Chapter 16 ~ Seroconverting

"You know, I had always wondered about shoes," Kurai began as she walked alongside Robin on the way home. They still were not too far from the clinic. "Why you and Mr Meus always wore such hard things on your feet. Clothing made enough sense on its own. It's so soft and warms you up. But shoes? They were so loud against the floorboards and looked uncomfy as all get out! But, I can see the rationale while out on these streets. I can't imagine how dirty you'd get walking around in this barefoot." She had suede Chelsea boots that were the very definition of comfort to walk around in. Running was a different story.

"Heh, you say that but some people do it anyways. Usually some small children or homeless bums. Y'know, people on the same level of critical thinking." He seemed very carefree, but his eyes and ears were peeled for anything and anyone that got close to them. "...That's a joke, by the way. I never know if I have to specify that with you."

"I don't see what's funny about it. I must be missing something."

"Ah, don't worry about it. At any rate, you're lucky I found a good pair for you. I actually hadn't taken your shoe size before the master sent me to shop for a few outfits for you, but since I knew your other measurements, I could take a pretty good guess." As for himself, he was wearing the usual black Mary Janes over white cotton socks. Even for his height, he had a small shoe size.

"Goodness, you just guessed at it? You got the size so perfectly I'd never have, well, guessed that it was. You have such an eye for fashion."

"Mhm! I've always had more of a knack for it that most other boys. I know I said I never had an education, but I did get lessons about etiquette, attire, that sort of stuff. It's not like we got to pick what kind of slaves we would be trained as, but I realized from an early age that I'd be better off ah, influencing my way into the more social types of work. Y'know, doing things like making yourself look too weak for manual labor, coming off as charming and respectful enough they'd see you as a good pick for less blue-collar work. They don't care about your interests, but they do care about whatever will make them the most money off of you. I never thought I'd be a maid, but it's better than most things I can think of. The boys that were too dumb or rough-necked ended up getting the kinds of work that make you sweat during the day instead of at night."

"...What does that mean?"

"Pfft... You'll find out someday, Kurai. Now's probably not the best time to talk about it while out in public. Anything else on your mind?"

"...Well, now that you mention it, what did happen between Irene and Mr Meus anyways? I feel like she's trustworthy, but I'm worried if she hurt someone as good as the professor."

"Haha... You really don't want to keep things light today, do you?"

"I'm just curious about you hu... about you people, is all." She smiled, but he couldn't see it while leading her through the district.

"I suppose I could tell you. There's a park up ahead. Let's rest our feet there, at least. It shouldn't take too long." Kurai couldn't even see the park from where they were, but Robin was right on the money. For all the restrictions of slaves in the city, he was very well versed in it. Meus must have entrusted him to take care of matters around the city countless times by now. Nobody else but Kurai and him were in the park as they sat on the benches. "So, since we're already going to be talking about rough business, tell me. From your point of view, what do you think the worst kind of crime is?"

"Stealing, it's got to be." She didn't need any time to think on that question. "Especially taking all of someone's food so that they have no choice but to starve. It's not just cruel, it's excessively so to completely deprive them. If you only stole some of it, it wouldn't be nearly at bad."

"That answer really fits you, I gotta say. But for most people in the city, they'd probably say murder. It's different than killing. When you got roughed up by those men, I can't say I know if any of them died, but... let's just say the constables were never going to come knocking at our door. There's an understanding with people of different statuses there. Since I'm part of the Selland Estate, even a slave like me has higher legal status than those jerks as long as I'm acting on the master's behalf. But with people of the same social class, or especially from a lower ranking one to a higher up, killing is seen as completely intolerable. Just one impoverished nobody getting away with killing a nobleman could spark riots, even a revolution. It would embolden the common people way too much if they thought they could get away with such things."

"I see..." she lied. She couldn't get it at all with how different humans' lives were valued. From an outsider's perspective like hers, they all seemed far too equal for such distinctions to make any difference. "I'm guessing this ties in to what happened?"

"Yep. Irene murdered Meus's fiancé. Right on the streets in broad daylight, no less." He gave Kurai a moment to take that in.

"What...? She really did? How? She's such a tiny little thing. She doesn't seem the type to hurt anyone..."

"Pfft, she's definitely the type. You saw how she pulled a gun on you. You don't get that kind of twitchy finger from being a pacifist."

"...Well, maybe, but why would she attack anyone in the first place? This is the first I'm hearing of Mr Meus's fiancé, but I'm sure she was a nice woman, so why?"

