The robot bartender already had drinks and snacks prepared up in the VIP loft. Sheptilah was absolutely enchanted with the concept of cheese being gooey at room temperature. The fact it was drizzled over crisp, hot fries was just decadent.
Espio stood invisibly and unknown at a decent distance away and listened in. However, like with Shadow, the stone didn't translate the witch's words for him.
"I keep thinking about that ship we saw." She very carefully dipped a fry into the cheese. "Should we, y'know, go back and burn it?"
"Why would we do that?" He thought about how the stone took over and saved them. He started to wonder that the deal was with it. He gave the stone a sideways glance.
"You can't just leave the dead like that. You need to do something with them. At least alert their families or something."
"Sometimes it's better to just leave the dead where they are." He sighed deeply.
"I still have the diary. It's in my headspace." She chewed on the fry absentmindedly.
There was an awkward silence.
"Does killing people get easier the more you do it?" His voice was quiet.
Sheptilah nearly choked on her fry. After a cough she swallowed and straightened up.
"Witches and familiars tend to have one or two things they're really good at. Mine is healing others and flight." She inhaled sharply. "All I wanted to do was fly around and make people better. I wasn't allowed to do that; I had to be a queen and chop the heads off of criminals. It didn't get easier- I just got used to it."
"Well at least now I know you weren't actually kidding when you said you'd behead me." He smiled uneasily. Espio furrowed unseen eyebrows.
She leaned her head on his shoulder. "Nah. I'm not going to do that to my only adult friend."
His cheeks grew warm. "Well, at least you're more comfortable around me."
Espio watched carefully. He hated only getting half of the conversation and wondered why, if Eggman spoke this foreign language fluently, was he talking in English?
"But I suppose eight or nine days together saving each other from varied eldritch abominations will bring people closer, I guess." Eggman admitted.
But how close?
"I think I'm going to go and build my own little place on the island. I'll need the space to work on the scepter, too. Maybe I can make more friends while I'm at it. There were some cute people on the dance floor I'm interested in."
"One thing you probably shouldn't do when you're out alone is shapeshift on people. You'll scare the shit out of them." He took a sip of his martini. The bartender robot rolled its eyes.
She lifted up her head and looked at him with feigned surprise. Truly his condescending 'advice' was unnecessary. She is an adult and knows how to behave among the non-magical. She suddenly shapeshifted a second pair of arms and wiggled all twenty fingers at him.
"Why would this scare anyone? Or this?" She shifted a third pair of arms and now resembled a spider woman.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, creepy spider girl." He playfully shook one of her hands.
"Creepy? Whatever are you talking about?" Her arms were doing different things. One set was straightening her pigtails, another was moving the food around and the last pair had hands in her lap demurely. "It comes in handy when doing a very complex hairstyle. Not that you would know."
Espio was making a mental note to not antagonize this woman or she may tickle him to death.
"I am not bald! I actually shave my scalp," he ran his hand over it, "I think I look quite attractive. It's a bold statement; I want my mustache to be the center of attention."
"Maybe your head is the giant pearl I'm supposed to use in the scepter. It's so round and shiny." She brought up her main hands and created an image of the scepter but with Eggman's head as the jewel. "I imagine you would yell at me the whole time when using it." The mouth on the figment moved as if it was angrily shouting displeasure.
She dispelled the illusion and the extra arms.
"Speaking of the pearl - we should probably go grab that first. The ruins of the park where it's located are in the Basque region. You probably remember it as Iberia or Gaul. Today it's the space between France and Spain."
Sheptilah shook her head and smiled. "Are you talking about the countries above and to the far left of where I'm from?"
"Yes." He nodded.
"Why would you put anything out there?" She rested her elbow on the bar and her chin on her palm.
"I have a lot of ruins and scrap heaps scattered all over the planet. Makes it easier to have them left alone."
"Sir, it's midnight." The robot spoke to its master.
"Oh! Look at that. It's Christmas eve. I'm sure you don't care, though. I know I don't." Eggman shrugged.
"I care if you care. Since you don't, I don't care."
Eggman finished his drink and set the martini glass down. Before the bartender could take it Sheptilah picked it up and crushed it in her hand. She then formed it into a marble and healed herself. Not one drop of blood or shard of glass hit the counter.
"Say my name three times while you squeeze this and I will be summoned. Don't abuse it."
"Oh!" He carefully took it. "This is a witch orb?"
"Yes. For emergencies only; I'm serious." She gave him a pointed look.
It was nothing more than a tiny marble with a string of blood in the center. He slipped it into his pocket for safekeeping.
"Could you have done that without crushing the glass in your hands?"
"Sure, but it's less dramatic. I like to remind people I'm not so fragile." She giggled. "Hey. Thanks for inviting us out here with the tickets and all. It's been good to forget about everything at least for one night."
Eggman turned to her and leaned his elbow on the bar. "Nin Sheptilah," he said, "Miss Banana- try to keep it together when we go."
She blushed when he used her language. "Who taught you that word?" MARI was mostly correct. Nin is closer to the word 'lady' than it was 'queen'. To Sheptilah in this context it was like hearing the word 'honey' as a term of endearment.
"I picked it up listening to you." He lied.
"Do you want to learn some dirty Nannaeic words?" She grinned mischievously.
"Absolutely."
"Skheid," she chuckled, "Shit! Merda is another way to say it."
"Off to a roaring start. Merda? That's Latin. Et concipio latinum."
"Scis linguam?"
"Certe!"
She clapped her hands together. "Magna!"
"It's the root language for most modern languages spoken in this hemisphere. It's also one half of the root language for English; the other half is Germanic."
"First you are descended from the Hebrews, which by the way brought manna to the ziggurat so thank you for that, now you reveal that you speak a very ancient language. How old are you, really?" She did find great comfort in the fact that many things still have not changed. She was confident she would fit into this century just fine.
"I'll have you know I am forty-six years old," he smiled, "And full of surprises."
Espio silently left the room to go rejoin the rest of the Chaotix with the information he gathered.
"I heard there was a new Egg Boss." Vector was sitting in his chair with his feet on his desk. "I don't like it."
"It's good to know that I was right about the Stratosphere Club being parts of the Starlight Carnival but I wasn't expecting the boss to be an Overlander ." Espio leaned against the wall with his arms crossed. "She's also involved with GUN for some reason. Maybe we should ask Sonic about it since Eggman's lair is on his island."
"Another magic using Overlander; because Regina wasn't more than enough trouble." Vector leaned back, the chair creaking under the strain.
"This Overlander has killed people according to Doctor Eggman himself," Espio grunted, "She was sad about it but I don't know what she was saying. She was speaking some foreign language the whole time so I only understood the Doctor's half of the conversation.
"She doesn't sound nice; killing people is mean and wrong." Charmy walked in holding a cold soda. He wasn't wrong but the statement certainly reflected his innocence.
"Most people involved with GUN have killed." Vector shrugged. "It's an unfortunate side effect of working for the military."
"Eggman said that they were going to go to the Basque region of Eurish… the spot between France and Spain. There's something important there they need to get." The chameleon tapped his foot impatiently.
"We should go to Seaside Island, interrogate Sonic and his friends and investigate the Overlanders for information!" Vector sat up abruptly.
"It's not like we have anything else to do…" Espio scratched his cheek.
"Ooh, are we going to see Sonic!?" Charmy hovered by flapping his wings at a super speed. "I'll pack the sunscreen!"