#rrl01d55

[simgrump]

Gen One, Day Fifty-Five

Robyn couldn’t sleep. She worried about Charlie. Worried that Johnny was at least a little bit right, though she still thought Charlie had been in the wrong about getting into a fight this time. He’d had a fair point, that an adult wasn’t always going to be there and even if Johnny had meant for it to be a reason for Charlie to learn to stand up for himself, it just worried Robyn that next time he’d come home with more than just a busted lip. 

When she heard Charlie’s bedroom door squeak open and close, like he was trying to be quiet, she gave him a few moments to make it downstairs before she crawled out of bed after him. Johnny mumbled something like, “go easy on him” but didn’t fully wake up and she smiled at him, giving his shoulder a squeeze before she headed downstairs. 

She caught Charlie trying to get some of the fried plantains Johnny had made earlier and her son froze like a deer in headlights when he turned around with a plate. 

“Go ahead,” she told him, motioning towards the table. Charlie seemed hesitant, this was his first grounding after all and he wasn’t sure if he was supposed to go to bed hungry or... But Robyn sat down with him to make sure he got enough to eat. Charlie seemed a little skeptical about the whole thing. 

“Honey, why didn’t you tell me this boy had been giving Harvey a hard time? It would have made me understand today a little better.” She attempted to talk to him about it and at first, she didn’t think Charlie was going to say anything back. 

Then he shrugged. “I was mad,” he said simply. 

“I would be too, if someone was picking on my friend like that,” she offered. 

“Are you still mad at me?” Charlie asked and it almost broke her heart to hear that from her kid. 

“I still don’t think you should have gotten into a fight,” Robyn told him gently. “But I’m not mad at you, sweetie.” 

“Am I still grounded?” Charlie asked, the little devil. 

Robyn shook her head, trying to hold back a smirk and a chuckle. “You are still grounded,” she told him, but then playfully tacked on, “Until tomorrow.” 

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[simgrump]

Gen One, Day Fifty-Five

“Why didn’t you tell Mom?” Eris asked after Charlie had told her what happened in the park. While neither one of them had gotten punished a whole lot, she didn’t feel like the outcome would have been the same if Robyn knew the whole story. It confused her as to why Charlie wouldn’t have just told her. 

“I dunno,” Charlie shrugged, lost in thought for a moment before his gaze went her way and she could see him hesitate, like he wanted to say something but wasn’t sure how. She gave him the time, a small smile of encouragement. A deep breath and then Charlie was asking her, “What if I did like other boys? And not girls?” 

Eris sat quietly for a moment, eyes solely on Charlie because this seemed like more than just a question of curiosity. Though, he was still very young. Probably a little too young to be having this conversation, but Eris didn’t think it was going to help to tell him that. She wasn’t quite sure what he was looking for, but she knew what she’d be looking for in a conversation like this. 

She gave a small shrug. “Then you like boys. It’d be okay, no big deal.” 

Charlie chewed on his lip for a moment. “You don’t think Mom and Dad would be mad?” 

A small laugh escaped her before she shook her head. “No. I don’t think they would be mad at all.” Charlie seemed to need a little more encouragement, so Eris leaned forward a bit. “They really just care if you’re happy, healthy and safe. I think that’s why Mom got so mad at you today for fighting. She was scared you were going to get hurt. And... judging by that fat lip,” she pointed to Charlie’s split lower lip. “She was probably a little right.” 

Charlie smirked a little bit and looked back down at his lap, like he had a lot on his mind, a lot to think about. Eris watched him for a moment before she stood up and ruffled Charlie’s hair on her way to the door. She hoped the conversation helped. She wasn’t sure if he was asking because it was the truth or asking simply because he was curious. Either way, she hoped he got what he needed out of that conversation. “There’s maple plantains downstairs that are really good. Don’t go to bed hungry.” 

