6y 9m 3w 5d BV
John cheered as the ship dropped out of FTL. “Yaaaay! We made it! Regalo I present to you Sefsek.” He gestured to the planet out the bridge window. Regalo’s ears flattened in confusion at the announcement.
“I believe I told you to set a course for Sffsik station which is farther into Dominion territory. Sefsek, I believe, is a Celzi Alliance colony and an important one at that.” John’s face froze for a moment as his brain reviewed what Regalo had revealed.
“Oh… Well fuck!” John bellowed in rage, “I am so sorry I fucked up getting you home. I am so sorry. Do we have enough food to go back to that station I can’t pronounce and then go to that other one I can’t pronounce?” Regalo sighed as he contemplated his fuckup.
“Sadly no. We also don’t have enough credits to get the amount we’d need to make it all the way back. Looks like we’re stopping at Sefsek.” Regalo admitted as he sat at the coms terminal of the ship. John took his seat at the Nav unit and turned the ship to the planet. As soon as John started accelerating towards the planet their coms blared.
“Unknown ship you have dropped from FTL from a Dominion Trajectory. Please cease all movement or we will open fire,” a tremulous singsong voice ordered. John’s eyes went wide as his mind blanked out. He slowly turned to look at Regalo, his face etched with fear. The Gaoian held up his hand (Seriously do I call it a hand or a paw?) and fixed John with a calm gaze. John slowed his breathing as he remembered the controls of the ship and brought it to a full stop.
“Unknown ship please state your name, purpose and send your manifest.”
“We are the ship The Lost Minstrel. We are performers who travel the galaxy. Surely you must have heard of the great John Ash, the musician who turns emotion to sound, who can lull any creature to sleep with his voice, who’s decided to bring his beautiful mellifluous melody to the Celzi Alliance or do you mean to tell me that this colony is so backwater as to never have heard of him, ” Regalo boasted. Seeing Regalo so calm under the threat of death did much to assuage the human’s fear as they waited with baited breath for the response. After a few minutes their coms blared up.
“Sefsek station to The Lost Minstrel your ship is cleared for entry. You have permission to dock both at the station and on colony. We hope you can forgive us for the threats and hope you understand,” the voice mechanically responded.
The duo breathed a sigh of relief as they relaxed in their seats. Slowly John began to chuckle. The chuckle slowly turned to a guffaw then a roaring laughter. The mirth infected Regalo as he began to chitter wildly.
“Oh my God Regalo they think I’m a celebrity. They think I’m an actual celebrity from the Dominion,” John managed to wheeze out between laughs as he clutched his sides. Oh sweet Jesus my sides are ascending to heaven. Goodbye sides! Regalo could barely compose himself to respond to his friends. After a good 5 minutes they managed to calm down enough to speak.
“Oh my God this is just perfect,” John chuckled. He set the ship on a course to the planet and slouched in his chair. “Regalo you are one wily alien.” Regalo bowed in the same fashion John would at the end of a performance.
Soon enough, The Lost Minstrel broke atmosphere. John looked out the window of the bridge and gasped. The planet below was lush with greenery. Trees that grew so tall they rivaled the skyscrapers on Earth, their blue leaves shimmering brilliantly in the gleam of the red sun. What interested John the most about the super trees were the thousands upon thousands of grey little objects whizzing about the forest, occasionally trimming a tree. It took him a moment before it dawned on him what exactly they were. Sweet Mary and Joseph those are drones. Those are drones that are trimming the trees. Holy shit this entire forest is probably like a garden to them! Regalo activated the scanner. “Ok this is a Qinis colony and uh… There are several shiny flashy graphs and such but if you go 1,000 kilometers east we’ll come up on something.”
“What do you mean we’ll come up on something?”
“Well there’s an arrow pointing to the east with 1,000 kilometers on it.” John shrugged and turned their ship to the east and pushed the acceleration. “Alright we should be at whatever is there in a few hours.” John rose from his seat. “But if we’re gonna sell the fact that I am a celebrity I need to look the part so I’m gonna head to our room and change into something fancier,” John called out as he left the bridge. John returned as the ship arrived at the marker. Instead of being dressed in his usual blue top and grey trousers, John was dressed in a black top and black trousers in a feeble attempt at wearing a suit. Well, there’s not much you can do with 5 differently coloured tops that look exactly the same. John looked out the window of the bridge and frowned. “Why is the ship still moving? I set it to stop once we reached the marker.” Regalo’s ears perked up. John strode over to the nav unit and sighed.
