QF: [fic] "Altruism" (pt. 1)
Description: They found him on a beach. That was all that they found, right?
A/N: All dialogue in Norsu (French), unless noted as Standard (English) or Uindi (Esperanto) by <> and the text. Also, the Arrayan calendar isn't like ours, obviously. They go by seasons, not by months, which are a hundred days each (for a four-hundred day calendar). A week is ten days, not seven. Everybody’s mine, this is like…canon. No RP people.
Warning: Uh. Dunno if I can warn about anything, yet.
“Altruism”
(part 1)
Run, run.
There wasn't anything standing in his way but air. Air, rocks, and the tide, which he didn't count on. And neither did he count on the sirens; they were so loud that it rocked his brain. It felt like he was seeing double, but in truth he saw nothing, closing his eyes in a vain attempt to block out the sound-he needed his hands.
Got to get out of here…
Taking a large swallow of air, he jumped when it seemed as though he was out of ground to run on. He needed his hands. They cut through the water like knives. But like the sirens, he didn't count on the choppy tide. Just as soon as he was in the water, everything went black.
-----
"...reports show that they've been at it again. You guessed it-that group of vigilantes that we all hate to love, The Flowers. Downtown Lendow Springs literally exploded in activity last night when..."
From her spot on the floor, Pilar raised her tail and pointed at the Audio Feed Receiver with it. "Turn off that trash. I have a headache."
Opal lifted her head from where she was resting it by the AFR on the tea table. "I want to listen," she replied sleepily, nodding at the beat up device. "Besides, what else is there to do besides listen to ourselves grow old?" She heard her brother open his mouth to say something in the kitchen. Opal quickly added, "-that's legal."
"Why should we have to worry about that little detail?" Blaine grumped as he dried off a dish and put it away. "With everyone Flower crazy, they ain't gonna pay no attention to us, anyhow."
Pilar closed her eyes and pointed an empty gun at the AFR lazily. "Something in me says that I should correct you, but I don't care that much."
"And we should worry," Opal added; she scooted away from Pilar's line of sight. "When they go crazy, the Authority goes crazy, and you spend another night in jail. Don't be stupid," she said with a wrinkle of her nose. "Now both of you shut up, I want to hear."
"...dubbing what appears to be their signature last resort the Pink Wave, called so because of its resemblance to a..."
Opal fell about giggling. "The 'Pink Wave'! Pink!"
Her sister clicked the barrel. "Sounds like a hair product."
"I would so use it."
"I don't think that they've had enough witnesses to confirm any kind of signature move," said a husky voice from the stairwell. The three siblings all turned their heads to look at Lena leaning against the railing, scratching her stomach. It looked as if she'd just awakened; her eyes were still closed. "They're making wild guesses."
"It's entirely possible," Blaine said airily then went back to putting away dishes. He stepped up on the rickety stool that wobbled no matter which way he stood. "Just so it'll seem like the Authority has everything under control. It's pretty obvious that they don't."
"'Pink Wave'..."
"Oh how I wish this thing was loaded," Pilar sneered. She sat up, sitting on her knees like her sister to look at Lena. "Don't we have the chips to, like...do something?"
She frowned. "You all are between jobs and you ask me for about money. Uhm, how about ‘no’?"
Pilar smiled a little coyly and put the gun away, then got to her feet and started to slink over to Lena. Opal turned her head, not having much patience for her sister's beloved method of operation against their benefactor. Before she could make any protest, Pilar's arms were around Lena's neck, pushing their breasts together. "Please?" she asked in an overly-sweet tone as she curled a lock of Lena's hair around her finger. "You know we've been working hard-it's not our fault this stuff's seasonal. And we've been moving around a lot."
Lena didn't look entirely enthused; however, her tail thumped a little against the wall.
"Yeah, we should have a break. Like a day," Blaine added. He hopped down from the stool and got a bottle of juice from the icebox. "And you could have a day to yourself...you know what I mean."
Pilar nuzzled Lena's chest with her cheek, eliciting a disgusted noise from Opal. "To do those things that you do, darling."
"Oh...fine." The look on Lena's face was not a happy one, though her tail said otherwise.
"Really?" Opal looked back to see that Pilar was just as surprised, stopped in mid-nuzzle.
Lena snorted. "I figured I might as well agree now or she'd just carry on for days and I'd never get any work done until I agreed. I lose less money this way."
"You're right, I would have." Pilar leaned up and kissed Lena's cheek in appreciation. "It's about time you started admitting defeat faster, darling."
"We can all teach each other lessons, yes." Lena patted Pilar's ass affectionately and left her to sit on the couch. Not minding that at all, Pilar joined Opal at the table. "So, where do you three plan on going?"
Ideas upon ideas were thrown around between the three of them for the next hour or so. Lena sat quietly eating her late breakfast as they labored over an activity that they all could enjoy-and wasn't too expensive. Thus, all of Pilar's ideas were out. She was sitting back in the chair and looking up at the ceiling blankly by the time they all agreed to a day at the beach. Not too expensive and their hadn't spent much time on the Main's southern coast. Alquville was supposed to be gorgeous-and so were the males, to Pilar's delight. Blaine rolled his eyes at that one. To Lena's dismay, this meant getting swimsuits.
-----
It was a few days later and Blaine woke up early to pack the auto. After getting most of everything into the trunk and he went back inside to wake up the girls, he saw Lena in the living room, sitting on the floor at the coffee table. She had it covered with chalk designs and she was peering at them rather intensely] "Lady?".
At first, Lena didn't answer. When Blaine called her again she looked at him slowly. In Uindi she said, "<>"
"<>" Blaine asked quietly, going over to the table ands sitting on his knees. "<>"
"<>"
Blaine's eyes widened and he wrung his hands together nervously. "<>"
"<>" Lena replied shortly, as if she were frustrated with her own reading.
