Chapter Text
Aloy could feel the bass thumping before she heard the growl of the engine, then the laying on of the horn and yelling for Avad. There was a muffled noise of frustration from the other room, and the sounds of Avad’s violin stopped shortly before he stomped through the living room and threw the front door open.
“It’s ten at night!” he called out. “There are noise ordinances! You’re going to get arrested!” Aloy pulled the door open enough to watch, and he waved his bow at her. “And Aloy is studying!”
Erend was too plastered to do anything but laugh and make cawing noises, but Ersa leaned halfway out the driver’s window and dragged her tongue across her lower lip as she looked Avad up and down. Aloy just rolled her eyes and looked up to see how her brother would react.
“Hey, baby,” she crooned. “Can I come see your room? I’ll let you … play me like an instrument.” That made Erend start air-guitaring and making what he apparently thought were guitar noises.
Avad jumped like he’d been shocked and ducked his head while mumbling protests. He stood there like a deer in the headlights as Ersa got out of her car and made her way up to him, her pants long and baggy and her top short and tight.
“Come on,” she whispered, pressing against him and running her hands over his chest. He managed one garbled protest before she leaned up and licked his ear and he slumped a little, but did manage to grab Aloy’s arm and then open the door enough to shove her into Ersa, who grinned brightly at her.
“Oh, hi, Aloy. How’s school?” Her words may have been directed at the redhead, but she was more interested in trying to get Avad’s pants undone.
Aloy wriggled out from between them. “Uh, fine. I’ll just, uh, get Erend. You two, uhm, have fun.”
Avad was protesting, but not stopping Ersa from pushing him inside and toward his room. He was babbling something about impropriety and Rost getting home.
“Rost works until at least two. I’ll be done with you by then.”
Aloy didn’t hear the rest and was glad of it. “Come on, Erend. Bedtime.”
Erend met Aloy’s eyes but didn’t really see her, too blinded by his drunkenness as he continued to sing off-key and with the wrong lyrics. “And Iiiiiiiii … Will rock you like an avalanche! Bow-wow-nyah-nyah-nyowwwwwwww!”
Getting him out of the car wasn’t that big a chore. Getting him to stop his performance long enough to get inside was more difficult. “Hey, why don’t we do karaoke?” she finally asked.
“Yeah!” He stumbled out of her grasp and fell down, having to crawl up the driveway to the front door as Aloy covered her face and dug the pads of her fingers into her eyes. If she yelled, he would just yell back.
She settled for muttering as she followed him and then got him onto the couch, where he promptly passed out. How he got away with half the things he got away with, she didn’t know. Avad didn’t party, and Aloy wasn’t popular enough to be invited anywhere. But Erend - Erend did what he wanted, when he wanted, and nobody but Ersa could make him do anything else. She covered him up and made sure he had a bucket to puke in.
Erend’s snoring was loud enough that she decided to escape to her room in order for her to finish her homework in peace. That worked for about two seconds before the thumping of Avad’s bed against the wall and his cries of pleasure nixed her plans.
Sighing, she tucked her holo-pad under her arm and got up. The front porch it was, then, as usual. Advanced physics wasn’t that hard, and it was even easier with the Focus that Uncle Ted had given her over Rost’s protests. Her stepfather had a baffling distrust of modern technology. The Focus was easier to use and carry around than a phone or a holo-pad - not that they didn’t have their uses - connected to the internet much easier and much quicker, organized everything neatly, had a battery that could last a thousand years on minimal bio-electric power, and wasn’t easily lost on account of being attached to her head.
At some point Ersa left, patting her on the head and dropping a twenty on her holo-pad for having chased her out of the house. Avad would be a wreck in the morning, moping about how he’d taken advantage of Ersa - against all evidence that the situation was the complete opposite - and how he wanted to treat her to the finest things in life. He’d go on and on about how she needed a gentleman, and about how he found her generally flawless.
Aloy pushed her homework aside an hour or so after Ersa was gone but stayed on the porch after making herself a cup of tea. She huddled in the blanket stored under the bench, and went through all the old news articles about her mother that she’d stored in her Focus. The articles made Elisabet out to be some sort of cold robot despite her dedication to saving the environment and bettering people’s lives, but all Aloy remembered of her was warmth and love. She remembered hugs and kisses and compliments, patience, her mother laughing as Aloy sat on her lap and very earnestly helped with her work - help that was most often either random typing or trying to design unicorn machines that also shot lasers. She remembered her mother’s impish grin as she was sent to very seriously tell Rost that her mother was going to die if she didn’t get a massage right that instant, her beautiful laughter as Rost came inside, soaked in sweat from the work he’d been doing outside, stripping down to his plain undershirt and kneeling at her mother’s feet to give her a foot rub without protest.
