Wired: Metta's Story

Christmas Conflict

Mistral

Piedmont, California - December 25, 2012 - 5:52 PM

There was a strange fuzzyness in Mistral's mind. The way Metta spoke to those cops... it tugged at her, reminded her of something. But she couldn't quite place it. Glancing at everyone else, she could see confusion on their faces. There was some variation, however. Her mother's eyes were narrowed. Rose looked tired. So she knew what that was. Once again, Mistral was left out.

"Mistral-darling, I..." Metta looked like a deer caught in headlights. He looked like he almost wanted to reach out to her. She felt him think better of it in real time. Maybe that was in part due to her already mentally rejecting it. "I didn't want you to see that."

"Where was I supposed to be?" Mistral bit her lip. Metta was avoiding looking at her. He didn't respond.

"Crazy how much human cops suck at their jobs sometimes, huh?" Rose broke the tension in the living room, acting casually about it. "I have some crazy work stories from my jobs about that, actually. Anyone wanna hear? Yep, knew it. Well, one time I was working a beauty pageant and..."

Metta breathed a sigh of relief as the life slowly started to return to the party. Mistral let Rose fade into the background, not listening. She grabbed a startled Metta by the hand, suddenly, and pulled him into the kitchen.

"She's covering for you." Mistral said it almost like it was an accusation. It kinda was. He still wouldn't meet her eyes. "And you can't even be open. What was that? I thought you couldn't even use your magic right?"

"Some things are easier than others." Metta mumbled. He didn't question why Mistral knew that was chaos magic. They both knew she'd felt it. "I'm not proud of it."

"So you keep it to yourself?" Mistral felt hurt. If Metta had some kinda mind control power or whatever, what was stopping him from using it on her? Why else wouldn't he tell her about it? Maybe he already had.

"It's not mind control... I think." Metta shifted awkwardly. Mistral crossed her arms, tapping her foot impatiently. "It's just kinda... the voice filter that Bill gave me... that helps me charm people. With a bit of extra magic pushed into it. On my end."

"It felt like more than just charming them, Metta." Mistral turned away from him in anger. "If you can do this... where does the line get drawn? When does it stop?"

"I don't know." Metta sounded small. She tried not to look at him now. If she did, she'd start feeling bad for him. And right now she was mad at him. "That's kinda what happened to Master, I think."

NAH! Bill interjected. BORN LIKE THIS!

"Shut up." Mistral said out loud. "Go bother someone else."

WHATEVER! He let his laugh echo, as usual, but it did seem like he backed off. Mistral turned her full attention back to Metta.

"I just hate that I didn't even know you could do this!" She threw up her hands. "You don't want me to help you, you don't want me to live with you, and you can't even tell me things apparently. How long have you even known?"

"Not... long." Metta said nervously. "Just a few days. I didn't know I was supposed to tell you."

"Well, you should have!" Mistral stamped her foot, turning and going to the door. She paused. "We're supposed to trust each other."

She left him alone in the kitchen, letting him wallow in his own self-pity or whatever. She hoped he could feel how betrayed he felt, and maybe finally he'd get a clue and realize how much of a jerk he'd been. Mistral returned to where she'd been spending a good deal of her night, near the tree with her cousins, and Frisk and Chara.