Looking puzzled, Blaine scratched his head a little. He looked up the stairs that he was about to go up to awaken his sisters-did he have to tell them the beach day was off or not? He hoped that it wasn't the case. "<>
"<>" Lena sat back on her rear and popped a cannabis cigarette in her mouth, ignoring her reading. She had already done it three times but nothing got any clearer. "<>"
"<>"
"<>"
Blaine scratched his stomach. "<>"
"<>"
There was a long pause between them. Blaine hopped up onto his feet. "<>" Lena nodded and off he went to wake up his sisters and relay what they had discussed. Opal was worried of course-they'd had enough dealings with bad luck. Pilar, however, was adamant about having her mini-vacation and an ambiguous prediction wasn't going to scare her off.
"Besides, we're tough girls," she asserted, ignoring Blaine's exasperated look. "We can handle whatever comes our way, now." Without further ado, she went to take her shower and Opal went downstairs to make breakfast. They were going to take their chances for fun in the sun.
-----
It would prove to certainly be a good decision to go on ahead and have their beach day. It was a nice, relaxing day for of swimming, beating the pants out of local boys in beach games and posing their assets (well, it was just Pilar that did that last one, really). All in all, it had been a good time It was inevitable that when the sun started to set, there was much bitching and moaning.
"I don't want to go home, yet..." Pilar said, bemoaning the loss of light. "And things really get hot in the nighttime!"
"Ain't that the truth? You could have awesome night games on the beach," Opal added, sitting on a bench and watching the sunset. "But she wants us home. You bargained that if she got us new swimsuits, too, what she says goes for a week."
"Oh, yeah."
Packing their things into the auto, Blaine grunted. Too many times did he have to go out from under his parasol that day and thus had a little sunburn. "You really should quit when you're ahead, love."
"And stop being so shameless!" Opal frowned as she remembered something that'd been on her mind since Pilar asked for a vacation. "You really treat her so badly, teasing her like that. You know you haven't any interest in her whatsoever."
"And she hasn't any interest in me, really, so what's your point?" Pilar took a moment to fix her top. "I'm not into girls and I don't have the figure that she prefers. But there's nothing wrong with teasing. Get over it."
Opal didn't look very assured. "As long as she knows that. If you reject her and it makes her angry, our asses are on the street."
"I swear, I'm not doing anything to jeopardize our arrangements-stop being a spazz." She looked out at the water again. "Let's have one last run before we go."
Blaine raised an eyebrow. "Didn't we have to go?"
"It's not like we're not going home. I just want to walk the beach one more time. In case there's a guy or two I didn't see yet."
Ignoring her sister's lusty reasoning, Opal's gaze went from the water to the beach itself. She looked at the end of it where there was an interesting rock formation and the beached dropped off. "Yeah, maybe we can make good pictures down there, since the lighting's different."
"By the alcoves? Guys don't go there. Ones interested in girls, anyway."
"...focus, girl. Focus. You've had enough of them today," Blaine said, closing the trunk. "Maybe it'll be fun. We'll find buried treasure-arrr!" He and Pilar fell about laughing.
Opal blushed. Once again, she was the end of a joke. It was hard being the youngest. "Ha ha. Funny. But I mean it, I want to take more pictures."
"Oh...fine, go take your pictures. But I'm going to the bonfire over there," Pilar said with a shrug. She tied a sarong around her hips, kissed Blaine on the cheek and went to go socialize.
"You, too, brother, my love?" Opal said, pouting.
Blaine rolled his eyes. "Oh...fine, I'll go with you."
Opal kissed her brother's other cheek. "Thank you, my love. Let's go!" With that, she dragged him down to the rarely traveled part of the beach.
It had actually been beautiful to see. In each of the alcoves, there was something different to see. Pretty rocks in one, sea turtles burying their eggs in another and so forth. And views of the sunset had been magnificent; Blaine suggested that if the pictures turned out good enough, they'd sell them and get a little slack from Lena, which would be wonderful, and Opal and still keep the originals.
"It's getting late, love," Blaine said, crossing his arms. "And a bit cold. Let's go."
She was heading for another part of the drop off. "I just want one more view."
"Jeez..." Blaine wrinkled his nose, then looked up. He noticed that Opal took one more step then seemed to freeze. "...what's the matter?"
Opal stared down at her foot-it was covered in red sand. "I think...I'm stepping in blood."
Her brother blinked. "What the fuck? Get out of that!"
She looked ahead at where it seemed to be trailing from. "Something's happened, we have to check it out."
"Are you crazy? What if it's someone that's out to kill us?"
"And what if it's somebody that needs help? I'd hate myself for not helping when I had the chance..." She straightened, following the trail carefully. "Besides, we can defend ourselves, remember?"
"Damn you and your logic," Blaine grumped and he followed his sister, knowing that he really wouldn't be able to reason with her after she said such a thing. Doubting anyone's ability to take care of themselves was like the end all point of any of their conversations. You just didn't do it. He looked up again when Opal gasped. "What is it? Did you find something?"
Opal pointed ahead of her.
It was another part of the alcoves, where the blood seemed to be coming from. There was a large, sand-covered mass in the middle of a patch of rocks. It shifted and a maned tail revealed that it was another Bouegen. "<>" Blaine held his sister back by the hand. "You're not going, are you?"
"Not...by myself, I hope."
Blaine peered at the pitiful creature in the alcove. He was probably dead, but even his sense of altruism was peaked, along with uncertainty. He couldn't just walk out on somebody that needed help, true, but when a guy that size has the shit beaten out of him, someone had good reason to want him out of the way. Probably someone a lot bigger that could have still been around. Though it really wasn't much in means of protection, as she was a better match for this unseen predator in a fight, Blaine walked ahead of Opal, keeping his tail wrapped around her waist protectively. He shook him a little. "Hey, mister."
The stranger turned over onto his back. His chest was just as covered with sand and blood.
"Mirror-Holder..." Opal said under her breath and she sat down on her knees. She gently scooted the man's head into her lap and pressed her fingers against his neck to feel for a pulse.
"Is he here?" Blaine asked nervously.
"....it's pretty slow....but yeah, there's a pulse. He's still here." She looked up at Blaine, her ears folded down. "What should we do? We can't take him to the hospital. The Authority'll talk to us..."
