UPON VESTIA: CHAPTER THIRTY ONE

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Asher considered his words for a few seconds, glancing around the room as he thought, then looked to Kay again. "I've been thinking over everything that's happened today, and I feel like it would be wrong for me to leave Terra before the androids have been granted their freedom," he said. "I think it might be in the best interests of the children and the androids if I stay on Terra while Vestia goes on to the Imperium." He wished he could have phrased it better, but he just didn't know how. Ugh.

"Hello" Starr said with a smile at the two. "I was wondering if you wanted to learn some magic today?"

Asher smiled softly at Starr as she left, then nodded at Esk. "We hope they can't return to ignorance, at least. We'll have to see. And thank you for your well wishes." He smiled wryly. Esk always said the nicest things.

James snickered at that.

~~
"I'm going to avoid the Imperium if I can, they sound unpleasant," Ethan sain. He frowned at the question, "I really don't know. The androids seem to have faith in the Terran Empire, but that could be Stockholm syndrome. Historically, protesting works here, but normally the protesters aren't computers."

(Sorry for slow replies! Its been a busy day and i'm typing on my phone)

"Magic?" Silence looked eager.

Ivor hesitated. "w.. really?" He ducked his head. "I... t.. thank you."

---

Esk smirked back at Asher then looked to Kay. "He'll be fine. Look at it this way, it's only when you're around bad shit happens to people. Being away from you is probably the safest place he can be."

Kay glared at his brother, didn't matter that Esk made a sound point, it wasn't a nice thing to say. Go away.

Esk snickered. "Well isn't this gonna be a FUN few months." he turned to leave. "Seriously Asher, don't die." He nodded and left.

---

"Computers you may be, but somehow they managed to make you pass sentience tests. It's really quite remarkable that such a primitive race could come up with such a facsimile. One has to wonder if they had help." Hewitt looked thoughtful, no, he couldn't quite believe terrans were smart enough to make sentient androids intentionally. It was the sort of thing bored Aketi programmers did as a challenge, it wasn't supposed to be easy.

Starr smiled and nodded. "I am supposed to be teaching you after all, as well as looking after you and my people. I am going to try to teach you to control who you can hear so the voices stop when you don't want to hear them, but they are there when you want to hear them." She said, it was the deal they had made after all. "My magic may be different, but I believe I can help."

Asher narrowed his eyes, glaring after Esk as he left. Not cool, Esk. He kept his thoughts unspoken though, all those years of learning not to intervene were still kind of a strong influence on him.

"Don't be an asshole!" James shouted after Esk. He looked from Asher to Kay, then back to Asher. "I'm gonna go get some things I think you'll need, bro. Come find me some time before you leave, or I'll meet you at the ramp." Asher and Kay looked like they could use some time to talk in private, he figured. He didn't really get the appeal of romance, it just looked exhausting, but apparently it was a fact of his brother's life so he was going to be nice about it.

~~
Ethan shrugged. "Who knows, maybe they did have help. Probably some of the programmers weren't Terran, at the very least." He looked thoughtful, "Still, they figured out a lot of technologies by themselves, atomic power and spaceflight and such. Clearly they're not all as stupid as they let on, if they can do that much on their own."

Ivor looked nervous, but he managed a weak smile, nodding.

---

Kay just glowered after Esk, shaking his head. He should be used to it by now, but it still wound him up.

---

"Give a monkey the tools and eventually they'll make a fire." Hewitt scoffed. "That's just statistics." He waved a hand dismissively. "Come, let's play a game."

"Okay, I'll come find you later," Asher told James. He looked at Kay, man, that brother situation was unpleasant.

"Don't mind Esk, he's just a jerk cause he wants to seem edgy," James told Kay. It probably wasn't true, but James thought it sounded plausible and reassuring. "See ya later, guys." He headed off.

After James had gathered those things he'd mentioned, he'd probably look for Skye.

~~
"Statistically, I think making a working nuclear reactor by accident would take longer than this universe is going to exist," Ethan pointed out. "What are you thinking, chess? Or something else?"

Kay shook his head, smiling weakly at James. [No, he's just a jerk.]

