Chapter 14: Vile Vice (Part 1!)

It’s a shame we don’t have castles. Those vampires with their technology, and their sprawling monarchy. How they operate on these worshiped fortresses, is an envy to many politicians. I used to envy it too. But I have come to be content with the state of science and industry within my interested nations. Afterall, the Oligarchs have a favored ability to adapt to their enemies.

Their rectangular shields, picked up from the Higatai tribe. Their helmets are reinforced with crests and brows, a design stolen from the Jukikos people a few centuries ago. And the Metallix Pox from their rivals, the Tripolians.

Sadly, these Oligarchs have yet to adapt to social relations. It is easy to adapt the benefits of others, but what about the hideous gray area of seeing them as equals? If a person is capable of being vulnerable, then you have great people. An open hand and mind are more valuable than a hundred castles.

The kid had spent the last half hour igniting the firecrackers. She tried taking a torch, but it didn't work. She tried using black powder, it ended up freezing the firecrackers, don’t ask me how that happened. In a last ditch effort, she decided to ask Amir for help. The Tripol disapproved of any use of black powder.

Not out of hate, but of admiration. He knew of its ironic history. How some Kai Ren doctors were trying to make an elixir of eternal life. But managed to make the opposite, a dangerous weapon.

Most of its applications were in smoke bombs and siege weapons. But when compared to a trebuchet hurling a boulder at a wall, they weren’t very useful. It wasn’t its use that bothered him. It was that such an elegant and complex chemical was being used for simple entertainment.

“~Kid, what did we talk about?~” He scolded, but Valiato didn’t give up.

“~I know, but we’re stuck here and I have nothing to do. Can I please do this, at least once?~” Amir took a scan of her face. He recognized the hidden mania in her, but knew that should have fun outside.

“~Here, take two of the flash sticks. Don’t hold it against your glove.~” The kid hugged the arm of the Tripol and quickly exited.

“~Damn that boy.~” Amir whispered to himself. Skaldi was making a snowman outside, placing husks of breaker fruit to make expressions. He was enjoying the time, and he would enjoy it more being away from everyone. As he drank from his flask, Valiato came into vision.

“Ska! Amir gave me the flash sticks so we can do the fireworks!” She glowed with a nearly contagious excitement.

“Finally, now let’s get to playing.” Skaldi had dug out a few holes in the ground, with the remaining husks of fruit acting as goals.

“You remember the rules? Use your feet to kick the firecrackers into the goals, and who gets the most wins.” Skaldi recalled, as Valiato rolled her eyes.

“Got it, let’s do this!” They ignited the sticks, and started to light the firecrackers. She had played this game before, but never with this type of equipment. She fumbled the flickering lights of the firecracker, but swiftly tossed it to Skaldi. He knew that he would win if he put in any effort, so he only made modest attempts. Only blasting one husk, Valiato grew more excited.

“My turn. My turn!” She squealed. Skaldi threw the burning cylinder towards her feet, and she struck hard. Directing hitting a goal post, shattering more fruit on its explosion. This sport went on for a couple more minutes in this pattern. Skaldi goes easy on Valiato, her becoming the killer of dead fruit, the standard process for hanging out with a kid.

As their game neared the end, Skaldi picked up the pace on blowing up her husks. He knew that a game is best appreciated if it is a close match.

“Just need one more goal post sweetpea. Show me what you got!” Skaldi goaded out her fury. As he tossed the firecracker to her, she got ready. A potential unleashed, as Valiato anchored her foot behind her. Releasing the energy of a hundred earthquakes, she hit the firecracker, and sent it to the final husk. It blew up on impact.

“Yes! I beat you, in your face!” Valiato had taken to doing a celebratory dance, similar to what Vega did a month ago. Skaldi was happy with the result. Although they still had more firecrackers, Skaldi wished to switch the tempo of the hangout.

“Calm down sweetpea. Now, let’s build you a snowman.” He gave a trowel to her, as she started to dig up a pile of snow. Building her snowman, Valiato stared at Skaldi. He was taking long drags from his flask. She was used to this, but knew given enough time, he would be discomforting.

“Ska? Is something wrong?” She asked, hopeful for an unfeigned response.

“No. Nothing much aside from this place being not too pleasant. Sorry if I seemed to be in an odd mood earlier.” Skaldi gave a half truth to her. But he was insecure about more than that.

“That’s good. Is it okay if I go hangout with Vega after this?” A needle stabbed Skaldi’s heart. She was going to hangout with a scarecrow?

“That’s… good. But don’t you think she’s a little off?” He tried making his bitterness toward the hay girl into a bite sized sentence.

“What do you mean? She’s funny, kind, and kind of the first friend I’ve had.” Valiato smiled out, placing pebbles to make eyes on her snowman.

