Currently, it’s is Shaid and Olya’s turn to go to the dock town over in Entropa. This basically means that I’ve got to do their jobs over here, on top of already doing mine. So that’s why, right now, Cassandra and I are busying ourselves with tilling the fields. It’s important that we maintain a regular and daily habit of tilling, planting, and then collecting the wheat here, because it’s our most successful (and only) resource that we can give to the World.

“I’m getting tired.” I stopped to wipe the sweat off my brows, “Geez, since we’re inside, I thought we would be safe from the Sun, but as it turns out, the walls in here get really damned hot.”

“That’s right, brother.” Tanathos tossed me some water, “It’s practically an oven, but it’s thanks to this oven that we can maintain pretty much perfect weather conditions all year long. Be proud of your design.”

“Father is right, brother Schnell.” Cassandra chimed in, “I think what you made is amazing. Way better than if we had to do this outside.”

Or so she says, but in reality, cultivating wheat or any other plant out in the middle of the desert is impossible. Now I know she’s not dumb, I mean, certainly she’s not the brightest quikka out there, but definitely not stupid by any means, so I know she already knew that herself, hence why I won’t be pointing it out. Though, I do appreciate the support for my pyramid-like design. I was rather proud of it when I first thought up the design, and seeing it come to life thanks to Olya’s masterful architecture skills just made me even more excited. I did feel a tinge of uncertainty about it right now, but these two quickly helped me get over it. It’s nice to have people supporting your ideas.

“Speaking of good ideas, who thought of the genius idea to plant seeds daily?” Tanathos pondered.

“Don’t get senile already, Old Man.” I teased, “It was Olya, remember? He was the one who demanded we till, plant and collect seeds daily in a very strict and specific schedule so that we could collect huge yields of wheat on the daily.”

“I thought he was creep, but he is pretty genius after all.” Cassandra spoke her mind about the fat man.

“Nah, he’s definitely a creep.” I added, “But he’s Havana’s creep.”

Quietly applauding at my ability to somehow make someone as disgusting as Olya stand out in the spotlight, Cassandra smiled away before heading back to finish her row of soil. Tanathos, on the other hand, took me aside for a moment to have a quick chat.

“Brother, I need to be frank here.” He made sure no one was listening in before subtly whispering, “Is it me, or have you and my daughter gotten a bit too friendly with each other?”

“Not you too, Old Man!” I rolled my Eyes, “I could understand those two, since teasing is practically in their blood, but for you to join in on the joke too?”

“No, I am not jesting.” He shook his head before flashing me a melancholic smile, “I just think it would be wonderful is all.”

Eh? Come again? Did he just say it would be… wonderful? Hold on, hold on, everything is out of whack right now. To start off, Cassandra and I don’t have any feelings for each other, it’s purely platonic and friendly between us. Ugh, it’s because of those two idiots that Tanathos probably got the idea in the first place. Damn them, making things awkward for me for no good reason…

“I can assure you, we are not like that.” I said as I turned around to get back to work, “A-Ah.”

Well, shit. What rotten luck to have the one girl I most didn’t want to have overhear this conversation suddenly pop up right in front of me. Uhh, who knows? Maybe she didn’t hear what we were talking about specifically? No, that’s impossible, if I know her, then she was probably silently listening in from the very moment Tanathos pulled me aside. She heard everything, now I just gotta see how she’s gonna react to hearing it.

“…Back to work.” She muttered.

“Hm? Sorry, could you speak up a bit?” I went to duck a bit so I could hear her a bit more clearly, only to get slapped straight across the face.

“I said – Get back to work!” She shouted at the top of her lungs before running off.

Damn, I really fucked a hedgehog in the back there. Shit, she’s mad now, but why? Was she mad because I said there was nothing between us? I mean, obviously, there isn’t. I wouldn’t dare look at her in that way, in fact I’d much rather refer to her as a sister than anything else. Or could it be… Ooh, I get it! Fuck, I know why she’s mad now! I basically told her pops “Yeah, she’s so ugly, even an idiot like me would have no interest in her!”

“I do apologize, brother…” Tanathos dropped his head down, but I didn’t care at all.

“Hey, wait up!” I shouted as I went to run after her, “Crap, why are you so fast, woman!?”

Running throughout the quik, a lot of the people’s attention was drawn solely to the two of us. Under normal circumstances, I would say this is kind of embarrassing, but I would think her telling someone that Schnell of quik Havana is so full of himself a ton more degrading!

