NOVEL NEXT 2.17.2 – Uncertainty
2.1 - Edited by: Rellawing, AlliterativeArts - 3/5/2021
Leona flew around on her way back, but not as joyful as usual. She simply couldn’t enjoy the light falling on her feathers or the wind blowing through her hair. After setting a course for home, she went into proverbial autopilot.
She was shaken from her torpor by the sudden vibration of her phone just as she was arriving over her home. Not pulling it out immediately, she circled down to the copse. When she reverted to her Leona form, she began to bawl but still maintained enough composure to work her way home. Barely hopping over the wall, she crossed the yard and fled into the condo.
Quinn was walking from the kitchen back to her room in shorts and a tank top when Leona came in. She nearly dropped her soda when she saw how red Leona’s face was. Before she could reach her sister to comfort her, Leona dropped to the ground a few paces inside, sobbing softly.
The image of Sarah being hauled away by the police was still playing on repeat in her mind. Reliving the moment when Sarah called out for protection made the little heroine cry all the harder. Thinking about how the officer had treated Sarah, cuffing her like some kind of a dangerous criminal left Leona enraged and despairing.
“Oh… shit…” Quinn gasped and firmly pulled Leona up and over to the living room’s couch. Pulling Leona’s head into her lap, her sister started stroking her hair, rubbing her back. She held Leona as she cried for around a long fifteen minutes.
When the tears subsided, Quinn took a deep breath. “Do you want something to drink? Your throat’s probably a bit raw after a good cry like that... “ She continued to pet her little sister’s hair as she continued to softly weep, shaking her head negatively. Her sister continued to hold her. “Okay, sis, just let it all out. You know I live to drink in the lamentations of pretty women,” Quinn half-hearted quipped.
After a long time of being held, Leona gradually started to explain the incident, highlighting the mistakes she’d made. Soon after her recriminations had passed, her anger and resentment shifted to the Junker police force, how inhumane they’d behaved, but inevitably her ranting turned on the Padua Realignment Camp as she went over every detail she could recall about them that Sarah had shared. Looking for more people to blame for how things went, she came to the conclusion that without a doubt one of the restaurant’s staff must have sold them out.
But in the end, she could have avoided all these unpleasant events if only she’d returned Sarah to the compound when she had suggested it rather than being so selfish. She was the only one to blame for the punishment Sarah would doubtless now be receiving because of her ‘escape.’
When her mind cleared and the gales of sobbing passed, Black Angel occupied her mind. Looking up into her concerned sister’s eyes, Leona told Quinn all about how she was appearing before her, all to tempt her to do bad things with her powers, or worse to do them for her, which meant surrendering her self control...
“I don’t want that!” Leona wailed, clinging to Quinn, her eyes red as she was seized by a new round of crying. “Damn it! No matter how horrible this situation is, no matter how much I hate Sarah’s parents for doing this to her, and everyone else for being horrible people...!” She wiped her tears away and coughed through a sore throat.
“Well,” Quinn cleared her throat and pet Leona soothingly as she went on, “maybe you should’ve told them you were an angel and God was pissed off at them for being shitbags,” Quinn sighed and shook her head. “...but you’re too good a girl for that,” she whispered and then just held her sister. “Still, it sounds like she’s at least physically okay for now.... She stuck by Aurora on the strength of your friendship with her, right?”
“And look, don’t worry about Black Angel or whomever. You tell her I’ll kick her butt into next week if she doesn’t stay away from you. As far as everything else goes, like Mom says, maybe all you can do is have faith in Sarah, yeah?”
Quinn held Leona closely but gently. “You just let me know when you need me to let you go, okay?”
“All that came of this was I got her in trouble.” Leona sighed, sniffling. “All my dreams were destroyed by that server guy… and I think I over-tipped. I spent everything I had in my wallet. Ugh, those awful boonie junk cops! Damn it, I probably got a bad mark on my superhero record already. Stuff like that doesn’t happen in the comics.” Leona pleaded with the world. “Everything in this world is so messed up and complicated. They… they even said I should stay out of their airspace. I wouldn’t be surprised if they’d take potshots at me if they saw me flying overhead.” Leona finished by pouting, glaring, and finally crossing her arms.