“Sure, sure. But, the voice she is talking about…”

“So? Don’t you have a voice?”

“Yeah, we all have an inner voice of ourselves. But I think what she’s talking about isn't healthy.” He stuttered out.

“Well, she hasn’t gotten us into trouble. She’s got us gold, a wagon, and me that cute pony toy.” Valiato gushed at her achievements. Skaldi grew purple with shame. A scarecrow was outclassing him, and it didn’t even know how to speak right.

“I don’t want her to… mess with you is all.” The elf admitted the truth. They were both silent for a while. Upon completing her snowman, she hugged the leg of Skaldi.

“Thanks for the hangout Ska. Can we do this again? With the girls tomorrow?” Skaldi held his disagreement to himself, and blew a sigh.

“Sure sweetpea. Now go inside, it’ll get colder soon.” The kid ran back to the apartment, as Skaldi finished the rest of his flask. His skin turned to a frozen purple, shameful.

Vega was painting the nails of Florato, who was a tad bit more upset than usual. Bolato was still fast asleep, while Amir was putting on more makeup.

“Are ya alright Florato? Ya seem to be going through what the priests call, ‘a bout of being a bitch’.” Vega presented the idea, but the actress was not having it.

“Shut up, and be careful with the polish. I-”

“We.” Vega corrected.

“We paid a lot of money for this stuff.” Florato had finished her left hand, but Vega wanted to try and apply it.

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

“Got it. Why did ya choose gold polish again?”

“Status symbol. Also it goes nice with my hair.” Florato threw her hair to the side, just as Valiato came in. She opened her mouth to talk to the scarecrow, but was quickly mesmerized by the nails.

“What are you guys doing to your fingers?” Valiato gasped at the act.

“Finger painting.” Valiato admitted.

“Nail painting.” Florato admitted correctly.

“Can I try?” Valiato was hopping up and down.

“~Amir. Valiato.~” The actress spoke, shooting her eyes at Amir, who promptly got up.

“~Kid, do you know what you're doing?~”

“~Nail painting?~” Valiato didn’t notice what was wrong.

“~No. Although the lady is trustworthy, you are choosing to show your scar when doing this act. What do you think that will do?~” Amir used this moment to gauge his daughter’s critical thinking.

“~She’s not insensitive to me Amir. Plus, she went out of her way to talk to you.~” Valiato was confident in her remark. Amir brushed his face, and took a glance at the pair.

“~Do you know what that will do? Showing your scar?~”

“~Ari, you’re not being very fun right now.~” Valiato somberly spoke, casting her eyes down. She didn’t know of the pains of hate, she only knew that certain people shouldn’t know what she was.

“~You judge people too much Ari.~” She turned away, striking Amir’s weak lungs hard. He didn’t get up to lecture her, and he returned to reading his book.

“What did your dad-dad say?” Vega questioned, still painting the thumbnail of Florato.

“He said that I could, just that you should show me how.” Florato couldn’t determine the words of the conversation, nor the tone. So did Vega.

“Alright then. You can choose any color aside from gold, since that’s mine.” Florato reclined onto the couch, trying to ease a pain in her. Valiato guided her finger atop the caps of the polish. The bottles were of clay corresponding to the color inside. She picked up one and stared at it in an invisible glee.

“Pink. I wonder how it will look.”

“Good choice-choice. It’s the same color as blood-blood.” Vega cheered out, leaving the pair in a stupidity stupor. Vega finished, with Florato laying her hands flat across a desk.

“How long does it take Florato? Because I kind of want to play later.” Florato shrugged, as she saw Vega getting ready to apply the polish.

“Sometimes an hour or so. But don’t worry, you can use your fingers in a couple of minutes.” Valiato looked at the sand timer in the room.

“Can ya take off your gloves? Unless ya want me to paint them, which I can-can if ya want-want?” Valiato, without worry, took off her gloves.

The brown brand from all those years ago poisoned her hand. Florato saw it, and felt a disgust rise. But she suppressed it.

“Sorry about what happened to you kid. That just ain’t right.” Florato said, looking at the kid with a sense of pity.

“It’s okay. It’s not like you did it to me. So long as you know I’m a person, then it’s alright.” Valiato smiled. She was a victim yes, but one that had grown strong. No wounds beyond the physical.

“You never had your nails painted?” Florato asked, as she closed her eyes and shifted into a more comfortable position.

“No, I never even heard it before.” Valiato spoke in a perplexed tone, showing her lack of understanding of the practices of the Iozians.

“But ya have make-makeup on your face.” Vega pointed at her green blush.

“Well, makeup has a purpose.” Valiato waved her hand, also not knowing the relation of makeup and nail polish.

“And that purpose being?” Florato leaned forward, raising a brow at her.

“It protects us… from stuff.” Florato wasn’t buying it.

