TO’s arm hurt.

  Though, to be entirely fair, everything hurt. Since the day when they managed to glide awkwardly across the flying room, they had been spending most of their time practicing. When they weren’t in the flying room, TO was using special bands around their wings, stretching and flexing their unused muscles to strengthen them in ways that were hard to do while flying. On Snout’s orders, they were also working in one of the makeshift gyms on Scraprock, doing exercises provided to them to help strengthen muscles that had grown weak from disuse. The constant strain and exercise hurt worse than when they went through in training! At least then, their muscles had been prepared and ready for the hard work ahead thanks to the constant electro-stimulation they received in the tank!

  Still, despite the pain, they could feel themselves gradually getting stronger as they reached greater milestones. The slow, steady progress made them want to train despite the pain.

  But today, they weren’t training. They struggled to sit up, and they couldn’t hide their discomfort while they pulled themself into a sitting position. TO insisted that if they just rested for a few minutes and let their muscles warm up, then they’d be fine and could train again!

  In response, DH had pulled up articles and statistics listing off sport injuries and training injuries, as well as optimal rest to work ratios.

  TO pointed out that the research was focused towards civilian species, painting the entire galaxy with a very wide brush. DH pointed out that TO was pushing themself harder now than their Overseers had when they were in training. Constance pointed out that everyone deserved play time, and that TO was so tired by day’s end that they didn’t draw her with her anymore–a daily habit they had developed while TO was recovering.

  Against such arguments, TO relented and agreed to take the day off from training. The only condition TO insisted on was not using the wheelchair. They could walk just fine now, even if they needed a bit of rest here and there. DH relented, but on the condition that TO walk with a crutch to help their prosthetic limb while they were alone. TO was already in pain, and at least if they had a crutch to help them, then that would keep a lot of pressure on the recovering limb!

  TO agreed, but propping the crutch under their shoulder was what hurt their arm. It was still better than the wheelchair. While fairly accessible for wheelchairs, Scraprock still wasn’t designed with them in mind. Even if it had been, TO hated to rely on it; Their legs felt oddly itchy when they were in the chair, and they hated having to sit still when they wanted to move.

  With Constance at her school and DH working on an upgrade to Flit’s leg, TO decided to go see Ramanar, and see if the NuChilacian chef had anything new to offer today. Unfortunately, Ramanar wasn’t at their booth today, and the whole thing was shuttered and closed. Disappointing, but the misfortune provided TO an opportunity to try something else. They didn’t wander too far because of the pain in their arms, but soon they found themself at a place where a tall, blue-skinned man with large glasses served up ‘gourmet smoothies’

  Another benefit of being in a place which so many NuChilacians was that even the booths that weren’t run by NuChilacians had lists of safe foods. Even so, TO scanned the list of ingredients, and fed it through their chip to confirm it was safe before relaxing and allowing themself to enjoy.

  “Look,” the owner said to a patron on the other side of the table, “I don’t mind if you just wanna eat berries, but you can’t have all this junk here; you’re getting oil on my counter!”

  “It’s just a drop; I’ll clean it!” It was Vik that responded, the small programmer making his voice loud so that the owner could hear. “Just give me a minute.”

  TO scooted over on their seat so that they could look around the curve in the table and see him. They realized in that moment that they hadn’t seen Vik since their surgery, which was odd since he was involved in the creation of their new leg. Wouldn’t Vik want to know how it’s working? Wouldn’t Vik be at DH’s side, checking scans and fiddling with the tech to make the leg more effective? Apparently not. Apparently, Vik was at this smoothie bar, eating from a tiny bowl of berries while working on building some kind of machine. Tiny pieces of tech were spread out around the countertop where Vik worked, tiny grease stains marring the surface of a napkin which he had spread out under him. Still, it didn’t catch all the grease, and there were several spots on the counter around the napkin.

  With a grunt, TO pulled themself up and walked over to Vik, their hand hovering over the counter in case they fell. There were occasionally some glitches to the leg, which resulted in the machinery not reacting as TO expected it to. That, along with the dull pain in the still healing skin, caused them to fall from time to time.

  “I don’t think it’s a problem for you to be here.” TO said as they sat on a stool near Vik, “But this can’t be the best place for you to build things.”

  This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

  Vik jolted, dropping one of the pieces he had in his hand as he turned to look at TO. “Oh. Hi.” He said, reaching down for the piece he dropped. “Don’t sneak up on me!” They snapped, “What if I was handling something fragile?”

  TO blinked and leaned away, “Apologies.” They said. “I didn’t think you’d be working on anything delicate out here.”

  “Really, he shouldn’t be.” The man running the smoothie bar said, “He’s getting oil on my counter.”

  Vik looked around, the fur on their back pricking up as they finally spotted a smudge of oil. “It’s a tiny little smudge, even to me.” They grumbled as they hopped forward and

  quickly cleaned the spot with a scrap of fabric.

  “Look.” the owner said, “I don’t mind people sitting here for hours working on stuff when it’s not too busy, really, but you’re using all kinds of sprays and chemicals, and it smells like a workshop here!”

