Upon Vestia: Chapter Thirty-Five

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"perhaps this is something we should discuss with the telepaths on board, if any wish to volunteer or... have any suggestions for ways to reduce the risk?" Armin suggested, he cuddled Luna just a bit closer.

Armin nodded. "it is strange to think so much time has passed so quickly. My neices and nephew are almost fully grown." He mused, shaking his head.

---

Esk was stubborn enough to keep moving, heading nowhere in particular and keeping fairly upright... right up till the point he had another absence seisure and his legs went out from under him.

"You have nieces and a nephew?" Ellie looked impressed. "Oh yeah! Berit's kiddos! We gotta meet them sometime! Have you contacted them?"

~~
James let out a yelp of surprise and hastily reached out to grab Esk. He tried to lower Esk to the ground carefully, so he wouldn't hurt himself by falling. Stupid seizures, argh.

Didn't really help that Esk was taller than him, but James did his best.

Armin nodded. "Yes, three. At least. I am... not certain they have not had more children together. it did not come up. I have spoken to Trygve, he is happy and content."

---

Esk stared up at James as he lowered him to the ground, looking momentarily startled. He groaned. "What... ?"

"That's sooo cute," Ellie said. "Spider kids! I mean, who doesn't like spider kids?" She looked curious, "Did Berit get any more husbands?"

~~
"You had another seizure," James said, frowning. "How do you feel?"

Armin shook his head, chuckling. "Apparently not. She is a stubborn one my sister, once she sets her mind to something, she is loathe to change her mind or admit fault." He honestly believed that even if she decided she did want another mate, she'd made such a fuss about not taking a second male she couldn't now do so without losing face.
Silly girl.

---

Esk tried to sit up, rubbing his head. "Fine... " He frowned. "A bit dizzy..."

"Awww!" Ellie squeed softly. "She found her one true love. That's so adorable!"

~~
James nodded, steadying Esk as he sat up. "No surprise there I guess," he said. "Stupid seizures. You're talking, so I'll take that as a good sign at least."

Armin tilted his head. "That is.. one way of looking at it.." He of course didn't agree but he was going to be diplomatic about it. Terrans and indeed many humanoid species seemed to romanticise monogomy.

--

Esk sighed and rubbed his eyes. He felt useless.

Ellie looked confused at that. "It's the only way to look at it, isn't it?" Her species really was nothing like the vavare, and it really showed sometimes.

~~
"Want to go back to your room?" James asked. He felt kinda weird hovering around Esk like this, he kept waiting for Esk to tell him to fuck off or something. Like Esk usually did when James hovered around him for long.

Armin bowed his head. "For humanoids, but Vavare are not, by nature, usually monogomous. "

---

Esk shook his head. "No." He replied simply, trying to get up. He didn't want to go back to sitting in a bed feeling pathetic, no way.

Ellie nodded. "Yeah, I've heard about that." She mused for a moment, "Like that time when you and Asher and Kay went into that supply closet together and didn't come out for a long time..."

~~
James nodded, and stayed near Esk in case he needed help to get up. "So uh... where are we going exactly?" he asked. "You know, just out of curiosity."

Armin blinked. "Supply closet?" He asked. He couldn't remember that.

---

Esk shook his head as he got back up, leaning against a wall for support. "Don't know... anywhere."

"Yeah, in the other universe, remember?" Ellie said. "You guys all went in the supply room to," she drew quotes in the air with her fingers, "restock on medical supplies."

~~
"All right," James said. He still felt kind of weird about all this, but what was he going to do? Not leave Esk, he knew that much. "Lead the way, I guess. When you're ready, I mean."

Armin chuckled. "Believe me my friend, Vavare are not in the habit of being euphamistic about casual sex." He was amused. Though it did remind him of how depressingly celebate he'd been for so long. Damn.

---

Esk sighed. He wasn't one to talk about his feelings really, which was funny given he always forced people to talk about theirs. Hypocrite right? Still, even if he wanted to, right now he couldn't find the words anyway.
He kept on walking for a bit before finally, in a low voice asking. "Have you spoken to Matt?" He spoke slowly and deliberately, each word a struggle to get out, but he got it out.

Ellie snickered. "But Asher and Kay probably looove euphemisms."
She looked to Starr, remembering that they were talking about her son right now. "Sorry Starr!"

