Hi everyone, this ended up being a shorter chapter but it is quite sweet and I'm really happy with how it turned out. Hope you like it!
Jay
"This is going to be so cool!" Lissy said, vaulting over the back of the couch in one bound. "Everyone says this is the best game of the year!"
"And who is 'everyone,' exactly?" Jay teased, shaking some chips out into a bowl.
"Just some guys down at Doomsday Comix."
"What!?"
The girl rolled her ruby red eyes, "Calm down, we just talk about comics. They all know Rufus keeps too close of an eye on me to try anything weird."
"Good."
"You do know I fight evil regularly, right?' Lissy asked, cocking an eyebrow at him.
"This is different and you know it," Jay shot back... and immediately felt like an ass when his little sister went stiff and silent.
"...I know," she whispered, hunching down. "That doesn't mean I should be afraid of every guy I come across though. Or that any guy I like is going to get the crud beat out of them by my brothers."
Jay wanted to kick himself. Getting Lissy to be comfortable with her body was proving to be a long, uphill battle, made worse by the movie theater creepy, and the mall groper with his Karen of a mother. None of them wanted Lissy to be afraid of boys, no matter how overprotective they might seem at times. They just wanted to be sure no one ever looked at, or inappropriately spoke to her, ever again, and above all, for her to be SAFE. It was a careful balance, made even more by their own guilt for getting Lissy into this situation in the first place.
"Hey, do you want to be Player 1?" he asked.
"Really?" Lissy perked up. "The other guys never let me be Player 1!"
"That is because they're all horrible, and I'm the best-est brother ever, remember that!" Jay said, grabbing two cans of cola from where they were hidden. "Now, boot that game up."
"Are we doing the campaign or online multiplayer first?"
"Campaign, those are always more fun."
So, as it turns out, one of the benefits of being the guardians of and helping raise the half-demon, future Savior of Ninjago, trust fund baby, was that they could now afford all the new games and accessories. Usually, Master Wu was careful with how much allowance he gave Lissy but, when pushed, the old man was just as soft for the girl as the rest of them.
'It's a good thing Lissy is so cute. Otherwise, we'd have never gotten our hands on Halo Effect: Infinite,' Jay thought. 'I bet if she'd been born a boy, then we'd never get away with anything.'
"Aye aye, Captain! Set all boosters to thrust and let's get this party started!"
"Alright, I'm calling it!" Jay groaned, collapsing back against the couch and tossing his controller down next to him. "I am gamed out!'
"Oh c'mon, it's only been five hours!" Lissy said, eyes still glued to the screen.
"My thumbs are sore."
"Wuss!"
"Brat!" the Blue Ninja laughed. He tugged a lock of Lissy's long hair, using the end of it to tickle her nose. "You know, your eyes will bleed if you stare at the tv for too long. They're already red, do you really want to push it?"
Lissy shoved his hand away. "Well, if you're done does that mean I can try multiplayer mode?"
"Sure, but use your headset. I want to get a quick nap in before Sensei Wu and the others get back and we have to do our night exercises."
"Gotcha!" Lissy chirped, grabbing her brand new headset from the box.
Jay chuckled as it lit up, the little kitty's ears built into the headband glowing bright blue. Trust Lissy to buy the most ridiculous headset set available, and still manage to look absolutely adorable. He sprawled out across the couch, flinging his legs over his little sister's lap to be as annoying as possible. "So cute. Don't go talking to strangers now."
"Shut up and go to sleep already. I'm not an idiot!"
The Master of Lightning huffed out another, "Brat" and closed his eyes, setting in to catch some Zs.
"Hey, I said knock it off. Stop talking like that."
"Noooooo," Jay grunted and turned to bury his head in the couch cushion. Would it kill the world to let him get a few more minutes of sleep? FSM, he missed lazy, pre-ninja Saturday mornings where he could sleep until noon. They were as much of a dream as the trashcans he'd just been singing a duet with.
"Just leave me alone!"
