"Not a Kid"
Bluefield
"What are you doing?"
I looked up. Ricken was standing beside the wooden fence, which I was sitting on. I hadn't even sensed him, but it didn't bother me too much. "Taking a short break," I replied. "Is there something wrong with that?"
Ricken scratched the back of his head. "Then…what are you doing with that foldable blue box?"
I looked down at it. Oh, my Nintendo 3DS? …is what I could have said. But no. Extra jargon wouldn't help.
Instead, I held it up for him to see. "Oh, this thing?" I simply said. "I'm playing a game on it."
The mage stared at me. "What?" he asked in disbelief. "You're playing a game? You? Mister Trey's mentor?"
I sighed. "And this is why I can't talk to people about things like this…"
"Huh?"
"Nothing, nothing."
"So…is that how it is in your world?"
"What is?"
"That adults play games?"
"Well, some certainly do. My parents definitely don't, but that's mainly because they weren't raised in the years when things like this"—I held up my 3DS again—"were being made 'n' sold."
"I…see…"
"Besides…" I shifted uncomfortably. "You'd think a few wars would be enough to make me grow the hell up. …It wasn't."
I was already looking at the ground at that point, so I didn't see Ricken's reaction. "Oh… Sorry if I—"
"Forget it, forget it," I sighed. "I shouldn't've brought it up." I snapped my 3DS shut before pocketing it.
My goodness, things had gotten awkward.
As I stood up, I looked back at Ricken. "Look—I know you're not a kid, but it's alright to be one, at least every once in a while."
And with that, I ran off.
Still got three laps to go, I thought.