"Ha." Lucas grinned sharply, shuffling the cards in his hand. Clubs, kings, aces. One red heart. "It's okay. Beats staring at the wall together."
He wasn't the best at feelings. He definitely felt them though, all the time -- really big feelings. He laughed when he was upset. He smiled when he was scared. Mostly he pretended to be far away and above these sorts of things -- things like caring or trying -- at least in front of people who weren't his Aunt. She knew better than that. He just wished he knew what she was feeling sometimes; those were the times he felt really young and dumb, when all he could think was 'Aunt Alana is sad' but it had to be more complicated than that, and it was in her aura but not something he knew how to talk about in words.
He felt extra young and dumb because he liked words. He just didn't know how to use them, except for hiding behind when he felt extra young and dumb. It was a vicious circle.
Still, Luke laughed. "Okay. The people around here..." He paused to consider it all, grin growing sharper. "I don't even know where to begin. Is this what happens? Like... When you give people an outlet like this intranet thing?"
When Lucas was a child, online communities had been huge -- but his mother hadn't been exactly thrilled about him participating. He was starting to understand why, and it was because people were weird. And stupid. "Everyone is so... Righteous. About everything. And they just... Say stuff. It's like who cares? Or they fight and it's just... Stupid. So stupid."
He shook his head. "But whatever. I talked to this girl named George who's all right. She's funny. Other than that...? I don't know. Seriously."
"At least it's entertaining," Luke added after a moment. "I guess."