Kosmo sat on the edge of his stripped bed, his tail wrapped around his body for comfort. He watched as his father removed the last of his belongings, carefully stack them in a box, and then head for outside. The room was now empty, the walls stripped bare and dusty, save for the squares where Kosmo’s posters had once been.
His mother stood in the doorway, swishing her tail vigorously from side to side, lost in thought. Her fingers gently played with the pearls around her neck. Her ivory horns, which curved upward from her temples like all Lokra Taur, were usually adorned with gold, silver, or the occasional Solar-Sap rings. But today, they were not. She looked at Kosmo with sadness in her eyes.
“I think he’s far too young to be on his own,” she said once his father returned to the room.
His father placed his big meaty hands on his hips, his tail lightly brushing under his chin. Moments like this made Kosmo see the resemblance between him and his father that everyone always mentioned. They had the same blonde shaggy coat, pink nose, and mouth. The only difference was that while his father’s horns curved downwards like all Pukara Taur, Kosmo’s curved upwards like the Lokra. Often enough, people thought he was just a Lokra like his mother.
“He’s 19. I was 15 when I…” His father’s booming voice trailed off.
Kosmo’s younger brother entered after their parents had just left. Gaios’ horns curved downwards like their father’s, but he had their mother’s white coat with black spots around his eyes which extend to his ears. Unlike their mother, whose ears were still entirely black even at 42, Gaios’ one ear had already started fading into grey.
Gaios took out a tape measure and went around sizing up everything in that room that could be measured. He climbed and began lightly jumping on it.
Kosmo knocked him off.
“I don’t know what to say, big bro.” Gaios showed a sincerity in his eyes that Kosmo hadn’t seen since they were little. “I’ll miss you terribly.”
“I’m sure you will,” Kosmo replied.
“I will.” Gaios held out his tail, and so did Kosmo. Their tail bristles locked, sharing a brief moment of respect. That was until Gaios added, “I think I’ll stick with my bed though. The gods only know what filth you have…”
Kosmo quickly built up enough Essence in his body. He felt a cloud-like vapour swirl within him, he concentrated and channelled it through his torso, and to his arms until an air Push came out of his outstretched palm. It managed to cause Gaios to detangle tails, stumble a few steps back, before falling on his back. He got up and adjusted his black hoodie.
“I’ll let you have that one for old time’s sake,” Gaios left the room.
He heard the sound of his parents’ hooves clambering up the stairs, followed by their voices.
“… with all the crime,” he caught the last part of his mother’s sentence.
His father looked around the room once more. “Crime?” he seemed confused. “Who’s going to confront a PureBorn Taur? Look at him,” his father rubbed the top of his head with his tail. “Even if he were a Regular like us, I’d be scared of him.”
She seemed unsure, her brown eyes slowly filling with tears. His father gave her a quick hug. “It’s called growing up,” he said. “We all had to do it sometime.”
A Gale-Taxi outside barely hovered above the ground, tilted in a way that the trunk of the car almost touched the ground. His father slammed the door with Kosmo now inside the taxi.
“I have paid the deposit. I have also paid the first and last month’s rent for your new place. Here’s 600 Yibi, enough to supplement you for groceries and date nights with your little girlfriend.” Kosmo accepted the money in an envelope. Noticing the inquisitive eye of the Folk driver in the rear-view mirror, his father added, “He’s a PureBorn GaleStone. He could grind your bones into dust if you try something funny.”
The man raised his hands for a moment before setting them back on the steering wheel. “I wasn’t going to try anything?”
“You can never be too sure with all this Folk Family nonsense,” his father added. His mother turned her head away in embarrassment.
His father tapped the roof of the taxi, and it glided off. Kosmo stared back out the rear window, his family now just three.
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The studio was just south of the Loi de Shui river, in the safest area, as his father had guaranteed to his mother. The area was a mix of all Kin, unlike the Folk-dominated northside. He preferred it this way. Folk always got a little judgy and mad, especially in public transportation where Taur like him couldn’t help but take up a little more room.
“This is actually cute,” said Elis between bites of her salad. She sat opposite Kosmo in the kitchen portion of the apartment. She was a Pukara Taur, her coat a mixture of brown and patches of white. At the end of her downward-curving horns, she always wore two gold horn caps engraved with the goddess Tatu guiding Taurs through what Kosmo assumed was Northern Illibi, given all the snowy details. She chewed her salad, her golden nose ring moving in the same rhythm as her lips. “This is really good.”
“It’s just a salad,” Kosmo replied in a dour tone.
“What’s wrong?” she grinned widely. “I think it’s cool you get to live on your own now.”
“This place costs 1200 Yibi. I only make 800 from my job.”
“Find a better job,” she shrugged.
“I can’t.”
“You won’t.”
“I cannot,” Kosmo insisted. “I have tried, you know?”
“You’re a PureBorn?” she squinted.
“So?”
“Can you just admit you like goofing off with the Folkling at your job?”
“Firstly,” he felt the need to point out, “it’s Libri KinFolk. How would you like it if Taur were named Peliforoling or MegaKepota?”
“I wouldn’t care much.”
