W.A.R.M.T.H: The Prologue

The Golden Eyed Genius and His Phone

                                                                                       Amora

"Well, that was unpleasant."

Raven says beside me as we walk to our favorite spot in the city. AJ comes rushing out of the store and catches up with us. Ren is following behind with his phone in his hand.

"So, where are we going?"

AJ asks innocently, I barely know him, and I can already sense that smile plastered on his face. Before I get a chance to answer, Raven fires back.

"We are not going anywhere, and you are going to leave us alone."

        Ren, most likely trying to avoid being in the middle of their arguing that is undoubtedly coming, speeds up his pace and walks next to me. I glance over secretly to see what he is doing, his fingers are racing over his digital keyboard, and his screen displays various numbers with no certain order as far as I can tell. Whatever he's doing, he's the only one who knows what it is. I can't help but feel whatever it is; it's definitely not legal. My curiosity gets the better of me,

"What are you doing?"

His eyes stay glued to his phone. Did he even hear me?

"Ren!?" He doesn't look up, but he responds

"Yes, Amora?" His tone stays placid and barren of any emotion.

"What are you doing?" I ask again.

"Hacking."

He shrugs as if it was the most simple thing in the world.

"Hacking?"

"Yes."

"How do you get into something like that?"

Another shrug.

"Can you teach me?"

"No." His tone remains placid. How can someone sound so...robotic?

"Why not?"

"Because you do not have a high enough intellect to comprehend the amount of information, I must give you to understand the process and technique of hacking."

I ponder this long sentence and tilt my head to one side in a quizzical gesture.

"Did you just call me stupid?"

He finally looks up from his phone. His features display complete astonishment, but his voice remains cold.

"That is not what I said, but I suppose you would define it as so. I did not mean to make you feel that way; all I was describing is that your intelligence level is not as high as mine. Therefore, it would be difficult to entitle the correct teachings for you to understand the concept you want me to teach you."

Another long sentence I don't quite understand.

"Yeah, that's great and all, but maybe in English, please?"

Ren sighs "I did not mean to call you stupid Amora, I simply do not have the social skills to ensure that you understand hacking if I were to teach you."

"Ohhh, was that so hard?"

"Yes, actually. It is difficult for me to relay my thoughts simplistically because of the level of my intelligence."

"Okay, you need to stop doing that."

He shakes his head in distaste. "And people ask why I do not talk very often."

He resumes his hacking and ignores me. As Ren and I continue in silence, I tune in to AJ and Raven's conversation in enough time to hear Raven shoot back a retort with venom in her tone.

"You are such an unpleasant person; you know that?"

"Yes, darlin', you've mentioned."

"Stop calling me darling, you MCR reject!"

"I'm sorry, honey."

That's when Raven stops in the center of the sidewalk and slaps AJ, sending his head whipping to one side. But, when his whiplash wears off, he keeps smiling.

"Fiery, I like it."

"Ugghhhh"

Raven rolls her eyes for the millionth time, crosses her arms, and struts towards me, no doubt showing off to AJ exactly what he can't have, and of course, he stares because that's just Raven's effect on guys.

"Where you goin Honeysuckle?"

"Don't call me that either."

"Well then, what do you want me to call you sweet cheeks?"

I sense another eye roll from Raven. "How about you don't call me anything, turn around, and forget we ever had an encounter."

"Now that's just no fun darlin', you sure you can't think of anything else?"

Raven ignores him and speeds up her pace to catch up with me. In a whispering tone, she says

"Can I chloroform him?"

Raven and her toxins... "No."

"Why not?"

"Because it's wrong."

"Says who?!"

"Well, I'd assume everyone. Not including you, of course."

From the other side of me, Ren begins talking, "I do not think it is wrong, not with AJ at least. I would do the same thing if I had the resources."

Raven pauses, then leans in towards me to whisper something. "He can say more than 'his name is AJ' ?"

I hold in my laughter, she seems genuinely confused, and I rarely have the pleasure of explaining things to her.

"Yes, Raven, believe it or not, he too is human."

Ren speaks again, "I am not too sure about that part. It honestly depends on what you mean in the context of 'human.' If you mean 'human' as in an organism that requires food, water, light, and social activity to survive healthily long enough to reproduce, then yes, I am human. However, if when you say 'human', you mean an organism that has emotions and language to communicate with others their warnings among other things, I would not ID myself as human."

Raven gives me another puzzled look, then switches it over to Ren, "Huh?" he just sighs and looks back at his phone. Raven looks away from him and talks to me under her breath.

"He's kind of a jerk."

"I think he's just too smart to explain himself constantly."