Normal

“Ha! Wot’s that on your face, then?” Enquired Holly, an electronic smirk adorning his own.
“Eh?” A post bench-nap dozy Alex rubbed his cheek, wondering if burger sauce, donut sugar or some other memento of the many sickly foodstuffs he’d enjoyed in the company of Max, Jade and the otter family, was plastered on his face.
“Your mouth.”
“What, my fag?”
“No.” Holly’s disembodied head shook against its black backdrop. “No, I think it’s a smile.” He tilted his dome, as if double-checking, then nodded. “Yeah, that’s definitely what it is. I’m just not used to seeing 'em on you.”
Alex curled his lip. “You’re funny” he said, his tone telling a different story.
“Well,” began Holly, mock-bashful “I like to think I'm good at rousing the odd chuckle.”
Alex dropped his cig and stomped it out, coughing smokily. “Yeh. You need a defrag.”
Holly’s eyes widened. “… There's no need to swear…”

A whiny voice came suddenly floating down the corridor, and from the sound of it, a fair and very delicate maiden indeed, was in terrible distress.
“Oh! Oh, my goodness me. Oh golly. Please! It’s just my hands you see… they do blister so very easily. Owch… Owch… Owch…”
“Oh come on, you’re surely capable of pushing yourself for longer than five minutes at a time? I'm tired, I've been in the AR Suite for days.”
“Mr Solvay normally pushes my wheelchair. He’s the kind of strapping, uneducated oaf that’s perfect for that sort of thing…”

“Shit!” Alex recognised the voices as those of Seymour, and… someone he’d encountered only briefly… Yasmin, was it? Sleepy from the hours in the play centre, and – most drowse-inducing of all - having actually relaxed for once, he forced himself into dash mode, and zipped down a little-used, junk-riddled corridor, to avoid the approaching odd couple. He didn’t want anything to ruin his light mood, and certainly didn’t fancy being scolded like a naughty nine year old for nicking Seymour’s wine.
Once safely round the corner he leaned back against the wall and chuckled, panting in relief for a moment before ambling on. Running a hand along the wall and avoiding a rusting jack, he realised he was smiling again. Back on the promenade Jade had woken him by extricating a sleepy, clingy Max from his person; He’d been touched to find that the little guy had been cuddled up to him.
If a little kid liked him, perhaps that meant he wasn’t so bad after all. He winced and pushed images of his own kids away.
When he’d said good bye, an also tired (not surprising after her recent injuries) but still elegant, Jade had given him a polite kiss on the cheek. That was very nice, too.
He was glad Katrina had approached him at Starbugs. She was cool. Best day he’d had for ages.

For the first time in a long time, he felt… Normal.

A movement at the end of the corridor snapped him into the present. Cass, and one of her MEDs, were approaching from the other direction. The girl apparently hadn’t noticed him yet, though. She was looking down, somehow deftly tapping away on her hand-held while simultaneously picking a clear path through the equipment strewn floor.
Alex groaned. Great. Another person he could do without bumping into. Caught between the devil and the deep blue sea he chose to press on.
Piles of parts and gutted vending machine housings caused the corridor to narrow in the middle and eventually, forced uncomfortably close by the equipment, the two less than saccharine Dwarfers reached an impasse.

Alex stood, scowling, waiting for the girl to notice him and move out of his way. Eventually she looked up, unimpressed to find it was Solvay who dared block her path.
“I didn’t know you used this route” she stated, coolly.
“Hm” he grunted. He didn’t normally go this way, but wasn’t about to bother explaining himself to someone he was hopping mad with. She didn’t move, so he leaned a fatigued hand on the wall to rest a moment. His opponent’s green eyes glimmered in distaste - she obviously thought he’d been drinking.
“Heading to the Liquor Locker?” Her voice was hard.
Aw, piss off. “Nope” he yawned, still loath to explain himself. Still she didn't budge.
After a few seconds caught in the full-beam of her glare, he decided he was too tired for silly buggers and would just squidge on by.
“‘Scuse me” he grunted, making to push past, but abruptly paused as, with a series of clunks and whirs, the protective mechanical monstrosity behind the girl raised what was unmistakably a gun barrel. Alex snorted angrily, but said nothing. So much for not letting anything ruin his mood. A gun to the face’ll do that for you.
Cass issued a command and the hulking machine lowered its weapon, and shuffled to one side to allow him past. She did the same.
“Jerks” Alex muttered as he squeezed by.

Cass's boots scuffed behind him as she wheeled round. “What did you say?” She snapped.
“You ‘eard” he grumped over his shoulder.
“Do we have a problem, Solvay?”
He turned to regard her.
“Well, I do” he admitted, after a minute’s squinted examination of the young woman’s nettled features. “She’s about 5’9, dark hair, bad attitude. You know anyone like that?”
Her eyes became slits. “Don’t say anything you’ll regret, Solvay” she spat.
There was a mutual glowering.
“Look" she sighed after a moment, around 6.5% more mellow. "You’re the one who let me down, you know.”
Let her down? What was she talking about? He lit another cigarette and sighed, himself. It was a shame they’d fallen out, he’d respected Cass, and it stung to learn she just thought of him as a useless drunk.
“Didn’t let anyone down” he mumbled, and grimacing, he forced the fondness he felt for her to harden, to save them both further hurt.
“You can deny it all you like" she told him "but you’ve clearly got-“
His own eyes narrowed in irritation, suddenly almost as cat-like and suspicious as hers. He really didn’t want to hear the rest of that sentence.
“Ain’t you got no-one else to go and judge?” He snapped.
But if she replied he didn’t hear. Seymour’s voice had just come bouncing around the corner, announcing: “A-ha! I smell smoke. That’s a sign of Mr Solvay if ever there was one. This way Ms. Adimar!”
“Oh, bloody hell.”
Alex sped off, leaving Cass to deal with the incoming nuisance.
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<TAG> Everybody. What are you doing in your free three (three free?) hours?</TAG>