Tomorrow saw Sym sleeping late into the morning, lost to the world until she was startled back into it by a sudden dip to her bed. ‘Wake up, wake up, wake up!’ Iseult shouted, screaming into her ear. ‘Ugh,’ was Sym’s response, unwillingly yanked into the waking world from an especially vivid dream where she was finally beating the level in Zombpocalypes they had been struggling with. Such a good dream.
‘I got tickets for Ira Faye!’ Iseult clamored, indifferent to Sym’s sleepy confuddelment. ‘We’re going to see the biggest pop star of our generation, and you’re busy being asleep! Get uppp! I need you to be awake to appreciate just how awesome I am.’ Iseult bounced a couple more times on the bed for emphasis, shaking a slack Sym by her shoulders until she opened her eyes.
‘What happened to your eyes!’ Sym exclaimed. ‘Oh! You like them? I got them done this morning.’ Iseult said, leaning closer to Sym and making her eyes comically large to showcase her pupils that had been modified into the shape of hearts, ‘Just like Ira’s!’ she exclaimed excitedly.
This was her second mod to be more like Ira Faye, her first was changing the color of her eyes to a pastel pink from the pretty inky black they had been before, discounting her tight pastel pink curls. ‘Does your dad know yet?’ Sym asked warily. ‘To notice he’d have to look at me for five seconds, so no,’ Iseult scoffed.
‘And your mom?’ Sym continued. Iseult hesitated before replying, ‘Um. She probably won't mind.’ That was a bold faced lie. Iseult’s mother would mind very much. She had just about had a conniption when Iseult came back with pink eyes, and had cut her allowance for a full month. It had been devastating to both Iseult and Sym, who had been waiting to play the new zombie game Zombpocalypse on Iseult’s gaming headset. They had to wait for Iseult to get her allowance back before getting it, and by then there had been spoilers.
‘Whatever, she already makes me wear contacts to her stupid society dinners anyway.’ Sym privately felt that Iseult’s obsession for Ira Faye went a bit overboard if she was changing her body to imitate her. But it was Iseult’s money to spend. Though she couldn’t help but think of the different things she would have liked to buy instead. Like her own virtual reality headset. But until she could afford it, she was just glad Iseult was willing to share her own.
‘And guess where the concert is?’ Iseult chimed, an intensely mischievous smile on her face. ‘Oh no. Not the Grand?’ Sym said with apprehension. ‘It’s the Grand,’ Iseult burst out. ‘We can sneak into the basement after the show and find the catacombs!’ She was practically vibrating with excitement. ‘Now get dressed, we need to get clothes for the concert, I’m not letting you go in that dress you always wear for our nights out. Ira Faye calls for something special.’
They had been shopping for too long, in Sym’s opinion, though to be fair, any time was too much time. It just hurt to see all the pretty things she couldn’t afford. She would dress up more often if she could, she thought, a small seed of resentment in her heart germinating. She tempered it back down. Iseult had bought her outfit despite Sym’s slightly performative refusal. It was way too far out of her price range. And also too pink. Iseult had cooed over the frills. Yikes. She would be returning it after the show, maybe with the added money she could afford to get Iseult something nice for her birthday for once, her consistently homemade gifts were getting more embarrassing as they got older.
‘...Is that your Grandmother?’ Iseult said, as they walked down the street for boba after. A woman that was definitely her Grandmother was entering a flashy looking building, the words Miss Fortune in glittering gold neon lettering lining the entrance. Sym felt her smile drop from her face like a weight falling to the floor. ‘Oh no. I need to go. I’m sorry Izzy, I’ll call you later, ok?’ ‘Wait you forgot your bags! Ok, I’ll…I’ll just hold on to them for you?’ Iseult shouted behind her as she ran over to the casino doors.
‘Hi, um, do you mind if I go in for a second?’ She asked the doorman. ‘Age?’ She replied, looking Sym up and down. ‘Eighteen,’ she responded, trying her best to channel an older confident girl. The woman scoffed. ‘Nice try, put out your arm.’ Sym reluctantly put out her forearm, knowing that as soon as the woman scanned her identification chip it was over. ‘Wait, I really just want to go in for a second, I saw my Grandmother go in. She’s not supposed to come here anymore.’ The woman’s eyes softened a fraction. ‘Sorry honey, no minors.’ She said, reading Sym’s age with a sigh. ‘Even…even just for a second? You could come with me, I really am not trying to gamble or anything.’ The woman looked at her with an eyebrow raised. ‘Are you trying to get me fired? Just wait for her to come out.’ She said irritably, the softened expression gone. Sym walked out of the lobby with her head down, resigned to wait for her Grandmother at home.
When Grandmother had first had her accident, gambling had been her escape. She was still flush with money from her pay out, but the trauma of being trapped two kilometers beneath the earth had left her mentally crippled. Despite being located early after the initial explosion, it had taken two weeks for her to be extracted. She refused to talk about it with the mandated company therapist, and eventually with her degenerative disc disorder it made sense for her to leave for good.
The Miss Fortune casino was brightly lit, and full of people and drinks. And with her first big win she was hooked. Her purchase of a new holoscreen for Posao’s schooling had been the first indicator of her problem. But Posao had a hard time keeping her away when she was just so lucky. And she didn’t go everyday, just on the hard ones. The ones where she wanted to be numb, to find a way to shield her mind against the trauma.
Posao hadn’t realized her mother had gotten so bad until Sym had brought it to her attention. They had tried to intervene by limiting her money, but she was so good at winning more. They tried getting her into another hobby, and cooking had helped for a little, but Sym’s increased course load with the new year meant she wasn’t as home as much, and apparently that had opened up Grandmother’s schedule.
