Shay had been searching for Rho. It was easier now that she knew most of the big names in the Underground. She caught wind of a white-haired girl down in the shadier areas. It wasn't very helpful; there were a lot of white-haired girls in Manta Carlos.
Young. White hair. Questionable outfit. And with an older man. That was the information. That was all Shay had to go off. So she strode through the Underground, repeating the description given to her over and over again in her head as she did so.
Eroshay wasn't even sure why she was looking for Rho. She reached down and toyed with the necklace she'd gotten in the mail. Shay supposed she just had to ensure things were okay. It had been long enough that she'd spoken to Rho that the raven-haired girl was worried for her friend.
Once she got to her location, Shay stopped and peered around. This was the part of the Underground that was unsavory. To be fair, most of it could be considered such, but this part was more so. It always gave Shay the heebie-jeebies.
Shay saw a flash of white hair and a man pushing into a clock shop right down the road. She'd wondered if it was Rho, there were plenty of people around with white hair -- but going into a shop and peeking around was better than standing on some street corner waiting for trouble.
Eroshay changed course and headed for the clock store, entering without hesitation. It was small, and thus, easy to see everything from the doorway. Yes, that was very much Rho with some new man. It wasn't hard for Shay to put the pieces together and she didn't like it. Not one bit. How did she approach this situation, though?
Rather that marching right over to Rho, as was her first instinct, Shay went near enough that Rho would have seen her and began searching the clocks. She inched closer until she was right next to Rho and her male "friend."
Shay accidently bumped into the man, dropping the clock she was holding. "Shit! Sorry!" She scrambled to pick it up, and when she caught sight of Rho, recognition flashed in her eyes.
"Oh. My. God. I haven't seen you in so long! How has it been? I see you were adopted." Shay beamed at the man, all too easily falling into this strange, sweet lie.
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Shay continued staring into Rho's eyes. She was afraid; Shay could feel it. Afraid or nervous, but it didn't matter which. It had Eroshay rearing up to fight for her. Protection-induced rage settled its way into Shay's chest and sunk slowly to her stomach as she stood taller. The anger there hardened, cold as steel when she was touched.
To her, it felt Rho was begging for Shay to be discrete and that placated some of the Rosales girls anger, but not enough of it. Shay didn't like being touched, especially by some creepy guy who was expecting way too much out of her. It made her sick.
Feisty as ever, like she always was, Shay met the man's eyes, smile turning sharp and bitter. "I'm Eroshay Rosales, sir, and I'd much appreciate if you didn't touch me. See, my father tends to get a little physical when older men get too touchy. You know what they say about us Rosales', we're everywhere."
She glanced over her shoulder at someone inconspicuously looking at the store's wares before leveling a challenging stare on the man.
♠♠♠
The sudden movement almost had Shay raising up, like a snake on the coil. Her eyes hadn't warmed any and her smile (as fake and acidic as it had been) was gone now.
Then Rho pulled him off to retreat from her. Shay watched, caught between protective fury and disappointment. Rho was probably made at her. Shay didn't blame her, coming in all huffy and name-dropping like that made Eroshay look like a real damn brat.
Once Rho had left, Shay reached up and scrubbed her face, huffing and tried to collect herself. Searching for words or memories that could put everything together, when nothing was.
Watching Rho run off like that, hand in a tight grasp with that man made Shay feel hopeless as all Hell. She didn't know what, if anything, she could do about this.
♠♠♠
-End-