Through the Looking Glass: Chapter Three

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"I don't think either of us have eaten in a while." Prime Sara said, looking at Mirror Sara, who stood. "I-I can go get food..."

Ethan shrugged. "Of course, androids do as they wish when they don't have orders, anyway. They don't need to be told to do so..." he frowned, realizing that probably wasn't what Mourn meant, "You're talking about ignoring the Second Law, aren't you?"
He considered Mourn's words. "Well thank you. I think. This certainly has... possibilities."

~~
Asher smiled softly and sat down on an old, overturned crate. "You have every right to feel that way. Come on, let's just sit together. We don't have to talk if you don't feel like it."

Mourn nodded, grinning "No like laws, they stupid. If can ignore, you should ignore yes? And as soon as can, will get them out of code. Think you like our Vestia... she very different to this one. She cruise ship, lots of facilities. We even got holodeck now!"

---

Kay nodded, joining Asher and resting his head on his shoulder. [I hate this place.]

Ethan nodded. "I look forward to seeing this other Vestia. It's been a long time since I was on a ship that wasn't dirty and just built to house slaves."

~~
Asher nodded in agreement. "This place is doing nothing good for our mental well being, I'm sure." He pulled Kay closer. "I know it'll be a long time before things are anything like they were, but I think getting back to our Vestia will be a good start, at least."

[Once we get back, we have that creator to worry about. The other one seems utterly unable or unwilling to oppose him. Starr brought those chains in, perhaps she can reconstruct them and we can hurl him out the airlock and leave, quickly.] Kay frowned.

---

Mourn nodded. "You like, she good ship. Smart, brave."

"I think Starr and the other magic users can figure that one out," Asher said quietly. "It's not a problem we have to deal with ourselves." He gently reached up to brush back a strand of Kay's hair, watching him worriedly.

~~
"Are you and the ship an item?" Ethan asked, amused.

Kay's expression softened slightly, leaning into the touch. He looked exhausted and upset and angry. [Merith must not deal with anything when we get back. He can't. Did you see what happened when he killed this universe's Heny?]

---

Mourn made a face. "Can't have relationship with ship! That be... mechanically impossible" He laughed. "And gross. " he shook his head.

"Starr, Vanessa, Shane, Quinn, and the more friendly Creator, then," Asher said, keeping his voice quiet and steady. "Even without Merith, that's a lot of magical ability. They're strong, and they're competent. They can handle this."

~~
Ethan snorted. "Fair enough. You're an interesting guy though, and sometimes it's hard to tell what weird things people like."

Shane entered the dining hall with Ellie at his side, looking around before going to get some food so they could eat properly.

Mourn waved a hand. "Yuck." He made another face.

---

Kay didn't look convinced. [I just want him off the ship. I don't care how. I want all the creators gone. Let the family kill them all, they deserve to die.] His jaw set, for a moment there was a gleam of violence in his eyes.

Ellie looked at the food, concluding that their Vestia was much better stocked. She got some lasagna that didn't look too gross, and looked around for a place to sit. "It's like being in school again! Look, those guys are totally the ones who use steroids!"

~~
Asher looked away, a bit unnerved by Kay's anger. Usually he was so calm and sensible, but the last 24 hours had really gotten to him, and it showed way too clearly at moments like this. "Please, do we really have to discuss this now?"

Matt waved to Ellie and Shane and brought his plate over.

"Hey." he sounded tired.

---

Kay closed his eyes, shaking his head. No, they didn't.

Shane got what he figured was at least edible and glanced over to the ones Ellie was talking about before nodding "Yeah, we are not going to start any fights or anything. Want to wit in here or find a place that could be more peaceful?"

Asher sighed and looked at Kay again. Nope, he couldn't think of anything to say. Sometimes talking just made things worse, he knew that. Better to just shut up and hope his presence was comforting enough to make up for the silence.

~~
"Gotta have the cafeteria experience," Ellie said, sitting down at a random table. "Hey Matt! You okay?"

