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.

Hewitt chuckled. "You mean i'm not an imbecile driven by primitive animal urges?" He liked that, yes, it suited him just fine. He eyed the game critically. "It's a business game?"

Skye smiled and nodded "Moone makes friends when she can, she and I would both probably like your sister." She said gently.
~~~
Starr nodded and chuckled softly, motioning to herself. "Yes, being able to change your shape makes it much easier to hide and not be hurt. Is your humanoid shape the only other one you have besides your base shape?"

"That's the gist of what I mean, yes," Ethan said, smiling oddly. "Organics and their instincts, ugh. Although some androids seem to like pairing off too, which is weird as all hell." He opened the box and looked at the instructions, "Yes, it seems like a business game. I think." What did he know about running corporations though?

~~
"I hope so," James said. "Hopefully by the time you guys meet her, she'll be over the fact that we lied to her for a year about everything that was happening." Yeah, last time he'd talked to Lark, she'd been kinda pissed off about all the lies they'd told, and they hadn't told her anywhere close to all of it. Whoops. "She's a great person though, I'm sure she'll like you both." Hopefully.

Skye smiled at that and looked back up through the glass. "Time, that's what we are waiting on. Time for Lark to not be angry, time to get the kids again, time for Matt and Thalia to marry, for their kid to be born, time for humans to accept that slavery is wrong." She sighed and shook her head a little.

"There's a lot to wait on, isn't there?" James sighed. "Here we are hoping everything will work out, but we just have to keep waiting to see. I know most of the things we're waiting for will only take a few months, but even a few months seems so long." He shook his head.

Skye nodded again and looked to James. "Yeah, too much waiting. I'll be glad when it's all resolved and we can just live."

"That makes two of us then. Man, wouldn't it be awesome to just have a normal life for once? No battles for the universe, no more politics, no awful childhoods, no more trying to play nice because there are demigods with fragile egos just waiting to smite us..." James said. He smiled lopsidedly, "At least our lives haven't been boring, I guess?"

Hewitt took out the rules and regarded them disdainfully.
"No, that doesn't make a lot of sense." He shook his head. "I suppose most people, regardless of species, sometimes crave social interaction." He looked thoughtful. "Aketi only pair off to reproduce, if we even decide to do that. But, we enjoy the company of others, playing games, debating, teaching and learning. Maybe it's something similar for androids. " He smirked "or some of your brethren have just spent too much time around animals." He laughed.

---

Silence thought about that. "can be bird." She said, thinking. She hadn't really had much practice with any forms beyond that. "take energy to maintain shape though, not much practice. Uncomfortable."

"l.. like wearing shoes too small..." ivor added.

The rules of the game were somewhat logical and the game was definitely based on skill, but the game wasn't in any way an accurate representation of common corporate practices. Oh well.

Ethan nodded. "Liking social interaction makes sense. We wouldn't have complex societies if people couldn't work together. Choosing one person to pair off with is different though, it doesn't make so much sense, especially not if your species doesn't actually reproduce."
He looked curious, "Did you ever have kids... saplings... whatever the hell you guys call them?" The idea of Hewitt being a parent was bizarre, but the guy had been around for centuries, so Ethan supposed it was possible.

"There is such a thing as too much excitement in one life." Skye agreed with a nod. "I wish for simple calm for a while."
~~~~
Starr nodded thoughtfully. "Your shifting is different than mine, may I see how you do it, as I did with Ivor?" She asked curiously

"I'd be fine with some calm for a good long while," James said. "What would you do if things were peaceful and everyone was safe? Would you stay on Vestia, or would you go somewhere else?" He didn't know if Skye would be okay with him asking about that, but he was curious to know what she thought.

Hewitt nodded "Once, just to see what it was like." He shrugged. "it was a nuisance carrying seeds." He continued to read the rules, hmm. "Some Aketi seem to enjoy the process, it's probably just arrogance though, spreading their genetic material far and wide I suppose strokes the egos of some." He snorted disdainfully, as if he believed such things were foolish. He looked to Ethan. "But don't go thinking we pair off like animals. We select our... partner, for want of a better term, based on whether we believe their genetic matter is... worthy." He chuckled. "A more efficient method of procreation." he set the rules down.

---

Silence nodded, shifting into her humanoid form. The process was rapid, her body twisting and reshaping into the new form. There was significantly less cracking and popping as with Kay, it looked less painful, but still not entirely comfortable.
Now human looking, Silence brushed her dark hair from her face and stared at Starr.

"Definitely seems like it would be annoying to grow seeds," Ethan agreed. "They grow on your arms, right? They'd get in the way."
He snorted, "No, I didn't think your species would reproduce with people they liked for their personality. Not that I've met many aketi, but you don't seem like the type to pair off for dumb reasons like sentiment." Although knowing that did make him feel some odd emotion he didn't want to name for a moment. He had a feeling the emotion was a stupid one, so he tried to ignore it, and sat down to start setting up the game.

Hewitt nodded "It's most distracting" he agreed. He smiled smugly. "Sentiment seems an awfully foolish reason to do anything."