“We’re close to a city so the system’s linked up to the city’s network. We’re fine. The ship will land itself so you have time to go get changed.”
Regalo cocked his head in confusion. John rolled his eyes and elaborated, “if you’re gonna be my manager you need to look the part so go put on that red robe thing, red signifies power.” Regalo rolled his eyes and went to get changed. John’s mind froze as he beheld the city. The trees of the city were shorter than their wild counter parts and their leaves varied wildly in colour from the luminous blue of the wild to pink. Modern buildings were intertwined with the trees, uniting technology and nature in a seamless design. John had a hard time discerning where the beige buildings ended and the trees began. Oh my god I’ve arrived at the planet of the space elves. God is real. Thank you God. The Lost Minstrel glided with its shaped shielding through the city to what looked like a hanger that a tree grew around. At this distance John could vaguely make out the space elves. Yes! They’re humanoid! Please Lord let them be pretty oh please let them be pretty. Their ship landed on a landing pad near the center of the city. The hangar had a platform just slightly lower than the doorway on the ship. Regalo was the first to exit the ship in red overalls and stumbled slightly at the significantly lower Gravity. “Heh, mind your- OH SWEET CHRIST,” John shrieked as he stepped off the ship and fell flat on his face with his violin case being caught by Regalo. Regalo chittered for a moment but slowly stopped as he realised the human wasn’t getting up.
“John, are you alright?” He asked as he quickly knelt by the human.
“Regalo I need weights I am literally going to fly away if I get up,” John mumbled in muted terror as he gripped the platform as tightly as he could, splintering the wood.
“Come on John you can do it just get up slowly,” Regalo cooed as he helped the human up. John slowly rose up, his legs quivering and his eyes wide.
“See John, you got up all by yourself. Now wait here while I go back inside and get some metal blocks.”
“Oh my God, are those the space elves?” John quietly asked.
Regalo’s ears perked up and he looked to where John was looking. A group of exquisitely dressed Qinis was serenely walking towards them. They all looked male to John but he couldn’t be sure since they were still aliens. Their eyes were larger than a human’s and set at a wider angle but there was a pouty quality to them. Their ears were easily a foot long and looked vaguely like bowls. Their ears seemed to move independently as they twitched this way and that, listening for danger. They lacked a nose but had weirdly feminine lips. The final quality that set them apart was just how tall they were. John barely stood past the hip of the tallest one. John found the aliens surprisingly pleasing to his sense of aesthetic. Dear God, are these the mythical space elves man is destined to have sex with? Can I even have sex with them? Do they even have sex? Questions for later.
“Welcome, John Ash, to Yvehill, the gem of Sefsek. Please if you would come with us. We have arranged a [car] to take you to customs and an audition.” The lead Qinis informed them with a voice like honey. John quickly nodded his head.
Regalo looked to the human with his ears standing up straight then asked the Qinis, “Would it be possible to bring Mr. Ash some weights. He hails from a class 9 world and finds the gravity here disconcerting.” The lead Qinis gracefully bowed his head.
“Of course, I will arrange for there to be weighted clothing waiting for him at the audition.” John slowly shuffled towards the Qinis and gestured Regalo to follow him. Regalo was still worried about the human but followed John. They slowly advanced to a hover cart. By the time they reached the vehicle John felt more at ease with the lighter gravity but worry ate away at him. Gravity like this is probably not good for me at all… The vehicle groaned slightly as John stepped onto it. The Gaoian took hold of John’s hand in an attempt to help the human’s balance. The trio of Qinis tapped away at the control and the open-air hover cart slowly floated through the city.
“You mentioned an audition. May I enquire as to the nature of the audition?” Regalo asked as John began to breath heavier than usual. The Qinis elegantly bowed his head before answering.
“The audition is for the main event of the annual Festival of Beauty. We offer this audition to the great John Ash as an apology for so rudely treating him at our borders. I do hope you can understand our…. Cautiousness.”
John waved his hand at the Qinis. “It’s fine I understand why you’d point a weapon on me.” The hover cart eventually stopped in front of a hollowed out tree. John slowly got up and got off the hover cart with Regalo close by his side. Regalo was clenching John’s hand, steadying him in the lighter gravity. John lightly leaned on the Gaoian. The three Qinis with them led them through the tree and to a cubicle.
“If you three would please present your Documents so that we may process you.”
