Upon Vestia: Chapter Thirty

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Skye nodded and smiled a little "It's a little scary though, when you only see your own kind then see a city with the others."

Kay nodded [That was good of him.] He looked a little relieved.

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Hewitt nodded, cackling "That is an excellent point."

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"Yeah but.. it's kinda weird to talk to someone via someone else you know? There's no.. privacy." Matt frowned, it was better than nothing, but it wasn't ideal.

Asher smiled. "He's a good guy. A little impulsive sometimes, but his heart is in the right place." He headed down the hall. "I don't have to do anything with the robot uprising for a while, so we can hide somewhere and avoid everyone if you want."

~~
"Yeah, I guess that would be awkward," Ellie agreed. And if you thought the wrong thing, the poor kids and Starr would need brain bleach, oh dear. She winced at the thought. "I guess there's no email out there at that house, is there?"

Kay smiled, nodding. [I like that idea.]

---

Matt shook his head. "Nah, bit too remote." He wasn't totally sure how you'd access internet out in the middle of the woods to be fair. he wasn't that tech minded.

"Where to? Somewhere where Vestia can't spy on us, I vote," Asher said. Sometimes you just needed to get away from her cameras, after all.

~~
"Darn," Ellie shook her head. "We had internet on our farm, I guess yours is farther from civilization though."

[Lead the way then.] Kay smirked.

---

Matt sighed. "yeah, old house too. We were crazy poor remember."

"Is your room too obvious a choice?" Asher asked. "I mean, there are other places I know of, but most of them are empty, still not even painted, and they aren't that nearby either. And Vestia will probably throw me in the brig if I disconnect any more of her cameras." He nodded sagely.

~~
"That doesn't help either," Ellie agreed. "Oh well, at least we know everyone's safe." Well, except for Web. They didn't know about him. She frowned.

[It'll do. It's probably more comfortable than anywhere else private.] Yeah, the rest of the ship's non camera places were kinda... not cosy places to hang out.

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Matt looked over at the piano, desperate for a diversion. "Hey, you got any requests?" He pointed. "Wanna sing?" Could Ellie even sing? he had no idea.

Asher laughed, and led the way to Kay's room. He held the door for Kay when they arrived, he was still happy to be able to easily open doors again. It was going to take a while for the thrill to wear off.

~~
"Uhhh," Ellie mused on that. "Do you know any of those Martian Future Pop tracks that were a thing a couple years ago?" She had some odd tastes in music. "I can sing to anything. I mean I might not get the lyrics right, though."

Kay looked up at Asher as he held the door, looking amused as he walked past and into his room.

---

Matt thought about that "I dunno actually... " He tried to remember what any of those sounded like, and how you'd convert them to piano. Hey, it'd be a challenge.

Asher couldn't help smiling as he shut the door behind them. "Getting repaired was definitely the highlight of this week," he told Kay, "Well, other than being home again of course."

~~
If Matt had heard any of those songs, they were strange songs with squeaky instrumentals and kind of confusing rhythm structures. Probably not ideal for playing on a piano at a party, although they weren't impossible. They weren't exactly popular in most regions though.

"You can totally play something else and I'll remember the words or improvise," Ellie said. "That would be fun too."

Kooshie wrote:
"Still, you did get all your children in the past year, right? That has to be pretty surreal." Moriah said. She smiled softly, "Sometimes I think I'd like to be a mom someday. It's nice to remember adopting exists, since that's the only way I could possibly do it."

Starr nodded then smiled softly again "Yes, it has been quite an adventure. If you ever do want young of your own, I do recommend adopting them."

"I think I'd prefer the adoption method even if I was able to have children the other way," Moriah said, looking shy at the thought. "From what Terrans say, the other way sounds painful. I don't think I would dare try to handle that." To an android who had no frame of reference for pain except for the First Law that told her NEVER to hurt someone, pain seemed like it must be one of the most awful things in the universe.
"How did you decide to adopt them?" she asked curiously.

Matt was up to the challenge, wheeling over to the piano and looking up at Vestia to turn off her music. Oh it'd be discordant and weird. but he'd try to play some martian pop music while laughing at how terrible it all sounded.

---

Kay smiled back. [Yes, it must be a relief to be back on your feet. ]

Vestia faded out her music for Matt.

Ellie squeaked when she heard the song Matt was playing. "Oh, I know this one!" She started singing along, although she was kinda off key and she definitely wasn't getting all the lyrics right.

~~
"Such a relief," Asher agreed. He shook his head, "It really is strange to be taller than half the crew again though."

