Breaking the Disease
Epic Six
Written by Cartman's Girl and Invader Poe

~*~

Chapter Five

Zib, meanwhile, was disgruntled and worrying about his Mother's sanity, sure Zim wasn't the friendliest of Irkens but he'd never been shoved out of the yard before. He became even more worried to find Zim was gone from his base, and was using a little tracking device to find him. He wandered into the park, the bleep getting stronger. He looked up from his device, just in time to see Vishta give Zim the smooch.. And stared blankly, dropping the tracking device, his glasses sliding down. And what a smooch it was! Course, both of them being Irken and wanting to make it seem real, though to Zim it was probably as real as it was ever going to get for him, held it for a while, Vishti holding him in her arms still. Yeah, even her glasses were beginning to slip due to the degree her head as at, but her arms weren't getting tired since Zim is rather.. scrawny. Zim certainly seemed to be enjoying it, but of course Zib didn't know that. His mind couldn't concieve that this could possibly be consentual, so he bristled, pushing up his glasses and going into 'defensive son' mode and producing a laser from his lab coat,

"GET OFF MY MOTHER, HUMAN STINK!" Hearing the scream from Zib, Vishti stopped the kiss and stared up at Zib, or to put it more properly, the laser pointing at her head. She blinked a few times,

"...pardon?"

"You heard me, you rapist! Off!" Zib glared at Vishti and not recognizing her as an Irken, never having seen such advanced disguise technology, nor the pak on her back since Zim's arms were currently obscuring it. Zim blinked when he heard the familar voice and groaned loudly, slapping his forehead,

"Zib, I am going to atomize every MOLECULE IN YOUR BODY!" he shouted, before realizing he'd just revealed that he did indeed know this strange yellow-green skinned person… not to mention the fact he was rather upset the kiss'd been ended.

"You know this... thing?" Vishti looked down at Zim, before glancing at Zib again. "He seems highly unruly." she thus let go of Zim, letting him kinda land on the ground with a thud. "And how dare you point that at my face! Do yourself a favor and point it at yourself!" Zib looked confused, still holding onto the laser.

"Who is this, Mom?" Zim winced when he hit the ground, then quickly stood up, growling and muttering up a storm before reaching up and grabbing Zib by one of his antennae-scythes, dragging him a few yards away in a way that was undeniably parental. Not to mention Zib did bear a passing resemblance to him.

"This is Vishti, she's another Irken, she crash landed a little while ago and I was showing her around town!"

"Looked more like you were showing your tongue the way around her mouth," Zib snorted. Vishti got off the bench and dusted at her brown jacket, before fixing her glasses again and glanced at the two. Then folded her arms,

"If you must know, which I highly believe you shouldn't whoever you are, we were trying to not draw attention to ourselves since Zim pointed out this was the season of love and such mushy things to the inhabitants of this planet." Vishti explained simply, before walking up to the two, eyeing Zib. "And now that aside green-yellowy skinned thing. Who are you?" Zim started to answer for him,

"He's a cloning experiment gone--"

"I'm his son!" Zib huffed, then gave Zim an odd look. "I thought you hated mushy stuff…"

"Well you're out of the house now and what I do in my private time is my business, young man!" Zim snapped, though he was blushing furiously.

"Zim's son? Impossible. No son of Zim would be so... loud and stuff." Vishti folded her arms, but looked Zib over either way. "Though, you do have the looks of the Irken species... huh." she looked at Zim. Zib stared at her dully.

"Vishti, I'm quiet compared to Mom."

"Hey! And stop calling me that!" Zib actually look a bit hurt at that,

"What, first I can't call Dib dad anymore, now you disown me too just to impress your girlfriend?" Zim flinched, becoming quite worried as the integrity of his story started to unwravel.

"Can I have an explenation?" Vanshi lowered her glasses, looking at Zim from over the rim.

"I… er… um…" He started to sweat, as Zib was glaring at him from over his glasses too, something that was somehow very threatening. "As I… started to say… He was a cloning experiment… that that stupid human messed up."

"You've been here longer then you said, haven't you Zim?" she asked quickly.

"Well, maybe a bit, I mean, uh--"

"I'm technically 16 years old." Zib said simply, folding his arms. (Being born at around 'age 5', I guess that'd make him about 21.. ~ Poe*Note) Vishti glared at Zib,

"I was asking Zim, I'm sure he can answer for himself." she said somewhat darkly, then looked to Zim. "So, since a human thing messed up your experiment you've been here well over 16 Earth years? Now, now I'm wondering..." she put a hand to her chin, "Why would you lie about that?" Zib glared back, not really liking this female, probably feeling, ironically, protective of his Mother.

