Upon Vestia: Chapter Twenty-Four

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Dawn chuckled and shook her head a little "I don't need a party." She said softly, chuckling.

~~~
Skye looked to the door then came over to open it "Mourn? What's up?"

Asher smiled at Mourn. "Very well done. And it wouldn't have gone nearly as well without Skye's hairdryer." He looked at Amity, "Hewitt will probably be happy to see you. I think he's missed you a lot, even if he doesn't really say so."

Amity chuckled. "Yes, the Professor is rather unreasonably sentimental."

Mourn snorted.

Kooshie wrote:"It's just a suggestion. I know you guys are probably sick of hearing it, I probably shouldn't have mentioned it," James said. "You should find out what Pandorans your age do. Maybe they do something cool and traditional. Androids my age just work and hate their lives, but being Pandoran doesn't suck, right?" He helped with the fence.

Dawn sighed and shook her head a little "Yeah, thing is, he can't touch anyone, so that is a limit to even being friends. His attitude is another hindrance, but I am still going to try to be his friend. It's not my fault or his that so many of the others here can't see a guy and girl being just friends without throwing romance in the mix."

"Yeah, I guess that makes things harder. But really, touch isn't, like, vital to relationships of any type. Plenty of androids have romantic relationships where they never touch each other, because that just isn't important to them." James smiled softly, "But yeah, nothing wrong with a friendship either. I guess we should stop imagining stuff about you guys, huh?"

~~
Asher smiled at Amity. "You should go visit the Professor, he'd like to see you. Someone should probably go along in case you break down, though."

"That's a different meaning of 'romance' than any I have heard of." Dawn said then shrugged and got back to work.

~
"I can" Skye said softly then shrugged a little.

"Androids aren't a very tactile species," James said. "For us, it's all about emotional connection. Hugging and stuff are like... Waving to a friend or something, they're ways to show what you're feeling, but they aren't the most important part of a relationship." He laughed, "Or so I've been told. I don't know first hand what it's like."

Amity nodded. "That's a good idea." He headed for the door.

Mourn opened the door for the drone. "Okay, done now, go. go." He shooed them all out, they'd fulfilled their purpose, get out.

Asher let himself be shooed out along with Skye and Amity. "I guess I'm coming with you guys, then," he said with a laugh.

Skye chuckled and nodded "Alright, I don't mind you coming too."

~
Dawn sighed and shrugged "I don't know either. I'm not used to being touched either, I know we are supposed to, but, I don't know. I guess growing up with a father that didn't want to look at you much less touch you changes how you see touching. Maybe that's why I like that he can't touch me. It's what I am used to."

Asher chuckled. "Oh good." He'd follow the others in their hunt for Hewitt.

~~
"There's nothing wrong with not liking touching," James said. He looked sympathetic and Dawn's description of her father, that sounded sad. "You can be in love without touching anyone, just like you can touch people without being in love with them. I think maybe androids understand that a lot better than species with a sense of touch do, but I think it can apply to anyone."

Amity headed for Hewitt's room because it was afternoon, which meant the professor should be napping.

"You don't have to come with me if you would rather do other things." he told the others cheerfully, then seemed to notice Asher properly. "You are smaller than usual."

---

Pleased with himself, Mourn curled up on the bed and had a nap.

"We're here because we want to make sure you're okay, and also because we like you and Hewitt," Asher said, smiling. "Yes, I was injured in the battle, so now I have this wheelchair."

Dawn focused on the fence building again, uncertain what to do with that information. They were almost done with this area now.

Skye walked with Asher and Amity quietly. She was there to make sure Amity didn't go haywire or anything.

"But you are a robot, you cannot be injured." Amity didn't understand. "You are broken?" Ahh semantics.

Asher made a face. Same argument Hewitt had used on him, pretty much. He really wasn't a big fan of that term, it made him feel disposable. "I prefer to think of myself as injured rather than broken, since most of me is still working," he said, keeping his tone light.

~~
James helped her quietly. He was pretty sure he'd overstepped his boundaries starting that discussion, so he figured he should stay quiet and be useful now.

"and Mourn can't fix you?" Amity asked. "That is a shame."
His tone remained light and cheerful though. The reached Hewitt's room and Amity tried to knock, at least the force field generators were working, mostly.

"The part that was damaged is too specialized for us to repair," Asher said, "It is unfortunate." He watched Amity knock on the door, it was nice to see his forcefield was working okay.

Hewitt called back, "WHAT?"

Amity smiled serenely. "Sir, are you alright?"

There was a pause. The sound of movement and the door opened. "Amity?"

"Yes sir."

The Professor composed himself, straightening up and coughing. "Well... good. It's about time you got back to work, slacking off in pieces around the place. Not acceptable."

Amity chuckled. "Of course Sir, it's good to be up and running again."

"yes well... why the entourage?" Hewitt looked suspiciously at Asher and Skye.

"Skye's here to take him back to Mourn if he malfunctions, and I'm here because I felt like tagging along," Asher explained. "Amity seems to be doing well so far, but we only just got him running, so we can't be sure yet."

Skye smiled and waved to Hewitt "Hi, yeah, we are just making sure Amity is alright. His projector was glitching a little, but he seems alright now."

~~
Dawn looked to James when they finished this section. "Alright, this section is done, did you want to go or help me with the bee cage?"

"I'll help you with the bees," James said. "I don't have anything else I should be doing right now."

Amity smiled, nodding. His holographic projector was still glitching periodically, the image rippling.
Hewitt stared at the image critically. "The mirrors are out of alignment." He rolled his eyes. Not that he knew how to fix them, projectors were really damn finicky, but that didn't stop him being arrogant about it.

"It shall have to do for now." Amity didn't look like he minded.

Hewitt snorted. "yes, i'm certain everyone will just get used to it. I'll find someone to fix it in our travels. There's got to be someone around who's not totally useless."

Amity chuckled, then noticed Hewitt's healing wounds. "You've been fighting sir."

"yeah yeah, what of it?" Hewitt waved a hand dismissively.

Amity managed a frown. "It is inadvisable to exert yourself so sir, at your age you simply don't have the energy reserves... "

"At MY age." Hewitt snorted. Secretly he enjoyed the concern, artificial though it was. "i'll have you know i'm perfectly capable of taking on a couple of animals with guns." He scoffed.

Amity smiled, he was used to the Professor's moaning. "Of course sir."

"Thanks" Dawn said and gave him a smile. She was glad for the help, the panels for the screens were cumbersome. She went over to the boxes to open them up.

~~
"Everyone fought that was here, we are all getting better now, including Hewitt. He fought well from what I have heard." She said gently, nodding to the plant man.

Hewitt looked pleased. "Had them running scared, I did."

Amity smiled. "A shame I missed that Sir, it sounds impressive."

"Damn right." Hewitt chuckled. He looked to Asher and Skye. "I can take care of him, if he starts acting up i'll call your mechanic alright?" He shooed them. "Go, go, haven't you got things to do?"

Skye shook her head but turned to go. "Have fun, we should be off tomorrow."

James helped Dawn to get out the panels, doing his very best to be useful, while not damaging his arm. "I wonder what Swarm would think of bees. Maybe they'd be freaked out by them."

~~
Asher looked amused. "All right, we'll leave you two alone. Try not to overwork Amity, he's not in perfect condition yet."