Work Text:
Sandrock Y107
"Sandrock, next stop!" the voice echoed over the speaker on the train.
Alo pulled his sunglasses down over his eyes just before the train left the tunnel and the desert sunlight hit them.
There was a general hubbub of excitement throughout the carriage, especially as the lights and towers of Catori World came into view.
His ma's pride and joy, it was. And he was proud of her, too. When she'd left him with his grandma in Atara ten years ago, chasing a dream in the desert, he'd hoped she'd succeed, even when the adults around him said she'd be back within a year, tail between her legs. She'd stuck it out, and gone from strength to strength, bringing Alo to join her a few short years later.
While his ma had never admitted to him how close she'd come to failure, some of the stories he'd heard from Andy and Jasmine had made things clear. Then the business classes he'd taken at Atara U had put a lot more in context. His admiration for her had only grown.
He'd only managed to get home to Sandrock once during his time away, for his ma's wedding. A member of the Civil Corps who originally hailed from Tallsky, Petrov was about as far removed from Arlo's own pa as he could imagine, including in how well he treated Catori. He was looking forward to meeting his little brother, too.
He smiled at the family sitting across the aisle, who were clearly heading to Catori World once they arrived in town. The young boy wore a cowboy hat with horns, and Alo wondered how Logan felt about that. The younger sister wore a pink tutu and a crown. He knew that Princess Lumi had revelled in the fame that came from her association with Sandrock, so that was less of a surprise.
Everything looked a lot greener than he remembered. On his first journey to Sandrock, they had only just begun the rebuilding. Now, the base of the Grand Mesa was teeming with plant life. Letters from Jas had made clear they were still encouraging the native plants, there was just a lot more of them. The biggest change to the ranch on the other side was a higher, tougher fence. Given his memories of Cooper, that made sense. It would serve a dual purpose of giving the yakmel some protection from the trains, which were a lot more frequent now, and staving off the perpetrators of his latest conspiracy theories.
Thinking about the ranch, turned his thoughts to Elsie. She was doing well for herself as a monster whisperer these days, from everything he'd heard. He'd had such a crush on Elsie when he was growing up. She was smart, and sassy and fearless. And totally oblivious to Alo's existence. She seemed to class him in with Andy, Jas, even Pebbles. The kids, basically.
He shook his head, trying not to think too much about her. A teenage crush, one he'd mostly got over during his time away. Anyway, when he'd been home for the wedding, Elsie had been out of town, training with someone called Panah, who was based up north. He wondered how much she'd changed in the four years since he'd last seen her.
The train slowed as it approached the station. Through the window, he could see Jensen bustling about the platform, as ever. The stationmaster was one of his favourite people in town, and he'd spent a lot of time with him as he'd learned to settle into his new home.
The square outside the station was bustling. Outside the Blue Moon, he could see Grace's drinks stall, along with half a dozen tables set up between it and the stage. There were a couple of market type stalls set up too, which he resolved to get a closer look at. Another stand with signs for Catori World indicated where tourists went to catch the shuttle to the park. But in general, it was just bigger, busier, than it had been before.
The train doors opened, and Alo stepped onto the platform. The family who had been sitting across from him made their way to the Catori World kiosk, as did several other groups. Alo headed in the opposite direction, towards the luggage car.
"Well, look who it is!" Jensen greeting him as he approached. "Your ma mentioned you were due home soon, didn't tell me it was today."
"She didn't know," Alo replied, leaning down to hug his old friend. "I said it would be this week sometime, but I had a few things to sort out so couldn't be more specific."
"And are you back for good?" Jensen asked as he hauled Alo's suitcases onto the platform.
"I think so, yeah. Got plans to work with my ma, help on the business end of things."
"Atara agreed with you, anyway. Reckon you've grown a coupla inches while you were away, too. Anyway, I need to get this here train turned around to go back. Can't believe we've got so many more coming in each day." Jensen patted Alo on the back and headed off down the platform.
Alo looked at his cases. It didn't seem much to show for the last four years of his life, but he'd learned early to travel light. One case had back straps, so he swung that one onto his back, tipped the other one onto its wheels, and headed homewards. His ma had agreed that he could stay with her for a couple of weeks; he'd already been in touch with Trudy about renting one of the town apartments though. Hopefully that would be sorted sooner rather than later.
"Hey, watch where you're going!" a voice shouted. He'd been so busy contemplating his future, that Alo had forgotten to focus on what was in front of him, and had almost walked in front of a horse. The rider continued to berate him, muttering about bloody tourists.
"And another thing—" she continued, jumping down of the horse and stalking up to him.
"Good to see you, too, Elsie," Alo said with a wry smile. His teenage crush had very much not gone away after all.
