Colors

Octo

"Hey, Ventus," Captiosus said, greeting me as I sat next to him. "How was training?"

"Terrible," I replied. "Awful. Drastic. Completely-"

"Okay, okay," Captiosus replied. "I get it. Was today the obstacle course?"

I just glared at him. 

"DUH it was the obstacle course!" I yelled. "I fell off of the rope fourteen times."

Captiosus laughed. "Whew. Rough. Have you gotten any word from Pulchra?"

"No, have you?"

"No. I'm starting to get worried. She's usually back by now."

A clanging sound startled me, and I looked to see Ben slamming his lunch tray next to mine and sitting down.

"Excuse me?" I asked, standing up. "Who said you could sit here?"

"Um, I did," he replied, glancing up at me. He stood. "Got a problem?"

Oh, did I? I saw Captiosus getting uneasy, and lots of Blacks were staring by now. I quickly analyzed the best solution in my mind. Solution? There was no solution!

I leaned in towards him and grabbed his head, pulling it close. Then, just as I was about to kiss him, I brought my hand backwards and slapped him across the face.

"That's for messing with my integrity before I even got here," I said, as a stunned Ben brought his hand up to his face. Then, I punched him in the stomach. "And that's for being a bitch."

Captiosus smiled. The Blacks watching applauded.

"I've gotta go do an interview," Ben sneered, smoothing out his shirt. "And trust me, I'm gonna have some choice words to say." He stormed off and shoved his food in the trash, making me wonder why he came and sat down next to me in the first place.

A silence hung in the air. Someone oohed and someone else snapped, but the feeling was unshakable. Something bad was about to go down.

Captiosus pulled out his Vitra-Glasses and pressed the projector button on the side of the frames. In front of him, Ben's interview was being projected. 

"Put it on the wall," I told Captiosus. He nodded and fiddled with his Vitra-Glasses, and in no time, he was projecting the interview on the wall in front of us.

"And now, we will begin our interview with Benignus, a Black initiate trainer who witnessed the stabbing of Cunnus Possessorem. Please welcome, Benignus!" 

Ben entered onto the stage and sat down in a chair next to the Orange interviewer.

"Please, call me Ben," Ben said. She blushed and shook his hand.

"Why thank you, Ben. We're a bit short on time, so let's get right to the interview. After the murder of Cunnus Possessorem," she began, "you stepped forward as a witness to the event. Please, describe in your own words what really happened."

"Cunnus was laughing and chasing around me and Ventus, the murderer," Ben replied. At the word murderer, I shuddered and glanced at Captiosus. He frowned at me and exhaled deeply. "Of course, Cunnus has always been a bit mischievous, but never has he ever intended to harm anyone. Then, Ventus was dared by a member of the crowd to kill Cunnus. She was very intent on learning about what training entailed, exactly, being a new initiate and all. She said that if she killed Cunnus, I would have to explain to her about training. I did not agree, obviously, but she killed him anyways, and I ran with Ventus, trying to shield her from the hustle as quickly as possible. Although we weren't as close as I had liked, I still wanted to protect her. It really was a traumatizing event, to be honest."