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..."

"Oh yes, watching those people trying to pretend they were already broken, and him not being fooled in the slightest, I was always glad my mind was unreadable," Ethan shook his head, "Not that that protected me much, but there were a few times it helped."
"And my double falls for his egotistical antics. What an idiot," Ethan said dryly.

Esk snorted. "He clearly has absolutely awful taste in partners."

"Sheltered upbringing or something, no doubt. He didn't even argue about stabbing his own hand," Ethan said. "Selfish guy and... whatever my double is. It sort of works."

"gross." Esk made a face. "I assume if the cat's determined to own you, you're gonna come back with us huh? What's your plan? First shuttle outta there, or do we need another janitor?"

"Mourn suggested I become a pirate. Sounds good to me, supposedly there's decent money in it." Ethan snorted, "I have no desire to become a janitor."

"oh good, you'd put my other brother out of a job and he's really not qualified for anything except cleaning drains and mopping floors." He snickered. "piracy huh? I guess. You get to kill people, take their stuff.. yeah... Never let anyone tell you crime doesn't pay. I have an excellent arsenal that claims otherwise."

Ethan nodded. "Money and power. Hard to say no to that."

"well, only power if you rise through the ranks to captain. But you know.. reach for your dreams man. Whatever." He took his pencil and started to doodle in the margins of his sketchy map. "I wonder if they'll let you leave."

"I always got my illusion of power by terrorizing the prisoners a bit," Ethan said, "I'm sure you can get that feeling as a pirate, even a low ranking one."
"Who, the crew from the other universe?"

Esk nodded. "I dunno, some shit about the laws and not making it known they could be removed. They're a moralistic bunch, surprisingly given most of them are criminals. Go figure. I dunno, I honestly sort of switch off when they start having one of their debates. It's boring. Unless someone punches someone, then it's hilarious. James tried to deck the minotaur earlier, it was great. I mean she kicked his ass but it was damn funny. " He shook his head. "Anyway.. what? I lost my train of thought... "

Ethan blinked. "The minotaur and James got in a fight? But he's just an android, androids can't even dent minotaurs. That's a terrible idea." He added, "And they're criminals? They look so soft and pathetic."

"Terrible idea, but damn funny. He's a hysterical guy James, surprisingly emotional for a robot but.. you guys are weird. "He waved a hand. "Yeah, criminals. At least two of my crew have bounties on their heads, war crimes, assassination, murder.. you know, all the fun stuff. As for them? well, they have a HUGE bounty on em. Of course it's from a lunatic terrorist cell who think themselves gods but, man, a bunch of regular people don't piss off terrorists and get a huge price put on their heads. That just doesn't happen. It's said you can measure a man on the quality of his enemies, and these guys have some class A enemies. They also have a bunch of kids on board. Who the fuck pisses off terrorists with kids on board? It's crazy. I don't trust em, and two of them are my brothers."

"They brought kids? Why would they bring kids if they're criminals?" Ethan frowned. "Oh, it's probably to make themselves look more legit. Nice thinking."

"I don't think they belong to any of them, they just picked em up along the way like strays. That's a good description really, a whole ship full of strays. " He shook his head. "It's messed up. The only reason we're even here is because they picked up another one, brought him on board and James pissed him off. Though that was pretty amusing too. " Esk shook his head. "Funny guy James. A complete idiot, but amusing all the same." He didn't sound amused. "Still this trip hasn't been a complete loss. I got to shoot my brother and his evil twin, which was pretty satisfying... got to watch someone's life essence wrenched from their body and found out that silver really really hurts werewolves. Which is good to know. "

"That sounds stupid, but not criminal," Ethan said. He gave Esk a strange look, "Wait, so how many enemies does James have? I mean, other than him kicking me a lot, he didn't seem so bad."

Esk actually chuckled softly at that. It sounded unnatural. "He has a knack for annoying people. He's not nearly important enough for enemies though, sheesh. He's just a janitor. " Yeah and a medic but he was ignoring that for now, it made James seem way too important and productive which he so wasn't. "You should fit in just fine." He smirked oddly. "if you're lucky you can even help us throw the latest stray overboard. Now that'll be fun i'm sure. "

"Throw a stray off, and also pick up a new one: me. Haven't you guys considered not picking up everyone you see?" Not that Ethan wanted to be left here in this universe, but the other Vestia's crew did seem like slow learners.

