Upon Vestia: Chapter Thirty-Eight

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Shane nodded agreement. "Let them sort themselves out, when they are ready, if they ever are, they can admit it publicly as Starr and Armin have done with their dating.

~~~
Danika chuckled softly and shrugged "It's just part of the game, most of the situations are made up things to give a reason for adding money to your bank." She waited for him to put the amount in then picked up the dice to roll them, using the chance to show him how they were normally rolled without saying so. She landed on the starship (train) and immediately bought it

Web tilted his head. "to be perfectly honest, I don't believe the Imperium have any idea the Kevali even exist. Both the sister races keep much to themselves. And to the Imperium all aliens are the same anyway. " He shook his head. "the bigger problem is that i'm an objector." He pulled up his sleeve to show the tattoo on this wrist, the same as the one Matt had. "Though legally they won't shoot you on sight or anything, it does mean you're more likely to have someone spit in your food or short change you."

Matt made a face. "Assholes."

"yes... well." Web shrugged. "My politican position is something that as far as I know, the Imperium neither know nor care about." His expression darkened for a moment. If the Imperium had cared, they likely wouldn't have killed his father, nor sent he and his brother to a workhouse for refusing to enlist. He tugged his sleeve down again. "I would suggest if you do decide to use my chip that you let someone else pay for things. Just in case."

"Good to know." Rigel said, making a note to send to Starr for her to pass on, if Web's ID was needed. "Though if Matt is going, we probably won't need yours, and only need one dragon, probably." He added thoughtfully

Web nodded. "Whatever is neccisary." He smiled softly and looked to Matt. "You should go have your talk." He advised.

Matt looked reluctant but nodded. "fine. Come on Asher." He led the way.

Kay shifted awkwardly. He wasn't really needed now and he wasn't sure what to do with himself. [You mentioned money.]

Web nodded. "Why don't you come with me? I'm not very good with money." He chuckled weakly. Kevali didn't use money and what little barter they did do was pretty loose.

Kay nodded and glanced to Rigel. [Do you need anything else?]

---

Esk shrugged and went to find popcorn, really just using it as an excuse to avoid questions. He could have easily just asked Vestia to send a bot.

"I don't think so" Rigel said, getting a blank chip to copy the information onto then giving Kay a smile. "I know how to get ahold of anyone I need to if I do need anything. Might go find Mourn to see if he can make sure there will be no surprises for us."

~~~
Dawn just looked to the screen, trying to focus on the story to figure out what clichés they would use next.

Asher nodded to Web gratefully. "See you all later," he said to the group, before heading after Matt.Time to have a serious talk. Or rather, another serious talk. This day seemed to be full of them.

Matt was waiting in the hallway, fidgeting.

----

Kay nodded curtly.

Web smiled and bowed his head. "I hope things go smoothly for this endevour."

Asher followed Matt out and nodded to him. "All right, shall we find somewhere to sit? I have a few things I'd like to discuss with you."
If that sounded slightly ominous, he didn't particularly care. Lana mattered a lot more to him than maintaining his friendly persona for her dad did.

Matt looked dubious but nodded, his expression somber. He had a feeling he was about to get a lecture.
He followed along.

Asher led the way to a nearby lounge, and took a seat, gesturing for Matt to take one as well. "You care about Lana," he said, "You care about all kids, for that matter. That's something we have in common."

Matt nodded, still looking suspicious. He remained standing.

"Asher... listen.. I know it's not great. Lana's been through a lot and I definitely don't want her thinking i'm running off on her, I WON'T abandon her... but I can't just do nothing here. It'll be a hell of a lot less dangerous with genuine citizens involved. Satare is my first language, I know the currency system, I know the transport network.... I know the area. Yeah it's been a while, but outdated information is still better than none. I know the dragons are good at pretending to be other people, I have no doubt their language is great too but they don't know the culture or the ... what do you call them, turns of phrase? " he waved a hand, trying to think of the word. "those things people say that don't make any logical sense but we all say em anyway because we know what it means..." He shook his head and clasped his hands together. "It's just a few weeks. Then i'll be back again."
He looked pained, he was trying to justify all this to himself as well.

Asher watched Matt, frowning. It was a good thing he couldn't get a neck cramp, Matt really was very tall. "You aren't wrong about any of what you just said, but I don't think that's where you're most needed right now. Luka is already going, and she's on much better terms with the Imperium than you are. She doesn't have your knowledge of your homeworld, but she knows Satare culture, and can probably get any information she needs by asking.

"You have a daughter here. Her mother left when she was two, you vanished before she was born. I've tried to make sure she knows she's loved and wanted, to explain that you never intended to leave, and that Thalia only left because she thought it was the only way to keep Lana safe. I'm not sure Lana always believes me, but I've tried.

