mmm, pancakes

[pandion]

Andi is up first again the next morning. She pads downstairs.

Comments

[aeskhyne]

"How else am I gonna find out?"

[pandion]

"Ob...serving? If friend things happen?"

[aeskhyne]

"'Friend things' is kind of different for everybody, isn't it?"

[pandion]

"Yeah, I guess."

[aeskhyne]

"And with most people I can guess, but him I don't know well enough."

[pandion]

"I took it as a pretty encouraging sign when I brought him the stars and he told me this was a kindness and asked me about the water thing instead of going to Bella about it," offers Andi.

[aeskhyne]

"Yeah, that does sound encouraging. He told me he liked 'em, too."

[pandion]

"The stars? Yeah. I'm glad they help, being claustrophobic doesn't sound fun."

[aeskhyne]

"Yeah, I bet it's not. I get some of it when I morph Andalites, but I'm pretty sure starting out human makes a difference. Not to mention starting out me."

[pandion]

"You're, what, particularly un-claustrophobic?"

[aeskhyne]

"More like - on most things, I can get pretty damn uncomfortable before it really starts bothering me."

[pandion]

"...If you aren't bothered by a thing how is it even technically uncomfortable?"

[aeskhyne]

"Mmm... you'd call a papercut uncomfortable even if it wasn't that annoying and you could mostly ignore it, right? I feel that way about a broken arm. I just have a really high tolerance for unpleasant shit."

[pandion]

"Oh. I guess that's handy."

[aeskhyne]

He laughs. "Damn right."

[pandion]

"That's not how come you're bitey-critter-bait, though, right, that's a different thing?"

[aeskhyne]

"Yeah, mostly. I mean, maybe I wouldn't get so much out of being mauled by bears if I got more upset about pain, but who knows?"

[pandion]

"Not me, I do not know."

[aeskhyne]

Trouble giggles.

[pandion]

Andi yawns. Then she says, "I wonder when Mom's going to show up. I mean, on the one hand it's convenient that we have the house to ourselves if we're not gonna tell her stuff, on the other hand it's kind of lousy that if our dad had, actually, got mauled to death by a bear, we would be alone in his house for the next several days?"

[aeskhyne]

"...yeah," says Trouble, "I hear ya. Do you even know if anybody's talked to her yet? She was on a trip or something, right?"

[pandion]

"Nobody's reached her. I'm supposed to call the hotel she was at last night sometime today when she will probably already be gone."

[aeskhyne]

"So I guess if your dad had actually been mauled to death by a bear, you might be trying harder to get ahold of her."

[pandion]

"Well, we could have got her on the phone last night, or I could call the hotel now," says Andi, "but there wasn't a way before that, she wasn't planning to be at specific hotels at specific times till now."

[aeskhyne]

"She's probably gonna feel like shit about that when you finally talk to her."