Athena looks down her nose,
at the photo, in disapproval,
"Does it not make you
feel violated, to be put
so coldly on display,
and out of context,
like this, Vesta?"
Vesta shrugs,
"The psychologists have
acclimated me,
to the pain of being
a specimen. Besides,
everyone believes I am
a performative bitch,
anyWay."
"Are you?" Athena questions.
Vesta considers it, "Maybe.
I do not know
if I'd keep publishing,
if I did not sense
the psychologists and I
working on something."
Athena is puzzled,
"What is it that you are
working on?"
Again, Vesta shrugs, "I am
threading myself through
the eye of the needle
in the haystack
they cannot find
without me."
"But why Vesta?" Athena
furrows in frustration,
"And where are you going?"
Vesta smiles,
"You only need One
follower, to become a GXD,
Athena. Just ask
Instagram, or Neil Gaiman."
"So you’re just, like,
flawed and human?"
Vesta shrugs again,
"All I know is, I am
an embodiment of a dynamic
Energy. As a child,
my father's friends remember me,
'A Portly Little Fire Plug.'"
"They should pay you
for this shit."
Vesta looks out
the window, "What is
the value of money,
if the Flame dies,
Athena?"
Planetary Signatures 