Upon Vestia: Chapter Twenty-Nine

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Ivor was pretty thankful for Tala's quiet thoughts, if her unshielded thoughts were anything like her speaking voice, he'd have had a headache already.
He nodded slowly.

"Such a weird coincidence how all the flora and fauna are so biologically similar. Do you suppose anyone's studied it?" James got up from the grass to read over Matt's shoulder. "Oh man, you poke a hole in the stems of them?" Mind blown!

The other dragon nodded as he shifted. His chosen Artuvian form was an African grey parrot with hazel eyes. "I would love to go flying."

~~~
Jewel named the games that were on the shelf there, so they could pick from them which one to play.

"yeah who figured this sorta stuff out?" Matt remarked, trying to put a small hole in the stem with a fingernail. "I dunno. The Imperium are kinda insular, I can't see them liking the idea of being similar to the terrans, it's probably something they'd prefer not to research at all, just kinda... pretend like it isn't true. Still, it's weird. I mean, they even look alike. But so do a lot of races. All humanoid, kinda.. same rough shape and size. it's bizarre. You'd think there'd be more variation out here in the universe right?" He shrugged.

-----

Ivor shook his head, he had no idea what any of these were. "you... will teach me?"

The blue jay dragon smiled at Skye. "You want to go now?"

"You should totally go," Ellie said. "And like, bring a camera and take sky photos." She grinned.

~~
James started threading flowers through each other, working carefully because this wasn't something he'd ever tried before. "It's a shame the Imperium isn't interested in coexisting with the rest of the universe, I'd love to see some studies about why they're so similar to Terrans and such. And they have goats, and Terrans have goats, too. They're pretty much exactly the same, right? So weird."

Jewel smiled and nodded "Yeah, I will teach you then you can beat the others at these games." She said with a light laugh. She moved back to the top one and pointed to it. "Here, let's start with this one, if you will get it down we can get started."

~~~
Skye smiled and nodded "Sure, we just have to move these little ones off." She explained.

The others chuckled and came to get their babies so Skye could get up.

Matt nodded "and pigs, and chickens, and.. ducks.. and fish... horses" He shook his head. "Cats too." He struggled a little with the threading, he had really good dexterity in his fingers but he had terrible eyesight, so seeing the teensy hole was impossible.

---

Ivor did as he was told, awkwardly pulling the top game down and very nearly bringing the stack down on top of himself. As he could only really use one hand he couldn't steady the others, he used his head instead to stop things falling on them both and brought the game over to a table. "Mon o poly?" He asked, unsure what game this was and if it was the one she'd mentioned.

Ellie helped pick baby dragons off Skye. They were so sleepy and snuggly, aww!

The blue jay star dragon looked amused. "They certainly have acquired a fan club, haven't they?" It was so good to see then here and safe, and not have to hear the thoughts of their grieving parents as the eggs were taken away.

~~
"Holy crap, that is a ton of similarities. You guys don't have dogs or cows though, right?" James asked curiously.

"Yeah, this one is Monopoly" Jewel agreed. She did what she could to help steady the stack. She wasn't big, but she was stronger than she looked. At least the stack wouldn't fall while they played.

~~~
Skye smiled, petting the last one that Ellie took then standing carefully to be sure none were hidden on her. When she was upright, she smiled at the two dragon Artuvians "Alright, ready to go"

Matt shook  his head. "as far as I know, no. Nothing canine, no foxes or anything else either. I dunno if they ever did really. It's weird. " He shrugged. "I don't really get it."

---

Ivor opened the box awkwardly and stared at all the pieces. That was.. a lot of stuff.

"Have fun!" Ellie said.

The blue jay artuvian grinned and headed for the door. "Will do!"

~~
"Gosh, that is so strange. I have half a mind to masquerade as a hexenfolke and study satare biology someday, just to answer my questions, man," James said. He was only half joking.

Jewel smiled and came over "Set the board down here, and these cards go here..." She explained where everything went and the rules of the game patiently and picked the hat piece as hers, placing it on the go spot.

~~~
Skye waved to Ellie and left with the two dragons to get to the ramp. She was excited for this.

