Upon Vestia: Chapter Twenty-Nine

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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.

"Think we'd be able to recruit anyone else?" James said. It probably was a little silly to imagine starting a band, but the idea amused him. "Someone to play a drum, or with a really good voice."

"I dunno, maybe we could put up posters." Matt suggested with a grin. "Band seeking drummer, vocalist, anyone with any musical skill" He snickered

Skye smiled and stood to go with Ellie to see the dragons.

~~
Jewel nodded and smiled. "Lead the way and we can go." She said a bit excitedly.

"Now that's a good idea. Make some posters, get some hype up, find all the potential stars on this ship," James laughed. "Our brothers will judge us so hard, but who cares?"

~~
Ellie hurried off with Skye to the dragons' floor. (Ethan's probably left the dragons by now, I'm guessing)

~~
Vestia led Jewel and Ivor along by flickering her lights a bit brighter to show them the way.

Ivor followed the lights, looking nervous and uncertain about where she was really leading them.

---

"they're just jealous because they have no musical talent." Matt laughed.

Skye looked around a little before going to one of the rec rooms to find some dragons playing together.

~~~
Jewel flew alongside Ivor, following the pretty lights. "I really like the pretty lights you use." She said after a little while.

"Asher can sing okay, he's just shy as all heck," James said. "I can't imagine your brothers doing anything musical though, not even if Kay wasn't mute. They're so serious." He grinned, "Just means we'll have to search for talent outside our families."

~~
Ellie went in with Skye, squeeing predictably at the sight of the dragons. "They're more adorable than ever," she whispered to Skye.

~~
"Thank you, I put a lot of work into these lights," Vestia said, lights blushing slightly pink. "You're here now, feel free to explore," she added.

The hallway had a lovely plush carpet and graceful lighting fixtures, and little alcoves and seating areas with squishy armchairs and couches. Definitely nicer than what the crew had on their floors, oh dear.

Matt chuckled "I dunno, I caught Esk fiddling with the piano in the ballroom once. I think he pretends he's not interested because it's not you know, tough and cool. Like he hides the whole art thing." He snorted at the idea of Esk pretending to be a tough guy.

---

Ivor was facinated, but he also looked worried, unsure he was allowed to actually touch anything here or was just supposed to look.

James laughed. "Some people are so worried about what other people think of them, man. They should be more like us, realize opinions don't matter that much. I mean who cares if you like sappy movies or play the piano, right? There's nothing wrong with that." He added, "Although I might laugh if I walked in on Esk playing the piano, cause that'd be pretty surprising."

Skye chuckled softly at Ellie's squeal then looked to the dragons, greeting them as one came over to them.

The dragon was a female, she shifted and greeted them happily. "Hello, welcome Ellie, who's your friend?"

~~~
Jewel grinned and flew low to touch the carpet then looked around again. "This place is fancy  and nice." She said softly. "We can touch things, right?" Even she was uncertain.

Matt laughed. "He IS a pretty surprising guy." He shrugged. "I'm still convinced there's a soft gooey centre somewhere under all that bitchiness. "

---

Ivor kept his hands to himself, just looking.

"Hello again! This is Skye," Ellie told the dragon. "She's one of my friends here, she' an artuvian so she can't hear the babies, but she wanted to visit them cause they're adorable." She sat down to be closer to baby dragon level. "Hello there! You are so cute."

~~
"Yeah, he's nicer than he pretends, he's really good at hiding it though," JAmes said sagely. "I mean, he even is less of an ass to Kay than he used to be, and he pretty much hates Kay I think. So he's secretly sweet, I know it."

~~
"You can touch anything, that's why it's here," Vestia said. "Have fun, and don't worry, it's all here for the passengers, which means you guys."

"I don't think he actually hates him." Matt mused. Hey, Esk had said as much to him once. He didn't hate him, he resented him. Somehow that was different. "But I think you guys have been a good influence on him. It's always good to have friends."

---

Ivor hesitated, unsure. Was it a trap? "r... really?"

