Upon Vestia: Chapter Twenty-Three

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

Asher noticed Kay's amusement, and smiled. "It's pretty amusing to watch. It really messes up our coordination."

~~
James looked sympathetic. "Yep, we'll find her, and get you a minotaur co-boyfriend to help keep her from tiring you out."

"Why a minotaur?" Matt asked, genuinely curious.

---

Kay smiled, raising a hand to hide it.

"Cause from what I've heard, minotaurs never get tired," James said. "They can last for, like hours. Or so they claim."

~~
Asher smiled. Yeah, it was funny. He looked up at Kay, "Thankfully it usually passes quickly. I did fall over when I tried to stand up too fast after rebooting though, and my siblings never let me forget it." He was going to keep Kay distracted by telling him dumb stories! Oh yes.

Kay dropped his hand, smiling broadly. [That happens to organics too. Different reason though.]
He was grateful for the dumb stories.

---

Matt snickered. "man don't tell Thalia that, she'll have me replaced!" he joked.

Armin chuckled. "I believe many of those claims to be highly exaggerated. "

"Oh yes, I'm sure it happens to everyone sometimes, for different reasons. I don't know if it's better or worse when you aren't drunk at the time," Asher said.

~~
"Yeah they probably exaggerate. It's not like most people are willing to find out for themselves what minotaurs are capable of," James laughed.

Kay considered that. [Different I think. Drunkeness messes with your equilibrium anyway, standing up too fast causes blood to rush to your head and can make you black out. Slightly different mechanisms resulting in the same embarrassing falling down.] He shrugged. [and I think ALL siblings stockpile embarrassing moments that happen to their brothers and sisters, just in case they need them one day.] He shook his head, looking amused.

---

Armin shook his head. "I am not certain why one would wish to spend hours in one session, you would become bored."

"not to mention chaffing." Matt laughed. "maybe no minotaur boyfriends."

"If you're drunk, you get to say embarrassing things as well. Thankfully we aren't prone to that," Asher smiled softly. "Well that's not true, we manage to say embarrassing things anyway, I suppose." He nodded, "And yes, we all stockpile embarrassing stories to tell about each other. It's not very nice."

~~
"Yeah, what's the point after the first thirty minutes? So boring," James agreed.

Skye flushed at the way this conversation had turned. "Thirty minutes?" They were even stranger than she had thought before

Kay looked a little coy. He knew he didn't say embarrassing things, more.. did embarrassing things.
He turned slightly pink at the memory of the last few times he'd gotten drunk, man, he was a mess when he was inebriated.
[I suppose] He wrote [Most of us have the advantage of selective and rather poor memories. Otherwise i'm certain we'd have a lot more stories.]

---

Matt laughed "Sorry Skye!"

Armin put his arm around Skye. "Forgive us, shall we talk of something else?"

Asher remembered Kay getting drunk. Yeah, that hadn't gone too well, had it? Still, at least they'd ended up back together because of alcohol, that was... probably a good thing. He ducked his head to hide a smile. "Thank goodness for selective memories. I wish James had one."

~~
"Sorry!" James said sheepishly. "Ummm... how about this movie, huh? Everyone's so quirky and special, it's driving me crazy."

Kay nodded. [I am at times grateful for it, not just for others, but myself as well.] There were after all, many things one would sooner not recall in great detail or clarity. he looked grim and to try to lighten to mood suggested [Perhaps we should divulge our most embarrassing secrets, so as to disarm, so to speak, our idiot brothers.]

---

"You do not like quirky special people?" Armin asked good naturedly.

Skye looked to James and Matt and dipped her head "I never heard a time limit for that, isn't 30 minutes long?"

Asher laughed. "Good idea. They can't blackmail us if we've already given all our secrets away." He considered for a bit, "One time I decided to buy myself a Hawaiian shirt when I was younger. You know, the loose shirts with the bright colors and the flower patterns? Emma had been telling us about how we should figure out what we liked, and I liked the bright colors. Emma was very nice about it, and she didn't laugh. Ultimately I decided that wasn't the style for me though."

~~
"Well I don't like them when they're trying to be so different. Like, look at the girl, she sits alone and embroiders little squirrels on things. What the heck?" James said indignantly. He shrugged, "Some people like to go for a long time. Like, all night. It's weird as heck."

Skye shook her head and looked back to the screen. Yeah, that was way too long in her mind.

Kay looked amused, the image of Asher in a bright shirt was quite funny. He thought. [When I was young I had a bit of a crush on a comic character.] He tried not to laugh. [He was a world weary engineer. ] He shook his head. [The realisation I was gay shouldn't have taken as long as it did. I was nearly sixteen before it all clicked. ] Oops. He shook his head.

---

"You sure they're not just like... cuddling? Cuddling all night is awesome." Matt nodded.

"Why Squirrels do you think? Of all animals." Armin mused.

Asher smiled. "Guess it can take a while to figure things like that out. It must have been pretty confusing for you." He thought for a bit, then said, "I had a crush on one of the mechanics I worked with. She'd bark orders at everyone except for us androids, and she'd yell at anyone who was rude to us. For some reason James never noticed I had a crush, Maybe he's not as preceptive as he pretends."

~~
"Cuddling all night has gotta be so boring," James said. "All you can do is like, sleep. Or be bored." He looked to Armin, "Because squirrels are random, so everyone will wonder, why squirrels? It's just to make the audience think she's quirky. No other reason."

Ellie laughed. "Also squirrels are awesome. And so is cuddling!"

Kay looked amused and patted Asher on the shoulder. [I think we have to just accept, mechanics are kinda hot.]

