Who: Arthur and Justin Where: Zener, Outdoors When: Backdated to yesterday after school What: They talk, smoke and realize that they haven't dared each other to do anything in ages. Also the reason why Arthur's going to be speaking as if he has an alien in his head for a week or so.
Smoking had becoming something of a habit between Justin and Arthur. What had started out as a random puff here and there had turned into some regular twice a week thing. Not that Justin was worried. They wee young and could kick the habit whenever they liked. Right? Still though..."My mom would kill me if she saw this."
They inhaled and exhaled at the same time. Arthur glancing at his friend and nodding at Justin's words. "She probably would." He said, his agreement earning him a squinty eyed look from Justin. "Seeing that she cuts up peoples heads and works with brains." He paused and took the fag out of his mouth, looking at it. "And this stuff is supposed to rot your brains or something." Or maybe those pictures he had seen on those medical type websites had been photoshoped. Arthur couldn't feel his brain rotting (which was a blessing really). Relaxed. Now that he felt.
"Plus your mom is scary." Arthur added, laughing when Justin indignantly told him that he wasn't supposed to be bringing up all the bad side effects of smoking. That was their one rule, designed to keep Justin from feeling guilty about his new habit. Guilt was something that his best friend didn't like to feel apprently. But then again, who did?
Guilt or not the emotion certainly didn't stop Justin from kicking slush all over Arthur's shoes in retaliation. "Your mom can set things on fire and my mom is scary?" The question was obviously rhetorical. He sidestepped easily as kicked another pile of slush right back at him, his ESP warning him about the movement just in time. And since they were on the subject of parents being scary..."Did yours call you up when they heard about the bombings."
Arthur nodded again, the fag back in his mouth. "My dad did. Mom called up Claudia." It was just easier that way. His parents knew that if they waited to talk to all of them one by one, then one of them would make a getaway. Claudia was the most prone on doing that, Arthur didn't think their parents gave them a chance. "And I know yours called because Clair wrote about it. What did they say?"
"Same old." Justin replied, blowing a thin trail of smoke into the air. "To not talk to strangers. To make sure people know if I'm going to town...Take care of Clair." He paused and tilted his head upwards, looking at the sky. "I think mom wanted to say that it probably wouldn't be wise to have Clair's pictures in that magazine. Since Clair's affiliated to Zener and is a psychic." And then the whole family would be branded. "But I think dad managed to talk her out of it. She was only hinting at it when she talked to me and he kept clearing his throat."
Arthur sighed a little as he listened to Justin. "Dude..can you imagine the fall out if your mom said Clair couldn't have her pictures in that magazine." He knew Clair, there would probably have been a lot of shouting. And foot stomping. That girl could throw a tantrum. But more then that...Arthur paused when he saw the look on Justin's face. "Hey..I'm sorry." He nudged the blond boy gently in the ribs. "Your mom just want what's best for you. It's not like she's ashamed of you guys or anything like that...that just ridiculous." Such a thing seemed impossible to Arthur. But then again his whole family was in the psychic boat. Come to think about it, he had it easy.
He pushed Justin again, which only ended up in a mini shoving competiton. A part of Arthur wished there was still snow on the ground. What better was to kill all your troubles then having a snowball fight? "Why overthink things?" He asked his friend, the second rhetorical question for the day. "We can indulge in thoughts of Stargate somehow slipping up and getting caught." Arthur paused and make a mock satisfied humming sound. "Put in front of the firing squad. Bye bye jerks..." Yup, Arthur was not a fan. The Times Square bomb had caused him to spend a handful of weeks in hospital and he blamed Stargate, Stargate, Stargate.
Justin was silent. He didn't indulge in Arhtur's train of thoughts because it was a bit too bloody for his liking. Maybe the authorities can put the members of Stargate away for a long long long time if they were caught. That was society could just forget about them? "I don't know what they hope to achieve with those bombs." He put out his cigarette and flicked it into the nearby bin. "It's just putting other psychics against them because they're making everyone else's life harder. Would't covert ops be much better." He looked at Arthur and seeing his friend's curious expression, Justin continued.
"You know, inflitrate the govertment. Replace a few people here and there. Make policies. And before anyone knows it psychics would probably be ruling America." There was a few seconds before Arthur started laughing. His friend looked to be in danger of swallowing his cigarette. "Alright...no more Ludlam for you." There was more nudging. Their whole friendship had been formed around that and impomptu wrestling matches.
Arthur smiled in amusement as Justin shot him anothe squinty eyed looked. "How much money do I owe you for that T-shirt?" Justin had burrowed some money off him on the road trip when they discovered that one of the stalls the had stopped by in Salem didn't take credit cards. Arthur was already telling Justin that he was going to get a freebie but it seemed that his friend was adamant. And that was when he caught sight of a worn ten dollar bill.
"Dude! You have that! What was the last dare?" Reaching out, Arthur plucked the bill out of Justin's wallet and held it up. Ahhh their ten dollar bill...it bought back so many memories. There was that time he made Justin hump a tree. And that time when Justin made him flash people from a merry go round. Ahhh..nostalgia.
"I think you made me rush into your kitchen to grab the potatos and shout 'No..save Mr Potato head and his family!" Or something like that. It had been over Thanksgiving. And they were way overdue for another dare. Looking at Arthur now, Justin could feel a smile tilt up the corners of his lips. "For ten dollars, I dare you to talk as if you have an alien in your head for a week. And you can't tell people that this is a dare."
Arthur pocketed the note. Returned Justin's smile and said, "The concept of dares is a foreign one on my planet, Earthling. But by my count it does approximate to some level of challange and I accept. As they say on this small piece of space rock, 'You got yourself a deal. Dude.'