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.

"Okay," Ellie told her. She walked over to stand near Skye. "We won't be here on Terra too much longer, you know. Just until Armin is better," she said encouragingly.

Ivor stopped walking, looking around. "I... I don't really know..." He admitted. He got lost here very easily. "I was.. just walking." He looked at the floor.

---

Matt laughed. "hey that's not a bad idea, but then I might end up pulling out pianos when I mean to get out a beer and that'd be all kinds of awkward." He played something idly as he talked, plonking keys randomly in a jaunty little ditty. "I wonder if you can weaponise a piano..."

Skye smiled a little and nodded. "Just until Armin is well, and Asher is back."

~~~
"Oh, well that is the best way to find new things, just wandering around." Jewel said and flew in a little circle. "Do you want to explore?"

James cackled at that mental image. "I dunno, that might make you even more fun at parties. Who doesn't want the dude who brings drinks also bringing large ungainly musical instruments to the party?" He considered, "I mean you can drop pianos on things cause they're so heavy. And if you have a lot of them, you could pull out a few and build a barricade to hide behind..."

~~
Ellie nodded. "I mean we don't need to wait for the Silver Devil, they can always catch up with us if we leave before they get back." Meant more time with Esk and Asher gone, which was a plus in her book. She considered them both to be jerks. "But yeah, we gotta wait for our favorite spider man to heal up. Don't wanna rush that."

"i.. Uh.. o... okay..." Ivor said, watching Jewel flit about. He was ever so slightly envious of her ability to fly. Silence could fly if she became a bird, he could not.

---

Matt snorted "now there's an idea." He grinned. "You never learned to play any instruments then? " He couldn't help but think androids should be super good at learning new things, they had computer brains right?

"I fully support you using musical instruments in self defense," James said, "That's ingenuity, man!" He shook his head, "It was never really something that came up, and it wasn't coded into us either the way some things are. Not so easy to find musical instruments to try on a space station, so I focused on my vocal talent instead."

"well you got time now right? I wonder if Vestia has a secret stash of instruments like she has secret stashes of everything else?" Matt mused.

"Maybe I should. It's always a good time to learn a new skill," James said. "Too bad I can't learn wind instruments, my dumb robot lungs aren't functional enough. It'll have to be something with keys or strings I guess." He looked thoughtful.

"Man that must make cpr hard with you guys too right? Do you have to call in an organic medic for that?" Matt asked, hey, he was curious okay?

Skye nodded then shrugged. "Or we would meet them sooner when we leave here. Either way, we can't leave yet."

~~~
Jewel smiled and looked around, letting him pick the way. If she tried walking, she would never get anywhere. "Do you want to pick the direction?" She asked curiously

James laughed. "Yeah, pretty much. Our lungs are good enough for us to sigh or blow out a candle, but they're nowhere near as large or powerful as most species, so we're useless for CPR. Such a design oversight, right?"

~~
"Yeah, guess not." Ellie looked out through the window. "This is a great view, I see why you like it up here."

"man that does seem like a huge problem for a medic android yeah." Matt agreed.

---

"i... " Ivor shook his head. "There are so many corridors, I don't know where I am."

"Just gotta make sure there's a helpful organic nearby, or else it might be best to McGyver something up real fast," James said. "I guess usually androids aren't assigned to hold medical positions by themselves, so CPR's not something the manufacturers design for." He nodded sagely. "At least we have realistic arm hairs though, that's totally more important than saving lives, right?"

Skye chuckled and nodded, looking out again "Yes, it is the best view." She agreed, glad for the topic change.

~~
Jewel chuckled and looked for a camera. "Hey, Vestia, do you know a place we should explore today?"

Ellie smiled. "You know, I bet you could get one of the star dragons to change into an artuvian and fly with you in the city. They can do so many shapes."

~~
Vestia's camera tilted toward Ivor and Jewel. "Guess that depends on if you guys want to go to an area that's been set up or not," she said. "There are some nice, unfinished shopping districts and floors of fancy rooms, and some gardens with nothing planted yet, but if you want something more lived in then Hydroponics or the star dragon floors might be more fun for you."

Matt laughed. "Your designers were artists, not pragmatists."

---

Ivor stared back at the camera, the disembodied voice was pretty standard for him, it was how he heard everything, but still, he tilted his head. "W... why so.. much unfinished?" he asked.

"I hadn't thought of that" Skye said softly. It was an interesting option.

~~~
Jewel thought about the options then shrugged a little "I guess we could see the floors of fancy rooms?" It sounded pretty anyway

"That's a nice, charitable way to put it," James said, laughing. "But yeah, you're right. I should totally learn a musical instrument. Think guitar is too cliche?"

~~
"Totally bring it up with the dragons sometime, I bet they're itching to fly. And they're sooo nice, and they have the cuuutest babies," Ellie told Skye.

~~
"I've been so busy with other things, I never got around to finishing all the floors," Vestia said. "At this point I like leaving them for my crew to do things with anyway." She sounded amused.

Skye chuckled softly then shrugged. "I haven't been by to see them yet, giving them the time to settle in and all."

"Ah, maybe that is a good idea. The babies are just so cute though, and so are the adults! I have a hard time staying away," Ellie smiled at the thought. She loved dragons.

Skye chuckled again. "You like the sparkles. I guess they have had time to settle in. Did you want to go with me?"

"The sparkles, and they're so friendly. And they don't cry or have runny noses!" Ellie liked that, Terran babies tended to be a lot higher maintenance than dragon ones. "Yeah, we should go see them. Even if you don't have telepathy, they're awesome."

"l.. like the ranch?" Ivor asked. He still found that weird. Grass and animals on a space ship was just...really unexpected.

---

Matt grinned. "Guitar would be awesome man, way more portable than a piano and you can sing at ALL the parties."

"Yeah, the ranch is a big project. And of course there's situations like the star dragons to focus on, so I can't really take the time to finish everything," Vestia said. "You guys should totally see the first class rooms, they're lovely."

~~
James snickered. "I'll be the insufferable guitar player, it'll be amazing. I can set out a tip jar and they can give me tips to make me stop for a few minutes. And we can play together, and maybe form a band!" Because why not?

Ivor nodded. "a... alright..." He agreed readily, he wasn't the sort to really argue with anyone.

---

Matt grinned. "heck yeah."

"Think we'd be able to recruit anyone else?" James said. It probably was a little silly to imagine starting a band, but the idea amused him. "Someone to play a drum, or with a really good voice."

"I dunno, maybe we could put up posters." Matt suggested with a grin. "Band seeking drummer, vocalist, anyone with any musical skill" He snickered