Upon Vestia: Chapter Thirty-Two

First topic message reminder :

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

"No kidding. I didn't expect this many people to be here, but I'm not complaining," Ellie told Shane, looking around at the people who were gathering.

"Could be nearly everyone on the ship" Shane said thoughtfully then shrugged "It is a good cause to celebrate after all."

Esk nodded, he liked that idea. "I vote we steal snacks and beer and sneak out." He smirked.

---

Silence nodded "freedom good."

Ivor looked a little anxious as more and more people started to arrive.

---

Matt and Kay turned up.

---

Armin walked with the dragons.

---

Mourn stared at James' hand for a moment, as if not entirely sure what that gesture meant, then slapped his hand with his and laughed. "i good lifting too!"

"Yeah!" Ellie agreed. She waved excitedly to all the dragons and Armin.

~~
"You're a goshdarned hero, Mourn," James told him with a grin. He looked to Silence, "That's the spirit!"

~~
Ethan edged into the room, looking slightly awkward, and maybe a little disappointed when he didn't see the professor there. Not that he cared whether the guy was there or not, of course.

~~
Tala arrived as well, ears twitching with curiosity. She went to congratulate one of the androids, it seemed like something she should do.

~~
Some of Vestia's bots rolled in with food and drinks.

Dawn chuckled and shrugged "Yeah, we could. As long as we show up to show support."
~~~
Starr smiled as she looked around at all those who had come. "Wow, a lot of people showed up for this." She waved back to Ellie and Shane before looking for the androids.

"It'll get them off our backs right?" Esk agreed. Yeah, this seemed like the best plan. Turn up, nobody could say you didn't come, then flee, with food and alchohol.

---

Ellie nodded. "It's pretty great, I haven't seen so many people in one place in a long time."

There were some androids standing off to one side watching a few of the other androids dance. One of them noticed Starr and her people, and waved to them, smiling.

~~
James wandered over to Kay and Matt. "Hey guys. Great news, huh?" He was still grinning like a fool.

Dawn nodded and smiled at that "Yeah, come on, before they can think we won't show up."

~~~
Starr smiled and waved back, heading over to congratulate the androids for being free now.

The androids were happy to be congratulated, and Levi told Starr that he and all of them were looking forward to the day when her species was fully free as well. For now, at least they could celebrate this victory together.

