“Really now,” complained the older woman as her daughter plowed through a large plate of bacon & eggs as though it were a serving half its size. “Girls shouldn’t be always falling down. It’ll ruin your lovely face...”
“Ehehe...” Karon laughed sheepishly between fork-fulls.
The room was full of contrasts. Karon kept a holographic projection of the morning news playing from a mobile slate by her food; that stood out from the worn furnishings of a style from the tight years of 1985. Karon was without a doubt a smaller version of her mother with hair cut to a bob, but her skin was pearly white, and her mother was that of chocolate bronze. And while Mrs Gou had only salad in front of her, Karon had already cleared a plate of noodles before tackling the bacon, and there was still cereal, milo, and sticky cake to go.
Then the phone rang. Its ring was old and distinct, the monophonic bleat of an era predating the decade of the IS. It came from plastic and silicon so old that its white coverings had long turned murky cream; definitely older than the relatively-super computer in Karon’s reach.
Mrs Gou reached over.
“Hey Mom!” greeted a deep arrogant voice into a touchscreen by his bunk. Unlike Singapore, it was already mid-morning in Air Base, Panara City, the Phillipines. But the drawn curtains kept out most of the Pinoy light, leaving whatever filtered to outline his silver white hair and bronzed skin.
“Kajie!” She answered happily. “You really should call back more often.”
Karon looked up and waved with her knife, only to remember that the old telephone had no camera.
“I’ve been busy,” he grinned as laid back in his bunk. “How’s the monster doing? Still pigging out?”
Overhearing, Karon gave a look of annoyance.
“Why don’t you ask her yourself?” She said while holding out the handset. Karon promptly hissed at it like an enraged cat, then polished up the last of the omelette.
“Ah, as welcoming as ever…” Kajie said, bemused. His hand wandered across the bed and ran along a bare back, prompting a girly moan back at him.
“Good luck with the Stratos thingamajig, alright?” He said.
Karon stopped hacking away at the sticky cake for a moment.
“Haaai!”
“Same to you, little boy,” Mrs Gou chided. “Don’t go flying all over the place and forgetting to look after yourself.”
“Don’t worry, Mom, I’m very well looked-after here. The hospitality is absolutely gorgeous.”
He ran his hand along his companion again, and earned a backheel to the shin.
“Ah, I see,” Mrs Gou replied. “Too bad you can’t make it back on your little sister’s big day.”
“Sorry about that, we’re testing a whole heap of new craft these few days. The bigwigs are making us work for all the bonuses they give.”
Kajie said as he glanced at his chronometer.
“I’ll be back by the day Karon’s exam results are out. If its good, there’s time to go celebrate.”
Karon swallowed another mouthful and shouted, “Let’s go to Botak Jone’s Super Buffet!!”
“Oh dear, all you do is eat!” Mrs Gou huffed.
“Then again, when people look at you, they’d think I haven’t been feeding you enough…”
“Don’t worry, Mom,” Karon beamed. “Food, exercise, or study, everything goes straight to my head!”
To that, her mother just sighed. “Maybe that’s why you keep falling over. Your head is just too powerful for your tiny body. How is it that you can pilot IS so well is beyond me…”
Karon just giggled sheepishly.
“Alright, gotta go, you two,” Kajie concluded from the other end. “See you soon.”
“Bai-bai,” filtered the pair of voices to the quiet bunk, then Kajie dropped his handset on the side drawers.
“Your sister is taking the ISA exam today?” His companion said as she rolled over sleepily, taking care to keep the blanket tight around herself.
“Knowing that IS-taku, what else?” Kajie said as he reached over and picked up the ornate pendant hanging from the girl’s neck. “What about Karon? Reminded about yourself?”
“Not at all,” the girl declared as she brushed Kajie’s hand off her IS in storage. “I’m just lying here, watching you turn into a sickening blushing siscon just by talking to her…”
“O-, nii-, chan-, kun~~.”
He cocked up an eyelid.
“Are you sure you should be saying such things, Super Idol Lee Qixiang?”
Lee just flashed a wry smile and leaned over. “Of course I can…”
She planted a deep kiss and winked at Gou. “O-, nii-, chan~!”
Kajie seemed more bemused than impressed, and so Qixiang gave a tilt of the head and looked disappointed.
“Da~me~~?”
“You know what? Maybe I am a siscon…”