Scene 4
¨Shyleen!¨
¨Yes, honey?¨
¨Where's my bitch? Malcom needs jelly roll. His lousy Capture the Flag team almost lost to the Iron Guard today.¨
Shyleen snorted a laugh at what passed for a term of endearment these days and walked from the kitchen towards the entrance of their expansive, high-class New York condominium. Malcom met her halfway and grabbed her with his long arms, holding her in a close embrace with both hands on her ass. He pinched a cheek. ¨See? I feel better already.¨
She pushed him away distractedly. ¨Not now, honey, I'm cooking. And Nara is here.¨
¨Playing with her VR I bet. Come on; well just sneak off…¨
¨I just don't feel like it, Malcom,¨ she said abruptly. ¨I'm busy. Wait a few minutes for dinner, then why don't you go blow off steam with your friends?¨
¨Hey, all right. Damn, woman, what's the big deal?¨
¨Nothing, honey. I´ve just got some stuff on my mind. How about interacting a little with your daughter until the food is ready?¨
¨Hm.¨ Malcom nodded and left Shyleen to her preoccupations, walking off towards Anna's room on the other side of the condo. His place clearly demonstrated that its owner was a much richer man than Gorn. Besides being located near the top of Brooklyn's finest high-rise complex, sitting at a dizzying altitude over the city, it was filled with all the typical signs of a rich young man who couldn't figure out exactly what to do with all his money. A varied smattering of art could be found spread around the place; paintings and statues and the like from basically random styles and time periods, selected with the careless eye of someone with an overabundance of funds and no taste whatsoever. Completing the incongruous dashes of culture were the best high-tech toys and gadgets available. Malcom had his own VR set, which he used for training once in awhile but much more often just to kill time. Not as exciting as the arena, but fun nonetheless. He liked the new action game from id, Super Turbo Turkey Puncher 3. Nara, on the other hand, lost herself in the VR interactive stories targeted at children that were all the rage these days. Malcom thought she played too much, but she wasn't a complete VR addict like some kids, and he'd feel like a hypocrite telling her to stop if he wasn't going to offer some entertaining activity in return. Nara was receptive to hanging out with her dad when he was around and available; it wasn't her fault this occurred so infrequently.
Malcom knocked on Nara's door, as she'd trained him to do in her comically demanding little-girl manner (¨Dad! My room is private!¨). ¨Hey Nara, you there? Up for some Destruct-O-Cars with your papa?¨
¨Busy!¨
¨Hey, if you're afraid of being smacked down, just say so. I can always come back when you're feeling more…..¨
The door opened abruptly and a face poked out, framed with frizzy black hair and wearing a severe scowl. Nara had not really inherited Shyleen's stunning model's beauty, but rather the serious, intense aspect of her father. She had a steady, studious gaze that suggested intelligence beyond her years and sometimes made visiting adults fidget under her frank stare. ¨Afraid!¨ she said indignantly. ¨I beat you last time, remember?¨
¨Yeah, but I let you.¨
¨Did not! You suck at Destruct-O-Cars. I always beat you.¨
¨Prove it to me then, miss tough…¨
They commenced trash talking as he entered and sat down cross-legged in front of her VR screen, strapping on a pair of occlusion goggles that would allow him to watch the same screen as her and see only his in-game viewpoint. They played several rounds, mercilessly blowing up each others´ virtual cars with historic and modern-day weapons and maintaining a banter of unfavorable appraisals of each others´ skills all the meanwhile. Malcom was having so much fun he forgot to lose enough, and when Shyleen called dinner over the house-com he was leading by several points.
¨Aaaawwww, how'd you win?¨
¨First time for everything, right?¨
¨Well, there was that one other time, when Doctor….¨
¨Malcom and Nara, dinner!¨ More insistent this time.
¨Coming! Better pack it up Nara, mama sounds pissed.¨
¨Yeah, she was bitchy today,¨ agreed Nara.
¨I worked hard on this and it's getting cold! Oh, and remind me to talk to you later about your vocabulary lessons, sweetie.¨ Malcom rolled his eyes skyward. Who turned on the two-way com connection in Nara's room? Shyleen seemed uncharacteristically on-edge lately, too. It was strange; since he could think of no major changes in their lives that might have affected her. Well, he had been more active in the Tournament lately, due to his accumulating fame and success. Maybe she just wanted more family time and was being typically female in not communicating this to him. He scooped up his giggling daughter and headed toward the dining room with her on his shoulder.