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.

Shane smiled and nodded "Alright, just use medium heat to cook it, eggs cook fast." He said "If you stir it while it's cooking, you get scrambled eggs, stir it before then let it cook and you get an omelette." That was the basics of it anyway.
~~~
Luna chirped softly, she liked Tala, she was different than the others and could talk. She sent happiness back to Tala and Armin.

"Starr is well, or at least putting on a good show of it. She wouldn't want us to worry about her too much." The dragon answered with a shrug. He knew more than some of the others, so he understood the depth of that question.

"I mean, she'd go for that. Who doesn't want a husband who can cook? It's just useful," Ellie said. "Thalia eats food, therefore she'd love it if you cooked." She nodded.

"Oh man, I have to decide between scrambled eggs and omelettes? That's tough," James said. He turned the heat to medium.

~~
Tala companionably mirrored Luna's happy thought back at her, then looked to Armin again. "You have healed from your molt fully now, I suppose?" she asked curiously. She figured he must be, to be out here around so many people.

~~
Ethan nodded. He wished Starr could just be fine, but he knew that wasn't how this worked. She might be brave and tough, but that didn't mean she wasn't hurting.
"I guess she isn't alone," he said uncertainly, looking around the room. So many dragons, so many hatchlings. Starr's experience might have been awful, but it certainly wasn't a unique one here. "I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not though. It's awful both ways."

Shane chuckled and shrugged "Well, you were going for omelette before, right? You can just continue with that."

