Upon Vestia: Chapter Twenty-Three

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"You have a tablet at least, right?" Asher asked Dawn.

[Is that why you don't like water?} Kay asked curiously. Okay that would be embarrassing. Hey like the time he had a meltdown in the shower. Hmm, don't break down in showers, good way to live.

---

Armin nodded. "You are more than likely correct my friend. You must also take into account that what one person desires in life, another may not. Look at my sister, defying tradition and insisting she will only have one mate. our mother was most displeased and insisted she would change her mind, but I know Berit, she is stubborn and she knows what she wants. If she says Trygve is the only male she desires, then I believe her. Of course, some of that may be because for six years he WAS the only male but I think it goes beyond that,she does not wish to do as society expects of her and I admire that. " Armin bowed his head. "My point is, we do not all have to do as we are told or what is expected of us." He looked to Matt "You did not become a soldier no? And yet, Satare culture puts military training at the forefront of all things. "

"Nope, I objected." Matt shrugged. "They said it was probably our defective alien genes making us cowards." He snorted.

Armin bowed his head again. "I doubt it. " He looked to Ellie. "And you are fraternizing with aliens when your home world tells you it is wrong. We find in life that which makes us happy, even if society tells us it is wrong. Even if it defies cultural expectation. There is every chance your brother really does love his partner, but he is not you and you are not him. A wise man once told me, we cannot measure our worth and happiness against others. They are living their lives and we are living ours, we must make our own path."

"Well this got majorly philosophical." Matt peered at his drink and took another swig.

"Forgive me my friend, I am told I often talk too much." Armin chuckled.

Asher nodded. "I lost any fondness I had for water after that. You don't even notice when you lose consciousness because the safety shutoff is pretty much immediate, but after you wake up, it's all very embarrassing. Especially when your brother is right there, waiting to lecture you about repairing yourself."

~~
Ellie nodded. "Some of us are just different, and that's okay. As long as you're not, like, hurting anyone. I was gonna go live on Terra and find a Terran guy and bring him home for a traditional Terran wedding someday, but then I ended up out here. Things don't need to go the way you planned, if you're having fun anyway." She ruffled Matt's hair, "And you don't need to be in love to love someone, you just gotta think they're awesome."

James smiled softly. "Yeah. I guess so." He still felt bad about what he'd done to Acus, and he still kicked himself sometimes for not just going along and pretending he loved the guy until he eventually made himself believe he really did love Acus, but he knew nobody here would understand that. It was the sort of thing that only made sense in your own brain.

Kay nodded, understanding.
He bowled his ball while he tried to think of any other embarrassing stories he felt were appropriate to share.

The ball hit a couple of pins, horah.

He picked up his tablet again. [I tried to be a chicken once. I was curious, i'd been a cat, and a horse, and a goat... I don't recommend it] He smiled. [I got chased off by an angry rooster and had to hide in the barn. Explaining why I was naked in the barn was... quite the challenge. ]

---

Matt batted playfully at Ellie's hands. "you're enjoying me being short aren't you?" He accused her, laughing.

Skye listened to them talking and watched the odd movie with the others. It was quite the learning experience.

Asher made a valiant attempt to not laugh, but wasn't really successful. The image of Kay as a chicken was very funny to him. "Oh dear. I suppose that was the end of your dreams of being a chicken," he said. "Very unfortunate."

~~
"Yes, I definitely am," Ellie told Matt cheerfully.

The movie was definitely turning strange. The woman was hallucinating squirrels sometimes now, she kept twitching when she thought she saw one.

Kay tried not to laugh. [I learned an important lesson. Being a bird is terrible.] He nodded sagely.

---

"uh.. is she okay? because this has gone from quirky to... someone get that woman some psychiatric help." Matt remarked, he laughed at Ellie. "Well I guess it IS a novelty. "

"Well I'm glad for your sacrifice. Thanks to you, I know that I'm not missing out on anything by not being able to turn into a chicken," Asher said. He rolled his bowling ball, and this time most of the pins went down. Yay, improvement!

~~
Ellie smirked in a way that suggested she knew something about this movie the others didn't.
"I have to make up for all the times I couldn't mess with your hair," she told Matt.

Matt laughed. "Alas, it's not long enough for you to braid." He eyed her suspiciously. Yeah this movie was strange.

---

Kay nodded. [Hands are vastly superior to wings anyway. ] He tried to hit a few more pins but the ball ended up in teh gutter again. Bah.

