Meeting Hobie Brown
Meeting Hobie Brown was not what I had planned for today. My plan was to:
1. Wake up my siblings.
2. Feed them and make sure they brush their teeth.
3. Get them all to school/daycare.
4. Go to HQ
5. Talk to Miguel about the new anomaly.
6. Capture new anomaly.
7. Eat lunch.
8. Go patrol São Paulo.
9. Go to work @ 4 pm
10. Leave work @ 8 pm
11. Pick up siblings from the babysitter.
12. Get them ready for bed.
That is what happens Monday through Friday. Today is Tuesday. My plan went out the window when I was about to do step 5.
I walk into Miguel's office where I see him lecturing the new recruit. A tall British anarchist that likes to play guitar and listen to punk music. Not really my cup of tea so I clear my throat.
"Ahem. Hi fellas. I was just about to talk to Miguel about a few things. I can come back later though." I say as I turn around.
"Rosa wait." I hear Miguel sigh. "Take this degenerate with you. I don't want to look at him anymore, it infuriates me."
I nod and tell the boy to follow me. He had long fingers attached to big hands. He had wild yet tamed hair that somehow fit under his mask. He wore a leather jacket on top of his suit with combat boots and metal spikes sticking up from the top of his mask. I guess he didn't care for the silence at the moment and tried making small talk.
"So what's your name?" I glare at him.
"Rosa. Rosa Castro. And you are?" I ask
"Name's Hobie Brown. Local Anarchist at your service." He says bowing and taking my hand. I pull my hand away but we start talking.
"So Hobie...what did you do to Miguel?" I ask nervously. My social anxiety getting the better of me.
"Well, let's just say I interfered with a canon event." He says smugly. His lips curved up, almost in a mischievous way... His brown eyes watching me delicately.
"Well, that certainly gets him like that," I tell him. Next thing I know he's giving me his whole life story. How his parents abandoned him when he was five. How he had to fight for food on the dirty streets until this lady offered her home to him. He called her Auntie. Hobie says she was a kind and caring woman. She even tried out his interests so that she could have something to talk to him about. He told me he is bisexual and isn't against polygamy or anything like that. He strongly believes that everyone should do and say what they want. As long as it doesn't harm anyone in the process. He told me how supportive his Auntie was and that she stood up for him and stood with him on everything he believed. His Auntie was there for him whenever he needed her to be. After he became Spider-Punk. When he got into his first fight. Losing his first fight. Everything. Until she wasn't. His Auntie got really sick and she was going to get meds that would make her better but her insurance wouldn't pay for it. She also didn't have an extra $1000 to buy the medicine. Hobie tried to help raise money for her but he was too late. She passed away later that year. Hobie promised her that he was going to protect the innocent people of London and stand up for his beliefs and what's right.
"Wow, that's a lot," I say dumbfounded.
"I get that a lot. What about you?" He asks, his eyes watching me carefully one more.
"Me?"
"Yeah. What's your story?" His eyes were still on me.
"Well... I have seven siblings." I say looking up at him since he is much, much taller than me.
"SEVEN?!?! That's a lot!" He yelled pulling attention towards us.
"Shh. Yeah, seven." I chuckle at his response, "All younger than me. All completely different personalities."
"Will you tell me about them?" He asks, seeming truly interested in hearing about my life.
"Um okay sure. Well first there's the first set of twins-"
"There's more than just one set of twins?!" Hobie asked surprised.
"Yes. Now anyways, there's the first set of twins, Antonio and Andre, they are both 13. They like to pull pranks but aren't super smart to pull off big pranks. Then there's Bruno. He is 10 years old and is a little businessman/inventor. Do not buy anything and I mean anything from him. Then there's Enzo, he's 8. He is super smart. And will probably end up in a position of power at some point. He also is the mastermind behind Antonio and Andre's big pranks. Then there's the second set of twins Gustavo and Luca, who are 5 years old. They are very artistic, though, in a lot of different ways, the one artistic thing they have in common is drawing. Gustavo likes to do more with graphics and visual art-type stuff. Luca on the other hand does more with acting and language arts. Then the youngest is Otavia. She is a sassy 2-year-old. Plus she talks a mile a minute." I chuckled at the memory of my baby sister telling me about a butterfly she saw, talking so fast she stumbled over words.
"Sounds like a lot of fun... and trouble." He chuckled
"Yeah. It got overwhelming after my mom passed." I freeze when I just realized I told someone I have only known for two hours something I don't tell people I have known my whole life. "I mean- uh- It's all good! Ya'know me taking care of my siblings." I laugh nervously.
"You take care of them by yourself? What about your dad?" He asks cautiously.
"Oh um... I never met him. Neither did any of my other siblings with their dads. Not really at least." I bring my legs up to my chest and hug my knees. "I never met my dad. I have met my siblings' dads. They all have a different one. It's not like my mom is a whore or anything it's just... after my dad, she tried to look for a nice guy to help her out and stuff. She never found one. They were all assholes. Whether they were abusive or wanted money or wanted my mom's body. There was only one good one. Luca and Gustavo's dad. He was well off, nice, didn't ask for much, and was in the military. He got assigned overseas and never made it back. Luca and Gustavo were born a month later."
"Oh, dear. That sounds awful." I mean he was right. But then he put a hand on my shoulder and my heart went 'Oh sem sentimento'.
After that, we became good friends, then best friends. Our duo soon became a trio when we met Pavitr Prabhakar.