Upon Silver Devil: Chapter Four

First topic message reminder :

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

Esk stared at Tala incredulously, she really was an odd woman wasn't she? He sighed, picked up his plate and took it to be cleaned.

Tala seemed unbothered by Esk's odd look. Then again, not much ever seemed to really bother her. "You will understand someday that it is not so odd," she told him placidly. "Dawn can explain it better than I though."

Esk looked skeptical. He washed his dishes and shook his head. "Sure Tala, sure." Yeah he didn't believe her at all. Maybe though, he should ask Dawn what was up. Was she getting him back for avoiding her or something? Who knew.

Tala showed her teeth in that cow's imitation of a smile she sometimes did. She was confident that Esk would find the answers he sought. Well, she thought the answers were something other than what Esk thought they were, but oh well.

Esk mumbled a faint goodbye and went to go find Dawn.

Dawn was in her room at her desk.

Esk knocked at the door. "Are you busy or pissed off?" He called through the door, straight to the point.

"I am just eating." Dawn said, going to open the door. "I thought you wanted to be alone?"

"Tala's pretty shit company." Esk shrugged. "There's no way to be alone on this ship, unless I go sit in the brig or something and i'm not THAT desperate... yet."

Dawn smiled then shrugged "You know if you want to you can sleep in here on one of the patient beds. They aren't the most comfortable, but it seems you haven't been getting enough sleep."

Esk frowned a little. "Mourn's not a good roommate, and i'm pretty sure he has fleas." He scratched his head, looking annoyed.

Dawn nodded then shrugged a little "He doesn't know he's loud, since he can't hear." Also he liked annoying some people, but she wasn't going to say that. "That's why I offered the bed in here. At least until we return to Vestia. My medical room is more like a normal one, people don't come in unless they are hurt or have to talk to me." Yep, hers wasn't a 'conference room' like Kay's was, ha.

Asher would go up to the cockpit, he wanted to see the view of Terra in the distance, and also say hi to Luka while he was at it.

~~
Tala went looking for Rigel, just cause she was curious about Silver Devil plans. And also because she wanted to know about whether Dawn had actually been acting weird by Pandoran standards, or if Esk was overreacting. Yeah.

Rigel was in his room, resting while Luka flew. He wouldn't mind being awoken though, since they were almost to Vestia and Terra.

Tala knocked on the door. Like everything else she did, it was kind of loud. "You are awake?" she asked. Loudly.

Rigel blinked then chuckled and got up "I am now, what's up?" He asked as he answered.

"Do your kind often eat in your rooms?" Tala asked, looking completely serious about this, and completely unconcerned that she might have woken up Rigel, "Esk found the idea of it most peculiar, but I think he is simply culturally confused."

Esk sighed. "thanks..." He found somewhere to sit and watched Dawn for a while in silence before asking. "What's so important that you have to eat in here?" Either she was working on something or didn't want to be social, he just wasn't sure which.

----

Luka grinned up at Asher from her seat. "You're really taking full advantage of being able to climb ladders now aren't you?" She laughed.

"Sometimes, it depends on the person and their mood." Rigel replied with a shrug.
~~
Dawn shrugged "I just wanted to eat in here." She replied.

"Gotta make up for lost time, and there are so many ladders on this ship to climb," Asher said, smiling at Luka. "This ship is lovely, but she wasn't designed with wheelchairs in mind, that's for sure." He patted the wall fondly, he liked smaller, older ships, they were the sort of thing he'd spent a lot of his life repairing.

~~
"Esk was mistaken then. I see." Tala nodded. "What will we be doing when we return to Terra, will be taking jobs again at some point/" She kind of liked the Silver Devil being back in action.

Esk looked skeptical but he nodded. Fine, sure, whatever Dawn. "Weren't you sharing with Moriah?" He asked, looking around the room with idle curiosity. It wasn't like he spent much time in here after all.

---

Luka nodded "No, or overly tall people." She indicated the roof. "But we can't blame the poor ol' girl for her designer's oversights." She looked thoughtful. "How are things going with your whole.. revolution thing?"

Asher looked amused. "Thankfully I'm not tall enough to have that problem at least. You're not as tall as some Satare, so it must not be as bad for you as it could have been, but you must sometimes feel like these ships are designed for miniature people." His smile faltered a bit at the question, "Things are going... as well as one can expect. Organizing and planning is going well, the protest will be well publicized, but we're all fully aware that the plan is dangerous, and not everyone is going to live to see how this all ends." He shook his head. It sucked that people were putting their lives on the line for this, but it was necessary. At least they knew what was at stake.

"Hopefully it'll be okay. Terrans pride themselves on their morality right?" Luka shook her head. "Everything out here is rather... just a tiny bit too small. I think i've mostly got used to it though." She looked out at the stars ahead of them, looking a bit sad.

"Yeah, I think they'll come around eventually. I just hope they'll do so quickly, before too many people are hurt," Asher said. He remembered how brutally the Terrans had attacked him, he knew there were people out there who would take even a peaceful protest as an excuse to hurt more of his kind.
He nodded, noticing Luka's sorrow. She had to be pretty homesick, even now she'd gotten more used to being out here, he thought. Poor Luka. He tried to lighten the mood a little, "One of those cultural nuisances, I guess. I'd probably have to stand on tiptoes all the time to reach things in the Imperium, I'd have to make some really tall friends or carry a stepladder everywhere. Probably not ideal."

Luka snorted "we're not THAT tall." She did find the image of Asher having to use a step ladder kinda funny though. She shook her head. "I hope things go okay for your people. Nothing worth doing is ever easy right?"

Asher smiled slightly. "To be fair, I haven't met that many Satare, so my imagination may be running wild. But you guys do seem to be a lot taller than Terrans in general." He'd met, what, two full-blooded Satare total? Just Luka and Dr. Heinz, and Heinz had been almost a full foot taller than him.
He nodded. "Thank you. It's going to be unpleasant, to say the least, but we have to try to do what's right."

Luka laughed. "I am a bit short..." She admitted. "My brothers used to call me titch. The jerks." She smiled though, she loved her brothers, even if they were mean to her.