UPON VESTIA: CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

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Kay looked amused at that remark. [You're probably right. And bottom bunk, because I wasn't willing to argue the point. There were about 12 of us in one room, it was fairly cramped.] Not that he'd spent many evenings IN his bunk considering. Nope, his evenings had been spent locked in an old bunker hoping like heck he wouldn't get out and nobody would find him.

---

Ivor shrugged. "I do.. don't know..." He came out into the hall and closed the door carefully behind himself. "You have animals on a ship?"

----

"If they have no choice, then they are still slaves." Armin bowed his head.

"We are on the top floor now, the teleporter only works inside Vestia." Skye said and smiled up at Jewel as she buzzed around them "The ballroom is this way. It's one of my favorite places besides the ranch." She added, leading them

"Ranch?" Silence asked.

"t.. the place with the animals yes?" Ivor inquired, following Skye obediently.

Skye nodded and smiled at them again "yeah, the place with the animals." She said and opened the door "And this is the ballroom." She said before going in and turning so she could see how they reacted.

James stood back a bit as Skye opened the door to the ballroom. He could handle large spaces okay these days, but he'd rather let Ivor and Silence go first. Besides, it was polite to let guests go first, right?
"Don't worry, the glass is super solid," he said reassuringly. It was a thing he worried about sometimes, and maybe they did too.

Silence went first, lumbering into the room and looking around but not looking up.

Ivor followed and immediately his gaze was drawn up at the stars above them. He gasped.

Silence looked up finally at Ivor's gasp. "Stars." She stated.

"a... amazing..." Ivor managed, though he stuck to the edges of the room warily. That big glass ceiling WAS a bit intimidating.

Jewel flew in and looked up then few up to hover at the top, touching the glass to show them it was there.

"It's perfectly safe, there's a cover that can slide over it when needed to keep the glass safe." Skye said, smiling at their reactions.

Silence fluttered her wings, this place had a lot of space, she enjoyed that. She turned in place, flaring her wings out and stretching her neck to full length.

"i... t.. think she likes it here..." Ivor remarked, sticking to the edges still.

James stayed near Ivor. Yeah, he still wasn't sure about this place either. "Can you fly?" He asked Silence. He didn't know much about full blooded shifters.

"no. too heavy. Glide." Silence told James, not even looking over at him.

"S...shifters are... tree dwelling.. apparently. They... they glide and... are excellent climbers." Ivor nodded to Silence's talons which did look like they'd be pretty dang good at embedding into something like a tree trunk. "I.. have never seen their... native world... "

"gone." Silence shook her head.

Ivor looked at the floor. "Y.. yes... "

"home close, was good. Peaceful." Silence shrugged, fluttering her wings a little. "You come up here often?" She asked, changing the subject.

Skye tilted her head in thought, looking around the room. "I'm not sure if we could up here, but if you wanted, we could probably have a tree in the ranch room just for you to glide from, if you wanted that." She said, looking back tot he two then shrugging a little.

"Where was your home?" James asked, unable to stifle his curiosity even though Silence probably didn't want to talk about it. "I don't come up here much, but I get Skye and Jewel do." He nodded at Skye's idea, that sounded neat.

"Don't know." Silence told James bluntly.

"T... the Man Hytar offered to take them home but..." Ivor began.

"Mother no want to go." Silence finished. "Want help man." She shook her head. "Maybe gone too. Moved on."

James nodded. "Man, that's kinda sad. I guess I get it though, I mean if I was given the chance to go home, I would only go there long enough to get my sister out of there." He shook his head. "Your mom must feel the same way I guess?"

~~
Levi had probably gone to see Mourn at some point. Ethan would probably tag along just because. For once Moriah hadn't followed along, she found Ethan and his permanent bitchy glare a bit unnerving.

~~
Moriah went off to explore. She still wanted to find out about those mysterious new guests who were being kept away from the rest of the crew. She hadn't seen Amari or Marcus yet, and she was so curious about them.

~~
Asher would finish reading about Pandorans, then he decided to go see Sawna. He wanted to talk to her, maybe about Dawn, and maybe about Amari too.

Silence shrugged. "Been long time." She looked up at the stars. "Owe man. He free us."

---

Mourn was taking a relaxing nap in a cardboard box in a storage cupboard somewhere.

---

Armin went to his room to relax.

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Kay went to the medical room, a little surprised to find it empty. Asher must be busy. It wasn't like either of them NEEDED to be here after all. He settled in to finish up any work and then do some soduku puzzles.

---

Luka was in the gym.

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Matt had rounded up the cleaning bots and was chattering to them about stupid shit. He decided they were way better therapists than Esk. They weren't assholes.
He renamed one of them "doctor cleanie" and declared it was now his therapist HAH.

---

Esk sat through a few lectures in the holodeck before he decided to take a break and get food.

----

Hewitt had a sleep.