"What if he's a dangerous criminal and the Authority needs to take him away?" She looked at him. "That's like...a real bad guy," Blaine added helplessly.
"Are you saying we should kill him now?"
"N-no! I mean...I mean...we don't owe him anything. And we can get around talking to the Authority."
"Yeah, we don’t...but then again, neither did Lena. And she's helped us a lot at her own expense."
Blaine frowned. "But..."
"She could heal him...and then he'll be on his way. She gets business and we don't have to feel bad!" Opal said, grinning. "And think of all the good energy we'll be racking up on."
"It's not exactly good if you put it that way, hon."
"You know what I mean."
"I still don't think so. We can't afford having somebody else that's not working live with us. And he ain't for a while, Lena healing him or not: his legs are broken." At the look on Opal's face, however, Blaine looked for an out. "...I'll get Pili and the auto. We'll decide what to do, okay, hon?"
Opal pouted but gave her brother a nod and he ran off to the public part of the beach. It was hard, but he managed to pry Pilar out of the crowd and explain what they found as he took her to get in the auto. At first she was annoyed to have been pulled away from her fun, but then she thought about it. "Nothing really eventful happened all day. What if this is the thing that Lena was talking about before? The thing that’s bad and good?"
"That's what I was thinking. Well...we haven't been scared off. But what should we do?"
"...we'll have to take our chances."
Blaine looked surprised. "With him in the HOUSE?"
Pilar frowned. "No! Don't be a fucking moron! I meant with taking him to the hospital. Like you said, we can get around talking to the Authority. And it's not like we'd be lying or covering up anything by telling the truth-we didn't do anything. Just be cool-be natural."
"Sure..." Blaine drove them down as close to the drop off as he could go and they went down to the alcoves to tell Opal what they had decided. She didn't look too pleased at first, but when Pilar mentioned that she could visit him if she felt like she needed spiritual brownie points so badly (and if he even made it), she looked satisfied and they piled him into the auto "My sister the honor scout..." Blaine said with a slight smile, looking at her from the rear-view mirror.
They took him to the public part of the beach and hospital response was requested from there. Having been the ones to find him, they were allowed to follow, but Blaine declined politely, saying that they had to go. Opal made sure to ask for permission to visit him later and they received a case number to follow after telling them everything they knew. They arrived home late and it was clear that Lena was irritated but she said nothing harsh once Blaine explained their tardiness. "Wrangling with destiny takes time, I suppose," was all she had to say about the matter and went to bed.
-----
The case number was 3356PLB.
Opal hadn't been able to visit immediately-not only because there was public coverage of the discovery, but because she'd got herself a job. Like always, it wasn't much; she was delivering packages for a private company, it was better than nothing. You couldn’t go much at her age (while being truthful). At least she wasn't as bad off Pilar, who ended up a laundress. Despite being as domestic as Opal was most of the time, doing laundry for people she didn't know didn't appeal to her at all.
It'd been a little over a week; twelve days to be exact. Opal knew that the guy had survived, else it would have been in the news. But she still felt a little guilty about taking so long to come back. On her second day off, after calling the hospital to ask if he'd been released-he hadn't; he said nothing about family and no one else had claimed him-she took the auto along with Lena and drove down to Alquville.
“Thanks for coming with me, Lady,” Opal said as she parked in the lot and reached over to snatch the ticket that printed out of the meter.
“You're welcome,” Lena replied and climbed out of the auto. “I wanted to observe, though. You'll still be doing all the talking.”
“I will?”
“He's you and your siblings' manifestation, not mine.”
By 'manifestation', she meant a chunk of fate, an idea that only made Opal nervous. True, she would be safe with Lena around-it was one of the safest places you could be, with a witch that was on your side-but it didn't make her feel any better when her brother and sister weren't there, too. Exhaling to calm herself, she walked inside with Lena, explaining who she was and the case she was following and they were escorted the fourth floor by a nurse.
The nurse knocked on the door lightly and there was the sound of a body shifting on a bed. “Mister? You have visitors...”
Opal and Lena stepped inside. He hadn't said anything, looking them over carefully. The nurse went ahead of them and fluffed pillows. “This is Miss Opal Deveraux and Miss Lena Black,” she gently. “They're the ones that found you.” Lena didn't even bother correcting her, and the nurse left with a promise of coming back later with medicine.
“This place is top notch,” Lena muttered, watching the nurse as she left, a little more closely than she should have. “At least the nurses are pretty. I need to be put in traction here.”
Not listening to Lena anymore, Opal went up to the bed and looked down at him. He certainly was a large Bouegen: an Air type with dark, matted hair and equally dark eyes. And he was covered nearly from head to toe in bandages. Even his tail was in a splint. He looked thin but tall and seemed like he'd be strong if it were any other time, but this was not one of those times. He looked like a chew toy right now. “Hi.”
It took a moment for him to muster a response. And when he did, it sounded like his throat had been smashed. Opal figured it was from whatever accident he'd been in. “...hi.”
“I'm Opal,” she said slowly for him to hear everything. “What's your name? I only have a case number.”
“...’neas.”
Opal looked at him incredulously. “Excuse me?”
“Eneas...Diogo. That name…given, <>” He finished in what seemed to be Standard. It sounded like he was completely mixed up.
“<>” she offered.
“Norsu is okay.” It obviously wasn't, but Opal decided not to push the issue. For whatever reason, he seemed to be comfortable speaking with atrocious grammar. But he was in traction; being corrected about his speech was the last thing that he needed to hear. “...Main people ND call me.”
“ND...I can do that.” Opal pulled a chair up to the side of the bed. Lena took another that was in the corner. “Heh...a private room. That's really nice, you know.”
“Thank you.”
“How do you feel?”
ND paused for a long while before answering; he looked out the opened window at the clear sky. “I feel trap.”
With a little sympathetic smile, Opal crossed her arms. “I can imagine. Even your hands are busted. Someone has to feed you...”
“Hm. Yes.” ND looked slightly amused. “All work use two hands and can't use none.”