Quinn pulled her sister’s arms open and started to tickle her merciless. “I know it’s way complicated!” She said as her nails flitted up and down Leona’s sides and across her belly.
Leona scowled onward, not willing to break her pout but sooner rather than later she was forced to laugh and squirm. She didn’t want to laugh. It was coercion! But it worked.
After recovering from the tickle assault and the day overall, Leona couldn’t help get incredulous, “Lamentations of pretty women? What are you? Quinn-on the Barbarian? I guess you always know how to cheer people up, sis.” Leona laughed and hugged Quinn. Her mischievous sister was probably referring to her superhero form, but it still boosted her self-confidence a little.
Done raining down tickles, Quinn got up. “Okay, let me fix you something to eat while you relax, okay?” She gave Leona’s hair one last petting before shooing her off.
She dashed to the kitchen and a few moments later returned with a bowl of canned chicken noodle soup. Leona noticed that the broth was more red than she might normally expect, but paid it no mind. When she tried a bite however, she realized Quinn had added sriracha sauce to it.
Turned out, spicy chicken soup wasn’t half-bad actually.
Quinn offered a can of natural sugar organic soda to help soothe Leona’s burning tongue. Goonie got these sodas in bulk so there were always tasty healthy sodas in their home.
Leona continued to eat, alternating between the soup and soda. Eventually Quinn had seen enough and commented, “I’m tempted to pour one or the other down your throat.”
Leona smiled wryly. “I’m alright, sis, even though I was beaten around by a guy in some powered armor and then got pushed around by a boonie cop.” She enjoyed the soup even though it was spicy. After a moment, she repositioned herself on the couch to sit against Quinn. The warmth comforted her all the more. When finished, Leona set the spoon down and lay against her sister with a sigh. “Thanks Quinn. I’m sorry to be such a downer right now.”
“Pfft, no problem. Just relax, sis,” Quinn said quietly, gently wrapped her arms around her sister and cuddled her. “If you need anything else, let me know. I’m totally going to use you as an excuse to start slacking.” She chuckled.
Leona smiled up at Quinn quietly. Nature didn’t make sisters like Quinn, only love did.
They sat together, watching television for a while until Goonie came home. Hearing her pull into the parking spot in front of the house, they peeked out the living room window by the sofa.
When Goonie came inside, she opened the door with a jaunty greeting, “Hello girls, you two have a good day?” she asked with the pep of someone happy to be home.
Spotting Quinn’s face and Leona’s position in her lap, Goonie quieted. “Well, it seems someone’s day was a little less than great.”
Goonie moved over and knelt by the couch and added herself to the hugging. “Shh,” she said. “Don't say a word, just listen to our hearts beating for you. Lose yourself in that rhythm.”
Leona smiled gratefully, thinking she’d shed all her tears already. Enjoying the warmth of both of them hugging her however, the dam she’d carefully repaired exploded and she melted, bawling again. This bout didn’t last as long as before though.
Soon Leona was smiling wistfully. The three cuddled and Goonie took over for Quinn as Chief Cuddle Officier for a little while Quinn went off to grab a quick shower.
“So,” Goonie opened, “Do you want to talk about it? Or do you need someone to remind you of how awesome you are?” She asked Leona with a bright smile.
Leona giggled softly. “All of the above, I guess. Did you check the news while at work today?” Leona asked, letting a little pride show.
“I heard there was a brave superhero who charged into a burning refinery to bring some lousy crooks to justice… that was you?” Goonie asked with a knowing smile.
Leona giggled and hugged her mom. “Who else?” She beamed up at her face. “And there was this big power armor thing! It was like something right out of my comics… I heard they haven’t really started to make them and I’d never seen one until today.” She stuck out her tongue.
“It takes something like that to fight me properly! He was kinda scary, but I couldn’t keep my heart from pounding with excitement the whole time!” Leona giggled. “So that all went pretty well. I really shoulda gone back for that one thug. I’m not totally sure but I think he was arrested with the rest. The room wasn’t totally wrecked even though a tank exploded.”
