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[fry_sandhu]

Fry is sitting in one corner of the bar, with his father's tablet, reading a page entitled 'How to tell if someone is your friend'.

The words aren't all that difficult individually, but it's rather harder when you try and translate them into meaning.

Comments

[onceaviking]

Eric walks past, in a track suit and flip flops, stopping briefly to look at the screen.

He is not giving off any body heat. He is not breathing. He is very still, when he isn't purposefully moving. He is also, perhaps, standing a bit close.

It's a nice tablet. He might consider getting one of those.

His red rimmed eyes are very blue and his skin is quite pale.

[fry_sandhu]

Fry currently has it open at a table, most of which he doesn't understand.

He is peripherally aware, as always, of movement in the room. He isn't so keen on the closeness, and looks up.

"Is this your spot?"

[onceaviking]

"No,"Eric replies.
"I don't have a spot, tiny human."

In turn he points to the gadget.
"Is that yours?"

Kids these days.

[fry_sandhu]

"No, it's Dad's. Mine doesn't let you connect to the internet properly." Fry says. "So I downloaded it before I brought it here to read."

He looks up again.

"I'm not that tiny, my new baby brother Gilbert is smaller than a kitten and he has to stay in a tank."

[onceaviking]

"You're a child. That makes you a tiny human. A miniature one."

Eric smiles. It's a friendly enough smile.

"Not at all influenced by younger siblings in tanks. Why are you reading that?"

It seems an odd thing to read. And it clearly lacks useful information about how to deal with enemies.

And then people wonder why their children end up fucked up.

[fry_sandhu]

"Well... I thought Dr Lecter was my friend, but now I'm not so sure." Fry says. "So I asked at summer school how you tell, and Neil showed me this."

[onceaviking]

Eric looks down at the child.

He does not detest to children, the way Pam does. Often they can be quite entertaining. And useful. If only because everyone else seems to care so much about them.

He sits down opposite Fry. Although it's more like he is suddenly seated there, without having moved at all.

"You don't need a chart for that," he says. "He isn't."

[fry_sandhu]

Fry looks at the man. How would he know?

"He told me he was." he says. "Are you his psychiatrist?"

[onceaviking]

Eric snorts.

"No," he says. "He attacked me. Which is a far better measure than any sort of psychoanalysis."
He hasn't really kept up with the field, as it were.

[tattling]

Franklin pauses as he passes, sipping his chocolate milkshake.

He frowns, and leans close to make sure he's reading the screen properly. (He doesn't physically touch the other boy, but personal space is definitely being ignored.)

"Is there a test?"

[fry_sandhu]

"I'm not sure." Fry says. "On another page it said you could check if someone was a 'frenemy', but I think that was for girls."

He squirms away from the risk of physical contact.

[tattling]

"Frenemy?" Franklin frowns thoughtfully, straightening up a little. "I think I heard of that. Is that like, half-friend, half-enemy? Whoa."

He is just realising he totally has a frenemy in the form of Bentley 23.

He plops into a seat opposite and puts down his milkshake. "So did you figure it out?"

[fry_sandhu]

"Not really." Fry says. "I don't think this covers grown ups."

[tattling]

Franklin widens his eyes, and remembers just in time to put the straw back down in his milkshake before shaking his head.

"Nah, grown ups aren't friends. Not really. They might be, like, allies, in a fight?" He shakes his head again, more softly this time. "But they aren't friends."

[fry_sandhu]

"Wait... none of my grown up friends are my friends?"

[tattling]

Franklin frowns again, tapping his straw as he thinks.

"Well ... well, I don't know about you," he says slowly, eyeing the other boy thoughtfully. "I just know-- well, all the grown ups I know, they're people like my uncles or my teachers before they're friends."

[fry_sandhu]

Fry looks... kind of gutted at that.

"I don't know then." he says quietly.

[justdyedit]

"Problems with your buddies?," asks a woman in a red and yellow jumpsuit and mask, who is currently hanging upside down from the rafters. "Sorry if that was personal."

[fry_sandhu]

Fry looks up. The lady is dressed very brightly, so he glances away.

"That depends if he is my buddy or not." he says.

Although now he reads this, he has a feeling it might apply to a few other people he knows.

"I don't know what personal means."

[justdyedit]

"Hmmm, I'd say personal means something you wouldn't want a lot of people to know, or only certain people you trusted," SPider-Woman replies with a thoughtful rub of her chin. She also notices the boy looking away from her, which makes her frown worriedly. "My name is Jessica, though I go by a different name when I'm dressed like this."

She almost gives him her super hero name but is worried the spider reference might make him more nervous.

"I can leave you alone if you'd prefer."

[fry_sandhu]

"I don't know who I can trust any more." Fry says quietly.

He glances back.

"No it's..." Hesitation. Which social paradigm is this? The one where you can be direct or not?

"I have Asperger Syndrome, you are quite bright. Looking at eyes is hard. Sorry. I don't mean you to go away."

[justdyedit]

"Oh, I'm sorry," she replies and pauses to think. She can tell that admission was something for the kid, she's not sure if it was embarrassing or just confusing. Either way, she pulls back into the shadows a bit to hide her colors.

"And thank you for your honesty. I was actually heading home for the night back in my world. I could change here instead and maybe we could talk some more, if that would be alright?"

[fry_sandhu]

"I am always honest." Fry says.

"It would be alright, I think."

[justdyedit]

Jess smiles.

"I'll be back in a few minutes." She says and moves a few rafter beams over before dropping down. From Bar she gets a pair of slacks, a tee shirt, and some slip-in shoes; all in neutral colors. And after a quick change in the bathroom, she walks back to Fry's table with a wait-rat following. The rat is carrying a small tea service and a BLT sandwich for Jess.

"Hello," she says, waiting to be sure she has his attention and also looking at his shoulders rather than his face, just in case people looking at him is uncomfortable as well. "Jessica again. Do you mind if I eat? I can buy you something as well if you'd like?"

[fry_sandhu]

"I don't mind if you eat." Fry says. "Unless you're going to show me chewed food or something."

School dinner tables set a low level of standard.

"I don't want any food thank you."