---

"Cuddling is nice." Armin agreed, pulling James a little closer as if to make the point.

"And it's nice to wake up next to someone you care about." Matt agreed.

"I think you're right." Asher smiled. "I thought you liked accountants though," he teased.

~~
James let himself be cuddled. "Okay, maybe it has its plusses. It's probably better when you can feel it, thought."

Kay smirked. [I can find more than one job attractive.] He leaned a bit closer. [Medics and accountants are also hot.]

"Perhaps." Armin mused. "Or you simply need the right person."

Matt shrugged. "It's okay man, some people don't like being hugged anyway. "

Asher looked amused. "So if I'm one-third mechanic, one-third medic, and one-third accountant, does that make me really hot, or do they all cancel each other out?"

~~
James smiled at Armin. "Who knows, maybe there's a magical special someone out there for me. If so, they're really good at hiding." He looked at the movie, "Seriously, the squirrels are getting way overdone in this movie. It's not even a running gag at this point, they're in almost every scene, I swear."

Kay smiled. [What do you think?] He kissed Asher on the cheek.

---

"Maybe she just really likes squirrels?" Matt suggested.

Armin squeezed James gently in sympathy. "not all in life is about pairing off my friend, I would not worry yourself." He spoke quietly. "There are a great many ways to find fulfillment in this universe."

"I'll guess they don't cancel out then. Well that's a relief." Asher looked at Kay affectionately.

~~
James nodded. "Yeah. Pairing off is, like, a really popular one though." He looked glum for a moment, then focused on the squirrels again. "Okay, this is getting freaky. Ellie, what IS this movie?"

Ellie snickered. "It's just a romcom!"

Kay nodded. [Not at all.] He nudged Asher affectionately and went to pick up his ball.

---

"That is likely due to the hard wired desire to reproduce in most organic beings. But you are not an organic being, you have no drive to continue your genetic code." Armin reasoned. "What drives you may be something else entirely."

"Like Mourn and his robots?" Matt snickered.

Armin nodded. "Aketi for instance do not have sexual relationships, yet the professor does not appear unfulfilled. The Anamcara are completely asexual from what I understand of it, yet they do not seem to miss it. Pair bonding and sex are only important to those species for whom it is a fundamental biological necessity."

"And even then, there's still people who just have better things to do." Matt reasoned. He wasn't one of them though, he liked sex and he liked pair bonding. It felt nice.
Ahem.

Asher smiled softly and went to pick up his ball again as well. "Another story someone might try to blackmail me with, one time I shorted out in the shower because I guess I didn't fix some damage to my skin, and James had to drag me out, unconscious. That one was pretty embarrassing."

~~
"It's not just the desire to reproduce, a lot of organics just like having a significant other. They say it makes their lives more complete or something." James looked thoughtful. "Take my brother, for example. He has literally zero biological drive to seek out a mate, but that doesn't stop from being in love. Maybe it's cause he spent so much time around Terrans, maybe you just pick up the cultural expectations of the people around you, even if they aren't actually necessary to you. Like earlier, when I was grossed out by Armin talking about, um, siblings doing sexual stuff. It's not like androids need to care about that, but Terrans do, and I guess we absorb that." He added, "With anamcara and aketi, their entire cultures aren't driven by the idea of people pairing up. I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of concepts we take for granted were just social expectations."

[Is that why you don't like water?} Kay asked curiously. Okay that would be embarrassing. Hey like the time he had a meltdown in the shower. Hmm, don't break down in showers, good way to live.

---

Armin nodded. "You are more than likely correct my friend. You must also take into account that what one person desires in life, another may not. Look at my sister, defying tradition and insisting she will only have one mate. our mother was most displeased and insisted she would change her mind, but I know Berit, she is stubborn and she knows what she wants. If she says Trygve is the only male she desires, then I believe her. Of course, some of that may be because for six years he WAS the only male but I think it goes beyond that,she does not wish to do as society expects of her and I admire that. " Armin bowed his head. "My point is, we do not all have to do as we are told or what is expected of us." He looked to Matt "You did not become a soldier no? And yet, Satare culture puts military training at the forefront of all things. "

"Nope, I objected." Matt shrugged. "They said it was probably our defective alien genes making us cowards." He snorted.

Armin bowed his head again. "I doubt it. " He looked to Ellie. "And you are fraternizing with aliens when your home world tells you it is wrong. We find in life that which makes us happy, even if society tells us it is wrong. Even if it defies cultural expectation. There is every chance your brother really does love his partner, but he is not you and you are not him. A wise man once told me, we cannot measure our worth and happiness against others. They are living their lives and we are living ours, we must make our own path."

"Well this got majorly philosophical." Matt peered at his drink and took another swig.

"Forgive me my friend, I am told I often talk too much." Armin chuckled.

Asher nodded. "I lost any fondness I had for water after that. You don't even notice when you lose consciousness because the safety shutoff is pretty much immediate, but after you wake up, it's all very embarrassing. Especially when your brother is right there, waiting to lecture you about repairing yourself."

~~
Ellie nodded. "Some of us are just different, and that's okay. As long as you're not, like, hurting anyone. I was gonna go live on Terra and find a Terran guy and bring him home for a traditional Terran wedding someday, but then I ended up out here. Things don't need to go the way you planned, if you're having fun anyway." She ruffled Matt's hair, "And you don't need to be in love to love someone, you just gotta think they're awesome."

James smiled softly. "Yeah. I guess so." He still felt bad about what he'd done to Acus, and he still kicked himself sometimes for not just going along and pretending he loved the guy until he eventually made himself believe he really did love Acus, but he knew nobody here would understand that. It was the sort of thing that only made sense in your own brain.