Switches & Spices

Chapter Four

"I'm here too to help you when you need it, Butterfly. Promise. Just be yourself. Let's go!"

The walk was one of the most enjoyable walks I'd had in a while. With Hawks, it was endless harassment by the people and press, my eyes seeing spots for a good portion as pictures were snapped often. The snapping of the lens shutter was something that damn near triggered my frustrations the moment I heard it because of them.

With Tama, it was peaceful. Quiet murmurs here and there of the different buildings that had been preserved, others that had new families running the stores, kind waves of greetings from quieter fans, even a butterfly conservatory that he seemed particularly fascinated about downtown.

Apparently, he'd been too busy to go, and he didn't want to bother anyone else to go with him to make time. His late shifts left him exhausted for much of the daytime joys, it seemed. I nodded and made an immediate mental note to take him some time. I adored the beautifully colored insects, both of us agreeing that they were peaceful to watch years back. My head lifted at a memory, seeing the start of the downtown outskirts come into view.

"Reminds me... Is that field still there? Back where I used to live?" I murmured, seeing him peek back to me before looking forward, offering a timid little wave to a pointing kid talking excitedly to his mother. He seemed to draw kids' attention wherever he went, it seemed.

"I... Maybe? I haven't been there in forever. Went there once when you disappeared, but..." He trailed off, and I sighed, rubbing my shoulder slightly under the cloak. I hadn't meant to bring back those bad memories at all, but it seemed inevitable.

"It's cool, don't worry about it. I can always go check it out, and maybe the house..." I was the one to trail off this time, chewing on my lower lip in thought. Would I even want to go back to that place? What if it was destroyed, and any good memories I'd had in the field were gone with it?

Fuck, I was being distracted too much for this. Hah. Seems the Commission wasn't able to beat that part out of me. I see Tama, and it all comes flooding back. Though, it hadn't hurt nearly as much as I thought it would with him at my side. Old wounds brought up as expected, but his calm presence was a salve in itself. Maybe that's one reason why kids loved him so much.

I grinned despite myself, tugging out the blue-tinted aviators so similar to Hawk's pair, slipping it over my eyes. Sure the cloak was a good cover for my face, but best to not chance things. Supposed to maintain some anonymity, after all. The walk settled back into the comfortable quiet once again, I didn't even mind not having my music as usual. At least there's not a maddening repeating line of a song in my head.

Better not be, now that I'm thinking about it.

I inhaled deeply to distract myself, letting out a slow breath, feeling tension leaving me. If walks were this peaceful all the time, then maybe I'll keep walking instead of taking to the skies eventually for patrol duty. Especially if it's with Tama. Soothing. Yes, that's the sensation I'm getting from him, now that I'm focused on it.

It was the same way all those years back, his quiet felt like a comforting gift to me. It was uncomfortable to both of us at first, and I had almost talked his cute little ears off, filling the void of his nervous quiet with mindless spastic chatter. But it didn't take too long before he opened up, adding little comments here and there, and finally gushing about his fascination with butterflies. He even snuck his game system to school for me to see, looking at his little house filled with containers of colorful butterflies of all types.

His joy and pride of his impressive collection in the game was what led me to call him by that name, after all, a bit of a tease of course, my snarky self couldn't help it. I remembered pointing to a crimson and violet butterfly, excitedly exclaiming 'that's you!' to him, watching his face turn bright red, completing the flipped color scheme.