Editing Ghosts of Rage (Warhammer High) (section)

===It Works===

“So I did read the pamphlet you gave me,” commented Simon, holding the piece of paper in question in his hand.

“The exhibition on ancient Terran scriptures? It's supposed to be the biggest find in centuries. Fascinating isn’t it?” Faith moved up beside him as she spoke, getting a good look at the paper along with him.

“Oh yeah. I have to go before it moves on to the next hive. Doubt Furia would be interested though.” Faith eyes brightened immediately. She rarely had the chance to talk to someone with similar interest as hers in Terran culture.

“Well, I haven’t gone yet if you are looking for a partner,” she admitted beside him. He chuckled at that, knowing full well that Faith didn’t intend to make it sound like a date.

Ever since he had started to go out with Furia, the other cousins had started to become friendlier around him. He had grown accustomed to Freya’s big sister attitude, Kelly’s quiet nature and even Miranda’s third eye.

With Faith, he had figured that she was oblivious to some of the social aspects of her remarks. Always thinking with the literal sense of her words, she never considered the double meanings that came with them. He found that fact funny when one would consider how very devout she actually was as well.

“It would be best if I went alone,” he said a moment later. “I doubt Furia would enjoy the idea of me doing anything without her.”

“Uh, well, you can ask her right now.” Faith took a step back from him, signalling to Simon that things were about to get a bit loud.

“What the warp are you doing?” Furia yelled at near point blank range to the duo. Although Faith’s ears were unaffected because of genetics, Simon could already hear the ringing in his own.

Trying to remain focused, he smiled as best he could as he looked up to his enraged girlfriend. She seemed furious, more so than usual. Putting the pieces together, he probably saw why, considering how close Faith was to him a moment ago.

“Faith and I were just talking about an exhibition here in the Hive. Seems pretty cool.” He tried his best to make it seem that they were just talking about the museum. He wasn’t lying anyway, but that rarely could matter with Furia.

Faith was quick to defend his statement. “There’s this new exhibition in the hive, about ancient Terran art and photography,” she stammered out. It was obvious that like himself, she didn’t want to have an angry confrontation with Furia at the moment.

Furia stared at Simon, shooting daggers from her eyes, then glared over at Faith. The other girl nearly recoiled at the look of pure hatred. Coldly, the angry princess began to speak. “Talking about a show huh? That close together? Right.”

Silence followed for a short while before Furia took a stepped forward towards her family member. Simon’s eyes widened, unsure of what to do as he watched from the side. Faith felt similar as she took a step back, not knowing if her larger muscled cousin was about to strike her.

“Stay away from him,” she seethed, venom dripping from every word. Faith could only stare in shock as Furia turned around, grabbed Simon by the arm and pulled him away. He grimaced at the sudden tight hold and silently waved goodbye to the other redhead, who could only breathe deeply as she had just brushed against death.

A hundred feet later she let go of Simon and they began to walk normally. Neither said a word, Furia too angry to do so, Simon too scared. Several moments passed before he had gathered enough of his manhood to speak.

“There was nothing happening. Honest.” Furia grumbled, seemingly still angry.

“You weren’t doing anything. But she was like, itching to get as close as she possibly could. Bitch.”

“You really think Faith was trying to steal me from you?” Simon asked. Furia mumbled something under her breath which Simon could only theorize to be several curses. Finally she shook her head, acknowledging defeat.

He grinned. “Just a bit jealous?” he said jokingly. She shot him an angry look and he knew the wound was still fresh. He put his hands up in defeat. “Just a joke.”

She grunted and snatched the paper from his hand. Her eyes glanced over the words as they kept walking, taking it in slowly, before she said anything. “You wanna go to this show? It looks so boring.”

Simon shrugged. “I thought it was pretty cool. I mean, it's a collection of knowledge from the Imperium’s past. If you don’t want to go...” he started.

“I didn’t say that,” she blurted out quickly. She grumbled, knowing she wouldn’t enjoy it as much as he would. “We’ll see, alright? Come on, I’m hungry.”

Simon nodded, following Furia into a nearby restaurant. Ever since their first “date”, they had grown accustomed to each other in ways people still didn’t understand. Against all odds, their relationship was working.

And Simon knew it wasn’t just him putting in the effort. More than once had Furia had them diverted from danger that would jeopardize what they had. No matter what others said, she seemed to care under her tough exterior.

The restaurant was mildly full for the afternoon, so the waitress at the front was more than happy to seat them quickly before getting back to her work. Although some people glanced at the two of them, no one there seemed to recognize Furia, which she was glad for. It wasn’t hard for her to go unnoticed by most of the general populace. Who would think that a royal daughter would be wearing ripped jeans, a simple t-shirt and an old leather jacket?

“So did you apply to university yet?” Simon asked as they sat down.

Furia looked up from the menu and shrugged. “Dunno. Don’t know if I will be going. Not sure if I want to go back to school so quickly after finishing it.”

Simon nodded slowly. “If no university, what then? You going to stay here?”

“Yeah, take a break you know?” she said. “I don’t mix well with school authority, so going back so soon doesn’t seem like such a good idea. I might just join the military instead. I hear Hana will probably do the same.”

“If school authority is bad, then what about the military?” Simon pointed out.

She paused before answering, grinning as she did. “Well, I get to shoot stuff if I sign up.”

Simon chuckled at that, knowing full well that would be enough for someone like her. “Well, I’ve decided on applying to New Cyprine, not far from here.”

“Trying to stay close to me?” Furia joked. At the opposite end of the table, Simon blushed a bit. Furia loved it when she did that to him. “Why not Kourthry like all my cousins?”

“A bit too rich for my blood” Simon muttered. Furia nodded knowingly. Simon wasn’t poor, but he wasn’t exceptionally well off either. His family is the closest to being high middle class as they could ever get. Not rich enough to be of anyone important, but still enough to live comfortably.

“Yeah, forgot.” Silence followed for several seconds. “Well, it's a good thing you aren’t following my cousins. Most of them are bitches.”

Simon just stared, unsure of how to respond to that statement. Furia shrugged as she continued. “What? Most of them are. I guess Isis and Morticia are cool. And Freya. Angela sometimes, depends if she is being freaky with her powers.”

“And the others are all...” Simon didn’t complete the sentence, feeling strange insulting them all like that.

“Bitches. Hana? Usually hates my guts. Faith and Miranda always like to get into matters they shouldn’t belong in. And then there’s Victoria and the twins...”

“You know what? I believe you,” interrupted Simon. Furia grinned even harder at that.

“It's the truth. I don’t like them, they don’t like me. It has always been like that.” Simon was about to prove otherwise, but the waitress show up to take their order. It was for the best. Even Simon knew where he shouldn’t thread with Furia and family was one such place. So instead, he chose to enjoy the burger he ordered with Furia instead of enjoying it alone.