Chương 103: 7.05 No Return without Receipt or Label

2104: 04: 01: 13: 58: 19 I stood on the highest edge of the bowl, atop the quarter pipe built into it. The lip of my skateboard hung in the air as I rooted the back firmly on the rim under my foot. I took a brief moment to visualize my course, then stepped forward and plunged down. Wind racing through my hair, I circled around the edge of the bowl, going up and down a few times and doing all I could to build up speed.

The goal was a long jump right over the quarter pipe to land in the bowl again on the other side, hopefully without stopping or losing momentum. And as I reached the fastest speed I could go without losing control, I did just that. I went to the skate bowl's ledge right next to the quarter pipe, angling my board juuust right, then jumped. I shot up into the air, feeling for a second like I'd taken flight in crow form.

Then, as I reached the apex of my flight right above the quarter pipe, stomach dropping pleasantly at the free-floating sensation, I looked down. I'd misjudged the jump. I was flying too far to the left and towards the curve of the bowl, landing neither cleanly on the inside nor somewhere outside on the concrete behind it. Going the way I was, I would either land somewhere in the center of the curve or right on the edge.

Rather than tempt fate and potentially crack my Christmas present in two – or worse: my legs – I pushed the skateboard away from me and focused on my footing. Landing just outside the bowl at a sidelong angle, I heard my knees creaking and buckle at the impact, sending me tumbling to the floor. A chorus of "Ai!" s and "Oof!" s came from the peanut gallery – Jolie, Jewel, Tommy and Alisha in this case – as I landed, stumbled, dropped and rolled until I finally came to a halt flat on my back.

If it weren't for sambo training, masked practice and my superpowered body, I would've been feeling this landing for days. Saga skated past on rollerblades she borrowed from her... housemate?

"Not your finest showing," she snobbed affectionately, reaching out for me with her left hand. I accepted the offer and hoisted myself up, but before I could respond the familiar clack of a skateboard hitting the floor came from my left. A board had been thrown out of the bowl where it'd landed and right after, Casper appeared with mine under his arm.

"Unlucky," he said, handing me my skateboard.

"I was sure you had it this time. What happened?"

"Thanks. And-" Saga interrupted by throwing her arm around my neck.

"It's because she's nervous," Saga said with a teasing lilt, jostling my shoulder. I scowled and pushed her off. Saga laughed as the pushed rolled her backwards.

"I'm not-" This time, Casper cut me off.

"What for?"

"She's afraid of her therapist," Saga said. I scoffed.

"Why would I be afraid?"

"Yeah, why would she be afraid?" Casper echoed."'Cause she didn't do her homework," Saga said in that same teasing tune as before. I punched her shoulder, only holding back slightly.

"Stop that!" She stuck her tongue out as she went and rubbed her smarting shoulder.

"Meanie. Not my fault you're a truant."

"Wrong word," I said, waving my fist about menacingly.

"What didn't you do?" Casper asked. I sighed.

"Was supposed to talk to my mom about something." I naturally hadn't shared my androidhood with Amber's group of friends. I didn't feel close enough to them to reveal my masked identity, let alone something as personal as my origin story.

"But she keeps chickening out."

"I didn't 'chicken out'," I said.

"I just…" Kept procrastinating.

"It just wasn't the right time."

"Oh yeah? And what about today?" Saga questioned.

"You said her shift only started in the afternoon; you had all morning to tell her." It was true. Mom's shift didn't start until three, and all schools were out thanks to Cascadia's Teachers Day falling on this particular day – not a holiday (not for the teachers at least) but a day for schools to help clear their administrative backlog. Why it was called Teachers Day was anybody's guess.

"It's not literally about the time of day," I said, glaring at Saga. She was getting dangerously close to me shouting at her.

"It's just that I'm waiting for the right moment." Or the moment I'd be forced to, really – but like hell was I going to prove her right. The argument didn't convince anyone. Saga rolled her eyes and Casper looked that particular kind of understanding that indicated he didn't believe a word I said. A look bordering too close to pity for comfort. Casper opened his mouth. To say what, I didn't care to know; this conversation had gone on long enough.

So I jumped on my skateboard and took off after sticking my tongue out at the pair. Saga laughed, the sound first fading before coming closer again as she chased me. Casper followed more sedately, thankfully without the bullying.

"Jolie! Jolie!" I cried as I made my way over to them.

"Saga's bullying me!" I threw myself down next to her on the concrete step, burrowed my face into her shoulder and began fake-sobbing pitifully.

"Poor child," Jolie said, patting me on the back.

"There, there. I'll protect you from that monster." Alisha beside me giggled at the sight while Jewel and Tommy, one tier above me next to Tommy, snorted and laughed respectively. Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. The sound of sliding skates coming to a halt preceded my tormentor's taunting voice.

"Ooooh! How brave of you, hiding behind your mother's skirt!"

