Chapter 67 – Kinda cold

"Hey, how much time do we still have?" I ask Letty as we are sitting on a large terrace on one of the buildings in Homestead. What can be seen past it is a night sky, large number of white hexagonal buildings of various sizes, and a stretch of dark red vegetation reaching the horizon.

She took me to various places in last couple tens of hours, mostly to enjoy various views, but also some shops... if they can be called shops, cause they certainly wouldn't be if Gaia's standards were anything to go by. There were very few people there, as we barely met ten, among whom all were peculiar in that way that they seemed to completely lack any sense of urgency, stopping for chats -with us as well - and walking slowly.

The last we visited was a massive exposition of various vehicles, including jets, hoverers, bikes, cars, rovers, and a whole lot of other things that you could upload or borrow a memory disk with the model... for free. They were also all completely different from those I saw on Gaia, and gave me an idea as to what I should get myself. But that's for later, and now that night has set and we've seen the sunset in each other's company, we're pretty much free.

"Around fifteen hours." Letty replies to my question. "We could stretch it a bit more, but better safe than sorry."

"Mhm." I nod and look at her, leaning on my shoulder, with a grin. "What do you say about a lava bath?"

"...I'm in." She mumbles with a growing smile and pulls herself up a bit. "Give me a while to find a good place, okay?"

"Sure." I nod. "Will your resistance to heat be enough?"

"Probably, yeah. If not, I'll just need to experiment a bit." She nods kinda absentmindedly, and I see the sheen in her eyes typical to when she dives into FTL Network.

"...Alright, I've got one." She twitches ever so slightly a while later and sits properly, looking at me. "An open, active volcano around a thousand kilometers from Homestead, currently not regulated due to rather small size and low activity. It's free for all."

"Are all volcanoes here regulated, if that's so far away?" I ask curiously, stretching my body a bit. "I think there were really many of them."

"Mostly, yeah." My girlfriend nods. "There's not high volcanic activity on Tau Ceti f, but before regulating them it was common to have eruptions on various scale, some even rivaling nuclear weaponry. There was a lot of ash and dust in the atmosphere, often forming clouds."

"Wow. It's certainly different now." I mumble. If only because the scarce clouds I can see and saw earlier were very small and white. "Are we going now?"

"Sure. We might even catch another sunset if we hurry."

...

Or so we thought. Just when we are approaching the jet, Letty suddenly squeezes my hand tighter, and I look at her in worry as that's not a reassuring or absentminded squeeze, but one that would be painful if I was still a human.

"There are my... acquaintances here. The... worse group." She says quietly. "I'm not sure what they want."

"...Should I do anything?" I ask.

"Mmm, not really. Ignore them, ideally. I've no business with them, and if they are reasonable, they'll leave when I tell them we've no time to spare."

So when we walk from behind another ship, heading to the jet standing in the same port we left it in, we see a trio chatting quietly on the side. There's one girl and two boys, from the looks of it, though I've already seen that people here often look much different than you would expect, be it because of genetic or cybernetic modifications, or yet something else.

I could hear them if I used Primordial Energy, but I don't bother. They are already kinda suspicious, but I don't intend to spy on them.

"Oh, Violet! Hello!" One of them, a tall boy with blonde hair and handsome features, at first glance around twenty years old and active on the gym, says enthusiastically, focusing only on Letty with a peculiar expression on his face when we approach. "We saw a jet just like yours and got curious, but I didn't expect to meet you here."

My eyebrows immediately drop a bit at that. I'm not saying that he's lying, but chances that they coincidentally happened to be here at the same time as we came are pretty damn slim. What would they be doing here, even? Strolling around and admiring vehicles?

"Hello, Gav." Letty replies to the guy... not in an unfriendly way, but also far from friendly. "Hello, Lisa, Ilian. Sorry guys, but we're pretty short on time. You want something in particular?"

"Na, not really, just been a long while since we've seen each other, no? And wow, you changed!" The other guy I assume to be Ilian says with a wide smile in an... overly casual manner, glancing between me and Letty. He is shorter than the other, has pitch black hair, and is much slimmer, almost frail, though dressed in very similar casual clothes.

"No." My girlfriend shakes her head in response as she pulls back a bit from Gav, who steps up to her. "It's been two months, much less than usual four months."

"Oi, Violet, no need to be so cold. Care to introduce us?" Ilian opens his mouth again and I look at him with raised eyebrows.

"No, not really. You do for a signboard pretty well." Letty disses the man without batting an eye, and I chuckle in amusement.

Yeah, I already see it's Gav, somewhat too comfortable with Letty, Ilian, way too casual and passively forceful, and Lisa, the only I have nothing against. Cause she said nothing as of yet, but she's better than the two judging by the disapproving gaze she gives to both.