“Right,” he doubted that. He tried to remember her other point. “Oh, and secondly, is it a bad thing that I like to be among my own Kin?”
“The Folk… I mean the Libri are now your own Kin?”
“We’re Essence Kins.”
“Enjoy being broke with your Essence Kin then.”
“Besides,” Kosmo rubbed his side and felt underneath his white t-shirt the raised bumpiness from his scar, “I can’t Pulse properly because of my injury.”
“Huh,” she returned to her food. “You can still Push and Pull, right? Maybe join the police. I heard they pay Mythics a lot of money to sway them off the streets.”
“Nah,” he waived it off. “Polassa is too weird with all the crime family bullshit to be a police officer.”
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
“Then go and become a famous actress’ bodyguard or something. Anything. What do you even want to do?” she dangled her fork between her fingers.
“Maybe you could get me a job at your..”
“No.”
After a few silent moments, Kosmo asked why.
“You’re not responsible enough to be around Charmed animals.”
Kosmo felt offended.
“It’s true,” she shrugged.
“I’m pretty sure they are dying to have a Pulser on the team anyway. So, I’ll just throw my name in the hat next time I’m there.”
“But I thought you couldn’t Pulse properly?”
He stopped. It was true that he couldn’t Pulse properly. Every time he did, whether it be a momentary leap into the air or catching something heavy, it left the side of his torso in throbbing and anguishing pain. Furthermore, he felt tired rather quickly.
“And by the way, they care more about Pullers than Pulsers at the zoo,” she pointed out.
“Hey, I’m of one of those too,” Kosmo smiled. “But I don’t anything about Pulling. You do though, right?”
She began fighting off a smile.
“Think about how much fun it would be to teach my dumbass how to use the Art of the Mind.”
She bit her lip and gazed off to the side. Perfect, Kosmo thought.
The following days had been a blur. In the morning or evening depending on his shift, he’d catch a tram to work, serve a few tables, wrestle a few Libri during their breaktime, come back home and stare at the phone. He was sure that at any minute his parents would break. His mother had probably broken the moment she saw the taxi glide away. His father would have been tougher, though. He would have had his moments of weakness where he’d probably stand there with the phone receiver right against his ear. But Kosmo was sure that Gaios was there every time to put the receiver down and do everything in his power to keep his new room.
The few phone calls that came in had been pleasantries. “How are you doing, son?” “I’m fine, I guess.” “How’s everything down south of the river?” “Pretty good, I guess.” “You are cooking for yourself, right? You know a Folkling diet isn’t ideal for a Kin your weight and size.”
At work, after having thrown a few Libri about during his lunch break, he returned to find Manu the chef zapping in and out in front of different stoves in the blink of an eye, making it seem like there were doubles of him.
“Damn,” Kosmo spoke. “You need help or something, man?”
“Nah. Nah. I’m good. I like the rush. There’s never a rush like this anymore,” said the chef. “But wait,” he continued as Kosmo was leaving. He rubbed his hands down on his apron. “You’re an Iron Blitz guy, right?”
“Are you kidding? I used to play. Come on. You know that.”
“Yes,” Manu tapped him lightly on his scar. “Before the incident.”
“What incident?” an Libri girl who had started working the other day chimed in.
“Our boy here was going to be the next great Taur midfielder out of Harekara until a parent got very jealous.”
She cocked an eyebrow.
“This one kid I played with…” Kosmo felt a surge of anger growing within him, “well, his father was a healer on the team. Knew all his stuff too. Had been doing it for like a decade. Anyway, he accidentally used Pure-Sap while trying to clean my wound instead of, you know, literally any other type of Sap that’s less destructive to Pulse cells.”
“You think he did it on purpose?”
“His son took my place on the team and is now currently in the Alpha Asili’s junior team. Of course, I think he did it on purpose.”
“Speaking of the Alpha Asili,” Manu removed two tickets from the back pocket of his jeans. “How would you like to witness our mighty SolarFrost Saints get demolished by the Alpha Asili this Fifday night?”
“No, I couldn’t,” Kosmo replied as he inspected the tickets; they were good seats too. “For free?”
“Nothing’s for free in Yimani,” Manu added. “Maybe in Costadore. But not here, my friend.”
“How much?”
“How much can you honestly spare? They cost me about 500.”
“250?”
“300?”
They shook on it. Kosmo couldn’t believe his luck. He had tried buying some tickets earlier, but they only sold them to season ticket holders or to the away Alpha Asili fans.
“I can’t thank you enough,” Kosmo bowed his head and touched the tip of his right horn.
“No need for formalities,” Manu returned to his work, shifting from here to there. His co-workers manoeuvring away from where he would appear like second nature. “You know,” he briefly shifted in front of Kosmo, “I was actually excited to go with a buddy of mine, but they got some circus rolling through town. The wife insists we support all Libri culture.”
Kosmo could tell Manu was upset by this. Upset enough that he might go back on the deal. “I am pretty sure your wife will appreciate the quality time you are willing to invest in your marriage.”
“Don’t push it.”
