The Gollind Family's Day Off

It was an average sunny day in ACDC Town, with people out and about with their business, and kids out playing their games. One such kid was Shiri Gollind, a 6 year old girl currently occupying a swing at one of the suburb's many parks. Sitting on a bench on the park's far side was Turner Gollind, her father. Unlike his daughter, who was enjoying life one swing at a time, Turner was under-recognizing the fact that he existed by just staring lazily up into the sky, with a cigarette pointing up towards it out of his mouth.

A couple of middle-aged women walked through the park, and upon seeing Turner, started gossiping loud enough that he could hear them. "... Tch." grunted Turner, not really giving a crap about what they thought. Anyone with half a brain could've seen that his cigarette wasn't lit. Even he wasn't going to light up in the middle of a children's playground. Normally he'd be at home smoking or drinking a beer or something, but it was the weekend, and both he and Shiri were free, meaning that it was father-daughter bonding day. It wasn't that he hated it, really. He just didn't know how to act around kids, let alone his own.

After some time of aimless mental wandering, Shiri hopped off the swing and came over to her father. "Daddy, I'm hungry..." whimpered Shiri as she tugged on Turner's pants leg.

"... Mm?" mumbled Turner inattentively. He pulled his PET out of his pocket, and sure enough, it was just about lunch time. That, and he could hear his daughter's stomach growling. Guess he needed to do something about that... "... Ah." noted Turner, who took his view away from his PET's clock to actually look at his Navi for once. PaperMan was holding up a sign with the name and directions of some nearby restaurant. Jeez, this guy was always being a pest about how he acted with Shiri. But, eh... This was convenient, cheap, and admittedly, he was kind of hungry too. "Yeah, alright. Let's get going." announced Turner bluntly as he stood up. "C'mon, Shiri."

"Okay!" nodded Shiri, who quickly ran up next to her father as he started to walk off. In Shiri's eyes, Daddy was really quiet and not around a whole lot, but he was still really nice to her. She didn't like to cry a whole lot in the first place, but Daddy, Grandpa, and Grandma all gave her reasons not to cry at all. Daddy was big and strong, so he could protect her if those mean boys from school started picking on her and her friends. And, hey, they got to spend weekends together like this. If Daddy had fun with her now, maybe he'd want to be around all the time sometime in the future, right?

While Shiri let her 6-year-old mind wander, Turner was trying to address where this weird scratching noise was coming from. It sounded like it was near his pocket... the PET? Yeah, sure enough, PaperMan was clawing at the PET's screen with his pointy fingers, trying to get his Operator's attention. "What?" whispered Turner gruffly, trying to keep Shiri from noticing.

PaperMan immediately began pointing to one of the tabs on the PET menu. Data, no... Notes, no... Account? Turner opened his money tab at PaperMan incessant nodding, and quickly realized what the message was. Crap. His PET didn't have any money. He couldn't pay for lunch. "Ugh... PaperMan, go and withdraw some money from my bank account." ordered Turner quietly before discretely pointing his PET at a conveniently-placed public phone. PaperMan saluted his Operator in silly fashion before disappearing in a flash of light.

(Jack In, ACDC Net)

Turner emerged from the local Pizza Hub relieved, victorious, and marginally less sketchy as a parent, having bought lunch for his daughter. He even remembered to bring his daughter out of the restaurant with him, so more bonus points. "Feel better, Shiri?" asked Turner with a glance down to the young girl. Wow, was a full stomach all Turner needed to be a good parent?

"Yep! All full! Thanks, Daddy!" answered Shiri happily as she hugged her father's leg. With a morning at the playground and pizza for lunch on the record, Shiri couldn't possibly ask for more from this day. "What are we going to do now?" Oh wait, she could.

"Uh... That's a good question, Shiri. How about... How about we ask PaperMan? He has lots of fun ideas." responded Turner in useless fashion. It was a win-win as far as he was concerned, since Shiri liked PaperMan, and he could pass the buck to his Navi. Perfect plan.

"Okay! What do you want to do, PaperMan?" nodded Shiri, unceremoniously sticking her hands into Turner's pants pocket and withdrawing the PET to address the Navi.

PaperMan, who was still recuperating from the fight with Shao, keyword was, promptly leaped to his feet upon Shiri addressing him, but quickly paused right after, having yet to come up with an answer to her question. His foot made crinkling sounds as he tapped it against the ground, which somewhat voiced the noises rattling around in PaperMan's head as he struggled for an idea.

Suddenly, PaperMan pointed a finger in the air to signify brilliance. He produced some sheets of paper in his hands, which quickly folded themselves into a round wheel. PaperMan clutched his new prop tightly in both hands, then began running around in a spastic and unpredictable path.

"... Want to go for a drive?" asked Turner aloud, having successfully interpreted PaperMan's pantomime. "Car's back home, but it shouldn't take long to get there."

"Okay Daddy!" nodded Shiri, who had already prepared to say yes to just about anything her father suggested. She grabbed onto her father's hand with both of her own, and began tugging him off in some direction.

"Home's this way, Shiri." noted Turner flatly as he simply lifted his daughter up off the ground and onto his shoulders. "You'll just have to settle for this ride until we get home." Shiri giggled in response, then spurred her father into motion with her heels as if she was riding atop a horse.