Upon Vestia: Chapter Thirty-Two

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James went into Armin's room. "Hey man, watcha working on?" he asked, seeing that Armin was sewing.

"I don't know how people contain their opinions. It's harder than it looks," James said, smiling wryly. "I mean at least my thoughts don't telepathically broadcast, but it must be super hard for organic people to hide their opinions, huh?"
"I'm... doing okay, yeah. I mean, the Terran Empire's actually trying to be fair and accountable, so that's cool. And Asher and Nova seem all right, so yay." He shook his head, "People are still dying though, even the empire's protection doesn't seem to be stopping that. So that sucks."

Matt nodded "to be fair, people were dying before all this, it just wasn't being reported right? It sucks, but what'd my brother say... nothing ever changes without upheaval and loss. " He frowned. "I think there's a terran saying similar, you can't make an omelette without breaking a few eggs? Still, it'll be worth it in the end right? The greater good and all that. Eventually, things will be better." He managed a weak smile. "You have to keep telling yourself that, otherwise you just... sink under it all. "

"Oh believe me, I do tell myself that," James said with a sigh. "We all knew this wasn't going to be some perfect, happy revolution. Desperate times call for desperate measures, and all that. But that doesn't really make it any better when some innocent Eight series kid gets murdered, and isn't even able to understand yet that they did nothing wrong."
James could understand this revolution on a rational level, but emotionally it was another one of those things he couldn't really distance himself from. He wasn't much good at emotional detachment in general.

Matt nodded "It sucks. I mean it really sucks. " He sighed "and this is why I refused to join the military, i'm quite happy being a coward and a traitor." He shook his head. "We should do something good and distracting." He looked up at James. "What's good and distracting and you know.. appropriate or at all practical for you?" Hey, androids couldn't get drunk or binge eat or run themselves to physical exhaustion after all, so they'd have to do something else.

"Yeah. Being part of stuff like this is just really shitty," James said. "Respect to the people who can handle it, but I can't really." He shook his head. "Uhh..." he tried to think of something, but he was kind of thinking about awful stuff and it was hard to pull his mind off that track. "What do you do when the world is just a depressing load of crap?"

"Get drunk, hook up with someone I shouldn't have, do stupid shit that'll probably get me arrested?" Matt shrugged and laughed. "least that's what Kay would tell you. " He looked thoughtful. "I dunno, just.. something." He reached for his crutches. "Always keep ahead of the storm." He hauled himself up with a grunt, leaning heavily on the crutches.

James actually laughed at that. "Man, you organics get all the good ways to deal with your problems. I'm kinda jealous." He stood as well, staying back unless Matt asked for his help. He knew Matt probably wanted to do this himself. "I mean I could hook up with people, it can be kind of amusing sometimes, but it's not really the same. Or at least, I assume it isn't the same, anyway."
He nodded, "Yeah, you're right. Gotta avoid dwelling on problems, or eventually they'll destroy you."

"Yeah, I imagine not being able to feel a lot kinda... makes it a bit pointless." Matt agreed. "interesting in some ways but... yeah. not quite as much fun." He managed a few awkward pained steps. "Definitely, keep on moving or it all piles up and crushes you." He sighed "I'm regretting being this far from a wheelchair." he admitted.

"Yeah, probably sex is a little more interesting for organics," James agreed. "Unless you guys all have some sort of conspiracy, where you pretend it's really great but secretly you all know it isn't." He was joking about that.
He watched Matt with some concern, "Want some help? Or we can ask Vestia to send a bot over with the wheelchair if you want."

Matt laughed "Well I dunno about everyone ELSE but I wouldn't do it if it wasn't totally worth it." He hesitated. "you know.. that.. that might be a good idea." Kay had warned him not to overdo it after all, he didn't really want to set back all his physio.

"I dunno man, I could totally imagine there being some sort of organic conspiracy going on," James said. "Vestia, can you bring Matt's wheelchair over?"

"Sure thing," Vestia said. "Gimme a few minutes."

"Thanks," James told her. He looked to Matt, not sure if he should be helping the guy right now or something.

Matt shot James a wry smile. "It's okay, i'm not THAT stubborn." He took a deep breath and rested his weight on his arms. "Organic conspiracy huh? What, to make you jealous of our rampant casual sex?" He laughed weakly, ow, that kinda hurt. "I dunno, some of you guys must get something outta it right? I mean, i'm pretty sure Kay isn't THAT prudish." He snickered, yeah he might not want to think about Kay having sex but he was pretty sure it had to happen.

