Upon Vestia: Chapter Thirteen

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

Asher took the box back to the closet, happy to be a bad influence. "Now what do we do?" he asked, carefully setting the checkers board on top of a stack of game boxes.

~~
"Ah well, I'll just have to make sure I'm there when he shapeshifts someday," James said. "I'm sure it'll happen again."

Swarm bobbed up and down. --full-- --moon-- --maybe?-- hey they were curious what happened then too.

---

Kay shrugged. [I'm not sure. Honestly i'm quite happy just to spend time with you. Private time without an audience.] He looked awkward. Yeah he really didn't like affection in public.

"If he's okay with an audience," James said with a laugh. "I'm not sure I would be if I were him." He added, "Maybe you should get into dramatic retellings too."

~~
"That sounds like a good idea," Asher said. He was still a bit freaked out by Kay almost freezing and suffocating, and wanted to stay near him. Plus he just liked being near Kay.

--we-- --could-- --if-- --you-- --could-- --percieve-- --our-- --telepathy-- the swarm lamented --you-- --cannot-- --see-- --us-- --shift--

----

Kay smiled softly and looked a little guilty [I should appologise for clinging to you like a terrified child though. I really don't like heights.]

"Man, that has to be the worst thing about being a robot," James said. "I'm never gonna be able to see or hear you guys the way the others do." He shook his head sadly.

~~
Asher smiled. "That's all right, we're all terrified of something, right? And I'm happy to help you handle your fear whenever you want help."

"Improper?" Merith echoed, blinking at Tala blankly, "Why would using magic be improper? It's quicker, more efficient, and you can get a little fun out of a chore."

Swarm bobbed in the air. --we-- --wonder-- --if-- --mourn's-- --unique-- --brain-- --may-- --help--. Hmm, they chattered to themselves about this. They knew he could see them, but not quite the same way fully organic beings did and only with one eye. Still, if he could connect his memorybanks in the same way the androids could, would his organic side be included in the recording?
Now they just wanted to know.

--Alternately-- --ask-- --esk--.

----

Kay nodded, looking awkward. [Still, it's frustrating and it's unreasonable. ] He shook his head. [Thank you. For not drawing attention to it. I did quite enough of that myself.]

"Work and fun should not be mixed," Tala said in a sensible tone. "Work is not about enjoyment."

~~
"Oooh, we'll have to ask Mourn sometime," James said, "That sounds awesome." He looked nervous, "Esk? Why Esk?"

~~
"Any time," Asher said, smiling.

"Why can't it be enjoyed?" Merith grinned, "A farmer may not enjoy pulling the plow, but he enjoys his work."

--he-- --draws.-- --It's-- --extremely-- --realistic.-- they explained.

---

Kay nodded. [So, we can play more games. Make a new board, or we can hide from everyone else and pretend we're not here at all.] He smirked. [Actually we can do that anyway, regardless of what we're actually doing. If Vestia will play along.]

"Taking pride in your work, and having silly fun, are two different things," said Tala.

~~
"He draws?" James looked amazed, "That's totally bizarre and awesome!"

~~
"Yes, that sounds good. Let's make a new board." Asher looked up at Vestia's camera, "Mind pretending we're not here for an hour?"

"...Sure," said Vestia.

Swarm bobbed up and down in a sort of nod. --he-- --hides-- --it.-- -- but-- --we-- --see-- --everything.-- Hey, what'd they care about Esk's privacy? He was awful to them. Screw that guy. Grrr.

---

Kay smiled at Vestia gratefully. [Arts and crafts room then? ]

"I did not see that coming," James said, looking delighted. "Our Esk is so weird."

~~
Asher lead the way toward the arts and crafts room. "I hope we have cardboard in there. I haven't taken inventory lately," he said, "Ooh, that's some paperwork to do."

Merith chuckled, "Eh, we still got the work done, didn't we? And we didn't make TOO much of a spectacle..."

Tala flicked her ears. "Humanoids and their fun. I suppose that is why they are not minotaurs."

Kay looked amused. [Oh good, we're not totally out of paperwork. Good to know.]
They'd wander off to the arts and crafts room then.

---

Swarm buzzed happily. --very--.

"I'd rather spend my last days laughing than working, thank you very much." Merith slipped out casually.

"Whatever you prefer, I suppose," Tala said with a shrug. "I would prefer to leave a legacy of hard work behind, myself." She didn't know about Merith's impending demise, but she took the idea that he was dying soon without question.