"Could you still use your hands?" Ethan asked. Aketi biology was weird, so he was curious.
"Sentiment makes you stupid. It'll make you willingly subject yourself to all sorts of shit which should be completely avoidable." Dr. Heinz had been in love with Kaylr right to the end, and it had been a more effective prison than any cage. If that wasn't a compelling argument against sentiment, Ethan didn't know what was. "I guess sentiment is why you want to keep Amity around, and why I stay in the library, though. Maybe we're all stupid sometimes."

Skye shrugged a little. "I would likely stay here. We don't belong with our kind." She said as she looked away. She had thought she could belong in the guild, but he had broken her heart there so she wasn't sure anymore.
~~~
Starr watched her, both in her mind and physically. "Incredible. Your process Is certainly different than mine, or Kay's. For you, it needs attention to hold the shape, for me it only needs the attention when shifting unless emotions are high. You will have to practice to make it second nature as well. Unless you want me to make another charm to help hold the image?"

"The artuvians at the Guild seemed nice, well, most of them did anyway," James said. Yeah, he remembered Orel. That guy was kind of a jerk, in his opinion. "You don't want to be there or on Artuvia? They must be becoming more accepting, right?"

Hewitt looked annoyed at the mention of Amity. It was true, he was wierdly fond of the drone, but he regarded it to be the sort of fondness one had for anything they considered now theirs. "Amity is unofficially my property, do you have any idea how expensive host drones are?" he looked ruffled. "after the inconvenience of that crash, it's the least the cruise company owe me." He started setting up the game. "And yes, I could use my hands. For the most part, but the vines get in the way. Sometimes you have to just cut a few off to get dexterity back."

Silence tilted her head. "mother wanted to learn properly. Charms easy to take, easier to take than natural ability." She nodded sensibly. She looked a bit troubled though. "Never learned as child, told it.. dangerous. That it make us target to enemies. Now though... changed mind."

"b.. better to be able.. to f... fit in. Draws.. less attention." Ivor agreed.

Silence nodded, looking irritated. She didn't like having to hide, even if she understood it was rather essential. "Mother change mind, maybe man change it for her, dont' know, just know she want me learn." She looked to Ivor. "can teach brother too?"

Ivor looked uncomfortable. He didn't really like shifting, it was painful and awkward and he rather preferred to just pretend he wasn't the monster he felt he really was.

"Not monster." Silence picked up on his fear and patted him on the shoulder, forcing an unnatural and unpracticed smile. She could look humanoid sure, but she didn't really understand how to ACT humanoid.

Ivor stared at his own feet.

flying_purple_monkfish wrote:Hewitt looked annoyed at the mention of Amity. It was true, he was wierdly fond of the drone, but he regarded it to be the sort of fondness one had for anything they considered now theirs. "Amity is unofficially my property, do you have any idea how expensive host drones are?" he looked ruffled. "after the inconvenience of that crash, it's the least the cruise company owe me." He started setting up the game. "And yes, I could use my hands. For the most part, but the vines get in the way. Sometimes you have to just cut a few off to get dexterity back."

Ethan snickered. He couldn't tell if Hewitt really felt that way about Amity or if the attachment went deeper than that, but he found Hewitt's annoyance kind of amusing. "So you just like him cause he's valuable and does chores, not because you like him. Fair enough."
He looked up from the game setup, "Wait, are the vines the kids themselves, or just a side effect of growing seedlings? You guys have bizarre biology and I have no clue about it."

"They grow as small balls of leaves." Hewitt waved a hand dismissively, this talk of biology was boring to him. "when they get to an appropriate size they drop off and glide away, finding a tree to nestle in for the next decade or so." He studied Ethan. "Sometimes there's too many of them, they get in the way. "

Ethan blinked. "God, Aketi are weird," he said after a moment. Yeah, he didn't really understand how any of their biology would work. Maybe he'd ask the internet for more information later. "You guys aren't like the Minotaurs at least, someone told me once that they sacrifice children to their gods. In the other universe, I mean."
Although, he reflected, he had no way to find out if that was true or not. Hmm.

Skye sighed and shook her head. "Being at the gild just proved that no one is changing their mind."

~~~
Starr nodded and looked to Ivor then back to Silence. "I will certainly do my best, as well as teaching you how to fit in and be overlooked. I had to learn that."

James watched Skye unhappily. "The ones I met seemed nice enough, but I guess things are different for other Artuvians, maybe they don't expect us other species to understand or something, I dunno. Not feeling at home with your own species has got to suck though."

Hewitt scoffed "how very wasteful." He examined the game board. "Shall we play?"

---

Silence blinked, nodded and returned to her natural form. It was more comfortable. She fluttered her wings, swished her tail and stretched out her neck as she adjusted.

"f.. fit in?" Ivor sounded skeptical, he doubted he'd ever be able to fit in.

"Yeah, they seemed nice at first." Skye said, turning away a little then shaking her head again. "Can we talk about something else?"
~~~
Starr nodded and smiled. "My people have to learn about a species before we can take the form, you don't, but you can learn now."

"It could be a rumor. A slave told me that, slaves in that universe aren't exactly known for being educated," Ethan mused. "Yes, let's play." He'd try to take his turn first, because why not?

~~
James frowned, but then nodded. "Okay. What would you like to talk about?" He wasn't entirely sure what to discuss, his own mind kept going back to his siblings and his people, and those were two topics that were kinda depressing.