“We’ll be sleeping on the ship so that won’t be necessary.” John informed them. The Qinis all bowed their heads.
“Then we ask you to give us your personal coms details so that we may reach you in the event of an emergency,” The lead Qinis asked as he withdrew a scanner from the depths of his silken robe. Regalo and John both presented their coms to the scanner. The scanner beeped as it recorded their coms number to the public registry. The Qinis led the duo back to the hover cart. John held Regalo close to him, finding comfort in having the Gaoian nearby. Regalo, in turn, held onto John, finding strength in the colossal might that was hidden away from the galaxy. Slowly the hover cart made its way through the city. What John could only assume were alien cars, were whizzing by below them on the road as well as similar hover carts all around them, flying in an orderly fashion. They stopped by a fat tree that didn’t seem to have any sort of building but had a large platform for the hover cart to land on. At the platform a droid stood waiting with a harness that had some weights hastily tied to them.
“I apologize for the craftsmanship. Should you succeed in the audition your measurements will be taken to tailor a better one,” the lead Qinis informed them in that same calm professional voice he never seem to change from. God I really just want to fucking punch you, space sex be damned. John mentally growled as his patience for the Qinis’ calm demeanor wore thin. Show some emotion you space elf. John took off his shirt and put on the weighted harness. Regalo helped John tighten the harness so it didn’t hang loosely. Once John was clothed again the Qinis trio led them through the tree. Regalo nudged John in the side and asked quietly.
“How are the weights feeling? You feeling steadier?” John nodded with a tired smile.
“Yeah, it feels like I’m actually grounded now instead of waiting to float away. God walking was so nerve wracking, I was scared that if I took a step too fast I’d fly down a hallway,” he joked. Regalo chittered quietly as they were brought into a room filled with stunning Qinis females dressed in some of the most revealing clothes John had ever seen.* God is real and he is looking out for* me. John used all his might to look at anything else. He and Regalo managed to get on a pair of seats, only to have the chair break under John’s weight. The faint titter that rippled through the crowd caused John’s face to redden as he decided to stand instead. God is a cruel bastard. Regalo glared at all of the occupants of the room, silencing them instantly. Groups of women would be called out. Regalo slid off his seat to stand by John, daring any of the Qinis to make a mockery of the human. Planet of the Elves is way worse than I thought it’d be. I feel like they’re all judging me, like I’m the orc.
Vanima sat with impeccable posture at the judge’s table in the large empty theater. She was wearing her custom low cut cerulean dress with a necklace of sapphires. She played with her black hair as Qinis models walked up and down the walkway for the audition. Whichever designer managed to impress the three judges would get to have their clothes flaunted in the fashion show next week. Vanima sighed as another model walked up and down the catwalk. The two other Qinis looked at her disapprovingly but she didn’t care.
Vanima was born with a rare genetic disorder that made her bones significantly denser and stronger than the average Qinis. Such a mutation meant that her muscles simply could not generate enough strength to move her body. Had her parent’s not been as affluent as they were she’d have probably been put down for her own sake. Instead, thanks to the marvel of Corti gene therapy, Vanima gained enough muscle mass to be able to move. The cost of such treatment however was astronomical and also greatly reduced her height. Vanima stood at a paltry 2 meters compared to the planetary average of 4 for women her age. She looked up to the models and saw very faint traces of surprise and pity in their eyes. Vanima quietly ground her teeth. Yes look at the stubby freak because you know what? At least I don’t need an excursion suit to stand in galactic standard gravity so hah! Although it wasn’t like she could simply leave the planet. Her father had forbidden her from procuring a ship and no Qinis would sign her on of fear of retribution from the powerful Dukkoti family. Father would never let his prized bargaining chip slip away. She thought bitterly. If she remained here she knew that her father would marry her off in an attempt to expand his textile industry. In addition many ships had little use for a medical doctor or already had one so she remained trapped in her gilded cage. Vanima idly daydreamed of the galaxy and all the exotic aliens she’d meet in her travels.
A faint vibration through the ground lightly shook her from her reverie. She looked up and saw the most deformed Qinis she’d ever seen, holding some strange wooden box with strings pegged to it. The poor man was even shorter than her! His brown eyes were set forward instead of slightly apart. His face was a shade of crimson. What little skin the man revealed had muscles shifting underneath, telling of the explosive power held within them. She didn’t even want to think about his sense of fashion with those hastily tailored, ill-fitting clothes. If a normal Qinis was a work of delicate art, then this one was a machine built for power. His deformities were enough to set her curiosity ablaze. Just how many deformities does he have? Then he spoke. “Hello, my name is John Ash. I’m a.” He sighed. “I’m a Humanity and I will be performing to you the song of my people.” Now the deformities make sense. He’s not even Qinis. I wonder where his home planet is. At least she assumed it was a he.
