Upon Vestia: Chapter Twelve

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"Yep, all alone on a desert planet with a weird bird." Ellie scowled, "False gods. So gross. I hope all immortals die soon." She paused, "Umm, well, I hope the immortals I like stick around for a while longer though."

"My leg is working again, and as far as I can tell, I don't smell like pond scum," Asher said cheerfully. "Anything interesting in that stuff?" He asked, looking at the microscope with interest and mild concern.

Kay moved aside so he could look. It was teaming with teeny micro organisms and plant spores and all the stuff you'd expect from a lake or pond.

[From what I can tell it's much like lake water anywhere else. The black is some sort of algae that I don't believe poses any immediate threat to health. Though I wouldn't suggest drinking this water, I don't think I have anything to worry about swimming in it.]

"Thank goodness," Asher said, looking at the very alive water thoughtfully. "I'd be pretty sad of you got killed by a parasite because you saved my life."

Kay smiled softly [I'll do my very best not to get killed then.]

"Good," Asher said happily, "I'm glad we have an agreement then." He looked worried, "Do I smell like pond scum though?"

Kay looked amused by that. [Not that I can tell. Ask the minotaur, she has the better nose.] He moved closer and shook his head. Nope, didn't smell of pond scum.

Asher looked relieved. "I'll have to ask her, but that's a good sign. For the record, I don't smell any pond scum on you," he added, straight faced.

[I washed my hair just in case] Kay shrugged, bemused. [Why do you care so much about smelling of pond scum?] It was a somewhat random fixation.

"Because I can't tell what it smells like, and I don't want to be unknowingly subjecting people to something unpleasant," Asher said, nodding sensibly. "Besides, who wants a medic who smells bad? Nobody."

Kay shook his head, trying not to laugh. [It's good to see you're still as ridiculous as ever. ]

Asher shrugged. "Can't let the near-death experiences change you, right?"

[I'm relieved you're alright.] Relieved wasn't even the right word, but he wasn't certain there was a word that quite conveyed how he felt right now. Asher was safe, that was all that mattered.

"And you're all right too?" Asher said hopefully. "Not just not going to be eaten by parasites, but feeling better in general?" He kind of hated that Kay would probably be feeling the effects of this longer than he would. It seemed seriously unfair to Kay after he had been so heroic.

Kay nodded. [I'll be fine. No long term damage done. You forget, my body is extremely good at recovering from massive organ damage and breaks. It happens every single time I shift. It still hurts a bit but it's worth it. There was no way I was leaving you at the bottom of a lake.] He smiled reassuringly and patted Asher on the shoulder.

Asher looked somewhat reassured, but some part of his brain still told him that organics should not be pulling their lives on the line for a robot. It was far too dangerous for any organic, and with Kay, the danger seemed that much worse because he really, really didn't want to see him hurt. Asher's survival had been basically guaranteed, but Kay could have drowned, or gotten sick, or been permanently injured in any number of ways. "I'm so glad you're okay," he said softly.

Kay smiled and nodded. [and the same goes for you. Shall we just agree to be relieved everything's okay and that we'll both never stop worrying about one another? Though I do think after all that excitement a few hours without drama would be nice, don't you?]

Asher nodded, amused. "Sounds sensible. When's that party we're supposed to all be attending, do you know?"

Kay shook his head. [Armin just said this evening. We have a few more hours till sunset so i'm assuming it'll be... around then?] He had no idea. [That should be interesting anyway, hopefully far less dramatic than this afternoon.]

"One hopes it'll be less dramatic," Asher said. "It's hard to be sure though. Want to play games or something for a bit while we wait?"

[All we have is hope sadly. So so much hope.] He smiled and shrugged. [Sure, why not?]

"I guess that's better than not having hope," said Asher cheerfully. He looked at Kay's lab stuff, "Guess we'd better clean this up so the kids don't play with it."

Kay nodded and eased the dish out from under the microscope.
It wouldn't take long to tidy everything up. The microscope lived in one of the medlab cupboards.

Once everything was nicely put away, they would head for the rec room in search of something to occupy their time.

"So, uh, what happened with the lake?" Vestia asked as they walked down the hall.

Kay looked up at the camera briefly. [I'm sure James can give you the full story. Ask him.]

Yeah he didn't want to talk about it.

Instead he rummaged through the games cupboard to find something they could play.

Asher gave Vestia's camera a reassuring look. He'd tell her a bit about what happened later, if James didn't. "If it's a luck game, I'm going to be sad," he called after Kay.

Kay dug out a checker board and set it on the table. [Now now, we can't have you sad.] He smirked. [I think I can just about remember all the rules for this game.] He'd teach Asher a game from his homeworld, which was extremely simple in layout. 4 white checkers, 1 black.
The black checker was trying to make it from one side of the board to the other, the white side was trying to stop them. Only the black squares were used, pieces all moved diagonally. White could only move foward, black could move back and foward.

[Generally, you play twice. One game as black, one as white. ] He told Asher. [I think you'll be good at this.]

"Looks like fun," Asher said, smiling. "Who goes first?"