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."

Kooshie wrote:Ellie looked through the celebrations curiously. "I didn't know you guys had set up a calendar with all the celebration dates. That's so neat," she told Shane. "Feast of Dragons is top secret, huh? Very mysterious," she added, reading the description.

"Yeah, with all these elders free, we have been able to learn a lot of what used to be. The Feast of Dragons is kind of secret, it's a lot of coming of age and marriages and stuff like that, basically 'family' only." Shane agreed

~~~
Starr walked with Armin, knowing Vestia would alert her if Luna woke or Luna would. She was relaxed with him finally.

"Vicky was definitely crazy," James agreed. "She got mad at Esk for not being in love with her even though he always said he wasn't, so she punched him in the face and yelled at him. And she ran off to chill with Hytar for a while so... double crazy I guess."
He looked at Luka, he still hadn't had his suspicions about Rigel confirmed or denied yet, after all this time. But he bit them back again and said, "Yeah, Esk's a good guy, but... probably not a great romantic partner."

~~
"That's so nice," Ellie said. "Top secret holidays are the best. We had lots of Humanist holidays that were secret, it was fun." She smiled at Shane, "Which of the dragon holidays are you looking forward to, do you know yet?"

Armin was content to just walk and explore Vestia, he didn't much care where they went or what they did, he was happy with Starr's company. He still couldn't quite believe she'd chosen him.

---

Matt frowned, that one he thought was probably actually true. "Long term casual sex is a terrible idea."

Luka nodded to James and looked to Matt "you speak from experience?"

Matt snorted. "Nah, just known too many people who've tried it. Someone always gets attached and then it's just trouble." to be fair, one night stands sometimes ended that way too. Eugh.

"That's sad." Luka agreed. "Vicky was scary but I hope she's happy wherever she is..."

James nodded sagely. "Things me and Esk learned the hard way. Never ever sleep with someone if you don't want them to fall for you."He sighed. "Yeah, I hope she's happy, wherever she is. As long as she stays far, far away..."
He really had never been fond of the cyborg. The first time they'd talked, she'd picked him up by the collar of his shirt, after all. And after that they'd mostly stayed away from each other.

"Casual sex isn't all bad, so long as you have that conversation beforehand and set out expectations." Luka pointed out.

Matt stared at her, then nodded. "Military right?"

Luka nodded, smiling softly. "Put a group of teenagers together in a high stress situation away from their families, what do you think is going to happen?"

"Sometimes i wonder if I should have just let them conscript me." Matt shrugged. "then I remember what it involves."

"it isn't that bad" Luka began to protest

Matt quirked an eyebrow at her. "You think i'd have lasted long?"

Luka frowned. "probably.. not..."

"though at this rate, dishonourable discharge is a family tradition" Matt laughed.

"I mean, both me and Esk tried to have conversations about expectations, but it didn't really help, they still got attached," James said, shaking his head. Yeah, he was cynical.
He looked amused by the idea of Matt in the military, "You really wouldn't be much good at following orders, and then you'd probably just teleport off or something at some point. Good times."

Matt snorted "damn right. I'm not fighting for someone else's ideals."

"But you have fought, i've seen you fight." Luka frowned.

"yeah, to protect my friends, my family, things that are important. Not to appease an ever greedy Empire's desire for expansion and conquest."

Luka looked disgruntled. "The Imperium aren't as bad as you like to make out." She protested.

"Yeah of course you'll say that, you're from a middle class family, you're Satare. You'd think different had you grown up poor and Hexenfolke." Matt replied cooly.

Luka looked indignant. "I'm not saying they're perfect, but millions of people are worth fighting for! even if you don't agree with all they say and do."

"The Imperium has plenty of soldiers to do just that." Matt chugged his second bottle. "i'll take being branded a coward and a traitor over genocidal conquest any day."

"We aren't genocidal!" Luka snapped.

Matt raised both hands in mock surrender. "Alright alright, displacement and forced relocation then? Is that better?"

