Murphy's law

He finished filling out the pitants files on the medical hexagono board. Stretching and yawning before heading outside.

"I'm going on a break."

Outside the hospital the cold dawn air tickled him. Night not fully away yet.

He looked at the sky, clouds in the shapes of question marks, exclamation marks and semicolons. He blinked slowly in confusion.

'Well I'm already crazy so nothing new.' He rationalized before noticing the familiar figure sitting in the bench, time unfamiliar. He looked at her mischievous smile with a deadpan look.

'Yup, she figured out the glitch in the vending machine.'

There were a good old paper map inside the beekeeping book she was holding. Marks where smoke vending machines were.

'In addition to here there is another one near another major hospital, the last one in the previous slum area, love monster is there so can't risk it. But on the other side..turns out this machine gives out more than two refills a day for a person. Late nights and early mornings to be exact. Now I can finally build my stash back.'

She smiled in satisfaction, stretching her limps and neck before it dawned on her.

'...Do I have a problem?'

'Nah, not my biggest one, it's fine.'

She looked at the ugly annotated beekeeping book in her hands. The final exam is approaching, even patitcha made her pause working on the collapsed apiary for the meantime.

'What would the exam be like?' She puts the map aside. He sits down on the bench, eyes looking up every now and then. She looks up in curiosity.

"Oh it's happening." Light excitement in her voice.

"So I'm not seeing things?"

"You will see things when you make a wish sir."

"Really?"

"It would be weirder if you didn't see anything actually."

'Thought anything can happen if you don't have a name.'

" I dream about a pushy candle salesperson talking about refunds every now and then."

"You're normal, congrats." She said with lazy sarcasm.

Both looked at the morning sun bathing the strange clouds.

"These don't move do they?" He observed.

"They call it a cosmic event, these clouds will turn into stars then it will burst into tiny confetti." She explained with tamed excitement, if she smiled it would be a soft one.

"When?"

"Maybe in two or three weeks. In midnight usually."

"Sounds beautiful."

"It is." She's looking up still, hand on a cheek. He looked at her.

"Won't you be late?" He asked, sun was rising up quickly.

"No classes today. I'll just go practice a little."

"Sedulous." He teased, she gave him a side eye.

"Wish I was."

"You're not?"

"Apparently not, I barley wanted to get out of the bed today." She admitted like she failed a critical mission.

" You're normal, congrats." He throw back at her, minus the sarcasm.

They stared at each other, air sincere between them.

"Shouldn't you go home?" She changed the subject, it was too sincere for six in the morning.

"A sinour will do a full kidney repair in couple hours. If I watched fifteen of those they might let me scrap in."

"Sedulous."

In the nearby city Ryu and his friend bob were doing their favorite activity, fishing by the river in silence.. until his stomach growled.

"Really? I just ate."

"You're growing."

"I guess." He reached one arm back lazily, taking a quenchy bottle from their bag. He noticed the strange clouds up there.

In the bike shop Roxy was looking at the shop owner like a kid waiting politely for candy while he read the bicycle fixing book.

"Yup this is better than the first." The man finally said, closing the book.

"Really?"

"Yup, the sentences are not clunky or broken anymore. Thought it's still.. to straightforward I guess? Well it's not a novel so it's not bad but.. I don't know it's a little uncanny."

'It's hard to synthesize useful info from humans feedback sometimes. Though I was told this before. '

"Well don't fret it, you got the chance for a second addition after all."

"Hehe! cuteness makes everything easier."

With that she thanked him, put the copy on the magazine rack and walked out of the bike shop.

"It would be sad to waste paper, can we do five copies release instead of the standard?" That last minute proved itself the right move.

'There was no way my first translation would anything but a mess, like most things.'

She looked at the magnetic clock on the street. powder inside is purple.

'It's been a while since the last -almost food shortage- '

She wrote that in her planner. Drank some quinchy from the public faucet and walked to the library. Stopping at a sweet shop first.

'Just wait you oldy! I will make the best translated non fiction til ... I don't know but if more non fiction got send to the institute of translation that would piss her off. Screw a real job, I will annoy her full time!'

"Hmmm, buying copies from your second addition release?" One of the library managers repeated after eating a baclava piece.

"One is enough though, the library need a bicycle book!"

"I don't mind.. but no one comes to market a book so I will see if my supervisor approve and catch you up."

"Thank you very much."

The manager chewed in confusion, watching her walk away.

'Why translating though? not even nobles earn much from that. Well, youngsters i guess."

'Now... How knows when I will actually get good at translating unless...' She looks up the sky and its strange clouds.


The lack of her social skills made the training at the apiary stress inducing, no one was mean or rude but it was apparent that everyone got to know and mix with one another, making colleges from other sectors as well, talking about plethora of stuff she doesn't really know or care about. And the absence of classes multiplied such talking.

She dozed at the sky, just because looking at others talking while not participating make one look like an idiot.

"The clock declared almost food shortage today."

"No way, I wanted to check out that restaurant I told you about."

" Sucks for you."

Aside form the mild reaction she wondered how the clocks in the streets can declare that.

'Well the washing machine works without soap so anything possible.' She rationalized, fearing the embracement of asking.

She shot a greedy look toward the clouds.

