"Uh.... probably, but they'd be custom making it right out of the plant like a bunch of jackasses, so don't. I'd check town before here, anyway, we'll be in Terminal for a few days yet."

"Oh! We can just. Get off at any time??"

".... yes?? At least while we're docked."

See he'd have been fine with her paintjob if it weren't getting in the way of, uh, what again. Why is it suddenly so bothersome that he stinks, actually?

...oh. It does seem like the thing he wants here is to hug Yvette, doesn't it. That's. That's the driving consideration that's making him want to not smell, is hugging her.

Goddamnit, Stampede, you should not be doing this, and most importantly you should not be letting your subconscious mind give you the runaround like this, get a grip.

"It's not that bad, I've been through lots worse for lots longer."

"Oh, stop that, now that you're being all stoic and long-suffering about it I'm absolutely buying you a better paint job whether you like it or not. Don't you 'not that bad' me, mister, I know what you're like."

"Starting to regret all those heart-to-hearts and sharing of tragic backstories, here, I can usually get away with a lot more when I don't do those."

"Oh no, the consequences of your actions!!"

"Can I get, like, money upfront that I can then go spend in normal people land where I know how all of the rules work? Is that a thing I can get from you?"

Snort!

"Yes, of course. We can get together a proper shopping list for before the steamer sets out."

Nooooo Morgan don't leave him alone with Yvette here, he might say or do things he will REGRET and that he DOES NOT WANT TO SAY OR DO because Yvette is nice to him or smiles or does something incredibly good like absolutely fucking killing the act of the ice queen bitch who gets everything she wants which she was only doing for good reasons that make her a great person he did not know he had that kink. He doesn't even have a sexuality, he turned that off over a century ago, but STILL.

"Add clothes that aren't going to fray to pieces if they spend five minutes in hot water to the list," he suggests in lieu of letting literally any of that show because no.

(...the plant is laughing at him. Why is the plant laughing at him. Go away plant he is not talking to you no don't actually he was just being immature he doesn't want you to go away.)

"Is that a crack about my sewing job? I'll have you know that my stitches will hold together better than any of the rest of that getup!"

Giggle.

"I think that proves his point more than anything else. Proper list, then we send, uh, probably Morgan out? I'll want to have a look at the plant sooner rather than later and shopping would kind of put a damper on that."

"She's been listening in to this conversation, for what it's worth. ...all conversations, they've got amazing attentional capacity, but, you know, she's paying special attention here since I can respond. She likes you."

"Aw! Does she. Well, good, I like her too. I will be yelling at very many people on her behalf. Hm. I'll want to see if somewhere in town can do laundry, probably we should have our supplies refilled from here as much as possible for wherever we go next after the sand steamer, uh..."

She's absolutely going to get distracted by list making and figuring out what things they'll need. This is probably the best way to cheer her up, actually.

Zash is not, actually, very good at, uh... noticing things that make him uncomfortable. Most of the time. Or at keeping track of comforts of any kind. So he is not great at making a list. What he can do is figure out which parts of his current getup sound most objectionable for the purpose of hugs and then see if they can get those fixed.

Fortunately for him, Yvette is very good at making lists! And will advocate for him having nice things. A tidy list is made in record time, and Morgan and a stack of double dollars are sent off into town to distribute wealth to the general population.

("Where were you even keeping those???" asks Morgan, when the double dollars appear.

  "Now why would I tell you that?"

"Ha! Fair.")

And then, predictably, horror of horrors:

Zash is left alone with Yvette.

Yep.

Yep. Uh, yep.

Shut up plant.

(No, no, he—when he says that he doesn't mean it it's just a reference to a certain character archetype—)

He can spend a while paying attention to this conversation with the plant rather than the fact that he's in a room alone with Yvette and that hadn't been a problem before and it only became a problem because he made it be one in his head ughhhhhhhhhh.

"How's she doing?" wonders Yvette, softly, after she's had her very own shower and changed into a (complimentary to incentivize the laundry service!) robe.

"Not, uh, amazing, but a lot better now that we're here? She was so lonely, she's been telling me everything about everyone. Even considering how lonely she was she is very chatty. And she's also trying to distract herself from how much strain they're putting on her by focusing more on the conversation so I'm trying to stay entertaining.

"She wants you to know her name."

"!!! I want to know her name too, yes please! Hi precious plant I'm Yvette I'm going to try my very very best to help you out??"

He offers her his non-robot hand for her to hold. "I don't think I can convey her name at a distance, but just a little bit of skin contact should be enough." He is gunk incarnate.

His non-robot hand is a bit of a strange color right now, on account of his cosmetic changes (that still kind of weird her out a bit), but is comparatively pretty clean! She holds his hand happily.

Also, since she's aware that she can be heard, she will think ALL ABOUT how plants are SO COOL and AWESOME and DO THE NEATEST THINGS and how they are SO IMPORTANT and SAVING SO MANY PEOPLE and she loves them SO and has devoted her LIFE to helping them!

And he can try to convey the name.