Origin Of Sin

25. Oh Brothers

CHAPTER 25 OH BROTHER

"And then I sitting there, barbecue sauce on my titties—"

"Pffff Ch-Charlie!"

"Really! It was like a delectable A4,"

"I can't— I can't breathe!"

Together, Charlie and I took the big double spiral staircase down towards the lobby to get to the cafe. Our conversations remained mostly light and joyful— Charlie's surprisingly chaotic but joyous energy is innately contagious. He's witty, adorable, and exuberant. Who would have thought the respectful, upitty, subservient driver would be filled with so much character.

However, even through the cloak of laughter and Charlie's humongous sunny personality, I could feel the shadows of disapproving gazes, the frigid piercing leers.

Most people ignored us... seemingly. But it was the huffs and hums I heard that you would express during a gallery walk-When you're gawking at those questionable pieces on a pedestal that forced me to acknowledge that I didn't belong here.

The light caught on the iridescent scales of the woman walking by, blinding me as bad, if not worse than the diamond rings, necklaces, and earrings she was covered in. She was so thin and tall, slender, and beautiful. Doesn't it all get heavy? The fur coat must make you overheat some times and drag you down like an anchor? As if hearing my thoughts as I'm sure my mouth didn't move for her, she rolled her eyes as we passed. Even the small group of four, mostly normal-looking people behind her, glanced up to look at me curiously.

I saw a man, of a thicker build who looked completely ordinary besides the extraordinarily long tail that stuck out of his pants, with a lethal-looking sickle attached to the end, all the color of his browning hair. He glanced in my directions with polite eyes before his nose visibly scrunched and he looked away- repulsed, before walking past as quickly as he came. He also had a group of humans with him, leading him away like sled dogs as he jabbed away on a phone that appeared against his cheek.

At the base of the staircase, I saw another man— or maybe woman, they seemed to be androgynous. Beautifully alluring in presentation but their legs seemed to fuse together in a gradient moving down towards where their feet were meant to be. In its place were billows of elegant white clouds that rolled at every step. They lacked the subtlety that the man before them had as we passed by them. Simply muttered, 'disgusting' and blatantly stared as we walked past their position against the base of the left rail. Again, with a group of humans in their wake.

I couldn't subdue the shiver under Charlie's warmth.

"You good?"

I felt a nerve in the hand that I had slapped Zuemier throb for a singular beat to be acknowledged. A gross bubbling sensation in my gut threatened me. I ignored them both.

"Great," I lied with a smile.

There were obviously more people the further we wandered into the cafe. They were all clearly rich and high class. Dripping in wealth. More so, some could even pass as humans but only on a closer look, held similar oddities to those at Unai's place. Scales, translucent skin. Horned and otherwise. Yes, everyone here was as Elixio described— mostly human. Everyone, even ones without feet walked with the same human gait. Just... some had more hellish qualities than others.

And a lot of them had seemingly very, very normal people with them, often following them or leading them. Some stood at their tables or sat on the ground. The subservient had a look at the— ordinary and average. They dressed in neutral colors, or average serving clothes that brought minimal attention to them, like what I wore for work. None were extremely beautiful or excessively ugly. Inbetweeners that wasn't meant to be noticed.