Upon Vestia: Chapter Twenty-Eight

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"Cause Esk is lazy and he wants someone to wait on Dawn, even though he has a massive crush on her and could wait on her himself," James grumbled. "At least that's what I assume was his motivation," he amended. "Your brother is weird. So Dawn's probably okay and not infected, that's good at least."

Armin bowed his head. "nothing I cannot tolerate my friend."

Kay frowned. [If we can make you more comfortable, would that not be preferable?]

"I am not certain there is anything that will work." Armin admitted. How did you give pain relief for a process that involved digesting connective tissues and shedding your outer shell completely?

Kay looked to Asher, they'd have to research this further yes?

"We'll look into it. If there's a way to ease your pain, without causing any other problems, we'd like to find it for you," Asher said. He smiled softly at Armin. "We'll scan you and then do our research. Is there anything else you'd like us to do while you're here, or do you want to go rest now?"

~~
Vestia saw Amari waking up. Since Asher was busy, she just notified Sawna for now, warning her to be cautious.

She dimmed the lights for the kid, she could recognize a headache when she saw one.

Armin nodded. "I need to keep my energy up."

Kay nodded and scanned him. [Then we won't keep you any longer than neccisary.] He read over the results thoughtfully, but it wasn't so easy to read without a baseline for a Vavare. He wasn't totally sure what readings were actually normal.

"All right, we'll let you go then. Do you want any help back to your room? I'm sure the androids could help you if you wanted a hand," Asher said. He supposed Starr could probably help Armin if he needed it though, Starr's magic was impressively strong.

