This is probably not an attempt to flirt with Iomedae? But Evelyn is not 100% sure, she doesn't know Juan well enough to be sure he definitely wouldn't, and it's not like she said out loud that Iomedae is only fifteen. She doesn't have any real reason to object, though, if Iomedae seems unbothered by it. 

- does Alfirin seem okay? Evelyn feels like she's been paying less attention to Alfirin than would be ideal. 

Alfirin has been inspecting a bike. She's reasonably sure it's a construct and not an animal, and she thinks she's figured out how the pedals work, but she doesn't know how it stays standing up when it's moving. It might be magic but it'd be pretty strange magic to make it stand up when it's moving and not when it's still, and not help it move at all.

Oh she's being curious about bikes and that's adorable. ...Evelyn does not feel moved to intervene, though she should totally try to find the bike gear video that Jeremy showed Iomedae the other night, once they get home. 

- how's Iomedae doing, with the clearly-very-fancy bike Juan just offered her?

Iomedae is in fact not bothered by the bike-shop employee being friendly! He's just an employee at a shop. If Jeremy wants her she has very few options; if an employee at a bike shop does, they will simply leave the bike shop.

She will try the nicer breed of bike! It does ride differently. She likes it.

Super valid of her! It's a great bike!

...Evelyn will almost certainly not want to pay an entire $550 for a secondhand bike, even if it's a top-of-the-line lightweight aluminum frame commuter bike with brand-new parts including high-quality tires, that Iomedae will almost certainly grow into even if the frame is a little too big for her now, and so he shouldn't get too excited.

He'll wave and stop her again and then yoink down a third bike, which is also a lighter-weight frame, but much cheaper - slightly smaller, older parts, fewer repairs and replacements because it's not his favorite bike in the shop - and offer it to Iomedae to try out, as well. 

Evelyn did not actually see the price tag on the fancy bike, but she did see Iomedae's expression. Iomedae is - getting better at hiding her reactions from Evelyn, which Evelyn is not a huge fan of - but she was distracted, presumably with trying not to fall over and focusing on how the bike was different, and so her enjoyment of the nicer bike was pretty obvious to Evelyn. 

...Ugh. It probably costs a bunch. But - she would have bought it for Jeremy, right, and it's not like she can't afford it - the issue is just that Iomedae will, almost certainly, freak out about a bike that costs as little as $200 - though, now that Evelyn considers it, it's not like Iomedae knows how much a secondhand bike usually costs...

Iomedae has no idea how much a secondhand bike usually costs! She will attempt to ask Juan about what makes some bikes better behaved than other bikes.

Juan is very excited about this topic! 

- So it depends what you're using your bike for, right, do you want to race it or commute on it or ride off-road on it. The second bike he showed her is their top of the line for commuting - if she wants to go to school or work on normal roads, and be able to bike pretty fast and manage uphill and downhill, it's got a high-quality newly replaced derailleur for changing gears - but it wouldn't be as well-behaved on gravel or grass or uneven ground as the first bike she tried, which has thicker tires for that purpose. 

(He's picked up that Iomedae isn't that fluent in English, and is trying to use simpler words and occasionally adding the Spanish phrase as well.) 

There are smooth flat stone roads everywhere in America. It's ridiculous. There's an army of specialized constructs or beasts just for maintaining them. She switches to Spanish entirely; it's easier. "I can't think where I would want to go that doesn't have a paved road to get there. Where do people find themselves needing the bike for dirt roads?"

"There are nature trails! It's something people do for fun, or to get exercise - or because they want to see a gorgeous view - not so much to get to work." 

"Oh, well, I'm a" back to English "foster child", "so I don't think I'm going to be doing any things for fun, just to get to work and so on."

Juan is giving her such a nonplussed look. He answers in Spanish, it's pretty clear she's more fluent in that and honestly so is he.

"- Were your last foster parents awful like that? Well, you're in luck now because Evelyn is all about fun family outings. - She's not much of a nature person, or - as fit as you," he would feel way more self-conscious saying this in English in front of her, even though Evelyn speaks enough Spanish to probably catch some of it, "but she's kind of obsessed with giving kids all the nice childhood stuff she thinks they were deprived of." 