Opal took a moment to figure out what he said. “...all..all that work to be ambidextrous and you can't use either hand. Is that what you meant?”
“Yes. Sorry.”
“Oh, that's alright. Ambidextrous, hm? You must play Capture, then.” She looked at his cast legs. “Double trapped.”
“Oh yes...” ND turned his head back to look and her and he smiled a little. His eyes were half closed, so it seemed like he was leering. “You must play.”
“I…do.” For a moment, Opal panicked. It was vain, she knew that, but she was hoping that wearing a sun dress and jacket would make her being strong less obvious. She was barely seventeen, but she was much taller and curvier than she would have liked. “What...what makes you say that? Eh heh.”
ND blinked slowly. He looked as though he were going to pass out soon. “You look like goddess... goddess can do…anything.”
He passed out before he could see Opal blush.
Lena chuckled from where she was in the corner. “I don't know if he's being a complete asshole, a cornball, or a sweetheart.”
Opal nodded a little, playing with the hem of her dress. “It’s something.”
But that didn't stop her from wanting to stay to watch him a little while longer and visit again some days later. It was under the pretense that she couldn't let another Capture player suffer alone, and talk was all that they had been doing, but she got teased anyway.
After seeing how dedicated Opal was to keeping this guy company (she drove down to Alquville once or twice a week if she could make it), Pilar decided to finally go with her on a trip. Besides, they were what? Two hours? There were Temple services that were longer.
“I'll say that I'm genuinely surprised, Pili,” Opal said as they walked into the hospital. “You'd been getting a kick out of teasing me about this.”
Pilar shrugged. “I figured it was time to meet this boyfriend of yours.”
Opal's ears flattened and the pushed the button for the elevator hard. “He's not my boyfriend. How can I have a boyfriend and we haven't even been on a date?”
“He's a boy, and he's your friend. Boyfriend. Not a big leap.”
“You're a moron with a one-track mind,” Opal muttered as she lifted the lever to go up to his floor. The doors closed and they started to go up. “Please be nice.”
“Sure, whatever.”
That wasn't reassuring at all, but the time to reconsider Pilar’s company had passed. Opal knocked on ND's door when they got there and an “In, please” was clearly audible. She plastered a smile on her face and peeked in. “ND, hi!”
It had been a little over half a season by then and though he was still bandaged up a bit, the casts were off and ND was sitting up in bed on his own. He smiled and opened his arms up. “Opal...” He kissed her forehead along with the hug. “You brighten my week.”
Opal grinned at the praise. “It's a pleasure.”
Looking up past her, ND noticed Pilar at the door and cocked his head slightly. “For me another guest?” he asked.
Pilar raised an eyebrow. “Uh...yeah.”
“I told you about her. This is my sister, Pilar,” Opal said, nodding at her.
“Oh...yes, I remember you. Much Opal said about you.”
“Like what?” Pilar asked, incredulous.
ND's nose wrinkled slightly with an amused smile. “Like how pretty you are. Opal lies never…lucky me.”
“Oh! ...well, in that case...” Pilar sauntered over to the other side of the bed and grinned. Opal rolled her eyes-she hadn't said anything much about how pretty she was (though, she had to admit, Pilar was gorgeous). More like how vain and manipulative she could be. It was funny how a simple pass turned that attitude around completely. ND, apparently, was no dummy. “You talk funny,” she continued, “but I'll definitely take that.”
“I am sorry. I am mixed up a little.”
“Hey, I'm no stickler...but I will ask why. Are you Northern or something? 'Cause we speak Standard just fine.”
“Actually...I am from EC.”
Opal blinked, embarrassed that she hadn't even considered that. She first she just assumed it was from being knocked about in the water; then she had gotten to used to it, thinking it was a form of aphasia or something, that it didn't even matter. And he liked to direct conversations toward her most of the time…which, she had to admit again, she liked a bit too much.
“<>” Pilar concluded, looking proud of herself.
“<>” ND's smile brightened even more. “>”
“<>” she practically purred. She gave Opal a pointed look, as if to say “Who's the moron, now?”
Opal rolled her eyes. ND and Pilar both seemed to be eating up the attention-ah, it was good bringing an attention whore and a social butterfly together.
-----
“It has been six weeks.”
Xanther stood before the syndicate, trying not to twitch or sweat out his suit. It was an awful experience for anyone to go through, standing before the small panel of the three of the most powerful people in the region that could have you killed as soon as they looked at you wrong staring you down. He preferred the shadows. There, you couldn't see a mistake-or, at least, who made it. “I know.”
One of the members of the panel frowned; a severe-looking Air type female with her dark hair slicked back in a mass of braids. She went by the name Sanu. “You knew that he hadn't died nearly a season ago-there were news reports. You are the captain of his team: why didn't you get him back?”
“I was thinking of our expenses, ma'am,” he answered, his brows furrowing from the bright light that shined in his eyes. “I figured it wouldn't do us no good to get him when he was all busted up.”
“Idiot.”
She was interrupted by the male that sat in the middle. Xanther didn't know him by a name other than “Boss 16”, the head of this part of Wyndian in the south Main. “What makes you think that he'd be any easier to get now? It would take more money now than to heal him. And he isn't indebted to us.”
Xanther didn't really have an answer for that. “The Flowers...they've been getting in the way,” he said lamely. “You know...hitting banks and all. I had to deal that that. They ain't just vigilantes, they're thieves. And pretty good ones.”
With a look from Boss 16, Sanu was forced to back off. “This is true. But they have gone into hiding.”
“So have we, technically, sir.”
He waved the thought away with a flippant jerk of the wrist. “In any event, you're getting him out of there. Now”
Xanther wrinkled his nose. “He can be a liability, you know. He's just a dumb farm boy-”
“-That I want back. Go.”
With an irritated sigh, Xanther clicked his heels and left.
An Audio Feed Receiver (AFR) is a radio. In case you were wondering. Think of the 1980s and this is about the time period I'm thinking of here. Last 80s to early 90s. So I guess the present day is...the 2010s? Kinda, not really.