"We're actually here because we were wondering if you'll be going to the Grand Fair on Vera. They already set the date, it'll be at sixty seven, so almost a month. It's about seventy days for you, I think?" Lisa says, turning to Letty and ignoring the two guys' foolery. I think she and Ilian are either siblings or are unusually similar to each other, because she has same black hair, just much longer, she's very slim, and she has very similar facial features. "You had a couple interesting things to show last time we talked, so..." Her voice trails off in uncertainty.

"Maybe? I'll see." Letty replies, and glances at me and seems to recall something. "...No, on second thought, I don't think I'll be going. We'll probably be busy."

Hm? Ah, that crystal from VOW is getting activated in two months as well. Well, not exactly two months, but I don't hope I'll get much rest before and after it does.

"That's a pity." Gav says with his face falling visibly for whatever reason.

"Nice wings, girl! They look so real. How much would those cost? They aren't props, right?" Ilian suddenly walks up to me and extend his hand to my wings, and he fucking touches them like I allowed him. It's so unexpected that I don't even pull back.

Instead I snap my wing at him and he gets all air blown out of his lungs as he flies good five meters away even in the greatly increased gravity on Tau Ceti f. Lisa leans to the side with wide open eyes as he passes by her mid-air and lands on the ground gracelessly with a pained wheeze.

"Touch them one more time, and I'll make your dick into a prop." I say coldly with a heavy frown and Ilian looks up at me, blinking rapidly with reddening face.

"You-!" He begins angrily like he was mistreated, but the Lisa steps up and jabs him under his ribs, causing him to deflate again with an undignified sound.

"Could you please respect other people more? Like ask before you touch someone's wings?" She snaps at him and looks at me with an apologetic smile. "Sorry about him, he's good at bioengineering, but elsewhere has a screw loose. Everyone should know people don't like their wings touched."

I nod in response, though I don't drop my attitude. The girl is good at first glance, and I think those guys can be reasoned with in the civilized way, but I've not enough patience to deal with them that way myself. I'll happily let Letty try, if she wants.

"You reap what you sow, Ilian." Gav mutters, glancing at my wings with strange expression.

"Is there something else?" Letty asks, stepping past the guy and tapping the door to the jet lightly as the door opens. "If not, then we'll be going."

"Have you changed your mind in regards to my offer?" Gav asks with hopeful eyes, turning to her, and she scowls.

"No, I did not." She replies sharply and glances at me, then looks back at him. "And in case you still don't get it, my parents and my ship have nothing to do with that. It's my own decision." She walks up the stairs and stands in the door, then turns around and extends her hand to me with a small smile breaking through her bad mood.

I jump the whole meter and something up - a much greater feat than it would be on Gaia because of the high gravity here - catching Letty's hand on the way, and stand in the door as my girlfriend looks to the group below.

"If you want to talk to me, message me later." She says and widens her eyes slightly when I give her a longer than casual kiss to the corner of her lips, then slip past her inside the jet. I don't miss the confusedly blinking Ilian, sharp breath intake from Gav, and a blush from Lisa. "Not on the private channel." My girlfriend, now indirectly announced to be, adds after a moment of unfocused eyes and turns to the inside, leaving the door to close by itself.

I watch as the ladder is pulled up and she waves her hand lightly to the trio. Then I extend my hand, show them my middle finger, and grin when Letty blinks in surprise, then snorts and starts laughing even when the door isn't fully closed yet.

"Heliaaaa~!" She turns to me with both annoyance and amusement clear on her face.

"What?" I ask as innocently as I can, causing her to pause and grumble something quietly.

"You know what I mean!" She shakes her head and accuses me, standing with her arms on her hips, though she still can't fully hide the smile under her nose. "Why'd you do that?"

Hm. "...Cause I thought it would be fun?" I reply, tilting my head. "And if you ask me, if they're going to be like those guys, I wouldn't mind if I never met them."

Letty opens her mouth to say something, but her face falls a moment later and her body slumps down into her chair.

"...Yeah, same." She says quietly, offhandedly starting the jet with a third arm she grows from her shoulder. "People here can be... a little weird. Most don't see boundaries like other people do, because society here works in a unique way." She pauses for a moment. "Lisa isn't bad at all, she's with them mostly cause Ilian is her brother. The two are... annoying at best."

"How so?" I ask as I sit down next to her and give her my hand she happily takes and interlocks with her own.

Letty stay silent for a while, starting up all systems, and gently lifts the jet from the ground before she sighs deeply and leans on my shoulder a bit. "I met all three of them around two local years ago, almost a whole cycle. Initially we were just unrelated competitors in a race, but for whatever reason they approached me afterwards. We... became friends, I guess, and we were meeting almost every time I came to Tau Ceti f. In regards to engineering, mainly, because I stopped participating in races after that one time. But... eeeh." She scrunches up her eyebrows.

