"He's my Brother!"
This takes place before Kallysta adopts Infinite, but Trip certainly sees him as her big brother long before that!
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Infinite wasn't sure what to make of this. All these weak humans, all staring at him. He wanted to scare them with a flick of the wrist. Show them who's boss.
Instead, he had to settle for glaring at them.
The girls skipped alongside him, the red-haired one (Xelia, he was pretty sure. He memorized Trip's name, but the other two were harder to memorize) pulling far ahead from time to time.
The two women had asked the four of them to pick up some things from the grocery. One of them needed to check in with her job, and the other, the one who kept looking at him with that odd LOOK, like she was staring into his soul, and then zoning out in a SUPER WEIRD WAY seemed too absentminded to do it, which is why they'd asked the four of them.
Why HE had to go too beat him.
His wrist was still in the cast. He had mostly recovered otherwise, other than that wound in his side.
They entered the store and made their way to the cereal isle. The four were allowed to pick whatever cereal they wanted.
The girls started bickering under their breath as Infinite browsed the options.
There was a yelp from behind him. He whirled around and saw a pair of older women, with the girls at their feet.
It looked like the foolish things hadn't been looking where they were going.
"S-Sorry, ma'ams, won't do it again," The oldest one, the girl with black hair, mumbled as she grabbed the other two by their arms and started to tug them out of the way.
The two women glared at Trip in particular. Something about that set off warning bells in the jackal's head. Something about these two made him feel unsafe.
That look in their eyes was uncomfortably familiar.
They approached him and gave him that same LOOK. He bared his teeth defensively, a box of sugary cereal for the girls in his hand.
He heard one of them mumble: "filthy animal, what're those ladies thinking... As if one wasn't enough..."
That, followed by a withering glare, for some reason made him feel... so SMALL... he HATED THAT!
But his body didn't obey him. He felt his ears droop and he lowered his gaze to hide his face.
"HEY!"
Infinite's head lifted. He'd never seen that tiny sungazer look so upset.
"That's my BROTHER! Get AWAY from him!"
Brother?
Infinite was NOBODY'S brother! He was about to tell her that, but his mouth didn't obey.
The women turned on the little girl.
"What, did you never learn any respect?"
One whispered to the other: "What do you expect from some random freaks of nature? Marching like they own the place..."
Trip's eyes filled with tears.
She was beginning to whimper when Xelia finally unfroze, followed by the other girl (Zerina? He was pretty sure it was Zerina).
"Leave our cousins alone!"
"We don't appreciate that."
The two women stared at the older girls. At the glare on Xelia's face and the anxious plea to go on Zerina's face.
They finally glared at Infinite and Trip one more time before turning, talking loudly about "entitled bratty freaks."
"Th-Thanks," Trip mumbled, wiping at her eyes.
Zerina wiped her little cousin's eyes, then turned to Infinite. "Are you alright?"
He nodded.
"Let's go, before some other ENTITLED KARENS show up," Xelia asserted, speaking loudly so the two women could hear.
Infinite mutely nodded.
What... was... that...?