Upon Silver Devil: Chapter Three

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[I can't say i've ever seen him drunk actually. I haven't seen him in nearly ten years.] Hmm that'd be interesting. [He got tall.] He smiled oddly, trying to make light of what was clearly pretty awkward and difficult.

Kay looked around at the small group. They all seemed friendly enough. He flinched a little at Tala's words, but had to put it down to cultural differences. The Minotaur was... odd.

[I'm certain everyone would be extremely grateful to make a start on getting away from this bounty. A large ship like Vestia is going to be difficult to hide in any event, but we have to try. ]

Swarm gathered, eager to see this cruise ship too.

Rigel nodded "I do want to see her" He said and smiled.

"I've never been on a smartship before. This should be fun," James said.

Asher took out his tablet and texted Mourn, [James wants you to fix him. Meet us at the shuttle?] He lead the way off the Silver Devil.

----To Defiant!----

--from defiant---

"Asshole's his default state of being." Luka scoffed.

Esk just shrugged at that. He was too drunk to get annoyed by the truth.

"Honestly? I don't think the guy will give me a chance even if I make myself useful " He leant back in his chair. "I'm not so obedient you see, and he can't just order me to shut up. Suffice to say, I have no delusions that my stay here is anything other than temporary. Eventually Vicky will get bored and if i'm lucky, i'll get enough warning to jump ship before the captain decides to send me on a nice little space walk." He managed to keep his tone detatched throughout that, though it was a genuine concern. Funnily enough, Esk really had no desire to die any time soon.
"But i'll tell you what, I won't intentionally rile him up if you stop flirting with me okay? Can't promise I won't manage to piss him off just by breathing though, he's pretty unstable and i'm pretty hard to get along with." He smirked oddly at that.

James had to fight down his sympathy. He knew how it felt to fully expect to soon be kicked out, and he wouldn't wish that feeling on anyone. "Deal," said James. "I won't flirt with you any more, and you won't be a dick to Acus. I can work with that." He actually looked a bit apologetic, although he didn't go so far as to apologize.
James privately resolved to talk to Acus to try and get him to give Esk a chance. He didn't like Esk, but he liked the idea of him being thrown out like trash even less.

Dawn came in and found a seat where she could still hear the others talking. She was glad the others were going easier on Esk now that they were getting to know him.

Esk nodded. "Fine. " He wasn't convinced he could not be a dick to Acus, but given he tended to avoid the lunatic most of the time anyway, it should be easy enough to continue to do so.

"So I guess you guys might not have heard yet, but we're all planning to go with Vestia for a couple weeks," James said. He folded his arms defensively, the memory of Acus' worrying reaction returning to his mind.

"The cruise ship?" Luka asked.

"Why?" Esk asked flatly.

"She's hiring Rigel to change her registration numbers, and the rest of us want a vacation." James sighed, "Although I might be forced to stay here, if Acus won't agree to let me go, since I'm still pretending to be controlled by the Laws."

Dawn frowned and thought about that information. It was a little odd to her, but then it was like her uncle.

(phone replies where. How do you younguns live like this lol.) esk frowned. "A vacation on a wanted ship full of criminals and misfits?"

"aren't we a ship of criminals and misfits? "luka asked." I'm more concerned about the infected "

Esk shrugged `just don't let him bite you."

"I didn't plan on it " luka snapped

"at least you understand the risks."

(It keeps you young! Whoo)

"My brother says Kay is safe, so he's safe," James said loyally. "Plus he seems nice."

(*Grumbles and waves cane* In myyyy daaaay we had 28k dial up and our phones were plugged into walls, and damnit, we liked it that way. Lol. )

Esk looked skeptical. "He's still highly infectious. No matter how much he avoids full moons or how secure their containment cells are or whatever, he's carrying a deadly infectious disease that's extremely easy to pass on. All it takes is an over stressed patient lashing out and biting him or scratching him or something."

"Is he... actually crazy?" Luka asked.

"No, well... not in the tear your face off and wear it as a mask kind anyway. I mean i'm assuming nothing's changed there, but what I remember of him, he's his normal self outside of full moons. His usual spoiled brat self. " Esk shrugged. "He went slavering crazy for a bit when he first got sick, but he got better."

"My mother got sick... when I was a baby. They took her away." Luka looked at the floor.

"Yeah, they shoot them in the head and burn the bodies." Esk told her.

Luka shuddered.

