VIDEO

[killtime]

[ The camera angle is. Bad. This is a person who does not know how to use their communicator well. They probably can't even take a proper selfie. All that's showing is a pair of combat boots moving around in the grass — someone's backyard? — and in the distance, much farther out, a tree that (oddly enough) has a single board nailed to it for a reason only the gods know. It's not even nailed on straight.

The boots stop wandering. It's quiet for a moment.

Then there's a thwip, almost like the sound of a rubber band, and a thunk moments later, as an arrow hits the crooked board, dead center.

Unceremoniously then, a woman's voice: ]

Any of you know shit about teenagers?

[ Another thunk. A second arrow, its head practically kissing the first where it strikes. ]

What do normal fifteen-year-olds do these days?

[ Thunk. A third arrow. Three for three.

A mutter then, half to herself: ]

Fuck. Probably better get around to the whole "birds and bees" thing.

Comments

[killtime]

We adopted. For legal reasons. Couldn't leave a kid like that on his own.

[onthe_threshold]

Is he fucked up or something?

[killtime]

Aren't we all? Show me one ImPort who isn't a little fucked up.

[onthe_threshold]

I dunno, lady, I just got here.

[killtime]

And you're a little fucked up too, aren't you.

[onthe_threshold]

...No?

[killtime]

Bullshit.

[onthe_threshold]

Okay, but I don't count, I wasn't like... I didn't have a normal childhood or whatever.

[killtime]

None of us did, babe. Join the fucking club.

[onthe_threshold]

Seriously? You didn't have parents?

[killtime]

Can't remember them. Which is probably just as well.

[onthe_threshold]

Oh. Sorry. So you took in a kid so he would?

[killtime]

Not really.

Did it because I felt bad for him, at first. He was like a stray puppy.

[onthe_threshold]

And he's a teenager and you don't know what to do with him now.

Put him in sports.

[killtime]

Used to do soccer over at the Endeavor Center. The ImPort that ran the place got sent back a while ago though. Hard to find shit that's reliable around here. You know how it is.

[ Or maybe not, since he's brand new. It's a lesson all ImPorts learn quickly though. ]

[onthe_threshold]

I don't, actually.

Doesn't anybody teach fighting? I mean it's crawling with superheroes here.

[killtime]

That's probably the one thing I don't need help showing him. Not sure how I feel about bonding with my teenage son over a little CQC though.

[onthe_threshold]

I guess you could always just ask him what he likes to do.

[killtime]

I get the feeling he's still working on figuring out that himself.

I don't know. It's fucking complicated.

[ Or maybe she's just making it complicated? ]

[onthe_threshold]

Sounds like it.

Well. At least you give a shit about him.

[killtime]

Unlike your parents, you mean?

[onthe_threshold]

No, mine cared very much.

[killtime]

Yeah? What the fuck went wrong then?

[onthe_threshold]

They got killed.

What happened to his?

[killtime]

Long story. Involves a cult. [ Basically a cult. Had a compound and everything. ]