~~~
Luna purred and circled around in Armin's hands before settling to sleep again.

~~~
"No, she is not alone in this, which may be helping in it's own way. What happened isn't good, but it is good for her not to be alone in it. We can work out the psychological side together." It was basically just like group therapies, just without the psychologist to lead it.

Matt grinned at Ellie, solid reasoning there. "Just can't really taste what i'm cooking.. or smell it that well." Oh well. He could sorta smell things, just not as strongly as most people could.
"Man, scrambled egg... that's nostelgic. I mean we usually just sucked the inside outta them, but sometime Olin decided that was gross and we should eat something proper. Apparently cooking it makes it proper." He chuckled, it was weird logic.

---

Armin nodded. "yes, thank you. I am much better now. It is a relief." Aww Luna's happy feelings were sweet and warm and lovely. He pet her head and smiled beneath his mask. It was hard not to fall completely in love with baby star dragons and his own strong paternal instinct didn't much help. Nor did his complicated feelings toward Starr.
She'd probably just get a lot of love, affection and adoration from him.
He couldn't do telepathy unfortunately. What a shame.

"Do you believe she would benefit from speaking of it?" He asked carefully as Luna went back to sleep. He wasn't sure starr wanted to talk about it, so he'd carefully avoided the subject. Much as he tried to ignore his own difficult past.

---

Ellie snickered. "Just read the recipes super carefully, and don't deviate from them in any way. I'm sure you can impress Thalia with your cooking skills."

"Okay, guess we'll do an omelette then, cause that was the plan," James said. He blinked at Matt, "Eating raw eggs? Ewwww." Not that he knew what that was like, but it sounded squicky to him, the way blood grossed him out.

~~
"I am gladdened you are healing," Tala told Armin. She watched him and Luna, Some people just seemed to have parenting in their DNA, and Armin looked to be one of them. It was sweet.

Ethan nodded at the dragon's words. "Yes, I'd imagine it's a little easier when the people around you understand what you've been through, especially when you're telepathically linked to all of them." Ethan imagined being on the receiving end of an entire species' pity would suck, it would suck less if they understood instead.
He looked at Armin, "Whether she would want to talk or not, we definitely could use a therapist around here, to have that option open for everyone." He still wasn't totally convinced that Esk would be the right person for that job, although he respected Esk's plan to fill that position.

Matt shrugged "they're a bit.. lumpy." He laughed. "you know where the yolk starts? It's a bit wierd... But you know, you can just poke a hole and suck the egg out.... " Apparently that wasn't something anyone else did, huh, go figure.

---

"An excellent idea my friend." Armin agreed. "It is a pity I know not of any on board with such expertise." Maybe one of the star dragons did, but they'd all been slaves hadn't they? so... probably not. What a shame.
He bowed his head to Tala. "my thanks."

Esk wandered into the medical room, where he sort of assumed Kay would be moping.
He was right of course, Kay was there, doing soduku on his tablet again and drinking coffee out of that stupid least worst mom mug.

He glanced up as his brother came in and frowned, he just automatically assumed Esk was here to be a jerk, mostly because he usually was.

Esk smirked. “Relax.” He sat on the edge of Asher's desk which got a disapproving frown from Kay. “How's Starr?”

Kay stared at Esk for a while, blinking. Trying to wrap his head around how unexpected that question was. Since when did you care?

Esk shrugged. “She tried to help me, she's kinda defacto captain and she's a pretty big deal. Plus if she goes crazy she'll take the whole ship down with her.”

Why do you assume I know? Kay countered, not sure he wanted to discuss this with Esk.

“Because that's what you're like, this whole.. obligation to go stick your nose in other people's business, pretend you care.”

I DO care. Kay's eyes narrowed.

“Whatever. Point is, if anyone's gonna force themselves to go see Starr and her bastard child it's you or Ellie. Ellie hates me so... “

Since when did you care if people hated you?

“Yeah well I don't, she's just kinda annoying about it. It's not so much the hate, more that thinly veiled fear, it's fucking tedious.” Esk shook his head. “So how's Starr?”

Kay shook his head. surprisingly well adjusted considering.

“Yeah denial's a fucking great thing right?”

I don't think it's denial.

“Resignation then, Whatever. My point is, do you think she's actually okay?”

Kay frowned, he wasn't totally comfortable with this line of questioning. Why don't you ask her? Actually no, he shouldn't do that. Actually no, don't. Leave her alone.

Esk smirked. “You really think i'll just make things worse don't you?” He snickered. “Thanks for that confidence.”

I think she's strong. Strong enough to get beyond this and not let anger and hurt cloud her judgement. Starr is, if nothing else, extremely good at reigning herself in. She's very controlled. a little too much so, he thought. He remembered how easily she'd adopted her alter ego's persona back in the mirror universe. How she'd mentioned part of that woman's self was still inside of her. It unsettled him a little.

“You're worried.” Esk observed.

Kay rubbed the bridge of his nose. Of course i'm worried. She's been through a lot, we all have. I don't think there's anyone on board who doesn't have some awful story. But.. I trust her.Mostly. You know, when she wasn't using him as a lab rat. Sometimes Starr's methods were a little.. unethical. She meant well though, he was certain of it.

Esk watched Kay curiously, nodding slowly. “and the kid?”

She's fine. Kay replied tensely, he wasn't about to bring up Starr's concerns to anyone else, it was something he considered confidential, told in confidence and nobody else's business.

Esk could tell Kay wasn't telling him everything but he nodded again. “You think everyone else can look beyond her origin?”