"..." Robin looked like he was trying to hold back a laugh. "...Yeah, you really, really don't have a good eye for people. Sorry, Kurai, it's- it's not anything morbid that's got me grinning. It's just the fact you think the master was ever with a woman." He shook his head as if trying to clarify his answer and trying to shake off levity at the same time. "No, his fiancé was a man. The master's always been into only men."

"..." Kurai thought back to a lot of different small events over the past several months. Pieces were lining up almost too well. Not that she needed to reflect on things, since all it took was one glance at the boy in a maid dress right in front of her to get the idea. "Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh." Her mouth was agape with the revelation setting upon her. The matter didn't bother her, besides how silly she felt not noticing it sooner.

"Hehehe! I love that look on your face." He spent a good minute taking it in. "Right, back to the story. I knew his fiancé, but not too well. Eduardo was a soft-spoken guy, very nervous but he wasn't a bad person. At least not while he was sober. He had a... problem with various substances. He could get very troublesome when he was off his rocker. He never hit me that much, but..." He did not see any good way to continue that sentence. "... Let's just leave it at that. Moving on, he got out into the streets while addled up one day. Apparently it was worse than usual. He started waving a pistol around, pointing a knife at people. It must've been quite the scene. At some point, he had cornered a child against a wall and was yelling at them, still waving that damned gun around. It was unloaded, you know? Not that anybody could tell. People tried to get him to back off, but he just got uncontrollable, grabbed ahold of the kid. Next thing you know, Eddie had a hole going right through his chest. You can guess that's where Irene entered the picture."

"Dear me..." Kurai just tried to imagine it. It reminded her of when she was held at knifepoint. "Please tell me the kid was okay."

"Shaken up, but nobody was harmed besides Eddie. With all the commotion, apparently nobody even noticed a lady as tiny as Irene sneaking up on him until she already attacked. They sure as heck noticed her afterwards, though. As soon as she made sure the kid was safe, she was the first one to send for medical help for Eddie. He actually made it to the infirmary, but there was nothing anyone could do. He was already in the middle of an overdose. Getting your ribs broke open on top of that just sealed the deal."

"This is just getting depressing... Was this really how Mr Meus and Irene met?"

"Mhm. We were actually already out trying to find Eddie and bring him home before something happened. And, well, something happened alright. We made it to the infirmary in time to see him still alive. He was barely coherent, but when he saw the master, he just kept repeating 'I love you, I'm sorry' over and over again. I've never seen Mr Meus so broken up before as when he was cradling his fiancé. Can't blame him. He demanded to know who was responsible, and Irene was there, quiet in the corner. She didn't have time to say anything before Eddie starts groaning. 'I did this to myself. This is all me. I forgive you, I forgive all of you.' He kept repeating himself as his eyes closed and he got quiet. Literally died in the master's arms. I don't know if Irene was crying at that point, but I certainly was."

"I can see why Irene didn't want to discuss all this. Goodness, I wish I could go give them both hugs." She needed one herself after hearing all that. Thankfully, her favorite maid was ready to provide.

"It happened years ago, but... Yeah, it really messed us all up."

"I can't believe Mr Meus made friends with Irene after that. You'd think he'd want to kill her..."

"He did. She was a member of the Church of the Third, so she had immunity to being enslaved on the spot without ecclesiastical permission, but the master was ready to take them to court if they didn't grant him his chance for revenge. I'd hear him late at night sometimes, shouting at the walls what he'd do to avenge his lover. Then, next thing you know, I answer the door one day and it's the nun herself. She just upped and renounced her vows, left the church, and came over to hand herself over to the master. There's no such laws that would have ever made her have to do such a thing. Best I can tell, she was always in good standing with the church. They would have protected her. Her appearance at our doorstep was so sudden that I didn't want to let her in. I told her she'd be killed or worse. I'll admit, with how tiny she is I felt something of a protective side at the time. Never would have guessed she has me beat by several years. But, well, those clergy types can get very wrapped up in ideas of atonement. She looked like she took Eddie's death almost as bad as the master did, just couldn't stand having blood on her hands."

"...I really, really can't understand her. Talking about personal sacrifices like there's some kind of glory to it. I'm somehow not surprised she'd turn herself in like that, but it doesn't make any sense to me. Why would anyone want to throw their lives away like that?"

"Humans don't have to make sense. Which is good, because a lot of us don't try to." He shrugged.

"You're telling me, alright..." She shook her head with a pout. "So, does this mean Miss Irene is actually Mr Meus's slave? I haven't seen her wearing a collar, but..."

