Child Of Fortune - Printable Version

"That's... unfortunate..."

The young kusari-looking woman pouts at the dealer, who smiles at her gleefully. Well, she should've known better - it was the woman's own fault.
Why would she even think, she could get a "fair game" in a random shebeen in one of the slums on Pittsburgh - she grew up here... She REALLY should have known better!

But it's too late now.
She turns around on one foot and makes a little defiant stomp with the other one after the turn, still pouting like a huffy child. Her red dyed flowing mane swings after like a little pendulum.
The young woman leaves the "locality" with hanging shoulders, trying to ignore the raising villainous cackle behind her.

Stepping out she pulls up the scarf - just in time to shield her mouth and nose.
A dust cloud almost hits the brown eyes and she just manages it to protect them with a hand from those annoyingly blinding sandparticles, which are carried over from the desert where some mines are located.

She decides she has enough of this place. Her sudden nostalgia just cost the gambler a little fortune, all her earnings from the delivery of aluminium to this place.
She sighs, breathing out hard into her improvised safety mask.

Still shielding the eyes she works a way through the all dusty and grimy streets to a small rented glider.
Almost arriving at her relieving destination she notices a little blond girl peeking out of a back alley, just as the young woman herself, shielding the eyes and staring lost into the sandy-brown desert.
The unlucky gambler examines the girl and as she figures a little gasp escapes the woman's still covered mouth. She remembers her. She is one of the few gallic refugees the woman happened to pick up at Freeport 6, when she was there to pick up some deliveries for Pittsburgh quite a while ago.
They got robbed by every little thing they had the time to grab while sneaking out of the gallic systems. Pirates boarded their ship.
"At least they had the mercy to drop them off instead of killing them", the young Kusari thought back then unhappily.
She offered them a free flight to Pittsburgh in her cargo bay among the stored commodities. That's all she was able to do at that time.
After the arrival she gave them credits and names and addresses of people she knows to help them to set foot on Pittsburg. She hoped those people would build up a live here and wished them the best of luck.

Without even spending a moment to think about this after the realization, the woman walks over to the lost-looking girl.
Just as the young woman arrives the gal notices her and looks silently with big blue child's eyes gracing a dirty face in the brown eyes of the scarfed one. Then turning her sight back to the desert.
The kusari woman kneels down beside the girl and pulls her face protection down. "Hey. Hello...", she says smiling open-hearted, "uhm, do you remember me? It's Akiko... ehr... we met on my ship quite a while ago. That one which looks like a chicken!"
Akiko waits for a moment and then asks still smiling encouraging: " You have to help me, my memory is sooo bad", she makes a crinkled face, " what was your name again? I forgot it."
The girl takes a moment and then whispers squeaky with an adorable, but also heartbreaking, gallic accent:"Moi name is... Sylvie... Sylvie-Noelle...""Hello, Sylvie-Noelle", Akiko greets the scouting girl with a formal, but slightly diagonal bow of her head, as caring as possible.
"I'm already quite old", she makes a sad face. The woman looks at the girls dirty clothes and back to the face, which is still focused on the desert: "23 years already. How old are you?".
Sylvie holds a small hand up looking at her fingers and after a moment she looks to Akiko holding up the hand, exposing all of her four little fingers and a tiny thumb: "Cinq."
Akiko looks shocked for a second, but regains a smiling and comforting face just a moment later:"Oh five years already? Well, shouldn't you be with your parents then and helping them. It's almost dinner time. Don't you help your oka... I mean mama cooking? Where are your parents?"

Just as she speaks those words, Sylvie's head suddenly turns back to the desert and her head starts moving up, raising a matchstick-arm and pointing in the sky with the little index finger to follow something. Akiko tries to find out what the cute girl is trying to show her.
Her friendly smiling face collapses. A Salvager! The ship took off behind some dunes, in the middle of nowhere out there.
Akiko - grown up here - knows what that means. Slavers - almost certain. She can't say what happened. Maybe the parents were told they would go to work somewhere and were led into a trap, maybe they were concussed or weren't able to pay a debt. She hates slavery.

Whatever it was. It is too late for Akiko to help them. The transport just left her sight and proabably the orbit as well she finishes the thought.

-The girl. Sylvie!-
Akikos face turns back to the maybe 4 feet high picture of misery with the face silently staring at the point in the sky where the ship just disappeared.
"Hey you know how I told you my memory is so bad? I just remembered meeting your parents. They told me to take care of you as long as they are gone! Are you hungry? My mom is probably already waiting for us with dinner. It would be rude to let her wait any longer", Akiko says and opens the right hand infront of Sylvie's, still kneeling.
Sylvie-Noelle hestitates, but lays her tiny hand slowly in the feminine kusari one eventually.
"Here, let's see how we do that... with that ugly, annoying sand flying all over the place, right?", the woman says while closing the hand softly around the tiny gallic fingers. She unwraps her scarf with the other one and wraps it around the lower half of Sylvie's face. "Better!", she says smiling at the girl and gently caressing what's left of Sylvie's face behind that too big accessory followed by the girl's shoulder.
"Okay then. Let's go! You will like my family", Akiko assures.