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[simgrump]

Gen One, Day Fifty-Five

“So you’re saying he was right to get in a fight?” Robyn demanded. The two of them had been arguing about Charlie’s fight for a while now and whether or not Robyn had been too harsh to ground him. While Johnny hadn’t just come out and said it yet, she knew that’s what he was thinking. 

“No, I’m not saying he was right to go fight him,” Johnny retorted. “I’m just saying, what else was he supposed to do?” 

Robyn was beyond exasperated at this point. “Go and find an adult, go get a teacher, go ...-”

“Robyn, that’s a very adult way to handle a situation,” Johnny cut her off and she grit her teeth at him. “And also a very naive way.” She scoffed at it, but Johnny got up from where he’d been writing an email to the school and he turned to face Robyn square on, sighing, clearly not wanting to argue about this. “That’s the teacher in you, Robyn. But look at what we know, okay? This kid was bullying Harvey so bad he had to go home for the day. And after school he was shoving Charlie around. Not on school grounds, not in front of anyone he trusted, he didn’t know Eris was there. What was he supposed to do?” 

“The fight didn’t happen at the cafe, it happened at the park. He went after him, Johnny. That’s not okay.” 

“No, it’s not, but did we teach him how to handle things when an adult wasn’t readily available? He obviously doesn’t want this kid to keep picking on Harvey, the results of whatever happened at school with no one questioning why Harvey went home weren’t good enough... he took matters into his own hands. How many times does it have to happen before it’s too much? What about next time when there’s not an adult and the kid does more than just shoves Charlie? I just wish I had taught him how to hold his own a little bit more so the other kid was the one going home with a fat lip instead of Charlie.”

Another exasperated sigh. “So, you’re saying I shouldn’t have grounded him.” 

Johnny matched her sigh, reaching over to peck a kiss across her cheek before he headed upstairs for the evening. “I’m saying, I wouldn’t have.”

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[simgrump]

Gen One, Day Fifty-Five

Eris had helped her parents do the dishes, ignoring just how quiet they were both being with each other, before she headed upstairs. She had every intention to just go to her room and work on homework, but she paused outside of Charlie’s door for a second, debating with herself whether she should go in or not. 

Her little brother finally won over and she knocked on his bedroom door softly before pushing it open a bit. “Dweeb? You awake?” she asked. 

“No,” Charlie answered, grouchily and it made her smile, shutting the door behind her because this conversation was just for them, not their parents. She headed over to his bed, shoving him gently to try and get him to scoot over and give her room. He sighed loudly to show his annoyance but sat up and gave her room to sit. 

“Mom told me about the fight,” she said to him. “Was it the jackbutt?” 

“Yes,” Charlie growled, sitting back and pulling one leg up so he could rest his chin on his knee, looking disgruntled and confused and lost and Eris honestly felt bad for him. She’d never dealt with bullying in school. Not to any great extent and even if it wasn’t really aimed at Charlie, it was aimed at his best friend. It was no wonder he felt helpless, when he tried to do something, he got in trouble for it. 

“Want to talk about it?” she offered and for a while, Charlie was quiet. She wasn’t sure if she’d take her up on the offer, but then he sat back with another sigh and started telling her everything that happened. 

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[simgrump]

Gen One, Day Fifty-Five

Dinner was ready by the time Eris got home. It smelled delicious and she saw her parents sitting at the table, getting ready to eat. She missed the tension in the air as she took her seat, excited about the new meal her Dad had tried. “You followed the recipe? This looks amazing!” 

“I make no guarantees,” Johnny told her with a chuckle, taking a bit of his own dish. Eris gave it a try too, satisfied with the sweet and spicy fruit dish. The recipe turned out to be true, it was a really good treat. 

After a few bites, she realized that someone was missing from the dinner table. “Where’s Charlie?” she asked. 

“Upstairs,” Robyn replied. “He’s grounded.” 

“What? Why?” Eris asked, confused. “What’d he do?” 

Robyn sighed. “After you called, I went to go walk him home from the park and I caught him in a fight with another kid.” 

Eris frowned, shaking her head. “Was it the same kid from the cafe?” she asked, though she figured she already knew the answer to that. She’d want to go fight that kid too. 

