Planet Genesis -- The Capitol

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She chuckled, "It is, trust me I been there." Softly her face faltered before returning back to normal. "anyway... i uh have no clue what else to ask." Thaila said sheepishly.

"I've never met one I didn't want to shoot in the throat." Esk muttered.

Dawn said nothing, focused more on getting them back to Vestia than in thanks or conversation, though she listened.

"Well it's good to know your opinion on lawyers," Ethan said dryly. "Guess you'll have to think of something else then."

Esk shrugged, wincing as he kept walking.

Ethan walked with them until they reached Vestia's ramp. "I guess I'll leave you here. You can probably find plenty of help if you need it," he said.

"I'll see you around later Ethan, thanks for shopping with me" Dawn said with a smile and a wave to him, though she would stay with Esk until he was settled
(I gtg, be back later, just pp her helping him if you want)

(no worries, i'm drinking tequilla and melting haha. it's too hot omg)

Esk grunted vuagely at Ethan, it might have been a goodbye, it might have just been a dismissive noise. He put his hand out to steady himself as he staggered up the ramp

Ethan headed off by himself, nodding to Dawn as he left. He had a shrink to talk to, and maybe a chicken captain to find. What a busy morning.

Ethan poked around town for a bit, trying to find Acus. He didn't find the guy though, so he headed to his appointment to talk about his panic attack yesterday, and about how his conclusion that Kay must be a decent person (and how he still was, frustratingly, instinctively scared of the guy despite that conclusion), and then he asked for advice on dealing with depressed war veterans who might be suicidal.

Yeah, he kind of had a lot on his mind today.

After the appointment, he went back to searching for Acus, because why not? He had nowhere else to be, so he'd just burn some time enjoying the sights and maybe find a depressed guy to take home. Most likely the former, and not the latter. But you never knew.

"Asher?" someone called as he headed down a street in the outer city, heading toward the residential areas.

Ethan jumped in surprise at the sound of his old name, and whirled to face the person who had spoken it. "Who wants to know?"

"I'm a Guild Scout," the someone said. They fluttered in the air, coming closer to talk more easily, looking a bit like a folded paper plane, oddly enough. "I'm looking for an android from the ship Vestia, I have some information to share."

"I'm Ethan from the ship Vestia," he replied, frowning a bit. "What is it?" Hey, if the Scout told Asher instead, Asher might not even tell him what this Scout said because Asher didn't trust him much. Ethan wanted to know what was up, even if android issues were more his duplicate's thing.

The Scout looped through the air before hovering still. "I was assigned to the Terran Empire a few years before the Six Series recall ended, as a clerk for the Sapient Rights Coalition. At the time, the Coalition wasn't talking much about the android situation, they had several other crises they were trying to handle, and just didn't have the time or funding to test androids for sentience.

"One of the minor member groups of the Coalition, Defenders of the Android-type Robotic Enslaved Species, approached us to try and secure funding for a project. They proposed to buy as many Sixes as they could, rent a colony ship, and send them to an undeveloped planet to live their lives as free individuals.  The Coalition refused, of course. They didn't have the funds to figure out whether androids were sapient at that point, much less send hundreds of them off on an expensive ship. They had me shred the proposal, which I did. They never spoke of it again."

Ethan watched curiously. "I take it that's not the end of the story? That would be lame, and not worth telling anyone."

The Scout fluttered again. "No, it's not the end. Rumor has it that the DARES did find the funds. There are some who believe that the mission did happen. Not many people have tried to find out, and all the staff of DARES from that era seem to have gone into hiding, but the whispers are there. And if the mission did occur, then the androids who were sent might still be alive today. Just think, untold numbers of Sixes, just awaiting their chance at true freedom."

The idea didn't impress Ethan nearly as much as it would have awed Asher and James. Still, he did feel a jolt of interest, even a bit of excitement, at the possibility of androids living free from Terran rule and genocide. Maybe James and Asher and all of Vestia's sickeningly liberal crew were rubbing off on him. Huh. "If the staff are hiding and the papers have been shredded, what do we know?" he asked.

"I remember the details of the proposal," the Scout said. "Photographic memory, a bit like you, I guess."

Ethan winced. Yeesh, photographic memory.

The Scout ignored his wince and recited the coordinates, carefully enunciating the long string of numbers and letters. "Do with the information what you will. At least now it's in the hands of an android," it said. "Maybe you'll be able to put the knowledge to good use."

