Unity Station

First topic message reminder :

Just outside of Imperium space, a small but well equiped research station.

Unity is a joint venture between multiple worlds, hence the name. Xenobiology, anthropology and astronomy are some of the things researched here.
There's a small school, a few shops, one or two tiny restaurants and a coffee shop but generally speaking, the majority of the inhabitants are either researchers or family of researchers.

The chief of medicine is an insectoid woman named Yessalia.
Chief of security is a man named Tias.

"All right. Well, if you want to come visit at some point before we leave, the offer stands!" Ellie said. She looked to Vela and Kerr, "Ready to take these guys home?"

"Yeah, I will." Elvis said with a grin and nod

"We are" Kerr agreed and smiled back at Elvis. "See ya around."

Ellie waved to Elvis and to Elizabeth as they headed out. "Thank you guys!"

"Your welcome" The pair said, holding the door so they could leave easier.

Ellie headed with the kids and kittens back to Vestia.

Vestia and Tala watched as they returned, Tala sniffing the air and tilting her ears forward, Vestia with her camera turned to follow the little group. They were curious about this, there hadn't been many pets on board before.

Kerr and Vela waved to Tala and Vestia as they came back to the ship. "Hello again, we got the kittens now."

Tala went over to look, nose twitching. "They are so small," she said. "It is fortunate that they can fit so well in boxes. What names to them will you give?"

Kay nodded slowly, Asher made good points and honestly, Ethan and Esk weren't people he must wanted to spend prolonged periods of time with.
If he could hand off the obligation he would.

[I think Ethan is trying to be good.] He wrote, looking thoughtful. Not that he really believed Ethan was bad, just very broken.

Esk stopped walking once he'd managed to get out of sight of Kay and Asher, looking back at Ethan with a grim sigh of resignation.
"I don't want a nanny." He muttered. No, but sadly he needed someone with him and he knew that. Didn't mean he didn't resent the shit out of it.

Asher nodded. "Yeah. He contacted me a couple of days ago to tell me about James, because he was worried about him. I've never been overly fond of Ethan but... he does seem to be trying." And yet despite all the evidence, Asher always distrusted the guy. He felt a surge of guilt at the thought.

~~
"Well I think someone will shoot me if I leave you right now, so I'm sticking around," Ethan told Esk. It wasn't clear whether he was joking or not. "But if it makes you feel better, I'm not a nanny. I'd be terrible at a job like that, all the damn kids would hate me."

Kerr blinked then shrugged and looked to the one he was carrying. "This one I'm naming Lynx." His was an orange striped kitten who loved to play

"I want to call mine...Grace" Vela said with a smile. Her's was a calico, just like her mother.

The last was nearly all black with tiny specks of white under the chin and on the chest.
(Added pic and Danika's kitten's name (Starlight) to the baby dragon character info page)

Tala nodded. "Lynx and Grace. Most satisfactory."

"Danika will be naming the last one later, I think," Ellie added, looking to the kitten she was transporting. "Unless she already named it and I just don't know."

"I am sure it will also have a pleasing name," Tala declared. She looked to the kids again, "Be mindful that the kittens do not become savage like the plains cats of my homeworld! We shall not be pleased if they claw our faces!"

Vestia's lights turned faintly lavender with amusement.

Esk managed a faint snort which might have been amusement, might have been derision. It was hard to tell.
"Kay won't shoot you, he'd just give you bitchy glares." He lowered himself into a convenient nearby bench and sat, looking tired.

----

Kay patted Asher's arm in a manner her hoped was reassuring as the other two dropped out of sight.
He too felt a stab of guilt, he hadn't even thought about James. Whoops?
[What did he say?]

"Matt, Dawn, or Asher might shoot me if Kay won't," Ethan said with a shrug, sitting down a good distance from Esk on the bench. "I'm going to play it safe on this one and stick with you, a bullet to the data bank would fuck up my plans."

~~
Asher smiled weakly as Kay patted his arm, he understood the gesture and appreciated it. "He didn't tell me much, just that James had done something awful and I should contact him. But from what James has told me since then, Ethan talked to him too, and gave him advice that actually helped him a little."
"Has James seemed okay lately, by the way?" Asher asked. He didn't know about that fight, and how thoroughly James had been avoiding Kay since then.

Kerr and Vela nodded "We will teach them to be good." Kerr agreed

"Good. Train them well, young ones," Tala said. She patted Kerr on the shoulder, much more gently than she usually slapped the shoulders of adults. "It will not be easy, most cats are of foul temperament," she added.

Ellie giggled. "Yeah. Uh... let's go get these kittens moved in now."

"We will, these already love us. It helps to know what they are thinking and such." Kerr said quietly, smiling up at Tala before nodding to Ellie. "Yeah, let's set up their stuff."

