Planet: Eteran
First Insurgency War
JAMES
"Are you glad to have your camera back?" Rayan asked as the three of them made their way to Rayan's house. James stopped on the sides of the road to take frozen moments. He held the camera close to his chest, glad for its return to reveal the world around him when it flew by. He switched on his heel to grab the frozen moment he left behind him, with Ava focused on her student datapad as she wrote down her work which weighed down her shoulders when she refused to show anyone else the truth. Her hazel eyes which he shared with her drifted upwards, and she gave him a light smile to accentuate the setting horizon of cold reds which spread across the sky.
"Very happy," James said as he shifted his view to the moments in front of him as he adjusted the lenses for the wide-angle shot of the road. Everything clicked into the angles as Rayan hesitated to give him a chance to capture the world past the lens. Sunlight glittered over the scattered stones, and splashed into Rayan's honey brown eyes as he set a hand on his hip with an uncertain grin. "Thanks, Rayan."
It was a few more minutes of walking before Ava gasped at the turn into Rayan's circular driveway. A skip returned to her step as she shoved her datapad back into her bag and rushed past them with excitement. Rayan raced to catch up with her, and James trailed behind while Rayan opened the door.
He shoved himself into the cornet to take a picture of the glowing chandelier above their heads as he closed the door. It rang with a certain loneliness fit for negative space, and made it difficult to capture every piece of the house into the lens.
"It's massive here," Ava observed as James took her fall coat to place it with his in the sliding closet. "You're not alone, Rayan, are you?"
James frowned at Ava, then gazed at Rayan, who smiled at them both with a small shake of his head while he glowed with the setting sun. "Not anymore, I'm not. Here, let me show you around." He waved them into the connected living room and kitchen."
It weighed heavy on his shoulders at the ease of movement around furniture. Beside him, Ava tensed up.
So different from our house — I mean, I stepped into here once and now my house feels cramped. But at least it feels warm. He bundled his camera into his bag and shoved his hands into his pockets as they entered the large kitchen.
"Do you do everything by yourself?" Ava questioned.
"Oh, no." Rayan laughed, and James took note when Ava's deep frown shifted into a soft smile. "Mom and I cook dinner together and share chores. Anything that we can't do we leave to the cleaning bots." Rayan glanced out the window, where the red shadows fell away through the clouds. On the other side of the pool, James found his own favourite spot underneath a dancing tree which pushed him through the block in his mind and an I-Pen to a page.
"Rayan, you should show her what you showed me last time I was here," James said with his memory.
Rayan nodded and led them back to the main foyer and up the split staircase. They walked past the master bedroom, where James took note of the minimalist sense of taste trying to survive through an air of extravagance. Family pictures lined the bookshelves, with an open heart and a warm embrace compared to the rest of the empty house as the small balcony overlooked the backyard. A watchful presence for those to learn and grow.
"Here's my room," Rayan said.
James smiled at the awed expression on Ava's face. Rayan's room could fit his, Ava's, and Janie's together. Art supplies dotted the room, with completed drawings framed on the stands beside the I-Screen. Ava gasped, then pointed at the balcony door. "Is that—?" Without another word, Ava rushed to it as Rayan joined her.
"It's a high end telescope," Rayan explained. "I use it when I can't sleep. Eteran has such a wonderful view — it's not blocked by smog."
James nudged Rayan in the ribcage. "She's got a thing for space."
Ava left the telescope pointed at her dream behind to join them. "James was mentioning you have an artistry dome."
Rayan jolted, and a deeper glow settled on his cheeks as he rubbed his wrists and tilted his head forward. "Oh, um... yeah. I do. James has been...." Rayan grinned back at him. "Helping me fill the space. We also have game rooms down there and party areas down there as well."
James couldn't shake a different image out of his mind as Rayan guided them out and to the bunker turned basement. He clenched his fists as they slipped into the expansive staircase, where Ava made no mention or observation of what he noticed. Blue lights lit up the corners as Rayan pointed into the first room. A massive, expert Battle Galaxy board filled the round table with several seats around it for multiple people to play one game, but nothing compared to what laid at the heart of Rayan's home.
James pushed into it with Rayan to gaze at his pictures which Rayan added to his own holoboard and tried to echo what he captured through hand drawn techniques, though Rayan had tried to urge him to draw himself, but he found his ability in the flourish of written word instead of a mental picture. He left it to Rayan to draw while he adjusted his pictures using the photosphere to capture his view just the way it was meant to be.
Ava walked up to the easel in the middle of beauty where the specialised paper held the image of a gas giant splattered with fiery reds to spread throughout the artist dome.
"I heard you were talented, Rayan, but..." Ava mumbled.
