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!"

Skye chuckled and nodded "Yeah, let's head out' She said then waved to Moone and the chicks before turning to the door.

"I dunno, any Satare out here are going to be here because they're traitors right? Not sure I want to meet them." Luka sighed but walked with James outside.

---

Matt laughed. "I'll bet. Star Dragons are pretty weirdly adorable even as adults. They're so small." He let her pull him along.

---

Kay smiled to Asher. [So just a little irresponsible then?] He teased, and stood up. [Alright, if we're needed Vestia will call us anyway. ]

---

Swarm bobbed up and down in a nod to Tala.

---

Esk got up and let the other half of Swarm lead him to Tala.
He looked bored.

"So the insects are freaking out about something." He told her.

Orel followed Skye out of the room, heading down the hall. Yay, flying time!
Act normal, act normal, act normal.

~~
Asher chuckled. "Just a bit irresponsible." He lead the way into the hall.

~~
"Maybe, I dunno," James said.
(To the asteroid thread!)

~~
"Yeah, I really don't know how they can be that cute. The grown ups are adorable, and the babies are even cuter!" Ellie held up her hands, showing how small the babies were. "They're soooo tiny!"

~~
Tala nodded. "The maniacal fox says that if Inari dies, her followers who are refugees here will go insane," she said matter-of-factly. "This will not bode well for the other refugees here, or for us if we stay."

Skye smiled and led the way to the ramp again, glad to have the day to herself with him for now.

"Babies are usually cuter than the grown ups though, so like.. cute adults means insanely adorable babies right?" Matt reasoned. Okay, talking about babies was a bit uncomfortable. He shook his head and changed the subject. "so, crystal or glass dragon figurines huh?"

---
"Third says they will be full of blood lust." Swarm added helpfully.

Esk paused, then a sly smirk crossed his face. "that... is brilliant."

"what?" Swarm looked horrified.

"No, think about it. This is the Guild of Scribes, a place full of the few people in the universe who can actually stand in the Family's way. You're the Family and this place is like a massively guarded fortress and you want in. So... you force some refugees in effectively with bombs strapped to them. And the guild will welcome them in with open arms because they're sentimental and generous like that. Now you just wait till the time is right to detonate the bombs. The chaos will make the best distraction you could hope for, giving you a chance to storm the walls. It's brilliant!" Esk clapped his hands together. "And the guild are so damn sure of themselves and how wonderful and great they are, they won't even think about it. Won't even consider they've let a living weapon walk straight through their defenses. " He started to laugh. It wasn't a pleasant laugh.

Swarm buzzed uncomfortably.

"They need to be contained." Esk's expression hardened. " They have anti magic cells here right? Stick em all in some cells. If they won't do that, well, Vestia, hope you're ready to take off at the first sign of trouble. We might need to get out of here fast once the shit hits the fan."

"Yeah! Cute adults mean cute babies. This explains why Terran babies aren't very cute..." Ellie mused. "Let's go get those dragons then."

~~
"I'll be ready," Vestia said grimly. "We're not staying if they don't care, I don't care how helpful my crew want to be, this isn't something to mess around with."

Tala hadn't gotten quite that far on her own reasoning chain on her own, she stared at Esk, eyes wide. "We must not delay then. Come, let us find an Inquisitor and warn them."

~~
Orel dawdled a bit, oddly, He was impressed by this big ship.

Skye slowed and looked to him then chuckled "Want a tour before we go?" She asked, teasing a little though she would be fine with that.

Matt laughed. "Terrans can be kinda cute though... depends on the terran." He looked around. "where do you think sells figurines?"

---

Esk nodded. He actually kinda.. almost liked Tala, she was sensible and he appreciated that. He glanced up at Vestia and nodded. Good, the ship had sense too.
He followed Tala and Swarm went with them, fretting and worried.

---

Kay smiled. [Sometimes Asher, you're almost a good influence on me. ] He told him.

