Upon Vestia: Chapter Sixteen

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"All those aliens, always hyping up how great they are, and it always turns out to be a lie," James said sagely. "I'm not like that though, I mean I've been known to punch minotaurs. I'd be a proper villain, I wouldn't lose."
He watched as the guy went back into the train, "Ooooh nooooo. They so should not have done that. It is ON!"

Luka nodded and let James help her, wobbling a bit. "Yes, I think their disapproving looks will be quite enough of a deterrent." She swayed awkwardly. "Why do you always feel fine until you try to stand up? " She complained.

"Alcohol is a jerk that way,"James told her. "At least you're thinking sensibly enough, you can be happy about that."

Luka laughed. "Mostly sensibly. " She gestured toward the bathroom. "that way, to water and... a sink to cling to.."

James laughed and helped her to the bathroom. "Compared to some of the drunk people I've seen, you're doing great."

Luka snickered. "Bitter experience I think." She told him. "Drinking games happen... a lot when we're off duty. " She stumbled a bit but managed to get to the bathroom.

"At least you learn. Not everyone does," James said. "You need to like, use the bathroom or anything while you're in here? I can leave you alone."

Luka shook her head. "just drink a lot of water, i'll be alright." She started laughing. "If you leave me i'll probably hit my head on the sink and that'd be so awkward to explain to your brother. Yeah we were just watching porn together, it's nothing." She snickered and turned the tap on, finding the glass that was nearby to fill it.

James snorted. "Asher wouldn't even care. He knows that's just how I roll. Watching porn with my friends in a completely platonic way, perfectly normal."

"you do that a lot do you?" Luka laughed and chugged back the water and poured another.

James thought about that for a moment. "Not as much as I probably should," he joked. "But enough that it wouldn't take him by surprise."

Luka chuckled. "For a guy with no sexual desire, you really do spend a surprising amount of time acting like you do." She downed the second glass of water and then fumbled and grabbed the sink for support as her feet decided they'd had enough supporting her weight. "oops."

James smiled and quickly reached out to help steady Luka. "It's part of my charm," he said.

Luka clung to him. "you're a very strange man James." She smiled. "i'm glad I have at least one friend here that doesn't get embarrassed or stare at me aghast when I talk about sex. "

"You must have a lot of very silly friends then," James said. "Ready to go try and sleep off that beer?"

Luka nodded. "I probably should." She tried to get her footing. "thank you James, tonight's... been really fun."

"Any time," James smiled. "That was just what I needed after all the craziness today." He held onto her so she wouldn't fall.

Carefully she let him guide her back to the bed. "We totally have to do this again." She moved some of the books onto the floor, she'd shelve them again later.

"Yes, this was great," James agreed. He helped her to the bed, then went to pick up the books he had chosen. "Best way to have fun, no doubt about it."

Luka nodded. "We'll have to find more movies." She laughed. "maybe i'll keep the laptop and prescreen for porn." She set more books on the floor. "If I find any with scarred, tattooed scaley guys though, i'll think of you." She collapsed into a fit of giggles.

"You're gonna check for porn first so you don't get drunk?" James pretended to be shocked and disappointed. "Yeah, keep that laptop. We gotta do this again. And email me any scaly scarred tattooed guys you find!" James snickered.

Luka laughed. "Or maybe i'll put the playlist on random and get really really drunk!" She managed to crawl to her pillow and lay down. "I'll send you all the weird alien guys I find don't you worry. But if I end up mentally scarred from it all, you owe me so much therapy." She snickered.

"Fair enough. The learning opportunities will make your therapy worth the price," said James. He smiled softly, "good night, Luka."

"Good night James. You're a good friend." Luka smiled at him and tugged on her covers.

James smiled fondly at Luka, and headed out of her room, dimming the lights by ninety percent as he left. He'd head toward his room, planning to drop off his new reading material to look at later.

Dawn had returned to the holodeck now that it was empty, bringing up her home world and watching the path her family had taken that year. Right or wrong, she felt she had to watch them and try to say goodbye in her own way

Vestia watched in silence from the holodeck ceiling camera, not entirely sure what Dawn was doing, but figuring that if Dawn wanted to talk to her, she would. For now, she just waited to see what Dawn was going to do.

Dawn watched her family walk along, starting to sing a song she remembered her mother singing to her. The program responded by having the woman sing along, since it was a song traditionally sung by females. When it concluded, Dawn sat and watched the family walk away before hiding her face against her arms as they rested on her knees.