Upon Vestia: Chapter Twenty-Four

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Dawn chuckled and shook her head a little "I don't need a party." She said softly, chuckling.

~~~
Skye looked to the door then came over to open it "Mourn? What's up?"

Dawn laughed softly, though it wasn't a happy laugh. "yeah, some do."

~~
Jewel clapped and moved to try the door and make sure it would work as they had fixed it to.

James grinned. "Glittery medals of heroism. That'll make everyone feel good about their part in the war."

Jewel's door would probably work pretty well. It had little hinges and a latch instead of a doorknob, because Vestia didn't have any little doorknobs, but the latch opened easily enough, and stayed shut when closed. Yay.

"Is the door okay?" Asher asked Jewel.

Jewel came back out and grinned at them "It's perfect, thank you all so much for helping."

"Yay! Ask my baby bro for help any time, he loves these projects," James said cheerfully. He didn't volunteer himself though.

Asher looked pleased. He loved when he could make himself useful. Even moreso now that he felt so limited by his wheelchair.

Esk nodded. "Sometimes everyone just needs reminding of that."

---

"You guys do good work." Matt nodded. "Yeah man, we'll make em super sparkly. "

"We can make medals for ourselves, the others, and for the Tiger guys," James decided. Whoo, big projects. "Want in, Skye, Asher? And you can come too, Jewel, although I guess you might want to settle into your room now that it has a door."

"I think I'll have to pass this time, I always end up with glitter all over me when I go to the craft room," Asher said with a laugh.

Matt snorted with laughter. "SOooo much glitter."

"I would love to help make some medals for everyone." Jewel said cheerfully.

~~~
Dawn sighed and shrugged "I guess so." She said softly.

"You must know about the elements of design since you're a jeweler," James said, "I'm sure you can give us advice on how to make the medals look good."

Asher loaded up Vestia's bot with the supplies it had brought.

Esk shrugged again and fell silent. Dawn was sensible of course, that's why he liked her, but she also had a heart and far more morality than Esk.

---

"Awesome!" Matt led the way. Yes, something to do, a project! Distractions and company were good.

James followed Matt, grinning.

Asher sent off the bot with the supplies, then made his way toward the med bay to make sure it wasn't unattended. Because you never knew when someone might be in there bleeding to death while the medics were all somewhere else.

Jewel and Skye followed James and Matt to wok on medals for everyone. "Yes, I can help you make them really pretty if you want" Jewel agreed cheerfully

~~~
Dawn was thinking of her dad again as she stared out into space. Was he still alive? Would he care that she had a degree as a medic now? She didn't know the answer to either question.

Esk watched Dawn, noting she seemed to be sad about something but he wasn't entirely sure what. It wasn't the idea of killing Keepers, that should make EVERYONE pleased... well, except maybe Thalia but eh. And he was fairly sure it wasn't concern for Starr or the rest of their crew...

Sadly he really struggled to understand Dawn, he couldn't read her like he could most people and it was simultaneously frustrating and extremely fascinating. He wasn't sure if it was just her, or if all Pandorians were just strange, he tended not to spend much time around Rigel after all. He was fairly certain Rigel didn't like him much, or at the very least didn't trust him completely anyway.

"What is it?" He asked at last, after a few minutes of running through potential reasons for her melancholy and getting nowhere.

---

"Definitely." Matt agreed. "you guys can do colour because i'm useless for that." He laughed. "I'm colourblind." He explained to Jewel. "but I can totally do sparkle!"

"Great. Thanks Jewel! Matt can be the glitter consultant, me and Skye can do color, and you can make sure it all goes together nicely," James said. Whooo, delegating!

Dawn startled a little at his sudden question, looking over to him again "What?" She asked curiously then shook her head "I was just thinking of my father." She added when it clicked what he had asked about. She shrugged and settled back again.

~~~
Jewel chuckled and nodded as she followed them to the craft room. She still had to learn where everything was in here.

Skye smiled at that and nodded too. "What colors should we do?" She asked softly

"Gold is a standard medal color. Blue is a color of loyalty and stuff I think. Green is my favorite color, so maybe we should use that instead," James suggested. He was probably joking about the last one.

Esk frowned a little. "Why? From all you've said it sounds like he drove you away, he's not worth the time." He sounded a little bitter, quickly masking it again with his usual indifference.

---

Matt wheeled along, feeling better now they were underway and he had something silly to think about. It was the quiet lulls when he was all alone it got hard. Right now, he was quite content to think of glitter and bedazzle jewels and all that silly crap.

"I think he did that so I wouldn't be there to see him die" Dawn admitted softly. She was scared that was what it was, not that he sent her away for any other reason.

~~~
"Blue and green ribbon on a gold pendant?" Jewel suggested with a chuckle. "Oh, or a blue ribbon, gold pendant and a green star on the pendant?"

"Hmm, both sound pretty sweet," James mused. "I especially like the first idea. What do you think, Skye? You get to help think up colors, you know." He smiled.

Skye shrugged and laughed softly "Um, yeah, the first way sounds good, do we even have blue and green ribbons that don't clash?"

Esk shrugged. "Dead or alive, from all you've said about him it doesn't sound like much of a loss." He didn't really get it, how could he? "If it really matters to you, you could send a message or.. I dunno, check for records or something."

James thought for a bit. "I dunno, maybe? We have a few different hues, but I don't know if any go together well."

Dawn sighed and pulled her legs up so she could wrap her arms around her legs where she sat. "I still remember how he was before. When we were all together. Maybe I'm just holding onto the hope that he could go back to that? I don't know. If he is dead, there's no chance for him to ever come back."

~~~
"Well, let's see" Skye said as they reached the craft room to go in and gather the supplies.

Jewel looked around the room happily, she could do a lot with all these supplies.

Esk shook his head. "You're smarter than this Dawn. Clinging to hope like this. The person he was before your mother and brother's death isn't the same man. Things change, people change, they don't usually change back. " He paused, watching her. She looked so miserable and he wasn't sure how to help. "He could have been a decent father, instead he decided to wallow in his own bullshit. He doesn't deserve your pity or your time." He stared out at the stars. this was a bit too personal for his comfort. His voice detached and distant he continued. "People like to pretend like parents are something else, perfect people who love their kids unconditionally. It's a load of crap. They're people just like everyone else, just as flawed, just as selfish, just as self absorbed and awful. They may have given you life, but beyond that you owe them nothing. Especially not when they resent your existence." He shook his head. "You don't need him Dawn. You never have. And that's what's made you stronger. Even if he IS alive, what does it matter? You really think he'll look at you and tell you what you want to hear? That he's proud of you? Who the fuck cares what HE thinks. Live for yourself."

James started searching through boxes, pulling out ribbon, cardboard, paint, tape, glue, felt, and whatever else he could find. He handed the glitter to Matt, and the ribbons to Skye, so they could start seeing what the options were, while he kept looking. "Too bad we didn't think of this while we were at the Guild. I bet we could have gotten some great glitter there." Of course, they had bought some glitter there to restock from the glitter shortage, just not the magical stuff.

"I dunno man, magic glitter sounds like it'd be even harder to get rid of." Matt snickered and arranged the pots of sparkly stuff by size and relative glitteryness.

James laughed. "Aww, but just imagine how shiny Vestia would look. It'd be awesome."