Upon Vestia: Chapter Thirty

First topic message reminder :

Skye nodded and smiled a little "It's a little scary though, when you only see your own kind then see a city with the others."

Starr chuckled and nodded "I did say we have a lot of holidays."
~~~
Rigel looked to Luka and smiled "Hi again, what's up?"

(yesss)

Kay looked up, following Asher's gaze and nodding.

---

Matt cackled. "I love this plan! we will ram celebrations down everyone's throats!"

---

Luka smiled coyly. "Ethan asked me to teach him to fly." She explained. "Not.. not with the ship, we're going to use the holodeck." She hastened to add.

(Poor lonely Esk haha, I love that picture.)

Asher looked at Kay, trying to read his expression to see if it was okay to even ask about those pictures. "That must have been quite a few years ago," he said, a little cautiously. Yeah, he might need to back off quickly, on this topic.

~~
"I wanna see all the grouchy loners complain about it," Ellie said. "But secretly they'll be having the time of their lives, partying almost every day. They won't admit it, but we'll know."

Kay nodded again. [Before we all got separated. ] He smiled sadly. [I was fourteen.] He indicated himself in the picture, an awkward looking kid with scruffy clothes and shaggy hair. He was smiling in the photo, though it was a worried smile. [I was off to military school, Web and Matt were off to the factory. We were all terrified but, if I remember right, it was Matt who insisted we take a photo. My mother always took photos of major events and he reasoned this might be the last time we were all together, we should have a picture. ] He shook his head. [None of us really felt much like smiling though.]

Rigel nodded and smiled "Yeah, he did want to learn before." He said thoughtfully.

~~~
Starr chuckled softly. She didn't think some would like it, but some others here would. "Even if some don't attend, we will have enough that do to keep you and Matt busy."

Matt laughed "Hey, I DO have a day job remember."

---

Luka nodded. "I just... i'm not sure how good I am at teaching. I've never really done it before"

Asher nodded. "Definitely not a smiling sort of occasion," he agreed. "I suppose Matt was right though, it's good to have something to remind you of your loved ones, even if it is bittersweet."

~~
"I have a job too, we're all employed!" Ellie said with a laugh. "Just, we want a hobby!"

Kay nodded again, smiling sadly. [It's nice that at least three of us ended up together again.] His gaze lingered on the photo, he couldn't help but wonder if Web was okay.