The words, however, had both of her parents pausing for a moment to look at her before Johnny licked his lips and asked, “What happened at the cafe?” 

Looking between the both of them, she realized Charlie must not have told them the whole story, or else she really doubted he would have wound up grounded, even if he did get into a fight. So she told them. That she’d been there with her friends and saw that little jerk shoving Charlie around. That Charlie had been furious because that same kid had been making fun of Harvey at school to a point where Harvey had to go home early. She stood up for her little brother, because in her mind, while it may not have been the best way to go about dealing with the situation, at least Charlie was trying to deal with it. 

At the end of it, Robyn had her head in one hand, rubbing her temples like she was torn or trying to process everything that had transpired. Johnny was quiet, looking at Robyn with an unreadable expression on his face. Eris wasn’t quite sure what she had missed, so simply went back to enjoying her dinner. 

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[simgrump]

Gen One, Day Fifty-Five

“So, why was Charlie fighting him again?” Johnny asked as he was finishing up dinner on the grill. They were trying something new tonight, a recipe that Eris had found online for some grilled plantains coated in maple syrup with a little bit a Cajun spice mixed in. Robyn hadn’t really been too keen on the idea, but she wanted to support Eris in her vegetarianism, she’d honestly been surprised that it seemed to be sticking with her for so long. 

“He wouldn’t say,” Robyn sighed heavily. “He would barely even talk to me.” Exasperation colored her words as she followed Johnny back inside the house to start getting the table set. “You should have seen him, Johnny. He was just swinging wildly at the other kid. They could have really hurt each other. And poor Charlie, his lip is all split.” 

Johnny snorted and Robyn paused, failing to see anything amusing in all of it. Johnny set the plate down and looked at him, giving a crooked smile. “You do know that kids fighting each other isn’t out of the ordinary, right?” 

“Maybe when we were kids, but nowadays, it is. And it should be,” Robyn argued back. “We’ve raised him better than this. He knows to solve his problems with words, not his fists.” 

“He knows that’s what you’ve told him,” Johnny countered. “Don’t know how much practice he’s had in it. Charlie’s an easy kid to get along with. So... I’d want to know again why he was fighting this kid.” 

Robyn glared at him and while they didn’t always agree on everything, she did find herself wishing this wasn’t something they saw differently. There was no reality where she wanted to be comfortable with her son fighting another kid. “Well, he’s grounded. Maybe he’ll tell you once he’s done pouting, because he’s not talking to me.” 

Skill Up: Cooking Level 5 (Johnny)

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[simgrump]

Gen One, Day Fifty-Five

“Charlie, what in the world are you two doing?” Robyn demanded angrily. Charlie fumed in silence, teeth grit and she didn’t get a response out of him right away, which was telling in and of itself. 

The other kid, however, laughed mockingly at Charlie. “Ho ho, someone’s in trouble with their mommy.” 

She had to remember she was the adult in this situation. She was a second grade teacher, well versed in breaking up arguments and fights and getting down onto a child’s level when need be. Right now she wanted to grab that other kid by the ear and drag them home to their parents to deal with. She resisted, instead looking at him and saying sternly, “You, stop it. Get out of here before I call your parents to come down here and pick you up.” 

The kid gave her a scowl before walking off, but not before shouldering Charlie on his way by. “Hey!” Robyn scolded him, but the kid just snickered and ran off. Oh, that kid was going to be trouble when he grew up, she just knew it. But right now, she wanted to make sure her own kid knew that this wasn’t okay, no matter what had happened. 

“What were you thinking, Charlie?” she demanded angrily. When all she got was a shrug in response, it set her off. Her own kid. He knew better, she’d made sure while she raised him that he knew better. Shaking her head in disappointment at him, she stepped to the side so he could start marching his butt home. “We’re going home, now. You are so ground.” 