John stood before the three judges with a full blush gracing his cheeks. Don’t stare at their boobs. Don’t stare at their boobs. Don’t stare at their boobs. The mantra perpetually repeated as he kept his eyes fixed to the back wall. He took up his position and steadied his breathing; he closed his eyes and concentrated. He took up his stance and began playing
Vanima was stunned at the sheer beauty that poured from the strange instrument. The melody roused the deepest grief she had ever known. Her heart raced and soared as if released from shackles she never realised chained her. The regret she felt overwhelmed her. She felt something wet on her face. She reached up and realised that she had begun crying. She felt mistakes of her past haunt her like tormented souls clawing from her memory. Yet somehow she didn’t feel consumed by the horrors of the past. She felt an unyielding resolve to make amends. She felt determined to right all the wrongs she had committed. Strangest of all for the first time she felt hopeful of the future to come. The raging ocean of emotions soon calmed down as the Humanity finished. Her heart was still racing as he bowed and left the stage. Vanima turned to the other two judges and was shocked to find them significantly more composed than she was. They looked down on her with pity and mild disdain. “What did you two think of the Humanity?” she asked, confounded by their lack of emotions.
The two women tittered. “Well his playing was beautiful but have you seen what he was dressed in? Simply appalling!” The one in the purple dress whose name she’s forgotten said mockingly.
“And do not even get me started on what he looks like! He could win an award for the most deformed Qinis!”
“Do you think he’s a Corti experiment gone wrong?”
Vanima’s jaw dropped at their mocking remarks. These vain idiots! They just bore witness to the most beautiful sound in the history of the planet and what do they focus on?! The fact that he dresses like he hates clothes. They are so blind that they fail to see the beauty of his music past his looks!
“It’s a pity that you think him so repulsive for he will take the slot.” Vanima spat. The two others looked at her with wide eyes.
“You can’t be serio-“
“I am very serious. John Ash will perform a week from now and that is final. Don’t forget that my family owns this theater and I am the head event coordinator for this year’s Festival of Beauty and I say that John Ash will be the main event.” Vanima viciously interrupted. The other two curled their lips in disparagement as they slowly rose from their seats and tranquilly walked out of the theater. Vanima felt like she was a schoolgirl again when all the children would tease her for her condition. She stormed out of the theater, fighting back the tears that welled in her eyes as she made her way to the hover cart. She stood in the cart as she opened the public registry. She set her search settings to foreign species and found a few Celzi diplomats and a Gaoian oddly enough but most importantly the Humanity. She set the hover cart’s destination to Hanger A6 and tried to compose herself. It wouldn’t do to look like a wreck when meeting the finest musician on the planet.
When they had made it back to the ship John felt at ease. “Oh sweet strong gravity please never go away,” He groaned in relief as he felt the stronger tug of the ship’s gravity. Regalo chittered lightly as the human went on all fours to kiss the ground. With his harness on it even started to feel closer to Earth’s gravity. “You know Regalo I might just keep these weights on fulltime. With them on this feels so much more like Earth gravity,” John commented as they headed to the common room. John took off his black shirt leaving him with only the harness. Regalo automatically went to the kitchen as John dropped off his violin by the door and crashed (figuratively) on the couch. John was watching the news as Regalo methodically prepared their end of day meal. The ship alerted them to someone waiting outside the door.
“John if you would, I’m making your favorite.” John perked up at the prospect of eating Regalo’s sweet dough with chopped space carrots on the side. He got up and quickly jogged to the door in hopes of turning away whoever had decided to get between him and his sweet dough and space carrots. John opened the door to find a Qinis. She was a lot shorter than the ones he’d seen before and before he could stop himself he blurted out. “You’re kinda short for a space elf.” The space elf did not seem amused at all as it punched John in the face. It felt like someone was mushing their fist against his face rather than someone was trying to harm him. John was just as stunned as the space elf.
“Regalo! Someone tried to punch me what do I do,” John called out, causing the elf to wince and sharply withdraw her hand from his face.
“Make sure they’re ok and ask them if they want to join us for an end day meal.” the Gaoian jokingly called back. John shrugged and asked the space elf.
