“I guess, I have a lot of paper work tomorrow…” Arlo took the heart knot and was about to leave my room, “I’ll think about your confession.”

With that, Arlo left before I could even say anything else. So I was left alone.

In the morning Dailah had to leave to start chasing after Nubla again and so I was left alone injured. I tried to do small commissions so I didn’t hurt my leg further and me and Arlo kinda ignored one another. He started going to Higgs for the Civil Corps commissions even though it took longer, probably because he didn’t want me to get hurt further or because he was avoiding me. It kinda hurt not being able to talk to him as much as we used to. And it also kinda hurt not being able to spar with him, because I love spending time with him. And it was because of that and the interaction with Nubla that was making it hard for me to eat, I felt horrid, I felt dysphoric and dysfunctional and depressed… the 3 Ds that made me feel sick eating, I wasn’t taking the best care of myself so I had lost some weight but I doubt anyone would notice.

I was in the town needing to get some fabrics because my jacket had torn so I didn’t really have a jacket like normal. So I chose to wear what I like to wear when I’m not working. I wore a long sleeve shirt with a baggie crop top over it, this would typically be horrible in battle or when working on building stuff but it didn’t really matter. I wasn’t doing either. I also needed to re-cut my hair cause my bangs were in my eyes so I wore my hair in a half up half down style. I wore my normal black jeans, and because my hair was up my ears piercings were visible, the studs, the hoop ones near the top of my ears. So I chose to put in the rest of my piercings like my nose ring and my snake piercings.

The town was as it always was. I’m pretty sure some tourists stared at me because I don’t look like one. As I approached the shop I saw Arlo out of the corner of my eye, and just kept walking, pretty sure he saw me but I just wanted to get the fabrics so I could make myself a new jacket.

“Oh hey Aki, need more sewing string?” Carol asked.

“Actually-”

“Hold that thought… I just need to finish up the sticking of this jacket someone custom ordered. Nearly done, I’ll help you once I finish so it shouldn’t take that long. If you’d been here for just string like normal I’d let you get it pay for it yourself but like I said.” Carol asked.

“Sure.” I was willing to wait so I sat down at the bench near the tree across from her shop.

“I see you’re not in your natural habitat.” Arlo snuck up beside me.

He’d startled me, “Oh My- never do that again. Jeez I must be getting rusty if u couldn’t sense you.” I sighed.

“I think you’re just overwhelmed, you don’t really go into town and you spend most of your time alone in the forest or mine or somewhere like that.” Arlo commented.

“I guess so.”

“So why are you in town?” Arlo asked.

“Oh uh… my jacket finally gave out, hence today's weird outfit too, so I need to get some fabric to make a new one.” I answered.

“Oh by the way, is your sister going to be in town again in a few months?” Arlo asked.

“Uh… I don’t know. Why?”

“I need to know how much time I have to get her a birthday gift, you’re easy but I don’t really know her.” Arlo answered.

“Huh?” I was a bit confused.

“In a few months it’s your birthday, 3 to be exact. On the 27th, summer birthdays typically represent someone who’s a wildcard or free spirit, that’s what my mom said about my dad anyway, but I guess it does represent you as well.”

“How do you know that?”

“Well… I put you and Dailah under house arrest for a week because-”

“Oh yeah…” I remembered before he finished explaining.

“So I know your birthday.” Arlo snickered.

“What’re you planning?” I was a bit worried.

“Oh let’s say I’m already in the process of getting you your birthday gift. Oh and what might Dailah want?” Arlo asked.

“Uh… she likes stuffed animals, patches, pins, temporary tattoos, yarn, she also does need some gloves, her leather ones are worn out they’d probably last her maybe about 2 months but still.” I answered.

“Thanks for the information.”

Arlo sat up and walked over to Carol's shop where she handed him a box and waved me over.

“What’d Arlo need?” I was curious.

“He said you’d ask and told me to give you this slip of paper. He said I should tell you it’s supposed to be opened on my birthday. Makes me wonder what’s going on next then.” Carol answered as she handed me a letter, “Now what'd you need?”

“I need some yellow cargo fabric.” I answered.

“Oh I’m afraid because it’s rather uncommon that I don’t have any. Sorry.” Carol told me.

“It’s fine.” I waved her bye then left her shop and headed back home.

