Upon Vestia: Chapter Eighteen

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(Starts on day six at the Guild of Scribes.)

Ellie snickered. Yeah, she was pretty sure she thought loudly. Sorry Kay! Out loud she said, "I have no idea how much I'm hearing, this hasn't ever happened before. I know I can hear him when he's being a racist jerk, but I dunno more than that." She could probably sense his health and maybe even heal him. That was a creepy thought. "I am so going to try and teach myself to not hear this. It's freaky."

~~
Asher followed Vestia's directions to Dawn's room, but hesitated at the door. Hmm, maybe he should wait and bother her later? She deserved time to be alone. After a moment he knocked on the door. He could always apologize and go away, right?

Dawn startled awake and looked to the door "What? Who?" She asked, blinking then rubbing her eyes and sitting up "Come in?"

Oh darn, it sounded like Dawn had been sleeping. Whoops. "It's just me," Asher said, "Asher," he added, because Ethan's voice was a lot like his and she might be confused. "It's okay, we can talk later."

"No, no, come in Asher" Dawn said, getting up and coming over to open the door "I dozed off."

Kay smiled and nodded. [I've had my entire life to get used to it, I can only imagine how strange it must be to suddenly have these... voices in your head. ]

Asher came in hesitantly. "I just wanted to talk to you because of how much extra work you and James have had lately. I don't know if Kay's talked to you about it on his own or not?"

~~
Ellie giggled. "Well don't put it that way. Shane and Hewitt both think I'm nuts now, and I don't need anyone else talking about it that way." It was more funny than anything else though. "Man, how did you figure out how to not respond to thoughts though? It's freaky."

Dawn shook her head then shrugged "Not really, why?" She asked, going to sit on her bed so he could have the chair if he wanted it.

Asher hesitated again, then followed Dawn's lead and sat on the chair. "With all the various types of excitement around here lately, you and James have been having to take on an increasingly large portion of the work in the med bay. Now, you in particular have been handling it beautifully, but still, it's been an awful lot more work for you both all at once, and I want to make sure that you aren't being overworked, and that you feel like you're being treated fairly." He smiled softly at her.

Dawn chuckled softly then shrugged "I don't mind, it is just a different room to study in for me. There is so much more to learn about medicine than I know now. Oh, I found a program on the holodeck that teaches medical procedures that I have been using."

Kay smiled [A lot of scolding from my mother I believe. Apparently I used to telepathically project instead of talking too. If I got excited or distracted, she'd say "Kaylr, speak out loud."] He shook his head. [I slowly learned how to differentiate thoughts and genuine sounds I was hearing. Telepathic projections are strange, your brain tricks you into thinking you heard something but really you heard nothing at all, you just KNOW. ] He focused on her. You think you're hearing me speak, but actually pay attention. Do you genuinely hear my voice? And it wasn't a voice, it was more like the dim memory of a voice, one you then couldn't quite remember what it sounded like. It was the knowledge someone had spoken without hearing them actually speak. [You'll learn in time to tell the difference between spoken word and thoughts, it just takes practice.]

(Dawn is being paid currently, right? I'm pretty sure Vestia made sure of that lol)

"I'm glad you don't mind. I'm sure Kay would agree with me in saying that your work has been incredibly valuable," Asher said, "Is Vestia compensating you fairly for your time?" He smiled at the mention of the holodeck program, "That sounds extremely useful."

~~
Ellie jumped at Kay's telepathic projection. He usually only wrote when talking to her, and the strangeness of him sort-of talking was... whoa. "Man, that is surreal," she said. "Telepathic communication, verbal communication. I'm sure I can figure them out. How hard can it be?" So hard. She just knew it was going to be insanely difficult.

(probably, since Vestia has overheard all these conversations, lol)

Dawn shrugged then nodded "Yeah, I guess so. I haven't really checked my account in a while though" She wasn't even sure what she was being paid really.

Kay looked apologetic. [Sorry, it is rather strange if you aren't used to it. Matt's actually the only one of my siblings who'll tolerate me projecting into his head. ] He smiled softly. [I won't do it again.]

Asher chuckled. "It's worth looking into. If you're working for someone, you should make sure you're being paid enough." He still hadn't gotten over the thrill of seeing his pay go into his bank account every two weeks, so of course he wanted to make sure everyone else was being treated fairly too.

~~
"Nah, it's okay man, just startled me," Ellie said. "I mean you get used to you... you know... not talking... and then suddenly you think you are talking, and it's kinda surprising." She smiled, "You can talk that way if you want. It's cool."

Dawn nodded and chuckled softly "I will look into it." She promised and smiled at Asher

Asher nodded, satisfied by that. "And if you feel like your hours are too much or something, please feel free to talk to me. Also talk to me if James is doing something he shouldn't. Or just tell him off, I think he respects your opinion and should listen to you."

Dawn laughed at that then held a hand out to wiggle it back and forth a little "James listens to some things, but not others. No matter who it's from"

Asher smiled. "He can be incredibly headstrong at times, but he's a good guy and can usually be made to listen. Worst case, you can just ignore him. He usually gets bored and leaves if you do that."

Dawn nodded at that. "Yeah, that's true. He does like making signs though" She said cheerfully

"He's certainly learned to love the chance to be snarky to people," Asher said, laughing a bit. "It'd be hard to convince him to stop making signs, he's had far too much fun with those."

Kay looked amused. [so we have a racist plant based lifeform aboard now? Have you met the drone yet?] ah yes, more conflict. fantastic.

Dawn chuckled and nodded then shook her head at that "Yeah, that one would be hard" She said then shrugged and smiled at Asher

"Apparently we do. Everything's better with racist plant guys, right?" Ellie laughed and shook her head. Life was so weird. "I haven't met the done yet. Is it nicer than Hewitt at least?"

~~
Asher nodded, smiling. "I'll leave you alone now if there's nothing you think we need to talk about?" He said​.

Dawn shrugged a little at that. She couldn't think of anything right then. "I don't know"

"All right," Asher said, standing up, "I'll talk to you later, Dawn." He smiled warmly at her, then headed for the door.

Dawn smiled back to him again "Alright, see you around Asher."

Asher left Dawn's room and tried to figure out what was next on his agenda. There had to be something he should attend to. He just had to think about what it was first...