Upon Vestia: Chapter Twenty-One

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Luka made a face. "gross. Computer, regular clothes please." She looked relieved as the gown disappeared and she was just in her usual cargo pants and vest. "Who should we go annoy then?"

Kay had noticed the gun yesterday and figured Asher would explain when he wanted to.
He got dressed, combed his hair out of his eyes and clipped his own gun and medical kit to his belt. He didn't put his shoes on though, he had no intention of trying to work today, he was well aware that he was going to be pretty much useless till this was all over.

Asher finished getting all his many items together, carefully checking everything to be sure it was secure. "All right, next we look for breakfast?" he asked.

Sawna nodded "Yes, like Ethan." She said then shrugged "I wanted to come here and explore a bit then find a way home later."

"Adventurous." Web smiled softly, wondering if she was running from something, he preferred to believe her account though. It was more pleasant.
"How are you finding it so far?"

---

Kay nodded. Yes, breakfast. One step at a time. He picked up his tablet and made for the door. [And after that?] They needed something else to do, argh.

Ellie started busily eating her sandwich, listening in.

~~
"Hmm," Asher thought the question over as he followed Kay. "Give me a couple minutes and I'll think of something."

Kay looked grateful and headed for the mess.

Mourn, Armin and Esk had already started breakfast.

Esk had ended up translating for Armin so he could talk to Mourn, which was annoying, he wasn't even sure HOW he got roped into this.
Damnit.

"you need to learn to sign." He told Armin flatly.

"That is an excellent idea!" Armin agreed.

Kay and Asher walked in.

---

Amity arrived at the cafe, hologram flickering into life as he entered the room and sensed people.

"Good morning guests." He declared merrily.

Web stared at Amity. Okay, that was new. "Good morning." He bowed his head.

Amity smiled, replicated the gesture and moved to the counter, phasing through it to the other side. "Good morning Sawna, I trust you had a productive evening?" He engaged small talk, he was learning small talk.

Asher smiled at the diners, not entirely happily, but in a friendly way at least. "Good morning," he told them, trying to look like he belonged here even though he never really felt like he belonged anywhere near people who were eating.

~~
Ellie waved at Amity. The giant tree hologram drone really was cute, in his odd way. She sort of smiled.

Sawna smiled and shook her head "It is not quite what I expected, though I should have" She said then looked to Amity as he came in, waving to him "Good morning Amity, yes, I learned quite a bit last night."

"Curious, Ethan suggested similar." Web smiled softly. "Is that a good thing?"

"Excellent." Amity nodded and looked back at Ellie and Web. "You aren't Mattias." He told Web matter of factly.

Web laughed. "No, i'm not. I'm Web."

Amity paused. "I have no record of a guest by that name." He tilted his head.

"I'm uh.. just visiting." Web explained.

"oh." Amity processed that, then nodded. "then enjoy your stay."

Web nodded, that was... profoundly weird. He looked back to Sawna.

---

Esk nodded vuagely at Asher and completely ignored Kay.

Kay went to get food, sitting down and looking to his brother. [How are you feeling this morning?] He asked.

Esk snorted. "Just peachy." He replied dryly.

Kay frowned, fine, be that way. He shook his head.

"Good morning." Armin bowed his head to Asher and Kay in turn. "It's unusual to see you around for breakfast my friend." He told Asher. "Sit with us, please."

Mourn licked his plate.

"It is neither good or bad, it simply is." Sawna said with a shrug. "Some things are better here and some things are worse here. It is a balance though not fully flipped."

Asher sat down, more than a bit grateful for Armin's invitation. It made things less awkward, although of course the awkwardness of watching people eat was always there. "Thank you, I don't often find reasons to be here," he said with a smile.

~~
"Yeah, people who are good here are so evil there," Ellie said. "And the other way around. My duplicate wasn't evil, she was just crazy. So maybe I'm the evil one." This was a good, distracting topic.

Armin nodded sympathetically. "Nor I friend." He'd slid a straw under his mask to drink.

Mourn looked at Asher. "Why you here?" He demanded bluntly.

---

Web shook his head. "I'm not sure it's quite that simple." He mused over what little he'd been told about his mirror self, he sounded totally nuts. But Ethan and Asher both appeared to be coherent and not evil.

"To enjoy the pleasure of your company," Asher said. It was a vague answer, but it was better than saying he was there because he and Kay were busy angsting about the trial and didn't want to leave each other alone. "How are you doing this morning, Mourn?"

~~
"It's more fun to grossly oversimplify the situation," Ellie said. "But hey, it seems like it could have some truth to it, Ethan wears black and black is the color bad guys wear." She nodded sagely.

Sawna chuckled at Ellie's simplistic view. "Hm, wasn't that Earth hero....Zero? Didn't he wear black?" She asked curiously.

"There fresh meat in fridge." Mourn told Asher. "Smell funny."

"Dawn claimed it was a giraffe. Well, something like a giraffe." Esk shrugged.