"Nope. He didn't enslave her. Didn't even touch her. Heck, I had to convince him to so much as look at our guest instead of hiding in his study. He wanted to put all this blame on her as some unseen, evil villain that he could 'someday' bring to justice. He didn't want to actually confront her. Really, he couldn't help but blame himself. We all knew Eduardo had a substance problem. The master always wanted to do something about it, but he also put that off as something he would 'someday' get around to. Saying it wasn't really that bad. Downplaying, prevaricating... I love the master dearly, you know. I couldn't ask for a better man to end up working under. But for that whole time, he really was a mess. He asked me what he should do. I told him Eddie already forgave both of them with his dying words. Least they could do is forgive each other." He leaned back on the bench, looking up wistfully. Kurai still hadn't let go of him this whole time, but it had muted down into a side-hug by now. "I just wanted to see him happy again. I also didn't want to see such a pure-hearted girl end up as a slave too. Somehow, that whole mess of a situation ended up with both of those wishes coming true."

"That's good to hear. I'm sure it all couldn't have been easy on you either, Robin..."

"I've had worse."

The park grew quiet again as she rested her head against his collarbone. Humans really were such painful creatures. It sounded like everybody was hurting each other all the time, with all the stories Kurai kept hearing and reading about in newspapers. Even this was nothing short of a tragedy. But she already heard the other half of it before all this. 'Just know that he's a good man who showed mercy when he didn't have to'. She could very easily see Meus saying the same thing in reverse. People always had stories about big events like this, but there were countless untold stories floating through every crevice of all the nice, quiet moments. Even here, Robin didn't dwell on the friendship that had formed. With all these events in mind, was it really like this for every single human she had passed by today? There must have been dozens, likely hundreds of faces she'd never see again. If every one of them had all these kinds of events happening all the time, across however many districts...

"...Say, Robin?"

"Hm?"

"How do you... deal with this kind of stuff? It sounds miserable to go through something like that. What if it's happening to someone else on the street? What do you do when everyone around you has such big events happening all the time?"

"Don't overthink it, Kurai. You just play the hand that's in front of you. If something isn't affecting you, then don't bother with it."

"I mean... the incident you were talking about isn't something going on in front of me right now. Am I supposed to not feel sad about hearing it?"

"Well, that's different. It's something that affected people you care about. You'd have to be heartless to not feel anything then."

"I want to care about everyone, though. If everybody was happier and got along better, then maybe a lot of these things could be avoided."

"...Poor, poor girl." His arm was already around her shoulders. He squeezed her in a bit. "Really, you're just gonna drive yourself crazy worrying about everybody you see. Just... worry about people like the master and me. Maybe any friends you make. Everybody else? Screw them. For all you know they could be the ones causing those problems in the first place."

"I don't like the sound of having to ignore everyone else in the world though..."

"You don't have to. You can make enemies of them instead." Another impish giggle out of the maid. "Maybe things like acquaintances too. I feel like you could be quite the social butterfly. Just... don't freak out too much about what others think of you. If they start trouble and you have to end it? Do so and move on. And stop all this overthinking while you're at it! It never did anyone any good. You're too pretty to be frowning so much."

"Ehe... I learned beauty from only the best~." She closed her eyes, nuzzling her cheek against his neck briefly.

The sun was well into setting by now, so they sadly couldn't cuddle up for long. While Kurai would have been able to find the way back before, the respite at the park completely killed her sense of direction. She doubted Robin had the same issues, with how confident he was leading them out of the park. That confidence didn't last long. Before they had even made it to the street proper, there were two large men in blue coats and similarly colored hats with a badge squarely on display. Kurai looked up at them with curiosity. Robin did not share that innocence.

"Top of the hour to ye. Glad to see you two young ladies are all content from all that cuddling up." Wait, they were being watched?

"Indeed, good to see a bit of cheer on such a' evenin'. It's quite unfortunate to see ye've lost yer way. Gets mighty unpleasant out at night, ye know? No place fer two young lasses te be gettin' lost in."

"Um, n-no, we're not lost, sir. We were just heading home," Kurai clarified. She glanced over at Robin for reassurance. His eyes were cast firmly down. He didn't even try to look up at the men.

"Oh were ye now? How fascinatin'. We saws ye wandering around blindly. Thought ye were lost. Surely it can't be a case of public intoxication, now could it? In that case we'd really have to, heh, assure yer safety."

"...Nnnno, it's not that either, sirs. We'll be fine, but thank you for the concern."

"Just be fine, she says! Ye hear that?"

"Oh yes, mighty fine jus' walkin' around intoxicated at night. I'm sure it's no inconvenience whatsoever, just breakin' a wee bit of laws."