Skye shook her head and watched the movie.

"You could grow out your hair. Oh! Or get hair extensions! I bet there's a stylist who could do that!" Ellie looked delighted.

Now the boyfriend character was starting to get worried too, he suggested the girlfriend character see a doctor, and she yelled at him...

~~
Asher smiled. "Oh yes, hands are very nice. Chicken toes don't look very dexterous."

Matt made a face. "No thanks, I cut my hair short for good reason."

"You had long hair previously?" Armin asked curiously.

Matt nodded "Yeah, but it gets in they way." He watched the movie. "this movie turned seriously dark fast."

---

Kay shook his head. [Paws aren't great either. But as a kid I got curious or my brothers would talk me into turning into something and even though it hurt... ] He shrugged. [You'd think that would put me off but no, evidently not. We were all dumb kids. ]

"Long hair isn't that bad. I'd probably have long hair currently if Third hadn't given me a mental breakdown and I cut it off," Ellie said.

"Wait WHAT?" James stared.

"He turned me into a ghost. It freaked me out. You know how it is," Ellie said.

"No I don't," James said, baffled.

"Well that's what happened. But long hair isn't that bad! You can even tie it back!" Ellie looked at the movie again, "It's okay, this isn't a horror movie."

~~
"I guess kids will do some really dumb stuff if they get bored enough," Asher said, amused. "It certainly makes for some good stories though, I admit I enjoy hearing about it."

"Wait... what does long hair have to do with being a ghost?" Matt asked, confused. Man, Third really had been an asshole to a lot of people hadn't he?

---

Kay smiled softly. [Yes, for all we complain about our childhood, it wasn't all bad. We used to incur my mother's wrath by interfering when she was trying to bake, or fighting when she was busy doing something else. She got especially angry when we decided we didn't want to do chores and snuck off to go fishing or play in the orchard, but we didn't always get caught. And then sometimes we'd be left to our own devices for a night while she travelled to the nearest village for supplies or to sell something. And then nothing got done till the last minute when we woke up in the morning and realized we had six hours to clean the house, muck out the animals and do all the things we should have done the day before but didn't want to.] He looked amused. [I think she knew, but so long as the work was done, she never said anything.]

"I had a mental breakdown and cut off my hair with a pocket knife," Ellie said. "That's why I have short hair now. Man, I don't miss Third at all."

James stared. "Whoa."

~~
Asher smiled softly. "I'm glad you guys had fun. I can only imagine how chaotic it must have been at your home sometimes, Matt especially seems like he must have been a terrifying child." He shook his head, "My childhood wasn't all bad either. We had a lot of fun in our free time, we usually spent our charging time talking or finding things to do together, instead of going into power saving mode. And some of the employees liked us, so they'd invite us to some of their game nights, which was where James learned to be such a shameless cheater." They'd gotten a surprising amount of free time, all things considered.

Matt reached out a hand to Ellie. "Yeah, knives are not a good thing to cut hair with right?" Been there, done that. Okay, not because of a mental breakdown but yeah... still. "Come here." He spoke gently, trying to pull her into a gentle hug.

Armin bowed his head, unsure how to respond to that.
"I am sorry."

---

Kay smiled, that sounded nice. It was reassuring to know both their lives weren't JUST misery and pain. [Matt was... a force of nature yes. Though Web wasn't much better and if i'm honest, neither was I. Matt was always the one with the bad ideas and we'd just go along with it because we thought it sounded fun. Sometimes Web would be the voice of reason, sometimes it would be me, but generally speaking, because those two jerks could teleport, I was the one who got hurt most often.] He shook his head, he didn't look upset by that though. [Thankfully nothing serious, just cuts and scrapes mostly. Matt once managed to fall off the roof of the barn and broke his arm during one of their games. They liked to teleport into places nobody else could reach, it was like a challenge, who could get higher, who could get further. I was usually set the task of being referee, not that they ever listened. And no, breaking his arm didn't stop Matt. It gave Web pause, but he always was a bit more... reasonable than Matt.] Kay shook his head.

"It didn't work so great," Ellie agreed. She hugged Matt, being mindful of his back, "I'm okay now though, and so is my hair."

~~
"I'm amazed you didn't all end up hurt worse than you were," Asher said, amused. "Children in general have a knack for getting in trouble, and that must be considerably more true for boys with magical abilities." He liked hearing about a happier part of Kay's childhood, it was nice to know he'd had some fun, not just pain and sorrow.

