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 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.

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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.

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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.

Kooshie wrote: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."

"Well, I am allowed more than some are, given my background is not normal." Starr replied

"Oh, I guess that would make things different." Moriah smiled at the thought. "You didn't even know you were the heir until pretty recently, right? That must have been an odd day."

Starr nodded and chuckled softly "It was a very strange thing to feel them all like that. I had been made to forget who I was, so breaking that barrier down was very liberating."

Silence tilted her head, nope, she just didn't understand the appeal of singing or music.

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Hewitt chuckled. "Ahh yes nothing like being born into slavery to make you resent all existence." He looked around. "Who technically owns you now?" Hey this place was pretty free on the whole ownership thing but someone had to own the robot right? Legally.

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Kay closed his eyes, enjoying just being held.

"That's just so neat," Moriah said. "One day you're a dragon, and the next day you're a dragon queen. They must have been so relieved to hear you."

~~
James laughed. "Ah well, singing isn't for everyone," he told Silence. He headed over to join Matt and Ellie, to sing along with them.

~~
Ethan nodded. Hewitt's observation was pretty accurate. "Mourn's the one in my owner file," he said. "Of course I'm not even supposed to exist in this universe so probably there'd be some confusion about whether I belonged to Asher's owner, so the best thing to do is to never enter a situation where I need an owner. It's all very stupid."

~~
Asher sat quietly with Kay, glad for his presence. With everything that was happening, that was about to happen, getting the chance to slow down for a little while at least was a wonderful thing. Eventually he was going to have to leave and check in on lots of things, but for now, well, that could all wait.

Hewitt nodded. "Yes I can see that confusing those idiotic techs." The idea amused him. "the Felid hmm?" He glanced over at Mourn who was sitting under a table with a pile of food on a plate. "Didn't he buy most of the other ones now on board?"

---

Kay was, for the time being, content to try to ignore everything else and just listen to the comforting whir of Asher's internal systems.

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Esk went to go grab food, not from the party, screw parties, but from the kitchens. He wasn't risking getting dragged into something dumb by his brothers.

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Luka smiled as James went to go sing too and waved at him.

Matt cheered and launched into a new song, thrusting a mic toward James with one hand.

Ethan looked at Mourn as well, mouth twitching into a smile when he saw the guy under a table. "Yes, he bought more than half of them, I think. He's a little obsessed with freeing us, not that any of us are going to complain about that. He's also interested in string and tuna, I don't really understand it."

~~
James took the mic, waving to Luka with his free hand, then sang along with the song. He was better at holding a tune than Ellie was, but he didn't know the lyrics to this song so he joined her in improvising.

Hewitt laughed. "Felid are a strange species, and he's weird even for a Felid." He smirked at Ethan. "So that's one owner you don't completely loathe."

---

Matt laughed at the improvisation and just kept playing. Fake lyrics were totally more fun.

Silence watched, bewildered.

Luka smiled at the silly lyrics, she had no idea if this was how the song actually went.

Ethan frowned slightly. "Not sure he counts. He never ordered me about, and he always made it clear he was going to free me as soon as the others let him." Well Mourn had phrased a request as an order at one point, but Ethan was pretty sure that had been unintentional on his part. It hardly counted after some of the orders his other owners had given him.

~~
"So where'd you find the mics anyway?" James asked Matt between songs. "I can't tell if you acquired them, or if Vestia did." He snickered.

Hewitt shrugged. "He's technically still your owner."

---

Matt shrugged. "you know... I kinda lose track." He grinned sheepishly.

Ethan didn't really like that thought. He liked to feel completely free, his life as a slave had just been so completely awful over the last few years especially. "I'd kick his ass if he tried to order me around." Well maybe he wouldn't, who knew if he could even beat Mourn in a fair fight. But he liked to believe he would.

~~
James laughed. "I like your attitude. Doesn't matter how things got here, just matters that they're here now."

"It did take a while to get used to the sadness and anger they were repressing, but I used that to help me fight better." Starr said.

Hewitt laughed "that's the spirit!"

---

"Well they're here now and no cops have come so... it's cool right?" Matt reasoned.

Moriah looked uncertain. She really wasn't into the idea of violence, and of using your anger to hurt people. "I'm glad it helped you?" she said cautiously.

