The Surprise Guest [ Edgar/Cherry]

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Edgar: Devil
Cherry: Aeon

Being one of the first few to venture out into the surface after the attack happened, Edgar brought it upon himself to investigate. To him, the mystery was more linear, it had to be something that served as a connection to the sudden attack on Olympia and who had to gain from it. Simply going out with his basic equipment and some comfortable clothing and a bookbag, Edgar decided to take the risk. After a few hours of walking, he managed to find himself in the Saint Denise subway station. Instead of calling out, Edgar remained quiet. Due to the light that he already had at his disposal, he didn't want to waste any energy on his phone and the flashlight was more than enough of a telling sign that someone was there.

Would it attract some unfortunate company? Edgar had yet to decide the results of his actions, but he knew for sure that he couldn't stop moving forward.

The subway was truely a amazing spot for anybody who wants to roam around Paris. It was nice and big, filled with suprises, was normally pretty safe from demons, and it connected to a few other areas in Paris. It was truely wonderful. Even more so for Cherry as it brought back so many memories of her and her mom resting here. The one downside being that it also got the poor girl's hopes up. Thinking that her mother maybe just around the corner. And that is what happened today too. As she as walking around, she could see a light coming from another tunnel. Letting her emotions do the thinking for her, she began to rush towards to light. The sound of footsteps echoing out. "Mom! Mom are you there!?" She yelled out, before she saw the source of said light.

"Mo- Oh, you're not my mom........." She said, pausing as she looked at the man standing a few feet away from her. In the light it was pretty easy to make out the girl's details. The first thing his eyes would probably be drawn to was her large left arm. It looked like it was made out of a very hard bark. And was almost black in color, if somebody was to solely judge her based on this arm anybody would call her a demon. But the rest of her body seemed to be a normal human girl, like any he'd see in the vaults. She was wearing a simple sweater and knee length skirt combo, along with a little makeshift hair band that was made out of rope, keeping her hair in a pony tail as it was starting to get in her eyes too much.

After a few seconds of slience she made a 'popping' sound with her lips before speaking. "Helloooooooooo." She awkwardly called out, dragging out the 'o.' "So um, how are you doing mister?" She asked as she tried to subtly hide her left arm behind her back.

There were a few things that we're currently going through Edgar's mind. The first was seeing a young girl out here by herself. Or maybe she wasn't by herself, mentioning her mother and the possible return that she may have. However, with the demons traveling through the gate from the recent attack, or proposedly stopped right in their tracks, there was a chance that her mother could have gotten caught in the crossfire. Edgar had no clue just how long this proposed family of two would have survived out here if the surface world was inhabitable.

But from the looks of the young girl's arm, it was quite possible that the people of the surface that managed to survive had to mutate to better fit their circumstances. Humans always tended to evolve in the worst of situations, what would make this so different? It was a lot more believable if Edgar continued to critically think.


"Who are you? How did you survive out here with the demons roaming about? Why are you hiding your arm behind your back?"

Edgar didn't move, he kept the light on the woman and still had a good respectable distance from her. If there was anything she was willing to hide from him, he had no intentions of getting closer to find out.

It seemed the man was curious about a few things, which was reasonable of course. It was only nature to have questions. But one of the questions sort of confused her, and that was the question of how she had survived this long. Surely he would know how to survive, unless he was either from a vault or was asking the girl for some type of advice. Both of which didn't seem too likely, if he lived in the vaults, well, he'd be in a vault right now and not speaking with her. Unless of course another one was raided by demons. And his tone of voice didn't really imply that he was asking for any sort of advice. Either way, she would answer his questions.

"My name is Cherry. As for your second question, well, I don't know? I just kinda avoided them the best I could for awhile, but recently I found that I am actually strong enough to fight them. So now, as long as they don't seem too strong or they are not in any groups I just punch them." Cherry would pause as she began to think over the man's third question, one she didn't really wish to answer. In the end after a few seconds of her just kinda looking around she came up with this. "Um, it's slighty bigger than my r-right arm and it uh, makes me self conscious." It wasn't really a lie, it sure as hell wasn't the full truth. But a stranger didn't need to know this.

"And what about you? Who would you be? And what brings you down here? Are you coming out of the Fields of Glass, or are you trying to get in?" She fired off her own list of questions, her eyes trained on him the whole time to try and get a better read on the man.

