UPON VESTIA: CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

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Ethan nodded. "I guess that makes sense. Do they execute the ruler, or do they have to keep them alive?" He probably had too many questions.

~~
"Oh, I know that feeling," Vestia said sympathetically. She watched Amari snooze. Aww.

"Yeah, I mean that." He grimaced, "Though he broken of that habit... the worse he does is headrub something he likes to mark as his now."

"Ew. Yeah, I wouldn't like to be scent marked like that," Vestia said. "Does head rubbing produce scents too?" She wondered if Asher smelled funny now, heh.

"Yeah, but it washes off in time." He explained. "So he sorta marked Asher as someone good and nice."

"So does Asher smell funny now?" Vestia asked with a laugh. "Heaven knows he and I can't tell, but his friends do have a sense of smell."

"I honestly don't know if the other would notice the scent." Marcus mused, "If kay has sensitive nose then probably."

Vestia snickered. "Let's hope his nose isn't that good, huh? Might be awkward for Asher to explain. Does it smell bad?"

"More sweet, a pleasant smell." Marcus laughed, "Indeed no need to cause couple strife."

"Oh good," Vestia chuckled. "I'm sure he'd be sad if it turned out he smelled bad." She considered Marcus' last remark, "Couple strife?" How had Marcus learned Asher was in a relationship? Last time the slavers had seen him, he'd just shot Kay. She'd have thought Marcus would assume they'd broken up after that.

"Asher smells strongly of Kay, same like he did before. I am assuming nothing happened to change that...?" Marcus didn't know what had happened when they were transferred to the Family, it was obvious in his face.

"Oh, that makes sense. You guys must have an incredible sense of smell," Vestia said. "Yep, your nose is right." Should she be telling Marcus that? Eh, she guessed if they could smell it, it couldn't stay secret. Oh well.
She wasn't going to mention the shooting thing though, since Marcus didn't know about it.

Marcus nodded, "A very useful skill hunting, but deadly when trap in a room with a coworker tat ate five burritos." He shuddered at the thought.

Vestia snickered. "Ew. That sounds gross. We had a minotaur on the ship for a while, they have a great sense of smell too apparently. She likes to comment on how people smell, and tease then about it sometimes."

Asher was in the med bay, researching something, entirely oblivious to the fact that he smelled like he'd been scent marked by a vampire. Which coincidentally he had been. Oops.

~~
Ellie woke up finally and dragged herself off to eat breakfast, groaning to herself about her stupid crewmates.

"I wouldn't do that, normally they gets you into *more* trouble." Marcus chuckled, "Specially when you can notice that a female on cycle or something."

Kay nodded his head to Asher, still doing calculations on his tablet. Hmm, they had this many blood bags and they needed this much per week....

---

Matt found something to eat and glumly chewed on it.

"Oh yeah, that could be an issue," Vestia said to Marcus. She laughed, "Our minotaur accidentally told most of the crew that someone was pregnant once, it was a bit awkward."

~~
Asher wheeled over to see what Kay was doing. "Sawna keeps a surprising amount of blood in stock," he said, eyeing the numbers on Kay's tablet.

~~
Ellie got some whole wheat toast and an egg, and joined Matt. "Good morning."

"Yeah, I ended up figuring out Lai was in heat much to matthew surprise. Not as if the crew complain since we were on a break with the captain trapped in his bedroom." Marcus remarked with a shrug.

Kay nodded. [I suppose when it's your only source of food, you make sure you have a decent stockpile. Still, with two more who require the same, we'll run through it substantially quicker. ] He frowned, he didn't like what Marcus had said about not eating.

---

Matt grunted vuagely.

Vestia considered that. "That sounds, ah, interesting," she said. Right, Lai and her six kids. "I'm glad they weren't in one of my rooms."

~~
"True. We'll have to keep an eye on the situation, and buy blood at every stop," Asher said. He sighed. "Thankfully it doesn't have to be humanoid blood, does it? Animal blood should suffice, and be much easier to obtain."

