Ch 2
Darren's eyelids shivered in the bright light of the new day. A moment of disorientation was quickly alleviated with Goodwin's presence, or is it Uncle Rex now? Goodwin as well was thinking about the previous night. Even now, almost fourteen hours later it was too much to take in.
"Excuse me Ma'am?" a maid knocked on the door, "here are some clothes and brunch is ready if you like,"
"Just call me Darren miss," a new thing she knows about herself: she hates it when people call her 'ma'am'. Apprehensively Darren nudged the box containing her new clothes, hoping it wasn't a dress. All praise to God! Darren did a happy dance in her mind: the clothes she received were identical to the ones she was wearing now except they were brand new and had no holes in them and were made of finer quality material. Deciding to shower before she ate, Darren ran the water as hot as she could stand it, which was really high. Most of the time, it felt like she could take a searing hot sun with no sweat, literally and figuratively. Lifting her head, she enjoyed the heat as it relaxed her tense muscles.
Finally getting out of the shower, she pulled on her new clothes and headed out, following Uncle Rex's brainwaves to the dining room.
"Good morning," sleepy was tacked on in his thoughts
"What time is it?" Darren hadn't thought to look at the clock,
"About one o'clock,"
"Wow, I did sleep," talking was easy
"Sorry, I have to leave. The usual commotion,"
"The Fortune Cup?" Darren looked up
"That will start in a couple of days and I promise I will take you with me. I believe you really miss Yusei," it was a statement,
"Until then, feel free to do anything you like short of busting your brother out the Facility and any other form of crime. Everything you need is in that wallet" and he left. After finishing the sandwich, Darren fished through the wallet. An ID that identified her as a citizen of New Domino along with a credit card and about fifteen dollars in cash were found. She put all it back in the wallet and stuck it in a pocket.
"Is there anything else mistress?" another maid appeared,
"No, and stop calling me 'mistress'!" Darren groaned.
Rather than explore the rather dubious sights of New Domino, Darren choose to explore the expansive gardens. The amount of plants were somewhat alien to her as she just knew Martha's small, two meter long and half a meter wide little plot full of tulips.
In a stretch of blossoming fruit trees, Darren found a simple two tiered fountain that emptied it's load into a rather large irregular shaped pond about four meters at it's widest and at least ten meters at the longest. Spotted at regular intervals were walking stones that lead to a two meter radius circle in the middle right beside the fountain. Hopping across, Darren just sat on the mosaic painted concrete for awhile, watched the ripples and sunlight in the water. After ten minutes meditating, Darren just stood up and practiced her combat skills. An undercut hit an imaginary opponent in the stomach and a high kick hit another in the jaw.
Unbeknownst to Daren, Rex had returned from the Facility that was housing Yusei and arrived to watch her move through the motions of combat. She was strong and graceful, fierce and controlled a blend of her parents; Rudger had been strong and Kaida had possessed an almost supernatural grace. It was hard to say who had the stronger hold in the girl: Kaida or Rudger? Sometimes Kaida's traits outshone Rudger's, vice versa and other moments she was a blend of both. Right now, it seemed like she was just Darren, a youth that had a rough, but happy life and is now trying to adapt to new situations that she never would have guess she would be in.
"Darren," he finally called. The teenager stopped in the middle of a high kick with her left leg with the said leg in the air, "c'mon. We have some more things to discuss,"
"Okay".