“There, gotcha’ ya’ little…!” I grabbed her with all my might just as someone called out to me.

“Schnell?” A calm yet somewhat worried voice called out my name, “Son, what are you doing?”

“Eh?” I turned to see my mother, Mirka’s worried expression and my father, Predrag’s death glare, “Mom, dad!? What are you doing here!?”

Looking around a bit in a panic, I noticed two other figures standing awkwardly next to them. It seems whatever is going on here is the result of Shaid and Olya, because they were eagerly averting their gazes as they discreetly and oh so desperately begged for my forgiveness. You fuckin’ imbeciles…!

***

“Mother, father.” I asked again, “What are you doing all the way out here in Havana?”

“Ah, before that, could you let me go?” Cassandra sheepishly asked.

“Oh, right!” I quickly noticed I was still tightly holding onto her so as to make sure she doesn’t run off, “S-Sorry…”

“Sine, dođi ovdje na sekundu.” Father slowly beckoned, “Mnf!”

Without a moment’s notice, he had struck me straight across the face. What luck, it seems today I got slapped twice, although this one hurt a hell of a lot more than Cassandra’s. Worried, she tried to intervene, but I knew all too well what kind of a person my father is.

“Jebena crnkinja te brani?” He raised his hand to strike her instead, “Budalo jedna, kako te nije sramota!”

“Stop it!” Mother yelled as Olya and Shaid tried their best to hold him down, “Let him explain himself first, dear! I know there must be a reason for all this!”

“She’s right, Mr. Douglas!” Shaid mustered up the courage to face his ex-boss, “Schnell was just…!”

“Začepi i ti!” Father tossed him to the ground, “Dam ti posao, hranu, dom, i ti opet pobjegneš? Šaide, jel’ mi to želiš reći da su ti sad i neke kao dlake narasle na mudama pa mi imaš obraza suprotstaviti se!?”

“…” Shaid gulped before meekly whimpering, “Ne, gospodine. Izvinite.”

Holy crap, this whole debacle is driving me insane. Everything’s a mess, I tell ya’! First, mom and dad still haven’t explained to me why they’re here right now, dad’s pissed as fuck, mother looks disappointed, Schnell and Olya are useless, and Cassandra’s is nearing tears! I gotta do something, I gotta, I gotta…!

*Smack*

Without even thinking, I had slapped my father back. This was something I could have never even imagined myself doing, and you could tell from everyone’s faces that they knew it too. He slowly turned his neck back to face me, his closed Eyes that showed all too much disappointment and anger. Without a doubt, the next thing he does is gonna be intense, but I didn’t care. He trespassed in my haven, caused a ruckus, and had the audacity to scare my friends for no good reason. His next action was going to be damn near lethal, but that just means I gotta follow up with a lethal move of my own.

“Now.” I glared back at him, not even bothering to blink, “Had your fun yet, pops? Look around you and you’ll notice you’re the only adult here acting like a child. Now, you can either continue to throw your little tantrums and make a mockery of our family, or you can quietly apologize to all these nice people and we can all head inside for some tea. Which will it be?”

“Phah! Civilized people? You must be out of your goddamned…!” He turned to look at all the nicely dressed and peaceful quikkas, “…mind.”

“Geez!” Mother suddenly reached up on her tippy toes to grab him by the ear, “Now look what you’ve done! Everyone, I am so sorry for my husband’s actions! He’s just a bit nervous is all, but I assure you he’s actually not like this at all once you get to know him!”

“H-Hey!” Dad weakly retorted, “Mirka, let me go this instant! It’s embarrasin’!”

“And?” She stared him down, “Don’t you think causing a ruckus in the middle of a desert settlement is just a tad bit more embarrassing, dear?”

Pfft. Looks like mom knows just how to deal with a stuck-up husband. Ironically enough, dad really isn’t this rigorous usually. True, there are moments when Shaid and I would mess up and he would resort to cussing us out in his native Cardinian, but I don’t think anyone expected him to so magnificently blow a fuse as he did just now.

Sitting inside the house together, it was quite the sight having to accommodate for everyone here. Mother and father were a bit separated from the rest of my friends, which made the overall air feel kind of awkward. Deciding to be the first one to break the ice, mother demanded answers.

