Upon Vestia: Chapter Seventeen

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Kay always tried so hard to be sensible and pragmatic. Asher had always loved that about him, and he loved it just as much now. He smiled softly. "No, you're definitely not alone in this."
He wasn't going to leave Kay to look after this little dragon alone. He'd gotten the guy into this situation, so now it was his job to do everything he could to help. Did that make him the other father here? Maybe. This was thoroughly confusing and he was going to need to think it over at some point. "If it wasn't already obvious, I'm here for you. Both of you," he said.

~~
Tala snorted weakly. "I do not like that butterfly well." She let Shane help her.

"It's good to meet you both," Vestia said politely.

~~
---Hey Mourn, Skye's asking for you again--- Vestia Morse'd at him. ---She's at the ramp with some new people---

Mourn looked up at Vestia's camera. "Hawk girl got more friends?" He made a face and awkwardly got up. "What want fix now?" He was kinda curious, so he headed to the ramp.

--

"You are a passenger aboard?" Hewitt asked Skye. "What IS an entire cruise ship doing here? I was under the impression the Guild Of Scribes wasn't a tourist destination."

---There's a drone... thing... that's stuttering, I assume that's what they want to fix but nobody's said yet--- Vestia said. ---It talks, I wonder if it's sentient---

Mourn headed for the ramp to meet them, looking a little more eager now.

Skye dipped her head then looked to the plant person "We came here for shelter too" Yeah, what else could she say to that?

"Even cruise ships need to hide sometimes," Vestia said, amused. "Sadly."

Hewitt made a scoffing sort of noise. "Shelter, yes they're good at that. Sadly, doesn't seem like this place is as safe as perhaps they would like to claim. Magic is unpredictable, magical creatures all the more so. " He shook his head.

"a.. at l...least there is n.. no ram rampaging boars to t...today." Amity added.

Hewitt grumbled. "Quite."

Mourn appeared, tilting his head at the group. "Plant?"

The Professor looked at Mourn, momentarily stunned by his appearance. He tilted his head. "Cat." He replied flatly.

Mourn made a face.

The Professor had the tiniest little smirk play across his impish features.
"Would you prefer Cyborg?" He asked.

Mourn shrugged. "Felid."

"Aketi." The professor pointed to himself and spoke slowly, like one might to someone who couldn't speak the same language.

"Y.. yo.. you are... an e.. en.. engineer?" The drone asked politely.

Mourn nodded.

"Mourn's very good at repairing electronic things of many types," Vestia said proudly, using Morse as well for Mourn's benefit.

Orel tried to not look annoyed. Enough about Mourn already! He was a smart guy, but bot that great.

Mourn looked smug, he did rather love being praised after all. Orel's look of irritation was just extra icing on the cake.

The Professor looked dubious. "Well then, let's see if you can solve the problem. "

"What problem?" Mourn asked.

"Charging, we don't know how damaged his system is and how much of his glitching is because his battery is running low and how much is from being knocked around a lot. " Hewitt explained.

"What doing knocking robot around?" Mourn asked.

Hewitt rolled his eyes. "I didn't knock him around, we were in a crash." He snapped.

"t... two... crashes." Amity corrected.

"Well yes but let's not split hairs." Hewitt snipped.

Mourn cackled. "Sound dramatic. Come come, let see robot!" He looked excited. "I good fixing robots."

The drone backed away a little.

"He is good at fixing robots" Skye assured and smiled at the drone and the professor calmy.

"He hasn't broken a robot yet," Vestia said. "I mean, I guess you're kinda different, Amity, but he has a good track record."

"Amity..." Hewitt sounded like he was scolding a child. "Would you prefer to power down and potentially be unable to boot back up?"

The drone seemed to think that through. Finally it made a sort of sighing noise. "G.. g.. good p.. point."

Mourn grinned. "You programmer yes?" He pointed at Orel. "Hawks help. Come come." He lead the way to his room to get tools.

"I've only programmed really simple AIs, I know nothing about this--" Orel protested, then sighed and followed. Hey, robots were interesting, he might as well try to help.

Skye chuckled and followed Mourn. This could prove very interesting, even if all she did was fetch and carry as she watched.