“Can you ask your dad what its purpose is? I bet it's something awesome. Like protecting you from the sun.” The actress proposed.

“Or from the moon-moon!” Vega spoke up, now finished with the first hand. Valiato knew that the make-up purpose was important to Amir. It was on him when she first meet him, and it was on him as far as the couple told her. THe idea of the librarian came back to her. Perhaps the make up was magical, and enabled him to better analyze text and media.

But then again, just because you can read it doesn’t mean you could understand it, much less agree with it. Valiato kept these thoughts to herself.

“And done! Look at ya hands, they’re very pretty.” Vega squeezed the wrist of the kid, just as Skaldi entered. What he saw was less than pleasant.

“Have you girls used any of the black polish? I swear cause I-

“We.” Florato and Vega corrected.

“We worked hard for that money.” Skaldi held up a fist and he looked for the black polish bottle.

“Calm down Skaldi. We still have plenty of gold from the concert. All we have to do is wait out this blizzard. Let’s be friends and talk about fun stuff.” Florato stuttered, as some unknown discomfort started to strike her.

“And what stories do you have, girl?” Skaldi started to apply the polish on his fingers. Vega went to do it for him, but he waved her away.

“Something… like… ouch!” Florato gripped her belly in pain, as everyone looked towards her.

“Sorry, just… going through a cramp.” Florato went to get up but struggled to. Vega went to her side and helped her off the couch.

“What’s a cramp? Is that like a food you ate or something?” Skaldi asked, putting down his brush.

“No! What are you, stupid? It’s… a cramp! From like, a period?” Skaldi had no idea what Florato had just said. Neither did anyone else aside Vega.

“What’s that?” Skaldi questioned, as Florato’s face turned from discomfort to shock.

“You don’t know what it is? Does the kid know what it is? She’s thirteen, she has to know what that is!” Florato yelled, fueled by the discomfort in her stomach. Skaldi turned away in bitter disgust.

“Whatever that is, it’s annoying. Can’t you just hold it in?” Skaldi held his tongue out, disturbed at Florato.

“That’s not how it works!” The actress shouted.

“~Hey Ari. What’s a period?~”

“~The dot at the end of a sentence. Why do you ask, daughter?~” Amir noticed the state of the actress, but had no idea how a period correlated to her mood.

“Calm down-down everybody, maybe I can explain.” Vega sat Florato onto a chair, and tossed her turquoise colored berries.

“Eat those-those. Natural pain killers, and laxatives!” Florato chewed slowly, she held hope that everyone would know her pain.

“Valiato. A period is thing a girl gets from Recor. He gives it to ya-ya to show that you’re becoming a woman. Ya will start-start bleeding from your private parts, feel horrible pain-pain, and everyone will hate ya when ya have it! It’s a gift from god!” Everyone was stunned.

“So girls bleed from their balls?” Skaldi muttered to himself. Valiato got into a fetal position and rocked in place.

“Not exactly the way I would… have described it. But yeah, that’s the lore for periods. Now please, take me to the bathroom. And get me something sweet to eat.” The scarecrow lifted the actress into a bridal position, and raced off outside.

“Hey Ska…”

“Yeah kid?”

“Girls really suck.” Skaldi held his eyes to the door that the scarecrow went out of.

“I know sweetpea. I know.”

After an hour and a half of pure hell, Florato exited the woman’s latrine as a new lady. She was happy and cheerful, like she didn’t feel like dying just a mintue before.

“Are ya okay Florato? And before ya ask, I’m out of quail’s eggs and fish scales for you to eat.”

“I’m doing much better now, thanks to you. Come here!” Florato picked up the scarecrow, lifting her into the air.

“Aw. Hugs are nice.”

“Thanks.” Kaliba croaked, poking the head of the scarecrow.

“Sorry, we should really get some pills. I don’t want to keep spending our cash, but I do not want to be that miserable again.”

“No worries. Let’s go buy stuff!” Both strolled down mainstreet, and noticed the people putting up decorations. Paper lanterns with Kai Ren characters, the mayor ordering his men to be on high alert, and the new bustle in the town.

“I can’t wait for this feast. It’s been a while since I had roast frost duck.” Florato licked her lips.

“Shame I can’t go. Oh well-well.” Vega said the statement like there wasn’t anything wrong with it.

“What? Did the town say you can’t go or something?” Florato’s brows became fierce.

“It’s nothing wrong-wrong. I’m used to not being invited, or allowed. It’s okay, these events are not meant for ghosts.” Vega smiled at the kids skipping and the men setting up fireworks.

“But, don’t you want to go?” Florato put a hand on the scarecrow’s shoulder.

“It’s okay Florato.” Vega’s voice went cold as a corpse.

“It’s okay that I’m not wanted here.”