~~
James followed Esk as he walked. "No, I haven't talked to Matt yet. I probably should at some point," he said. "Why do you ask?"

Starr was glad she hadn't had anything in her mouth or she would have choked. Stupid memories, ugh. She raised a hand, covering her face and shaking her head. "They do" She managed to say without looking up. She really wished her other half hadn't scanned Kay's memories at all.

~~~
Skye nodded again "Nova seems to be a likable person, as long as you aren't trying to hurt who she's guarding."

Armin shrugged. "Humanoids are, in my experience, often fairly conservative in their predilictions. We sorted medical supplies, I do not believe either of them were in much of a mind to do anything other than work at the time. " He shook his head, those two had a wierd obsession with work... then again, could he really criticise? He liked to keep himself busy too.
He bowed his head to Ellie. "You seem very fixated on the intimate lives of others my friend" He chuckled good naturedly. "I would be quite happy to induldge your curiosity though, perhaps here and now is not the appropriate place?" He glanced to Starr and Luna. "Are you alright Miss Starr?"

Ethan smiled wryly. "There are a lot of people on this ship who seem nice, right up until you hurt someone they want to protect. I wouldn't want to anger a star dragon, I know that much. They're really something else."

~~
Ellie giggled at Armin's words. "Well I mean, who doesn't want to know about what other people do, right? Especially when they're, you know, giant spiders or robots." She didn't intend it to sound offensive, although it probably kind of did.
She noticed Starr's expression, and looked sheepish. "You okay?" She did know that Starr probably didn't like conversations like this. Especially not around Luna. Whoops.

Starr nodded then shook her head "I'm alright." She said then looked to Luna and picked her up to cuddle a bit. "You two can talk about that stuff if you want, but if you are, I am going to take Luna to go play."

~~~
Skye nodded then smiled softly "Yeah, most of these people here are nice so long as their family or friends aren't hurt. Star dragons are scary dangerous when they are riled up. That can be a good thing though."

Armin bowed his head. "Forgive me Miss Starr, i did not intend to cause discomfort."

Starr looked up to Armin and smiled softly "It's alright, I'm not mad, just had some memories pop up." She said honestly, yet vaguely.

Ellie frowned. "Sorry, Starr. I wasn't thinking. We'll talk about something else." She did look curious though, she couldn't imagine what memories Starr was referring to.

~~
Ethan nodded. "We're very lucky to have the dragons working with us, not against us." He smiled slightly. "They were terrifying in the other universe. At least they're friendlier here."

~~
(I think this post got lost, so I'm bumping it up )
James followed Esk as he walked. "No, I haven't talked to Matt yet. I probably should at some point," he said. "Why do you ask?"

Esk sighed. "Scared of me... again." He frowned, trying to explain. "My mother told them to stay away, in case.. in case I did... that.. " He shook his head, trailing his hand along a wall. "Kay still flinches, when I get too close." He stopped walking. "Matt trusted me." Which made it more shitty. Even though they both knew it wasn't Esk in control, he couldn't shake the look of terror in his brother's eyes or the concern that wouldn't be the last time he saw that look from Matt.

Armin nodded. "Yes, that sounds a fine idea." he agreed with Ellie, bowing his head.

Starr looked to Ellie and dipped her head in thanks. There were certainly enough bad memories to pick from to make that vague.

~~~
Skye nodded again. That was certainly true. "I'm glad this universe has nice dragons."

"Oh." James felt another surge of sympathy at that. All Esk's years of being careful not to hurt his family, undone in a few moments. And it hadn't even been his fault.
"Yeah, that really sucks. That demon did so much damage in such a short amount of time." He watched Esk, frowning."I'll talk to Matt later, is there anything you want me to say to him?"

~~
"Okay. So. Uhhh... so... this jam is like, really good," Ellie said, taking a bite of her toast. It was the first thing she thought to say, okay?

~~
"Thank God for that," Ethan agreed. "I guess I should head to the library," he added awkwardly.

Shane chuckled softly at that and looked to Ellie then to his sugar-less breakfast, eating it.

"I'm glad it's good." Starr said with a smile to Ellie. It was a subject change at least. "Have you gotten in touch with your parents?" She asked curiously.
~~~~
Skye chuckled softly and shrugged "If you wish, we may visit later, when we don't have donuts left." She said joking a bit. Yeah, it would be good to not have donuts sugar on their hands when handling books.