A/N: All dialogue in Norsu (French), unless noted as Standard (English) or Uindi (Esperanto) by <> and the text. Also, the Arrayan calendar isn't like ours, obviously. They go by seasons, not by months, which are a hundred days each (for a four-hundred day calendar). A week is ten days, not seven. Everybody’s mine, this is like…canon. No RP people.
Warning: Uh. Dunno if I can warn about anything, yet.
“Altruism”
(part 1)
Run, run.
There wasn't anything standing in his way but air. Air, rocks, and the tide, which he didn't count on. And neither did he count on the sirens; they were so loud that it rocked his brain. It felt like he was seeing double, but in truth he saw nothing, closing his eyes in a vain attempt to block out the sound-he needed his hands.
Got to get out of here…
Taking a large swallow of air, he jumped when it seemed as though he was out of ground to run on. He needed his hands. They cut through the water like knives. But like the sirens, he didn't count on the choppy tide. Just as soon as he was in the water, everything went black.
-----
"...reports show that they've been at it again. You guessed it-that group of vigilantes that we all hate to love, The Flowers. Downtown Lendow Springs literally exploded in activity last night when..."
From her spot on the floor, Pilar raised her tail and pointed at the Audio Feed Receiver with it. "Turn off that trash. I have a headache."
Opal lifted her head from where she was resting it by the AFR on the tea table. "I want to listen," she replied sleepily, nodding at the beat up device. "Besides, what else is there to do besides listen to ourselves grow old?" She heard her brother open his mouth to say something in the kitchen. Opal quickly added, "-that's legal."
"Why should we have to worry about that little detail?" Blaine grumped as he dried off a dish and put it away. "With everyone Flower crazy, they ain't gonna pay no attention to us, anyhow."
Pilar closed her eyes and pointed an empty gun at the AFR lazily. "Something in me says that I should correct you, but I don't care that much."
"And we should worry," Opal added; she scooted away from Pilar's line of sight. "When they go crazy, the Authority goes crazy, and you spend another night in jail. Don't be stupid," she said with a wrinkle of her nose. "Now both of you shut up, I want to hear."
"...dubbing what appears to be their signature last resort the Pink Wave, called so because of its resemblance to a..."
Opal fell about giggling. "The 'Pink Wave'! Pink!"
Her sister clicked the barrel. "Sounds like a hair product."
"I would so use it."
"I don't think that they've had enough witnesses to confirm any kind of signature move," said a husky voice from the stairwell. The three siblings all turned their heads to look at Lena leaning against the railing, scratching her stomach. It looked as if she'd just awakened; her eyes were still closed. "They're making wild guesses."
"It's entirely possible," Blaine said airily then went back to putting away dishes. He stepped up on the rickety stool that wobbled no matter which way he stood. "Just so it'll seem like the Authority has everything under control. It's pretty obvious that they don't."
"'Pink Wave'..."
"Oh how I wish this thing was loaded," Pilar sneered. She sat up, sitting on her knees like her sister to look at Lena. "Don't we have the chips to, like...do something?"
She frowned. "You all are between jobs and you ask me for about money. Uhm, how about ‘no’?"
Pilar smiled a little coyly and put the gun away, then got to her feet and started to slink over to Lena. Opal turned her head, not having much patience for her sister's beloved method of operation against their benefactor. Before she could make any protest, Pilar's arms were around Lena's neck, pushing their breasts together. "Please?" she asked in an overly-sweet tone as she curled a lock of Lena's hair around her finger. "You know we've been working hard-it's not our fault this stuff's seasonal. And we've been moving around a lot."
Lena didn't look entirely enthused; however, her tail thumped a little against the wall.
"Yeah, we should have a break. Like a day," Blaine added. He hopped down from the stool and got a bottle of juice from the icebox. "And you could have a day to yourself...you know what I mean."
Pilar nuzzled Lena's chest with her cheek, eliciting a disgusted noise from Opal. "To do those things that you do, darling."
"Oh...fine." The look on Lena's face was not a happy one, though her tail said otherwise.
"Really?" Opal looked back to see that Pilar was just as surprised, stopped in mid-nuzzle.
Lena snorted. "I figured I might as well agree now or she'd just carry on for days and I'd never get any work done until I agreed. I lose less money this way."
"You're right, I would have." Pilar leaned up and kissed Lena's cheek in appreciation. "It's about time you started admitting defeat faster, darling."
"We can all teach each other lessons, yes." Lena patted Pilar's ass affectionately and left her to sit on the couch. Not minding that at all, Pilar joined Opal at the table. "So, where do you three plan on going?"
Ideas upon ideas were thrown around between the three of them for the next hour or so. Lena sat quietly eating her late breakfast as they labored over an activity that they all could enjoy-and wasn't too expensive. Thus, all of Pilar's ideas were out. She was sitting back in the chair and looking up at the ceiling blankly by the time they all agreed to a day at the beach. Not too expensive and their hadn't spent much time on the Main's southern coast. Alquville was supposed to be gorgeous-and so were the males, to Pilar's delight. Blaine rolled his eyes at that one. To Lena's dismay, this meant getting swimsuits.
-----
It was a few days later and Blaine woke up early to pack the auto. After getting most of everything into the trunk and he went back inside to wake up the girls, he saw Lena in the living room, sitting on the floor at the coffee table. She had it covered with chalk designs and she was peering at them rather intensely] "Lady?".
At first, Lena didn't answer. When Blaine called her again she looked at him slowly. In Uindi she said, "<>"
"<>" Blaine asked quietly, going over to the table ands sitting on his knees. "<>"
"<>"
Blaine's eyes widened and he wrung his hands together nervously. "<>"
"<>" Lena replied shortly, as if she were frustrated with her own reading.
