Upon Vestia: Chapter Twenty-Three

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"You have a tablet at least, right?" Asher asked Dawn.

Asher wheeled his way to the door. "See you later, Dawn."

Kay waved vuagely and hastened for the exit.

Asher followed Kay down the hall, glancing at him briefly, but keeping his thoughts to himself. Dawn really had made Kay uncomfortable, it was kind of impressive. Oh well, maybe talking to Esk would help Kay, not relax exactly, but think about something else.

Kay frowned, he could guess what Asher was thinking even without being able to read his mind. He paused, exhaling deeply. [I'm sorry.] He was a very private person, one who grew up in a culture that frowned upon same sex or inter-racial relationships, he hoped Asher understood that. He didn't really want to talk about it though. [She just caught me by surprise.]

Asher looked at him again, smiling softly. "It's okay. We all have our cultural differences, plus she kind of blindsided us. You don't have to explain, I get it." If even Luka, who tried so hard to be tolerant, showed occasional flashes of distaste at the idea of same-sex couples, Asher could only imagine how much worse it was in the Imperium. Kay had his reasons to be nervous about the topic, and that was all right.

Kay nodded, thankful Asher wasn't going to demand any explanations and headed for Esk's door, knocking.

"If you don't have snacks, get lost." Esk called.

Kay rolled his eyes.

"We don't have any snacks, but we'd rather not leave without making sure you're still alive," Asher called back.

Esk grumbled. "Fine."

Kay shook his head and pushed the door open.

Esk was still in bed because moving around was hard when you were so weak and connected to various IV drips and such. He looked irritated under the obvious exhaustion. He really didn't look well, his eyes were sunken and dull. He still managed to glare though.

"Thank you. We'll try not to take too long," Asher said. Kay had the scanner so he let Kay do the scanning. "Dawn says hello, by the way, we were just checking on her."

Esk grunted vaguely. "Shouldn't she be sleeping?"

Kay held up the scanner and took a scan. Examining it carefully.

"So how long before we get this over and done with and I can go back to a normal life?" Esk asked flatly.

Kay frowned deeply. [The Guild's medical staff are still working on people in more critical condition, and getting someone to agree to work on you isn't easy, even with the sway this crew now has with the people here.]

Esk snorted. "They're terrified of me, just like everyone else. " He shrugged. "Bribe them."

Kay looked quizical.

"Here's the funny thing about people, they can overcome quite a lot of their fears if you pay em enough." Esk continued.

[I'm working on it, I think i've found someone willing, it's just waiting till they're free. And till you're in a stronger condition. ]

Esk scoffed. "sure as heck doesn't feel like i'm getting any stronger. "

[Give it time. You lost an awful lot of blood and you need to give your body a chance to recover. If we take you into surgery now, with your blood count so low, there's every chance you won't survive the procedure.]

Esk shook his head. "you really think it'll work?"

Kay hesitated, then nodded.

Esk snickered. "I'll take that as a maybe."

[It's the best chance. While you could live with the liver damage, you'll never have a particularly good quality of life. the ability of the humanoid liver to regenerate coupled with your healing ability should, in theory, allow you to make a full recovery.]

Esk sighed boredly. "How long? Before i'm 'well enough'"

Kay shook his head. [I don't know, a lot of that depends on you. ]

"you mean sticking to this shit diet you have me on?"

Kay nodded. [Once you're well again you can binge eat as much crap as you want, how about that?]

Esk smirked. "I'll hold you to that one."

"Thankfully, from what I understand, your power doesn't activate when you're unconscious," Asher said. "I'm sure the surgeon will appreciate that at least." He smiled, "Dawn is resting, we just had to bother her briefly, like we're bothering you."

Esk nodded, looking away from the two of them. He'd heard his power didn't work when he was unconcious, which only led further certainty to Starr's theory it was all HIM. It sucked.

[Are you alright?] Kay asked warily.

Esk's eyes narrowed. "I feel like shit and I can barely stand, what do you think? Got any more stupid questions or are you two going to leave me alone?" He snapped.

Kay recoiled, nodding.

Asher frowned a bit. Huh, he hadn't expected that reaction. He must have struck a nerve, although he had no idea what nerve he'd hit. "All right, we have the readings we need, so we can leave you alone," he said. "See you later, Esk."

Esk grunted a very vuage goodbye.

Kay shook his head and hastened to leave, he really found being around his younger brother extremely uncomfortable.

Asher followed Kay out, and headed back toward the med bay. "I can hardly wait for them all to be well again," he said wryly.

Kay nodded grimly. [The sooner the better.][

"Are you all right?" Asher asked. Probably a pointless question, but it was better to ask, he thought.

Kay nodded. Then hesitated. [I really don't much like my younger brother.] He looked guilty. [I mean, I love him, but I really don't LIKE him. Does that make me a terrible person?]

Asher looked startled at that statement, then thoughtful. "From where I am, it looks like he doesn't really want you to like him. Your shared history makes everything more difficult for both of you, and I don't think that's going to change any time soon. If you acted on your dislike, withheld medical attention from him or something, that would be bad. But I don't think there's anything terrible about disliking someone, even if they are your family."

Kay still looked awkward and guilty, chewing his lip. [Most people seem to get along fine with their siblings.] He huffed. No, Esk didn't make things easy and yes, their history was pretty difficult to overcome, but it still sucked. He shook his head. [I still love him, he's still family. I would do anything to keep him safe. I just... don't much care to spend a prolonged period of time around him. I suspect he feels much the same.]

Asher smiled lopsidedly. "There are plenty of families full of people who utterly loathe each other, too, often for barely any reason at all," he pointed out. "Maybe someday the two of you will enjoy each other's company, but it's not wrong to prefer to avoid each other."

Kay nodded slowly [I hope so. ] He couldn't help but remember Third's accusations of him being an awful brother, and Esk's own barbs. He shook his head, as if to dispel the negative thoughts. [I should go write up these notes. After that, i think we're free for the time being, unless you really want to continue doing tax forms. ] He smiled a bit weakly.

Asher saw the doubt in Kay's face. "That's my thought on the matter, anyway." He nodded, "Yes, getting the notes written is a good idea. We'd better try and conserve the tax forms, they're a rare resource around here," he added, trying for humor.

Kay nodded and headed for the medical room.

Asher went with Kay back to the med bay. He hoped Kay wasn't getting sick of him. Maybe he should go hide for a while later and write that letter... Hmm. Ugh.

(Do we wanna timeskip soon? To whatever's next on the agenda. Surgery for Esk? Matt getting to sit up? The very brief overview of the rest of Merith's trial? I'm not sure what the next big event is chronologically.)

(Yeah, lol, flip a coin or something, maybe a D3 die on the internet?)

(Sure thing. Uh, I assume Matt will start getting better in a few days and be able to move slightly. Esk's gonna be a week or so before he's at a level it's safe.. ish.. for surgery. If I remember correctly, I was wiped out for like 3 days completely unable to function and several weeks after losing 880ml. He's lost more than that, so could be a good few months before he's back to normal. But he just needs to be healthy "enough" for surgery. Shall we fudge it to 10 days or so? And yeah, wrap up Merith's trial. Maybe just have him imprisoned for x amount of time blah blah rehabilitation if possible. So everyone doesn't feel totally depressed hahaha)