The Trick to Falling in Style

Words

Shroud clings to Vermillion with all of his strength. The spiderling's face is pressed into Vermillion's shoulder, the fringes of his hair tickling Vermillion's throat. Vermillion takes extra caution as he jumps from one building to another, one arm tucked beneath Shroud's knees and the other holding his head in place. Vermillion even pulls out his powers to soften the fall. He can feel the way Shroud's fingers clasp his clothes, the grip tightening when they reach the vertex of each leap. Vermillion murmurs that Shroud is going to be okay, but he doesn't force the spiderling to look around. He wasn't going to make him face his fear of heights now.

Eventually, they land on the ground at the entrance of Origins. It's as barren as it was when Vermillion first stopped by, but it smelled a lot nicer. Vermillion's gloved hand pushed some of Shroud's hair back as he leaned away from the spiderling. Hesitantly, Shroud sat up in Vermillion's arms with an anxious look overtaking his face. Vermillion keeps his touches light as he tries to comfort Shroud. The spiderling looks at Vermillion, and the hero graces the boy with a sweet smile that he normally didn't show anyone. "It's alright, Shroud. You're going to stay here for a little while. You'll be safe here. No one would dare to hurt you."

Shroud whimpers, but he doesn't throw a fit. Vermillion keeps the spiderling in his arms as they walk down the stairs. Shroud doesn't seem to notice that the lighting has changed, but it took a moment for Vermillion's eyes to adjust. Shroud turned to look at Vermillion when they stopped. Vermillion gave a small smile as he walked forward. The farther they descended, the more clearly Vermillion could hear the voices of the workers and the people needing a home. Shroud pressed into Vermillion's body when the voices became clear enough for them to make out the words, but he kept his head facing forwards like he was trying to be brave. Vermillion ran his hand through Shroud's hair as a way to settle the spiderling's nerves.

The main room was packed with people. There were far more people there now than there had been the last time Vermillion had come by. The receptionist continued to work hard at her desk. Several people in uniforms darted around with clipboards. Vermillion looked around at the people who were in search of a home. He recognized some of them as the homeless people that stayed in Logstedshire. Before his retirement, he had brought meals to some of these people. He and Beau worked hard to get sponsorships for the underaged runaways. They did their best to teach practical skills to the older ones. It wasn't until Vermillion started demanding favors from the other heroes that he was able to build a bridge between some of the district's businesses and the people of Logstedshire. More jobs opened up for the people. Even though it was just manual labor, Vermillion was proud of their progress. He had hoped that the bridge would remain when he disappeared, but the sheer amount of homeless people here proved that someone had burned the bridge in his absence. In fact, some of these people were the ones Vermillion had originally got jobs for. Without his support, they must have been fired and left to rot.

Vermillion bit the inside of his mouth, hard enough to draw blood. As much as he wanted to start asking questions, he knew that he couldn't do anything for them. He had to take care of Shroud, first and foremost. After that, he wasn't going to do anything else. These people had Origins now. They didn't need his help. They probably wouldn't want it, either. Vermillion knew that if he was in the same position as them, he would have grown resentful.

"Hello, Mister Vermillion. How may we help you?" Someone asked, stepping towards the hero and Shroud. Vermillion felt a few pairs of eyes land on him. He settled his nerves. It had been a long time since he had an audience, but he had learned a long time ago how to act naturally when there were dozens of thoughts about him around him all at once. Vermillion could remember a time when he was extremely socially awkward. It had been difficult for him to talk to anyone without accidentally cussing them out or saying his innermost thoughts that were usually rude. Beau and... and the other two had been the ones to teach him how to talk to people. Mostly Beau, but the others did have some advice for him. Vermillion learned how to be a man of the people. He learned what it meant to be courteous to others. He learned that the people wanted someone they could look up to, so he needed to act like a shining paragon of justice.