Jay's eyes snapped open. Even half-asleep, he'd recognize the sound of an upset Lissy anywhere.
"Hey, what's going on?" he asked, rubbing his eyes. Judging by the setting sky outside of the window, Jay had only been asleep for about an hour, maybe an hour-and-a-half. What could have upset Lissy this much that quickly? "Hey, kid? What's going on?"
His little sister didn't react to his words, just continued to stare straight ahead at the TV. It was like Jay wasn't even there. When he sat up and got a better look, he saw that Lissy's eyes were wide and she was biting her bottom lip so hard that one of her sharp little teeth was drawing blood. Wide awake now, Jay put his hand on her shoulder, and every muscle in the girl's body was stiff.
"Kid? Kid, tell me what's going on!"
Still nothing.
'It's like she's listening to someone el—'
Jay ripped the headset from Lissy's head and held it up to his ear. Almost immediately, he wished he'd just broken that thing immediately!
"Come on, baby girl! Just send me some pictures and I'll give you something good back. Something like a nice—"
"What the hell?" Jay shouted. Immediately, he heard spluttering from the other end.
"I-I— "
"What do you think you're doing talking to my little sister like that!?"
"I was just—"
"Propositioning a minor?" Jay hissed. The lights in the room flickered with his rage; even with most of his powers gone, he was still connected to lightning and electricity. "I'm sure the game mods would love to hear you've been doing that! They might even decide to call the police!"
"Oh fuck!"
The guy swore and disconnected from the call. Although not before Jay caught the sicko's gamertag on the screen.
Jay threw the headset down on the couch, glaring at it in disgust like it was personally responsible for the rage he was feeling. He considered smashing it, but before he could, Jay looked up to see Lissy's red, horrified face. Her bottom lip had been chewed bloody, and there was a palpable feeling of SHAME that radiated off of her.
He reached off to comfort her, "Hey, are you—"
The girl jerked away and ran off, vanishing from sight. A moment later, there was the tell-tale loud bang! of Lissy's bedroom door.
Jay sighed, "Well, that's it for online multiplayer."
Rather than going right after Lissy, Jay decided to give her some alone time, as he hated people hovering whenever he was upset. Instead, he made himself a cup of coffee using the beans they kept hidden from Master Wu —the tea snob hated the stuff— to give him the energy to deal with this mess. If Lissy was still upset when Kai got home, Jay was sure that it'd be his ass on the line.
Before anything else, he had to report the guy for inappropriate conduct. Hopefully, he'd get banned, and, quite frankly, Jay doubted this was his first time being creepy. He also posted a couple of warnings on the game's message board; if the asshole didn't get banned then at least Jay could warn people about him. Then he did some research, printing out the best sounding articles he found, and highlighting the most important bits with a blue marker.
Finally, he made a sandwich and some hot cocoa.
Knock! Knock! Knock!
"Lissy? Can I come in?" he called through the door.
"No!"
"Come on, kiddo, I think we need to talk about what happened."
"I don't want to."
"Fine, how about a compromise? I've got a toast BLT sandwich and some peppermint hot cocoa with me here. It's yours if you let me in."
"...Does the cocoa have whipped cream?"
"Of course. That's the only way to make it," Jay said, a victorious grin sneaking on his face. "It also has sprinkles."
.
.
.
Creak!
Jay's heart ached when Lissy opened the door. She wasn't crying but the red, puffiness of her eyes and the dried tear marks on her cheeks told Jay this was a recent development. Her lip had even started to heal, the bleeding stopped; Lissy's inner power working to close the wound.
"Hey," she said, voice raspy.
'I should have brought some water,' he realized. While not common, crying could dehydrate you. It could also give you a headache and clog your nose. 'Pain killers too. And maybe a hot, damp washcloth.'
FSM, Jay was BAD at thisresponsible older brother thing! He wasn't like Kai, who'd had years of practice, or Cole, whose natural cool-head and protective instinct made him perfect for the job. Even Zane, who still wasn't the best with social interaction, was better than him! Zane seemed to have endless patience for Lissy, especially after she stopped fighting them on everything, and loved having a little gremlin to test new recipes on.