She was still there, brooding, a second hot cup of tea and warmed up, covered leftovers on the table in front of her, when Rost pulled up in their beat-down car. The brakes needed changing, and there was a loose belt somewhere. She’d see what she could do about it over the weekend. Old Man Brin usually had spare parts he’d give her if she listened to a few of his crackpot conspiracy theories, maybe ran an errand or two for him.
At least it wasn’t as rusty as it could be - she and Erend liked to have competitions to see who could use borrowed laser rust removers to clean the most rust off the fastest. Trying to barter with a local paint shop had failed, though, so cracked paint it was until they could truthfully promise to not paint wild designs on it. Or dicks, in Erend’s case.
Rost pursed his lips as he walked up the driveway, but he was used to her waiting up for him with a cup of tea. He sat beside her with a weary sigh and gladly took the cup, nodding in thanks.
A few bites of food later, he picked up her holo-pad to look over her homework, his hand hesitating over the articles of her mother that she’d also pulled up there. He didn’t understand half of her schoolwork, but nodding approvingly anyway he raised a hesitant hand, awkwardly patting the air right above her shoulder before dropping it. A few times he took a breath and opened his mouth to speak, but always closed it again with a droop of his shoulders. He still didn’t know how to talk about Elisabet with her children. His children. He hadn’t expected their grandmothers to give him primary custody of them after Elisabet’s untimely death, but he was the only father any of them except Avad had known, and Granny Teersa had probably blackmailed Grandmother Lansra into allowing it.
“Is Nil still here?” he finally asked.
“He set up a tent in the backyard.”
“He has a week before he has to start paying rent.”
Not that that would deter him. He would either just move on for a while, or find a way to bribe Rost into letting him stay longer. He seemed to enjoy Rost’s exasperation at his insistence on homelessness and staying in their backyard. Maybe he had a crush on her. “Understood.”
They were silent after that. Once Rost had finished his dinner, he gathered the dishes and stood as he cleared his throat. “... Goodnight, Aloy.”
He was awkward when she got to brooding at this level, never knowing what sort of comfort she needed or wanted - and truthfully, she rarely knew, herself. “Goodnight, Rost.”
She stayed outside for a little longer, then shut everything off and headed inside. It took a brief press of her hand to lock the house down. Uncle Ted refused to help with their schooling, house payments, or car - forcing Rost to work terribly long hours to support them - but he’d made sure their house was impossible to break into. His logic about when and how to help care for his sister’s children was impossible to figure out.
Once the security light had lit green, indicating everything was shut and locked, and the only noise she could hear downstairs was the rough chainsaw of Erend snoring, she trudged up the staircase and paused to listen at Avad’s door to make sure he was asleep and not moaning to himself about his terrible, awful, ungentlemanly treatment of Ersa. She had instigated everything and Avad followed her around like a puppy, so why he thought that he was in the wrong and somehow pressuring her was baffling.
She finally closed her bedroom door and opened the window, leaning against the sill and cupping her chin in her hands as she looked down at Nil’s tent. She was sure he had a home, but he preferred to at least pretend he was a homeless loner.
“Hey, Nil.”
“Yes?” was the immediate reply as the tent rustled.
“Rost says you can stay one more week before you have to start paying rent.”
“I killed Bast for you.”
“No, you didn’t. He moved away.” She actually wasn’t completely sure about that. She wasn’t sure Nil had never killed anyone. She didn’t care to find out one way or the other.
“I did, too. It was wonderful. They’ll never find his body.”
“I’m pretty sure he’s still active on The Network.”
“That’s me.”
She rolled her eyes. “Ugh, whatever. Goodnight, Nil.”
“Tell Ersa it’s always a pleasure when she comes over.”
She groaned and straightened. “Goodnight, Nil!”
He was describing the pleasure of the slice of a knife between flesh and muscle as she closed her window, both of them fully aware that his sleazy comments and constant glorification of death and violence were meant to get under her skin. She had mostly learned to stop responding.
She couldn’t fall asleep until she heard Rost get up and start moving around. He could have slept another hour, but he insisted on wasting precious sleep to make them all breakfast and leave it to stay warm in the oven. She didn’t sleep long after that, and woke from dreams of her mother’s scent and laughter and warm embrace. Her dreams were almost the only time she felt anything other than empty, felt like she was actually feeling something, doing something other than just going through the motions, her emotions superficial, covering a shaky nothingness in her chest.