"Leave my daughter alone, demon!" Jolie said. Over her shoulder, I tauntingly stuck my tongue out at said demon. Saga took on a wrestler's stance and deepened her voice.

"Oh? And who's gonna stop me? You? Ah-ah-ah-ahhh!" An oddly specific laugh – likely a reference to something or another. Jolie raised her hand and snapped her fingers.

"You, knight!" She pointed behind her at Tommy, then at Saga.

"Do your duty: deliver us from this Evil!" Tommy jumped down from the steps above us, "Aye, milady!" and took a sidelong position across Saga, one hand behind and in the air and the other stretched out as if holding a rapier.

"You're on your honor!" Saga adroitly twisted on her skates to face the new challenger. Pretending to hold a large blade with two hands, she taunted, "Honor? Pah! Better to put a thrust to steel than your trust in honor!" On the other side of the pair, Amber had joined Tommy and likewise enjoyed the spectacle, completing the impromptu dueling circle. I stared at the two combatants, gaze going to one then the other until finally resting on Alisha. I leaned in close to her and whispered, "I'm lost."

"They're doing a scene from Principessa and the Starlit Crusade," she whispered back.

"Was pretty popular like, three years back or something."

"You never seen one of those keychains of the Masked Knight?" Jewel said from the back, lying now stretched out on her side to enjoy the show.

"Or the Principessa with her Ring of Eternity?" I shrugged. How would I know if I had?

"I'm pretty sure I have one, could take it along next time," Jewel said.

"Or maybe a watch party?"

"Oh, that'd be fun!" Jolie said.

"Been awhile since I've seen it." Alisha nodded enthusiastically beside her.

"-not know honor if it ran you in the face!" Tommy said. They'd continued undisturbed, and now some sort of climax was approaching – though who knew what that would mean. Would they actually charge the other? That'd be stupid, but then again this was Tommy and Saga we're talking about. For better or worse, they were bailed out by a hitherto unheard, yet distressingly familiar sound.

A high-pitched combo yelp-and-giggle accompanied by a deep laugh so unnatural yet recognizable it bordered on the uncanny valley, shocking the senses. All of us turned to look. In the distance, at the foot of a simple slope of a ramp, stood Millie and Franklin, the former looking as if the latter had just caught her from a fall. They were… laughing, but in a way I'd never heard from them before. A very peculiar and particular kind of way way."'

Needs to fix the attitude'," Jolie said, voice a mocking impression of Millie's.

"Yeah right." Saga echoed the sentiment.

"All she cares about is looks, the shallow ass."

"To be fair," Jewel said, "He does seem to lose some of the attitude with her." Franklin helped Millie back on his skateboard she borrowed, Millie letting Franklin guide her through the steps.

"Four months and zero progress," Tommy said.

"Now that's impressive." To be fair to Millie, she – and Jolie and Saga too – didn't hang out as often with Amber's friend group as I did. Still, I was a hundred percent certain she could go up and down a slope on her own comfortably, let alone doing something as simple as moving on a skateboard.

"Just let them be," Amber said.

"It's free entertainment."

"So much for having separate friend groups, huh," I teased. She snorted.

"You're right, let's change the subject: what's this about not telling your mom, hmm?" I glared at Casper the Rat. Just as I'd thought I'd escaped, it turned out he'd spilled the beans! If it was him, that is. Not that Amber couldn't have figured it out from a word or two, but still – it was the principle of the thing. The boy in question casually shrugged off my withering gaze, confirming his betrayal. I sighed.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm procrastinating – so what?"

"So nothing," Amber said.

"I'm not afraid," I said.

"Just… waiting for the right moment." Saying it for the second time today the argument sounded a lot weaker.

"Hmm-mm," Amber hmm-mm-ed. The rest of the group watched our interaction in (to my ears) condemning silence. I narrowed my eyes, ready to defend myself. But before I could say anything, I was saved from the conversation by another yelp from Millie, and conversation shifted again. X I walked a-hundred-percent confident through the door into Marianne's office.

"Welcome back, Sam." She gestured toward the cup on the table.

"Tea?" Of course, the tea was already set. I nodded and sat down, taking a sip of the still-hot tea and letting out a relieving 'ahhh' right after.

"So, how have things been since last week?" Marianne asked, a cheerful neutral.

"Well enough, considering," I said. Marianne didn't do or say anything, yet I felt pressured nonetheless to add, "I told my friends."

"About you being an android?" I nodded. She continued, "And how did they respond?" I shrugged.

"Pretty well…" Another stretch of silence.

"I… don't think they believe me."

"Hm," Marianne hm-ed.

"Why do you think that is?" Because of you, I wanted to say. But I didn't. I could've just not shared what she thought, and I knew my friends well enough to know they'd made up their own minds rather than be so blatantly persuaded by the authority of an expert. Yet simultaneously, "I don't know," I admitted with a sight.

