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The world was a blur of redstone circuit lights.
False hurtled downward, wings closed in tightly to her head. The tiny set of wings on her head, dark brown edged white, occasionally snapped this way or that to direct her as she dove downward.
Her eyes watered from the speed, her teal zip hoodie was left open and pulled down to her elbows for the force of the air pushing back against her. A red striped tank top and well-loved jean shorts, beat-up red sneakers that had seen better days, but they weren’t worth replacing just yet.
Her pale blonde hair was tied into a ponytail, whipping behind her as she hurtled down, down, down, eyes tracing the narrow dodges of bridges, jutting out balconies, till finally, she opened her wings.
“YEEEEEAH HA-HA!”
Free falls were exhilarating.
She picked up an enormous amount of speed as she shot into a tight upward spiral, crowing loudly, beaming so bright her cheeks hurt. She tossed her arms out to either side of herself as she tightened the twirl.
Beating her wings a couple times to finally slow her momentum, she gulped down a few deep breaths.
False was sixteen.
She got decent marks in school, which, to be fair, wasn’t all that hard considering the one-room style education she was getting in the mid-levels because there just wasn’t the infrastructure for a proper education system yet. She had been ten during the Anarchy, and while she’d heard whispers that the Labs were reestablishing themselves with a new mission, trying to become something that was dedicated to protecting and caring for the under-city, her father was hearing none of it, and therefore False went nowhere near any depots. She had also been rather firmly told to dodge anyone wearing a white labs blazer as if they were a chainsaw-wielding serial killer.
Funny, isn’t it?
She beat her wings a few more times, sailing upward, coasting around one of the foundational towers.
Pix had been wearing a white labs blazer when she’d met him.
When he’d chased Fwhip back to their little hiding place after the goblin mutant had stolen his wallet, he’d been on his way home from work for the labs. An officer himself.
He’d taken care of them.
Then left them.
Then come back for them when they’d needed him the most.
And since that day, he’d never let them go.
False did find it stifling at times, which is why she was out here doing free falls past the night cycle. She’d been flying around since school let out, and she knew Pix wasn’t going to get home until late anyway. Even having stayed out this late, she’d still beat him back to their apartment, and he’d be none the wiser. Fwhip also pulled things like this, but False worried more for him because he couldn’t take to the air to make a quick getaway, even if he was good enough with glamor to run around completely invisible. As he’d gotten older, he’d grown capable of keeping up that kind of trick for several minutes at a time. Still, she worried about what he was up to; she had caught him walking down the spiraling corkscrew road that surrounded the under-city and suspected he might be sneaking into the Depths.
What he was doing down there, she had no idea, but she’d tattled to Pix because whatever it was couldn’t possibly be good. Fwhip had been getting more and more rebellious, as of late. Especially since Sausage had moved out to college in the over-city recently. He’d been the one to enforce order when Pix was busy with work.
Because he worked a lot.
False knew he had to. It wasn’t exactly optional.
It’s kind of daft, if you ask me…
She turned over to fly as if doing the backstroke for a few wingbeats, then flipped to face forward yet again.
Pix could have a good job with the labs. False might still be a kid in most respects, but she wasn’t stupid.
For whatever reason, though, Pix refused to associate with the labs. She and her siblings had been coached into never exchanging so much as a word with anyone wearing a labs blazer, and under no circumstances were they to tell them who their father was.
Because I guess Pix L. Riffs was a pretty big deal…
He’d redesigned and revolutionized the rail cart system.
Most of that had gotten blown up during the Anarchy, though. Most of it was still blown up, and False had a sneaking suspicion that the labs were trying to get ahold of Pix to try and convince him to work on it yet again.
At least, considering the amount of labs blazers she’d occasionally see asking questions around their neighborhood, it was a decent conclusion to draw.
Her wingbeats carried her homeward at a leisurely pace.
Lucky us, Pix has been doing so many different jobs, everyone in the mid-levels owes him a favor…enough that they keep their mouths shut.
The labs didn’t have any actual authority at the moment.
At least…False didn’t think they did. She wasn’t quite clear on that, but she had her orders. Avoid them for all she was worth. She could do that.
Beating out her wings a couple extra times, False came in for a landing, threading the needle into the tunnel where their apartment was. The first small arching door to the left. She hooked her fingers under the door handle and pulsed glamor in, a specific series of beats that changed weekly, part of her father's security system. Again, maybe a touch overboard, but considering False still vividly remembered how these same systems had protected them during the days of the Anarchy when she was little girl, she was never going to complain about them being too much.
The door opened with a soft click, and False ducked inside, shutting the door quietly behind her. Oli’s bedtime was a little earlier, since he was still young, plus Fwhip might actually have taken the absolute berating he’d received from Pix after False tattled on him to heart and gotten home at a reasonable hour, too.
She didn’t need to worry about Sausage anymore. It still felt strange, not having to concern herself with where she landed on the bed below her hammock when she got down in the mornings. Sometimes, she’d slip and land squarely on Sausage in the narrow twin-size bed beneath her, which he’d outgrown by the time he was fourteen, and yet he’d just had to get used to sleeping with his legs curled in or otherwise have them hanging off the mattress.
They didn’t have much space in their tiny little apartment.
None of them even once complained.
False carefully shut the door behind her, turning the deadlock home again.
She then turned around, straightening to her full height, and took a single step directly into Pix’s chest, bouncing off of him.
“AH!” A single sharp, cut-off shriek escaped her as she jumped backward at the fright, then her eyes trailed up to see a stern expression, jaw set. Dark brown hair was slightly frizzy from a days work, surely, and he’d let his facial hair grow a bit further than usual, it must have been a busy week if he hadn't even had time to shave.
He deliberately folded his arms over his chest.
“False.”
I am in trouble.
False pressed her lips together thinly and unconsciously stood herself up straighter, snapping her wings into a tight coil against her spine and drumming her fingers off each other in front of her chest.
“O-Oh hi, Pix, um, didn’t…you’re home early!” She managed out.
“Uh-huh.”
Oh, I am in so much trouble.
“Where were you?” Pix asked, his tone completely neutral and yet just a touch deeper, at a pace a touch slower, than usual.
She and her siblings had long since coined this specific tone his ‘Dad Voice’. Her eyes darted around momentarily and landed on the open door into their bedroom. Fwhip was peering out around the doorframe, orange hair mussed from lying on his pillow, he’d probably crept out of bed just to catch this moment live. When they locked eyes, and she glared daggers into his, blue eyes within whites that weren’t white but gold, he pulled one of his eyelids down and stuck his tongue out at her. The sheer fury she tried to emanate from her eyes might’ve managed to vaporize her little brother if she weren’t interrupted.
“False.” Pix said her name again, again in his patented 'Dad Voice’, and False flinched, turning her gaze up onto him again.
She was gonna be grounded, literally, for a month at the least, she was going to plot her revenge against Fwhip the entire time.