Rigel smiled at her again and shrugged "I could always come with you, but I believe you can do it."
~~~
Starr chuckled and shook her head a little "That's part of why we have one a month basically."

Luka smiled. "thank you Rigel." She glanced at the party. "If I do absolutely terribly, can I call you to come salvage things?"

"I'm glad you've gotten to have at least part of a family reunion now," Asher agreed. "I suppose for Matt's wedding he'll try to get Web and Jess both to come." Asher wasn't sure whether Web was alive or not, but he wanted to believe he was. Web just seemed to sensible and levelheaded to end up in a situation that would lead to his death.

~~
"This is another reason why I love star dragons," Ellie said. "Oh! Matt! What if I AM a star dragon? That would Explain SO MUCH."

Kay forced a smile. [Yes, I assume he intends to invite everyone, despite the tensions. Jess and Web don't get along.] He frowned, chewing his lip. Yeah, he was worrying.

---

Matt grinned at Ellie. "Well I dunno, have you experienced any random scaly patches of skin? Sprouting wings?" He teased. "Why Starr, I never knew your people were such party animals."

Asher felt guilty when he saw Kay's expression, he didn't want to make Kay think about things that were worrying and out of their control, it was painful for the guy after all. "I guess family probably isn't the best topic to bring up right now," he said. "It's been on my mind a lot lately, but... yeah." With the revolution coming, it was hard for him not to think about family, but he didn't want to go giving Kay things to worry about.

~~
"Not yet, but you never knowwww," Ellie said, giggling. "Secret star dragon Ellie, has a nice ring to it right?"

Kay exhaled deeply. [I just wish we knew he was okay. The not knowing is... torture. ] His frown deepened. [The only consolation I have is knowing that if he was.. gone... ] He couldn't bring himself to write dead. [we'd know. Least, Matt would know. He's next in line.]

---

"i'm sure you'd be the most beautiful star dragon too." Matt told Ellie, glancing to starr "Royalty excluded of course."

Asher nodded unhappily, and hugged Kay a little tighter. "I can't claim to know Web very well, but he struck me as being a sensible man when I spoke with him," he said carefully. "The way he talked, it seemed like he has a healthy understanding of the culture he's in. He didn't seem overconfident, or like the type to lose his composure easily. If anyone can handle the sister races' highly unusual situation and keep themself safe, I'd say it was him."
He sighed. "Of course, that doesn't actually answer the question of what's happening right now. He's your brother, and he's in the middle of a very possibly dangerous situation we know nothing about. That's enough to make any family member worry, and I wish your family wasn't having to go through this situation."

Kay cuddled into Asher, closing his eyes. He wished they weren't going through this either. With all his heart.

Asher held Kay, and stroked his hair with his fingers in what his programming suggested might be a reassuring way, although of course he didn't know whether it actually was reassuring or not. He wished Kay didn't have to deal with all these awful, out of his control situations. It wasn't fair, and it wasn't right.
There wasn't much Asher could do to help other than be supportive, so that was what he was going to try to do.

Kay composed himself, resting his head against Asher's shoulder but moving so he could type still. [He'll make contact as soon as he's able, I know he will.]

"Yes, I'm sure he'll be trying to contact you guys as soon as he has the opportunity," Asher said. He still had his arm around Kay, although not as tightly as before. "He'd be a fool if he didn't know we were all worrying, and I don't think he's a fool."

Kay nodded. [He's always been the most sensible. ] He smiled softly, yeah, Web was the voice of reason growing up wasn't he? Matt was the one always making sure everyone was okay while Web was the one suggesting they maybe shouldn't do stupid stuff in the first place. His mind wandered to other people lost out there. Danika, Moone, Kerr and Vela. [How far is it to Imperium space?] he asked, changing the subject.

Asher considered. "Vestia should be doing a straight flight to Imperium space with no long delays, so it should be something like two months to reach the edge of the Imperium from Terra," he said, recalling what he'd seen when he'd looked at star charts. He frowned, that was kind of a long time, and he didn't like it. "Of course then the Silver Devil will have to go through Imperium space, which will take a while too."

flying_purple_monkfish wrote:Luka smiled. "thank you Rigel." She glanced at the party. "If I do absolutely terribly, can I call you to come salvage things?"

Rigel smiled and nodded "Sure, no problem."

flying_purple_monkfish wrote:Kay forced a smile. [Yes, I assume he intends to invite everyone, despite the tensions. Jess and Web don't get along.] He frowned, chewing his lip. Yeah, he was worrying.

---

Matt grinned at Ellie. "Well I dunno, have you experienced any random scaly patches of skin? Sprouting wings?" He teased. "Why Starr, I never knew your people were such party animals."

Starr chuckled, listening to the two of them. "These are the holidays we had in the past, I am glad we know about them now."

"I'll absolutely be the most beautiful of all the star dragons," Ellie told Matt, giggling. "Even lovelier and more graceful than Starr." It was pretty obvious she didn't believe that judging by her giggles. She nodded to Starr, "It's good to recover the old traditions. The cool ones, at least."

"yeah, part of the whole.. like.. advantage of starting afresh is that you can pick and chose which traditions to keep and which to chuck out right?" Matt suggested.

---

Luka smiled softly. "thank you."

---

Kay nodded. Two months was a long time, but it meant they were closer than they had been. [Armin should be alright to travel. He's in good spirits and the doctor said he was recovering as expected. We should prepare to leave in a day or two.] With the devil back there was no reason to hang around after all.

Asher hesitated. "I don't know if it would be right to leave that soon," he said cautiously. "The protest is tomorrow, and after that, well, we don't know what's going to happen. Maybe everything will be fine and we can go, but maybe it won't. I miss Danika, I know you do at least as much as I do, maybe even more. And Matt needs Thalia, Starr needs Vela and Kerr, Skye needs Moone. But at the same time, my people need help too." He looked glum, he wanted to go to the Imperium as soon as possible too, but he kept thinking of all the androids who were likely to die over the next few days, and he felt like he should help them. Even though he really didn't know how. He was torn, and it wasn't a good feeling.

Kay hesitated, damn, he hadn't thought of that. He chewed his lip. He didn't want them to split up again, it seemed to invite disaster. Or so he was convinced. [We.. should wait to make any decisions until after the protest.] He nodded. [I assume you and James will take part?] Now there was something else to fret about, if the protest turned violent.