Matt chuckled. "my mother was a xenobiologist, she studied alien races, culture, biology.. all that stuff. She'd have probably known so much about all this." He looked sad for a moment. "But the Imperium doesn't much like it if you start claiming aliens are 'just like us' or whatever. Goes against all the propaganda right? " He sighed.

---

Ivor looked at the pieces and picked the boot, mostly because it was the only one he could immediately work out what the hell it was.

"Oh by the way," the blue jay said as they reached the ramp. "My name's Rhea. I don't know how you feel about strangers, but that makes us not strangers, right?" she joked.

~~
"Yeah man, if people start looking at the similarities instead of the differences, it means they have to rethink their worldviews. Can't have that happening now. can we?" James smiled wryly. He sighed, "I'm sorry about your mom. She sounds like she was pretty awesome."

"I barely remember her." Matt admitted. "and she didn't exactly leave much behind. " He shrugged, trying to dismiss that old hurt. "maybe one day they'll stop being such assholes and actually talk to other races. I mean, there's only so many pointless wars you can have right?"

Jewel smiled and picked up the dice "Alright, we roll these on the board, the first to get a six goes first." She said when they had the money and were ready to play.

~~~
"I'm Skye" She said with a smile at them both.

"I'm Triton" The parrot said to both females.

Ivor nodded slowly, looking a little overwhelmed. "a.. alright..."

James nodded. "I guess that was a long time ago. At least she was awesome, that's more than a lot of people are," he said. He remembered every moment of the time he'd had with Emma in perfect clarity, he couldn't really imagine what it was like to forget someone you loved. Must be crappy.
"I do hope the Imperium open up to new ideas. From what Luka's told me, they do have some really neat philosophies, even if they are pretty screwed up as well. The idea that everyone gets the chance at an equal education and an equal start is pretty neat, even if it doesn't always actually work that way."

~~
"Hello, Skye and Triton," Rhea said with a grin. She flapped her wings and lifted off into the sky. "I hope my wing muscles are up to this, there isn't much room to fly on Vestia!"

Jewel landed and smiled at him, rolling the die. She didn't get a six, so she let him go. "It's alright, this is just a game it doesn't matter who wins or even if anyone wins." She said to reassure him.

~~
"That's why I come out to fly every time we land on a planet." Skye said, following them both into the air over the spaceport.

"Sensible," Rhea said. "Most planets don't mind artuvians flying around their cities, then?" She flapped harder, rising higher. "I'm afraid my knowledge of artuvian culture is a little outdated, I haven't spoken to artuvians much in a long time."

"I guess. " Matt shook his head. He had no real love for his mother's homeworld. "i'm kinda just.. relieved to be outta there. But it's probably different if you can.. you know.. actually fit in."

---

Ivor nodded and rolled the dice, he got a 5. This might take a while.

"True that." James shook his head. "Stupid differences. I mean sometimes they're super cool, like your water powers or my strength, but sometimes they're just a damn nuisance." He finished his daisy crown, and put it on. "I did it! Am I beautiful now?"

"I haven't been harassed about it yet, the most I have gotten is a 'get out of the spaceport' and had to go over to another area." Skye replied with a rueful smile.

~~
Jewel tried again, getting that six so that she could start playing her piece.

"Fair enough," Rhea laughed. "I mean, spaceport space is a little iffy anyway, all those ships flying in and out. Maybe this city has a park we can fly over, where we won't be shooed off."

"This one has many to pick from." Skye said and motioned them to follow her to the city so they could fly without getting in trouble.

Ivor watched and would take his turn when Jewel indicated he was to do so, but he didn't really understand the game. he just did as he was told, purchasing properties when he landed on them, paying rent when he landed on her property. He was very obedient and didn't seem to have any competative nature.

---

Matt laughed. "james, you're ALWAYS pretty." He told him, picking up the tablet to take a photo of him.

"Well that's a relief, I don't want to get fined for infringing on spaceport airspace," Rhea said. She followed Skye, "Do you have a camera? Your friend, Ellie right? She mentioned she wanted photos."

~~
James fluttered his eyelashes at Matt. "Oh Matt, I love it when you say things like that." He took off his flower crown and put it on Matt, "It definitely suits you. You should wear flower crowns for all occasions, even though you're also lovely without them."

Matt laughed and posed as best he could. "Maybe I should grow my hair out again then, we could braid flowers into it." he joked.