Trivpos: Selfie hour
Regained: Day 163
Iota, Ace Attorneys

It’s summer vacation, and you’ve graduated junior high. You talked to your parents, and after some discussion, and no small amount of begging, they let you buy yourself a phone. You’re going into high school, you said, and if you’re to start adventuring seriously, a menu is absolutely necessary, right? They couldn’t argue, but they didn’t seem to like the idea of you having a phone… Even so, you couldn’t give up. They went over everything with you- No more than a certain amount of calls or texting. You’d be paying for the phone and the plan out of your own money. You agreed easily, to everything, because if you argued or even tried to negotiate, they’d definitely refuse… And you couldn’t allow that. You can’t say the real reason you want the phone- Yura and Araj both have one. You want to be able to talk to them, too.

You’ve saved up for it for months- Your allowance is dependant on your grades, after all, but you were on top of the class all year, so you managed to slowly save up enough. And then, with a piece of paper in your hand- a list of the possible phones and plans you are allowed to get, you head out to go buy one.

Of course, getting the phone was only the first part of the plan- The second was, once you acquired it, meeting up with Yura and Araj. Once they join your party, their numbers are automatically added to your phone, which is nice and easy, and the three of you head back to Yura’s house.

You like Yura’s house. Whenever you’re over there, it always feels pleasantly warm. Her parents are kind, treating you and Araj like their own kids. It does always feel a little… awkward, though. You don’t know how to handle people like them- You naturally slide into your model student mode around them, wanting to impress them so they won’t forbid you from being Yura’s friend. After all, someone less than perfect doesn’t deserve friends, especially not one as good as her… But you can’t shake the feeling they can see through your act, but it never seems to bother them. They treat you with kindness, a warmth that you don’t quite understand.

It doesn’t take long for Yura to herd you all into her room- “You can’t hog my friends today, we’re already doing something!” she tells them, sticking her tongue out, and they laugh- and you show your phones.

Yura’s is a simple blue phone, with a couple of charms and a ribbon hanging from it. (You’ve seen her hold it up so she can bat at the charms sometimes.) Araj’s is sea green and a bit bulkier- You find yourself wondering if she built it herself, but that’s probably impossible, right? But even it has a couple of cute stickers on it. Meanwhile, you start to unbox yours- Plain, sleek, and white, but obviously no personalization on it.

You begin to take the rest of the parts out of the box, until Yura stops you.

“Hey, what are you doing?”

You look confused. “I’m reading the user manual, of course…?”

“Boo, that’s boring.” Yura’s pouting.

“It’s not boring, it’s part of the experience!” Araj interjects with the kind of force she can only muster when the topic turns to machines. “You have to know how to use it, if you don’t want to break it.”

Yura kicks her feet. “Still boring… Besides, we can show you how to use everything that’s important!”

“Well, the main thing is the menu and calls…” You tilt your head.

“Bzzzt, wrong! The important part is texting and camera!”

“Camera?” You’re surprised the phone has one of those, though looking closer at the back, you can see it. “What does a phone need a camera for?”

“What?!” She seems personally affronted by this question. “Araj, show her!”

Now that the topic was about her, Araj shrinks back down. “Huh? I don’t really use mine…”

“Ehh, you too!” She stamps a foot. “Come on, look at this!”

She holds her phone out and it scrolls through a gallery- All pictures of herself, taken by herself at various places. “You two should try it!”

“Huh?” You feel yourself turning red. “No, I’m okay, I don’t need…”

“Come on, here!” Yura’s snatched the phone out of your hands, and now she’s pulling you two close, and holding up the phone. “Come on, smile!”

You barely manage an awkward smile, and you can see in the screen Araj is turning beet-red and frozen like a scared rabbit. It’s a weird picture, but when she lowers her arm and returns the phone to you, you can’t help but laugh.

“Now, you try it!”

You awkwardly hold the phone up and force a smile, but fumble trying to get your finger to hit the right part of the screen- touchscreens can be a pain. Araj can’t help but giggle, and Yura snaps a picture of her while she’s laughing, causing Araj to squeak and take a sudden picture of Yura in return.

Soon, the three of you are giggling together, taking photos of yourselves and each other. The awkwardness is gone, except for when you took a few candid pictures quietly to show them later. Yura gives you something else- A little dangling charm for your phone, a ball on a string. You attach it, and hold your phone up so the string is at your eye-level to admire it, and…

Bap. Bap. Yura starts swatting at it, and you laugh again. “Down, kitty, are you going to tear it off right after you gave it to me?” Yura pouts and swats at it again for good measure. You pet her ears and return your phone to your inventory.

It’s time for you to go soon- You have to get home before your parents, so they don’t find out you spent the whole day with Yura and Araj, but you as you walk home, you send both of them a text.

Thanks.
I had fun today.
But, Yura, I’m still going to read the user manual when I get home.

You attach the sillier photos of them you took, and hit ‘send’. You really have gotten used to the phone already, and this was a fun day.

Notes:

A couple new characters are introduced! Yura’s parents. Her father has white hair like her and can best be described as ‘EXTREMELY SWOLE’. The man is easily seven feet tall, beefier than a herd of cows, has hella fangs and white fur all over, and a huge mane- the dude looks terrifying. But he’s also the sweetest guy, and there’s no sense of intimidation past the awkward ‘how do i social’ bit. (He’s actually a healer.) Her mother has much daintier features, two heads smaller, very lithe, and is actually much, much stronger than her husband, and scary when she’s mad. But they’re both aggressively sweet people and it’s easy to see where all of Yura’s positive aspects come from! Both of them are Beast Tribe, which means they both have animal ears and a furry tail, and in her father’s case, fur basically everywhere but the face. And they absolutely dote on Aiya whenever she’s around.

To recap for new people, as well, Yura is a Beast Tribe girl- she has cat ears and a tail, and basically is the only one who can make Aiya relax and have fun. Araj (who has no account) is a shy elf girl with long hair and a deep love that borders on obsession with technology and machinery, and the two of them are Aiya’s best (only) friends.)