Jimmy the Birthday Boi

🃏 Chapter 2

— "NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Eyes closed, hands on her green goblin ears, Grax was shaking her head while screaming, her shouts echoing on the cave's walls.

— "Calm down, Grax, it's just a story."

— "Yeah, Vrox didn't even get to the good part."

— "I sense some tension. Water is known to ease tension. Water splash in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1..."

— "Aaah!"

Startled by the water, Grax fell over on her back, as Vrox and Flox laughed in unison.

— "Are you relaxed? You do not seem relaxed. Water splash in 5, 4..."

— "No!", Grax stood up and punched the automaton, sending it to the other side of the room. "Why did you have to bring that thing with us?"

— "Hey, he has a name!", Vrox grumbled.

— "A stupid one", Flox laughed.

— "That you gave him", Grax added.

— "Look at him, he can't even get up."

Indeed, the automaton was standing on one arm and spinning. An impressive feat, in another context.

Vrox had found SupercoolrobotV2 in an abandoned house, during one of his forbidden excursions outside of the village. Ecstatic, he had brought it home, and neither his parents nor his sister managed to convince him to get rid of it.

He was a small humanoid shaped robot, with square-y features typical of his type. Twice as small as the kids, he was pretty light and bore a darkish yellow color. Finally, a yellow precious stone was encrusted under his neck. To his demise, Vrox's and Grax's father did not manage to pull it out. Always akin to help, the robot was rarely successful, oftentimes aggravating the situation, and — most of the time — himself.

Vrox calmed the automaton — now spinning on its head — and helped him back up.

— "I am grateful, Vrox-the-Mighty."

Vrox and SupercoolrobotV2 saluted each other before sitting back at the campfire.

Grax noticed a small green thing on Super's head. Excited, she pointed at it.

— "A grasshopper!"

Flox's eyes grew wide.

— "Wow! What's it doing this far into the caves? There's no grass to hop on here, buddy!"

— "Sir Hopper, this is no proper place to seat. Please hop off of my robot in the shortest delay."

Apparently, Hopper's intelligence was out of the ordinary. The grasshopper hopped off of Super and left the cave.

— "Good. I don't like it when bugs mess with my stuff. Anyway, check this out guys", Vrox reached into his bag and pulled out a small, rectangular pouch.

— "Cards! Where did you find them?", Grax's eyes were shining. She was jumping in excitement.

— "Old Reema left them on her window. I thought she wouldn't notice if I just borrowed them for a while."

— "I don't know, Vrox", Flox looked worried. "I don't think she's as senile as she looks."

— "Well, it's not like we can go back to the village anyway. We have an assignment", Vrox said, proudly puffing his chest.

— "Yes, very heroic", Grax snickered. "I can already imagine everyone cheering us when we get back home with the cake. Maybe we'll even get a seat at the Council!". She was bowing exaggeratedly to an imaginary crowd.

Flox looked offended.

— "It's not any cake. Don't tell me you've never had any food from the Beyxers clan?"

— "Well, I—"

— "She's too young. I'm barely old enough to remember the last time we had some. Nevertheless...", Vrox took a dramatic pose, then put his hand on his sister's head, a grave expression on his face. "No feat is too low for a hero. If the cake will make even one villager happy, then we should be proud to deliver it."

Grax shrugged his hand off of her. "I don't want to be a hero. I just want to get through the day."

Losing his patience, Flox stepped between them.

— "So, are we playing?"

A few hours passed, filled with cards, laughter, and accusations of cheating. But mostly laughter. Eventually, the cards were put away as the fire was growing weak. It was time to rest. The kids pulled out their sleeping mats and wished each other goodnight, as the only light left in the cave was the automaton's shiny yellow stone.