Esk snickered. "It'd seem a wiser plan right? Maybe they will now, who knows. They're idiots. Too soft hearted for their own damn good."

Inari tapped the back of her hand in thought, "Well, the Creators could help, actually." She sighed, "Not only can they purge the body of memories, but completely destroy them, so they don't clutter." She looked at them, frowning. "It worries me that you are considered an enemy to a few of them. Those creatures are powerful enough to completely wipe away your existence. Not just kill you -- they can destroy the very memory of you. Erase you from time completely. Cease to exist. Your loved ones would not remember you, you'd not be a past experience. You were there, and then you were not, nor ever were. Burn your soul away into nothing, not even arcana." She shook her head, actually looking a bit scared. "They are terrifying creatures..."

~~~~~~

"Now that's a bit insulting. I feel insulted."

Shock spoke as he and Merith walked in on Ethan and Esk, casually passing a hacky sack between each of, bouncing it with their legs and feet.

"I don't think they really care if you feel insulted."

"They probably don't. And yet, no one ever truly does." Shock grinned, then laughed, looking between the two nihilists. "Hey, Esk, gonna follow in your brother's footsteps?" He winked and suggestively motioned to Ethan, before promptly being bashed over the head with a hard-thrown hacky sack. "Don't antagonize them." Merith chastised dully. Shock only laughed more.

"Ah, yes, what Heny's creator did to reset her and fix what her counterpart messed up." Starr said softly, looking down in thought before speaking up for the others to hear. "Some of them are good and friendly to us. We have only met two of these creator beings."

Asher winced. Creators were so powerful, they could just wipe every trace of someone away? As if they hadn't already been terrifying enough.

~~
Ethan glanced at Shock. "You're another stray? Figures." His eyes narrowed, "I'm not my double. I've had more than enough of that family--Hell, anyone--touching me for one lifetime."
He almost involuntarily stepped away from Esk, repulsed by Shock's words.

Esk made a face "That's just gross." He told Shock flatly. "I don't screw men, or robots. I'm not my brother."

---

[All the more reason to have them off the ship and away from us.] Kay frowned. [I assume there's no way to defend ourselves from them? We're just doomed? The one who sent us here is an enormous threat to any civilized life, he needs to leave. ] He shook his head, all powerful entities, fuck them. Just.. eugh.

"It is good to have them on your side." Inari nodded, glancing over at the tea being prepared. "They are perhaps the closest thing to gods we'll ever see. Being able to contain them makes no difference. The Terran Titan Kronos had been sealed away for all eternity. Did the Greeks doubt his power?"

~~~~~~

"Relax, I'm just teasing, ya' stiff." Shock rolled his eyes at Ethan. "How're ya' doing?"

Ethan glared. "There are some things you don't want to 'tease' people about if you want to have a civil conversation."
He nodded slightly at Esk. Good. He might end up liking this guy.

Esk shook his head at Shock, man, even he didn't joke about certain things.
"You actually want something?" He snipped.

---

[Don't care about their power, as long as it's not directed at the people I care about. That's why we have to get back, before that lunatic gets it into his head to hurt the people left behind. The last thing we needed was an unstable egomaniac with god-like power on board, but no, we have to go pick people up and try to help them don't we? ] Kay grit his teeth. [It was safer working in a damn war zone.]

"If you can't take dark humor, you're in for a rude awakening. You want to join us, yeah? You realize the people after us probably rival your Kaylr, or worse."

"Worse." Merith confided, looking away. "Much worse. and then they'll laugh in your face about it, like it's all one big joke." He suddenly snickered at Shock, "And you laughed along with them."

"Yeah, and it annoyed the shit out of them, too."

"you weren't laughing back there Merith." Esk told him flatly. "You didn't find any of it funny. So quit the false bravado bullshit, you're not fooling anyone. You wanna go back to that? Wonder how much worse he'd have done to you... I'm just glad we didn't have to watch any more of it, having to sit through him ramming his tongue down your throat was quite enough trauma for one lifetime." Esk smirked and tucked his paper away, folding his arms. "Does you idiot friend actually know what he did? I'm sure this guy could tell you really awful stories. You know about androids and their inability to say no to their masters right? Let that sink in for a minute, then go on, try to find it funny." He shrugged. "Much as i'd LOVE to sit and laugh it up, i've got things to do." He started to stalk off down the hall.