I don't know. I hope so. Kay averted is gaze. He was starting to understand why Esk cared. He had a personal stake in this. Funny, he never much thought of Esk as having empathy but that was the only explanation he had, he felt sorry for Luna, their shared origin something he seemed to want to protect her from. Starr and the other star dragons will keep her safe, will love her unconditionally. Like any parent would.

“like any parent SHOULD.” Esk corrected cooly.

Kay flinched. He just couldn't see his mother in the same light Esk did. He couldn't stand to. He couldn't quite accept that she didn't love Esk, that she didn't do everything she could to help him. She MUST have, Esk was just bitter, but he was wrong.

Esk knew Kay didn't believe him, Kay has always deluded himself, always remained willfully blind to what was right in front of him. It was one of the many traits his brother had that pissed him off. He just couldn't see the value in lying to yourself, especially when the truth was so blindingly obvious.

Everyone here will love her. Will help her. It's not her fault, it's not Starr's fault, nobody is going to take it out on either of them. She'll be fine. He had to believe that.

Esk grunted. “Any idea who the father is?”

Kay shook his head. just that he was a full blooded dragon. Starr said her heir wouldn't be a true heir otherwise, and that she wouldn't have her eyes. I don't exactly understand how that works but, she's certain he was a full blooded dragon.

“Wonder how he feels about it. If they ever told him.” Esk mused aloud.

If he's even still alive. Kay shook his head, it was all just awful. Do... you think your father will save them? The Star Dragons. Do you think he'll get them to freedom?

“Oh yeah, I mean, I'm sure he'll find some nasty way to twist it but he'll free the dragons. I wouldn't put it past him to arm them to the teeth and tell them to go get revenge, that seems like the sort of shit he'd do. “

I'm not sure that's a bad thing...

Esk laughed. “You really have no idea what a piece of shit my father IS do you?”

Kay glared I heard the same stories about him growing up. I don't think my opinnion of him could be much lower.

“oh just wait, he'll find a way. He always does.”

Why do you stay in contact? Kay was genuinely curious, he couldn't quite fathom it himself. Did Esk really hate their mother that much that he was willing to ignore what Hytar had done to her?

Esk sighed “Because I don't really get a choice. He tracks me down whether I want him to or not, I think he actually enjoys how much I hate him. Every time i've tried to kill him he's just laughed, like it's a fucking game. That's all any of it is to him, a game. And I don't want to play any more. I'm tired of it.”

Kay's expression softened. It couldn't be easy, having this link to someone you knew was such a monster.

“You've got it easy I guess, you know, not knowing who the fuck your father is. Means you can just make shit up, not have any inconvenient reality to mess up the illusion.” Esk looked away, picking up the small plush toy on Asher's desk and fiddling with it.

Kay tensed. Don't play with that. He cautioned.

“Did a better job on this one than yours.” Esk remarked, pointing at the other one on the shelf. “Didn't quite capture your scowl.” He smirked.

Kay rose from his seat, holding his hand out. Stop it. He was protective of those poorly made plushies, they were a gift and beyond that, it was the closest thing he had to company most of the time with the real Asher gone. That was really sad wasn't it? To invest so much emotion in a damn cuddly toy caricature out of desperation and loneliness.

Esk handed the plushie Asher over, dropping it into Kay's hand and smirking. “You didn't flinch.” He remarked.

Kay returned the toy to the shelf alongside his own cuddly doppleganger. You're wearing gloves.

“I've always worn gloves.” Esk pointed out.

Kay frowned then shook his head. You don't really want to hurt me.

Esk nodded. “It's taken you nearly 2 decades to figure that one out, you know that?” He eased off the desk and stood up. “Stop moping. Asher's fine. The Terran empire's taking it all very seriously.”

They haven't arrested anyone from megabrain yet though.

“Yeah, those guys must have a huge army of lawyers protecting them, or a lot of money for backhanders. Either way, I doubt they'll ever see justice done. Still, who cares? You can't wrap everything up in a neat little bow. Bad guys get away with shit, life isn't a movie. But Asher's safe, for the time being anyway. He's pretty smart, he won't get himself into trouble.”

Kay stared at Esk, was that actually a.. compliment.

Esk smirked. “Yeah, I actually don't mind Asher okay? I mean I can't see why the fuck he's devoted himself to YOU but beyond that rather massive lapse in judgment, he's usually pretty sensible. Good in a crisis.” He'd grown to appreciate Asher's ability to detach and drop into demure non threatening act. It was useful. Also the guy seemed to be pretty perceptive in general, which was helpful. Their short time in those cages back in the mirror universe had shown Esk what Asher was really like and hey, the guy wasn't a total waste of space. He could actually be pretty damn useful and he obeyed instructions. Good soldier.
“He'll be fine.”

Kay managed a weak smile.

“keep an eye on Starr okay? And the rest of those Star Dragons okay? The last thing we need is one of them freaking out and blowing a hole in the ship.” Esk continued casually. The sooner this ship got a qualified therapist the better huh?

Kay nodded. Of course. He was still rather confused by all this. Was this just Esk's keep everyone safe thing? He'd never really managed to get a grasp on his brother's motives, Esk was just plain weird in his opinion. A very strange, very prickly person who occasionally showed glimpses of not being a total ass. It made Kay a little sad, he rather wished Esk would drop the act already and just be nice. But then he wouldn't be Esk would he?

“you need to get better games on that thing.” Esk pointed at the tablet, smirked and headed for the door.

Kay shook his head, sitting back down again. That was profoundly strange wasn't it? Esk was a very very strange person. Kay doubted he'd ever understand him.

Shane shook his head a little "Cooking eggs makes them safe to eat, there are some sicknesses from them just as any raw food. Of course some of that depends on allergies and genetics." He said then shrugged. He would watch James and tell him when it was done enough to fold.

