Chapter 105
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Altair was then taken for a stroll around The Hub. Sarah talked a lot about The Hub itself but Altair couldn't focus on it. Her attention kept getting pulled to the Holodisplays, She saw some very strange displays showing those giant metal men wielding weapons as big as they were. Altair wasn't impressed by these things as she knew that giants in her world had critical weaknesses and assumed that was the same for the Mecha of the Empire.
She could not be blamed for her ignorance. She had not seen them do anything other than move around and look imposing. She had seen them fly but that wasn't impressive to her because she could fly if she wanted to as well. In fact, she was sure that she had more mobility than them even in the air. How could clunky metal giants possibly hope to keep up with her graceful movements?
Altair's attention was pulled to some loud and raucous cheering nearby. She turned to look at a larger building that had a crowd gathered near the entrance. It had a Holodisplay of two people attacking each other that looped endlessly.
Sarah noticed that the building caught Altair's attention and said, "That reminds me, they were holding the Grand Rankings for the military academy's today." She looked down at Altair and asked, "Do you want to go see?"
'Go and watch a bunch of children fighting each other? That isn't my idea of entertainment.' Altair had trained kids around Joshua's age to defend themselves. She saw it more as work than anything else to watch children fighting with one another. So Altair simply looked away which prompted a small chuckle from Sarah.
"Well, might as well take a look anyway. It's not often you get to see such a spectacle." Sarah then one-sidedly pushed Altair towards the building.
No one stopped them as Altair was pushed into the building. They did get some looks from the people gathered outside but they simply went back to discussing things with themselves.
Inside the building the cheers died down after a short amount of time. Altair was pushed through a doorway and before her an entire layered arena was laid out. They were currently near the top of the stands as rows upon rows of chairs went down before them. There were transparent displays up in the air for the people seated further back to view from. On them display was a replay of a fight that had just ended with two kids that Altair did not recognize.
Sarah pushed Altair up to the railing and looked down around the arena while saying, "There are probably about half a million people gathered here right now. It's a public event with the Empire's funding and advertisement so it's free to come and watch."
Altair looked around the building as that was said. The amount of people clustered here in chairs that were all lined up stunned her. She had never seen such a gathering even in her old world. The largest battle she had ever taken part in only had slightly less than a hundred thousand people. But as far as she could see there were more people here than she could even mentally grasp. The only way she could fully understand how many people were here was to think of it as a horde of Humans.
While Altair was looking around she spotted several familiar faces towards the bottom of the arena. It was Joshua's gang of thugs. At almost the same time that she spotted them, Rictor looked up as if he could somehow sense her gaze. As soon as Rictor looked up and saw her, he nudged Joshua at the side and pointed up towards her, drawing the gazes of the rest of the kids.
Figuring that they would probably bother her somehow if she stayed here, Altair looked up to Sarah and said, "Can we go somewhere else?"
Sarah looked down at Altair with a doting smile and said, "Of course. You probably feel uncomfortable due to how you got injured before here don't you?" She then took on a sorry smile as she continued, "Forgive me for not thinking about that. Let's go find something more fun to do." Altair was then taken out of the arena as if she had never been there.
Sarah had another plan in mind for today as well. She checked the time on her communicator while they were standing outside of the arena and smiled to herself. It was now time to show Altair something she had never seen before that she felt would have a good impact on her opinion of this home away from home.
Sarah then pushed Altair down the street. Along the way, Altair spotted shops that were selling weapons and medical supplies. This felt more familiar to her than most of the city had so far. This resembled a blacksmith shop and an apothecary respectively. The sight of them caused a small smile to appear on her face. The only way she noticed them was because the Holodisplay's they had were simple. The weapon store had weapons floating for the display and the medical store had a familiar medical symbol she had seen a lot in the doctor's office.
Sarah took Altair to see a movie. It wasn't one of the newer VR or AR types of movies that they went to but an old picture movie. Sarah chose this one because she figured the VR type movie's would just disorient Altair, who was a complete novice with the technology, and if she went with the AR one then she was sure that Altair would wind up getting lost in it. She had also picked out a simple romance movie as well.
