The Fallen Ones (Continued – pt.2) by CJ Burrow

“What?” he whines, rubbing his side “What’d I miss?”

Acara frowns, opening her mouth, then seems to think better of trying to chastise him. “I asked for an update for the Overseer’s report.”

Callista chuckles “You’re kidding…right?” Acara just stares at him blankly. “Huh, you’re actually serious. And you decided to start with me… why exactly? Cause I ain’t got nothin’ to tell you sis.” He narrows his eyes at her, “Which you should know better than anyone.”

“What do you mean? I thought you were helping Auri reshape a few of the climates to better suit her creations.”

“That was 10 cycles ago Acara – 10 cycles.” He conjures a small globe and a sphere of light, sending the globe around it in a high-speed imitation of time. Cradling it between his palms he nods his head at it, smiling softly as the miniature world speeds through orbit. Acara glares at him, no doubt seeing his illustration of an obvious fact as insolence. Callista up at her and his smile falls slightly. The spheres disperse. “Do you know how long it takes to run those simulations?”

Acara’s eyes widen slightly, “Well…I- I assumed-”

“No, of course you don’t. It’s not like it’s your job or anything. Oh, wait, it is.” He smiles gleefully, sitting down on the edge of the table and sprawling across its surface. Conjuring a thin coin of metal, he flicks it upwards with his thumb and fore-finger. It takes off into the air with unnatural speed until he opens his palm and it pivots mid-flight, arcing back to his hand with gentle precision. He does the same thing again as he continues. “About one cycle give or take. I’ve had my hands free for a while now,” he says waving them around, palms open, for emphasis.

“So you just…did nothing?” Acara asks, folding her arms in frustration.

“Well I had a great time with the Proponents,” he says brightly. “They’re an absolute riot when you get them to loosen up a bit! The parties they throw are absolutely wild. You should’ve seen the drinks fountain I made them, it was huge! I based it on the mechanics of a volcano, only instead of a seismic shift they just had to-”

“So you didn’t just do nothing, but you distracted everyone from their tasks too,” Taros chimes in, shaking his head with one hand splayed across his face.

Callista deflates slightly, arms winding around himself, the coin lying forgotten beside him. “It was just a bit of fun!”

“Yes because everything is always just a game to you, isn’t it!” Taros exclaims through gritted teeth.

Acara doesn’t speak, but her agreement is written across her face. “You know I actually hoped you’d take a little initiative for once? I trusted you to find your own way thinking that maybe, just maybe, you’d actually do something worthwhile.”

Callista’s expression twists, he lifts his chin defiantly as his gaze hardens. “And here I thought that Weaving you planets, and stars, and galaxies, was something worthwhile. It’s not my fault that you didn’t know what to do me when I’d finished your plans!”

Acara wilts slightly, raising her hands in placation. “’Lis, look, there’s been a lot going on, I just haven’t been able-“

“There’s always something going on, there always has been – we’re building a fucking universe aren’t we! The only thing that’s changed is that you never used to let it get between us. Now you blow off Aurelia, you forget about me-”

“I’ve been trying-”

“Oh you’ve been trying, well I guess it’s all better now-”

“You don’t-”

“Big sis saves the damn day-”

“I just had more important things to do than fix your little identity crisis!”

Callista freezes, eyes going wide before he slips on a breezy smile. The others may not have caught the imperceptible slip, but spotting weaknesses is my specialty. “Well, I appreciate the honesty!” he says jovially.

I open my Sight to watch the words weave a lattice of trails between my siblings stunned forms, threads pulsing in anticipation. No one speaks and Callista’s form loses clarity slightly before he claps his fore-hands together. The strings fade to grey. “Right, well, if that will be all I’m headin’ out for the night!” he says, already stepping backwards towards the door. “Catch ya later suckers!” And with that he disperses and leaves just as the Proponents did.