of Zodiac power rule and get them to pull their heads out of their assess and confess, but also Sefarina was definitely the kind of leader or girlfriend Darvi needed to help them on that journey of healing. That and Juniper and her absolutely amazing ability to treat people. Maybe Aqua would find a way to sneakily suggest to Darvi they should get a checkup, or better suggest to Rina that she should take Darvi for a checkup. Oh yeah that was a much better idea which was much more likely to succeed in this moment. Aqua allowed herself another smirk.

Then Aqua came to the poster child for therapy. Idris. Idris. Idris. Oh my goodness who wronged her. I mean sure Gray mentioned the whole Idris murdered her parents thing, but if there was a chance you could believe for a second Idris hadn't done that in self defense and that Idris was actually evil and deserved her sentence you were either cynical enough to rival Gray or a fucking moron. Or both. Both would also do the trick. How does one see that and not immediately realize that something has to have gone horribly, horribly, incredibly horribly wrong to get a poor girl to that stage. Aqua was not the most skilled in a lot of areas but any one with common sense could tell that kid... well she was like five years older than her but she was so small... had not gotten anything that she deserved to have gotten in that life. She also definitely had enough trauma for about ten lifetimes. Aqua couldn't even hope to forget the look that Idris had given a freezer full of ice cream.

Two things had been made very clear in that moment. Idris had absolutely no clue what ice cream was. If you lived 21 years without hearing of ice cream, well that about proved it by itself, but then the sheer fear she'd had about an unknown metal container harmlessly sitting there. That was TRAUMA. TRAUMA. TRAUMA. She wrote it three times for emphasis in three different colors. It was a detail one had to make sure to remember when referring to Idris. Idris was Trauma. If there was a goddess of Trauma from the ancient times, that woman would probably look exactly like Idris did.

Aqua shook her head. She hadn't been able to have a ton of interactions with her yet, mostly because she was incredibly hard to find and also very rarely if ever did she come by the kitchen which is where Aqua had spent a decent amount of her time in the past couple of days. Maybe Aqua could convince Gray to open up to Idris more and then maybe also get Gray to bake her a cake. Or two cake. Maybe an entire bakery. She deserved an entire bakery. Maybe two bakeries. Or ten, one for each lifetime of trauma that she had received in her life. That sounded like the best number. Someday Aquarius was going to make it happen. She needed to contact Sag maybe. Sag, Rina and June were definitely in on some sort of conspiracy to help her and she wanted in. She wanted to find those people and introduce them to her powers or even better, find a way to legally get them to reward Idris with ten bakeries. Yup this was absolutely a plan that Aqua was going to enact now. There would be no going back from this moment. It was writ in stone. Idris would be compensated fairly. And given many hugs. Much love. And a big, big apology.

She shook her head and decided she needed to move on. And get out a separate journal later. She was most definitely going to need a whole journal to plan that out. And more information. And to interview a few people. That was going to need to be an entire thing. Definitely not the sort of thing that one could afford to do in a tiny journal about many other things. She was going to get on it as soon as she could. But going to the next person, she chose Nicky. It was the person she know the best out of all the ones she hadn't managed to mention just quite yet. At least she was pretty sure about that. She'd be finding out as she wrote more and more here.

Nicky was like. Sefarina from Hope.com. She was a wonderful person to hang around absolutely. She was a delight, she'd even let Aqua learn a about all the cool guns on the ship. And like had let her just hang about them and play around with them without telling her off or treating like she was about to put her face in front of the barrel and be an idiot about it. That was something she greatly appreciated. Too many people thought that she was impulsive and too young to be doing serious things. She had to be fair to them. She could be impulsive. She was impulsive. She definitely did some rather wild things on more than one occasion but she was far from the kind of person to be actively stupid about something like this. She very much would prefer to think she was not.

She smiled softly to herself. It was good to see most of the ship was going to treat her like a mature person. It was clear to some of them she would have to prove not to be a liability but it was good to know that no one, at least openly and in a way that she could identify was treating her in that manner. It really gave here confidence on board this ship. To be treated like a part of it. Too often at home she was either the liability or genuinely the worse thing which was to be treated like she'd gained the wisdom of all the stars.

She smiled again as she wrote down about Nicky. A wonderful person to hang out but quite as cut out for the leader material. She had a ridiculously cool job and a ridiculously cool constellation power and she was just chill. And cool. Maybe a bit too cool. She didn't seem to operate at the same sort of leadership weight of sorts that Sefarina possessed. It looked like she could get it if she wanted to, but something told Aquarius that Nicky was very content with the position that she did have and was just cool being who she was. Maybe she didn't like the responsibility of being a leader if she could avoid it. Aquarius could relate just a little bit.

She sighed to herself rubbing her eyes a little. She had five more whole people to go but she was getting a little bit tired of writing at this point. She needed a small break from this. She hopped the chair back into rocking chair mode and picked up the book that she'd been reading earlier. Getting through another chapter quickly won't hurt.

Anna began her report like she would any other, trusting that the new recruits would now enough about the lingo from the academy that they could follow along. She never really did training drills, so she wasn’t exactly going to go out of her way to try and decode anything without the proper experience. She had Sally with her after all. If there was something the trainees wouldn’t understand, Sally would know to step in and explain. That woman was whip smart when it came to that sort of thing.

It didn’t take her long to finish the report. It really was a simple case, just that when it came to the level of people that had to be sent out for it, this was going to make things a touch more complicated than that. She couldn’t wait to break that particular bit of news to Sally. She always looked cute when she was flustered.

“Alright, so did everyone follow all that.” There were three identical nods all around, followed by Safi saying a very sweet. “Yes Anna.”

Anna couldn’t help but smile at that. “Wonderful. So. Murder. Mysterious Magic. Mall. Pretty straightforward stuff. I don’t think anyone needs to sign any release form for potential exposures or anything, so we’re all good to just visit the site and get underway. Once a few clarifications have been made of course.”

“Wait what?” asked Sally, frowning in that. Anna decided to block that particular thought from finishing. They were at work, and this matter really was urgent despite all the evidence to the contrary that had just taken place in here.

“You heard me right. There must be a few clarifications made for this particular mission I’m afraid because it just so happens to need some,” said Anna.

Sally didn’t look particularly convinced. “You didn’t say any of that earlier.”

“It wasn’t exactly important earlier,” said Anna with a frown. Okay maybe that wasn’t completely the truth but then it also sort of was true that Sally wasn’t meant to know anything until this point in time, so it technically wasn’t important after all.

Sally crossed her arms. “Well go ahead then. What are these clarifications of yours.”

Anna rolled her eyes, trying not to look at that particular face for too long. She really shouldn’t be in danger of losing her train of thought when she was about to say something this important.

“Well. I will.” Anna cleared her throat. “Alright so first things first, this should be kind of obvious already, but starting with a purple means the two of you.” Anna paused to point at Serafina and Safi who both nodded, Safi of course much more enthusiastic than Serafina’s bare minimum of acknowledgement.

“The two of you have a chance that’s rather rarely presented to brand new recruits which is the chance to enter proper active field duty after just the one mission because of course if you’ve read the rulebooks which I’m sure you both have, you’ll know that completing a purple successfully does make you eligible to get properly on a team.”

The barely their expression of shock on Serafina’s face suggested that she had not in fact read the rulebook to know that although Safi seemed to be acting much the same. Either she knew or she was playing four-dimensional chess with her facial expressions. Sally, of course hadn’t blinked. She’d definitely never read the book, Anna could vouch for that, but she’d put enough trainees through this process that there was no chance she couldn’t know that loophole.

“Will that be allowed?” asked Serafina after Anna had led the silence grow for a few seconds.

Anna nodded. “Yes. This is all counted just as well as if you’d been suggested for a purple after completing multiple of the basic ones because of course this wasn’t volunteer based or anything, a training specialist…” Anna paused to point specifically at Sally, “…has in fact chosen you out of a larger pool to get this chance which is how it would normally go. Whether or not you’ve not logged earlier missions will not matter.”

“That’s awesome,” gasped Safi, who then promptly clamped a hand over her mouth before uttering a barely audible. “Sorry. Didn’t may to say that out loud.”

Anna chuckled. “Don’t worry Safi. Happens to the best of us.” If Anna looked pointedly at Sally during just to get a look at that adorably flustered look again, well that was Anna’s business.

While Sally was rising to defend herself and ended up further incriminating herself Anna glanced towards Serafina who nodded to confirm that she was in fact happy with that explanation. Anna gave her a nod in return before turning towards Sally.

“Now that’s the most obvious clarification. Finally, we’ve actually got another member on this little team who’ll be getting evaluated on their performance.”

“Lemme guess, they’re about to retire you for being so old,” piped up Sally, immediately. Anna rolled her eyes.

“No, it’s actually you being evaluated.” Anna couldn’t help but stare for maybe a second too long at that particular expression before she managed to school herself into continuing her explanation.

“What? How? Where? Why? I’m not that old,” shot back Sally, all at once and Anna had to fight the urge to laugh again. That time would definitely have been a little rude.

“No silly,” said Anna, rolling her eyes.

“I’m Sally, not silly,” she shot back, and Anna was momentarily grateful for all the practice she’d gotten over the years hiding her emotions.

“My deepest apologies, your highness.” Anna rolled her eyes again, emphasizing her next word. “Sally, its not because you’re old. Neither of us are remotely close to being old enough to be considered eligible to retire from active duty on age alone, but rather you’ve gone and performed exceptionally enough the past few days that you are actually being considered for a transfer up into the rank of team leader.”

Sally’s mouth fell open. Anna fought the urge to blush again. She made a very adorable goldfish.

“B…bu… oh. No. No one told me.”

“That’s ‘cause I was supposed to tell you. Now. Before this mission. That’s the rule. Sorry. You’re not allowed to know you’re about to be evaluated for that role on a mission until you’ve already accepted to do the mission. Of course, you are always allowed to back out after finding out.

Sally shook her head rapidly. “No. No. No. Not backing out. Nope. Never. Not gonna happen. Not this girl.”

Anna couldn’t help but smile at that response. “That’s the spirit. And that’s also the last clarification to be made. So yeah. This is going to be quite the mission, for something so simple, we’ve got all three of your careers riding on it. “

“Well, that’s just completely unfair. You’re the only who gets to do this with absolutely no threat of the future hanging over you.” Sally huffed.

“Well, I have the threat of you looming in the horizon. One more to the list of people competing against me for the next promotion.”

Sally actually burst out laughing at that. Anna frowned. “How was that funny?”

“No, the idea that I, assuming I even manage to actually qualify for this, could actually be a challenge to you in that race is laughable at best. Come on Anna. It’s ridiculous to think that I could beat you to that.”

Anna shook her head. “You’re far better at things than you give yourself credit for Sally.”

Sally promptly found the floor very interesting. There was a whispered ‘thank you’ so quiet that Anna would’ve completely missed if it wasn’t for the pin drop silence in the room.

The silence stretched on for a little. Just before it could transition into the territory of awkward, Safi proceeded to descend into a violent coughing fit of some sort. Anyone with two eyes could see it was about as fake as they came, but Anna silently thanked the girl. Silences of that nature were dangerous.

Trying not to do a smile that Sally had dubbed the “Proud Grandma” at the way Serafina reacted to Safi’s coughing fit, Anna cleared her own throat hoping to get everyone back on track again. It seemed to work well enough given that they all promptly turned to face her.

“Alright, so now that we have gotten absolutely all of those prerequisites,” Anna paused to raise her hand, “to my knowledge. I say that because sometimes there will be situations where prerequisites you’ve never heard of will just pop up out of absolutely nowhere.” Anna paused again to acknowledge Safi and Serafina’s answering nods before she continued. “Wonderful. So, with that, I believe we can get to the basic details. Because really that’s all we have at the moment. Most of the rest will have to be gleaned from the scene itself which we will visit as soon as we can.”

“That sounds good,” said Safi. “Will. Will the visit be today?” She glanced down at the desk she was sitting behind.

Anna shrugged. “In most cases I would say yes. But there’s no telling. Some crime scenes aren’t accessible right away or sometimes its simply not worth the risk to travel somewhere, this especially comes into play on fairly stagnant crime scenes like this one where there’s little risk of tampering.”

“So does this mean we’re headed into an unsafe area?” asked Sally, with a small frown.

Anna shook her head. “No. Not to our knowledge. I’m just being thorough here.”

Sally nodded, gesturing for her to carry on. Anna nodded and did just that.

“Now that we’ve clarified that, its time for those details I promised.” She finally turned back to the board and tapped on it to bring up the details. There was a crisp photo of a small village half buried in the sand in what appeared to be the middle of nowhere. Next to it was the photo of a faded identification document of some kind, the important information highlighted and magnified.

“That is pretty much all the details we currently have,” said Anna. “We’re looking into a potential murder of a travelling merchant in this village.”

Anna pointed to the photo of the village. “That is the village in question. Souritesym, I believe meaning something to the effect of final light in the dying sun. I don’t think the name has anything to do with what happened, but that is quite the name to have for what appears at best to be a partially abandoned village. The population according to our most recent archives is believed to be forty-seven, which is honestly higher than I expected.”

