Five things ficlets, third round!
ReBoot Edition!
For lyssie:
1. When she was very young, Dot kept her hair in a chin-length bob, mostly because her mother kept convincing her to get it cut that way. The cut was cute, she has to admit, although she suspects it was more because short hair was easier for Mairi to deal with.
2. By seven, Dot started growing her hair out and wearing it in pigtails. There are a lot of pictures of her from that time with two neat braids hanging over her shoulders. Bob tries to suppress a grin every time he sees them, but usually winds up kissing away her scowl and reassuring her that she looked cute with her hair like that. She tries to be irritated, but it’s hard.
After all, Bob is a really good kisser.
3. Around the age of ten, Dot got sick of the cute little braids and started pulling her hair back in one long, simple braid. It kept it out of the way and was nearly as practical as cutting it all off, which she just didn’t quite have the heart to do.
4. Dot cringes when she looks back at her (not that old!) yearbooks and the slightly-longer-than-shoulder-length, feathered back hair that she affected at the beginning of high school. It was a popular style, mostly worn by teenage girls who didn’t realize how awful it truly was.
She gives Bob credit for an impressive poker face every time he finds one of those pictures. His lips don’t even twitch upwards.
5. Suddenly having sole responsibility for her little brother and a brand-new business left Dot with no time to color and style wild, parrot-like hair. She almost goes back to the bob she had as a child, but the lump in her throat ruthlessly inspires her to cut even higher, finally winding up with a short, practical pixie cut that maybe…almost…makes her look like an adult.
Dot nods in grim satisfaction at her reflection in the mirror when she’s through and puts the scissors back down beside the sink.
For beckyh2112:
1. He had Bob and Dot and Phong and everyone else in the system surrounding him, so it wasn’t like he was ever actually alone, but there was a huge difference between being surrounded by a bunch of adults who may have loved him, but sure didn’t get a lot of things, and having someone there who understood completely what it was like to feel like it was just you against a world that was a lot taller and older and talked about things that you didn’t quite understand but really kinda wanted to.
Enzo hadn’t really known just how badly he needed that until AndrAIa was there and he suddenly had it. It was different, turning to someone and being able to look them in the eye and complain about school and maybe sometimes talk about things that sometimes gave him the absolute jaggies and there was no possible way he planned on ever telling Dot or Bob.
So, right from the start, he loves her because she makes him realize how alone he was and she keeps him from ever being that alone again.
2. He loves her because she was the one constant in his life after he screwed up badly and every other familiar thing was taken away. He loves Frisket, but he knows it’s not the same. He doesn’t think he could have survived system-hopping if it was just him and Frisket. He’s glad he never had to try it.
3. He loves her because she’s an eternal optimist and she always seems to find a way to make him smile even when he’s sunk deep in his own angst. She makes them new friends in almost every system they encounter and gives him reasons to keep opening his eyes and getting up every morning.
He doesn’t know how she stays so cheerful and he hopes to the User she never stops.
4. He loves her because she never puts up with his crap and she’s perfectly willing to let him have it right between the eyes when he’s being difficult. Unlike a lot of the people they’ve encountered during their travels, AndrAIa’s never been afraid of him and his temper.
Besides, they both know she can kick his ascii without even breaking a sweat.
5. He’s not sure why he loves her and he’s not sure he even needs to quantify it. He just knows that he does and he hopes she always knows that.
For lyssie:
1. When she was very young, Dot kept her hair in a chin-length bob, mostly because her mother kept convincing her to get it cut that way. The cut was cute, she has to admit, although she suspects it was more because short hair was easier for Mairi to deal with.
2. By seven, Dot started growing her hair out and wearing it in pigtails. There are a lot of pictures of her from that time with two neat braids hanging over her shoulders. Bob tries to suppress a grin every time he sees them, but usually winds up kissing away her scowl and reassuring her that she looked cute with her hair like that. She tries to be irritated, but it’s hard.
After all, Bob is a really good kisser.
3. Around the age of ten, Dot got sick of the cute little braids and started pulling her hair back in one long, simple braid. It kept it out of the way and was nearly as practical as cutting it all off, which she just didn’t quite have the heart to do.
4. Dot cringes when she looks back at her (not that old!) yearbooks and the slightly-longer-than-shoulder-length, feathered back hair that she affected at the beginning of high school. It was a popular style, mostly worn by teenage girls who didn’t realize how awful it truly was.
She gives Bob credit for an impressive poker face every time he finds one of those pictures. His lips don’t even twitch upwards.
5. Suddenly having sole responsibility for her little brother and a brand-new business left Dot with no time to color and style wild, parrot-like hair. She almost goes back to the bob she had as a child, but the lump in her throat ruthlessly inspires her to cut even higher, finally winding up with a short, practical pixie cut that maybe…almost…makes her look like an adult.
Dot nods in grim satisfaction at her reflection in the mirror when she’s through and puts the scissors back down beside the sink.
For beckyh2112:
1. He had Bob and Dot and Phong and everyone else in the system surrounding him, so it wasn’t like he was ever actually alone, but there was a huge difference between being surrounded by a bunch of adults who may have loved him, but sure didn’t get a lot of things, and having someone there who understood completely what it was like to feel like it was just you against a world that was a lot taller and older and talked about things that you didn’t quite understand but really kinda wanted to.
Enzo hadn’t really known just how badly he needed that until AndrAIa was there and he suddenly had it. It was different, turning to someone and being able to look them in the eye and complain about school and maybe sometimes talk about things that sometimes gave him the absolute jaggies and there was no possible way he planned on ever telling Dot or Bob.
So, right from the start, he loves her because she makes him realize how alone he was and she keeps him from ever being that alone again.
2. He loves her because she was the one constant in his life after he screwed up badly and every other familiar thing was taken away. He loves Frisket, but he knows it’s not the same. He doesn’t think he could have survived system-hopping if it was just him and Frisket. He’s glad he never had to try it.
3. He loves her because she’s an eternal optimist and she always seems to find a way to make him smile even when he’s sunk deep in his own angst. She makes them new friends in almost every system they encounter and gives him reasons to keep opening his eyes and getting up every morning.
He doesn’t know how she stays so cheerful and he hopes to the User she never stops.
4. He loves her because she never puts up with his crap and she’s perfectly willing to let him have it right between the eyes when he’s being difficult. Unlike a lot of the people they’ve encountered during their travels, AndrAIa’s never been afraid of him and his temper.
Besides, they both know she can kick his ascii without even breaking a sweat.
5. He’s not sure why he loves her and he’s not sure he even needs to quantify it. He just knows that he does and he hopes she always knows that.