Chapter 23: 23 Border Skirmishes, Part Four

Tsuyoshi was smoking again.

For all that Angharad had somehow reminded the doctor that there was tea in their encampment and she didn't need to drink their entire stock of alcohol, all that meant was that Dr Yeoh regained just enough charm and energy to try to share her cigarettes with him. She, at least, had the manners to take them outside when she wanted to smoke, not that it mattered. He, on the other hand, slowly breathed out smoke into the hospital hallway.

He leaned against the desk he'd helped drag to just in front of the hospital doors (in case one of those robots ever decided it wanted to be a hospital receptionist instead) and watched Mac squirm.

When she finally decided to speak she didn't bother with small talk, just jumped straight to, "Isn't kind of sad that Zelko flirts with so many people? Aren't you worried?"

He looked down and laughed. "Look at you, trying to sidle up to me like you think I don't know you tried to kiss my boyfriend in front of my best friend. Bad choice, bitch."

She had an annoying face that scrunched up in an ugly way. He didn't know why she bothered. The whole conversation was tedious already, and it had barely even started.

"I didn't come here to fight you," she said.

"That would have been stupid of you, yes."

"I mean, you're not that tough."

He breathed in, sharp. "You seem to think I won't hit a girl. That's, hmm, shall we call it misguided? I'd break you to pieces." He wasn't particularly tall, but when he stood up straight he was still several inches taller than her.

She stumbled back. "You... That's... There's something wrong with... I am not here for this!"

In that moment, the wishy-washy indecisive way she cycled through half-sentences made him want to claw off his own face.

"Angharad's not here, so why don't you piss off?"

That, at least, got her to leave.

There, he got through that without starting a fight. Nobody could call him the bad guy in that situation.

He turned around and walked further into the body of the hospital, restless all over. He paused to put his smoke out in one of the sinks then resumed his walk until he somehow ended up at the doctor's office door. Watched, for a moment, as she reorganised files into different stacks and took notes on something. Weird.

"I thought you were going to wear something nice," he said.

"I didn't wear a dress even on my wedding day. I'm not going to wear one now just because the children want me to chaperone their formal dance."

"I didn't say a dress. I said nice. You wore that tie four days ago."

At that, she finally turned to look at him. "You're been wearing those same boots for a week."

"Fine, I'll change my clothes. Whatever, don't let anyone use the hospital showers until I'm done."

"You seem to think enough people come in here for that to be worth worrying about."

*

Angharad fluttered about, trying to manage crowd control in her room. There were too many girls in there, all talking about clothes, and while that was usually her idea of a good time, it was starting to feel a bit crowded. The room was not that big.

"How do you have so many clothes?" Gemma asked.

Gemma didn't actually need to be there, so much. All she did was supervise and offer commentary, while sitting on Sophie's bed in her actually pretty cute party dress. Which was fine, but not so much helpful, you know?

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"I took three suitcases. I was lucky enough that they were salvaged from the wreck before it, like, caught fire, or got stuck on the wrong side of the barrier, or whatever. Tsuyoshi told me that Josephine made sure my suitcases got to me and weren't, like, gone through by other people wanting stuff and I am totally appreciative of that. It's super nice. Not that I'm hoarding everything to myself or whatever."

"I meant, in general, how do you have so many clothes?" Gemma said.

"Hmm, I also wondered why Angharad had so many things packed," Sophie said.

Angharad stood up straight to survey the whole room and not just the way Mac looked through her things. She felt helpful and powerful in her own way, which was always a good thing. There was joy in people valuing her expertise in looking cute. She had so few reasons to feel powerful.

"Well, it's just that, like, okay, the camp I was supposed to go to was three weeks long, right? And you never know when you're going to be invited to a cocktail party, or a gallery opening, or an impromptu wedding. It's important to be prepared for all occasions."

"Really?" Gemma said, eyebrow raised. "An impromptu wedding?"

"It could happen! Stranger stuff happens all the time."

"Are you sure I can borrow one of your dresses?" Mac asked. "They're all so nice."

"I mean, yeah. It's not like I can wear all of them at once. Someone should get use out of them."

"I'm just going to wear the dress I wore to the wedding," Sophie said.

"Right," Gemma said, pointing. "Because you were coming back from a wedding when the crash happened."

"Mmm, and Rod Spark offered a bunch of people seats on his plane through the gate on the way back to Paris. I'm not sure how I thought I would get home from there. I should have gone by train with uncle Safy. At least then I'd be with my family."

Gemma stood and folded Sophie into a hug before Angharad could do it. Which was good, because otherwise she'd have been too distracted to direct Mac's choices.

"Yes! That! The blue on you would be perfect," Angharad said.

Mac paused, blue dress almost spilling through her fingers. "Are you sure? Wouldn't it show a little too much? I know I'm not that pretty. I mean, I'm not fishing for compliments or anything, it's just..."

"Yes, yes, the blue. You've got great legs. Show them off, right? And anyway, it's only a dress for one party. It's not like you're committing to the dress for the rest of your life."

"I agree," Gemma said. "You'll look great in the blue."

Sophie nodded.

"See?" Angharad said. "It's unanimous. You pretty much have to wear it now or we'll all be sad."

Mac blushed, and bit her lip like she was trying to eat the smile that was threatening to spread all over her face. "If everyone says so, I guess I have to."

"Wait," Angharad said, brain finally catching up. "Rod Spark is here? The billionaire?"

"If he's still alive he's not on this side of the barrier," Gemma said.

*

Jin, meanwhile, tried to figure out whether to bring a weapon or not.

"This is stupid," he told himself, straightened his jacket, and walked out the door.

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