Upon Vestia: Chapter Thirty-Six

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Ellie frowned a little at the question. "Yeah, I've talked to them. They're glad to know I'm okay. It's so strange how much older they are now, though." In the photos she'd seen, they both had a lot of gray hairs she didn't remember from before.

~~
Ethan looked amused. "The library's always open. You can stop by any time you want, as long as you don't get sugar on the books."

James laughed. "Who knows. My brother is stupidly patient, so maybe he genuinely thinks she's good, even if he's seen that she isn't." He blinked, looking curious, "She hasn't sent you a selfie yet?"

Matt shook his head. "Not yet. I dunno why."

"I guess she must be kinda nervous about meeting her long lost relatives," James said. "Must be pretty crazy to suddenly have a dad."

Matt frowned. "I suppose so yeah... " He sighed. "I wish we hadn't been gone so long. iI feel like i've missed so much already... "

James nodded. "It stinks. After everything we went though, we come back to a completely different era." And Matt had lost more than most. His future spouse, his daughter's first moments, and probably a lot more than James didn't know about yet. "Your daughter seems to want to talk to you though, right? That's... a start."

Dawn looked over the info on the tablet, making sure it was alright before nodding and looking back to Tori "Thank you." She said gently then turned to Esk, going over to stand beside him. "I figured you might want this." She said gently, handing over the empty writing pad and pencils for him. "I brought some of your favorites if you want to eat some more too."

~~~
Starr chuckled at some of the pairings Ellie said, though she looked sad at the last one too. "I wonder if I should try to help you heal him, or leave things alone."

Matt nodded "yeah, i'm glad for that at least. Kids should have their parents around, it's.. it's important." He looked a little pained.

---

Esk blinked at Dawn and the paper, that was actually.. really thoughtful.
He hesitated though, before carefully taken them from her hands. He was paranoid now, worried he'd hurt her like he'd hurt Matt.

"thank... you." He spoke slowly.

Dawn gave Esk a genuine smile before going over to her plate to eat her breakfast. Yep, he was back to himself, even if speaking slower. Hopefully that would go away on it's own with time and his healing ability. "Do you think you will need another animal?" She asked after a moment. Did he want to try that fast healing or just keep on as he was?

Tori stayed back, letting Esk and Dawn talk. She wasn't too concerned about Dawn, her magic was a pretty good protection if Esk tried to attack.
She could probably leave if they wanted her to.

~~
"Maybe." Ellie frowned. "I don't want to accidentally mess something up. I mean none of us really know how aketi biology works. But at the same time, it does kind of seem like we should be doing more to help him. I'm just not sure."

~~
"Better late than never, I guess?" James asked. "And she wasn't alone all those years so... I guess that counts for something."

Esk shook his head, he hated draining things, and besides, he wasn't convinced it would help.
His healing just didnt work like that.

"Kay.. ran scans... Was going to find you.." Which clearly Kay hadn't actually managed to do yet. Either he'd gotten distracted or he'd decided to give Dawn space.

Matt nodded. "yeah.. It's kinda wierd thinking like.. Asher and Nova raised her.. they're more parents to her than I am." And that kinda hurt. Much as he liked Asher, it hurt.

---

James looked sympathetic, it had to hurt to have someone else raise your kid without your knowledge. "Yeah, that does sound surreal. You're still her dad though, that makes you special, right?" Blood family was supposed to be special, he'd heard Terrans say that sometimes.

Matt nodded. "Yeah..." He'd always believed that, sure he loved his foster siblings like family and he loved Olin, but there was always a void in his life from not knowing his biological parents and it hurt. It was something he'd always believed was important for everyone else, that children SHOULD have a chance to know their parents.

James sighed, not sure what to say. The whole biological family thing really wasn't his area of expertise, and it probably really showed right now.

Matt looked at James. "Don't get me wrong, family is what you make of it. Family are the people around you but... maybe it's because I never knew my parents, but... knowing where you came from, having an idea of what to expect as you get older.. " He shook his head, looking away. "I always swore if I had kids of my own that they would KNOW their parents, that i'd be there for them through everything. And I know that this time thing isn't our fault but I still feel guilty. What have I missed? What has she missed? Does she have powers? Is she having to muddle through like I had to because there's nobody who can teach her? " He sighed. "I wish Thalia had stayed, for Lana's sake, but I realise in hindsight that she was never going to settle like that. Keepers can't do emotional attachment, it's not in their makeup. But I can't imagine how much it must hurt to have your mother up and leave like that. To abandon you. I can't help but wish i'd been there so she at least had one parent who wasn't a complete waste of oxygen." Woah, that was a bit of anger that had been waiting to burst forth huh?

"Damn, that sucks. I'm sorry, man," James said, with sympathy. If Matt had vowed to never let his kids grow up without parents or answers about himself, then it was easy to see why this situation, especially Thalia leaving, hurt him so deeply. He had a lot of good reasons to be angry and crushed by what had happened while he was gone."You're not a waste of oxygen though, you're going to be there for her now. That means you're becoming a better dad, right?"
"It was really shitty of Thalia to leave," he agreed. "I mean, in a way maybe it's good that Lana didn't grow up with Thalia in her life. If Thalia was that selfish, then she probably would have been a terrible mom, right? But I'm not saying it wasn't hard on Lana," he added hastily, realizing that maybe he should clarify that, "I mean, pretty clearly it would be. Poor kid. But dang, Thalia made a bad choice there."

flying_purple_monkfish wrote:Esk shook his head, he hated draining things, and besides, he wasn't convinced it would help.
His healing just didnt work like that.

"Kay.. ran scans... Was going to find you.." Which clearly Kay hadn't actually managed to do yet.  Either he'd gotten distracted or he'd decided to give Dawn space.

"I will go find him after then, right now, it's past time for breakfast for me." Dawn said with a small smile. She didn't want him to worry about anything. She didn't mind him not wanting to drain an animal, it wasn't the easiest to help with that either, even if it was more practical.
~~~
Starr nodded thoughtfully. She would go check on Hytar herself before she went back to Luna, even if she found out there was nothing she could do.

