Upon Vestia: Chapter Eighteen

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

"'Not the Med Bay'?" Asher jokingly suggested.

"Who needs sleep?" Esk suggested, standing up and coming over for a cup of coffee and a muffin to go.

[You'll think of something.] Kay reassured, going to find somewhere to sit.

Sawna smiled, going to get Esk what he wanted and making sure the top was on securely for the to-go cup. "Maybe I'll do a contest to name the cafe"

Esk snorted, nodded and dropped something into the tip jar, taking the bag and heading for the door. "Yeah good luck with that, you've met these guys right?" He snickered and headed out. Yep, he was pretty sure a few people could come up with very very bad coffee shop names. That maybe included him.

Kay rolled his eyes. [You may want to filter the suggestions]

"Might be dangerous," Asher said with a chuckle. "Could be a lot of fun to see the suggestions though."

Sawna laughed and nodded "Certainly filter the suggestions, but they could be interesting...hm, maybe do a little plaque thing of 'rejected' names, depending on what they are of course." It was a 'family friendly' place after all.

Kay looked amused. [A wall of shame? ]

--

Esk headed off down the hall to find Dawn, because, he reasoned, she should be up by now and if she wasn't, caffeine helped.
Sawna's coffee shop could prove a useful place for her to study rather than hiding out in her room. Yes, he worried about her and her tendency to hide herself away okay?. Because she was the primary medic of the SD and part of his crew and not for any other reason!

Sawna chuckled and nodded "Hey, any put there could be used if anyone wanted to open one of the bars instead of them being 'self-serve'" She reasoned

~~
Dawn was still asleep since she had exhausted herself with her work, work, work all the time. Hey, she couldn't drink, so working till you could sleep was the next best thing, right?

Asher laughed. "You should definitely display the rejected names. Gives people incentive to be creative."

Esk knocked on the door. he wasn't at all concerned about waking her, or her being annoyed.

---

Kay smiled. Man, don't give Matt ideas. He'd declare himself a bartender and start serving people insane cocktails.
then again.. maybe if he was serving drinks he wouldn't drink them...

Sawna smiled at Asher again and nodded "Yeah, that's what I was thinking.

~~
Dawn grumbled something that ended with 'come' and burrowed under her covers at the knocking

"Dawn? You aren't hungover again are you?" Esk called, edging the door open.

"What?" That had her raise her head up then cover her eyes again at the light "No, I am not hungover Esk, I was just sleeping. Why? What time is it? Is someone hurt?" well, now she was awake

Esk snickered at her reaction and held up the bag. "Nobody's hurt, least, nobody who matters. But I do have coffee. " He told her the time (I dunno what bloody time it is lol.) "Up all night reading then?" He looked around the room. Eugh, books.

Dawn rubbed her eyes then shook her head "No, I went to bed at a decent time' She said as she accepted the cup "Thank you"

There was also a muffin, and yes, he was observant enough to know what sort of cakes she liked. It was a little bit creepy how much he knew about his crewmates.
He shrugged. "you don't sound like someone who got a good night's sleep." He glanced at her. "or look it." He added flatly.

Dawn dipped her head, picking up the muffin to take a bite and enjoying it before she spoke "I've been pushing myself" She admitted

"Why?" Esk asked dully, leaning against the wall and folding his arms.

Dawn sighed then shrugged "Because I can't just drink"

Esk frowned a little. "Dawn... " Yep, she was still messed up. Damn he hated being right. "There's gotta be a healthier way to deal with your problems." Yeah he didn't know what though.

Dawn looked down at the muffin, focusing on it to not say anything else for a bit. When she had finished it, she tossed the wrapper into the garbage bin then sighed, holding he coffee cup in front of her. "I tried everything I could think of, even researching" She motioned to some of the books on the table then shrugged

Esk nodded vaguely. "How'd you cope before?" He asked.

Dawn shrugged and looked around herself then back to her coffee "Learning, pushing it away, burying those feelings behind a cheerful mask and trying to get my father to smile again" Yeah, she had done enough studying

Esk shook his head. "I dunno what to suggest. " yeah, he wasn't good with the whole feelings aspect of things, or how to deal with trauma. He'd always taken the bury it/push it away approach. "Matt's the one who's good with all that emotional shit. " He shrugged. "But right now he's not in a good state himself. Seems just about everyone's cracking up over something now. "

Dawn sighed and rubbed her eyes again then drank some of the coffee "Many of us have been pushed to our limits in these last few months. It's not that big of a surprise really, if you think about it."

Esk looked like he was thinking it over for a few minutes. "Listen, Shit happens, to absolutely everyone and it solves nothing to sit and wallow in that misery. It doesn't change anything. The past is past, it's ugly and crappy and awful but you can't go back and fix any of it. You can only move forward. You're the only one who can pull yourself out of this. You managed to lock it away before, you can do it again. You can find some... outlet that's at least half way healthy. Working yourself to exhaustion isn't helping and you know that." He sighed. "I can't tell you what to do but... I made a vow to keep this crew safe and yeah, that means even from their own self destructive crap. " His expression softened slightly. "Dawn, you're tough. You're damn better than this." He shook his head. "So pull yourself together for fuck's sake. I can't keep playing therapist to all of your damn shattered psyches."

"Locking it away did not make it go away" Dawn said quietly then set the cup on the table and drew her knees up, still under the cover. She sighed and settled her head on her knee, looking at him again "By the way, you are a horrible therapist" She said then tossed a small pillow at him, a smile tugging at her lips again.