“I was a little banged up, or more… drained after that. Kinda like I felt after collapsing the crane on itself, but a little more. Anyways, what wasn’t a success was going to see Sarah. I tried to be as frank with her as I could… to be as honest as possible.”
“But it wasn’t enough… I treated Sarah to dinner, thinking she’d been eating some awful stuff in there. We talked, and no, she doesn’t know my secret identity. I thought it was best to reassure her as Aurora and told her I wasn’t an angel. Even so I thought it would help give her some hope.”
“So those cops in Junker are the meanest I’ve met aside from Ruffino. I guess the more north you go in California, the stranger people get.” Leona’s lips twisted.
“Well, they’re small town cops. They tend to think they’re really big shits in their little toilet towns,” Goonie said softly, her language a little shocking. In her own way, Auntie was just as anti-authority as Quinn.
“Those types get off on bullying people and an operation like that camp probably brings big money into the town. They probably grease plenty of palms, I’d bet including the police too. Why don’t you start really investigating them? It may have started as just to check on Sarah and make sure she was alright, but what if they’re actually doing something wrong?” Goonie smiled sagely and picked up Leona’s chin.
“Anyway, the superheroics can wait. Can you let Auntie Goonie prepare you a filling dinner? How about a nice stuffed chicken breast?” she suggested.
It was then that Quinn re-entered in a bathrobe. “How about some buffalo tenders?” Quinn’s voice lilted as she signaled Leona to start crying again, on queue.
Leona shot her a whyfor look. “I like the buffalo chicken idea better.” She smiled, looking at Quinn with a little laugh. She didn’t understand why Quinn wanted her to cry more than she already had… maybe so they could cuddle more on the sofa.
Goonie laughed at her girls’ antics and stood up, putting one hand on her hip and her other on Leona’s head. “You should be struggling to surmount your foes, not looking for chicken handouts,” she said, suppressing an obvious smile. “But, all right, you scrounge. My girls have been having a rough week so I’ll go get some pale chicken parts marinating.”
Such an appetizing way to say it!
Soon after, Leona and Quinn sat before a hearty home-made meal, starting to feel a little better. There were hand-battered tenders coated in spicy buffalo sauce with fresh-cut french fries, cooked in their air fryer so they weren’t oily. They tasted so good.
It all did, so Leona nommed happily.
When the meal was done, Goonie and Quinn chatted about their less eventful days. Quinn volunteered to do the dishes while Goonie turned her attention back to Leona, “Do you feel a little better? Maybe a bath would finish things off nicely.”
“I think that’d be wonderful.” Leona smiled. “I don’t know if I need one though… Do I stink?” She asked with a giggle. “Ah, whatever. You two are the best family I could ever have, Mom, Sis… thank you.”
Quinn walked over and tousled Leona’s hair with her hands still all sudsy. Leona yelped and shrieked.
“Well, you certainly need a dunk now. There’s probably a little grease in those suds.” Quinn cackled.
“Awww, fine… I’ll take a bath. I get the message. I stink!” Leona laughed and jumped up.
“Well, you’re no spring field at least,” Goonie said, “but you’re not as bad as a football team’s locker room either.” She winked at Leona. “Go ahead and get fresh PJs ready and I’ll get a bubble bath running. I’ll make sure it doesn’t overflow so take your time getting ready in your room.”
And with that, Leona rushed off and Goonie patted her backside as she ran up to her room.
Leona undressed in her room and giggled. She was looking forward to the bubble bath. They made her feel extra feminine and they were luxuriant. She looked at herself in her room’s mirror, hoping Black Angel never appeared in it ever. Examining her own body, she wondered if she was more feminine these days… if her body was nicer. Had she gotten any prettier? She cupped her breasts. They were round and more full than when she’d last looked, so maybe it was her imagination, but…
The door opened and Goonie stepped inside. “The bath’s going. Are you ready?” Leona’s face turned red and redder.