Sawna was back in her cafe again, cleaning and waiting for anyone that may decide to come in. When there was nothing left to clean, she took a tablet and sat to read at one of the tables.

~~~
Skye looked up to the stars then went over to a table to sit and bring up the movie about parties for them to watch on it. She didn't want to talk about home, Vestia was 'home' to her now.

James sighed, then nodded. "Yeah, I guess that makes sense." He wanted to ask where Silence and her mom had been freed from, but he had a feeling Silence didn't want to talk about it. "How long were you there with Hytar's crew?" he asked instead.

~~
Asher went back into Sawna's cafe. "Hello again Sawna, I hope you don't mind me visiting again so soon." He smiled softly.

~~
Ethan and Levi followed Vestia's directions to the cupboard where Mourn was. The two androids looked at each other, trying to decide how to proceed.

"You wake him up, I'm not going near his claws," Ethan said, charitable as always.

Levi looked amused. "You've probably done this more times than I have. What's the best technique?"

"Get a broom and poke him with the handle from as far away as you can," Ethan said. "He has a lot of claws, and he'll take a swipe at you when he wakes up, so distance is key."

"Maybe we should wait til he wakes up on his own," Levi suggested.

"He's a felid. Like the Professor said, he'll sleep all day given half a chance to do so," Ethan said wryly.

Levi nodded after a moment, and located a broom, which he used to hesitantly nudge Mourn.

Ethan stayed back. Heh, let the other android risk the claws.

Another shrug from Silence. "year, two... " She wasn't totally sure.

---

Mourn let out a protest yowl and swiped the broom, grabbing it in his robotic hand before he really woke up. His optic whirred to life and he opened his eye, slowly letting go of the broom and sitting up. "robots?"

Sawna looked up from her tablet and smiled, pausing the program so she could make it sleep. "I do not mind you visiting at any time." She said happily enough. "What can I help you with?"
~~~
Skye looked back to the others as they continued to talk about the past. Jewel joined her on the table, resting.

James smiled. "Well I guess there are worse places to spend a year or two. Hytar didn't seem too awful, even though Esk said he was."

~~
"Sorry to bother you," Levi said apologetically. "I just wanted to come tell you I'm still alive." He eyed the broom handle nervously, the handle looked kinda clawed up now.

Ethan watched, still at a safe distance.

~~
Asher smiled again. "I had a few questions for you, mostly about Amari. I know your species is different from his, but I was just curious to know if your species has instincts like his at all?" He looked apologetic, "I'm sorry. I really don't know much about Carpathians, and that's probably a rude question as well. I'm just trying to learn as much as I can, anything that can possibly make having him here less mysterious."

"he is scary." Silence nodded.

Ivor nodded. "l.. lots of rules... keeps.. much to himself. A.. apparently he... he kills people.. but not for money.. just.. just because?" He shuddered, shook his head and went to see what Skye was looking at.

"Ta'nari, never good." Silence murmured.

----

Mourn tilted his head, taking a moment to register what was going on. Then he grinned. "You come out of power save okay yes? No lag? memory delete okay?"

"He's not a great guy, that's for sure. At least he mostly kills slavers," James said. He looked over at Jewel and Skye, "Do we want to watch those movies now?"

~~
"I woke up fine, and so far everything seems to be working. I don't think I lost any memories I didn't plan to lose," Levi said. "It looks like I should get another fourteen years or so if it keeps working."

Mourn clapped his hands together and got out the box, tearing it a little as he did so. he was rather too large for it.
"then it working! We keep testing, over next..." he thought. "week! If still good, I copy files onto disk and make copy yes?"

Levi nodded. "I'll tell you if I experience any problems." He looked thoughtful, "And I'll tell the others to tell you too, since it's possible I wouldn't notice the problems myself if they occurred."

"Kinda like dementia," Ethan said. "That'd suck."

"Hopefully that won't happen. I'd rather keep my memory and my reasoning if I can, and not go through that," Levi said. He smiled, "So far, so good though. I'll keep you posted, Mourn."

Skye nodded and glanced to the others then back to the tablet "Yeah, I'm ready to put it on the big screen when y'all are." She said, glat to change the topic.
~~~
Sawna shook her head a little "They are a different species, so I am not sure if I am one to ask about them. We don't have tails or the instincts they seem to have." She said then shrugged a little "It's not rude, Asher, ask away."

Mourn nodded. He looked excited. "When we know it work, can help all the robots, give longer life." He cackled merrily.

---

Ivor came over, pulling up a chair awkwardly.

Silence hunkered down as best she could.

---

Skye sent the video to the bigger screen so they could all see comfortably then hit play. It was the cultural show about parties, so more of a voice over that explained the reasons for different kinds of parties.

Ivor watched intently, taking it all in.

Silence was far less obliging, she rested her head on her hands and looked like she was half asleep.