Chapter 34: A Need to Decompress

Chapter 34: A Need to Decompress

Truth was in an odd mood as he walked into the PMC. He was still thinking over the scene in the Vice Principal’s office. The matter just... ended. There would be no negative comments in the siblings' permanent records. No problems with their college applications. The kids that were bullying them would be suppressed, and their parents given a quiet, but firm, word. The teachers too, for that matter. Not because of the moral rightness of his case nor the simple injustice of bullying. Not even because he was a person of some status. Just money. He had the credits to burn and did.

It was wild. You could buy a pass to break the rules from Starbrite. It only worked for Starbrite’s rules, and it only worked for some rules, and obviously, you had to have access to the System to buy it. Which meant that you were C grade and already stood above hundreds of thousands of people. He had no idea such passes even existed. Were there more powerful passes available the higher up in grade you became?

Of course there were. There just had to be. Fifteen thousand credits to “fix” a high school drama situation set a certain threshold. How much would, say, a simple assault on an F-tier employee cost? It couldn’t be too much, right? It might even be cheaper. The school's faculty and parents were C and D-Tier, after all.

“Medici! Hope everything worked out with your siblings. You missed a RAGER of a party.” Sergeant Murthey sounded painfully chipper.

“Hey, yeah, it’s sorted.”

“Great. Really, family is so important. My god, I think I may have kids in Okepuela nine months from now. I’ll have to swing by again and check.” Murthey smiled like an angel reminiscing. “Women, music, food. Beer, too, obviously, but the food. Oh. My. Sweet Baby Prager. The food. I have never in my life eaten such good fish. I didn’t know it could be that good. This was a fish revelation, Corporal. How was the food on your flight?”

Truth had gotten a couple of candy bars from a vending machine in the cargo hanger. They were not the best.

“Oh, fine. You know how food is on those flights.” Truth hedged.

“Honestly, I don’t. I was still sleeping off the party until we entered Jeon airspace.” He shook his head happily. “Oof. Anyhow. Time to get back to it.”

And so he did.

That night, he corralled his siblings. Harmony was firmly in the study bubble, but Soph and Vig were hauled away from whatever sinister plans they might have had.

“It has not been a great week.” He announced.

“I’m... sorry to hear that?” Vigor offered tentatively.

“Thank you, but you know the rules. We do not bitch. We find solutions. And I have found a solution.”

And at no point did any of them reach for cash. They just walked up, ordered, and walked away. The Starbrite lapel pin was all they needed.

Once satiated, Truth led them to their next objective.

“TheCalm Heart Café?” Sophie asked. “Cute cat logo, I guess. But seriously, even if they have the best desserts, I’m stuffed.”

“No. This is better than dessert.” Truth said with certainty. They walked into the Café and were greeted by a calm-looking young man wearing a fur-covered apron.

“Medici, party of three? This way, please.” He led them into a bright, airy hallway with many rooms running off it.

“As this is your first time visiting us, please allow me to introduce you to our residents. We are proud to share our space with the widest variety of animals of any café in Harban. We have a variety of dog and cat breeds, ranging from energetic and playful to calm and dignified. We have hedgehogs, our spikey but cute friends, who are a joy to feed. In this room, there are owls. A staff member will be delighted to provide you with a gauntlet and show you how to carry one on your wrist. Last but never least, my favorite room of all- short-clawed otters. Playful, smart, and so cute I just can’t stand it.”

Truth looked at his siblings. “Come. Let the healing begin.” They laughed but went for it.

It was when Sophia was playing with some sort of hound. She would roll a ball for it, and it would chase the ball. It had long, droopy ears that almost reached the floor, short legs, and skin so loose it looked like a child wearing a fat man’s clothes. She would roll the ball to the end of the room, and the hound bounded after it, tongue flapping, ears waving, and the skin flopping around like baggy trousers in a breeze. It would always overshoot the ball, bounce off the wall, catch it, and run back in doggy triumph, ready to go again.

She took the slobbery ball from the dog and sat down to pet it. Then she hugged the dog. The dog licked her face with a handkerchief-sized tongue. Soph started laughing, but the laughter turned to wracking sobs. The dog kept licking, this time going for the tears. Truth and Vigor came over to her, gently holding her.

“I was scared all the time. I didn’t let it show, but I was always scared,” Soph whispered. “Every time I went out, every time I was alone on the street, every time they were home, I was scared.” Her brothers just nodded. They got it.

“I started flirting back, you know? When they called out to me. Like, somehow, it would prove I wasn’t scared of them, and if I wasn’t scared, they couldn’t hurt me. Like I could win the game.” She was getting a little garbled, but they still got it. “But you couldn’t win. There was no way to win. I knew it. I knew it, but it was all I could do.” They got that too.

“And the only thing we could count on was you, and you kept going out. You would go out and disappear and come back with dinner. And you would have bruises and cuts, and you got quieter and quieter. And now you go out, disappear and come back with an apartment and dinner and schools, and you are spending a week in the hospital, and we can’t even call you! We can’t even visit you when you are in the hospital and you are still going out. I was crawling under torn metal to fish scrap from a poisoned canal, 'cause I thought you weren't going to make it.”

Truth nodded sadly. Soph buried her face in the scruff of the dog’s neck. The dog settled down, leaning into her. Vigor and Truth sat with her. They petted their dogs. Neither knew what to say.

Eventually, Truth spoke. “I always needed you guys. I still need you. I don’t know what I will do when you go to college and move out, both of you. It was how I survived. I survived because you needed me. Since you needed me, I had to do it. Whatever it was, I just had to do it. That’s all. I could focus on that and try to ignore the... everything else.” He felt he should say more but had run out of words. He had been getting quieter for a long time.