Inside the Thompson Residence...

Padgen and Amina enter the Mansion foyer. It's brightly lit, modern, and shiny everywhere. Far from rococo, it's neo-gothic; everything looks like an eighties futura movie prop, the walls sleek and grey with glowing ebony details.

In the living room, there's a TV built into the wall, over a fish tank (also inside the wall). Across from them, grey nylon couches. The kitchen is minimalist, with no table or chairs, no stray cutlery or pots or pans, only a stove, a sink, and a microwave... and like, a hundred flat handle-less cupboards. Amina pulls a drawer out, and it's revealed to be a hide-away pot-hanger. Another one, knives and spatulas. Another, what looks like an endless tunnel packed with cans and pasta.

Amina
You want mac and cheese?

Padgen
I'm vegan, and bread makes me all dry.

Amina
Wow, you're... so boring. Lucky for you, my mom's on a fad diet.

Amina reaches into the fridge, and grabs a foil-wrapped burger, and throws it to Padgen.

Amina
It's all soy and peas, but like, in the shape of a burger.

Padgen
I'm not into soy.

Amina
OH MY GOD, STARVE THEN!

Padgen
I usually do.

Amina
Actually?

Padgen
(Laughing.) No, not actually. I like smoothies with almond milk, pears, fries...

Amina
Fries! We have fries! I'll make so many fries, just you watch.

Padgen
Thank you!

Amina
Don't your parents feed you?

Padgen
(Voice shaking slightly.) I just met them last winter, so no. I actually grew up with these really terrible foster parents, they treated me like garbage. They would always throw their plates at me when I got mad, and told me to 'eat that if I was hungry'. I got used to picking ceramic shards out of spaghetti.

Amina
(Disbelieving.) ...are you fuggin' with me right now?

Padgen
Uh... no. Not really. I got used to going without, because it wasn't worth pissing them off to get scraps. I learned pretty quickly they never ate their vegetables, always left them to rot in the fridge. And I'd microwave whatever they forgot to finish, before it went bad. Lots of takeout, noodles, old pizza.

Amina
(Half-impressed, half-pitying.) Fuck, no wonder you're so sad-lookin'. Makin' me feel bad for living here.

Padgen
(Feeling guilty.) Oh, no, you don't have to-

Amina
I know I don't.

Padgen
...right. Anyway, I asked them to sign me up for dorms when I was ten, and never looked back. I got myself into trouble during the year so I'd always have summer school, put off my homework until it was too late to make it up for the exam. That way, I was away from home year-round. I got good at figuring out what kept me fed from small amounts, and I just can't stand certain stuff. So... yeah. And here I am. But fries are always good, I love fries.

Amina
Yeah... yeah, fries are good.

Padgen
(Playing it off like it's nothing.) I'm sure you've got your share of bad stuff to deal with. I saw your mom yelling, is she like that all the time?

Amina
No, just- okay. My parents are... dumb. Really dumb, and irresponsible, and they shouldn't have had any kids, especially not so young. They treated me like garbage, too. They just kept me fed to make up for it, and now my mom's just too busy to see me at all. She's getting better, though. My dad's not.

Padgen
I'm sorry to hear that.

Amina
Yeah, I mean, he used to be the nice one, but... then they split. Now he wants nothing to do with me. I ran away from home, once. Then I watched to see if she'd leave her garage. She didn't.

Padgen
They didn't look for you?

Amina
No, they never bothered to look.

Padgen
That sucks.

Amina
A couple hours later, my brother Amadu came to find me. Brought me home, and... well. I stopped running away, because I saw who cared.

Padgen
I feel that.

Amina
Anyway, I've got friends to take care of me, and my mom still buys food.

Padgen
Yeah, that's good. I've got friends too, but they were... being weird. I wasn't up for it.

Amina
What, like they wanted to date you?

Padgen
Not exactly.

Amina
You gotta date sometime. I'm with Sujay now, he's a good guy. And I think Amadu's about to start dating Tamara. There's Chad, but... he has some issues. Dad trauma, I think.

Padgen
I met a Sujay! Is he Indian?

Amina leaps at Padgen, armed with a spatula, which is pointed at Padgen's neck. It's the fancy kind, with the one serrated edge.

Amina
He's mine.

Padgen
Great, you can make him stop flirting with me.

Amina
FLIRTING?

Padgen
Or whatever he does. He trains at the same karate dojo as me. The guy who runs it is my friend's uncle.

Amina pulls away the spatula.

Amina
Sujay is... just a flirt. It's how he wakes up and how he goes to bed, but he usually does both alone, without me.

Padgen
Is that a good thing?

Amina
He's notoriously guarded. He looks easy, but it's an act. You'd need a crowbar to get a smile out of him, if he was in a bad mood. He usually is smiling, though. He's sooo... complicated.

Amina blushes warmly, and her mood heel-turns back to cheery.

Padgen
Yeah, totally.

Amina
Were you scared just now? I'm sorry. I was pointing sharp shit at you-

Padgen
Yeah, it's not the first time that's happened.

Amina
Won't happen again, aight? You're good with me.

Padgen nods, and breathes a sigh of relief. Amina trays the fries and spices them up before putting them in the oven. It already smells good.

Amina
Now, you've seen two of the seven wonders! Let me show you the other five.

Padgen
Oh- whoah!

Amina grabs Padgen by the hand, and runs him up the stairs. Neither of them make any noise.

Amina
You're light on your feet!

Padgen
Not as light as you!

They share a smile, and Amina leads Padgen into the hall, where a little disc-thing is roving around.

Amina
This is the auto-vac! It cleans up anything you drop, watch!

She drops a jellybean at the disc, and it bounces off. The disc motors over and sucks it up.

Padgen
Coooool.

The two of them run to the bathroom, where Amina turns on a shower and quickly closes the glass door. They watch as a grate of holes on the ceiling pours water straight down in shining beads. Then she turns it off, and walks two feet to the balcony door, where outside is a built-in deck, and an electric hot-tub.

Padgen
Whoah.

They run to a massive bedroom down the hall, with four bunk-beds and two bathrooms.

Padgen
Okay, this is crazy. How many siblings do you guys have?

Amina
Just each other, but our mom likes to be prepared for guests. Our friends crash here, sometimes.

Padgen
That's really nice of her.

Amina
She has her moments. Now... the clubhouse!