Actions and reactions

Before anyone can say anything, Emi snatches up the hat and covers her ears once more. You glance around, and it seems like no one else noticed. No one except Harold, of course. The man is still staring at Emi, seemingly as stunned as you are. You take a deep breath, and sigh.

“So…that’s how I got interested, to answer your question. Because I found Emi on the side of the road, scared and alone, and I took her in.”

Emi takes your hand in both of hers. You can feel her shaking, and you squeeze gently. You look at her for a moment, and you can see the worry in her mismatched eyes. When you look back to Harold, you see him shaking his head as he collects himself.

“I see. That actually explains a lot. So Emi is a Hybrid, and an escaped one at that.”

You and Emi both nod, and Emi speaks, her voice quiet. “There’s more to it, but…I was an experiment.”

You see a flash of anger in the older man’s eyes, before he sighs. “I’m sorry that you experienced that, Emi, I truly am.”

He looks around the hall at the various people and Hybrids. “You took a big risk, bringing her here. Why?”

You look over at Lili dancing with a wolf girl and some kind of cat boy. “A few reasons. One, my coworker asked, and she’s a good person, so I figured it was fine. Second, I thought it would be good for Lili. Also, it’s not like I keep Emi a prisoner. She’s a person too, and we like to go places together.”

Harold smiles. “I suppose that all makes sense. But I feel that I should warn you, not everyone here would be as accepting as me. Several would probably turn you in, hoping for some sort of reward.”

You nod. “I understand that. I’ll admit that this is probably an unnecessary risk, but…it seemed like a good thing to do.”

Harold looks at you for a while, then nods. “I’d like to hear your full story sometime. I think maybe we can be a big help to each other.”

He reaches into a pocket and pulls out a business card. “Here’s my card. Get ahold of me sometime, and we’ll meet up. For now, Sylvia and I are going to go walk around a bit. Take care of yourselves, Andy and Emi. And take care of Lili too, she’s lovely.”

With that, they stand up, walking off to converse with other people. You’re left looking at his card, which is oddly simple, just his name and a phone number. No title, no company names, not even an email address. You look up from the card and see that there’s no sign of Harold or Sylvia now, they seem to have vanished into the crowd.

You pocket the card, more confused than ever. Who was he? What does he want? Can you trust him?