Avad’s violin floated to her through the wall. It was her cue to get up and get Erend ready for school. Erend claimed to remember their mother, but Aloy privately thought he was making it up just because his older siblings remembered her.
She’d given him a stimulant pill against his slurred protests, and they were both ready by the time Varl knocked on the door, there to pick Avad up to take him to the college campus. He nodded shortly to her when she opened it, back ramrod straight, his ‘casual’ grey button-down shirt and black slacks ironed and starches so much that she was surprised he could move in them. She was glad she had never been a military kid.
“Good morning, Aloy.”
“Hi, Varl. Come in. Avad’s almost ready. Are you hungry?”
“I ate at home, thank you.” He held up a casserole dish as he walked in. “Mother and I made this for you.”
Aloy took it with a nod and put it in the fridge, where the last casserole was two-thirds gone. “You don’t have to bring us food.”
“I know. Vala would want us to help.”
She wanted to apologize, but he always insisted she didn’t. The accident hadn’t been her fault. Vala had, in fact, acted to save her, and Varl thought apologies diminished his sister’s sacrifice. Instead she prodded Erend into eating.
“Is that for Teb?”
There was a bag of worn clothes sitting by her chair. She nodded. “He doesn’t charge to fix them.”
“He’s a good man.”
“Varl, you’re here. Good.” Avad was wringing his hands nervously, then ran them through his hair. It made it stand on end.
Aloy’s lips twitched a little and Varl grinned.
“I need to talk with you on the way to class.”
“I’m sure you do.” He got a dirty look for his amusement. “Are you ready, Aloy?”
She nodded as Avad cleared the dishes. They loaded Erend into the car, telling him in no short terms that he wasn’t allowed to skip school that day. If he missed much more class, he’d be kicked off the football team. He grudgingly agreed to stay the whole day, but threatened to not like it. He’d gotten out of the car and Aloy was gathering her things when Ersa appeared out of nowhere and leaned in the driver’s window, grabbing a fistful of hair at the back of Avad’s neck and kissing him like her life depended on it. He was gasping for air and almost purple with embarrassment when she let him go.
“I had fun last night, baby. Let’s do it again sometime.”
“Bye, guys.”
Aloy wasn’t sure how Avad had convinced himself that *he* was the one who was accosting *Ersa,* rather than the other way around, yet there he was, stammering apologies as Varl covered his laughter. Maybe it was because she was a senior in high school and he was a freshman in college - but how her birthday fell meant she was already eighteen, and he himself had just turned nineteen, so their relationship - or whatever it was - wasn’t illegal. Her brother was just … anal. And weird.
“He asked me out again.” Ersa had caught up with her and draped her arm over Aloy’s shoulder.
“Oh.”
“Think I should?”
“I don’t care.”
Ersa sighed as her attempt at humor failed, then turned serious. “Sorry for keeping you up last night.”
“You didn’t.” Aloy would have stayed up one way or the other. At least she’d gotten some fresh air out of the deal, and hadn’t had Nil tossing pebbles at her window because he wanted her to amuse him.
Ersa squeezed her shoulder. “Hey.” Aloy looked at her out of the corner of her eye. “Are you ok? You don’t seem ok.”
Aloy shrugged. “I’m fine. I’m just … tired.”
“... Yeah. Sure. Look, I was gonna make Avad go camping with me this weekend. Do you wanna come, instead? You could use a break. There are hunting grounds around, too.”
It had as much appeal as anything she vaguely enjoyed doing. Still, she had responsibilities. “I need to work on the car. I would, but …” She wanted to go, to be in the - relative - solitude of the wilderness, to be able to process her emotional plunge the way she preferred. “... maybe some other time.” She had responsibilities that came first.
“I’m not taking no for an answer. I’ll find someone to work on the car - for free. Petra might do it. She likes to show off for Vanasha. Come on, Aloy. Please?” She shrugged as they walked, gaze focused on the ground a few feet in front of her, chewing on the inside of her lip. She really wanted to get out of town.
“Hunting, you say?”
They both jumped as Nil appeared beside them, and Ersa glared at him. “You’re not invited, Nil.”
“I wasn’t asking to be invited, though I’m wounded that I wasn’t your third pick as a hunting companion. But I might drop by. I do always enjoy watching Aloy hunt.” He slipped his arm around Aloy’s shoulder, and she let him, mainly because he always had to stoop a little to get down to her level.
“You’re a creep,” Ersa snapped.
He grinned. “Guilty as charged. I’ll see you ladies later.” Then he sauntered off, twirling the switchblade he’d more than once gotten suspended for having.
Aloy’s Focus bleeped with an incoming message. She pressed it, and Sona’s holographic bust appeared, the top row of medals just visible across the right side of her chest. “Report to my house for dinner tonight,” was the curt order before the message ended.