"Trust me," the man suddenly murmured darkly, "I've had all too much of that..."

"Good," Tala nodded, satisfied. "I shall leave you to your tourism, then?"

Merith chuckled, more brightly this time, as if a cloud had passed over, "If you wish."

"It was fine to meet you. Your pet will be charming when you train it to not run away," Tala said. She would leave Merith, heading to the gym to exercise.

--timeskip to evening.--

Word got around that the whole crew was invited to join the Vavare in a citywide celebration. In fact, rather a lot of them seemed to have decided the space port itself, which Vestia dominated was the ideal location for a party.
The huge cruise ship had attracted a lot of attention in herself, but her passengers were even MORE exciting. Gossip spread fast, there were Star Dragons, and spider kids, and Avians too.
The Vavare saw all this as some sort of great blessing or omen from the Weaver herself and many of the silver clad priests had arrived to join in the celebrations and offer up their praises to their goddess.

Armin and several members of his family arrived. His mother looked a lot like Berit, huge, intimidating, her hair was a lovely crimson colour tipped with orange and worn in tumbling curls.
Another female was with them, green skinned like the rest of the family, her curly hair shock white with streaks of purple through it. She and Berit were chattering away, catching up on lost years.

Musicians came, the Vavare played an assortment of stringed instruments and drums, bells, glockenspiels and suchforth.

As the sun set, the city became aglow with phosphorescent moss that grew on every tree trunk and spread across the ground.
The Vavare themselves had brought chemical glow sticks for light, some held theirs, others had strung them along webs around the area.

Priests walked through the crowds giving blessings and kissing foreheads.

Armin came to get anyone who wanted to join in.

Ellie dressed in her most brightly colored jacket and some really too sparkly pants, and was hopping from foot to foot in excitement. A CELEBRATION. OH MAN.

James joined Ellie and Armin at the ramp. He hadn't dressed up like Ellie had, but he'd taken off his badge for the occasion, and looked almost as excited as Ellie did.

Asher and Kay would probably show up shortly, looking surprisingly happy despite the near-death experiences of that morning.

Kay did look pretty cheerfully relaxed as he adjusted his mask in preparation. He hadn't bothered to dress up, but he did have glitter in his hair. No it wasn't intentional. this was what happened when you were short and someone didn't put the lid on the pots on properly and left them on a high shelf. -_-
He'd gotten as much of it out as he could but he'd be picking glitter off things for weeks.

--

Luka got dressed up in her new spider tailor dress. Ooo yes. Though as she didn't actually own any girly shoes, she paired it with her combat boots which rather ruined the effect. She didn't care.
She stomped out to join the others. She was a bit unsure about this many spider people, but she didn't want to hide away.

--

Esk on the other hand really DID want to hide away. He didn't much enjoy social situations and a party was the last thing he wanted to endure.
He remained where he was, the observation deck, unless someone dragged him outta here.

---

Mourn had managed to work out a sort of hyperbaric chamber sort of thing so Swarm, or at least some of Swarm could come outside.

Swarm had helped by giving suggestions based on what little info they knew about this kind of thing.

It was a jar with a pump and the filter from one of those rebreathing masks. They'd tested it earlier, with only a couple of insects to make sure it worked as it should.
It did.

Now Mourn opened the jar and a dozen or so insects flew inside. He sealed it back up and headed to the ramp while pulling his own mask on.

---

Matt had snoozed for a lot of the day, but he was never going to miss a party.
He joined everyone else.

Asher was sort of glittery too, which he honestly didn't mind that much. Sure, it was undignified, but it was funny, and sometimes sacrifices had to be made in the name of fun.

Ellie gave Kay an inquisitive look. "What's with the glitter?"

James went over to look at the portion of Swarm that was going to leave the ship. "Hey guys! Nice house!*

Kay frowned and explained [High shelf, pot of glitter with a loose lid.]

---

The swarm or well.. the small bit of them that was in the jar butted the sides of the jar.

"They can't make words in jar." Mourn explained. "Don't worry bugs, I keep you safe."

The bugs tapped a few more times.
Kay paused.

[Is that morse?] He asked.

Mourn shrugged. "No hear." He lifted the jar up to his face. "You doing morse bugs?"

Swarm paused, gathering in the middle of the jar to bob up and down once.

[He finally managed to put someone in a jar. He must be delighted.] Kay wrote so only Ellie and Asher could see.