Upon Vestia: Chapter Eighteen

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(Starts on day six at the Guild of Scribes.)

"Oh, nice." Shane said and smiled "I like Astronomy and Astrophysics." Yeah, he was a dragon that could make and move stars, so those interested him

Matt shook his head. "A war's coming, there's no guarantee any of us are going to make it out alive." He looked down at his own feet. "What sort of future are we offering them. Trying isn't good enough Asher. If we lose, if.. if we die... " He shook his head. "our sister always resented our parents for dying and there's times where I... I agree with her. They left us to fend for ourselves, figure everything out alone and it wasn't fair. And now there's every chance we're going to do that all over again to a new generation, and fuck them up too. An unending cycle of misery and hurt."

---

Hewitt looked pleased at Shane's approval, he ignored Ellie. "And what do you know of either?" He challenged.

Danika tilted her head a little as she looked back to him again. play? Draw?

~~~
Skye frowned a little then glanced to the chicks again before going over to the computer to bring up information on genders. "I'm not sure how to define it any different, but computers and books should be available."

~~~
Shane smiled at Hewitt then shrugged "You could say it's something I was born to do. I'm a Star Dragon, so knowing the stars and what makes them and how they work together out there is something we have to learn so we don't mess anything up." He chuckled softly "And being one of the engineers on Vestia doesn't hurt, even if there isn't much call for that."

Asher sighed. "It's not ideal, I know that. Believe me, the thought of them growing up as orphans, slaves, who knows what, it's just as frightening to me as it is to you. We know the sort of horrors they might face, we've seen them happen." He looked pained. Matt had seen Thalia be tortured until he died again and again at the hands of the Family, Asher had grown up watching his family struggle through a life of slavery. They'd seen the sort of awfulness this universe could offer up, and it was certainly nothing a child should have to experience.
"We can't guarantee their safety, we don't have that power," Asher said quietly. "We can fight for them, we can try to teach them to be brave and smart, we can give them a loving home for as long as we're able. You're right, it's not enough, but it's the best we can offer, and it's better than nothing at all."

Hewitt stared at Shane. Star Dragons? Oh he'd heard of those. "Aren't all star dragons controlled by one of the empires?" He asked. He didn't look like he was overly impressed.

---

Matt shook his head. "I hate it. " He admitted, spitting the words. "I'm tired of having to look over my shoulder for the next awful thing. If we can't guarantee them a decent life and at least a good chance of safety then why bring them here? Why bring them into this world? They don't deserve that." He closed his eyes. "Sometimes i wonder if we should have just stayed in the mirror universe, until this blew over, until here was okay again but if it's shit here, it's gotta be worse there. But sitting around, just twiddling our thumbs while we wait for the family to find us again, to come smash the walls of the guild down to conquer all those who are here for sanctuary. I can't do it. I hate feeling useless, but I can't fix this. I can't make everything better. I can't do anything... and we're all gonna die stupidly and pointlessly, just like my parents, just like Thalia's parents, and it'll all be for nothing." He hung his head in his hands.

---

Kay smiled to Danika, he wasn't really sure. He took out his tablet and scrolled through to see if he had anything appropriate. Oo an app that you just popped bubbles. He set the tablet on the table and tapped the screen to pop a few bubbles, it was pretty satisfying.

---

Amity scrolled through things and shook his head. "I think this is more information than I strictly need to know." He admitted. "But I am quite able to log preferences for what you wish to be referred to as. Will that suffice?"

Shane shook his head and smiled "No, not all, and we are going to get all the ones that are free again." Yeah, he was determined on that. He was going to free his kind

~~~
Danika chirped at the tablet, going over to watch it for a moment before looking at her paw then trying to touch one of the bubbles in there. She got excited, popping them as they came up happily.

~~~
"Need to know is variable, since pretty much everyone out here is used to gender roles and some get mad if you call a male a female or a female a male even accidentally. Pretty much everyone on this ship likes to use their first name, so calling them by that would work in most situations." Skye said then shrugged a little.

Hewitt made a hmmm sort of noise and shook his head. "Of course you will." He sounded patronizing.

---

Kay looked amused, letting Danika pop bubbles while he finished his coffee.

---

Amity nodded, listening intently. "Good to know. I shall do my best to adapt."

"I know," Asher agreed, "Feeling this helpless is awful, and there's so little we can do about it." He watched Matt sadly. "Starr has the memories of both herselves now. I haven't asked her much about why she chose to bring the eggs here, but she did, and I'm certain she had good reasons to do so." He certainly hoped she had, anyway. Starr was sensible and kind, she wouldn't have brought babies here just because they were convenient, right?
"You could escape," he suggested quietly. "Take some people to safety. It's not a solution for everyone, but there are some here who could probably go."

"And go where? Here's supposed to be the safest place in the galaxy. " Matt shook his head. "There's nowhere to run."

Asher smiled sadly. "It's a big galaxy. You've traveled a fair bit of it. Other places may not be safer, but they might be less visible at least, if it was only a few people." He knew it probably wasn't an idea that would work. If there was one thing there was a lot of in this galaxy, it was surveillance. Usually with bounty hunters on standby to make use of it. Still, it was a thought.

Matt sighed. "I can't run away from my problems anymore. They always catch up. Besides, I owe it to my brothers to stay, and the rest of you. What you gonna do without me here to clean up after you?" He smiled weakly and stood up. "Speaking of which... I should really get back to work." He didn't much look like he wanted to. He looked tired.