Sarah had already purchased the tickets before they left the house so they were able to get in without any problems. Donel had to wait outside the screening room as he had no ticket, however.
Altair had never seen this type of thing before. She had seen moving holograms and those transparent screens but had yet to see a story played out on a big screen before. She had never even seen any of the visual entertainment that the Empire had to offer while she was at the mansion. She was too busy spending all of her time studying and didn't even know that such things existed. So this movie came as a shock to her as she soon became thoroughly engrossed in it.
Once the sweet ending came around, Altair felt bittersweet in her own heart. She subconsciously winded up squeezing the new teddy bear she got tighter to herself when she thought of how she had never been able to express her feelings for Maxwell before he died. She was still happy about the movie but saddened by her own experience as well.
After the movie was over, Sarah took Altair to get some food before they had to head home. They went to a restaurant that specialized in treats and secured a good spot next to a window. Upon being seated, the waitress handed them two menus before departing but before she could get away Sarah stopped her by saying, "I already know what we'll be having."
The waitress turned and waited as Sarah said, "We'll have a pizookie with vanilla for both of us." The waitress recorded it, bowed, and left to get the order in.
Altair gave Sarah a strange look before Sarah said, "It's really delicious here. It's better than the chefs at home." She gave her a warm smile before adding, "I'm sure you'll love it, Aria."
Altair did not say anything in response and just looked out the window. A silence hung in the air slightly before Sarah asked, "Did you have fun today?"
"Yes," Altair responded without thinking. She then blinked hard as she realized what she said. She quickly thought about what she had done through the day and could not say that she did not enjoy the trip. Even though the first place she was taken to was somewhere she did not ever want to return to, the rest of the trip made up for it. All of the new sights she had seen were beautiful to her and stuck in her mind. The movie she saw she felt was memorable, enjoyable, and relatable. She could not say that she did not like spending time here today.
Sarah gave out an exaggerated sigh of relief that drew Altair's attention from the window, "That's good. I was hoping to cheer you up since you got so injured at that party before." To Altair, the sigh seemed genuine and, coupled with the words that Sarah had said, caused a wave of warmth to course through her heart. Sarah bowed her head to Altair as she said, "I'm sorry I got you into that mess, Aria. I promise that I won't let anyone take you to another party in the future if you don't want to. I will do better as your mother from now."
Seeing Sarah bow like that as if it was her fault caused Altair's heart to constrict and she felt guilty. It was because she messed up that she had gotten injured and none of it was Sarah's fault and yet Sarah was trying to take the blame for it. Altair quickly shook her said and said, "No, it's my fault for making a mistake." Altair was old enough to take her own mistakes. If she had made such a blunder as she did at the party back on her own world she would have died. That's why it was important for her to learn from her mistake and to make sure it never repeated itself.
But Sarah's next words sent a bolt through her body, "It was my choice to force you to go. Because I am your mother, it is naturally my responsibility to make sure that you are safe until you are an adult. Since you got hurt because of my choice, then it is naturally my fault even if it was by your own actions."
Altair looked down and subconsciously squeezed the bear again as she thought, 'Is this woman serious? Is she truly capable of showing that much love for someone who isn't even part of her own family?' An excessive amount of heat rose to Altair's face as she felt warm inside. 'The Humans of this world… are they really this much better than my own world?'
The pizookie arrived and Altair ate it with relish. It was overly sweet, but considering her mood and the movie she recently saw, it was a perfect dish. Sarah talked with Altair through the meal but the topics were mostly small talk as she spoke about things Altair already knew.
After the meal, Altair was taken back to the cruiser. As the afternoon was turning to evening it was time for her to be back in bed since it wasn't healthy for her to stay out while injured. Or so that was Sarah's claim now, which would have made Altair wonder why they were out here in the first place but her mind was on other things.
As the cruiser took up to the sky, Altair was staring down at The Hub. She still found it to be a beautiful sight from the air. She also had another thought, 'This world isn't so bad. I really want the other Demi-human's to see places like this.'
