GOLDPEAK, MANITOBA. 2066

The bottle stops spinning. Ravi looks up, and sees Aurion's wide, toothy grin. His gold tooth shines by light of the campfire. Everyone waits for Ravi to move. She leans forward, and...

Ravi
Hey, you know what? I just remembered a REALLY funny story.

Aurion
Come ONNN, girl. You can't weasel out of this.

Ravi
No, no, I GOTTA tell this one. We're at a campfire and everything.

Ravi looks over Aurion. His dark, dark skin, his wild blond afro, and his little blond eyebrows. His sunflower-gold jacket, with matching canvas sneakers. The gleaming gold chain tucked just under his dollar-signs t-shirt. He's naturally confident and has a distinctly regal presence... she feels like a criminal breathing the same air as everyone else. They couldn't be more different.

Ravi
I don't wanna forget the story. Kissing someone as... brilliant, as you... it might blow my entire mind.

Aurion
Oh, what-

Yuna and Amira, having just finished whisper-giggling with each other, return to the party from whatever astral plane they seem to share. Amira looks a bit like Ravi, in that they're both tan-skinned and of West Asian descent, and a mix of practically everything else. But past that, Amira's brown eyes are much wider, and she seems to have this permanent grin stuck to her face – like she knows something you don't, forever. Yuna's more of the East Asian side of things: with thin, slitted eyes and heavily folded eyelids; a cute round jaw, small enough to contrast everyone else's; dark black hair cut short and left spiked like she woke up that way; and with a kind disposition on her face, like a somewhat pleased cat waking up in the sunlight. Both of them are wearing what could pretty much be called 'the most basic summer clothes you can imagine'. They share melon slices with one another – some green, some yellow, and some orange. Taking turns popping a piece into the other's mouths.

Yuna
(Chewing.) I wanna hear it.

Amira
(Munching.) What's it about?

Ravi
It's-

Lanzo
Ugh, is this gonna be long?

Thor
(Smirking.) You mean... like me?

Aurion
(Sarcastic.)  Oh, you're hilarious, man. Hilarious.

Thor flexes his muscles, in his tight white t-shirt. His long blond hair is slicked back, and brown stubble dots his huge, square jaw. Everyone groans, except Lanzo, who watches. Garland sips the wine bottle again and passes it to Lanzo. His dark skin and long brown hair make him look a lot like Ravi, but skinnier, and more boyish. His eyes are thinner, as well as his lips, which he seems all-too conscious of for some reason. He's in a black muscle shirt and white khaki shorts that look just a little too nice for a ranch.

Lanzo
Fine, I can at least drink and pretend to listen. Go ahead, weird kid.

The campfire flames crack and flicker.

Lanzo
I mean Ravi.

Ravi pauses. Does she even care if she can impress these people? Or is she just going to move away and have to start all over again?

Ravi
(Sigh.) Yeah, gimme one second.

Lanzo
You've had several.

Ravi roots around in her school bag... she finds five notebooks, but they're not her homework – they're her ancestor's past adventures, printed out and bound by coil.

Ravi
How about the time Drew fought their zombie grandpa when they were eleven?

Amira
Jesus, dude, there's BOOKS? MULTIPLE ONES?

Thor
With all dude respect-

Aurion
'Due' respect.

Thor
No, DUDE respect. Cause everyone's a DUDE at the DUDE RANCH, OKAY?

Aurion
You mean your parents' acreage?

Thor
Exactly.

Garland
Anyway, Ravi, nobody wants to hear our grandma's life stories. Especially not several volumes of it, from several transgender grandmas.

Yuna
Yeah, that's like when someone plays a song from a movie in the car. It's so second-hand embarrassing, the lyrics all have character's names in them and you don't know what the hell it's about cause you didn't watch it. Even if you did, you're still, like... 'blegh. Stop. No.'

Lanzo
Hyper-specific stories are the worst. Like, can you get any more annoying?

Amira
"One time, I went to school, but I tripped, and I fell down... and another time, I ate some bread..."

Lanzo and Amira share a sardonic laugh. Yuna manages to chuckle her way in there.

Yuna
Like, who cares?

Aurion
The best stories are the ones we can repeat later and pretend we made up ourselves.

Amira
Exactly! Like, for kid cousins or new friends.

Garland
Why the fuck would you take those with you to a party? Our history was boring, I should know.

Ravi
I didn't bring ALL of them, but like...

Thor
Did you say there was an Egyptian chariot chase? I wanna hear that one.

Garland snatches the wine bottle back from Lanzo. His stark white hair and snowy skin contrasts deeply with his black hoodie, patterned down its sleeves and sides with spider-webs and skulls. On the back, a big white spider silhouette, staring out at anyone who may be thinking of surprising him. Not that anyone usually can.

Garland
(Taking a big sip.) Trust me, you don't.

Ravi
Actually, that one's a favourite, if you'll let me-

Garland
(Slowly shaking his head.) Don't.

Ravi
(Annoyed.) Alright, alright. I hear you guys loud and clear. I'll tell a short one, about someone else.

Aurion
Then we're going back to the game, right? You owe me a kiss.

Ravi's hesitant smile turns to a bitter grimace. Then, she cracks a twisted smile.

Ravi
(With shadowy eyes.) Sure, dude. I owe you, after all.