The Cloak Guard

Aftermath, Part 3

"Here you are. And have a nice day." As Sumin handed over the coffee, they attempted a warm smile though judging from the man's confused expression, it didn't come over very well. Their supervisor, Michaela, had said they should always greet customers with a pleasant smile but Sumin wasn't really someone who let their emotions show very much so they weren't quite sure what a 'pleasant smile' entailed. Judging from everyone's reactions so far, they still hadn't gotten it right.

It had been a busy few weeks for them. After the school was destroyed, they were able to start their job at Miguel's Number One Coffee House immediately. Thanks to their eidetic memory, they were able to pick up everything fast. Their ability to do it was another thing though as just knowing what to do wasn't enough. They learned that lesson after several spilled cups of hot coffee all over themself. But they eventually got the hang of it and were now able to effortlessly make three coffees at the same time.

A couple of times, they even used their powers to help out. Not too much so people wouldn't notice. Mostly when cleaning out dishes, washing multiple at a time with their indigo hands to finish faster, or putting away heavier items with some extra input at the bottom. It didn't pay much, but it was a start. And Sumin felt like they were helping around the house now. They weren't sure, but they thought (or at least hoped so) that the stress in their parents' expressions had faded somewhat.

It had been good the first week as they had no school so was able to spend more hours. But when the school reopened, faster than they thought possible, their hours had reduced and so had their payment. They knew beforehand they wouldn't be able to make much money from this but even so, it was disappointing. It didn't even matter how hard they worked at it, it didn't change the amount at the end of the day. And while they didn't know what their financial records were at the moment, they were pretty sure that they weren't making as much of a dent as they wanted. They weren't even sure if they were making a dent.

It was a weird feeling for Sumin, to wish to battle Swarm again than deal with this. At least there, they knew what they were doing and how to win. There was an enemy to beat clearly. Here, they had no idea how to beat this enemy. It wasn't even a real enemy, just...the pressure of life itself, they supposed.

One thing was made clear to them from that fight, however. They could never do something like that again. They had come too close to death on too many different occasions there and all they could think about was them lying on a bed next to Althea, practically dead to the world. Their parents had nearly forbidden them from leaving the house after the incident at the school. It had taken a lot of talk, and some convincing from their grandmother, to calm them down. Still, Sumin was on a strict schedule of coming from home to school to work and back home. No in-betweens.

While they did want to argue with that rule, they couldn't really after the incident and it wasn't like they had much to do anyway outside of those things. They were still allowed to visit Althea in the hospital but they had to inform them first. Sumin was grateful for that. While seeing her so lifeless still broke their heart, talking to her always did make them feel a little better. And right now, they needed that more than ever.

Sumin sighed, leaning against the wall. There was a break in the customers which meant a break for them. They wished...well, they wished for a lot of things. They wished they had a healing power instead so Althea could be all better, or any other kind of power that could help. They weren't even sure what to do with this one. They wished they knew how they could use it to help. So far, all they had really done was fight off Swarm and that wasn't something they wanted to make a habit. What they really wished for was the knowledge of how to use this power to make their and their parents' lives better. How could this benefit them?

They had tried meditating on it but the answer eluded them completely. All they could do was create constructs out of light. It wasn't like they could use it to fix whatever was wrong with Althea and make her how she used to be. It wasn't like the others' abilities either. Sumin could already think of dozens of things they could do with Travis's powers. Top of the list was doing about ten delivery jobs at once. With that speed, it would be no problem.