“Do you want to join us for dinner?”
Vanima was stunned the moment she struck John. What have I done. I’ve hit the finest musician on the planet. I have committed one of the greatest taboos. What had properly sent her into shock was when she was invited in the ship for a meal with the musician. Now that she could see more of the Humanity’s flesh she could see the muscles rippling below the skin. What caught her attention most was the weight that was tied to the hastily made harness he was wearing. How is he carrying that? How is he carrying that and acting like it’s nothing? Even a Locayl couldn’t carry that much under galactic standard gravity! All of the Humanity’s muscles were moving with such coordination and fluidity that it made her gait feel clunky and inelegant. “Normally I don’t invite women in when they punch me,” John joked as they walked down a stairway. The comment brought back the memory of what hitting John had felt like. She might as well have been hitting the bulkhead of a starship. The Humanity wasn’t even phased by it! Just how strong is he?! She thought as she kept staring at John. There was a certain beauty to how the human moved. It was like watching the incarnation of water flowing serenely between stones. “Regalo I present to you…. I beg your pardon I never really asked for you name.” The Gaoian was shocked that John had actually brought a guest.
“My name is Vanima, Vanima Dukkoti,” She managed to mumble. John nodded before taking a seat at the table.
“Well Ms. Dukkoti you’re in for a treat because Regalo made some sweet dough and… Whatever those orange things are called,” He informed her enthusiastically. Vanima simply stared in horror at the human.
“What planet are you from?!” She shouted. Her sudden change in volume caused them both to jump.
“I-I’m from Earth. It’s a Temperate 9 planet,” John answered as he looked to Regalo with pleading eyes. Vanima decided to give John her best you’re-fucking-joking face.
“You can’t possibly be from a class 9 planet! When I punched you it felt like I was hitting a wall! You’re carrying enough weight to begin crushing the spine of any regular sophont! What are you?!” She shouted. At this point John was shrinking away in his seat looking alarmingly at Regalo.
“John isn’t really from a temperate 9 world. I believe he is from a deathworld.” John looked to Regalo in confusion. Vanima calmed down at the explanation but soon knit her eyebrows together.
“Did I just hear you say that John Ash is from a deathworld?”
“Correct,” Regalo calmly replied.
“That’s impossible! Sapient life can’t form on a deathworld. John can’t be sapient if he’s from a deathworld.” Regalo growled at the remark.
“John is one of the kindest and bravest beings I have ever met and you would do well not to insult him in my presence.” Vanima was taken aback by the Gaoian’s protectiveness of the Humanity. She looked to John and was hard pressed to believe that the being that was meekly trying to make himself smaller was from a primordial planet, forever a slave to the brutality of nature.
“H-how about we just all calm down a-and we can talk about me over dinner and stuff. Like you and Regalo could just debate things about me and I can just sit here and watch,” John timidly suggested. Vanima looked to the human and felt a pang of sorrow. She sighed and took a seat at the table by the human. Regalo took his seat opposite hers. “Now see, isn’t this better? Now how about we explain to me what a deathworld is.” Vanima gave John an odd look.
“John is a Corti abductee,” Regalo explained, seeing her expression. So the Corti did experiment on him!
“Well… John, would you mind talking to us about the hazards of your homeworld?” Vanima asked. John shrugged and answered.
“Well the gravity is higher but otherwise it has the same hazards most worlds have.”
“And what hazards do you think most worlds would have.” Vanima asked coolly. Regalo leaned forward as well. Looks like he never asked about John’s homeworld. Maybe he was scared of seeing his friend in a new light.
“Oh y’know, earthquakes, tornados, [great wave]-”
“Excuse me, great wave?”
“Yeah [great wave], it’s when a huge wave that’s like 20 meters or more tall and they wipe out like entire seaside communities. There are volcanoes too but the only eruption I can remember was from one we call Vesuvius that buried a city called Pompeii in ash. That was a while ago, I think.” Vanima’s jaw dropped.
John looked to at the two aliens with his eyebrows knitted. “What? What is it,” He asked as looked at her. He then turned to look at Regalo. The Gaoian looked focused, as if he was beginning to piece together a puzzle.
“That explains how you so easily took care of those Hunters.” Regalo got up and left the common room as he pondered which deathworld category John fit into. If Vanima was shocked before she was about ready to faint now. John looked at her with concern
“Uh please don’t faint.”
