"Mr. Skunk calls a person to come by and appraise the gemstones. Denkou is apprehensive and hides behind the couch. But Denkou also can't help being curious, so they keep glancing out from around the couch's side. Uncle Jazz is pacing around the kitchen.
It's not often Denkou is near people from outside their family. As such, they cannot be sure who's dangerous and who isn't...they're either peaceful, like the uniform man on the main floor – a "mail man", as Blues later explained – or they're scary, like the strange people out on the night streets. Denkou does not know very many peaceful people.
The front door rattles with four precise knocks. It startles Uncle Jazz and he from where he stands, and he rushes to the door. Denkou ducks back down behind the couch, listening intently.
No sounds of urgency or alarm. If anything, Jazz seems very happy. Good. Denkou carefully looks out into the room now.
A tall, fashionable woman is in the apartment while Jazz locks the door. She's wearing a big, fuzzy coat, a black catsuit and has sleek black hair that is short in the back, but long in the front. Denkou is fascinated; this type of human person is so different from Denkou's uncles and father. This woman is so much more clean and sleek in comparison. Everyone in Denkou's family dresses very baggy and casual. They are all different, big shapes, and whenever Denkou draws them, it makes Mr. Skunk laugh. Jazz gets mad because Denkou uses lots of circles. But Uncle Blues always asks Denkou to draw his hair cooler.
As Uncle Jazz talks to the guest – who he's been calling Techno – it's clear he doesn't seem to know Denkou is even in the room. He is passionately rambling to the guest, but she doesn't seem to mind.
"I tell ya, Tek, the kid's a godsend!" He declares, leading her to the makeshift kitchen table. Denkou can't see him from where they're standing. "We don't have to put our ▒▒▒▒▒ on the line now!"
"Dunno," says Techno. "You look kinda nice when you're out being all daring and adventurous."
Denkou glances to the other side of the room, and is startled to find Skunk looking at them. He nods, leaning against his bedroom door frame; he seems to understand Denkou is nervous. Skunk looks back to the kitchen, smirking. Techno continues to sort the gemstones at the kitchen table, Jazz seated beside her, and Denkou peering over the edge of the table. Slowly, the child eases themselves along the edge of the table until they're right beside Techno. Jazz has not looked away from their guest at all.
"See now," Techno continues, holding up a glimmering silvery-white rock. "This is selenite, and it's a great size for reselling. Hippies go nuts over this stuff."
Jazz chortles, "What do they think it does?"
"Cleanses other rocks. You could sell this for a good 50 bucks to a-" Techno notices the small, green child to her left, and she smiles, "Well, hi!"
Jazz's brow furrows. "Kid, get the hell out of-"
"No, they're fine!" Techno gestures to the gems. "So you got these?"
"Yeah!" Denkou is beaming.
"Nice, nice!" Techno nods approvingly, holding out a hand for Denkou to high-five.
Denkou seizes the opportunity to do one right. They slap their hand down into the larger, paler hand, and the room erupts with laughter. Denkou looks around, smiling widely. They made someone laugh this time.
Soon, Denkou has pulled a chair up to the table, and is watching Techno's appraisal. Denkou admires how shiny Techno's fingernails are. It's a lot like all the gems on the tabletop.
"This one's definitely opalite," says Techno, rolling a milky white pendant between her pinched fingers. "It's certainly not worthless, but it's not as sought-after as opal."
"What's opal look like?" Denkou asks.
"It's kinda like, if-" Techno pauses. "Like this!"
She snatches something from amid the pile of gemstones, holding it up to the light. It glimmers with hundreds of little glittering flecks, each one giving off a different colour in the bright light. Denkou's jaw drops, and they can hear Jazz gasp.
"Holy ▒▒▒▒!" Jazz shouts. "What's that worth?!"
Techno cradles the gem in the palms of her hands, keeping her fingertips away from it. She stares carefully into the opal, grinning. Denkou shuffles closer so they can admire it, too.
"At least $900, from what I've seen!" Techno exclaims. "Great job, kid!"
Across the room, Skunk lets out a celebratory whoop. Blues comes running out of his room, alarmed, his head turning side to side. He appears terrified. This only makes Skunk and Jazz start laughing.
Blues notices the guest. He says, calm now, "Oh, hey, Techno."
The group finally settles down for the evening. Jazz puts on his favourite music in the kitchen while Techno sorts the gemstones. Denkou likes the music too because it sounds like machines. A guy yells really loud over the sounds and it makes Denkou laugh.
Blues and Skunk have put on a movie in the living room. It's an old American movie about an early robot. He twirls around a room with a human woman – he is squawky and angular-looking and primitive, yet good friends with a human. Denkou looks over to the TV sometimes and gets very happy.
"Can I call you Aunt Techno?" asks Denkou suddenly.
"H-Huh?" The woman looks up, confused. Denkou laughs.
"'Cause you're in my family now!" Denkou points at her uncles. "Like Uncle Jazz and Uncle Blues."
"You didn't tell me you were a family unit," Techno laughs at Jazz.
Jazz looks at Denkou and then Skunk really quickly. He leans over to Techno and whispers something. Techno laughs again.
"All right!" says Techno. "I guess I am your aunt!"
Denkou is so happy to hear it that they forget Jazz's weird pause. Thrilled, Denkou makes a loud, happy noise and grabs onto Techno's arm. They have more family to talk to now. Techno smiles, ruffles Denkou's hair, and eases them back into their chair. Denkou watches as Techno settles back into her chair and goes back to appraising the stones. Her hands are very pale and soft, moving quickly among the gemstones. Her glittery black fingernails are long, filed into a teardrop shape.
