The Kids Won't Shut Up

Mithras just needed some peace and quiet, which was hard to come by in New Paths. The place was overrun by young crooks and the occasional cccat, who enjoyed bothering him whenever they saw him.

His room was of little solace as well, as the brats would seek him out to ask about “bofa” and other inane questions.

So he considered himself lucky when he found a little disused closet in a forgotten corner of the building. He settled down on a dusty paint bucket, closed his eyes, and leaned against the wall, enjoying the silence.

Which had lasted roughly a minute when Embly let herself in, whistling a tune.

“Oh, fucking god!” She jumped. “Heavens, dude, you gave me a fright! The hell you doing here in the dark?!”

“What are you doing here?” He asked in return.

“One of your students,” She said pointedly, grabbing a box off of the bare shelves. “Has decided that all my screws are actually a snack, and I don’t feel like going to the store right now. Luckily, I remembered I have a box in here!”

She shook the box in demonstration, as if he couldn’t tell and she needed to make sure. A strange one this was.

“Anywho, that doesn’t answer my question, Mith-”

“Mithras.”

“Why are you here?”

Mithras didn’t reply, feeling annoyed in being disturbed, hoping she would get the hint and leave.

Embly looked around, hands on her hips, Mithras could see her connecting the dots. He didn’t dislike her, she was very useful in the upkeep of New Paths, not to mention her true task of relieving Idris of her magic, but she was just so…

“Ah! The kids are annoying you, huh,” She chirped.

Much.

“They are not children, wormlings do not go through the same life stages as you humans,” He said.

Embly waved her hands dismissively. “Same thing,” She asserted.

It was not the same thing.

“I get it though, the little ones get real needy, and it’s like, ‘woah kid, you’re in my personal bubble’. Except you can’t really do much because they rely on you because they can’t take care of themselves. So then you find places where they can’t find you for even just two seconds.”

Did she ever run out of air? He knew humans needed more oxygen than he did, but he felt out of breath listening to her go on.

“-So would you like that?”

Mithras focused back on reality.

“Huh? Oh, uh, sure,” He replied, not certain on what he was agreeing to. He hoped he wouldn’t regret it.

“Perfect, I’ll get right on that,” Embly beamed. “See you around, big guy!”

He nodded, relieved to see her go, worried about the new project she seemed to have found.

“If I agreed to some bullshit that’s gonna make your life harder, Idris, I’m sorry,” He said to the air.

Embly had told him that that was like a prayer, but he didn’t believe in a higher power like that, so he had told her that it wasn’t.

Then finally, at long last, he was able to take a much cherished nap.

A week and a half passed, and once more, Mithras sought the peace of the broom closet. He worried only a little, for it was clearly compromised by Embly. But she was only a small human, he could easily toss her out if she proved to be a nuisance.

He let himself in, humming in a tone too low for most non-crooks to hear. Then paused. There was a camping chair in the middle of the closet. A big one too, seemed that he’d be able to fit into it easily without fear of crushing it.

Were the walls a different color? The last time he was here, he kept the room dark, but he was certain that it used to be the yellow of a once white paint. Now it was a muted blue.

Even the shelves looked to be nicer, though they still carried much of the same junk.

The door rattled, and Mithras turned to see Embly wheeling in a mini fridge.

“Oh cool, right on time,” She grinned at him. “Can you scooch a little? I’m gonna put this in the corner behind you.”

“What are you doing?” He asked.

“Uhhh, trying to plug this fridge in?” She retorted, her eyebrows contorting to denote confusion.

“Why?”

“Why?” She repeated, much to his annoyance. “I told you, I was gonna spruce this place up for you!”

“You told me?”

“Mithras, are you okay?” She said, placing a hand on his arm, which he gently placed back down to her side, only for her to do it again. “I asked you, like, two weeks ago if you wanted to make this room a little more cozy, and you said, ‘Uh, sure’”

What? Oh right, he did agree to something last week…

He looked around again.

“This is for me?”

“Of course man!” Embly said, forcing herself past him to plug in the appliance. “If you gotta get away, you gotta get away. The place you get away to should at least be relaxing though, not like the mess it was before.”

“The supplies do need to stay in here though. One, I don’t have room elsewhere, and two, we won’t be lying when we say it’s a broom closet.”

This was, unexpected, and, thoughtful.

“Embly, I’m afraid I have misjudged you,” He said solemnly, taking a seat in his chair. “You are not the fool I thought you were.”

“I’m gonna ignore that for your sake, bud,” She replied, hands on her hips. “There’s some beer in the fridge. It’s not cold, but it will be in like, a few hours. Enjoy yourself, Mith.”

And he would. He grunted a goodbye to Embly, and settled into his chair, it’s creaks and groans being the song of all furniture he graced, and appreciated the nice little broom closet that was gifted to him.