Vestia's Wanderings
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In the past 10 years...

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Post by flying_purple_monkfish Tue Nov 27, 2018 5:37 pm

(couldnt work out where to put this, so it gets its own thread lol)

Web and Jarral:

As spring gave way to a glorious summer still no word came from either Vestia or Web. Jarral, as worried as the others, did all he could to remain useful but the strain was starting to show.
He and the Kalvair farmer would go to one side and speak in hushed whispers, their fears, their concerns, their uneasy faith that fate would keep the people, and their lord safe.

As autumn came finally came, so too did news. Web himself appeared, dusty and tired looking, thin and older looking than he'd ever seemed. He explained only briefly. The Earth god had lost his temper, the earth had shattered, the caverns had collapsed in on themselves. Many were dead, many more were dug out of the rubble. The people were strong, they were already rebuilding, but in the wake of the disaster food was scarce and the water they relied on so heavily contaminated with dust and dirt and debris.

He apologized profusely for his absence, and only nodded when Jarral asked if he may return home to help.

That evening the topic of Matt and the rest of Vestia's crew came up. Web looked solemn, guilty almost, as if he was hiding something.
When bade to speak he admitted he'd had visions, his brothers were gone, but he did not believe them to be dead, simply, somewhere else. Displaced, misplaced, lost.
Fate couldn't take him to them, could no longer sense them. Something that deeply troubled the man.

Web didn't stay for long, he insisted he must return to his people, but vowed he would search for his brothers, and that he would return as soon as he was able.

Jarral bid farewell to Danika, gifting her a small hook from his dangling earrings as a token, like the rock she had given him.
He had grown to think of her as a friend, alien though that concept was to him. He was eager to return home, but at the same time, felt a tinge of sadness to be leaving this place and these people who had been kind to him.

Web, Jarral and the farmer returned to their home world, leaving Thalia and the children completely alone in that strange old house with its humming wires and flickering lights.

Web would return sporadically, he would arrive to check up on them, to give them any updates on anything he had learned. He had sought out contacts, even extended the olive branch to his sister who he hadn't spoken to in a decade to ask for her help.

Jess scoured the Imperium databanks while Web continued his search at their last known stop.

Here he ran into a woman named Eva, also searching for Vestia and her crew. Her brother, she claimed, was one of those aboard.
Eager to spread their net wider, Web and Eva joined forces, sharing information, he soon learned that she was almost family to him anyway. Esk's half sister, her reasons for trying to find her older brother were something she couldn't quite explain. He was family, knowing he was okay was important to her.

Web trusted her, he had no reason not to.

So still they searched.

Web, exhausted by the rebuilding and the search for his family slowly sank into illness and depression. As his health deteriorated, concerns grew amongst the Kevali people.
None of their medics could treat him for this stress induced condition, and Jarral, by this point a fully trained scribe, knew no cure lay on his homeworld.

He prayed to fate to guide him, to help him to save his lord. He didn't care what happened to himself, only that the Ishvara must live.
The people needed their leader.

Against the Elder's permission he left the Kevali homeworld, shaping space around himself and entrusting Fate to take him to someone who could help.
Fate took him to Jessana.

Despite their bad blood, Jess loved her brother, and agreed to go with the young boy and see what she could do to help.

And so, Jarral took into the underground city an outsider, and thus broke tribal law.

Weakened by the exertion, Jarral could do little more than pray as Jess set to work figuring out what was wrong with her brother.
While she worked Kaliyani tried to keep the elders away, to stop them from finding out what Jarral had done.
It didn't work.

Jess succeeded in reviving Web, nursing him back to health. Jarral's future on the other hand, was not quite so positive.

As much as the elders could accept that what he had done had been out of desperation and loyalty toward his lord, their laws were clear. Leaving without the permission of the council was a crime, one that usually meant you did not return. Bringing an outsider in was a crime as well, outsiders were dangerous, they could bring all manner of disease and calamity to the people. Jarral, the elders decried, had endangered everyone with his reckless decision and had to be made an example of.

