Karma Is Baby

7: It's The Small Things

"I trust everything went well?" Sigma smiled. He had just finished setting the table.
"What do you want from us?!" Nikolai exclaimed as he shook poor Sigma back and forth.
He blinked repeatedly, "what do I want?..."
"Yes! What are we supposed to do?!"
Sigma looked over at Karma, "so... it didn't go well?"
Karma shrugged, "I enjoyed the story?"
Fyodor sighed as he took his seat at the table, "Sigma, Gogol might loose even more of his mind."
Sigma pursed his lips, "well... I don't really want anything in particular... I kind of assumed something interesting would happen on its own."
Nikolai stumbled backwards like he couldn't believe it. Fyodor's head fell fully against the table, "I sat through all that... for nothing..."
Sigma grew concerned, "uh, what happened?..."
Karma took Sigma's hand and led him into the kitchen, "I'll tell you all about it."
Nikolai awkwardly took his seat at the table, which was the one to Fyodor's diagonal left. (Bc Fyodor sits at the head of the table) "Did Sigma really..."
Fyodor nodded, "he wasn't lying."
Nikolai slumped down in his chair, "that's so mean..."
"At least you had fun telling your story..."
"I guess..." Nikolai mumbled.

"Do you know where Dostoyevsky went?" Karma asked.
Sigma smiled over his shoulder as he cleaned the evening dishes, "I believe he's out on the upstairs balcony. He likes to just sit out there when the weather is nice... He might be watching the sunset."
"Okay, thanks!" Karma ran off.
Sigma chuckled, he wanted to ask why Karma was looking for him, but the little guy had so much energy. Sigma was glad that Karma wasn't afraid to ask questions, and especially glad that he wasn't afraid of Fyodor anymore.
Karma ran up the stairs to the balcony and slowed down to push open the glass doors. He paused, looking out.
Fyodor sat in a lone chair, a mug on the small table beside it. There were dried leaves skittering over the balcony floor as the wind played with them.
Nikolai was suddenly beside Karma, "what are we doing?"
Karma jumped, thoroughly spooked.
"I heard you running," Nikolai shrugged. "Well???"
"Oh, uh, I was going to ask him something but now I don't remember..."
Nikolai giggled, "that's a mood."
Karma looked back out, "what do you think he's doing?"
Nikola shook his head, "he's probably just watching the scenery? I don't know, he confuses me... Maybe he's looking for something?"
Karma's brows furrowed, "huh... does he ever do anything out there?"
Nikolai shrugged, "how should I know?"
"Because you're always watching him, right?"
Nikolai's face went blank, "no... I do a lot of other stuff."
Karma rolled his eyes as he pushed the doors open. The warm air sent a tingle up Karma's spine, but it was the good kind.
Dostoyevsky smiled from where he sat, "it's autumn..."
Karma smiled as he walked over, "yeah, all he trees are orange."
"Where I'm from, the season doesn't last long. Autumn is my favorite," he smiled.
Karma looked out over the balcony, seeing the sun about to set. He smiled as well, "I've never really been outside when the leaves are falling."
"It's nice..." Fyodor sighed contentedly.
Karma nodded, "I can see why you like to just sit out here. But don't you get cold?"
Fyodor shrugged, "sometimes. But the weather's nice today."
Karma put his hands on the rails, looking over. Then he regretted it and took a step back, "you didn't eat with us..."
Fyodor shook his head, "I'm not hungry."
"Sigma said we have to eat to get stronger."
Fyodor chuckled, "that is very true, Karma, but sometimes eating makes me nauseous."
Karma's brows came together, "that doesn't make sense..."
One of the doors opened, "why are you sitting out here like a grandpa, huh?"
Fyodor rolled his eyes, "so nice of you to join us. Maybe you'd like it out here if you tried."
Nikolai frowned slightly as he stepped out and let the door close behind him, "maybe I will."
Fyodor chuckled lightly, "I thought so."
Nikolai narrowed his eyes at him, "I'm not out here for you."
"Good, then you can leave faster."
Karma almost giggled, holding it in.
"Then I'll take Karma and go." Nikolai took Karma's arm and pulled him back inside.
Fyodor held up a hand in a partial wave goodbye.
"I have to give you your prize, remember?" Nikolai led Karma down the hall. "I just wish he wouldn't spend so much time out there."
"Why?"
"It's dangerous, what if the wind blew too hard and it took him with it?"
Karma spluttered with laughter, "what?!"
"I'm being serious." Nikolai stated. "He's so light, it could probably happen." He pushed the door to his room open. "A-anyways, let's get you a prize, shall we?"
Nikolai dug through a few piles of items and eventually presented something to Karma, "how about this?!"
