Upon Vestia: Chapter Twenty-Nine

First topic message reminder :

Ivor was pretty thankful for Tala's quiet thoughts, if her unshielded thoughts were anything like her speaking voice, he'd have had a headache already.
He nodded slowly.

Ellie peered into the room. "Hey Shane! Hey Helen! Man, that eye contact is creeeeepy."

They both blinked and looked to Ellie before greeting her. "Helen was teaching me some more about my heritage." Shane said as he stood and stretched then came over to Ellie. "How are you feeling today?"

"Oh man, you mean star dragon trade secrets and handshakes?" Ellie looked interested. "I'm feeling better this morning. Who knew old people could be so tiring?"

The doctor introduced herself and Armin bowed his head and told her his name as well, they embraced.

Kay watched all this rather glad his rebreather hid his expression. He could never quite get used to how tactile and affectionate Vavare were to complete strangers.

The doctor got down to business rapidly, asking Armin a series of questions. How many days had he gone without eating, how long was he resting? what was the ambient humidity, how did he feel? Then she'd scan him and look at the readings as if they made sense.

Kay was anxious.

Finally the doctor looked back to James and Kay. "It would seem you called me at just the right moment. The molt should occur within the next 36 hours by my estimate."

"you will stay?" Armin asked nervously. This was his first molt without another member of his race at his side.

The doctor nodded. "If your crew are willing."

Kay nodded. They could stay grounded until Armin was well enough to leave.

The doctor smiled. "You needn't look so anxious, I have been present for thousands of molts, in most cases no intervention is required. "

Armin smiled tiredly. "thank you."

"We shall let you rest" the doctor told Armin. She wanted to speak to the medics in private.

James watched the vavare curiously. They were such snuggly people, he thought it must kind of stink for Armin to have nobody around who shared his species values. Poor Armin, he must feel much better with a vavare nearby for this molt.
He smiled at the doctor. "Thanks for staying. It's so much better to have you here for this molt." Then he looked to Armin again, "Sleep well, call us if you need anything, man."

Kooshie wrote:"Oh man, you mean star dragon trade secrets and handshakes?" Ellie looked interested. "I'm feeling better this morning. Who knew old people could be so tiring?"

Shane chuckled and shook his head "About powers and life." He said and smiled again. "Those old people knew a lot."

"Oh." Well that wasn't as good as secret handshakes, but Ellie supposed it was okay. "This wasn't about laying eggs, was it?" she asked suspiciously.

Helen chuckled at that and stood. "He had many questions about mating in our people, even with outsiders, so it came up along with his lessons on controlling his powers. It won't happen that way." She said in assurance.

Ellie shook her head. "He's obsessed with having kids, oh my gosh." At least she wasn't as annoyed as she'd been yesterday, she looked more resigned. "Lessons about powers are cooler, man!"

Shane dipped his head, flushing at his aunt saying that.

"He didn't know a lot of what our species can do, despite being taught some by our queen. It was not a subject that came up before in part because before he wasn't curious or interested in the topic. To put it simply, because he doesn't want to get you pregnant, you won't become pregnant even if you mate." She said then came over and laid a hand on her shoulder. "He is obsessed with wanting to keep you safe and happy, though he fights to show even part of his feelings. Had I known how he would be treated, I would have only blocked his powers instead of power and memory."

Ellie frowned. "You mean like, it would magically not happen? That doesn't make sense." The star dragons had had kids while they were enslaved, they couldn't have wanted that, she was sure of that.
She looked at Shane, "You don't need to worry, I'm not like a genius or anything, but my school had a good sex ed class. Unless like, sex with star dragons melts condoms or something, you don't need to worry." Okay, that was actually a worrying thought though. What baby-creating superpowers did star dragons have? She really didn't want to end up like Thalia and Heny, that would ruin her plans big time.

Helen chuckled at the joke about melting condoms and shook her head a little "You must remember that our people have been imprisoned for nearly two centuries. Many do want kids, and some were raised without knowledge of such abilities and some were drugged so that they couldn't control anything. We can't melt condoms or anything like that...well, we could but that would harm our partners and possibly ourselves.I don't think it has ever been tried." She paused and shook her head, they were getting off topic now."This is something you cannot tell others, it is a secret we have kept hidden even from our masters. I just wanted to assure both of you that there won't be eggs even if you do get pregnant from Shane, and that won't happen until you both agree you want to have children so long as you don't sleep with him if he's sugar-drunk. You won't even need condoms to prevent pregnancy, just if it make you feel safer."

Ellie frowned, than nodded. "I guess that does make sense sorta." To the extent that any strange magical ability made sense to her, anyway. "Okay, we'll keep it secret. Not a word to anyone. I still totally would use condoms though, just in case, magical contraception or no." Hey, lycanthropy was a thing, and she'd been exposed to it once. She may have not shown symptoms ever, but still, she didn't want to somehow infect Shane.
She shook her head. "Star dragon biology is weird though, like whoa. Like if there's a baby, is it just in the human form by default? Or do you have a baby dragon, just not in an egg?"

"It would be in human form." Helen said gently with a smile. "First shift would take longer to happen though. Two months instead of one. Yes, our biology is very different."

"Oh, sorta like Shane," Ellie nodded. "Well that's less disturbing than laying eggs, but still no thanks." She nodded more, sagely. "Did I interrupt your biology lesson, by the way?"

"We had already moved on to other things." Helen said with a chuckle.

"Oh good," Ellie said. "So are you guys like, going to do anything fun this morning?"

"I didn't have any plans." Helen said with a smile.

"I was going to come see you, and see what you wanted to do." Shane said

Ellie smiled. Yay, her boyfriend wanted to actually see her! "Well I have to get some breakfast, but that can be fast. And then after that we can party! Visit your dragon people, or go to hydroponics, or go out to town." She nodded.

Shane smiled, glad they were past that other conversation now. "I'll go with you." He said then looked to Helen to thank her for her time.

Ellie grinned, waved to Helen, grabbed Shane by the arm, and dragged him off toward Sawna's cafe. "Sawna should be in this morning, right?" she asked.

Shane waved to his aunt and went with Ellie to the cafe. "She should, she loves running it."

Sawna was there, sitting in a chair and drinking from a cup while reading a book. She looked up when her door opened and smiled at the pair as they came in. "Good morning."

"Hey Sawna, how's business?" Ellie dragged Shane along to the counter.

"Slow this morning, so far" Sawna said, getting up and going behind the counter. "What can I get for you?"

"Well then, I'm here to help business," Ellie said brightly. "I'd like a sixteen ounce raspberry-caramel four-shot latte and a bagel with cream cheese please. Whatever kind of bagel falls into your hand first." She really did like her sugary drinks, oh dear.

Sawna chuckled and set to making the drink and bagel, taking them over to Ellie when she was done. She also brought Shane his usual.

Ellie grinned at Sawna. "Thanks! You're awesome!" She sipped her latte.