Upon Vestia: Chapter Twenty-Nine

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Ivor was pretty thankful for Tala's quiet thoughts, if her unshielded thoughts were anything like her speaking voice, he'd have had a headache already.
He nodded slowly.

Esk looked momentarily disgusted. "your brother has awful taste in partners." He remarked.

James waved a hand. "Your brother's not so bad, He's got issues, but I've never seen him be a jerk to my brother, so that's a big checkmark in his favor."

"mm hmm." Esk didn't look like he really believed that. "everyone's got issues James, it's not a good excuse."

"Yeah man, my brother has issues too. So do I. So do you. I'm not sure there's anyone on Vestia who doesn't have big, crippling traumas and a handful of neuroses, Kay's just one of many. As long as Kay's treating my brother well, and not going psycho on the rest of the crew, he's no worse a choice than anyone else around here," James thought Esk's loathing of the guy was a little over the top, even if Kay was messed up.

Esk shrugged. "We'll see." He didn't trust that Kay wouldn't totally fuck up, but of course, he never trusted his brother.

James gave Esk an odd look. "Man, why do you hate your brother so much?" He knew Esk wasn't a big fan of the being infected thing, but that couldn't be all of it, right?

Esk groaned. "So many reasons. Most of which are none of your damn business. " He folded his arms again. "He's a selfish, spoiled jackass. And I don't hate him, that takes far too much energy. " He looked annoyed, this was dangerously close to talking about himself.

James sighed. "Whatever, man. I'm gonna go set up my room then." Hey, if Esk wanted to distrust Kay, he could go right ahead, but James wasn't going to join in on that without a really good reason. The guy had never really set off any red flags for him, other than the obvious clinginess and angst. But a lot of people in James's life had issues like that, anyway.

"set up your room? Finally decided to move off the Devil then?" Esk asked.

"Well I mean, with the ship leaving, I gotta move my stuff somewhere," James said. "So I guess so."

Esk snorted. "About time."

James nodded and turned to go. "Guess so. See ya, man."

"yeah." Esk nodded and headed off down the hall. Maybe he should go talk to Dawn, even if she bewildered him. Truthfully, he'd only been avoiding her because he wasn't sure he liked how she made him feel, and he was getting pissed off with people gossiping about shit they didn't understand.

Dawn was on the Devil now, checking to make sure they had all the supplies needed for a trip into space and getting her clothes put away.

Esk wold ask Vestia where Dawn and Rigel were, under the pretense of speaking to the captain of course. He should probably do that too, make sure they were prepared and safe and all that. It was kinda his job after all.

Vestia would tell Esk where Dawn and Rigel were.

~~
James headed to his new room to start unpacking.

~~
Ethan and Hewitt might have headed out to the city and maybe even come back by now, or it might not have actually happened, depending on Hewitt's mood.

Hewitt totally let Ethan 'drag' him into town, and moaned about it the whole time in that crotchity old man way of his.

---

Esk went to the hanger bay and onto the devil to find people then.

Ethan took Hewitt to a few places, ending up at a large bookstore where he got a few too many books, which he then hauled back to Vestia, still staying with Hewitt because he didn't much want to be a lone android in a Terran city. "It wasn't that bad out there, and I didn't even make you carry these books," he pointed out.

Rigel looked up when Esk came in the Devil "Hey Esk." He said, coming over to him. "I was just about to go try to find you to ask if you wanted to go to Mars with us, or stay here with Vestia."

Hewitt scoffed. "That's what you're for." He told Ethan matter of factly. "A good strong android like you, why would I want to take away some of your usefulness?"

---

Esk looked suspicious, like he didn't totally believe that. "Yeah, James said you were heading to Mars. Just repairs right?"

"Because these books are ungainly to carry, even if they aren't too heavy for me," Ethan said, holding them carefully as he headed up the ramp. "And because you're such a kind, helpful person," he added in an ironic tone. "Then again, it would look weird to have me force you to carry books, might draw attention."

Hewitt snickered. "You're managing just fine. Maybe next time you won't buy more than you can carry."

"Hmm," Ethan smiled oddly. "I'll try to limit myself better next time. Not sure I can do it though." He liked new books. It was incredibly satisfying to fill in parts of the collection based on what people had been looking for lately. "You must understand the struggle, I'm sure you were young and nerdy and wanted more books than you could carry once upon a time."

flying_purple_monkfish wrote:Hewitt scoffed. "That's what you're for." He told Ethan matter of factly. "A good strong android like you, why would I want to take away some of your usefulness?"

---

Esk looked suspicious, like he didn't totally believe that. "Yeah, James said you were heading to Mars. Just repairs right?"

"Right, just repairs then back to Vestia. It should be a simple trip." Rigel said, he was hoping nothing went wrong on the way there or back.

Hewitt laughed. "That was a long time ago." He conceded. "though not such a problem with my people, almost everything is digital. Why carry heavy books around when you can carry a tablet that contains a whole library? "

---
Esk smirked a little. "Whenever anyone says something should be simple it always ends up being anything but."

Ethan nodded. "I see your point. Tablets are a hell of a lot more portable than these. Lighter, more content, and readable even in the dark." He shifted the books in his grip. "I guess physical books are mostly a sentimental thing. Libraries, at least to many species in this universe, are a almost like a symbol that knowledge is free to everyone. A place where you can go and get access to information, and no one will stop you or tell you you aren't good enough to learn." In the other universe his masters had never really wanted him near their books except to dust them, so the freedom to learn whatever he wanted meant a lot to him.

Hewitt scoffed. "The desire to learn should be merit enough." As arrogant as the Aketi were, they were big on the whole learning thing. "Denying access to knowledge is a means to control the masses, nothing more."