Family Dinner

"Don't drop the food!"

Jamie crossed the border back into the slums once again, his heart nearly jumping out of his chest when Prime bent over to enter the door and a roasted rabbit slipped out of his grip. Jamie dived and caught it before lecturing the mecha (that he controlled).

"They're gonna like this." 

Jamie ripped off a piece of meat and popped it into his mouth, savoring the taste. As he and Prime hurried back towards the mechanic shop, they failed to notice a man standing in the corner, his jaw on the floor.

Lowe was just searching through a trash heap next to the slum's border when he saw a boy a few years younger than him enter from the OUTSIDE of the slum, accompanied by a MECHA! 

Lowe had white hair and gray eyes, and wore nothing but rags. He knew he had just witnessed something incredibly strange, as the boy obviously wasn't part of Dynamos, and neither was that mecha with him. Also, what was he doing outside of the border, where all the monsters were? 

Lowe immediately ran off in a certain direction. He knew someone that would be very interested in this information, and wouldn't mind paying for it!

Arriving back in front of the mechanic shop, Jamie shivered, choking on the rabbit meat in his mouth. He coughed and spat out the meat, wiping his mouth.

"Ugh, was someone thinking about me? I hope it was Amanda…"

He entered through the garage, the shutter door open as always, though he noticed it was empty. He went deeper into the shop and into their pseudo-living room, finding Amy reading a half-burnt book on the sofa.

"Oh, Jamie, you're back."

"Yup. Prime and I brought home dinner." 

Jamie dropped a whole roasted rabbit into her lap, surprising her. He ruffled her hair, laughing as she complained about having to wash the oil out of it. He moved into the dining room, which was just a gigantic slab of steel propped on some crates full of junk.

"There you are." He found Amanda setting the table, a bowl of stew in the middle. "Did your leveling go well?"

"Sure did. Gonna check how much after dinner. You know, you should keep the shutter closed when you're not in the garage." Prime set down the rest of the roasted rabbits on the table before heading to the garage. "You never know who could enter. Rat stew?" 

Jamie nodded at the bowl.

"Lizard, actually. Scaly little guy just walked into the shop. Is that rabbit?" Amanda raised an eyebrow before leaning out the doorway. "Amy! Aiden! Dinner time!"

"Monster rabbit. I gave Amy one whole rabbit already, so she might not eat as much."

After everyone made it into the dining room, they sat down to have dinner. They grabbed some rabbit, some lizard stew, and started eating.

"This is good. Can we have rabbit everyday?" Amy asked.

"I can bring dog or bear next time if you want?" Jamie offered only to get flicked by Amanda.

"Don't kill dogs!" Aiden exclaimed, frowning at his big brother across the table.

"What if the dogs are trying to kill ME?" Jamie bit into a rabbit leg.

"Then you did something wrong!" Aiden picked up some stew with his spoon, only to spill it on his lap when he tried to sip it. He crossed his arms as Amanda wiped it off. "Dogs are dogs!"

"How about you promise not to kill any dogs, cats, or any form of household pets?" Amanda chimed in to stop them from arguing. Amy was watching with amusement as she ate.

"Fine, I promise not to kill pets." Jamie sighed. 

A couple of years ago, he found an old movie projector that Amanda fixed up, and the only thing on it was a movie about a cat and a dog. The thing was ancient, dating back to Old Earth. 

Long story short, ever since they watched that movie, little Aiden grew up to be nature's best friend, standing against any form of animal abuse (if it was an animal he liked). They even found him keeping a rat in his bed once.

"Tell you what, little bro. How about you and Amy take a ride on Prime through the skies tomorrow. He can fly, you know?"

"Really!?" The pair of younger siblings were filled with excitement.

"Are you sure it's safe?" Amanda frowned.

"Of course. I'll just pop outside the border, fly them around for a few minutes, then pop back inside. I won't go to monster-heavy areas, promise." Jamie smiled reassuringly.

After everyone finished eating, Amanda cleaned the dishes while Jamie took the kids upstairs to tuck them into bed. There wasn't anything exciting to look forward to, there was no school, jobs, or anything, but Jamie and Amanda tried their best to be a functioning family.

They were just 2 pairs of siblings, yet the elder siblings had to act as the parents. Amanda kept the shop (and their home) running, occasionally fixing junk or tools for the nicer members of Dynamos for cash, while Jamie spent his time running around the slum to gather food or scrap, otherwise he was completing odd jobs for strangers.

They stepped into a small attic with a window and two beds, aka Amy and Aiden's room. They jumped into bed while Jamie tucked them in with their blankets.

"Why is it so hot in here?" Jamie pulled on his collar.

"The fan broke down earlier." He followed Amy's gaze to the fan that was supposed to be spinning cold wind outwards, only to see it messily disassembled. "It popped when we were downstairs."

"Damn." Jamie sighed, going over to open the window. "Sorry, you'll have to make do with this for now."

