Enter; The Beginners Guide To Faking Your Death

The Fox And The Gold Man

Vulox held one of the gears in his hand, like a crude memory of what he had complied with. Sometimes he imagines the fear the boy had felt as he slowly suffocated in water. He had always imagined that drowning was the worst way to die, and now he had watched and helped kill a child by drowning.

"Hey, Todd, what's up with you?" Justin asked, handing a beer over. It was odd seeing Charming out of costume. The gold hid his oddly thin body. For carrying so much gold around, he had barely any muscle to him. It was like staring at a completely different person. Sometimes he wishes it was a different person.

"No, no. I'm fine." Todd's ears flicked sideways slightly.

"You sure? You've been pretty out of it this week." He took a sip from his beer to taste it, "Oh, this isn't bad. Try it."

"I don't think I'm gonna drink much tonight other than a few beers." He took a sip out of it and agreed with Justin with a simple head nod, "I've just been thinking too much."

"What's on your mind?" He tossed himself on the sofa and leaned into it. "Was it the hot 'yote you had to arrest on Monday? Or the big fight last week I had you help with?"

"It wasn't the coyote or the fight. Just something minuscule that caught me off guard a while ago. That's all."

"You sure it wasn't the girl? I won't lie, I'm not into mutant types but she was~" He mimicked her curves with his hands and whistled.

"I'm actually not into mutant types as much either. I like simple emitter quirks and small things. I don't want any powerful girl, 'cause normies, they're just more humble in my opinion." He smiled awkwardly, "Of course, I can't say much when I'm a mutant too."

"No, I get it. Preference and all that." He went silent, kicking his legs onto the table and staring at the girls in the corner. They weren't drop-dead gorgeous, but they would suffice.

"What do I get out of being a hero?" Todd begged the question, leaning into himself.

"Buh- what?" Justin stammered, taken aback by his words, "What do you mean by that? You get all you could ever ask for. Money, fame, ladies, a good reputation."

"But, other than that, I won't be happy at the end of it all. I'll be most likely disabled, traumatized, or dead. I mean, I took this job to save people, but…" He eyeballed the golden gear now resting in his hand, "What about that boy? What if he wanted to be a hero too?"

"You're really stuck on that grubby kid? So what? He wasn't gonna become anything other than another pain in the ass if he grew up. Stopping villainy at the source." He gestured to the golden gear, "I mean, where do you think he got a gold-plated violin from? That thing had twenty-four karat gold stuffed like a turkey in that violin."

"But, he seemed so distressed by breaking it. It was as if we broke a part of him." His ears fell back onto his head.

Justin grabbed his snout and held it in his hand, making sure his eyes were on him. "The boy is dead now. There is nothing anyone can do about that. He is permanently going to be floating in the lake until someone finds his bloated body traveling down the edge of the water."

"Got it," Todd spoke through his teeth, trying to respond with his mouth held shut. Justin let go with a shove so he could understand that he was mad.

The energy between them had quickly shifted. It was sour, bitter, and the type of flavor that made you cringe and stick your tongue out. Sort of like trying coffee for the first time as a kid when you mistake your parent's cup for yours.

The party was dying down, and after what felt like hours of enduring the cold atmosphere, he finally stood up. It felt cruel to his legs to make them sit long, but he didn't have the nerve to move anymore.