Rayan blinked. "Where'd you hear that?"
"Mx. Yovu," Ava said. "They were raving about your work in general art's class."
James whistled. "Mx. Yovu is notoriously hard to please."
"I'm... I'm still learning," Rayan stammered. "Besides, there's a lot more to this room." He headed to the photosphere with a different smile sent his way as the lights dimmed, and a solar system expanded throughout reality when Rayan changed the settings.
Ava gasped when a projected shape of Eteran hovered between her and James. Her palm met it, but it flowed through her hand with ease. "This is amazing."
James grinned at her as the weariness from before fell away into genuine happiness. "I knew you'd enjoy it."
"You should invite Meryn," Ava exclaimed.
Rayan's smile fell into one of uncertainty. "I never get the chance." He turned off the photosphere, and the solar system disappeared into a wisp of the void as the lights brightened. "Anyway, that's all I've got. You said you wanted to talk to me about something?"
"A couple things, actually, and then I can help you with your homework."
Right back to work... James huffed and examined Rayan's artboard instead. Never giving yourself to just... exist as you are. He gripped his camera bag close to his waist as he bit down on his tongue as he followed Ava and Rayan out and to the party room to sit down. Rayan waved the Battle Galaxy menu to the side when it auto-activated.
"First, I want to ask if you'd be interested in joining the Fourth Quad students at a camp out at Camp Shennen," Ava said as she whipped out her datapad. "I just need to know so we can keep track of interest and how much we'll need to hold us over for the fall week of our break."
"A... camp out...?" Rayan mused.
"Camp Shennen is a camping site on the outskirts of Eastpoint," James explained. "During the fall, we go out to the cottages owned by the town. We also swim for the last time before winter hits. We go on nature trails, tell spooky stories, roast lavamellows over the fire..." James studied Rayan when his expression didn't change. "Never camped?"
"No." Rayan smiled. "It sounds fun though, I'm interested."
Ava wrote his name down on her datapad with a nod. "Okay, and the last thing is sort of something I've taken upon myself to do, and I mean to ask the art's class about this..." Her gaze hid shame behind determination as she nodded. "Rayan, I know this might be a lot to ask of you since you practically just arrived at our school, but I could... use your help with our spooky halls. I have to get the warehouse set up, and I could use your drawing skills if you're not too busy. I'm hoping it won't just be you alone if you accept, I won't place that on you."
James folded his arms. "Now was that so bad?"
"I hate having to ask for help," Ava said. "But I'll admit this might be out of my hands with all the extra work I've taken on this Quad. You can say no, I'll understand."
"What would you have me do?" Rayan asked.
"You'd be helping me set up the atmosphere in the school warehouse. I saw how you draw environments. It doesn't have to be anything super complex, and I'm going to ask the rest of the art's class and Mx. Yovu for their assistance on getting things set in the warehouse so I can do the rest of the decorating."
Rayan's lips pursed in thought. "I'll help, Ava. I mean... you helped me plenty. Just let me know what you need done, and I'll do it."
James patted Ava's shoulder when she relaxed and all the tension left her brow. "Again, not that hard, is it?"
Rayan tipped his head. "I mean... you wouldn't let me help pay for your camera, which I broke." James twisted his head to Rayan, whose teasing smile died in a quick frozen instant as he hid his face in his hands, though the tips of his ears went a deep red. "I said that out loud, didn't I?"
James tugged his hand back and folded his arms against his chest as he scoffed. "Well, that's different. That involves money, Rayan. I'm not going to take your money. Ava's just stubborn because she thinks she can do everything by herself." He glared at his twin sister. "You're not superhuman, and Dad needs to stop treating you like you are a superhuman who can do everything."
"He doesn't treat me like that."
"Whatever." James shifted with his bag while Rayan continued to hide in his hands as he got up.
"I'm sorry," Rayan groaned.
Ava waved her hands. "No! It's okay! It's nothing to do with you, Rayan, you're fine." James flinched when she sent her fist into his arm with a quiet warning. "Sit down, James, we still need to work on your assignment."
"Ugh..." James flattened his work in front of him as Rayan retreated from his hands, but no longer looked at him. "Fine." He frowned when both of them eyed him. "Also, can we address the Goliath in the room?" He leaned forward past the constricting atmosphere between them. "Meryn. You said you might have an idea as to what's wrong with him."
Rayan's gaze drifted back to him, where the sun continued to rise instead of set in the honey browns. "I think it was a week ago I asked Jon how Meryn got along with his classmates, I assumed everyone knew everybody in Eastpoint Collegiate, so..." He hesitated, then shook his head. "Jon's noticed the same thing I have, but maybe it's our experience in bigger schools that lets us see things easier."
