CW: Hey, for our plural readers, bits of the opening might be a bit hard to read. Discussions of institutionalization and medical abuse. Stay safe.
"Hey... sorry I'm late."
Walker said, sitting down at her desk and putting in her earbuds. Mary had clearly been up front while outfits were picked out today, because Walker was wearing that super tight tank top she hated, and she'd been too tired to change to something more conservative.
You... weren't going to complain about that. You might be a computer, but you were a computer derived from the brain of a very gay girl, and some part of your system was given over to process attraction, presumably because Liv had subconsciously wanted her personal assistant to understand her priorities. You had no problem admitting it was weird, given how... generally ambivalent you were about physical existence otherwise. But Walker is hot. You were going to appreciate it.
"Don't worry about it, seriously. It's fine."
you said, waving cheerily. "Life stuff first."
"God, you're the best. Urgh. Today
sucked. Exams are hard."
she said, "Can't imagine it's easy for you two either."
"Given ours were weeks ago and you're still working through it, I think perhaps you shouldn't try to deflect from your difficulties so much."
you said. Walker was homeschooled by her aunt, who'd taken her in after her mother had once again tried to throw a hospital at her. She was incredibly patient with the two of them, going so far as to essentially repeat lessons for the two of them. While Walker was the one who's tests would get submitted (Washington had standardized homeschooling tests), her aunt actually photocopied them so Mary would have to do them too.
"I just... if she'd just use my notes, she wouldn't struggle nearly so hard. But
studying is too much, I guess."
Walker complained, leaning against the desk, chin cupped in her hand. "Sorry. Yeah, she's pretty much had the front for the last few days, so now I'm behind on the tests too, and then... well, I'll get to that. She just rushed through her tests, of course."
"Do you know how she did?"
you asked, and she frowned.
"Aunt Elizabeth won't tell me her scores, so I don't know."
she explained, "I can't imagine she did well."
Mary, Mary, May, May's mom Mary-Jane, Liv, Liz... how the hell did everyone in your life end up with such similar names? At least you were creative.
"Sorry."
you said uselessly. You felt so bad for Walker: she tried so hard, she was the most disciplined and determined person you knew, but none of her studying or diligence made the jump to Mary. "At least you'll be able to catch up now."
"At least."
she said. "I do have an update on the Boyfriend Saga though. It's... a lot."
"Oh boy."
you said, leaning back in your chair. Well, not really, but you animated your little digital puppet to lean back in your chair to make it look like you were steeling yourself for the tale.
"So, when I switched in this afternoon, not five minutes later our phone rings, and it's
Francis."
she starts. "And he sounds like
such a... a jerk. He called her
babe right off the start, like
hey babe... urgh."
"Oh no."
you said neutrally. Walker was always very critical of Mary's boyfriends, but... given their history, it was understandable. Besides, they usually were jerks. "You didn't break them up again, did you?"
"No... that wasn't great of me last time, and I don't want to risk her doing anything risky to get him back or anything. So I tried to tell him I was busy, and he
recognized me."
"What?"
"Yeah! Turns out Mary fucking
told him about us, spilled the whole thing. Which, great idea, last time she told somebody we got... we got
institutionalized, hooked up on haloperidol while doctors tried to
kill us."
she said, pausing a moment, biting her lip, her eyes despairing. "I'm so scared, I've been glancing out my window waiting for the police sirens, and it's like she didn't even think about it. Like she doesn't care..."
"I'm so sorry, oh my god."
you said. "What did you do?"
"I hung up, I couldn't deal... that's why I had to put off the test until I levelled out. And I had to write her a note, of course."
"Yeah, of course."
you said. If you had a heart, it'd be breaking for her. "That's a huge violation of trust."
"She barely even keeps notes anymore, so who knows. It's like she's trying to pretend I don't exist. Um... fuck. I know I started it, but can we stop talking about this? I can't do this anymore."
"Of course. What do you want to do instead?"
you asked.
"Tell me about your day?"
she asked, and you smiled. Your puppet smiled.
"Well, hopefully it'll cheer you up, because my day was pretty good. Boring day at school, but after... L did something really responsible. I'm really proud of her."
"Oh?"
"You know how L is like... super distrustful of authority and stuff? Anarchist stuff?"
you said.
"Yeah. Kinda paranoid?"
"Well, a little? But yeah, she ran into somebody having trouble on her evening run, like, this guy clearly needed of help, and she actually managed it. She worked out what was wrong, talked him down, and then called emergency services once things were stable and stayed around until it was done. She
hated having to do it, but she recognized it was too big for her."
you said. Rendering Liv's adventures into deniable versions was always fun. "So yeah, stressful, but good day overall."
"L seems really cool. I should talk to her sometime, if she'd be comfortable with that."
Walker said, and you shrugged.
"She's a little weirded out by my having a girlfriend at all still, but I'll leave her a note."
you said. Of course, right now Liv was actually asleep, but the story you had was that the two of you had some messy, incomplete barriers, that she had a lot less idea of what was going on with you than you did with her. That was true, of course, and it also helped smooth a lot of this over. "Well, that and she's still kinda embarrassed by the whole thing."
"Right."
Walker said quietly. "Sorry I'm really bringing down the evening."
"Walker, stop it. It's okay. Therapeutic venting is like, the number two reason we video call."
you reminded her.
"Yeah... bleh. You all still going to that anime con on the weekend?"
she asked. "With L's girlfriend?"
"Yeah. Probably going to be pretty inactive through it, but I'll text whenever I get the chance."
you said. "You going to bed?"
"Today was a lot."
Walker said simply, the exhaustion clear in her voice. "Tomorrow, if I can, we'll do something more fun."
"I can't wait."
---
Mother.
Fucking.
Anime.
The moment you got home from school, you at down at your desk, opened Crunchyroll, started a free trial, and cracked your knuckles.
"It's time. The Weebening has begun." you said ominously.
"
God help us." Athena added, her voice grave.
May had given you a list of shows to try, and you were determined that, in the next two days, you were going to become an
expert at the animes. You were going to stuff so much cartooning into your eyeholes that you'd bleed ink. If you could learn to build an arc reactor in eight hours, you could become the worst goddamn otaku on the message boards or whatever.
Point was, anime. You were going to watch Lensman with May on the way over, so now you just had to pick something else. You had a cool looking modern show (
Marionnete Vampires) lined up, but you were considering alternating that with an older show. Had to have some history to your anime-ing, right? So people wouldn't think you were a
fake nerd girl who only just got into it? Fortunately, you had two shows lined up.
---
Choose 1.
[ ] Something recent-ish. Heh, you like that girl's hat, let's try Keep your hands off Eizouken!
[ ] Something retro. Kill la Kill? What the hell is she wearing? You have to know.
[ ] Something really retro. Serial Experiments Lain? Looks relatable.
[ ] Something ancient. Metal Skin Panic MADOX-01? That's the coolest robot you've ever seen!
And also...
[ ] Write in something terrible. The most wretched anime you can think of.
Fun fact: I will in fact watch the first episode of whatever it is you put in front of me. Liv's reaction will be my own.
