FSE

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Chapter 7

The dinner prep had been an interesting experience for Ricky. On Earth he had never really been over to a formal dinner, but this one seemed to be plagued with etiquette. Pence led Ricky up to the kitchen where Maze and Mrs Katorei were sitting reading, and cooking respectively. The Mister stood up and gave a little bow and a crushing handshake. Mrs Katorei had given him a smile, a friendly lick, and, according to Pence, a minimal scolding about punctuality, but it didn't seem very minimal at the time.

"Just next time, be sure to let us know when you'll be coming so we can better accommodate dear, its only polite after all to give friends a heads up. I know we'd try our best to be on time... but I guess you're new and just didn't know where you were going, that's it right?" She asked with a smile. Ricky wasn't sure how her smile and voice managed to translate into 'figure out where the hell you're walking, don't be stupid' vibe as well as a kind and sincere welcome into her home, but she managed flawlessly. He opted to arrive on time from now on.

The food was all surprisingly earth food, apparently they had a small amount of it to bring home, and the Katorei's at least, had decided to put one meal in the freezers for later and two in their ships refrigerator for the journey. Apparently the other food would still be fresh and delicious if you quote, 'Told your simpleminded great-great grandchildren it existed and they decided to eat it raw.' Mr. Katorei made Ricky grin, but clearly did not have the grace of his wife.

"Pass the potatoes down here please," Pence asked his mother when the food was finally on the table; still scooping generous helpings of his last request onto is plate and eying the buttered spuds heading his way.

"Honestly Pence take it easy, you'd think you had never seen food before," his mother chided, but none the less she handed her son the bowl over the table, her husband to her right and Ricky to her left.

"I'm a growing boy," Pence declared, scooping a few of the taters down on the mountain that was his dinner plate, finally satisfied he began cutting at the steak beneath the side-dishes, the mountain at risk of collapsing onto the tablecloth.

"So is Ricky, but you don't see him stuffing his face," she responded, looking down at her own steak, and beginning to cut it slowly and with poise. Mrs Katorei was a puzzle to Ricky, who at the moment was a bit uncomfortable being an example at the small dinner table of lion's. She was like Mrs Tequin-Hainse, tall and thin, with a very feminine physique, but strong. Maybe it was all Varius women, but those he met so far carried muscle attractively.

Her current outfit being a V-neck black tank top that did not match her very light orangish fur in any way, but was most likely standard issue. The tan khaki's that she wore on her legs were a bit better than the shirt, but only by comparison. The real confusion was in her eyes, somehow they seemed sweet and kind even as she was scolding, like she thought to herself 'Oh they don't know any better' whenever she was angry, like your imperfections were adorable. Not to say she couldn't beexclusively kind and caring... Ricky just hadn't seen it yet.

"Ha!" Pence scoffed, "Ricky's too polite to take all the food he wants, and besides, I'm like, double his weight! My stomach is way bigger!" Pence tossed back, stuffing his maw, gravy dripping into the tufts of fur below his lip.

"That aside you had better eat it all young man." She raised her voice on purpose, a playful smile on her lips as she winked to Ricky who couldn't help but smile a bit.

"Nyah, nyah eat it all..." Pence mocked, stuffing his mouth with the now mashed potatoes, his cheeks puffing out. "Geez..." he added, spitting a bit of food onto his plate by mistake.

"Pence!" His mom shrieked, now in actual in disgust, "Really? Did I raise a pack animal? Oh my lord, honey?" she asked, the lion to her right, who had gone on staring at Ricky unnoticed until that point, his plate holding only what his wife had placed on it.

"What?" he asked, a bit dazed, "Sorry, I'm plotting glorious revenge. You need something dear?"

The female rubbed her temples, "Christ almighty, I'm in a house full of toddlers." She turned to Ricky, "I'm sorry about them."

Ricky just grinned and assured her she had nothing to apologize for. He found midway through he had stopped thinking about the home and the ship. He was somehow, if only for a moment, not in an alien space craft, but merely in a room with good company. His own improvement was a huge relief, if a bit surprising.

