Chương 93: Book 2 - Chapter - 16 - Show and Tell

I didn't sleep in, I had a habit of sleeping light, and getting up as soon as possible so I could get shit done, but today I stayed in bed a little bit longer than usual. It felt good to lay in the dark, wrapped up in my sheets without having to worry about anything. Unfortunately, since I was so used to being busy at all times, it was only a matter of time until I felt restless. When I did finally roll out of bed, I took my sheets with me, bundled up in whatever I could carry, and dragged the rest.

The entire family was up, sitting around the table when I came in. They stopped eating and turned to look at me when I walked in.

"Evelyn… is that you?" Jane asked, with one eyebrow raised.

"Yes," I answered. Although it came out more like 'yeth' through all the layers of blankets.

"Taking this time off seriously, aren't you?" Alan asked, with a smirk.

"Yes," I answered again. He stared at me for a moment, probably expecting more of a comeback or something, and when I didn't give one he just scoffed and went back to his cereal.

"Are you really going to spend the day with us today?" Jennifer asked. Issi's head snapped up as soon as she heard, a mouth half full of toast, cheeks covered in crumbs, she stared at me wide-eyed waiting for my reply.

"That was the plan," I said, sticking my head slightly out of my fuzzy fortress. As soon as I did I felt the cold air hit me in the face, I resisted retreating back, as much as I wanted to.

"Did you guys have any plans for today, or just more lessons?"

"More lessons!" Issi declared. I leaned over and cleaned the crumbs off her mouth, making her giggle.

"And what are you learning today?"

"Bot-to-nay," the little girl replied, proudly. I just stared at her for a moment, confused, until Jennifer clarified.

"She means Botany, it's the study of plants." I glanced over at Issi, who had a huge smile on her face.

"Why?" Her face scrunched up for a moment while she was thinking, "They're pretty?" she answered with a smile.

"Fair enough. What about the rest of you?"

"It's a practical day," Eddie replied, "So I'll be working on my accounting practice, and Jeni will be building an engine. You probably want to hang out with the girls, you never really had a brain for numbers."

"You just don't want anyone to hear your poetry," Jeni shot back, with a smirk. Eddie's ears turned a little red, and he averted his eyes in embarrassment, but he didn't deny the accusation.

"If you don't want me to visit you, I won't. You can recite your poetry to everyone when you're ready… or show off your accounting skills?" I paused, that sounded terrible, but it was too late now.

"Whatever you want to do." The boy nodded, slinking further into his seat. Seeing how uncomfortable he was, I refocused on the girls.

"So, which of you should I come and see…"

"Me me me!" Issi nearly toppled out of her chair. It was only prevented by a combined action of Alan grabbing the back of her shirt, and me grabbing her arm.

"Alright, fine. Calm down, and finish your breakfast first. I still need to go back and change, and there's plenty of time in the day." The little girl nodded, before once again sitting down and taking a monstrous bite of toast, but the smile never left her face. After I finished my breakfast, in which I decided to have cereal instead of the regular nutri-slop, I got dressed and headed over to Issi's room. As soon as I knocked the door was yanked open, and the little six year old hauled me inside.

Her energetic attitude more than made up for the lack of strength. This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source. Her robotic teacher was standing at the other end of the room, next to the dresser, placing down a row of small pots.

"Miss Evelyn, are you participating in today's lesson?"

"Apparently," I replied.

"Although I'm not quite sure what the lesson is, only that it deals with plants."

"Indeed," the small automated frog nodded, then removed his tophat and rolled up his sleeves, before pulling out a small package. As soon as Issi saw it, she squealed, then collected herself a little and came to stand next to her teacher.

"What's that?" I asked as I crossed the room and sat on the bed.

"Seeds! For my project," Isabelle replied, taking the bag gently.

"Miss Isabelle has been assigned to plant a selection of vegetables and flowers, then make sure their basic needs are provided for until they're fully grown." I stared at the little collection of pots, and my eyes narrowed.

"Where did all this stuff come from? Fresh dirt isn't exactly easy to come by down here." The dirt and pots were procured by using some of the space on the Class I Matter Reconfiguration machine, and the seeds cost a single point, which came out of the food budget.

"Out of the food budget? Why?" Technically these are all edible plants, and they only cost a single point, so I didn't see the need to run it past you.

"It's fine," I said with a sigh, "I really should have set up a limited budget for Jane and Alan to buy items for the family. In the future, allow them to request minor items, up to five points per item, and a hundred points total per month. If they need something bigger, or more points, you can run it by me." I can arrange that.

"Thanks," I replied. In the few seconds that I'd been distracted, Issi had already started planting. The little girl pushed her pointer finger into each pot, then popped a seed into each hole before covering them up, and adding a little bit of water. When she turned to me her hands, and somehow face, were covered in dirt.

"I'm going to grow the prettiest plants. This one is yours," she said, pointing at the one on the end.

"Isn't the point that you're supposed to grow them?" I asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I am, but when they're all big I'm going to give them to you all as presents," she replied, before grabbing me in a tiny hug.

"Well… that's very nice of you. Just make sure you take good care of them." The little girl nodded, and I let her cuddle for a minute more, before I lifted her off my lap.

"I'm very proud of you for doing something responsible, but make sure you clean up once you're done," I said, showing her the side of my hoodie, which had a tiny handprint imprinted on it. The girl giggled, then nodded. The little imp managed to hug me one last time before she actually went to clean her hands. When I walked into Jeni's room a couple of hours later, I found a similar setup, but very different situation. On top of the dresser was a ton of small parts, and a moderately-sized toolbox.

Jeni was standing over it, reading a thin book. She was so focused, she didn't even notice me coming in.

"Do you really have enough space to work on that?" I asked. She gasped, and turned towards me, nearly dropping her book, before she realized who it was that entered her room.

"Fuck! Teddy, you nearly gave me a heart attack." She dropped the book onto her bed before turning towards me, arms crossed.

"To answer your question, no. There isn't enough space, but I'm just happy to have a little privacy." The girl picked up a small wrench, and started slowly assembling the… whatever she was working on. She had a surprising amount of focus.

"Well, once the expansion is done, I'll arrange for some space for you to do your projects. Proper space, not just the top of your dresser."

"You don't have to do that," Jeni said, not bothering to look up from her project.

"Maybe… but I want to. I don't think I should be the only one that should benefit from becoming a Samurai. Let's face it, most people don't have much to look forward to around here. I hope by improving the lives of kids like yourself, even a little, things will get better." Jeni paused, "It might not, you know. It might only make them a target for the gangs, or other less fortunates."

"If that happens I'll try and protect them, and if that doesn't work, I'll try something else. It would be wrong if I was the only one who benefited from becoming a Samurai. I grew up here, and I really want to see if I can make it better."

"You're really weird sometimes, you know that?" Jeni said with a small smirk.

"Anyone else would have taken the chance to run away, live a life topside."

"Yeah, well, I'm not just anyone," I replied, walking over to her dresser.

"Now how about you explain what you're working on. It looks like something I would have taken apart with a pry bar a couple weeks ago." Jeni laughed, "I honestly wouldn't be surprised. It's not that complicated, but I'll use small words, I wouldn't want to confuse you." I ignored her cocky smirk, mostly because she was probably right.