"…so that's when I decided I was wrong or whatever, so I gave Wu the crystal and let myself go. Or whatever." Morro, Garmadon, and I were sitting at my kitchen table. A red deck of cards was split among us. The youngest had his feet up on the table and was trying to look relaxed, but summarizing his entire life story in front of a stranger and a man whose death he'd directly caused of was clearly taking a toll on him.
"I see," I said calmly, trying to put the boy at ease. I glanced down at my cards and tapped my chin thoughtfully. "I put down a pair of threes." I slid my cards facedown into the middle of the table.
"Very well. I put down a pair of aces," said Garmadon, following suit. Morro raised an eyebrow, and a small smirk spread across his face.
"All the aces were already put down this round. I call Cheat," he said, and grinned proudly to himself as Garmadon flipped over the cards to reveal that they were, in fact, a 5 and a 6.
"So they were. All right, you caught me." He put them and several cards from the deck back into his hand, as were the rules. I could tell that he knew full well he knew he was going to get caught, but was trying to give the boy a distraction. I appreciated how kindly he treated him, especially considering the circumstances.
"So, since you've only got one bed and one couch," Morro said, looking at his own cards, "what's the sleeping situation?"
"If you're still okay with us 'crashing your party,' as the kids say," Garmadon amended.
"Of course! I hardly ever get company. This is a nice surprise: I'm sure we'll find a way to fit both of you," I said, pausing the game to retrieve a platter of cookies from the counter. I set them down on the table. "Help yourselves."
Morro's eyes widened at the sight. "Thanks," he said, grabbing a large handful.
"Thank you for the offer, but I'll pass," Garmadon said, smiling and patting his stomach.
"Oh, don't worry about eating too much," I said, taking a cookie for myself. "You can't shift your appearance in any way here, meaning you can't gain weight. Also, a friendly tip— ghost hunger is unquenchable. You might want to learn to accept free food." My companion looked a little startled at the statement, despite my upbeat tone of voice.
"Who'f turn if' it?" Morro asked with his mouth full.
"Yours," replied Garmadon, glancing back at the plate of cookies undecidedly.
"Alright, I put down three 5s," Morro said, with such conviction in his voice that neither of us dared to challenge the truth of his statement. I resolved to teach the lad a card game other than Cheat next time so I might actually have a shot at winning.
"Hey," he said, already having scarfed down his first several cookies and reaching for another one, "You never told us about your life story. I mean, Sensei already knows it, but—"
"Actually," Garmadon cut in, "I may know Doctor Julien, but I know very little about him. The time we spent together was far too brief."
I smiled and readjusted my glasses nervously (a motion of habit, I'd noticed, when I received compliments, which wasn't often). "Well, I'm flattered. I don't think there's very many interesting things about my life to tell… unless you like mechanics." I laughed a little. "I could probably quote the entire Mandatory Manual for Cognitive Machines by Brick Nye, if I wanted to." I felt a subtle twang of regret for spending so many years buried in books— even if they were good books.
"Well, you built yourself a ninja son, surely there's a good story in that," Morro argued. He wiped his hands on his ripped shorts— done eating for the moment, apparently— and ran his fingers through his messy hair, brushing out the crumbs. I noticed that he had perpetual dark circles under his eyes, as if suffering from a lack of sleep, and felt sorry for him when I realized he must have looked like that at the time of dying in order to display such features now.
"Yes, tell us about Zane," Garmadon prodded, giving in and taking a cookie off the platter. "Why did you build him? And why make him a ninja?"
I tapped my fingers on the table, and then suddenly slid four red cards into the middle of the table. "These are four 7s. Anyone care to challenge my statement?"
Morro raised his eyebrows slightly, impressed. He and Garmadon looked at each other, and then shook their heads. I smiled.
"All right, then. Here's the story of how Zane was built. You might want to settle down, as it's a long one…"