So went the rest of the dinner, it was dysfunctional for sure, but it was more a family than he ever really had. Afterwards the boys retired to the couches and flicked through the channels on the holoscreen, not particularly interested in any programs, but happy to let their full bellies settle. It felt the same as when Ricky, his dad, and the Alex from earth would gather around some sports game. Ricky wasn't very interested in the games, but it was still nice. The silence in the room was filled only by small comments and the sound from the speakers, Ricky had never realized how strange guy bonding was. Not much was said, but they; at least HE, felt close to the pair.

"Here we go," Maze said, turning up the volume on the screen. "The best show The Heart has to offer that isn't an actual sport."

"It is too a sport," Pence responded, getting comfy in his chair, Ricky in turn adjusting the pillow on the couch he was seated in. "Anything with that much activity and effort is a sport."

"Whatever." Maze shot back, just conceding over pressing the matter, setting the Varius sized remote down and getting comfy.

Ricky was shocked at what he was looking at. The screen showed some form of glass sphere floating in the centre of a huge arena, the crowd going wild. The place was much larger than any arena Ricky had ever seen in his life. When the camera zoomed into the sphere his vision was greeted by Varius of many different species and sizes carrying strange objects, and dressed in what appeared to be armour. They were a very intense group. The language was most certainly not English, but it didn't take a genius to get the point when a countdown clock buzzed and the Varius, who were in separate sections of the sphere in groups of two, charged one another with ferocious roars.

The objects, previously only rods of metal seemed to morph into weapons unnaturally before Ricky's shocked eyes. "What the hell?" Ricky exclaimed, a bit embarrassed of the outburst, but still looked to Pence for an explanation.

"He-he, geez Ricky relax, they aren't gunna kill one another, we aren't THAT barbaric." The lion waved off, getting back to the montage of fights on the screen. The sound of the crowd could not be removed; their roar was deafening and just a wall of sound, like its own force and not many different voices. It was the most classic of all sports if Ricky ever saw it. Classic gladiator fights. There had to be a catch of some sort but It all seemed pretty real to him.

"You sure?" Ricky asked, watching a particularly large bull with an axe block a blade and with a massive fist launch the cougar across the arena. "That looked like it hurt."

"I'm sure it did hurt," Maze chuckled, "But death and pain are different, especially at The Heart." The screen paused on the larger lions command making Pence groan, "Before they are seriously hurt they are removed from the arena and healed. Scars are common, but no one has ever died. Basically if they make it through the whole thing they get three million credits, each.....umm....what's the word?"

"Episode?" Pence offered.

"No, no, the bigger one." Maze specified.

"Season?" Ricky tried.

"Thank you. Each episode is only part of a bigger bracket, you need to be the winner at the end of the season to win, and at any point they can leave form a small amount of money, but only the champ and the runner up get the reward." Maze finished, re-starting the screen in time for a wolf to take the end of some form of staff to the side of the head.

"Oooooohh!" Maze and his son called out, "Jesus...that was good hit, hell yeah felines!" Pence added, the tiger with the staff getting a close up.

"Totally barbaric," Pence's mom, said behind them. "Honestly, you males are just... high on your testosterone."

Maze looked back, "Oh come on honey, there are plenty of females in the crowd cheering as loud as us."

She shook her head, "You find this fun Ricky?" she asked, but that odd second tone in her voice. Ricky looked up at her and from Maze to Pence, both of which looked away, happy to not be in his shoes.

"Umm, I'm not really sure ma'am, I haven't exactly watched it enough, it seems interesting, I'm just... I don't know I'm not sure how it all works." He hoped that his ignorance to the finer details was an acceptable answer, looking back at her.

"So do you think near death experiences are fun to stage for money?" She asked again, obviously it was not a good enough answer.

"Okay, okay," Maze surrendered, changing the channel much to Pence's disapproval. "Just leave the kid alone dear, no reason to attack him to get back at us." His wife walked over and planted a kiss on his cheek.

"Thank you love." she grinned, tail wagging a bit as she sat on the armrest of his chair and suggested other channels for them to watch.

****

Five minutes later Pence groaned, standing from his chair and crinkling his nose, "Seriously?" He asked his parents, knowing from experience where this was going; what the smell that was invading the lounge room meant. He grabbed Ricky from the couch and started to leave, "I was just getting comfy!"