~~
Ethan smiled oddly. "Better than just giving in." He looked curious, "Your kind never dealt in slaves, did they? I know the Terrans used to, well technically they still do I guess."

~~
"Makes sense to me," James said with a grin.

Ellie giggled. "Yeah, we need these microphones more than anyone else does, anyway!"

"Slaves? No, don't be foolish. We have robots for that." Hewitt paused, chuckling. "Non sentient robots obviously." Of course the Aketi didn't much care about races who weren't themselves so they did have a history of not being especially kind or compassionate toward other races, conducting experiments on entire colonies for instance, but in Hewitt's mind that wasn't slavery and it certainly wasn't immoral.

Silence wandered over to Hewitt and Ethan, sniffing at Hewitt's leaves curiously.

The professor batted her away with his cane. "Do you mind?"

"Smell funny." Silence told him.

Hewitt glared. "and you my dear smell rather like a damp dog. What's your point?"



---

"I like that reasoning." Matt agreed.

"I meant historically, presumably before your kind managed to automate everything," Ethan said. Aketi struck him as being self-centered enough to not worry much about the ethics of using people for their own profit, although of course they had better options these days.
He looked at Silence as she joined them, staying back a bit out of caution. Shifters weren't something he was overly comfortable around, not after having met Kaylr. "He's a plant guy with insects living on him, makes sense he'd smell funny."

"We've been technologically superior for millennia." Hewitt pointed out. "So it's rather a moot point."

"Insects?" Silence asked, staring at Hewitt and frowning a little at the insects she spotted crawling through the Professor's 'hair'

"You're a shape shifter aren't you? Do you not find that form extraordinarily ungainly?" Hewitt asked Silence.

"Natural form, more comfortable. " Silence told him.

"Never underestimate the usefulness of opposable thumbs." Hewitt chuckled.

"opposable... " Silence looked confused.

Ethan shook his head. "History is still important, even after millennia." Then again, he was a bit of a history nerd. "Opposable thumbs," he told Silence, picking up something from a bot's tray to demonstrate, "They go the opposite direction of your fingers, and are good for picking things up." He set the snack down again, he sure didn't need it.

Silence looked at her hands which were honestly more just massive talons than hands, designed for climbing, not tool using. She shrugged. "no doors at home." She remarked.

Hewitt laughed, for some reason he found that very funny.

Silence stared at him, she didn't understand.

"Well my boy, you have all those books and computers, why don't you research it?" History was not something Hewitt much cared about, he was more interested in things far far more ancient. Stars and celestial bodies and how the universe came to be, THAT was history that mattered to him, not some nitty gritty who was shitty to who several thousand years ago.

"I'm not your boy," Ethan said, looking disgruntled. He probably would do some reading at some point though, he really was fascinated by history. "Does your humanoid form have all five fingers?" he asked Silence, "I know half-breeds have trouble with that, but maybe you fullblooded shifters wouldn't."

Hewitt laughed at Ethan's grumpiness.

Silence thought about that, then shifted into her humanoid form.
An average height, dark skinned young woman with very curly brown hair.
She held up one hand and wriggled her fingers, all five of them. "half shifter deformed." She remarked, still not moving her lips. "Mutate, get stuck."

Kooshie wrote:Moriah looked uncertain. She really wasn't into the idea of violence, and of using your anger to hurt people. "I'm glad it helped you?" she said cautiously.

Starr nodded and looked at her then shrugged a little "I needed the help. My people aren't naturally willing to harm others, though it is necessary sometimes." She was probably the most willing to harm others, though now some others were more willing too.

(Important question here, is Silence wearing anything? Cause that's gonna change the reaction ahaha)

~~
Moriah frowned. "I suppose so. It's just unpleasant to think about." She shook her head, "I guess I just haven't been in the right situations to see violence as necessary."

Starr nodded again "You were not there for the war." It was a simple statement for her. "We might have sent you off with the kids if you had been, there are times when you can't run or hide, so must fight."

(ahahahahaha yes, I think I mentioned this once... or maybe I didn't. She and Ivor have a magic thing that means they aren't naked when they shift. I think Hytar got sick of naked people lol, particularly naked Silence as she gives zero shits about being nude. Assume she is wearing clothes, even if she probably would rather not be.)