The Zodiac Empire

Chapter 17 - Shades of Gray Collide - Part 2

"Okay," he let go of her hand once they were out of the alley, "Use that gift of yours to put a smile on someone's face. Show me what you've got!"

"Is this really necessary?" Alile asked.

"Yep. Get a move on now!" he replied.

Alile sighed. "Okay, whatever." she walked through the city with Robin skipping along behind her. There were many people around that she could've helped, but attempting to help any of those shady characters didn't seem like a very good idea to her. Not that she could be damned to help those people anyway.

"By the way, did you know a hot dog is a sandwich?" Alile asked after a while.

"It's meat between bread isn't it? Sounds like a sandwich to me."

"Exactly! How come most people don't seem to know this? It should be common sense!"

"Why don't we change that then?" Robin stopped to pick up a piece of cardboard from the ground. He then pulled a pen out of his pocket and wrote in big, bulky letters 'A HOT DOG IS A SANDWICH!'.

"Brilliant. Now everyone we pass will be educated." Alile said in approval, despite how ridiculous Robin looked carrying that sign around. She must have looked just as ridiculous by being with him. Whenever they would pass by someone, Robin would wave the sign around and ask, 'Hey, did you know that a hotdog is a sandwich?'. Most people looked at him as if he were crazy, while others had responses such as 'Really? I never knew that'. "No predictions yet?" he eventually asked Alile.

Alile assumed he must have finally gotten tired of waving that ridiculous sign around. "Nope." she said.

"Why don't we just sit for a moment? Maybe someone you can help will come to us." Robin sat himself down at a nearby bus stop with a relieved sigh. They'd been walking for nearly half an hour, so it was only natural that he was tired of being on his feet. Alile squinted at the bus stop bench. It was absolutely filthy. Then again, wasn't she just sitting on a dumpster? There must've already been all sorts of grime on her ass. The first thing she was going to do when she got out of her was take a long, hot shower.

"Hey, what about that guy? Maybe you can help him." Robin said as Alile sat. He pointed to the bus stop on the opposite side of the street, where a man lay curled up in a sheet, trying to get some sleep.

"...I think I'll pass on that one." Alile replied, sure he wasn't being serious anyway.

"Scaredy cat scaredy cat, Alile's a scaredy cat~" Robin taunted her in a sing-song tune.

Ignoring his taunts, Alile leaned back and looked up at the sky. Even in a dump like this city, watching the clouds was peaceful. Granted, not as peaceful as it was in the woodland. Still, she was able to get lost in it. It wasn't until she heard someone shouting that she snapped out of her daze.

"Don't sit at the bus stop if you're not going to get on!" a bus driver shouted at Robin. It seemed that a bus had arrived at their stop. The annoyed bus driver zoomed off, nearly splashing the two of them in muddy water.

"Should we sit somewhere else?" Alile asked.

"Nah, let's get a move on." Robin replied as he stood.

"Don't you have anything better to do than walk around this city with me?"

"Something better to do than spend all day with a super pretty young lady?" he scratched his chin, "Hmm...nope!"

Alile rolled her eyes.

Just as a little girl walked past them, Robin came to a sudden stop. The girl walked with her chin tucked in and her arms close to her chest, constantly glancing over her shoulder. It was evident that she was lost and afraid.