When stripped to its barest membrane, Pterugean ways are not so different from the Punklorde mentality.
For this very reason, Wolfie initially quite detested me and made no effort to conceal the fact.
Cannot say I took offense– It is an underdog’s nature, to bare teeth in the face of those prodigious.
No matter how similar our homeworld battles and unsightly respective beginnings,
that girl knew at a glance; My strength is innate and I have never been unable to fall back on it.
Weakness is alien to my constitution and I appear unmarred by endured hardship.
Bladie and Firefly, in comparison, wear losses on their sleeve and as such, are not clad in ‘a pretense of inhumanity’. Something which, Elio says, exudes from me in unsettling magnitudes and renders even close comrades at a distance.
The child took to them quickly, unearthed the doting elder beneath Blade’s gruff exterior and formed a youthful kinship with Firefly. Bonds each of them had previously been denied by circumstance.
Conversely, animosity towards me only grew thicker, given how poorly Wolfie takes to leadership.
I pulled her away from games, issued orders and enforced a rigid training regimen. For however skilled, she lacked soldierly disposition; A mode the others can readily switch into and within our line of work, makes for a non-negotiable requirement.
I was taken for a bully.
Lumped together with Punklordian second-rates who, incapable of venturing upward, resolve to kick their very hardest at all that lies beneath.
Said indictment, admittedly, did stir something ugly within. So much so, that a few days of separation followed.
Fragility fascinates, I am known to observe its various manifestations at length; But chiefly because it is frail, does not make me liable to tear off a butterfly’s wings.
To feast on what cannot fight back is a devil’s inclination and I am 𝘯𝘰𝘵 among their ranks.
With Elio breathing down my neck, I took stock of Wolfie’s life and, mustering a hearty benevolence, reserved only for troubled children...
Made plans to adopt a milder approach.
What followed was a close and vocal monitoring of her respective level, going so far as to institute an arbitrary point system, every time we sparred. This, the girl’s inner Punklordian proved amusingly responsive to and however biting her words remained, she gradually began to make an effort.
Somewhere, while exhibited dimly, I noted a faint bit of guilt for her earlier lashing, deemed that apology enough and paid the matter no further mind.
The decisive softening, occurred after a two man heist. Run-off-the-mill relic acquisition, but it was among Wolfie’s earliest on-field operations.
For lack of better options and as one of my many indulgent concessions, I treated her to a drive-through dinner.
Hamburgers, fries and something referred to as a ‘caramel iced coffee’, which to me, seemed like naught but milk and sugar.
But that is neither here nor there.
Though not much in the grand scheme of proceedings, olive branches come in all shapes and sized; One need only seize them.
In-between overly ambitious bites, the girl side-eyed me, averted her gaze, repeated this twofold and then, mumbled full-mouthed.
“Fifty-two kills for me, nonconsecutive. Ninety-seven killstreak for you, plus final capture. Your aim is still- Ugh, whatever. Next time, I’ll win.”
“Oh, do not be so sullen. A steady hand develops with time, dear.
Should you desire some pointers, I am always willing to allot for additional marksmanship drills.”
“Shuddup!”
ALT Not my best, but I had fun writing. Experimenting with a journaler's perspective for Kafka.