As she walks the rest of the way to the glider hand in hand with Sylvie-Noelle, Akiko feels her thoughts racing through the head, unable to catch a single one of them.

After lifting the former stowaway into the glider and making sure the safety belts are as secure as possible for the little shape, Akiko sits down in the driver's seat exhaling loudly.
"Did you ever fly with something like this before?", she asks the co-pilot. Sylvie shakes her head slowly while looking out of the side window. The glider takes off.

During the flight Akiko tries to keep Sylvie's - and the pilots' own - thoughts busy by telling some stories about her older sister and herself and what kinds of pranks they used to play on each other and all kinds of other funny stories.
The gallic girl remains silent most of the time, but once she gifts the Kusari a short, but also as much heartwarming childish giggle.

Eventually they arrive at her family's home. A medium sized apartment in the heart of a middle-class living complex.
Akiko frees Sylvie from the safety belts and lifts the girl out of the glider putting Sylvie down beside herself and takes her tiny hand. They walk to the door and Akiko opens the door with a keycard her father basically forced the daughter to keep, when she moved out.
"Okasan! Dad! I finally made it here... I brought a guest as well."
A tall woman, for a Kusari, with grey strands in the pinned-up hair walks around the corner, focused on a pot in her arm, stirring its content. "Musume, just because you don't live here anymore, it doesn't mean you don't have to compl-", Akiko's mothers face freezes as she notices the little dirty shape almost completly hiding behind the daughter's legs while still holding the hand and fondling shy on Akiko's pants with the other one.

A deep male laugh sounds from the living room farther in the appartment breaking the short silence between the two women:"Haha! 'Ye better bet those guys never stood a chance against the Broncos. That dimwit Joseph will be so mad! Haha!" Akikio smiles for a moment thinking about dad watching one of his sports betting shows.
She points down to Sylvie with her head distorting the mouth at mother. Okasan recovers from her confusion and sends a forced smile into Sylvie's direction:"Oh look at you little sweetheart! Welcome." Akiko's mom bows formal.
"Yuuka!"
Another woman walks around the corner from the kitchen area. She's also taller than Akiko, but bears an uncanny resemblance to her besides having shorter, undyed, black hair.
When Yuuka figures out the whole scenery she looks accusing at Akiko like -What have you done now again?-
Okasan orders Yuuki:"Look. Our guest could use a bath and some clothes... take some from Akiko's old ones." She now smiles at Sylvie warmer and more welcoming after she processed the whole situation.
Yuuka nods and invites the shy girl in the appartment reaching out a hand. Slyvie looks asking at Akiko and the Kusari nods at her encouraging:"It's okay sweetie." Akiko's older sister takes the guest to the bathroom and you can hear water starting to flow.

The mother nods the head, appointing Akiko into the kitchen where she puts the pot down:"What in all heavens names are you thinking, musume? I just assume she isn't yours... she isn't, right?"
Meanwhile the sound of the sport show in the living room gets turned lower.
"Okasan, of course she isn't my daughter..."
Akiko tells her mother the whole story (without mentioning the horrendous loss at gambling).
"It's my fault for bringen her here on Pittsburgh, in the first place, Okasan. I had to do something... Okasan, she's five years old... five... you know exactly that wouldn't have ended well "down there"."
Akikos mother sighs resigning, but also with a flash of understanding on her face:"We will talk about that later... Didn't i rear you well? Where are your manners? Go and greet Otous... your father and tell him what you have done this time out of your naivete."
"Thank you Okachan", Akiko says imitating a child's voice and presses a sincere kiss on her mothers cheek. Akiko's mother remains in the kitchen shaking the head about all of this and mumbling something to herself about questioning her own motherhood regarding her daughter.

As the blamed child enters the living room her father already turned his settle to the entrance expecting her.
His face lights up full of heartfelt happiness and he opens his arms. Akiko shows him the exact same smile and runs towards him jumping on his lap sideways, eliciting a surprised "Ugh" out of his mouth.
While she leans her head on his broad shoulder she pokes his belly and teases: "Dad, still rather watching your silly bretonian sports than doing them, eh?" "And 'yer still the cheeky little gal, rather than "paying 'yer Otou-something the proper respect"", he responds imitating Akiko's mothers voice for the last words. Both giggle cheerful and Akiko sighs relieved and happy.
"But seriously gal, what did 'ye do this time to upset 'yer mother?", her father asks earnest.

