Dinner
“It is the 1,026th year 1st month, 1st week, 7th day— at 7:12 AM. The court concludes the 1st half of the 2-w c-e, and it will now enter in recess until tomorrow at 11 PM.” Vanessa stood up and announced after the ministers spoke together once Javier Laran, the last to directly interrogate Fox, finished his part.
Supreme Court Minister Javier Laran was rather an easy-going ride that Fox didn’t expect, but it still brought information out from him, but it wasn’t a surprise. It felt a little like a slap on the wrist after Jennifer Paws’s ambiguous jabs at Fox’s records.
The people who came didn’t really expect it would last until morning. They felt it was improper to leave after being invited and attending, so they stayed the entire night. The right had most of their people tired and sleepy. While the left was also like this, they at least paid good, respectful attention to the entire process.
Fox remained at the podium, breathing deeply in, holding, and then out. He shook his head before giving the Supreme Justice Minister a look, then left for the center. Vanessa looked at him with a relaxing expression, a subtle one. It felt much different to that of the entire night, where it was a trial, now more like a public meeting. They walked out with him, meeting at the entrance.
A guard following him walked up to Fox and freed him from the handcuffs, closing in on Fox more at ease, not as nervous as before. Fox checked his wrists. Even with the handcuffs, his right wrist healed almost like it was never pried open.
“Are you tired?” Elega came to him and asked, while Armando walked to Fox’s front, didn’t come too close to him nor extended his hand, and nodded at the young man. Fox nodded at Armando before the latter turned around. Then, he gazed at Elega and shook his head, “About that, pretty girl. Can you bring me to my boutique?”
“Heh, alright.” Elega nodded upwards at him as Fox did a ‘pu’ sound afterward. She walked him out of the courtroom, this high tribune that placed such a strange schedule. Nothing would have happened if it was scheduled since the morning or even in the evening, but no.
Fox saw only about 2 tenths from the reporters that were here before outside, but something told him this ‘peace’ wouldn’t last if he stayed there. He and Elega went to her car and fled the place before any more reporters could come or surrounded them.
Arriving at the Blackflower Boutique, Fox still wore his new suit, which he no longer felt was as slightly heavy as before. He also felt a quirky ‘trembling’ in his breathing. Before coming out, he looked at Elega and thanked her, “I appreciate it. You tell me what else I can do for you.”
“Yes, indeed. Talking about favors and gifts, check your suit, Fox.” Said Elega. Fox tilted his head and nodded before getting out. Elega drove off as soon as he closed the door, dropping him before his boutique. Fox looked at his little business path becoming higher as there were already workers measuring and discussing their procedures to remodel the 3rd and 4th floors’ exteriors.
Taking a silent deep breath in and out, Fox entered his little shop. It had just opened not too long ago, with Pamela and Fabiola talking with most of the attendants around. There weren’t many people who came to shop, so only one or two attendants moved around to help clients.
As Fox entered, he looked at the place where static-like dull noises came from, and found a little screen sitting on a stool, probably the one he saw was bought a few minutes before the trial with his WID. It was bought in the boutique’s name, after all.
“Fox!” Fabiola spotted him first. Everyone turned to him, staring at their big bad boss who had just walked out of the high tribune like he went there to chat and spend some time with big profile folk.
“You selected the new 2 clerks?” Fox received nods from Fabiola and Pamela. Fox looked at Fabiola, “if I can still walk free around the country in a month, you can recuperate the boutique.”
“Boss! You won’t be taken away, they won’t dare!” An attendant valiantly spoke before timidly shutting up when Fox casually glanced at him. Fox spoke in general, “It’s not whether I am taken as a refugee or prove my innocence. If I am declared guilty, I can only run away, so just take care of the boutique for me. I’ll see how to contact you to get my money.”
“…” Fabiola was a little speechless, but she still nodded meekly. “I will, big bro. Just don’t give up, okay? That lawyer of yours is very good, he was quite funny and entertained.”
“He’s married,” Fox spouted, almost like a warning. The boutique fell silent, even the couple of clients moving around paused. Fabiola took a deep breath and looked at her ‘big bro’ before saying, protruding her lower lip out. “He can marry more than once in his life, no?”
Fox smiled and warmly tousled Fabiola’s hair, making her shut her eyes seemingly so tight they might as well meet her brains. After seeing her cute expression, Fox nodded at the others and gave Pamela a glance before walking to the storage backrooms.
