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Dorm roof - Early afternoon

There was the slightest of chances Beka's been spoiling the pigeons this week. They'd had to get through without the extra feed for two weeks and Beka swore Shimmer looked more hungry than usual. She crumbled some of the bread from her bag and scattered it in front of her, watching the gathered pigeons launch for it in a flurry of wings and feathers.

"You almost ate the entire bag, you loobies," she chided them. She wiped off the crumbs on her jeans afore she reached out to scratch the sleeping Pounce behind his ear. She had her diary laid open in her lap. She'd at least caught up with everything now, but her reports weren't. Writing about turning into a Terrier was easy, she was certain her Lord would see the humor of it. Twas the part about George Cooper that she couldn't find the words for.

[Open as roofs are.]

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When Jonas appeared on the roof, he was toting a wriggling droid baby. He'd spent the morning in his room, trying to get her to be quiet, rocking her, doing things he'd done when Gabe was small but it hadn't worked.

Finally, he'd retreated up and outside, hoping some fresh air would do them both good.

"I am going to fail this assignment," he muttered, looking stricken and distracted before finally looking up and noticing Beka. "Beka, hello!"

He could still be polite though especially upon seeing someone he knew and was comfortable around.

"Hey, Jonas," she smiled, amused at the conversation he seemed to be having with himself. Until he noticed the strange babe in his arms, which didn't look very real but then it was moving. It made her shiver. "That's not a real babe? Is it?"

In her defence, Fandom had the strangest kind of beings.

"No," he said, frustration evident in his face and voice. "No, it's something called a droid. It's for a class. I don't know what I'm doing but she keeps making noise so I thought maybe she'd like some fresh air."

To his credit, she had stopped whining but she was still wriggling. "A droid is like a robot," he explained, not really understanding all that well himself. "It's a machine. Sort of."

She slid her reports between her diary and placed it carefully on the ground so the the wind'd not get to it.

"A machine made to look like a babe?" she asked, wondering what else this world had thought of. She straightened and moved over to Jonas to get a better look at it. "What it got to do with class?"

"I don't know," he admitted, shaking his head and bouncing the droid carefully in his arms. Gabe had been a quiet, still baby but Jonas could admit the circumstances then were different. "It's for Ethics. It's supposed to show us the consequences of lust."

Of course, Jonas hadn't ever really felt lust. Those urges had been suppressed with medication and now, with uncertainty.

Beka snorted, not sounding much ladily and she bit her lip to keep from laughing. "Tis different here, many gixies my age already have a babe where I'm from. Not many of my friends do, but most people I know are Dogs or rushers."

"Not everyone was allowed to birth children where I'm from," he shared, bouncing the little droid some more till she eventually stopped wriggling enough that he could hold her comfortably. "It was--"

He stopped, uncertain on how to proceed with this tidbit of information. "It was something that was controlled."

Her eyebrows knitted together. She wasn't surprised and she'd have much preferred it if she had. "And if you didn't want a babe? Did they force folk?"

"No," he said, keeping his eyes on Sarah. The name wasn't unfamiliar anymore but he'd made himself repeat it over and over in his head so he wouldn't forget it. "If you didn't want a newchild, you didn't have to have one. It was a process."

Of a sort.

She let out a breath, at least relieved about that much. "Tis a strange thing to try to control," she remarked. "It isn't like they'd be able to stop someone if they'd want to get pregnant."

Jonas didn't tell her that the Elders, that the Community could stop you from becoming pregnant just by suppressing the feelings that led to those actions. If that didn't work, you were just Released and never heard from again.

He pursed his lips and look down at Sarah, wondering how his mother and father had felt when he'd been this small. "It wouldn't be the first time people have tried to control strange things, right?"

Control and power seemed to be two things would always be around and would always be wanted.

She nodded, watching him carefully as he grew all serious. She was certain there was more to it, but like all things Jonas she didn't think pushing the point would do him good.

"So how does this assignment of yours work?" she asked instead, nodding her head towards the babe.

"Myself and my partner are supposed to care for her. For Sarah," he shared, holding the small droid up as he said her name. "Ellie, that's my partner, came up with it. It's personal to her. I've only cared for Gabe and he's a boy."

It didn't take Jonas long to figure out that caring for girls was a little different than caring for boys.

"She cries a lot," he said, worried. "I keep wondering if she's hurt."

"And you've got her for the weekend?" Beka asked. "She might just want the attention." She was assuming Jonas had covered the other bases. "I'd not think a machine can get hurt?"

"Yes, she's mine for the weekend," he said and he was already dreading how badly this would go. He wasn't often this pessimistic but some things could push him over that edge. "I didn't think machines could cry and she does. Loudly. And early."

His poor disrupted sleep.

"Like a real babe then," she teased and she held out her hands. "May I?"

"Of course, yes," he said, transferring Sarah over to Beka carefully, trying to remember things (support the head, be gentle) he'd read in parenting books from the library. "Perhaps she'll like you more than me."

Beka didn't have to think. She'd held Tansy's little one plenty of times and she cradled the droid as if it were a real babe. It wasn't warm and it didn't have that baby scent. "I don't think they're made to like someone," she mused. "Are you supposed to feed them like a real babe?"

"I believe so," he said, rubbing the back of his neck now that he had his hands free. "We were given instructions but there were so many and they were different than what I'd done when I was caring for Gabe."

Covering the bases seemed like an excellent plan. She nodded. "I'd start with that. Did they give you sommat to feed them?"

"No, that wasn't provided," Jonas told her, shaking his head. "I have a list of things I can use but it wasn't given to us. Of course, half of the things on the list are things I've either never had or have had but never had to buy myself."

He felt tired, suddenly, worn down by responsibility that he'd had to shoulder since leaving the Community. He shook it off, left it aside.

"I suppose ice cream wouldn't work," he said, laughing lightly.

"No," she agreed with a shake of her head. "I suppose not."

She considered it for an instant. "We could go to one of the stores, ask the person there if they can get it for us."

"Do you think places here on the island carry food specialized to newchildren?" Jonas wondered. He hadn't ever looked, not really, because here, he'd never had the need.

"They seem to have aught at the store," she said. "I'd not be surprised if they've got supplies for babes too."

"You're very logical," he said, grinning slightly and peering down at Sarah. "My pare--"

The word got caught in his throat and Jonas cleared it hastily. "My parents always made sure Lily and I were fed before. And I never had to shop for Gabe. I didn't know things were so specialized and specific."

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Dorm roof - Early afternoon

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