Ultra Deviance (Work in Prog)

St. Priscilla's #10.c - Scottie Houseleeks

Battle for the Coupon Aftermath

(Part 3)

"I can't believe some no-name won the coupon." MC mumbled as they walked. Scottie's mind was elsewhere.

Five-hundred sixty-eight million. Of that five-hundred sixty-eight million, one-thousand four-hundred and twelve possibilities. No. One-thousand four-hundred and thirteen possibilities. Yes. After thorough investigation; nine-hundred ninety-eight possibilities. After three weeks of profiling; three-hundred eleven possibilities remain. Damnit. Shit. Fuck!

She coughed.

Head hurts. Need a distraction. Meds? Consider: throat lozenges. Weigh pros against cons of modern medicine? As if.

Focus on distractions. Stop thinking.

"Amazing! Wo ho ho!" An inane, goofy, and undoubtedly digital pot-bellied laugh caught her attention.

"Awesome! Wo ho ho!" Not helping the headache. What the hell is that even?

She saw Hyram tapping away on a datapad, her face had a satisfied expression on it as she completed the bright coloured prompts that appeared all over the screen. Each prompt she tapped resulted in another assault on her eardrums.

"Hey, Hyram." She pulled up her scarf.

"Hi, Scottie!" Hyram looked up at her. Completely oblivious. Bless her heart.

"Wanna put on some headphones?" She tried her best to not sound like a jerk. Failed.

"Oh! Sorry..." Hyram said apologetically, pulling out a tangled pair of dark green headphones from her pocket, and placing the datapad between her legs to put a bud in her right ear and plug them into the side of the datapad.

"It's fine." Not really, but she doesn't need that burden.

While she could still hear the audio from the left earbud she didn't put on, it was much more tolerable as they continued to their class. She noticed that even as Hyram was distracted by the datapad, she managed to keep up with the rest of them without tripping, or walking into a wall, her feet strategically stepping away and over potential obstacles and clutter. Danger Sense, huh? Talk about mundane utility.

Scottie couldn't help but feel a bit of envy as to how convenient and practical Hyram's power was compared to her own. Though things could always be worse. She thought of her old partner, and felt her eyes get watery, despite herself. Damn them.

She shook her head as if that could clear her addled mind. Her eyes began to dry.

"Oy, Hyram." Catri said, running up beside Hyram as fast as her short legs could carry her. "Why you gots that fancy tablet?"

Before Hyram could look up at her and answer, Jenny appeared between the two, her pink mist pushing them both back slightly.

"She's slo." Jenny said with a big smile.

"Jenny!" Jenny winced at Jethro's sudden shout and she noticed Hyram did too.

"No, she's uh...right...I have a Select-Learning Outline..." Hyram looked back down to her datapad with a sullen look before smiling again at another prompt.

"Yeah, slo. That's what I said!" Jenny huffed. "I thought a visit to the Nurse's Office would make you less grumpy, Jello."

"Jethro." Jenny stuck her tongue out at him after he corrected her, before vanishing, a cloud of pink mist replacing her, she appeared again beside Scottie.