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Altair was then taken for a stroll around The Hub. Sarah talked a lot about The Hub itself but Altair couldn't focus on it. Her attention kept getting pulled to the Holodisplays, She saw some very strange displays showing those giant metal men wielding weapons as big as they were. Altair wasn't impressed by these things as she knew that giants in her world had critical weaknesses and assumed that was the same for the Mecha of the Empire.
She could not be blamed for her ignorance. She had not seen them do anything other than move around and look imposing. She had seen them fly but that wasn't impressive to her because she could fly if she wanted to as well. In fact, she was sure that she had more mobility than them even in the air. How could clunky metal giants possibly hope to keep up with her graceful movements?
Altair's attention was pulled to some loud and raucous cheering nearby. She turned to look at a larger building that had a crowd gathered near the entrance. It had a Holodisplay of two people attacking each other that looped endlessly.
Sarah noticed that the building caught Altair's attention and said, "That reminds me, they were holding the Grand Rankings for the military academy's today." She looked down at Altair and asked, "Do you want to go see?"
'Go and watch a bunch of children fighting each other? That isn't my idea of entertainment.' Altair had trained kids around Joshua's age to defend themselves. She saw it more as work than anything else to watch children fighting with one another. So Altair simply looked away which prompted a small chuckle from Sarah.
"Well, might as well take a look anyway. It's not often you get to see such a spectacle." Sarah then one-sidedly pushed Altair towards the building.
No one stopped them as Altair was pushed into the building. They did get some looks from the people gathered outside but they simply went back to discussing things with themselves.
Inside the building the cheers died down after a short amount of time. Altair was pushed through a doorway and before her an entire layered arena was laid out. They were currently near the top of the stands as rows upon rows of chairs went down before them. There were transparent displays up in the air for the people seated further back to view from. On them display was a replay of a fight that had just ended with two kids that Altair did not recognize.
Sarah pushed Altair up to the railing and looked down around the arena while saying, "There are probably about half a million people gathered here right now. It's a public event with the Empire's funding and advertisement so it's free to come and watch."
Altair looked around the building as that was said. The amount of people clustered here in chairs that were all lined up stunned her. She had never seen such a gathering even in her old world. The largest battle she had ever taken part in only had slightly less than a hundred thousand people. But as far as she could see there were more people here than she could even mentally grasp. The only way she could fully understand how many people were here was to think of it as a horde of Humans.
While Altair was looking around she spotted several familiar faces towards the bottom of the arena. It was Joshua's gang of thugs. At almost the same time that she spotted them, Rictor looked up as if he could somehow sense her gaze. As soon as Rictor looked up and saw her, he nudged Joshua at the side and pointed up towards her, drawing the gazes of the rest of the kids.
Figuring that they would probably bother her somehow if she stayed here, Altair looked up to Sarah and said, "Can we go somewhere else?"
Sarah looked down at Altair with a doting smile and said, "Of course. You probably feel uncomfortable due to how you got injured before here don't you?" She then took on a sorry smile as she continued, "Forgive me for not thinking about that. Let's go find something more fun to do." Altair was then taken out of the arena as if she had never been there.
Sarah had another plan in mind for today as well. She checked the time on her communicator while they were standing outside of the arena and smiled to herself. It was now time to show Altair something she had never seen before that she felt would have a good impact on her opinion of this home away from home.
Sarah then pushed Altair down the street. Along the way, Altair spotted shops that were selling weapons and medical supplies. This felt more familiar to her than most of the city had so far. This resembled a blacksmith shop and an apothecary respectively. The sight of them caused a small smile to appear on her face. The only way she noticed them was because the Holodisplay's they had were simple. The weapon store had weapons floating for the display and the medical store had a familiar medical symbol she had seen a lot in the doctor's office.
Sarah took Altair to see a movie. It wasn't one of the newer VR or AR types of movies that they went to but an old picture movie. Sarah chose this one because she figured the VR type movie's would just disorient Altair, who was a complete novice with the technology, and if she went with the AR one then she was sure that Altair would wind up getting lost in it. She had also picked out a simple romance movie as well.
