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.

James smiled. "I guess you wouldn't be. It's weird, when I was younger i was kind of like you, only I didn't do snarky conversation or say much other than yes sir and no sir. I didn't get offended or have strong opinions though, kinda like you. But I was pretty different from that by the time I was ten. It's funny how different we are."

Ethan was pretending to read his book, but it was pretty obvious he was actually listening in because he was almost smiling and he kept glancing up at the two.

Starr nodded and headed for her room to give her two a bath. She would trust Asher to find a good place that she could find later on. Her two were getting active now.

"The Professor said you had advanced adaptive coding? I'm programmed to respond to and log preferences, allowing me to more naturally and effectively interact with my guests. The first time I met the professor he told me to 'stop being so subservient' and stand up for myself. he likes arguments and can't stand anyone mindlessly agreeing with him. Some guests prefer complete subservience and a docile persona. I adapt but only so far as to accommodate guest preferences. Of course it all becomes rather complicated when you have two guests with vastly different preferences and are having to interact with both simultaneously. "

---

Kay looked to Asher, smiled and picked up a few of the books to help him move them.

"That sounds seriously confusing," James said, "makes sense though, you just sort of have some presets that let you deal with most people, and if it's not enough then that's their problem. Good idea."

"Makes things much less depressing," Ethan agreed, looking up from his book.

~~
They headed for some room which wasn't currently claimed by anyone, and was sort of near all their rooms. Yay for conveniently located rooms!

Amity smiled softly and nodded to James. "Some guests are more demanding than others, but we will always adjust to accommodate, unless they're being completely unreasonable. That's what security is for though." He looked to Ethan. "Depressing? You are referring to your own state of being?"

Danika stayed snuggled in Kay's pocket quietly.

James shook his head, "Guests, man. Good thing you have security, people are dumb."

Ethan shrugged. "Some owners like their androids to behave in certain ways. We're not coded with behavior presets though, so it's not quite as easy."

"That sounds remarkably inefficient. You would think an all purpose robot would have socialization included. " Amity found the whole all purpose android thing pretty alien, his coding just couldn't quite wrap around this concept. Robots had a job, a role, a single thing they did and did well, that was how it was and how it should be.
He smiled to James. "Most of our guests were well behaved. A few under the influence of mist could be a little... rowdy but generally I never encountered much trouble. Still security was there if they were needed. I did once have a guest try to swat me with a mop they stole off a cleaning trolley. Thankfully I am rather faster moving than the Aketi and quite a small target. I do not believe the company would take kindly to a guest willfully damaging company property."

"It's impossible to code for every situation when the robot on question is built to learn to handle hundreds of unrelated tasks and situations," Ethan said with a shrug. "We're coded with a default set of behaviors and the rest has to be learned later​since it can't all be planned for."

"Mist?" James asked curiously.

"Yes mist, a colloquial term used to describe a variety of intoxicating substances absorbed through the skin and roots. " Amity explained.
"Are you a librarian?" He asked Ethan. "Do you enjoy your job or are you like James and find it unsatisfying?"

"That's awesome. Also dangerous. They must absorb bad stuff sometimes," James mused. "Man, what a different species."

Ethan smiled his signature odd smile. "I got to choose my job and I enjoy it. It's quiet and I get to learn a lot."

Amity beamed at Ethan. "That is how it should be."
"Oh undoubtedly it's not good for their systems, but they don't seem to care. It is my understand that most all organic species have similar vices."

"Oh yeah, organics love their drugs," James agreed. "Seems like they'd be kinda susceptible to other toxins too though."

Amity nodded. "Aketi are generally fairly robust provided they have access to warmth, sunlight, water, nitrogen and carbon dioxide. Airborn toxins are not much of a concern on a cruise ship, the ship's filters generally remove any harmful particles from the air and from my understanding, animal species are equally as susceptible to air born toxins and pesticides. I am afraid my coding is limited when it comes to biology, I am programmed for basic first aid only. "

"You and me both," James laughed, "I ask about biology but I sure don't know it." He nodded, "I guess... Animals... Can inhale all those toxins too."

Amity nodded. "For the most part, from what I have observed, Aketi are far more likely to die of freezing, electrocution or being caught in a catastrophic explosion. Even without life support they hang on quite a remarkably long time." Well he managed to sound worryingly upbeat and casual about all that.

James smiled at Amity's tone. Such a weird guy. "That's a relief," he said, amused. "Is there anything else you want to see on this ship? Obviously we can't see everything, there just isn't time to do that, but we can see whatever you think would be important."

~~
Asher dropped off the books in the spare room with Kay and Danika. Then they could go look for oil, or some substitute for oil. There must be more options than had been mentioned in the book.

Amity considered that. "Is there anything you think is important I know about?"


---

Kay helped carry books and then followed Asher on this search for moisturizing oil. First point of call should probably be the medical room, see if they had anything in stock.

"Hmm," James said, "well I guess you might want to see hydroponics, seeing as the professor is, umm, plant based."
Was that rude? It sure sounded rude. Oh well, not like Amity would care much.

~~
They headed to the med bay to look around.
Asher started poking through the shelves, looking for anything promising.

"That could be interesting. Do you grow much on board?" Amity asked cheerfully.

---

Kay found a step stool and searched the upper shelves.

"Oh yeah, all sorts of stuff," James said. "We grow soy, and wheat I think, and maybe lettuce... probably some other stuff too. I'm not much good with plants, nobody ever made me work in Hydroponics. Wanna see?"

~~
"Petroleum jelly might keep her scales from drying out," Asher said, finding some in a cabinet, "Since it traps the water in. I'm not sure that's what we're looking for though."

"Alright." Amity had no real opinnion either way but James wanted to give a tour, and mapping out the layout of this ship was sensible.

---

Kay looked thoughtful, Aloe maybe? He picked up a bottle labelled Aloe Vera and held that out. This was difficult. Wrong thing and they'd make things worse.
He got down off the stool. [Maybe we should just play it safe and see if anyone in town sells frankencense.]

James grinned and lead Amity to leave the library.

Ethan rolled his eyes and went back to his book. Yeah, ever since that time he'd gotten tied up by Ellie's plants in the mirrorverse, he'd had no interest in going near her territory.

~~
Asher looked at the aloe vera thoughtfully. "That would probably work," he agreed. "Maybe we should ask Starr or Shane to test it on themselves first, see if they react poorly to it. In the mean time, it might be best to start by going to town to shop."

Amity waved merrily to Ethan, "Goodbye." He told him politely as he followed James.

---

Kay nodded. Better safe than sorry right? He checked on Danika and lead the way back off vestia and back into town. Lots of walking back and forward today huh?
(Lol either Dawn is watching them all wtf or she went to pee and is gonna come back all 'somebody's been rummaging through the shelves.. grrr.' hahahaha.)

(omg now I'm just imagining Dawn watching them and silently judging)
Asher followed after sneaking a sign James had written off the wall and into the trash.

~~
James lead the way up to Hydroponics. "Do you know plants?" He asked, "Because I sure don't. I think this tall one might be corn, but I dunno."

(lol)
Dawn had watched them without comment, still sitting behind the desk with the game she had been playing on pause while they had come in and rifled through things. Half-silent conversations were not easy to follow, at all. When they left she shook her head and went back to the game, wondering what they were up to but not enough to get involved.

Danika was curled up in Kay's pocket, hiding in there and half asleep.

Amity shook his head. "I'm afraid horticulture is not something that was included in my programming. " He looked around. "Is this where your plant mage works?"

---

Kay smiled softly to Dawn and waved as they left. Yeah he wasn't about to explain.