Mourn was absolutely fascinated by the drone, trying to work out exactly what the heck it was supposed to do. He really couldn't wait to take it apart.

If the little drone was capable of looking nervous, it would have.
It hung close to the Professor.

Professor Hewitt couldn't help but look around Vestia's interior curiously. She was quite unlike any cruise ship he'd ever been on.

"It's okay," Vestia told the drone soothingly, "Nobody's going to hurt you."

"Are you sentient?" Orel asked Amity as they walked, "apparently that's a thing now."

The drone struggled to answer that.
"I.. I.. a..am... "

The professor shook his head at Orel. "The poor thing's processor is already struggling, don't ask complicated questions."

"S.. sss. ssapi... ent." the drone managed.

"yes yes, the Hosts are sapient but probably not sentient. They're designed to be as personable as possible apparently, or so the pamphlets say." The Professor smiled fondly at the little droid. "Whatever the case, he's a fine companion."

"You own?" Mourn asked.

Hewitt shook his head. "Oh heavens no, do you have any idea how expensive Hosts are? Oh no no, but I do feel rather obligated to return him to the cruise liner. I'm sure they'll want him back, in some state or other."

"d.. do you y.. you hav have a w... way to contact.. contact t.. the co comp.. company? Evac.. evacuation pro..."

"yes yes, so you keep saying, 'evacuation protocol means you must ensure the safe return of all guests under your responsibility.' and I keep telling you that i'm not waiting here on my own till someone shows up to collect me." Hewitt looked to the others. Of course, if you do have a way to contact our homeworld..."

Orel nodded. "Sapient. Makes sense." He had a hard time believing this whole sentience thing, really. He'd programmed stuff before, he could make a piece of code respond to certain inputs in certain ways, didn't mean it had feelings.

"We might be able to contact them, yes. How about you get fixed up, and then we can see about that," Vestia suggested soothingly.

Skye smiled at Vestia's camera, she had hoped they would be able to help with more than just charging the little robot

the drone bobbed again.

"Oh it will be nice to see your actual face again." Professor Hewitt mused. "And then we can both phone home. You get your way, i get mine, we both win."

Mourn could only follow half the conversation and honestly it was just flat out confusing. He opened the door to his room and ushered everyone inside.

It was a mess. A complete and utter mess. He stockpiled electronic equipment and cardboard boxes clearly. As well as any other junk that took his fancy. There was a pile of laptops in a corner, just sort of stacked up with no real care or consideration.

He dug through some trash to find his box of tools.

"You all sit. " He paused, looking at the drone and pushed some papers off the side table. "You sit." he pointed to the tabletop.

Orel sighed and looked around for a relatively clear spot to sit.

Vestia watched curiously. This latest drama was pretty interesting.

"So this is where the laptops went" Skye said musingly before finding a place to sit

Orel smiled lopsidedly at Skye. "They go missing often, I take it?" He asked.

Skye chuckled then shrugged "Yeah, they do, but then most of us use tablets now anyway."

"They mine, leave unattended, you no want." Mourn shrugged.

"Ahh yes, the ancient law of Finders Keepers." Professor Hewitt said dryly.

The drone hesitated, then slowly sank to the table, the fans powering down as it landed lightly.

Mourn gestured Orel should come have a look as he carefully examined the little thing. It was absolutely tiny, the whole thing only about palm sized with four little fans for lift and a ring around the outside which looked studded with tiny lenses on the lower edge and one large lens that appeared to be some sort of camera. Mourn picked the drone up to get a better look at the underside.

"Ahha." He found the docking port hidden underneath. "Let see cable... " With the drone in one hand, Mourn started to rummage through the drawers looking for the right cable.

Professor Hewitt looked nervous, watching Mourn uncertainly.

Orel went over to join Mourn. He eyed the drone with almost as little certainty as the professor showed Mourn, really not sure about it. He recognized the camera as... Probably a camera. And the fans as the things that made it float. Other than that? Not much. There'd better not be a test on this later.
He waited for Mourn to find that cable.

Skye had confidence in Mourn and smiled lightly as she watched him and Orel looking at the robot.