Sawna got up, grabbing a bag of blood as a peace offering of a sort and headed for the hallway Amari was in. "Amari? It's Sawna." She called gently when she came near. No need to startle the boy after all.

~~~
Starr looked to Armin and smiled softly. She would help him, if he had a way for her to help with this.

Armin shook his head. "I do not wish to be a burden my friends, I can walk."

Kay frowned, but nodded and went to his desk to put this information into the medical notes.

"thank you." Armin bowed his head to the two medics.

Asher smiled softly at Armin. "You're not a burden, but if you prefer to walk, that's fine." He understood how Armin felt, sometimes asking for help, inconveniencing others, was just so hard to justify to yourself. Poor Armin, kind and selfless to a fault. "Rest well, Armin. One of us will check on you this evening, but of course you can call us if you need us sooner."

"thank you my friends." Armin bowed his head once more and made for the door.

Kay started researching before Armin had even left, because bedside manner? what was that?

Starr would walk with him back to his door at least. She didn't want him to be alone.

Asher waved to Starr and Armin, then headed back to his own desk, looking amused at Kay's lack of interest in talking to patients.

He checked his tablet and found a new message from Helen, asking about purchasing androids. He replied hastily, [Sorry for delay! Go ahead if Vestia says it's okay :) ] then got to work researching vavare molting and pain relief.

Kay typed away, reading everything he could find carefully. Yeesh Vavare anatomy was complicated. He looked thoughtful, all those extra limbs could make molting difficult.
He decided to send a message to a Vavare medic for advice, if he could find one. They'd know the process better than anyone right?

He was too distracted to notice Asher now.

----

Armin walked back slowly, limping a little. Though generally speaking he wasn't in proper pain, it was more discomfort, like wearing a suit several sizes to small, his leg was aching with the pressure.
He said nothing though, too polite to complain as Starr escorted him to his room.

"How are your brethren?" He asked at last. "Are they adjusting well to their new freedom?"

Asher read for a while, then looked up at Kay, "Do you suppose there are any vavare doctors here in Ottawantreal? It might be useful for one to come visit Armin."

Kay nodded, he wasn't sure. [That would be helpful. Or at least someone with experience treating them. They're so different to anything i've ever seen and i'm worried our ignorance may just make things worse.] He chewed his lip and started looking up medics in the area.

"Despite our best efforts to educate ourselves, it's likely we'll need a great deal more experience to properly help Armin with health concerns like this. We'd better defer to experts on this if we can," Asher agreed. He looked at Kay's screen as Kay searched.

The chances Kay would find someone were fairly good. This was a pretty major city, so although most of the population was Terran, there was probably a large enough vavare population to warrant a doctor or two.

Kay found one, and sent them a polite and professional email.
It took him a while to compose something that sounded properly polite though.

flying_purple_monkfish wrote:Kay typed away, reading everything he could find carefully. Yeesh Vavare anatomy was complicated. He looked thoughtful, all those extra limbs could make molting difficult.
He decided to send a message to a Vavare medic for advice, if he could find one. They'd know the process better than anyone right?

He was too distracted to notice Asher now.

----

Armin walked back slowly, limping a little. Though generally speaking he wasn't in proper pain, it was more discomfort, like wearing a suit several sizes to small, his leg was aching with the pressure.
He said nothing though, too polite to complain as Starr escorted him to his room.

"How are your brethren?" He asked at last. "Are they adjusting well to their new freedom?"

"Some are sleeping, others are exploring the ship and others are simply talking to one another. They will settle in well here." Starr said then dipped her head a little. "I am debating making a world or simply staying on Vestia with them. Both ways have pros and cons."

Asher went back to researching pain relief while they awaited a reply. "Regardless of who helps Armin molt, it should be less unpleasant than trying to deliver twins while dodging Heny's fists," he joked.

Armin nodded. "i am certain whatever you decide will be right Miss Starr."

---

Kay mock shuddered. [Don't remind me.]

Asher looked amused. "I find that trials such as this pale in comparison to that moment." He wasn't actually that traumatized by helping to deliver babies, but it was funny to joke about. "It puts everything in perspective."

Kay smiled wryly at Asher, shook his head and went back to researching. The more he read, the less sure he felt about the whole thing.
According to this there was a chance of severe injury and even death associated with molting.
Armin would be fragile and not quite himself for weeks after the event as well, his new exoskeleton still too soft to allow him to wander around freely he'd be confined to his room.
It sounded like a far bigger deal that the tailor was keen to admit.

flying_purple_monkfish wrote:Armin nodded. "i am certain whatever you decide will be right Miss Starr."

---

Kay mock shuddered. [Don't remind me.]

I hope so" Starr said softly. She wasn't quite as sure as he was of her good judgement, probably what made her judgement as good as she was, since she saw all sides of an argument. Of course that depended on what she knew of the situation.

Asher's own research brought up pretty similar information. He frowned at the monitor, then looked over at Kay. "This sounds potentially very risky. I'm not sure we should be leaving Terra before Armin's molted and started to recover," he said quietly.

Kay frowned, but nodded. [You might be right. We'll need to speak to James. I don't think either of us are that ideally suited to staying with him] Kay would need a rebreather and Asher was you know, wheelchair bound which rather limited his ability to help in an emergency. Hopefully the vavare doctor would get in touch soon.

"Yes, we'll need to discuss it with James. He seems to be the best suited to help Armin at the moment, all things considered," Asher agreed. "Vestia could stay on Terra, skip the Mars visit. That'd give Armin the most comfortable and familiar environment, while keeping him near to medical experts who can help him best. We could send the Devil or the Tiger to go pick up the parts on Mars, that'd be more time efficient than having Vestia go to Mars after she leaves Terra." He looked thoughtful. Logistics were always am interesting problem to figure out.

Kay looked thoughtful. [Will you need to go to Mars for repairs or can it be done by Mourn here?] He preferred the idea of Asher not going anywhere near that place, just in case they worked out he was free and decided to keep him there.

Asher considered the question a while before responding. "We could probably install the part ourselves, it's not easy to install, but it's perfectly doable if you know what to do. That said, one benefit to installing it there would be making sure everything works. It'll be easier to return and try to get a replacement part if they supervise the installation, and see that it's defective for themselves. And if there are any other problems with installation, damaged connections I haven't been able to find for myself, they're likely to have the supplies to fix the issue."
And maybe there was a tiny part of him that was morbidly curious to see Mars again, now he wasn't living in denial any more. But that was a terrible reason to go, and he knew it.

Kay frowned. [Is it safe for you to go back there? ]