Beach Planet

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Scott's probably around here somewhere, trying to recover from James.

The water's pretty nice.

Perfect place to dump slavers.

Asher nodded weakly at Kay's reassurance. He knew they'd be all right somehow, but that didn't make this any less frightening.

Scott pulled out a generic 'android' badge and lightly tossed it to Asher, who caught it automatically. "There you go. No fancy brand name on it, but at least you'll be allowed on the street."

[Thank you.] Kay nodded. He glanced back outside. [Your hospitality has been extremely gracious.]

You need to convince him that you're a harmless, ordinary robot, Asher told himself firmly. So convince him.
It was like his time with the family. He'd pushed aside his pain then, and forced himself to do what had to be done, and now he just had to do the same for the crushing feeling of humiliation this was going to cause him later.
He expressionlessly pinned the badge to his shirt.

Oh Kay wished he could telepathically reassure Asher. Don't worry, as soon as we get back to the ship you can smash that awful thing to smithereens, i'll find you a nice hammer for that very purpose. But alas, he couldn't and he couldn't risk looking reassuring either. So he opted for professional instead.
He smiled graciously to Scott. [What do I owe you for the badge?] He typed, ignoring Asher now that he was apparently safe. Humiliated sure, but safe. And his safety mattered a hell of a lot more than his ego.

Scott smiled. "Don't worry about payment. I've been around robots all my life, and even if some of them drive me insane, I care about them enough to want to keep them out of the impound lot."

Asher stayed quiet, and firmly controlled his emotions. It was good that Kay was taking a professional approach to this; him acting as if this was unusual, would make it much less believable to Scott. He was doing exactly what was necessary, putting aside his own opinions in favor of the greater good, which in this case was keeping Asher from being scrapped. It was commendable, and Asher resolved to thank Kay later for doing what needed to be done.
It still hurt though.

"You haven't seen scum yet, boy." Ironscale laughed, an empty and cold laugh. "I could show you the true scum I could be, if you keep persisting on those two." He slithered forward slowly. "If you want to get out of this in one piece, I say you beat it. Now. And thank you very much."

This Claudia followed the one who followed Asher and Kay. A female voice cried out to this man, "Hey-o Daddy-o, why ya followin' them?"

Causally marcus would started to return back to the town, having enjoyed the sunset he decided to see where the more smarter crew would be at to only find Ironscale messing with some humanists. He shook his head before causally walking over.

S'teve turned and glared at the female. "Another sympathiser? Go on love, why don' ya just turn around and toddle on home. This is none of ya business."

--

Kay nodded to Scott. He wanted to ask so much, but he knew doing so would put Asher in danger.
[Thank you, his owner would be very displeased if I managed to get him damaged or impounded. Then i'd have to take his shifts too.] He smiled softly.

"They're everywhere!" Gargle said, prancing in a gracefully frustrated circle, hooves clicking.

~~
Asher nodded in agreement. "She would be very annoyed if I was destroyed. Your assistance is appreciated."

"No problem. You guys are probably safe to go, they don't usually go after androids." Scott looked at Asher again, testing him one more time. He really didn't think this was just a normal robot. "No point in getting fined for property damage, I believe their motto is."

Asher forced himself to not flinch. "I'm glad they understand."

"Ironscales, why are you teasing he children again?" Marcus asked in a dramatic sigh as he went to stand by the snake.

[A sound motto, Androids aren't cheap. Thank you for your help.] Kay forced a grateful smile. [Here's hoping they're sensible enough not to try to test for sure. I'd sooner not have to explain that to his owner. She's a little scary.] He smirked. That was actually true, Starr was kinda scary in that matriarchal kind of way. [I hope they leave you alone too. They didn't seem very bright, but hopefully they're smart enough to leave stores alone.]

Scott smiled grimly. "This shop is better protected than it looks. I've been here long enough to know how to keep myself safe from Antihumanists." He looked at the androids, "Daniel, can you get the door for them?"

"Of course, Sir," the android said, going to unlock the door and hold it for them. "Have an excellent evening, Sir," he told Kay.

Kay managed a nod to Daniel. Looking back to Scott gratefully. He wasn't convinced the guy was fooled, but whatever he intended to do about Asher he hadn't lifted a finger against them yet. He could only hope that a lifetime around Androids meant the man sympathized at least a little. With one final nod, he indicated Asher should follow.

"Thank you, Sir," Asher told Scott, before following Kay out of the shop. He looked around, seeing if any of the Antihumanists were nearby.