"It's--" Kurai was cut short by an elbow in her ribs. It wasn't that hard, but it certainly was a way for Robin to get her attention. He did not need her getting more false charges added on.

"Just. Be quiet." He was completely on edge. Kurai immediately became aware that there was something very bad going on, worse than any mere misunderstanding. "...Forgive my companion. She's very fond of... jokes, yes. What did you need, constables?"

"Jokes, huh? Real funny lass, I tell ye. Real funny." The constable with a moustache had a sharp look in his eye.

"Oh, we don't need anythin'. Just out and about on a bloody picnic, we are. Nothin' at all goin' on, innit?" The fatter one had a lot of teeth showing every time he flashed a grin. It kept being flashed for only a second before anger kept replacing it. Robin kept his eyes down, which seemed to placate the men enough. "Yer not supposed to be loitering, ye little hussies. Especially not while causing justified suspicion o' bein' drunk an' disorderly. And when one of ye's a slave no less! Ye better believe ye got a place reserved at the station now. Maybe if yer master has a finder's fee ready, he'll be happy for us to bring ye home on th' morrow."

"And if he doesn't? Maybe we'll see if there's some way t' make yer sentence go by a bit quicker." He had a terrible leer.

"...R-Robin, can't you do something? Like, the other day, when..."

"No." He wouldn't look her in the eye. His voice was barely above a whisper. "Just... do not cause trouble for the master. We'll get through this."

"Got somethin' ye want to say a bit louder?" He tilted up Robin's chin. The maid still would not look him in the eyes. "That's what I thought, little miss..." He glanced down at Robin's collar to see his name. It also included other basic identifying information like his age, hair and eye color, and gender. Robin gulped as he knew exactly which one of those was giving the constable pause. "...You disgustin' little shite!" He snarled as he backhanded the maid without a single ounce of restraint. It was enough to draw blood from the boy's mouth. "It's a fuckin' boy!" he called out to his fellow officer.

"You shittin' me? What's it wearin' a bloody gown for then?" There was nothing but contempt on his face. It didn't matter that a slave only wore what they're told. For men of their calibre, it was nothing short of a cardinal sin against all things masculine.

"It's about t' not be wearin' anythin', that's fer damn sure." The fatter officer began to walk towards Robin, when he was suddenly held back by Kurai.

"Stop it! Leave him alone! We didn't do anything to you!" she pleaded.

"You wanna fuckin' get whacked like that piece of trash too?!" He whipped out his truncheon in a well-practiced motion. He couldn't get a good strike in before Kurai held him tightly. It was an odd embrace as her arms were weakly holding the back of his neck. It wouldn't do much to stop him from shoving her away. "Back the Hell o... oo... o...." His eyes went wide as he lost his voice entirely, then lost control of his body altogether. Kurai's hand was deformed as she pulled it away from his nape. All the skin around his spinal column was missing. It would take the novae a long time to fully absorb any human entirely, but for using her ability just for melting away the smallest bits of flesh at a key point...

"What the Hell did you just do?!" the other constable shouted. He wasn't the type to hesitate either. He already pulled out his own flintlock pistol and, as soon as there was a clear shot, he took it. Flesh and blood flew off of Kurai as it hammered straight through her center of mass. If it was anybody else, it might have a major effect. For the novae, she only stumbled and winced in pain as she processed what happened. It didn't slow her down when she rushed the other constable. He chose to stand and fight, whipping out his own truncheon. It didn't stop her from tackling him to the ground, wrapping her hands behind his neck. He struggled for the brief interval while he still had strength in his arms, but there wasn't much he could do to push her off when her flesh was melded into his own. Just like the first constable, he stopped moving altogether. Kurai let go of him, rising to her knees as she watched the men warily. They were still breathing, but otherwise they seemed to have gone unconscious with their eyes wide open.

"We need to run!" The novae found herself being pulled to her feet and dragged off in a hurry by a certain maid. There was nobody in the immediate vicinity, but people on the streets at the far ends of the park definitely had their attention now that a gunshot had gone off.

Robin was remaking their route with every step. It didn't matter where they ended up, as long as it was anywhere but here. He dragged Kurai with him through alleys and over fences and gates. He kept pushing them both farther away any time anyone did catch a glimpse of them. He didn't stop until they both were panting and covered in sweat, several kilometers and countless walls away from the scene of the crime. Not a single soul was around. Robin spat blood for the umpteenth time as he sat down on a stairway. There wasn't any relief on his face as he held his head in his hands.

"...Kurai? You're an idiot."