Rasil Na'Carrah was a good enough creature, Zkikiyui thought, friendly and kind and cheerful. But at the same time, he was a terribly trying creature. At least to Zkikiui.

"Come on, just for an hour or two."

The hathian-hydra had been pestering Zkikiyui to go out "for fun" for days... weeks, even. Almost ever since it had hatched and chosen him to take it home-- it had to choose a sponsor, and the sponsor it somehow chose was, sadly, quite social-- there had been daily suggestions to go out and "have fun". As if there was something wrong with not wanting to go out for the evening, deal with the myriad crowds of the space station, the noise from said crowds on top of the advertisements and various gadgets that cluttered up the walls.

"We could just go out for dinner, I've got enough money for that."

The past week or so, it had been getting worse, even though Zkikiyui had taken to wandering the quieter parts of the station after classes rather than come straight home. Perhaps, it mused, ears flicked in Rasil's direction but otherwise making every attempt to ignore him, that was part of what made him worse. Rasil, it had since gleaned, simply didn't like being alone, and even when Zkikiyui was home, which wasn't often anymore, it wasn't very good company for an energetic and chattery young adult.

"Or-- no, we'll go see a movie, how's that? One of those holo-movies, or an older one, that's cool, too. Hardly any talking involved in that!"

Surely Rasil had other friends, didn't he? Zkikiyui knew he did; it had met a few of them. Friends from the workplace, from the new dragoner classes, even picked up on jaunts around the station. Rasil did not lack for pleasant company. But then why did he insist on trying to draw Zkikiyui out of its quite comfortable little shell?

"Come on, Yui, it's not healthy to sit around indoors all day!"

And he insisted on shortening its name to that ridiculous, slurred syllable. Well, if Rasil had trouble pronouncing it, Zkikiyui wasn't going to hold it against him, but it could never help sighing, just a little, whenever it heard it.

"Technically," it said, giving in enough to actually speak just long enough to correct the hydra, "no matter where we are on the station, we are 'indoors'."

As if encouraged by the words, another of Rasil's heads, one currently not mouthing the chain dangling from its nose, dismissed his concern with a snort. "You know what I mean, Yui. You'll never make any friends, tucked away in here all the time. Don't you get bored?"

"Not particularly, no," Zkikiyui said. It had long since given up trying to tell Rasil that it wasn't particularly interested in having lots of friends, either. There was one young lady in its new dragoner classes that it rather liked, but it was a diffuse like that didn't require much effort on either its part or hers, and really, that was quite enough for it right now. If only it could be allowed to drift through life, righting what wrongs it saw along the way and being left alone when it had no reason to act....

But, apparently, few out in the worlds thought the same way. Zkikiyui sighed under the gaze of twelve different heads-- check that, eleven; one seemed to be looking hopefully at the door. "But if you really wish to, we can go to a holo-movie," it gave up. Perhaps it would be boring enough of a companion that Rasil would give up on it. "Provided I get to choose the movie."

"Sure, sure!" Rasil exclaimed, brightening immediately. One would think he actually liked Zkikiyui, rather than just put up with it and goaded it into being more social, he seemed so pleased by the acquiescence. "Want me to set up the computer so you can find one you like?"

"All right."

None of the holo-movies appealed to Zkikiyui at all. Most of them were humorous, and it expected that it simply wouldn't find a comedy funny. Someone like Rasil would probably say it had no sense of humor-- for all it knew, Rasil could be right. It hadn't found anything in particular yet that it found worth laughing about, and it doubted a holo-movie would be the first thing that did. The rest were either action-- as if it was entertaining to watch people dying and things exploding-- or romance-- which, as a neuter with no illusions about the truth of romance, Zkikiyui simply had no interest in at all. The single documentary it found wasn't about anything it found interesting. Besides, agreement to go out or not, it didn't really want to bore Rasil that badly. To make the hydra sit through a documentary about the mining colonies on Atu would probably be true torment rather than just enough annoyance to turn him off to inviting Zkikiyui out again.

It'd promised to go see a show with him, however, so it kept looking. Live shows did not appeal to it, because they usually required a reaction on the part of the audience. The older, flat-picture movies had some promise, however. Zkikiyui found something that looked interesting, The Devil's Advocate. It knew a little bit about the practice of law, and the idea of throwing a supernatural element into the mix intrigued it. "Rasil?" it called. "I have a movie."

