Rising Shards

Zeta had run into two teens and despite her shyness, they were kind of hitting it off. Somehow Zeta’s beloved Raina Starlight had come into the conversation, and Zeta’s love of Raina Starlight was stronger than her social anxiety, so she was already showing off pictures of Raina on her phone, as well as of her dear Oka.

One of the duo, Calista, was at the exhibit with their mom, Cyri, both red panda Kanibari. Funnily enough, Cyri was also looking to teach her kid about Cani and queer pride in one museum trip.

“And Calista would only go if they could bring their bestie,” Cyri explained. “So I had to buy three tickets, which I was dreading a bit given how expensive things can be, but then they were doing a three for one deal!”

This was to be a family event just for the three of us, but I wasn’t going to be rude and turn someone away because of that. Since we were headed the same way and had the same overall goal for the day, we stuck together as we continued exploring the museum, stopping only to get some snacks and drinks, which Cyri treated us all to.

There were a lot of familiar sights for Zeta at the void traversal exhibit. She excitedly ran up to a pedestal that had a glowing orb on it.

“Hey, this is like that one thing!” Zeta said. “The one that told me if I was in tune with the void or whatever.”

“Uh huh!” Evy said. “They’re not always orbs, but they’re always glowing no matter the shape.”

“Oh, do you go to a Cani school?” Tiafel asked.

“Yeah!” Zeta said.

“We’re gonna go to one next semester,” Tiafel said. “But for now we’re stuck at a basic school.”

“Aw,” Zeta said. “You should go to my school! Dr. Diast teaches there, and Stella is a librarian!”

“Cool,” Tiafel said, taking a big sip of her drink.

“You call your moms by their names?” Calista asked, squinting. “Your mom makes you call her doctor?”

“Well. Dr. Diast isn’t…how to put it…” Zeta turned to me, looking like an anxious kitten that had fallen off a bed after trying her best to jump up onto it.

“We’re her guardians,” I said. “I’m Zeta’s older sister, and Evy is my partner.”

“Quit pestering them,” Cyri said. “They’re not interrogating you about our family dynamics. Just let them be.”

“I’m just curious!” Calista said.

Cyri perked up at the mention of our school.

“So you both teach at a Cani school,” Cyri said. “Pardon my asking, but can I get some info about said school? I’m trying to pick a good one, and Tiafel’s family said they’ll pick whichever one I pick, so…”

I instinctively turned to Evy. “I think you should handle this.”

“Gladly!”

While Zeta told her new friends about some of her Cani school adventures, Evy gave her pitch for Rising Shards. It sounded a lot like the one she gave me when Zeta’s fangs came in, which did give me a kneejerk jealous reaction, which I immediately knew was silly. I knew Evy gave her ‘you should go to Rising Shards’ spiel to Cani families plenty, and I didn’t get a special take on it when we first met. The special stuff between us came after. But still, I did grab onto her elbow as we walked, which she goofed on me for when we had a minute to ourselves a bit further in, when Zeta and the others were trying an interactive display that mapped out void nodes, with Cyri getting lots of pictures of the bright and colorful graphics projected around.

“Stel, you don’t have to worry about me running off with a random middle-aged mom we just met,” She said.

“I know, I know…” I pouted.

“But the jealousy is kinda cute.”

“I can’t help it, alright?” I said.

“I said it’s cute!” Evy said. “As long as you don’t let it reach big jealous levels, like getting angry about every person we ever meet.”

“I’ll try, but at least I know it’s stupid if that helps,” I said. “It just made me think of how you gave me that spiel way back when.”

“Way back when to a few months ago,” Evy said.

“Yeah, well a long few months ago.” I said.

“If I remember right, you thought it was way too salesperson-y and you didn’t trust it.” Evy said.

“Well!" I pouted. "I…true, but…”

“And now you want that salesperson spiel all to yourself.” Evy said.

“I guess.”

Evy kissed my forehead, then leaned in to my ear to whisper. “When we’re back home, I’ll give a private lesson just for you.” A shiver ran up my spine. “Would that help?”

I nodded, my pout fading away quickly as I couldn’t help get all mushy. I was still giggling and stammering when the others rejoined us, but I kept my cool enough that our new friends didn’t say anything. Zeta did make a joke about us being busy flirting while they were all preoccupied with the node display, which I did my best to cover for.

“Sorry, Evy just told me a stupid joke,” I said.

“It was so dumb, you’d hate it. Not even in a so bad it’s good kind of way.” Evy said.

“Uh huh, likely story, lovebirds.” Zeta said.

“She saw right through us,” Evy said.

“Detective Zeta cracks another case.” I said as Zeta crossed her arms and nodded.

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