"It's really the kinder option. My siblings refused to do it when Kay got sick, idiots."

"But he got better!" Luka protested.

"Yeah, he was lucky. At the time we had no idea his father's genetics might save him. As far as we knew, the moment we dragged him bleeding back into the compound he was already dead. And as we expected, he DID go crazy for a while. He tried to strangle Mattias one morning, he's lucky he can teleport because let me tell you, Kay may be small, but when enraged he's terrifying. And that's coming from me. He was very obviously sick and we all were just waiting for him to finally die, but he never did. After about a year we just accepted he was going to make it and our new life was to never sleep for fear of our own lives every full moon."

"How did you survive?"

"Very very well reinforced cellar door."

"But you didn't just shoot him." Luka shook her head.

"oh I wanted to, but my older siblings outvoted me. They just couldn't stand the idea of killing him, they would have rather let him die a slow agonising death as the virus killed him. As I said, we had no way of knowing he'd survive not just more than a month, but fourteen years. But I can't help but wonder, in all those years, how many people has he willfully endangered by refusing the warn them about his condition. It might not kill him, but it'll kill just about anyone else he comes into contact with and it's a horrible way to die."

Luka nodded, falling silent.

Dawn frowned and looked down at her hands. She was getting a lot of information about this disease than she had thought she would even want to know

James sighed. "Well that's pretty nasty. I'm sure they're taking every precaution though, and maybe someday they'll make a cure." Thank goodness Asher was a robot though, he secretly thought to himself. Hypocrite he might be, but the idea of Asher being in danger would have totally changed his opinion on this. At least he was immune, the others would be fiiine.

"the Empire's been working on it for years, no luck yet. Then again, it's magical and the empire has no magic. " Esk shrugged again. "Maybe someone else will have better luck but i'm not gonna hold my breath."

"Are they really taking every precaution though?" Luka sounded wary.

"He hasn't told most of the crew. If he won't tell them, I will. they deserve to know the danger, even if the risk of infection's small, they deserve to know. " Esk sounded pretty set on this.

Luka nodded. "i'm not sure how happy I would be being on a ship with an infected. Even contained, I just... they scare me."

"Almost every precaution," James amended, sighing. Okay, so Esk did have a point. This was NOT ideal. "I'm sure Kay will talk now everyone here on Silver Devil knows, right? It'd be silly to try and keep this lie up with his own crew."

"You say that... " Esk shook his head. "I dunno. "

James groaned. "He isn't another compulsive secret-keeper, is he? Please, noooo."

Esk shrugged. "I haven't seen or communicated with him in like ten years. I DO know he's an great liar, always was. And stubborn as a mule. He's also a selfish brat who puts his own comfort ahead of anyone else's safety. If he was gonna tell his crew about his condition, he'd have told them by now. "

"Great," James grumbled. "I mean I get it, there are some things you just don't want to talk about ever, but still. Bah." He sighed, "So, uh, you guys gonna run away with Vestia and me? Maybe we can get someone to see reason."

Esk looked uncertain. Stay here with psycho captain... or jump ship with... his brothers. Which was less painful?
"What does the captain think about you running off to join the circus?"

Luka glanced toward the captain's quarters. "If he okays it... otherwise it's mutiny and... i'm no mutineer." She spoke quietly, as if scared he was listening in. She looked to Dawn. "You'll want to stick close to your uncle right? And.. someone has to protect him, just in case... "

James looked nervous. "When I talked to him, he didn't sound pleased. I don't know what he really thinks about it though, he kicked me out too soon." Now that he was able to disobey and do what he wanted, he had been finding that he had more and more of a conscience, and it was weighing him down a lot. Poor Captain, he needed someone to keep an eye on him.

"he NEVER sounds pleased" Esk countered.

"We shouldn't leave him all alone here though, it's not... safe." Luka almost whispered that last bit. "I go where the captain goes." She nodded, yes, even if he was an insufferable sexist asshole, He was still her superior officer and captain, which meant a degree of loyalty was owed.

James glared at Esk. "He was happy-ish when I found old cookies for him. Don't go making inaccurate claims!" He added to Luka, "Maybe we should bring him with us?"

"He still hasn't made a will. If he offs himself, you'll be sent back to Mars right? and everyone else is outta a job. " Esk pointed out in a near bored tone.

"Maybe... maybe it would be better to stick together... all of us." Luka looked concerned. "I mean... it would only be for a short while right? how long does it take to change a ship's registration details?"