Through the Looking Glass: Chapter Four

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Kay pulled him further into the room, so they had a bit more privacy. He tucked the tablet away so he could use both his hands, snuggling into Asher and carefully resting one wing around him as well. Yes this was very wierd, but it was also really nice.

Shane grinned at her again "The perks of being a boy, you can have shaved hair and wear a wig if you have to for stuff like that." He said and chuckled

Ellie giggled. "I don't think my parents would have gone for getting me a wig, and I don't think my grandma would have liked seeing me with my hair shaved off. But man, that would have made getting the marshmallow off so much easier."

Shane nodded and smiled at her again before taking another drink from the bottle. "I am surprised they let you use marshmallows. Those things are so sticky."

"Well they didn't know cause I was at camp, and I guess the counselors didn't notice what I was doing until it was too late. My parents were SO annoyed," Ellie laughed.

Shane chuckled and shook his head, much easier since he was sitting. "It is nice to hear about good families that care about their kid, even when they have odd ideals." He said softly

"Yeah, they're good people. Totally nuts, but they mean well." Ellie smiled and trailed her fingers through Shane's hair, "I think they'd like you if they met you. I've been working on them, and I don't think they fear aliens like they used to."

Shane smiled, tilting his head a little towards her hand "Really? That would be nice to someday meet your family, without being attacked for not being human." He said and closed his eyes. Yeah, that did feel nice.

"Yeah." Ellie smiled softly, "I told them I was dating this awesome guy who was half human, and they were horrified at first, but now they're getting used to the idea. They're more freaked out that I'm on the same ship as a minotaur, but they're getting used to that too."

Shane laughed at that and looked at her again "Seriously? They are more freaked out by a minotaur?" He raised his empty hand to play lightly with her hair while they spoke.

"Well I didn't tell them you were a dragon, cause that seemed risky to say in email," Ellie said. "I think they assume you're part elf or something, which isn't as scary as a giant person with a cow's head." She sighed happily as he played with her hair. It was so nice to just sit here with Shane, and have both of them be pleasantly drunk.

"It's only scary when you don't know how to deal with them. Minotaurs are usually pretty honorable, you just have to understand the system they use. It is very different" Shane said distractedly as he played with her hair gently

"My parents just know that they're big and loud, and look like cows. And if you think of them that way, it's easy to see why someone might be scared by them. Same thing with vavare, like Armin. Gigantic spider people with breathing masks! They look pretty scary at first, but it turns out they're some of the most polite people you'll ever meet." Ellie leaned her head on Shane's shoulder, scooting closer to him. "It took me a while to learn it, but you can't judge a book by its cover. My parents are still learning that, but they'll get there."

Shane smiled and leaned over to give her a kiss for that "Yeah, I guess growing up with seeing other species gave me a different perspective on it all. I only worked with the boss, but I did get to see and learn about others."

"I can imagine. It seemed like there were a lot of species on Earth, not just the humans I expected," said Ellie. "Funny how Earth has become such a hub for interstellar travel."

"Well, humans are very interesting creations" Shane said and grinned at her before kissing her again

TIMESKIP - THE NEXT MORNING

Ellie probably totally fell asleep on top of Shane, because her cute drunk boyfriend was just too adorable to leave. When she woke up, she ran off to a nearby bathroom. She'd be back eventually.

~~
Ethan stayed in Starr's lab to avoid the guards, and shot scornful looks at any android who walked too close. God, they were so insufferably soft and mild mannered, he hated them.

~~
James was trying to pretend he was a good medic, and was taking inventory of their medical supplies. It was boring.

~~
Asher had done his best to talk Kay into sleeping in a bed the night before. Hopefully he succeeded.

~~
Tala went to eat breakfast. Probably the ship was going to run out of fresh salad soon, and they would have to eat soy cakes and vitamin tablets. Oops?

Shane woke when Ellie moved, starting to sit up and ask her if she was alright then groaning and laying back down quickly. Ok, not fun to have a hangover headache.

~
Rigel had joined in the drinking, but not as much as some did. He woke that morning and headed for breakfast.

~
Dawn had wandered the ship, finding a place to rest for a while before heading back to the lab again.

Kay would totally sleep in a bed but only if it was faaaar away from everyone else. He wasn't prepared to be social. He'd probably fall asleep on Asher, head on his chest, soothed to deep sleep by the soft sound of whirring hardware.

