If Jove Stray

Chapter 24: cool place, brah

"Alcott!"

Tyson and Alcott turned to their right to see Lully waving as he approached. Dylan was with him

"Good morning!" he said. "Here for a little printing?"

"I need to get Tyson sized," Alcott said. "My madre is insistent that he needs a new pair of shoes."

"Oh I know," Lully laughed. "She's messaged me twice."

"I'll head back to work," Dylan said. "And Lully I'm not mad at you, but I do think these rules are rotated. I'm going to get them changed."

"Please do," he replied. "I'm sorry, Dylan."

Dylan smiled at Alcott and then walked out of the printers. Lully sighed.

"There are odd rules about printing holos that I didn't know about," he explained. "Anyway. Come on."

They followed him through the working printers to a set of smaller ones.

"Lully, are you taking my job again?" Emerson called, walking swiftly towards them.

"You looked busy," Lully complained. "And I'm done with the queuing. The eye of the storm is boring; all my work was done yesterday."

"Go away," Emerson laughed, pushing Lully back into the main section. "Vertov is going to think I just have you do all my work for me."

"Whatever you moonshy man," Lully called.

"Rotated child," Emerson called.

"Your head is full of moonbeams and corn husks," Lully replied.

"Better than numbers," Emerson countered. "I hear your madre's going recruit you any day now!"

Lully grimaced and then made a face at Emerson before disappearing.

"They are friends," Alcott noted to Tyson. "Despite appearances."

"We'd be better friends if he wouldn't be constantly looking over my shoulder," Emerson complained. "I know that Lully wants me to do well, but I want to show Vertov that I can handle this responsibility. I don't want him to catch Lully and I chatting on the floor and for him to assume that we are goofing off."

"Have you told Lully that?" Tyson asked, his training getting the better of him again.

"No," Emerson sighed. "I should, of course. I don't want Lully to think that I believe he's slacking off. He gets his work done faster is all."

"You could tell him that too," Tyson pointed out."

"Oui, I should," Emerson sighed. "Anyway, I'm sure you didn't come here to hear about printing gossip."

"We just need mark down Tyson's sizes," Alcott said. "We're fine for shirts and pants, but my madre wants his shoe size."

"Well, take your shoes off, Tyson and we'll get you measured," Emerson said. "And seriously? You don't need anything else?"

"I have a fully furnished berth, what on earth could I need?" she countered as Tyson unlaced his shoes and stepped onto the small platform.

"Baby clothes?" Emerson hinted. "Bottles, diapers, any of this ringing a bell."

Alcott groaned and put her free hand on her stomach. "I have nearly three cycles. I don't want that stuff just cluttering up my home."

"You haven't even started a registry," Emerson said. "People have been asking, Alcott. I'm just passing along the information."

"Fine," she conceded. "I can start a registry if it would make you happy."

He grinned and tapped on his holo-rib. The platform under Tyson's feet glowed for a moment and then faded with a chime. Emerson tapped again on his holo-rib.

"All right, let's get you set up at a desk," he said. "You're done, Tyson. You can put your shoes back on."

"That's pretty cool," Tyson said. "This took my measurements just like that?"

"Cool?" Emerson questioned. "Oh, is that a thing from Earth? What does it mean?"

"Um," Tyson stammered. "Like, 'wow,' or 'neat', 'sweet', 'awesome'... none of these are used anymore, are they?" When both of them shook their heads, he frowned. "Like maybe that it's interesting or remarkable? But both of those words are, you know, kind of stuffy. Cool is not stuffy."

"I'm not sure what you're talking about anymore," Emerson remarked. "Sizing platform is cool, what would not be cool?"

"Working through your lunch break? Or building something only to realize it's the wrong one?" Tyson offered. "I'm not a linguist."

"This would be a question for Levi," Alcott remarked. "I'd bet he'd know."

Emerson guided the two of them to a large screen and tapped a few buttons before gesturing to Alcott.

"Go right ahead," he said. "Save it when you're done, and I'll let the others know you've finally started this."

"No one was stopping you from doing it for me," she countered.

"Oh gross no," he laughed and walked away.

"Any reason you haven't started this registry thing?" Tyson asked, as Alcott scrolled through various items, tapping a few with grumbles and mutterings.

"I didn't want people to feel like they had to help because Marcus is gone," she said. "I have the credits, I can do this on my own."

"But you don't have to when you have friends," he pointed out.

"I know," she sighed.

"Is this why we hadn't come to the printers earlier?" he pressed.

"Maybe," she allowed. "I don't like getting bullied into things. But I can put things that I will definitely need and get the rest on my own. Then I guess people will feel like they helped."

"Why don't you want them to help?"

She shrugged, tapping a few more items and then scrolling farther.

"Alcott, who am I going to tell?" he scoffed. "This seems like this is upsetting you unnecessarily, and you can tell me."

"Because people just left me to my own devices after Landing Day," she said finally. "And now that I'm clearly pregnant people are starting to...I don't know, feel bad. I don't want to be used to assuage their guilt."

"It doesn't sound like from what you've told me anyone knew what to do," Tyson commented. "I don't know if you can hold it against them for being lost after such a tragedy. They want to help now because they know they should have earlier, but no one can change the past. You talk a big game about me forgiving my parents. I'm not even sure who you're mad at, but don't they deserve the same forgiveness?"

Alcott wrinkled her nose. "I don't like my own arguments making appearances against me," she told him. "But fair enough."

She saved her work and hopped up from the stool.

"Speaking of forgiveness, we should head toward your papa and our lunch," she said with smile. "We'll see who the hypocrite is now."

"Not cool," Tyson groaned.

___
Okay, I don't hate Tyson after this scene. He's funny, a little. Not my personal favorite. Who's yours?