Elsie had had a long night out in the desert. It was pensky nesting season, and she and Logan were taking turns in watching the nests. Last night had seen several hatchings, all of whom seemed to be doing well. She loved her job, but times like this were stressful. The last thing she needed was to deal with some tourist who thought he was all that, but couldn't look where he was going. The overly styled hair, the sunglasses, the pressed slacks… it was clear to her that he thought he was better than Sandrock.
She jumped off of Sewell, ready to give the idiot a piece of her mind for wandering blithely in front of her.
"Good to see you, too, Elsie," he said, taking off the sunglasses, and finally giving her a good look at his face.
"Alo?" she asked in disbelief. Catori's son had still been a scrawny lad when he'd left to go to university. He'd been nineteen, she'd been twenty-three and thought she knew everything.
"The very same. Look, I'm really sorry I stepped in front of you. It's the first I've been back in a few years and, well, all this change is a bit overwhelming."
Elsie couldn't disagree with that. She'd spent a few years travelling herself, splitting her time between Sandrock and working with various other monster hunters and monster whisperers across the Free Cities. During the first year, every time she came home things had shifted.
The biggest change though, was the one standing in front of her. He'd grown a few inches, and filled out along with it. He'd lost the softness in his face as well; it was definitely a man looking back at her, not a boy.
"You back for good?" she asked. Alo nodded, realising that he'd be having this conversation multiple times over the next few weeks.
"Yep, did my studies in business and management, so the plan is I work with my ma behind the scenes."
"You're gonna be runnin' Catori World?"
"Eventually, maybe. Plan is to start me at the games centre, build up some experience."
"Makes sense. Logan's got me lookin' after penskies right now. 'splained that they were harder to mess up than tripions or dive buzzards. Same sorta thing."
They smiled at each other, happy to have found some common ground amongst their differences.
"So, um, where you stayin'?" Elsie asked, suddenly shy.
"Back at my ma's, at least to begin with. Be good to get to know Petrov better, and spend time with Waya, too."
"Ooh, yeah. bet it's strange to have a baby brother so much younger'n you."
"You can say that again. Was an only child for twenty-one years, so to suddenly have a two year old sibling is real strange."
Elsie grinned as she did the mental maths. Made him twenty-three. Which didn't seem too bad against her twenty-seven. Things in town were looking up.
"So, I was headin' to the games centre once I put Sewell back in the stable. If'n you can wait I'll walk round with you," Elsie offered. Alo noticed the tips of her ears redden as she spoke, and hoped that meant she was feeling the same buzz he was.
"That would be good, yeah," Alo replied. "My ma still lives across from it. I'm hoping I'll only be there a couple of weeks."
"I'll bet," Elsie said, taking Sewell's reins and heading towards the stable as they spoke. "I sorta moved outta my folks place. I talked m'pa into lettin' me build a second barn for some of the monsters that need specialised care, an' we included a small apartment 'bove it. Was sort of a compromise, I got my own space, but they still had me close."
"Yeah, I spent the last four years either with flat mates my own age, or on my own. Not looking forward to that side of it, but hopefully Trudy will come through with an apartment sooner rather than later."
Alo perched on top of his suitcase while Elsie busied herself brushing down Sewell. This gave Alo a chance to sit and watch her, admiring the economy of movements and how much she clearly cared for the horse. And if there was a slight wiggle of her hips as she worked, he could only hope it was deliberate. She was still the same Elsie that had haunted his dreams, but she had a confidence about her that hadn't been there before.
"Ready?" Elsie asked, breaking him out of his thoughts.
"Absolutely," he replied, picking up his case. Elsie led him through the ranch to the gate next to the games centre. They chatted about everything and nothing, and Alo was disappointed when they arrived much sooner than he'd hoped.
They looked at each other awkwardly, neither wanting to say goodbye.
"So, um wouldyouwannahavedinnertomorrow?" Alo blurted out. Elsie looked at him and blinked.
"Um, what?"
Alo bit his lip, before taking a deep breath and trying again.
"Would you want to have dinner tomorrow night? I've enjoyed catching up with you."
Elsie's face lit up.
"I'd like that," she said, smiling at him. It's not just me, he thought, as he smiled back.
Before either of them could say anything else, Catori stepped out of the games centre and saw them.
"ALO!" she screamed, "Why dintcha tell me you'd be arrivin' today!" His ma grabbed him in a hug so tight, he was barely able to breathe. He heard Elsie giggle and glanced at her over his ma's shoulder.
"Tomorrow," she mouthed as she headed into the games centre, leaving him to his ma's attentions.
Things were definitely looking up. Coming home might have been worth it in more ways than one.