Anna tapped on the identification document. “And that’s the one other piece of evidence we have. The crime was reported to local authorities where it passed enough red flag checks to be relayed to us and this is the one picture the local authorities were kind enough to send us.”

Anna raised her hand again. “Now I’m not certain why we only have the one picture of an id. The details tell me that it was either a sandstorm that prevented the local forensics team from taking more than a photo, or it was a sandstorm that took out the local Wi-Fi leaving this as the only image successfully sent.” Anna shrugged. “So yeah, we don’t really learn anything from that besides the fact that we’ve only got this to work with.”

“Well, it tells us that there’s sandstorms there that could interfere with our own equipment,” pointed out Sally.

Anna rolled her eyes. Sure, it was a valid point. That was an observation that could be made from that particular set of data, but a desert village half buried in the sand is usually all the evidence one needs to realize sandstorms exist near said village.

Thankfully, Sally didn’t seem to have noticed the eye roll or she’d ignored it so Anna could continue without another interruption.

“So, long story short, all we have is an id from the victim in question. We’ll have to actually fly out to get a hold of all the other details to be gleaned from the victim. Of course, they did send us a report on their findings, which basically amounted to the fact that magic or some form of unnatural force was used in this killing and that it was clearly done on purpose.”

“So, they followed the rulebook to the letter and sent the agency the case the moment it even slightly intersected into our jurisdiction?” asked Safi.

“They did, yes,” said Anna nodding, “contrary to popular belief, people actually do obey those guidelines because unless the case is somehow personal to them most people would simply jump at the chance to pile their work on someone else.”

“Reality is a harsh mistress,” echoed Serafina.

Safi proceeded to chuckle. “Don’t’ tell that in front of Captain Hardy.”

Serafina proceeded to glare at Safi. “She’s not going to smite me just for criticizing reality.”

Safi raised her hands, shrinking back a little. “Sorry, sorry. I was just trying to make a joke. It was in poor taste. I’m sorry.”

Serafina’s glare was gone as soon as it appeared. “No. I’m the one who’s sorry. That was an overreaction. My bad.” Anna tried her hardest to look away from what was definitely a private moment, but her traitorous curious brain had other plans.

Safi reached out a hand to Serafina. “Truce then. We both messed up.” Serafina masked a lock of shock with needle like precision as she took Safi’s hand. “I can accept that.” They shook on it and turned back to the board.

Anna scrambled to point at the highlighted name of their victim. “So… Mr. Von Blah Blah…”

“Anna, you alright?” came Sally’s voice from the side.

“Huh?” Anna twisted towards her confused.

“It says quite clearly Vionan Blogh Blau.”

Anna could feel the tiniest of blushes making its way to her face even as she fought valiantly against it. “I saw that. Just checking to see if you were all paying attention.” She tried the ‘Embarrassed Teacher’ smile. Her mind tried to point out that thinking in terms of the ridiculous names Sally had come up for Anna’s various smiles were not helping with the ongoing efforts to fight a blush, but she pointedly chose to ignore that voice.

Anna was saved by Safi.

“Mr. Von Blah Blah is a good way to remember,” said Safi. “That’s not the easiest of names to pronounce much less remember.”

“Precisely,” said Anna. “I was banking on that. So yes. Blah Blah here is our victim. Let’s talk about that. In detail. For a while.” She was going to run with that until Sally inevitably called her out again.

Thankfully, it seemed that Sally was in a forgiving mood because she nodded. “Blah Blah is good enough I suppose. We don’t want to use the actual name too often anyway when we reach those parts. You never know who connects to whom in what way until it’s a little too late.”

Anna nodded vigorously. “Absolutely, absolutely. That. That. So. Blah. Blah. Details. What do we have. Not much obviously, but its still more than nothing. Anyways. So that’s name. Now we do have date of birth. That’s the Konivian system so 4th of Argian 4016 is roughly the 3rd of December 1987 or thereabouts. Which isn’t too much of a clue. That’s around the age you’d be wondering that area all alone like that so nothing out the ordinary.

Anna pointed to the final detail that was highlighted. “Now that right there is the one singular clue that makes this seem just a little bit more out of place in an otherwise almost perfectly clean slate.”

“The membership,” said Sally, almost immediately. Anna smiled. Sally really was very sharp.

Anna pointed to the photo of the village. “That is the village in question. Souritesym, I believe meaning something to the effect of final light in the dying sun. I don’t think the name has anything to do with what happened, but that is quite the name to have for what appears at best to be a partially abandoned village. The population according to our most recent archives is believed to be forty-seven, which is honestly higher than I expected.”

Anna tapped on the identification document. “And that’s the one other piece of evidence we have. The crime was reported to local authorities where it passed enough red flag checks to be relayed to us and this is the one picture the local authorities were kind enough to send us.”

Anna raised her hand again. “Now I’m not certain why we only have the one picture of an id. The details tell me that it was either a sandstorm that prevented the local forensics team from taking more than a photo, or it was a sandstorm that took out the local Wi-Fi leaving this as the only image successfully sent.” Anna shrugged. “So yeah, we don’t really learn anything from that besides the fact that we’ve only got this to work with.”

“Well, it tells us that there’s sandstorms there that could interfere with our own equipment,” pointed out Sally.

Anna rolled her eyes. Sure, it was a valid point. That was an observation that could be made from that particular set of data, but a desert village half buried in the sand is usually all the evidence one needs to realize sandstorms exist near said village.

Thankfully, Sally didn’t seem to have noticed the eye roll or she’d ignored it so Anna could continue without another interruption.

“So, long story short, all we have is an id from the victim in question. We’ll have to actually fly out to get a hold of all the other details to be gleaned from the victim. Of course, they did send us a report on their findings, which basically amounted to the fact that magic or some form of unnatural force was used in this killing and that it was clearly done on purpose.”

“So, they followed the rulebook to the letter and sent the agency the case the moment it even slightly intersected into our jurisdiction?” asked Safi.

“They did, yes,” said Anna nodding, “contrary to popular belief, people actually do obey those guidelines because unless the case is somehow personal to them most people would simply jump at the chance to pile their work on someone else.”

“Reality is a harsh mistress,” echoed Serafina.

Safi proceeded to chuckle. “Don’t’ tell that in front of Captain Hardy.”

Serafina proceeded to glare at Safi. “She’s not going to smite me just for criticizing reality.”

Safi raised her hands, shrinking back a little. “Sorry, sorry. I was just trying to make a joke. It was in poor taste. I’m sorry.”

Serafina’s glare was gone as soon as it appeared. “No. I’m the one who’s sorry. That was an overreaction. My bad.” Anna tried her hardest to look away from what was definitely a private moment, but her traitorous curious brain had other plans.

Safi reached out a hand to Serafina. “Truce then. We both messed up.” Serafina masked a lock of shock with needle like precision as she took Safi’s hand. “I can accept that.” They shook on it and turned back to the board.

Anna scrambled to point at the highlighted name of their victim. “So… Mr. Von Blah Blah…”

“Anna, you alright?” came Sally’s voice from the side.

“Huh?” Anna twisted towards her confused.

“It says quite clearly Vionan Blogh Blau.”

Anna could feel the tiniest of blushes making its way to her face even as she fought valiantly against it. “I saw that. Just checking to see if you were all paying attention.” She tried the ‘Embarrassed Teacher’ smile. Her mind tried to point out that thinking in terms of the ridiculous names Sally had come up for Anna’s various smiles were not helping with the ongoing efforts to fight a blush, but she pointedly chose to ignore that voice.

Anna was saved by Safi.

“Mr. Von Blah Blah is a good way to remember,” said Safi. “That’s not the easiest of names to pronounce much less remember.”

“Precisely,” said Anna. “I was banking on that. So yes. Blah Blah here is our victim. Let’s talk about that. In detail. For a while.” She was going to run with that until Sally inevitably called her out again.

Thankfully, it seemed that Sally was in a forgiving mood because she nodded. “Blah Blah is good enough I suppose. We don’t want to use the actual name too often anyway when we reach those parts. You never know who connects to whom in what way until it’s a little too late.”

Anna nodded vigorously. “Absolutely, absolutely. That. That. So. Blah. Blah. Details. What do we have. Not much obviously, but its still more than nothing. Anyways. So that’s name. Now we do have date of birth. That’s the Konivian system so 4th of Argian 4016 is roughly the 3rd of December 1987 or thereabouts. Which isn’t too much of a clue. That’s around the age you’d be wondering that area all alone like that so nothing out the ordinary.

Anna pointed to the final detail that was highlighted. “Now that right there is the one singular clue that makes this seem just a little bit more out of place in an otherwise almost perfectly clean slate.”

“The membership,” said Sally, almost immediately. Anna smiled. Sally really was very sharp.

She went back to her journal and started work again this time she'd talk about Belinda. Belinda was an enigma that Aquarius really hadn't fully managed to crack the code to. Well more like she didn't leave her cabin or talk to people not named Juniper or Darvi enough times to actually be able to get a read on her. Well Aquarius wasn't drawing a complete blank of course. There was still something to be had from even nothing after all. Or Aquarius might have made up that particular quote. Point was that Aquarius was still going to fill out this section of the journal with whatever the heck she'd managed to scrounge up out of all of this. She was no quitter, not Aquarius.

Aquarius grinned. Well there was one more thing that she'd figured out. Well more like sort of been completely unable to not hear on account of the fact that she ears and liked to pay a decent amount of attention to her surroundings. That of course was the fact that Belly Bee, a nickname that made Aquarius imagine a nightmarish creature and shudder but apparently made Belinda swoon was in fact dating one Juniper, the lovely healer. That had to mean she couldn't be too bad. Aqua liked Juniper too much to think she'd ever date someone that was horrible in anyway. Which does come just a tiny bit into conflict with a couple of other conclusions that she'd drawn about Belinda through a couple more of the limited times she'd spotted Belinda out and about.

Well that was mostly pertaining to how Belinda was somewhat of a...it was hard to say. She didn't quite know the right word for it. Not an airhead. Not a jerk. Something in between that was interesting. She just seemed to be one of those kids who just excelled in everything that they tried and floated on a realm above the rest never taking the time to understand how much effort the rest of us needed to put in to try and match that much power. Aqua didn't want to come to any conclusions about how anyone here was raised but Darvi being trauma central station and this one being I don't give a fuck central station suggested Darvi's trauma began from her own parents. Probably from parents who had twins, one of whom was a genius and one of whom was just your average kid, maybe even a little above average but no genius and they only babied the genius and taught them to always compete for love except it was rigged and Belinda won every single time because naturally she was a genius.

Aqua shook her head. She was just speculating. Speculating pretty wildly too at that but it was fun to do at the moment and its not like it was hurting anyone. This was just for her to think at the moment, until other facts could and probably would present themselves when the time was right. They just had to wait.

Aquarius let out a small yawn. She was starting to get just a little bit sleepy now. But there wee four more that she needed to be doing and she'd be damned if she wasn't going to do this. Gathering her wits, she started, now moving onto the other sort of kid on the ship. Naim. The one that weirdly Aquarius had ended up spending the most time with even though not a lot of if involved talking. It was mostly helping out Gray a little as they both hung about the kitchen or Aquarius hanging out in the cow's nest with them just chilling not really needing to share words between the two of them. Well more like Naim wasn't one for words and Aqua was occasionally blessed with the gift of knowing to shut up.

Naim was an enigma too to be fair. For someone that Aquarius had spent an incredibly long time with, she hadn't learnt much about him. He was almost like a ghost on the shop, just sort of there occasionally speaking about three words when absolutely necessary but otherwise quiet. Aqua learnt how to tell things about people through the way they spoke and the way they generally interacted with the world. Someone so quiet and so resistant to interaction became quite hard for her to judge in any way. It was almost frustrating but then Naim was also just such a reassuring little presence that Aqua didn't entirely mind. It was fine if Naim was a mysterious ghost. At the very least they were a friendly mysterious ghost and that was never a bad thing. Maybe Aqua would one day find the courage, the time and a willing Naim enough to try and delve just a little bit deeper but that day would not be today and she was completely fine with that fact.

She would be able to live with that. She was pretty sure about that anyway. There was no way that Naim was going to remain a mystery forever, or even for more than two weeks. Aqua just needed to figure out just a little bit more about what exactly made Naim tick and then that would be all she needed to just pounce. She'd acquired all the knowledge that was there to acquire. As she wrote that down she felt that maybe that was just a tiny bit more evil sounding than she'd intended. She just wanted to get a little picture of what kind of conversation Naim was most receptive to.

It wasn't a crime to just observe a person and get to know them well so that you could finally strike up a conversation with them and then proceed to learn just a little bit about them. Surely it was not. Aqua should almost definitely know that as a ruler. They definitely did more than enough classes in law to know that. That's how she realized she'd described stalking. Well that only applied if Naim didn't know Aqua was there. She was probably good.

