IV: MARS

charity.

Pluto stood outside Sol's Office making eye contact with security monitor on the ceiling.
A voice from the speaker came.
"Pluto you may enter."
He opened the door and entered a room that smelled of honey and vanilla. But of course it was cancelled out by the scent of tyranny. Sol was seated at her desk, hands folded as she stared him down.
"I almost won the staring contest back there. We can start over now if you want." He said coyly.
"I'm on a tight schedule so save your comedic relief for another time. First order of business, which I'm sure you already saw coming; your behavior the night of the reception was despicable. Especially considering you are supposed to be sobering up. To prevent further embarrassment to our solar system, you are banned from attending all organizational parties."
"Thank GOD!"
Sol stared at him with pitchforks in her eyes.
"Secondly, here is your new recruitment file. It lists all of the information about the applicants assigned to you and also a detailed instruction plan that I strongly advise you follow."
She handed him an accordion folder. The thing was light, so he thought he'd just open it to make sure he wasn't getting Punk'd. The first profile he saw when he opened the file confirmed his suspicion.

"I think you made a mistake. It says here that Aland is assigned to me."
Sol looked up with disgust pouring from her eyes.
"First of all, I don't make mistakes. Second, he wasn't originally assigned to you, but Mars insisted."
"Why would he do that?" He asked, genuinely curious.
"I don't know," She spat, "Maybe he felt like doing charity work."
Pluto rolled his eyes and gave up. If he wanted an answer, he'd have to go to the only person who would give him one.

***

"Hello, Venus."
She jumped, nearly dropping her watering can.
"Oh! Hello..." She said nervously. They were alone in the garden, Venus being cornered against the flower bushes she was tending to.
"I see you're enjoying this fine day. You must be pretty satisfied with your new trainees. I know I am." He said in a fake tone.
"Yes, I am quite impressed with the turn out this time around. And how great it is that you are too!" She responded brightly. Pluto tried not to grimace. She was just too nice to give him a reaction to his sarcasm.
"And the others are satisfied, I'd assume. You know like Mercury...and Mars."
She froze for half a second but then hummed in approval. She knew something was up.
"Do you have something you want to ask me?"
She asked with no malice.
"Direct. I like it." He noted. "How did I end up with the one guy that was Malakai's top choice? I know for a fact Sol would never throw me a bone like that. So something must've happened."
Venus placed the watering can on the ground.
"Malakai felt that you deserved to get him. He thought he'd be a better fit in Pluto."
"So he just magically became gratuitous and handed over his best weapon to me? Did he forget what happened or-"
Venus cut him off.
"Look, not everyone is praying for your downfall. I don't know where you got the idea that we're all out to get you but it's not true! Malakai trusts you'll be a good leader and he knows that if you were given something to work with, you'd be able to prove your worth." She said quickly.
Pluto was dumbstruck; mostly because he got called out. The silence made Venus think she'd made him mad and she looked like she was gonna be sick.
"Damn. I'll be sure to thank him in a way that is the least painful for the both of us. Thank you for your help."
Venus nodded shyly, turning back to look at the flowers. A few had wilted in the presence of Pluto. She sighed and made a mental note to invite Gaia over later. She would've sent her a message now, but she was expecting a very angry Malakai to come barging into her garden any minute now.

"VENUS!"
She turned to see Malakai marching over holding his file with white knuckles.
"Oh good. You're here."