Upon Vestia: Chapter Twelve

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"Yep, all alone on a desert planet with a weird bird." Ellie scowled, "False gods. So gross. I hope all immortals die soon." She paused, "Umm, well, I hope the immortals I like stick around for a while longer though."

Kay nodded. [I hope so. In the meantime, it looks like you'll be handling any sick children.] He smirked. [And that wasn't intentional but I can't say i'm hugely upset about avoiding kids.] Hopefully Skye would come around and not be too freaked out, having people look at him like that was really uncomfortable.

Asher laughed. "Taking care of sick people was my lot in life anyway. This isn't so different." He didn't look like he cared much. Hey, it was just a side effect of being utterly immune to illnesses. Seemed like a fair trade to him.

Kay smiled softly. [We never really got many sick people out on the frontier, just horribly injured. Even on the colony it was mostly workers who'd managed to impale themselves or sever a finger or something. ] He shook his head. [They never failed to surprise us with how badly they could injure themselves with basic tools. My teacher was never hugely sympathetic, but you get a little hardened to it after a while I guess. Sick people expect more sympathy and care than injured people, injured people just want the pain to stop. I find that a lot easier to handle.]

"Must have been a lot simpler, in some ways at least. Sick people aren't as high risk, usually, but they're a bit time consuming and gross." He laughed softly. "Still, I don't think I could handle a job like that."

Kay smiled. [You get used to it. Though I admit, Matt didn't have to convince me too hard that leaving the frontier was a good idea. The pay is incredible but the burnout rate is high. I was one of those who'd been there longest more out of necessity than because I wanted to be there. Working triage at a war hospital, it takes a strong stomach and a lot of capacity to detatch. Some of those soldiers are so young, coming in with life changing injuries or worse. It wasn't a happy place, let's put it that way. Still, despite the stress and the general futility of it all, it was a challenge and it gave you no chance to think about anything else but your current patient and keeping them alive as long as you could. We didn't get much paperwork done.] He shrugged, his memories of the frontier were bittersweet really. On one hand, it was somewhere he'd actually felt like he was making some sort of difference, and on the other it was soul destroying futile work with a lot of death and pain. Stil when you were surrounded by that much misery, you didn't dwell on your own, which was helpful.

"I suppose that such a complete distraction would have its benefits," Asher said. Having a way to forget was always good, even if it wasn't fun.
"I don't think I ever asked, how did you and Matt end up on Terra?"

[He got bored being out there on his own, he'd mucked about imperium space for a while but he couldn't really fit in anywhere. Being half alien is bad enough, being branded a traitor is even worse. He fell in with the only sort of people who would have anything to do with him, which I guess explains rather a lot about his unique skill set. But he got bored of being scum and wrote to me begging me to come with him and keep him company. He didn't have to plead that hard, after the second letter telling me his plans I handed in my notice and I left. Met up with him on a civilian station and we started to travel. We didn't really have much of a plan beyond "get out of the empire" and unfortunately once we did that we realised that imperium credits weren't going to get us much further. I managed to transfer enough just outside the border to get us transport but when we hit Alpha Centuri we ran out of money. So we begged and borrowed and got in a bit of trouble... Matt got in a bit of trouble. He always does. There was at least one captain who i'm pretty sure only let us come along because she thought Matt was cute.] He rolled his eyes. [But my brother has quite literally no shame. We got as far as earth and our luck ran out. Until we ran into Vestia's crew. I'll give my brother his dues, he is extremely good at talking his way onto ships.] Kay smiled softly.

"Must have been strange to leave Imperium space. Seems like the sort of thing that would cause you some major culture shock," Asher said. "I kind of wish I had been there when Matt made friends with everyone that day. Wasn't he hiding from some drones or something?"

Kay nodded. [It was weird. Matt's got a bit of a knack for languages but I really struggled for quite a while with Galactic common. We learned only fragments of it on the colony and after that I never had any reason to use it. I admit, I am still relying on this to translate half of what I write.] He smiled and showed Asher the auto translate function that was running in the background. [It was also very strange not to stand out, and to not be so short. Very weird to meet species shorter than yourself or a similar height when you're used to being about the size of the average twelve year old.] He looked amused. Yeah, he was used to being tiny. [We never really fitted in culturally anyway. I think it was more of a shock to leave home and go into military school than to leave the empire. I grew up with only the company of 4 other people 90% of the time, it was almost a days ride to the nearest village.] He smirked at the mention of Matt. [Oh yes, Matt decided that the whole getting a job thing wasn't working so well so decided he would slip back into his old habits. He picked the wrong person to pickpocket and got chased by drones, which would have been hilarious if I had the money to bail him out but I really didn't. I don't know how he managed to talk the girls into hiding him, or quite what he told them but by the time I arrived he'd already managed to charm them. I don't know how he does it, it's a real knack.]