"I… er… um… it's a whole mess to explain, I figured there was no use bothering you with it!" Zim laughed nervously.

"U-huh…" Vishti glanced at Zib, returning the glare. "I must say though, to put up with an experiment for so long it shows you are determined with your projects." she looked to Zim, "I can see why you did not wish to bother me with such matters."

"Put up with?! He--" Zib started, but Zim reached up and slapped his claws over his son's mouth,

"Yes, yes! All this time my dedication to conquering the planet has never faltered, despite a few… minor set backs…" Zib was downright furious now, not about to sit here and let his other parent disown him without putting up a fight, he yanked Zim's hand away from his mouth and snarled,

"I suppose he hasn't mentioned that he's a Reject yet, has he?!" Her eyes somewhat widened as Zib said that, turning her head mechanically to Zim.

"...you said you were an Invader." she said very quietly, hard to tell if she was upset or angry, possibly both at the same time. Zim looked rather pale,

"I… I am!" He said quickly, a hint of his denial starting to rear its ugly head, "There was just a fiasco a while ago that involved me accidently being Rejected…"

"How do they accidentally Reject someone?" she narrowed an eye at him.

"I'm sure they had me confused with another Z-"

"You never were an Invader, Mom." Zib said quietly, obviously never having told Zim what Cten had told him long ago, but hopefully Zim would've pieced that together in his head.

"Should I like, leave you two alone or something?" Vishti wasn't one to get too involved in these sorts of things, as she glanced from Mother to son.

"No, no, I think you should hear this too," Zib said in a stern tone, and Zim felt like the one being punished for once, wincing. Zib glanced back down at Zim, "Zim wasn't very popular back on Irk since he had a knack for causing disasters… He wanted to be an Invader, though, so he forced his way onto the stage during the Great Assigning and harrassed the Tallest themselves for a mission. They probably would have had him killed if Tallest Red hadn't had the idea to give him a fake mission in hopes he'd be lost or die." Vishti stared at Zib, then looked at Zim with a surprised face. Of course, she hadn't been aware of any of this since she was... away from Irk when these events had taken place. She looked a smidgen of a bit concerned for the look on Zim's face. Zib glanced down at Zim,

"And don't start in thinking I'm full of lies, Cten told me this long ago, over the times she babysat me. Afterall, she herself was Maid to the Tallest.. They told her this themselves. Or at least, she overheard them talking about it. She never was a solider either, in fact, they sent her to Earth to reinforce the idea that you were on a real mission." Zim looked like an arugment was on the tip of his tongue, but he was speechless, and instead started to scrunch up, paling.

"Whoa." Vishti just said quietly more to herself as she heard this, at the fact there was more Irkens on this planet then she thought.

"Poe has a theory that you were maybe a milimeter or less over the standardized height for Rejection by shortness, and you might've gotten away with a normal life if you'd been less obtrustive. But because you made a nuisance of yourself, they Rejected you in an unofficial way. You were one long before you ever went before the control brains." Zib looked down at Zim cooly, and Zim actually looked a bit indimidated and shaken, looking up at him,

"Why… didn't you ever tell me?"

"Cten made me swear I'd never tell my mother," He replied, and started to turn away, "But if you no longer wish to assume that role I see no reason to oblige anymore." Vishti looked kinda lost in her own world now, seeing how shaken Zim looked she had the urge to say something, but nothing was coming to mind. She cleared her thought, loudly mind you, and put her hands behind her back.

"That is quite the situation." Zib almost seemed to be waiting for Zim to make some sort of apology, but Zim was in too much shock to say anything intelligible right now. Zib shook his head in disgust and stalked away, presumably back home, muttering,

"I'm never going to let myself be so poor a parent…" Zim just kinda stared ahead blankly, slowly sitting down on the ground as his legs felt weak, resting his head in his palms. She watched Zib go, then turned back to Zim. A slight look of concern crossed her face, but she stomped it out by looking somewhat indignant and sat down besides him on the ground. Vishti glanced around, then half heartidly patted his pod.