Sarah had already purchased the tickets before they left the house so they were able to get in without any problems. Donel had to wait outside the screening room as he had no ticket, however.
Altair had never seen this type of thing before. She had seen moving holograms and those transparent screens but had yet to see a story played out on a big screen before. She had never even seen any of the visual entertainment that the Empire had to offer while she was at the mansion. She was too busy spending all of her time studying and didn't even know that such things existed. So this movie came as a shock to her as she soon became thoroughly engrossed in it.
Once the sweet ending came around, Altair felt bittersweet in her own heart. She subconsciously winded up squeezing the new teddy bear she got tighter to herself when she thought of how she had never been able to express her feelings for Maxwell before he died. She was still happy about the movie but saddened by her own experience as well.
After the movie was over, Sarah took Altair to get some food before they had to head home. They went to a restaurant that specialized in treats and secured a good spot next to a window. Upon being seated, the waitress handed them two menus before departing but before she could get away Sarah stopped her by saying, "I already know what we'll be having."
The waitress turned and waited as Sarah said, "We'll have a pizookie with vanilla for both of us." The waitress recorded it, bowed, and left to get the order in.
Altair gave Sarah a strange look before Sarah said, "It's really delicious here. It's better than the chefs at home." She gave her a warm smile before adding, "I'm sure you'll love it, Aria."
Altair did not say anything in response and just looked out the window. A silence hung in the air slightly before Sarah asked, "Did you have fun today?"
"Yes," Altair responded without thinking. She then blinked hard as she realized what she said. She quickly thought about what she had done through the day and could not say that she did not enjoy the trip. Even though the first place she was taken to was somewhere she did not ever want to return to, the rest of the trip made up for it. All of the new sights she had seen were beautiful to her and stuck in her mind. The movie she saw she felt was memorable, enjoyable, and relatable. She could not say that she did not like spending time here today.
Sarah gave out an exaggerated sigh of relief that drew Altair's attention from the window, "That's good. I was hoping to cheer you up since you got so injured at that party before." To Altair, the sigh seemed genuine and, coupled with the words that Sarah had said, caused a wave of warmth to course through her heart. Sarah bowed her head to Altair as she said, "I'm sorry I got you into that mess, Aria. I promise that I won't let anyone take you to another party in the future if you don't want to. I will do better as your mother from now."
Seeing Sarah bow like that as if it was her fault caused Altair's heart to constrict and she felt guilty. It was because she messed up that she had gotten injured and none of it was Sarah's fault and yet Sarah was trying to take the blame for it. Altair quickly shook her said and said, "No, it's my fault for making a mistake." Altair was old enough to take her own mistakes. If she had made such a blunder as she did at the party back on her own world she would have died. That's why it was important for her to learn from her mistake and to make sure it never repeated itself.
But Sarah's next words sent a bolt through her body, "It was my choice to force you to go. Because I am your mother, it is naturally my responsibility to make sure that you are safe until you are an adult. Since you got hurt because of my choice, then it is naturally my fault even if it was by your own actions."
Altair looked down and subconsciously squeezed the bear again as she thought, 'Is this woman serious? Is she truly capable of showing that much love for someone who isn't even part of her own family?' An excessive amount of heat rose to Altair's face as she felt warm inside. 'The Humans of this world… are they really this much better than my own world?'
The pizookie arrived and Altair ate it with relish. It was overly sweet, but considering her mood and the movie she recently saw, it was a perfect dish. Sarah talked with Altair through the meal but the topics were mostly small talk as she spoke about things Altair already knew.
After the meal, Altair was taken back to the cruiser. As the afternoon was turning to evening it was time for her to be back in bed since it wasn't healthy for her to stay out while injured. Or so that was Sarah's claim now, which would have made Altair wonder why they were out here in the first place but her mind was on other things.
As the cruiser took up to the sky, Altair was staring down at The Hub. She still found it to be a beautiful sight from the air. She also had another thought, 'This world isn't so bad. I really want the other Demi-human's to see places like this.'