There was a lot of information that Edgar got from that small exchange. He's gotten her name and he learned that somehow this woman was able to combat the demons. It could be due to the deformity on her arm, or technically her mutated arm. It only pushed his hypothesis of the human beings on the surface evolving to the time to fight back, it made it a lot more believable than he originally assumed it to be. That was just him putting two and two together, he could only work with what he had available to him. As for identifying himself, he would answer her questions as clearly as possible.

"I'm an officer of the Olympia police department, there's been a breach at the vault doors, and demons were let in. I've taken it upon myself to investigate the cause, and I ran into you. If this path leads out to the field of glass, so do answers. However, that doesn't necessarily rule you out. We've been told our entire lives that the surface world was unhabitable, you're split up from your mother and contain abilities beyond human comprehension from what you said. I have no proof, so I won't accuse you. But I'll just ask you this question anyway, are or your currently missing mother involved with what happened to the vault? Even by accident of provoking the demons?"

He studied her facial expressions and posture, looking for any telling sign at all.

Strength

Spoiler:

Upon hearing that this man was from a vault her face would drop a little bit, in a uneasy way. Her mother had always told her that people from the vaults where untrustworthy, and that she should stay away from them. And she did want to respect her mother's wishes, but this man hasn't done anything wrong so far, at least nothing that she is aware of. And she does believe in giving everybody a chance, just as much, if not more than her belief in her mother........

After mentally debating with herself, she choose to follow her gut, rather than her mother's teaching and stay for the time being. So she can see for herself if this man was trustworthy or not.

"Really? Oh I am sorry, was anybody hurt?" The girl would ask, both her voice and face showing genuine concern. Although when he brought up the chance that her, or more importantly, her mother could have caused the doors to open. Her face turned into a more offended one. "Of course not! My mom isn't that type of woman! I don't know where she isright now, but I can promise you she had nothing to do with this!" Cherry said, not messing a beat when given a chance to step in and defend her mother's name. "And I just got here, so it couldn't have been me either." She added, as more of a afterthought than anything else.

"Anyways, I am not too sure what those people in your vault are telling you, but I just want you to know that's a big old lie. Sure there isn't as many people left in Paris, but saying that the surface is unhabitable is just plain wrong. Me and my mom lived on the surface our whole life, and we are saw plenty of people up here! Including you I must have met like........" The teenager paused to raise her right hand up, and count on her fingers. Trying to recall the amount of people she had meant this week. After a while of this she just decided to guess. "Like, twelveish people this past week alone!

Cherry was honestly very easy to read, even without his training he'd probably be able to read her like a open book. And with his training he pretty was. One noteable thing he would pick up is that this girl seemed to be a little fireball of emotions. There was no subtle movements, or hidden actions, (other that her left arm.) If she felt something than it would appear on her face, as clear as day. And not once did her face show any gult or stress on it. Leaving two objects. Either she was some sort of cocky psychopath who didn't fear him at all, or she simply had nothing to do with the attack.

She replied, Edgar somewhat expected her to have some sort of disagreement with him on the assumption of her mother's involvement. From the woman's declaration, it was also learned that it was a suggested lie that the surface was uninhabitable. But was that a falsehood? It's easy to assume that this wasn't a place suitable for the living if humans, who were at the top of the food chain, were now faced with creatures superior to them. It wasn't a lie, they made the right choice if there wasn't a way to confront these beings without a massive amount of casualties.

"Your naivety might be because you are younger, but did you seriously think that it is normal to normalize demons going wild? Is it an ideal lifestyle for people left on the surface? The reason why it was said that the surface was unhabitable was because of the inability to fight them at the time from what I'm assuming, which only means inevitable death while living on the surface. You have been given the privilege of fighting back what you said before, with your strength. What gives you the right to call anyone a liar if they do not have the same abilities as you? You just got to be responsible for yourself and your mom, not thousands of people. "

It also looks like they just got here, migrated from another sector, and moved into the subway right now.

"You mentioned you had just arrived here, where did you come from? How did you emigrate with your mother? And how long have you waited until she came back?”

"I am not!" Cherry huffed out as the man called her naive. "Maybe life up here isn't ideal, but from what I heard the vault life isn't so nice either. I mean what even happens there? How big is it? I am sure it couldn't be as big as Paris. I, for one, would go stir crazy if I was stuck in Paris and couldn't meet new people or see new things." Cherry said, still slighty grumpy and offended by the man's comments. Of course she left out the more dangerous parts of living outside of the vaults, like the many long nights you'd spend sleeping on the cold hard ground with a empty stomach, the threat of demons, and how one wound could put you in the ground as doctors where very rare, ann supplies even rarer. Those facts wouldn't support her arguement however so she left them out. Just like how she didn't touch or make any comments about his statement of only having to take care of herself. Rather than a whole group of powerless people. "And for the record, my power isn't a 'privilege' just so you know." The man bringing up her power seemed to be a soft spot for the girl. Her other rants where mostly those that you'd hear from other moody girls her age. But the look in her eyes, and the tone shift when she spoke of the 'privilege' she had where much more quiet and somber.

