Upon Vestia: Chapter Thirty-Four

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"We could stay here and see if Vestia can start getting some movies on file for us." Shane said with a shrug.

Esk sighed and fell silent, closing his eyes. He was exhausted. Mentally and physically.

He lay back on the rather uncomfortable bed and stared up at the ceiling for a bit.

"Sleep, if you can. We will keep watch over you." Dawn said gently. She knew he had to be tired. "Hopefully she is gone for good, given how far from the rift we are now."

Esk nodded, sighing. His head still hurt. He closed his eyes again, rolled onto his side and drifted off. At least he was fairly used to sleeping in uncomfortable narrow beds and in less than comfortable locations.

Dawn would keep watch over him until and unless someone else came to do so.

Ethan had probably volunteered for guard duty, so he might arrive after a few hours to take over, unless someone else had volunteered first.

Dawn said hi to Ethan when he arrived, going to get some rest herself. This had been stressful to her as well.

Ivor, Silence and Moriah would probably finally get a game board made right? hopefully.
Mostly Ivor and Moriah because Silence couldn't even figure out how to use a pen properly.

----

Esk slept for several hours and woke with a start, taking a few moments to actually figure out where he was. He groaned and rubbed his temples. "Dawn?" He looked around, nope, grumpy faced android. Ethan. "oh... " He sat up, wincing a little. Damnit everything hurt. He supposed that wasn't so wierd given he'd been actually DEAD for several minutes earlier but shit.

"Don't suppose you have painkillers?" He asked dully.

---

Kay was of course fretting, Matt stuck with him. Well, one plus side of all this, Esk would be amused to know, was that his affliction had indeed provided just the distraction Matt needed to stop moping.

Web was sombre and remained with his brothers. Though he wasn't telling them much about what he knew of demonic possession, it wasn't something he was overly happy talking about.
He tried to reassure them by pointing out that Jarral knew a lot about these entities and if they'd followed his instructions, Esk was probably absolutely fine.
He was trying to convince himself of this as much as them.

[We should speak to him.] Kay insisted.

Matt frowned. "I dunno... maybe we should give him space... Let him rest "

Yep, Kay was most definitely stressing.

Matt put a hand on his shoulder, resting his weight on a single crutch. "I'll talk to him in a few hours, when he's had a chance to sleep how about that?" Yeah, Kay was probably the last person Esk wanted to see.

Kay chewed his lip. He didn't like this at all.

Web tried to look reassuring. "We can all wish him well once we're sure he's himself again."

----

Armin babysat Luna quite happily. He loved that kid as if she were his own. He'd play with her, chat with her, read to her, whatever she wanted till her mother returned.

----

Mourn, true to his word, took a few hours to get the bounty hunter database thing cracked into and restored Esk's access and status. He looked up to Vestia, tablet in his hands. "Where death man? I all finish."

Moriah and the shifters had totally made a game board. Moriah had probably also tried to teach Silence to use a pen, although probably not with much success. Oh well.

~~
Ethan looked up at Esk's voice, he had been lazily reading some textbook or other. Was he supposed to do that? Who knew. He was doing it anyway.
"She headed off to rest," Ethan said. "I don't have any painkillers with me either. Vestia, a little help?"

"Sure," Vestia said. She sent off a bot to find painkillers.

~~
---Umm, change of plans,--- Vestia told Mourn. ---Turns out Esk was possessed by a demon and that's why he wanted to information. So we probably shouldn't give him any information right now. Sorry---
She hedn't thought to tell Mourn earlier, oops.

~~
James heard the rumor about Esk from... someone. After being told not to visit Esk by Vestia, he went off in search of Dawn. He was freaking out, okay?

"good." Esk replied. Though whether that was about the painkillers or Dawn resting wasn't clear.


---

Mourn tilted his head. "He.. no want tablet back?" He was confused.