Altair was then taken for a stroll around The Hub. Sarah talked a lot about The Hub itself but Altair couldn't focus on it. Her attention kept getting pulled to the Holodisplays, She saw some very strange displays showing those giant metal men wielding weapons as big as they were. Altair wasn't impressed by these things as she knew that giants in her world had critical weaknesses and assumed that was the same for the Mecha of the Empire.She could not be blamed for her ignorance. She had not seen them do anything other than move around and look imposing. She had seen them fly but that wasn't impressive to her because she could fly if she wanted to as well. In fact, she was sure that she had more mobility than them even in the air. How could clunky metal giants possibly hope to keep up with her graceful movements?Altair's attention was pulled to some loud and raucous cheering nearby. She turned to look at a larger building that had a crowd gathered near the entrance. It had a Holodisplay of two people attacking each other that looped endlessly.Sarah noticed that the building caught Altair's attention and said, "That reminds me, they were holding the Grand Rankings for the military academy's today." She looked down at Altair and asked, "Do you want to go see?"'Go and watch a bunch of children fighting each other? That isn't my idea of entertainment.' Altair had trained kids around Joshua's age to defend themselves. She saw it more as work than anything else to watch children fighting with one another. So Altair simply looked away which prompted a small chuckle from Sarah."Well, might as well take a look anyway. It's not often you get to see such a spectacle." Sarah then one-sidedly pushed Altair towards the building.No one stopped them as Altair was pushed into the building. They did get some looks from the people gathered outside but they simply went back to discussing things with themselves.Inside the building the cheers died down after a short amount of time. Altair was pushed through a doorway and before her an entire layered arena was laid out. They were currently near the top of the stands as rows upon rows of chairs went down before them. There were transparent displays up in the air for the people seated further back to view from. On them display was a replay of a fight that had just ended with two kids that Altair did not recognize.Sarah pushed Altair up to the railing and looked down around the arena while saying, "There are probably about half a million people gathered here right now. It's a public event with the Empire's funding and advertisement so it's free to come and watch."Altair looked around the building as that was said. The amount of people clustered here in chairs that were all lined up stunned her. She had never seen such a gathering even in her old world. The largest battle she had ever taken part in only had slightly less than a hundred thousand people. But as far as she could see there were more people here than she could even mentally grasp. The only way she could fully understand how many people were here was to think of it as a horde of Humans.While Altair was looking around she spotted several familiar faces towards the bottom of the arena. It was Joshua's gang of thugs. At almost the same time that she spotted them, Rictor looked up as if he could somehow sense her gaze. As soon as Rictor looked up and saw her, he nudged Joshua at the side and pointed up towards her, drawing the gazes of the rest of the kids.Figuring that they would probably bother her somehow if she stayed here, Altair looked up to Sarah and said, "Can we go somewhere else?"Sarah looked down at Altair with a doting smile and said, "Of course. You probably feel uncomfortable due to how you got injured before here don't you?" She then took on a sorry smile as she continued, "Forgive me for not thinking about that. Let's go find something more fun to do." Altair was then taken out of the arena as if she had never been there.Sarah had another plan in mind for today as well. She checked the time on her communicator while they were standing outside of the arena and smiled to herself. It was now time to show Altair something she had never seen before that she felt would have a good impact on her opinion of this home away from home.Sarah then pushed Altair down the street. Along the way, Altair spotted shops that were selling weapons and medical supplies. This felt more familiar to her than most of the city had so far. This resembled a blacksmith shop and an apothecary respectively. The sight of them caused a small smile to appear on her face. The only way she noticed them was because the Holodisplay's they had were simple. The weapon store had weapons floating for the display and the medical store had a familiar medical symbol she had seen a lot in the doctor's office.Sarah took Altair to see a movie. It wasn't one of the newer VR or AR types of movies that they went to but an old picture movie. Sarah chose this one because she figured the VR type movie's would just disorient Altair, who was a complete novice with the technology, and if she went with the AR one then she was sure