"I had a very nice childhood but that was when I was a free person from a rich family. It sounds like Evelyn will not want me to go on 'nature trails'? So I don't need the wider tires?"

That's a concerning thing to say! Also a pretty weird thing to say, honestly, but it's incredibly rude to ask how on earth she ended up in foster care in the first place if her parents treated her well and were rich. 

"I think Evelyn would take you out to nature trails on the drop of a dime if you asked, and then she'd fail to keep up with you and be embarrassed," Juan says dryly. "You'll probably get more use out of the road bike, if you mostly want some freedom to get yourself places in the city. Public transit here sucks." 

Oh no Juan is making faces and they're talking fast in Spanish and Evelyn is only catching a few words of how Iomedae is being surreal to interact with this particular time. She doesn't think it involved mentioning God, at least? 

"I noticed everything was very very far from everything else, and I don't have a car, and I'm not allowed to earn money plus a car would make it easy to escape so I don't expect I'll be able to get one any time soon. A commuter bike would be nice but I'm not sure I can afford it. How much is it?"

Easy to what??? ...This is baffling and awkward and Juan should...probably...try to mention to Evelyn privately that her foster daughter seems to have some really concerning feelings about being in foster care. It's not like it's the first time he's heard a similar sentiment but it's - stranger, somehow, coming from someone with Iomedae's overall manner. 

"Kids in foster care can work," he says, since that seems like the easiest misconception to correct. "One of Evelyn's foster kids a few years back worked here, she was all over helping him get his first part-time job and everything." 

Evelyn caught some of that, at least. 

"Iomedae is undocumented," she says quickly, in English because she's absolutely not about to try to keep up with them in Spanish and embarrass herself. "There's a plan in motion to get her paperwork sorted out, but you know how it is. And she's fifteen, so still a bit young to start learning to drive." 

"Aww. That sucks." He switches to English as well, and shoots Iomedae a sympathetic look. "She can still get her learners permit, I think, but if she doesn't have ID yet that might be messy." 

"Yeah. And she's still learning to read English. I was thinking we could look into driving lessons once she's sixteen," assuming Iomedae doesn't RUN AWAY TO AFRICA or do something even more concerning than that, "and a bit more settled." 

Nod. Smile at Iomedae, and he switches back to Spanish. "Don't worry about the price, Evelyn will buy it for you." 

Iomedae's expression goes studied and expressionless. "That is very kind of her."

It is, but this is mostly frustrating rather than comforting. If Evelyn wanted, she could pay Iomedae. (Unless she can't? Because it's against the law for people to pay Iomedae?) Maybe Evelyn is keeping track of how much Iomedae is owed at a fair wage and then paying her in presents, which would be astoundingly decent of her but also makes it impossible for Iomedae to decide how she wants to spend her money. She would not, if it were her money, spend this much of it on a nice bike before she'd tried just running everywhere or getting the cheapest bike. But it is ungrateful, to make that complaint about Evelyn's money; Evelyn can do as she pleases. 

It is the kind of thing a rich person would do for their child, and they are obliged to pretend that that's what's going on here. She doesn't need to overthink it. 

...Yeah. That's the face of someone who Doesn't Want Charity and is uncomfortable about it. Juan would suggest they split it and Iomedae can pay the difference between the nice bike and the cheap bike, but she's legally not allowed to have a a part-time job, it sounds like, and that's got to be, like, six months of allowance. 

"How about this?" he says brightly to Evelyn. "I'm going to mark it down for you - it's only fair, you give me so much business - so it'll be $450. The bike I had her try out first is $250, so that's a $200 difference, and - sounds like I couldn't pay her either, but I don't see why we couldn't make a deal where she does a few Saturdays of volunteering here, I could really use someone strong who can haul bikes up and down for me. She can put it down as volunteer hours for high school, even." 

- he'll quickly repeat this in Spanish for Iomedae, to see whether she actually seems pleased at the idea. 

Alfirin has been listening to this conversation while she pokes bikes and finds it confusing and somewhat alarming. She is definitely not going to express any interest in bikes or...anything else, maybe, until she understands their situation better.

Iomedae is also really confused and alarmed. "I am willing to work at the bike shop towards the cost of the bike." she says, trying not to let the confusion into her voice too much.