Room 315, Wednesday Early Evening

[peace_n_war]

"Hey, dad. It's Warren again. I'm starting to wonder if you even have room on your answering machine anymore, but hey, at least if you've run out by now you won't have to listen through three or four lifetimes of me phoning you like this someday, huh? I'm sixteen still, but not for long. Seventeen tomorrow, dad! I've still got that job at the cafe, and I'm still hanging out with that girl I mentioned last time. She's been trying to get me to go swimming with her. Weird, huh? Me. Swimming. I don't even like the beach, except that I can throw fire around. Other than that, seventeen doesn't seem like it's going to be much different than sixteen was. I'm, uh, still not a villain. Not really a hero either, don't worry. I think I want to call Mom sometime, too, but I can actually talk to her. She'll want to know all that stuff I've been telling you, dad. Asking about girls and school and if I've followed in your footsteps and become a criminal mastermind, and if I have then I'm grounded for life. Thanks loads, Mom, right? ... Seventeen tomorrow."

...

"I miss you dad."

Warren hung up his phone, sighed, and reached for a book. Seventeen, sixteen, whatever. Wasn't like any of it made any difference either way.

[Open post is open! I probably won't be about tomorrow for a job interview, so Warren gets to birthday whine today.]

Comments

[peace_n_war]

"My dad had the glare part mastered. I think it's hereditary, actually. I had to get mine from somewhere." Warren actually sounded pretty proud of that fact. "And punishment techniques? Yeah. Let's just say you don't mess around with a dad who has a secret hideout. You never know what kind of kid torture he's got hiding in there. Extra homework, broccoli..."

The guy was evil, sure, but he hadn't really been a bad dad.

[stupid-toasters.livejournal.com]

"See, my dad was away a lot so the punishment tended to fall to my mom who just sort of yelled and grounded us," he said. "It wasn't all that effective because I'd just sneak out later. When my dad was home, it was glaring and lectures and all that. Still not effective."

[peace_n_war]

"Fandom was Mom's punishment for me. Dad probably would have come up with something better than boarding school, but it's hard to punish your kid from solitary." The brain-to-mouth filter wasn't working so well, anyhow. "Mom's not so great at punishments. Clearly."

[stupid-toasters.livejournal.com]

That...was some new information. One Lee filed away, deciding not to press too much at the current moment. No need to have Warren shut down.

"But, did you think it was a pretty good punishment at first?" Lee asked. "It started out as a punishment and got better."

[peace_n_war]

"Hated it here," Warren agreed with a shrug. "I was just getting used to my last school. I actually didn't hate everyone I knew. Made friends, even. And then around here it was right back to square one. Left my job behind. Stuff like that."

[stupid-toasters.livejournal.com]

"New schools are a bitch," he agreed. "And I don't think parents understand how hard they are. But yeah, build all that up only to have it wrecked. Takes some time to rebuild."

[peace_n_war]

"And I guess you could kind of say that I'm not really a people-person," Warren added dryly. "What is it with people around here wanting to hang off of the guys who really, really don't want the attention, anyhow?"

[heromaniac]

"I can always just be there as a friend too, okay? And if he says he won't help because of who your dad is, then not only is he a mean person and a bad hero but I can totally yell at him and threaten to stomp on his foot since I'd just be me as me or something ! And if he gets mad at me I won't care since he would just be a mean old man." She was only half kidding. When family and love was at stake, Momoko took no prisoners. "And then we can think of something else to do that wouldn't get people hurt. Maybe breaking you into the prison for a few hours or something, who knows."

She waved her hand towards the book. "So, what are you reading? It's Chinese, right?"

[stupid-toasters.livejournal.com]

"I think some people think they can change you," Lee said. "And when I say you, I mean in general terms, not you specifically. And maybe there's the mystery factor."

[peace_n_war]

Warren was so, so thankful for the topic change, right then.

But the idea of him breaking into the prison... That was going to be a difficult one to shake off. Hm.

"Chinese mythology," Warren replied with a nod. "It was a present from my employers back home."

