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."

"Apparently they're a lot harder to free. In ten years, nobody managed to free them. They're kinda bitter about it," James said. Which was understandable. Being subject to the Three Laws while every other android species walked free sounded awful.
"if Mourn manages it, then the Mourn-worship will never stop." He looked amused at the thought.

"Shit.." Matt agreed, taking a swig of his beer "that's shitty. Not even their own company engineers could figure it out? that's nuts."

"He'll be an even bigger hero." Luka nodded. "I can see the appeal of that. How is he going with it?"

"Yeah, people have tried everything they can think of, but the Uniteds are still bound by the Laws. Their creators were way too clever," James said disapprovingly.
"Mourn seems to think he's close to finding the solution," he said, "I don't know enough to tell you if that's true or not. But he's trying hard, and he's only bricked Ivan once, as far as I know, which is probably a good sign."

Matt made a face. "damn.. that's... super shitty."

Luka frowned. "I hope he manages it."

James nodded. "The Uniteds deserve to be free. It's been too long." He sighed. "Yeah. So anyway. Either of you heard any interesting news about the world lately?"

flying_purple_monkfish wrote:Kay bit his lip. [I hope so.] But he knew it wasn't going to be that easy was it? It had only been a few months from his perspective, his feelings for Asher were still fresh and strong, but it would be different for Asher wouldn't it? Honestly it scared him.

---

"They're harder to free?" Matt asked.

"Obsession can be a good thing I suppose." Luka considered.

Dawn nodded, they both hoped so maybe it would be alright? She wasn't sure what else to say now. "Um, do you need a break to eat or anything?"

Kay looked uncertain, there wasn't really any more work to do though. Damn people around here, not getting hurt.
He wracked his brain for an excuse, something, anything that needed doing.
[I should finish this paperwork...] He didn't have any paperwork, he was just trying to keep himself busy.

---

Matt looked thoughtful. "nothing I haven't already shared."

Luka shook her head. "Oh, the Devil is mostly back up and running, so.. that's news yes?"

James smiled. "I still don't trust that ship, but I'm glad you and Rigel got her fixed up."
He actually did trust the Silver Devil, mostly, but he liked pretending he didn't, okay?

"Oh give her a break, she's a tough old girl." Luka laughed.

Matt smiled, Luka's affection for the ship amused him, it wasn't that different from his affection for his little cleaning bots was it?

"Old is the part I'm worried about," James teased. "She is tough though, I'll give you that." He picked up a napkin and started folding it.

flying_purple_monkfish wrote:Kay looked uncertain, there wasn't really any more work to do though. Damn people around here, not getting hurt.
He wracked his brain for an excuse, something, anything that needed doing.
[I should finish this paperwork...] He didn't have any paperwork, he was just trying to keep himself busy.

---

Matt looked thoughtful. "nothing I haven't already shared."

Luka shook her head. "Oh, the Devil is mostly back up and running, so.. that's news yes?"

Dawn chuckled softly and nodded "Alright, I'll come by a bit later so you can eat too."

Luka snorted. "She can take quite a beating"

"Good, without that ship we'd have been screwed." Matt said. "And her crew of course."

Luka smiled sadly. "i'm just glad we all made it out alive. Ten years passing is better than dying right?"

"yeah.. I guess so..."

----

Kay nodded, hesitating before adding. [Thank you Dawn.]

---

Esk meanwhile was trying to draw and finding it increasingly frustrating how little control he seemed to have over his hands.
Eventually he threw the pencil across the room in aggitation.

---

Armin looked to Starr once they'd put Luna down for a nap. "Miss Starr..." He spoke softly. "I want you to know, I do not have any second thoughts about this relationship." He was worried she'd gotten the wrong idea hearing he and ellie talk.

