Family Begins With You

by Jmaster49

Arc XXIV Episode VIII: Tepid Conversation

Aidon would eventually take a break from walking and have a seat on the beach next to some of the rocks near the edge of the shoreline. As he looked out over the ocean’s horizon, he was lost in thought as he sat there with his arms folded, and eyes shut tightly behind his glasses.

“Those crows…what could it mean? Usually a murder like that denotes some form of--”

Bonk.

But before he could finish that train of thought, he was hit upside the head with a beach ball, followed by a young woman’s apologetic callout.

“Oops! Sorry!”

“Hm?” Aidon opened his eyes and saw a young woman--who looked to be a few years younger than Sunset and her friends--with pale, almost milk-white skin approach him. She was wearing a pair of pink and blue shorts that matched her hair as well as a white sports bra.

“Sorry about that,” she spoke at a normal tone once she got closer, hands on her knees as she panted to regain her breath, “We were playing a game and lost control. Hope I didn’t hurt you.”

Aidon shook his head. “Not at all, miss.”

“Zipp! Is everything alright?” an older woman’s voice called out, “I saw you hit him with that thing.”

“Yes, mom--it’s all good! And I didn’t do it on purpose--!”

“Invite that young man over here,” the older woman’s voice continued. “I just want to make sure he’s okay.”

Zipp rolled her eyes and spoke to Aidon in a whisper. “Ughhh…my mom has poor eyesight. She probably thinks you’re like, 20 years younger than you actually are. It’s super embarassing.”

Aidon chuckled at the thought. “I’m sure your mother means well. Try not to think ill of her, hm?”

“Pfft--you really don’t know my mom--”

Moments later, an older woman with purple skin wearing a rather skimpy two-piece bikini approached them both. “Zipp--what did I--oh…oh my.” She took off her sunglasses so that she could get a better look at the man and stuttered for a moment. “O-oh…I thought you were my daughter’s age! Ha…ha…imagine that,” she said with an awkward laugh to hide her embarassment over her blunder.

“It’s fine, ma’am. No harm done,” Aidon replied, “Your daughter was rather respectful towards me, so there’s nothing to worry about.”

Zipp sighed and tried to quickly remove herself and her mother from the confrontation. “Welp, that settles it. You heard him, mom--let’s go--” she tried to pull her mother along, but the older woman quickly snatched her hand away.

“Hold on a minute--I should at least invite him to sit with us for a moment out of courtesy--” she turned to him and asked, “If that’s okay with you. I wouldn’t want you hold a grudge against us for being rude.”

“...Don’t worry about that, ma’am. I only have a beef with one person in this universe. You’re far from it.”

“You do?” Zipp asked, now intruged by his words, “Who?”

“...it’s a long story,” Aidon replied.

But the older woman was more than willing to hear him out. “No no, it’s fine…oh--where are my manners? My name is Haven and this is my daughter, Zipp.”

“Sup?” the girl said.

“I work as the Mayor of Zephyr Heights. It’s a little city near the mountains. I’m currently on vacation though.”

“Well now, that sounds quite interesting. As for me, I’m a mathematics professor,” Aidon replied, “I don’t envy your position though. I couldn’t imagine being in control of an entire city.”

Haven laughed it off and replied, “Don’t worry. It doesn’t put a strain on this perfect body of mine,” she said as she flipped her hair. “I wouldn’t blame you for staring, good sir. Follow me over to our spot in the sand.”

Zipp merely reacted with a roll of her eyes as she whispered to Aidon, “Don’t mind her. She’s just likes attention from dudes.”

Aidon chose to ignore that little comment, and continue the conversation as normal as he followed them. “I see…anyway. The individual I hold a grudge against is a pon--er, man by the name of Starswirl…”

---

At Flash Sentry’s house…

Once he finished making his call, he hung up the phone. “Alright. It’s done. It’ll be about a week before everything can get set in motion.”

“...I see,” Adagio replied, “What do we do until then?”

“Locate their base so my buds can drop their strike right where we need it. My cousin is still in the force, so I…had to pull a few strings here and there.”

Adagio’s eyes went wide as she processed what Flash just told her. “Huh…I didn’t realize humans still needed an active army. That’s…rather impressive.”

“Well the girls can’t exactly be everywhere all at once,” Flash said with a shrug, “Plus, our tax dollars gotta go somewhere I guess. It’s a viscious cycle, but hey--if it works.”

Applejack walked back into the room a few moments later. Having overheard the tail-end of their conversation, she’d speak up about it, “...Some of yer folk are riskin’ their lives out there, huh? That must weigh on ya pretty hefty.”

“It’s fine, really. I’ve come to terms with the fact that some of them may not make it back,” Flash replied with a sigh, “It’s already happened before, so I’m used to it, honestly.”

“...Are we the first people you’re speaking to about this?” Adagio asked with a concerned tone, “Because you shouldn’t bottle up your pain…we’re here for you if you need someone to talk to.”

“Well…it’s kinda hard to open up about certain things when nobody really talks to you very much or even asks how you’re doing. You’re often left wondering if it’s worth speaking up at all because you’re unsure if they’ll even listen…” Flash leaned against his desk with his chin on his palm. “So you just keep quiet to avoid an awkward conversation even though you know it’ll end up hurting you more in the long run.”

“...”

“...”

The room went silent for a moment as neither Applejack nor Adagio could figure out how to respond.

“...See?” Flash broke the silence a few moments later. “That…that’s just what I was talking about.”

Comments

[Fetch]

Warning: Temporal disturbance detected.

[Jmaster49]

11339005
Oh? What makes you say that?

[Fetch]

11339038
Zipp

[Jmaster49]

11339065
My headcanon is that, since G5 takes place after G4--the human world operates a bit differently where the G5 characters exist and are a bit younger than the G4 ones.