[peace_n_war]

"Mystery factor," Warren echoed. "If I'd known people were going to hang off of me if they thought I was mysterious, I would have... I don't know. Worn brighter clothes or something."

He made a face at that. "But then they'd think I was being inviting or something."

[heromaniac]

"A present from your employers? If you brought it from home, you must really like it. You can read Chinese as well as speak it, then? Even Kanji?!" She couldn't read or speak more than a few phrases, Miyako was the languages expert. "You like the whole culture, then? Food, mythology, language...?"

[peace_n_war]

"You get immersed in it, you kind of pick up a few things," Warren noted. "I think I'm closer with my old employers at the Paper Lantern than I am with my mom."

There was a reason he'd always chosen to pick up so many shifts there. It was easier to spend time at work than it was to try to second-guess where his mom's head was going to be when he got home.

[heromaniac]

Now she really really really wanted to ask about his mom. What kind of person was she? Was she married to his dad? Was she a villain, too? Did she have powers? Was she nice? Did Warren look like her?

But after the heavy stuff about his dad, she wasn't sure she should.

"Even I know you don't just 'pick up' kanji; it's supposed to be really hard for westerners to learn, too. Face it, you're just super smart and totally cool. Although you'd be way cooler if it was Japanese, but I'm probably biased about that!" She grinned. "But at least now I know what I can buy for you when I need to buy you presents! It's kind of hard to wrap Chinese food."

[peace_n_war]

Warren was the spitting image of his father, actually. Except Warren had better hair than his dad had at this age.

"Hey, if you really wanted to wrap Chinese food, I'm sure you would have found a way." Warren smiled faintly. "And really, you don't have to worry about presents anyhow."

Not even tomorrow. Because he wasn't telling anyone for anything. Nope.

[heromaniac]

Momoko was happy to see even that faint smile and she grinned larger in return. "Well, that's true. About the wrapping, I mean. Of course I'm going to worry about the presents, you do that when you want the person to like what you give them!" Plus his eyes did sparkle when he was happy and she liked making him really smile.

[peace_n_war]

"I like the Abaranger," Warren noted, gesturing to where the action figure was standing in a place of honor on his shelf. "Getting the red one was a good call."

[heromaniac]

She looked and laughed, clapping her hands. "I'm glad you really did like it! I was going to offer to take it back if you didn't. My three-year old self was pretty sure that everyone would be happy with action figures!"

[peace_n_war]

"Looks like you had pretty good taste even at three," he smirked. "I guess I'm going to have to play with it sometime. It would be pretty sad of me to get such a cool toy and then just leave it to sit and collect dust."

[heromaniac]

"Then I need to buy you more in case the urge to play comes over you all of a sudden! Let's see, that's Chinese food, a book with inferior kanji, and cool toys. Christmas is gone... Valentines'... Right! Your birthday! When's your birthday? I have some shopping to do!"

[peace_n_war]

... Oh. Crap. There was no way to weasel out of this one, was there?

Nope. Warren couldn't see one.

"It's. Uh. Tomorrow."

Maybe if he mumbled it, she wouldn't hear and that would be fine!

[heromaniac]

She heard him, barely. But did she believe him?

"No, seriously? Really really seriously? Tomorrow?!"

[peace_n_war]

"Yeah," he clarified, sighing faintly. "It's tomorrow. So?"

It was just another day of the year. See? No big deal.

[heromaniac]

"So?! So?!" She threw up her arms and dropped her shoulders. "So, I don't have time to plan anything and there's not even a cake, although I could probably order one, but I don't know what kind you like and they may not be able to do one in time at such short notice. And I'm not too sure about the bakery in town, I mean they have good doughnuts and pastries but have you tried their cakes? Maybe I could ask my Food Appreciation teacher, but that's Tuesdayand I can't wait that long if it's tomorrow and I really should have asked you earlier so it's my fault and I don't even have a present for you!"

[peace_n_war]

"Uh, Momoko?" Warren grimaced, hoping that he hadn't managed to break the poor girl or something without intending to. "It's no big deal. Really. Don't worry about it. I'm not."