"Uhm, there there… there there…" compassion wasn't a plus in her personality, but she tried. He slumped, his whole aura having changed into something that was completely unlike him - he was, indeed, subdued. His lower lip twitched, but he seemed to have enough dignity intact to not start sobbing.

"Come on now…" she then tentivly wrapped her arms around him. Seemed had no problem before, but that was for the sake of not being spotted as aliens. But now, he really needed it. "You'll be fine! You've got your base, you can do what you want now." He ended up leaning against her, though that might've been because he was in a somewhat ragdoll-esque state right now.

"All I wanted was to prove myself…"

"Well... the... the Tallest are jerks for being like that towards you. So you had more get up and go then some Irkens, big dead." she glanced away, still holding him. "You don't really have to prove yourself to them anymore, so, so yeah."

"It wasn't just them. Everyone at the academy, the students, the other teachers.. Just about everyone I ever met." His tone was radically different now, so quiet it was hard to make out.

"Zim." she pulled back and put her hand to his cheek, "Listen to me, I know what you mean. I... I don't really want to say how I know... but I've always wanted to make people realise and take notice of me. Not be just, another one of those Irken faces in the crowd who could easily be trampled out of life by anything bigger then them. But look, we're not on Irk anymore, we don't have to prove ourselves! You just need to be, uhh... happy with yourself." Vishti said this sounding sort of sure of herself, not being a person who really helped make another Irken feel better. Zim blinked, looking out of the corner of his eye down at her hand at his cheek, before he glanced over at her slowly. He still looked somewhat blank and numb,

"Maybe you're right…" He looked up towards the sky. "Maybe this planet.. eh.. deserves more credit than I give it. At least it's not all… polluted like." Of course, it was, but compared to Irk it was hardly noticible.

"Yeah at least you see green bushy stuff." Vishti hadn't seen a tree in her entire life, to be totally honest.

"But… still… I based my whole life around being an Invader!" He drooped again, staring at the grass, "I knew… in the back of my mind, everything Zib told me. I just didn't want to pay attention." He set his head against one of his palms, his other hand twirling a piece of grass around his claw and yanking it out of the ground.

"Well, you've accepted it now. So... what are you going to do? Huh?" she poked his side a bit jokingly, but then just left her hand on his side.

"There really… isn't anything." He flinched slightly when he was poked. "At least before I had a purpose… even if it wasn't real. The only other thing I had was to raise Zib, but he doesn't need me anymore." It was probably a good thing Vishti didn't know Zim that well, otherwise she'd probably have gone into shock herself seeing him so, well, depressed.

"Then let's do things then, have some, what they call it... fun." Vishti has heard of it before, from other alien life forms during her time in the galaxy but had never really experienced it for herself.

"Fun?" He looked up at her with a slightly confused expression. "What.. sort of fun?"

"I don't know." Vishti shrugged, then glanced away. "I must admit though, spending time with you has been most enjoyable." He glanced off in the other direction,

"Um… yeah." He agreed simply, before folding his arms in his lap and looking down at his thumbs, "I never, uh… really… talked to anyone like that before."

"I never got so involved before." she replied, brushing a strand of green hair from her face.

"Neither had I," he mumbled, and whether he was talking about the chat or the, er, previous activities was left  to speculation.

"…so now what do we do, sit here till the end of time?" Vishti looked at him now, kind of not realising one of her arms were still wrapped around his shoulders. That, or she didn't mind.

"I don't know, sitting's kind of… erm… nice…" He glanced over at the hand on his shoulder.

"Yeah… and I wouldn't really mind sitting here till the end of time… only if you're here though." she coughed slightly, turning her head away.

"I'm not going anywhere if you aren't," He said, almost quickly, and probably thoughtlessly.

"No rush from this Irken." Vishti replied, then leaned her head against his. "…can we be associates, Zim? I'd like that very much."

"Of course." He actually grinned a bit, leaning back and reaching up to set his black gloved hand over the white one on his shoulder.

"Neat." she said, squeezing his shoulder with her hand. "I never had an associate before."

"Come to think of it.. I never did either." He glanced up at the sky.

"We'll be each others firsts then. Yes. This shall be... grand." she smiled at him, and Zim returns the smile then the two just continue to stare at the city as the sun is now slowly starting to vanish as the earth rotates away from it. If you wanna be technical. Meanwhile, back at Cten's base she's managing to spoon some food into Ivy. It looks kind of... meaty and stuff, but mushed up since her teeth are still in 'teething' mode, even if she had been born that day.

