Rising Shards

This artist really liked their space type paintings. I was trying to make sure Zeta didn’t wander off into the crowd, but I was also kinda invested in the lore too, in the little tags by each painting was a bit of a science fiction story about a comet hitting a planet, but the comet was actually an alien spaceship and it turned into this big war. Telling that sort of story through distant landscape paintings was really intriguing.

“So what do you think about this one?” I asked, gesturing to one of a battle between the alien army and the human (?) one so zoomed out they looked like ants.

Zeta shrugged. She didn’t seem as interested in that lore as I was.

Was this her hyper energy waning? Or was she just building up to the next blast of it?

“It reminds me of an ant war,” Stella said. “Something with…”

As Stella tried to verbalize what she saw, Zeta started wandering again, heading right to the crowd.

“Zeta!” Stella and I yelled in almost perfect unison.

“What? Geez…” Zeta pouted.

Our voices matched up, but was I snapping too much at Zeta? Was Stella gonna be pissed?

“Sorry, that was a bit harsh,” I said. “We just don’t want you running off, bud.”

“I’m not running off,” Zeta said.

“Sure looked like it,” Stella said. “Maybe we should get some snacks?”

If there was any tension after that, Zeta didn’t show it, going back to her ‘snowding’ thing as we looked for the concessions. We had to pay up front, and I wasn’t thinking much as I swiped my card, or when they asked for my ID. The Faleur sisters got plates of veggies while I eyed up the punch bowl. My mouth was probably dried up from worry that Stella would find me too harsh a guardian, so I got a big cup full and downed it in a few gulps.

“Evy, oh my god,” Stella was immediately in Stella Faleur gut laugh mode.

“Huh? What?” Did I spill it all over myself? A quick glance said no.

“Did it taste bad?” Zeta asked.

“Evy, that was like,” More Stella signature gut laughing. “Oh my god, look at the alcohol percent.”

I blinked as I stared at another little card beneath the punch bowl. Stella was still wheezing while Zeta basically looked like she had cartoon question marks over her head. It must have had a delayed reaction, because only after I saw that not only was that an alcoholic drink, it was a very strong one.

“Oh,” I said. It really started to sink in, but fortunately it didn’t make me queasy. “Yeah, yep, can tell that now.”

A second glance revealed that we’d gone to the twenty-one and up table, which had alcoholic drinks while the parallel table had presumably cleaner ones. Zeta reached out for the punch bowl, only for Stella to let out a bat-like screech, as if she were trying to send a sonar wave to stop

“You can’t have any of that,” Stella said. “They should really label that more clearly.”

“I wasn’t gonna, I was just curious,” Zeta said, looking around. “I think I’m the only one my age at this shindig. You brought me to an adult event…”

“It’s all ages!” Stella said. “Just…with a bar. For some reason.”

“Are you good with driving home?” I said.

“Mhm,” Stella said, trying to hold back any further laughing. “Do you want to go home right now?”

“I can stay a bit longer,” I said.

“Maybe this can help you let loose a bit,” Stella said.

She laughed through it, but I still wondered if she was telling me to cool it about Zeta being in brat mode. If me being drunk was preferable to how I was doing it, I worried I was being way too harsh.

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