Once hidden from the public eyes, feeling like a cold night where all he had to do to feel warm is to pull the blanket a little higher, Fox took his jacket off. He put it on a table, kept the lights off, and took his phone out. He activated the flashlight with a couple of shakes and revised the jacket.
“!” Fox felt some familiarity before, but giving it a careful look now answered his doubts. This was a semi-empowered uniform armor suit, and most likely all its parts were the same. Fox got naked quickly and checked every piece of clothing. The collar was further semi-empowered, and the buttons. It was a fantastic work, but he knew things like these were only novelty in the times of change about 600 years ago.
After checking the intricacies of this thing, Fox wanted to dismantle and study it. Whether Colmillo, Elega, intended to or not, this could very well give him a good bout of inspiration to start fabricating excellent quality bions.
Naturally, he couldn’t do that since he was still attending trial. In a couple of days at best, Fox might very well be declared guilty, with how this trial was conducted with the workload from his interrogation and confrontation. After feeding the public so much information in such a little time, and acting quick, who could or would stop them?
Sighing, the young man remained bare for the sake of technology. The world wouldn’t weep if he was indecent for a little longer. And thus, with whatever thought Fox could find in himself, barely able to form them and distract him, he spent the day’s light hours in the storage backrooms.
Before the boutique was on closing hours, Fox came out, checking everything once before leaving things to the clerks. The boutique’s 3rd and 4th floor remodeling, decorative and infrastructural, would take about 2 weeks, so it was decided to open them next month.
Fox went to his mega hotel, where he was received with even more gazes than usual, each more intense than he’d ever received before. He couldn’t find fault in them, one wasn’t supposed to know the dark secrets of a person they know.
The SCJ played to forced him to choose between reputation and dignity or being a liability for Luis Heartez and enemy of the State. With Fox’s attitude throughout, the former occurred.
He went to his suite, where he met Mena, welcoming him in with a nod, bringing a bottle of water and some snacks to his bedroom. Fox followed her and saw Teon super comfy with all the suite’s cushion around her, on the bed, with his pajamas. Those were some that he bought to not just get a few suits from the store before.
Teon looked at him, already eating some pizza, and widened her eyes. “Brother!”
Fox walked to her and caressed her head, checking for any extra injury. “Teon… Sister, do you know what your doing was?”
“Yes…” Teon smirked at Fox humoring her with the form of addressing. She stopped acting girly and cute and replied with a downcast but determined expression, “I know, yes. It was I being weak and not able to defend myself. I will grow strong and beat his ass… then force him to meet up later one day.”
“I would hit you if it wasn’t because you might turn into jelly if I do.” Fox pulled a strand of her pitch-black hair to berate her and sat down beside her, on a few cushions at once. “No, it’s not something as lame as ‘not being strong enough’. Instead, you weren’t ruthless. If you had put yourself in a fight or die response, you would’ve broken his leg even if it meant receiving a worse attack from Nauer out of rage.”
“Not everyone is as uncaring of their bodies as you are, bro.” Teon threw her arms to the side and became a lump of lazy, limp flesh on his bed… atop the cushions. “I don’t have an ability to regenerate like you’re some vampire or werewolf to the point even my blood helps others regenerate.”
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“Yeah? Did Mena tell you what happened?” Fox caressed Teon’s head again. Teon looked up at him with upturned eyes from the corners of her sockets. Fox titled his head, silently asking ‘what’. Teon pouted a little, her big black eyes darting around before spilling all the beans. “It was Loba, brother. She came to your suite at night and checked on me. She gave more 2 pills of that new silver medicine.”
“…” Fox was taken aback. He continued caressing Teon’s head, but he blinked and thought before absentmindedly asking, “Is that right?”
“Yeeeh…” Teon lazily answered before turning around and covering herself with the blanket. Fox blinked a few times before shaking her shoulder, gently. “So you know of the state I left that stupid idiot for you? You embarrassed? Hey, I remember someone tempting me to steal them away from the love of their lives~!”
“Graaaawwll!” Teon turned around and bared her claws and fangs at Fox, but he struck her nose, harmlessly pinching it and wiggling it a bit until her bright pale face turned a bit red. Fox let go of her nose, with Teon defeatedly limping on her side again, this time ‘abused’ by her adoptive brother.
“At least your body is reacting healthily… You made me think of things, so I guess I’ll be busy in the future… if I don’t start running from country to country from tomorrow onwards or so.” Fox gently pinched her rosy skin and spoke, Mena watched TV at the side, smiling at times as they talked or frolicked like little grown idiots.