Half an hour later, the two of them were leaving for the theater, Rasil all but bouncing with excitement, and Zkikiyui tentatively prepared to enjoy itself, at least for as long as it got to sit in the dark movie theater. It would, it thought, have to do its best to bank its flames, or dim them somehow-- it had experimented with its magic, particularly when it came to fire and light, since those were what it had an abundance of-- which would be tricky, but not impossible. Rasil had thoughtfully brought it plenty of "snacks", and was even more thoughtfully keeping those snacks well out of reach of his many ever-hungry heads. Annoying he might be, but Zkikiyui would never say Rasil was not a kind beast. Though it had to appreciate the irony of its ability to "eat" just about anything, feeding its flames with anything organic, while poor Rasil was doomed to want to eat many a thing he could not actually consume.

There was plenty of time along the way to the theater-- they did not take the most direct lift-route, which Zkikiyui expected was in an attempt to socialize a little, but which it used for its own ends-- to offer directions to a pair of lost tourists, drop a few coins into the hats of homeless musicians sitting on corners, and catch a fleeing flitter just in time to return it to its young owner.

"I thought you didn't like people," Rasil commented, sounding confused, as Zkikiyui nodded acknowledgement to the child's thanks.

"I don't," it replied.

"Then why are you always helping them?" Rasil asked.

"One doesn't need to like spending gross amounts of time with someone to wish them well and treat them decently," Zkikiyui pointed out. At Rasil's multiple blank expressions, it attempted to explain further. "There is no reason not to help, if I see something which needs done. It is not as if I will likely see these people again, so I do not need to like them. I respect them, as living beings, but I do not particularly wish to converse with them."

It could see the hath-hydra struggling to comprehend that. "Wouldn't it be... easier to like them, too?"

"That would require a lot more effort," Zkikiyui sighed. "I am not good at conversation, Rasil. It takes a lot of concentration, and I am dismal at small talk. It wears me out. Could we please just go to the show?"

"All right," Rasil said dubiously.

"I still don't get what's so hard about being friendly," one of his lesser heads muttered, around the chain it its mouth. Zkikiyui found it prudent to just ignore the side comments, and this was no exception.

The movie, though every bit as intriguing as it had expected it to be, also had it seething-- and flaring uncontrollably, which had various members of the audience near-by complaining warily at it, and Rasil cringing back now and then-- by the time the film was over. It was probably lucky that nothing caught on fire, but at the moment, it simply didn't care.

"He won!" Zkikiyui burst out as soon as they were out of the theater, accompanied by a burst of flame. Rasil cringed again, back from the fire, but helpfully tossed one of the (actually paper) paper bags that had held his multiple portions of popcorn onto the flames so it didn't burn itself out. It had never been angry before. It was finding the experience unpleasant, but also didn't really care about that, either.

"That ending, yeah," Rasil agreed, several heads bobbing in tentative agreement. "That sucked, man." Really, Rasil hadn't enjoyed the movie much at all-- all the blood and frightening moments had made him feel rather queasy, enough that he hadn't actually finished the popcorn he'd bought to eat, and hadn't tried to chew on anything else for the rest of the movie. Zkikiyui had only noticed briefly, then forgotten it when the film finally ended and it was cheated out of its happy ending.

"The demon-- the devil-- he won! Twice! That lawyer couldn't even do good right, because-- because that horrible devil wouldn't let him!"

"Well, he did kinda give in to that other sin, didn't he?" one of Rasil's smaller heads pointed out, as his main one tongued around inside its mouth, trying to find a bit of popcorn stuck between its teeth.

"If it were me," Zkikiyui growled, "I wouldn't have."

"Yeah, because you don't like people enough to want to look good in front of them," Rasil snorted, then ducked just about every head as if embarrassed that he'd let that slip out.

Zkikiyui didn't take offense. In fact, it paused to consider that, then let its flames die down a little. Being angry was tiring, and Rasil actually seemed to have a point. "Vanity is one of the most difficult sins, isn't it," it mused. "Especially for someone in the public eye. And you're right, it isn't something I'd really have a problem with; I'd much rather people leave me alone than admire me." Rasil gave it a funny look, but it ignored him. "Lawyers are in a position to do a lot of good, aren't they?" it said thoughtfully, mostly to itself.

"They get made fun of a lot for not doing good," Rasil answered anyway, sounding dubious of whatever plan his new sponsor was hatching.

"That doesn't mean they can't, though," Zkikiyui said, undaunted. "I believe I have some research to do."

It was while Zkikiyui was reading up on attorneys, the law, and law school that Rasil finally did give up on it and got a terigon, instead.

Chapter Nine

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