Upon Vestia: Chapter Twenty-Nine

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Ivor was pretty thankful for Tala's quiet thoughts, if her unshielded thoughts were anything like her speaking voice, he'd have had a headache already.
He nodded slowly.

"c.. can't change... gender..." Ivor mumbled, looking a bit awkward. "and... c... can't fly..."

Ellie looked disappointed that Ivor couldn't shift to an Artuvian girl form. "Oh well, I guess one hummingbird is enough," she told him, reaching out to pat his arm in a reassuring way.
"I think two hummingbird girls ambushing you in a dark alley would be terrifying though," she added. "Although yeah, an eagle or an ostrich would be scarier. What do you think would be the scariest, Toby?"

"It's Tobias," Tobias said firmly. "Maybe a vulture would be pretty scary. I've never met a vulture Artuvian though."

"Ooh, good idea," Ellie said. "Wait, do vulture Artuvians grow hair on their heads?"

Ivor flinched away at Ellie's pat, as if he expected her to hit him. "m.. maybe could.. become... like her but... not a girl.." he shook his head. He'd never really tried to become another alien race. He didn't have much experience with shifting.

Jewel laughed and shook her head a little "The females do sometimes, but we are much like our avian counterparts." She said cheerfully.

"Man, I'm not gonna hit you," Ellie said, looking kind of frustrated. She wasn't used to people being nervous about her patting them.

Carlos looked at Jewel hesitantly, trying to ignore the tension of Ivor and Ellie. "Do the vulture people eat carrion?" he wasn't sure if that was okay to ask, or somewhat racist.

"They eat meat, though like most peoples, prefer it cooked." Jewel replied. Hey, it wasn't as if these people knew her people much. The only reason she knew as much as she did was because she wanted to be a trader and sought the knowledge.

Ivor quietly ate his pancakes, awkwardly.

Amity smiled serenely and moved away from the group as his programming told him. Don't loom over your guests, just be around if needed. Give them space until they request your presence. His hologram flickered off to preserve battery, it was only neccisary when he was talking to people after all. People got weird about talking to a faceless flying drone.

"Oh," Carlos nodded at that answer. "i guess in vultures, it's more of a necessity thing than a personal preference probably. And people would be able to get fresher food than birds do, so eating other people's leftovers wouldn't be necessary." He smiled, "It's neat how you guys have so many different appearances."

Ellie looked up as Amity's hologram shut off. "Hologram boy, that is trippy when you do that."

Ivor looked concerned at the sudden disappearance of the huge plant person. Where'd he go?

Amity chuckled and reappeared as Ellie addressed him. "I appologise. Is there anything more I can do for you?"

Jewel chuckled and nodded "We have many traits of our avian side, but we have a human side too, and take some traits from that, like not liking raw meat." She saw Ivor's look and glanced around in time to see Amity turn his projection back on. She looked back to Ellie again, curious "Why is it 'trippy'?"

"It's trippy cause the giant plant hologram dude disappears, and then you remember his brain is just a little drone hovering in the air," Ellie said. "I don't need anything, hologram boy, it was just weeeird when the hologram vanished. See? Ivor thought so too!" She pointed to Ivor.

Carlos nodded at Jewel's explanation. "Probably Terran vultures think fresh or cooked meat tastes better too," he said thoughtfully.

Jewel nodded then looked back to Carlos again "I don't know, I don't think anyone has done research on that yet. It would go against their biological nature, but I suppose some could."

Ivor looked worried when Ellie gestured at him, recoiling a little.

Amity smiled. "I don't have a brain." He told Ellie cheerfully. "just computer chips and processors." He tilted his head. "My name is Amity." He reminded her politely. He wasn't sure she just couldn't remember his name.

"n.. not real?" Ivor asked, distracted from the vulture discussion for now. He didn't really know what a vulture was anyway.

"The form you see and interact with is a holographic projection." Amity told Ivor helpfully. "A picture made with lights." He added, seeing that the guy just looked more confused.

Ivor nodded slowly. "i.. illusion..."

"Yes, that is a good description." Amity nodded.

"W.. what are vultures?" Ivor asked at last.

Ellie frowned at Ivor. His nervousness kind of annoyed her, she wasn't dangerous!
...Her surface thoughts probably weren't all that reassuring to poor Ivor. Oh dear.
"I already knew your name, I was just using a nickname," she told Amity.