Luka glared.

James sighed. Oh boy, Luka and Matt debating Imperium politics. "We could uh... find something happier to talk about?" he suggested hopefully.

Luka nodded, still glowering at Matt. "I agree." She took a hearty swig of her bottle. "What have you got?"

James shrugged. "I don't know. Just.. not you guys ripping each others' throats out?"

"I don't know, I want to experience all of them we possibly can before I can pick any as favorites." Shane said, of course that meant more to him since he hadn't been part of a proper holiday

"Makes sense," Ellie said. "You don't have any that you think sound especially cool yet, though?" she asked, smiling. "You know me, I totally pick favorites sight unseen."

Luka made a face. "I'm not going to rip his throat out."

Matt snorted as if he didn't believe she even COULD. "got any more stories?" He asked James.

---

Shane shrugged again "I like how all of them sound." He said honestly then chuckled softly "I would say Festival of Gods if I had to choose one."

"I dunno about that, I've seen you guys fight about politics before," James said. "Yeah, I got more stories. Wanna hear about the time I heroically saved Mourn from getting reprogrammed in the other universe?"

~~
"Because it happens so rarely, making it extra special?" Ellie asked. "I like the sound of Festival of Gods too."

Shane nodded then shrugged "I want to experience them before I can pick one, but yeah, that does make it more special."

Ellie continued to lazily scratch Shane's scales. "Festival of Rest sounds good too. I mean twelve days of celebrating? Count me in!"

Shane chuckled and settled against her again in his dragon form. "Yeah, that could be fun, so long as you have friends with you."

Matt shook his head. "It's an agree to disagree situation." He decided firmly.

Luka looked distinctly ruffled.

"Tell your story." Matt nodded.

"can Mourn even BE reprogrammed? Isn't his brain half organic?" Luka asked.

"Thankfully there are lots of those around here," Ellie said. "I'm sure we'll have no problem finding people to celebrate with for twelve days."

~~
"Yeah, he can be," James said. "He used to had an Asimov Chip a long time before we met him, he managed to yank it out so I guess it wasn't working so great. But still, if he had a chip installed once, it could happen again." He frowned at the thought, being under someone's control was horrible.

Matt looked horrified. "fuck... they actually... shit..."

"What's an asimov chip?" Luka asked.

"The three laws." Matt explained.

"oh.. OH!" Luka frowned. "How did he yank it out?!"

"Because he's Mourn?" Matt suggested with a faint smirk. Yep, he could believe Mourn did that.

"I guess being half organic must have helped. I mean, it has to be a lot harder to control an organic brain than an inorganic one," James said, nodding. "I'm glad he was able to free himself. And not just cause I wouldn't be free right now if not for him." He smiled lopsidedly, trying to bring some humor to the conversation.

Shane nodded again and smiled "All the dragons would celebrate once the time comes."

"I'm looking forward to it," Ellie said. "We really do have lots of things we can celebrate."

"So, you saved him huh?" Matt smirked.

Shane nodded then chuckled softly "Between all the different species on this ship, there's bound to be something to celebrate every month if not every week." He said jokingly "Even if they are only birthdays"

"Yeah, it was really heroic. I mean, he saved me too soo..." James launched into a highly edited version of his and Mourn's encounter with reprogramming. In this version of the story, Mourn had made a diversion for James before being tased just like in real life, only this time James had managed to carry Mourn to safety, after fighting off ten guards.

Mysteriously, James had somehow managed to not be tased in the fight.

He had hidden with Mourn and those hostages in a room, and had brought Mourn back to consciousness thanks to his great medical skills. Mourn had been really grateful.

Then they'd had a big fight with the other Mourn, and had won, and then the uprising had happened and everyone was freed! Yay.

~~
"There's like a hundred people on board now, so we'll have a birthday every few days probably," Ellie mused. "yep, we're going to have fun." She looked pleased.