What Ties the Soul 4/?
By Max
Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing.
The strange brightly colored shorts and loose blue tee-shirt felt awkward and wrong. His long hair drying in a ponytail, Duo raced after Madam Vic. "What... what is it?" He asked, squatting down in front of a big orange chicken. It pecked at some bug next to his big toe. He tilted his head, eyes locked with the dark black eye of the chicken for a moment as they stared each other down. "What's it for?"
"That's a chicken. Come here."
Duo hesitated for a moment, still staring at the chicken until it made a clucky-clicky noise. His eyebrows shot up, lips tightening, as he tried to think about what kind of mechanics made that noise. It wasn't like any music he'd heard before. It pecked right on his bare foot and he jumped up, scrambling back towards where Madam Vic held out a little metal bucket. He took it and stared at the strange white dirt. "What's this?"
"It's chicken food. Just scatter it around on the ground so they can eat it up," she said, smiling.
Duo grunted, but took a handful of the course dry dirt and threw it out on the ground. Chickens from all over the year came running, wings out a bit. "Ohhh! There are so many! How come you got so many?"
"They lay eggs and they're good to eat. You had chicken last night. You liked it just fine," she pointed out.
His mouth dropped open. Chicken came from the bio printers. He'd seen them work. There were big vats of various stem cells. They could be triggered to be certain types of meat, then it just sort of dribbled out, or rushed out, depending on what the settings were. "But.. but," he said, trying to see where chicken was... they were all bright colored, orange, reds, blacks. The chicken he knew was most definitely a pale pink or a light tan after it was cooked.
She and her stick tapped their way into a small barn. Duo squatted down to look at the chickens more closely, to watched them peck up their food. He put a pinch of the grainy stuff in his mouth, rolled it around a bit, then wrinkled his nose and spit it back out. "You guys got no tongues!"
"Boy! They chickens," Madame Vic yelled, "Don't eat chicken feed! It's not for humans. Come here."
He spread the last of the feed around and hurried over to where she was. "How'd you know I tried it?"
"How would you know it didn't taste good if you didn't try it," she asked, "And they do have tongues. Most livin things do. Now see what we got here?"
It was snuggled up in a little box with a round opening. The thing had a long black nose and shiny black eyes. "Here, give him this?" She held out a wedge of juicy red fruit.
"Is it a dog," Duo asked leaning over to look at the thing as he held out the fruit. It took a bit, chewing on it happily. Whatever it was, it made him feel all happy looking at it. "Can I pet it?"
"Yes, you can pet him. He's a bat. He was hurt. He's better now, but he seems to like it here," Madam Vic said.
"You're so soft," Duo said softly, holding the fruit still so the little bat could take another bit when he was ready. "What's your name?"
"He can't talk," Madam Vic, sounding slightly confused.
"Because he got hurt?" Duo asked, letting the bat lick his fingers.
"No," she said, "It's because he's a bat. Only people talk."
"Are you sure? He seems ... smart? What if he just speaks a different language? Some people do, you know?"
"Quel étrange garçon tu es," she said, sounding more confident in French.
"Woah," Duo said, eyes wide. "I didn't bring a translator."
"Why did you come here," she asked.
The little bat was climbing up out of his box and Duo picked him up, petting him, looking at his wings, one of which didn't work right. Duo traced his fingers over the curve of the good wing, enthralled. "I... I don't know. I didn't really want to kill Jean-Jackson. It's all well and good to fight machines, but I wanted a thruster relay and a couple of servos off his mech, and it turned out he wasn't dead. I guess, I wanted to see. The Sweepers are good to me and all, but if Earth is that rich - then why do they steal from everyone like that? I just wanted to see."
"I'm glad you didn't kill Jean-Jackson. He's a good boy," Madam Vic said.
"Uhn," Duo grunted, still fascinated with the little bat as it climbed up on top of his head.
"Mami," a joyful girl called as she ran into the little barn, "Mami!" She ran right into Madam Vic's arms, hugging her lovingly.
Duo felt a jealous ache and turned away, giving all his attention to his new bat friend.
"Sylvie," Madam Vick greeted her, "Say hello to Duo. He's come a long ways to visit with us."
The girl had skin like coffee, smooth and perfect. Her hair was done in dozens of little braids. Just a little older than Duo she was right at the edge of being a woman. She curtsied, her yellow ruffled skirt fanning out. "Bonjour, M. Duo! Welcome to Les Cayes!"
Duo blushed, a deformed batwing covering half his face. "Hey! It's just Duo."
"Duo," she said clapping, smokey pink lips smiling, "We're going to the beach, to surf, come with us!"
"That is an excellent idea," Madam Vic said. "A trip to the beach would not be complete without a trip to the beach. You can sleep in my loft again tonight, Duo."
"Okay," he said doubtfully. A big vat of water didn't sound like a whole lot of fun though.
"Can I braid your hair for you? I'm real fast," Sylvie said cheerfully.
Duo's shoulders tensed, but she was just so cheerful, smiling like sunshine. Jaw tight, he nodded. "You gotta be careful with it though."