~~~~
"I think it is best to speak of it, or any other bad circumstances with someone you can trust. Holding it is does not help." The dragon said as he looked at one then the other.

"Oh man, that's gross!" Ellie said. "Not judging you for eating raw eggs, but they look so slippery and gross." She shivered at the thought.

"I'm all for cooking eggs before eating them, that's why we have stoves after all," James declared, not minding for the moment that he couldn't eat and therefore couldn't offer a useful opinion here. He'd follow Shane's directions pretty well and the folded egg ended up looking only somewhat messy, yay.

~~
Ethan decided against mentioning Esk's career path. He didn't think the guy had made it at all public yet, meaning he probably didn't want people to know yet. So, better not to mention it. "Maybe we should start putting out job listings on we're planning to visit, see if we can get someone to join," he suggested instead.
Therapy made sense to Ethan. Confiding in people you were close to struck him as being dangerous and stupid, but making a business transaction with a professional seemed much safer.

Matt laughed and shrugged "never got sick from it, I dunno, maybe the whole carnivore thing protects me." Hey, he ate most stuff raw or close to raw anyway right?
It was just way less effort.

---

Armin nodded slowly. "An wise suggestion my friend." He told Ethan. He wasn't himself certain he agreed with the dragons, he preferred not to talk about unpleasant things and just sort of bury those memories, they were upsetting and he saw no value in dredging them up unneccisarily.

Shane nodded then shrugged "That's a possibility, Terrans can't eat raw food without getting food poisoning. That is very good James, a bit of practice and you can get that without it being messy at all." He encouraged.

~~
The dragon nodded then shrugged. "Some people find it easier to talk to a professional, it certainly wouldn't hurt to hire one if you can."

~~~
Starr was making her way back to the nursery now that she was done eating and chatting.

"Man, being a Terran is awkward huh?" Matt grinned at Ellie.

---

Luka smiled awkwardly at Rigel (sorry I missed a post omg). "How are you?" She asked cautiously, not sure she was interupting.

Ethan nodded. "It makes sense to have a professional around. Some people like talking to their friends or just repressing everything, but having an option to talk to someone you don't know, in a professional setting, could be useful for some people." He shook his head, "We're probably not making many stops before the Imperium though, damn."

Tala was listening in, ears cupped forward curiously. "There are most likely therapists on my homeworld. Many of the capricorn species choose to pursue such careers, as they are not very physically capable."

~~
"It'd be nice to be able to eat anything without getting sick," Ellie said, "But I dunno, I think I'm okay without eating slimy eggs."

"Me too," James agreed. He grinned at Shane, "Thanks man, you're a good teacher."

"Even with the war ongoing?" Armin asked cautiously. How many Minotaurs were left on Hakon? he wondered why they stayed, then again, he probably was a bit of a coward himself and didn't have that much of an attachment to 'home' thanks to his chaotic early life.

---

Matt shrugged "Yeah I guess it's uh... swings and roundabouts?" He laughed, that was such a weird phrase wasn't it? "You can't eat raw eggs and meat, I can't eat vegetables or dairy"

"I'm fine, how are you?" Rigel asked, moving some wires then setting the thing on his desk. "That's enough of that for now." He said a bit jokingly. He wanted a break from it after all.
~~~
Shane chuckled then shrugged "If you say so James. I just like sharing what I know with my friends."
~~~
"I am sure no one here would mind the addition of another species to this ship." The dragon said thoughtfully. It would be even better to have them with such a useful profession.

Starr reached the nursery, pausing at the door too listen into the conversation curiously.

Tala nodded. "Evacuating an entire planet is no easy task, so some are forced to stay for now. Others choose to stay. It is harder for the capricorns to evacuate, as they require specialized living conditions to survive, so there are likely to still be therapists there." She wasn't very happy about that, but it was the truth. She looked to the dragon, "It does mean housing them is rather difficult and costly though."

Ethan noticed Starr, and looked awkward. "Hey Starr, we were just, uh, talking." About her mental health, sort of. Oops.


~~
"Yeah, guess we all have our things we can't do," Ellie agreed. "It balances out."

"Whatever reason you do it, I'm happy for your teaching, man," James told Shane. He slid the omelette onto a plate, and set it on the counter. "Feel free to sample it. Please, nobody burn their mouths!"

Starr smiled. "Hello Ethan, I heard. If we can get some to agree to come, we can help Vestia make housing that is good for them." She said, they could make most anything after all.
~~~
Shane chuckled and shrugged then nodded. "Yeah, a burnt mouth is not fun." He said a bit teasingly. He was curious how it tasted like this, so he got a fork to try a piece, blowing on it to cool it off before tasting it.

