Upon Vestia: Chapter Seventeen

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Kay always tried so hard to be sensible and pragmatic. Asher had always loved that about him, and he loved it just as much now. He smiled softly. "No, you're definitely not alone in this."
He wasn't going to leave Kay to look after this little dragon alone. He'd gotten the guy into this situation, so now it was his job to do everything he could to help. Did that make him the other father here? Maybe. This was thoroughly confusing and he was going to need to think it over at some point. "If it wasn't already obvious, I'm here for you. Both of you," he said.

~~
Tala snorted weakly. "I do not like that butterfly well." She let Shane help her.

Kay nodded. [There's just so many floors to map. Still, it could be useful to at least have a sort of abstract concept of what there was and approximately where. Do you think Vestia could help with that?] She must know where things were didn't she? Or could be reminded.

"Some sort of list of floors, and what's on each one, at least," Asher said thoughtfully. "I'm sure she could help, she must remember most of what's here."

[One would hope, perhaps even she loses track.] He smiled softly. This was a good distraction. [Though perhaps keep some areas completely private, can't have everyone knowing all our hiding places.]

"She probably thinks it's fun to watch us stumble on these places by accident," Asher said. He looked amused, "If I was a smartship, I think I'd enjoy secretly growing interesting rooms for my passengers to find."

Kay looked amused [Some sort of weird treasure hunt?]

"Exactly. It'd be fun to think of something and start growing a room, and then someone would find it months later and be delighted by it," Asher said.

Kay shook his head, smiling. [shall we explore more then?]

"Yes, let's. We can go down a floor," Asher said.

Kay nodded and would follow Asher, taking one final look around the not quite yet a garden.

They headed down a staircase to floor 63, which was less bizarre than 64. It looked to be living quarters, presumably with larger rooms since the doors were placed further apart. The hall was wide and had comfortable seating and little coffee tables.

Kay looked around. Fancy. He tried one of the doors out of curiosity, because hey, why not? [first class?] He guessed, or at very least people who could pay more for nice rooms.

The door opened to a large, room with a gigantic window. The room was unfurnished, but definitely much nicer than the ones on the main level. The door to the bathroom was open and they could see a rather ridiculously huge bathtub. There was another room across from the bathroom too.
"Must be first class," Asher agreed. "It's strange to imagine what this ship would be like now if she'd been able to be a cruise ship."

[It is isn't it? Such a different life, perhaps in another universe she got that chance.] Kay mused, and went to explore further. Yeah he was nosy okay?

The other room was smaller but still with the large windows. It had a huge closet.
"I'm not sure I'd like having that many strangers around," Asher mused, "Vestia must be able to hold a few thousand of them."

Kay nodded. [Like a whole city.] He mused. [You could really live your entire lives on a ship this large and never visit every nook and cranny. ]

"It would be strange to see so many people around and not know their names," Asher said, "It was a bit like that on the space station, but you recognized most of the residents after a while. There were only a few hundred people there though." He smiled, "Trying to explore all of this ship would be a lot of fun."

Kay nodded [I've never lived anywhere with that sort of population. ]

"I've visited places with bigger populations, but the idea of spending every day somewhere like that is hard to imagine." Asher smiled a bit goofily, "A population density of point five people per floor seems about right for this ship."

[That's very specific.] Kay smiled. [I don't think I could deal with a huge population density either. The colony was fairly quiet and the station was hectic, but still only in the hundreds, not thousands. ]

"I'm very picky," Asher said, smiling back. "It's easier to be around people when you have some idea how they're going to act. Strangers are far too unpredictable." He lead the way down the hall, which soon opened into a larger lounge area with plush carpets and an honest-to-goodness crystal chandelier hanging from the ceiling.

[This is way too nice here.] He looked up at the chandelier and imagined that crashing down in a battle. Ahem.
[I feel underdressed.]

"We should have put on nice suits to come up here," Asher said, looking amused. "The people who would have paid for these rooms are horrified by the sight of us."

Kay looked amused. [I'm sure they are, we're... staff! We're not nearly posh enough for this place.] He looked to Asher [Though I think you'd look good in a suit.]

"Oh my goodness. Staff showing their faces in this lounge?" Asher feigned horror. "That just wouldn't be right." He laughed, "I'm sure we'd both look good in suits. Everyone would be jealous."

Kay tried not to laugh. [I don't even own a suit.] He admitted. Though his usual dress sense wasn't exactly slouchy casualwear. He looked down at his sneakered feet, the only shoes he actually owned and that he only bothered to wear when he was supposed to be on duty. [Or formal shoes...]

"I suppose we'll have to go to Armin someday and beg him to help us get proper formal clothes," Asher mused. "I can't say I'm in any rush to do that, it's so much easier to just keep finding excuses to wear everyday clothes." For special occasions he wore his least worn out jeans and a light colored shirt. That was basically formal clothes, right?
He smiled, "Maybe you don't need shoes to go with a suit. Shoes are overrated."

[And extremely uncomfortable.] He agreed, wriggling his toes. [We very seldom wore any growing up, wasn't like we got many traveling shoe salesmen coming through.] He shook his head.