The man with the reflective eyes was nearby, but distracted arguing with a woman.
Kay put a hand on Asher's arm and guided him the opposite direction, ducking down a street and out of sight.
He didn't bother with his tablet, he just indicated Asher should pick up the pace and broke into a trot. No sense running unless they had to, but getting back to vestia asap was a priority.

Asher matched Kay's pace, not trusting himself to speak until they were back on the ship. Vestia's towering shape loomed in the distance before long, and they would make it safely to her without further incident, thank goodness.

((Back to the ship!))

The woman the man saw was not really a woman at all. What it could be most desribed as was a large, feathery bat. She grinned at him, showing fangs with an excited and bubbly smile that went quite well with her crystal blue eyes. "But, but, but! I was told that I have to apprehend you! Because you were messing with our contractors!" She pondered for a moment, humming, "But, I can see that you don't like them, so..." With alarming speed she rushed forward and grabbed her claws around S'teve's arms, her spurred wings in the air. She was grinning brightly. "Let's discuss it!"

With that, she beat her wings down and dragged the poor man off into the sky, higher and higher while shouting, "Wheeee!"

"Oh, Marcus. Glad you came, my boy." Ironscale hissed to the newcomer. "As I hope you're away, Matthew's contract with the cruise ship had us proved medical attention when they needed it. Well..." He swiveled his head back to the antihumanists, "These men were harassing two of her crewmates, unfortunately."

Ironscale heard Claudia's holler of happiness, "Well, seems like Miss Claudia is having her fun..."

"Look, we hate humans, and we were just going to hurt that human a bit. You should be able to understand that," Gargle said, glaring at the slavers.

Quinn The Fox wrote:The woman the man saw was not really a woman at all. What it could be most desribed as was a large, feathery bat. She grinned at him, showing fangs with an excited and bubbly smile that went quite well with her crystal blue eyes. "But, but, but! I was told that I have to apprehend you! Because you were messing with our contractors!" She pondered for a moment, humming, "But, I can see that you don't like them, so..." With alarming speed she rushed forward and grabbed her claws around S'teve's arms, her spurred wings in the air. She was grinning brightly. "Let's discuss it!"

With that, she beat her wings down and dragged the poor man off into the sky, higher and higher while shouting, "Wheeee!"

"Oh, Marcus. Glad you came, my boy." Ironscale hissed to the newcomer. "As I hope you're away, Matthew's contract with the cruise ship had us proved medical attention when they needed it. Well..." He swiveled his head back to the antihumanists, "These men were harassing two of her crewmates, unfortunately."

Ironscale heard Claudia's holler of happiness, "Well, seems like Miss Claudia is having her fun..."

Causally he smirked, calmly crackinf his knuckles, "Huh, need help dealing with the issue?" He held this toothy grin of shark teeth that still held the newr siren charm his kind had in this form. "Or should we just let Claudia enjoy herself?" He calmly removed his wedding band and put it back in his pocket just in case this turned into a fight.

"PUT ME DOWN!" S'teve began to protest, but as they got higher that scream changed to "Don't drop me! For the love of all things holy don't drop me!"

The dragon-like male stood beside Gargle, arms folded. "Maybe you should tell your contractors the rules around here mate. No humans after dark."

"Last I check there no laws about humans out after dark." Marcus cooly comment, "Then again I also thought it was against the law to attack base on species alone too. Guess even here there are inbreds." He sighed whistfully.

"The filthy humans attacked us first, with their third planet bullshit. We got sick of the lynchings, now it's our turn to show them the same hospitality they showed us." The dragon man didn't back down.

Tod'd nodded agreement. "Humans have done nothing but hurt us."

Marcus rolled his neck and looked at Ironscales, "I can easily take care of things if you want sir." He said calmly, rolling his shoulders. "I know very well what humans have down, but giving them a reason to keep on doing it is a moronic move." He flexed his fingers, "Been a while since I gone in that form..but would be a nice change of things."

"Well, I'd rather not get violent unless we have to." The snake said, "But if these men seem to insist, I'm afraid we have to teach a lesson that hypocrisy isn't taken too kindly among slavers like ourselves..."

The bat girl continued to giggle gleefully, hugging S'teve like a giant teddy bear. "Aren't you a bit of a ickle wickle softie!" She licked his nose with her tiny tongue, and hugged him again as they began to fall. "Gosh! You make me all a flutter with your grappling!"

They might notice a silent watcher come to land on a rooftop and watch the brewing battle. Starr had left the ship in a black hair and winged angel form. She watched the flyer then looked down at Ironscale and Marcus and the others and listened to their words.

((Ellie and Shane leave the ship
oh boy now time is out of sync for sure))

Ellie dragged Shane toward the herbalist shop that Asher and Kay had visited so eventfully the night before.