Game Boy

13 - Assist

Kenneth scuffed his boot across the floor and watched the door. He swung one of his fingers in time to an imaginary tune and chewed his lip. 

"Aren't there normally instructions on what to do in these kinds of quests?" Byrd asked, looking up at him from her cross-legged position on the floor. "I mean, I remember there being little guides, or at least--" she glanced at the NPC's, "someone there to tell us what to do and where to go."

With a shrug, Kenneth stretched out his neck and inhaled deeply. He sat there a moment before answering her. "Yeah, usually there is. If we're just waiting around like this it's probably safe to say that there's nothing we can do yet."

He cut his gaze over to Naomi and David. Naomi had simply been humming and rocking the boy gently. Byrd had already grilled both of them on any relevant story information that they were allowed to answer with. Sadly, even fleshed out NPC's had limits to their dialogue capabilities. Kenneth didn't feel like talking to them anyway. Naomi was gentle, but it all felt wrong. Maybe she was exactly what a mother was supposed to be, but every time he looked at her he just remembered a childhood he'd never gotten.

Kenneth shook his head and finished stretching out his neck before looking up at Byrd. She'd gotten distracted trying to braid some of the wires that made up her hair. He almost laughed but decided not to discourage her and instead slid off to sit down on the floor beside her. "So, waiting," he sighed and propped his elbows on his knees. His eyes fell over his tattoos and he reached over, thumbing gently over the game rendered version of his actual tattoo. Not bad. He knew there was a reason he loved Atlas Quest so much. No other VR world had this level of detail. 

"Say I did want to get one of those, where would you recommend?" Byrd asked after a moment. she let the wires of her hair drop and just leaned back, folding her hands behind her head. Her eyes were on his tattoo, though. "You mentioned laser wasn't painful."

His eyes flickered upward. "Are you old enough? I mean, I know they lowered the age to 12 with parental consent, but--"

"I'm 20," she said with a smile. "No worries, I'm old enough. I only live with my parents cause I work for them during the week. Speaking of which, I won't be on as much next week in the mornings cause I took the early shift."

He nodded and blinked a little, letting his head shift to one side as he stared at her. From the childish gleam in her eyes, he almost wouldn't have guessed she was already twenty. Seventeen was his initial assumption, maybe even his own age of nineteen. Then again, the way he'd seen her handle some situations definitely meant he couldn't deny the fact she was mature. However, women matured far faster than men. He'd have to take her word on it, though, because there was little way to tell simply by looking at her. He blamed the grafter pieces replacing the back of her head. Without her actual hair and full features, it was much harder to determine her age.

"You gonna stare at my trying to divine my age all day?" she asked after a moment and tilted her head so it was in line with his. She sat forward, though, grinning as she chuckled and then looked down, closing her eyes.

Kenneth sat up straight. "Oh, sorry. It's just that you look younger than twenty. I thought maybe you were...seventeen."

Her eyes peeked up at him and then a deep rosy blush crawled up her cheeks as she shrugged and just pushed back her hair with a half-smirk. "Well, I do act like I'm a whole of four and a half. I suppose that would confuse anyone." 

Shaking his head, Kenneth laughed and just closed his eyes. She wasn't wrong, but he couldn't admit that to her face. Instead, he buried his face in his hands and laughed. 

Her laughter joined his after a moment and he looked up to see her leaning back, giggling into the air. He chuckled and lowered his hands with a wide grin. Byrd had a personality he wasn't fully sure how to describe, but he knew it was captivating. She was herself, and nothing more. He almost envied her for it. He settled his head to one side and just smiled as her laughter trailed off. She probably doesn't even realize the light she is, he thought quietly.