“…” Teon looked up at him, her big black eyes pensive. Afterwards, she threw her arms around Fox’s shoulders and hugged him close. Fox let her, feeling something more underneath her skin. Teon hummed a bit after hugging him, and without letting go, she whispered into his left arm near his shoulder, pressing her mouth against it, spoiled.
“Don’t think the breath in your body, affected and impacting your blood flow from the blows you endured from Nauer earlier, isn’t noticeable, Fox. Your body also oozes of the pain you suffered. Your chest and neck haven’t healed fully, and you’ll need more skin partition cosmetics after showering to hide it well for longer.”
“You can afford to let your body suffer what anyone else would rather not, but that doesn’t mean you have to give up on it, okay?” Teon looked up, demanding attention, “Look at me, bro.”
“Mmm,” Fox exclaimed, looking ahead, paying no attention to her. Teon tsked, threatening to bury her teeth on his skin. “Loooook at meeeeeeee!!”
“I shall not, sister. For a path of prohibited love will unfold upon us must I do, chance I may not!” Fox cupped her jaw and said, deepening his voice. Teon looked up at him, bothered. Before eating a chunk off his arm, she expressed, “Since when are you so humoristic?”
“Grrr,” Teon didn’t wait for his reply and opened her mouth, biting at his arm after lowering his jacket and sliding his shirt away. A few seconds later, her head unmoving, she complained while salivating his skin, “Why did they have to build you an indestructible arm?”
“It’s not indestructible. If I find the meaning of life, it becomes paper thin and I weaken.” Fox looked down at the kitty baring her whiskers as she failed to penetrate deeper than a few millimeters into his skin. Teon let go and looked up at him, still bothered.
“Hehehehe- oink, hahahaha!” Teon smiled and giggled, uttering an embarrassing snort before laughing out loud. His attitude tickled her mood just the right way. Fox smiled at her face, feeling that little bit better he perhaps sought after the trial.
… An hour later, Fox prepared to go, leaving Teon behind, who felt sleepy watching some drama, and talked to Mena before leaving. “Can I require your assistance to do something for me?”
“What kind of adverse situation do you want to put me through?” Mena smiled at Fox. Fox casually replied, “I’d like to task you with bringing my urine to the doc.”
“…” Mena blinked. This wasn’t difficult, nor too weird. It was the situation that didn’t fit, and would make anyone feel creeped out. She opened her lips, just to try something. “What is my payment?”
“You’ve seen the silver medicine, right? Doc would surely give you at least a small cream box, I’m sure.” Fox blinked in response, corrupting Mena. Her eyes widened, and she looked at him like he is a lottery before smiling, “Sure.”
Mena went out after receiving a large cardboard box with a large recipient inside, containing the ‘treasure’. Naturally, even though Fox wasn’t unwilling, he didn’t feel like also ‘donating’ sperm.
He went back to Teon and smooched her forehead, massaging her little head for a bit before leaving, with Mena just a few minutes from returning. Once the baby sister, older than him, was secured, Fox walked out.
Not wanting to go to HQ, not wanting to be at home, and not wanting to be surrounded by people, Fox stayed outside and far from his Blackflower Boutique. With the beginning of the new year, it was still a bit cold in Lýmoca during the day. During the night, it was cold. And now, the elections were reformed to take place much later on, and so would the presidential inauguration.
Bing- ping… Just as Fox wondered what 24/7 food joint or stand to spend part of the night at, he received a call from his cellphone. Not the gifted one, but the one from work.
“Fox, come to the restaurant. I’ll give you an address, don’t take more than 5 minutes.” Luis’s voice sounded from his work phone, amusing but not surprising Fox. He wondered what could be happening as he checked the address, finding out it was a 20-minute walk.
Looking around, Fox was about to test the durability of a suit like this, semi-empowered by nuclear power, when he found a motorcycle left in an alley. With a considerate tilt of his head, Fox walked to it.
… Vrrrrrooooommmmm~~!
… 3 minutes and a half later. A notorious local restaurant open at this hour, 8 PM, was alerted by the loud and continuous, never-stopping noise of a loud engine coming closer to it. Just as some frowned because of the constant exhaustion of the engine, it disappeared, leaving behind a trail of drifting whistles as a motorcycle zoomed in the distance.
Fox rapidly identified Luis and 20 PSD special agents covering everything, even inside the restaurant in case the person sitting with Luis became mad or something, Fox drifted for 20 meters before coming to a stop.
