Family dinner.. to an extent

[command_dot_com]

The load at work has slacked off enough that Dot's at home cooking dinner this evening, instead of the usual take-out. Stir-fry, with c-loin tips in gravy, crackles on the stove. She expects her little brother will be back from Milliways soon, and then they'll be able to talk.

After all, he's been getting into so much these days, and sometimes she just has to bait the little guy with food to get him to sit still long enough to talk. Dot looks up and smirks when she hears the upstairs closet door shut and starts setting the table. "Enzo! Dinner's almost ready, I hope you've got an appetite!"

Comments

[a1enzo]

"Great!" he calls back, pattering down the stars. "Dot, you gotta see the swing we put up for the fort! It's a tire that's big enough you and Bob could prob'ly sit in it together! We had to hang it up with a chain 'cause a rope woulda snapped!"

[command_dot_com]

"I'll see it later, come and eat while the food is still warm." Dot chuckles, smiling. "So how is Tyler doing? From what I've heard he's having a time of it."

[a1enzo]

"Great! You'd like him, he's really good with plans." Enzo grins at his big sister and digs in. "Mmph. Dif if way bedder dan mine."

[command_dot_com]

"Sometime, you're going to have to sit still long enough that I'll be able to teach you how to make it." Dot teases gently. "Someday i'll have to meet him, Bob mentioned that he goes to a school for children with superpowers?"

[a1enzo]

"Uh-huh! But he doesn't have any. He just goes 'cause his parents're nuts. He makes cool stuff, though. He's got a grapple-gun!"

[command_dot_com]

"Hrm, now I will have to meet him sometime..." Dot pauses eating. "Speaking of schools, I've been meaning to ask you something."

[a1enzo]

Enzo automatically tries to remember if there's anything he's done in school to get in trouble for lately. No... no... no, that one was seconds ago, if they were gonna bust him for that they'd have done it by now... seems all clear. He relaxes. "Yeah, Dot?"

[command_dot_com]

Don't think Dot didn't notice that little nervous silence there.

"Are you still interested in possibly attending the Guardian Academy?" Dot looks at him levelly. "In light of all the recent experiences with the Guardian Collective and Daemon?"

[a1enzo]

"Sure," says Enzo, misinterpreting her meaning. "It wasn't their fault. They're still the good guys."

[command_dot_com]

"It wouldn't be all fun and Games. They train cadets very hard at the Academy, harder than what you've experienced in school here." Dot tries to remind him.

[a1enzo]

"Oh, I know it's not easy." He sees her point now; fighting Daemon was certainly exciting, but fun would not be the word for it. "But it'd be worth it." He chews and swallows another mouthful of stir-fry before adding:

"I want to help."

[command_dot_com]

"...You might not always be getting the chance to help people Enzo." Dot says sighing, it's still a sore point what happened then. "You remember that our system got sealed because we had an invasion of Web Creatures, and I know you found out that Turbo tried to destroy our system, it was Guardian Protocol to destroy any system with any signs of Web Creatures in it."

[a1enzo]

Enzo sighs. "Yeah, I know." It had been a blow to find out the Guardians weren't totally perfect.

Then he brightens. "But if I'm a Guardian, maybe I can help fix stuff like that!"

[command_dot_com]

Man, Enzo's been taking lessons in idealism from Bob again, hasn't he?

"We'll see. But I did want to find out if you still wanted to go or not, in light of what happened with Daemon."

[a1enzo]

"More than ever," Enzo says earnestly.

Really, the only difference is that his mental classification of potential Guardianship has shifted slightly away from 'wicked cool' and further toward 'really important'.

[command_dot_com]

"Alright, now then, what other plans do you and Tyler have for your treefort? Has he met Frisket yet?"

Really, that dog can terrify anyone that he meets (or eats).

[a1enzo]

"No, but I told him about him and we're working on a way to get him up into the fort. I know he could jump it but we don't want him knocking anyone down. So far we're thinking of a kind of drawbridge. I hope he doesn't chew through the swing chain..." And thus proceeds the meal.