The walk was kinda overwhelming, Arlo was right, my senses were dulled because they were overloaded with smells of flowers, baked goods, colognes, and perfumes. Then there were the sounds of footsteps and chattering. It wasn’t exciting.

“Oh, Aki! Just the person I was looking for, look I know we’ve had our differences but please, talk to Arlo about the commissions. I am overwhelmed and over-worked. I’ve tried but he’s always busy when I’m free so please!” Higgs asked, no he was practically begging.

“Sure.” I answered.

“For once I’m thankful for your existence. Now I have to go. Thank you!” Higgs ran off.

It was a pretty crazy interaction… cause that’s not how Higgs acts. But I brushed it off, I knew I’d have to talk to Arlo about it since I agreed to do so for Higgs. And to be honest it’d be nice to do commissions for the civil corps again. Because I get to see Arlo more! Also by now my injury was healed so I could take on the bigger things the corps needed.

I saw Sam on patrol so I ran up to her, “Hey Sam.” I started, “Higgs is kinda overwhelmed with all the work the corps need so he asked me to relay a message, can you relay it to Arlo? I’m happy to take on the work because I’m kinda bored.”

“Sure, and that makes sense, I don’t even know why Arlo chose to ask Higgs to do the commissions, he’s pretty busy.” Sam smiled and waved bye to continue her patrol, and I met her be.

I walked home and chose to go to sleep. I don’t know why I was tried I’d gotten a good amount of sleep last night but I was tired. In the morning even after a lot of sleep I still felt tired. I knew I needed to eat though so so went to the kitchen so make myself some food. I made eggs that were delicious. The yoke was the perfect amount of runny yet firm and the toast I’d made to go with it added a good buttery crunch.

I didn’t have any work really so I chose to dig through my closet to find some old clothing I could either fix up or make it not as stiff so I could work in it. I spent the entire day -even forgetting to eat lunch- sewing and altering the clothes that normally wouldn’t work for battle but now would. Like an old skin tight long sleeve shirt that typically would restrict movement was changed to have lots of holes that let the wearer move very freely. And once I finished I chose to read.

There was a knock on my door. So I got up from my couch to see who it was, it was late so I was really curious as to who it was.

“Yes?” I opened the door and Arlo was there… Why was he at my door?

“Sam told me.” Arlo smirked.

“Good, give me work, I'm bored.” I chuckled.

“What happened to your hands?” Arlo noticed the bandaids and held my hands examining them. It made me blush a bit.

“I was sewing. I accidentally stabbed myself with a tiny needle multiple times.” I answered.

“What were you sewing?” Arlo asked as he let my hands go.

“I was altering some old clothes… got bored and kinda wanted to make them better for physical activity.” I answered.

“…do you remember what you said that the jacket and jeans aren’t what you typically wear when you don’t need to? Then today you wore a long sleeve shirt with a crop top… I’m kinda wondering what you’d wear without limitations…” Arlo blushed a bit.

“Hm… come on in, I want an opinion on how it looks anyway since they’re altered for physical activity.” I opened the door more and motioned for him to enter.

“Sure.” Arlo entered and sat on the couch as I went to my bedroom to change to show him.

I changed into a one sleeve mesh shirt that had the mesh sleeve on my more bare arm, making my other arm tattoo completely visible. Then I put on a spiky choker that looked fucking awesome. I also put on jean shorts that were ripped and had chains clipped to my belt loops. The shorts were short enough they showed my thigh tattoo, meaning they also showed my scars… but Arlo already knew of them.. I was kinda worried about the mesh shirt considering my surgery scars but then my back tattoo wouldn’t be completely visible which was the point of the mesh shirt.

I exited my room after I was done changing and when Arlo saw me his face went bright red. I couldn’t tell if it was from embarrassment or not.

“So? The mesh shirt used to be a bit loose so I tightened it so now it fits perfectly, then the shorts used to be skinny jeans that I had when I was younger that still fit just aren’t really good for battle.” I explained what I’d done to change them.

“Why do you have scars on your chest?” Arlo touched the scars after he sat up.

It made the blood rush to my face and I swear my face was so red!

“That’s from… Well, I had surgery a few years ago. Um…” I moved his hand from my chest, “It was to remove my boobs cause I got a broken rib from wearing a binder too much and in battle.” I was embarrassed to explain.