Ellie considered. "Maybe we should go look in at Hewitt, and try to figure out if we can do anything for him," she said. "I know Shane can lend me his power, we tried it before growing bamboo, but you do have more magic experience. No offense Shane," she added, looking to Shane.

"Bad choices were Thalia's forte." Matt shook his head, his tone cold. "Me, Lana, we were novelties, mild distractions and when that novelty wore off she got bored and left. You don't abandon your kid, you don't walk out of their life like that. She was and always will be selfish and honestly? She better never come back." His eyes narrowed, he looked mad.

---

Esk looked at the food Dawn had brought. He liked junk food, it was a luxury to someone who'd spent most of their life living off of rations or whatever they could hunt and scavenge. But he really wasn't feeling that hungry right now. He knew he should eat more than he had been, he just didn't much want to.
He nodded slowly.

"None taken, I am only half dragon and just learning." Shane said softly.

Starr smiled gently "I was just thinking I would go see him and see if there even is anything I can do to help him." She admitted

~~~
Dawn smiled at his nod, though she focused on her food, letting him chill in the quiet as he seemed to want right then.

"She was really that selfish?" James asked. He hadn't seen Matt this angry before, it was honestly a little unsettling. "I admit, I barely met her while she was here. And I never really met the other keepers either, so I don't know much about how they think." Okay, so he'd offered to hook up with Merith once, but that didn't really count as meeting someone.
"But I'm that you're free of her now," he added.

~~
Ellie finished her toast. "All right, let's go look in at him, and see if we can maybe help him. Shane, you wanna come along?" she asked.

Esk honestly didn't know what to say to Dawn, even if he could form sentences without a great deal of effort. He had a nasty feeling the demon had specifically tried to hurt her and not knowing exactly what happened made him a bit uneasy.
The gaps in his memory bothered him, he usually had such perfect clear recall.

He let her eat in peace, fiddling with the pencil she'd given him.

---

Matt shrugged. "yeah." His tone was cold but tinged with sadness. He really had loved her, the betrayal hurt. "Sucks to have to tell my brothers they were right but... they were. Still..." He straightened up. "I dodged a bullet right? "

James nodded. "It's not your fault she knew how to reel you in," he said. "Some people are really manipulative, and love is one hell of a drug. It's definitely good that you're free now."

Matt nodded grimly. "I still feel bad for Lana though, it's not her fault." Poor kid, was he a bit worried about his ability to actually parent? oh yeah. Was he kinda scared she would always see Asher and Nova as her parents instead? Definitely.

"It's not fair that Lana didn't get to have her parents around," James agreed. "Still, I mean, you guys are gonna work things out. She's part of our big, ridiculously complicated family. So are you. That counts for something, right?"

Matt managed a weak smile. "this family tree is getting fucking confusing." He agreed.

"Someday someone's gotta make a chart," James said. "It's gonna be confusing. I mean like, are you and me kinda brothers? How many aunts and uncles does Lana have? And other big questions like that." This was a light topic, suitable for cheering Matt up. Well, James hoped it was, anyway.