Chapter 9: Fretting
"Fret not idiot, I have forgiven you and will allow you come with us for the day." Linuette tells Silas that very morning.
Silas looks at her with this weird expression, slightly annoyed and yet scared to show that emotion. "Forgiven me for what?"
"For being mean to a friend. Now forgive me for being a child so that I may continue on with my day without worry of brain explosion."
"I…I forgive you…I guess." Silas looks to Zack, for help perhaps. It was pretty difficult to deal with Linuette, especially if you hardly know her. Zack offers him a sympathetic smile.
As usual Linuette is oblivious to all of this. "Close enough!"
"So where…dare I ask are we going today?" Silas asks.
Linuette smirks. "Well you see Silas since you haven't been here in so long I thought that today we'd be tourist! Tour the sites to see around Central…although to be honest I don't know that many."
"You don't know that many? You've been living here you entire life though…" Silas once again looks to Zack who is as usual, just going along with whatever seemed to please her.
It was a bit irritating to Silas how Zack acted like the nearly perfect dog. He speaks when spoken to, follows her always one step behind her, snarls at anything that dares to pose a potential threat, and goes along with anything.
"Yeah…about that. I didn't really leave the house much when I was little. I've only just recently started to break out you know? To wander about and do as I please." She admits. There's something saddening about the way she stares at her feet, her dress swaying back and forth with each step that she takes.
Zack takes note of this but doesn't say anything due to the fact that he honestly doesn't have anything to say. What was there to say?
Silas seems to know. "Until you met Zack that is."
Her face burns with a nice cherry color that slowly softens into strawberry ice cream. "N-No…well kind of. I mean he does let me do as I please. Whatever! Let's go in here!" She marches into the first store she sees. A local book store.
It kind of makes sense now…the reason why she spends most of her time trying to get out of the house. Why she insists upon going into random places such as a mere bar.
"Linuette-" Zack tries to grab her to question her a bit more but she seems to sense this and heads deep into the shop, weaving amongst the many bookshelves and eventually disappearing into the musky scent of books. "Damn."
"You didn't know that?" Silas comes up beside his cousin. His eyes are locked on the place where she last was.
"Know what?"
"That she hardly got an opportunity to leave the manor."
"No…" Is it common knowledge?
Silas doesn't say anymore. He just walks off into the books, running a hand along the spine of a book he was interested in.
Zack ventures forth to look for Linuette, he can hear her rustling about. Every once and awhile he would catch a glimpse of her. She was running her right hand along the book rows, marveling at the feel of each binding.
"Hmmm." She takes a look at a certain row, when she removes the book a hand comes out and snatches her wrist. It causes such a shock that she ends up dropping the thing spurting off a number of curses that Zack didn't think that she knew. "H-Hey! ZACK! HE-"
"I'm right here." Zack waggles a few fingers are her wrist.
Linuette frowns but is quite marveled at how smart he is. "That you are. Mind explaining what the hell you think that you're doing? Do you think that your funny maybe?"
"Just wondering why you're being so evasive is all." And now she's swearing.
Silence.
"You idiot! I'm avoiding you because my face is as red as a watermelon's guts!" Blunt as ever she grabs his wrist with her own hand that's currently captured.
"Anyone but me would believe that Linuette. Tell me a story…" That always seemed to work. True to this, she let his wrist go.
"Once upon a time there lived a girl. She was born into a family with a very powerful man at it's head. He loved his girl so much that he was afraid that the world would soon be after her. To keep this from happening he secluded her away in the house that they all lived in. Only once in a great while would he bring her out to explore their front lawn.
"This girl, she loved her father but she wanted more. She wanted more than the house parties and the entire afternoons sitting on her bed studying. So she brought it up to her father who got her someone to look after her. With strict orders they were hardly aloud to let her go anywhere. That is until one day another guard appeared. Suddenly she was allowed to go anywhere…he always made sure that she was safe…"
So that's it. It was rather understandable. A lot of people respect the current Fuhrer but a lot of them hate him. In fact more people probably hate him then love him so it's only natural for him to want to make sure his only daughter is safe.
So why is it that she's allowed out now? What's changed?
"I see…are you still red as a watermelon?"
"No…"
"Good." He lets go of her hand and makes his way around the bookshelf joining her into voyage into the book world not saying any more about the topic. She seems relieved that he isn't bringing it up, so much so that she starts to rant about the many books that she discovers.
"I want that one!" She shouts, taking a leap to grab the book. She can't quite reach though. When she leaps again, hands go to her waist giving her an extra boost. He wasn't exactly tall either so this was all he could offer as she grabs the book she wants. "Thank you."
"Hmmm," He looks over her shoulder to get a good look at the book. "I'm proud of you. It's an actual alchemy book."
"Shut up. I don't always buy romance novels. In fact now that you said something I'm going to buy one just to smite you."
"Smite all you want. When you're reading your quiet-" He has to duck to avoid receiving a book to the face. "That's assault!"
"Only if I actually hit you. Now stand still!" She smirks.
He slightly remembers her saying something about how he can tell her father all he wants…something about not being able to prove that she did it. "Why can't you just behave?"
"Why can't you just break the rules once and awhile?" She runs at him with a lovely hardcover. It wasn't that difficult to side step her, grab her arm, and pull her back. Her balance teeters like crazy; she even waves her arms in order to avoid falling on her butt. "Mean."