Web was still too weak to really argue, but he tried anyway. He fought as hard as he could for Jarral's life. The best he could do was have the youngster's punishment altered to banishment, a crime considered by the Kevali worse than death.
Web however, knew full well that hope lay out there in the stars, and Jarral, though terrified, trusted his lord's decision.

Jarral was branded and outcast, forced to shape space blindly. Web told him as he went “Trust in Fate, she will protect you.”

Jarral found himself back in the Imperium, back in that old house by now empty and gathering dust. Thalia and the children had left years earlier to seek out a safer, less difficult life outside of the Imperium.

Though alone, at least this place was familiar.

Jarral hunkered down and waited, not sure what else he was supposed to do.

A day or two later Web came to him. He had, he claimed, found someone who could keep the boy safe. Teach him, protect him.
Web reasoned that he owed the boy his life, and this was only a fair repayment for such a selfless act.

And so Jarral went to live with Eva, who by now had begun investigations into the demon rift that had formed in the wake of Vestia's disappearance.
She commanded forces that hoped to drive back whatever came through, and Jarral was quickly put to work translating documents and treaties between the nearby worlds.

It was work he enjoyed. Far from the actual battle, he still could contribute, using his own remarkable talent for linguistics to good use.

Soon though, the visions started.

Eva didn't know what to make of these, but when Web arrived to check up she mentioned them and he grew grim.

Jarral didn't need to be told, he already knew why. He understood now why Web had, all those years, kept him so close.

“I didn't know for sure” Web tried to explain. “It was safer for you not to know. For anyone to know. It meant the elders couldn't use you against me.”

Jarral didn't really see it at all. All those years his lord had lied to him, kept his parentage secret for his own gain. Betrayed, Jarral turned his back on his Lord and Father.
Web couldn't really blame him.

--

Thalia:

Thalia and the children meanwhile had taken the shuttle, left the lunar colony and the old house behind and journeyed beyond Imperium space. Thalia, heavily pregnant, was seeking somewhere safe, somewhere she could get medical help and somewhere they wouldn't run the risk of being killed simply for existing.
The Imperium never much cared who left their space, they only policed those who entered, so the small shuttle passed over the border unharrassed and found themselves taking shelter at an old research station just outside of Imperium space.

Unity Station was not what Thalia had in mind for a permanent home, but then, she'd also never planned to be stuck as foster parent to all these children either.
Soon enough she went into labour and gave birth to a daughter, who she named Alana, a name she dimly recalled Matt suggesting once so many months earlier. His mother's name.

With nowhere better to go, the group remained at Unity station. Thalia took a job in engineering, the children attended the station's one school and life carried on.

Web visited regularly, every few months as he had back at the house. At first he visited out of obligation to his brother, to ensure everyone was alright, but as time wore on he and Thalia grew closer, two desperately lonely people, unable to properly grieve for lost loved ones, weighed down by responsibility they'd never asked for and expectations they both feared they could never meet.


2 years into the disappearance of Vestia and her crew, Thalia had grown tired of her new life.
Keepers were never ones for deep emotional commitment, but Thalia craved something more than what she had. Alana only served to remind her of the life she'd lost and Web of her infidelity and betrayal. She was fairly certain Matt was never coming back, that none of them were, and didn't think it fair she was stuck with their kids in the middle of nowhere.
How much of her decision was selfish entitlement, how much was a genuine belief they were better off without her nobody will ever know, but shortly before Alana's third birthday Thalia packed her things and left. She didn't say goodbye, all she left was a recorded message for her daughter and fiance, a man she never expected to see again or to hear the message. It was recorded more for her own benefit than his.

Her message to her daughter explained that she was sorry and that Alana would be safer here than with her mother. Thalia was one of the last of her kind, a race despised across most of the universe and beyond that, she'd hardly lived a life without sin. She knew It was only a matter of time before her checkered past caught up with her, it was better, she reasoned, to go now, while Alana was still too young to remember her.

Her message to Matt was brief. She was sorry, but she couldn't sit around waiting any longer. She had to move on with her life.

Moving on was something immortals were very good at doing.
She detached, let go and disappeared into the stars, leaving one final instruction.