"Thanks, Jamie."

"...Do you two have any dreams?"

"What?"

"Dreams, goals, aspirations." Jamie turned around and crouched down to lean in close to the two. "For example, say, what do you guys wanna do if we ever get to leave the slum?"

The kids thought in silence for a moment. Jamie was sure they had a lot of things they wanted to do, because he was the same. 

"I want to study. Go to school." Amy stated her main goal with a straight face. She looked to the side. "Have a big house, with air conditioning."

"Me too." Jamie smiled at her, turning to Aiden next. "What about you, Aiden?"

"..."

"Come on, tell us."

"...Dog and cat cafe." Aiden said with crossed arms, almost challenging Jamie to deny his dream.

"Sure. Hold on to those dreams, guys." Jamie stood up and left the room, saying one last thing before he left for his room. "You just might be able to experience them soon enough. Sweet dreams, you two."

******

"Okay, welcome to the wasteland! Don't wander off, unless you wanna be eaten by monsters."

"Aah!"

"Jamie, don't scare Aiden like that!"

Jamie sheepishly smiled as Amy scolded him, a scared Aiden hugging her waist. They were currently standing on the metal ramp connecting the wilderness outside the slums to the massive border wall. 

"Sorry, sorry. Let me just make Prime check the area before flying, make sure there are no monsters in our vicinity."

Prime took to the sky in an instant, leaving Jamie with the two of them. While his mecha patrolled the edges of the forest and the dirt, he double checked the changes he made to Prime the night before. Unfortunately, he hadn't unlocked any new spells or upgrades from the levels, but he got a couple of points to spend.

==Mecha Core==

Level: 17

ATTRIBUTES:

Strength: 7

Agility: 8

Durability: 8

Flight: 7

Energy: 12 

Attribute Points: 0

==Mecha Core Abilities==

Rocket Punch

Wrist Missiles

==Magic Core==

Level: 11

QUALITIES:

Capacity: 9

Control: 8

Affinity: 9

Quality Points: 0

==Magic Core Spells==

Fire Blast

So far, Jamie spread his points out quite evenly, though he might have to focus on specific stats in the future. He also found that despite only being a Pilot for a day or two, he was slowly getting more used to doing things while controlling Prime at the same time.

"Maybe I should start doing multitasking puzzles, or splitting my attention more." Jamie mumbled.

"What?"

"Nothing. Anyway, you wanna go one by one or ride him together?" 

Prime landed next to the three of them in a flashy pose, creating a gust of wind that ruffled their clothes. Jamie felt satisfaction in the stunned faces of Amy and Aiden.

"Woah, slow down dude!"

Jamie jumped aside as Aiden leaped at Prime, trying to scamper up the mecha's back. The 10-year-old required a couple of tries as well as assistance from Amy before he sat comfortably on top of Prime's shoulders, hugging his neck.

"You don't wanna join him?" He turned to Amy, shrugging upon seeing her shake her head. "Alright then, Aiden goes first. Hold on tight and don't worry, Prime'll catch you if you fall."

"Wha?"

Winking at his younger brother, Jamie had Prime fly straight into the sky, giggling devilishly as Aiden screamed his lungs out. He made Prime spin around and do sharp turns while Amy watched with horror.

"Will Aiden be alright!?"

Prime suddenly dived straight down, only to pull up at the last second and pass by Jamie and Amy.

"IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII-" 

"He sounds fine to me." Jamie smiled.

"-HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATTTTTEEEEEEE-"

"...If you say so." Amy relented as they heard chunks of what Aiden was trying to say to them each time he passed by.

"-YYYOOOOOOOOOOOOOOUUUUUU-"

"I wonder who he's talking to?" Jamie questioned as Prime suddenly landed in the dirt, making a large crater.

"JAAAaammiee… BLARGH!"

Out of breath, Aiden slid off Prime and barfed all over the ground, Jamie patting and rubbing his back.

"There, there, let it all out, buddy." Taking Aiden aside, he turned to Amy, who swore she saw red horns sprouting out of his head for a moment. "Ready to fly, Amy?"

She gulped.

******

"That… was way better than I thought it would be."

"Fun, right?"

"Yeah." 

Entering back into the slums using the dented border door, Jamie and Amy chatted while Aiden's world was still spinning. Of course, Jamie had purposefully given him rougher rides and gave Amy smoother ones. What else were older brothers for?

While they walked back, Jamie bumped into Lowe, who was holding some syringes. Their collision made him drop them all on the floor.

"Woah! There are kids with me, man! Do that somewhere else!"

"S-Sorry…" 

"Yeah, yeah. Remember you two, never accept syringes or food from strangers..."

Despite lecturing the man, Jamie helped him gather his syringes. Once Lowe had his syringes back, Jamie rejoined his family in walking back to the shop, failing to notice the greedy glint in the white-haired man's eye, as well as the fact that one of his syringes was now empty.