"What a giraffe?" Mourn asked.

"Fucked if I know. Four legs, hooves, really long neck?" Esk sounded bored.

Mourn shrugged. "Taste okay though." He licked some blood off his hand.

Armin tried not to look amused, which was so much easier when you had a mask covering most of your face. Horah.

Kay just shook his head and focused on eating his breakfast.

"I noticed a lot of deliveries yesterday, what is happening?" Armin asked conversationally.

"Dawn decided to set up a farm." Esk explained dully.

Kay looked bewildered. [A farm?]

"Yeah, she bought goats. " Esk snickered. "Maybe she decided being a medic was a thankless job?"

[She'd rather farm goats?] Kay looked incredulous.

"Goats? Why she want farm goats?" Mourn asked.

"Not a clue. " Esk shook his head. "She's weird."

---

Web looked bemused, looking down at his own dark clothing.

Asher blinked at the news of Dawn's new occupation. "Well, I suppose everyone needs a hobby," he said, "I'm surprised Vestia was willing to have a farm set up in here, though. Seems like it'd take a lot of space. Where did they fit a farm in?"

~~
"I don't know that hero, but maybe he was secretly the bad guy," Ellie said conspiratorially. She looked at Web, "Present company excluded. We KNOW your duplicate was the bad one."

Web nodded grimly. "So I hear." He shook his head. "There is, i'm sure, an awful lot about events none of my brothers are willing to talk about but at least they were all consistent in their descriptions of the other me." He sighed, and indeed the fate of the other him. Bah.

---

Esk shrugged again. "Ask Vestia."

Kay looked up at Vestia's camera quizzically.

"Farming on ship sound messy." Mourn nodded.

"Well Vestia does have a great deal of space, if feasible, it would enable a degree of self sufficiency, particularly coupled with the water recyclers and hydroponics." Armin reasoned.

"It's a long term plan." Esk pointed out. "Means she wants to stay."

"Oh man, the other universe was a big load of crap," Ellie said. "I mean some cool stuff came out of it too, like the baby dragons and Sawna, but most of it was bad."

~~
"There's a golf course that I repurposed," Vestia said. "I had someone bring in dirt and seeds, and then a bunch of magic users worked together to get it all turned into something suitable for animals."

"Wow. You were busy," Asher looked impressed.

Web nodded. "I'm sorry to bring it up."

---

[Will it work?] Kay asked.

"We have goats on ship? How many?" Mourn demanded.

"I am glad I am on the 'good things' list" Sawna said with a chuckle.

Ellie shrugged at Web's words. "Better than talking about the trial. You and your coffee shop are always good, Sawna!"

~~
"We'll find out if it works," said Vestia. ---Twenty---

Sawna smiled at that and nodded. "Glad to hear that." She said and went back to her place behind the counter.

Web chuckled weakly. "That's a good point. Seems a topic many of you will want to avoid. Perhaps, something less emotionally charged would make for better breakfast discussion though?" He ate his food, savoring it.

---

"and real grass?" Mourn asked.

"Planning to go roll around in it?" Esk snided.

Mourn laughed. "Can!"

Esk glared.

Kay hid his smirk by sipping on his coffee.

"If you can think of anything nicer to talk about, I'm all for it," Ellie said. "My mind is like, on one track right now, so I'm not thinking of much."

~~
---Yes, real grass. Just don't eat the grass while you're out there--- Vestia teased Mourn.

"Maybe we should go have a look today, it sounds interesting," Asher suggested to Kay. He'd like to see happy goats instead of scared, dying ones.

Kay nodded. It was something to do.

Esk rolled his eyes.

Mourn laughed at Vestia's remark.

Armin bowed his head. "It does sound like an interesting project, I hope it is successful."

---

"I'm sorry to hear that." Web frowned a little. "I'm afraid smalltalk is not something i'm overly good at."

Ellie shook her head, "I guess dark caverns aren't a great place for small talk. Too gloomy."

~~
Asher tried to not watch anyone eat. That was always the awkward part about being in dining areas. "I guess we'll all be curious to see how this goes. Maybe if it goes well, we can start being an interstellar traveling farmer's market." He looked amused.

Web chuckled. "I suppose not. There's an old saying I remember hearing once, it's lonely at the top. " He shook his head. "It's nice to have some time to just be me and not Ishvara for a while."

---

Esk made a face. "At least it means we might not have to stop so much for resupply."

[We? You're thinking of staying too?] Kay asked.

Esk shrugged. "I go where my crew goes, if Rigel decides we're going, then i'm going. But the lot of them are getting cozy here, I expect it'll be difficult to convince them to go."

"Vestia good ship." Mourn nodded. "Big, comfortable. Lots of space. "

"What happened to your captain? the Avian?" Armin asked cautiously.

Esk shrugged. "he left. I guess he figured same as me, nobody would want to leave so he counted his losses and bailed on us."

"That is most unfortunate." Armin bowed his head. "I pray he finds what he is looking for out there."

Kay looked sombre.