| Felix |
Bow was beautiful and tough, and not even Felix could deny that, but he didn't understand her. Honestly, he didn't know why she was being so friendly--he was just the guy that fixed things and wasted candles while he stayed up all night. He shuffled the walkie talkies around, arranging them in a line from smallest to largest, and organized it again by color. He smiled to himself as he did this, no conscious of the fact that he was ignoring Bow.
Finally, he remembered that she was there and looked up, folding his hands in his lap so he could talk to her without the chance of being distracted. "So, who else can you spare from training? Any other low lifes trying to sneak out lately?" he asked. "I don't need twelve people to test these, two or three should be fine. I just need to make sure they're all working before we try to use them. Do we have anything planned this week?" he stopped talking abruptly, realizing that he was rambling. He brought his hands back up onto the table, distracted by his desire to do something, as long as that something wasn't fighting.
If I go out testing these I need someone to protect me, he thought sourly, knowing that he was a weakness as a part of the gang, but every time he tried to fight he just couldn't pick up a weapon. Without warning, a memory came to him.
--
The sun was too bright, reflecting off the pavement and into their eyes, but they didn't care. Stephanie laughed gleefully, dragging him by a hand down the sidewalk after school. He begged to know where they were going, but all she said was "It's a secret!" her eleven year old face painted with elation.
They were almost to their block when a boy riding his bike on the sidewalk stopped in front of them. He was older by a year or two, and neither Felix nor Stephanie knew him, but that didn't mean anything. They knew who he was. Stephanie's face lost the look of happiness that she had been wearing and she dropped Felix's hand. He could do nothing but stand there, frozen, as the older boy pushed his best friend to the ground and stole the money that her mother had given her from her pockets. Even then, it seemed like he was detached from the action, unable to move to fight a boy twice his size.
--
Felix's attention snapped back to the present, and he realized that Bow must have said something, because she looked like she was expecting an answer. "Did you say something?" he asked, his voice sounding slightly dazed. He tried to shake off the memory, but all he could see was the pale face and dark hair of his childhood friend Stephanie, superimposed over Bow's own.
