The Quartet - Cal

Quick Author's note: Yes, this is from The Trio, I just changed my mind and made it a quartet, lol.

~~~

“Grow up, Sis! Grow up!”

“Like you’re not the one squabbling over supporting directions.” muttered Sis, shooting him a look.

Bee rolls his eyes and throws an obscure gesture at her.

I sigh. Nothing could be more bothersome than these two arguing.

Then there’s something scuttling down the ladder, and before any of us can do anything about it,  a girl with light green hair jumps from the ladder to greet us.

“Mother of heck-”

Bee’s up in a moment’s notice, upsetting his tea in the process. Sis scowls, still not over the previous fight.

“I told you not to waste anything, you idiot! That tea took me forever to get!”

Bee half sighs, half groans.

“Be quiet!”

Glancing warily at the girl, I casually clear my throat, as if I know her, which I don’t.

“Hey there. Horrible weather we’re having, isn’t it?”

She awkwardly smiles.

Bee roughly turns his body to her.

“Who the hell are you?”

“Be nice, Bee.”

“Oh- er- well-”

She gulps.

“I don’t really…ah…have a name,” she says, turning her head here and there, “B-but you seem like you do…!”

“Nevermind that, how in the name of Christ did you get down here?”

“Uh, uh, someone left the hatch open.”

“CAL I SWEAR TO-”

“BEE!”

The siblings start another fight, Bee taking his gloves off, showing off his mechanical hands with sharp claws at the end, and Sis with her staff that doubles as a sword plus daggers(poisonous? I didn’t know), just great.

I’ve learned to not bother their fights, or separate them.

I smiled at the girl, which just seems to make her scared even more.

“Don’t be afraid- not like I’ll hurt you or anything.”

“A-ah, sorry.”

She rubs her head slightly.

“You do have a name, right?”

“Yes-no-”

“Huh?”

“My ‘name’ is Cal, which is actually just ‘companion.’”

“I see…”

She shyly shuffles her feet.

“I-if it doesn’t bother you, could you give…me one?”

“What?”

I tilt my head to the side.

“You mean…make a name? Isn’t that taboo-”

“Eh- you don’t HAVE to…”

I glance around for anything that resembles them…and my eyes land on the plants Sis is growing.

Of course, my glasses decided to fall down immediately.

After I adjusted myself, I replied hastily.

“Urm…Clover…?”

Her face brightens.

“Clover! I like it!”

She comes closer, and now I can see what she’s wearing. It isn’t too shabby…for this time’s standards, anyway.

Her bright green hair’s down, but it’s in a braid that connects and goes down. She has a tattered, light brown skirt- or what’s left of it, as I can see scorch marks. Her light crop top has an intricate design, but it’s slightly ruined by the burns near the left shoulder. She has yellowish white socks, impressively. Sis and I don't wear socks because of how stinking hot it is. Bee only wears it to cover up his body. Apparently this girl- Clover, decided to wear sandals before the world imploded, because her shabby slippers are exactly that. Even Sis has better shoes than her- worn down sneakers. Although Sis did steal them…

***

“This is Clover.”

I say to the siblings.

Bee has a minor scratch on his face, and some bruises around his neck, but nothing too major. I’m not surprised, as he is a formidable fighter. Once, he smashed an entire bugbot with both of his hands, then immediately pulled his gloves on.

Sis is bleeding from her neck, but was patching it up. Honestly, this was about the tenth time her neck got another bandage, so I wasn't worried. Sis isn’t a very good attacker, because she usually is supporting from the back as Bee murders bug bots and I try not to die, but that’s another story, I suppose.

Clover waves silently, as the twins start daggers at each other.

Finally, Sis mumbles “Hi, Clover.”

“Hey, Sis. Nice name you have-”

Bee snorts.

I jab him in the ribs.

He immediately takes on a defensive pose, and I step back a little, worried that something might have gone wrong, or that I did something wrong.

“Woah, chill.”

He relaxes, with a weird expression on his face. Sis looks confused as well, and Clover just…stares.

“I-sorry.”

I’ve never heard him say that before.

As if he was trying to change the subject, Bee turns to a befuddled Clover.

“At least you have a good sounding… ‘name’.”

“Why, I think Bee is a pretty good…er… ‘name’”

I pick at my tongue as they talk.

Sis looks at me, then them, then me again.

I sigh and go back to my seat, flipping through the pages again-

“What’re you going to do with her?”

“Hm?”

Sis sighs.

“With the girl.”

“Clover has a name. Use it.”

“Eugh, fine, ClOvEr- what’re you going to do with her?”

“Keep her here, duh.”

“Ah…I thought you were gonna let her go…”

“Why would I-”

I stare at Sis.

“Hold on, are you jealous?”

“N-no!” She protests, but her face says otherwise.

Ignoring her, I motion for Clover and Bee to come to the table.

“Clover, do you have any…er- possessions?”

She brightens a little.

“I do, actually. I keep it in this satchel.”

“You have a satchel?”

Bee gripes, shuffling his hands a bit. I know why. He used to own a light blue one until, of course, his entire house was blown up.

“Yeah, here.”

Clover puts it on the table.

The first thing I realize is how stinking PRETTY it is.

It’s actually white. Which—given how everything in our base is basically stained black— is impressive. 

There’s jewels all over it, all glittering, all rainbow colored. The string is golden, looping around the top of it.

“It’s pretty small though…” Sis trails off.

Clover has a sad smile on her face.

“Yeah…”

She pulls out a stuffed bunny, a headband, and coins.

Bee makes a BEEline(get it) with his eyes for the coins.

Sis looks at the headband evilly. I make a mental note to slap her later, as she always steals stuff.

I glance at Clover.

“Is this…all your stuff?”

“Yes…before everything.” She saids, picking up the rabbit and hugging it.

“Ah..”

“You can have the coins. I don’t need them.”

“Really?”

“No, if-if I am staying here, I need to share, don’t I?”

I stop for a moment, shocked.

You need to understand that, no one was this willing to share before. Sis, although nice to me, stole stuff all the time, and Bee was basically a hoarder.

“I see…well, thank you.” I swipe the coins away before Bee grabs them.

He makes a disgruntled expression.

“I’m not having a repeat of last time, dolt.” I say, grinning.

“Come onnn, it was useful!”

“You are right…but we sacrificed a lot of money for it.”

“Shut it!” He says, slightly pushing me and losing his cold tone for a few seconds.

Clover’s still hugging the bunny.

“Does the bunny mean anything?” I ask her, not because it really matters, but because it looks very important. 

“Oh, it was a gift…from a friend.” She smiles, but there’s a hint of sadness in it.

I understand her pain. I used to have a friend like that too.

Suddenly, there’s a sharp smack and a yelp.

Clover winches and runs over. 

Sis is holding her hand, while Bee is slightly waving a fan in front of his face. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out what happened.

“I was just- looking!”

“To hell you were. I’m not letting you steal another thing.”

Oh, right. The headband.

“Ah- p-please don’t fight.” Clover said softly. 

“I don’t mind sharing w-with her…”

Bee flicked his hand violently.

“Don’t care, that brat needs to be taught a lesson.”

While I agreed, secretly, it did seem a little harsh.

~~~

I wrote this AGES ago, forgot about it, and then found it and posted it, lol.

Have a great day! That Resident Evil fic is coming soon >:D