Chapter Text
mid quiet, year 2 post landing
It’s been over a year since the Stratospheric made planetfall, and Elucidate still isn’t totally used to, well, a lot of things, but what’s presently on her mind is the passing of seasons. Quiet has brought with it a layer of fizzing snow to blanket the colony, along with a fresh sense of danger in the wake of last season’s attack. Luci had never felt one hundred percent safe beyond the confines of the spaceship, but there’s a lethal distinction between ‘be careful around unknown xenofauna’ and ‘the xenofauna have crept inside the walls and are actively trying to kill people’.
Still, for all the new assignments involving reinforcing the walls, assigning sentries, and self-defence drills, the mundane tasks aren’t going anywhere. That’s why Luci rose with the dawn to shovel sparksnow clear of all the various entrances, pathways, and places-you’d-preferably-not-have-lightly-corrosive-snowdrifts-piling-against.
Why is there always so much weather? It’s relentless, and just as soon as Luci thinks she’s adapting to whatever the heck has decided to pour out of the sky, the planet decides it’s bored of that and swaps out for something else entirely. She supposes that at the very least, she’s not allergic to the snow. Pollen is suffering.
Shovelling isn’t a full day task. After getting things about as clear as possible, Luci takes an early lunch, managing to catch Kom on his break from the garrison and enjoy a nice chat. Always gives her a little more pep for the rest of the day. And Kom likes hanging out with her too, she assumes.
Uncle Tonin is waiting for her as Luci strides up to the main gate of the colony, and he treats her to one of his endless supply of warm smiles. “Afternoon, Elsie! Glad you could make it.”
Only Uncle Tonin gets to call her that. Anyone else who tries gets an icy correction (though still less frigid than the absolute zero in store for the poor sap who dares to attempt an ‘Ellie’).
“Hello, uncle,” Luci answers quietly.
Beckoning her to follow, Uncle Tonin leads her about five steps beyond the gate to a small pavillion, home to the expeditions rover when it’s not in use. So almost never. Luci listens attentively while Tonin explains her responsibilities, which mostly boil down to documenting anything she spots in the vicinity in between organising gear. She’s a little surprised that there’s so much of the latter to do, but she supposes that it’s hard to concentrate on plascutters and rebreathers when there’s an entire planet to explore.
Just when Luci thinks Uncle Tonin is finished, he moves a step closer, lowering his voice a little. “Now, Elsie, this is a very important job, okay? You need to pay attention to what’s around you at all times, and not just out there.” Tonin points into the thick forest, then loops his hand back towards the colony. “Some of the older children are getting adventurous. If anyone younger than you wanders over here, I’m counting on you to turn them back around.”
“I will, Uncle Tonin,” Luci replies, standing ramrod straight. “I won’t let you down.” He’s trusting her, and that’s important.
Tonin chuckles. “I know you won’t, Elsie. Goodness, but you take after your mother.” He falters, face clouding with the familiar guilt all the grown-ups seem to wear whenever they accidentally bring up the mom she’s never met. As always, Luci doesn’t know what to say, how to react, what to feel.
(Eventually, she will build enough nerve to ask, and she will regret that it took her so long).
Tonin clears his throat, shaking off the awkwardness of the moment. He pats Luci on the shoulder, and smiles again. “Well, anyway, once you’ve shown you can handle this, we’ll see about getting you onto Expeditions officially come Dust, mm?”
“Yes Uncle Tonin!” Luci really, really wants to see more of Vertumna. She’ll be sixteen in Pollen. She’s old enough, and she’ll stand around organising things every day if it means eventually getting to be out there helping Tonin and Utopia and everyone else.
Tonin nods genially and leaves her to it.
The sorting isn’t difficult. Luci’s tail is an extra hand and she’s got a head for putting things in order, soon finding a rhythm that works for her and a position that allows her to keep a lookout both inward and outward. It’s not all that interesting, but it beats shovelling snow, and there’s no small satisfaction when she gets to note on her holopalm that a curious hopeye decided to watch her for a while.
It’s approaching three hours on the job when Luci catches motion in the very corner of her eye. She turns her head just in time to see something dark dart toward the wall, and then vanish.
It couldn’t have rounded a corner, and the trajectory was completely straight; no taking flight, nor burrowing.
Did it enter the wall?
Luci hesitates. Leaving her post would be bad, but surely ignoring the possibility of something creeping inside the colony would be even worse.
Making up her mind, Luci bolts inside the gates and dashes towards the area of her sighting.
Where there’s a small, dark-haired boy brushing himself off, tightly clutching a bundle of roots in his free hand. He’s wearing a very rare smile, which is almost startling enough to override Luci’s suspicion. Almost. She knows what she saw.
“Dys!” she calls. “What are you doing over there?”
His eyes widen and he shoves the roots into his pocket as Luci jogs up to him. “Nothing,” he mutters, not making eye contact.
Luci folds her arms. “Were you just outside?”
Dys frowns, shaking his head reproachfully.
“Found you!” A blue-and-gold blur zips past Luci and slaps Dys on the arm. “Tag!” chirps Diffident, grinning from ear to ear.
Going very red, Dys scuffs the dirt with his shoes. “Uh, yeah… you got me…” he mumbles.
Diff turns to Luci like xe’s only now seeing her. “Oh, hey Luci! Me and Dys were just playing! What’s up?”
Luci narrows her eyes. Diff’s grin only gets wider, which Luci does not enjoy. “If you two were playing, then where did you get that plant, Dys? I’ve never seen anything like it inside the colony.” She puts a little extra emphasis on ‘inside’, because she has seen Utopia going through a box of those roots. Retrieved by surveyors. From beyond the colony’s walls.
Dys seems to shrivel, staring at the ground, which tells Luci everything she needs to know. One problem: Luci’s not sure what she’s supposed to do. Uncle Tonin’s instructions only covered stopping the younger kids from leaving, not catching them on the way back.
Okay, well, he’s broken the rules. She’ll start with that.
She opens her mouth—
“I gave it to him!” Diff pipes up.
“What?” Luci’s intended lecture jettisons itself from her ear. Dys’s head snaps to Diffident.
Xe’s bright eyed and guileless. “I found it growing near the greenhouses and I pulled it up cause it’s not supposed to be there, and I thought I’d give it to Dys cause he likes this kind of thing, and then after I got done with that I asked if he wanted to play for a bit before life science since Professor Hal—” Xe continues in this vein for a distressingly long time before finally taking a breath, then rushing to conclude. “And that’s how he got it and why he’s over here, right Dys?”
Dys, lips pressed together tightly, nods.
Luci’s about 90% sure xe’s lying and about 100% sure the pair are collectively up to something, but she’s been too far from the gate for too long. “Alright, fine. Get back to class.”
“Okay! Bye Luci! Come on, Dys!” Diffident zooms away before Luci can even respond. Dys stumbles after her, shooting a very careful look back at Luci that she can’t begin to read.
Wiping the prickling sparksnow from her brow, Luci lets out a big huff of air, and heads back to her post.
Later, she brings the incident up* to Utopia, who surprises her by laughing, ruefully shaking her head, and telling her ‘there ain’t no stopping that rascal from getting out. Just make sure you drag his butt home if you catch him creeping somewhere he ain’t supposed to be.’
Luci is so preoccupied refusing to unpack the pang of envy she feels that Dys has got to experience the outside of the colony and she, despite always being on her best behaviour, has not—because she is not getting aggrieved at a ten year old, dammit!—that she never even thinks how strange it is that Diff showed up out of nowhere with a ready-made excuse for a situation xe couldn’t have known was happening.
*complains at.