things i wrote about random characters

ves is paranoid and shows it in weird ways lmfao

December 28th, 3023.

The day of Art's and Shichiro's wedding.

Vespera sat at one of the long tables, covered in a formal white tablecloth. She'd never understood why humans bothered to cover their tables. If something spilled on it, you could just wipe it off, right?

In fact, there were many things she didn't understand. Such as this ceremony.

Apparently, when two humans entered into a strong romantic relationship with one another, they eventually planned a special celebration, where they pledged their undying love to each other, promised to stay together and blah blah blah boring human things.

Romance was not something Ves could say she was particularly interested in. Her species, torchii, didn't need to form that kind of bond with anyone. She didn't have the instinctive pull to mate and raise offspring like so many other species apparently did.

But her surrogate sister Art did... and that was the whole reason Ves had agreed to come to her wedding. Torchii may not understand the concept of "parents", but they did form particularly strong bonds with their siblings. To Vespera, it was instinct to support her sister, even if they weren't related by blood.

Even if that meant getting closer to the humans than Ves would ever be comfortable with.

She glanced to her left, where further up the table, Shichiro was accepting lots of pats on the back and words of congratulations from some of his friends. The torchii studied him for a moment, paying careful attention to the way he responded to each compliment, every "thank you", nod and smile. 

Ves had something to say of her own. She got to her feet and approached the human quietly...

---

Shichiro felt incredibly happy.

Of all the days he'd spent with his girlfri- no, wife- Art, this was by far the best. They were finally together, no longer dating, but married. Their dream was finally fulfilled, and Shichiro felt like he could burst from joy. That gladness ran through his veins, all through his body, consuming him. No other emotion. Only happiness.

That boiling happiness quieted to a simmer as he looked up and laid eyes on someone he recognized as Vespera.

Shichiro hadn't seen his wife's adopted sister very often. Apparently, a "torchii" such as herself needed more sleep than a human, and so Ves was almost always asleep in her room. She was currently in her human form, with chin-length red hair, her left eye yellow and the right one purple. Unnatural. Shichiro didn't think Ves cared about that, though.

Vespera regarded him coolly, her hands in the pockets of her deep yellow-green jacket. She wore a pale blue- almost white- shirt beneath that, and a blue-green bandana tied around her neck. Additionally, she had forest green shorts that came down to the middle of her thighs. If Shichiro remembered right, Ves said shorts were better for lying in the sun, as she usually did whenever the weather was nice.

Shichiro blinked at her. "Can I help you?" He asked, somewhat timid. The torchii had this certain aura- probably not even there, likely just how she looked and talked- but she had this feeling around her that was just inexplicably scary. Shichiro could feel the goosebumps along his body, along with the hairs on his arms standing on end.

Ves tilted her head the slightest bit. "Could I... speak with you? Alone?"

Shichiro swallowed. He knew Ves wouldn't hurt him. As terrifying as she was, Shichiro had been told she had an instinct to stay by her siblings and support them. Ves and Art may have been completely different species, but their relationship was close enough that Ves still felt that instinct. Hurting Shichiro didn't seem like it would support Art whatsoever, yet he was still incredibly nervous as he looked up at her. 

"Uhh- yes, of course. There's a room down the hallway."

"Excellent."

Shichiro rose from his seat and walked side by side with  her down the hall in silence. He studied Vespera out of the corner of his eye, and found himself wondering about his relationship with her. What did Ves view him as? Would Shichiro count as a sibling to her? Or was he just... a friend, maybe? Well... how could Ves consider them friends? They never talked. To Vespera, Shichiro was likely just that human dati- married to her sister. He felt a flicker of happiness inside at that thought, but it was quickly pushed away as his mind returned to Ves's impression of him again.

Perhaps this meeting would shed some light on that topic.

Ves's gaze, once fixed unwaveringly on the path ahead, now drifted to a door. "That it?"

Shichiro nodded, mumbling a "thank you" as she held the door open for him.

He looked up at her, still lingering by the door.

"Now... what was it you wished to discuss?" Shichiro asked.

Ves was silent for a moment, her head slightly bowed and her eyes closed as she pushed the door closed. 

When she looked up at him, her pupils were slitted.

Shichiro's breath caught in his throat. Art had once told him a story of how Ves had done this before, when they were just kids. Someone in Art's class had been bullying her. Vespera terrified the oppressor in many ways, and staring at him with slitted pupils for small amounts of time had been one of those methods. She'd apparently done that enough, for just a split second each time, that the child had thought himself mad since Ves's eyes had been normal all other times.

So, essentially Vespera altered her pupils to be slitted- something she could do, as a shapeshifter- when she was trying to intimidate someone. And holy shit, it was working.

"I have a very, very simple request for you, Shichiro," she said, her voice even and devoid of any emotion Shichiro could discern. He shivered at the way she hissed his name.

"Y-yes?"

"Treat my sister right."

The way she stared at Shichiro, the hidden anger behind her tone- this was a warning. A threat. It wasn't explicitly said, but the way her intense gaze was fixated on him made that clear. On the outside, Vespera was completely calm. On the inside... Shichiro knew then and there that he had yet to completely earn Ves's trust. Now she was asking him for a favor...

Shichiro had no intention of letting her down.

He found himself smiling as he faced the torchii.

"I will. And that's a promise."