Silence permeated the room for a while after that comment. I guess nobody was quite sure how to continue after that. I began to question why we-
"Is everyone done talking?" Sis asked completely out of the blue. Guess I'll hold that thought, then.
"Oooh! I have one more thing!" Michaus said.
"Go ahead. And be quick about it."
"Okay! Zramazos! When are you gonna be coming back home?" Michaus stated, immediately eviscerating what little buzz still remained in the room.
Not only that, but his question also places Zramazos in a tricky situation. No matter what length he says, there's no way he comes out of this unscathed. If his guess is too long, even by mere seconds, he'll be subject to an awkward situation, or worse, come off as clingy. But if it's too short, it could make him seem like an ungrateful jerk, and put him in a world of hurt.
That being said! Creating a small amount of distance like that can be beneficial for a relationship, and could further develop a sense of longing! On the other hand, going long could potential make him seem devoted, potentially producing the idea that he's prepared to drop everything to stay with her! Either way, he'll be teetering on the razors edge with no clear answer to cling to, the winds of pressure rapidly building, threatening to send him falling, plummeting deep into the aby-
"Uh, I-I dunno." Said Zramazos.
Oh. Yeah, that also works.
"I-I mean, n-not long, I g-guess." He continued.
Oh? Doubling back? Risky. Let's see if this pays off.
Charolette seemed surprised. Perhaps a little flustered, even? "A-are you sure?" She said, "Sorry, have I been bothering-?"
"N-no!" Zramazos shakily interrupted. He's panicking, wind's building. Stay with us pal, focus! "It's been the bes- I mean, uh, I-I-I just thought y-you h-had to leave for that thing tomorrow?"
"Oh yeah, that... Yeah, I won't be going to that this year. I already wrote to my parents, I think they'll be cool with it... Guess I forgot to mention it!" She said, leaping from seemingly bashful to jovial with a hearty chuckle in the span a matter of moments. She's good.
"O-Oh, I see. I-I guess I-I'd stay for- w-well, uh, a-as long as you'll have me." Zramazos said,
"Yeah... I'd like that." Charolette said with a smile.
PASSED! WITH! FLYING! COLORS! DING DING DING DING DING TEN THOUSAND POINTS!!!WOOOOOO-
"Extensive testing is important, after all!" She added. -10.
"Yeah! Unless you drop it abruptly and do something else, which seems pretty likely if the past is anything to go by!" Michaus randomly added without a shred of malice or sarcasm in his voice.
Unnecessary.
Sis nodded and lightly murmured "Yeah, statistically likely." in agreement.
Also unnecessary. C'mon guys. They're lucky that they're not being meaninglessly scored with a woefully inconsistent and equally meaningless scale.
. . .
It was hard not to notice S silently standing around with an utterly perplexed look on his face, as if he could barely understand a word of this conversation.
. . .
Ah. Another awkward silence. Wonderful, I can finish that thought from earlier.
What the heck do we do now? For that matter, why am I, why are we here? It looks like this matter's mostly sorted out already. Now that we've delivered the gesture, these two probably just want to be left alone, right? We should probabl-
"Is everyone done talking?" Sis asked again, cutting into the rapidly onset awkward silence, again.
. . . No response this time.
"Great. I've got some questions."
Looks like we got a little bit more left to do. Ooh, maybe she's just as excited about these two as I am!
"Oh- uh, whu-"
"Tell me about the guy that attacked you." Sis bluntly asked.
Yeah, of course she isn't. Disappointing, but expected.
Also, aaah, yikes, that's not a very good thing to ask. "You don't need to answer that." I said.
If she asked that to S or something that'd be fine, S eats fighting for breakfast, but Zramazos is just, like, a guy. We have no idea how traumatic this might have been for him.
"Y-yeah, it's over now, e-everyone's fine, you don't need to-" Charolette began, seemingly almost in a panic. Noted.
"Of course he doesn't need to." Sis continued. "But it would be good for you to know. Just 'cus you fought 'em off for now and that d*ckhead scampered off doesn't mean they or their friends, or even just people with similar skills wont be back."
WOW that's vulgar!
Though, now that I'm thinking about it...
"Right, I hate to say it, but... Preparation could be immensely helpful." S said. "But it doesn't gotta be now. Or any time soon, for that matter."
That 'd*ckhead'... Why did they come here, again?
"Yeah, it can wait, i-it's not important now!" Charolette said.
Catface... They said that they wanted to... Fight me, right?
". . . N-no..." Zramazos began, clenching his fists. "S-she's right. W-we still don't know why they were here. They c-could come back."
So, in a way, it was... The reason he's hurt is... My... Hm.
"Zramazos, you don't need to..."
That...
"I-It's alright." Zramazos said. "I can do this."
Well... Dang. That sucks, I guess.
". . . Alright." Charolette said with a sigh.
What am I gonna do about it?
"W-well, they were a girl. A-around my height, m-maybe a little shorter... Pink hair, s-skin tight suit-"
I'm not about to be held responsible for every stupid reckless thing Catface does.