Unfortunately, Jay was an only child. More than that, he was an only child who'd been raised by doting, indulgent parents. Which was great, don't get him wrong, but it also left Jay unsure how to look after someone else. Sure, he could help protect Lissy from those who'd hurt her, and train her to fight their enemies, except he didn't know how to, like, give good life advice. If anything, he was the one who encouraged her to make bad choices in the name of fun!
But he didn't know what to say to make Lissy feel better.
"Hey," he said back. He held up the serving tray in his hands, "Peace offering?"
"I know I should have just left the call," Lissy said. She pulled a strip of bacon free from the sandwich and popped it in her mouth. "But once he started... saying all that stuff, I completely shut down."
"You've never been in that position, why wouldn't you be scared?" Jay reassured her. Then he added, "And don't talk with your mouth full."
That's the kinda thing a responsible older brother would say, right?
"But why would I be scared? They were just words, and the guy wasn't even saying them to my face!"
Jay shrugged. "Doesn't matter. It's like when you get scared watching a scary movie. Obviously, the serial killer isn't real, but the fear they cause is, and nothing to be ashamed about."
Lissy gave him an incredulous look. "I don't get scared watching horror movies, Jay. I was the one who had to check under the beds and in closets after we watched The Summer Camp Slasher. And the gore in that movie was stupidly fake!"
"Yeah, yeah. No need to rub it in that you have nerves of steel, little gremlin!" Jay said with a teasing grumble, ruffling the girl's floofy blonde hair as she tried to fight him off. "Do you get what I'm saying though? You froze up because you've never been in that situation before."
The girl kept picking at her sandwich and said nothing, didn't even look at him.
"You've never been in that situation before, right?" he asked.
"..."
"Right?"
"...It's the first time anyone has said that kinda stuff to me during a video game," Lissy said. She tried to keep her voice light and happy like it was no big deal, but there was a desperate, begging edge behind her words.
"Who?" he demanded. "When? Is this about the creep at the movie theater? Or the asshole kid and his mom at the mall?"
"I don't want to talk about this," Lissy said, trying to pull away.
Jay caught her by the wrist. "That's fine, but just know that I'll be bringing this up with Kai when he gets home."
Lissy gaped at him, "That's blackmail!"
"Yup! So we can either talk now, or deal with Kai's interrogation later."
Honestly, it was still up in the air what precisely he would be telling the others.
And not just due to the fear Wu would toss their entire video game setup out the window.
While flying over a volcano.
Or just casually mention this incident to his brother the next time he attacked, and let the Dark Lord dispose of the offending merchandise with great prejudice.
But because he didn't want to force Lissy into yet another uncomfortable situation. He knew she hated it when they hovered, that it made her feel weak and useless, and Jay didn't want to be the one to put her through that.
For a moment, the girl looked like she was seriously considering just blasting him into pieces rather than dealing with the situation but...
"Fine," she snapped. With an annoyed huff, the girl plopped herself back down on the bed, arms crossed and scowling. "It happened before I met you guys."
It took Jay a minute to put two-and-two together. "So it happened when you were—"
"Younger, yeah," she said. "Back when I was living on my own, I heard it from some guys who were offering to 'take care' of me. I didn't understand what a lot of it really meant, but I was smart enough to run. There! Are you happy now?"
No, he wasn't. Jay wanted to demand to know names, dates, and locations so he could go pound these guys into a bloody paste. He knew guys could be pigs —hell, Nya complained about that often enough, and she could more than take care of herself— but to say that kinda stuff to a child? That was a whole new level of disgusting!
'That wouldn't make Lissy feel better though,' he reminded himself. 'It didn't make Lissy feel better when Kai beat the crap out of that creep at the movie theater, and it didn't make her feel better when Cole nearly got into a fight at the mall. I need to focus on making her feel better, not on my own anger.'
The Blue Ninja swallowed hard against his rage, and nodded calmly, "Thank you for telling me. I'm sorry you went through that."
