Over a month had passed since the clown incident, and now, winter break was finally here. Zero and Arlo were strolling through the park, mainly because Arlo begged Zero to come with him since he was bored out of his mind. It took a lot of food effort to convince Zero. “Damn, I can’t believe how quickly the social service mages responded to the devastation. The construction mages built the city back up in no time; I’m just gd everything worked out in the end.”
Zero zily kept walking with a mango slushie in his hand. Luna was there too, trotting closely to Zero, occasionally nuzzling her head against Zero’s leg. “I mean, people still died, no matter how you pce the needles.”
Zero took a sip out of his slushie. “Sitting comfortably one second, and reduced to atoms the next second." Arlo looked stunned by Zero’s unusual ck of humor. He stood there, trying to process his words. Meanwhile, Zero and Luna kept walking, not sparing him a gnce.
Arlo rushed to catch up with Zero. “But I mean, at least there weren’t any major casualties, right?”
Zero casually kept walking with careless body nguage. “How many people can you name that can survive being atomized?” Ar
lo thought deeply. After a few minutes of meaningless silence— no dice. After all, how would he know? “You’re right. I can’t think of any.” Arlo tried changing the topic a bit. “Man, the Clown sure was scary, huh? I was just hoping for an eventful Halloween, but then it showed up.”
They were nearing the crosswalk, and Luna groaned; she was tired of hearing Arlo’s hopeless optimism. “Was he? Or was it the fact that he represented something unknown? Tell me. Are you afraid of the clown because it was creepy? Dangerous? Eldritch even? Or are you afraid of the fact that you felt powerless during its attack? Don’t answer that. It’s fine to be afraid, but there’s no justification to bel someone or even something based on your perception. And perception does not equate to the truth.”
Arlo opened his mouth to argue— but stopped himself. Zero had to be wrong, right? But the more he thought about it, the less sense it made. He frowned. Did Zero even know what he was talking about? Does this idiot think he’s smart? “Um, actually— yeah, never mind. No idea where I was going with that.” When they arrived at the crosswalk; Zero stopped as the pedestrian signal dispyed its raised hand. A fleeting warning. Serving as a sense of empty security if you heed its warning.Arlo stopped next to Zero. He was fidgety, he looked at the raised hand of the signal. It was taking forever. What was the point of it anyway? It was so out of pce when everyone had magic. Was there really a need for something like this? In a world where magic could stop cars mid-motion, where people could teleport or fly, this outdated thing still existed. Just then, a real-life superman flew past them, or at least a wannabe. Zero remained unbothered; he didn’t even acknowledge the flying man, just kept sipping his slushie and looking ahead. But Arlo looked even more frustrated at the existence of the pedestrian signal. There was absolutely no need for this arbitrary thing. “This is taking forever. How can you be so calm about this? Don’t you find it pointless?”
Zero shrugged, and Luna’s expression drooped, almost as if she were thinking, "Is this guy serious? The light’s not even that long."
Zero took another sip before speaking. “It’s pointless. Deal with it.” After a brief pause, Zero spoke up. “Look, I get where you’re comin’ from. But no need to lose your head before Christmas.” Arlo immediately forgot the tension. After all, the best holiday of the year was around the corner.
