Upon Vestia: Chapter Twenty-Five

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Starr shrugged and looked out the window again. "I don't know. I just want things to be normal."

Asher smiled softly. "Saving the android species seems to take an awful lot of trust, doesn't it?" For all that everything was still being kept quiet, there were thousands of people who knew, thanks to their time at the Guild. "Perfect security isn't possible at this point, but for now at least, I think everyone's going to keep their mouths shut."

Kay really hoped so. [So, Daniel is still on the ship?]

"Yes, he's in Mourn's room, booted into recovery mode. Mourn is defragmenting his storage, to hopefully increase his space for memories," Asher said. "He won't be able to hear anything he shouldn't, at least, but he'll be here a while."

[You think it'll work?] Kay asked. Hey, learning the person you loved had such a short life span kinda sucked. Then again, given the lives they all led, it was unlikely any of them were going to really get a chance to retire and life out their full life spans anyway.
Still.

"I really don't know. Mourn's a genius, but then again there is an awful lot that can go wrong with a procedure like this," Asher said. He watched Kay uncertainly. "I would have mentioned this to you sooner, but it never seemed like the right time to mention it." Telling your boyfriend that hey, you were guaranteed to be dead before your fifty-first birthday wasn't exactly something you wanted to slip into the conversation. Or could bring up at all without it coming straight out of nowhere.

Kay managed a weak smile and came over to hug Asher. [It's alright, I suppose I never really thought about it. Or wanted to think about it.]

Asher hugged Kay back. "My storage isn't anywhere close to full yet, anyway."

[Not really the point.] Kay countered, but he smiled sadly. [I'm sure Mourn will work out a solution, nuts as he is, he does seem to be able to work miracles with code.]

Asher nodded. "I know, but it does give us time to find a solution. If Mourn can't solve the problem, I'm sure someone else will in the next few decades." He didn't want to say 'the next twenty-seven years'. That seemed brutally precise.

Kay nodded grimly, he couldn't help but think they'd be lucky to even make that. Even with the family gone, they still had an awful lot of enemies and were bound to make more as they continued their plans.

Asher tried to smile. "It's not worth worrying about now. We'll know more in forty-eight hours." He reached up to pat Kay's arm, "We can't know exactly what the future holds, but we do have the power to influence it." And he fully planned to live as long as he could. Twenty-seven years just wouldn't cover everything he wanted to stick around for.

Kooshie wrote:"I think he just likes annoying people," Ethan said. "Old guys always think it's funny to get a rise out of someone."

"Oh, well, there's no fixing that." Sawna said then chuckled softly.

Kay rested his hand on Asher's, nodding.

"There really isn't," Ethan agreed. "Thankfully you're better than that, at least." He was glad for that. He didn't know what he'd do if he had to deal with two book vandals.

~~
Asher smiled sadly. "Want to finish that movie now?" Better than contemplating mortality.

Sawna chuckled and headed for the next room to search it. "I like books, they can take you many places without leaving. No reason to destroy them."

Kay nodded. [There wasn't much left.] About 10 minutes in fact.

Ethan nodded. "Wish I'd been able to read more in the other universe. Would have made everything suck a lot less." He looked curious, "What do you prefer to read?"

~~
"Well we have to find out how they defeat the bad guys," Asher said in a sensible tone, "And we have to see if the improbably muscular hero can destroy one more shirt before the movie ends."

"Adventure and romance" Sawna said, smiling and dipping her head a little. "Though I read everything else too."

Ethan nodded. "I'll make sure to pick some of those up on my next shopping trip, since you've been so useful." He didn't like romance much, but he had websites he could turn to for recommendations. It was good to make sure the library had even the stuff he avoided himself.

Sawna smiled softly and nodded "I like to read about the romances, because some of them are so very strange." She said as she searched this room with him. "Some of the situations are so impossible that it is almost funny."

Ethan snorted, amused. "You don't read them to swoon over the gorgeous guys or something?" He smiled oddly, "I suppose they are ridiculous, some of them must be like unintentional comedies."

Kay smiled. [I'd say the chances of another shirt casualty are fairly high.] He led the way back to his desk and set up the tablet again.

Kooshie wrote:Ethan snorted, amused. "You don't read them to swoon over the gorgeous guys or something?" He smiled oddly, "I suppose they are ridiculous, some of them must be like unintentional comedies."

"Impossibly gorgeous guys are a good distraction, but I read more to learn from and laugh at some parts of them." Sawna said with a chuckle.

"It's a good thing I can't blush. All the ruined shirts, my word!" Asher wheeled after Kay to watch the rest of this silly movie.

~~
"What have you learned?" Ethan asked, amused.

Sawna smiled and thought about that answer "I learned a lot about the culture and values of the writers." She replied

Ethan nodded. "You can learn a lot from fiction that way," he agreed. He looked at the pile of books Sawna had found, and looked pleased. "Well, we've found more books than I ever expected today."

Sawna chuckled softly and nodded, looking to the pile then around the room "Yes, seems they mostly just put them on the closest shelf."