Aqua decided moving on was the best course of action. Before she had to explore the idea of stalking in more detail or did something stupid like going ahead and trying to give Naim a full survey to determine if they felt like they were being stalked or not. Yup moving on from this was most definitely going to be the smartest move to make in this moment. There were three more people to be dealing with. The Princess as it were, the stowaway which had been a very interesting move, especially because Sefarina had not technically announced him to them all and some of them probably didn't even know about him but Aqua was a perceptive person, more like heard raised voices yesterday and decided to maybe just eavesdrop on that just a little bit because the things being said by those voices at the time had sounded just concerning enough for her to want to take that risk of getting caught eavesdropping.

The risk had definitely paid dividends. Then there was that mysterious one. Aqua decided to go for the stowaway for now. She'd already started expounding on the stowaway a little bit. She might as well carry that through completely. There was no real point to putting that anywhere else since that's about the sum total of what she know about the stowaway anyway. They were male, definitely had some sort of weird astral whatsit power and was generally calm and trying to be helpful. She didn't know how much the words of a stowaway could be trusted but she supposed it was a start. Further evaluations were absolutely going to be necessary on that one to determine anything further.

Putting that aside for now, maybe she'd have to open another full journal for that, she looked at the final two, the rather curious cases of the more elusive people that Aqua had run into the least upto now. Sidney and Willow. They were both interesting in their own way and she'd only seem them both at the big meeting. Sidney seemed fun to be honest. The kind of person Aqua wanted to hang out with. That's all she could really say. She wished Sidney would come out or more or maybe Aqua should stop only hanging out in the kitchen and actually go talk to a few more people. That would probably bode well. Yup she definitely needed to talk more.

The conclusion was definitely the opposite of that for this Willow girl. She was...trouble. Well not trouble. She just didn't fancy getting a big prophecy about how she was fated to die. Aqua knew this expedition was dangerous and she didn't need a quiet young lady to accuse her of being dead or dying soon thank you very much. Especially not if she said it while crying about it and feeling bad about the horror that you were about to experience. There was something that was just deeply unsettling about the idea of something like that. Just a woman crying about the horror of how you die. No thank you. NO thank you. NO THANK YOU. She was very much fine with that knowledge a mystery.

Aquarius heaved a sigh of relief, glad to be finally be done with this. She could focus now on Idris' case, finding out more about Mr. Stowaway and of course making sure to be ready to take notes about the islands. She knew Belinda was already doing that of course but that was for public record. All of this was for Aquarius record and she was going to be the only one reading all of that. Its not like it was going to be top secret but she liked to write things down. Interesting things. She wasn't going to just go around cataloguing every tiny thing like she was sure Belinda's job was going to make her do.

Sefarina took another breath of fresh air for the nth time today. It was simply too wonderful if she was being honest with herself. She was getting a little bit addicted to sailing out at this point. Sure, the cities were very clean now, their energy barely leaving a signature on the planet unlike the horror stories from times like the early 2000's where being in a busy city could be so bad and polluted in some places that they could really not even see a few feet in front of them.

It was truly insane how badly it had gone prior to the whole well...The Great Ending. It was a generous term to call it an apocalypse honestly. The definition of an apocalypse was normally utter destruction caused by some sort of unforeseen force all suddenly, but this had been rather far from that. A tragedy predicted by dozens, then hundreds then quite literally thousands upon thousands of scientists crying out that this would not end well only for humanity to go "Hold my Oil Barrel.". And Nature had set "Bet". As it often was when humankind had tried to defy their nature, they'd fucked around and found out.

It would be almost poetic if Sefarina wasn't on the aftermath of the whole ordeal on the losing side. Well it wasn't fair to say aftermath. The generations that had actually lived through the stage where it got to its worst, people starting to die and those first efforts that would lead to the Zodiac Isles. Those were the people living in the true aftermath of it all having to suffer, walking around their own homes with masks and personal filtration systems. Those were the heroes that finally in a world falling apart and willing to listen as it all fell to the ground managed to rise up and survive. It had been a humongous effort to even build up to this point, with the species declining rapidly.

It was a bit of a weird system there. In a move Thanos from the old stories would probably gloat about, the declining population had helped humanity reach this stage, the Zodiac Isles going from a dream to a project that was now what houses all of the people still alive on Earth. At least that's what they'd thought until about three days ago. A couple of weeks from now history could be getting a brand new chapter, unless they found nothing of course, but the condition of that spear really made her think otherwise. It was not from the Zodiac Isles, that was certain. In the worst case they would find the remnants of the civilization that produced it, unlocking an older chapter in the world's history of another people that survived longer than most, but not nearly long enough to be free in the new world.

Ahh the new world. Sefarina was old enough that her great grandmother had shared here stories of that time. Closer to when the twelve massive ships that made up humanity were in their infancy. There had been a debate about restarting the calendar again. Starting from a year zero, which would be the day on which the first metal scaffolding bar to make the first Zodiac Ship would be made. It had been a debate that even her own parents were already not so interested in much like a lot of the current generation. Despite the destruction data storage was a powerful things and they had enough information about past ages to think letting that calendar continue was the right thing to do. Sefarina personally agreed with it too.

It was important wipe a slate clean, true. A fresh start, free from all the horrors but too often had humanity trampled over its own past mistakes, starting "anew" they would all say only to stumble right back into the same mistakes. It was the cycle that had brought about many of the reasons for The Great Ending in the first place. No. They needed to remember, everyone needed to know. Every mistake that was made, they need to be marred by the horrifying things done that no one in the future would run into another Great Ending. They had to be smarter than their ancestor, not just descendants who think they can do better.

"Sefarina?" Someone tapped on her shoulder.

She jumped a foot into the air and hung onto the wheel. Still hanging from the wheel like she was practicing some sort of odd technique to stretching she peered down at the person who had tapped on her shoulder.

"Howdy stranger!"

Darvi pouted. Though, he'd probably never admit that. "Everything that happened last night, and now I'm a stranger?"

Sefarina shook her head and finally rebooted enough to identify Darvi in front of here. "Oh its Darvi. Hiiii. Welcomee! I'm just.." She proceeded to a full flag on the steering wheel and then hold it for a few seconds. "Doing a few stretches."

Darvi nodded. "Are you okay?"

"Yup. Just doing my thing you know. I do this twice a day every day you know. I'm sure you've seen it before."

"Yeah." Darvi sighed. "Any news of approaching land?"

"Naim did tell me to watch for something up ahead about thirty minutes ago, but at the moment there is nothing visible to those of us who aren't Naim. Well to me anyway. ;Do you see any approaching land?"

"No. But there's this... tension in the air. It's like being in Belinda's room."

"Hmm? Ohh." She got down. "Interesting. I think I feel it too."

"I think it's because of the ghosts that follow her. They're made of energy, and even though you can't see them, they're there. Taking up space. And you can feel that fullness. But since there's nothing to see, you panic."

Sefarina nodded. "I don't think I've even thought of it that way but yeah that would do it. It has to all go somewhere and if you're only seeing a small part of the picture, yup. Panic it would be."

Darvi nodded. "Sorry. The musings of someone whose sister can see ghosts."

"Why are you apologizingg? I quite literally spelt out why that was a wonderful revelation that really helps out in realizing a thing or two about this feeling. It was quite helpful Darvi."

Darvi cleared their throat and nodded, moving from one foot to the other.

Sefarina leaned down and pecked Darvi on the cheek. "You are adorable."

Darvi huffed. "Just because we're a... thing now, doesn't mean you can come and do that whenever you want. What if someone sees?"

Sefarina pouted right back. "Are you uncomfortable with ittt? Ashamed of getting caught kissing me?"

Darvi fishmouthed before slamming their mouth shut.

"Whatt? Thats not exactly a concrete answer there now, is it?"

"I'm not ashamed! I just..." They groaned. "I don't want you to be accused of favoritism."

"Why would they accuse me of favoritism?"

Darvi blinked. "Because... you're dating me? And you could favor me in situations I shouldn't be favored?"

"Why on Earth would I do that? Just because I'm dating you doesn't mean you aren't getting your ass handed to you if you mess something up. In fact I'm stricter on people I care about. You can ask Rune about that."

Darvi squeaked. "I'll... I'll keep that in mind."

"That's good. You'll do well to keep that nicely in mind for the coming days."

Darvi swallowed, looking at the ground.

"Aww don't be too afraid! I'm only teasing. I think your performance has consistently being over the expected amount honestly to the point I'm a little worried about you being overworked. It would be a good thing if you slacked off just a little."

"Never, my... Sefarina. Slacking off is never something I would consider."

"Well then I'm going to have to make suree you don't overwork yourself but you should be in no danger of punishment."

"I kno exactly how much work I can handle. Eighteen hours a day." He nodded. "If I time my shifts well, I can get up to 19."

"That is a litttle to much for a single day.I don't mind you being awake that long but maybe try to cut back on the working to at least 12 hours, take some of those hours to eat, maybe take a rest once in a while."

"I have an hour set aside for eating. I take a break during my sleeping shifts."

"An hour. For all three meals?"

"I eat efficiently."

"In three sittings?"

"It's twenty minutes per meal. Eating only the nutrients I need, it's quite easy."

"Hmm, 'm going to need a significantly more detailed look at these nutrients that you mention there."

"Carbs. Proteins. Vegetables."

"Hmm so what do you have in order to fulfill all of this?"

"Usually, chicken with rice and greenbeans."

"Hmm and Gray makes that for you three times a day, every day?"

She nodded. "It's how the barracks were."

"Hmm, well I suppose that's not horrifyingly bad, but I will be feeding you plenty of other things in the meantimee. You better be prepared!"

"F-Feeding me?"

"Mmm Hmm. More of those tea partiess? Maybe get Gray to bake a cake. I'm pretty sure that's an option in that kitchen."

"I've... it's been years since I've had cake."

"Well its not going to be years between your next cake and the one after that I can promise you that much."

"O-Okay."

"Good! Keep that in mind!"

"Lots of things to keep in mind, apparently."

"Too many?"

"I'll manage."

"I'm glad cause if you keep that up young Darvi you will end up with even more things to keep in mind."

"Such as?" Darvi crossed her arms.

"Well that's for me to know and for you to find out."

"Orrrr, you can tell me?"

"Hmm, what do I get out of telling you now?"

"Making the person you're dating happy?"

"Hmm. Is that soo?"

Darvi nodded.

"I suppose that's quite a fair reason." Sefarina nodded. "I must now reveal all of my secrets."

"It's a vital part to ship security. So spill."

"A vital part to ship security you say. Would you mind explaining to me how exactly that came to be?"

"Because the Head of Security needs to know everything. To monitor safety with all the information.

"And my secrets are now somehow part of this." It look like quite a lot of things could get on that list from that look that Darvi was giving her right now.

"To put me at ease." He grinned.

"Ohh I see.Put you at ease is what we're calling it now."

"Which is needed for good security." Darvi bumper their shoulder against Sefarina's arm.

"I suppose it is. You drive a hard bargain but I suppose I shall tell everyone this."

"You don't have to tell everyoneee. Just tell me what you're planning."

Sefarina huffed. "I don't even get to be needlessly dramamtic?"

"I can't stop you."

"But you're trying really hard right now to."

"Just tell me what I need to be worried about if I keep eating chicken." Darvi was pouting again.

"You need to be worried about me making you eat other stuff. Or accidentally making Gray give you other stuff, because while your diet is a wonderful thing Darvi, you need to occasionally have a little more variety."

"How are you going to make me eat other stuff?" Darvi crossed their arms. "I think I'm stronger than you."

"If Gray doesn't prepare that for you, you have to eat what he provides."

Darvi smirked. "Or. Hunger strike."

"Why would you go on a hunger strike?"

"To get my meal that I can eat in twenty minutes so I can keep sleeping five hours a day." He shrugged. "The longer I eat, the less I sleep."

"So it'll become a competition for you to try and challenge me?"

Darvi grinned.

"Go on. Answer me."

"I mean, if it comes to that."

"So you'd rather go hungry than eat a slightly different meal?"

Darvi stared at her for a bit before groaning. "No..."

"Ohh, a change of mind there?"

"I could see in your eyes I was fighting a war that no one would win."

"What do you meann?"

Darvi frowned. "Don't worry about it."

"Oh no, I'd like to get to the bottom of this if you don't mind thank you."

"I mean. It's clear you'd just get mad at me."

"I would?"

"Are you saying you wouldn't?" Darvi raised an eyebrow. "You wouldn't get mad at me if I did a hunger strike?"

"Well it depends on the nature of it."

"Explain."

"I mean if you just plan refuse to eat anything else and go on strike because you can't be convinced I'd rather step back and let you have your way so can keep eating food."

"Oh. Sorry." Darvi shrugged. "It was a joke. Anyways."

"It was a joke?"

"Yeah. Sorry." Darvi shrunk in on himself.

"Darvi? You're acting a little strange."

"I didn't mean to scare you."

"You didn't scare meee."

"Oh." Darvi cleared their throat. "Okay. I am going to um... go. Over there. And do. Important things."

"Over where exactly?"

"Far away from here."

"And why would that be?"

"Because this whole conversation has become embarrassing and I feel my face melting."

"Awww poor thing. Do you need some help keeping your face unmelted?"

Darvi nodded.

