Vendetta For Vee

Veeing Real

The next morning, Vee woke up later than usual. Fortunately, it was Sunday, and that meant there were no 'required' activities to do. It was finally time to do a bit of hard soul searching, as she hadn't decided what to do yet regarding the 'counselors' or Masha.

To her chagrin, the former were starting to seem less like counselors and more like something else the more that she thought about it. Some form of undercover human guardsman, from the look of it. At first, this frightened her beyond measure, remembering her own dealings with 'guardsmen' back in the Demon Realm. However, the human realm was so different... she couldn't judge them by the same standards as Belos's.

Unfortunately, this was still leaving her for a loss. On the one hand, the former did seem to be defending her to what she assumed was their leader. On the other hand, if they were so trustworthy, why try to hide who they really were from her?

As for Masha, she made it clear it would take a day or so to dry out her smokeleaf leaves for, well, smoking, so she at least had a bit of time to decide what to do there. If she betrayed Masha's trust and told the counselors, that would probably be the end of their friendship.

The first true friendship Vee ever had.

Whereas if she did nothing, however, and her 'partaking' was seriously harmful, Vee would have trouble forgiving herself. Stealing them would have been a good third option, but the problem was she had no idea where Masha had hidden them to dry. She couldn't smell their magic anywhere in their shared room, that was for sure.

Sighing, she made her way into the common room. A large map of the human realm hung on the wall, or at least a portion of it. She stared blankly at it as she continued to think. She was so lost in thought that she didn't even notice Pickles walking in the room.

"Pretty wild, huh?"

"Huh?" Vee asked, looking at him over her shoulder.

"All these different countries... different cultures and people trying to get along on this little rock we call Earth. Or at least trying to."

"O-Oh... yeah," Vee nodded nervously. "Do you think... do you think they'll keep being like that? Trying to get along?"

"Mmm I dunno, Luz," Pickles said. "I sure hope so. My pa always said the more folks get to know each other, less chance they'll be at each other's throats if somethin' goes south, ya' know what I mean?"

Vee nodded. "Yeah, I think so."

Pickles continued. "So them gettin' closer to each other - learnin' about each other - may not be easy at first, but it'll be better for everyone in the long run."

Vee smiled at that. Maybe she had made the right choice not running away after all. The counselors were really starting to trust her, despite knowing almost everything about her origins, so maybe their boss could, too. Yet if she had run, that trust could have been forever shattered.

She still didn't know what to do about Masha, though. Hopefully, that too, would come in time.

"Anyway, gonna get some grub," Pickles said nonchalantly, as if they hadn't just said something fairly deep. "Wanna come with?"

"Sure!" Vee beamed, her mood having improved pretty quickly.

"Hope I get a chance to cook this time," Pickles said, leading her out the door. "No offense, but none of y'all know how to make good grits..."

"Grits?" Vee asked.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm a stereotypical country person, I know," Pickles chuckled. "Guns n' grits, baby! Hehe. Na, truth is, has nothin' to do with that. I just like em'."