Tori's eyes widened as she nodded, running to the stairs and trying to enter the kitchen as quietly as she could. She sat down in her place, slowly eating her food. Although she ate until she was full, the girl had only eaten half of her food, and she flinched, knowing she'd be scolded for not finishing.
Lee watched on in displeasure, but said nothing. Justice didn’t know why her mother was in such a bad mood, but she was, and there was nothing Justice could do about it despite how desperately she wished to live up to her name.
“Now, for your serum. I’ve just finished preparing tonight’s batch, you’d better drink it while it’s still there.” she said, taking a small flask out of her pocket and pouring it into five smaller glasses for the children to drink from.
Amir nodded and took the small glass he knew was his. He took a few sips and that was enough to down all of the liquid, barely wincing at the taste anymore. He wanted to go back to his room. He had gotten a skirt that he wanted to wear again, or just touch, wearing it wasn't safe in this house.
(Amir likes skirts)
(Good for him! Good for him!)
Justice downed her glass, worrying about how it would affect her performance on the track tonight. She always felt a bit dizzy and sleepy for an hour after taking it, and didn’t want to risk going on the track in this state. “When will we be going on the track?” she asked, feeling the wooziness set in. “As soon as you all finish dinner, and no slacking or stretching time out to avoid it,” Lee said.
Tori held the glass to her lips, tipping it back and swallowing its contents in one gulp. The girl tried to choke down more food afterwards, but started to feel nausea set in. She still kept spooning soup into her mouth, until she felt vomit rise in her throat. "M-may I go to-to the restroom?" Tori's voice was barely audible, and as soon as she choked the sentence out, she clapped a hand over her mouth, trying to keep her food down.
“You will sit here until you finish your dinner, young lady.” Lee ordered, hands clasped tighter together than before. “Just let her go to the damn bathroom, I’ll finish her food for her! Jax is clearly feeling sick!” Justice said, it was the least she could do after all.
Tori swallowed again, her throat burning. She whimpered and looked down at her bowl, starting the process of forcing more food into her mouth. Tears pricked at the corners of her eyes as she kept eating, her small form trembling. "C-can't- eat- any more," the girl whimpered, clapping her hands over her mouth again and swallowing the vomit in her mouth.
“Fine, leave for all I care. It just means another round on the track for you all, which suits me just fine.” Lee said, crossing her arms and leaning back. Justice gave Tori a sympathetic look, but didn’t say anything more. She genuinely didn’t want more trouble than she was in.
Tori shook her head as Lee mentioned the track, spooning more soup into her mouth as tears streamed down her face. She'd become used to keeping vomit down at this point, and she just barely managed to eat all her food, before covering her mouth again as she spoke. "M-may I g-go now?" The girl was trembling as she almost choked, coughing into her hand.
“Wait until you’re siblings have finished. I know you just want attention, but guess what? You’re not going to get it.” she said, tapping her spoon against the table a bit while resting her head on her hand.
The girl nodded again, swallowing and wiping her hand on her already dirty shirt. She was still shaking, but she wiped her tears on the collar of her shirt. "S-sorry," she muttered, trying not to vomit again. "I-I'll wait."
(skavn sorry I was working on something for most of the afternoon and I gtg to bed)
Cam took their serum with a grimace, and when Tori started having problems, they gave Lee a "what the fuck???" look. "Mom. She's barely keeping it in. If she throws up on the tablecloth, she'll get yelled at, so just let her go. I don't mind waiting, and I'm sure the rest of us are okay with it too." Years of experience allowed them to school their expression into neutral, and they managed to keep the anger at their mother out of their voice.
“I told her she could go, it would just mean extra track time. I hardly see what the problem is.” Lee snorted.
(I don't have the energy to type a response but know that Cam is wondering if Lee was dropped on her head as a child)
(Valid and valid. And perhaps Lee was.)
"It's- It's fine," Tori managed to choke out. "I can- I can wait. Don't- don' wanna do th-the track." The girl shuddered at the thought. "Don't- wanna," she mumbled, before covering her mouth again, some vomit escaping her mouth and into her hands. She wiped her hands on her shirt and swallowed, barely wincing as her throat burned.
(Oh nO-)
(>:D)
(so sorry-)
Harley tried to sneak into the room and eat like she had been there the whole time but she knew lee would notice that she hadn't been there and probably punish everyone.
she took the glass of injection and sipped it lightly, taking a while to force it down.
She continued to eat the soup staring at it intently focusing and making sure mania didn't take control of her.
Lee scoffed. “Look who finally decided to show up, then. You’ll be running the track tonight, if you didn’t notice already. I’m setting the battle androids to the highest setting of difficulty, I’m sure you can handle that again. You already know what went wrong last time, you can just adapt.” she explained.
Amir slumped further in his chair, trying to avoid Lee's wrath. He was quiet, she made sure of that. He just wanted this dinner to be over and to run the track, then to go to sleep, then school, then Alex's house.
Harley looked down at her bowl trying to finish up her food but not trying to go too fast. "Y-yes ma'am," she spoke quietly before finishing up her food and sitting there squeezing her hands tightly under the table.
“Is everyone finished? Yes? Good. Now, clear your dishes, put them on the rack, and head to the track. I’ll be in the control room making sure you all don’t get too hurt, but still have at least a bit of a challenge.” Lee said. Justice groaned, her eyes felt like bags of bleach and her arms were heavy like sacks of wet cement.
"Th-thank you, ma'am," Tori choked out, bringing her bowl to its rack. The girl covered her mouth again, almost rushing out of the room, but staying rooted to the ground. "May I go to-to the restroom, n-now?"
“Wait until after we’re done with the track. I’m sure you can deal with it later.” she said bitterly, turning away. “I’m heading to the control room now, all of you run along to the track and start running it.”
Justice stood up, and nearly tipped over from the speed and the way the medicine affected her. She brought her dishes to the rack, and slowly hobbled over to the hallway leading to the elevator that brought them down to the track.