A Healthy Love of Violence

Corin was the second of three children born to the Mars and, by most accounts, the only normal one. She didn’t excel at much, but she rarely failed, earning her a reputation as a generally reliable person: one who was taken for granted. If something needed fixing, Corin would be there whether she liked it or not.

This extended, and in fact was primarily applied, to the fights between her younger and older siblings. Those two could find a way to argue about how to breathe. Corin’s job was to come in and say something like “You both know how to breathe,” or “Maybe none of us really know how to breathe,” or, occasionally, “Maybe Sel is breathing too fast because you just chased them around the house, asshole.” Then, she’d rest easy for another few hours.

By the time she hit her teens, Corin’s pent-up frustration with her position manifested as a healthy love of violence. This was where she excelled. She could not only fish with a pole, but with spears, knives, and even a bear trap—though that last one was just to impress a crush. She was regularly called upon to deal with the Cats that hunted the livestock, and she was always first on the scene in the event of a raid.

Her prowess earned her the affection of many suitors, but only one earned hers in return: Blue. They were tall and lean, with a shock of short, sky blue hair and goggles that left a silly imprint on their face when they wore them too long. They never tried to impress Corin, but somehow, they always succeeded anyway. Corin felt like the center of the universe with Blue. Finally, someone listened. Someone saw her for who she was, not what she could do for them.

Eventually, Blue convinced Corin that the two of them should run off together. It was hard to leave the place that had made her, but Corin felt too drawn to the horizon—and to Blue—to turn down the offer. Sel and Swweets were practically adults at that point. It was time for Corin to do something for herself. She hopped into Blue’s van and spent the next year exploring more of the world than she ever knew existed, raiding camps and exploring ruins with the one she loved.