“Don't come looking for me.”

Web blamed himself.

For years he continued to check up on the kids, ensuring they were safe, as happy as was possible and that they knew at least SOMEONE wasn't going to abandon them. Juggling his duty to his people and his obligation to the kids took a massive toll on the man's health.
Even after Jarral's intervention brought him back from the brink of death, Web still never quite recovered his health completely. Tired, stressed, going grey, Web continued to stretch himself too thin.
He just couldn't leave the kids.
His visits however became less frequent, he went from visiting every few months to once every six months, and then once a year, usually around Alana's birthday.

The children grew up, cared for by the residents of the station itself along with Asher and Nova.

The doctor who'd delivered Alana, coincidentally the same woman who had, all those years ago delivered Web and Matt, took on the task of raising the young girl, with the help of her old friends Tias and Professor Cobin.

----

Aketi:

Meanwhile back at the house the “houseplants” had been left during the move. Thalia simply hadn't thought to take them.

The Aketi saplings had outgrown their pots and climbed the nearest trees to spend their juvenile years.
Ten years later the first would be just starting to make their way down from the treetops and seeking out some manner of civilization, in their case, the empty house with it's large walls and plentiful water supply.
Nobody would bother them there, the house was too far out of the way and by now the way too treacherous and overgrown for all but the most determined of traveler.
flying_purple_monkfish
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Post by Kooshie Tue Nov 27, 2018 7:29 pm

(I think this should all be accurate. if you guys see any inconsistencies here, tell me and I'll correct them!)

Bianca
Bianca had enjoyed her months with her little family in the Imperium, spending time with the rats there, and cheering up Moone and the dragon kids when she could. She’d been uncertain whether to stay or go when the hatchlings had relayed the request for them all to go to Unity Station, but had eventually decided that her humanoid family needed her more than her rat family did.

For the next six years of her life, she’d spent her time exploring whatever parts of the space station were safe, as well as comforting Moone and the hatchlings and Alana when they were lonely for their families. She didn’t have a very complicated life, but that was all right with her. She was really just a rat at heart, and her ambitions weren’t all that high.

Her lifespan was longer than that of most of her long-tailed brethren, but even so, her movements started to grow slower as she aged and she spent more time sleeping. Realizing that she wasn’t going to last much longer, she’d done her best to warn the kids ahead of time.

She died peacefully in her sleep, knowing that she’d lived a life better than most rats could imagine.


Asher.
After Vestia had vanished, Asher and Nova had spent a short while searching in the vicinity of the lost ship, before realizing that the growing rift in the universe was a far too dangerous thing for them to mess with. It had to be left in the hands of people a lot more prepared than they were.

Instead, they headed to Unity Station to meet up with Thalia and the kids. It was a bittersweet reunion, but it was better than no reunion at all, and Asher was glad to see the star dragons growing up so well. He was sorry he’d missed their first shapeshifts, but it was still a relief to see them again. If the kids were safe, then not everything was lost.

Since Starr’s shuttle had been teleported such a long distance, the two had arrived before Thalia gave birth, and so Asher probably helped with the delivery. He was, after all, unusually experienced in keeper childbirth.

Asher wanted to do his part to help the children in any way he could, so he took a job as a mechanic repairing ships, deciding that was the best way to earn a steady paycheck here. His resume was pretty excellent after all, especially since he was able to kindly and respectfully force the administrators on his old space station into giving glowing recommendations of his excellent service record. He also did his very best to be a good co-parent to the kids, trying to help around the house, play with them, offer emotional support to all of them, and make sure Moone had the free time to be a teenager if she wanted. He didn’t know what it was like to be an organic teenager, but he was pretty sure they needed freedom.

He gave up on his android rights activism almost entirely, only maintaining his blog, where he wrote about whatever issue was currently at the center of the android equality movement. Otherwise he remained well out of the public eye, allowing the press and the public to speculate if they wished. His reputation was eventually mostly cleared after rumors got out that he was somehow connected to the crew and ship who had vanished, but he never confirmed or denied any connection publicly.

