Veire's Links
A little puff of stealth, sass, and anger. She knows he'll tangle himself in her hair if she takes a nap, but she still lets him because he's a good little anger puff.
Naptime Partner
A small floof that yells at strangers and gets herself lost under the couch at least twice a week. A good birb.
The One Who Feeds
Dr. Nilla came into Cassio's life in a perfectly normal way that was NOT in any way related to his hospital stay around that same time. Said hospital stay also has NOTHING TO DO with the fact that all medications in his house are now kept in a safe somewhere in his parents' bedroom.
ANYWAY.
Cassio likes Dr. Nilla. They're friendly and easy to talk to. Although that's probably what all psychologists are like. Dr. Nilla probably doesn't even particularly like Cassio, it's just a job after all, they probably find him downright stupid and annoy-
I mean...uh...
Cassio likes Dr. Nilla. Let's just leave it there.
Cassio came to Nilla with a history of depression and stress-induced destructive mania with a deep fear of expressing negative or vulnerable emotions outwardly--namely fear, sadness, anger, or even something positive like great affection. They first met after Cassio was discharged from the hospital following "the incident" and he was transferred to Dr. Nilla. Nilla has kept him on a fairly regular schedule, seeing him every two weeks, and finds it best to provide him words and terminology he can parrot back to accurately express himself. He knows what he feels, even if he tells Nilla otherwise, he just doesn't know the right words to describe it. They find him quiet, soft-spoken, and easily talked over, which is a shame because when he has something to say, it's usually very interesting. At the very least, it makes Nilla happy to see him light up and get excited about the things he's passionate about--most of which are animals. Sometimes the way the sunlight filters through the atmosphere, but MOSTLY animals. Cassio's a good soft boy.
Her big soft uncle who used to sneak her cookies after bedtime for no reason other than "I just thought it'd be nice." Also, he basically adopted her best friend and forged SO MANY documents specifically for him and asked for nothing in return. Frey is almost 100% positive he is the most selfless soul she's ever met. She really wishes he and Leandros had a deeper relationship, but bless them they try. He was the first person she met who felt the same way she did about sex and romance and all that weird shit. If it hadn't been for him, she would've been so lost growing up and may have done some dumb shit trying to "find herself." Like get a boyfriend. Ew.
His best friend's kid, so basically his favorite niece ever. He was her playmate and babysitter whenever she was living on the ship as a kid. Most of his working days were spent quietly doing complex math in his head while listening to Frey's make-believe adventure stories as she bounced around his equipment. He became incredibly skilled at multitasking and VERY good at keeping his tail away from little hooves. He won't say it out loud, but it warms his heart that "his" kid and Mag's became best friends, too.
One of Magdala's crewmates and *sort of* his literal adoptive father when Leandros was a minor. They didn't spend much time together before he graduated and went off with Frey. He's a good dude, it's just...they are *very* different people. It makes forging a proper relationship difficult, in spite of the huge risk the guy took for him when he was a kid (for which Leandros is eternally grateful, of course). But Leandros can tell he tries and he appreciates the effort.
Leandros is his, uh..."distant orphan cousin." Aside from providing the kid with a believable(ish) identity to get him out of whatever piss-soaked ally he was raised in, they haven't done much else together. He mostly relies on his old pilot, Magdala, to keep tabs on the kid. It's not that he doesn't care--he wouldn't have risked his neck forging illegal IDs and more-or-less fabricating an entire person out of nowhere if he didn't--he's just...so, so awkward. And Leandros is...so, so *not.* Socializing is hard.
Although he has an opposing personality, Magdala is more than a little fond of him. He's stuck with her through it all and that's saying a lot. She takes risks and can be a bit..."whimsical" as her parents put it. But he takes it all in stride. Going through that asteroid field? Yeah, he can make that work. Got in a shootout when negotiations went south? Whatever, just give him a gun he's got this. Unplanned pregnancy she decides to keep despite all the reasons it'd be a bad move? He starts clearing out a spare room for the nursery before you've even finished the conversation. Want to find the baby daddy but don't even know what species he is? Don't even worry about it, the Fleet has a list, we'll find him. Baby daddy gets kicked out by his parents and has nowhere to go? He's already making up a spare bed, baby daddy can stay as long as he needs to and his parents are assholes. He sees solutions where other people see only problems. Mag loves that about him. He's her best friend and most trusted confidant.
