Upon Vestia: Chapter Four

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As they made it back to Vestia Heny would of dozed off in her chair, semi curled up. Vestia greeted them but seem slightly annoyed about something.

"A hundred percent human, but I didn't grow up anywhere near Earth," Ellie said cheerfully, "So oops, some of my facts turn out to be a bit wrong."
"Aww! Real penguins!" she squeed.

~~
Asher didn't know what Kay's true form was, but it must have not been pretty if people threw things and screamed. "That must have been a relief." He sighed, "People have an odd tendency to fear things they don't understand. It's rather frustrating at times."
'Frustrating' might have been a slight understatement.

Shane chuckled then shrugged."They swim instead of flying, so their wings are more like flippers."

"Who are you? Who are you? Who are you?" More masks appeared, a dozen at the least, and circled her room. The voices echoed back at her, swirling around the area in curiosity.

"We are Followers." They spoke in unison. Some added extra information afterwards, "Followers of our Glorious One!Followers of Inari...

"Inari has tasked us with a most morbid and mournful task, Unfortunate One. She regrets it but it must be done. She has promised peaceful passing despite the Guest's wishes."

Matt shrugged "Makes sense, I couldn't tell you a heck of a lot about the Imperium beyond the one colony I grew up on and there is NO WAY I could tell you about the Kevali wildlife. I've never even seen the surface of that planet heh, they kicked me out pretty quick. Apparently I complained too much." He grinned. "But you'd complain too, I dunno how my brother copes living there all the time. I'd go crazy, like.. seriously crazy.  So I remember something about a farm yeah?"

He looked at shane like he was crazy.

"Birds don't have flippers, that's fish!"

---

Kay nodded. [Not just for me, my mother as well. Whenever travellers came through she'd yell "go hide, don't come out, don't make a sound" and i'd keep out of sight, listening to the trader's talk and the gossip and goings ons from the nearby townships. Even after I could retain this form, it was lonely. It was just my mother and I till she had my brother, and soon after Matt and his siblings came to live with us as well.] He looked around at their surroundings. [You fit in well. Honestly I often forget myself that you aren't.. ] he didn't finish that sentence, he thought better of it.

Shane laughed and looked for a video to show him then frowned and looked away from them. "What is that?" He asked, feeling something different.

Quinn The Fox wrote:"Who are you? Who are you? Who are you?" More masks appeared, a dozen at the least, and circled her room. The voices echoed back at her, swirling around the area in curiosity.

"We are Followers." They spoke in unison. Some added extra information afterwards, "Followers of our Glorious One!Followers of Inari...

"Inari has tasked us with a most morbid and mournful task, Unfortunate One. She regrets it but it must be done. She has promised peaceful passing despite the Guest's wishes."

she whimpered, "D-daddy!" She called out to scared to move.

"What is what?" Matt asked, following Shane's gaze. "you hearing things?"

"Not that I know of." She commented.

