Notes: Bit of a disclaimer for this chapter: I don't think freckles are ugly! They're fascinating. Also, in case you are wondering what 'Elite' is - space drugs, basically. Yep

4: FRECKLES

It was difficult to pinpoint what exactly morning was on Titus' clipper, seeing as it wasn't orbiting any particular planet currently and therefore had little to no sunlight to distinguish between the days. Perhaps living in his clipper as he had been since his mother's death had been the catalyst for his admittedly more indulgent lifestyle recently. Titus considered this as he completed his routine scan for imperfections on his body in the wall to wall mirror of his bedroom. Today he'd found a faint patch of freckles forming on his upper arm he had not previously noticed; perhaps they'd been there some centuries ago? Despite its immense catalogue of benefits, Regenex still had a habit of rejuvenating unwanted imperfections within the cells.

At first, Titus had found himself overcome with irrational panic. Frantically, he had attempted to scrub them off with soap. Soap. Finally, on the brink of tears, Titus realised he was becoming more anxious about this mild imperfection than he could comprehend. Balem's face was dotted with freckles, ugly little imperfections that even thousands of years bathing in Regenex could not fix. Titus had always prided himself in not only sharing little in common personality-wise with Balem, but also baring no physical resemblance to his sibling either. They would go, however, Titus told himself. They weren't like Balem's. He'd take another bath soon, and they'd go.

"Titus! At last you join us! You certainly do enjoy being fashionably late."

Kalique's friendly yet mocking tone rang across the dining hall.

"I don't think our brother understands the concept of being fashionably late, Kalique. Correct me if I'm wrong, but two hours seems to push the boundaries from fashionable to infuriating." Balem managed to say all of this without a single glance in Titus' direction as he finally strolled into the room, some hours after they'd agreed upon.

"I'm sorry, I really am. I'm just so terrible at getting out of bed at the moment." Titus smiled without even a hint of sincerity in his voice, pulling up a chair slightly closer to Balem than Kalique. Balem's already amusingly tense and uptight demeanour seemed to immediately increase. Good. "I suppose I just enjoyed my party a little too much."

Balem scoffed, practically slamming the glass in his hand back down against the table.

Kalique stifled a laugh.

"Something wrong, brother?" Titus turned towards his sibling, the smile on his face briefly transcending into a smirk, seeing as Kalique was currently preoccupied with the patterned tablecloth and trying not to laugh.

"Your party, Titus? And at what point in the night did you finally decide it was your party and not Mother's? Could it have been the moment you indulged yourself with that group of genetic splice garbage in your ridiculous…." He seemed to pause, as if to consider the most condescending description available, "… zero-gravity fuckfield?"

Kalique burst out laughing, as Titus found himself struggling to avoid doing the same.

"…Or maybe it was the point of the night you decided to take enough Elite to power a small planet?" Balem continued, after a bemused pause at the sight of his sister essentially betraying him. It was a shame, he'd always felt a vague sense of kinship with his sister, but every instance of closeness he felt towards her was periodically shattered when she sided with or encouraged Titus in some way.

Kalique managed to composure herself once more.

"Oh Balem, you're such a bore. Personally I think Mother would have loved to see her legacy honoured in such a way! She hated mundanity, after all. Besides, Elite cannot kill us, I should know." Titus sighed, opening a bottle of water and pouring it into the glass beside him. He withdrew a small vial from his pocket, pouring some of the gold, sparkling liquid into the water.

"Elite before breakfast, Titus? Are you sure?" Kalique asked, her voice vaguely laced with what he could have sworn was concern.

"I like to feel as sharp as I possibly can at all times, sister." Titus smiled, raising his glass in the air slightly, before taking a sip, feeling the vaguely (it didn't work so well straight after a Regenex bath, for some reason) euphoric rush of the Elite tingle through his cells.

Kalique rolled her eyes. Elite was fatal to the mortals, especially the splices, but repeated use of Regenex had rendered it virtually harmless, seemingly.

"Anyway, I feel we still haven't touched upon the subject of business much since Mother's death." Titus began, his gaze drifting towards Balem once again.

"You keep mentioning this matter of 'business', Titus, but I can't help but wonder what you really mean." Balem sighed.

"I simply wished to discuss Mother's empire, now she is no longer in charge. Of course, brother, you are the head of the company now, and quite rightly so… but I feel both I and Kalique could contribute more effectively than we are currently."

"And how, exactly, are you planning on doing this, Titus?" Balem asked, bored. He knew what was coming.

"Well, I just feel if I were to overlook the production on some of the more abundant planets such as you have—"

"Titus, when has this little story ever worked in the past?" Balem interrupted, turning to look at his brother properly for the first time that day. "Mother left you a pitiful inheritance because she knew you couldn't take care of her industry properly. Irresponsible, I think was the word she used. So no, I don't think I shall be gifting you any of my inheritance any time soon."

"Balem, don't be so mean to our little brother!" Kalique smiled, "…he's just a baby compared to us, after all. He'll learn how to contribute greatly with time."

"Titus has lived through several millennia, Kalique. He is far from a baby." Balem sighed, rising from his seat to leave.

Titus had remained uncharacteristically silent during this exchange, and found himself staring into his glass briefly.

"If that's everything, I think it's about time I return home, don't you?" Balem asked, rhetorically, before turning to leave the dining hall.

Titus watched as Balem exited the room before turning to Kalique, flashing that familiar smirk in her direction and ignoring the feeling of utter defeat that had begun to wash over him.

"Well it was worth a try, I guess."