~~
Ellie nodded understandingly at Matt. "You and me both, man."

[I believe so. But I think for everyone's peace of mind getting those two off the ship at the first opertunity is going to be our priority.]

---

Matt stared at the bone he'd been gnawing on, then put it down. "you ever get the feeling that nobody actually listens to you anyway?"

Asher frowned, but nodded. "I think you're right. Amari seems nice enough, but with his father being who he is, well, this crew has a lot of good reasons to never trust either of them." He sighed.

~~
Ellie tilted her head at Matt. "Well, most people don't listen to me, I know that. Guess it's not just me, huh? They ignore you too."

[Don't forget Asher, that... boy... ] what else could you call him? [is dangerous. His own father admitted it. While he may be docile currently, there's no telling how quickly he could turn, nor how much damage he could do should he so desire. ] Kay looked grim. [even if his father wasn't who he is, I don't think it would be wise to let them wander freely, not till we know for sure they both have control over their instincts. And i'm not convinced the younger one does, at all.] He shook his head. Yeah he was paranoid, but he had good reason to be. Amari's feral growing and hissing reminded him far too much of what he knew he became, and it scared him.

-------

"Not ignore so much as just.. don't fucking listen. I mean why even bother asking for our input if you're gonna ignore it anyway? It's like Heny and her let's give the slavers weapons and send them on their merry way bullshit, they don't give a shit about letting everyone have a say, it's we decided to do a thing and now fuck you all you gotta just accept it." He looked pissed. "Im sick of it. I mean you'd think they'd learn but now but nope, gotta do good huh? gotta be better people and take stupid risks to prove that to ourselves." He sighed and rested his head on the table.

Asher nodded again. "I know, we really don't know what he's capable of. He has instincts we don't understand, and Marcus said he was partially feral." He looked up at Kay, "He wasn't like he was yesterday, he was calm, and cooperative. I know why we have to be careful, I know we have to get them out of here as soon as we can. But I think he may be a good kid with some instincts he has to learn to control, and that makes it harder to think about just leaving him at some spaceport."

~~
Ellie patted Matt's head with her bad hand. "I know man, it's stupid. We could just not answer distress calls, and it'd all be better. But here we are, picking up slavers again. It's gross."

"I think everyone glad they weren't herr." He said, sighing. "I honestly do hope the kids are raised uneffected by their father's past." In part Marcus hoped the same for his Son.

[he has his father with him, it's not like we're leaving him entirely on his own.] Kay reasoned, he looked a little guilty though. [He isn't our responsibility, we need to focus on getting our own families back together.]

===

Matt sighed. "I know he's not Matthew but damnit, he worked for the guy. No decent person works for fucking slavers by their own free will. And... I just can't let go of what they did, what they helped do." He closed his eyes. "I just want to put that whole awful thing behind and not have to remember. I just.. want them all gone.. then maybe i'll feel.. better or... I dunno, it might not hurt so much. I just want Thalia back, and to put all these people who hurt us far far away where we never have to see or think about them again. "

"Yeah, hopefully they can have a peaceful life. What a legacy to try to escape," Vestia said. "Lai did seem nice, I'm sure she'll be a good mom."

~~
"He does have that, at least," Asher agreed. He was thinking though, was it really right to kick a kid out of a safe home like Vestia? It would be so easy to give Amari somewhere safe to live.
Maybe that was just his father instinct talking though.
He sighed.

~~
"I know," Ellie said sadly. "We want our families back, not these creeps. Now we have to get rid of them before we can go find them." She kept petting Matt's hair, "We'll get them gone, really."

Kay recognised that look. Asher's better nature getting a hold of him. [He's dangerous Asher, right now, from all we know about him, he's dangerous. We're going to get the children, they deserve a safe home.] Damnit they'd just gotten rid of the keepers and the anamcara and their bullshit, couldn't they just have some PEACE and security?

---

Matt nodded vaguely, covering his face with his hands. "I hate being stuck in this stupid chair." He mumbled.