---

Matt would curl up in a corner with Thalia and woke up with that familiar splitting headache. Argh. Well no sense moaning, he brought this on himself. He pulled a pillow over his head and tried to sleep it off.

---

Esk would eventually wake up feeling nauseous, try to get up, to find his head hurt so much more than was reasonable and ended up grabbing for a bowl one of the androids hurried over with.

Eugh.. red wine... gross.

---

Mourn found everyone's hangovers hilarious. He seemed to get some sort of evil glee out of yelling "GOOD MORNING" and seeing the grimaces of pain and misery. Bahahaha, stupid humanoids.
He'd prance off to go do other things because people puking was gross.

---

Armin remained with the not prisoners as long as he could, then left them to go sleep in his little bubble of high oxygen in the lab. He was still sleeping in his web hammock, all peaceful.

---

Luka went to get breakfast. She wasn't hungover, because she knew her limits. Unlike this morons. Hah. She had little sympathy. She did however toss some pain meds at Esk as she walked passed.

Esk managed a vague mumble that might have been thanks, but probably wasn't, before he went back to heaving his guts up.

Ew.

She left these idiots and headed to the mess hall.

--

Stellan headed to the mess hall for breakfast.

---

Ellie would eventually stumble back, looking slightly better. She brought Shanesome painkillers and water that she had gotten from one of the androids. Man, these androids were so convenient.

~~
Asher didn't mind being used as a pillow, just as long as Kay was sleeping in a bed instead of getting neck cramps while slumped against the wall. This was definitely an improvement.
He was happy to wait until Kay woke up, half conscious because he was in power saving mode.

~~
"Greetings, one who smells of life!" Tala called to Stellan as he came in.

Rigel waved to those he knew as he came in to get breakfast "Morning" He said then went to get his plate.

~~
Shane peeked at Ellie and took the pills with the water then held his arms out to her "Wanna go back to asleep, let the pain fade?" He asked quietly, glad they were in a private room

"Yeah, sounds like a good plan," Ellie said. Her head hurt quite a bit, and now that all hangover-related emergencies were handled, sleep sounded pretty good. She curled up next to Shane again. "If you need to use the bathroom though, you totally should," she told him quietly, "It's a good idea."

Shane frowned and looked at her then sighed and got up carefully to go to the bathroom before coming to crawl back on the couch or whatever they were sleeping on

Kay was pretty fast asleep, so poor Asher was probably trapped. Oops? He hadn't actually properly slept or eaten or anything in days, he was honestly pretty bad at taking care of himself when he was so stressed out. All the chaos of the past few days meant he'd crashed hard.

---

Stellan tilted his head at Tala, shrugged and grabbed some food, coming over to sit with her.

"Good morning. " He told her, nodding. He was bemused by her, so she could tell them apart by smell? interesting.

Luka grabbed a plate and sat down with her crew. "So not everyone's feeling like shit this morning then?" She smiled.

"What'd they do?" Stellan asked curiously.

"You're the other him aren't you?" Luka eyed him suspiciously.

Stellan nodded. "I.. it's quite easy to tell the difference." he told her casually. "He's almost always looking pissed off." He smiled good naturedly and sprinkled some salt onto his eggs.

Luka laughed. "That's so true. " She kept watching him. "It's weird how different you look without that sort of... scowl."

Stellan shrugged and ate.

"They all got drunk, so now they're hungover and feeling terrible. " She chuckled and started her own breakfast. "I'm glad I know my limits."

Ellie snuggled up against Shane and promptly went back to sleep.

~~
Tala snorted happily and munched on some lettuce. "We are fortunate to be of good common sense and strong constitution," she declared. "Greetings, Rigel, how goes your morning?"

Shane went back to sleep also, snuggled up with Ellie happily

~~
Rigel came and sat with Tala and Stellan "I am well, thank you" He said with a smile, glad that they were up and not feeling sick either.

Stellan nodded. "never try to outdrink a minotaur."
He glanced around. Yeah he still found it strange to be free. Being able to actually eat in the mess with the rest of the crew, interact with other people on his terms. It was so strange. Nice, but strange.

"Good morning Rigel." Luka nodded to him, looking slightly awkward. "You were sensible too I see." She smiled.

Tala happily continued to eat. "You are wise, young one. Much like your duplicate, Esk." She gave Luka am amused look. The girl always behaved a bit oddly around Rigel, and it was funny.