"Mind-reading small cats," Tala mused. "To what has the world come? We have fallen so far from grace in these dire times." Her ears twitched though, she was joking. "Farewell!"

Ellie snorted, waved to Tala, and headed with the kids and kittens onto Vestia.

(To Vestia!)

Kerr flushed a little before he saw her ears wiggle and realized she was joking. He grinned then and waved, following Ellie and Vela on to Vestia

Esk shrugged. "I don't think Matt even knows HOW to fire a gun and his eyesight is shit so you're probably safe there." He managed a weak smirk.

---

Kay frowned a little and looked away. Honestly, he hadn't really thought to check on James and didn't know quite how much he'd told Asher.
He shook his head. [His usual beligerant self?] He guessed. Certainly James had seemed his usual annoying self when he'd last seen him but he'd not really been in much of a mood for anyone else's crap.
Not that he often WAS to be fair.

Maybe he should feel guilty but really he just worried Asher would think poorly of him for not worrying about James.

"True enough. So are you the only good shot in your family, then?" Ethan asked. "I assume your sister and Web must also have shit eyesight, since they're part Kevali too. And Kay always seems to stick to medic work."

~~
Asher frowned, he didn't usually think of James as being belligerent. Then again, Asher thought, Kay and James were both pretty opinionated guys. Maybe they clashed more than he'd realized.
"At least he's not acting different with you I guess," he said. "You guys aren't getting along?" If so, that stank. He liked it when his brother and the guy he was kind of sort of dating got along.

Esk shrugged. "Kay can't hit the broad side of a barn." He looked away, he didn't talk about his foster sister much, truthfully he didn't much like to. "And Web hates guns. He's a pacifist, which given he can throw fire from his hands is.. probably a good thing." He shook his head.

---

Kay frowned, he should lie shouldn't he? yeah, he and James were bestest friends honest. Eugh.
Lies came so easily to him, he very nearly gave in to the temptation but then he looked at Asher's face and realised he shouldn't, he couldn't lie to Asher.
[James reminds me a lot of Matt.] He wrote, not really answering the question at all.

"Oh," Ethan nodded. "Pacifism, huh? He did seem sort of peaceful in this universe, but I would've thought a leader would want to know how to fight. Then again, it's probably hard to fight in a tunnel system you can't even stand up straight in," he mused.

~~
"I can see why that might, ah, cause you some frustration," Asher said. He watched Kay, trying to figure out what the guy was thinking. Had he had a fight with James? Had they not actually spoken recently? Or were things perfectly normal? He couldn't tell; he never had been good at that.
"If you don't know anything, that's fine," he said cautiously. "I was just wondering. I've been worried about him."

Esk shrugged. "fight what? They're communists, all the matters is the people as a whole, not individuals." He shook his head. "Sounds pretty shit to me."

---

Kay's expression was difficult to read, he was doing his very best poker face. He nodded grimly. [Isn't that what older brothers always do?]

"No enemies on their homeworld, just shared misery, huh? I'm glad I'm not a Kevali, their culture sounds damn nightmarish," Ethan said. "Did you meet Jarral yet? He's weird as fuck." Jarral had totally creeped Ethan out. If the other Kevali were anything like him, Ethan thought he'd rather avoid them.

~~
Asher had a feeling Kay was hiding something, but he wasn't good enough at this to guess what it was. That worried Asher, in his experience Kay usually only kept bad news secret.
He let out a tired breath, and nodded. "Yeah, I guess worrying is just part of the job description."

Esk frowned, trying to remember. Damnit, he wasn't used to forgetting things and this frustrated and scared him.
He tried to cover that by shrugging. "Maybe they're all wierd." He rose unsteadily to his feet. "Never been there, never intend to go there. I don't even know where the fuck that system IS. I don't think Web knows. "

--

Kay nodded and smiled weakly. [Such is the peril of being the elder sibling right?] He frowned, hesitated, then wrote [Do you want to go find him?]

Ethan stood, watching Esk's movements carefully, half expecting Esk to fall. "Probably they are. I don't think it's possible to be normal if you're from a cave dwelling society of communists," he said. "Of course you could always teleport in to visit, but why would anyone want to?"

~~
Asher considered that. "If he isn't busy, I should. I should also talk to Starr at some point, I didn't really talk to her earlier." He looked awkward. "I don't want to just run off and leave you though."

Esk made a face. "I'm not sure we're welcome anyway." He shrugged and reached out to catch his balance against the bench. "Besides, i've had enough caves for a fucking lifetime."

---

Kay frowned a little then nodded. [We can meet up later. I should spend some time with Danika.] He was trying to be diplomatic. Yes, he wanted Asher to himself, he wanted to spend all this time with him, he really didn't want to have to say goodbye again. but at the same time he didn't really feel like he could demand Asher's exclusive time. Eugh. And he sort of DID want to see Danika. Wherever the heck she'd wandered off to.