Free Web NovelChapter 57: Chapter 56 - Intervention
Point-of-View: Inoka Fonseka
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"So, uh...what kind of movie is this?" Inquired Zoraiz in bemusement.
"I told you about this one the other day, remember? It’s got a sequel too, let’s watch that next. Also, I still can’t believe that you’d never even heard of Borat before!" I responded indignantly.
"Is it really supposed to be such a classic? So far, I really don’t see the appeal," He replied, cringing slightly.
"I mean, yeah, some of the scenes are kinda outrageous and hard to watch, but that’s what makes it so much fun, how extreme it is!" I insisted, as he reached for some chips with a sigh.
"Fine, I did say that I’ll watch the whole thing, so you can stop telling me how amazing it is."
Right, yeah...he’s got a point, overhyping something to someone can be a huge mistake, you’ll end up raising their expectations way too high and then inadvertently end up disappointing them when the thing you were hyping up doesn’t live up to the hype you built up.
A knock on the door then echoed out, before the door opened and Alexis stepped in. Her hair looked a bit damp, and her skin looked like it was slightly glistening...no doubt about it, she’d just taken a shower.
"Hey, guys...what are you upto?" She inquired, as she walked in, before adding as she scrunched up her nose, "Ugh, it reeks of smoke in here."
"Don’t look at me, he’s the one sucking down on cancer sticks, not me," Responded Zoraiz, giving me a look of disdain.
"Heh, sucking down on cancer sticks...that’s a good one, nice," Chuckled Alexis, as she sat down.
Hey, quit ganging up on me, so not cool. Freaking teenagers...
"Leave me alone, you brats. It’s not like I was smoking when I was your age," I defended myself, as I lit up another cig to spite them, taking a puff and exhaling on their faces.
"You’re just barely two years older than me," Countered Zoraiz with a raised eyebrow.
"And I was literally raised around cigarettes, alcohol, meth, coke and a bunch of other crap. Sure, you’ve had a rough life and all, and it’s not exactly a contest, but we’ve had even rougher lives," Added Alexis, as she used her hand to fan away the smoke.
...can’t argue with that, I suppose. At some point, we’d all shared our backstories with each other. It wasn’t all that dramatic or anything, we just happened to start casually swapping past experiences while gaming together, after Zoraiz asked Alexis why she was running away from home when they first encountered each other.
And yeah, it soon became clear that both of them had gone through far worse experiences than I ever did. Which was, you know, kinda humbling, but at the same time, it’s like, don’t minimize or downplay my own suffering, you know? I’ve been through some shit too.
"Fine, fine, whatever, I’ll try not to smoke around you guys as much, happy now?" I sighed in annoyance.
"Hah, don’t tell me you’re actually sulking, how lame," Smirked Alexis with a scoff.
"Ohh, you little bitch-..."
"Could you both please not?" Zoraiz intervened with a look of exasperation.
Huh, he usually just sort of fades into the background whenever an argument breaks out between Alexis and me, guess he’s had enough of that.
"Hmph, what a pain...well, at least there’s another girl Outlier here now, hope I can get along with her," She sighed in response.
"She seems to be a very cautious person, probably won’t be easy right away," Pointed out Zoraiz.
"By the way, how’d it go with her earlier? You were helping her pick out clothes and stuff, right?" I chimed in curiously.
"Yeah, she doesn’t seem to care all that much about fashion, she only picked unrestrictive, easy-to-move-in clothes. She’s sleeping in her room now," Came the brief reply.
"What about the cheetah she had with her?" Inquired Zoraiz with a look of interest.
"With her in the room."
"Huh, guess Neo will need to get stuff like a litter box and whatnot," I remarked, starting to lose interest as my attention shifted to the paused movie...hm, should I press play or wait a bit?
"Actually, no...Aurora said that she can communicate with cats. Dot, her cheetah, actually used the toilet, even flushed afterwards. It was kinda surreal," Recalled Alexis with a bemused look on her face.
"Huh? I wonder which Meta-Orb she came across, that’s a strange ability," Wondered Zoraiz with a look of intrigue.