Akiko tells him the whole story (including the heavy loss she had because of gambling).
"How much did 'ye lose?!", he bursts out in disbelieve. He clears his throat:"I mean, that gal... ... Gal, are 'ye crazy that's more than I earn in a year! - Forget it... back to the gal, gal.", he says, finally being over the gambling part of her story. "What do 'ye intend to do with her?" His grey-brown mustache twitches in anticipation for the answer.
Akiko looks at him with big eyes and he already knows what's coming:"Don't do those cute innocent eyes thing on me, will 'ye? Stop it! 'Ye know i can't resist it." He acts struggling against an invisible power.
"If she could stay here. She would become a good person - just like me. You and mom are good at that. I will pay for everything, she may have my old room and my old clothes as well! If we hadn't someone who helped us when we came here from Kusari, who knows how we would have ended up, dad?" Akiko looks begging at him.
Her father laughs:"Gal, 'ye want to bring 'yer mother in an early grave, don't 'ye? I will talk to her - later. What kind of role model would I be to my little gals if I didn't try to help someone who can't help herself?" Akiko gives him a thankful kiss on his cheek and one on his forehead as she leaves his lap.
"Yeah yeah exploit 'yer old man where you can... But seriously, gal. 'Ye earn that much flying an independent trader? Holey moley and I wasted all my time in the mines..." "You didn't waste your time, dad", Akiko corrects him comforting and her father looks understanding and thankful for that.

The dinner proceeds rather unspectacular keeping the circumstances in mind. Akiko's father makes some stupid jokes and argues with Okasan as usual raising quite some smiles from Sylvie-Noelle and even a few shy giggles while she inspects the brawny man interested during the whole dinner.
Sylvie has still wet hair from the bath, but besides that Yuuka, Okasan and Akiko were surprised to find such a little precious under all that dirt. She wears one of Akiko's old kimonos she had as a child - the blue one, her favorite back then.

After the dinner Okasan decides to remain in the kitchen with Yuuka and Sylvie. still having a little grudge against her youngest musume, while Akiko and dad go over to the living room where she starts to tell him all the adventures she had since she visited the last time.
Doing that they start to hear Akiko's mom singing an old kusari folksong. They didn't hear her sing for what seems to be an eternity and look surprised at each other.

Both sneak to the kitchen's entrance one after another and peek their heads in. The scenery they see feels like a travel back in time for both. Her mother sits there behind Sylvie and brushes her hair while singing. In the meantime Sylvie plays with one of Akiko's old dolls she never really used when she was a child.
Yuuka spots them both and just raises the arms in confusion at them, showing them that she also doesn't really know what suddenly happened. But their mother and wife seems to be in her element and delighted.
"Well, gal looks like 'ye should place 'yer bet on me."

Sylvie is brought to bed in Akiko's old room and falls asleep quickly, not surprising after such a day.
Her mother and her father have a long talk in private while Yuuka already went to sleep as well since she has to leave early to get back to her home and work.
Akiko in the meanwhile awaits their decision in the living room, thinking positive.
When they both show up eventually, her father flashes a "thumbs up" to Akiko and the daughter's face lightnes up already. Her mother noticing what just happened gives the rascally husband a slap on the back of his head. "Ouch, Miharu!" He looks at her reproachful. "Don't look at me like that, Henry", Okasan answers with a blaming look on her face.
"Musume, I decided to keep Sylvie here with me - us. It's just no other way to assure this innocent girl will have a chance on a good life. An orphanage is out of question and were else should she go? With you? That would be way to dangerous compared to staying with us. Although, Akiko, you will take care of the expenses which come with a child and - be thankful to your otousan...", Henry rolls his eyes playful at Akiko "...he was able to convince me to change my demand for a weekly visit to a monthly one, considering your "work". Also this is an act of responsibilty not mercy."
Akiko bows formal infront of her mother and then suddenly hugs them both close to her. Henry laying his head over one of his daughter's shoulders smiles at the crinkled face of Miharu which leans on the other one.

The next morning Yuuka leaves so early, that she hasn't any chance to say good-bye to Sylvie, but her last words to Akiko are partly jealous:"You always get what you want hm, imoto? Your naivete is just so... But I'm glad for her..." looking at the room were the girl is still sleeping.

Akiko takes much time getting ready to leave.
When Sylvie wakes up Miharu is quick at taking care of her before Akiko even has a chance, earning surprised looks by her musume and otousan. "What? Who else is going to do it, you Henry?!" She laughs taunting.

As the time finally arrives for Akiko's turn to bow out she stands infront of the rest outside the door.
"Thank you... I will be back soon to visit you, Sylvie." She kneels down caressing with the back of her index finger over the girl's clean cheek:"Listen to what Miharu says and also...", she starts whispering cheeky, well knowing the parents can hear her: "sometimes listen to Henry instead." Sylvie giggles joyful looking up into Henry's amused face, while Akiko's mother shakes her head in disbelieve and bows reserved just to receive a surprise-kiss from her daughter leaving her with a mix of confusion and grumpiness on her face.
Henry awaits a more heartfelt treatment composed of hugs, multiple kisses, jokes and some teases. "Promise us 'ye will take care out there, will 'ye? Aaand...", her father says slightly worried, "... would 'ye lend me some credits for the next weeks game... the Broncos are on a run... with enough credits I could gut this bastard Joseph next time", he adds whispering, upsetting Miharu.
"Sure, dad!"

While sitting in the cockpit of her ship, leaving the orbit, Akiko thinks to herself melancholic: Who would have foreseen, that a routine family visit would result in losing a bunch of credits, adopting a new sister... and having to taste the bitter, salty mixed flavour of guilt and failure...