All Epilogue 07 - Virgil and the Few

“Virgil,” Osamu said as he stuck his head around the doorframe into his young son’s room. “Do you have any of those eyes in here?”
“The Few eyes? Ya,” he said, pointing. There were twelve of them scattered about his room: the windowsills were laden with as many as could be fit, and the others were sat pointed at picture books and cut-outs that were obviously set up just for them. Osamu glanced about, raising an eyebrow in askance. “...Well, they’re eyes, right? So I thought they’d like to look at things. But they didn’t all fit on the windows.” He pursed his lips with a frown, “Mako keeps putting them in mean places, so I moved a bunch in here.”
“Yes, that’s why I was asking,” Osamu said. “I’m taking all of them back to Mr. Webber.”
Virgil pouted, “Aww! Why? They’re not doing anything.”
“They frighten the girls, and apparently Mako cannot resist the temptation to misuse them. I’m sorry, but it needs to be done.” He held out his open bag of holding, “If you could please?”
“Oohh…” he moaned, and with a look of dejection he began to place each one in the bag with a little ‘goodbye’ spoken to each one. 
Osamu watched the put-out boy put the last one in the bag with a sigh. He regarded him softly for a moment before giving a small smile, “Would you like to come with me to deliver them? You can meet the rest of the Few.”
Virgil’s eyes widened immediately. “YES!”
His smile broadened, “Come help me find the rest, and we can go.”
“Ok!” he said quickly, grabbing a sweater from nearby and pulling it on as he dashed out of the room. Osamu shook his head at the boy’s exuberance and followed after.
It wasn’t much later that Osamu teleported the pair of them to the Northlands. Virgil looked about excitedly through the pine trees, trying to spot something. There was snow on the ground here and Virgil’s breath came out in puffs of fog, a dramatic change from the mild coastal weather they had just come from. Virgil was unfazed, having dressed for cold weather, and he tromped excitedly away from his father through the forest. He grinned, noticing all of the eyes that were scattered about and he waved at them. “Hello!” Suddenly, he saw something grey move, huddled behind a barren bush. He rushed over, only cutting his speed as he came right up to it. Slowly, he leaned over the side to look at what hide behind. One of the Completes looked back up at him, its posture crumpled and nervous as it curled itself up as small as it could. Virgil’s expression was pitying and kind as he crouched down, speaking quietly, “Ohh, I’m sorry, did I scare you? I didn’t mean to…” He looked at the alien creature with gentle wonderment, “Wow...you’re so neat…” Holding his hand out as an offering, he added, “I’m Virgil. Maybe you saw me before? Dad said you could all see through the eyes…” The Complete nodded slowly but made no other motion. Virgil smiled more, “It’s ok. I won’t hurt you. You don’t have to hide.” Osamu had walked up behind them, keeping a polite distance and standing stiffly as he watched the exchange. Virgil waited, holding his hand out tirelessly until eventually, very slowly, the Complete reached out to touch it with its long fingertips. Virgil’s enthusiasm was plain as he reciprocated the gesture, “Wow, your skin is like...metal that’s alive, kinda, isn’t it? Is it skin? Or is it like a bug where it’s hard on the outside and soft inside?” The complete just continued to look at him with a nervousness that seemed now to be borne more by confusion than fear. Carefully lifting one of its other hands, it reached out slightly before stopping short. Nodding, Virgil said, “It’s ok!” With the affirmation, it gently touched it’s finger to Virgil’s cheek, making him chuckle. Taking that as an invitation to be more touchy himself, the two poked and investigated each other with great interest, with Virgil babbling observations out as he went. Eventually he quirked his head, “Can you talk?”
It shrunk down a bit, looking almost sidelong as it said in a terribly broken voice, “NoT...wEll…YEt.”
“You can understand me though, right? I can speak slower.”
“...wE…unDerSTanD...sOme.”
Continuing to smile encouragingly, Virgil said, “You’re doing great! You’re learning really fast, if you just started.”
“...SoRRy...we aRe...noT goOd.”
“No no! It’s good! You’re trying! Keep trying! That’s how you get better!” he nodded. “You’ll get so good at it! And I don’t mind, you can practice with me. Don’t feel bad about it.” The Complete just regarded him curiously, its facial expression unreadable. Suddenly he felt something touch his shoulder; Virgil whipped his gaze around to see two more Completes that had come out of hiding and approached him. More and more could be seen silently moving closer. Virgil smiled at them all, “Hi!”