"Of course! You got great hair," she said, running forward to take his hand like they'd been best friends all her life. She paused, lifted the bat off his head and ran it back to her grandmother, before running back to get Duo's hand.
Her hand was warm and soft, fingers strong as they closed around his, and that pang of jealousy turned into the fire of family, of belonging. He let himself be tugged out to a bench at the center of Madam Vic's garden. With chickens scratching and strutting around them, flowers of all kinds growing lazy, tomatoes hanging lush, Duo let her turn him around. She had a small comb in the bag at her waist and before he knew it, she'd combed out his hair. Her fingers were super fast and sure as she braided his hair for him.
"How come you got such long hair," she asked.
"Cuz," he said, shoulders tightening again, violet eyes narrowing.
"Oh it's no big deal or anything," she said, tying off his braid with a thick black elastic. "You can do what you want with your hair. I just ain't never seen nobody with such long hair. It's super beautiful, that's all."
"Oh," he said, studying the black elastic. "Thanks."
"Where are you from?"
"Uh," he said, "L2."
"You sound American. Is that a city in America? I wanna see Hollywood someday! That's where they make all the movies, right?"
"Uh," Duo said, feeling like there was so much he didn't know. The Sweepers had a collection of movies, but he hadn't spent much time with them. Everything had been about learning how to kill the Alliance, to hurt Earth. "Uh."
"That's okay," she said, patting his hand. "I'm sure L2's a great place. Come on, we got to hurry or we'll be late."
"Okay," Duo said, not feeling at all sure about going anywhere without his real clothes. These clothes felt like underwear.
"What's the matter? Don't you wanna see the beach?"
"Uh," Duo said. "It's just," he paused. "These aren't my clothes, ya know?"
"Mami, Duo's clothes'll be okay, right?"
"Bien sûr! Go!"
Sylvie smiled, motioning Duo to follow her. She had a little blue scooter, but only one helmet, so she put it on his head. "You're my little brother today! No complaining," she admonished as she fastened the chin strap.
Soon they were flying along a coastal road with just enough forest to hide the ocean. It was a short trip though and half a dozen friends waved greeting as they pulled up. "This is Duo. He's from L2. He's Madam Vic's guest and my little brother today!" She jumped off the scooter, pointing out her friends, "This is Alex, Voltaire, James, Esther, Tam, and Lovie!"
"Hi," Duo squeaked, holding onto the helmet where it sat on the seat in front of him now. They circled around him, patting him on the back, shaking his hand, grinning, and the initial terror turned into a much brighter flame of acceptance, of warmth.
He helped carry a cooler and an umbrella over a dune and onto the beach. When he set them down, that's when it hit him, the huge blue thing that seemed somehow vaster than space. Hands on his cheeks, he stared. He knew it couldn't be possible. It couldn't be bigger than space. It was just part of this little planet, that looked no more imposing than a dot of light for most of his life. "What is it," he asked.
James, the oldest of the boys, who had his hair shaved close and white line drawing of curves on his shoulder, laid a hand on Duo's shoulder, leaned close and whispered, "It's water."
"But," Duo said, running a few steps forwards, a couple back, "But... it's so big! That's why it looked blue! There's so much water! There's more water than land! Why is there so much water?"
James laughed, hands on his hips, "Well, human activity warmed the planet over the last 1500 years."
Duo felt like his head was going to explode. "What?"
Lovie wagged her finger. "There's water because that's how God made it. Have you been to space?"
"He's from L2," Sylvie said, as she set up the bigger yellow umbrella.
"You're from space," James said, awe on his face. "Is this your first time on Earth?"
"Yeah," Duo said, eyes tracking the person standing on a small surface in the water, as the water lifted him up and rushed him forward. The water seemed to be pushing him out. "Is... is the water alive?"
"Yes," Tam said, "But, well, there's a lot of life in the ocean and life isn't possible without the ocean."
"There's no ocean where I come from," Duo objected.
"But there's something that does the function of the ocean," Tam insisted.
"Are there people living in the water?"
"Sure, mermaids," Voltaire said, opening up a soda. "Ain't you never heard of mermaids?"
Duo shook his head, fascinated.
Sylvie gave them a stern look. "There's no such thing as mermaids, Duo. People used to think there were monsters in the water. There aren't. Just other living things."
"Okay," Duo said, not really seeing the difference between monsters and living things. Most of the monsters he'd ever met were living things. "What is that! Can I do that?"
"Can you swim," James asked.
"Sure," Duo said, thinking it was an odd question. Swimming was what people did when they went into the reclamation vats. "I ain't dead."
"Then take my board, paddle out a bit, wait for the wave, then stand up and ride it."
"Okay!" Duo said, grabbing the board and running towards the water.
"No!" Sylvie yelled, but she couldn't keep up with him.
Seven tries and one round of CPR later, Duo managed to catch a wave. Screaming and giggling manically, he ran up and down the beach, and went back in for the eighth try.
As the sun faded, he sat on the dense wet sand, letting the surf rush over and pull at him. The stars started to peek through the velvet blue sky.
Sylvie sat down next to him, offered him a plate with a sandwich and a bottle of cold soda.
"I love this place," he said solemnly, like a vow.
"Me too," she agreed.