"What's going on?" Ricky asked confused, being pulled by his wrist out the front door and into the hall before the lion let go and started walking. Honestly Ricky was half enjoying the shows and the lions bickering, even if it was a bit awkward that Mrs. Katorei continued to use him as an example.

"Oh, umm, there really isn't a way to gently say my parents are about to have sex is there?" He asked in a level voice. Not looking back at Ricky, but very peeved that they had even considered it while he had a guest. "I forgot you can't smell as good as us, their pheromones were off the charts dude."

Ricky's cheeks blushed a bit in embarrassment, a bit at being reminded again how he was inferior in the sense of smell department. A lot from the fact Pence was so casual about saying his parents were... well, you know, it caught him a bit off guard, "Really?" he asked. "They didn't seem all that..." Ricky waved a hand, trying to find the right words.

"They didn't seem it, but that's how it always happens, I learned the hard way it's a heated fight followed by some random passionate kiss, and off to it. Opposites attract I guess." He shrugged, "So I guess back to the lounge? Oh wait your receiver!" He remembered, turning around and continuing to walk backwards, still looking at Ricky. "You need to get your receiver from your room so you can call..." Pence tried not to say 'me' "People if you need them." He finished.

"Like a cell phone?" Ricky asked, only now realizing how stupid it was to pack his, but he decided not to mention that little detail.

"Yeah, but this one will work just about anywhere," Pence noted, and maybe we can just finish watching the fights at your place, I'm sure the little ones at the lounge would throw a fit if it was on in public."

Ricky stifled a laugh, "Right, not that it would be irresponsible to let them watch, no, what if they made noise and disturbed you?" he teased.

Pence stopped and looked at Ricky with a grin, "Hey, you watched Varius attacking others with weapons and you didn't freak out." He beamed, completely ignoring Ricky's last statement, andthen hitting Ricky on the shoulder, "Good job he he, proud of you."

Ricky took a moment to process that...a small smile on his lips, "Huh," he said lamely, "I guess I am getting better. Pull some weird ass changy weapon thingy on me though and I swear ill scream," he replied with fake seriousness.

"Ooooooh, threatening. I wouldn't want my ears to be uncomfortable now," The lion teased, continuing the walk.

Ricky continued to smile in light of his progress. It was good to know he could subconsciously reach this point. Maybe it wasn't comfort, but at least an understanding that these guys meant no harm, or at least as much harm as the next guy.

****

By the time they got to Ricky's room and turned on the holoscreen, there were only two fights still going on, and after much cheering from the pair, Ricky's temporary favourite, a Husky beat Pence's vote, the tiger from before. The dog had flipped over the tiger, sword in hand and slashed the back of the felines neck, the tiger instantly being teleported from the arena to a doctor where Pence said they would put new skin on that would heal the wound in a day or two.

Ricky then commented on the acrobatics and Pence explained that at 'The Heart' the gravity was a little lighter than on Earth, and much lighter in the glass sphere so quite honestly Ricky could probably pull off some of those tricks with a bit of practice and nerve.

"What time is it?" Ricky asked, looking at the Varius clock and seeing the foreign numbers. He felt a bit tired, but they had eaten dinner around seven, so it couldn't be too late.

"It's only nine-ish," Pence said simply. "We still have time to burn, unless you're tired of course. You have had a pretty draining day I would imagine." The lion noted, activating a small device. "Whatever, umm, this is your receiver, Varius standard issue, and don't go thinking it's one of those smart phones, standard issue means calls and messages."

Ricky took the device from his friends mighty paw, it was a bit bulkier then he expected for Varius technology, and laughed that the front even flipped up like an outdated cell phone, but it looked like it generally worked the same, his was even set up like an earth phone for easy adjustment.

"It even knows you're apart of this ship's crew, so you have access to anyone's numbers," Pence went on, pressing one of the large buttons with his large fingers, making Ricky realize the reason behind the bulk. The selection brought him to a list of names, from there he either hit the call button to call, or the MS button to message them, working just like a cell, Ricky's teen mind grasped it easily.

Pence smiled, moving around to sit on the couch so he wasn't standing behind Ricky like a creep, watching over his shoulder. The lion was so relieved Ricky had relaxed, hell, he even cheered when that damn dog beat the tiger before, and wasn't flustered to beat red embarrassment when his mother had spoken, and THAT was quite the achievement. But Pence had to think about something other than his parents at the moment. THAT thought made him shiver, "Soooooo, lounge or bed or what?" Pence asked, stopping. "Wait, have you even unpacked yet?"

