Gunpowder didn’t really understand the significance of this at the time, but it was this exact moment he recalled when he saw PK (though washed of these strange markings, not any less unhappy-looking) in passing later in Tao, before she had inherited anything from her father, and after Gunpowder had met and joined up with Devonshire.

Gunpowder also didn’t really understand why this was so upsetting to Anana, what Anana couldn’t do, or why it took her so long to conjure up another retort.

When she did finally manage to speak, she was livid. Her tail curled and uncurled in little rapid movements, and he thought she dimmed some in color. Maybe that was the light playing tricks on his eyes. No matter. The pretense of a collected, caring individual was stripped away with the comment Gunpowder still didn’t quite fully grasp.

“You’ve got to be lying. You’re worthless at running anything. You’re rude, obnoxious, you have absolutely no sense of what it takes to look after a customer, you’re completely inept-”

“You can ask Mom when she gets back. I’ll be gone by then.” The Other managed to pull a reversal here. It was now Anana who looked absolutely unhappy, and this Other-- this PK--had managed to pull some delight from her sister’s dismay. Gunpowder’s thoughts turned to vampirism for a brief moment.

Then PK cocked her head up a little, taking Anana’s silence as the perfect opportunity to land another blow, this time on Anana’s companion. “Yeah? You got somethin to say too? Are you her next little pet? With that big, stupid hat?”

What the hell is she--? Hat. The hat from the store, the big, purple hat he had forgotten to take off. And Anana hadn’t said a word. The big, well... It was stupid, but it embarrassed him to an incredible degree to have the big, stupid hat in the spotlight like that... It was supposed to be ridiculous and silly, and it had made him feel a little better earlier, but now he felt ashamed. That conspicuous feeling was amplified. That Other also seemed to delight from this. Once again, Gunpowder’s thoughts drifted back to vampirism for whatever reason.

The overall encounter didn’t last more than few minutes, but it left a dark cloud over the heads of Gunpowder and Anana. It was hard to really think about much else with the shame riding so heavy on his heart. That sister girl, that tribal girl, she left shortly after cutting Gunpowder and Anana in spots they couldn’t easily recover from. Gunpowder couldn’t have known what that Other was going through at the time, couldn’t have known what horrible things she had or hadn’t endured, and it just didn’t matter. The words echoed in his mind for much of the rest of the night, stupid and petty as they were.

The two - Anana and Gunpowder, that is - stood in silence after the experience, for what felt like hours. Days, even. At least to Gunpowder. Though deep down, he knew it was but a moment. He had to leave. It was unusual for him to get so riled up over something so seemingly insignificant, but there he was. He just had to get away from that house, the place which held that Other.

Not a word was said to Anana as he departed. Surely she would understand. It looked like she tried to reach out to Gunpowder to stop him, to say that she was sorry, but all he could muster was acknowledgement. The walk home, as he expected, felt longer than the walk to Anana’s house. He tried so hard not to dwell, but to no avail. He was stuck on that Other’s words, that Other’s unusual appearance. It was not one he would soon forget. Not ever, in fact.

In front of him was the store. It looked rather different in the dim light of the evening. What few rays of twilight reflected off the windows of the shop made it rather difficult to see inside. The glass had been tinted, probably to discourage would-be burglars. There was a distinct feature of one of the windows, however: a silhouette resembling Anana - or maybe that PK from previously - speaking to a.. Gunpowder couldn’t quite make it out. Whatever it was, it made him feel very uneasy. It was a shadowy figure, even by the already diminutive standards of light.

=====

Part 5 of "Well of Memories" by
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