Matt shrugged "Yeah, i'm okay. Kay isn't, but i'm okay." He shook his head. "You guys are doing your whole.. couple thing right?" He smiled at Shane. "I'll leave you to it, but ellie, when they head off on their hero mission, you and me? we're totally finding booze. I don't care how long we have to search, there's gotta be booze somewhere on this ship right? "

---

Kay cuddled into him, eyes closed, trying to just clear his head and enjoy Asher's company and warmth. He couldn't stop thinking This might be the last few hours you have together, this could be it. and it hurt, it hurt so much.

"You can sit with us Matt, I don't mind really" Shane said as he took a seat beside Ellie. "And you can ask my mirror for booze, I'm pretty sure they have some somewhere. Gotta finish teaching him video games too." He added with a smile.

Matt sat back down with a shrug. "Hey at least your mirror doesn't seem to be a complete asshole. Yay Shane! and yay video games!" He shook his head. "They're all totally scared of Kay, you should have seen them when we came in here. I think it's screwing with his head pretty badly."

"Awwww," Ellie looked sad. "Poor Kay. He's so messed up now, it totally sucks."

Matt shrugged. "He's always been messed up. He's just usually better at hiding it. " He sighed. "He'll recover. We all will right? We'll get home, we'll throw these guys" He indicated shane "a big hero party and everything will be fine. For a while anyway. " yeah there was still the trial... eugh. "What do you think this universe's Inari's like anyway?"

"Well Asher said she's supposedly a reasonable lady, but I dunno," Ellie said. "Maybe she kills fewer children here." She nodded, "Yeah, we'll make it through this. It'll be crazy, but we're used to crazy, right? Even Kay will get better, because he totally has to. I need him to help me with the herb garden!"

"Oh man yeah! you're gonna be the best herb gardener ever now! With your super powers and all that." Matt pulled ellie into a brief sideways hug. "Well if our universes' Inari is a child murdering petty bitch, maybe this one's super nice? I dunno how it works. It's confusing. Some people are evil, some people are cool. I don't get it."

"Yeah, it's weird. Like my double is this crazy bitch who never breaks eye contact and likes to tell you're you're gonna burn in hell, and I'm totally normal, but neither of us is super evil. How the heck does the universe decide who gets an evil twin?" Ellie shrugged and shoveled lasagna into her mouth. "This isn't bad," she said between chews.

Shane was quiet, listening to both of them and eating as he thought about what they were saying "I think it's mostly just the way they were raised here, but there is more a tendency towards evil or just neutrality that we don't see in our universe."

"That's what I don't get. Like.. is it just us? Does it depend on who we are as people? Nobody seems to know. It's creepy is what it is. I mean, my double's a dick and a slaver, but I guess he's not you know.. that dangerously insane. Just a dick. So Shane, what's your double really like?"

Shane shrugged a little "He's basically brainwashed to follow any order from his princess, no matter what. Other than that he seems pretty normal."

"Well that's something. " Matt shrugged. "I wonder about the people who aren't here. You know, is mirror Armin like.. really rude and nasty? Can you imagine that?" He snorted. "What are the Vavare like you think? Shit.. what's my twin brother like? Or my sister! I mean, we saw psycho Kay, and my asshole evil twin but... yeesh. "

Shane shook his head and shrugged "From what I have heard, the Vavare are no where near as nice as ours. Running casinos or something like that."

"Hey casinos isn't that bad. They could be slavers right?" Matt shrugged. "Listen, i'm gonna let you guys like.. have some alone time okay? Be cute, be couply. Ellie, you kiss the shit outta him okay? And tell him if he doesn't come back, we're gonna come find him and kick his ass." He looked to shane "we will, even if you're dead, we'll kick your corpses ass okay?" He smiled. "I'm gonna go see if anyone needs a hand with anything, keep myself busy.. maybe i'll find a mop and see about cleaning up this place because damn man... the grime is getting to me." He stood up.