#rogue characters

[mizeress]

I love it when my characters misbehave! They never feel more alive than when even me as the author can't control them.

Excuse me! You were meant to have fled the city and moved on with the plot by now! What do you think you're doing injured, hiding out in an old building, with absolutely no plans of leaving town anytime soon?! Fine, fine. You're right. It's better this way.

*rips up outline with a sigh*

[sassynightcat]

Work

There was a storm raging outside the shields. She was heading home from school but first, she had to stop by her teacher's office.

No one stopped her, no one waited for her or called her name. They all said goodbye and see you tomorrow but… no. She was alone.

As always.

It did not even phase her anymore. It was simply the way of the world.

After all, if not even your own mother tells you goodbye, why would anybody else?

She slumped against the wall waiting for the said teacher to arrive, her lekkus wrapping around her in a bored defensive manner. She looked at the hallway, the ceiling, every detail in her surroundings.

Soon. Soon this would only be memories. Instead of worn down hallways and indifferent peers, she would have...something new.

A new start. Where she could be anybody. Where nobody knew her.

She was at the end of her time here. A few months then she would be in the capital, attending the greatest university in their world. After that… the stars. The galaxy was hers to explore and win over. She’d become so rich and famous these indifferent losers would all clamour to say that they knew her. All would know her. All would…

“Shado, can I help you?” her teacher, Corana, stood in front of her with a raised eyebrow and a pile of folders in her arms.

“I...sorry. Yes. Can I help you with those?”

“Well, it would be kind if you hold them while I find the key and open the door. Is everything all right?”

Shado nodded fiercely and took the folders too then follow Corana in through the door. The sun-kissed human pointed to where to put the folders and sat down at her desk.

“I am just checking if the university has been in contact yet if there is anything I need to prepare or provide for them,” Shado said as she put away the folders and turned to her teacher.

Corana was watching her with that wondrous gaze she often had. Like she could not quite grasp how Shado was doing what she was doing.

“Nothing yet, if anything arrives I will tell you straight away. I must say Shado… I am very proud of you,”

“Oh?”

“You… you are special. You know that? Not many would rise to the challenges of their life as you have. It is very inspiring, and… I am glad to have been a part of your journey,”

“Well… I don’t want to be poor for the rest of my life, so I have to rise don’t I? I see no one around here having nice new things or not worrying about their next meal, or if they are to be robbed on the way home if they do get something worth taking. I want more than that,”

“Most do. Few have the courage to grasp for more though, to really work for it. I… I just wanted you to know that I see all your efforts and that you are doing amazing things,”

Shado smiled. A forced smile.

She wanted to say that Corana knew very little and that she couldn’t wait to get out of here. She didn’t however. It did not fit her persona in school. Here she was a good girl. A hard worker. An overachiever.

The sass and the attitude were for the streets, where they were needed.

“Your mother must be very proud,”

Shado shrugged and glanced at the door. Time to get out.

“I wouldn’t know. I must go now, work you know. Somebody got to pay for the move, right?”

“Of course,” Corana smiled and Shado escaped before more questions about her home life came up.

She didn’t want a pity party. She didn’t want them to get all twisted in their knickers about her. She wanted to pass by noticed alone for her achievements. What good did it do for them all to mumble about poor little Shado whose mother abandoned her? The poor orphan fighting for her place in the world.

No. That was not what she wanted.

She hit the streets heading home only to dump her books, then she was indeed off to work. She needed cash for the move. The capital had to be a lot more expensive than this shithole where she’d grown up, and one of the most important lessons she’d learned in her short life was;

You can never have enough cash.

Sure, her scholarship would provide for her tuition and living expenses, but she needed a buffer. What if something happened? What if there was a fuck-up with her school? No, she needed to make sure she could take care of herself.

She’d been scoping out this jeweller for two weeks, learned their habits and what customers that made them relax. Yesterday she’d snatched a new coat from another vendor on the market and she adorned her lekkus with some eye-catching wrappings before heading in.

Asked a lot of questions about the pieces, cocked her head and laughed at their jokes.

Then she asked for their custom works. The ones they had in the back.

A present, for her sister who was getting married, she lied.

One of them headed out back, the other took care of another customer as they waited. It was all the time Shado needed. She calmly filled her pockets with some easily fenced off rings and switched the boxes so the now much more empty box wasn’t on top.

After that, she calmly looked at the custom jewellery, told them she’d be back within a week when she had discussed the prize with her family and headed home.

Like a pro.

Her fence got a visit and she had a lot of more credits all of the sudden. A good day indeed. If only that blasted storm would stop. It didn’t matter that she knew that she was safe, that it was far far away. After what had happened to Altho she just was...nervous during storms.

Maybe one day she’d be on a world where the weather didn’t melt the flesh of your bones? Yes, she decided. One day she’d make that happen.

Another thing on her bucket list.