Meanwhile, at the Lake...

Brilly and Hampton sit in a rowboat, fishing rods in hand, lines cast in the water. It's a mild day, and the lake is still. The view is far away, but zooms in to see them.

Brilly
I got one!!

Hampton
Reel it in!

Brilly starts to turn the reel one way, then the other until something starts to work.

Brilly
(Freaking out.) I'm trying, I'm trying!

Hampton
Calm down, don't break the line-

The line snaps.

Brilly
It... uh. It got away.

Hampton
(Sigh.) That's okay. You just take some deep breaths, feel that lake air.

He sniffs deep, and lets out a 'pchoo' of breath.

Brilly
I'm not that upset...

Hampton
Oh, hah. I meant so you don't scare the fish away.

Brilly
(Nodding.) Ah.

Hampton
So your dad asked me to talk to you about something...

Brilly
(Surprised.) Did he really? I didn't know you two talked.

Hampton
Sometimes. Sometimes. He only asked me to ask you about, well... since you're getting to be that age, now...

Brilly
Is this the 'birds and the bees' talk? Because I've already had my first time.

Hampton
(Surprised.) Oh, wow! Okay, then. Well, I can't say that- well, you're a fine young woman, you are. So, good for you, I s'pose. That lad at the dojo, was it?

Brilly gets both confused, and flustered. Like the thought is some kind of trick question.

Brilly
(Conflustered.) Who, Padgen? Uh... no. No, not him. We've never actually... spoken, for very long.

Last Month...

Padgen and Brilly run drills, judo-chopping sandbags and clacking kondo sticks together. Brilly pretty much always wins, and out of four duels, she wins all four. Padgen gets the next one, but then she sweeps his leg. Brilly walks closer, so Padgen holds his hand up as if she's going to help him stand. Then she looks away.

Brilly
Did I drop something? I thought I had my compact in my pocket.

Padgen
(Putting his hand away.) Uh... no. No, you didn't.

Present Day....

Hampton
Huh, that's too bad. He seems nice.

Brilly
Yeah, 'nice' isn't gonna save my ass in a dark alley. Neither is 'inoffensive', 'adorable', or 'polite'.

Hampton
Fair point. But he's adorable, huh?

Brilly
Shut up.

Brilly reaches into the lake with one hand, and splashes Hampton with some water. He barely reacts, but pretends to be afraid of it.

Hampton
Oh, geez! You're gonna get me all wet, there.

Brilly laughs, and Hampton pulls back his line to check the bait. Still there. He casts the line again, somewhere else.

Brilly
What about you and my uncle? How are things there? And why am I just now hearing about it, at all?

Hampton
(Bashful.) Well, you know how people can be. Lodubai's a nice place, and I know there's plenty of folk here who don't mind us one bit. But there's always those ones, and ya never know, right? S'like with girls, too, I guess, 'cept people seem lighter on that these days.

Brilly
Yeah, only when it's behind a screen. My friends in Michigan still get shit for it, people throw trash at their heads when they walk under the wrong bridge.

Hampton
It's not the wrong bridge, it's the wrong people. Bullies, that's all they are.

Brilly
There's gay bullies too, y'know. I think Boxer's one of those, himself.

Hampton
Not gonna lie, that's what I like about 'im. Now, whaddaya say we catch ourselves at least three fish, and get back to shore? I can do the rest by myself tomorrow.

Brilly
What, you think I can't fish?

Hampton laughs, with a good-natured smile on his face.

Hampton
I think you can talk, and I think they can hear you.

Brilly
...ah. Yeah, that... that would be an issue, wouldn't it?

Hampton
Just a bit. Three fish, okay?

Brilly
Four. Four fish. Then I've got a date, anyway.

Hampton
Oh, yeah? With who?

Brilly pulls out her phone from her purse – it's a massive touchphone, XL size. She taps its surface with her finger, as her long (but real) nail clacks against it. Then she shows Hampton a picture of a blonde boy.

Brilly
Him. His name's Lector, says he wants to take me out on a fancy dinner.

Hampton
Wow, yeah he's a handsome one, alright. How fancy we talkin'? You been goin' out for a while, or...?

Brilly
First date, actually. Says he likes to 'start with a bang'.

Hampton
(Brows raised, but unimpressed.) Oh, I'm sure he will.

Brilly
What's that supposed to mean?

Hampton
Nothin'. Just uh... let's focus on the fish, shall we?

Hampton goes back to fishing, and Brilly reels back in her line to tie a new hook. The view zooms back out again, to show the lake and the big blue sky

Meanwhile, in Brian's Basement...

The vidslop continues. An actor turns into a puppet, then back again, and does a backflip, but there's still a hand up his butt. He lands with a TA-DA! Then he pukes butterflies, wet and vomitous, all over the floor. He kneels there for a good ten seconds, just letting it all out.

Georgie
Okay, I've had enough.

Georgie gets up, and walks to the TV set to turn off the slop-box.

Brian
Don't touch the vidprompter!

Georgie
Why not?

Brian
Cause you're weird, and you always shock stuff when you're excited.

Georgie
Maybe I'm just happy.

Brian
If you wreck my stuff, I won't be.

The boy stands up and starts shuffling his sock feet on the shag carpet.

Brian
Stop that!

Georgie
(Defiant.) Make me.

Brian
(Weakly.) But I can't... I'm not...

Brian cries a little bit, very foppishly. He tries to sit up, but blood rushes to his head. He lays back, and shakes it off.

Brian
(Dizzy.) I gotta lay off the sugar.

Georgie
Alright, alright. I'll ground it. Where's something metal?

The boy spies an aluminum-cased DVD player.

Brian
Dude, anywhere but there! That thing already has problems, you can get shocked just by touching it! You could blow the fuse or something!

Georgie
It's fiiine! I can handle getting shocked. Plus, I doubt your slop-box is gonna shock me to begin with.

Brian
I told you to stop calling it that.

Georgie
Why?

Brian
Cause the way you say it, makes it sound like a sex booth or something.

Georgie
Isn't that half of what it's for? Porn?

Brian
Disturbing porn.

Georgie
Then what the hell do you watch it for?

Brian
(Shrugging.) It makes the rest of the world look normal, by comparison. It's therapeutically nonsensical.

Georgie
That's a good slogan, you should e-mail that to someone.

Georgie slams his hand on the slop-box, and sparks fly as electricity consumes him. The lights shut off, and the vidprompter explodes with a metallic POP! The lights come back on, and Georgie is knocked out cold on the carpet, as static traces his body.

Brian
(Upset.) Damn it, dude, I told you not to touch it!

Brian tries to get up, but his blood sugar is dangerously low. He falls back down, and quickly falls asleep.

Brian
(Snoooore...)