Starr frowned and started back, following that sense of oddness.

~~~
"Not hearing, feeling. Someone's using their magic, but it doesn't feel like the ones that should be here." Shane said, explaining as well as he could.

"Forgive us, Unfortunate One." There was a click, and their jaws opened...

Thick red and white liquid, like paints, poured from their open maws. They pooled at the center, and began to form another mask. Oddly, it looked a bit like Syren herself, except it was more vulpine...

Matt looked to Ellie, then back to Shane. "You who and the what now? "

A single scream escape the poor child before she met her fate.

Merith would feel a sharp painful tug at the same time.

Shane sighed and shook his head. "Someone who has a different arcana signature is here and using magic, makes my skin crawl." He said then headed for the door.

The mask was completed, and from it spouted a ghostly figure of a fox. It floated there for a moment, an uncertain empty shell. It turned its head to the girl, and smiled. It rushed forward.

The lock unfroze. It was quiet inside...

Merith felt the tug, and a dreadful emptiness filled him. His face contorted into an unknowing anguish. Vanessa...

I felt it too.

flying_purple_monkfish wrote:Kay nodded. [Not just for me, my mother as well. Whenever travellers came through she'd yell "go hide, don't come out, don't make a sound" and i'd keep out of sight, listening to the trader's talk and the gossip and goings ons from the nearby townships. Even after I could retain this form, it was lonely. It was just my mother and I till she had my brother, and soon after Matt and his siblings came to live with us as well.] He looked around at their surroundings. [You fit in well. Honestly I often forget myself that you aren't.. ] he didn't finish that sentence, he thought better of it.

"I'm sorry you and your mother had to experience that," he said, sympathetic. At the last sentence, Asher flinched slightly. After a moment he said in a dry tone, "Thank you, I think."

~~
"What the hell was that?" yelped Ellie, who had been trying to sense the magic with no luck.

Starr rushed forward to open the door at the scream, wondering what had happened to the girl

~~
Shane frowned and headed for the bedrooms to find out what was going on and who had screamed.

Matt couldn't sense any magic, but he could hear the sudden scream and then the eerie silence.

"Vestia! what was that?" He chased after Shane.

---

Kay looked a little sheepish. [Sorry.] Yeah continuing to explain would only dig the hole deeper right? argh.

The android sighed. "It's all right, I've heard worse." He smiled slightly, "And I don't think you meant it the way it sounded, anyway."

~~
Ellie hurried followed the others, growing very scared.

As Starr opened the door, a burst of cold air escaped the room as several ghostly foxes with masks leaped out and away, running a bit a ways before disappearing into nothing. There was one straggler. It was smaller. A kit, even. It turned to look back at the crew that had collected at the door just once, its Syren-like face looking on in awe, before turning away and continuing to leave out of existence.

Vanessa appeared alongside Starr, staring at the lifeless body of the young child, looking almost peaceful on the floor, as if she were sleeping. Vanessa's eyes began to glow.

Merith's did as well, and the male froze. In unison, both Keeper and Entropium began to silently tear up.

"Syren" Starr called and looked to the child's body, going over to check her for a pulse then glancing to where the kit had been with a frown.

Kay looked awkward [Not at all. You'd think it'd be easier to avoid saying the wrong thing writing it down, but clearly I have a special talent for putting my foot in my mouth without even opening it.] He shook his head. [Point is, i'm still not convinced what you have is artificial intelligence at all. At what point does an AI become a lifeform in their own right?] He waved a hand. [Sorry, there I go again. Let's get these supplies yes?] Yes change the subject, veer away!

---

Matt jogged to a stop as he approached the room, watching the foxes disappear and standing awkwardly in the hallway with his head bowed as he saw the child, he couldn't quite bring himself to ask, by the look on Starr's face, it wasn't good news.

"You're being unusually philosophical. Is everything okay?" Asher teased. "Yes, let's go and get those supplies now."

Heny looked at Merith, and felt her heart shatter as his facial expression change she took it hand, "Merith, merith!" She called out sensing the power build up, "No...no no.." She chocked having gone through the pain herself at what he was going through.

Shane looked at the foxes as they fled, using what Starr had taught him to try to catch the kit in a bubble before it could fade like the others.

Kay flushed a little. [I think i've been cooped up inside too long. Least that's what Matt would tell me.] Okay Matt had also told him to go out, find a guy and enjoy some "personal" time but Kay wasn't ever going to listen to Matt's advice on that particularly aspect of his life thank you very much.
He looked over the list and lead the way toward the nearest place that might sell medical supplies.

Asher looked at Kay curiously for a moment, then nodded and looked at the shopping list, as if his memory wasn't photographic. "How in the world does such a small group of passengers go through medical supplies so fast? My old space station had a thousand people on board, and they barely used more than this."

[One word, Heny] Kay smiled broadly [She really did a number on our sedatives.]