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."

"You will need to know that since you are a nurse here and we have so many." Dawn said with a nod.

~~~
The baby chirped at him, playing at trying to hold the plushie from him taking it. She ended up on her back, using her arms and tail to hold on.

Kay nodded [If you're going to be working here, you'll need to read up about an awful lot i'm afraid. But for now just focusing on the Star Dragons should suffice.] He looked to Asher, he'd need to log her into the other computer. Drat, they'd have to set up a login for Tori too now then. So she could access the medical records and all of that.

---

Luka looked thoughtful. "It might just make them miss her more." She shook her head, she didn't really know. "Kay doesn't... seem like the sort to talk about his feelings anyway." She mused. "well, not talk but.. you know what I mean."

----

Hewitt settled back into cross legged position, setting his cane to one side and folding his clawed hands across his lap. "yes yes, goodnight Ethan." He closed his eyes.

Tori nodded. "I'd better get studying then."

Asher wheeled over to one of the computers to log in. "Have a look around, try to familiarize yourself with the star dragon information at least. Of course you can ask Dawn or us any questions you have, we know a fair bit about the dragons these days." He moved out of the way so she could use the computer. "We'll get you an account set up too, but that can come later."

Tori nodded and got to work reading. "Thank you."

~~
James let the little dragon have the toy. "Man, I can tell you're going to grow up to be crazy strong. You're already way stronger than me!" he told her. He nodded to Luka, "Yeah, I dunno. I don't really know how Kay thinks. I may be his coworker, but we're not, like, close friends or anything."

~~
Ethan left Hewitt to rest, wandering back toward the library again, trying to not think about people getting old.

She cooed and held the toy tight before getting up to head for her parents to show them her prize.

"not just coworkers." Luka pointed out. "I mean... Asher's your brother right? So he's almost... family?" What a weird thought. Unlike Esk though, she wasn't quite so repulsed by same sex relationships. Oh she thought it was all kinds of weird, but so was sleeping with an android regardless.
She tried to resist making d'aaw noises at the baby dragon. Why were they so cute!?

James smiled softly at the baby as she headed back to her parents. "Gosh they're cute." Yeah, the babies might have had a horrifying origin, but they were so sweet that it was easy to forget that, at least temporarily. He pulled his attention back to Luka, "Yeah, I guess that sorta makes us family. I should probably be like, getting to know him better. Maybe." Not quite brothers-in-law because nobody was married, but something like that. Hmm.

One of the younger ones came over to Luka, standing on her foot and chirping up at her. He wanted to be picked up by her.

Luka nodded slowly. "He IS a bit... scary though." She admitted. Yeah, she found Kay a bit intimidating. His constantly sour face whenever she saw him, made worse by his creepy as heck eyes and general no nonsense attitude. Maybe he was less stern and grumpy outside of work, she had no idea, but certainly he'd never come across as friendly or approachable to her.

She looked down at the dragon, uncertain about picking it up. Cute as they were, they were very very alien. She crouched down and hesitantly pet the little thing on the head.

The baby chirped and tried to stand on his back legs to get closer to her petting. He was one of the youngest, so he couldn't talk yet.

James nodded. "That glare of his is some scary stuff. He isn't all scary though, I mean my baby bro is weird, but he wouldn't look at Kay the way he does if Kay was just scary. And I mean, we do joke around and stuff sometimes too. You just don't wanna annoy Kay."
He smiled at Luka's new friend. D'awww.

"maybe." Luka shook her head. "I don't know him very well." Despite a shared cultural heritage, she found it a bit difficult to talk to that family. They had no love for the Imperium. She found that sad.
She kept petting the dragon. They were adorable, though not exactly soft to pet.

"I don't think he's big on the whole telling people about himself thing," James agreed. He thought of that picture Luka had found in one of Kay's books. Spooky. "Ah well, we can totally tell him there are cute dragons here. He can visit or not, whatever he wants."

~~
Asher got Tori's account up after a bit of effort, and gave her the login information.
"I'd better go check on Armin," he said to the other medics. "We did promise him a checkup this evening."

