Lost on Titan

{Part 30}

~Videl~

Videl was more than happy to have Risa over for dinner again. Videl pulled open her holo-menu right away, to see what she could make for them with the ingredients she had, and told Risa to have a seat on the couch with Belle - making sure not to call the cleaning device by her name, though she felt rude doing so. She hoped that Belle understood that she just didn't want to explain her insanity to Risa - not yet anyway.

Videl prepared a green bean casserole and placed it in the oven, before joining them on the couch. Risa had been chatting with her about the upcoming meteor shower that she had heard there would be a viewing party for next month, as Videl was working on the meal.

"That sounds so exciting," Videl said, as she nestled into the couch cozily. 

"You always did love a good meteor shower, before . . . " Risa trailed off, seemingly stopping herself from ruffling Videl's hair.

Videl wondered if Risa had meant to say "before Cryo," or something else. There was a small awkward silence that followed, and Videl bit her lip. She had more important questions to ask.

"Do you . . . " Videl started, trying to muster the courage to ask the hard questions that she was dying to know the answers to. "Do you think you could tell me about my parents?"

Risa flinched, her eyebrows furrowing.

"Like . . . who they were?" Videl clarified on a shaky exhale.

Risa sat up a little straighter, looking tense, but she nodded, her dark eyes filled with sympathy, and something else that Videl couldn't quite identify.

"Your parents were both gifted engineers."

Videl sat up straighter as well, feeling a rush of adrenaline. She was nervous, excited, and more than a little scared to learn about her parents.

"Wow," was all she could say, with a tentative smile. Risa smiled back, looking as anxious as Videl felt.

"I actually knew your mother from School," Risa admitted, her gaze distant as if she were looking back on the memories. "Your father, too, but less so." Risa added, quickly. "Back then, they separated the boys and girls, so we didn't share classes." She winced, like the sentence dated her as an older woman.

Videl thought that it was endearing. Risa was youthful, her skin was smooth, and the only thing that gave a hint to her age were the silver streaks in her hair that fanned out from her temples. Videl could only hope that she aged as well as Risa had.

"I leaned more toward Human Behavior and Social classes, and your mother preferred Science and Technologies, so we didn't have a lot of classes together." Risa told her, reaching up to smooth any strands of hair that might have freed themselves from her tightly-wound bun. "But I would see her in the Cafeteria, surrounded by books and research papers."

Videl smiled, imagining a younger version of the woman from the family portrait in her bedroom doing what Risa described.

"The only times that she wasn't buried in her schoolwork was when your father joined her for lunch," Risa chuckled.

Videl imagined a younger version of the man from the portrait charming her mother's nose out of a book.

"Your father was training to join the Titan Starship Maintenance Divison, back then. I overheard them talking on more than one occasion about how excited he was to go on his first space-walk, and put his welding skills to the test." Risa's smile faltered, and she glanced away from Videl for a moment. "Your mother didn't share his excitement - she argued that it was a dangerous job, and she worried about him."