"Computer chips and processors are a brain," Tobias told Amity, "Not an organic brain, but still a brain." He frowned at Ellie, "And you should use Amity's name if you know it. Don't be derogatory."

Ellie shot Tobias a glare, and muttered "hologram" under her breath, just out of stubbornness.

Tobias sighed.

Carlos didn't know what to make of all this, so he just stuck to the topic of vultures, which he sort of knew about. "Vultures are a type of carnivorous bird from Terra, that usually eat animals which are already dead," he told Ivor. "We don't know what type of meat they actually prefer though."

"Oh, alright." Amity wasn't offended, he couldn't really get offended. He was designed to hang around old Aketi, he'd been called far worse.

Ivor tried to subtly move a little further away from Ellie, she freaked him out. She had loud angry thoughts and in his experience, loud angry thoughts usually meant loud angry actions were soon to follow.

"Maybe s.. someone could ask.." Ivor suggested.

James was keeping an eye on Armin still. Eventually he'd ask Armin if it was okay to leave him for a bit, and if he'd like James to bring back some magazines or something.
Only if Armin was awake, of course. He didn't want to sneak out on the poor guy and leave him unexpectedly alone.

Armin would try not to sleep while James was there, though he was exhausted. He nodded to James' request. "Go, I will be fine my friend. if I need anything, I will ask Vestia." He smiled weakly up at the camera. "She will take good care of me, I know."

Jewel chuckled then shrugged "I don't know anyone that can listen to a real bird to ask them, though the Artuvian Vultures like coked food."

Ivor shrugged. "think... not like people but... understandable... mostly." He looked wary again, like maybe he'd divulged too much.

Vestia's lights shifted to a rosy hue for a moment, "blushing" at Armin's vote of confidence. Yep, she was watching. She might not say much, but she was always there.

James smiled at Armin. "Okay man. Have a good rest, and I'll be back later." He headed for the door.

~~
Ellie still looked annoyed by Ivor and his nervousness. She thankfully didn't try to talk about it, but her thoughts were there.
She did try to mask them a bit, not that she was much good at it. It was better than nothing.

"You can understand animals as well as people?" Carlos asked Ivor curiously.

Ivor nodded slowly. "Not.. quite as loud as people... " He glanced sidelong at Ellie, yep, still scary. "Simpler thoughts... easier.. easier to t.. tune out..."

"Oh, have you been to the ranch yet?" Jewel asked Ivor curiously. "There's a lot of animals there."

"That's really neat. Have you ever had pets? A lot of pet owners wish they could read their pets' minds," Carlos said. He looked at Jewel, "That ranch is incredible. I could hardly believe my eyes when I saw it."

~~
James decided to start by looking for Kay. He wanted to make sure his job was properly in order before he went goofing off. Besides, he wanted to make sure the guy wasn't having a mental breakdown or something. The mirrorverse, and the sight of shivering, unconscious Kay being dragged out of the shower, kind of stuck in his mind.

Ivor frowned a little. "r.. ranch? t... the place with... all the animals yes?" He shook his head. "We... s.. saw it on the tour but..." He had no reason to go there so he didn't. "n.. no pets.. not.. not allowed animals at... at the hospital..." He looked down at his empty plate "J.. just the birds... and the squirrels in the gardens..."

---

Kay was busying himself in any work that needed doing, any work at all. He'd finished physio with Matt who'd gone to go get something eat. So currently Kay was sweeping the floor in the medical room and making sure everything was even cleaner than it needed to be.

"Well, Dawn made the ranch for everyone, so if you want to go there you can." Jewel said. "I go there sometimes, just to relax and watch the animals."

James wandered into the med bay. He saw Kay and looked amused, man this guy was a workaholic. "Hey man, planning to join the janitorial team? We're always hiring."

~~
"You could probably get pets now," Carlos Ivor. "This isn't a hospital." He frowned though, what sort of hospital had Ivor spent that much time in? Weird.

"The ranch is great," Ellie said. "I helped got the plants in there. The animals are cool too though."

"No cats, please." Jewel said quickly then ducked her head. Yeah, the downside of being tiny, some animals thought you were a toy.