Planet: Eteran

First Insurgency War

AVA

I have to make Dad proud. He's coming home for our graduating Quad. I've got a lot of work left to do before school starts back up again...

Her poster of the band 'Aetherium Werewolves' rested on her wall above her stand of musical pods with all their songs, with one drumming out a tune in her ears. Her steps followed the beat as she shimmied to the music and held her datapad close to her heart while it dropped the beat like a hammer into her chest. It wasn't work, but she gave herself some room to enjoy herself and the news. In a held thrum in the song, she tossed her datapad onto her bed with the switch of tempo. A cold breeze wrapped around her from her open window as light from the sun shone through her split blinds.

It drummed against her walls, and she twisted on her heel to her door, too caught up in the tune, where a mirror image stared at her, not dancing. In her vanity, her true mirror image danced with her, and she switched back to the entrance to her domain.

"James!" she screeched and fumbled for her podplayer. It frizzled with realisation. "How long were you standing there? Aren't you supposed to be at the Starcross field with Jon?"

"Mom wanted me to let you know lunch is ready. She went out to get stuff for dinner and took Janie," James said with a wry smile at her. "Also, I was, but then I heard you blasting that band and couldn't concentrate on what I was doing, so I came over to take a peek." He shrugged his shoulders and whisked a strand of their shared dirty blonde hair off of his brow, and he ran a hand through his hair to finish it off. "I did call you—"

"No, you didn't." Ava pursed her lips.

"I did." James chuckled. "You were just so invested in it, and I'm not that rude. I'm heading to the pitch now." He threw his thumb behind him in indication, then Ava shook her head when he did a little slide in her doorway. "I'm sorry for interrupting, Miss Homework, but you should know better than to—" He hesitated on his own beat, then with one last slide, tipped her pens over, where they rolled on her dresser. "—Ignore me." He bowed, and then rushed out of her doorframe, leaving it open.

"Why do you always have to knock over my pens? And close the door when you leave!" she called, and scoffed when the front door opened and shut. And there he goes. I'll have to mark that down. Over to her desk, she shuffled through her infopods to find her school holoboard, swiping her notes to her datapad. Got to get these notes to Meryn, and then it's gym time.

Everything snug tight in her bag, she hauled it over her shoulder before whisking her hair in her ponytail and leaving their little house down the forest path. It wasn't too long a walk to the small town of Eastpoint, on the cusp where forest met hills. Quiet, and full of close company.

As she walked down main street, she spotted some of her classmates on their routines before the start of the Quad. Yvonne and Kylie, who hovered around the candy shop, with their famous delicacy of chocolate and vanilla lavacakes — on sale, from the gleeful expressions on their faces. Roads split, but the quiet reigned. Few cars clogged up the roads, with some quickly going about their business, or parking off to the side of the buildings themselves. Music danced out of the convenience store in Eastpoint's largest plaza, the same tune she played before. I wonder if their 'Wolven Heart' album is out yet... A frustrated puff escaped her as she checked for any hint on the anticipated drop, before hesitating outside the electronics and edevium store, where an I-Screen showed the planetary news. On the edge of the screen, reports of the First Insurgency War, along with pirate attacks on the borderlands — as with the usual safety measures in place for some of the larger cities packed together.

Lorie called out to her from the other side of the street, and she broke her attention from the I-Screen on the other side. Ava waved her down, and smiled when Lorie bounced in greeting and continued on her daily jog from each end of the town. Ava headed off one of the beaten roads to the other pieces of rural areas, where few houses dotted the lanes, wrapped in their own little lots. Her destination, a well-maintained, old cottage, with a garden of bleeding hearts Mrs. Matthey meticulously cared for.

Ava rushed up the small cobble path to their front door, ringing the bell before sending Meryn a quick text through her compearl.

'I'm here! Ready to roll?' It took several minutes for Meryn to answer her text or the door. Her previous energy sizzled out of her arms as she sent one more text, 'Meryn?'

The door clicked, and she smiled when Mrs. Matthey answered, "Oh, hello, Ava. How are you today?"

Ava laughed. "I swear I'm not here because of a health problem. Is Meryn home? We were supposed to go to the gym together today before school started."

Mrs. Matthey's smile faltered. "He is home. He's in his room. Give me a moment to—"

"I'm here... Mom," Meryn said with a twinge of hesitation. He leaned to the side with a grin. "What, you thought I'd skip out on you, Ava? No way." It grew to almost painful levels. "Don't worry, I got your text, just needed to... write some more stuff down." He bounced past Mrs. Matthey, who studied him in concern. "Besides... I've got some juice for you if you're interested."

"Meryn," Mrs Matthey asked as Meryn stepped for her. "Are you okay?"

Meryn glanced back at her. "I'm okay, Mom. I'll be back home for dinner." He turned back to Ava. "Shall we go, Cap'n Ranier?" he teased with one final bounce off the step as Mrs. Matthey shut the door with one last curious look at her son.