His little sister shrugged, arms still crossed tight against her chest. "It happened a long time ago. Not like anything could be done about it now."
"Well, you could tell your dad who they were and let him take care of the problem. I'm sure he'd be happy to do it. Hell, we might even be able to form an alliance based on that common ground."
.
.
.
"Jay, that's horrible!" Lissy laughed, smacking his arm.
"Ouch! Keep an eye on that super-strength of yours, girlie" he said, sharing her laughter. "All I'm saying is that letting Garmadon weed out a few undesirables wouldn't be the worst thing in the world. It would even keep him distracted for a little bit."
"You're terrible!"
'There, I got her smiling again,' Jay thought.
Lissy hadn't smiled much when she first came to live with them, preferring to hide her fear and insecurities behind scowls and sneers. When she did let a grin peek through, it was either at her uncle, or because of someone's misfortune. As time passed and they cracked the code to get Lissy to soften up with them, Lissy's smiles grew more frequent and genuine. They became truly beautiful things, and they all treasured them deeply.
If Jay had to guess, Lissy hadn't had much to smile about in her early life. Life at Darkley's didn't seem like it offered much in the way of happy, joyful experiences. At least, not much for a normal child. Even after all this time, normal activities and events still seemed strange to Lissy. The disconnect was to the point that part of raising and training the girl had become correcting or introducing her to different beliefs, behaviors, and experiences.
Sometimes it was fun. More often it was sad.
"He would do it, wouldn't he?" Lissy asked, glancing at the framed photo of herself and her father that she kept by her bedside table.
Master Wu had taken the picture during the short time Garmadon had been staying with them after freeing Lissy from the Serpentine. And while it still felt kinda weird to keep a lovingly framed picture of their greatest enemy, no one was going to argue about a little girl keeping a phone of the father that she desperately adored. Not after he'd saved their lives, and especially not after learning about what Lissy's destiny as the Green Ninja ultimately meant for them all.
"Of course, he would. Your dad loves you."
Despite everything Lord Garmadon had done, despite the pain he caused to so many, Jay couldn't deny the love he had for Lissy. The look of complete devotion and pure affection in the Dark Lord's eyes when he looked at his daughter was something he'd seen in his own parents' eyes many times. Jay had no doubt that, if things were different, Garmadon would be the most obnoxiously sappy, doting father imaginable. If things were different, Lissy would be a spoiled little princess who had everything she ever wanted. If things were different, the two would be a happy little family.
But things weren't different so the father and daughter were tragically forced apart by fate, no matter how much they loved each other.
'It isn't fair!'
Life rarely was.
"Oh, I printed some stuff out for you," he said, passing Lissy a stack of papers. "I thought they might help."
The girl glanced over the top one and cocked an eyebrow at him. "Sexism in Gaming Communities, really? What is this all about?"
"I thought they might help you understand what happened. From people who know wayyyy more about this than me," Jay said, scratching the back of his head. 'This may have been a bad idea.'
"I know what happened. Some jackass heard that I was a girl and decided I'd be a good target!"
"Yeah, but there is more to it than that! Societal factors and stuff like that," Jay stumbled over his explanation. Damn, this went a lot smoother in his mind. "Look, you can toss the papers if you don't want to read them. I just thought it might help make you feel better to, you know, know why this stuff happens."
The girl sighed but leaned over to give him a tight hug. "No, this was... this was very thoughtful. Thank you."
"Well, what else are big brothers for?" he asked, half-joking.
"...I don't know," Lissy admitted after a moment. "I never had any before I met you guys. This has been a learning experience for me too."
"But a good one?"
"Yeah," Lissy said, leaning her head on Jay's shoulder. "A good one. I love you guys."
Those four simple words felt like the greatest victory the Master of Lightning had ever achieved.
Soooo... I have a question for all my fellow Lady Gamers. How many of you avoid playing MMORPGs because of creeps like this? Yeah, me too.
Anywho... Onto the next chapter with Zane!