Fate of Frailty Chapter 7
By Karen Hart
Cold.
Rubedo zipped his jacket and thrust his hands into his pockets, trying to maintain some warmth. He scowled irritably at the sky, eyebrows furrowing. Why do I always end up leaving the house in crappy weather? he grumbled to himself mentally. He kept walking.
It'd been genuinely nice an hour ago, all blue skies and sunlight, almost misleading enough to make him think twice about taking his jacket with him. Now he was grateful he'd bothered to take it after all. He looked upward at the now-gray sky, then back down at the equally drab pavement, weaving now and again around the sparse pedestrian traffic, occasionally muttering a half-formed "sorry" under his breath.
He'd felt somehow trapped lately, and had needed an escape of sorts, so here he was, traipsing through Second Miltia City and trying to ignore the increasing chill. The walk was supposed to calm him down, but instead it seemed only to increase a sense of discontent that'd been building in him for the past few days. After a while he slowed to a stop, and leaned against a scrawny, nearby tree.
God damn it, he swore mentally, in a token attempt to raise his spirits. It helped, marginally. Maybe I should've just… A loud impact interrupted his thoughts, and he looked to his left.
"Out!" A thin blonde man was being bodily shoved out of the door of what looked like a convenience store by what was likely an irate employee.
"Hey…! The hell did I do wr--?" The blonde straightened himself up, dusting himself off.
The employee glared with a mix of disdain and malice, and his voice lowered to a growl. "I don't want any freaks—" he stressed the word "—working in my store." So, he was the owner, it would seem.
Rubedo twitched furiously, a sudden spark of rage lighting his blue eyes. "Hey, give that guy a bre—"
The store owner turned on him. "Stay the hell out of this kid!" He turned back to the "freak" that he'd been yelling at before "Like I said, you can take your damned 'enhancements' and—what the hell? Didn't I tell you to stay the hell out of this you little idiot?" Rubedo was standing in front of the bewildered uberhuman, with what could only be described as a "death glare" plastered on his young face.
"I said, give him a break."
The owner sneered, and shoved Rubedo aside, eliciting a pained grunt from the redhead. It was a hard shove, hard enough to knock Rubedo to the ground. The red-haired boy looked up, scowling, but said nothing.
"Yeah, you just stay down there, stupid fucking kid." With that—and a quick threat towards the blonde man—he made his way back into the store, muttering a few choice obscenities. Rubedo glared at the man's retreating back.
The short redhead felt a hand on his shoulder. "Huh?" He looked up to see an expression of concern on the uberhuman's face
"You all right?"
Rubedo blinked. "Ah…yeah." He stood up slowly, slightly embarrassed.
"Damn kid, the hell'd you do that for?" The blonde's harsh words were softened by his tone and the look of gratitude on his face.
With a half-shrug Rubedo looked away, then back at the blonde. "…Er, sorry? I just hate that kind of mentality." He scowled, then relaxed when he saw the blonde nod.
"Yeah, I can understand that, believe me. Anyway, thanks for the assist, kid." That said, the man began to walk away, seeming to melt into the slowly increasing foot traffic.
"I'm not a—" Rubedo began to yell in the direction the man had gone, then stopped as he caught sight of something: his reflection, in the store's clear glass door. "…kid," he finished quietly.
What looked at him from the glass was a child, from the wide eyes to short stature to the small, slender limbs. He blinked, the gesture mimicked perfectly by his reflection. With a sigh he closed his eyes to the image, exhaling slowly. He hadn't wanted to face that bitter truth.
I'm not a kid…The assurance didn't work so well just then.
---
"I see." Helmer peered back at the communication screen from where he stood in his private study. Gaignun's face filled the screen. "If it's not one problem it's another. I suppose, though, we should consider this less a problem and more the dangers of things progressing well." The dark skinned Representative smirked slightly.
Gaignun matched the expression. "A good way to think of it," he admitted. "The difficulty will be in finding people willing to work here."
A quizzical expression crossed Helmer's face. "I thought you said it was a decent place."
"I did," came the quick reply, "but it's still dull, and out of the way. A lot of people don't want to relocate to an area they don't think they'll enjoy being in, and given the reputation of most dock and rest colonies…"
"You have a point," Helmer admitted. He made his way back to his seat, a small stack of optical disks clutched in one hand. "Exactly how urgent is this situation?"
A thoughtful expression crossed Gaignun's face. "I'd say it's not quite 'urgent' yet, but enough of an issue to consider before things get out of hand. I might have a talk with Rubedo about this in a while."
"Hoping for some inspiration?" Helmer inquired.
Gaignun smirked again. "You could say that."