dark and stormy [parson/quest]

Q u e s t  H e r t z

"My whole schedule’s slammed, Ether.” He’d been trying to get me to pop over to the bar to check on the new microbrews for weeks, up until he showed up to my office with that same look he’d had when I’d busted through his door the night of the explosions. One that blamed me for showing up when it was convenient and not because I’d had an actual change of heart.

‘Just try to come by tomorrow. We’re supposed to ship this out and you haven’t tested it, and if you wind up pulling a batch after shipping because you think it isn’t any good this time, I’m walking off, I swear,’ Ether stood in the door of the waiting room. His face had gone from cherry to tomato the longer we’d talked, which considering we’d both been blessed with ginger genes, wasn’t the least bit flattering.

“Yeah, I get it. But things have picked up around here. In case you haven’t noticed, people in this district are mental.” My three o’clock looked up from his newspaper and I gave a little wave before pulling Ether into my office.

‘You have to be better about managing your time. I thought you were putting your heart and soul into this?’ Ether crossed his arms across his chest and I ground my teeth. I stomped back around my desk and counted to ten, on account of not wanting to strangle my younger brother for suggesting that I wasn’t giving my whole self to the business venture I’d founded after coming back from the dead.

Except what was worse was that he was right: I wasn’t throwing myself into it, not even half-assed.

And I didn’t have a good reason for what was going on with me, other than that summer had bled into fall which had spilled into winter, and I still hadn’t ticked off half the things I’d wanted to this year.

“Okay. Okay! Tomorrow, I’m going to spend the whole afternoon with you. You’ll have my whole attention, eh?” I put both of my palms flat against the cool of my wood desk and gave a little bow. Satisfied, he turned out the door, and I let my head sink flat. I lifted and gave a little bonk against the wood so as not to scream.

When I’d finished grumbling over my brother’s visit and gotten through the next appointment, I found Parson’s note waiting for me.

Still can’t believe piss boy wound up as our mayor but then, the universe works in mysterious ways.

He’d spent most of the last couple of years making sure we didn’t all die from the Rose plague which, uh, kind of took every bit of energy we had. Kind of hard to focus on fixing the roads when the people around you are vomiting blood and trying to gouge each other’s eyes out.

“… I need your brain to help me with something big. Well – DUH.” Reading that note reminded me I always knew Parson was smart, you know?

“… I need more culture in the District…” I scrunched up my face to think about what the heck the culture of distict six even was. Meth?

“… yada, yada, yada I need your help again,” I went to tuck the letter into my pocket until my fingers traced the last line, “… can you restart those therapy sessions you did with Garner?”

Ah, shit.

***

They made me give my name and info at the door of the justice building, which was the fun little game we’ve been doing for years where they refused to acknowledge that I was an upstanding citizen doing good for the district.

“… nice to see you guys, too,” I took back my ‘randomly searched’ knapsack and headed down the hall toward Parson’s office.

“Hey, Parson!” I called down the hall as I tossed my bag over my shoulder, “Hey, uh, you wanted to see me?” I moved to give a heavy knock at his door and checked my watch. I gave another knock. “You in there, mayor?”