Denkou is quietly admiring Techno's fingernails when Uncle Jazz suddenly grabs Techno's left hand and holds it up, gripping it tightly. He is staring intently at Techno's face. He looks so serious and dumb that Denkou must force themselves not to laugh out loud.
"We gotta get outta here, soon as you're done doin' that..." Jazz says, trailing off. His voice is more serious and heavy than Denkou is used to hearing. "Maybe you can talk to Skunk 'bout puttin' this off."
"Jazz, you're distracting my associate," declares Skunk loudly from the other room.
He whines back, "Aw, c'mon, boss!"
"Are you guys gonna go out?" Denkou asks excitedly.
Jazz says, "Yeah-"
"Can I go, too?!"
Uncle Jazz makes a loud noise – Denkou isn't sure if it was a cough or a scoff – and he declares, "Oh, sure! We'll take you right into the nightclub."
Denkou beams. They cannot wait to hear all the loud blocky music their uncles talk so much about. They shuffle their chair closer to Techno's side and stare up at her admiringly. Jazz hurriedly whispers something to Techno and the two of them laugh together.
"Oh, stop," she waves a hand at Jazz. "Let me finish this gig already!"
Techno continues to describe each stone and its worth, while Jazz takes notes on a little pad of paper. One by one, each stone is identified. Denkou feels so calm sitting at the table that they become inert, and soon, begin to go into sleep mode.
Automated shutdown commences. They fold their arms together, rest them on the tabletop, and then lay their head against it. Denkou's eyelids slide shut, slowly, their optic sensors scanning for any last cue to exit sleep mode.
"Oh ▒▒▒▒, they fall asleep like a real kid..." Techno's voice trails off like it is coming from miles and miles away.
Denkou is in full power conservation mode. Everything is so dark, calm, and soft. They can feel as humans around them talk, laugh, move around carefully...it feels like whole hours have passed as Denkou rests beside Auntie Techno.
It has been hours.
Denkou's system kicks back on. They sit up with a jolt and look around the living room.
The table is empty, except for Denkou. The gems have been neatly packed back into the velvet bag, although the bag appears slightly less full now. Blues is lying on the couch and watching TV, typing on his phone with both hands. The TV is now playing some movie with cowboys firing guns at each other.
"Where's everybody?" Denkou blurts out.
Blues glances over, unaffected. He seems to have known Denkou was asleep.
"Skunk's out selling some of the stones," says Blues. "Jazz and Techno went out too."
Denkou feels as if something has dropped in their chest. Panic sets in, and Denkou asks, "Where did Uncle Jazz go?!"
"Uh..." Blues sputters. "Some...some club somewhere."
"That's not fair! Aunt Techno said I could go out, too!" Denkou panics. They run to Blues and tug on his sleeve. "She's coming back, right?!"
"Yeah, I assume so..." Blues mumbles. He sounds tired. He turns back to his phone but can't shake Denkou's intent stare at him. After a moment, Uncle Blues turns back to them. He looks concerned.
"Do you wanna watch TV with me?"
It's Denkou's turn to mumble. They say, "I guess..."
They climb onto the couch beside Uncle Blues. He moves his legs aside so they can rest their head against his knees. Once Denkou has a comfortable enough of a seat, Blues turns back to his phone. A guy on the TV gets shot in the middle of his chest and makes a loud "eurgh" sound as he falls.
Denkou hopes their uncle and aunt will come back to pick them up. They keep waiting, and waiting, so long that they fall back into power conservation mode again. When their CPU kicks back on again, they find themselves resting in their containment capsule in the closet. They are wrapped in one of the blankets off the couch. Denkou sits up, smiling to themselves; Uncle Blues must have carried them to bed during the night.
They climb back out of the capsule, tugging the blanket out with them. Denkou stops, spreads the blanket out, and folds it twice – once into a big rectangle, and then back over into a thick square. Once the blanket is a size Denkou can carry, they gather two of its corners in their hands, and wrap it around their shoulders like a shawl.
Denkou can hear movement in Mr. Skunk's room. They carefully approach his doorway and are relieved to see him asleep in bed. He is tangled in blankets and his limbs are everywhere. Denkou laughs a bit at this, then comes into the room and climbs into in his recliner.
Skunk must've heard the creak of the chair as the child gets into it. Out of the corner of Denkou's eye, they can see his face turn to them. He looks annoyed.
Once Denkou is safely in the chair, they pull the folded-up blanket over themselves. Denkou turns to Mr. Skunk, seeing his eyes are open now.
The words fall out of Denkou's mouth. "Where's Aunt Techno?"
"With Jazz," Skunk mumbles. "She's goin' to Cuba tomorrow. For business."
Denkou feels another ache deep inside themselves. Quietly, they ask, "They lied to me?"
"No, far from it, kid," says Skunk. "It was an emergency trip. She's very busy."
"Oh..." Denkou feels a bit better. "...When is she coming back?"
"Dunno."
"Ah."
Skunk seems to tell Denkou is disappointed. He reaches over to his bedside table and picks something up. Loud, and a bit hoarse, he says, "Think fast."
That's Denkou's cue to hold out their hands; Skunk is tossing something to them. Denkou's optic sensors lock onto Skunk's hand, study the incoming trajectory, and their hands lift up accordingly. A glimmering pebble lands in Denkou's cupped hands.
"She said you could have that," Skunk mumbles.
The now-thrilled Denkou carefully eyes the rock. It's the opalite they saw Techno appraise earlier. They cradle it in their hands, letting it glow through the traces of sunlight in the room. Mr. Skunk falls back asleep, and so does Denkou after a long time gazing into the opalite.
Eventually, Denkou wakes up. They pause to sense the apartment's occupancy, but aside from themselves and Skunk, it's empty. They sigh, annoyed.
Denkou sure spends a lot of time waiting for people to come back.