Dimension of Perfection (And Its Flaws)

Chapter - 14 - Reassessment

We sit by the door and remain still. Both of us stare up at the doorway, not making any sudden movements.

4663 slides up off the floor while maintaining eye contact, and stomps toward the door. After a moment of thought, she pulls back her leg, and kicks it hard enough that it rattles and gives off a significant echo as it shakes around on its hinges.

I watch as she walks back down toward the market past me and maintains a lack of communication.

"Hey! Where you goin'?" I ask, before she nudges her head to the right as if to gesture to come along.

As I start running she turns back to the entrance to the market, and as I approach she visibly keeps her attention forward. "Are we not gonna talk about that!?!" I question. She doesn't react to my words, at least not obviously. "Hey! I'm talking!" She ignores me. "HEY! HELLO!?!! I'M TALKING! LOOK AT ME, I'M TALKING! NAH NAH NEH NAH NAH! HELLO?!"

"WOULD YOU SHUT IT ALREADY?!" She suddenly screams. She gets up in my face and finally looks at me as she seethes with annoyance. Her mouth creates the shape of a crescent moon, her visor burns red, and her knit is ruffled up like an animal in danger. Her expression improves and her intensity dissipates. "Just... Come on. We have a job to do."

She resumes her pace away from me, and I follow behind. I can't help but feel bad for her. I think I might've messed up. Though, I don't want to admit that. Emotions of annoyance, frustration, and confusion still course through my mind after what 'Don' said.

What does 4663 know about all this? What does Don know about all this? Was that even the real Don? As I scan the ground and think rapidly, I fail to use reflex as the door back into the market smacks into me because I wasn't paying attention.

4663 looks back at me, and says nothing. Her emotions are evident, otherwise.

As we trudge back toward our seat, I spot the area where Don was before, and by it there is a crude drawing. I stop to inspect it, and 4663 pays me no mind as she walks off.

The drawing seems to be nothing more than intense scribbling, though underneath all the garbled lines there appears to be a picture of a group of people holding hands. There is a taller person in the centre, next to them is someone with a giant circle on their head, supposedly. Next to them on the far left is a person with a rectangular head and little notches on top, on the right of the centre character is another person with longer hair, and a rectangle on their face, and the very far right person is... Well, there's no-one there.
The only thing that remains is a giant hole that was probably scratched over violently enough that it completely shredded the area.

Though the drawing makes very microscopic amounts of sense from just how much it's destroyed, the peculiar artstyle is definitely Don's alright.

"UUGHH!" Yells out 4663, exclaiming not particularly to me. I jump as I look toward the source of the sound. I come out of my crouch and run over to where we were sitting before. Even though we never finished our food, it's all gone. I take it someone pounced on the opportunity when we left, because all that remains on both plates is crumbs and the greasy stain of the meat where it was sitting.

4663 grumbles to herself as she stares down at the floor. I peer over at her, and as she notices my eyes, she starts walking toward me. She grabs my hand while pushing past me, and the unexpected movement generates a startled grunt as she yanks my hand away. I desperately try to detach my hand, and after a bit of struggle I succeed and break away from 4663's grasp. I give a disapproving look at her, and she seems sorry. "Look. Just... I'm sorry, you just." She pauses. "You still want information, right?" I nod. "Just, stay by my side, and try not to get yourself in trouble."