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?"

Hewitt cackled "oh of course not." He smirked. "Do you want that in cash, credits? Barter?"

"Credits," Ethan decided, "Or cash. Cash is better." He liked cash, it meant he didn't have to mess around with the stupid semi-legal system Vestia had set up to pay the androids.

Hewitt laughed. "Very well, we'll find somewhere I can get some money."

"Good," Ethan said approvingly. He headed for the door. "I wonder what sort of businesses they have here. We've stayed on the beach so far, but there must be a lot of stupid tourist shops."

"one must assume so. All the places we went on the last cruise had tacky tourist shops. A lot of keychains and postcards. Why do they think everyone needs so many key chains?" Hewitt followed along.

"Maybe they have a lot of keys to keep track of," Ethan suggested. "Or maybe they used up all their money getting a cruise trip, and they can't afford anything bigger than a keychain."

flying_purple_monkfish wrote:Kay tried not to look at the incubator, that egg just made all this too real and uncomfortable.
[I'll get the scanner and things then.] He decided Asher was the best person to stay with Starr and chat, things had been awkward enough between him and starr before this.

---

Amity followed Sawna, smiling sedately. The cafe was maybe not spotless, a little dusty in places and such.
"Will you resume your role serving sustenance to the crew now?"

Kooshie wrote:Asher nodded to Kay. "All right, that sounds good." He looked at Starr again, trying to think of something to talk about.  "It's strange to be back on the beach planet again, isn't it?" He asked. "It's like we're retracing our footsteps now." It was the best topic he could think of right now, okay?

~~
"Sounds good," Vestia said. "Want to see the library and the cafe next? They're crew favorites."

Starr looked to Asher then shrugged "A little, I suppose" She said quietly.
~~~
Sawna chuckled and grabbed a cloth to start cleaning the little dust there was there. "Yes, I will serve coffee again."
~~~
"That sounds good" Helen said cheerfully. "Sawna talked about her cafe sometimes."

"At least this time Matthew isn't here," Asher tried. He wasn't sure what to say. He was trying to not say something wrong, but he was pretty sure even the awkwardness was wrong. And he felt really guilty for not knowing what to say, even though that was a dumb thing to feel guilty for.
He'd been carefully avoiding looking at the incubator, but now he glanced at it uncertainly. Good thing the poor hatchling couldn't hear his thoughts.

~~
"I'll take you up there, I'm sure she'll be happy to show you the cafe," Vestia said, letting Helen follow her voice again.

"But what do you DO with them all?" Hewitt persisted. "I knew a man who liked to collect snow globes, just had shelves covered in them. Utterly pointless if you ask me, so many he couldn't even keep track. Ridiculous."

---

Amity stood to one side, just watching Sawna clean.

"I have no idea. It's idiotic," Ethan said. "Maybe they use them as Christmas ornaments or something."

"Uh, Ethan?" Vestia said from overhead.

"Yes?" Ethan frowned, Vestia didn't usually drop into conversations uninvited.

"There are some people on this planet who know Asher's an android, so you should probably borrow a badge from someone before you go out there."

Ethan rolled his eyes. "Fine." He pulled out the badge Rigel had made, and pinned it to his shirt. "This universe is dumb," he told Hewitt.

Starr noticed his look and awkwardness then sighed and motioned to the incubator. "For better or worse, that is my heir. It's not old enough to be male or female yet, so I don't know if it's a prince or princess yet." She said, tired of the uneasiness around her.
~~~~
Helen would follow where she was led, watching the way they went along the way.

Asher looked guilty. He was too easy to read, apparently. He needed to work on that. "I'm sorry. I'm having some trouble getting used to this, but I will get used to it," he said. It wasn't his place to be uncomfortable about this. This was about Starr, not him, and he needed to remember that. "We'll protect your heir and help you, truly we will."

~~
Vestia led Helen to the cafe. "Hey Sawna, you have a visitor!"

Amity brightened and smiled broadly to Helen. "Good afternoon honoured guest. Welcome."

---

Hewitt rolled his eyes. "Terrans." He muttered.

Starr reached over to touch Asher's arm. "Please, I just...I need normal, as much as that is possible." She said softly

~~~
Helen smiled at the greeting "Hi, and hi again Sawna." She said cheerfully.

Sawna smiled and came over to hug her "Hi again, did you want anything to drink?"

"I would like to try some of this coffee you raved about on the Tiger" Helen said and laughed.

"They're so neurotic about their robots," Ethan grumbled. "Oh well, if they make a fuss, you can hit them with your cane."

~~
Asher nodded. "I'll try." He smiled softly at her. He knew how important normal was, and he wanted things to be normal for Starr if possible. "Want to hear about what everyone's been up to lately? James has been riding horses again in the holodeck, the fool. And Mourn's eaten nearly all the tuna."

~~
Vestia turned the cafe lights a bit yellower in greeting. Yay, cafe stuff.

Hewitt laughed. "Oh that sounds like fun. I will say, back off, don't manhandle my android you fiends! yes?" He looked pretty cheerful about all this.

---

Amity nodded. "I can do that" He moved to do so.

---

Kay got things together but he wasn't in a rush to get back to Starr. That was probably awful wasn't it? He huffed. Esk would have a long rant about how he was selfish, blah blah blah. Problem was, he was probably right.
Eugh, that asshole.

He decided to stop by the kitchen to see if there was anything Starr actually liked, but upon deciding this realised he had no idea what she actually LIKED to eat or drink.

[Uh.. Vestia? ] He tried. [Does Starr have anything she particularly likes?]

Ethan snickered. "Yes, this sounds like a good plan. They won't know what hit them."
(To the beach planet?)

~~
"Yeah, there are a few foods she prefers," Vestia said, accessing her files. "Want me to have the bots make her something she likes?" It was a good idea, she should have thought of it too.

(yessss)

---

Kay nodded. [Please.] He was pretty desperate for ideas now.

"Okay, gimme a couple minutes and I'll cook something up. Or the bots will, that is," Vestia said. "Do you want to bring the food with you, or do you want me to deliver it when it's ready?"

[I can wait.] Yeah still not eager to go back in there. Hopefully Asher was okay, had got Starr talking and all that bedside manner stuff he was actually good at.

"All right, it should be ready in a few minutes," Vestia said understandingly. This was so not Kay's sort of medical situation, poor guy.

Kay nodded and waited anxiously, rechecking the medical bag he'd brought along to make sure he had everything they needed.

Starr nodded to Asher then chuckled at his rendition of what the others were up to. "Perhaps we should see about restocking the tuna while we are here." Yes, something far from her situation was good.

~~~
Helen smiled at the bot and went to find a seat.

"Yes, I think we'd better," Asher agreed. "Tuna is obviously very important." He told her a few more anecdotes about the crew: the wheelchair race, a story about Ellie and her plants, a dumb argument two of the crew had had about pasta. It was easier to relax when you were telling dumb stories.

~~
Eventually the food would be ready, and a bot brought it to Kay on a tray.

Kay nodded to the Bot, tucking his tablet into the bag so he had a hand free for the tray.
He looked gratefully at the camera and then headed for Starr's room.

---

Amity made coffee asking politely "Milk? Sugar?"

Starr was glad for the stories, finally relaxing and laughing at the stories he told.

~~~
"Just milk, I can't eat sugar" Helen said then shrugged and smiled again.

Amity nodded. "noted." He brought the drink and a small jug of milk to her. "Enjoy your beverage."