Skye saw Asher and Kay and waved at them "Hello, this is Orel, Orel, meet Asher and Kay, two of our medics"

"I admit I am curious to see more of this cruise ship. I've never seen a ship as big as her before," Orel said. He was also shy about actually flying with Skye. Ahem.

~~
"Hmm, I bet there are gift shops somewhere," Ellie said. "They have everything else, after all, right?"
(To the Capitol!)

~~
Tala lead the way into the city. They were going to do everything in their power to stop the Family from succeeding in this plan, but if they couldn't, they were going to run. This was good and sensible.
(Also to the capitol!)

~~
Asher smiled back. "I'm blushing right now. You just can't see it," he said jokingly. He saw Skye and Orel. "Oh, hello."

Orel smiled in greeting. "Hello, medics."

Kay nodded to Orel and looked to Skye questioningly. [Another Artruvan?] What were the odds?

Skye nodded and smiled at Kay "Yeah, he and his family have been here for five years." She said

Orel nodded. "We're refugees, like most of the non-Anamcara here. Met Skye yesterday at a science fair, and she invited me to visit this ship."

Kay nodded and smiled softly. [Are you also immune to magic?] He asked curiously.

"Yes, I'm immune," Orel said. "I've heard some of us aren't, but I've never met anyone like that." He shrugged, "Being immune is a plus here."

Asher listened quietly, smiling a bit. Was he jumping to conclusions if he thought Skye had a boyfriend now? He wasn't sure.

"It is?" Skye asked, looking to Orel again and tilting her head curiously. It certainly was not a plus in the getting around part.

[How do you find it here with all the portals?] He thought of Skye and how unwell being around them seemed to make her. Magic immunity was extremely useful sure, but not without some problems in a society so over reliant on it.

Orel smiled. "At least none of the undisciplined young anamcara can go poking in your mind for laughs, or create magic tripwires in front of you," he said. "You avoid the portals when you can, and when you can't, you get used to feeling nauseous for a bit. Being able to fly helps a lot."

Kay nodded, eugh, flying. Nope.
[is mind poking a common occurrence then?] Well that was unnerving. Had nobody bothered to teach those kids how intrusive and violating such a thing was?

Skye blinked at that and frowned "That isn't very nice of them to try that on purpose. "

"Not very common, most anamcara are polite enough to keep their magic to themselves. But occasionally it happens, usually when they're freshly brought in and still coming to terms with the obscene amounts of power they suddenly have, and the fact that they're permanently merged with another person," Orel explained. "It's usually disciplined pretty promptly, of course."

Skye nodded though she didn't like the thought that anyone was making 'magic tripwires' even as a joke, especially as a joke.

"Technically they could, but they learn at a very young age to not to, not to mention all of us remember etiquette from our previous lives as well. I'd imagine many anamcara found a bit of morality within their own cultures." Vanessa wandered in, "Just a thought before I leave you be. Have any of you seen a butterfly with mirror like wings fluttering around?"

[Good. Probing another person's mind is extremely intimate. I fear there are too many who don't quite comprehend that.] Kay looked grim and stern for a moment, then shook his head and glanced to Vanessa, pulling his tablet closer to himself. He shook his head at her question.

Asher smiled slightly at Vanessa. The expression looked just a tiny bit forced. "No we haven't. Why?" He thought that Third immaterializing Ellie had been a prime example of anamcara bullying, but he kept that to himself.

Orel eyed the newcomer uncertainly.

Skye looked over to Vanessa also. "No, but you could ask Vestia, she can see more than we can." She said then looked to the camera before remembering to introduce Orel and Vanessa. "This is Vanessa, Vanessa, this is Orel."

Vanessa bowed slightly to Orel. "Well, I only recently received word of it. Unfortunately a new Caretaker seemed to have... misplaced it, much to the elder anmacara's frustrations. Mind you, as pretty as their kin are they can be quite dangerous if mishandled. If you do happen to see it, try not to glance directly into your reflection. It tends to have some unsavory effects. Many of us, volunteers and Caretakers are looking for it."