Upon Vestia: Chapter Sixteen

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"All those aliens, always hyping up how great they are, and it always turns out to be a lie," James said sagely. "I'm not like that though, I mean I've been known to punch minotaurs. I'd be a proper villain, I wouldn't lose."
He watched as the guy went back into the train, "Ooooh nooooo. They so should not have done that. It is ON!"

Luka nodded slowly. "yeah, food and tea helped a lot." She finished the cup. "i've had far worse. One time we were on shore leave and Eckhard got challenged to this stupid drinking contest, of course, I couldn't just leave him to go it alone so I got involved and... everything from the 9th shot is a bit of a blur. That was a bit of a mess." She laughed fondly at the memory.

---

[I swear someone sneaks in here at night and rearranges these things.] He pointed to the shelves and went back to his seat.

"Oh man, that sounds rough," James laughed. "Did you win?"

~~
"I wouldn't be surprised if someone was doing just that," Asher said. He brushed a piece of dust off a box. "There are a few people who seem like the type."

"i don't remember." Luka admitted. "None of us could, so we just declared it a draw."

---

[Perhaps we should set 1812 to guard the lab overnight. Then again, it gives us something to do doesn't it?] Kay shrugged. Much as a quiet morning was nice, it was also kind of boring.

"That's even better," James said. "Was there supposed to be some reward for winning, or was the drinking the point?"

~~
"Maybe we should just let whoever it is do their thing," Asher said, amused. "Nothing seems to be missing that can't be accounted for by simple math, so it doesn't seem to be a huge problem. And the first aid supplies seem to not be tampered with much."
He wandered over to the desk and sat in an office chair, and started checking over the inventory list to be sure it was up to date.

Luka chuckled. "I think just ego. Usually is with pilots." She grinned.
"Especially the guys, always gotta show off you know? Bunch of idiots."

---

[well as long as they don't start stealing pens it's probably alright.] Kay agreed. [Can't have them taking your hobby from you.]

"You pilots sound nutty," James said. "Not you as much as the others but still, you're all nutty." He nodded.

~~
"Heaven forbid," Asher said. He updated the painkiller inventory with what James had taken, and casually reached over to take a pen from the jar. "That would be horrific."

Luka smiled. "You should meet the drop pilots, those guys are properly crazy. First into battle, probably not coming out."

---

[I don't know how you'd cope, no pens to feed your pen addiction? Tragedy.] Kay teased.

"Oh cool, mildly suicidal maniacs," James said. "You always make them sound really, uh, interesting?"

~~
"I'd be lost. These things are important to me," Asher joked. He smiled at Kay. This pen thing still amused him very much.

"Totally suicidal, or just adrenaline junkies. They're the ones who drop the first attack squads, they gotta come down hard to avoid anti aircraft fire. Takes a lot of skill and reflexes like crazy not to just crash but they do it. Some even live to tell the tale. But they're all lunatics. Think they're immortal or something. " She rolled her eyes. "Never ever challenge one to a drinking contest, that ends badly." She laughed.

---
[maybe we should keep spare, just in case. Can't have you going cold turkey because someone took the pens. I dread to think what android pen withdrawl symptoms look like.] He smiled back.

"Yep, they sound insane. I think I'll stay well away from them," James said.

~~
Asher laughed quietly at that idea. "Oh yes, android withdrawal symptoms are terrible. So much trembling and dizziness, it's unbelievable. I need these pens for my own well-being." He took another for emphasis.

Kay looked amused and picked up the books James had left on the desk. Oh right, the ones he'd lent Luka. He put them away in a drawer, he'd take them back to his room later. [Can you even get dizzy?] He asked.

---

"probably wise." Luka agreed.

"Sure," Asher said with a grin. "If we power on, and then try to stand up too fast, we can't get our balance right away and sometimes fall over. It's best to wait a few seconds so the stabilizing sensors can calibrate. And sometimes being shaken a lot can mess them up too." He nodded sagely. "I doubt we experience the sensation of dizziness, but the result is the same."

Kay tilted his head, made sense. [That sounds extremely awkward. Still, probably better than momentarily blacking out because you stood up too fast. That's just flat out embarrassing. ]

"Definitely better than that," Asher agreed. "Well, I assume it is. That sounds thoroughly inconvenient." He smiled, "It's so funny how different the world is for organic beings, and for mechanical ones."