Silence recoiled at the 'music', ew.

Hewitt made a face. "Oh dear, a floor show." He complained.

Even Luka hesitated, but went back to getting something to drink.

---

Kay nodded. It amused him how short most of the crew of this ship was.

Ethan looked over at Matt and Ellie, looking slightly bitchier than usual. "It's not even melodic," he grumbled, "My fourth master had a better taste in music than these people, and he was insufferable in all his media preferences."

James laughed at Silence's reaction. "It's just music! Weird music, but music nonetheless."

~~
Asher smiled softly. Yeah, he found the shortness of this crew funny too.

Kooshie wrote:"I think I'd prefer the adoption method even if I was able to have children the other way," Moriah said, looking shy at the thought. "From what Terrans say, the other way sounds painful. I don't think I would dare try to handle that." To an android who had no frame of reference for pain except for the First Law that told her NEVER to hurt someone, pain seemed like it must be one of the most awful things in the universe.
"How did you decide to adopt them?" she asked curiously.

"It was kind of a rescue, and in part to help my people to grow again." Starr said then frowned a little and turned to look at the performance curiously. It wasn't her style of music, but they were certainly giving it a good try.

"It must have been a big decision. I've heard they're wonderful kids though," Moriah said. Yeah, she got all her gossip from Ellie, and Ellie adored Starr's dragon children.
She looked to Matt and Ellie and the piano curiously, not sure what to make of the very odd music.

"They are wonderful kids. I just hope we can get them back soon." Starr replied, distracted a bit by the music.

Moriah nodded. "I'm looking forward to meeting them. And I'm sure your new egg will be wonderful too."

Starr smiled and nodded, looking to Moriah again. "Thank you, I am sure she will."

Matt laughed at the reactions and continued playing discordantly till the song finished, then he'd shift into something more melodic.

Silence frowned. "Noise." She remarked.

--

Hewitt chuckled. "He sounds... charming."

---

Kay sat down on the edge of the bed. [So now what?] he rather liked the idea of not talking about the revolution, it made him anxious.

Moriah smiled, then looked to the stage again. "They seem like they're having fun. Do you ever sing?" she asked. "Are queens even allowed to sing?" She knew pretty much nothing about royals, so she had no idea what was allowed for them.

~~
James tried not to laugh at Silence's distaste. "It's art, art is good," he told her. "Even if it sounds a little discordant and terrible."

~~
Ellie would sing along to whatever Matt played, even if she didn't actually recognize the song. Her lyrics were a little odd, and poorly rhymed.

~~
"He was an insufferable, pompous person, but mostly harmless," Ethan said. "The number of shitty indie movies I had to watch with him was too high."

~~
Asher went to sit down next to him, smiling slightly. "I hadn't thought that far ahead when I suggested leaving the party, I just wanted to escape," he confessed. "So I'm open to suggestions, or I can try to think of something if you prefer. Just... not going back to the party, and not discussing anything about the revolution, is what I'd like."
Antisocial? Maybe. Irresponsible? Also maybe. But to be fair, he was mentally drained from having spent several days mostly trying to plan a revolution, and being in communication with a lot of people about a very serious topic. It had been a tiring week.

"I can sing, though I don't do it often" Starr replied with a chuckle. "We can sing for fun, if we want to."

Moriah laughed. "Oh good. I really don't know what royals are allowed to do," she said. "It's not something people in the Terran Empire think about much, except in fictional stories."

Kay rested his head against Asher's shoulder. [I think, for now, it might be nice to just sit.] he'd spent the week fretting and worrying, now he was just tired. Relieved, of course, but also still very nervous about what was to come.

---

Silence made a face at James, fluttering her wings softly in relief as the music became melodic.

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Hewitt looked amused. "You have had rather a few insufferable sounding owners by the sound of it. Did you like ANY of them?"

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Luka found somewhere to sit.

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Mourn stuffed his mouth full of food, oblivious to terrible noise or singing.

---

Matt joined Ellie in singing the chorus, rather enjoying himself.

Asher smiled softly. "I like the sound of that." He put his arm around Kay and looked at him fondly.

~~
James snickered. "Gotta appreciate their enthusiasm at least, right? I should probably go join the fun, come to think of it. They could use an extra vocalist, right?"

~~
Ethan considered that. "Well, some of them were more tolerable than others. They were all egocentric asses though." He smiled oddly. "Nothing like taking orders from somebody to make you hate them though, so maybe I'm biased. Other people might have liked them a little." He doubted that though.