He would help with raising Alana after Thalia left. It was difficult to balance his free time between the five kids and his job, but he was very much a mother hen at heart and so he’d try his best to be there for all of them. It was a good thing the other residents of the space station were there to take such an active role in raising the kids, because five of them was really more than any one, or two, or even three people could manage.

Asher appreciated Web’s attempts to visit, and likely the two would become friends, although Asher also worried about Web's obvious poor heath, wishing he had more medical experience and any way to help the man. He really probably couldn't do much to help poor Web though.

He and Nova would probably become friends too, spending so many years together on the space station. Asher sometimes wished that he and Nova could be something more than friends, but he never told her how he felt. He couldn’t do that, not while he still held onto the hope that Kay might return someday.

The years passed slowly. He watched the news feeds for any sign of Vestia, and hoped every day for the return of her and her crew. He read the news about the rift, and prayed that the crew hadn’t met their end at the hands of the demons on the other side. He waited, and he wondered whether the rest of his family was out there somewhere, living some sort of life in some parallel universe. He hoped that wherever they were, they were safe.
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Post by Starrnico Tue Nov 27, 2018 7:45 pm

Nova stayed with the kids and Asher on the space station, helping teach the young dragons what she knew about being a dragon. She likely got a job too, though she wasn't an engineer and they would want to have someone at home with the kids as much as possible. The help of the people on the station was appreciated and sometimes needed with so many kids.

Danika, Vela and Kerr grew up together. Danika missed Jerral, but she had understood that he had had to go home. She and the others would do their best to blend in and learn from the school and Nova and Asher.
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Post by flying_purple_monkfish Wed Nov 28, 2018 4:46 am

Alana grew up. She was a far more introverted child than her father ever could have been, though more cheerful and willing to socialise than her mother.

If she ever wondered about her parents or missed them, she seldom showed it. It seemed to make her family sad to ask after them, so eventually she stopped doing so.

Being half Keeper of course, everyone rather expected her to show signs of magic but for the longest time she showed nothing. No elemental abilities (likely much to everyone's relief), no shape shifting, no enhanced healing.
She had powers, but they were subtle. She learned to lift lightweight things with her mind, allowing her to read a book, hold a drink and eat a sandwich simultaniously.
When startled or upset she would sometimes disappear, only to be a found a floor or two below looking ruffled, disoriented and annoyed.
Walls couldn't hold her, something that would no doubt become difficult as she got older.
Matt would likely be extremely proud of that.

She liked to read and while she didn't have much interest in engineering, she still liked to see what Asher was working on from time to time.

She came to view Asher and Nova as parental figures, they were the closest thing she had after all, referring to them as "uncle" and "aunt".
The dragons and Moone were like siblings to her.
they were a wierd little foster family, but somehow it worked, mostly.

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Names: Matt, Kay, Mourn, Swarm, Luka, Esk, Armin, Amity, Hewitt, Ivor, Silence

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Post by Kooshie Wed Nov 28, 2018 10:04 am

Asher knew that the kids deserved to know about their parents if they wanted to, so he tried to tell them as much as he could when they asked. It did hurt to talk about the people they'd lost though. All those memories of some of the best people he'd ever met, all of whom he might never see again. He tried to keep his grief to himself, but the kids were smart. They could probably all tell.

He pretty much stayed out of their magical training, after all, he had no experience harnessing magic himself. His involvement generally was limited to being proud and admiring when the kids showed off their new skills, or being concerned if something unexpected happened. Magic teaching was something much better left to Nova.

Lark had visited once. Her niece Grace had stayed on Terra with her new adopted family, so Lark had come alone. She and Asher had argued late into the night in the privacy of Starr's shuttle, struggling to come to terms with the loss of their nephew Finn and frustrated by each other's secrecy and choices. But eventually they'd made peace with each other, and the rest of the visit was pleasant enough, if brief.

In a way, Asher thought these years were the best years of his life. He had a family he loved, and a job he got paid for, and there weren't any horrific battles to fight. If not for the emptiness that was there where he wanted the rest of his family to be, if might have been perfect.
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