“Oh- oh my god I’m so sorry I was really intrigued by them and I wasn’t really thinking! I kinda forgot about that whole thing because I just see you as a guy.” Arlo blushed even harder and took a step back.

“It’s fine. And honestly, it makes me kinda happy you just see me as that." I smiled.

“Glad… I see when you got hurt from that battle a few months ago is healing, it doesn’t seem like it’ll leave a scar.” Arlo noticed, “ And if it does it’ll be a small one.”

“Yeah. Kinda disappointed, I don’t really scar easily, yet scars are so badass.”

“How come you don’t scare easily?” Arlo asked.

“Thats because, well… people born in Pennyworth generally don't scar easily. Thats because our bodies having a little extra iron in them try to fix the wound quickly so a stab wound kinda seals itself after a while, so I also heal quicker than most. Because the skin and tissue are connected quicker than normally then it prevents scar tissue.” I explained.

“So, what causes the people born in Pennyworth to have a type of magic?” Arlo asked.

“Its not exactly magic. Iron is naturally found in our bodies. And some people beleave that back in the day Pennyworth was so religious and pure the gods blessed them. Some think that theres a chemical in the air there that effects the infant or the pregnancy. No ones really sure, and nor am I.” I answered his question.

“Oh, I guess its like a mystery. I remember Remmington telling me ‘some mysteries are best left unsolved.’” Arlo smiled.

“Thats for sure. Some of our worlds mysteries are not meant to be solved, and we’re just meant to forever question it or just live with the fact thats how the world works. Or it may just not have an answer and trying to find one to place it in a box is where we find the wrong answer.” I get a bit philosophical when it comes to the unknown or differences.

“That makes sense.”

“Whats interesting too, is that, everything is a mystery to some extent. We don’t even know how the universe was created, or how life on earth started, I mean, it had to be a giant barren floating rock, so how did plant life bloom, then animals. And we don’t even know how people used to live, we slowly learn everything. And a star might have died by now but we’re just seeing the light from millions of years ago? The unknown, may always be unknown! And thats whats so interesting! I mean, there could be more life out there, humanoid; maybe, animalistic; maybe, cause we don’t know?” I smiled, pretty sure there was a spark in my eyes, because when I spoke of things that were very interesting to me then there tends to be a spark in my eyes.

When someone ever talks about something they’re passionate about, or is just doing something they love, like Carol and sewing, or my sister when it comes to animals, there’s a spark in that persons eyes. It shows the happiness alive in their soul, because they truly love the topic.

I loved the unknown, yet also feared it a little, but everyone fears the unknown a little, because you don’t know if its deadly or not, so all you can do is hope you’re prepared enough and jump head first. Thats also why I love danger, because you don’t know how dangerous it really is, its part of the unknown And to some extent, everything is unknown, nothing is completely understood, or studied, no one knows the answer to everything. Thats why its so fun to go off and discover the unknown, cause you can find your own answers.

“I guess you’re right, everything is kinda a mystery. And some mysteries can’t ever be solved.” Arlo agreed, he had a smile plastered on his face, he was looking intently into my eyes with a look I didn’t recognise, his eyes had a spark too, did he enjoy listening to me? Why was there a spark in his eyes like Dailah when she shares cool and fun animal facts, or when she’s around cute harmless animals? “Anyway, I came to tell you that also, you’ll be the main builder the corps rely on for commissions. So you wont be bored for too much longer.”

“Yay! I’m a workaholic so it makes me happy to know that I’ll have work to do!” I smiled.

“Make sure to take breaks though.” Arlo chuckled.

“Understood.” I did a salute in agreeance and chuckled as well.

“Aki, I’m serious.” Arlo deadpanned me.

“And so am I, I understand I need to take breaks.” I was mainly telling him what he wanted to hear about it… I mean I was struggling to eat and to take care of myself.

“Aki. I can tell you’ve lost weight, you also look to be struggling to sleep cause you have giant bags under your eyes. So something is wrong, or you’ve found some way to overwork yourself without commissions from the civil corps.” Arlo looked serious and he was worried.

“You caught me; I’ve been struggling with sleep and eating. I swear I’ll get over it, I just need time.” I sighed.

“I’m just scared that if I don’t do something in time you’ll get hurt.” Arlo was seriously worried.