Looking puzzled, Blaine scratched his head a little. He looked up the stairs that he was about to go up to awaken his sisters-did he have to tell them the beach day was off or not? He hoped that it wasn't the case. "<>
"<>" Lena sat back on her rear and popped a cannabis cigarette in her mouth, ignoring her reading. She had already done it three times but nothing got any clearer. "<>"
"<>"
"<>"
Blaine scratched his stomach. "<>"
"<>"
There was a long pause between them. Blaine hopped up onto his feet. "<>" Lena nodded and off he went to wake up his sisters and relay what they had discussed. Opal was worried of course-they'd had enough dealings with bad luck. Pilar, however, was adamant about having her mini-vacation and an ambiguous prediction wasn't going to scare her off.
"Besides, we're tough girls," she asserted, ignoring Blaine's exasperated look. "We can handle whatever comes our way, now." Without further ado, she went to take her shower and Opal went downstairs to make breakfast. They were going to take their chances for fun in the sun.
-----
It would prove to certainly be a good decision to go on ahead and have their beach day. It was a nice, relaxing day for of swimming, beating the pants out of local boys in beach games and posing their assets (well, it was just Pilar that did that last one, really). All in all, it had been a good time It was inevitable that when the sun started to set, there was much bitching and moaning.
"I don't want to go home, yet..." Pilar said, bemoaning the loss of light. "And things really get hot in the nighttime!"
"Ain't that the truth? You could have awesome night games on the beach," Opal added, sitting on a bench and watching the sunset. "But she wants us home. You bargained that if she got us new swimsuits, too, what she says goes for a week."
"Oh, yeah."
Packing their things into the auto, Blaine grunted. Too many times did he have to go out from under his parasol that day and thus had a little sunburn. "You really should quit when you're ahead, love."
"And stop being so shameless!" Opal frowned as she remembered something that'd been on her mind since Pilar asked for a vacation. "You really treat her so badly, teasing her like that. You know you haven't any interest in her whatsoever."
"And she hasn't any interest in me, really, so what's your point?" Pilar took a moment to fix her top. "I'm not into girls and I don't have the figure that she prefers. But there's nothing wrong with teasing. Get over it."
Opal didn't look very assured. "As long as she knows that. If you reject her and it makes her angry, our asses are on the street."
"I swear, I'm not doing anything to jeopardize our arrangements-stop being a spazz." She looked out at the water again. "Let's have one last run before we go."
Blaine raised an eyebrow. "Didn't we have to go?"
"It's not like we're not going home. I just want to walk the beach one more time. In case there's a guy or two I didn't see yet."
Ignoring her sister's lusty reasoning, Opal's gaze went from the water to the beach itself. She looked at the end of it where there was an interesting rock formation and the beached dropped off. "Yeah, maybe we can make good pictures down there, since the lighting's different."
"By the alcoves? Guys don't go there. Ones interested in girls, anyway."
"...focus, girl. Focus. You've had enough of them today," Blaine said, closing the trunk. "Maybe it'll be fun. We'll find buried treasure-arrr!" He and Pilar fell about laughing.
Opal blushed. Once again, she was the end of a joke. It was hard being the youngest. "Ha ha. Funny. But I mean it, I want to take more pictures."
"Oh...fine, go take your pictures. But I'm going to the bonfire over there," Pilar said with a shrug. She tied a sarong around her hips, kissed Blaine on the cheek and went to go socialize.
"You, too, brother, my love?" Opal said, pouting.
Blaine rolled his eyes. "Oh...fine, I'll go with you."
Opal kissed her brother's other cheek. "Thank you, my love. Let's go!" With that, she dragged him down to the rarely traveled part of the beach.
It had actually been beautiful to see. In each of the alcoves, there was something different to see. Pretty rocks in one, sea turtles burying their eggs in another and so forth. And views of the sunset had been magnificent; Blaine suggested that if the pictures turned out good enough, they'd sell them and get a little slack from Lena, which would be wonderful, and Opal and still keep the originals.
"It's getting late, love," Blaine said, crossing his arms. "And a bit cold. Let's go."
She was heading for another part of the drop off. "I just want one more view."
"Jeez..." Blaine wrinkled his nose, then looked up. He noticed that Opal took one more step then seemed to freeze. "...what's the matter?"
Opal stared down at her foot-it was covered in red sand. "I think...I'm stepping in blood."
Her brother blinked. "What the fuck? Get out of that!"
She looked ahead at where it seemed to be trailing from. "Something's happened, we have to check it out."
"Are you crazy? What if it's someone that's out to kill us?"
"And what if it's somebody that needs help? I'd hate myself for not helping when I had the chance..." She straightened, following the trail carefully. "Besides, we can defend ourselves, remember?"
"Damn you and your logic," Blaine grumped and he followed his sister, knowing that he really wouldn't be able to reason with her after she said such a thing. Doubting anyone's ability to take care of themselves was like the end all point of any of their conversations. You just didn't do it. He looked up again when Opal gasped. "What is it? Did you find something?"
Opal pointed ahead of her.
It was another part of the alcoves, where the blood seemed to be coming from. There was a large, sand-covered mass in the middle of a patch of rocks. It shifted and a maned tail revealed that it was another Bouegen. "<>" Blaine held his sister back by the hand. "You're not going, are you?"
"Not...by myself, I hope."
Blaine peered at the pitiful creature in the alcove. He was probably dead, but even his sense of altruism was peaked, along with uncertainty. He couldn't just walk out on somebody that needed help, true, but when a guy that size has the shit beaten out of him, someone had good reason to want him out of the way. Probably someone a lot bigger that could have still been around. Though it really wasn't much in means of protection, as she was a better match for this unseen predator in a fight, Blaine walked ahead of Opal, keeping his tail wrapped around her waist protectively. He shook him a little. "Hey, mister."
The stranger turned over onto his back. His chest was just as covered with sand and blood.
"Mirror-Holder..." Opal said under her breath and she sat down on her knees. She gently scooted the man's head into her lap and pressed her fingers against his neck to feel for a pulse.
"Is he here?" Blaine asked nervously.
"....it's pretty slow....but yeah, there's a pulse. He's still here." She looked up at Blaine, her ears folded down. "What should we do? We can't take him to the hospital. The Authority'll talk to us..."