"Thanks," Ethan said. What else was he supposed to say to something like that?

"Travel well, Ethan!" it raced off.

Ethan returned to his walk, still looking for the pure black avian and pondering the issue of Kay and his own instincts, but also thinking about the planet of the robots. It was like something out of the children's section, a quest to find a mythical city and see if it might be real...

It was an interesting idea.

Dawn made her way back to the capitol, securing some creatures first and having them sent to Vestia in crates so they couldn't get out. Once that was taken care of, she headed to ask a guard if any of them had seen Acus today

The guard said he'd seen an avian matching Acus' description a couple hours ago, heading into the underground. He didn't know anything else, sorry.

Underground? Hm, interesting. Dawn thanked him and followed his directions tot eh underground.

The underground was dark, with low ceilings and dimly lit shops. Unlike street level, shops here seemed to be less aesthetically pleasing, and more functional. Lots of taverns and antique shops and apothecaries. Acus wasn't immediately visible, but maybe a bartender or someone had seen him.

Well hopefully not a bartender.

Dawn looked around, letting her eyes adjust before she started searching. Yes, she would ask bartenders as well as shopkeepers of the other stores. This was a bit scary though.

After a few tries Dawn would find a bartender who had seen an avian like Acus in his tavern. "He came through here earlier, looking for a transport ship that would be leaving the Guild," he said. "Talked to some guys, left with one of them a couple hours ago."

"Transport ship?" Dawn asked, frowning. That was strange, he already had a ship, why would he take a transport out? "Do you know where the ship was docked?" She asked quickly.

"I didn't know the guy he left with, so I don't know which ship it was, sorry," the bartender said. "It'd be out on the asteroid though, and the emigration officials would have logged if your guy had left the Guild yet, if you can prove you have the right to information about him."

Dawn frowned then sighed and nodded "Thank you for your help." She said then turned to leave, heading for the immigration office now. He just had to give them the run around, didn't he? Where was Acus?

The bartender smiled. "No problem, Miss."

The immigration office was out on the asteroid belt, so it was a bit of a walk.

Ethan happened to be returning to Vestia at the same time, and he saw Dawn walking. He went over to her. "Looking for Acus still?" he asked.

Dawn stopped when Ethan spoke to her, taking a moment to rest. "Yeah, he may have taken a transport ship out of here."

"Seriously? This guy might have abandoned his own ship?" Ethan shook his head. That was just nuts. "What happened to him?"

"I don't know" Down said with a frown then looked to Vestia "He would leave a note, wouldn't he, if he was leaving us?" She asked uncertainly then took off, heading for Vestia and the SD to check

Ethan watched Dawn head off, then followed her. "Maybe. Depressed people don't always think logically though," he pointed out.

A few artuvians were up on the roof of one of the universities, looking down over the city together. They watched the crowds below, not able to hear their chatter from this high up, but having no trouble seeing the anger on the faces of many anamcara and other species alike, and reading the signs held by protesters.

"'Merith Wasn't Alone, Vanessa Deserves Justice!'," Orel read, looking at the signs with mild interest. "Oh, look, 'Twelve Planets Died, And Yet She Lives/Kill The Genocidal Keeper!'"

"Classy," the robin artuvian who sat beside him muttered.

"Well I mean, they have plenty of reasons to want their blood," a crow replied, ruffling her feathers a little in thought.

"Yeah, we've all heard the history. I wonder what Vestia's people think though," Orel said. "They actually know these guys."

"You mean you wonder what Skye thinks," the robin teased.

Orel blushed.

"The crew seem to be reasonable people." An eagle said, looking over to the others then back down to the gathered people below. "Who knows what will happen next."

"If the crowd down there don't get the bloodshed they want, I think we're going to be looking at a riot," the crow said. She frowned. "I know Merith will be put in a duel if he isn't sentenced to death, but these guys want way more than just Merith."

"That's not going to be good," the robin mused, shaking his head. "Maybe we should head out of the city before the trial ends, go have a picnic in the countryside or something."

"I want to see what happens," Orel said. He looked to the eagle, "We don't need to hide, we're immune to magic at least, and that's what the anamcara use when they lose their tempers."

"The amancara start fighting like that, we had best be nearer the ships." The eagle said quietly. If the ones who made this 'world' started to fight amongst themselves, then it could end very badly for the world, at least that's how he thought.