Without losing balance or control, Fox pedaled on the ground and brought the fiery hot wheels of the bike to the sidewalk, parking it before leaving the owner a message after finding their contact. Then, he went into the restaurant, of which the porcelain gateman looked at Fox in disbelief of what he was seeing, letting the young man in.
Fox went to Luis and the redhead, ignoring the awed crowd who were already astounded when their president and the Supreme Justice Minister of the nation walked into this humble but known restaurant. They were respectful enough to not get their phones out and record them like everyone’s lives depended on it, but some still took quick photos and short videos.
Yet, watching Fox come here, that Phesx Caolia in the middle of a trial… Now, it seemed like a friendly show of distinction between politics and daily life after a tense session was a bit more than that.
The restaurant had a wide space outside, with ¾ still belonging to the interiors, and had warmly lit candles and lanterns to offer a great quality of illumination. The rest of the lights came from various light bulbs, hovering a few meters above everyone’s heads in a decorative, soothing manner.
Fox walked to the President, who looked stern, at him. But still welcomed him in silence. As he sat on the table, closer to Luis, Fox stared at the Supreme Justice Minister, who stared at him in… a good mood? Positively? An emphatic glint to meet him in her eyes?
Fox sat down, with the President immediately introducing each other, “Fox, this is Vanessa Valyer, outside of the high tribune. Miss Valyer, this is Fox, my NF’s president and talented ‘super’ bodyguard. You may just call him Fox.”
“It’s an honor to meet the young boy, now a man, who gave Lýmoca many instances to gasp and feel fervor, positive or negative.” Vanessa never stared away from Fox, extending her hand after hearing Luis’s courteous introduction.
“Uh… we meet again y- your… Justice,” said Fox, with a few complications towards the end. This form of address wasn’t strange or weird, but the only experience Fox had dealing with high profile people were ‘president’ and ‘vice president’, at the highest.
“I suppose Vanessa will do,” Vanessa Valyer saw his momentary struggle to extend his hand, finally doing so but showing a gloved hand instead. She looked up at Fox but didn’t say anything, only exchanging the gesture and nodding before turning to Luis.
“Miss Valyer was just telling me about the trial, Fox.” Luis interjected. Fox turned his head to him. Luis continued under Vanessa’s reposing stance, “It seems you left the ‘good parts’ out of the people’s ears, I hope that doesn’t end up becoming a problem for you.”
“I don’t think it would matter, President. My relationship with the people is only as a proxy by yourself. Politics aren’t my thing…” Fox scratched the back of his head with Luis looking at him. Vanessa turned to Fox and commented, “It indeed seems that way. Although Fox has certain capabilities when it comes to one matter, having equal efficiency on some others seems unlikely.”
“Do not doubt this kid, ‘your Justice’. He was as you say a month ago. Now, look at him. Even his innocent, casual, and genuine expression is filed with treachery.” Luis pointed at Fox in a gesture. Vanessa laughed, slightly throwing her head back before bringing a wine glass to her mouth, but only filled with water.
“I do not have the accessibility to drink since I became the Supreme Justice Minister in the president’s first legal term.” Vanessa looked at Fox staring at her and commented. Luis smirked with a tiny hook at his left corner, offering no words.
“Say, Fox. Is there a particular reason, beside seeking the punishment of the people responsible for the wastage of resources, why you stepped into the part of everyone’s world everyone seems to know about but do not?” Vanessa added after their table fell into silence for 3 seconds.
Fox grabbed an empty glass from the center of the table before facing her. He clinked glasses with hers with a hidden meaning. “I don’t. I became involved for those particular reasons alone…”
Looking at Luis, who stared back at him with his back laid on the chair backrest and supporting his chin with his thumb and index and middle fingers, Fox uttered and returned his attention to Vanessa’s face. “As for staying, I’m afraid I’ve been tempted with offers I didn’t know I had become trapped into and am now intrigued about.”
“Would you happen to be interested in the judicial branch?” Vanessa politely asked. Fox hadn’t noticed before, but her non-Supreme Justice Minister voice was still a solid synergy of determined and firm yet charismatic.
Nevertheless, Fox responded as a waiter sweated, pouring him water, “Interest? I am interested, though I don’t know in which direction.”
“Becoming a judge?” Fox sincerely wondered. He took sips from his water-wine glass. “It does sound pleasant, fitting. It also intrigues me. Judges have to always advocate for fairness and law, but all I can do without betraying my heart is to strive with its every longing.”
…