Tevun-Krus #102 - TrashPunk

The Cocoa Conspiracy - A Story by @EvelynHail

The Cocoa Conspiracy

by EvelynHail

I weave my way through the mid-afternoon crowd of the Iron City. It has become second nature to me, flowing through the people with ease, a talent I have developed living here my whole life.

But today I find myself nearly bumping into everyone more often than usual.

The reason for my clumsiness is twofold. I am both excited and running late to see someone special to me.

I smile as I round a familiar corner, knowing that there are only a few dozen more steps before I see her again.

I pause before Doctor Ido's Clinic and breathe a small sigh of relief.

Fireflies take flight in my belly, and the feeling intensifies as my eyes meet the clinic's sign.

Before long, I stand just outside, catching my breath.

I take a brief moment to straighten my unruly hair so that I don't look disheveled or messy to her.

Then I make sure my trusty knapsack hasn't been skilfully snatched on the way here.

Thankfully, it hasn't.

With a grin, I rush up the stairs. When I finally tap my knuckles against the clinic door, the sound echoes in the familiar open space beyond.

My anticipation rises ever so slightly.

I expect to see Doctor Ido himself.

The legendary finder of the unexpected gems hiding in the junkyard, peeking out from the heaps of trash covering our world.

A rebuilder of impressive technology from the discarded items of the ancients.

Without any warning, the door is flung open and I feel a pair of smooth, metallic arms wrap around me, cocooning me in a loving, welcoming embrace.

One I'd been looking forward to for what seems like forever.

"Hey, silly," she whispers.

I turn Alita around to face her and find myself hopelessly lost in those big, beautiful eyes of hers.

As I wrap my arms around her, I see she is wearing a yellow floral dress.

A mutual sigh and a kiss on the forehead are shared, as I speak.

"Hey. I'm sorry I'm late. And you look beautiful in that dress."

"You are always late, Hugo." She pouts. "But it's okay. You are not that late."

"I didn't worry you, did I?" I tease.

She rolls her eyes in a very humanlike fashion and then snuggles into the fabric of my shirt, as she finds bliss within my embrace.

Her answer is muffled: "A little."

I rest my chin on the top of her head as I breathe in her faint, citrusy scent.

I can't help but find all of it so endearing and adorable. The affection, the gentleness, the fact she was worried about me—all of it.

It's that very side of Alita that entrances me.

Yes, she may have a cyborg body composed of nanomachines.

She may be a remnant of a lost civilization, salvaged under life-threatening circumstances.

But it's her humane side that made me fall for her in the first place.

We have been together for quite a while now, but moments like these are the moments in which I fall in love with her all over again.