The problem with boredom, Bawls and a teen girl

[in_any_language]

It was bound to happen eventually. Despite all the caffeine, the technology and playing with Jenny, Sam was bored. Or perhaps it was that she'd been using all of that to hide away from her emotions and to play as if she wasn't still hurting and worried

Comments

[clericpreston]

It went against every instinct to follow the sound of that shout and not stop to arm himself. He winced and sighed. Teenagers. God help them all when Jenny reached that age.

"Are you injured? And what the hell are you saying?" He'd really like to ask her not to call him Johnny, but he suspected that would backfire spectacularly.

[in_any_language]

She smiled brightly at the sight of him, bouncing up and down on the balls of her feet.

"Nooo, I'm perfectly fine. I've just had like... four bottles of Bawls in the last, oh, ten minutes and I wanted to be entertained. Like, because, I so don't really know you and I want to and... It was Chinese. You don't speak it? What do you speak?"

[clericpreston]

"I speak English. And a bit of Italian." He's watching her bounce in fascination. Where do they get that sort of energy? "What is Bawls?"

[in_any_language]

"OH! I don't know that. Teach me sometime? It's my goal to reach fifty languages by the end of the year. I only have about twenty, maybe thirty with dialects though. That's if I count programming."

She spun around, grinning. "It's a drink of sugar and guarana. It's a gamer geek drink so you can play all night."

[clericpreston]

"I understand it better than I speak it. I lack the proper accent. My daughter is much better at it."

He chuckles and shakes his head, watching her spin. "Do you have a game of some sort to stay up for, or just drank it for the aerobic effects? And how, exactly, do you propose to be entertained?"

[in_any_language]

"I have to call Anka come around... six our time. But instead of sleeping, I decided to stay up all night."

She blinks. "Daughter? I haven't actually met her. When can I? I adore Jenny. She's my frosted sister, you know." She paused, considering. "You play video games?"

[clericpreston]

"Who is Anka?" John doesn't ask about the staying up all night. He gathers that it's something teenagers do.

"Yes, Lisa. She's ten. She's been staying with a friend while I was away and while I've been here recovering. She'll be moving up soon. She adores Jenny, too, and wants more sisters." He smiles. "I have heard about you being her frosted sister. She was very excited to tell me about it."

"I have never played a video game. How do you do it?"

[in_any_language]

"Anka is my sort of girlfriend. She attends Uni in Australia but she's from Nigeria. It's how I learned the language. I met her... I met her when Tom and Cain and I were in Aussieland."

Her tones dropped a little, saddened.

"I can't wait to meet her. I'll even help her with her homework if she needs it and she can help me with my Italian." She spun towards the room.

"You push a lot of buttons and pray." She grinned, obviously oversimplifying.

[clericpreston]

He makes a note to avoid mention of Australia or anyone named Tom or Cain. Should be easy, since he didn't know any. He follows her into the room.

"Apollo and I are going to go and collect her in a couple of days. I had an emergency come up, so I had to delay it a bit. It'll be soon, though. If you like Jenny, you'll get along fine with Lisa. They're wicked little bookends."

"Push buttons... I can do that."

[in_any_language]

Sam was quiet for a while, pondering just what to do and say. "It's kind of funny. I begged my parents for years for a sibling. Who knew I had to get through all of this to get frosted sisters."

She smiled a little then, canting her head to look at him. "Hmmm, but would you be the car racing type or the beat 'em up type?"

[clericpreston]

"Apollo said you'd had a rough time. I didn't ask specifics... I don't like to pry into anyone's personal business. But, if you need anything, or to talk, you don't have to hesitate to ask."

"And, Lisa wants a dozen sisters, so she'll be thrilled to get three at once." He smiled.

John figured he did enough fighting without video games. "How about the car racing type?"