---

"Do you know any other logic games?" Hewitt asked. Hey, he didn't know how much the android knew.

"Definitely that's part of it," James agreed as he headed out the door.

Asher sighed as James left. He did appreciate Esk's talents, but the man could be awful to interact with.

~~
"Not many, where I come from, slaves aren't exactly supposed to have fun or think too much," Ethan said wryly. "I didn't even know chess, and that's supposed to be the most popular game. We could find some board game you don't know, and learn it together."

Kay looked to Asher. [I shouldn't let him get to me.]

---

Hewitt looked dubious of that suggestion. "No games of chance." No, those were for morons who wanted to feel accomplished.

Asher nodded. "He says things to try to get under your skin. Try not to let him succeed." He knew that wasn' t the easiest thing for Kay to do, self blame was something the guy was scarily good at. Sigh.

~~
"We'll find something that meets your high standards, I'm sure," Ethan said. He'd lead the way to a game room.

~~
James would go do some things, then go look for Skye.

Starr smiled gently at him and turned to take them to a room away from the others. "Come and we will find a good place to learn."

Ivor followed obediently, Silence lumbered after them both.
"You are magic expert on ship?" She asked.

---

Kay nodded, yeah, it was easier said than done. [Have you packed everything?} He changed the subject.

Starr chuckled softly and nodded. "Yes, I suppose I am. My people use magic all the time. To keep a form that is not our natural one, *motions to the 'angel' form she is in* to create things, to help others or to help ourselves."

"You shapeshifter?" Silence tilted her head, studying Starr.

"c... create things?" Ivor asked.

Asher nodded. "There are a couple things in my pockets I might leave here, but I think we packed everything I'll need yesterday." He felt in his pockets and pulled out a small multitool of some sort. "Yeah, I probably won't need this out there."

Kay looked at the tool. [Possibly not. Unless you need to fix something in a hurry.] Now that they seemed to be alone he moved a little closer to Asher. [Are you sure you'll be okay out there?] He was fretting.

"That thing might set off metal detectors, I wouldn't want that," Asher said. That was a joke, it wasn't like he could go through a metal detector without it beeping, without magic. "I'll be fine. Nova's a good bodyguard, the sapient rights people are on my side, and I'm good at knowing when to be cautious." He tried to look reassuring, he was nervous though.

Kay smiled weakly, he really hoped Asher was right about all this.

"I'll be fine," Asher said again. He reached out toward Kay, then thought the better of it and withdrew his hand. "Come on, I should go empty my pockets."

Kay hesitated, then nodded. Yeah, they should go do that. He'd follow along, chewing his lip anxiously.

Asher led the way to his room, where he got to work emptying his pockets. He kept the med kit and his tablet, but most of the other stuff he didn't  really need. And he'd already put away his gun days ago.

He looked at the pile of unneeded stuff for a while. It felt weird to be without all his things, but they just weren't necessary. His impending departure was starting to feel unpleasantly real.

Kay waited patiently, an unpleasant churning in his gut. This was all a bit too sudden. He moved closer to Asher, reaching out to put an uncertain hand on his shoulder.

flying_purple_monkfish wrote:"You shapeshifter?" Silence tilted her head, studying Starr.

"c... create things?" Ivor asked.

"I am a star dragon, so a different species than you, but I have that magic. I can make things out of the cosmic dust and magic around us all." Starr said

Ivor's eyes widened at that. "h.. how?"

Silence tilted her head. "Hide true form?"

Starr looked from one to the other then nodded. "I must hide my true form from outsiders, else they would be trying to capture me. Some already are simply because of who and what I am." She said then shifted to show the kids her star dragon form. To answer the other question, she made a simple necklace of gold before shifting back and holding it out to them. "Creation magic is what we were given as a species."

Ivor's eyes widened at the draconic form and when she created a necklace out of nowhere he backed away a few paces. Magic was still so alien to him, he could handle shape changing and telepathy, mostly, but creation? that was just mind blowing and honestly, rather scary.

Silence stared at Starr and held out a claw for the necklace to touch it. "Can talk in true form?" She asked.