"Lana wants to get to know you, she's trying, even though she was nervous at first. But you two have only exchanged messages for a few weeks, and only met in person for the first time yesterday. I can't tell you for sure how she'll react to you leaving, but my intuition says she won't take it well. You're such a new part of her life, if you leave now you could miss your best chance to earn her trust."

Matt averted his gaze. "i know the timing isn't great." He clasped and unclasped his hands. "I just... I need to fix this... all of it." His voice cracked. He took a deep breath. "I should have been there for her, for all of them." His hands clenched into fists.

----

Esk made popcorn and dug around for some chips as well. He stood up too quickly, the world spinning. He gripped the counter tightly, closing his eyes and waiting for it to pass. "damnit..." he muttered. It was easy to forget he still hadn't recovered and overdo things. Frustration burned in his chest, he'd been through worse injuries damnit! But brain injuries were a bitch.

Dawn turned to look at him at the quiet curse, frowning a little. She got up, heading over to him and grabbing some drinks, glancing to him then away. "We almost forgot drinks, want any help carrying that?" She asked gently

Esk sighed. "yeah.. fine.." He looked annoyed, but he looked away from Dawn, not wanting to make eyecontact.

Asher sighed. "The Aketi situation? That's my fault, my oversight. Believe me, I want to go out there too and help find them, try to help fix the situation I let happen. But it's not useful to make this situation be about our own guilt, we have to set that aside and do whatever will help the children the most.

"The Aketi kids don't need us specifically, they have no attachment to us because they've never met or heard of us. There are other people who can go find them, and are more than capable of bringing them to safety. But the kids here do specifically need us. They're going through a big change in their world, and it'll be harder for them if you or I disappear just because we felt too guilty to stay."

Dawn nodded and made a platter of air to carry all the food and drinks for them. "Alright, ready to make fun of the movie now?"

Matt frowned. How was it Asher's fault? "I sent Thalia there, I trusted her to keep all of them safe. " His hand twitched slightly. "If I hadn't gotten hurt... I would have gone and gotten them like we'd originally planned. I fucked it all up." He fell silent. Asher did make a lot of sense. He finally slumped into a chair with a loud sigh, rubbing his temples. "I just... need to fix it... everything's such a mess." He sounded miserable.

---

Esk frowned, he was definitely having a harder time hiding his emotions these days. That was probably Dawn's influence. He didn't really feel much up to it but he was willing to fake it, it meant he could pretend things were normal.
"we need a worse movie."

Dawn chuckled and headed over to sit, setting the food and drinks on the table and settling in. "Alright, we can certainly do that."

"What do you think? Shitty horror, shitty action? A comedy that just isn't funny?" Esk asked, coming over and settling down in a seat. He always kept some distance between himself and Dawn out of paranoia, sitting just as close as he felt comfortable which was to be fair, closer than he sat to most anyone else but still.
"I mean this one is shit but it's not funny bad you know?" He started scrolling through options.

"I like picking apart the action ones, but comedies are good too." Dawn said thoughtfully, taking the popcorn bowl and setting it between them so they both could reach.

"It wasn't wrong of you to trust Thalia," Asher said, "And even if you had made different choices during the battle you might still have been hurt; that's the nature of going to war. We all knew the risk when we chose to fight."
He folded his hands together loosely, looking at Matt. "I can only imagine how all of this must be for you, everything that's changed so suddenly. But you're not alone, there are lots of people working to make things better."

Matt hunched in on himself, resting his head in his hands. "i hate this." He mumbled.

---

Esk picked a dumb action comedy and opened the bag of chips to eat.

Dawn smiled, looking to the screen and watching to see what the first of many cliché lines or tropes would be used in this movie.

"I know," Asher said gently. "Everything that's happened is a lot to take in. I'm sorry," he added hesitantly, "I wish I had found a better way to give you the news about Thalia initially. I know I didn't do that particularly well."

Matt nodded faintly, head still in his hands. "there was no good way to break that news." He muttered. He was thinking about the Aketi kids, about all that was still broken. It hurt.

"it doesn't feel right asking the Star Dragons to take another risk for us."

"I guess there wasn't," Asher agreed. He considered Matt's remark, "Some of the Star Dragons have skills that are very useful for this mission, and they offered to go. Yes, we do ask them for help a lot. But this crew has been worn out for... months of your time. And going into a place like the Imperium? That narrows down who can be sent even further. It's not like they'd let Tala or Skye in."

Matt sighed. "true. But if those chips don't work..." He fidgeted awkwardly now, like he didn't know what to do with his hands. "This would be so much easier if we could just ... " He froze. "the shadows? What about the shadows? If they can take Web home why can't they take someone to the Imperium?"