Disclaimer: Trigun is sadly enough not mine, or there would have been way more episodes!
Chapter 53: Knives' POV
By the time he could hear the others getting up and about, he had already been awake for several hours working on a couple of rough sketch ideas for a blue print of the living arrangements. They had not spoken of it the previous night, so he did not know what each person desired, however, he knew what he liked so that is what he had planned for along with what he had noticed of each of the others. The basic design he used was a two story, all sleeping areas on the second floor layout. Past that, he tried to make the different designs different. Though each have some common elements, including at least six bedrooms, a kitchen, living area, dining area, at least one bathing room down stairs and two up, and a library area. Some of the designs are for one building, some are for several connected by halls.
Stripping out of his sleeping clothes, he climbs into the shower in order to get himself ready for the day. He has a feeling it will be a long day.
When he finally joins the other three downstairs in the eating area, he is surprised to see a glass of orange juice with a plate of food sitting in the spot next to blue-eyes. Even more surprising is the smile she gives him before returning to eating her breakfast. Startled, he sits down as he greets the three of them.
"Morning," Vash mutters around his sausage he is chewing on.
Almost as soon as he swallows it, temper smacks him in the back of the head grumbling, "Don't speak with your mouth full."
Blue-eyes merely chuckles at this, and he cannot help but smile at the familiar scene. It was one he had seen plenty of morning since joining them.
"Sleep well?" he eventually inquires, glancing over at blue-eyes as she finishes her second cup of hot tea.
She nods, replying, "I did, pleasant dream included, did you?"
He shrugs, not answering because he had not slept. His mind had been too focused on the situation at hand, both the immediate one of housing, the near future one the Seeds village, and the emotional one in the form of the blue-eyed not-quite-a-human sitting next to him for him to sleep.
Everything alright? Vash inquires through their link.
He mentally shrugs, replying, I couldn't sleep because I was 'over thinking' as your temper would call it.
A mental nod is his response. His brother fully understands what thinking too much can do to a person's sleeping patterns.
When the waitress clears away the remains of breakfast dishes, he pulls the small digital architectural designer out of one of his hidden pockets. Setting it on the table, he activates it, allowing the small three-dimensional image to appear above it. In order to avoid problems, he focuses his telepathy on those in the room, making them think that they are looking at nothing but papers rather than a piece of lost technology. After keeping such a tight control on his gift, using it in such a manner is almost relaxing.
"Since I could not sleep, I decided to design a couple of different possibilities for how the compound can be laid out." He tells them as he has it fan out the five top options he had worked on.
Over the next hour he explains the reasoning for each layout, taking mental notes on their reactions to each of them. The third seems to be the favorite one in the bunch, which is slight amusing since it is actually a series of smaller houses all connected to one larger one by tunnels underground. It gives everyone their privacy, while still leaving room for growth. The other one that seems to be well liked is the fifth one, which is one main house with several out buildings. In both he had left a corner of the property open for the lizaeri and memousi to work with as they want.
Once he is done telling them about them he watches and listens as the girls start to discuss it.
"I like the fifth one," blue-eyes comments as she stares at the projections.
Temper smiles at her, directing her attention to the third, "That one might work better though since it gives each of us space, plus growing room. The main building works like a town hall or school with the library and such set up the way it is."
"True," she murmurs, looking at it.
I think we should let them decide, I really don't care what it is like as long as we're all nearby like a family. Vash comments to him as the girls discuss the difference in the two options they like best. Besides, I cannot see you presenting anything that you would not be able to live with.
Mentally smirking, he responds, That is very true. I had thought they would go with the first option which is one big sprawling house, spiders seem to like that sort of thing, yet here these two are debating the ones that are not one big sprawling house.
"The fifth one reminds me of the house I grew up in," blue-eyes eventually remarks, "but your right, the third set up might be best. Only…" she trails off into silence.
"What is it Milly?" temper softly inquires.
"Are the houses going to be connected to the aqueducts? I would be worried that the little ones could get in there and get hurt." She finally answers after thinking about it for a bit.
He quietly replies, "No, these tunnels are above where the memousi build by thirty feet or so, the chances of them getting to it would be very slim, almost non-existent. The memousi entrance tunnels would be connected to the main building only, and kept locked so no little ones can get through, they would have a public access in the lizaeri area for those who wish to go back and forth, but as you can see that area has its own wall to keep people out unless the lizaeri want them there." His voice is pitched to be reassuring, something he is not that good at since he is used to commanding and receiving instance obedience.
She nods, again smiling at him in a way that has attention spiking.
"Then the third it is," she states, a pleasant smile on her face as she focuses back on the choices. "How do we tell lizaeri? And who picks the colors of the houses on the inside?"
"The walls will be whitewashed, that way they can be painted as the person living in them desires, the main building will be done with woods for the inside walls and flooring, except the lab area, that will be stone. The outer walls of all the buildings will be stone. They will actually use the bedrock to make the brick walls. All the buildings will have complete plumbing with hot and cold water, a main boiler building is set up underground to be maintained by the memousi. I can already tell you that the lizaeri will expect to help maintain things, because that's the way they are, they get bored easily if they do not have something to do, unfortunately I have had nothing new for them for a while." He pauses, shrugging, "Hassaar had commented the last time I was there that the population is almost double what is needed, so they will probably put a small community within their walled area. Most of them are scientists of the natural varieties, so do not be surprised when they start growing things and making the area like their bio-dome. Any food is almost guaranteed to be fresh, because they dislike using our sisters to replicate foods."
For a few minutes the four are silent then temper inquires, "If the lizaeri will maintain things, what does that leave us doing?"
He shrugs, "Pretty much anything that does not destroy their work, you can learn how to garden, write, learn the use of the computers, any other host of things you may want. I figured blue-eyes would probably rather tend her own children then have a sitter all the time, and you tend to stick close with her so that gives you a year or so of not working for someone else. Even after then, it really is up to you as to what you wish to do. By the time they have everything set up, cooking and light house cleaning will be the only thing you'll really need to do, and that's just because I do not know if they plan on sending anyone from either of those areas. I tend not to argue with the liaeri when they make up their mind to do something since it is normally to my advantage." Again he shrugs, "I did design them to help me maintain the ship, in comparison, this is simple."
"For company too," temper comments her eyes slightly unfocused as she reviews the memory in her head.
He nods once, "Indeed. Since we have decided shall I send the notes to Hassaar so they can begin planning? There will be no furniture in the sleeping houses at this point, they will leave the selection of that up to the person living in them, the only thing that they will have is a refrigerator and stove past the plumbing."
Blue-eyes glances at his brother inquiring, "What about you, Mr. Vash? Do you have a preference?"
Vash shakes his head, responding, "Nope, as long as we're all nearby together, I'm happy."
Temper slips her seat a little closer to him, giving him a hug as she smiles at him.
"Oh," blue-eyes mutters, then smiling again she nods saying, "Alright then, report to Hassaar we've made a choice."
He nods, clicking the projector off and getting to his feet. Once the projector is again in his pocket he releases the telepathic field he had around them before heading up to his room where he has his communicator. Slipping into the room, he rests his back against the door for a minute once it is closed, his mind going back over that smile that made his body react in an odd way. What was with him lately? He thought as he considers what it means, since when did just being smiled at cause a reaction? Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, he gets to work contacting Hassaar to tell them about the plans, along with to direct them to expect another message in regards to a possible third aqueduct within the next forty-eight hours.