"How about a little kiss? I think that will help tremendously. I'm quite sure of it."

Darvi squeaked and nodded shyly.

Serafina leaned in and gently pecked Darvi on the lips. "There you goo!"

Darvi cleared their throat and gave a curt nod. "Thank you."

"You're Welcomee!"

Darvi looked away. "So what do you need me to do?"

"Hmm?"

"To prepare for the island?"

"Oooh yes. Can you think of a little general security briefing that we can give everyone before we disembark and head in to explore the island?"

"What do you want me to say?"

"Darvi, that's yours to choose. Its your job as the high security officer to come up with a full safety briefing. We follow your lead in these matters remember?"

Darvi groaned. "Yes. But... we don't know the threats. Should I mention every threat? Like tripping hazards? Oh my stars, can you get land sickness? None of us have ever been on land. What happens we are on land for the first time?"

"All of the threats Darvi. Honestly I don't know myself. None of us have been on land in centuries, not the Zodiacs, not our ancestors. No one. Its a whole new world out there as far as we're concerned. We need to be prepared for absolutely everything."

Darvi nodded. "I'll... put together a slideshow. Maybe we can send me to land for a week so I can test how it feels first."

"No we're all going to go, you're not making yourself a guinea pig, but I like the slideshow idea, get to work on that."

Darvi nodded. "Right now?"

A dark mass started forming on the horizon, shifting in a way that almost seemed organic. As the ship approached with its incredible speeds, there were scars of light zigzagging through the mass. It was a thunderstorm. But it was wrong somehow. Thunderstorms didn't twist and turn within themselves. They didn't expand and contract. They didn't fill the air with an energy that almost seemed hungry.

Lightning flashed across the sky. It was an unnatural neon blue, so bright it was almost blinding. It was followed by a sizzle and then a thundering bang. Darvi visibly jumped. The storm raged on, the ship almost seeming to hesitate was daylight started to crumble under the weight of the storm's inky darkness. Sefarina's hair started to stand up straight, reaching to the sky like it was surrounding to some higher power. Maybe this was a higher power.

Sefarina gasped loudly. Well there came the storm that Naim had notified her of, the one that was surrounding the land that birds refused to fly to. Well it was abundantly clear why no bird would want to fly into that. That was one hundred percent death trap.

"Darvi. Well you wanted to know how land was going to look, I think we might have just found it."

Darvi shook their head. "No. You're not telling me we're going into the battery storm."

Another flash of lightning. Another sizzle. Another bang.

"It sounds like it's cooking something. We could be about to head into a fucking ROTISSERIE OVEN."

"Yeah no shit. This is going to be a mess and a half but we have to go in. Its the only way to find out what's on the other side."

Darvi started pacing. "Oh dear. Oh stars. What do we wear? Wood armor?"

"I can make sure the storm doesn't fry us completely."

"You can?"

"I can." Sefarina smirked. "There is a reason that I'm one of the best navigators out there. I can get a ship through any storm."

"How?"

"My constellation, Darvi. They affectionally call me..." She gently called out to the air around her, feeling it, becoming one with it, feeling every current of wind, every bolt of lightning, ever single wave in the ocean, nature at its most powerful, borrowed by her for just a fleeting moment as lightning struck right behind her on the steering wheel. She didn't flinch. "Storm Breaker."

Darvi gasped. "Woah. That's... impressive."

"Thank youu. Rune does not like me pulling that trick because sometimes it leaves a few scorch marks on the wheel our poor engineer has to go through and remove but I think this is one of the few ships that safe from something like that.

Darvi made a strange keening noises and nodded. "I can see why. It's hot - NOT something you would want to do on a fragile ship."

"Hmm? It is quite hot and not something you want on a fragile ship. Lighting can do a lot of damage if you're not being very careful about it.

"Yep. That is..."He pointed fingerguns at her. "What I meant."

Sefarina giggled. "Thank youu thenn. You should probably stand back just a teeny weeny bit while I do this next part although don't go too far, once I get a storm of this magnitude pushed away I'm probably going to pass out for a little bit, so please be ready to catch me in that event.

"I can catch you!" Darvi nodded. "Cradle you in my arms."

"Thank you kindly."

Darvi swallowed.

Sefarina beamed. "Shall we get ready for the show then."

Darvi nodded. "We should get steamy- READY for the presentation."

Sefarina nodded.

Darvi wiped his face. "I'm going to go. "His voice cracked.

"Aww not staying for this show first? I do need someone to catch me stilll?"

"Oh. I thought you meant-" He nodded. "Yeah. Yeah."

"Hmm what did you think I meant sweetie?"

"P-Presentation."

"Aww well you can show that once we're throw the storm. We won't be immediately running onto land, if its even going to be there right on the other side. We'll take some time to prepare both in weapons and food and of course your briefing in safety.

"I'm more worried about it being in the middle of the storm."

"Good point. Definitely focus on a few basic tips to be defending against large storms to really add depth to the whole thing and to cover what will be a pretty big part I am quite sure."

Darvi gave a thumbs up.

Sefarina tapped back into her surroundings. Feeling the true power of nature tiptoeing at her fingertips, blasting in and out. Controlling the weather was never and easy thing, it wasn't like rowing a boat or steering a calm ship, no this was like taking a small inflatable raft out in a thunderstorm. You could control it in theory, you know what you were doing and you know what needed to be done but you were always at the mercy of the storm, the mercy of Mother Nature. She ruled and it was she who dictated whether your instructions would succeed or fail, whether you would sail successfully through the storm or whether you were doomed to fail and be dead in the water. It was a matter of giving into the power of the wind and becoming one with it, knowing it, learning it, then making it your own so that it would do your bidding. It was a game of respect and permission rather than one of wresting control and lashing out. You weren't a god. You were a mortal, borrowing the power of this world for but a brief moment so that you may shape it just enough to get through unscathed onto your destination. That was the mindset going in, honed from years and years of playing around with the weather, since she was five. It had been more than two decades now. She knew she was a shaper, a borrower, not a breaker and a controller.

Darvi watched quietly, mouth slightly agape.

Sefarina stepped forward, eyes locked firmly onto the horrifying sight in front of her. The awesome power of Mother Nature represented in one of its purest forms, ringing true and firm as it showed the potential it carried within, the sheer insanity that was before them. Sefarina knew right away it was no ordinary storm. The smell of ozone was thick and pungent. Not exactly the most revolutionary thing to discover at the eye of a storm, especially one frequented by some much lighting, but this was something else. This was on a scale that Sefarina wasn't familiar with. It was also rather...erratic. Nature was beautiful. Nature was chaos and Nature was randomness. This was all true but the few who could be one with it knew another truth.

Nature was familiar. Nature had its patterns in the randomness. It was a randomness that was recognizable, familiar and comforting to those who stepped within it and asked for the great gift of briefly directing it. It was a powerful randomness, one that could surprise enemies because if you didn't know nature you could never predict her. She was forever the mistress long out of reach. You could claw for it and fight, you could desperately wrangle but you would never know her secrets unless and until you learnt her fully. It was a beautiful relationship that Serafina genuinely had treasured for many many years now ever since she'd learnt of this and understood that control came from letting go, not from taking charge.

Sefarina knew this storm was nothing nature made. The erratic patterns were...artificial. Erratic for the sake of being erratic. Or maybe erratic because the thing that created it was slowly breaking apart. This smelt of...influence. Human influence. The thought both excited and terrified Sefarina. Were they about to happen upon a civilization that had harnessed the very power of mother nature to use it as a defense. How powerful were they to reach this point? But above all, more than the excitement of finding another well developed civilization was the fear that this was a civilization that had not learnt from its mistakes and tried to play god, a ticking time bomb that could pave the way for another Great Ending. This was the kind of thing written about in novels predicting a future apocalypse.

She stuck it out regardless. She needed to get this storm artificial or not out of the way, at any rate it looked like this would be easier. This was no gift of mother nature, this was a human abomination creating a scar upon her, she would be on Sefarina's side to end this puny little thing that was trying to be a storm. It was time to wipe this little stain right off the pristine floor that was now finally Earth's to enjoy Oh this was going to be a beautiful moment here. A moment for the order of nature to sign through the wishy washy chaos of man and show it what true chaos was.

Sefarina thrust her hands outward. At first it was all still, the sound of the wind dying down to a quiet murmur. The waves forgetting the lines to their endless chorus, the crack of lightning quiet and dormant for just a moment, it was as if the world held its beath, Sefarina's gentle offer coming in through, as nature's manager proceeded to read through it and process if her request was reasonable before...the sea came alive. The winds said hi, and the lightning danced to Sefarina's rhythm. Nature allowed her will to go through as the sky and the sea for that brief moment were hers to command and command they she did, with a simple thrust and a parting motion, asking for the sky to clear up and give them safe passage.

The seas roared toward the island, the thunder began to slowly dissipate, the winds starting to flow against the spinning tornadoes of doom as they slowly began to unravel at the seams, falling apart quickly, the lighting starting to go out like spare bubble wrap being attacked by a particularly curious toddler. It was a beautiful sound as much as it was a terrifying sound. One at the prospect of the storm somehow having a defense mechanism or maybe even some kind of spell or magic causing it to crack like that, one at the thought of this stain genuinely being erased its death as unnatural as the existence that it had tried to reach. The clouds began to clear.

They parted, the seas starting to calm down too as the ship was now sailing into a gap in the storm. The clouds parted, the lightning distant enough not to bother them and the seas calm and nice once more. Land loomed in the distance. Something was most definitely coming into view now. Oh they'd found land alright. It was going to be something.

The island was still a bit too far away to make out clear details, but it was covered in what looked like dark metal spikes rising from the ground. The air smelled terrible. Pungent and overwhelming.

Darvi gasped. "Oh... oh wow... that was... hot. I mean hot. I mean cool." He laughed, sounding a little strangled. "I'm so professional."

Sefarina giggled even as she stumbled a little, out of breath now. It wasn't as taxing as she had feared it would be but it had still left her very very drained as usual. Darvi rushed up to hold her. "I got you."

Sefarina leaned heavily on Darvi for a moment. "Thank you very much Darvi, just get me to that seat and get Rune here if he's finally awake from last night. He's going to want to see this as we come into dock."

Darvi practically dragged Sefarina to the seat, gently setting her down on it. "You feeling better?"

Sefarina nodded slowly catching her breath. "Yes, starting to slowly get back into it. It'll take me a moment. Takes a lot of energy to pull off a little stunt like that."

"Do you need anything? Water? Food? To lay down? Blood sacrifice?"

"Just sitting down and some water will do me good."

"I'll get you some water." Darvi sprinted below deck.

Sefarina smiled fondly to herself. "Thank you kindly."

Darvi came back with a whole tray of water cups, slowly setting it on a nearby table.

"Thankk yoouuu very much Darvi."

"I didn't know how much water you needed so I brought as much as I could."

"Darvi you didn't have to. But I appreciate it really. I honestly don't know how much water I end up needing either."

"If you need more, I'll get more. Do you need help drinking it?"

"No I think I can mange, thank you for the offer Darvi."

"Of course. Anything else you need?"

"Rune should probably come here, but other than that I think I'm doing quite good."

"Are you sure?"

"I am quite sure."

"Do you want me to get Rune?"

"That would be nice, but its not urgent. I think he's still sleeping off that hangover and we still have some time before we sail completely upto the land and need to think about finding a place that we can dock at."

"I can fly over to look for a place."

"Hmm. Not yet Darvi. We've hardly come to a point where we should start doing that. I want to get a bit closer and dock before we explore an option like that."

"You want to dock before... I look for a place to dock?"

"Welll I want to get closer before we look for a place to dock. We're still a little ways out from actually being able to look. I don't want you to endanger yourself with the storms still at large too. I've only moved them aside.

"I'll dodge them."

"Dodge lightning?"

Darvi choked. "I'll figure it out...?"

Sefarina put her hands on her hips. "You will not be flying out until we are safe from it."

Darvi sighed. "Fine."

Sefarina patted Darvi on the shoulder. "I know its annoying having a leader who cares about your safety but its what you have to deal with."

"But why can't I do the tiniest little risk for the good of the group?"

"Because this is under no classification, a tiny risk."

"Just slight bodily injury and or death."

"That's a massive risk."

"Eeh. Part of the job."

"Nuh uh. I am saying it doesn't have to be and it is not going to be."

"Fine." Darvi sighed.

"I'm sorry."

"Why are you sorry for not letting me die?"

"Cause you seem sad?"

"I'm not." Darvi pouted.

"Well I'm glad to hear that." Sefarina gently patted her back.

Darvi stood up on his tiptoes to kiss her nose.

Sefarina beamed. "Aww thank youu."

Darvi grinned.

"Welll we've made it to our first bit of land."

"So I should fly over there now?"

"Noww? Its been like a minute."

"Dang, I thought you forgot."

"Wow, you think I'm a goldfish?"

"Of course not!" Darvi smiled. "Goldfish have good memory."

Sefarina huffed.

Darvi did an honest cackle.

"Whattt?"

"I teased you good." Darvi grinned. "We're a real couple now."