"Maybe not. He actually said something about not hating the guy, cause that took to much effort," James said. He smiled. "I mean he's kinda frustrating with his issues, but he's a decent guy once you figure out how to talk to him. And he's gotten better, that's for sure."

~~
"Really," Vestia said. She trusted her passengers not to intentionally break or damage anything.

Matt nodded. "He's my baby brother so i've gotta love him, even when he's being a raging dick, but i'm glad he's found somewhere to belong. I think you guys have been good for him."

---

Ivor knelt down and very tentatively touched the carpet, running his fingers through the fibers. "t.. the man has so many rules... s.. so did the hospital..." He mused aloud. Not having massive restrictions on what he could do, where he could go, how he could heave was so alien and different.

James smiled. "We all gotta find a place for ourselves in this world, and maybe he's found one here. Despite thinking we're all morons, and that we have weird beliefs." There wasn't any spite in his tone, he was genuinely kind of fond of Esk. Like he was a grumpy little brother or something. "If it's helped him, then that's awesome."

Skye waved then joined Ellie in sitting on the floor to play with the babies who came over to them. The babies liked Ellie, she always made cute sounds and seemed to like everything they did.
~~~
Jewel smiled and flew around, looking at what she could, though she couldn't open doors by herself, she could still look at everything that was out.

Ellie pointed to Skye. "Babies, this is Skye. You should say hi to her! She doesn't have telepathy, but she's so awesome! And she can fly!"

~~
"Well there's a lot less rules here," Vestia told Ivor as she watched them explore. "Just the really basic stuff, like don't hurt people."

Ivor nodded. "n.. never.. wanted to.. hurt anyone..." He stood up again, cradling his bad arm as he walked, following Jewel.

---

Matt nodded, looking serious for a moment. "It's incredible really, when you think of how huge the universe is, that all of us would find each other again, just.. by fluke. You and Asher, Esk and Kay and Me, not to mention all the people we've picked up along the way. "

"Good, then you fit right in here," Vestia said reassuringly.

~~
"Yeah," James shook his head. "All on the same two ships, no less. I swear we're either the luckiest people in the universe, or the unluckiest. It's pretty insane."

Matt shrugged. "I don't like to think too hard about it, it raises questions about predetermination and divine intervention and well, I never much liked dancing to someone else's tune." He snickered. "Being a puppet never suited me, which is why i'm you know, banished and outcast and all that fun stuff." He shrugged again. "Still, if Fate's reach extends this far and she wanted us all together, I gotta hope it's for good reasons. After all, together we kicked the Family's asses right? and got the Guild to get their heads out their butts for a little bit. And we set in motion the freedom of so many Star Dragons. We're like, this kickass team of superheroes or something yeah?" He grinned, he liked that idea.

"It doesn't necessarily mean our path is predetermined, it can just be that we have really good luck," James said. "Like how you can roll a die and get the same number ten times in a row if you're super lucky, you know? We do what we will with our luck, and we use it to kick butt and improve the world." He smiled. "Superheroes, huh? I like the sound of that. Dysfunctional and a little crazy, but we try to do the right thing. And we have cool powers."

"Heck yeah, and we'll continue to kick bad guys' asses while you know, having lives and shit." Matt threw both hands up to cheer.

"Yeah, emphasis on having a life, man. I don't wanna be a hero full-time, maybe a few hours a week at most," James laughed. "I like goofing off too much to give it up, I'm guessing you do too."

Matt snickered. "I thought goofing off WAS my job?"

"Yeah, I can fly, but I can't speak with my mind." Skye said with a smile as she looked over the babies.

~~~
"Yeah, the people here are amazing." Jewel said as she looked to Ivor again. "Are you still scared of the others?"

"It is? Man, I want in on that job," James said, trying to sound envious. "Way better than being a janitor or a medic, no doubt about it."

~~
Ellie tried to get the babies to go to Skye. "She's awesome, you'll love her, kids!"