Bad Temper

Sid knew that Randal had a bad temper. Childhood friends, Sid could tell you just about everything you could know about Randal. At least what Randal would say about himself, or things you could tell by observing him. Which was why Sid winced when he heard what Dianne said to him.

"You can't come. Then she'll be lonely."

She being her mother. Dianne couldn't see it, she rarely did. Even at this angle, where he could barely get a look at his face, Sid knew that Randal hadn't taken that well. Out of sight, he could see his hand flex in anger.

Randal and Dianne had been friends for a while too. They had quickly gotten close, so close that sometimes it was mistaken that they were in love. Then Randal starting dating Dianne's sister, Rosalyn. Randal didn't think he knew, but Sid could tell he loved her. He would see him repress or redirect conversations about her, lest he go on about how happy he was that he was with her.

Randal's love was different. Most people became unnaturally happy, or super excited, or whimsical. Randal became irrational when he was in love. Fiercely loyal and even more fiercely entranced with Dianne's shy younger sister, anything about her that he took in the wrong way, and not surprisingly, he took alot the wrong way, he quickly became defensive and violent. He had once seen Randal nearly pull out his revolver on a man he thought was talking about Rosalyn. He caught himself right before he did, and found out that it wasn't about Rosalyn, but it still made Sid's heart jump into his mouth when he saw it nearly happen.

It also didn't help that Randal was also an emphatic psychic, meaning that his emotions triggered different powers. When under control, he could manifest any power he wanted and use it. When sad, he had a hex factor that would make any wizard jealous, and the scariest of shadow powers. When he was happy, he could smell a dead rat a mile away, and probably see it with the clarity of a hawk if he had the vantage point. He also became unnaturally fast for his size, and moved with the gracefulness of a predator. Not that he didn't do that already.

When he was angry, as he was now, it usually manifested as heat and fire. Already he could see his friend break out in new sweat even though it was freezing to everyone else. In his voice, to Sid's keen ears could be heard a tint of malice as he tried to logically and calmly talk it out with Dianne. Then she started complaining.

At one point, while extremely pissed off, Randal had equated Dianne's complaints to "black talons scratching a living chalkboard through a megaphone three inches from my ear." Randal's body gave off a repressed reaction to what seemed like that sound to him. Sid felt that same panic he usually did when Randal became angry. Why he was the only one that seemed to feel it most times was beyond him. He saw Randal's hand move to his automatic pistol as he (falsly) calmly tried to continue speaking to Dianne. This time Sid's heart seemed to jump out of his throat and skitter to the dark corners of the mess hall. He wouldn't kill his love's sister? Would he? For some strange and terrible reason, Sid didn't put it past him. Knowing Randal's powers as well, a little mind control would remedy the situation. He would convince Rosalyn and the rest of Dianne's loved ones that she had killed herself in grief. He would make her boyfriend Ralph forget all about his relationship with Dianne, and everything would go back to normal. He got up, under the pretense of moving over to sit with them, hopefully to persuade Randal to rethink such a drastic measure.

The klaxon that signalled the end of lunch rang and scared Sid, nearly making him drop his tray. He felt Randal's nearly seeable aura of anger decrease, and he forced a smile at her and emptied the tray, then left for his shift. Sid's heart found its way back to its original place inside his chest. He sighed.

"That was close, wasn't it?" he heard a voice say behind him, and he jumped. He spun around and saw little Katy behind him. Her face held the same releived look as him. She wasn't little in terms of age. In fact, she was a year older than Sid. She did, however, come only to Sid's chest.

"You saw that?"

"I'm surprised no one else does but you and me." She said, shaking her head, "I feel it every time, no matter where he is."

"It scares the shit out of me."

"Me too." They began maneouvering their way through the crowds to their zones. He, Randal, and Katy were some of the many mercenaries that came to Azipa for work. A huge planet of arid grasslands, deserts, and immense, dense jungles, Azipa held many materials necessary for manufacturing important goods in the system. It also held an exotic fauna and flora arrangement, from giant cave worms, to even bigger man-eating venus flytrap cousins, to Raiders. Raiders were what remained of the planet's natives, the Azipans, before the rapid colonization by Erikson Matics Corp. Driven to the mass jungles and grasslands, a few succesful hits on convoys allowed access to technology otherwise unnattainable to them. The canine-like race adapted quickly, and now were trying to eliminate the "blight" from their world. They didn't fathom how pointless the cause was.

"Maybe he'll get unlucky and be able to blow off some steam. His squad has to get to Complex C." Katy said half-heartedly. Sid shook his head slightly.

"I don't know Kat. That might not be enough."