"I had to feed you the same thing a few times." Cten glanced at Enid, who had the dozing Ragde in her arms.

"Euw, Mom..." Ivy seemed to be enjoying it, that is, until the door swinging open loudly caused her to jump. Zib was there, his fists clenched, panting through clenched teeth and looking like he was about to burst a blood vessel, shutting the door behind him with equal ferocity. The noise woke Ragde, who gave a small whimper sound before Enid hushed him. Cten glanced through the kitchen to Zib, then gave Enid a look. Enid nodded and got up, leaving Cten to coax Ivy to eat again.

"Zib, what happened?" Zib leaned back against the door, ranting to himself,

"That little… I can't believe he… After I went out looking for him… I thought he cared!" His breathing was ragged, and he seemed torn between kicking something and crying. Enid, never really seeing Zib like this before looked a little taken back. Then tentivly reached out to him, resting a hand on his shoulder and spoke gently.

"Deep breaths Zib… calm down if you can." He slumped when she touched him, his snarly face sinking into a more hurt expression.

"I don't… have a Mom anymore."

"What?! What did… Zim didn't do a Dib did he?" she looked alarmed at this, knowing how close Zib had been with Zim.

"He might as well have." Zib removed his glasses and a glove, wiping off his face and maybe his eyes with his sleeve. "Just so he didn't have to embaress himself in front of some female Irken he met…"

"Why that miserable-say what?" Enid was about to enter Poe-lik rant mode, but the last statement from Zib made her look startled.

"Some female… V-something… forgot her name… crash landed on Earth. He said he was showing her around, but when I first saw them they had their tongues down each other's throat…" Enid's jaw hung open in shock, then blinked.

"Zim was… kissing someone?"

"Well, more like being kissed and enjoying it. She has some advanced disguise thingee.. I thought she was a human attacking him or something! I intervened, he got upset.. He apparently fed her some string of lies about being an Invader new to the planet.. Now I know why he refused my first two attempts at communication." Zib still looked angry, but also on the verge of tears

"Oh Zib..." she pulled him in to a hug with her free arm, Ragde still in her other looking upset at seeing how distraught his Father was. "It'll be okay! Zim cares about you too much, he's probably trying to be friendly to her... what else happened?" Zib leaned against her,

"He told me… not to call him Mom… Probably wouldn't have even admitted to knowing me if he hadn't screamed a threat at me when I interrupted them." He made a strangled sniffling noise somehow, "I got mad and told the female he was a Reject… he started trying to make a cover-up story, so I snapped.. I told her… and him… everything." He wiped at the corner of his eye with his now bare claws, "About how the Tallest exhiled him, about how Cten was sent to make him think he was on a real mission, everything."

"How did he take it?" she asked, rubbing his back gently.

"I don't know, I wasn't really paying attention." He admitted, glaring at the floor, "He was quiet, but I left before I got to see his full reaction."

"Well... I think you should leave him alone to think about things then.. come on, you want something to drink?" she started to lead him to the kitchen, Ragde leaning over and grabbing onto some of Zib's lab coat while looking up at him. Zib nodded slightly and allowed himself to be lead, Ragde obscuring his view of the floor. He smiled slightly, reaching over and scruffing the bit of hair Ragde had affectionately,

"I'm glad I still have a family here…"

"Yeah we love you Zib, you know that. Least I hope so." she grinned slightly, then kissing him softly on the lips. Zib smiled warmly and kissed Enid back, "And we'll never abadon you for anything." Cten glanced up at them as they entered the room, as she was wiping Ivy's mouth with a napkin while trying avoid having the napkin and her finger, bitten.

"What's going on?" she glanced at Zib,

"Zim's just being... Zim Mom." Enid set Zib down on a seat, "Seems there's a new Invader in town and he doesn't want to be called Mom anymore from Zib." she explained. Cten blinked a few times,

"No way." Zib sighed.

"I suppose I shouldn't be too surprised… It's an almost universal behaviour to shun grown-up offspring when a parent finds a new mate…" Somehow, comparing his life to biology didn't make him feel any better, though. Cten looked at Zib sadly, leaning over and stroked the side of his face.

"You've got a family here Zib… just give Zim some time and probably he'll work things out in that head of his."

"Thanks, Ms. Cten… It's just… I dunno. I mean, yeah it hurt when Dib told me off, but I hadn't been all that close to him… But Mo… Zim…" His antennae drooped.

