Upon Vestia: Chapter TWENTY

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Heny stood there and listened as the two spoke, her heart beat rising. She had visited him a couple of times but found it too painful with eveything going on.

Ellie shook her head at Amity. Strange robot. "Practical test time, okay? Shhh!" Would he understand? She wasn't so sure.

Amity did a very good simulation of blinking, and fell silent, only the whir of his drone making any sound.
After a few moments he spoke almost inaudably I apologize, I cannot reduce the sounds the fans make.

Ellie burst into giggles. "It's okay, you don't need to be that quiet! Just, like, halfway between that and your normal loudness." She was starting to really appreciate the androids and their ability to understand Terran needs so well, oh my gosh. Amity was so not designed for Terrans.

Amity tried again. Is this level of decibels preferable?

"A bit louder might be good," Ellie said. She took a gulp of her coffee. Her brain might feel better, but Amity was still tiring to explain things to.

"Perfect," Ellie said with a nod. "You're learning!"

"I am designed to learn." Amity pointed out. "To better accommodate guest expectations."

Ellie tried to pat Amity's arm. "Well I'm proud of you, man. You're a good robot!"

~~
Ethan left his room carrying a stack of Three Investigators stories, and headed down the hall. Seeing the med bay door was open, he hesitated, suddenly nervous, then braced himself and peered in.

Asher looked up at the movement and smiled softly at his duplicate. "Good morning, Ethan. Is everything all right?"

Ethan nodded, he looked kind of jumpy though. "Is Kay in?"

"No, I haven't seen him yet this morning," Asher said. His own expression became concerned, "Why do you ask?"

Ethan scuffed one foot on the ground, and after a pause replied, "I think I should talk to him. When he's in a mentally sound state, of course."

Asher blinked. "Wouldn't it be wiser to stay away from him?"

Ethan rolled his eyes. "Look, I'm not made of fucking porcelain--"

Asher looked at the sleeping hatchlings significantly.

Ethan looked mildly annoyed. Who cared if some kids heard swear words? They were just words, not weapons of mass destruction. "I'm not fragile," he continued, "there's been exactly one time when I've panicked around Kay, and that was when he looked like he wanted to murder someone, and then stood way too close to me. And no, I'm not planning to hurt him. If I was going to, I would have done it yesterday, when I wasn't thinking straight. My brain's in much better order now. I want to talk with him like we're goddamned adults, because we are, and I want to not hide away like the coward Kaylr would want me to be. So when you see Kay and he seems stable, tell him I'd like to talk. Civilly. Because if I wanted my life to be dictated by my fears, I'd never have come to this universe on the same ship as him."

After a moment, Asher nodded. "If you're sure. Look, you don't need to push yourself. Take your time. It's okay to avoid him while your recover from yesterday."

"I think talking with the guy is going to be a hell of a lot better for my mental state than hiding from him," Ethan said. He took one of the books off his stack of books and set it on the counter. "Your dragons are going to be old enough for mysteries soon. This one's nice and not scary, and you'll have fun reading it to them." He turned and headed off toward the library.

Asher watched his brother go, utterly baffled. Ethan was strange.

Her hand went straight through the projection. Amity looked apologetic. He didn't always realise in time that he was supposed to make himself solid.

"Thank you. The company would be most pleased to hear that."

---

Kay explained... some things to Web. He told him about Heny and Merith's history with the Family, as much as he knew of it, he explained how before he and Matt joined the crew Vestia had been captured by slavers and Heny had helped them escape, earning the ire of the slaver captain.
He told his brother about the second time slavers attacked, about them torturing the Keepers, but he conveniently left out details like Matt killling a load of people and Asher shooting him.
Then he told Web about the mirror universe, in as broad a detail as possible. About himself as a monster, how Ethan was actually Asher, again he left out details. He didn't mention Gier, he didn't talk about Merith's breakdown, he glossed over the injuries he'd sustained and then told him why they were here.
For security, for help. He explained how Merith had decided to finally turn himself in for his crimes in the hope that doing so would get the others safe.
When you put it like that, Merith almost sounded like a hero.

Web read carefully, letting Kay write and not prying too deeply. He realised things were getting left out, he wasn't stupid, but he also understood some things were just not something you wanted to dredge up again.

Eventually they finished their "chat" and Kay left to go shower.

Web resumed his walk, thinking about all he'd been told.

(okay, so, why is the font black on black? I can't read what i'm typing!)