Shane shrugged "Not alone of course, but we will." He was certain of that. He looked to Ellie to check on her, she had been quiet a while now.

~~~
Danika was having fun popping the bubbles on the tablet bubbles, bubbles

~~~
Skye nodded then smiled "Being a robot and from another species will help you on not offending people." She said helpfully, she hoped.

Asher nodded. "Fair enough." He smiled softly, "May I recommend visiting Starr's twins at some point? I hear their telepathic projections are very soothing." He'd suggest that Matt visit Kay, but he had the feeling Matt was avoiding Kay because of that secret.

~~
Ellie had just been listening in and trying to make sense of what she was hearing, and whether it was out loud or not. This was freaky. "Yeah, we're gonna save all the star dragons," she said, realizing she was supposed to be participating in the conversation.

Amity smiled. "one would hope." He shook his head. "Don't worry, i'm programmed to handle difficult and argumentative guests. I'm sure i shall manage."

---

Hewitt still looked unconvinced and kept slowly walking. "Star Dragons can make stars no?" He looked disgusted by that. "Tell me, how do you ensure you don't cause a catastrophic chain reaction? How do you prevent the sudden gravity well from screwing up the formation of natural systems?"

---

Matt smiled softly. "Yeah... I might just do that."

"Try bringing some colored pencils and paper or something," Asher said, trying to lighten his tone a bit. "Danika thought drawing was great."

Matt blinked. "They can draw at one day old??"

"I held the pen up so she could push it across the page," Asher said. He couldn't help genuinely smiling a bit at that. It was ridiculously cute, okay?

Matt actually laughed. "Maybe we'll have another artist in the family. One that actually shares their work."

Asher looked amused. "That would be fun. Oh, by the way, I assume you weren't the one who decorated Kay's new coffee mug?"

Matt shook his head. "Kay has a new mug?"

"It says," Asher switched to slightly clumsily pronounced but fairly understandable Satare, <<Universe's least worst mom.>> He looked amused, "We assume it was decorated by Esk. It has flowers on it and looks rather pretty."

flying_purple_monkfish wrote:Amity smiled. "one would hope." He shook his head. "Don't worry, i'm programmed to handle difficult and argumentative guests. I'm sure i shall manage."

---

Hewitt still looked unconvinced and kept slowly walking. "Star Dragons can make stars no?" He looked disgusted by that. "Tell me, how do you ensure you don't cause a catastrophic chain reaction? How do you prevent the sudden gravity well from screwing up the formation of natural systems?"

---

Matt smiled softly. "Yeah... I might just do that."

Skye managed a real smile at that and nodded "Yeah, still it's good to know some of the 'ground rules' to not get in too deep" She said then chuckled softly

~~~
"That's why we have to learn about the other stars out here and astrophysics and all that, so we don't create a disaster instead of a star." Shane pointed out and smiled. "Ont he other hand, we do see the stars differently than most species, we see how they connect naturally, at least in our natural form we do."
~
~~~
Danika looked up to Kay and squeaked at him again, heading over to snuggle his hand. She liked the game, but wanted his touch more.

Matt started to laugh. "That's so mean! Funny, but mean. Definitely Esk, he's such a bitch." He stopped laughing. "Oh man, does that mean he found out? Damnit, I was looking forward to telling him." He feigned disappointment. "Your Satare's improving"

---

Hewitt huffed. Magic, eugh. "Then you should leave them well alone."

---

Kay petted her, looking down at the teeny dragon fondly. He really really wanted to get everything right and give her the best chance at a happy life, she deserved that. they all deserved that didn't they? He was so out of his depth. He rested his head on the table beside her and smiled weakly at her. She was such a sweet lovable little creature, but he still found it surreal to think of her as his daughter. It felt unreal, like some bizarre dream. Not an unpleasant dream, but it was still very weird.
Weirder, was how much he realized he already cared about her. It was probably the telepathic projecting, and ordinarily having his emotions messed with magically would have really annoyed him but he didn't really mind with her. Her presence was soothing and pleasant, and he couldn't help but wonder how anyone could ever hurt a Star Dragon.

---

Amity nodded. "That is an excellent suggestion." He made a note to look up gender characteristics and pronouns. This was all very bewildering.

"Esk is good at finding things out quickly," Asher said. "Don't worry, I'm sure you'll find someone to tell who will be properly shocked by the revelation." He chuckled, "Oh good, I've been trying to improve. Languages are so difficult."

Shane shrugged "I have so far, but then, I was raised to think I was a Terran, so I didn't have much choice. I am learning more now that I have that choice though. Are the stars any different where you come from?"

~~~
Danika purred as he pet her, reveling in the act and the feelings from him. She leaned into his touch, happy and loving the moment.

~~~
Skye nodded then looked over to the chicks again before clearing the computer. Yeah, who knew how much they could really understand so fer? Best to not take chances with them.

"Different in what way?" Hewitt asked. "They are in different places obviously, but they're still stars."

---

Kay kept petting Danika, sweet little dragon.

---

"Do you feel better yet?" Amity asked Skye.

---

Matt nodded. "Yeah, language is weird. I guess i'm lucky, I seem to be pretty quick to pick them up, same with Esk. But he's got that whole perfect memory thing." He shook his head. "Apparently it helps. " Hm, didn't the androids have perfect recall too? He always thought that had to suck, never being able to forget things. He picked up the bucket he'd been sitting on. "How are you doing anyway Asher?" He remembered that Asher was just like him with the whole not talking about stuff.