"If you don't wanna say, that's fine as well." I say quietly, but she shakes her head quickly.

"Nah, it's just... pissing me off. They wanted to meet me more often, especially Gav, but I didn't want to do that because I had a lot of other things to do and I couldn't just tell mom to change our schedule. I could get my own ship or stay here permanently, but I never wanted to bind myself to any place or any human who would only limit me. I've nothing against you, of course, for much more reasons than the fact you're not a human." She looks at me with a mischievous grin and I mirror it, then nudge her to continue.

"Mmm, well, Gavin, that's his full name by the way, then suggested he could go with me." Letty grimaces at that.

"Ah. The lovestruck fool, I guess." I mutter.

"...Kinda." She tilts her head. "But not exactly. When I confronted him about his feelings and expectations the time before the last time I was here, he confessed and offered he would come with me and work for me. I rejected him instantly, because he would only get his expectations up, and since then he's been... incredibly annoying. Even more than before. He behaves like I gave him an open invitation to make me fall in love or something. It bugs me, and Lisa told me she tried to get him to stop, but... yeah. With obvious results." She mutters in displeasure and annoyance. "And Ilian seems to think he's friends with everyone, which isn't much better. As you've felt, I guess."

"Hm, yeah, I see that." I mutter.

I got really pissed off when he touched my wing out of the blue, not enough to trigger my Wrath, but more than enough to sour my mood. That's another thing that comes with being a demoness, I guess? That my wings are rather sensitive and kinda private, I mean. Hm.

"Are things like wings common here, by the way?" I ask curiously. "I didn't notice anyone with them, but they seemed way too cool with mine. Putting Ilian aside."

"Mmm, no, they aren't really common here, on daily basis." She shakes her head. "But they are really popular on parties and events, plus there are societies where much, um, much more inhuman things are common. Like... additional eyes, limbs, tentacles, partial animal conversions. Like, with the animal part being the larger half. With current technology there are very few limits to the implants and changes you can make, and wings are pretty easy to do because they are just attachments to ordinary people."

"Hm, alright." I nod. I wouldn't mind paying a visit to those societies.

"Um, about Gav, you aren't... um, I don't know...?" Letty asks quietly, and distinctly uncomfortably, and I look at her with surprise, confused what she means.

...Ah, like, how do I feel about someone who had a crush on her?

"Um, I'm not sure what you expected, but no, I don't think so." I shake my head and give Letty a kiss to her temple. "It's... not that it doesn't matter to me, but... well, I'm trying to be mature here," I pause for a moment. "And if I think about it that's bound to happen sooner or later, no? If he had a chance and decided to fuck it up, then that's his problem. It's not like I'll forbid you from talking with him, or with anyone else for that matter." I smile lightly and slip my tail behind Letty to tickle her nape, causing her to twist her neck with a giggle.

"Alright, alright, I got it." She relents finally, looking at me with a grin and with a twinkle in her eyes. "So what you're saying is that you wouldn't mind if I, um," She flushes slightly, averting her eyes, and continues in an embarrassed voice. "Had some casual flings or something?"

I pause for a moment at that. Would I? Trying to imagine Letty with anyone else than me... Hm. That would sting. But...

"I... can't say I wouldn't mind. I would... definitely." I smile wryly. "But if you tell me about things like that, I certainly won't fault you, or hold it against you. In case you still haven't thought about that, we're going to live for hundreds of years at the very least. There's no way neither of us will find... I don't know, someone else they wanna fuck." My lips shift into a smirk.

"...Yeah." Letty nods with a giggle, breaking her anxiousness and straightening her posture. "You're more serious about it than I expected. But yes, that's completely different from humans... By the way, have I told you about my mom?"

"What?"

"She's bi. And like, she's open about it, she has sex with many people, dad knows about it, but she always comes back to him, if you get what I mean." She explains and turns her head aside in embarrassment. "I was kinda worried you'd be uptight about that sort of thing. Most people seem to be, no matter the place."

"Well, I'm not. I think." I grin, squeezing her hand tighter. "Let's not worry about all that for now, okay? Catherine's mentality is that if something happens, then we'll talk about it. And it's pretty good, because she doesn't worry about a whole lot of things."

"Maybe we should talk about her?" I get a nudge and I see Letty looking up at me with a sly smile and a suggestively raised eyebrow.

"What? Ah." I snort with a giggle. "No, she's Xethu's" I smile. "She's more of a best friend than anything. Was, at least, but I hope we'll get back to that properly when I tell them everything." I sigh.

"When it happens, we'll talk about it." My girlfriend says and I blink in surprise. Huh.

"...Okay, yeah." I giggle again. "Let's do that."

"Mhm. For now, the lava bath."