Serafina cooed softly. "Aww we are a real couple."

Darvi grinned.

She hugged Darvi gently. "You're wonderful."

Darvi squeaked.

She beamed.

"What?"

"I'm happy."

"I'm happy to be with you."

Sefarina gently took Darvi's hand. "I'm happy to be with you to."

Darvi kissed her hand.

She smiled softly.

Rune made his way to the wheelhouse, poking his head into the doorway. His eyes were droopy, and his hair was uncombed as if he just threw his look together.

"I heard I was needed?" Rune asked.

"Hey, Rune! I'm trying to convince Sefarina to let me scout."

"Hm..." Rune yawned and stepped inside, looking out at the island beyond them, "uh... not sure if that's the best idea, Darvi. Don't want anything happening to anyone before we even dock. I think we can just pull around at what looks like a relatively safe spot, and go scope everything out together."

"That's mostly what I was saying."

"Either way, we'll scope it out," Rune shrugged, "and that place looks... interesting?"

"I can't tell what is it."

"Its definitely something. Those storms out there felt very much like a product of something. They weren't natural."

Rune's face looked puzzled, "Yeah... are we sending everyone out? Or are some people staying back, just in case?"

"I don't think Sidney should step foot on that island. She's going to chase the first bug she sees and get eaten alive."

"Uhhh probably a small party goes first, with the most enthusiastic and necessary people, then everyone can go out a bit later if they're all willing."

Darvi nodded. "Makes sense."

Rune hesitated, "And Aquarius? Should this be a trial run to see if she should be allowed on excursions? She is a kid, we have to remember. I don't think she should be in the 'scoping it out' group, or if she should go at all."

"Maybe a part of the second wave just to test it?"

"I can deal with that. But the minute she starts acting childish, or immature, I'm bringing her back to the ship. Deal?" Rune crossed his arms and yawned again.

"I think that's reasonable."

"Rina?" Rune questioned, "Deal?"

"Yeah it can be a trial run if she ends up wanting to go with the second party. She might just want to stay on board."

"That wasn't my question," Rune asked, "I asked for a 'deal' so that if she does come, I'll be okay with her coming-- as long as I have the right to take her back as soon as she starts acting immature or childish. I don't want to let it get too far to the point where she draws unnecessary attention to us, or distracts us from what we're here to do, or puts herself or others in danger."

"Ohhhh. Like that. Yeah sure."

"Good," Rune looked back at the island, "Are you guys ready for a shitshow? I mean, at this point, it's a trial run for all of us: to see how we handle things. To see who excels in what areas. All that."

"Yup." Sefarina nodded. "Its going to be interesting if the crew that works on paper actually ends up working in practice."

"Exactlyy... It'll definitely be an experience!" Rune leaned on the wall.

Darvi nodded. "We'll have to be careful."

Sefarina let out a long breath and chugged a water. "We certainly will. Urgh. I think you should lead this Rune. I'll take the back this time. I am not feeling super up to much after parting that storm. It was a big one."

"I'll help you. We can make a makeshift wheelchair and I can pull you around."

"Sounds good to me. And I'd love the help, Darvi. Thanks," Rune nodded at both of them.

Sefarina huffed. "By the time we can make landfall I'll be able to walk, just not leading a group and being all enthusiastic."

"We'll be fine pushing you. I'm strong." Darvi flexed.

Rune just chuckled, "A little too strong for your own good, fam."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"It means you're strong and I was joking," Rune smiled, "We need someone like that here. And plus, maybe you can turn into like... what's the strongest animal alive?" Rune pondered.

"Lots of contenders."

Sefarina chuckled. "Gonna turn into a horse so I don't have to walk?"

"That's so smart," Rune looked amazed, "Ooh. If you turn into like... a giant elephant, I call first dibs."

"Sefarina gets first dibs."

Rune glared at him, "Unfair."

"An elephant has room for two."

"But I wanna be in front so that my view isn't blocked!"

"You can sit in the front, then!" Darvi sighed. "But be careful of Sidney fighting you for that place."

Rune smiled, "Fair enough."

Sefarina huffed. "Wow, not giving the front view to your own girlfriend." She giggled. "Although yeah Sidney is probably fighting tooth nail and hairbrush for that spot."

"You're tall, you'll be fine."

"I am one inch taller than this man, that is not enoughhh. Unless he agrees to bow?"

'Ask Will to build you a booster seat."

"Bow?" Rune asked, "Do I look like the type to bow? I'll end up with back problems."

"A BOOSTER SEAT?" Sefarina huffed loudly. "I'm getting a saddle for you then."

Darvi cowered covering his face with his hands. "No! Not a saddle!"

She giggled. "I'm glad we understand each other."

He huffed.

She giggled.

"If you try and put a saddle on me, you will be kicked off.

"Woww. Kicking me offf?"

Rune chuckled, probably extremely entertained.

"If you treat me like cattle, yeah!" Darvi put their hands on their hips.

"But you're treating me like a baby." Rina pouted right back with equal maturity.

"Because you are my precious baby."

Rina squeaked. "You're minee."

"Doesn't mean you can't be mine."

She huffed. "Rune settle this!"

Rune put his hands up in defense, "I'm not getting involved in whatever this is. You both are... precious babies. How about that?"

Sefarina huffed loudly.

Darvi flushed. "Never call me that ever again."

Sefarina giggled. "Come on Darvi, let's prepare that important safety briefing away from this big baby."

"Let's go." Darvi sighed and walked below decks. Sefarina held onto Darvi jut a little, leaning into her a bit as the walked down to work on security.

Naim was quiet for a bit, the only sound in the room that of soft breathing. Then they asked, "Is it nice to meet me? Hmmm. Do people ever say "it's not nice to meet you"?"

"Uh, I mean, you gave me your hankerchief. So I'd say it's nice to meet you. I suppose people don't say that. I mean, nobody I know of at least."

Judging by Naim's silence, they were pondering that. A moment later, their voice sounded slightly more confident as they said, "I think it's nice to meet you too."

"Wait. Why are you in this room...?" Breton said wearily.

"I was eavesdropping. As usual."

"In the room where someone's sleeping?"

"You sounded like you were in pain. I can leave, though." Fabric rustled-- perhaps Naim was shrugging. "People don't seem to like knowing they're being eavesdropped on."

"I don't mind. Could you just... come out of the shadow though?"

Silence for a moment, and then Naim dropped from the ceiling. They landed in a soft crouch, clutching a feather in one hand. The dim light of the candle reflected off their large, dark eyes and the metal links of their earrings.

"Woah. You have quite the assortment of jewlery on."

Naim gave a small smile. "You don't. But your hair looks soft."

"Thank you. You can touch it if you want to."

Hesitantly, Naim reached out a hand and touched their hair lightly. "Hmm. It is soft."

"You don't have to crouch there, you know. It's fine if you get on the bed."

"I'm okay," Naim said softly. "I'm used to crouching in small spaces. It feels safer."

"I get that." Breton paused. "But why this room? Why not one of the other people's?"

"I was curious. Why'd you stow away on this ship?" Naim cocked their head to the side.

"Well... It's a long story. I wouldn't want to bore you."

"I can listen well." Naim settled onto the floor, the timbers creaking softly.

"You'd do that for me?"

Naim nodded.

Breton smiled. For once in his life, he felt... happy. Not fake happy, or over the top happy, just... happy. Happy to have someone listen to them. Happy to have someone at all. Happy to feel... alive.

Go on. Talk to her, the ship urged.

"This again?" Will stopped polishing the engines. True, he didn't have much work to do as of now, as everything looked to be in good shape, but he thought the ship was rather a little too fixated on the ship's resident cleaner, Idris.

Yes. I have fan mail to deliver to her.

"I doubt you even know what fan mail is," Will said. But he laughed and stood up. "Alright, where is she?"

Skulking-- no, standing regally in a corridor. Go out of the engine room, turn left, then make the second right, the ship instructed.

Will tucked his rag away into a pocket, wiped some grease from his forehead (probably adding more to it in the process instead), and followed the ship's directions.

Idris was standing on her tiptoes, swiping at the ceiling with a rag tied to a long stick. She quickly lost balance and face-planted, the stick clattering to the floor.

The ship hissed at Will. How could you let the majesty and awesomeness that is Idris get hurt?

"Sorry, sorry," Will muttered. He crouched down next to Idris and held out a hand. "Hey. I'm Will. I would ask if you're okay, but I don't think face-planting makes a person really okay. Would you like a handkerchief?" He used his other hand to pull out a clean one from another pocket.

Idris let out a strangled yelp, flinching away from Will. She was gasping for breath until she seemed to recognize him and calm down enough to gently push Will's hand away.

Will shrugged. At the meeting, she'd seemed pretty quiet. Probably either was naturally shy or had dealt with some things, so either way, he wouldn't be insulted. Still, he held the handkerchief just in case, and gave a friendly smile. "I can talk to this ship. Or, more accurately, it can invade my mind with things it wants to say all the time. Right now, it would like you to know that you are amazing and have its undying loyalty."

Idris blinked, eyes darting around the hallways. She shook her head.

"Is that a no?" Will listened for a moment. "The ship would like you to vanquish your self-doubt and accept the fact that you are a goddess of cleaning and fully capable of commanding an army of ships. ...I suspect it is exaggerating, but it does seem quite fond of you."

Idris squaked, tugging on a loose curl. She shook her head faster.

Will frowned in concern. "I'm afraid the more you deny it, the more the ship will want to compliment you." He looked at her curiously. What had happened to make her so averse to having kind things said about her? He thought back to the meeting. Oh... That's right, the chef had mentioned she'd committed a brutal murder and spent time in prison. But faded young lady didn't look capable of murder, much less a brutal one. He was sure there was a story here.

Her eyes widened like Will just said he was going to throw her overboard wrapped in shark chum.

"That bad, huh?" he chuckled. "The ship is slightly astonished that you aren't accepting its compliments, but it has resolved to try again later."

Idris nodded slowly, swallowing thickly.

Would the cleaning deity respond better to written mail? the ship buzzed hopefully in Will's mind.

"Maybe," he whispered. He didn't have any paper on him right now. Perhaps he'd ask the captain later. What he did have... Will rummaged through his pockets and came up with a stick of chalk he occasionally used to mark measurements, or doodle when he was bored. He placed it in front of Idris. "The ship won't mind you writing on it, if you want to say anything."

Idris slowly took it, wiping her forehead. She slowly wrote a small thank you on the wall, with a small heart beside it.

Will smiled as the ship cheered loudly in his head, making a sound like water slapping the sides of a ship flying across open waves. "The ship says of course, and appreciates the gesture very much."

Idris blushed and softly wiped away the messaged, handing the chalk back to Will.

He tucked it away into a pocket again, then nodded to Idris. "I'm sure the ship will ensure our paths cross again so it can deliver you more fan mail. Take care of yourself, yeah?"

Idris nodded, looking a little dazed.

"Alright, then happy cleaning!" Will grinned and walked off, listening to the ship.

That went well, it said cheerily.

"I suppose it did," Will said thoughtfully. Well, perhaps he didn't mind being a messenger for the ship if it meant he got to know more interesting people. Someday, he hoped to find out the full story behind Idris's crimes. But for now, looking at the chalk had given him an idea. Will headed to the captain's quarters to gather some materials.

After Rune's conversation with Sefarina and Darvi, Rune automatically made his way back to his cabin. He was tired. He just needed one more, good nap before he had to announce to everyone what the plan was. He went over it in his head multiple times: Send a small group out to scope, most likely with him, and then come back-- inform everyone on what they saw; and then all the others could follow them back out. Seemed goo wed enough.

His mind was fuzzy at this point. He just wanted to lay down on his pillow, get a good rest. Hunger pulled at his stomach, but he ignored it. He wasn't even sure what he could eat hungover anyways, and he didn't feel like getting back up to go to the kitchen and put in special requests with Gray.

Just as he laid his head down, a knock sounded at the door.

"Hey, Rina says you're very hungover. I'm coming in." Gray walked in, staring at Rune.

Rune didn't do much but groan in response, and rolled over to face the door, "You didn't have to."

"Well, I figured that we need our First Mate at top condition if we are to continue this voyage. It's just a bit of hangover soup." Gray set down the bowl of soup on the nightstand.

Rune perked up at the mention of food, "Soup?" he grinned, "I like soup."

"I would hope so."

Rune picked up the bowl and moved a pillow onto his lap as he sat up. He took one sip and groaned in admiration, "Gray, this is amazing. You don't even understand how much I appreciate and needed this."

Gray's face grew a tad bit red. "It's really nothing. It's just some broth and rice cakes."

"I don't think I've ever had a rice cake," Rune took a bigger sip, "Though, no wonder why it's so good. I heard you were a pretty renowned chef. You should tell me more about that. Where'd you cook before this ship?"

"Just on Libra, nothing huge. I took it up after being a warden." He said, taking a seat on the end of the bed.

"A warden, huh?" Rune blew on the soup, "What made you want to become a chef after that?"

"The prison just... takes a lot out of you. I definitely don't want to go back there."

"I can't even imagine," Rune took another sip, "Did you teach yourself to cook, or were you taught?"