Kay nodded. He was rather hoping the Vavare doctor would be more helpful in the morning, this whole thing with Armin was alarming.

---

Luka shrugged. "Kinda like Esk. Maybe it's just a family thing." Maybe they just had really terrible pasts they didn't want to talk about, or were you know, just odd.
"these guys are so cute." She was trying hard not to gush but it was hard.

The boy rubbed against her hand and chirped happily. His mother came over to the group, looking up at them. "Do you want to help feed the babies?" She asked curiously.

Tori was about to ask, but then she remembered she was in the system now, so she looked up Armin instead and caught up on the guy's health issues that way.

Asher wheeled off toward Armin's room, to knock softly on the door when he arrived.

~~
"Totally a family thing," James agreed. He looked at the star dragon mom, "Oh man, you'd be okay with that? I'd love to." He might not be interested in being a parent, but like pretty much everybody on this ship, he loved doting on baby dragons.

She chuckled and nodded "We do not mind, we know many others enjoy being around the babies."

"What do they eat?" Luka asked. She'd never been around babies during feeding time after all.

"Starr's kids ate a lot of meat, mostly raw I think," James said. "I read they can eat other stuff pretty soon, but it's mostly meat to start with."

~~
Asher knocked lightly on Armin's door. "Armin, are you awake?" He didn't really want to wake the guy up if he was resting.

"yum." Luka remarked sarcastically.

---

Armin had just finished his nightly prayers, rising from his shrine and limping to the door. His leg hurt more than usual, the pressure of the impending molt causing the old injury to flare. "you may enter friend." He called weakly.

Asher got the door open and went in. "I promised you another checkup earlier, so that's what I'm here to do. I'll try to keep it quick so you can get some rest," he said. Poor Armin really didn't look good right now. He really hoped that vavare doctor could help.

Armin bowed his head, smiling tiredly. "Thank you." He was rather touched by how much everyone seemed to care, it made him feel he really did belong here. This place was like his new family.
"I have been preparing, I do not believe it will be long now." He frowned slightly. "I do apologize for the timing, this would have all been far more convenient after we had collected the children."

Asher smiled softly. "There's no need to apologize for the timing. It's just a part of how your species functions, and there's nothing wrong with that." He wheeled a bit closer. "I'll scan you briefly if you don't mind. Do you feel any different than you did earlier today?"

The mother nodded and looked around, motioning to the older ones "They are able to eat some fruits and veggies now, but my little one is too young still. He can only have meat, if it's cooked he has to have water, if not, he doesn't need water." She explained.

Armin bowed his head, he couldn't help but think about how much this was inconvencing others, it was just how he was.
He nodded. "Not particularly. Still tired, trying to conserve my energy." He wasn't about to mention the pain in his leg, it would fade once he shed his exoskeleton after all.

---

"We have a lot of meat on board right?" Luka asked. They had carnivores on the ship after all, which was also kinda creepy. She tried hard not to think about Matt eating, it was gross.

Asher nodded. "No new or unusual discomfort then, just what you're accustomed to experiencing during a molt?" He scanned Armin carefully and looked at the readings.

~~
"Good to know. Cooked meat will be skipped, or accompanied by water," James said. He grinned at Luka, "We have tons of meat on board, and I'm sure we'll be getting more."

Armin shook his head. "no." He stood still for the scan. The scan was to be expected, extra strain on his hearts, pressure building up between old exoskeleton and the new soft one beneath. He smiled weakly. "The weaver will protect me."

---

"Well lets go get some then?" Luka suggested, glancing to Rigel who was being awfully quiet.

Asher looked over the results for a bit, decided those readings looked pretty much as would be expected, and returned his attention to Armin.
"I don't know your Weaver very well, but from what you've said, she's a wonderful protector to have," he said with a soft smile. Atheist he might be, but he could appreciate faith. It seemed to give Armin a lot of strength, and that could only be good.
"Tomorrow the doctor we found will be coming to see you at about nine in the morning, you should rest up for the visit."