Upon Silver Devil: Chapter Four

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Dawn would be alright, she just got bored laying there alone and without a project to do.

Kooshie wrote:Asher moved another piece. "What sort of games do your people play with their magic?" he asked curiously.

Dawn moved another piece, taking one of his. "All kinds, we have building games, making things games, and silly games like seeing who can stay up the longest when you have air."

"Good to meet you, Luka." Moriah had seen the other woman around before, and knew her name, but they'd never been formally introduced. It was nice to finally meet her. She smiled softly. "Ellie says you're one of her best friends." She looked curious, "Is the drama really that bad here? And should I be calling Rigel the captain, or do only the crew have to do that?" She wasn't really on the crew, she was pretty sure. Rigel hadn't assigned her a job.

~~
"They sound wonderful to watch," Asher mused, moving one of his pieces that was now being threatened. "Did you play games much, or did you more prefer to watch them?"

(I just had an idea, we need to have the characters have some sort of sports tournament when they get back to Vestia. It'd be awesome)

"It was a requirement to play in school." Dawn said with a shrug before moving another piece. "Both to play there and to practice at home to hone your skills and to use the extra energy of youth."

"You'd have to ask him. " Luka admitted. "he's pretty ... " she searched for the common word "chilled about it" She shrugged. "Not too much drama now. James usually winds Esk up, Esk's just flat out a dick to everyone except Dawn and Tala yells a lot." She winced. "not angry yelling, that's just.. how she talks." She shook her head. "after a few weeks cramped up like this people start to get grumpy, but here I have a little oasis to retreat to." She smiled and patted the console fondly.

"Ah. That does make sense." Asher smiled a little. "That almost sounds dangerous to let children use their powers in so many places, but I guess there must have been adults nearby?"

~~
Moriah laughed. "I can see why you'd like a place to escape to, then." She shook her head. "Esk is unsettling, I'm afraid I don't think I like him much. And I don't know what to make of Tala. Dawn seems nice though, she's letting me share her room." She looked out the window, "It's probably good this trip is going to be so short, I'd rather not see everyone on edge in such a small space."

"Oh, we got the whole 'parental supervision for safety' lectures, but we still had quite a few at least try to practice without them." Dawn said and shrugged again. "I think that's part of being a kid in any culture."

"I suppose so," Asher said, amused. "Children don't generally seem to be very interested in safety, most of them seem to prefer to live life on the edge." Well, Danika had been very worried about her safety, and all her parents had been pretty concerned by that. He frowned a little at the thought, then brought himself back to the present. "I can't say I really know first-hand though, seeing as android children are extremely quiet and well behaved."

Luka snorted "Esk's an asshole but he takes his job seriously. I kinda.. try to avoid him." She frowned. He had actually been okay in the mirror universe, in his element in that nightmare place, which was a bit unsettling. Still, she was aware he wasn't all bad and did seem to want to keep them all safe, didn't mean she had to like him. "I'm not sure why he decided to come along. " She tilted her head. "Why are you so eager to see Mars?"

"Maybe he likes being where the excitement is," Moriah said. "He seems to like unsettling people, at least he has the few times I've talked to him."
She smiled shyly. "I've never been to Mars before, not since I first woke up anyway. I know it's an awful place where they created us to be their slaves but... it's also kind of our homeland, and I want to see it at least once in my life."

Luka nodded slowly. "Don't let him get to you, he just wants a reaction." She shrugged. "That seems reasonable. It's bound to be strange for both you and Asher. Don't let Mourn buy any more androids right? We don't have the space here."

Kooshie wrote:"I suppose so," Asher said, amused. "Children don't generally seem to be very interested in safety, most of them seem to prefer to live life on the edge." Well, Danika had been very worried about her safety, and all her parents had been pretty concerned by that. He frowned a little at the thought, then brought himself back to the present. "I can't say I really know first-hand though, seeing as android children are extremely quiet and well behaved."

"Children don't usually have enough maturity to see what could happen, only what looks 'fun' at the time." Dawn said with a nod. "Your people are an exception, there always has to be at least one, doesn't there?" She teased lightly

"Okay, I'll try not to let him scare me. He sure is creepy though, always bringing up violent subjects," Moriah shook her head. She smiled shyly, "I don't know, it might be hard to walk away without new androids. I mean, if Mourn starts wanting to buy one, I'm not sure I'd be able to tell him no." She liked her new home and friends, she'd never felt as safe and accepted as she did here, and she didn't want to deny any of her kind that feeling.

~~
Asher laughed. "Every species has its quirk, I suppose, and mine's happens to be having incredibly boring children." That wasn't really a downside to him though, he thought android kids were sweet, learning new things and looking so politely confused.
"You went to school when you were young?" he asked, remembering her earlier comment. "It seems like a lot of people didn't for most of their lives."

Dawn nodded again and shrugged "Yes, for us, it is a requirement to go to school. It's how they know everyone will know how to use their powers correctly, even if they don't use them correctly later."

