Upon Vestia: Chapter Thirteen

"Probably," Asher said. "That's the consolation prize."

Kay nodded, amused. [Well it's one use for all those forms we keep filling out. ]

Asher nodded gravely. "We have to do something with them, other than send them in or lock then up." He moved his piece away from Kay's, and toward the other end of the board

~~
James went to look for Swarm to tell them about his day.

Swarm was scattered, but as they noticed James they started to gather together. They ended up following him for a bit, finding a swarm was odd like that, you didn't find them, they found you.

---

Kay nodded to that and moved a piece forward.
[Good thing there's almost always a new form or note to fill out then isn't it?]

James noticed them after a bit, and smiled at them. "Hey guys! How was your day?"

~~
"Pretty soon we'll have the entire med bay labeled," Asher said proudly. "And we'll need to start labeling other things."

--most-- -went-- --out-- --not-- --much-- --to-- --see--. --Mourn-- --snores-- --loudly--

Swarm gathered back to their full size and swarmed around James happily.

--did-- --you-- --have-- --fun?--. --People-- --were-- --wet-- --and-- --muddy-- --what-- --happened?--

----

[Maybe we should invest in one of those adhesive label makers.] Kay found that idea really funny, imagining labeling things, walls, people. It was juvenile and ridiculous, but it was amusing.

"Aww, you poor guys. That sounds so boring," James said sympathetically. He smiled, "Oh man, it was crazy. We rode a giant millipede and saw a church, and went to a farm and saw aphids, and then a hawk came and snatched up Asher, and he ended up getting dropped in a lake! It was terrifying, but it sure makes a good story, right?"

~~
"Much better than sticky notes or paper and tape," Asher said, "I like the way you think, Kay."

--Tell-- --us-- --EVERYTHING-- Swarm demanded.

---

Kay smiled broadly. Well there was Asher's next.. whatever holiday gift sorted. He moved another piece, starting to force Asher's solitary checker to one side of the board and closing the gap.

"Maybe I shouldn't. What if it gave you nightmares?" James teased.

~~
Asher considered the board carefully as his piece was pushed back, trying to figure out how to evade Kay's pieces. Things weren't looking good at the moment.

--We-- --can't-- --go-- --out-- --there-- --so-- --no-- --birds-- --or-- --lakes-- the swarm chittered in amusement. --story-- --story--

----

Kay watched him passively, Asher did have an escape and Kay was pretty sure he'd see it and take advantage of it.

"Okay, okay!" James said, laughing. "Do you want the recorded version, or the dramatic retelling?"

~~
Asher looked at the board a bit longer, then took the escape route Kay had spotted.

--Both!-- they declared. The idea of James' dramatic retelling was just too tempting to miss out on.

---

Kay smiled softly and tried again to push his piece to an edge and trap it.

James grinned. "I was hoping you'd say that." He'd start telling the story as they went to look for a computer monitor to use. He played up the drama, skewing the details a bit so that the millipede was as big as an elephant, and the hawk had chased Asher and caught him on purpose. He emphasized his amazing aim with the gun, Fardhe's frantic attempts to rope the hawk as it flew by, Skye's amazing flying that had guided Asher to land in the water instead of on solid land, and the way Kay had dove fearlessly after Asher and dragged him to the surface through the power of adrenaline and love.
It made a fine story.

~~
Asher managed to evade Kay again, moving his piece ever closer to the far edge of the board.

Swarm listened attentively, enthralled by James and his tale.

--

Kay would try to block Asher in and eventually succeed, which of course meant a tiebreaker third game.

[I don't have a coin] Kay told him, so instead he palmed a white piece and a black piece and had Asher pick a hand to decide who played which side.

James was delighted to have such a good audience. He told them about Kay's near-death experience and their terrifying ride through the dark forest to get back to Vestia. Meanwhile he plugged in his data cable and prepared to give Swarm the factual data of the day, too.

~~
Asher chose to play black again, because why not? He thought it was more fun.

Swarm was happy to watch the real story as well, telling James. --your-- --dramatic-- --retelling-- --is-- --the-- --tale-- --we-- --shall-- --tell-- Well, it was much more fun with a bit of embellishment.
That said, watching them bring down a hawk that huge was impressive anyway. Yeesh.

Kay and Asher would play one final game, this time Asher's attempts to sneak past Kay's defenses would work. The black checker made it to the other side of the board.

Kay raised both hands in defeat and wrote [Well done. ]

James looked delighted. "I'm glad you liked it," he said, taking a bow. Oh yes, having an audience like Swarm was so much fun.

~~
Asher smiled at Kay. "You did pretty well yourself. We should play this one again sometime, it's fun."

Swarm buzzed happily. --everyone-- --is-- --fine-- --now-- --yes?--
They made a note to never ever annoy the half shifter, yeah...

---

Kay nodded. [I'll have to teach you a few more of our games, once we have an appropriate board. ] He tilted his head [So, decided what your prize is?]

"I think so. I helped Asher reassemble his leg already. Hey Vestia, is Kay all right?"

"Kay's fine," Vestia said, "He's surprisingly durable, it seems."

James nodded. "I was getting that impression."

~~
Asher grinned. "I still have no idea. I need to stop winning so much, so I stop having to try and make this decision."

--shifters-- --tend-- --to-- --be-- Swarm bobbed up and down. --shape-- --changing-- --is-- --hard-- --on-- --their-- --systems--

----

Kay looked amused. [What's the point in playing if you'll just let me win though?] He smirked at Asher across the table. [We still have an hour or so to kill. Unless someone maims themselves horribly of course. But we could just let James and Dawn deal with that.] He decided that actually, having two spare medics was a really useful thing. THEY could do all the stuff neither of them wanted to. HAH.

"I can imagine. All that smooshing and stretching and twisting to turn into different things," James shuddered. "Must be cool to watch though."

"It's pretty freaky," Vestia said, "Not sure I can recommend watching Kay shapeshift."

~~
"I didn't say I'd try to lose, I just said I needed to stop winning so much," Asher said, as if that was entirely different.
He smiled at Kay's mention of Dawn and James. "Yes, I vote we let them handle any emergencies. They're here, so they might as well make themselves useful."

A sudden low, guttural growl began to lurk the corridors as a creature who never showed his face decided to, mostly out of annoyance at the fact that his master had forgotten to feed him that day, and that Merith had been more out and about than usual. The reptilian dino-like creature sniffed around the halls of Vestia out of boredom, lonesomeness and hunger.

Tala had returned to Vestia after the painting was finished. She had eaten something, washed paint out of her fur, and was heading for the gym to exercise a bit. She heard the growl, and went to investigate, sniffing the air at the unfamiliar odor of whoever it was. She had smelled traces of this creature before, but never so strongly.

The reptile was sniffing at Vestia's walls, slowly traveling towards the cafeteria when he scented Tala nearby. There was a small hiss as he was caught by surprise of the unfamiliar scent, and it turned its eyeless face to stare at the woman, the large creature growling softly, but otherwise didn't seem to be acting any more aggressive than that.