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[simgrump]

Gen One, Day Fifty-Five

It was a good thing Eris had called home to say she’d be late for dinner tonight. It was just an off handed comment to say she ran into Charlie and he was headed towards the park. Robyn had decided to head over there and walk him home, Charlie still at that sweet age where she wasn’t entirely comfortable to have him walking around town by himself. 

When she got to the park, she heard the shouting before she actually saw it and it took her a moment to realize that the fight between two boys on the pathway was actually involving her son. 

With a gasp, she took off at a run to try and go break it up, dirt and dust flying around them and the closer she got, she could see small spots of red on Charlie’s t-shirt. 

“Charlie!” she yelled, more boom in her voice that spoke of the fact her son was in BIG trouble here. Charlie shoved the other kid away, who was sniffling with angry tears in his eyes. 

“You wait until I tell my Dad!” the other kid yelled at Charlie, pointing a finger at his chest like his own Dad was going to come beat him up in return. Robyn ignored him for a moment, instead, she focused on Charlie, whose bottom lip was split, bloody with several drops of it on his shirt, though he looked proud of himself and that was an all too frightening look to see on his face. 

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[simgrump]

Gen One, Day Fifty-Five

tw slur

Turns out, the confrontation didn’t end there. While Eris had insisted Charlie go home to cool off, he’d refused and had instead said he was going to play at the park. Eris didn’t know it at the time, but that’s exactly where Jorge had run off to. 

“You’re a jerk,” Charlie made sure to let Jorge know exactly how he felt about him when he caught up to him. The kid had been playing on the monkey bars, but when he’d caught sight of Charlie coming up the path, he’d swung down and come down to meet him head on. 

“Why you sticking up for him so much?” Jorge demanded, smug look on his face. “He your boyfriend or something? You a faggot too?” 

That seemed to do it for Charlie. The word hit him too deeply and while some kids thought it was funny to sling it around as an insult, Jorge took it to a whole new level. One to which Charlie had had enough of. This kid had just made a brand new enemy. He swung on the other kid, taking Jorge by surprise for a moment. Charlie had never been in a fight before and his adrenaline was racing, especially when Jorge fought back, trying to tackle Charlie to the ground. 

Random Event Roll - New Enemy applied

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[simgrump]

Gen One, Day Fifty-Five

“Nothing...” Charlie sassed and Eris had really never seen her brother like this. He was an easy going kid, it took a lot to rile him up and even when she tried her hardest to get a reaction out of him, he was usually in good spirits and just played along lovingly. This was different. Something had really upset him. It surprised her how much she didn’t like that and how... protective she felt in the moment. 

“Didn’t look like nothing.” She watched him for a second while he sat there and fumed. He seemed to be calming down a little bit, but he still looked red in the face, that brow of his furrowed deeply. “You looked like you were about to take a swing at him.” 

That did it. It opened the floodgates in Charlie. “Because Jorge’s a jackbutt!” he yelled and she had to hide the amusement at the name she called him, censored, like any well-behaved child would do, of course. 

“What’d he do to be a jackbutt?” she asked patiently. 

A long sigh escaped Charlie and she wondered if that wasn’t him just defusing now that he was talking it out with someone level headed rather than confronting Jorge himself. “He made fun of Harvey at school today. It got so bad Harvey went home early because he started feeling sick.” 

Ah. She could see why Charlie had gotten so angry. He and Harvey were best friends, she’d probably be just as upset if someone had made fun of one of her friends bad enough they felt sick. The thing she didn’t get was, why Harvey? He was such a sweet kid. “What? Why was he picking on Harvey?” 

The corner of Charlie’s lip dipped down, like he didn’t want to even say it. But when he did, Eris understood why her brother had felt the need to get fighty with Jorge. “Because he has two moms.” 

Eris tipped her head back, giving a grim smile to Charlie, torn between disgust that kids would make fun of that these days and pride that Charlie had taken it upon himself to stick up for his friend. She chose the latter, reaching forward to cup the side of Charlie’s head, her thumb soothing down his hair to show her support. “Well, you’re right. Jorge is a jackbutt.”