"That’s pretty low down in the list of questions I’ve got stacked up...I’m a lot more curious about how she possesses so much Aura, not to mention how she’s fully in control of it. And of course, how she ended up living isolated from human society. Seeing that she can speak and understand us fairly well, she must have lived with people for quite a while at some point before that," I deduced as I thought it through.
"We can just ask her later, after she wakes up," Suggested Alexis, as her attention then shifted to the laptop.
"Seems like you’ve warmed up to her...does that go both ways, though?" I asked her.
"Uh...I don’t know. She seemed less tense after we sho-...after I helped her get settled into her new room, but she still seemed a bit wary," She replied, before inquiring, "Anyway, what are you guys watching? This looks familiar, I think I’ve seen this movie before..."
I didn’t miss it...for a moment there, she was definitely about to say ’after we showered together’ before correcting herself. Awesome.
"Hey...I don’t like the look on your face, you’re thinking of something creepy, aren’t you?" Frowned Alexis, jabbing my side, just below my ribs...ow, that hurt a lot more than I thought it would...
"Huh!? You got a problem with my face, you shitty brat!?" I countered as I jabbed her back, right in the middle of her stomach and eliciting a sharp gasp from her.
"Oh, no, not again...," Groaned Zoraiz, as Alexis and I glared daggers at each other.
I’m not gonna restrain myself just because she’s a girl or because she’s a teenager...hit me and I’ll hit back, I don’t care if you’re a old geezer or a little kid. True story, I once got yelled at on a bus by multiple people for punching a little boy in the face, a kid that looked around ten or eleven.
But before you judge me for that, in my defense...that stupid brat, who’d been sitting in the seat in front of me, seemed to be in a hyperactive mood and kept turning around and spitting on me, giggling the whole time.
And just to be fair, I gave him a clear warning...roughly translated to english, I said something along the lines of ’spit on me one more time and I’ll break your neck’. How’d he respond, you ask? By sticking his tongue out at me before spitting again.
So, yeah, I punched him in the face. Hard. Broke the little shit’s nose. God, that was satisfying as hell.
Of course, it was short-lived, because once he began wailing, blood running down his nose, which was crooked thanks to my punch, pretty much everyone on the bus began giving me shit.
Including his mother, who had been sitting in the seat next to him, but you know, didn’t even bother stopping him from spitting on me. If I’d had these powers back then, I might have straight up blasted them.
Anyway, uh, my point is...don’t hit me unless you’re willing to be hit back. And, well, yeah, that kid didn’t exactly hit me, but you know what I mean!
So far, while things have gotten pretty heated between us, my arguments with Alexis has been exclusively verbal. She’s never hit me before, so I never had a reason to hit her back. freёwebnovel.com
And uncharacteristically, I held back a bit when I jabbed her, she definitely jabbed me a lot harder than I did...my side is still kinda sore. What she does next will determine how this altercation is going to turn out...
"Hey, that really hurt, you asshole...," She growled, as she rubbed her stomach gingerly.
"Yeah? Well, hit me again and just see what happens," I shot back, as a tension filled the air. freeweɓnovel.cѳm
"Talk about chivalrous," She muttered sarcastically.
"Chivalry is dead, it’s called simping now...and I am not simping for you."
"Actually, I’m pretty sure the whole ’simp’ thing is a dead meme now," Chimed in Zoraiz suddenly, dissipating the tension, "Could we get back to the movie already? Seriously, aren’t you two tired of this routine by now?"
"Hm...tch, whatever," Relented Alexis with a grumble, backing down and muttering to herself as she munched on some chips.
What the-...when did his communication skills get good enough for an intervention like this? No, it’s not that they’ve improved that much, per say...he’s just gotten more comfortable and used to being around the two of us, and Kiyana too, though probably to a lesser extent.
"You sure are coming out of your shell, aren’t you, buddy?" I grinned, patting him on the back.
"Huh? You think so?"
Come to think of it, I do remember him mentioning that the only person he’s ever had normal conversations with in the past was his late mother...in other words, he’s definitely capable of holding a regular conversation, he’s just not used to it, like, at all.
I didn’t notice since we’re literally around each other every single day, but slowly but surely, he’s gotten more and more accustomed to us. Fascinating.
And I suppose that I kinda owe him one now...had he not intervened, things would probably have gotten really messy for all of us just now...
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