Osamu regarded them all with a measure of stiffness before he asked loudly, “Is Percival here?”
The Completes all regarded him, “...nO…”
“Shame,” he said as he began to take the eyes out of his bag. “I’ve brought all of your eyes that were in my house. I apologize for Mako treating some of them like toys.”
“I tried to show them nice things to look at!” Virgil piped up, looking between the Completes as though he couldn’t decide on which one to speak to. “I’m sorry Mako kept putting them in places they’d fall or couldn’t see anything.” The Few didn’t respond, rather just looking at them both. “...Could you see? The pictures and stuff? I didn’t know what you’d like…” He rubbed his nose self-consciously, “I tried…”
The nearby Completes shifted their flat gazes to the boy more closely. The first one intoned slowly, “WE...diD. wE...do NoT...undERstAnD. BUt...wE couLD See.” It leaned a bit closer, “...ThANk...yOu.”
Virgil gave him a half-smile, “You’re welcome.” He pouted slightly, “...Sorry you all have to go. And that you all have to hide up here. Dad told me, about what happened.” The Completes all seemed to droop a bit, and Virgil added quickly, “No no! It...it’ll get better!” Without hesitation, Virgil leaned over and attempted to hug the Complete, finding it to be a much more difficult task than he had assumed. Settling on a rather awkward embrace, he declared more firmly, “It’ll get better! People are just...really scared now, because everything is all weird and messed up because of what the All did, but you didn’t do it, because you were different people then, and Dad said you don’t want to hurt anybody or do anything wrong, so it’ll be ok and you’ll get new friends and you’ll see all sorts of things and it’ll be good.” The Complete seemed a bit confused but it nonetheless returned the hug. Virgil chuckled slightly at the strange feeling of the four-armed embrace but only hugged back more tightly. Eventually he pulled back, “Maybe I can visit sometimes? So it isn’t lonely?”
The Completes all seemed to stare at the boy, their expressionless faces doing little to convey their thoughts. Suddenly, one moved, floating soundlessly towards the pile of eyes that Osamu had built. It gently lifted one and returned towards Virgil, holding the eye out to him. Virgil looked confused but took the eye, looking back and forth between it and the Complete. “...WE...wOuld LikE...to See. YOu...SHow uS.”
“...Oh!” Virgil understood and looked up to his father. “Can I keep just the one? Please? I’ll keep it safe, really.” Osamu looked at him inscrutably so he added, “Please? They just want to see the world they’re in now…” 
Osamu was silent for another second before he sighed, “Keep it in your room and away from your sisters.” Virgil nodded vigorously, smiling and hugging the pointy, round creature to his chest. 
“YoU...cAn visIT. if...YOu wAnt,” a Complete offered. “WE...LikE ComPanY.”
He smiled up at them, “Ok! Dad can bring me sometimes! Or you could come to our house if it’s ok with Dad. Like Mr. Webber does.” He glanced around, “I guess not all of you can come at once, you probably wouldn’t fit. But if I talk to one of you, all of you can hear me, right? So it’s not like you’re all getting left out.” He pursed his lips thoughtfully, “Maybe you could take turns…”
“...wHy?” A Complete asked suddenly, causing Virgil to look up at them. It seemed to struggle with a concept, “YoU...do nOt...kNOw Us. WhY...dO yoU CAre?” 
Virgil looked at him with a sadly earnest expression, “Because, Dad told me that you all came from far away. You were made into different people, and got left here where you have to hide. I thought, that sounds really lonely. Are you lonely?”
The Completes all seemed to droop and huddle, “...yeS.”
“Being lonely is terrible,” Virgil said, “so I thought I could be your friend and maybe that would be a bit less lonely. I know it’s not a lot, but...” he leaned into the first Complete again, hugging it tightly as he added quietly, “but it’s somethin’, right?”
Returning the gesture, the Complete replied, “it iS soMethiNG.”