"Look Zib, honey." Cten leant on the table, smiling at him. "You don't have to call me Ms. Cten now. I mean, we are family now. Cten would do just fine, or anything else you want to call me." Zib smiled back slightly,

"Really? I guess I just got into a habit of using that one… Could I even call you… uh… Mom?" He asked in a small voice, seeming almost like a little lost kid again.  Cten smiled, the lok on his face actually reminding her when he was a little kid, then nodded.

"Course you can Zib." A broad grin crept onto his features,

"Thanks, Ms. C… I mean, um… Mom." He corrected himself a bit awkwardly, "It means a lot to me."

"Zib I've always looked out for you, and wanted to help you out any way I can." she stood up, looking at the napkin which Ivy now had in her mouth and was chewing on. "You and your family, since they're my family too." He nodded slightly.

"You always were kind of a parental figure… I mean, I know Zim tried… I mean… I think he did…" He started to slump again, muttering, "He agreed when she said how dedicated he must have been to put up with a faulty experiment for so long…"

"Maybe he was just trying to impress her." Enid pointed out, while she tried feeding Ragde some food. "Remember, you used to get all gloaty 'n stuff around me."

"So he cares about getting laid more than whether or not I still feel like I'm wanted?" he mumbled, in a kind of sulky mood.

"You're a male Zib, you tell us." she said, giving up on one of the jars with Ragde, and tried another. He flinched slightly, rubbing at his arm.

"Still.." Now he really was just sulking, something about his mom shoving him away reverting him back into a kid-like state of mind of the time being.

"Look, Zim's your Mom and he always will be, no matter what he says." Cten said, "He's always been without someond to be… uhrm, friendly with on his own terms. Obviously this female sparked something, but maybe he'll come talk to you later. If he won't, I'll talk to him." she held her finger up to sush Zib if he was to intervene, "And no butts about it." He nodded slightly, resigned and in no mood to really argue. Ivy had been staring at her Daddy with a look of slight concern, and he reached over for her almost automatically, maybe for comfort, who knows, but Ivy clung onto him without any squirming this time.

"I just hope I don't become like him or Dad."

"Zib, I've known you as long as I've been on this planet. And believe me, you are not like your Mom or Dad parental wise. If you were, you would have left Enid when she ended up pregnant and not want anything to do with her." Cten said, Radge now chewing on a spoon. "But you didn't. You care about her, and you obviously care about your children now."

"Still… I'm going to try my best." He glanced down at Ivy, who grinned up at him, showing off her little fangs.

"It's all you can do." Enid pointed out, picking Ragde up since he had thrown the spoon away. Zib nodded absently and hugged his daughter, Ivy wrapping his arms around his throat again happily and maybe this time using a bit more restraint.

"I guess I'll never really have a Dad to model myself after… but still."

"So, you're the true founder of 'Fatherhood' in the Membrane and Irken gene pool." Enid said, "Dib's Father never cared for him, possibly was the same with him. Your Dad rarely was there for you, but now you're going to change that. And I'm proud of you." He smiled widely again, regaining some of his ego,

"Thanks, En." He then pondered, "I wonder if I dare go to Poe for advice in the future…"

"Might help." Cten smiled, "He was a pretty good Father, despite never knowing his own or any others." He looked rather uncertain though,

"I don't know if he'll ever accept me like that though… " There was also the thing about him being afraid of Poe, something that wasn't helped by Poe's recent affliction.

"He has." Enid said quietly. Cten and Zib looking at her blankly, since she hadn't really spoke of what the two had chatted about. "He has accepted I've grown up, and that I'm with you. He's just… relieved that you didn't abandon me when I got pregnant."

"He… has?" Zib seemed dumbfounded, "You mean, he doesn't want to kill me anymore?" Whether he was being sarcastic or serious was hard to tell. He still looked a bit uncomfortable, and Cten was probably the only one in the room that knew about Zib's childhood-old hesitation towards the tall Reject. Cten went over to him and rubbed his back in a small means to reassure him, kinda glad he wasn't small enough to cling to her like he used to.

"He doesn't want to kill you, no. He wants… he wants to be part of the family." He started to relax when he recieved the slight massage,

"I know… but still… I mean… He's Poe, afterall…" He kinda shrank back into his seat.