"Rayan."
"Right, the point," Rayan forced out. "Jon's been keeping tabs on him since the Quad started, and I got deja vu when I was talking to Meryn today." He clasped his hands together, and James frowned when they trembled. "I'm... Um..." He sucked in his lips. "The, uh... the reason I was suspended from the Odaport collegiate..." James let go of his chest as Rayan withdrew, but pushed on, refusing to rest. "So, back at my old school, there was a kid that was... well, generally well-liked by his own classmates. He tried to get along with everybody, kind of like how Meryn is from what I know of him. You mentioned Meryn wasn't acting himself recently. It... rang bells in my head, so to speak."
Ava's brow furrowed. "What are you trying to say?"
Rayan brushed his knuckles. "Who does Meryn hang out with?"
"He hangs out by himself usually, or he hangs out with Jon and I..." James eyed Ava, who returned his look. "Other than that, not a lot of people."
Rayan's shoulders trembled as he shifted in place. "On Kestra, this kid... I walked past him sometimes in the halls," he whispered. "I didn't hang out with a lot of people, if anyone. I started to notice something change in how he sort of... I don't know, held himself?" His shaking fists tightened as something hard as iron entered the golden browns. "I mean, I didn't care what happened to me. I realised what was happening one day — so I took matters into my own hands and reached out to him." Rayan breathed deep with a distant solar flare. "He was terrified to go to the teachers, but I doubt they would've done anything anyway about it." Bitterness laced his tone, and a black hole crushed his soul at the horrid realisation of what Rayan insinuated, while at the same time, Ava's brow scrunched in wolven fury.
"You think Meryn's getting bullied at school," she said, cold as steel.
"I... I'm not sure if that's the case. As I said, it should be that harder to miss in a school this small, wouldn't it?" Rayan asked. "Doesn't everyone know everybody?"
"Hm..." James hummed while Ava matched Rayan's rigid stance. "Not exactly. I don't know many of Meryn's actual classmates. He did skip a grade. I only know the people in our Quad. What about you, Ava? You deal with the student body on the regular."
Ava frowned. "I have an idea for most of the people in school, but still..." Her head dipped forward. "I can't remember every name and face. That'd be too much, even for me."
It fell silent from the dread-inducing conversation, where they worked on their homework in the quiet until the doorbell rang.
"Oh!" Rayan smacked his hands and jolted James out of the endless words on the page. "I forgot about Mom's visitor!" Rayan jumped to his feet, and James followed him with Ava back upstairs, packing their work and bags as they joined him in the foyer.
James hung back with Ava while Rayan answered the door, and a different type of agitating dread filled his throat and made him want to scream out his resentment.
Dad.
He raked his cold, hazel gaze over all three of them. James readied himself for the fight, but stopped when Dad questioned, "Is your mother here, Rayan?"
"No," Rayan's voice went an octave higher. "I'll go get the infopod."
"May I come in?"
Rayan leaped to the side and allowed Dad into the threshold of warmth to bring the cold. James inched closer to Ava until their shoulders touched while Rayan rushed to the staircases as if Dad had set him on fire. Once he returned in the vacuum of silence, Dad took the infopod in his shaking hands with a stiff nod.
"Thank you," he said. "James, Ava, your mother wants you back home. It's getting late and you two need sleep. I'm sure Rayan needs his rest as well."
"Dad—" James began.
"It's a school day tomorrow," Dad warned. "Come on."
"Goodnight," Rayan mumbled.
James rooted himself on the spot as Ava easily followed Dad to the door. He folded his arms, refusing to budge for Dad's shaky authority. Dad stopped at the threshold, and raised an eyebrow at him. "You've already skipped dinner once, James."
"I had dinner," he bit. "I just wanted to have dinner with a friend."
Dad nodded for Ava to leave, who curled on herself and left the front door to stand on the stone porch. "That's not here nor there," Dad pointed out. "You still need to go to bed, James. You can't stay up all night."
I can, I have, and I will.
Ava peeked past Dad. "Just come on, James. I need to talk to you about something. Privately."
James folded his arms and glared at Rayan, who frowned. He scoffed, then left his roots to join Dad and Ava.
I know what she wants to talk about now... James clenched his fists as Rayan closed the front door behind him. She wants to talk about Meryn, doesn't she? He glared at Dad, who gazed at both of them with an unreadable expression. That's why? That's why you call Rayan a troublemaker? Because he stood up for someone when no one else would? He dug his fingers deep into his palm as Dad motioned for them to get in his car. Jokes on you, Dad. I'm not Ava, and I'm not going to listen to you every time you open your mouth just because you're my dad.
He held close the camera, where he took the picture of the road behind, and the path ahead.