The (Mis)Adventures of (Re)Becca Smellie

Chapter 14: Dust

The subsequent events after the "union" made everyone unbearably uncomfortable - except for Becca. Becca was just there for the science job.

The bewildered Justice had to be escorted out by one of the robot helpers named Lumiere, though to be frank, they both needed to run away to escape the rampage Opaleian went on as he tore through the ceremony room, the hallways, the factory plant, and the garage as he chased his associates around Orda Co. Becca gave a cheery wave goodbye to the Justice then proceeded to follow her new colleagues for a while with a quick jog, though she was still unable to understand the reason for the sudden commotion. After a few minutes of running and dodging the occasional set of debris, she got bored and headed back to her room. The candles were blown out around the floors where the trio was hot on the chase, but luckily for her, the hallway that led to her room still seemed to be lit as she exited the elevator. She patted the doorframe of her room to turn on the light switch that gave a light, flickering orange glow. The light turned on to show the room riddled with pillows and disorganized furniture.

As the door opened, Emily jumped on Becca and greeted her with a multitude of sticky kisses, to which Becca laughed and wiped off with the disheveled dress. She took a look around the room and decided the best time to start unpacking was probably now, out of a lack of anything else to do. The push of responsibility and organization wasn't the reason - that was a specialty in Bella's field.

Becca rummaged through her suitcase and pulled out her clothes by giving them a swift toss in the air until she found what she was looking for - her pajamas, which she put on swiftly, and her personal gaming console.

"Jackpot!" she exclaimed and turned to Emily happily, who was nowhere to be found. "Emily? Where did ya go you silly goose?"

Little mechanical barks could be heard from under a pile of tops and long socks, then the pile shifted slightly as a snout popped up from beneath. Becca laughed and lifted Emily out from under the clothes and let her run free around the room. She took her VR headset and set up the gaming console next to a newly empty wall after removing the pieces of artwork and putting them under the bed. The canvas paintings were multiple whimsical representations of emotions with bright colors, varied shapes, and were originals from a renowned and mysterious Aliva artist that went by the name LechiM.

These details escaped Becca since her primary concern was the beautiful blank wall behind the canvases. Regardless, she wouldn't have recognized the name, though she did think about how much Bella would like the paintings as she tucked them under the bed.

"When Noob comes to visit, we'll show her these," she said to Emily with a smile. "Now let's play!"

The next few minutes flew by as she picked the game back up where she had left off earlier the prior day, when the Chubby Cherub dropped the flowers off for her and invited her to join Orda Co. Her mind raced as she both replayed all of the events that transpired over the past 24 hours and simultaneously also played the video game. Doing both things proved to be quite enjoyable, as she felt so ecstatic it was like she was flying on a cloud.

A couple of things did bother her though. After thinking back to everything that happened with her family once she got home after school, she realized at that moment that she hadn't communicated with her family about her plans. In her rush to get everything ready to leave, she completely forgot to leave a note on the fridge. Then she was too distracted observing the pod's controls as they left Aliva to reach Orda Co. Then, to top it off, she had to go through a whole weird European labor union initiation ceremony, and try to think back to all the stories her father told her about France and the U.K. to get some context on how to behave and what social cues to use.