ROD : LEVEL 10

DAY 195 : C-DAY, FIRSTWEEK, GAIA, YEAR 1

CENTRAL 17 : HISTORICAL DISTRICT 2 : BAD WRITING

So it’s been a few weeks. I’ve kept up my stalking and I’ve kept out of sight. And I’ve kept coming up empty.

Is there truly no one else the least bit concerned about this group? Am I just being crazy? I don’t even know anymore.

But if I just leave Central again… The thing that scares me the most is what I’ll find when I get back.

So I’m here. Still, and again, getting drunk on ice cream as a cover for what The Admins are clearly aware I’m doing. And if they’re okay with this… Then what does that even mean? That I’m actually right? That I’m harmless? Or just that literally anything goes as long as it’s not sexual?

Interrupting what has now become an hourly questioning of my entire life or lack thereof, Darreck once more rounds on his wards about half a street away from where I’ve posted up for the day. “Alright ladies, where to next?”

A particularly distracted Jessie seems to just blurt out whatever’s on her mind. “Which parent would I have been born to if they never got together?”

Yellow turns to her in a huff. “Oh what in the hell are you on about now?”

“which family would I have been born into? I mean assuming my mom and dad never got together, but both still had kids.”

The blonde smirks. “Unless your dad conceived with the other partner on the same day as he did with your mom, you would’ve been ‘born into’ a tissue. Your purpose would’ve been to make it just a little bit stickier. And then crustier. And that would’ve been your story.”

After that, they both start bickering about the whole sperm vs egg thing. Because feminism I guess? I’m not sure which side is for or against on that one. Nor do I care. Nor does my attention last anywhere near long enough to find out.

Not that I don’t have thoughts on the subject. But it’s more a philosophical discussion to do with the origin of consciousness. And I know perfectly well how unverifiable that is in any direction. So unless they have some new information I haven’t considered, I can’t be bothered. Therefore… I can’t be bothered.

I do zone back into it for the length of a single line from Jessie. “And then he penised her in the vagina.”

But then I’m gone again. As emphasized by what I just heard, the whole argument they’re having is just so vain and stupid.

Darreck seems to agree as he takes my side by staying out of it.

But Yellow’s argument eventually settles into a brooding sort of displeasure at him clearly ignoring her.

Blue answers the silent protest by radiating a contented comfort at Yellow being uncomfortable.

God, I really do know them all too well.

But Green scoffs at Blue. “Oh, don’t get all smug just because you beat the rest of us at cooking yesterday. You’re still the worst.”

Jessie smells blood in the water. “Says the pot to the kettle…”

Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.

Everyone looks at her.

“…You’re black.”

As the least-accurate recipient of that sort-of-insult, Yellow rounds on Jessie, having finally spotted a way to release her tension.

But Green beats her to it as she folds her arms. “That’s stupid. We can’t both be the worst.”

Jessie grins even more smugly than Blue was just looking before she shrunk back in on herself. “That’s not what I said.”

“Yes it is.”

“Well then, you’re wrong.”

“By whose standards? Yours?”

“That's right.”

“Then you’ve got abysmal standards that aren’t at all objective, and only take into account your own idiotic agenda.”

Jessie blinks. Then she leans over to project a whisper at Blue. “Oooh shit, I just got TOLD. I’m gonna need some medicine water for that SICK BURN.”

Darreck sighs. “You guys are giving me a migraine… If we could still get those… Anyway, I assume Red is referring to the original use of the phrase, uncorrupted by society’s common misconception that pots and kettles are both black. I’m not sure why that became a thing. I don’t know that I’ve ever seen a black kettle. Rather, they were classically made of a reflective metal.”

“Oh…” Green eyes Jessie suspiciously. “How’d she know that when I didn’t?”

Jessie offers a single solemn nod. “One of the great mysteries of the cosmos. We may never know why you’re such a dumb-”

Just then, Yellow screams in a shrill, undisguised mix of frustration, rage, and about a dozen other emotions defused in a way that makes them hard to clock from where I’m sitting.

Everyone near the group, and a good deal not, wincingly lowers their hands from their ears after the resulting and resounding silence.

Before they can say anything, Yellow grumbles out a distinct lack of a response to anything anyone else was saying. “I want ice cream.”

What?

Jessie lights up as her argumentative impulses melt away like the contents of the bowl in front of me.

Oh no.

My stomach plummets as they all seem to somehow turn on the same heel and walk straight towards the Ice Cream Social where I’m sitting.

Unsure of what else to do, and not a little drunk, I hold up the mostly empty, entirely liquid contents of my bowl in front of my face. I need to cover as many of my recognizable features as physically possible without making any sudden, and therefore attention-grabbing movements. All told, it doesn’t work very well.

And soon enough, Jessie bursts through the door, skipping right up to the cashier, chanting in a loop all the while. “ICE CREAM, ICE CREAM, ICE… Cream…” Spotting me midway through the third ‘ice cream’, Jessie’s eyes go wide. Then she runs.

Darreck looks alarmed.

Blue looks scared.

Green looks curious.

Yellow looks between me and the fleeing Jessie. “Heh… Red and Rod… Nice.”

My eyes bulge, zeroing in on the shrinking form already a few streets over.

[ HERO TARGETED: RED ]

Oh no. When did that happen? This is so much worse than I thought…

But then my attention is utterly captivated by the oft-ignored member of the group. So I start gaping at her instead.

Everyone does.

Blue is currently eating her own hair. I mean really going to town. Like a cow on grass, she’s just chomping and chewing and staring into the middle distance while she does it. She doesn’t even seem to realize she’s doing anything abnormal. I’d put money on the fact that it never even crossed her mind.

But it definitely does get noticed.

By everybody.

Everybody.

I have literally never had a better distraction than this weird, wonderful girl.

I run.

No one follows. Of course they don’t.

That’s what makes it such a great distraction.