Upon Vestia: Chapter Twenty-Eight

First topic message reminder :

"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."

Ellie frowned. "But like, how do you know? Some people change." She shook her head, "I'm not saying we give him the keys to Vestia or something, but maybe he's not like he was."

~~
Tala nodded cheerfully and went to get herself some food. "Where is your mate? I would think she would be over with the tour by now."

Esk stared at Ellie like she'd grown a second head. Could someone really be THIS stupid? He sighed. "Fine, don't believe me. Just don't come crying when he fucks you over."

Ellie shook her head. Yeah, she knew that Esk and his brothers hated Hytar, and that Hytar had definitely done some awful things over the years. She just had trouble believing that he was so bad right now, the guy had seemed nice enough. Besides, Merith had been okay-ish and they'd given him a chance after he'd been awful and killed billions of people. This was all kind of weird to her. "He kills slavers, that's awesome, right?" she said uncertainly.

Starrnico wrote:

Lord Heny wrote:
His stomach churned at the thought of food, he shook his head rapidly no face paled. At this point with the pain he may end up vomiting any blood drank which could lead to other issues.

Sawna frowned a little but nodded, putting the bag away again "Alright, I have to touch you to take the pain away and make you feel better and if for some reason it doesn't work for you then I will help you back to your room so that you can rest comfortably" She added the last only because he was an unknown species to her.

He shakiky nodded but coiled up a bit, his spikes arched like sails as he leaned against the wall miserably. Nope never touching catnip again, that stufc was evil.

"Just because someone does one thing that's not absolutely gross doesn't mean they're good people." Esk countered. "He uses people, tricks them, manipulates them, plays all sorts of games with those around him. Right now our goals line up with his idea of fun, but he'll get bored eventually, none of us want to be around when that happens." He shook his head.

Ellie chewed her lip thoughtfully. "Yeah. Maybe. People are weird, maybe we just shouldn't talk to them." She shook her head. "I was going to say Merith is an example of why it's good to trust people, but nah."

Esk rolled his eyes. "You got are shit judges of character."

"We're getting better! If we saw another Merith, we'd ditch him and run!" Ellie said defensively.

Esk snorted. He didn't believe that for a second. He stood up. "I'm gonna get food."

"That's a good idea," Ellie decided. "I'll come along." Unless he made more commentary she didn't like, in which case she'd have to find something else to do.

~~
Ethan and Mourn had successfully sneaked past Amari before he woke up probably.

Esk picked up his sketch book and shoved it under one arm. He didn't say anything to Ellie, stalking past her rudely and heading down the hallway.

---

Mourn and Ethan totally snuck past Amari a while back. Mourn might have still been with Ethan unless the android had managed to escape.
Mourn liked the robot.

Ellie followed him along, although she wasn't quite sure why. It wasn't like she was especially fond of Esk, after all. Maybe she should be out in the city right now. It didn't feel right to go explore without Shane though.

~~
Ethan hadn't tried to escape Mourn, he didn't mind the odd felid's company. He relaxed as they got further away from Amari, he still wasn't entirely over the catnip incident yet, and the distance was reassuring.

"I think we'd better not bring catnip on board in the future," he mused to Mourn. "Too unpredictable."

"Just keep away from spikey vampire, it be fine." Mourn waved a hand dismissively.

---

Esk led the way to the dining hall, glancing back at Ellie briefly. She was a weird girl, and not weird like Dawn, weird in a way he found slightly irritating instead. "Seriously, why aren't you with Shane?"

"Also a good idea," Ethan said wryly. Yeah, that kid was strange. "So have you decided you want catnip in your life, then?" He looked amused.

~~
Ellie shrugged, although she frowned momentarily as well. "We've both been busy, you know? No time to hang out yet."

Mourn snorted and shrugged. "No understand old crew, going out, drinking, getting stupid. Alchohol smell bad, taste bad, no understand it. Leaves no taste good, but no taste bad. Make sleepy. Not so bad." He looked thoughtful. "Maybe good when no able sleep." Mourn not being able to sleep? was such a thing possible? He stretched. "Sleep well."

----

Esk snorted. "Mm hmm, yeah, because you look SO busy right now."

"Since when do you have trouble sleeping?" Ethan asked. It was hard for him to imagine Mourn every having trouble getting rest. "I guess at least it makes you act dumb, but not completely idiotic. So that's nice." He wasn't overly fond of drunk people behavior. They were stupid, or mean, or stupid and mean. Fun.

