Jorje was jarred. Every living thing he touched snowed away. He had even tried to hug his parents, and that resulted in their death. What was this stupid ability, and why did I just get it around an hour ago? The apartment he inhabited with his former parents had around 4 inches of red snow, from all the things he had touched. He picked up some of the blood snow and tried to cover himself in it. He was going crazy, he thought. He might have been right. The place he lived was an expensive place, in the middle of downtown Murasaki City, Fen. He stumbled out the door, not realizing he was now covered in blood that the snow had melted to.
Nix had parked her vehicle, and left it to walk around downtown. The night wasn't exactly warm. It was dry, and the air was almost… Crispy. As always, there was a radius of around her, 5 feet that no one would cross. She casually threw something away. Items that were no longer needed must be discarded. She just wanted some late night food for her nice punch at the church. Somehow, the man survived, probably because she didn't even punch him that hard. Maybe my form was off, too. Lucky me, I might still have a chance at trying to be a saint and never thinking of my own desires. Her circle widened as she approached her favorite restaurant. Widened by a lot. Then she heard someone scream. Nix glanced behind her with almost no shock, thinking it was just another person messing with her. But, she saw something different. A man snowing red, and screaming. In front of him, a kid covered in blood. The kid was reaching out to anyone near him. "Tag!" He was practically running around in circles, attempting to touch people like he was playing that. Nix hadn't moved, and eventually he reached her. Smiling, he said, "I got you!" And grabbed her arm. Nothing came out. The smile faded and he looked up, right into Nix's silver face. Everything paused and his vision faded to black. Then, he saw the leader of Fen before him. Murasakino spoke one or two sentences. "Sorry little pawn, it was rigged. I gave you your power just so Nix would kill you and gain powers. I couldn't let that interesting of a being get away with a boring life. Whoops." Time froze for that place now, and it faded back to his own vision. Time again resumed for his standard state of mind. Nix brought her eyes down to his, and stared. Jorje screamed and ran. Something grabbed his head, and lifted him. It really hurt. The silver woman spoke. "My, my. I have no warmth, so don't expect any out of me." She she formed a wedge with her hand and shoved it into the kid. Right into his heart. He did not live very long. Nix felt empty, but had a realization as she stared into the lip of the dark red hole in the kids chest. The thing she was searching for wasn't to feel, it was to have a purpose. Nothing was filling the hole that she thought she could fill with emotion, but it leaked through like sand and a grate. She was done trying to be a saint, she needed to fill that hole. She took her silver hand out of the kid, and threw his corpse on the ground. He began to snow, his lifeless body abandoning the warmth it just needed. By the time the police showed up, Nix had already washed up in the restaurant bathroom and began a meal. Again, there was a space between her and the rest of the patrons. The bartender reached out and touched her shoulder, probably doing so because of the dead person he had watched her make earlier. he held it a bit too long. His hand began to snow, and he collapsed. Everyone in the room rustled around and quite a few left. A ring of the bell attached to the door, another person entered the place they sat right next to Nix, seemingly not caring about her. After attempting to order something, he turned to her. "Why is everyone hiding from you like the plague? You seem pretty okay to me. Never seen a chick who's silver, but I don't judge." She pointed to the person on the ground. He widened his eyes on purpose, then returned to his normal face, this time, with a pair of crossed arms. "I like myself a woman that can fuck some stuff up." Nix had only interacted with 2 people: Murasakino Fen and the person that was there when she was born. This was the one person she had interacted with. They both looked at each other as they sipped the water. "I'm Andrei Smirnov. Wanna get out of here?" Nix smiled at him. "My place?" He handed the smile right back. "Sounds good to me." They walked out of the restaurant together. "Nice bike." Andrei coughed once. Nix shot right back. "If you like it so much, you drive." He got on the front, and Nix got on the back. She was careful not to touch him in any way. He turned around as they took off. "Guess I'm a bit heavy. Acceleration and handling feels crazy." Nix laughed. Maybe it's me.
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They laid on Nix's bed, but Nix crawled away when he tried to touch her. When she realized her mistake she stiffened her face. Andrei sat up. "What is it? Are you okay? I will go home if you wish." She smiled with the tears of hatred for her decision still on her face. It's okay. If he touched her back for only a second, he would scar his finger and would be fine. Nix took off her shirt. "Please touch my back for only a second. It is perfect." He looked, And reached over. "It does seem completely perfect, silver and perfectly curved." Andrei gently smoothed over her back from lower to her shoulder. Than, his fingers grew cold. Snowflakes began to sprinkle from them, and he became freezing cold. Nix began to regret again. Now Andrei understood. He can't touch her for the same reason why that restaurant person is dead. The snow continued. Nix was like King Midas now, except the thing that people turned into wasn't nearly as coveted. It was worthless. The snow stopped, but his entire hand was now completely ruined. Nix felt that disgusting feeling of regret, and spoke through her anger: "Go to the hospital." Andrei nodded. "I may have just met you, but you actually seem pretty cool. I'll stop by and visit eventually." He jogged out with his phone and down the road, maybe for an ambulance.
Andrei was in the hospital. "What happened? We haven't seen anything like the injury on your hand." Andrei tried as hard as he could to think of something. "Uh, I work at a coffee shop and had an accident trying to make some nitro coffee. Spilled some of the nitrogen on my hand." The doctor looked amazed, and took another look at his hand. "I don't even know if you'll be able to keep it. I'll talk with the others." Eyelids heavy from painkillers, Andrei watched as they all stood in a circle. They all came back, and told him. "We have special instructions from Murasakino Fen herself. "We will give you a new prosthetic hand with full human feeling that took tens of thousands of hours total of labour to develop." His eyes went from tiresome to adrenaline fueled in a matter of moments. "Fen? What?" Shuffling around, the doctors went further. "There was one note she left for you. 'So you can interact better with your new friend.'" Andrei was done. How did Fen know? And why? He drifted off as they prepared their equipment for the replacement. Surrounded by the smell of anesthetic and people in surgical masks, he heard one last thing. "No need for signing anything, Fen would just kill you if you refused."
The car that had taken it’s sights on Nix still drifted around the city, wandering, with seemingly no purpose. Why hadn’t it taken the shot...