Another day, another time for clouds to sew themselves up
and hide the sun’s warm rays. Rain
poured down from the heavens as if one had angered a weather goddess. People
rushed on their way to work with umbrellas in one hand and phones in the other,
cars racing by and splashing some with streams of water.
Brandon drummed his pen on his desk idly as he totaled up
his budget for the month. His desk wasn’t as messy as it was last time, papers
neatly organized in separate piles as his laptop sat in the middle. Pookums
laid her fluffy head on his lap as he totaled up his spending and compared it
to his income.
When it was all calculated using the magic of math, his eyes
widened. The number was not anywhere near the negatives. In fact, it was a
nice, fat positive.
Pookums yelped and backed off as Brandon stood up and
shouted, “WOO, I DID IT!” Although, his cheers quickly turned into a torrent of
“Sorry, sorry, I’m so sorry Pookums, sorryyyy” when Pookums whined at him. He
sat back down and gave her plenty of ear scritches as he planned out next month’s
budget.
Needless to say, budgeting for the Kuwahawi trip was at the
top of his ‘To-Do’ list.
His phone beeped a few times as he worked, catching Pookum’s
attention every time. Most of them was Emily talking to him about plans,
sharing her frustration over a twenty page paper (“it’s fucking bullshit”), and
several pictures of Hannah being cute. Some were just Jacob gushing about his
latest crush on a 1958 Plymouth Fury (“isn’t she beautiful?!?”), while others
were just David inviting him to DnD.
Of course, Julie had sent him texts, too! “Plz do the
needful!” she said. “We still need the cryptid club logo!” she said.
Brandon stopped working on budget issues just to draw some
rather elaborate, beautiful flowers growing around the word, “NO” before initialing
it and sending the picture over to her.
Aside from her pleading, this day was turning out great-
Beep. Beep. Beep.
Brandon checked his phone again, curious to see what it was
this time. Jacob sent him and Emily something… a video?
He tapped on it to watch, and immediately he heard screaming
and wailing. There was smoke rising from some of the cars, scorch marks visible
on the side of a local auto repair shop. People hid behind cars and buildings,
but a beam shot out and phased partway through them, melting whatever material
it touched.
After a few seconds of the camera panning everywhere,
Brandon heard Jacob say, “Shit’s bad here, really bad! Some fuck decided to
pick a fight outside and got this shithead” – the camera panned over to a man
in a black hoodie, the tattoos on his hands visible as he fired off lasers with
wild abandon – “all riled up. I don’t know what the fuck it was about, but
people are getting hurt out here! Already called the crew; they’re working on getting
people outta here. Police is on their way, too, but- Shit!” Brandon’s heart
seized saw a laser fly out, Jacob raising a hand to block it but getting a
nasty burn for his trouble. “Fuck! I’ll… I’ll hold him off, you guys just get
over here and do your Kobber thing! We’re counting on you, bros!”
As the video stopped, Brandon stood up and kneeled by
Pookums, patting her fluffy head for a bit before standing up and hurrying to
get dressed in something other than a crop top and pajamas. It took him about
five minutes to get out the door and on his way to the auto shop.
God, his heart was pounding. It was too soon for this Kobber
thing to start! He only spoke to a Kobber a grand total of once! His friend’s
hurt and other people are getting hurt and oh
god why?
Still, though… there was just a hint of excitement in his
heart, though.
If this was going to be his life from May to October… then
it was better to get some practice here while he still could… right?
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