"It is unusual to have everyone in one place like this" Shane agreed

~~~
Starr dipped her head and smiled "I hope that day is soon." She said honestly

"Yeah. Gotta love an excuse to celebrate." Ellie snagged something to eat off a bot's tray. "Wanna go dance? We could do the robot, be culturally relevant like that."

~~
"So do we all," Levi smiled. "This victory makes me optimistic about your victory to come."

Shane chuckled and shrugged "I'm not sure how to do that, but we can try I guess"

~~
"We will be free someday." Starr said with confidence. They had to be, one way or another.

Ellie led Shane onto the dance floor near the other dancers and demonstrated some sort of bizarre dance moves for him. "Let's do this!"

~~
Levi nodded. "I believe you. Your people are strong."

Esk hesitated, nodded and begrudgingly followed Dawn.

---

Kay smiled a genuinely happy smile at James, nodding.

Matt grinned. "Now you really CAN be captain of your own ship!" He told James with a laugh. "It's gonna be awesome."

Shane followed and would try to mimic her dance moves, though he wasn't very good at it.
~~~
"Thank you." Starr said with a dip of her head.
~~~
Dawn headed up to the ballroom with Esk, pausing in the door at the sight of so many people there.

Esk glanced to Dawn. "We don't have to stay long, just to be seen right?" She looked like she didn't much want to do this either.

---

"Go Shane and Ellie!" Matt cheered them on when he caught sight of them. Ellie kinda looked like she was having a seisure but hey, she looked like she was enjoying it.

---

Mourn helped himself to food.

----

Armin noticed Dawn and waved.

--

Luka went to find Rigel to see if he wanted to come and celebrate and dance and stuff. Well, nothing said you couldn't DANCE with your captain right? that didn't mean anything at all, HAH.

---

Ivor found a corner to go hide in, covering his ears as subtly as he could.

Silence meanwhile went to the androids. "Happy yes?"

Levi smiled at Starr. "I won't keep you, I'm sure you have other people to see. Enjoy the party, Starr."

~~
James laughed. "Heck yeah! I'll get my ship and cruise the Terran Empire, and everyone will know me as one of the greatest captains of our time." He smiled. "But in the shorter term, Asher should be able to come back over here in the next couple weeks, and then we can all celebrate together. He might even be here by the time we get the kids back!"

~~
Ellie waved at Matt, still doing her weird dance. She was happy to be dancing with Shane, she didn't care what they looked like to anyone else.

~~
"Very happy," Naomi said to Silence, smiling that robotic smile at her. "This is one of those days that's going to go down in the history books."

Silence tilted her head, then nodded. She didn't really understand history books. "Freedom good." She couldn't really smile, it looked more like a grimace with those tusks and teeth.

Matt would have loved to dance but he really couldn't. Kay found a chair for him and pointed at it, looking stern.

Matt made a face at his brother but sat down, resting with his crutches propped beside him.

[It will be good for everyone to be together again.] Kay wrote.

Matt nodded "yeah, we'll finally have this.. kinda.. normality." He laughed "or as normal as we ever get."

"Yes it is," Naomi agreed. She looked over at Ivor, where he was hiding in that corner. "Is your brother all right?" She'd seen the two shifters around enough to be pretty used to Silence's weird preferred shape, and Moriah had mentioned that Ivor had trouble with telepathy and loud noises. So she seemed more concerned than weirded out at the moment.

~~
"I am so looking forward to normal, man," James said. "After this weird year, and you know, all the crappy but less weird years before that... it'd be really nice to just have an ordinary life for a bit. And then the captain thing later, but that can wait."

Silence nodded "He hear People think too loud, hurt head." She was pretty used to Ivor's minor meltdowns, she sort of tuned it out now. Besides which, she knew he was mostly okay, he wasn't actually panicking, just a bit uncomfortable.

---

Kay nodded. It would be nice to have his 'family' back together. He missed both Danika and Asher terribly.

Matt smiled broadly. "it's gonna be awesome." They totally deserved some normal surely?

"Does he need to go somewhere quieter?" Naomi asked. She wasn't the biggest fan of organics in general, but hey, if the guy was getting mentally overloaded, maybe he shouldn't be here, she figured.

~~
"Totally," James agreed. He looked to the other androids and his smile faltered for a moment. Even with all the good news, Lark was still radio silent and Emma was still, well, gone forever. They had succeeded, but it was by no means a perfect victory.
He forced the smile back onto his face again, trying his best to block out any and all negative emotions and just enjoy this moment. "I mean man, we have soo earned a relaxing cruise vacation!"

"need learn." Silence shrugged. "Or never be able live." She was much of the attitude Ivor needed to just get used to it. She probably didn't really fully appreciate how loud things were to him.

---

Matt frowned for a moment, noticing that fleeting expression. He reached out a hand. "It's okay man, we totally deserve a vacation. A proper break and.. I dunno.. some good."

Kay nodded. He was trying not to think about the fact they still had no idea if their brother was alright, just wanting to focus on the GOOD news for once.

Naomi watched Ivor for a few seconds, trying to decide if she agreed with Silence's assessment here. "Well, you do know telepathy better than I do," she said.

~~
"Yeah, it'll be great to just get to just travel and see the universe," James said. He didn't want sympathy right now dammit, sympathy meant that there were still things to be unhappy about, and right now he didn't want to acknowledge that there was any reason to be unhappy.
He knew that Matt and Kay had worries as well still, which he also didn't want to acknowledge right now.
The androids were being freed, so this moment couldn't be flawed. It just couldn't.

Silence nodded. "half breed always struggle." She explained simply.

----

Matt nodded, smiling again. he was good at pushing negative thoughts down, it was how he coped day to day. "Man, we should get vestia to put on like, proper cruise ship events and stuff!"

[What are cruise ship events? ] Kay asked, not totally sure he wanted matt's explanation.

"you know like.. music nights and kareoke and like... dances and shit. I dunno, just.. shows and entertainment." Matt shrugged.

Kay wasn't sure how that was any different to how they currently passed time but he nodded.

Naomi nodded. "All right." If Ivor needed to leave, he could just leave, she decided. Didn't concern her.

~~
"Yeah, stuff like that. Make people dine with the captain and shame them if they don't wear fancy enough clothing," James said, trying to joke. "Well, maybe not that. But it would give Armin lots of business opportunities, at least."

"We should just dress fancy ALL the time." Matt declared

"Good point," James agreed. "I, for one, look really handsome in a suit. And I bet you do too." He batted his eyelashes at Matt.