that Altair would wind up getting lost in it. She had also picked out a simple romance movie as well.Sarah had already purchased the tickets before they left the house so they were able to get in without any problems. Donel had to wait outside the screening room as he had no ticket, however.Altair had never seen this type of thing before. She had seen moving holograms and those transparent screens but had yet to see a story played out on a big screen before. She had never even seen any of the visual entertainment that the Empire had to offer while she was at the mansion. She was too busy spending all of her time studying and didn't even know that such things existed. So this movie came as a shock to her as she soon became thoroughly engrossed in it.Once the sweet ending came around, Altair felt bittersweet in her own heart. She subconsciously winded up squeezing the new teddy bear she got tighter to herself when she thought of how she had never been able to express her feelings for Maxwell before he died. She was still happy about the movie but saddened by her own experience as well.After the movie was over, Sarah took Altair to get some food before they had to head home. They went to a restaurant that specialized in treats and secured a good spot next to a window. Upon being seated, the waitress handed them two menus before departing but before she could get away Sarah stopped her by saying, "I already know what we'll be having."The waitress turned and waited as Sarah said, "We'll have a pizookie with vanilla for both of us." The waitress recorded it, bowed, and left to get the order in.Altair gave Sarah a strange look before Sarah said, "It's really delicious here. It's better than the chefs at home." She gave her a warm smile before adding, "I'm sure you'll love it, Aria."Altair did not say anything in response and just looked out the window. A silence hung in the air slightly before Sarah asked, "Did you have fun today?""Yes," Altair responded without thinking. She then blinked hard as she realized what she said. She quickly thought about what she had done through the day and could not say that she did not enjoy the trip. Even though the first place she was taken to was somewhere she did not ever want to return to, the rest of the trip made up for it. All of the new sights she had seen were beautiful to her and stuck in her mind. The movie she saw she felt was memorable, enjoyable, and relatable. She could not say that she did not like spending time here today.Sarah gave out an exaggerated sigh of relief that drew Altair's attention from the window, "That's good. I was hoping to cheer you up since you got so injured at that party before." To Altair, the sigh seemed genuine and, coupled with the words that Sarah had said, caused a wave of warmth to course through her heart. Sarah bowed her head to Altair as she said, "I'm sorry I got you into that mess, Aria. I promise that I won't let anyone take you to another party in the future if you don't want to. I will do better as your mother from now."Seeing Sarah bow like that as if it was her fault caused Altair's heart to constrict and she felt guilty. It was because she messed up that she had gotten injured and none of it was Sarah's fault and yet Sarah was trying to take the blame for it. Altair quickly shook her said and said, "No, it's my fault for making a mistake." Altair was old enough to take her own mistakes. If she had made such a blunder as she did at the party back on her own world she would have died. That's why it was important for her to learn from her mistake and to make sure it never repeated itself.But Sarah's next words sent a bolt through her body, "It was my choice to force you to go. Because I am your mother, it is naturally my responsibility to make sure that you are safe until you are an adult. Since you got hurt because of my choice, then it is naturally my fault even if it was by your own actions."Altair looked down and subconsciously squeezed the bear again as she thought, 'Is this woman serious? Is she truly capable of showing that much love for someone who isn't even part of her own family?' An excessive amount of heat rose to Altair's face as she felt warm inside. 'The Humans of this world are they really this much better than my own world?'The pizookie arrived and Altair ate it with relish. It was overly sweet, but considering her mood and the movie she recently saw, it was a perfect dish. Sarah talked with Altair through the meal but the topics were mostly small talk as she spoke about things Altair already knew.After the meal, Altair was taken back to the cruiser. As the afternoon was turning to evening it was time for her to be back in bed since it wasn't healthy for her to stay out while injured. Or so that was Sarah's claim now, which would have made Altair wonder why they were out here in the first place but her mind was on other things.As the cruiser took up to the sky, Altair was staring down at The Hub. She still found it to be a beautiful sight from the air. She also had another thought, 'This world isn't so bad. I really want the other Demi-human's to see places like this.'
