Capítulo 41: Omake 9: Mint-colored Morality (C)
"A friend is someone that you call when you need bail money… but your best friend is sitting right there beside you saying 'The party's not over until the mugshots are taken'." – Unknown
"Cinder, when I said making friends is a good thing, making them your minion isn't."
The girl frowned at my comment, still standing up and proud as she covered for the nervous-looking thief behind her. A little shorter than Cindy, I could recognize those frightened red eyes, her short mint-colored hair and her tanned complexion with just a single glance.
Little Emerald Sustrai was adorable by all means. The issue in this situation was that she is-
I told you! She is forming her clique earlier!
[It's just a coincidence.]
I mean-
[Don't enable him! I'm trying to sleep a calm night tonight!]
...You sleep?
[I try!]
Sienna had decided to pull me for this little protest in Vale. Since everything was guaranteed to be peaceful with the police meant to keep any assailants to the crowd to make things violent, I was allowed to bring the children with us on these occasions.
Ren and Nora had swiftly decided to accompany Blake around and make the unbeatable trio of cute, bolstering the propaganda effects of our message of peace with their mere presence together. So I was left to handle Cinder as I helped around the other protesters with signs, water bottles, and directions over where the entire protest should march through the city.
There was full video coverage from the local news, so I found myself easy to distract and lose my attention over the girl as she would wander off to anything that warranted her attention. It was as the protest was coming to an end that she eventually returned with Emerald.
She found her after she had been cornered by three men that had been hit by her Semblance as she stole their wallets. Things didn't go well for the young thief, and she ended up being caught up by the adults… that's when Cinder frightened the heck out of these civilians with a quick display of her Semblance by shooting three well-aimed arrows on the ground in front of them.
Appearance was better than pain. Fear could be fueled and made concrete if suffering is applied to it, but most of the time flashiness was more than enough to solve any argument. I was the one that taught her that and, despite my early reluctance to give her that lesson, it would seem it spared some angry guy their feet or even more if the girl had aimed higher.
"So, you want her to come back home with us?"
"Yes. I promised her that she would've received food and shelter from now on at the expense of becoming my minion."
…
"How about I cast a counter-deal and offer the same things you offer to her for free?"
Emerald frowned in confusion at this response, while Cinder looked like she had received a soft but swift slap across her face.
"W-What?" The dark-haired girl inquired flatly.
"You heard me correctly, young lady. If I have to take someone in, it will not be by having them pay that kind of price and from what I recall, that shelter and food you're offering her are mine to dispense," I said before turning to the little thief. "By the way, I don't believe I've introduced myself. I'm John Bukharin."
"Em-Emerald," She nervously greeted back, bowing her head a little. "I didn't mean to be a problem."
"You're not a problem to anyone right now, Emerald," I remarked kindly. "In fact, I don't see any reason why I shouldn't really forward that offer."
"I'm… a thief- a bad person."
"And yet Cinder here still vouches that you're not a bad person by trying to… hire you," I rebuked with a nod. "You see, Cinder is someone that knows how to distinguish good people from bad ones. If she found you to be a bad person, then she wouldn't have asked you to come with her."
"So she wouldn't have helped me if… if she thought I was bad?"
"I believe she would have," I said, looking at the older girl and getting a nod out of her.
"I wouldn't have offered you that deal after that," She then confirmed.
Emerald nodded slowly. "I think… I understand."
"But before we do anything beyond that, I think there is something that should be done first now that I notice," I muttered quietly, walking a couple of steps away from the two to one of the bags I've brought to the occasion before returning with a first aid box. "I need you to come here a moment so we can clean up those little cuts and bruises you have on your hands."
The girl tensed up, clearly panicking at the fact she had to go through that little process, but the moment she got distracted talking with Cinder about what kind of 'minion' she should've been if I had accepted that kind of agreement.
A little speech ensued, one that saw me interrupt the cheeky brat from going over-zealous in some part. The spiel was pretty much a good-hearted version of the original Cinder… minus the precise actions required to change the world for the better. It was all pretty idealistic, but since it was born from someone her age and aimed at someone younger, the effects were still undeniably strong as Emerald listened to everything her 'savior' was saying.
"Which is why I want to be a hero."
Red eyes widened at that closure. "A… A hero? What is that?"
Cinder looked surprised at that response.
"A hero is… someone that does the right thing. Selflessly and because they just can do that."
"But… what if they are wrong?"
"Then they are no heroes."
I sighed at that. "That's a mistaken look at how heroes work. One thing is being a hero, another is being driven by heroism itself."
"And… what's the difference, Mr. Bukharin?" Emerald asked with a surprisingly quiet tone, trying to not look at the little bloody patch that was now on the piece of bandage I was using to clean one of her biggest cuts.
"It's easy for someone to lose their concept of humanity when… they believe too much in an idea. They believe themselves always in the right and never capable of doing wrong," I started explaining. "What those forget is that humans are known to make mistakes, and ideas themselves can't just shield anyone from the problems they make. It's our flawed nature that makes us capable of understanding that heroes are those that give their best to do the right thing. And the right thing is… to be a protector rather than a judge of people's crimes."
Cinder silently listened to this lengthy answer, nodding as she seemed to grasp at the difference between being a proper hero and… being too deep in that ideology. No matter the era or the state of mind, ideas can be as constructive as destructive if mishandled.
Once I was done patching up the tanned girl, I ended up meeting with Sienna and, while she was a little skeptical about taking Emerald in, for some reason she quickly got over her concern about the matter and lifted the quiet girl in her hold.
The only problem in that sight being that Sally was quick to bring up the fact I had a 'quirk' in picking up sons and daughters from all around. It didn't help that Ozma chuckled in agreement to that thought.
Estado de energía semanal
-- Ranking de
Poder 
-- Piedra de
Poder