(You probably accidentally switched to HTML mode, try to find the button to go back to the code mode)

Ellie didn't seem to mind not being able to pat Amity, it was kind of fun to wave her hand through his 'body', whooo. She went back to drinking her coffee busily, and also bought a croissant to eat since her stomach felt up to that now.

"Am I still required to speak quietly?" Amity asked.

"Oh, no, you can talk normally now," Ellie said. She smiled at Amity. "Good robot."

~~
Ethan dropped off the remainder of his books at the library, then went looking for Matt. There were a few books that had gone missing recently, and although he knew there were plenty of other suspects who might have misplaced them, Matt and his kleptomania were certainly suspicious.

Amity smiled. "Very well." He went back to wiping down countertops.

---

Matt had disentangled himself from his fiance and was just leaving their room when he spotted Ethan.

"Uh..." he did a quick calculation. Ethan or Asher? Not smiling or looking appologetic, probably Ethan. Argh twins were annoying! This was how people felt about him and Web wasn't it!?? He smiled weakly. "hi?"

Ethan looked up at Matt and nodded in greeting, glad that he hadn't had to knock on the door. Bothering couples when they were in their room with the door closed was... generally not a great idea. You never knew what the person answering the door might look like. "I'm here on library business," he said in the most official tone he could manage, "Some books have gone missing, and I'm looking for them." Deciding that he should try to not be overly accusatory since Matt might be perfectly innocent, he added, "You're one of several people on my list to check with."

Matt managed to look pretty spectacularly guilty, he sort of smirked and folded his arms. "What books?" He couldn't help it, he grinned. "Who else is on the list?"

Ethan gave Matt a suspicious look. "Two Victorian romances, three board books, a textbook on writing cursive, and the third Harry Potter book," he said. "The other suspects are Heny, Quinn and/or Third, pretty much any of the children, Ellie, and Amity." He considered, "Possibly some of the others too, but those are my primary suspects minus you."

"victorian romances?" Matt snickered. He shook his head. "well, I can safely say I have not picked up any textbooks. " He shrugged. "Don't you have a record of who took out what book or something?" Hmm, he had a nasty feeling he might have picked up books without thinking about it, but he wasn't much wanting to have to empty his pockets. it took foreeever. At least he wasnt' offended by the suspicion.

"People are supposed to check the books out when they leave, and I remind them to when I'm there, but sometimes I think they forget that step," Ethan grumbled, "Or maybe they just feel too lazy to type in their PIN, I don't know. Maybe the one who took the romances thought I would judge them for their taste in books. They're not wrong." He looked at Matt curiously, "Do you know anyone who would take books like those?"

"Tacky romance novels, children's books and writing? Maaan... " He started laughing. What an assortment. "that specific combo... no. Unless it's just someone taking books at random to piss you off."

Ethan snorted. "That's a definite possibility. I think there are some people who like screwing with me. Maybe I should add Tala to the list, she stops by just to be annoying sometimes." He waved for Matt to follow him, "You can help me look. I'm sure you're better at not traumatizing small children than I am."

Matt snickered. "Yeah, you are a bit scary." He teased. "It's funny, I mean, you have such a likable face but you manage this glare and it's like.. woah.. you know my foster mother could do that? Beautiful lady and then you'd piss her off and bam, terror. Absolute terror. It's a talent man." He nodded and fell into step with Ethan.

That got a laugh out of Ethan. "I was honestly pretty impressed by my duplicate's ability to look sweet and gentle," he admitted humorously, "It's surreal to see my face, but minus the look of annoyance. Your foster mother was Olin, right? Rumor has it she had one hell of a pretty smile in the other universe. Funny how different people are there."
Hmm, he supposed they should start by looking in the playroom. Kids liked to hang out there, and kids loved to take things.

"I'm sure she had a beautiful smile here too, just... five kids running riot and no help, that'd make you pretty grumpy too right?" Matt smiled fondly. "You get kinda used to seeing your face on someone else." He laughed. "But I guess i've had my whole life to just.. deal with it. Still, sometimes Web will get a look and i'm all man, I didn't even know our face could DO that? "

"True enough. I think that would make anyone learn to scowl pretty terribly," Ethan agreed. "It was strange to meet Web, he really does look like you, mostly, but the expressions seem different. Not that I've spent a lot of time around either of you, but he seems to use his face differently," he added.

Matt nodded. "Creepy right? " He grinned. "We used to be waaaay more alike back when I had my hair long too. But he's always been much more serious and all like... greater good, the needs of the many blah blah blah." He made a face.