"You came at me with a book!" Zack protests.
Linuette pouts. "Hey! You attacked an innocent girl."
"Innocent…" He looks at her blankly. She snaps her fingers at him waiting for flame but getting nothing due to the fact that she left her gloves at home. With a sigh the whole thing is over with. Instead she picks up her fallen alchemy book.
"Romance…romance…rom…oh nasty." She makes a face. Zack had been stuffing his nose into a certain history book when he heard her speak once again. It had been a few minutes; he was beginning to get worried about her. When he joins her side he doesn't even have to guess why she's making the face.
Talking to Silas is none other than Andromira. He's nodding as Andro no doubt talks about himself and rants about the types of books he uses. "Yes…I attend one of the more prestigious-"
"Well don't just stand there…get rid of him." She pushes Zack forward with a little bit more elegance then a squirrel.
"H-Hey…there you are Silas." Zack debates whether or not if turning around to scowl would look suspicious. "Have you purchased everything you need?"
"You…" Andro's nose wrinkles as soon as Zack speaks. He would recognize that man from anywhere! "What are you doing here?"
"Last I checked this is a public book store. Not Central library and even if it was Central library I'd be able to get in and you wouldn't." Zack is starring hard at Silas who seems horribly confused. If he couldn't feel the aura of hate radiating off from Andro then he was a bit denser then Zack and Linuette had guessed.
"Where's Linuette?" Silas asks. He's trying to look around Zack who refuses to budge.
Andro crosses his arms. "Yes…where is that girl? Off on another one of her ridicules adventures?"
"They are NOT ridicules, or at least not as ridicules as your face looks right now." Linuette steps out from the shadows deciding to take the offensive this time around. Hiding was all fine and dandy but it does have its limits.
"Oh Linuette. You used to be so cute, when you'd sit in your room awaiting my visits. Back then you were quiet…it really was one of your better qualities." Andro pinches the bridge of his nose quite irritated to be dealing with her antics. Before that boy came she was the perfect obedient child. Aside from a few bumps in the road she was like a doll. "Why can't you just be a good little girl and be quiet?"
A doll that would occasionally catch people on fire.
"Why can't you be like an ice cube and melt? Visits? Pfft, harassment is more like it."
Another deep sigh. "I don't understand. You're an acclaimed and talented person, why would you throw all that away?"
"I'm not throwing anything away," Linuette shakes her head. "I'm only saving it for later. If you've got a problem with that then you can just leave. I'm not stopping you."
"In fact she's kicking the door closed behind you." Zack interjects. With a smile from Linuette Zack looks to Andro expecting a slightly snarky comeback.
"The door to her for you will never be open; you're only looking in through the small window."
"He is-"
"If I may," Silas tilts his head slightly to the left, looking at Andro whose attention suddenly shifts back to the mysterious Silas. "You must be Andromira…"
"I am…and you are?" He had never gotten his name.
Silas stuffs his hands in his pants pockets. "Silas Elric, a childhood friend of Linuette and cousin to Zack. It really is a pleasure to meet you but I'm telling you that your tactic is all wrong!"
"Tactic…for what?" The Elric's are everywhere!
"If you want Linuette to like you then you have to be kinder. She doesn't like it when someone else tries to take the lead. It just doesn't work that way," Silas instructs. He has a finger in the air as if he is an expert on Linuette. She's giving him this rather nasty look that Zack can't help but want to laugh at. "If you want to be a leader then leave little hints…like a trail of bread crumbs-"
"I am not a mouse!" Linuette shouts.
Zack can't hold it anymore; he begins to laugh earning him the next venomous look.
"I didn't say that you were. Linuette may act tough but she's a shy girl with gentle and fragile feelings. I can't really explain it but I know that if you're kind to her you're bound to win her over. She dreams of someone who protects her, of someone who's willing to go that extra mile for her…right now you're not hat person." Linuette 101.
Silence falls over the group as all four of them think on what he's just said. Linuette has gone a bit red in the face. When the silence continues she finally lets it all out.
"What a load of crap!" She shouts.
"Ah, ah, ah! Your merely hiding behind your barriers-"
With both hands she drops her book and snaps, making rather loud sounds that send Silas ducking behind Andromira. "Dammit!"
"Language." Zack objects.
"…"
"I'm not going to baby her. She needs to learn when to grow up and leave her mark on the world." Andromira tells Silas. He's already shaking his head thinking about how stupid he's being. "In fact I have this coming Saturday off and your father has granted special permission for you to leave the house unguarded. I'll be picking you up at six so make sure that you look decent."
"I'll get my jeans and t-shirts ready." The look that she gives him is loaded with enough venom to kill a small child; unfortunately Andromira is a bit bigger than that.
"We're going to discuss our future together."
"And I'm going to go and raise my concern about being alone with you without my body guard."
His eyes quickly go to Zack who is clearly more than displeased with this news about her going out without him. "Your father believes that it's important for you to spend some time with me."
"What the heck is this? Why don't I get the father who threatens to shoot any man who dares to show up on the doorstep? I demand a redraw!"
"This isn't a card game."
"It's about to become a game." She threatens. It was clear that she wasn't just going to play along with this. She was going to do something.
What…was the question.