---

Dawn had gone to her room to write in her journal. She let James in when he came around. "Hello James"

~~~
Starr returned after getting her thoughts in order. She smiled at seeing Armin playing with Luna as she came in. "Hello Armin, hello Luna" She said, going over to give her daughter a cuddle.

"Is everything alright Miss Starr?" Armin asked.

Ethan nodded, although he wasn't sure what Esk was referring to. Oh well, probably didn't make much difference. "Have your brothers tried to bother you yet?" he asked as they waited for the painkillers.

~~
---I just don't think it'd be a good idea to give him a source of information about the outside universe. Until we know he's not possessed any more,--- Vestia explained.

~~
"Hey Dawn," James said, "Is it true? About Esk?" He looked like he'd seen a ghost.

"I dunno... " Esk admitted. "I was asleep." If they'd been, he wasn't aware of it. Least he hoped he'd been sleeping and it wasn't another blackout. He glanced to Vestia's camera.

---

"Oh.. well I hang onto then." Mourn decided, putting the tablet back down. "you tell when he him again yes?" He didn't seem overly phased by this, but then again, Mourn was wierd.

"Not really" Starr said then shrugged a little "We are hoping for the best, but we didn't get away from that rift soon enough to prevent Esk being infected. Dawn killed him then brought him back, so we hope that rid him of the demon. He's in the brig right now, resting until we are certain he's himself again." She explained.

~~~
Dawn frowned then nodded. "Yes, it's true, but we've already taken care of it." She said calmly.

"I suggested that they should wait to visit until you feel like seeing them," Vestia said. "They decided they'll wait. Matt says he might visit you later."

Ethan smiled oddly. "Decent of them." Yeah, Matt and Kay's mirror duplicates wouldn't have been that thoughtful.

~~
---I'll tell you, yeah,--- Vestia told Mourn. ---For now, free tablet!--- She was going to joke, okay? It made her feel better.

~~
James stared at Dawn. "You guys stopped his heart?! Holy shit Dawn, you could've told me!" James was NOT okay with this, omg.

"Everything happened so fast." Dawn said and shook her head "We had to act fast, he was willing to kill himself to be rid of the demon. With no chance of coming back."

James looked at Dawn disbelievingly. "What did you do to stop his heart?" He was so freaked out by this!

Dawn looked at James and told him the medication she had used to stop Esk's heart before looking away again. "He wasn't in control of himself, I could tell." She added sadly. She had killed Esk, and brought him back, but still. How could she have done that? It had been necessary, even Esk said so, but it still hurt her to think of it. Practicality, that's what first drew them together. She had to stay strong.

Mourn cackled "Maybe I no give back." He teased.

---

Esk nodded. "Good." Yeah he didn't much feel like explaining this to them.

---

Armin's eyes widened. "Killed... what?"

"Did you consult with anyone before drugging Esk?" James was definitely freaked out, so he didn't notice yet that Dawn was hurting already, and didn't need to be lectured right now. "Does Kay know?"

~~
---Finders keepers--- Vestia replied, turning her lights lavender with amusement.

~~
The bot trundled into the room at that point, and Ethan went over to get the painkillers.

"They're not super strong painkillers," Vestia said apologetically, "Tori was worried that anything stronger might be dangerous for you."

Esk nodded. "Sure..."
He stood up and reached through the bars for the painkillers.

Better than nothing.

---

Mourn cackled. "I go back to code then." He settled back into his chair and booted up his computer. Back to the terran united code, yawn.

Ethan handed over the pills. "Need water?" he asked. That was his idea of being nice. Maybe.
Esk's cell bathroom did probably have water he could drink.

~~
---All right. Hope you have fun--- Vestia told Mourn.

Esk shrugged, popped the pills in his mouth and dry swallowed them.
It wasn't overly pleasant but it'd do.

He went and sat back down on the bed.

"So now what?" He asked. He stays there till they all decide he's himself again right? However long that took. Great.

Ethan sat back down in one of the seats Vestia had installed for visitors. "What do you mean?" he asked. "If you're wondering how long you'll be here, I don't know. I guess until everyone thinks you're you. Not sure how we'll tell though, you seemed perfectly normal when we talked a few days ago." He shrugged.
Although they had been talking about losing their minds that day, hadn't they? Funny how that had worked out...

"I suppose we hope she's stupid enough to make herself known... Or I let Starr go tramping through my brain." Esk sighed. He didn't like that idea, he REALLY didn't like that idea, but the pragmatic part of him knew it was probably essential. Eugh.

Ethan frowned a little. "Kind of sucks any way you look at it. At least Starr's not poking through your brain uninvited now, I guess." He frowned, "Stupid fucking demons, making everything complicated."

Esk shook his head. "I don't think she'll like what she finds anyway." His mind was weird and he'd experienced and done some pretty horrific things, if Starr decided to go probing around in his head, it was likely she'd find something she didn't want to see.
In absolute crystal detail.

"Is Dawn okay?" He asked after a few minute's silence.