Asher nodded. "Definitely a good idea. Do you guys go to different classes depending on your element, or do you get put in some sort of magic training class with all the elemental types?" He moved his king.

"A little of both, some classes are mixed, but some have to be by type." Dawn replied and moved a bishop into place. Check"

"Must make for some interesting interactions with the other kids," Asher mused. "How do you end up with a certain element, is it genetic, or more of a random thing?" He moved his king to safety.

Luka smiled softly. She was all for saving people, but of course, practicality, and the fact that buying large quantities of androids was weird and super suspicious. "just... keep an eye on him okay?" All she knew of Mourn was that he was impulsive and loud. Two things that probably weren't such a great idea during a sensitive mission.

Dawn nodded a little then shrugged "It usually follows family lines, but it can be random, especially when you have different elements in the same family. And before you ask, no, we can't have more than one element per person." She smiled at his move, moving her queen over and taking a piece "Checkmate. Want to go again?" Yay luck.

"Don't worry, I'll try," Moriah said, smiling. "Want me to leave you to your book now?" She had kinda interrupted Luka's reading, after all.

~~
"It sounds a little confusing," Asher said. "Does anyone ever not have an element at all?"
He looked at the board, smiling. Whoops, another game lost. He was going to get a reputation for being a terrible chess player if he wasn't careful. "Well played. We can play again if you want, I suppose you might want to spend some time with the others too though, or get some rest if you're still tired at all. We can always have a rematch later."

"i don't mind, i've read it before." Luka told Moriah. "Sometimes company is nice."

Moriah nodded, and looked at the book curiously. "What's it about?"

Luka looked a little coy "er... well it's a silly story really." She looked at the book. "it's about a woman soldier who falls for a farmer and has to choose between her loyalty to her empire or the man she loves. I mean, of course she chooses the empire, everyone does, but there's a lot of pining and sadness. It has a happy ending though." She chuckled. "he signs up and they go fight aliens side by side."

Kooshie wrote:"It sounds a little confusing," Asher said. "Does anyone ever not have an element at all?"
He looked at the board, smiling. Whoops, another game lost. He was going to get a reputation for being a terrible chess player if he wasn't careful. "Well played. We can play again if you want, I suppose you might want to spend some time with the others too though, or get some rest if you're still tired at all. We can always have a rematch later."

Dawn shook her head at that question "No, we all have elements. I'm alright for now, I am almost back to normal, until I try to do too much." She said wryly.

Moriah blinked, then nodded. Right, she knew a little about Satare literature. That is, she knew that Ethan rolled his eyes at the stuff and muttered about propaganda, but bought it whenever he could to stock the library. "Romantic dramas are fun, sometimes I read them too," Moriah said with a reassuring smile. "There must be a lot of aliens near the Imperium," she added. Seemed like a lot of the books in the library had dashing Satare men and women fighting aliens on their covers, not usually fighting each other.

~~
Asher nodded. "Let's play another round then." He restarted the chess app so they could play again.
"Sometimes I wish I knew what it was like to have powers like you guys have," he said thoughtfully. "There's so much about other species that we just can't fully understand, because we simply have no frame of reference for it. When I had a sense of touch for a while, it gave me some idea of how organics must experience the world, but there's so much beyond that. Magic, telepathy, smell, taste." He shook his head, his mind boggled at how overwhelming being organic must be, how could they possibly cope with such a complex array of information at once? "And of course for organic beings, I'm sure it's hard to imagine too. Kay mentioned once when he turned into a minotaur how overpowering all the smells were, there must be all sorts of differing experiences like that."

Luka's smiled faltered. "not... so many... A lot of cultures were sensible enough to put a large buffer between themselves and th... us... " She frowned a little, looking distinctly uncomfortable.

Moriah realized she might be in risky territory with this conversation topic, judging by Luka's reaction. "I was just guessing, based on all the book covers. I guess... not having many alien neighbors in real life makes sense though." Yeah, she'd heard a bit about the wars, although she hadn't learned all the details. She shook her head. "You guys don't have many stories with Satare villains in them?"

Kooshie wrote:Asher nodded. "Let's play another round then." He restarted the chess app so they could play again.
"Sometimes I wish I knew what it was like to have powers like you guys have," he said thoughtfully. "There's so much about other species that we just can't fully understand, because we simply have no frame of reference for it. When I had a sense of touch for a while, it gave me some idea of how organics must experience the world, but there's so much beyond that. Magic, telepathy, smell, taste." He shook his head, his mind boggled at how overwhelming being organic must be, how could they possibly cope with such a complex array of information at once? "And of course for organic beings, I'm sure it's hard to imagine too. Kay mentioned once when he turned into a minotaur how overpowering all the smells were, there must be all sorts of differing experiences like that."

"I guess each species grows up used to what they can see, feel, and do, but when they can immerse themselves in a different way, then they can better put themselves in another species 'shoes' so to speak" Dawn said and smiled again.