"I'm self-taught." Gray idly took some metal out of his pocket and started molding it into random cutlery. "What'd you do before this, Rune?"

Rune hesitated, "I uh... nothing really. I was given my gift and just got sent to Sag's ship. Went on some missions there, mostly physical. Kicked some ass. Learned about strategy and... military things. Y'know. The boring stuff."

"I wouldn't say that's boring. Far more exciting than being cooped up in a decrepit concrete building."

Rune shrugged, "Yeah... true. Though, Rina made it better for me. When I met her, everything changed. We became close, and uh... my brother, we were like the three muskateers."

Gray nodded. "How come he's not on the ship with us?"

Rune flatly said, "Because he's dead. Offed himself on Sag ship before a major expedition."

"Oh. Fuck. Sorry." Gray put a hand on Rune's shoulder.

"No, it's fine," Rune reassured him, "It was a few years ago. Rina and I have healed since then. I feel like he's always here in spirit, y'know?"

"Yeah, I get it. You must have quite the abundance of stories though, given being on a few missions."

"Not one's worth retelling," Rune finished his soup, "Unless you like depressing ones. Which honestly, not most people do."

"Well, I'm sure anything you say is interesting."

Rune blushed, "Why do you say that?"

"Nothing. But I could definitely come later if you wanted to talk. Maybe bring some food."

Rune smiled. He hadn't spoken to Gray yet, but was nervous to because of all the other's opinions. He didn't understand why they said things like that, because so far, the conversation was friendly and... flirtatious?

"I'd like that," Rune smiled wider, "You're nice to talk to, Gray."

"You too. You know, I may not have explored as much as you, but I'll certainly have to explore you." Gray smirked.

Rune choked, "Oh. I-I... Did Rina tell you?"

"Tell me what?"

"N-Nothing." Rune adjusted himself, "Nothing at all."

"Mhm. Sure. 'Nothing'. You're almost as red as tomato."

Rune looked down at his lap, "Am not."

"Are too."

"Okay maybe I am. But it's only because I've never had a man who looks like you flirt with me," Rune glanced up at him.

"Then I'm glad to be the first one. Wouldn't want anyone else taking ya."

Rune blushed even more and ran a hand over his face, "You're going to get me in trouble when you talk like that."

Gray chuckled. "Really? Then I'll oversee your case."

"Oversee my case? Oh yes. Libra. I forgot already," Rune smirked, "and maybe one day you can oversee Idris case to see if there's anything you can do about it. I heard she got treated pretty badly in prison."

"Yeah... Definitely." Gray grew silent.

"What's wrong?"

Gray pushed his face into his hands. "So you know how I was a prison warden?"

"Yes..." Rune looked concerned.

"Her sentence may or may not have overlapped with that time...? And I may have or may have not accidentally killed her only friend in prison?" Gray winced.

Rune just stared blankly at him. He shook his head slowly, "Are you joking? Or are you dead serious?"

"Why would I joke about this?!"

"Uh, I don't know, maybe because it's fucked up?"

"Well, in all fairness, Ivory had contracted food poisoning 4 times. She had to go to the infirmary."

"How does sending someone to an infirmary, kill them?" Rune was shocked, "And what the fuck? Like... what the fuck? Does Idris remember you?"

"Of course she fucking remembers me!"

"Have you apologized? Or do you not think what you did was wrong?" Rune asked.

"No, I haven't apologized! I mean of course it was wrong but I didn't do it on purpose!"

Rune shook his head, "If you want any chance with me, you need to apologize. Even if you didn't do it on purpose, it still affected her! I mean, don't you see her everyday? Does it not kill you to remember what you did to her?"

"Yes, it kills me to remember this! It's the primary reason I left the fucking prison!" Gray's voice cracked.

"First of all, watch your voice with me. I'm just trying to help. Second of all, you will feel... so refreshed when you apologize. It must be heavy to hold all this inside, and I'm sure Idris will appreciate it too. She may not forgive you, but at least you tried."

"Fine. I'll do it later."

"No, not later. Now. You will do it now. Get it over with. I'm sure she's awake by now. We're supposed to be heading out soon, and I'd rather this tension be over with by the time we group up."

"God. Sure. Why not. Let's go."

Rune stood up and threw the blanket around himself, "Lead the way. She's probably in her cabin. We should also get Sefarina first. Idris feels more comfortable around her."

Rune walked to the door and held it open for Gray. Gray begrudgingly walked with Rune. They passed Rina's door, and Rune knocked, "Rina! I know you're probably going over mission plans, but we need you for a sec. Urgent."

She looked up from a bag of M&M's. "Ohh.." She swallowed rapidly. "Yup. Big missions plans, but they can be delayed for a second."

"Gray has something he wants to say to Idris," Rune clarified, "And since Idris feels more comfortable around you, I thought you'd wanna come."

She got up quickly at that, stuffing the bag in her pocket. "Ohh. I'll come. Idris has been terrified of going to the kitchen since the ummm...ice cream massacre."

"Let's go then, is she in her cabin?"

She nodded. "Last I checked. Poor thing had a little nightmare, I calmed her down and put her back to sleep, she's probably still asleep."

"Should we wake her? We should get on the deck soon anyways, for your briefing. And I need to gather everyone as well to decide who's going to scope the island out."

"Hmm. We probably should. The chances of her wanting to go are slim but then I'm probably going and I don't know if she'd want to stay back alone...having her awake is probably the best thing."

"Sounds good," Rune glanced behind him at Gray who was frowning and started walking to Idris' cabin. Rina quickly followed them.

They approached Idris' room, the sound of gentle snoring echoing from behind it.

"Do I really have to do this?" Gray grumbled.

"Yes, you do. It'll be okay. The worst that can happen is that she won't forgive you. And that's perfectly justified," Rune responded.

"I also vote you do."

"Fine. But I'm not opening that door."

"I can open the door," Sefarina shook her head, muttering something under her breath. She knocked on it gently first.

A snort interrupted the snoring, but it kept going.

She knocked gently again.

A loud cough answered her.

"Idris? Honey?"

There was a thump and then the door opened. Idris stood there, rubbing her eyes.

"Good Morninggg." Rina stepped in gently. "Don't worry about all the people sweetie. You're not in trouble or anything." She held her protectively.

Idris nestled into Rina, eyes widening when she saw Gray. She immediately tried to pull away and hide in her room.

Rina softly stroked her hair. "He's here to apologize honey. I'm here okay. I promise. Nothing bad's going to happen."

Idris quickly shook her head.

"I promise honey. Nothing bad will happen. I'm here okay." She looked pointedly at Gray.

Gray rubbed his forehead. "I'm sorry murdering your parents had consequences."

Idris let out a wail, trying to get away from Gray.

Rina took a few steps back and away from Gray. "That's not an apology."

"Well, it's the truth!" Gray huffed.

Idris sobbed into Sefarina's side, shaking her head.

"Fine. I'm sorry that I caused you immense trauma by accidentally killing your only friend in prison. Is that good enough for you?" Gray said, a bit too condescendingly but heartfelt (at least for him) enough.

Rune glared at him, "Gray..." he growled.

"Hmm. Try again, but with like 90% less condescending attitude."

Gray took a sharp inhale, and plastered a look of 'okay i guess i'm sorry' on his face. "Sorry for killing your only friend in prison. Is that better?"

"You're getting there."

Idris kept trying to escape from Sefarina, clearly wanting to escape into the confines of her room.

Gray groaned. "I'm sorry. And I know this won't fix what I've done, or the fact that-" Gray caught himself, and cleared his throat. "But I didn't think Ivory would actually die. But she was sick, and I would've gotten fired if I hadn't sent her to the infirmary. I know that you're probably mad at me, or scared, or planning-" Gray caught himself again, blatantly trying not to make any remarks about shovels. "So yeah. I'm sorry."

Idris sniffled, wiping her eyes. She slowly pulled out some paper from Sefarina's pocket, hastily scrawling something out and practically tossing something to Gray, hiding behind Sefarina's legs. Rina stood in between them, arms crossed protectively.

Gray caught it and read it.

But none of you cared. You let her die because it was easy. There was no funeral. You didn't let me mourn. She was one less mouth to feed. You all celebrated.

"I did not celebrate her death! You know for a fact that when I found out I tried so hard to return to normal but couldn't!" Gray was somewhat screaming, sobbing, yelling, and flat out speaking at the same time. Gray handed the paper back to Idris.

She snatched it, hiding again as she wrote her next message. It has slid across the floor. I was thirteen. Thick lines underlined her age. I didn't notice you being different. All I noticed is that one day you were gone. Celebrated as the door closed behind you. Too scared to face who you killed on the way out. I know killing my parents was my fault. That is my burden to carry. But Ivory was not violent. She was not evil. She was hungry and desperate. Don't use her death to punish me.

He paused. "You know who had to escort her body to the morgue? Me. I had to stare at her lifeless body while grappling with the fact that I had essentially been the one who killed her. You know damn well what that feels like. I know I can't compare to what you've gone through in that prison, but I can assure you that I'm not at least a little hurt." Gray pushed the paper back to Idris with his foot.

She picked it up and wrote a response, sending back without ever coming out from behind Sefarina. You chose to work that job. For me, it was prison or death. Willow confirmed that.

"I knew that, Idris. You were practically wheezing to death in prison. And your parents. I mean killing them was the right thing, but- Oh. Shit. I'm so fucking sorry." Gray covered his mouth and for once in his time on the ship, felt remorse for Idris. Or really any other emotion except for fear and anger.

Idris sniffled.

Rina gently cradled her. "I've got you baby."

Idris shook as she snuggled into her. She gently patted her back.

Rune watched the whole exchange between Gray and Idris. He loved seeing this side of Gray, the emotional and vulnerable side. He patted Gray on the back, "And you believe your apology to be true and from the heart, Gray?"

"What do you think, Rune?" Gray was clearly not having any of it.

Rune glanced at him and dropped his arm, "I think that you need to calm down and take a deep breath. You can't expect her to forgive you right away. It'll take time. But you said your part, and now it's done. It's up to Idris whether or not she wants to forgive you in this very moment."

"Well, I want to go back to my kitchen now."

"Do you have anything you want to say... or write, to close this conversation, Idris?" Rune looked to her.

Rina offered Idris another paper. She took and wrote something down, seeming much less frantic. She gave it to Rina, who gave it to Gray.

I don't trust you yet. I think you'd still throw me in prison if you have the chance. But, I want to give you the chance to be someone better. Because I want you to give me a chance to be more than a murderer. Deal?

Rune looked to Gray and raised an intrigued eyebrow.

Gray sighed and paused. Then sighed again. "I don't have the power to throw you in prison. But yes. Deal. Whatever. I'm going to my kitchen now."

"I do have the power to through you into custody in the ship." Rina smiled sweetly. "Just while we're on the subject."

Idris squeaked, pulling away from Rina.

"Are you okay sweetie?"

Idris nodded quickly.

"Aww I won't put you in the brigg. I was talking to Graytato over here."

Idris visibly relaxed and nodded.

Rune sighed and stood up, clapping his hands together once dramatically. "Alright, since it looks like you two... came to an agreement, I'm going to go take a nap."

He waltzed out of the room and ran a hand through his dirty hair. He should probably take a shower, too, but at this point he wanted nothing more than to just slam his head onto a soft pillow and drift off into nothingness. He could almost feel his fingers tingling, and that's how he knew it was bad.

When he reached his cabin, once again, Rune flopped down on the bed as Janus slithered onto his chest. She nudged his face with her cold, wet nose before burrowing her bottom half into the crease near his arm. Rune smiled and stroked her gently, eventually drifting off into the black void that was sleep. Almost immediately, he started dreaming.

The ship was under attack. All he felt was the boat rocking back and forth, as if something had the Swordspear in it's grasp. He was somehow in the kitchen, stuffing his face with mashed potatoes when it all started. Rune glanced around himself, grabbed a kitchen knife as a weapon, and ran out onto the dock.

It was stormy, and fog seemed to engulf the ship whole. The ship bounced as the waves grazed over the side, creating chaos. Lightning struck right beside the vessel, and one of the flags caught on fire. All Rune could smell was burnt cloth and salt.

Willow was hiding underneath one of the overhangs, "Rune! Rune! Make it stop!"

His facial expression turned into a look of pure fear as he looked to his left, finding Juniper and Belinda hugging each other as if it was their last few days here. Rune scoffed. Lovebirds have no business being on a ship, especially if they're going to act like that in a perilous situation like this. When they caught his eye, they let go of each other and nodded in his direction. This whole thing was weird. Why would they just stand there and nod?

Rina was sweating as she stood on the deck, looking out at the storm. Her arms were outstretched in her familiar peace but her face. Her face was so different. It wasn't at peace. Calmy accepting nature. She looked terrified and lost.

"I can't do anything! The storm won't listen to me! Rune this is not natural! Its targeting us!"

Darvi stood by her side, holding a large gun. "There's something in the storm. Something's-" A flash of lightning stuck at his feet, Except, it looked alive and thick, like a glue of pure darkness. When it shot back up to the sky, Darvi was gone. In her wake, there was only a puddle of sludge.