"Nope," Ricky replied, standing and stretching, "Think I should?"

"Uhh, yeah defiantly," Pence grinned. "Might as well get comfy," he added, following the human to his room, "You can't have that much stuff right?"

*****

Pence was wrong, Ricky was quite the hoarder. In two duffle bags, granted they were the large ones, he managed to fit clothes for a week, his laptop, phone, camera, IPod, and chargers. DvDs, a small portable stereo, his own pillow and blanket, random knick knacks, some books, two hats, two coats, three pairs of shoes and his PSP.

"Crap man," Pence started, looking at all the stuff on the bed, the piles barely fitting. Ricky started to put away some clothes as Pence did the helpful thing and began noisily poking through his friend's things. "You bring enough stuff?"

"Heh, yeah I'm a bit of a pack rat. I couldn't stand to leave ALL my stuff, and the government wouldn't store it, so I had to sell most of it," he said with a bit of sadness in his voice. "It was hard, like, pathetically hard." He laughed, finishing putting away his clothes and turning to the lion who was holding up a Rubik's cube with curiosity.

Finally, something the lion didn't seem to be all knowing about, his massive hands turned it just a bit and a section shifted, making him gasp, "Oh shit! Oh shit I think I broke it man!" Pence shouted, scared he damaged his friends things, holding the toy like it was a delicate and already shattering piece of glass, like one single motion would bring it all apart.

Ricky laughed, much to the lions dislike, "What's so funny?! Is it broken?" he asked now, looking at the toy that didn't SEEM to be a moment from total collapse. Ricky took the plastic from his paws and twisted the piece back in place.

"It's a puzzle, the sides twist and you want all the face sides to be a different solid colour." Ricky explained, "My mom got this for me before she left...I've never been able to solve it, and I refuse to cheat."

Pence snatched the toy back up, looking at all the sides with a careful eye. Finally he came to an incredible conclusion worthy of awards and prizes. "That looks hard," he stated, placing it back down and looking through the rest of the curios. "Anything here relatively breakable?" he asked this time, but already picking up the next thing, a snow globe of the big apple, and more specifically the empire state building.

"Only that," Ricky said, the lion looking up, unsure if the human was just pulling is leg, "Really, its glass so just be careful with it. There is a key in the bottom to turn and it plays music."

The lion looked up, a bit of disappointment in his eyes, and a bit of curiosity, "Who-who'd you get it from? If you don't mind me asking, that is."

Ricky cocked his head at the bazaar question, "Umm...the guy at the store? What's that got to do with anything?" he asked, snatching the globe away and giving it a shake, turning the key and starting the sweet tune within the plain ceramic base.

The lion did a face-palm, "Right, duh, umm, at The Heart... I forgot it doesn't mean as much on Earth." He half explained, returning to his original thought, "Umm, at The Heart a music box is a token of affection. They are usually handmade and given as a gift because no two songs can be the same, each is unique."

The music filled the air and Pence watched the plastic snow burry the historic model to the third floor. "What kind of affection?" Ricky asked, putting away some more knick knacks before the lion could swoop upon them, "Like dating affection? Or friends, or what? Sorry if the question seems stupid." Ricky was still a bit embarrassed that he had to ask such questions, the information probably sounded the human equivalent to, 'Hey Pence, do you give a wedding ring to a friend of your lover?' and that made him feel a bit slow and stupid. Damn culture shock...

The lion was mesmerized by the snow, shaking the mini city again. "It's not UNHEARD of to give one to a friend, but its more common to give one to someone your dating, or want to date. My mom still has hers from my dad actually." He grinned, than frowned, remembering why they went to Ricky's room and tried to get it out of his head. Varius were a bit more casual about such things, but still, one does not like to imagine their parents...he shivered again. "Well, she still has _all_of them. He had to ask her twice before she said yes to a date, and three times before they mated. Err...Married."

"That's sweet," Ricky stated with a chuckle, taking the snow globe from the lion's reluctant paws and placing it on the dresser next to the un-opened portable Zen garden whom a girl who had a crush on him in his English class gave him for the trip. "Ever made one for someone?"

