Ira considers them. He obviously leans slightly towards the less expensive ones, but-

But a better-rated school would be better for Ant. (And he can't deny that being further away from other people would be nice.)

"Would need to ask if Ant's okay moving schools," he settles on eventually.

    "That makes sense."

    "Are there any that you want to rule out? Or anything else you'd like me to check, about these?"

"You've been pretty thorough," Ira admits, but does rule out the apartments that would involve Ant changing schools.

"All right."

They can ask the others in the morning. For now, Deskyl and DZ go outside to practice with the language.

Ira settles into the chair, kicking his feet up on the end of the bed that Shin and Ant are sleeping in.

He watches them quietly, but is still keeping an ear out for Deskyl and DZ coming back in.

They're out surprisingly briefly, perhaps fifteen minutes, and yet Deskyl is clearly exhausted when they return and goes straight to bed.

-Well. If what DZ's said about how Deskyl was hurt is true, and given everything else, he doesn't really blame her for being exhausted.

With her back in bed, he lets himself drift off.

The rest of the night is quiet. Deskyl is still asleep when the others wake up, and DZ is as usual working on a translation project.

It's a weekend, so Ant rolls over and goes back to sleep.

Ira leaves, but is back barely an hour later, grumbling quietly.

"Is everything all right?"

"If I had to guess," Shin says, "I'd guess that Ernie threw him out - uh, his boss."

"Basically," Ira agrees. "I don't even know what his problem is, it's not like-"

"Were you even supposed to be working today?"

Ira's silence is probably telling.

"Deskyl wants to spar with you, if you need something to do."

Ira's quiet for a moment. "Well, got nothing better to do. We can use one of the warehouses we cleared last night, I doubt they'll have new tenants yet."

"Will I be able to join you?" she asks, as she moves to wake the Sith.

"...Can you wear clothes?"

"Yes, if they're not too warm."

Ira pulls out a lightweight hoody and lightweight trousers. "Keep the hood up and no-one will look twice."

"Thank you."

Deskyl stirs and, after a brief exchange, helps the robot dress herself, and then they can go.

"She wants to know if you'd be interested in a plasma dagger, like her sword," DZ conveys, after a few minutes' walk.

"-That. Would likely be useful," he agrees carefully, obviously still wary of intentions and prices.

    "She thinks so, yes. It'll take a little while; you'll need to grow the focusing crystal, and she might need to make a custom battery for it. But it'll suit your strengths better than what you're using now, she says."

He snorts. "Yeah. Stakes are kinda traditional, and I'm a bit leery of trying to source a broadsword."

    "You would benefit from something with more reach."