Kay nodded. [Even within organic beings there's a great deal of variation. Just look at the biology of some of our crew mates. I can fully understand how some can devote their entire lives to xenobiology, it needs a lifetime to even begin to scratch the surface.]

"Very true. Matt mentioned that he saw through Thalia's eyes once, and how strange it was," Asher said. "Even among species who might seem biologically roughly similar, they aren't at all the same." He looked amused, "Not to mention people like Swarm, or like Vestia."

Kay nodded. [It's curious to me how cross fertile so many of these vastly different races are as well. I mean shape changes I can understand, but by all I know of biology, Matt and his siblings simply should not be. ] He shook his head. [He seems to find his status as quirk of nature something to be proud of. ] He smiled softly. [Though it never was totally easy for the three of them. Hybrids always have so many things to deal with, not least their own body not being totally sure what it's supposed to be." He was a great example of that himself now wasn't he? [Being inorganic I think is significantly simpler in many ways.]

"It's really very peculiar," Asher agreed. "The idea that so many species could independently develop reasonably compatible DNA is ridiculously improbable. Perhaps Creators had some part in it for some species, but others certainly evolved naturally, and yet they can still reproduce." He shook his head, it was impressive. He smiled at Kay, "I can't imagine how confusing it must be. For me, nothing ever changed except for my mind. For you or Matt or Shane, everything changed. It must be completely disorienting."

Kay nodded. [At least, as i've said before, i've always had my abilities and not just woken up one day able to do magic. I can't even begin to imagine how disconcerting that would be. Well, I remember how chaotic it was with the twins and their elementals but it's not quite the same as being the one who gets angry and bursts into flame or starts freezing anything they touch. We really weren't prepared for that, weirdly enough our older sister never exhibited any sort of paranormal ability. All she got out of the deal was a huge list of food intolerances and horns.] Poor Jess, she'd hated her father's side so much. Kay could sort of understand, she wanted to fit in, and was that really so much to ask?

Asher nodded. "You weren't taken by surprise at least, but you still have to deal with all the confusion of being from two species." He chuckled, "Even the more normal stuff, like unexpected growth spurts, is a level of chaotic I have trouble imagining. I can't imagine how children don't crash into walls more often than they do."

~~
Orel headed back to Vestia, walking shyly up to the huge ship. Yikes, this was intense.

Vestia looked down at him from a camera, "Are you here to see Skye?"

"Yes please," Orel said.

Vestia alerted Skye.

Kay looked amused. [I suppose our brains are just designed to deal with it. I'm not really sure. Now puberty, THAT is a mess. ] He shook his head.

"I'm eternally glad to have missed that," Asher said, smiling. "It sounds like a thoroughly confusing and largely unpleasant few years. Everyone seems to look back on it and say, 'well thank goodness that's over'." He kidnapped another pen, and tried to set the three pens he had so far so that they propped each other up. They promptly fell down.

Kay nodded [Very much so. It's something you want over and done with as quickly as possible I assure you. ] He watched Asher fiddle with the pens in bemusement.

Skye smiled and went to the ramp, glad to see Oel there "Hello again" She said happily

"Oh, I can imagine. Thank goodness it's not usually permanent." Asher took a couple more pens, trying to stabilize the structure. Nope, it wasn't happening. He sighed and piled them like logs instead.

~~
Orel looked up at the sound of Skye's voice and smiled; he had been looking at the nearby ships while he waited. "Hello Skye, ready to go flying, or do you want me to see your family first?"

"I would like you to meet my sister first" Skye answered and smiled, dipping her head a little "If you want to"

[Should I go find you some dominoes?] Kay suggested. [Or sticky tac.] He smirked, hey, when in doubt, cheat. [Thankfully no, not permanent. But full of angst and annoyance and terrible hygiene. Not to mention the added fun of working out you weren't really very interested in girls... at all.] Ahh now hadn't that been fun? well, to be fair he'd had rather more important things to worry about at the time and living in the middle of nowhere it wasn't like he got to meet girls.. or guys.. or anyone really. But still.