Karma blinked at it. It was a very oddly shaped mirror. It was round and made his face look all funny, "what is it?"
"It's a mirror! The kind you put in corners so when people walk around they can see if someone is coming," Nikolai explained as he shoved it into Karma's hands. Then he went back to rummaging around.
Karma moved the mirror around, seeing all his silly reflections. Then he looked up at Nikolai, remembering their early morning conversation. "How did you and Dostoyevsky meet?"
Nikolai shrugged, "it's not all that important."
"... Dostoyevsky said you didn't like talking about it."
Nikolai took that exactly as Karma expected: as a dare. He stood up, "it's just... kind of embarrassing..."
Karma sat down on the floor, "how so?"
Nikolai sighed as he sat down as well, leaning against some stuffies at the base of his bed frame. "I was caught stealing..."
Karma blinked.
"Ah, well, I guess I should explain that I was kind of an orphan?" Nikolai shrugged, "so stealing was like an everyday thing for me. I had pretty much mastered my craft by the time I was your age."
Karma thought that must not have been a good thing...
Nikolai shrugged, "I lived in a place that wasn't very... excepting of 'abnormal' things," he pointed to his eyes.
"Oh..."
"Yeah, cast out of society and whatnot. Anyways, I was running from some shopkeeper and headed down an ally. I hadn't expected them to have someone else going around to cut off my exit."
Nikolai stared off into space as he spoke, "as I entered the alleyway I almost tripped over some scrawny looking kid 'cause I had cut my turn too short. All I could see of him was his raven black hair and his pale white skin."
"That's how you met?"
"Well, there's a bit more to it than that," Nikolai hesitated, "he kind of saved me, I guess..."
Karma tilted his head, "but he looks so weak."
Nikolai laughed, "that's right! You've never seen him use his ability!"
Karma grew worried, "no, I haven't..." Had Fyodor used his ability on Ace?... is that what happened?...
"Anyways, I was cornered and stuff. Apparently almost being tripped over made Dostoy annoyed or something. He stood up, his gangly limbs swaying as if they were barely attached. I was holding my package close to my chest as these two adults were closing in on me, threatening me and such. Dostoy just walked up behind one of 'em and..."
Nikolai paused for a long moment, "he just barely touched the guy... and then there was blood spraying out of him, like he'd had his forehead sliced open. Some of it got on my face and honestly it scared me a lot. The man didn't have any wounds at all..."
Karma's eyes widened, "what?..."
"Ah- anyways, the other guy ran off and Dostoy just sighed. I had backed away from him, worried I'd be next for stumbling over him. At this point I noticed that he looked only around eight years old. He looked up at me and asked me what my name was. I told him it was rude to ask a lady what her name is without introducing yourself first. He seemed to falter, 'oh... I didn't know you were...'
"'I'm not a lady, but it's still rude.' He nodded, 'Fyodor Dostoyevsky.' I looked him over then gave him my own name. I figured I owed him that much for saving my skin. Though, I was quite scared of him, I didn't understand what he had done...
"'He silently motioned for me to follow him. I didn't really want to, but I also didn't want to go against him if he was that powerful. I followed him down some weird alleys and ended up in the back lot of a big house. There was a makeshift shed-like thing he led me to. Inside were other kids around his age, all looking rather sickly. It came into my mind that he was going to make me share my spoils, so I hid it.
"Dostoyevsky gestured to the house, 'you aren't allowed inside, but I'll be in there... you can stay here with the others...' I gave him a confused look, 'if you live here then what were you doing-' He inturrupted me, 'I had a feeling I was needed. I'll go get you a rag for your face...' I grabbed his arm and narrowed my eyes at him, 'how? You're so tiny, how did you do that?' He blinked up at me, 'I'm not a little kid.' I let go of him, 'yes you are. I'm older than you.' 'I'm ten.' I was thirteen at the time so I was surprised such a small person could be only three years younger than me."
Karma wondered how old Nikolai was now, but thought it might be a rude question to ask...
"Anyway, that's about it."
"So you guys have known each other a really long time..."
Nikolai nodded, "yeah... I still have no idea what he was doing housing random street kids in his backyard. I did learn that he was living with extended family."
Karma nodded, "okay... you kind of made a big deal about it this morning so I thought something else happened."
Nikolai blinked, "oh, well, I was tired..."