Upon Vestia: Chapter Thirty-Seven

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"You mentioned the possibility of using a spell to look into someone's mind. Is that part of your plan to try to communicate with Fate?" Vestia asked Jarral. She wanted to learn as much as she could here. After all, it was her job to protect her crew as well as she could.

~~
"You can paint the light switches in your room if you want," Vestia told Vela. "I trust you not to break anything."

Ellie giggled.

Asher smiled softly. "We'll make sure this goes well for the kids. And if they need to leave the party for some reason, we'll make excuses for them." It didn't matter if they weren't the kids' primary guardians any more, they could still look out for them anyway.

~~
"Shane's a good choice to go invite Jess, because he can probably make himself bulletproof or something," Ellie said sagely. "You guys always talk like Jess is super unfriendly, so that might be ideal."

"You can make yourself bulletproof?" Zara asked Shane. She thought back to meeting Jess last night. "I agree, being bulletproof might be a useful skill when introducing yourself to her."
She wasn't totally convinced inviting Jess was a great idea, but hey, maybe all the magic users on board could keep things safe.

~~
James sat back to watch Mourn work. He didn't have a lot to talk about at the moment, so he figured he might as well watch.

Matt tried not to smirk at the bulletproof remark, nodding to Zara. Yeah, she got it right?
He shrugged at Ellie. "I don't think she does too well with aliens, she always kinda.. embraced the Imperium bullshit pretty keenly. Trying to fit in I guess. Conform.. blah blah blah." He waved a hand dismissively. "It'd be nice for her to chill out but I dunno... She already has Web and Esk both not talking to her... " He rolled his eyes. "Family drama man, it sucks." He looked to Shane. "CAN you be bulletproof?"

---

Mourn set the little bot down on his table, shoving things aside to make space and focused on repairing the little gears so it would stop going in circles. It was delicate work and he worked in an ungainly and awkward manner with one hand but he was quite accustomed to doing this. It just took a bit longer. He dropped the tools a few times, tisked and picked them up, going back to it.

Nova nodded and smiled softly "we did pretty well raising them, even not being their parents, I know they would come to us if they were uncomfortable."

~~~
Shane chuckled then shrugged, looking thoughtful. "I don't know, I guess I could."

"That's not too hard to do, the hard part is keeping yourself looking 'normal' while doing it." Starr replied from her seat. "Plus it is draining to do for long, more so for Shane than some others.

"Being a half-breed sucks sometimes" Shane said jokingly, though it was true.

Matt nodded "yeah, it's complicated right?" He grinned at Starr. "Oh now I wanna see that!"

Armin shook his head, bemused. "Do you really believe your sister to be so readily violent?"

Matt shrugged. "Probably not." He frowned, looking thoughtful. "I dunno. I haven't seen her in like... 15 years." He blinked, then started counting on his fingers "wait.. no.. uh..." He'd lost track. Damn.

"She sounds a little bit like me back when I first came here, maybe she'll realize how great aliens are too!" Ellie said. "I mean I was never scary and potentially violent like she might be, but you know."

Zara looked doubtful. Somehow she didn't think that Jess was going to change her mind the way Ellie apparently had. Even if Jess probably wouldn't hurt anyone, she still seemed intensely loyal to the Satare Empire.
"Do you want anyone to go with you, if you go to invite her?" she asked Shane. "I guess that might be difficult though, if you need to focus on shielding yourself."

~~
Asher nodded. "I like to think that we did a good job, mostly," he agreed. "I hope we'll still have a place in the kids' lives, even now they have their parents back."

"Thanks, but no. If I took anyone it would be Matt, but only if we could convince him to ride in his wheelchair so I could ride on the back down any ramps along the way." Shane said, teasing Matt a little. It did sound fun though, now that he thought about it. "It'd be like the wheelchair races we had in the halls here once everyone had somewhat recuperated."

"See what?" Starr asked, a bit confused for a moment before shaking her head a little "I think I've dodged bullets enough, but if you insist we could show you...you weren't close to me during the battles when magic was available to me were you?" Nope, he had been with the hawk girls and the kids more often than not and the fighting in the guild wasn't with bullets. Hm. "It's basically a spell we call 'dragonskin', it's not foolproof, but it can deflect bullets and most blades."

~~~
"You will always be Danika's dad and the others' uncle, just as I will always be an aunt to them despite not being blood related." Nova said gently, standing and going to him to give him a gentle, quick hug. "We did do a good job, they are all alive, healthy and for the most part happy."

Asher hugged Nova back, then smiled softly at her. "You're right. I guess I'm being silly, worrying that they won't care about us any more."
He shook his head, "I guess I'm just used to feeling like a parent to all of them now, even though we've always said we're their aunt and uncle. And that has to change now, which I'm finding... confusing." 'Confusing' was the wrong word, but he was going to use it anyway.

"I believe I would sooner we all stayed out of gunfights." Armin nodded. He was certainly NOT bulletproof, he was in fact extremely critically vulnerable to such injuries.

Matt grinned and winked at Shane. "You wanna ride me you only gotta ask" He teased, he wasn't going to avoid the chance at a double entendre.
He looked back to Starr and Armin. "That sounds crazy useful. Can you cast it on other people?"

Zara smiled at Shane. "That makes sense. He'd probably be the most convincing person to convince Jess." She looked amused at his and Matt's banter about the wheelchair.
She was trying to keep an eye on Armin and Starr's part of this conversation too, but because of where they were sitting, and because she couldn't lipread Armin through his oxygen mask, that was difficult.