She fell to the ground with the golden apple on her chest. The trees of the area stabbed her eyes with the shine they reflected. This area of the green zone wasn't dangoirse in the traditional since. The trees' outer bark was pure copper, aluminum or even iron. The sunlight they reflected rendered the intruders vision useless and most simply walked away to spare their eyeballs.

Metal also amplifies sound waves, for better or for worse.

She wears sunglasses, puts ear plugs on and walks deeper in the metal forest, legs avoiding the large roots trying to trip her.

'I hid it somewhere.' She reassures, pressing the tree trunks one after another. Looking left and right and less at her footsteps till she sees a pile of fallen dry leaves.

'They look crunchy.'

She steps on some leaves. Satisfaction quickly overreadin by the teasing look of a certain someone in a brown suit.

"So you have that side of you huh?" Said the girl laying on the ground.

"What's you're doing here?" She avoided eye contact.

"Stacking up nutritions, and looking for the same thing as you." A velvety radish crawled back to the open chest, wound closing.

Karaza took a deep breath scratching her head in defeat.

"Well, see ya around then." She turned to head back.

"Come onnnn, don't be boring."

"Sorry, my ego won't handle another lose against you so I'mma walk away with dignity.. or what't left of it."

"Ehhhh? well more for me then since I found another one of these." She waves a picture frame in the air, Karaza stops and turns back at her although not initiating any action despite the inviting gesture.

"I know better this time."

"Do you?" Roxy temptly patted a pile of dry leaves neat her. lifting her eyebrows.

She jumped again into the crunchy leaves.

"See? I don't bite." Roxy said, the two now sitting on a log. Each holding her empty picture frame.

"You don't have to, one touch and your opponent is out." She scoffed, looking at the frame. Sunset light softens the reflection.

She hands her the frame.

"I don't wanna be up against you again."

Roxy didn't take the frame. Looking at her.

"Then why did you bother coming here if don't wanna fight?" Her look was piercing.

"Didn't think I would be up against you."

"Didn't take you for a wimp."

Her look resembled a disappointed elder, not a look Karaza ever expected.

"Then take me for one." She mumbled, looking away.

"Why do you want the bowl of lemon then?"

That was the thing about non humans, cutting through the bullshit not worrying about preying or not.

"You know...use the bowl to be a real citizen, not someone who only talks normally to inhuman creatures."

"Girl just go and talk with people."

"Easy for ya to say. Whatever, take the lemon bowl, defeat the karabora and wake my skeletons from their sleep."

Roxy listened through the mini self deprecating speech.

"I don't want the lemon bowl for that." She deadpanned. Smiling at Karaza's stiff confused face.

"With the lemon bowl I shall master the craft of translating non fiction! And I will piss off that oldie!" She laughed like a dramatic menace at the end.

"Woman you need a real job... AND you don't need aicant artifact to learn this?"

"Look who's talking!"

"Unlike you I'm..."

'Struggling' was a word she couldn't bear hearing out loud.

Despite all the theatrics of the other she let that deep pause goes under the rug.

"Well then! I will go and claim my prize!"

"Whatever."

The parasite flied away on her broom.

'Man, this was suppose to be a light errand. Can things get any worse?' Seconds later she got the answer. 

She summoned her axe, walking slowly sideways as she picked up sounds through the inefficient ear plugs.  

A silhouette of a person made out of seaweed was in an altercation with a group of people. She squinted, knowing better.

"Shapeshifting seashells." She eyes the humans with their swords and bows besieging the seaweed man, though the other was sat crisscross, strangely uncaring.

Her freshly new existence alerted them, turning eyes on her.

"Just passin' by, continue." She locked eyes with them.

"She has a seed, I suggest you team up with your own." The seaweed man echoed, voice as thin whatever function as his air pipes.

She let a sigh of frustration, the free hand fondled the golden apple in her pocket.

'Let's see, from this distance I can escape easily but if they saw the golden apple...their ditching the lemon bowl and coming for it.'

"Hello there." One humanoid carefully stepped closer.

The wild was filled with creatures that wore the illusion of humans to hunt such specie, such known fact made her reply with a mere raised brow.

"Name's Katie." Another feminine humanoid said, putting her bow back and extending a hand.

"You think I get along with my own kind?" She asked with the tone of someone with brewing headache.

"Whatever you need to learn, if we work together we all can get what we want."

'Do I gave them the frame and call it a day? I really can't deal with the human role play.' She thought, not listing to the let's corporate speech though she was looking at the speaker dead in the eye.

'Maybe I can watch them get folded by a non apologetic imposter, god their so annoying. At least boots monster wasn't this delusional.' She blinked slowly as the other explained

"We need to stick together, else we are doomed in face of other violent creatures!"

'Wait... do I not tolerate my own kind this much? ...Well that tracks but no proper citizen thinks this way.'

"Properly, what do I know?" She talks to herself in their faces.

"Just give it up pal, I say it to save y'all some real humbling."

'Wait..'

'When the cosmic event happen, bury the 20x 20 iron frame in the glowing spot of the salt desert when the and the lemon bowl shall Synthesize from it. Mash the bowl to pieces and you will learn whatever your heart desire.'

'The recipe said nothing about fighting anyone, as long as you have a frame...'

'And the salt desert... as far as everyone know.. isn't bounded to a location.'

'It appears and vanishes in different locations.'

'Her broom isn't as efficient as my apple.'

'Anything that can go wrong will, that applies to everyone.'