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[simgrump]

Gen One, Day Fifty-Five

“Hey dweeb,” Eris came up behind Charlie, ruffling his hair in an affectionate, yet annoying big sister way. She truly didn’t mean anything by the nicknames or the annoyances, considering her relationship with Charlie to be a pretty good one, despite his weirdness. 

But this time, Charlie didn’t respond in a way she was used to from him. No affectionate name calling back or even a groan at the ruffling of his hair. Instead, he shoved her hand away with a growl and she’d never seen him so fighty before. His fists clenched, his jaw tight and his face flushed with obvious anger towards the other kid. 

“Stop it!” he barked at her and she held up her hands. 

“Whoa, whoa, okay, easy,” she tried to placate him, giving him a look to say that he needed to take a chill pill. “Calm down, it’s just me.” Charlie gave a grumpy sigh, looking off towards the way the other kid had run off in. “What was that all about?” 

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[simgrump]

Gen One, Day Fifty-Five

Sure enough, it was Charlie. Deep into a heated argument with another boy that Eris didn’t know. She scrunched up her nose for a second, debating for only a moment on whether or not to go over there and step in. She already forgave Brittni for calling him dorky, because, well, he was at times. 

It only took one shove from the other kid towards Charlie to make up her mind. She didn’t even explain herself to her friends, just started walking over there with the intent of making sure that mystery kid knew no one, and she meant no one, put their hands on her kid brother. Especially not some little punk like this one.

Luckily, for probably everyone involved, the kid started walking backwards, flipping Charlie the bird with a laugh before he ran off. Eris watched him go, almost disappointed she wouldn’t be able to tell that little scoundrel off before she focused on her brother and clenched fists that were down at his sides. 

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[simgrump]

Gen One, Day Fifty-Five

As the girls were leaving the cafe, chit chatting about a party over the weekend that Brittni had found and whether or not they were going to make an appearance, they almost missed a commotion happening near the sidewalk. It was typical that this time of day the cafe was bustling with visitors, especially teenagers and kids who’d made it one of their hot spots. 

But, leave it to Brittni to notice the things going on around them. She paused to look at the sight while Olivia was showing Eris something on her phone. A dress she wanted to buy and it just left Eris envious once again that Olivia had such a life where she could find a $400 dress online and her Mom would buy it for her if she asked. It spoke of Olivia’s character that she barely ever asked. Not unless it was an emergency or a special occassion. 

A scoff escaped Brittni, drawing their attention and pointing towards the argument on the sidewalk before she said, “Isn’t that your dorky brother?” 

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[simgrump]

Gen One, Day Fifty-Five

As the school year went on, Eris found herself invested more and more into her friends. Especially Olivia, who she thought she’d found a kindred spirit in. While she’d never dare to tread on the friendship Olivia and Brittni had, she did feel like Olivia appreciated some of the less chaotic nature Eris brought to the table. 

It was interesting getting to know their plans for the future, as well. She’d had thought that both girls would want to go to the same college, but it turned out Brittni wanted to go to a party school (go figure) with her boyfriend and Olivia wanted a more prestigious experience. She’d even started visiting colleges, though she had a few more years before she’d actually get to apply. 

“Aren’t you worried?” Eris asked Olivia while Brittni was grabbing a scone.  “About going to different colleges? You and Brittni are so close, I just...” 

Olivia shook her head. “Nah, we’ve been best friends forever. We’ll still hang out. I’m just, also really looking towards my future, too, you know? Brittni probably wouldn’t make it a semester in the school I want to go to.” 

Eris paused for a minute, smiling quietly and pleased with the answer. “I have this friend that I’ve known since Elementary school. He goes to a different school now and it feels like we’re already going our separate ways. But now he wants to join the Air Force and I’m just... worried, you know? He’s my best friend, I don’t want that to change.” 

“It doesn’t have to,” Olivia told her, empathetic smile on her face. “We have these wonderful things called cell phones now.” Eris just laughed.

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