  “He’s right.” TO said, “I mean, I can help you bring all this stuff to the workshop. DH is working on upgrading Flit’s leg now, so-“

  “They know what they’re doing with it.” Vik said as he started packing up his things. “I taught them all I knew about that kind of thing, so they don’t need me anymore.”

  “Don’t need you?” TO frowned, their ears flicking down as Vik spoke, “I mean, I was never a matter of need, I don’t think.”

  “It’s fine.” They said. They were faster than TO expected in packing up their stuff, and soon all the materials which were originally spread out in a seemingly haphazard fashion were packed up into a tiny backpack which looked massive on Vik when he slung it over his back. Before TO could say anything else, Vik had hopped down from the counter, and scurried off.

  Even if TO was able to run easily on the new leg, they wouldn’t have been able to keep up as Vik quickly disappeared among booths and seats. With a sigh, TO looked down at the counter and saw another remaining smudge of oil. Wordlessly, they wiped it off.

  “... Shit.” The owner said, “I didn’t want to upset him even more, but I can’t have someone playing with machinery here!”

  “No... I understand that.” TO said, their ears pinning back as they looked off in the direction where Vik had run. Suddenly, he paused as the words from the owner sunk in. “Wait, what do you mean, ‘upset him more’?”

  He shrugged as he sprayed down the space Vik was working on with some kind of cleaner. “Just what I said. He was upset, and I didn’t wanna upset him more.”

  “How could you tell?”

  “How could you not?” He said, an eyebrow arching up. “You didn’t see how he was acting? I’m guessing you’re a friend, and even you backed away from him.”

  “Well, yes, but I thought he was upset because of you.”

  He shook his head, “Nope. Lil’ guy’s been like that all day.” He shrugged. “I don’t know what his problem is, but nothing I did should have made him that upset.”

  TO nodded, their ears pinning back again as they drank their smoothie. Going over the brief interaction with Vik, they noticed other oddities as well.

  *They don’t need me anymore*. He had said that before running off. Well, of course, DH needed Vik; Vik was one of their friends. Or... had been. DH hadn’t been talking about Vik as much as of late.

  Something was wrong. They’d have to bring it up later.

  ======

  In the quiet of their room that night, Constance and TO worked on drawing. They had invented a game of sorts where they would come up with two different animals and draw a combination of the two. TO had enjoyed the game when they were bedridden, but thought that Constance only came up with it as something to help TO pass the time. That was clearly not the case, as she was legitimately excited about playing it again when TO suggested it.

  They played until an alert went off on TO’s communicator. “Ok.” They said softly, “That’s the alarm for you to get ready to sleep.”

  She pouted, “A little longer?”

  “My research has shown that you need about 8-10 Galactic hours of sleep to be healthy at your age. You have to get up to go to your classes tomorrow, which means that in order to get the optimal sleep, you need to bathe and prepare for bed right now.”

  She whined, her head-fins going down as she looked at TO, forcing her eyes to look bigger than normal. “You know, that just makes me want to make sure you’re safe and healthy, and that means making sure you go to bed on time.”

  She huffed, and looked to DH, who only shrugged, “TO did the research.” They said, “And you’re not going to convince them away from that.”

  She grumbled, but pulled herself onto her little scooter board and pulled herself into the washroom. It wasn’t the same scooter she had before - this one was new, carefully padded, and longer to accommodate her tail.

  “Shouldn’t she have a chair?” DH asked once she had gone into the washroom.

  “She prefers the board.” TO said, shrugging as they slowly got to their feet, rising from where they sat with Constance on the floor. DH rushed over to help, but TO held a hand up. “I need to do this on my own.” They said.

  “Won’t hurt to ask for help.”

  “And if I need help, I promise, I’ll ask. “They said. “But I want to do it on my own.”

  DH nodded, and while they didn’t help TO, they kept close to them as TO awkwardly walked to the nearby table and sat in one of the simple chairs, gesturing to DH to sit as well.

  “I saw Vik today.” TO said, watching DH’s expression carefully. It was telling; a brief perk up of the ears, followed by their saddened drooping.

  “How is he?”

  “Did something happen?” TO asked, “He was working on some kind of machine at a smoothie bar. I said he should bring it to the workshop, and that you were doing adjustments to Flit’s leg, but... He said you didn’t need him.”

  DH sighed and leaned forward on the table, resting their chin on their crossed arms. “Something must have happened! I must have done or said something that upset them!” they sighed. “But I don’t know what it is! One day we were fine, and the next they’re avoiding me!” They sighed and looked up at TO. “Did they say anything that I might have done? Or why they’re avoiding me? They don’t answer my calls and if I send them a message, they only send a quick response back!”

  “They didn’t say anything,” TO said, frowning as they leaned forward and rubbed the back of DH’s neck, “Why didn’t you tell me earlier?”

  “I just didn’t want to bother you with it.” They said, “And we were busy anyway... There’s nothing you can do about it, anyway.”

  TO stayed there, rubbing DH’s neck for a while as they waited for Constance to finish up. They didn’t know if there was anything they could do about the situation, but at the very least, they could find some answers.