Upon Vestia: Chapter Twenty-Four

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Dawn chuckled and shook her head a little "I don't need a party." She said softly, chuckling.

~~~
Skye looked to the door then came over to open it "Mourn? What's up?"

"They listen when they agree with what is said" Jewel said softly then looked to the group again.

~~~
"That is the way they want it to be. Too bad the Family could see right through that defense." Dawn said, setting her empty plate down and glancing to him then out at the stars again.

"Didn't exactly go to their plan though did it?" Esk smirked. Oh it made him rather pleased to think of the Family's complete failure. "They thought it would be an easy task, set the foxes off, while there's chaos in the streets and the enforcers are all distracted, march in and take the city. Easy, straightforward, no problems." He snickered. "They didn't count on the Aketi sabotaging their own scanners, or the Guild actually fighting back effectively. Assholes are just as arrogant as the guild and that arrogance let us kick the shit out of them. A harsh lesson for both sides. Maybe now the guild will understand the value of another perspective."

---

Matt nodded. "Yeah, let's go fix that door."

---

"They're jerks who live in an echo chamber of their own ideas. I'm glad to be away from them," James said to Jewel.

Asher decided to ignore his brother's anti-Guild sentiment, instead smiling at Matt and then wheeling his way out of the room. "Lead the way, Jewel?"
He also told Vestia what they'd need, she she could get a bot on that.

"They didn't think we could anticipate their move to set off the foxes" Dawn agreed then shook her head. "I'm glad we did, it gave us the advantage in surprise."

~~~
Jewel nodded and flew towards her room, pausing to greet Skye when she saw the hawk girl

Skye stopped and smiled softly, waving to the tiny Artuvian and the others. "Hey, what's going on?"

Esk nodded. "that's why it's useful to have different perspectives." He shrugged. "They were idiots. More so than this crew and this crew are pretty fucking stupid."

--

Matt waved to Skye. "Hey, we're gonna go cut a hole in a door. Wanna watch and cheer James on as he undoes hinges?"

Dawn shook her head and looked to him "They may have stupid moments, but I don't think they are stupid, especially as a crew."
~~~
Skye chuckled then shrugged "Sure, why not?"

James smiled brightly at Skye. " Man, maybe they should have let you take the hinges off. i bet you're good at that."

Vestia's bot was there with tools when they arrived.

They reached Jewel's room, and the two androids got to work, Asher holding the door steady while James started trying to get the door off its hinges.

"So how are you today?" Asher asked Skye. He didn't know about Orel yet, but Skye looked kinda gloomy to him.

Skye frowned at the question then moved to help if she could with the door. "I'm fine" Nope, she did not want to get into all of that.

Matt cheered on the androids in a ridiculously over the top manner.

---

Esk shrugged. "Maybe not all of them, but my brothers are both idiots. " Thankfully the other morons and assholes seemed to have mostly left. Good riddance. Not having to deal with Shock and Merith's bullshit was going to make life far more comfortable. "the rest of them are overly sentimental and trusting though. Maybe they've finally learned their lesson about that but I doubt it." He rolled his eyes and yawned. "how long you think before we run into something else that wants us all dead?"

Asher frowned a bit at that, but nodded. Yeah, people didn't generally say they were fine that way unless there was something wrong. But he knew it'd do no good to pry.

James had Skye help him get the door off its frame, while Asher carried most of its weight. James shot a flirtatious glance at Matt through his eyelashes. "Do you like it when I do this?"

Asher rolled his eyes.

Dawn shrugged and looked out the window again "Not long, especially with making slavers mad and trying to free the androids."

~~~
Skye kept quiet as she helped, she liked being a part of the group, but didn't want to talk much. She did smile at the joking though.

Matt snickered. "Baby you can unscrew my hinges any time." He burst into cackling laughter at how filthy that sounded.

---

Esk nodded. "Slavers are assholes though, it'll be fun to blow those pricks out the sky." Yeah, some things he DID have in common with his dad. Eugh.

"Oh honey, can you unscrew mine too while we're at it?" James tried for a seductive low tone.

Asher made a face. "Go get a room!"

"I can't, I'm helping you," James pointed out.

Asher sighed. That was sadly true.

Finally they got the door down and set it somewhere at a convenient height, so Asher could measure out the openings dimensions. "Do you want to walk in or fly in?" Asher asked Jewel.

Matt cackled. "Nah, no making out on duty right?" He grinned at Asher.

Asher smiled sheepishly. Yeah, maybe you couldn't judge people on their behavior after you'd made out with your coworker while you were on duty in the med bay. "It's so unprofessional, you know, and professionalism is important," he said to Matt. "Take it from me, I'm an expert in these things."

James cackled at his brother's sheepish look. There was a story here. He didn't know what had happened, but he was sure it was funny.

Matt laughed. "Of course. We're all totally professionals here." He grinned back at James.

Dawn nodded with a frown. She still couldn't believe that other woman had willingly joined slavers. It was just so wrong.

~~
Jewel thought about it then shrugged "Walk in, I guess" She said as she listened to the bantering

Asher double-checked the measurements for the mini door and got it positioned right. "Oh yes, we're all very professional."

James held the door steady. "Oh yeah, so professional. We'll wait til we're off duty to do anything fun." He shot Matt another joking seductive look.

Jewel and Skye watched with interest as the guys worked on the door, though neither joined in the conversation.

Matt snickered, but shook his head. The girls were all silent which usually meant they didn't find it funny. Oops.

---

Esk leaned back in his chair. "Maybe we'll get lucky and get a chance to kill the last stragglers from the Family while we're at it."

James helped Asher modify the door so that it would be convenient for Jewel, then helped him to put it back up, probably with some assistance from Skye. "Man, being a wounded war veteran is so inconvenient," he said mournfully as he tried to not hurt his arm again.

Dawn nodded and frowned "I hope so." She said quietly.

~~~
Skye helped as much as she could with the door. She might not be big, but she was strong for her size.

Esk nodded. "Don't be ashamed, some people deserve to die."

---

"It does." Matt agreed with James. "We didn't even get nice shiny medals or anything." He huffed.

"Maybe we should, like, make our own medals," James suggested. "We are, like, war heroes."

Together they got the door back in place and the hinges reconnected.

"Thanks, guys," Asher said, smiling at Skye especially. "All right, you should test out the door and see how you like it," he told Jewel.

"That's not a bad plan James" Matt nodded. "Make them extra sparkly."

Dawn laughed softly, though it wasn't a happy laugh. "yeah, some do."

~~
Jewel clapped and moved to try the door and make sure it would work as they had fixed it to.

James grinned. "Glittery medals of heroism. That'll make everyone feel good about their part in the war."

Jewel's door would probably work pretty well. It had little hinges and a latch instead of a doorknob, because Vestia didn't have any little doorknobs, but the latch opened easily enough, and stayed shut when closed. Yay.

"Is the door okay?" Asher asked Jewel.