"You know Zib, still being afraid of Poe because of that one incident is kind of silly... sure you had better reason when he went kinda insane but still."

"Wait, what first incident?" Enid quirked an antennae, not hearing this story before. Cten looked at her.

"One time Zim made Poe babysit Zib, and Poe read him a scary story. Since then he was afraid of Poe." Enid blinked a few times, then smiled slowly. Then she started giggling, then actually laughed out loud for a while.

"Wha?! C-Cten!" He protested in a whiney voice and covered his head in embaressment, "She doesn't need to know about me as a baby!"

"I'm sorry I didn't realise it was so funny... he was scared to be left in a room with him! It wasn't funny then!" Cten shrugged at Zib, then said this to Enid

 "Oh, oh man...!! Wait, was it 'The Picture in the House'?"

"…yes." Zib mumbled distruntedly and folded his arms, striking a pout of dangerous proportions.

"I love that one! He read that to me when I was what… few months old?" she glanced at her Mom, who nodded.

"Oh don't rub it in!" He scrunched up his shoulders, afterall, he'd been the equvillent to about 6 when Poe read it to him.  To this day he refused to look at anything by H. P. Lovecraft.

"Enid dear, stop please." Cten rubbed Zib's head soothingly, "He's already upset today."

"Okay okay, sorry Zib." gee seems both of them had regressed to little child mode. Even Ivy was giggling at him, and he squirmed a bit when Cten stroked his hair.

"Even if you're a Daddy now Zib, yer still my little boy." Cten smirked, then nuzzled his head with her own. "Always like a son to me you know?"

"Aw Mom, cut it out." Enid smirked. He had to giggle himself a bit when she did that, and grinned at his mate, his kids, his 'adoptive' Mom - one big happy family eh? Well, not quite, in the living room Vist was on the couch, by himself, hugging his knees and glaring at Beka as she cleaned, for no real reason other than she was there to be glared at. Beka stopped cleaning the table, then stared at him for a whie.

"Is there a problem, Master Vist?"

"Hmph." He turned away from her and glared at the lamp at the other end of the table instead, since it wouldn't talk back to him.

"All right." Beka went back to cleaning the table. He huffed again, but it came out ragged, and soon he was hugging his knees tightly for comfort, folding his antennae back to block out the happy sounds coming from the kitchen. In the kitchen, Cten then noted her 'dear little son' wasn't around. She glanced around, then went to the doorway leading to the lounge and looked at him, glaring at the lamp.

"Has the lamp done something wrong, Vist?" she asked. He didn't turn to look at her, pretending not to notice her, but his glare turned into a pathetic little expression, directed at his legs this time, a muffled whimper issuing from him. "Oh Vist." Cten walked into the room and sat down on the table, Beka giving her a slight glare since she just cleaned it. She knew what was wrong, he was used to having her all to himself, and not having company around. He turned away from her somewhat and buried his face into his folded arms, the slight shudders indicating he was probably sobbing or close to it. Zib glanced into the room from his place on the chair, looking over at Enid with a "Should we do something?" expression. Enid looked back at him and shrugged, she had tried numerous times to get along with her brother, but he always seemed to shy away from her, and everyone else. Cten rested her head in her hands,

"Honey come on, you know we're going to have lots of visitors."

"But… you're… you're my Mommy…" he said muffedly, and whether he heard and understood the exchange between her and Zib or whether he just felt jealous because other people were around Cten was hard to tell.

"Of course I'm your Mommy, and you're my baby." she reached out tentivly to stroke the back of his head, "I'll always be your Mommy no matter what." Vist leaned back into her hand, lifting his head slightly to reveal his face was tear-streaked, looking over at her with gleaming eyes. She smiled sadly at him, then opened her arms to him.

"Now come on, be my baby and we'll have a happy family together." Vist uncurled himself reluctantly, then slowly wandered over to her and leaned into her stomach, resting the side of his face against her chest,

"But they don't like me.. I jus want you.."

"They like you… your sister loves you, you know that." she said, holding onto him. "Just give them a chance hon, you'll see they care as much as I do." Vist didn't respond, glaring at the table behind Cten. She remained quiet, just holding him against her and shutting her eyes. Vist snuggled against her, his antennae flattened back to show he was irritated. Zib glanced down worriedly at Ivy, wondering in the back of his mind whether she'd have the same trouble socializing.

[To be continued – I'm sorry these chapters are either too long or short, it's hard to cut em up]