The girl would let out a little sigh before shaking her head. "While it is not a privilege however, I will say that it is a responsibility. A responsibility that I plan on bearing until the end. And part of that responsibility is helping other people. So, you can tell the other people in your vault they won't have to worry about demons for much longer. Mark my words, some way, some how, I will push them back where they came from!" Cherry proudly said. Her voice a powerful mix of childish naivety, pride, optimism, and a hint of self importance.

"I don't come from anywhere. I was born in the Field of Glass if that is what you're asking, but me and my mom have always been on the move. For your second questions, tons of ways. There are plenty of places where it is safer to travel. This subway is one of the better one's, since demons rarely come. And I'd say for a few years, I lost count......." Cherry answered his questions swiftly before firing off a few of her own. "So, do you have the power to fight demons? Because if you don't I don't think your search will end well. What is your plan?" She normally wasn't this nosy, well, she wasn't so upfront about it anyways. But right now she was grumpy, and she wanted to learn some more things about this tall cop.

"I see that you avoided my last question, so I'll ask again. When is your mother returning for you? If you can answer that, I'll give you one of the hot pocket rations that I have on me. I'm assuming trade is supreme when it comes to the surface and currency lost its value, right? Are you hungry? If you are, you should answer. Or don't take it, you are free to make that choice as well. Your loyalty to your parent isn't in question here from answering. You aren't my responsibility, but you are still a minor. We are mindful of these things in the vault and no matter how strong you are, being left alone is not the wisest of choices for you."

So what if it was a bribe? If she was that naive, Edgar would use anything at his disposal if it meant that he could get more information out of the girl. Besides that, everything she said was delusions. She was young, and those with powers or things of that nature tend to see themselves as more special than others. No matter how true that may be, the circumstances surrounding it are that there would always be a present danger of someone or something proving you otherwise. It didn't hurt to shoot high, it's just that some people didn't know how to settle from their original goals.

"For the record, I'm not like you. There is the rumored study of umbral energy, but it's just rumored. to exist for use of the average person. I don't suppose you would know anything about that either?"

Cherry would tilt her head at the man like a confused puppy when she heard him offer her some hot pockets. She knew what rations where, but she had never heard of hot pockets before. "Why do you care so much about when my mom is coming back? I already told you that she had nothing to do with it. And yes, trade is how we handle most things up here. But I refuse your hot pockets! I am not going to lower myself by your eating clothes." She let out a little snort from her nose. Her loyalty to her mother, was strong and Cherry did not like the strange focus he had on her mom. The teen's protective nature was starting to flare up. As her grey eyes narrowed on to him, once again trying to get a good grip on what he was all about.

"Umbral energy? No, I can't say I have heard of that. But since you seem so curious to know about powers that could combat demons, I guess I can fill you in. I saw more than one person summon strange beings from their minds that are able to fight against demons. I have only ever seen this power twice, but each one seemed to look different and have different powers. One person could scan the demons to find out their weakness, and the other summoned creature seemed to be made out of a strange sort of metal and just kinda punched stuff. The other way to fight demons is by having a special weapon, but how you get one is anyone's guess." The only person she has saw with a special weapon was mister Retuo, and while it really felt like the answer to where he got it was on the tip of her tongue. The girl's young brain refused to give her the answer, saving itself, from itself.

"Anyways, yeah. If you don't have a weapon or are able to summon those weird things, you just need to run away from them."

What? You mean to tell me that you never had a hot pocket before?"

Taking out one of the rations and activating the self-heating container, it would be done in about 60 seconds as Edgar carefully ripped it in half and tossed one half of the hot pocket over to Cherry.

