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

[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?"

[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]

"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."

[stupid-toasters.livejournal.com]

"I can't picture you as a really yellow sort of guy either," Lee said. "Maybe a dark orange but and dark reds but yeah, nothing bright."

[peace_n_war]

"Dark orange is a good one," Warren noted. "And I wear reds anyhow. Maybe what I really need is a sign or something warning people that if they get too close, I'm prone to spontaneously combusting. Not pretty, really."

He grinned. "Then I'd have to start lighting myself on fire every now and again to make it believable."