Shane facepalemed at Matt's words, only realizing that he had set himself up for that one then.

Starr shook her head a little "Not directly, though we could cast it onto armor or something like that. It would last longer that way, though I'm not certain if anyone left remembers how to. All guards had to have such armor in the old days." It was clear she wasn't fully 'there' as she thought on the matter and spoke to others.

"It doesn't have to change, at least not fully." Nova replied "We just have to accept that we aren't the only ones in their lives now."

"I'm glad you're more sensible about this than I am," Asher said with a small smile. "We'll get used to all these changes, and be glad we did. It'll be good." Maybe if he said those words enough, he'd believe them.

Armin looked to Starr, hoping she was simply distracted by the other dragons speaking.

Matt snickered at Shane's reaction.

"That'd be useful, being able to put the bulletproof spell on things. I hope you guys discover how to do it again," Ellie told Starr. It was always sad, remembering how much the dragons had lost. Everything, from people to ancient traditions.
She looked around at the group, trying to shake off the sadness, "You guys about ready to do this? I think Matt or Zara should talk to Ethan, cause he weirds me out."

Starr was of course speaking to the elders, such a spell could be useful for many things, if they could do it again. She shook her head a little again and sighed, looking to her plate before looking up to Armin. She could see his concern in his eyes and gave him a small smile. "The others are looking into the armor thought." She said softly to him. "Who knows, we may be able to enchant something for you, to keep you safe too." It did worry her to think of him being hurt from being close to her.

Shane glanced to Ellie and nodded before looking to Zara again. "Have you met our librarian, Ethan, yet? He is a decent guy, though he always seems to look mad."

~~~
Nova smiled and shook her head a little "I'm no better, I just keep telling myself that's how it will turn out and hope to believe it soon."

"Well in that case, I guess it's nice that we understand each other," Asher said, a hint of wry humor in his voice. He certainly didn't want Nova to be worrying like he was, but since she was, at least they weren't worrying alone.

Nova nodded and smiled softly "Yes, we share this worry, though there is nothing we can do about it except be here for one another and the kids."

Armin bowed his head gracefully. "Thank you." He told Starr earnestly. "you are, as always, thoughtful. I have no intention of becoming reckless." He chuckled softly.

Matt looked to Zara. "mm, yeah, Ethan's less bitchy than Esk so let's go talk to him. " He looked back to Shane. "If you do go see Jess, just... I dunno.. don't let her get to you okay? She's not a bad person she's just... well.. kinda... " He struggled for the word. "Indoctrinated?"

"I don't think I've met him yet, no," Zara told Shane and Matt. "Sounds like it'll be interesting." She smiled.

"I'm gonna talk to Dawn, and hopefully she'll be willing to talk to Esk for me, so I can skip that!" Ellie said cheerfully. "This is a good plan."

Shane nodded and smiled softly "Hey, I get to try to use some charm, good practice anyway, right?" He teased. It was a little worrying but not too much so.

Starr took Armin's hand, holding it gently "I want you safe." She said quietly before looking to the other group again. "Shane, please take someone with you. Even if Matt's sister is not dangerous, others still can be."

Ellie considered that. "I could go with Shane if we invite Dawn and ask her to talk to Esk first," she suggested. "I'll be a good bodyguard for Shane. I'm pretty scary when I want to be." She grinned.

Armin bowed his head. "And I will do all I can to keep myself out of danger." He told Starr softly, squeezing her hand gently back. "I would sooner not lose another leg." He was trying to lighten the mood.

Matt nodded to Ellie. "Good plan. Just like... if she gets hostile.... leave?"
He didn't really think Jess would start a fight, she had at least SOME tact but even so. He worried about his friends. "Maybe I should go." Eugh, he didn't really want to though. But he felt bad sending his two closest friends to talk to his sister when he could do it himself.

"I'm sure they can handle her," Zara said. She didn't get the impression that Matt wanted to go talk to his sister, and after what she'd seen yesterday, she could sympathize with that.

Ellie nodded, and smiled brightly at Matt. "Shane and I can do this, Shane's got a shield and I've got beans and a gun, and also we'll totally leave if things go badly, we're not gonna hurt Jess. So you don't need to worry about anyone."
She glanced around to see if Dawn was still here, she wanted to invite her now if she could.

Shane nodded, agreeing with Ellie's words. "Yeah, we will just invite her and let her choose what she wants to do."

~~~
Starr smiled softly and nodded, glad to hear at least one person she cared about wouldn't go looking for trouble. It made her feel better even though she already knew this about him.

~~~
Dawn was eating her meal slowly, apparently having zoned out while reading off her tablet. None of the conversation involved her until recently, so she hadn't been paying attention to the group.

Matt only just noticed Dawn was even here, damn, she was so quiet she just kinda blended into the background. That was a superpower surely? "Hey Dawn. You okay?"

He nodded to Ellie "okay, I trust you guys."

Ellie smiled at Matt. "Yeah, we'll do just fine, even if we can't get Jess to come to the party." She looked over at Dawn as well and waved to her.

Dawn blinked and looked over at the group before smiling a little and returning the wave. "Good morning everyone." She said, trying to be cheerful. "I'm okay" She added, glancing to Zara. Nope, she wasn't saying any more than that in front of a stranger. Even if the others trusted her so quickly. After all, it was the truth in a way. She was okay, not happy, but okay