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The seats were perfect. Far enough to see the whole pitch but close enough to make out each player easily. As the Kin filled the seats, Kosmo felt the hair on his forearms slightly raise. His heart pounded against his chest when both sides came out to warm up. He could almost taste the sweet sensation of matchday – the camaraderie, the strategies, the pain, the cheers and jeers of the crowd. How he would give anything to fully experience it again.
“Go to the bathroom now,” Elis spoke. “They are still warming up.”
“But I don’t need to go.”
She looked at the huge cup in his hands and then directly at him.
“Fine. I’ll go.”
“Thank you.”
He worried about leaving her in the stands. She wore an Alpha Asili jersey and was surrounded by drunk Folks.
The bathroom was empty when he walked in. When he walked out, only a middle-aged Libri man stood at the urinal. As Kosmo left, he bumped into two Folks, one carrying a satchel. ‘How do you get a satchel through security?’ wondered Kosmo.
He heard some commotion from inside the bathroom but had no desire to check on it. A few moments later, he saw the Folk boys and the Libri now walking together and speaking in lowered tones. Was he about to witness a terror attack? He wondered if the Folk boys were from the Imperial Iradi Coalition. There was no hatred like Republic Folk defenders against Imperial Folk defenders.
Curiosity got the better of him. He brushed past the drunk Taurs singing:
‘Oh Tatu, is it true,’
‘That you chose the Taur,’
‘To be closest to you.’
Once he had gotten himself in an ideal spot, he tried to make out the conversation between the trio. They kept talking about owing somebody money and then something about the Alpha Asili and betting. As the trio began to wander off again, he grabbed one of the Folk’s arms with his tail.
He apologized as he unwrapped his tail. “Who did that dude say to bet on?” He nodded towards the Libri gentleman who was walking away.
The Folk kid darted his eyes from side to side, then leaned in, “The Alpha Asili. Apparently, there’s in-fighting among the Folk from Yimani and those from the Iradi Coalition.”
“I appreciate it, bro,” smiled Kosmo. “Thank you, really.”
He returned to his seat.
“Ugh… Where have you been?” Elis had a slight frown on her face. “They have been shouting at me the whole time.”
“Who?”
She gestured to the group of inebriated Folk who had been laughing but now were trying to avoid eye contact with Kosmo.
Kosmo whistled at them. Now that their eyes were on him, he flexed his Pulsing cells, hard enough that an Aura of energy seemed to glow around him for a moment before fading away.
“We meant nothing by it,” one of them said, “it’s just gameday shenanigans.”
“Gameday shenanigans,” Kosmo mumbled to himself. Then, remembering his mission, a smile beamed across his face. “How much money do you have on you?” he asked Elis.
“Why?”
“I want to make a bet.”
“I am not giving you money to bet on.”
He pulled her to the side and convinced her to follow him to the terraces. “It’s a sure bet, Elly.”
“There’s no such thing as a…”
“I saw two Folk dudes, one of them with a satchel enter a bathroom and most likely fuck up an Libri gentleman for this tip.”
Elis seemed confused.
“A satchel inside a stadium. How did he get that past security…”
“Maybe he shifted in here with it.”
“No. You can’t shift in and out of buildings like this,” he shook his head. He always considered her the smarter one. “Maybe they can shift inside here but they can’t get in nor can they get out by shifting.”
Elis shrugged. “Can we go back to our seats now?”
“The thing I’m trying to say is that I might have stumbled onto a gift from Takatoro himself.”
“A gambling opportunity was delivered to you by…” she shook her head. In her purse, she managed to produce 448 Yibi. Kosmo kept 445 of it. And then in his pocket, he had a remaining 200 Yibi. It was the last amount of money he had. He wasn’t going to be paid until the end of the week. With their bet slotted in, they stood a chance to win just 2 000 Yibi.
The first half of the game had been a joy to watch. The Taur midfield of the Alpha Asili had controlled the game so dominantly that Kosmo had almost come to terms with forgiving them for hiring his arch-nemesis. Even Elis was beaming, asking, “Is this what betting feels like all the time?”
By the time the second half whistle blew, most of the stadium was in elation. Except for the Taur couple and the other travelling Taur fans. Kosmo couldn’t stomach looking at Elis’ face. He expected the fury of Tatu, but he was met with a rather heartbroken face. “I’ll pay you back, I promise,” he squeezed her hand.
At work later that week at the Edo Kin Edo restaurant, he saw the Folk and the Libri walk in, this time with an Akila instead of the other Folk of Porenadi origin. ‘Perfect,’ he thought. He had a nagging suspicion that the Folk kid had lied to him purposefully about the bet as he watched his team lose. That suspicion was all but confirmed when he walked past the trio and saw the piles of money being counted to the Libri gentleman by the cashier as he left the stadium.
All night, he began to slip some items into their food. First, it had been innocuous – a handful of salt in the stew to make it just a little bit unpleasant. Then, half a cup of sugar in what should have been a traditionally spicy dish. As the night went on, he got braver and braver, this time focusing his attack on the drinks first with salt, then pepper, then finally any other spice he could wrap his tail around.
The rush had gotten to his head. He almost felt the desire to admit the truth after the Libri gentleman had pulled him aside asking, “Are you fucking with me?”
He assured him that he was not.