Armin nodded. "I pray we will be able to help your people Tala." He bowed his head to her. He sort of considered the capricorns and minotaurs to both be 'her people', same planet and all that.

---

Matt laughed "Already done that man!" He wheeled over to look at the omlette, at least it looked like food.

---

Luka smiled. "What are you working on?" She came over and a little awkwardly sat beside him.

"Vestia could become a ship for aquatic creatures, that is most excellent," Tala declared. She nodded to Armin. "I hope we shall be able to as well."

Ethan smiled oddly at Starr. "Were you listening in on the conversation?" She probably could, he figured, she was connected to her people after all and they were in a room full of star dragons.

~~
"Well don't burn it again!" James told Matt with a laugh.

Ellie went to try some too. It was okay, probably kind of flavorless to Terran tastebuds though.

Matt prodded the egg and put a bit of it in his mouth. "not bad." He grinned at James. "He's a good teacher."

---

Armin kept out of this, if Starr had been listening to the conversation prior to this point he was slightly embarrassed. All that talk about consorts and such. He pet Luna and focused on her. Yep, that was a better thing to do.

---

"Oh good, I'm glad it's okay food," James said with a laugh. "I really can't tell. Like, really. Not sure I'm really the person here who should be learning to cook, come to think of it." Hey, he wasn't trying to pick up any significant others with his cooking skills, and he couldn't eat either. Oh well.

Matt ate some more. Hey, he was kinda hungry okay? "Hey, always useful to pick up new skills." He stated, nodding sagely. "never know when it might be useful."

"Only what I have heard from the doorway." Starr said with a shrug. "Basically just talking about bringing the Capricorns onboard."

~~~
"I am more used to spices and cheese, but it's good." Shane said and smiled softly.

~~~
"Just a little robot, like the bots on Vestia, only just for the Devil." Rigel said and chuckled "What's up with you?"

armin relaxed, nodding. "Welcome back Miss Starr, I do hope you enjoyed your break."

----

"ahh more things I cannot eat." Matt laughed. "as kids we totally used to try, it was like, what can I sneak and taste this time? but it was so seldom actually worth it. I mean a little bit doesn't make us THAT sick, but it's still kinda uncomfortable you know? " He shrugged.

----

"oh how cute!" Luka exclaimed. Cute possibly wasn't the term Rigel expected there huh? She composed herself "I .. mean... what a good idea." Hm, akward. She folded her hands onto her lap. "I just... wanted to talk. We're on our way home, well.. to my home... and... i'm not really sure how to take it all." She looked so conflicted. Rigel was the only person she really trusted to talk to about this, plus he kinda had a vested interest didn't he? He deserved to know.

"Yeah, guess so. Maybe when I own my own ship, I'll need to cook for my crew sometimes," James said. He waved expansively to the fridge, "If you want, you can totally add things to the part that isn't Matt's!" He nodded to Matt, "Yeah, that sounds... kinda super not worth it." He looked amused.

Ellie went to raid the fridge.

~~
Ethan looked a little awkward, he sort of felt like he should admit to having been talking about Starr, but he sort of felt like he shouldn't. He really didn't know how to handle this.
She could probably guess, just from his awkwardness.

Tala didn't seem bothered by any of this. "We were discussing the merits of a professional psychologist, perhaps of the capricorn species,," she told Starr. There really wasn't any reason to be secretive, she figured, there wasn't anything really offensive about the discussion as far as she could tell. "It is good to see you, and to meet your daughter."

Matt snickered "and yet, we kept doing it." okay mostly HE kept doing it, Web was way smarter than he was. Damn... he really hoped Web was okay. He'd be okay right? he was always okay. Well... alright not okay but... alive and coping.

"I did, Sawna distracted me for longer than I expected, but it was good." Starr said honestly.
~~~
"Yeah, like Terrans with lactose intolerance, they can't have anything with dairy." Shane said with a nod.
~~~
Rigel chuckled then shrugged "Well, I am guessing that James is staying, so an alternative way to keep this place clean will be good." He said and looked to her then nodded. "You have changed and you aren't sure if you can fit in anymore? Just remember, you are always welcome to stay on the Devil, if you want. Sometimes it helps simply to have a choice when doing something stressful to you."