Initially met Magdala after she came to work on the same ship. She didn't mind his extended silences that others would try to fill with meaningless small talk, so she grew on him pretty fast. When their captain retired, she got her own ship and asked specifically for him to join her. She *needed* him on her crew. He was "essential" (her words). So needless to say he fell in love with her immediately. Well...in his own way. Of all the crew members that came and went, he was consistently by her side. He never went to work for another captain until Mag decided to retire. He's in a better way with people now, but he's never been as loyal to anyone as he is with Magdala.
She's the only one who knows where he came from, because she's the one who found him there. His new name, his admission to flight school, and his room and board up until graduation all came from Magdala. Unconditionally. She is unquestionably the kindest person he ever met as a kid and is, to this day, the closest thing he's ever had to a mother.
Basically her adopted son. She didn't plan for him and Frey to become best friends, but it worked out real nice, didn't it? Only her old crewmates know where she found Leandros, what he was doing, and who he was associated with--things they all swore to take to their graves. He was just a kid, the same age as her baby girl. He deserved a second chance.
She is somehow both the most badass and the most embarrassing person Frey has ever known. Her mom never let her get nearly as good with fighting and weaponry as she was, but Frey didn't mind the restrictions all that much growing up. At least, not after a while. Too many people hurt or dying for her taste. She doesn't know how her mom did it, especially while carting a kid around half the time--but she's glad she did. Growing up was an adventure.
The baby girl she never thought she'd want. Magdala was over the moon (literally) when Freyja turned out to like space flight and exploration as much as she did. It was like having a Mini Mag around--with just as many of the same problems her parents had with her. Her girl was, and still is, as rambunctious and eager as Magdala was. It always made going out with her without a solid leash a bit of a risk. She had to slow her life down a lot because of her daughter, but if she had to do it all again she wouldn't change a thing.
Cassio is sure Lyss thinks she's pretty slick, acting like she doesn't threaten people when he's out of earshot. He didn't get where he is by being unobservant. He knows Lyss tries to protect him and, on some level, it makes him feel loved--but on another, it makes him feel like a burden. He loves having his sister around and tagging along with her and her friends when he wants to get out of the house, but he's not oblivious to the fact that Lyss aches to explore all the possibilities life has to offer. But he's here, so Lyss is here, too. He should probably bring that up to her...y'know...at some point...
Cassio may have a few years on her, but he's...well, he's not "soft" like their mom, but Lyss just always felt like he was fragile somehow. Kind of like a bomb. She first saw it when he came home from boarding school. Sure, he'd caused a lot of destruction, but he also came back broken. Lyss had never realized, up until that point, that there could be people like that, people who could make the world bow to them, but only in the process of self-destructing. It...changed how she saw her brother. Not for the worse, necessarily. No one who loved him would ever want to see him break like that again. But if the world had it's way, it would just keep destroying him over and over until there was nothing left. Lyss doesn't like the thought of that. She likes her brother to be sweet and shy and electrify her bedroom doorknob so her hair sticks up when she tries to go to bed. She's not overly gentle with him the way some people are, he's still just her brother who deserves to be hassled and sometimes tackled a little from time to time. But Lyss takes exception to the kind of people who would take advantage of his nature or whisper behind his back as if he's too stupid to notice. Cassio is the reason Lyss stays close to home, despite her fierce independence.
Keyon is one of those "buy your love" kind of parents--and Lyss isn't exactly complaining. He's a lot of fun and every day with him tends to be an adventure, but Lyss also thinks he's a little much sometimes. She feels like she's always got to be on-edge when she's with him, so she tries to keep her visits limited to the length of a weekend or less.
His baby girl! Her mama may be a creampuff, but Lyss can take care of herself! She's a kickass little bitch and Keyon couldn't be more proud.
Her ex-mate, a highly sought-after actor at the time of their meeting, and Lyss' father. She doesn't hold much ill will toward Keyon, but he was always just a little too sly for her taste.
His ex-mate and Lyss' mother. Keyon was surprised when he first got close to Jeanie that she really WAS just that soft and sweet. It was cute at first, but after a while it really started to grate on his nerves. He has an okay relationship with her, but even today, after she's retired, Keyon still thinks she's too much of a creampuff.