Spoiler:

"A gesture of my goodwill, it's not poisoned. I'm rather surprised that you never had something modern in such a long time. But then again, commercial products might seem a bit alien to you. This is a hot pocket, one of my favorite snacks so I would hate to waste it. You can have half of them now, but you would only get the other half if you answer my question about your mother. It's for your well-being, you're a child and I have half a mind to take you back to civilization if she abandoned you.  But you're so damn stubborn that I'm not sure whether to make a decision that might be a waste of time or not if you haven't permanently separated from her.  Plus the backtracking will take away from my assignment, no matter how dangerous it is for a regular human like me.  If you continue to resist answering simple questions, you might also fail to follow simple directions and that will get me killed. So I'll just leave you behind if that's the case. "

Edgar was serious, this was out of the way and he had no intention of begging this girl to come with him. She survived without the help of Olympia and in Edgar's opinion, she would continue to do so.  However, she was still useful with her information. People either had special weapons or summoned mystical beings from their minds to protect themselves from the demons. Another person was made out of metal, an android perhaps? Maybe it was an android specifically created to combat these creatures?

"Nope, I can't say I have." Cherry replied simply, before her eyebrows raised up a little as she saw the man take out a little container. She eyed it with childish curiosity before the man ripped the food in half and tossed it to her. The girl would snag it out of the air with her right hand, before starting to bring it to her mouth to take a bite out of it. Before she could however the man brought up the fact that it wasn't poisoned, which made her stop and eye him. "Well I wasn't worried about that before you brought it up.........." She muttered before she shook her head. "I want to trade, you give me your half, I'll give you mine."

The teen's face would turn into a deep scowl as he brought up the chance that her mother may have left her. "My mom did not abandon me!" She shouted, before letting out a annoyed huff. "Ugh! Your the stubborn one here! I already told you I am not telling you anything more about my mom, and I sure as hell not coming back to the vault with you! If I want to go there on my own, that is my own business, but you are not dragging me anywhere! Also I am not a child, and I have been living here all of my life. If anybody is in danger here it is you! You don't have any weapon to fight off the demons, you cannot summon anything, you don't know any of the safe routes, do you even know how to start a fire, or make water drinkable?" Cherry would ask, a hint of smugness in her voice as she awaited a answer.

"No deal. "

Edgar said as he ate his half of the hot pocket. If she didn't want to eat it or trust him, that was basically on her. He wasn't being mean, at the very least, he was showing her that sometimes there is only one offer on the table, and once you pass that up, there was nothing left. Kid or not, everyone had to learn that opportunities didn't grow on trees and there were times when you didn't get another one.

"Good, my conscience is clear. That's all I really wanted to know since you have all of those powers and can protect yourself and whatever parental guidance you are getting. You're pretty fine on your own. Regardless of not cooperating too much with the lead detective of the police department there, the information you have to pass on is useful if you want to trade for that and the people at Olympia are nice. Just regurgitate it like you you never said that to anyone else before, I won't make a report so when Olympia officials hear about it, it's going to come from you first. That'll give you some bargaining power, take advantage of that. They might be wary of strangers and maybe they'll hose you down with some water and a disinfectant and give you a fresh new pair of clothes, but you'll be fine if you make that choice. "

Hoisting up his bag, Edgar would take a picture of the girl with the sound off while using the flashlight and put his phone away. "I have a filter and a lighter. and I have my service weapon. I should be fine for the time being. Besides, if I end up not being fine, and you end up finding my body. I'm sure you can find more use of my supplies than a dead man can, right?" Looking at his watch, Edgar would frown.

"I have to keep moving Cherry, sorry for pushing you. Adults are assholes at times, especially in new atmospheres that threaten the lives of people they care about. It's just the way it is, but it's nothing personal. "

Cherry rolled her eyes. "You know, you're not doing much to make me believe that this isn't poisoned." if anything that only made her more doubtful of the food. Nevertheless she wouldn't make any futher comments on the subject. "Thank you, uh, I guess. Also they better to hose me down with anything, I am perfectly clean thank you very much!" To be fair what he was doing was very nice. With her arm, the people in the vault would probably assume that she was a demon and telling them this info could be a way to help convice them other wise.

When he took a picture Cherry would recoil a bit, holding her large left arm in front of her in a protective manner. "Oh gods, what was that! Are you trying to blind me or something?" She gasped before letting the demon weapon drop to her side. "It's whatever, I hope your vault stays safe." Cherry would normally stay a little longer and say a proper goodbye, but she felt a strange vibe from this guy. Not a bad one, she didn't think he was a bad man. Pushy, but not bad. But she didn't really want to stick around him for longer than need be. She would turn around and walk off, waiting until she was sure the man was far enough away from her, before she tossed the hot pocket away. Not fully trusting it. After that, she began to make her way out of the subway, getting ready to see what the surface of the Fields of Glass had to show her today........

[Exit]

-End