After hugging the Complete for a moment, Virgil looked up at another one of the Few, “‘M sorry I’m just hugging him. Do you want a hug? I can hug you too.” He smiled as he looked from Complete to Complete. “I can give any of you a hug, if you want.” Some of them seemed to look confused or shy but nonetheless began to move closer. Virgil grinned and moved from Complete to Complete, giving each one a hug in turn. Slowly, the Few seemed to become more excited and comfortable; more of them continued to move out from hiding to come and watch or to receive a hug.
Osamu watched this for a while before he sighed, “Virgil, we can’t stay here all day.”
“I said I’d give ‘em hugs!” Virgil retorted. “I can’t just leave. That’s rude. And mean.”
“YoU do NoT NeeD to…”
“I said I’d hug any of you that wanted a hug. An’ if that’s every single one of you, I will. ‘Cause we’re friends.” The Few seemed to contemplate this and began to hug the boy with an even greater tenderness. 
With a defeated sigh, Osamu spoke to Lucca’s mind, If we are late for dinner, it is because Virgil is insisting on hugging *every* Complete.
There was a short pause before Lucca replied, ...I guess that’s cool of him, making them feel welcome and all…? Have fun, and I’ll see you when I see you, I guess? I’ll make something that keeps in case you’re late.
Thank you. With that, Osamu waited patiently as his son hugged the alien creatures, talking to them animatedly as he went, his complete lack of concern about their strangeness perhaps even odder than the Few themselves.
------
Virgil, about the age of fourteen, walked down the spring streets of Kalleandar with a few of his friends, having gone to the city with them for a weekend trip. They chatted animatedly, until one pointed to a group of people not far away, asking, “What’s that going on over there?” Interested, the friends walked over to find out what the fuss was about.
Pushing through the loose crowd of people, giving each other hushed whispers and furtive glances, the four of them made it to what had drawn everyone’s attention. A Few, one of the former Completes, floated on the side of the road. It appeared very lost, looking about with an obvious confusion and wringing its four hands together, trying to stay out of the ways of both the people on the sidewalk and the traffic on the road, more or less failing at both. It hovered low, usually a sign of fear in the case of the Few, and it moved back and forth, while staying more or less in the same place. People pulled away from it in fear and repulsion, glaring, whispering and altogether not pleased. One of Virgil’s friends muttered, “Is that one of those things then? The things that destroyed the cities?”
“Never seen one of ‘em before,” one of the others chimed in. “What’s it doing here?”
“Can’t be anything good. Look at it. You ever see anything that weird?”
“Geeze, leave him alone guys,” Virgil said, but frowned thoughtfully as he continued, “But what is he doing here…?” He walked out fearlessly into the no-man’s land that had been wordlessly formed around the lone Few. “Hey!” he greeted it cheerily. The Few whipped its gaze to look at the person approaching it, still fidgeting nervously. “Are you lost? What are you doing here?”
“...Oh! Hello,” it replied after a second’s hesitation, calming slightly and bowing formally as it folded its hands. It seemed to calm significantly, "We certainly did not expect to meet you here.” It’s voice had a curious flatness to it, combined with a tendency to stress the incorrect syllables of words, making for an odd accent.
Virgil smiled, "I know! I wouldn't have guessed I'd see a Manager here. What are you Manager of?"
“I am Manager Mercurial.”
This statemet impressed Virgil, “Really?! Wow, I haven't met any of you who have names. That’s a cool one!" 
The Manager seemed pleased, “I like names. I like mercury. So I named myself Mercurial.”
“Neat!" he gushed. "So…” he looked around, his expression becoming more wary as he took stock of the amount of attention they were drawing, keeping on guard. There was more than one unhappy face in the crowd. His friends whispered loudly at him, urging him to come back and get away; he ignored them. “Why are you by yourself in the middle of the street?”
Mercurial went back to fidgeting, “I am not alone. There are very many people here, and they are looking at me, and I do not believe that they are happy.”
“Heh, yeah. I meant more...how did you get here? By yourself?”
“I was here with my teacher. The Director said I could go with her, to learn new things. I was supposed to stay with her while she was taking me to another place, but when we got here she disappeared and I can’t find her anymore.” Rubbing its hands together, it added, “The Director is worried. He believes I shouldn’t be alone, but I do not want to go back home yet, even though the Director wants me to.” It looked about, and said resolutely, “I can find her. I do not need to go back.”
