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!"

"Oh, you know, the usual," Vestia said vaguely, "'God, your paint color is so last summer', 'Did you try basking in the sun when you visited Omicron Perseii 8?', 'You're really six hundred? You don't look a day over three hundred!'" The ship might be exaggerating, it wasn't especially easy to tell.

Dawn chuckled, enjoying the banter even if it was fake.

"We're a very vapid bunch," Vestia joked. "Something about being huge and shiny and made of metal makes you vain."

Dawn laughed again, nodding. "Well, we do all try to 'sparkle', don't we?"

"I guess we do," Vestia agreed. "Who doesn't like being pretty?" She laughed, "I saw a bright pink scoutship once while I was at a spaceport. Bright pink. With sparkles. I couldn't even laugh, I was just impressed."

Dawn chuckled and nodded. "That would be a sight." She agreed

"Man, you have no idea. The way some of those ships decorate themselves, it's great." Vestia looked at Dawn, camera tilting curiously, "Have you met any other smartships?"

"No, just you." Dawn answered

"Sometime you should meet some others. They're good people. Mostly. A bit odd sometimes, but you know," Vestia turned her lights a cheerful yellow hue.

Dawn smiled at that and nodded. "Yeah, sometime. It sounds nice."

Vestia tried to think of what to talk about. She usually just watched others talk, she didn't do it much herself. "How's being a medic going?" She asked.

Dawn looked away and shrugged. "There is a lot to learn, much more than I originally thought."

"I can imagine. Seems like you're a fast learner though, I'm sure you'll do fine," Vestia said reassuringly. "Kay and Asher are trying to make you and James do more work, aren't they?" She snickered.

"Sometimes, you know we had one day with the medical Bay. Not sure they want us to have another though." Dawn giggled at that reminder

Vestia laughed. "I think they're starting to decide they like being lazy, you might find yourselves doing more work soon if you don't run away," she said.

Dawn smiled and shrugged again. "More work would be good, practice is always good."

"Good. You can make sure James gets over his squeamishness about blood," Vestia said.

Dawn smiled a little and nodded. "Yeah, that is odd to be scared of blood."

"You'd think he wouldn't be since, you know, it can't hurt him. But there you go." Vestia sounded amused. She lapsed into silence.

Dawn nodded then shrugged again. "Yeah, blood can't hurt him at all, even if it got on him. Anyway, maybe practice can help him with that too."

Skye and Rigel were each wandering the ship, both alone. Rigel stopped at an observation deck, looking out the windows at the city outside.
Skye went upstairs to the top floor and the ballroom there.

Esk was doodling on the observation deck, enjoying some peace and quiet. He glanced up as Rigel came in.

---

Swarm watched Skye curiously, wondering what she was up to. They liked this room, it had an excellent view.

--

Armin went for a walk to stretch his legs. He'd been working on Thalia's dress again and needed a break. His eyes were starting to ache from the intricate work.

James dropped of his books in his room and left again. It was way to early to plug in for the night, in his opinion. He might see Armin in the hall.

~~
Bianca was in the ventilation shaft near the observation deck. She found it fascinating how terrifying Esk was to her. He wasn't a threat, and yet his aura of death was incredibly strong.

Rigel paused when he saw Esk then waved "Hey, sorry, I was just wandering around."

~~~
Skye stretched her wings out, flying up to the ceiling and lightly touching it before flying around the room. This was a great room to practice flying in. She smiled when she noticed Swarm. "Hello Swarm." She said as she landed on a walkway.

Esk shrugged. "common hobby on this ship." He remarked flatly and set his sketchpad down, shut so nothing was visible.

---

Swarm gathered together into a small form, the rest of them were scattered elsewhere across the ship after all, but there were enough of them to spell out --hello-- --skye--

---

Armin bowed his head to James in greeting. "Good evening friend."

James smiled at Armin. "Hey man, we haven't talked in a while. How're you doing?"

"I am well. I spent the day with the Swarm exploring the city, it was most informative. You are well I hope?" Armin spoke lightly and cheerfully.