"Maybe it's because I told them about the GAC and the RAT? Maybe they just don't want to believe it. I mean, it kinda feels like they don't care? Even Millie and Jolie only did once they realized how it was weird with Mom, you know? But Amber and Saga; they barely reacted at all."

"And what do you think of their reactions? Is it good? Bad? Something in between?"

"…Good, maybe?" Better than the alternative, at least.

"It's just- it feels like they don't know about what being an android really means. Like, they only have the image of it meaning some kind of 'metal man' – and not much else."

"Hmm," Marianne hmm-ed.

"And what do you think makes an android? What does the word 'android' mean to you?"

"An artificially-made, humanoid, sentient construct?" She smiled.

"You're asking me?" I rolled my eyes, but thought deeper on the question. What did it mean, actually?

"…It means I was made for a purpose?" I said, half-questioningly. Marianne nodded encouragingly. I continued.

"That there is, like… an end point, in a way. A goal I was made for, something to focus on and accomplish while… while I'm still here." Even if I hadn't been given all the tools necessary nor the amount of time required to accomplish it.

"A meaning as to why I'm here, a… a justification to what and why I'm doing what I do." And did to Mom what I did. Marianne nodded encouragingly, seemingly not at all surprised by what I said.

"And if it turns out you aren't an android, you'd lose that meaning? I opened my mouth to argue for the obvious, that 'yes, obviously me not being an android would change that'. But I caught myself in time, the instinctual retort on my lips yet dying before it could leave.

"…No," I ultimately said. Just as with my friends, whether I was an android or not didn't really change anything on that front. I wouldn't suddenly stop being a hero just because some test told me I wasn't an android, and my life wouldn't- well, it would literally be a lie, but not one made on my account. Not where it mattered.

"But that doesn't mean I'm suddenly not an android," I argued. Marianne parried my argument with an off-handed gesture.

"Of course not – that's for the RAT to find out." I grumbled at the remark, causing Marianne to chuckle.

"But it is good of you to realize that while you think being an android defines what you are-" she held up a hand to forestall my argument.

"I'm not saying that that isn't important, but what I am saying is that the only thing that defines who you are, is you." Face flushing, and after a some hesitation, I nodded. The words… rankled something in me, but it wasn't wholly unpleasant. Just strangely embarrassing. Marianne continued.

"Now, to go back a moment to when you told your friends…" I nodded, grateful for the change in topic.

"You did not experience any trouble from your Heroic Impulse? Or pseudo-Sam for that matter." I shook my head.

"No, nothing."

"Is that unusual?" I shook my head. It wasn't if the week was business as usual, but, "I haven't had any problems with it – with either of them – since I told you last week." Which was odd. Though they hadn't explicitly made their presence known, I was nearly one-hundred percent certain they'd been 'watching' when I told Marianne, pressing down on me to either spill or not to spill. But now they were suddenly absent again?

Did the Heroic Impulse suddenly not care about me telling people, or did it decide that since I'd told Marianne it didn't matter anymore?

"Hm," Marianne hm-ed thoughtfully, noting things down on her tablet.

"Then once again to an earlier point." She looked up to stare me in the eye again.

"You have not told your mother about your nature or the RAT test, correct?" Shrinking into myself ever so slightly at her words, I shook my head. She did not sigh or look disappointed at the news. Instead, all she did was nod in simple acknowledgement.

"It's alright, Sam; take your time. To say that discussing the situation with your mother is a more complicated task compared to telling your friends would be an understatement. I think everyone would understand you needing more time to prepare."

"My friends don't," I grumbled.

"They keep teasing me about procrastinating or whatever."

"Are they teasing you," she said, "or trying to comfort you?"

"Comfort me?" I asked, surprised at the notion.

"Trying to normalize it through humor," Marianne said.

"In the hopes of lessening the burden of your guilt. Make the confrontation seem less like an ordeal and more like… like telling your mother an embarrassing secret." I shook my head.

"If so, it isn't working. Besides, Saga and Amber don't seem to really see the issue, I don't think. They treat it like-" a mildly embarrassing, mostly personal issue.

"Ah." Marianne shrugged.

"I don't know your friends like you do, and I doubt it would surprise you if I say that teenagers aren't the most… insightful, let alone tactful about other people's circumstances – especially when, as you say, they might not believe you're an android. But, if you can, try to put yourselves in their place. What would you do in their shoes?" I'd urge them to tell their parents, their friends and family, and take the RAT test; all while trying to make it clear I accepted them as they were. I sighed.

"I'll try." Marianne nodded.

"Good." She noted it down.

"Now, as for the RAT test itself," she said.

"I've gotten in contact with a number of people to set up-" I rubbed my eyes with one hand, the other reaching for the now-gone-cold tea as a stress-induced headache started to form. The days were giving me whiplash with their alternating tones, and these sessions might be the worst of it. Thank God I still had sambo later today to work through things.