Virgil nodded, grinning, “That’s the spirit! People get lost all the time.” He took another step forwards, holding out his hand, “Here, I’ll help you look for her.” It took Mercurial a moment of looking confused before he took a hold of Virgil's offered hand, and let the boy lead him down the street. “Any idea where you were going?”
“I know that I was going to somewhere called ‘address 278 Hawthorne Street’, but there are many streets, no hawthornes, no addresses and nothing I have seen yet that precisely numbers 278.”
Virgil chuckled as people in the streets cleared out of their way, staring; Virgil’s friends followed at a safe distance. “An address is just a label for a building. Streets have names, see?” he pointed at a road sign, “This one is Cherrywood Street. Sometimes they’re called ‘Road’ or ‘Lane’ or something, but its all words for the same thing.”
“There are many redundant words. I know this. I am learning them.”
“Yeah, there are. Anyways, each building on a street is numbered,” he explained, pointing at various building numbers as they moved. “Sometimes, if different parts of a building are used for different things or by different people, each part gets its own number. So, the address, or label, name, whatever, of the building we’re going to is the 278th building, on the street that’s called ‘Hawthorne’. Right?”
“That is a system that makes sense.”
“Didn’t the Director tell you this?”
“Even if the Director knows, it is still hard to understand. And I am trying hard to learn on my own.”
He smiled encouragingly at him, "That's great! Don't feel bad about getting lost, people always get confused going to the city the first time.”
Suddenly, a sharp movement caught Virgil’s eye and he jumped backwards, hitting an apple out of the sky with his hand as it careened towards Mercurial. The Few shrank back, hiding behind Virgil in fear as the boy glared at the man who had tossed the fruit. The man shouted out, “That thing is why I lost everything! It should be killed!” There was a murmur in the crowd that rippled outwards, dissenting and violent.
Virgil held the man’s gaze pointedly. After a brief silence, he said with great firmness and gravity, “Calm down, and go home.” A keen eye might have spotted his hands moving subtly but most people’s eyes were still on the cowering Few. Continuing, Virgil continued, “This isn’t an All. It’s a Few. He didn’t do anything to you. He’s just here from up north to visit the city, and he has permission to be here from the government. Go talk to them if you don’t like it.”
The man blinked, appearing significantly less venomous than a few seconds earlier. With a scoffing grunt, he turned and stalked away. The rest of the crowd began to disperse with him, unsettled but no longer ready to snap. Virgil turned back towards his friends, “Seriously, stop being pussies and get over here. He just needs to go to Hawthorne Street before there’s a riot.”
They went closer, still obviously afraid of the creature that clung to Virgil with three of its four arms, peeking over his shoulder. Virgil frowned at them for their cowardice, and they knew it. “Uhm...good block?” one of them ventured.
“My uncle throws fruit at me every day. I don’t think anyone could hit me with an apple if their life depended on it,” he said with a bit of a grin. “Now come on.”
They walked quickly and quietly with their heads down, more or less blocking Mercurial from view, making it to the intended address without further problems. When they got there, a woman opened the door; upon seeing the Few she exclaimed, “Oh, thank gods! Viola called six times; they got separated in the streets and she couldn’t find him anywhere! She was having a fit. Come in, come in.”
She shooed Mercurial inside, but Virgil waved her off when she tried to do the same to him, “It’s ok, we’re just dropping him off. We’ve got stuff to do.”
“No, please, Viola will want to thank you…”
He shook his head, taking a step back, “Nah, seriously, it’s cool. Glad he’s where he’s supposed to be.” He waved, “Have a good one, Mercurial! Have fun learning!”
“Thank you for your help, Virgil.” Mercurial said from inside the doorway, looking at him with a strange sort of gravity. “You are always so very kind to us. We were afraid.”
He smiled kindly, "Aww, I'm just really glad I was here to help." He reached up and hugged Murcurial, his efficiency at embracing the physically-awkward being suggesting practice in this endeavour. "Don't worry, guys. It'll get better, I'm sure it will."  
"You are a very kind friend," Mercurial replied. 
"Well, you guys are all great too." With that, he stepped back and gave another wave, "Take care, ok?" Mercurial bowed as Virgil turned and sauntered off down the street, his friends muttering disbelief and discomfort behind him.
Category:Advent of the All