“Son, I’m sorry for being blunt.” She looked me in the Eye, “But you have to understand how worried we were about you two suddenly up and leaving. Tell me, please, what was the reason behind such a bold decision?”

Explaining everything to her was a bit difficult. Obviously, you can’t just tell a middle aged woman the entire game plan and expect her to understand, but I still felt I needed to be transparent here. Thus, I took a deep breath as I served everyone their tea and…

“Unify the World. That was our reason to leave home.” I explained, “Without going into too much detail, Shaid, Olya and I all agreed that the World we live in right now is a rather ugly one, and we just felt there was a need for change. We held absolutely no subjective grudges against anyone when we made that decision.”

“Speak for yourself, amigo.” Shaid threw everyone off for a moment, “For me at least, I just kind of wanted to leave my family among other things. But yeah, unifying the World was the catalyst, so to speak.”

“Right, and this catalyst…” Dad rolled his Eyes, “It involves befriending the dark-skinned people?”

This diss, obviously pointed at Cassandra and the other quikkas, sort of fell flat, as no one in the room agreed with his stance, and even she herself wasn’t as mad as she was just kind of disappointed. Her meek demeanor emphasized that even she herself felt just about ready to blurt out something as outrageous as “Sorry for being black” or something similar.

“Indeed it does.” I calmly elaborated, “For as long as we try and villainize the other people of this World, only more and more Great Wars will continue to occur. Father, as someone who’s lived in the Safest Place in the World, how can you of all people turn out to be so racist?”

Giggling, my mother couldn’t help but answer the question pointed at him with a comment of her own. “You’ve matured, Schnell. Back home, you never had anything that would make your blood boil so much before.”

“Ah, you think?” I found her smile rather contagious as I felt the mood of the room shift to a lighter one, “Yeah, I’m pretty proud of what we’ve managed here thus far, so…”

“But you still shouldn’t have run away so suddenly and without warning.” She frowned.

“Yikes! Sorry about that, mom!” I suddenly remembered, “B-But never mind me! Come on, guys, won’t you finally tell me why you followed us all the way here, and how!?”

Sighing, Shaid was the one to answer that one. “Amigo, sorry, but that one’s on us. While we were selling the wheat, Miss Mirka happened to have spotted us, and after that, we just couldn’t shake them off without either letting them follow us here or telling them you died or something.”

“Ah, is that so?” I figured, “Then I guess I’m glad you didn’t go with the latter.”

Now, everyone was all but caught up with the situation, except of course for one girl nervously putting tons of sugar into her cup of tea – Cassandra. I can imagine that meeting two new people who have such strong personalities all of a sudden is kind of difficult in and of itself, but when you factor in the fact that the two of us were caught in such an inopportune moment as well, and well…

“A-Ahem.” She cleared her throat, not intending for it to be heard as loudly, “A-Ahm, sorry…”

“And you, young lady.” Mother smiled warmly at her, “What’s your name? You seem to be friends with my boys.”

“…Cassandra.” She awkwardly scanned all of our faces, “Y-Yes. We are friends.”

Yikes, that one hurt. With how she delivered it, mother is obviously gonna find her suspicious. I know she was trying to be polite and all that while we were outside with everyone watching, but the truth is that my mother doesn’t quite like the dark-skinned race either. The amount of beggars we would see out in Meridia, and every time she would knowingly avoid giving the black ones money in favor of the white ones. That’s just how it was, mother isn’t openly racist, but the fear and distrust for the people is certainly still there, whether she admits to it or not. That being said, how will she react…?

“Cassie!” She raised her arms up in the sky.

“Fueh?” Cassandra recoiled a bit from the shock, “What, uhh… huh? No, it’s Cassandra…”

“Yeah, but Cassie is such a cute nickname!” She examined her for a bit, “Befitting of a cute girl such as yourself! Such a nice, slim body, despite being bl… err, and your hair too! Such a vibrant white color! Tell me, how do you keep it so shiny in this desert?”

“C-Cute…” Cassandra was still stuck processing the first compliment, “A-Ah! I mean! I just kind of wash it regularly in the oasis…”

“My God.” Mother donned a serious expression, “So you’re a…”

“Mother?”

“Son, don’t you realize what this means?” She looked at me with sweat pouring down her face, “She’s a freshwater girl.”

Dammit mom. Stop it with the jokes already! And what the hell even is a freshwater girl? She’s not amphibious, dammit!