"What if he's a dangerous criminal and the Authority needs to take him away?" She looked at him. "That's like...a real bad guy," Blaine added helplessly.
"Are you saying we should kill him now?"
"N-no! I mean...I mean...we don't owe him anything. And we can get around talking to the Authority."
"Yeah, we don’t...but then again, neither did Lena. And she's helped us a lot at her own expense."
Blaine frowned. "But..."
"She could heal him...and then he'll be on his way. She gets business and we don't have to feel bad!" Opal said, grinning. "And think of all the good energy we'll be racking up on."
"It's not exactly good if you put it that way, hon."
"You know what I mean."
"I still don't think so. We can't afford having somebody else that's not working live with us. And he ain't for a while, Lena healing him or not: his legs are broken." At the look on Opal's face, however, Blaine looked for an out. "...I'll get Pili and the auto. We'll decide what to do, okay, hon?"
Opal pouted but gave her brother a nod and he ran off to the public part of the beach. It was hard, but he managed to pry Pilar out of the crowd and explain what they found as he took her to get in the auto. At first she was annoyed to have been pulled away from her fun, but then she thought about it. "Nothing really eventful happened all day. What if this is the thing that Lena was talking about before? The thing that’s bad and good?"
"That's what I was thinking. Well...we haven't been scared off. But what should we do?"
"...we'll have to take our chances."
Blaine looked surprised. "With him in the HOUSE?"
Pilar frowned. "No! Don't be a fucking moron! I meant with taking him to the hospital. Like you said, we can get around talking to the Authority. And it's not like we'd be lying or covering up anything by telling the truth-we didn't do anything. Just be cool-be natural."
"Sure..." Blaine drove them down as close to the drop off as he could go and they went down to the alcoves to tell Opal what they had decided. She didn't look too pleased at first, but when Pilar mentioned that she could visit him if she felt like she needed spiritual brownie points so badly (and if he even made it), she looked satisfied and they piled him into the auto "My sister the honor scout..." Blaine said with a slight smile, looking at her from the rear-view mirror.
They took him to the public part of the beach and hospital response was requested from there. Having been the ones to find him, they were allowed to follow, but Blaine declined politely, saying that they had to go. Opal made sure to ask for permission to visit him later and they received a case number to follow after telling them everything they knew. They arrived home late and it was clear that Lena was irritated but she said nothing harsh once Blaine explained their tardiness. "Wrangling with destiny takes time, I suppose," was all she had to say about the matter and went to bed.
-----
The case number was 3356PLB.
Opal hadn't been able to visit immediately-not only because there was public coverage of the discovery, but because she'd got herself a job. Like always, it wasn't much; she was delivering packages for a private company, it was better than nothing. You couldn’t go much at her age (while being truthful). At least she wasn't as bad off Pilar, who ended up a laundress. Despite being as domestic as Opal was most of the time, doing laundry for people she didn't know didn't appeal to her at all.
It'd been a little over a week; twelve days to be exact. Opal knew that the guy had survived, else it would have been in the news. But she still felt a little guilty about taking so long to come back. On her second day off, after calling the hospital to ask if he'd been released-he hadn't; he said nothing about family and no one else had claimed him-she took the auto along with Lena and drove down to Alquville.
“Thanks for coming with me, Lady,” Opal said as she parked in the lot and reached over to snatch the ticket that printed out of the meter.
“You're welcome,” Lena replied and climbed out of the auto. “I wanted to observe, though. You'll still be doing all the talking.”
“I will?”
“He's you and your siblings' manifestation, not mine.”
By 'manifestation', she meant a chunk of fate, an idea that only made Opal nervous. True, she would be safe with Lena around-it was one of the safest places you could be, with a witch that was on your side-but it didn't make her feel any better when her brother and sister weren't there, too. Exhaling to calm herself, she walked inside with Lena, explaining who she was and the case she was following and they were escorted the fourth floor by a nurse.
The nurse knocked on the door lightly and there was the sound of a body shifting on a bed. “Mister? You have visitors...”
Opal and Lena stepped inside. He hadn't said anything, looking them over carefully. The nurse went ahead of them and fluffed pillows. “This is Miss Opal Deveraux and Miss Lena Black,” she gently. “They're the ones that found you.” Lena didn't even bother correcting her, and the nurse left with a promise of coming back later with medicine.
“This place is top notch,” Lena muttered, watching the nurse as she left, a little more closely than she should have. “At least the nurses are pretty. I need to be put in traction here.”
Not listening to Lena anymore, Opal went up to the bed and looked down at him. He certainly was a large Bouegen: an Air type with dark, matted hair and equally dark eyes. And he was covered nearly from head to toe in bandages. Even his tail was in a splint. He looked thin but tall and seemed like he'd be strong if it were any other time, but this was not one of those times. He looked like a chew toy right now. “Hi.”
It took a moment for him to muster a response. And when he did, it sounded like his throat had been smashed. Opal figured it was from whatever accident he'd been in. “...hi.”
“I'm Opal,” she said slowly for him to hear everything. “What's your name? I only have a case number.”
“...’neas.”
Opal looked at him incredulously. “Excuse me?”
“Eneas...Diogo. That name…given, <>” He finished in what seemed to be Standard. It sounded like he was completely mixed up.
“<>” she offered.
“Norsu is okay.” It obviously wasn't, but Opal decided not to push the issue. For whatever reason, he seemed to be comfortable speaking with atrocious grammar. But he was in traction; being corrected about his speech was the last thing that he needed to hear. “...Main people ND call me.”
“ND...I can do that.” Opal pulled a chair up to the side of the bed. Lena took another that was in the corner. “Heh...a private room. That's really nice, you know.”
“Thank you.”
“How do you feel?”
ND paused for a long while before answering; he looked out the opened window at the clear sky. “I feel trap.”
With a little sympathetic smile, Opal crossed her arms. “I can imagine. Even your hands are busted. Someone has to feed you...”
“Hm. Yes.” ND looked slightly amused. “All work use two hands and can't use none.”