Kay shrugged [Kids also have somewhat more pliable bones, especially shape shifting ones apparently. ] He shook his head. [We were lucky. ]

---

Matt cuddled into Ellie. He didn't like hearing about her being that upset and hurt.

"True." Asher smiled. "I don't have much personal experience with that, no one in my family did anything very athletic, for fear of expensive repairs."

~~
Ellie tried patting Matt's shoulder reassuringly.

On the movie screen, the woman was being taken to a psychiatrist. She seemed very angry about it, and kept flinching at squirrels only she could see.

Kay nodded. [I can swim and ride a horse, and I can sort of climb but I don't like to. I've been scared of heights as long as I can remember, so I always remained down on the ground while my brothers climbed trees or decided it was a good idea to play tag on the top of a 12 foot high wall. ] He rolled his eyes.

--

"I feel sorry for crazy squirrel lady now." Matt mused, stroking Ellie's hair.

"Was this not supposed to be a comedy?" Armin asked.

"Well the imaginary squirrels are cute." Matt added. "So at least there's that. And not giant, giant squirrels would be really freaky."

"Well if you can swim and ride, you're already a better athlete than I am," Asher looked amused. "Your brothers may be slightly insane though." He went to roll another ball down the lane, and finally managed a strike. Yay!

~~
"I think Ellie was lying when she said it was a comedy," James grumbled.

Ellie snickered. "It's a comedy! Honest!"

"there's gonna be some twist, like... the guy can summon squirrels and only his true love can see them!" Matt nodded. "or.. or the guy is in fact made of squirrels."

---

Kay nodded. [I will not argue with you there, they are definitely a bit screw loose.] He smiled. [Well, swimming may be out, but when you're better you could ride a horse on the holodeck with me. If James can do it, you can definitely learn. ] He set his tablet down and picked up the ball again, frowning at the pins. Damn pins. He threw the ball as hard as he could and it thudded into the gutter. [You're better at bowling at least, it's a sport right?]

"Or it might be a horror movie," James said. "How can this be a comedy?"

The woman went to the psychiatrist and when she saw the psychiatrist, she screamed.
The psychiatrist was a squirrel.
The boyfriend didn't notice.
The squirrel put a finger to it's lips.

"Am I on drugs?" James asked.

~~
"When I'm repaired, we should definitely try riding. It'd be something different, certainly," Asher said. "Bowling's a sport like checkers is a sport; barely a sport at all. But you're improving, I just have the advantage of being a computer." He nodded sagely.

"giant squirrels! See, now the boyfriend's just fucking with her." Matt declared.

"I do not know James, we are all watching the same thing and somehow this is stranger than the previous film." Armin shook his head, bewildered.

---

Kay shook his head, looking amused [You're just saying that to make me feel better. I accept my sporting shortcomings. I'm at peace with it.]

The girlfriend was freaking out, but the boyfriend left her with the psychiatrist.
The psychiatrist-squirrel told the girlfriend to follow her.
The girlfriend followed.

"Don't follow the squirrel!" James called. He clung to Armin, this was stressful!

~~
Asher smiled softly. "Okay, if you say so. You'll always be the best Scrabble player of the two of us, anyway."

Armin cuddled James, making soothing noises.

---

Kay laughed silently, covering his mouth with his hand.

The squirrel led the girlfriend to an underground world of squirrels, where she was told that she was the savior, and that her boyfriend was the one destined to try and destroy the squirrels. A lot of angst ensued, apparently the girlfriend instantly believed that the squirrels were telling the truth, but she didn't want to vanquish her boyfriend.
She thought about it when she got home. She didn't tell him. She didn't see any way out, she had to save the squirrels. But finally she had an idea. She challenged her boyfriend to a tennis match, and won! Then she went to the squirrels and told them he was vanquished! The squirrels celebrated, she went back to happily dating her boyfriend, and the credits rolled.

"I have no clue what just happened, or if that was even in reality, or just a really bad portrayal of mental illness," James said blankly.

Ellie grinned. "This movie always confuses people."

~~
Asher smiled softly. "I'm sorry I've been so distant lately. I missed this." Spending time with Kay was so nice, even if they were mostly just trying to distract each other from their worries and bad memories.

"That was an incredibly strange movie" Skye said and shook her head.