Rune screamed, "Darvi, no!"

Juniper pushed him aside, "I got this. I have the power of the first potato ever grown. I can feel it."

Rune was confused. The power of the first potato? And what could Juniper do about this, anyways? Rune couldn't speak before someone else came running towards them.

Nicky charged in riding a skateboard. "I've got this gang. This is the creature of darkness from Section EB 14. I have a plan. I will need someone to hold me upright as I proceed to fire this great neutralyzer." She proceeded to pull out a small toy pistol, bright orange and yellow, loaded with one foam dart. It made a cartoon crashing sound affect when she pulled it out of her pocket.

Rune gasped, "Is that the Nerfgun 3000?" He didn't know why he said that, it just felt right.

Juniper bowed to Nicky, "Oh my gosh! That weapon looks indestructible! And the foam inside could soak up at the rain! Yay!"

Willow came from her hiding spot with... a sombrero hat on? She had a guitar in her arms, and she started playing Lady Gaga's "Paparazzi". Rune spun around to look at her, "Are you really breaking out into song right now?"

Will somersaulted onto the deck, cleared his throat, and started to add harmony.

Nicky cackled loudly. "This is the Nerfgun Over 9000. I have hypertuned the Nerf Gun 3000 to be better than ever before." She cackled like a banshee.

Rune jumped at Nicky's laugh, and another wave crashed over the side of the boat, "What is hap---"

"Papa-papa-paparazzi!" Willow sung as another beam of lightning hit the seas around them.

Sefarina was starting to break down into tears. "I can't do this. I can't do this." She danced around the deck for some reason in perfect tune to the song that was played.

Juniper joined her and they interlocked arms, now dancing in a perfect circle. Rune was more confused than ever, now. This had to be a dream. But it seemed so real...

Willow somehow started playing the music louder, and her mouth turned into a literal speaker. Rune smacked himself in the head, "Wake up, you idiot!"

"No waking up!" Will trilled. "Hum hum hummmmmmm~ Not 'til the sun is up~ What rhymes with up~ Ooh, I could say yup~ Or a pup, or a gup, as in short for guppie, or what's up, no, wait, that's up again~" He danced away.

The clouds moved in on them, and out of nowhere, a giant black monster made of what seemed to be shadows came from the depths and tipped the boat slightly as it climbed on. Juniper screamed, "Nicky! Shoot that thing with the Nerfgun Over 9000!"

Nicky fired the trigger, the foam dart ricocheting through in a shower of rainbow sparks flying through the air creating a glimmering rainbow in the sky. The gun didn't make a bang as it fired, instead shouting "YASS QUEEN".

The song playing changed to "Bohemian Rhapsody" by Queen. Rune couldn't help but sway his hips to it slightly, but snapped out of it quickly.

Sidney ran out holding a jar full of...sand. "I GOT A JAR OF DIRT! I GOT A JAR OF DIRT!"

Rune had to blink twice, "A jar of dirt?"

"OUR SAVIOR!" Juniper bowed again to the jar that was, indeed, filled with dirt.

Next to the jar of dirt, a shimmering rectangle appeared, slightly insubstantial, as if it wasn't fully in this world. A strange array of dark blue rectangles with white squiggles appeared, and a flat portrait of a jar of dirt formed in the corner.

A green rectangle with a tortoise snapped into existence at the top. A portrait of gilded mirror was in the center of the page, and as Rune watched, the portrait changed. In the next instant, the rectangle faded away, leaving no trace of itself behind.

"Mamaaaaaa.... I killed a mannnnn!" Willow sung through the madness, now somehow playing a full grand piano in the rain.

The black monster burbled and waved shadowy tentacles around, as if reminding everyone it was still there. It seemed like a bit of an attention-seeker.

Nicky started to reload. "Its too powerful. I'll need a second shot. I need a second shot!"

Juniper grew butterfly wings and flew to face the monster of shadows, "Let her get a second shot, you no good piece of air!" Next thing they knew, she was turned into nothingness, only leaving behind a singular falling leaf that glowed bright gold.

Belinda sighed, taking the leaf, crushing it, and coating Jasper with it. Jasper turned into a hot pink nerf dart, which she tossed to Nicky. "Think fast!"

Nicky caught it a little clumsily, stumbling and now also dancing to the tune. "Thank you for your gracious sacrifice. It will not be in vain. We will win this dangerous battle." She started to load up the Nerf Gun Over 9000."

Rune watched the whole thing happen with his jaw wide open. Suddenly, he started to taste cheese, and found that he was nibbling on a cheddar cheese cube. When did he start eating cheese? What is happening?

The song switched again, this time to "Never Gonna Give You Up" by Rick Astley. Will danced back onto the scene, carrying a hunk of metal he was using as a microphone. Was that... a part of the engines?

Belinda was crying, but her smile was wider than ever as she started break-dancing. "Never gonna give you up! Never gonna let you down!" She did a triple backflip.

Aquarius walked into the chaos next. "Protect you all, I will." She brandished an ice cream cone. "I have trained for many many hours in my bedroom for this moment."

Belinda wailed. "But it's Super Sugarlicious Strawberry Version 18.5 Cotton Candy Floss Flavor! I'm allergic!"

Rune took the Sugarlicious Strawberry Version 18.5 Cotton Candy Floss Flavor Ice cream from Aquarius, "You need to go back in your cabin and stay safe! Don't you see we're under attack!?"

"Nuuuu." Aquarius snatched it back and licked at it. It extended into a shimmering sword of pure ice cream. "Its an icesaber! The flavor is designed to be offensive and destructive."

Naim appeared out of nowhere, eyes sparkling, and licked the sword.

"Never gonna turn around.. and DESSERT you!" Willow sang in the background.

Belinda started slowly melting like ice cream, making a warbling noise like a bird looking for a mate.

A hawk that looked a lot like Darvi flew over them at those sounds. Rune looked astonished, "I-Is that Darvi?"

Hawk Darvi dropped an epi-pen on the puddle of Belinda, which automatically shifted her back to normal, with a gold-leaf covered Jasper in her lap. Jasper hopped off her lap, stretching. "Get to the chopper!" Jasper's voice sounded straight from that really old movie Predator.

The ship suddenly made itself heard in everyone's minds. "Hey! I'm clearly so much better! Don't leave me for some silly, no-brained, noisy, pestilent, incongruous, chopper-like chopper!"

Suddenly, as if so many weird things haven't happened already, Jackie Chan appeared, almost levitating from the water as if he was a god. He got in a karate stance and winked at them before diving back in the water mysteriously. Rune was so overwhelmed, he felt like he was about to faint. He brought a hand to his forehead, "I have to be dreaming. Either that, or I'm losing my mind."

"I've already lost my mind," said Will agreeably. "I found it again last Tuesday."

Sidney ran about, threateningly dancing around the whole deck, waving her jar wildly out to everyone. It didn't look like she even fully knew what was the actual threat and what was her crew. Her outfit was also...very...pirate like? And she had a hat now for some reason. A pirate's hat. With a skull and crossbones.

Rune gasped, "Sidney is evolving into her Master Form! Guys, we have to stop this Darkness!"

The stowaway spawned in and started hitting the whip and nae nae, which was an old old dance that he only remembered from history class.

Gray also spawned in and starts spinning like a helicopter and breaks the ship all the while beginning flying.

Rune leaned against the side of the boat in attempt to get a grip on the sinking ship. The monster of blackness moved closer to them, and another beam of lightning struck the last remaining sail. They were sinking, indefinitely. They needed to figure out a way to banish this horrible monster and regain control of their vessel. Quick.

Willow stopped the music, and through her mouth-speaker she spoke, "Captain Jack Sparrow? Is that you?" She was looking straight at Sidney.

Gray landed back on the ship and started scream-singing. "SHE'S NOT A SAINT BUT SHE'S NOT WHAT YOU THINK SHE'S AN ACTRESS OH WOAH OH OH"

"SHE'S BETTER KNOWN FOR THE THINGS THAT SHE DOES ON THE--" Willow sang with him until Rune cut them off:

"For goodness sake! Can you all please just focus! We're literally sinking!"

Gray completely disregarded Rune and continued singing. "I DON'T KNOW ABOUT YOU BUT I'M FEELING 22!!"

"Gray!" Rune moved in front of him, "We need a PLAN! Now, or we'll sink!"

"The dirt!" Sidney shouted. "We can use the dirt to stop the sinking!" She held open the jar like it held the answers to all of life's questions. "We got this!"

Nicky was readying the second shot now. "I'm almost readyy. I think we can really kill the beast with this one. I could sense it weakening and screaming! Or maybe it got madder and strongerr! It could go either way with these things!"

Rune watched, "Try the sand! Anything at this point! Matter of fact, Nicky, shoot it, too!"

Nicky fired her second shot, another brilliant rainbow shooting at the foul beast. It shimmered a little, one of its little bit of lightning dimmed and all the lightning shimmered ever so slightly, before returning back to normal.

"Curses! Its too powerful. I should've used the Nerf Gun Over 9001!"

Willow gasped, "There's a Nerf Gun Over 9001?"

Rune looked to Sidney with a hysterical look on his face, this time almost pleading at her legs, "THE SAND! Now!"

She tossed the jar firmly on the floor, breaking it and scattering the sand, which proceeded to spill out all over the deck.

Willow screamed, "I'm allergic to sand!"

Rune yelled, "Shut the hell up, Willow! We need to try anything at this point!"

The sand began to multiply, seeping into all the cracks of the ship, turning slowly black as it did so, covering the deck of the ship in veins upon veins of it, filling it all in. It didn't seem to be stopping any time soon.

"Yes!" Rune announced dramatically, "Yes, yes, yes!"

Willow clapped, "Jack Sparrow saved us!"

Sidney tipped over her hat, something that smelled vaguely of rum spilling out of it into the deck and adding to the already wet floor. "There's a captain in there somewhere."

"Speaking of captain, where the hell is Sefarina?" Rune glanced around.

"I am hell!" Sefarina declared confidently, her outfit somehow mysteriously black now. "You should be asking where the Sefarina is captain?"

Rune just stared at her, "Did you just change outfits?"

Rina frowned. "What do you mean? I always wear this to work."

"No..." Rune started, but Willow inturrupted, "Does anyone have a tissue? All this sand is giving me sinus issues!"

Aquarius offered her an ice cream. "Eat your troubles away today with the Anti Allergen All Organic Orange Flavord Custard Gluten Full Mix 20A."

Willow smiled and took it graciously, "I've always wanted the Anti Allergen All Organic Orange Flavored Custard Gluten Full Mix 20A!"

"You will not regret it at all," Aquarius beamed. "It will save you from any and all known allergies. Or it might cause you to experience any and all known allergies. Its a 51 - 49 chance there."

Rune just wanted it all to stop. He eventually stopped trying to save himself, and them, and leaned against the railing of the ship.

The stowaway stopped doing the whip and nae nae and stared at Rune like a creepy maniac and then started angrily doing the macarena.

Rune blinked.

The storm only seemed to be getting more and more catastrophic. They might not've been sinking. but they were definitely in a not so good position. Rune started anxiously bouncing his leg.

The ship started shaking. The rumbling started in the lower decks and slowly moved until it was behind Rune. He gasped audibly, eyes wide and pupils dilating.

It was Idris, except not an Idris he ever met. She was jacked, her biceps and thighs the size of someone's head. She towered over him at what could only be seven or eight feet tall. She cracked her knuckles, the bones sounding like gunshots. "I think you should pick on someone your own size!" Her voice was deep and... sounded just like Henry Hailey, Rune's queer awakening?

He blinked, again. He wiped his eyes, "H-Henry? Is that you?"

"Who's Henry?" asked Idris in Henry's voice. "I only knowing kicking butt and eating enemies."

"Y-You..."

Willow interrupted them for like the tenth time. Rune pointed at Idris, "Idris is Henry!"

"No. That's Idris? Are you okay? Do you need to sit down and have a cup of tea?" Willow purred.

"No, I'm fine!" Rune glared at her, "What the hell are we going to do about this monster?"

"I got this!" Idris flexed before launching into the sky, becoming eye-level with the worst of the storm. "You cretin! You egg-sucking minnow-faced butt-smelling dumb-dumb! Begoneeee!" She punched the storm and it let out a pained crackle of thunder.

An extended piano G note played as the storm shrunk down to be a three foot tall potato lying on the deck, a fist shaped imprint on its side.

Rune picked up the potato, but Willow took it from him. It looked... beautiful. It suddenly sprouted a green vine from the top, as if It had started to grow. Willow put it safely down on the floor, and shouted, "ALL HAIL THE MIGHTY POTATO!"

Darvi turned back into human form, now covered in dirt and sprouts. "ALL HAIL THE DELUXE ALL-KNOWING EVER-LASTING VERSION THREE POTATO."

Rune put his fist in the air, "ALL HAIL THE DELUXE ALL-KNOWING EVER-LASTING VERSION THREE POTATO!"

