"Goodbye Curly Head"

"Paradise City"

"During the day, the Sankta looked up at the sky to find darkness shrouding even the sun. At night, the devil's army came and slaughtered countless Sankta. The Sankta lost much of their radiance.
"The saints said: follow me. Thus they rose. The saints said: listen to me. Thus, the bells began to ring.
"The bells echoed throughout the wilderness, uniting all the Sankta.
"This is a revelation. This is an exhortation.
"There will be light throughout the day, and it shall never be shrouded again.
"The saints said: build a city. It will be the Sankta's paradise.
"The saints said: this city shall be called Lateran."

 

As the rain kept pouring heavily onto the bright, white marbles of Laterano, a river of young, hopeful faces spilled out of school premises, quickly filling the streets. Clutching their bags and books high above their heads in an attempt to protect their shiny halos and fancy uniforms, not one of them was safe from getting thoroughly soaked. Having exchanged their half assed goodbyes, the students split into groups and ran off in a haphazard, ill-considered search for shelter, catching hundreds of raindrops in the process. Loud giggles and cheery conversations echoed all throughout Stevonus Avenue - a daily indication that school hours had finally been over. Usually, the occasion would be accompanied by a cacophony of gunshots and loud cheers from the older troublemakers.

Not today, however, due to Mother Nature's moody vagaries.

The streets began to clear out, as the rain kept assaulting the poor, battered architecture. Just one innocent soul remained in the downpour, sitting at the edge of a chiseled fountain and glaring down into its shallow pool.

“Just a couple francs off a peach cobbler. Might even nab a coke to go with it."

His thoughts wandered as he looked up at the figure of some hooded saint adorning the fountain. Holding a highly detailed flintlock pistol pointed towards the sky, water cascading from its muzzle, down his glimmering robes of marble. Wonder how much this piece cost?

Despite the premise of a sweet, warm meal, the boy seemed to hesitate for a moment. Dumb move, day diving into fountains. But on the other hand, it was raining, anyway, it’s not like he could get even more soaked.

Ah, what the hell.

He flung himself right over the edge of the fountain's pool, diving head first into the shallow depth. His arms flailed around wildly, hungrily reaching and searching for any coins at the bottom. No such luck.

Upon resurfacing, a curtain of gray, curly hair fell before his eyes. An obstacle to quickly brush away. He took a deep breath and tried again. And again. And again…

“Got anything?”

The boy’s head immediately popped out of the water, turning towards the source of that annoying chirping. There she was. A red headed girl with a bright, golden halo above her head and an even brighter grin plastered over her mug.

“Yeah, I got a moron watching over me.”

“Hey, at least I’m not the one diving into fountains for cash. You could’ve just asked…”

“Asked you for money?"

He let out a small snort at the mere thought. As if he hadn't taken enough from her already.