"Your welcome Kay, I hope you have a good day." Dawn said, waving before turning to go.

~~~
Starr smiled and went over to Armin to hug him as well as she could "I know, you would have talked to me about it first. Ellie talks in 'what if's' sometimes. It's just how she is."

James nodded. "I mean, hey, bright side, at least it wasn't twenty years?" He put on a smile. "And that keeper is dead, so that's an extra bonus."

~~
Tori went to pick up the pencil, before looking at Esk in concern. "Maybe you should rest," she suggested.

~~
Ellie looked up at Shane after a while. "You know," she said, "With Matt's wedding off, we should probably be thinking of things to celebrate instead."

~~
Ethan was poking around the library, re-shelving books.

~~
Tala was having a nice workout, she needed to get back in shape after all the lazing about she'd been doing lately.

Armin bowed his head. "I find it curious she is so excited about pairing people up, but once this idea becomes reality it seems to frighten her." He shook his head. "I like to believe she is just trying to keep us safe and happy."
He hugged Starr back.

---

Kay waved half heartedly and went back to work.

----

Matt nodded grimly. "Eva said something about tracking down the last of the family, making sure they weren't a threat."

"It can't be easy to track shape changers like that though..." Luka mused.

Matt shook his head. "No.. but let's face it, can they really resist showing off their powers? They're not exactly the sort to keep a low profile"

----

Esk glowered at her. "I don't want to rest." He snapped. "it doesn't.. help."

----

"Yeah, Keepers are ridiculously egotistical," James said. "If they're still out there, they won't be able to stay hidden for long. I mean, blowing up planets is basically the species' hobby, that's not very subtle."
James frowned at the thought. There was a good chance that if any of the Family were left, the first thing they'd do would be kill another few million people.

~~
Tori offered Esk the pencil. "All right." She supposed practicing might be good for Esk.

Esk resumed his standard glower and fell into sullen silence.

---

"How many do you think are left?" Luka asked.

Matt shrugged. "too many."

Luka looked at Matt oddly. "I thought you were vehemently against genocide?"

"Sometimes it's justified." Matt muttered, taking a long drink.

James winced when Luka mentioned genocide. Yeah, that topic hit pretty close to home for him. He shook his head, frowning. "We're only talking about killing the Family, aren't we? Not all Keepers. So it's not genocide, is it?" That word was unsettling though, regardless.

"Aren't most Keepers IN the family though?" Luka asked.

Matt shrugged. "I only know of three who aren't, and let's face it, are they much better?"

James frowned. Okay, so it was true. Even the 'good' Keepers they'd met hadn't been very good people. Still, he wasn't really sure about this conversation.
"Let's limit our vengeance to the people who'd actually killed thousands, okay?" Merith and Heny had, but he was pretty sure Thalia hadn't.
Then again, maybe she'd killed untold numbers of people too.

Shane stilled and looked to her "We can celebrate reuniting with the kids. At least when we reach the station."

~~~
Starr smiled and chuckled softly. "That she does, it's both good and can be annoying. It's all in good spirits though, she does want her friends to be happy."

Matt huffed and downed the last of his bottle.

Luka looked worriedly at James.

---

"She has a kind heart, of that I am certain." Armin agreed.

"Yeah, and we can celebrate some of the big upcoming holidays," Ellie added, smiling at Shane. "Halloween's in a couple months, and Last Day of Summer, and in a few more months it'll be Generic Holiday Season." She smiled. "We'll need to figure out Moone's birthday and Lana's birthday too, probably. Unless they don't like parties."

~~
"Seriously. You're not talking about murdering Thalia, are you?" James asked. Which he shouldn't be asking right now probably, but Matt was kind of creeping him out now.

Matt snorted. "Of course not" He shook his head. "that'd be way more effort than she's worth."

Luka frowned. "Why don't we talk about something else." She suggested hastily.

James sighed. "Yeah, something else," he said. He didn't know what to talk about though. "Or I mean, we could call this drinking thing done. It's not working as well as expected."

~~
Kay would receive a note from Asher on his tablet.
[I just wanted to check in and see how things are going today. Hopefully they're going well, or better than yesterday at the very least.
You don't have to tell me anything if you don't want to, of course. I just wanted you to know that I'm here if you need anything.]

"one drink is hardly drunk." Matt finished his drink and staggered to his feet, grabbing his crutches. "You know something? I'm outta beer." He reached into a pocket and pulled out a few bottlecaps and laid them on the table. "then again, i'm not sure ten year old beer is any good."

Luka looked confused. "What?"

---

Kay read the message, smiling sadly. He replied [things are as good as can be expected. People are recovering, slowly. How are things your end?]

James huffed out a sigh. "You don't have to get drunk, you know." He picked up one of the bottlecaps, turning it over in his fingers.

~~
[I'm glad you guys are doing okay,] Asher responded. [We're doing pretty well over here. Danika's so glad you're back, as you already know. And I think Lana's been sending quite a few messages to Matt, although I haven't asked her much about it.]