Chapter 25: 25 The Party, Part Two

Jin hadn't been to a party since before the ceasefire. It wasn't like you could get out of practice at enjoying a party, right? Just like riding a bike. Not that he'd ridden one for years...

By the time he got there the room was already kind of crowded. The temperature difference between inside with all the body heat and outside without was intense. Most of the buildings in the shared areas of Zapville were tin sheds with no windows, but at least the party planners left the door at the other end open.

He adjusted his uniform and stepped further in.

He surveyed the room. The adults all seemed clustered together against one wall, all talking and laughing, probably about boring stuff he was happy to not hear. A group of girls stood by the drinks table which was... intimidating. He felt his face getting warm.

Sophie danced badly with some guy that looked vaguely familiar. Tabitha glared at everyone and mumbled things to herself. Or maybe she was talking to the robots? She watched the room instead of the robots, though, so it looked kind of weird.

He decided to go where he had best strategic advantage, and then attack the enemy once he'd stopped feeling like an awkward 17 year old at a party for the first time in years.

He tapped Sophie on the shoulder and when she turned to him her smile was so wide it was almost painful to look at. If his sister had lived she'd be Sophie's age, going to parties, wearing too much make-up, going on dates with boys. He tried not to let his smile slip.

"Jin! Oh, you look so handsome. Doesn't he look very responsible and grown up in his uniform, Darren? Oh, Jin, this is Darren."

Other people probably found Darren's smile charming.

"Hi, I'm Darren," annoyingly smiling Darren said, and stuck out his hand like he thought anyone wanted to shake hands at a party. What did he think Jin was, a real estate agent?

"Hello, Darren. You better treat Sophie well or I'll kill you," Jin said.

Sophie burst into effervescent giggles. "Oh, Jin is so funny."

"I'm serious." He clapped Darren on the shoulder, briefly, smiling all the while. "Have fun on your date."

Fortified by Sophie's laughter he turned around and... okay, he was still not ready to face all the girls. He could manage one girl, maybe. She didn't look impressed when he strolled up.

"Oh, that's what that bad smell is," Tabitha said.

"Are you really talking to the robots?" he asked.

"Angharad says they can hear us."

He rolled his eyes. "Oh, if Angharad says so..."

The nearest robot banged its arm on the counter so hard its party hat wobbled around. He wasn't going to ask why there was a party hat on the robot.

"Careful, she's their favourite. All the robots love her," Tabitha said.

"I wasn't saying anything bad," he explained to the robot. "I think she's great."

The robot didn't look pacified. Then again, it had no face. How was he supposed to tell?

She made a sound that wasn't quite a laugh, halfway between vague amusement and spite. "You're an idiot."

"I'm a genius. It's you who is an idiot."

"Oh, so clever." Then she breathed out deep, and her expression flattened out as she looked over the room. "Everyone here is so carefree. Except those douche bags over there."

He turned to look where she pointed and got an eyeful of Tsuyoshi and Zelko making out aggressively. Extremely annoying.

"Aren't those douche bags your friends?" he asked.

"My friendship with them has not removed my ability to correctly detect how douchey they are."

Jin leaned on the wall next to her, and tried to see what she saw. "Everyone here has been miserable for months. If they're carefree tonight, isn't that the point?"

"There's worse places than this. It's quiet here. I can think of worse places to die," she said.

He rolled his eyes. "You're crazy. And if I listen to you too long I'll go crazy. Let's just dance. That doesn't involve talking."

"Fine. As long as you don't press on my wound."

"I don't want to touch you at all."

The music was kind of bad, but the dance floor gave them enough room to bounce around, and they'd been beaten to the dance floor by Colonel Huppert, who danced like Jin's dad used to. Tabitha laughed while she danced, a soft breathy sound like she was embarrassed to be enjoying herself. With that smile on her face and her hair falling free she looked normal. She almost looked nice.

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Angharad came bouncing up. "Oh my god, you guys, dancing without me? That's just not fair."

She was showing a lot more skin than she usually did. At least he noticed her face before he noticed her boobs, and when he blushed and looked away, feeling guilty, Tabitha laughed at him.

"Jin, you look great," Angharad said. "I never really thought much about your uniform but the jacket really makes it work and I love that mandarin collar. And look how cute you can be when you actually brush your hair."

"Was that an actual compliment, because I feel insulted," he said.

"She's so right. You do usually look like you don't own a brush," Tabitha said.

He couldn't even snap back with an insult of his own because they ignored him to dance. Tabitha grabbed Angharad's hand to twirl her around, and Angharad's skirt flared up a little as she spun, and— legs. He tried not to look. He hadn't noticed Tabitha's legs before because her dress was more stiff, but, well, now he noticed those, too. His face was on fire.

He looked away, hoping they wouldn't notice, and caught sight of the kitchen robots as they leaned forward as if to stare at him. He wasn't sure how they could look so judgemental without faces.

When he tuned back in to Tabitha and Angharad they were giggling over something. Gossiping, maybe.

"...clingy and then I had a weird encounter with Josephine's girlfriend and..." Obviously Angharad hadn't heard they'd broken up again. "...then I came over here. This is way better," Angharad said.

"Agreed," Tabitha said.

"Oh, Jin! I found something for you to help with... that person," Angharad said.

"That person?" Tabitha asked. "Going to let me in on your secret?"

"You're not very good at keeping secrets, are you?" Jin asked.

"I promise I'm usually much better at it!" Angharad said.

"Just show me the thing now," he said.

"Okay. Okay! We'll go and come back. I will definitely be back, Tabitha."

"Don't be too long!" Tabitha said.

Angharad grabbed him by the hand and dragged him out the door.

"People will get the wrong idea," he said.

"I don't care. It's funny, and people are always wrong about me, anyway."

The air outside was a little too cool, even with no wind to rush them through the night.

"Aren't you cold?" he asked. Her entire shoulders were exposed and her upper back had only strings of beads for cover.

"Oh, please, this is velvet."

Angharad didn't drag him far. She pulled him into the common room, left open in case of party overflow – the monk and the priest were doing karaoke together, seemingly happy to ignore them coming in the room – and opened the small storage closet against the door nearest the entrance.

"What am I supposed to be looking at?"

"Okay, so, this is only going to help with one way communication, but it will be a lot faster for you than struggling with trying to sign. I guess it doesn't really help with her end of the deal, but it can still save time. White board, markers, flash light."

She handed them all to him and started to push him back out of the room again.

"Really? You saw those and thought of me?"

"I want to facilitate your forbidden romance. Because I believe in love! It's a beautiful thing. And you look really nice tonight, so maybe if you're lucky you can find her near the barrier."

She stopped pushing him when they got in clear view of the rippling edge of the barrier. In the night it was hard to see through it, but he turned on the torch and shone it straight through to the other side, light landing on that large building he was so often saw Freya go in and out of.

Angharad hugged him, side on. Said in her soft voice, "Don't come back to the party."

She slid away, but he didn't watch. Her steps, behind him, were fast little taps, like she was starting to jog. He kept shining his light, waiting.

Then, eventually, his beautiful Freya Moon. The prettiest girl in the whole world.

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