Opal took a moment to figure out what he said. “...all..all that work to be ambidextrous and you can't use either hand. Is that what you meant?”
“Yes. Sorry.”
“Oh, that's alright. Ambidextrous, hm? You must play Capture, then.” She looked at his cast legs. “Double trapped.”
“Oh yes...” ND turned his head back to look and her and he smiled a little. His eyes were half closed, so it seemed like he was leering. “You must play.”
“I…do.” For a moment, Opal panicked. It was vain, she knew that, but she was hoping that wearing a sun dress and jacket would make her being strong less obvious. She was barely seventeen, but she was much taller and curvier than she would have liked. “What...what makes you say that? Eh heh.”
ND blinked slowly. He looked as though he were going to pass out soon. “You look like goddess... goddess can do…anything.”
He passed out before he could see Opal blush.
Lena chuckled from where she was in the corner. “I don't know if he's being a complete asshole, a cornball, or a sweetheart.”
Opal nodded a little, playing with the hem of her dress. “It’s something.”
But that didn't stop her from wanting to stay to watch him a little while longer and visit again some days later. It was under the pretense that she couldn't let another Capture player suffer alone, and talk was all that they had been doing, but she got teased anyway.
After seeing how dedicated Opal was to keeping this guy company (she drove down to Alquville once or twice a week if she could make it), Pilar decided to finally go with her on a trip. Besides, they were what? Two hours? There were Temple services that were longer.
“I'll say that I'm genuinely surprised, Pili,” Opal said as they walked into the hospital. “You'd been getting a kick out of teasing me about this.”
Pilar shrugged. “I figured it was time to meet this boyfriend of yours.”
Opal's ears flattened and the pushed the button for the elevator hard. “He's not my boyfriend. How can I have a boyfriend and we haven't even been on a date?”
“He's a boy, and he's your friend. Boyfriend. Not a big leap.”
“You're a moron with a one-track mind,” Opal muttered as she lifted the lever to go up to his floor. The doors closed and they started to go up. “Please be nice.”
“Sure, whatever.”
That wasn't reassuring at all, but the time to reconsider Pilar’s company had passed. Opal knocked on ND's door when they got there and an “In, please” was clearly audible. She plastered a smile on her face and peeked in. “ND, hi!”
It had been a little over half a season by then and though he was still bandaged up a bit, the casts were off and ND was sitting up in bed on his own. He smiled and opened his arms up. “Opal...” He kissed her forehead along with the hug. “You brighten my week.”
Opal grinned at the praise. “It's a pleasure.”
Looking up past her, ND noticed Pilar at the door and cocked his head slightly. “For me another guest?” he asked.
Pilar raised an eyebrow. “Uh...yeah.”
“I told you about her. This is my sister, Pilar,” Opal said, nodding at her.
“Oh...yes, I remember you. Much Opal said about you.”
“Like what?” Pilar asked, incredulous.
ND's nose wrinkled slightly with an amused smile. “Like how pretty you are. Opal lies never…lucky me.”
“Oh! ...well, in that case...” Pilar sauntered over to the other side of the bed and grinned. Opal rolled her eyes-she hadn't said anything much about how pretty she was (though, she had to admit, Pilar was gorgeous). More like how vain and manipulative she could be. It was funny how a simple pass turned that attitude around completely. ND, apparently, was no dummy. “You talk funny,” she continued, “but I'll definitely take that.”
“I am sorry. I am mixed up a little.”
“Hey, I'm no stickler...but I will ask why. Are you Northern or something? 'Cause we speak Standard just fine.”
“Actually...I am from EC.”
Opal blinked, embarrassed that she hadn't even considered that. She first she just assumed it was from being knocked about in the water; then she had gotten to used to it, thinking it was a form of aphasia or something, that it didn't even matter. And he liked to direct conversations toward her most of the time…which, she had to admit again, she liked a bit too much.
“<>” Pilar concluded, looking proud of herself.
“<>” ND's smile brightened even more. “
“<>” she practically purred. She gave Opal a pointed look, as if to say “Who's the moron, now?”
Opal rolled her eyes. ND and Pilar both seemed to be eating up the attention-ah, it was good bringing an attention whore and a social butterfly together.
-----
“It has been six weeks.”
Xanther stood before the syndicate, trying not to twitch or sweat out his suit. It was an awful experience for anyone to go through, standing before the small panel of the three of the most powerful people in the region that could have you killed as soon as they looked at you wrong staring you down. He preferred the shadows. There, you couldn't see a mistake-or, at least, who made it. “I know.”
One of the members of the panel frowned; a severe-looking Air type female with her dark hair slicked back in a mass of braids. She went by the name Sanu. “You knew that he hadn't died nearly a season ago-there were news reports. You are the captain of his team: why didn't you get him back?”
“I was thinking of our expenses, ma'am,” he answered, his brows furrowing from the bright light that shined in his eyes. “I figured it wouldn't do us no good to get him when he was all busted up.”
“Idiot.”
She was interrupted by the male that sat in the middle. Xanther didn't know him by a name other than “Boss 16”, the head of this part of Wyndian in the south Main. “What makes you think that he'd be any easier to get now? It would take more money now than to heal him. And he isn't indebted to us.”
Xanther didn't really have an answer for that. “The Flowers...they've been getting in the way,” he said lamely. “You know...hitting banks and all. I had to deal that that. They ain't just vigilantes, they're thieves. And pretty good ones.”
With a look from Boss 16, Sanu was forced to back off. “This is true. But they have gone into hiding.”
“So have we, technically, sir.”
He waved the thought away with a flippant jerk of the wrist. “In any event, you're getting him out of there. Now”
Xanther wrinkled his nose. “He can be a liability, you know. He's just a dumb farm boy-”
“-That I want back. Go.”
With an irritated sigh, Xanther clicked his heels and left.
An Audio Feed Receiver (AFR) is a radio. In case you were wondering. Think of the 1980s and this is about the time period I'm thinking of here. Last 80s to early 90s. So I guess the present day is...the 2010s? Kinda, not really.