~~
"Well maybe he's busy then," Ellie said huffily. "He does things too you know, he has lots of important work just like I do."

Esk shook his head. "Whatever." He didn't believe her.

---

Mourn made a face. "no like being dumb." He shook his head. "but like sleep, sleep good." He shrugged. "Sometimes have bad dreams, they go away. Annoying, interrupt sleep." It wasn't something that happened often, but ever so often his subconcious would mess with him while he was trying to rest, past traumas would resurface, and he's wake up in a cold sweat. Vestia had probably witnessed this once or twice, particularly after traumatic events.

Ellie stuck out her tongue at Esk, but kept following him to the cafeteria. "You'll understand when you're older. We're very responsible."

~~
"I had no idea you got nightmares, that has to suck. At least they're not a constant thing, I guess?" Ethan hated to imagine what Mourn must dream about. The sort of experiments Mourn had been through were pretty damn horrible to imagine, even for someone as desensitized to other people's suffering as Ethan. And Mourn had been a kitten at the time, too. Yuck. "I guess you probably tried to program them out, huh? And obviously it didn't work."

Kooshie wrote:Ellie frowned. "But like, how do you know? Some people change." She shook her head, "I'm not saying we give him the keys to Vestia or something, but maybe he's not like he was."

~~
Tala nodded cheerfully and went to get herself some food. "Where is your mate? I would think she would be over with the tour by now."

Shane coughed then shook his head "I don't have a mate, just friends. I didn't leave Ellie alone with Hytar, but she ran off after the tour. I kind of figured she would be here."

Lord Heny wrote:
He shakiky nodded but coiled up a bit, his spikes arched like sails as he leaned against the wall miserably. Nope never touching catnip again, that stufc was evil.

Sawna came over to him, carefully laying a hand against him and using her magic to heal him of that pain.

"Very strange," Tala said. "You humanoids are so mysterious, with your sneaking and your not-mates. It is well that you enjoy sustenance first though, such allows one to better handle the silliness of humanoids." Her ears twitched.

"Sleeping brain stupid." Mourn agreed. He shook his head.

---

"Older? you're barely older than I am." Esk retorted, damn this girl was irritating. He snorted "By responsible you mean not sleeping together at all, kinda hard to be irresponsible when you barely even touch one another." He shook his head.

Starrnico wrote:

Lord Heny wrote:
He shakiky nodded but coiled up a bit, his spikes arched like sails as he leaned against the wall miserably. Nope never touching catnip again, that stufc was evil.

Sawna came over to him, carefully laying a hand against him and using her magic to heal him of that pain.

He winced and shivered at her touch, though she was able to take away some of the pain the poor kid was still extremely miserable.

Kooshie wrote:"Very strange," Tala said. "You humanoids are so mysterious, with your sneaking and your not-mates. It is well that you enjoy sustenance first though, such allows one to better handle the silliness of humanoids." Her ears twitched.

Shane tilted his head then shrugged "I am not human though, even though I have this shape. If I became mates with her, then her children would not be human." He said then dipped his head and shook it. "It's best to just stay friends and nothing more. I don't know how the whole egg thing would work with a human." Something he hadn't been brave enough to ask or read about.

Lord Heny wrote:
He winced and shivered at her touch, though she was able to take away some of the pain the poor kid was still extremely miserable.

"How does that feel?" Sawna asked gently, moving back a step and giving him a soft smile. "Shall we get to your room so you can be more comfortable?"

Ethan nodded. "One thing I've always been grateful for, at least I'm not coded to dream." He was quite sure that, had he been able to dream, his dreams would all have sucked. "So, do you suppose anyone's tried to pick up any strays in the city yet, or gotten themselves arrested?"

~~
Ellie glared at Esk. "He wasn't old enough yet, okay? Half star dragons mature slower than terrans do, man, I had no idea until I talked to mirror Shane." Although why she hadn't immediately tried to take him to her room now he was old enough was another matter entirely.

~~
Tala blinked. "Eggs are not that hard to pass. I have seen many a dam lay one in only a few hours. Besides, young one, the eggs of your species are most small! They are naught compared to the hideous size and many appendages of the terran newborn!!" Sex ed from a minotaur. Oh dear.

Esk shrugged. aliens were weird man. "So he didn't even think to tell you that when you started calling him your boyfriend?" Man, harsh. He wondered why, would that not be you know, kinda an essential thing to mention to someone you were involved with? Eugh, relationships, they were stupid and confusing. He stopped walking. "You sure he's at all interested now?" he didn't really seem to be to Esk, but hey, what'd he know.