Gray started sobbing and collapsed as he stared at Idris and then scream sang again. "ITS A REVENGE PARTY, A PARTY THAT ENDS-"

Willow raised her fist as well, "ALL HAIL THE DELUXE ALL-KNOWING EVER-LASTING VERSION THREE POTATO!"

Rina proceeded to bow down to the great potato and began to recite:

"Shall I baketh thee on a winter’s day?
Thou art more tasty and more of a paste:
Rough salt flake on the darling spuds of May,
And winter’s lease hath all too long a date;

Sometime too hot the eye of oven cooks,
And often is this gold complexion burn'd;
And every tato from pot sometime burns,
By chance or ovens’s heating course untrimm'd;

But thy good baked fluffiness shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that sear thou ow’st;
Nor shall death brag thou pickled in his spade,
When in eternal fines to lime thou grow’st:

So long as gay can breathe or queens can see,
So long potato, you gives life to me."

Rune shot upwards out of his sleep and found that he was sweating. His whole bed was completely soaked. He sat there, in shock, and slowly inched his way out of bed. Janus hissed at him, obviously irritated. He was probably talking in his sleep again. Rune definitely felt bad for whoever heard that nonsense. It was most likely ramblings of darkness monsters, Jackie Chan, and potatoes, a weird sounding combination. He definitely felt like a psychopath.

He slowly stood, finding that he had better footing than before he went to sleep, and stretched. He glanced out the window and guessed by the way the sun looked, he'd only slept for thirty minutes. Thirty minutes of pure chaos and fantastical events. He yawned.

He held his hand out and shadows slowly emerged from inside his closet and under his bed. With easy brainpower, he summoned them into his bathroom to turn the shower on for him. It wasn't often that he used his powers, but they came in handy in times like this. Even though it only gave him a fifteen second start on the warm water, he still saw it as fifteen seconds cut off from the time he had to be on the dock for the safety announcement.

A soft knock came from Rune's door. "It's Gray."

Rune propped up a bit and threw on a shirt. He shuffled towards the door and opened it slowly, "Hello, there. Come on in."

Gray walked in holding a tray with some bright red gelatin cake. 'I brought food. I just want to talk about what happened earlier.."

"Sure, and thanks for the food, as always," Rune flashed a smile and took a seat at his desk, gesturing for Gray to sit beside him.

Gray sat down, putting the plate of gelatin cake between them. "So... Was that good enough for you?"

"It was perfect. Just what I wanted you to do," Rune replied and started digging into the cake.

Gray nodded and ate a spoonful of the gelatin cake. "Alright."

"So...' Rune looked up at him, "Do you wanna like... I don't know. Get together?" Rune almost choked at his own words. He just met Gray, what was he doing? Did seeing Gray apologize just... enhance his feelings?

Gray hummed. "I thought we already were, Mr. Tomato." Gray stifled a chuckle as he ate another spoonful.

"Oh, uh..." Rune scratched the back of his head, "I'm sorry. This is new to me. You're gonna have to be... patient. I want to do this, I do. I just... I don't know how. I've never been in a relationship. You're gonna have to teach me."

Gray swiftly kissed Rune then pulled away, eating another spoonful of the gelatin like nothing happened. "You talk too much."

Rune just sat there, frozen in time. His cheeks turned a deep, deep shade of red and he leaned back in his chair, almost dazed, "Oh. Thank you," he managed to slip out, "I mean uh, yeah. I do talk too much." He looked down at his lap, smiling and playing with his fingers.

"You're even redder than a tomato now. I think I'll have to call you something else now... Mr. Cherry? Mr. Chili?" Gray laughed, patting Rune on the head. "It's okay. You're new to this kind of stuff."

"I am," Rune ran a hand over his face in embarrassment, "But Mr. Chili works. Y'know, because I'm hot."

"I know you are. Practically melting over here."

"Sorry," Rune ate another bite of cake.

"Don't worry. I'm sure that I can handle the heat. After all, if being attractive was a crime, I'd get you locked up for life." Gray winked as he stared into Rune's eyes.

Rune raised an eyebrow, "Indeed you would. Indeed you would."

"I can see why you're named Rune now. Because without you, my life would be ruined." Gray ran his fingers through Rune's hair. "Your hair is very soft."

Rune smiled, "I take good care of it. It's one of my favorite things about myself," he glanced at Gray, "I like your muscles."

"Yours too." Gray smiled.

Trigger Warning: Violence and S**c*d*

Idris felt sick, her stomach twisting. She just pled guilty to killing her parents. She just sent herself to jail forever and ever. She was going to die and rot and be eaten by prison worms.

She wiped her eyes, silent tears streaming down her face. The judge looked so angry, like Papa did when he drank and she stepped on the squeaking board. The bruises on her chest still hurt. She was still dizzy.

"On account of murdering Wyatt and Amanda Peaks, I sentence you to life in prison. Oh, and walking of the coals." The judge's face twisted into a cruel, vile, and just plain mean smile.

She looked up, flinching. "C-Coals?"

"Are you deaf? I said coals. It's really no big deal. Just walk across some coals." The judge opened a door, revealing a large room with coals in a long, neat path along the floor. "If you step off the coals once, I will not hesitate to make your prison expirience a living hell."

Idris shuddered, walking into the room. The air felt stuffy, making her nausea worse. "H-How far?"

"Honestly, I forgot how long I asked the people to make it. Like, 30 feet or so? Just suck it up." The man pushed her forward towards the coals.

Idris took a deep breath and took a step back to get a running head start.

"Don't trip! Actually, who am I kidding? I want you to trip! Trip! Trip!" The man started chanting.

idris started sprinting, as hard as she could, her breath haggard. Her shoes started to get soft as she kept running.

"Do your toes start to feel warm? I see bits of your shoe burning!" The judge cackled.

Her feet started to burn as the cloth of her shoes caught fire. She kept running, her breath getting haggard. The finish line was almost there.

"Oh! I see the ball of your foot poking out! Don't get singed!"

Idris finally made it to the end, falling on to the safe ground. She tore off her shoes, throwing them back to the coals. She sobbed as she felt her feet burn.

"Aww. You didn't trip. Oh well. It's time for you to go to prison! Isn't that fun?"

Idris wailed, holding her feet.

"God, get over yourself. It's just some burns. Geez." The man snapped, and a bailiff walked in. "Have fun in jail, Ms. Peaks! Don't use too many shovels!"

Idris slowly got to her feet, her knees buckling as the pain overwhelmed her.

The bailiff dragged her high enough to handcuff her. "You're going to prison for a long time, princess."

Idris' ears rang. Her stomach surged until she bent over and vomited all over the bailiff's shoes.

"Ew. When she gets there, tell the nurse to test her for disease."

Idris whimpered as the bailiff dragged her on her knees, taking her to her new life and eventual death.

"Bye bye, Ms. Peaks! Enjoy your life sentence!" The man smiled a wicked smile as he waved at her mockingly.

"I-I'm sorry," she mumbled.

"Mhm. Sorry doesn't fix the fact you killed your parents."

"They were going to kill me..." Idris blearily looked up.

"They were going to kill me!" He mocked. "I've heard it all, Ms. Peaks. If they really were going to, you should've gorten a case against them. But who am I kidding? Nobody would believe you."

Idris let out a sob. "They... they locked me in the shed... beat me..."

"Oh shut up! Nobody cares about your sob story, and nobody will care! You're going to die alone, with nobody by your side in prison. And that's the truth." The judge let out a loud laugh.

Idris sobbed. "I just... I... I wanted to... be free... escape." She couldn't breathe. Her chest hurt. Her stomach hurt. Her feet hurt.

"You never were going to be free, you never [i]are going to be free! Face it, you're worthless scum who killed her parents in desparation!"

Idris sobbed harder. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry."

"If you were really sorry, you would've killed yourself afterwards. Fucking criminals. Always trying to paint themselves like some sort of hero. Be real with yourself. Were you really sorry? Or deep down, did you enjoy it?"

Idris sobbed harder as guilt twisted in her chest. She was evil, huh? She should've let herself die. Everything would be better if she just died.[/i]

Idris dropped her broom as the flashback faded. She was trembling, her stomach churning like it did that fateful day. She stumbled back until she hit a wall, covering her mouth.

You're worthless scum who killed her parents in desparation.

She squeezed her eyes shut as a sob shot through her. It was too much. Being here was suddenly too much. She sprinted up to the decks, not caring that her footsteps thundered behind her, probably alerting everyone that she was pathetic and weak and gross.

She made it to the railing of the ship, bending over it as she hurled again. Nothing but bile came up. She had eaten since before the injection.

Throw yourself overboard.

She weakly shook her head. There was Sefarina and her picture. There was Juniper and her work.

There was Papa and the way his skull split open. There was Mama and the way she cowered before her, begging for her life until Idris beat the begging out of her. There was Ivory and the way she screamed and Idris didn't come.

Idris started scaling the railing, not caring who saw her anymore. It couldn't get any worse than this. It couldn't-

"Idris. Get the fuck down." It was Gray. Standing behind her, arms open.

Idris ignored him, climbing higher. She was almost over. She just had to-

"Idris. I'm going to say it a second time. Get the fuck over here. Now." Gray didn't sound as mean as he normally was. He was still stern, yes, but it sounded like he was almost... begging.

Idris shook her head. Gray called it from the beginning. You are cruel. You are defiled. Nothing you do will make up for the harm you caused. She stood on the top of the railing. Just one dive and it was over.

"Idris. Think about Sefarina. Think about everyone you'll be leaving if you jump. Get. Down." Gray wasn't just begging now. He was pleading. There were tears in his eyes.

Idris wished she was worthy of a voice. She wished she could explain how lucky everyone would be if she was gone. That Gray was right before he apologized. That Idris was something cruel, broken,and jagged. But she couln't, so she just mouth, "I'm sorry."

"Idris. Do it to prove me wrong, goddamnit! Do it so that for once, you can say that I was wrong. I know we haven't always been on the best terms, but you need to get down. We can talk about this. Please. Get down." If there had been sterness in his voice, it seemed to have vanished. His voice was cracking now.

Idris just ignored him and stepped off.

Before she could fall, Gray grabbed her. Not with a hand, but with a hug.

Idris kicked and squirmed. No! No! This wasn't how this was supposed to end.

"Please. If not for me, for Ivory. Live so she can live on with you. You are worth life. You always have been. If you need to talk, if you still can, at least, just... please. Tell me why you tried to jump."

Idris sobbed, all of the fight leaving her. Sh was still weak. Too weak to escape Gray.

Gray just pat her back repeatedly and rhythmically, still hugging her. "Shh. It'll be okay. Let it all out."

Idris hiccuped. I'm worthless. Everything would be better if I just died.

"D-Did you just... W-wait- Do you have a constellation?"

Idris sniffled. What was he talking about? She shook her head, eyebrows furrowed.

"You aren't worthless, Idris. I guarantee nothing would be better if you died. Rina would be devestated."

Idris whimpered. She wanted to see Sefarina. She wanted this feeling to go away.

"Here, let's go back down and get you some warmer clothes and some tea. And maybe then you can tell me, or Rina what and why you just did that."

Idris nodded weakly, wiping her eyes.

Gray got up, leading Idris to the kitchen. "What kind of tea do you want?" He said, opening up the pantry.

She shrugged.

"For someone who just tried to take her life, you're suprisingly relaxed." Gray grabbed the can labled 'Spearmint Tea' and molded some metal into a kettle.

Idris hiccuped. She was disappointed. She was guilty. She regretted trying. She regretted failing. It felt like she was shutting down from the whirlwind within her.

You're going to die alone, with nobody by your side in prison.

Idris hugged her shaking knees.

Gray looked down at Idris, quickly tearing an empty page of his notebook for recipies and handing her a pen. "Do you mind telling me why you just tried that stunt?"

Idris' hand shook as she slowly wrote down. I remembered something someone told me. I realized me being here was a mistake.

Gray poured Idris a cup of the tea and handed it to her. "Do you mind telling me more?"

Libra. He said. If I was sorry I would've killed myself. She didn't take the tea, her stomach still twisting.

"The creepy old one that made people walk on hot coals?"

Idris nodded.

"Never liked the dude. Don't take what he said to heart. You know that we need you here on the ship. You're sorry, but killing yourself won't fix what you did. You know that." Gray sat down on the floor with Idris, rubbing her back in circles.

Idris hiccuped. Nothing could fix what she did. What she did didn't need to be fixed. She had to fix it, no matter what it took. Her stomach rolled.

"Here. Let's get you to Rina. I think you need her more than you need me." Gray lifted Idris, carrying her out of the kitchen. Idris barely reacted. She was used to being manhandled gently at this point.

"I hope you feel better. If you ever need someone to talk to, you can always come to the kitchen." Gray made a soft smile, stopping at Rina's door.

Idris hopped out of Gray's arms, nodding at him.

"Alright. Tell Rina what happened." Gray smiled, then walked away.

Idris waited until he was gone before going back to her room, closing and locking the door. She could tell Sefarina later. Or never.

She laid down in her bed, curling into the covers. Everything hurt again. Was the shot from June wearing off? She didn't know. She was tired.

She let herself drift off, the guilt consuming her as she fully fell asleep.