Pence froze up, happy his new friend was looking away, he tried his best to make his voice sound casual, "Nope, I uh, I never really had a good relationship I guess." He lay back on the bed, "I'm not exactly the most social cat there is."

Ricky turned, not quite able to believe his ears, "Really? Jesus I'd hate to see the social butterflies if you are mellow."

"He heh," The lion chuckled deep in his throat, "Yeah, you should sit down with Calper, holy hell can that pig talk. Nice guy, but holy hell. I'm sure he'd like to talk your ear off soon anyway, he likes new people and you're... well you're one of the only available and interesting new people aboard the Imirahu."

"Because you can see my skin?" Ricky asked to confirm, holding up his hands.

"EXACTLY!" Pence shouted sarcastically. "No, because you're human; we have some crazy folks of our own shaving themselves too. It's the whole, 'different species, a bit ignorant to the universe and such' thing that would attract him."

The human turned to face the lion fast, "Excuse me?"

"What?" Pence asked shyly, a bit surprised at the change in atmosphere. Ricky didn't seem like he was kidding anymore.

"Did you just call me ignorant? Did you call my entire race-every human, ignorant?" He demanded. Ricky was a bit surprised, did they all think of him like that? Did every person on the ship think he should be treated like a retard? That 'oh, he doesn't know any better?' Anger swelled up in him, "Do you just think of me as some sort of idiot that needs protecting?"

Ricky's voice wasn't raised, but Pence saw the pain, fear and the anger. He knew immediately that he felt he had been played for a sucker. That Pence was treating him like a special case. "N...no! That's not it at all I swear! Ricky, I just meant that you didn't even know we existed, or what we are about is all."

"And you knew humans existed?" Ricky said a bit coldly, the lion seeing the quick response and sass as an improvement, if only in comparison to the anger. "We aren't stupid. Don't call me stupid."

"I didn't!" the lion defended, sitting up and raising his paws in surrender, "I swear I don't see you as stupid Ricky. I'm sorry if I offended you, I didn't know you'd be so..., that you'd freak out and be hurt." He countered.

"Most people don't like to be called ignorant," Ricky said with less energy. "Just don't ...say that ok? Now I'm pretty sure everyone but the little ones think I'm retarded." He sighed, leaving the room for the living room, "That's just great." he finished, under his breathe.

Pence grabbed his shoulder and spun him around, afraid to let it hang like that. "Ricky, please, I'm sorry I said that without thinking. I only meant something that goes both ways. You don't know much about my people, and we don't know much about yours. That's why Calper would like to talk okay? I just worded it wrong."

The human looked up; those massive paws making him face that way anyway, "Promise?" He asked, his voice not quite right, him nowhere near actually hurt, but very, very serious.

"I promise," the lion said, not willing to laugh about it until this was straightened out. He couldn't lose Ricky as a friend in one day, he'd just got him. And right then he felt his receiver start to vibrate in his pocket and cursed whoever was on the other line.

"Pinky promise?" Ricky asked, the ritual childish, but for some reason holding more weight in Ricky's mind. Like the contact made it more than words.

"What the hell does that mean, a Pinky promise?" The lion asked, establishing his two way ignorance argument for sure.

"Never mind," Ricky smiled, making the Varius breath a heavy sigh of relief, and reach for his receiver.

"You had me scared that you were pissed at me," Pence admitted, reading the message.

Calper is Hawt!!: Kochi saw you and Ricky go to his room and not come out. Abort!! Abort!!

Pence had two thougths at once. One, he was going to kill Calper for changing his contact names. Two, he had to go. Now! And be sure that freaking Vixen kept her nose in her own damn business; and if that proved impossible, at least out of his own.

"Sorry if I seemed all royally pissed."

"You had a reason," Pence admitted uneasily. "So, wanna head to the lounge? I think we're done here, I am anyway."

"Sure," Ricky nodded, first grabbing Pence's paw, making the lion stop. The human wrapped his little finger around Pence's and squeezed it "That, by the way, is a pinkie promise."

"Noted." Pence breathed out and motioned fore the door, "Ladies first," Pence waved him on with a grin.