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.

James nodded, reaching out and clasping Matt's shoulder for a moment, trying to be reassuring. "Not knowing where your brother is sucks, man, and I really hope he gets a message to us soon, too. Web's really experienced though, right? He's been leading the sister races for a long time now, and he's got a whole lot of intuition and common sense, from what I've heard. It stinks to not know where he is right now, but he's a smart guy and I'm sure he's handling whatever's happening really well." He smiled weakly. "I know that doesn't help much though, not when you really just want some answers. I'm sorry."

They reached the holodeck.

Matt nodded and patted James' hand. "Thanks man. "

James smiled a little again. "Come on, let's pretend everything's awesome for a while." He started scrolling through the holodeck controls, looking for the random program button.

"good plan." Matt agreed readily. "So there's a random button right?"

"Yeah, it's somewhere in here... aha!" James punched a button. The scene faded to a desert, sun bright but not especially hot. An eagle flew over head, letting out a stock eagle cry that had been used in movies for centuries.
"Not sure about this one," James said, looking around, and trying not to look up. "Too much sky and the ground isn't very flat."

Matt shielded his eyes, oww. "Yeah, let's try another."

"Oh right, you don't really do bright lights either," James said. "Sorry man, let's try this again." He hit the button, and this time they were on top of a hill in a rainstorm at dusk. The water wasn't real of course, it was just a hologram, but the effect was pretty.

~~
Pancakes eaten, Ellie wandered off to see if Skye was around.

Matt raised his head to the rain, it was neat how realistic the holodeck could be. "Man this place really has everythign doesn't it?"

---

Ivor relaxed slightly once Ellie wandered off. She was just too loud, and angry.
"i.. s.. should find my sister..." He mumbled.

Amity helped tidy up.

"It does, it's pretty impressive," James said, brushing his "damp" hair out of his face. "Man, what does your water elemental think about fake rain? Is it totally weirded out right now?"

Skye had gone to the top floor to look out of the windows. She wasn't ready to go out and fly yet, as she usually did when on a planet.

~~
Jewel tilted her head and got up to fly alongside Ivor. "I know you can read minds, can you read mine, or am I silent like the androids?" She asked curiously.

Ellie found Skye with some help from Vestia, and went over. "Hey Skye, whatcha doing?" she asked.

~~
The androids waved to Jewel and Ivor. "See you around."

They worked with Amity to clean up, after which they'd probably head to their jobs so they could make money. Yay money.

Ivor tilted his head, looking at Jewel and frowning. He hadn't noticed she was silent before, Ellie's loud screaming thoughts had been far too distracting. "You.. are not a machine though... are you?" He asked as he walked. He looked confused.

---

Matt closed his eyes, face raised to the rain. "It knows this isn't real rain, but yeah... it's messing with our head." He chuckled.

"That's awesome," James said. "I mean I'm weirded out too, this fake water totally reads as water, visually and tactile-ly. It's really bizarre to think about. But it has to be weirder when you're like, partly a water elemental. Since presumably you can't control it unlike real water." He loved thinking about magic, it was just so cool how it worked.

Skye startled a little and turned then smiled at Ellie. "Hello Ellie, I was just thinking of Moone." She said then shrugged. "Each day is adding onto the longest we have ever been apart and I miss her."

~~~
Jewel waved to the androids with a smile then looked back to Ivor and shook her head. "No, not a machine, it's just the way most Artuvians are. Magic can't affect us. Skye would be silent to you too, if I am."

"Aww," Ellie looked sympathetic. "Yeah, it has been a long time now, hasn't it? Have you been using Starr to keep in touch with her?"

Matt shook his head. "yeah, I don't think I can. I'd just be drawing water from myself instead." It was pretty weird.

---

Ivor's frown deepened. "immune? to all magic?"

"That'd be way lamer," James said. "Man, you must get dehydrated when you use your powers in a dry environment. Not fun." He watched Matt, "What's it like to control water, do you sense it around you?"

Skye nodded then shrugged "It's not the same, but it is the best we can do right now."

~~
Jewel nodded and smiled "So far as we know and have come across. Magic just doesn't work on us."

"Yeah, I guess so." Ellie frowned, poor Skye. "I bet she's learned some awesome new stuff out there, it'll be cool when you get to see her again."

Skye nodded and looked up out the window again "Yeah, it will be." She agreed then frowned a little and looked back to Ellie. "Did you need something?"

"Weird..." Ivor told Jewel, then ducked his head. "S.. sorry.. " He shook his head. "m.. my mother's people... d.. don't have magic... don't understand it.. but I could still hear their thoughts. t.. they thought I was crazy." He looked grim. Maybe everything would have been easier had they all just been immune and silent like the artruvians. "I.. d.. didn't know what it was till I got away. "

---

Matt looked thoughtful. "It's hard to explain. I sense it I suppose in the same sort of way a person can sense their own heart beating or the blood rushing through their head." He paused. "none of which you have any real experience of.. " He shook his head. "I dunno how to explain it. I KNOW when it's going to rain, I KNOW if there's water nearby before you can even hear it, it's like this... extra sense and the elemental inside me, it's more this... presence, this feeling, rather than any sort of sentient thought. It's more... a primitive drive or urge, something so entwined with my own being I can't imagine not being able to feel it. " He shrugged, nope, he couldn't explain it. "And yeah, if I was somewhere there was no water, i'd dehydrate pretty fast." He shuddered a little, remembering what they'd done to him when they were all in the clutches of the family. "I don't... really like the heat much"

Jewel chuckled and nodded then frowned as he continued to talk. "Well, now you know you aren't crazy, just different. Quite a few people on this ship can use telepathy, so you have plenty to learn from now. It's a part of who you are, just like being anti-magic is a part of who I am."

"No, I don't need anything," Ellie said. "I just wanted to see what you were up to, I mean you're one of my buddies and I don't see you around all that much, I wanted to know if you were okay."

~~
"That's... really cool. I mean you're right, I still can't really imagine how it would feel, but it sounds awesome." James looked kind of admiring. He just had no context for a lot of these feelings organics talked about, but it fascinated him. "Right, no hot weather for you. I'll remember that for future holodeck stuff."

Skye smiled at that and dipped her head "Yeah, I am. I usually take advantage of being on a planet to fly, keep my muscles strong and all that." She said then shrugged

"Oh yeah, that makes sense," Ellie said. "But I mean, even in space I don't see you much. Maybe we just hang out on different parts of the ship or something." She wasn't sure though, she knew Skye missed Moone, and probably the other Artuvians too. Had to be hard, being away from all your people, and pretty lonely.

Matt chuckled. "I'm okay so long as there's still water nearby." Beaches were good he felt. "but no deserts or like.. vast plains of open nothing." he shook the 'water' out of his hair. "this is so weird!"

----

Ivor looked uncertain, he still wasn't convinced he wasn't totally nuts and all this wasn't some sort of massive delusion.

"Good to know," James said with a grin. "Holodeck technology is just ridiculous. It's so realistic, but it just isn't real. I've heard that eating holodeck food is really bizarre, it just kind of disappears when it goes in your mouth, and licking a hologram tastes like nothing."