"Their appearance isn't important." Sis said. "What could they do."
I can't control them! What, am I about to try to help everyone who's lives have been affected by that moron's whims? Everyone in Starsford? The city? The citizens of untold amounts of other places around the world?
"O-oh, uh, y-yeah, sorry-"
No! So... So I'm not gonna agonize over this!
"You don't need to apologize for that." Charolette said, shooting a quick glare at Sis.
I'm not here to be this worlds righteous judge, jury and executioner!
"Uh, er... Uhm, s-she seemed to be pretty good with magic and stuff." Zramazos began to explain.
I just want what everyone wants! To wake up in the morning with a smile! That's all!
"Uhm... There was this... Grey... Ball... I-It made everything quieter, I-I think. P-Probably why nobody heard us fighting."
I can't blame myself for the actions of some... Uncontrollable depraved lunatic!
"Then there was, uh... Oh, I-I only saw two m-more things, b-by the way."
Look, if some freak bastard shows up in front of me, I'll beat the crap out of 'em.
"T-There was, like, lightning i-in their hand, or something. Attacked me through m-my pitchfork."
Heck, if I hear about an attack or something, I'll help, probably.
"I-It was strong, made it hard to move..." Zramazos continued, his breathing growing faster and heavier.
And I'll even empathize after things happen! I don't want to see anyone I like getting hurt!
"A-After that, it was this... Fire thing. Flew out of her finger. It... Burnt. Hurt... A-A lot."
But I'm not gonna blame myself for any crap I got no control over! That'd be unreasonable! I can't save everyone! It's be pointless to try!
"I-I'll be honest, I... I don't remember much after that. I remember it really, really hurt... A-and I... I cried, I think."
So... So yeah! It's fine!
"After that, I... Well, that's it."
Well, no, it's not fine, what happened to him was terrible, but... There are guards! There are guards everywhere! Where do our taxes go, huh?
"Right... Everything they got, sounds real practical. Some sorta generalist, I take it." S said. "That could be dangerous."
So...
"Yeah... I-I'm just glad they didn't make it inside. I... I don't know what I'd do if-"
So... I don't got time to beat myself up over this. Or anything like this.
"Y-yeah!" Charolette loudly interrupted. "You must've scared them off! They didn't step foot in here! Good job, buddy!"
I... I just want to be happy. I want my friends to be happy. That's all anyone wants.
"Oh, that's good." Said Sis.
And, to that end...
"... Uh... Th-thanks..?" Zramazos said, uneasily.
I'LL EVISCERATE ANYONE THAT GETS IN MY WAY!
Charolette looked up at Sis. "Wait, wh-"
"HOLY- WHAT THE HELL- BEYES, ARE YOU ALRIGHT?"
Everyone confusedly turned to me. That confusion quickly turned into varying shades of terror.
I looked down at my hands.
You again, huh.
. . .
Hm.
"Wha... Wh- Why isn't it over?" Sis said. "I-It normally ends by now. I-It's supposed to-"
"What in the-"
"AAAH!"
Zramazos said nothing, but just sat up and shoved me away, clear to the floor.
Hm. Got some strength to him. Good reflex, too.
"S-SORRY!" He shouted almost immediately after.
Sis wordlessly reached for her fishing rod. Seemed angry
In response, Charolette leapt across the couch at her, in an attempt to do something, probably.
"RIGHT, WHAT'S- IS EVERYONE- WAIT-"
I looked at my old friend as it crawled up my hands and my sleeves. I played with it for a second. I watched it flow and dance in the air as I gently moved my hands and my arm. It was surprisingly malleable.
I found myself utterly inspired. I was overflowing with ideas.
"WHAT THE HECK FRICK CRAP BALLS IS THAT?" Michaus shouted, reaching for his sword.
I looked up at him. I looked up at everyone as I peeked around the room for a moment. Sis was on the verge of attacking Zramazos, Charolette was about to tackle her, S was trying to break something up, somehow, and Michaus... Was as excited as ever. A good kid, he is.
I wouldn't quite call this chaos. Not yet, anyway. This was some sort of unfortunate disorder, or something.
There's a time and place for these things. But not now. Not here.
With a brief flourish of my fingers, the darkness receded, and disappeared.
I supposed I should answer my friend's question.
"Who cares?"
. . .
Y'know, I wonder how hard it'd be to disguise myself as an actual cat. There could be something fun done with that. Hmmm...
Mmm... A beastman or something would certainly be easier, might scratch the same itch, but-
Hm? My alarm-
OH, SHIT! OKAY, BASENHOLM, TURNING AROUND, FULL SPEED AHEAD! SHOWTIME, BABY!
C'mmmmoooonnn boy! I thought we had a deal! You can't be doin' this-
. . .
Oh?
It stopped.
S'posse that's good.
Still, It don't bode well.
Ah well. It's not like there's ever gonna be a situation where I wont be able to do something about it.
It's my priority number 1, after all~