James went over to help Matt, whether he wanted to sit down to wait, or stay standing. Androids were much better crutches than crutches were.
"I mean hey, I wouldn't put it past the Terrans especially, to hype something up just to make other species jealous. Those guys can be straaange," he said. "Maybe food flavors are a conspiracy too. You can't really taste food after all, right?"
He snorted, thinking about their brothers. Well, trying not to think to hard about them, because that was just weird. "Yeah... I mean, things like mopping floors can be enjoyable if you're chatting with your friends at the cafe while you do it. Not because mopping floors is great, but because you like the people you're chatting with. So... maybe you're onto something."

"I am well." Starr replied as she looked over to Luna as well. Her coloring is very unusual, I am not sure what it could mean for her, so I am concerned about that. It makes me wonder about who her father is, though I know he is dragon like I am.

"Maybe." Matt leaned heavily against James. "I'm not the best person to ask about food." He laughed. "I have like.. really little sense of taste. Maybe colour perception's all a big conspiracy too." He snickered.

---

Kay tilted his head. Do you think she may have something wrong? Oh dear, poor child. He hated to ask but, he kind of had to How much do you really know about her father? He doubted much at all.

"Only that he is a pure dragon, because she is my heir. If he wasn't pure, she wouldn't have my eyes." Starr replied The only way to know at this point would be genetic testing and I won't put her through that. Whoever he is will remain a mystery, at least for now.

Kay nodded, glancing at the sleeping child sympathetically. Not knowing who your father was wasn't a great place to be, it left so many questions all your life.
Maybe it's just a quirk, there is a lot of variation in Star Dragon patterning after all? Maybe it means nothing. He hoped. Or perhaps she had something wrong, albinism maybe? Was that possible in Star Dragons? He had no idea. We'll keep an eye on her. She'd have a lot of people looking out for her, she would be okay, hopefully.

"Exactly," James said, steadying Matt. "I mean, neither of us can verify that taste or smell are really as good as people say, cause we can't sense them. And I can tell you that color exists, but I could be part of the color conspiracy, for all you know." This conversation was very good for distracting James from all his worries. He appreciated it.

A bot arrived with Matt's wheelchair at that point.


~~
Ellie couldn't hear Kay and Starr's conversation, so she kind of ignored their glances in the baby's direction. "You wanna hold Luna now?" she asked Armin quietly, not wanting to wake the baby. Starr had said Armin could hold her too after all.

Matt laughed "Yeah, you're all against me with your colour perception!" He declared dramatically, pulling away from James so he could ease himself into the chair. Oh that was better. He looked at the crutches, considered how to also carry them, shrugged and stuck them into his "pocket", disappearing them in a manner that was probably pretty surreal and borderline comical to watch.

---

"it would be an honour." Armin told Ellie, oblivious to Kay and Starr's conversation. He approached carefully, wondering if the child would remember his voice from her time inside her egg. Would his mind be familiar to her?

"We just pretend color exists. It's all fake," James said. He watched Matt vanish the crutches into pocket space, looking impressed, "Dang, that disappearing trick is cool."

Matt grinned. "I can do proper magic tricks too, you know, the kind that don't involve any actual magic?" He took out a coin and ran it from finger to finger backward and forwards a few times in a show of dexterity.
"tadah?" He laughed. Maybe not as impressive as real magic huh?

"You really are a man of many talents," James said with a laugh. "Can you teach me your ways, or are they trade secrets?"

Matt snickered "Nah I can totally teach you. Never know when it might come in useful, impressing people, lifting something you need... " He really was a born thief wasn't he?

"Totally. Someone has to have these skills, just in case." James liked this idea. "Being honest and law-abiding is great, but sometimes it's not the answer, right?" He smiled. "I bet you can't wait to teach your kid all your tricks."

Matt laughed "Hey I can try!" He hesitated, wondering if Thalia and the baby were okay and what his son or daughter might be like. Would they inherit his abilities? Thalia's? something else? Man it was hard to know.

"I'm sure the kid will be a rule-breaking prodigy, just like you," James told Matt. He saw Matt's look of concern and added, "You okay, man?"

Matt nodded "Yeah, just.. it's hard being so far away you know? I just.. hope everything's okay. I mean, it's not like this is a straight forward situation. Thalia's... a keeper and i'm... fuck knows what, a bizarre hybrid. " He shook his head "It'll be fine right? She'll be fine. " It wasn't like they'd had any scans done before the war broke out now was it? He changed the subject "Did you know we're both twins?" Man, there better only be one kid, he wasn't sure he could handle two at once. Yeek.