“I’ll think about it,” she told Ersa.
“I’ll pick you up at seven on Saturday. In the morning. We’ll be hiking a bit, so pack accordingly.” Having delivered Aloy to her first class, Ersa turned and sauntered off.
“Well, come in, Sobeck.” Professor Sylens drew a line with his holo-pointer from her to her seat. “You don’t need an invitation. Put your homework on the board.”
He always used her work as what his expectations for the other students were. Aloy connected her holo-tab with reluctance. “I may have made a few mistakes.”
“Doubtful. As you can all see, advanced physics is simple, really …”
She was teacher’s pet without asking or trying. It was always blamed on the fact that not only had Professor Sylens worked many years for Faro Industries, but that Ted Faro himself was her uncle. It didn’t matter that he was batshit crazy, thought he was literally a god, and that she and her brothers weren’t allowed to be near him unsupervised - not that they particularly wanted to be near the man who had been instrumental in their mother’s death.
Aloy was an easy target for bullies no matter how many fights they started and she ended. Their bullying had just gotten more subtle over the years. Rumors that she’d been genetically enhanced and hadn’t just inherited her mother’s genius abounded. She’d heard that she was part machine, as well, rather than having trained in fighting and archery her entire life, thanks to Rost, and later, Varl and Sona. She was sure her uncanny appearance to her mother fueled the rumors that she was a clone. Grandmother Lansra, she was also sure, had helped those rumors along. The woman harbored a deep distrust of her - she despised her for some reason. Lansra was her father’s mother, so maybe that had something to do with it. Aloy didn’t remember her father. Only Avad did, and he never talked about the man.
“Aloy, a moment, please,” Professor Sylens said as he held up a hand in an elegant gesture.
“Yeah, sure.” She stayed at her desk as the rest of the class left and crossed her ankles, idly remembering Grandmother Lansra scolding her for sitting with her knees apart - the mark of a fallen woman, she’d been told. Granny Teersa had promptly launched into a detailed description of how to keep one’s knees together and still fall from grace. How they tolerated living together, Aloy would never know.
Professor Sylens’ Focus glowed the same blue as his implants as he leaned back in his chair and watched her. He finally tilted his head just slightly. “What do you plan to do after high school, Aloy? College?”
No one had ever asked her that - they always assumed she’d go into the same field as her mother. She shrugged. “Probably. Rost wants me to.” She knew she should, knew she probably would. She wanted to help the world like her mother had helped the world, but she also didn’t want to be pushed into the same fields just because she was Elisabet Sobeck’s genius daughter.
“But what do you want to do?” Between his intense, probing gaze and the glowing blue tubes implanted in his arms, Aloy felt that he was examining her thoughts.
She only answered when the surrealness of his question and presence became too much. “... I don’t know. Something … something good. Something nice.” She frowned down at her desk. “Make the world a better place.” Like her mother.
“That’s very noble of you. But how will you do it?”
She was never sure if he was being sarcastic or not - he always sounded both sincere and condescending, and she didn’t know how he did it. “I don’t know, sir. Why?”
“Hmm. I … know people. An organization that would be very interested in your talent, however unrefined it currently is.”
That was Professor Sylens - king of backhanded compliments.
“I don’t believe a traditional approach to education suits you.” She had no idea why he might think that - her homework in his class was just for appearances; he had her working on subjects outside of her normal classwork that only people with several advanced degrees generally worked on.
She kept quiet. Her sarcasm wouldn’t be appreciated when he was only - maybe - trying to help.
“This organization would be able to provide a more challenging - and interesting - course of study for you, whichever direction you wanted to take.”
Aloy mostly wanted to sleep, for once, without worrying about her family or dreams of her mother or whether she would go to college, and if so, if she would follow in her mother’s footsteps or become an expert in the intricacies of paint manufacturing or something as equally dull. “I don’t know. I’ll … think about it.”
Professor Sylens stood up with a nod and gestured to the door. “Do let me know if you’re interested. There will be a … shareholder's meeting, of sorts, in a few months. An informal event. I would be more than happy to put you on the guest list.”
She nodded with a shrug. If it made him stop asking her questions, sure, why not. She mostly wanted her dopamine and serotonin to go back to appropriate levels, at the moment. “I’ll talk with Rost.”
He put his hand on her shoulder - the first time he’d ever touched her. His eyes were as dark brown as his skin. “Don’t let other people define who you are, Aloy. You are unique in this world. Don’t forget that.”
Cryptic, and vaguely foreboding. Aloy just nodded and moved on to her next class.