Vanima slowly reached out and began touching the human’s face. She could feel the warm skin on her fingers. She slowly traced the compacted death that was the Humanity’s muscles. John had stayed still as a statue as the Qinis felt his face.
“Ok so you are real and I am not having a bad dream,” Vanima mumbled as she kept touching John’s face. John smiled at her and cocked his head to the side, reminding her of a Qinis child before their neck could support their head. Her hand traveled down John’s neck, feeling the taught tendons. Her eyes went from shock to wonder as she simply touched the human. Before her was a work of art unlike any she had seen before. There was a statuesque quality to John’s body. He feels like stone brought to life. She idly thought as she pressed against his neck muscle and failed to even make an indent against it.
Regalo returned to them with a tablet in his hands.
“From what the guide says here and what John has described…. John is from a class 12 deathworld.” He announced. Vanima nodded in affirmation. She looked to John with an intense fascination, her amethyst eyes boring into him. Before her was a creature forged in the harshest fires nature could kindle. A being that embodied death. Yet what stood before her was a cheery, meek creature that preferred to make (some of the most exquisite) noise.
“Are you an exceptional specimen for a Humanity?” John sighed and replied.
“People of my race are actually called humans but no I’m not really that special and from the lower gravity I’m probably weaker than I was back on Earth,” John confessed. A trained human warrior must truly be a sight to behold. “Did you come here for a reason,” John asked. Vanima gasped as she remembered the original intention of her visit.
“Oh! Yes I came here to inform you that you won your audition and will be performing at the Festival of Beauty but now I have a little bit more to ask of you…” Vanima shifted awkwardly in her chair as she contemplated how to ask this of the human. “I… I want you to take me with you once you leave. I’m tired of this life here and I want to go see the galaxy.”
God is real. John looked to Regalo for some insight as to what he should reply but the Gaoian cocked his head in a shrug. “Ok before I answer. Why do you want to leave this place? I mean you live in paradise! The forests are beautiful and the city is just breathtaking. Where I lived looks like trash when you compare it to this place.” Although some parts of London will always look like trash no matter how many hipsters move there. “And I mean look at you guys! You’re all weirdly sexy and attractive. Do you know how hard it has been to maintain eye contact with you this whole time,” John exclaimed. He could see Vanima recoil in fear and calmed down. “Why do you want to leave this place to travel the galaxy with a guy who’s apparently like the [Harvester of Life] and some random Gaoian who could be a bloodthirsty mercenary with a deranged past for all you know.” Vanima shifted in her seat as she wrapped her arms around herself.
“I… I just want to leave here and never come back. Everyone sees me as a freak anyway so it’s not like friends’ll miss me. My father barely tolerates me because he’ll just marry me off to some CEO’s son in an attempt to curry favour with them. I loathe it here. Everyone is so fixated on the beauty of clothes and how they enhance the body they fail to see that the body is nature’s art. Your body is beautiful for it capture’s nature’s raw brutality in such an exquisite design. I want to study it.” Both John and Regalo recoiled and Vanima realised how she must’ve sounded like to the abductee human. “I mean with your consent of course. You’ll find I’m a gentler touch than the Corti. I’ll be explaining to you what I’m doing,” she assured John. If we take her then we’ll be getting a medical officer and we need someone who can take care of me and my grim reaper planet requirements and keep me healthy and Regalo’s been doing a terrific job but the dude’s an engineer not a doctor. He looked to Regalo to take in his opinion. The Gaoian nodded at the human.
“After much consideration and deliberation and pontification-”
“That’s not what pontification means John,” Regalo interrupted, chittering slightly. Vanima covered her mouth to hide a smile.
“Why do you need to kill my vibe like this Regalo. I was gonna say she’s in but the mood’s ruined now. You just killed the mood, God damn it. Yeah you can join us or whatever,” John huffed indignantly. Vanima was scared that the human would lash out at them but was put at ease by Regalo chittering away.“This calls for a celebration song,” John declared as he got up from his seat. “You’re in for a treat because this is my favorite dinner songs. Regalo you know the one.” Regalo groaned and looked pleadingly at John. “Come on! It’s not that bad just sing alone just like we practiced and it’ll be terrific.” The Gaoian rolled his eyes then sighed.
“Fine I’ll sing along….”
“Yeeeessss, alright 3 2 1.” At the end of the countdown the two broke down into song and dance, repeating the short song every time it ended.
Vanima giggled at merry tune and the Gaoian’s displeased expression. John Ash… You’re a peculiar one.