Seeing Red
The People's Ascendance Center, Democratic Union of Aviye
Rui
The jumbled, nausea-inducing swirl of colors and sounds slowed as the darkness in Rui's mind clasped itself to a memory.
A cold hand on her shoulder, a man in a suit with Kingdom garb, pushing her out into a dingy hall.
"She's a difficult one," he warned someone unseen.
"Let me get you a napkin for that hand," a woman's voice replied. Matronly and stern.
"No need. Just a shallow bite. I've had worse from my dog... and he's far better behaved than her."
"Something's not right with her, behaving like that."
"The Kingdom of course will add to the orphanage's stipend. Just remember to send the form."
The world twitched. Blurred for just a second, the walls becoming as insubstantial as brown-red mist. Then above Rui loomed a woman, her face high enough that it seemed to make its own shadow.