"Captain Ranier?" Ava asked as she took the lead away from the Matthey cottage on the bend. "Where is this coming from?" Hand on her friend's shoulder, she tipped her head. "Has James said something about my secret project?"

Meryn brought a finger up to his lips with a wry grin. "I shan't spill a secret. Where is James?" Energy returned to her friend as he walked circles around her while they made their journey to the gym.

"On the Starcross pitch," Ava repeated. "We can head over there after we're done. Are you excited for the new quad? You got accepted into the martial training classes, right?"

Meryn hesitated, and then his smile died. "Oh, well..." He rubbed the back of his head. "Yeah, I got accepted, and I really appreciate you doing this for me."

Hm. Ava continued on the road, back into the heart of Eastpoint. "By the way, what's this juice you've picked up?" Arms crossed, she leaned closer to him, and he shimmied out of her way. "If it's about Jon's super secret battle plan, everyone knows it by now."

Meryn gave a short gasp. "Oh, no no no, Miss Class Rep." He smacked his hands together. "Much better than that. I heard from a very reliable source that we're getting a new student for this quad, and get this!" He jumped closer to her. "I've heard they're from Kestra, from the big city itself. I wonder how they'll cope with us 'country-bumpkins', as Jon reportedly told us is what his aunt feels whenever she comes for business from Kestra. It must be quite a change."

"Forgetting the climate differences? I think that'd be the hardest thing to get used to. I've heard Odaport is boiling," Ava asked with a grin. "Who was your reliable source? This is the first time I'm hearing it, and I also have sources."

His lips curled into a sheepish grimace. "I... uh, volunteered to help set some of the school up — I overheard the principal and one of the teachers talking about it. And then I overheard Mrs Matthey— my mom," he corrected. "My mom on the phone with someone, they mentioned Kestra and something about being happy to see each other for so long."

"Being nosy, are we?" Ava chuckled.

"Hey, you're the Class Pres." Meryn wiggled his fingers. "You're the one who's going to have to make the new kid feel welcome and that joyous team spirit, go Eastpoint Direwolves!" He pumped his fists with a small jump. "Jon's been getting super excited about this varsity season."

"So I've heard from James." Ava nodded at the fitness center with attached modules to connect it to the largest supermarket. Keycard out with her information, she slipped it into the door of the smaller gym meant for the students of Eastpoint Collegiate. It registered her entry with a beep, and she waited for Meryn to do the same.

"Hey, Ava!" Ollie called from their rock climb.

"Don't fall!" Meryn said.

"Quiet?" Ava asked.

"Well, seeing as the starcross players are all on the pitch and everyone else is... who knows where." Ollie shrugged from the high rungs. "I found the perfect time to go to the gym all by myself for a little while."

"Sorry for interrupting," Ava joked as she led Meryn to the open mats. "Mind if I put on some tunes, Meryn?"

He waved his hand, and she headed for the podplayer, double checking with Ollie, who appeared too focused on their own rock climb. Infopod slipped into the slot, she bounced back when the drumbeat fizzled back to life. This should get some pep into his step. "You ready, Meryn Matthey?" In her stance, she relaxed her legs and readied for the impromptu match. "We've been training all over the break, you've got this."

Meryn brought his fists closer to his chest. "... I can try."

Ava rushed forward with the beat, following the steps of a foundation. Meryn dodged, ducked, but never went for any opening she let him have. As she tried to get around Meryn's nervous defense, he continued to flick his gaze upwards to the climbing wall. Ava hooked his elbow, pushing him to the other end of the mat.

"You feeling alright, Meryn?" she asked while the music fell into a whisper.

"Uh... I'm okay!" he said with a wave of his hands. Ava lunged forward to flick him on the brow, and he gasped. "Hey, that's cheating."

"I have to keep you on your toes somehow." Ava followed his direction to Ollie, who finished their climb and sat on the top rung, taking a drink of their water. "Don't like the audience?"

"It's not that—"

"It's okay, Meryn, I'm not looking. Too high in the clouds." Ollie laughed at their own joke, and Ava shook his head at them.

"You've got nothing to worry about, Meryn," she pointed out.

Meryn frowned, then shrank away from her when she went to continue their session. "Actually... I'm not really in the mood to keep going right now — if that's alright with you, Ava. I'm just..." He shifted on his legs. "Guess I wasn't really feeling it today, y'know?"

"That's fine, Meryn, but..." Ava jumped when he stepped off the platform, and the initializer and podplayer went silent. "Do you want to talk about it? What's up?"

"Ollie apparently," Meryn muttered, but the quip fell flat. "I'll see you later, Ava."

Her friend escaped the sectioned gym, and Ava behind on the platform as it hummed, waiting for a new opponent.

"That was strange," Ollie commented. "For Meryn, I mean."

"Yeah..." Ava waved her hand at Ollie, who returned the gesture. "See you at school, Ollie." With no one left to fight, she jumped off the platform to rush out of the gym.

Meryn was nowhere in sight in a group of familiar faces.

Did he go to the pitch?