"That must have been incredibly different, suddenly having so many strangers around. At least out here, it's kind of expected that everyone has different cultural backgrounds, I guess." Asher tried to imagine being dumped into military school after growing up with only a handful of people, and couldn't.
He laughed softly. "He made friends with everyone so quickly, even considering how willing we are to take in new people. Funny that Ellie used to hate other species, she liked him right from the start."

[Matt has this sort of.. instantly likable aura about him I think. He's so happy and honest and open. I don't think i'd have gotten very far without him, but he'd still be languishing in a jail cell or have gotten himself stabbed without me so I guess we're stuck needing each other.] He smiled fondly. [Poor Ellie, must have been hard to come from somewhere where everyone's the same and then being dumped into well.. this. At least I grew up with a whole family of aliens with weird abilities. With brothers like mine, there's not a lot that can really be weird any more.]

"Too bad his ability to charm people doesn't extend to law enforcement," Asher said, smiling. "Still, it keeps him humble. Or something." He shook his head, "Ellie must have been really desperate to reach Terra, to not instantly leave once she met us. It was a big surprise to me when she decided to stay."

Kay nodded. [Any idea why she stayed?] He'd never really thought about why anyone stayed, he assumed they just... did, because they had nowhere else to go and here had become home.

"She stopped trying to antagonize everyone, so she started to like being here. Then Shane showed up, and she got a crush on him, and then they both angered his old boss and decided it would be best to not stay on Terra," Asher said. "She could have stayed, but I guess it didn't seem as necessary after she'd actually seen the planet her people idolized."

Kay smiled. [Sometimes things don't live up to your expectations. Terra may not have been what she expected, but she found a family here, and Shane.] He looked amused. [They are a sweet couple. Speaking of Shane, looks like you won that bet.] He tried to look stern but really couldn't. [We never did get around to deciding what the prize was though.]

"A bit of a weird, hunted family, but she seems to like it." And hey, at least it wasn't boring here.
Asher looked smug. "I totally win that bet. Ha!" He added, still smug, "Winning is its own reward."

Kay shook his head, clearly amused. [I don't think you fully understand how this betting thing works. You could have gotten a day off! Too late now though.] He smirked. [We are a big, dysfunctional, completely mental family but yes, it's nice to be a part of something. Honestly this ship reminds me of my time on the colony, a bunch of misfits shoved together, in that case because we'd annoyed the wrong people or weren't conforming to acceptable norms well enough. But still a whole group of misfits and outcasts. I'm still not convinced it was the Empire's most well thought out plan, putting us all together. They seemed to think hard work would get us to behave and learn some life lessons or something, they failed to take into account the stubborn nature of rebels.] He smiled sadly at the memory, you know for a punishment, that place had been pretty good to all of them. [Somewhat like Matt and the munitions factory, all that seemed to achieve was to make him more angry and more defiant.] He shook his head.

"I'll just act pitiful when I need a day off, and you'll probably relent," Asher said brightly, "Besides, do you really want me claiming my day off while John has the flu?"
"It's always nice to be around like-minded people. I'm so glad we all ended up here," he agreed softly. "Even if it is rough sometimes."

Kay shook his head. [While I am up to date with my inoculations, it's not worth the risk no. Once he's well perhaps. Depends how mean I feel.] He smirked. Besides which, Asher was adorable when he was trying to look pitiful.

Asher shook his head, amused. "You're a cruel man. I forgot that when I said winning was it's own reward. Oops."

Kay shot him another smirk. [I have to keep my bad cop reputation right? You yourself said I was starting to go soft. And where would we be if I started to be... nice] He made a face but he couldn't hold it for long before the smile crept over his features.

"That's for the patients, not for me!" Asher protested. "I'm Good Cop, you can't do your Bad Cop thing properly without my help."

Kay was pretty much shaking with silent laughter now. [All the more reason for no days off!]

"I'll go on strike, and then you'll realize what a mistake you've made." Asher attempted a look of wounded pride, but couldn't hide his own smile completely. "I'll start a union for mistreated Good Cops. Then you'll be sorry."

Kay covered his mouth with his hand, still laughing soundlessly. [I can just imagine it, you standing outside in the hall, alone with a placard. ]

"I'll get Vestia to send over a few bots, so I don't look so alone, and I'll tell everyone my dad story," Asher said. "And just think, all this because you deprived your faithful colleague of a day off."

Kay shook his head. [You're adorable when you're being ridiculous] He told him.