This must be the week of one-shots! But what can you do when inspiration strikes?

Amber was in one of her moods, and the wisest course of action was simply to allow her to vent and fake or force sympathy if the genuine emotion could not be found.

"...changed the rehearsal time to 5:30. 5:30! They even said 'and if you have a 5:40 class, just book it over as soon as you're done.'"

Leslie didn't even bother looking up from her laptop as she hummed a sympathetic, "Mm-hm."

"I mean, it was bad enough trying to get there at 5:45, but 5:30? There's no way I can do that unless I get my vortex manipulator fixed!"

That did get Leslie to glance up, if only in surprise that her normally-sensible sister was overlooking an obvious solution. "Just ask Mom to fix it for you."

"Can't," Amber huffed, determined to hold on to her frustration. "She's on one of those digs where she gets next to nil reception."

"That would explain why she hasn't responded to any of my texts," the younger twin mused, refusing to get sucked into her sister's miserable mood.

"Uh-huh!" When Amber resorted to such grunts rather than words, she was really upset.

Leslie couldn't resist a small smile or slight tease: "And, of course, you can't ask Dad to fix it."

"Dad? He'd forget what he was doing and turn it into a microwave or something!"

That wasn't quite what she had meant... "Does he even know you have one?"

The brunette stopped pacing and refused to meet her sister's eyes. "Not...exactly. He knows about the ne we have that we're supposed to share, but he might not know that I picked up one of my own so we could each have one."

"Same model?" The blonde asked, willing to be helpful now that her teasing was done—the girls had enough experience repairing their old one, after all.

"No—couldn't afford it," Amber admitted, crossing her arms. "I had to go cheap—this is what I get for buying used, isn't it?"

Leslie didn't answer her older sister, but merely shrugged and said, "I guess you'll just have to wait for mom to finish up."

The older twin turned on her heel, ready to start getting set for bed, but determined to have the final word on the matter, since it was her problem, after all. "With my luck, the play will be over by then!"

Was it a rule that no one in their family could ever get to important events on time?

So, yeah. Another scene with the twins! There actually is a missing one that I forgot to record while I still remembered the conversation, but just in case the information comes up in a later installment: Leslie spent some time with nuns in New New York studying medicine, and Amber has a lawyer-like way of exploiting technicalities and verbal loopholes, though she claims she wants to use these skills in a diplomatic setting (though Leslie claims she's about as good at that as the eleventh incarnation of their father). Nothing with the companion yet, but hopefully soon; (we'll see what happens the next time these two pop back out).