The Ranch

The Aces (2)

Tih lands on the platform and turns around, awaiting the next thing they're planning on doing. He stares straight at the eyes of the unfinished challengers, unknowingly showing off.

Victor finishes right after him, complimenting him begrudgingly," good...n-nice." It can be seen he's not used to complimenting.

The rest soon follow, with Theodore placing third, Basile placing fourth, Abel placing fifth, and Pierre placing last. The only reason Basile and Theodore's order swapped was because Basile lost his concentration when he saw Tih basically bypass the tire obstacle, allowing Theodore to pass him. Landing on the platform, he pulls out a donut.

Pierre lands on the platform and Theodore asks," So?"

"The lower body strength needed to pull a jump like that off..."

"To make that decision instantly, you need full confidence in your abilities."

The group stares at the naive-looking boy.

"He's definitely the strongest..." Abel starts.

Victor's pride hurt a little when he hears this, but Abel's next words bring a new problem to light.

"...he's mute." Abel states.

"Ahhhh.." The group comes to a realization. They seem to have believed he was only a quiet type, not completely mute.

"Wait, how did you know that?" Pierre asks.

Abel glances to the empty space beside him and no one continues their questioning.

Theodore scratches his head," Will this be a problem?"

"How's the Boss supposed to communicate orders to us if he can't speak?" Pierre has completely opened his heart to his new boss.

"Hmm, then doesn't he just need a spokesperson?" Theodore asks their resident puzzle-solver.

"Uhm, I guess that should work." Pierre nods his head.

"Then there's no problem! He already has one, that kid with wavy, dirty blond hair. The one boss was with at the tournament." Theodore snaps his fingers, trying to recall the name.

"Oh, the talkaholic? Wasn't his name Kai?" Pierre remembers.

Theodore snaps and points," Yes! Kai. Boss already has his own, personal spokesperson.

Tih watches their conversation from the sidelines like a movie, where he's just an audience member and has nothing to do with the conversation, even though he's the main topic.

"We can fill in some other details later. I was planning on finding a job today, so I'll be leaving now." Pierre announces. He looks at Tih and politely bows," Goodbye Boss."

Soon, Victor and Theodore also depart for their own tasks, leaving Tih, Abel, and Basile. The albino, Basile, stares at Tih with his red eyes. Tih replicates and stares back. Abel talks to the air next to him in a whisper.

The three untalkative children are stuck together for the next ten minutes. The odd scene soon starts bringing attentions from other soldiers in the training grounds.

Abel looks around," Shall we move somewhere more quiet?"

Basile glances away from Tih to looks at Abel. Without saying anything, he bites on a fish stick, turns around, and starts walking. Tih naturally follows along. Looking at the two, Abel follows as well.

Basile walks inside the mountains, to a quiet little opening. He uses some vines as a hammock. Seeing Basile make himself comfortable, Tih climbs a tree in the blink of an eye and sits on a branch. Abel looks at Tih's unnatural acrobatics and sits on a medium sized rock.

Other than the occasional bird chirping and munching of food, it was completely silent. This is the type of environment these three have come to enjoy. They find the silence comfortable. The remain still for hours, without anyone saying even a single word.

Tih had not gotten to spend time like this in a while. He often had these chances when he lived at the orphanage, but then he suddenly went on a bus and was taken to a new environment. He's seen many things and many people, and hasn't had time to process all the information.

He's spent most of his time on the island with the talkative Kai. He's also met many people over the course of a month, including his comatose state. Tih takes his time scrolling through his memories and throughly memorizing all of them, for potential use later.

This takes a couple of hours. By the time he comes back to himself, he realizes it's dark. Using his night vision, he climbs down and walks over to Abel.

Abel turns his head to his side and nods, like someone is telling him something. Then he turns in Tih's direction," Looks like we lost track of time. I'll be leaving now Boss." He gets up wit one hand in front of him and walks through the forest like someone is pulling his hand.

Watching Abel manage, Tih turns to Basile silently. "I'll stay a little longer." He says, staring in no particular direction.

Tih doesn't move and after a couple minutes of silence, he watches as Basile uses his sense of touch to climb off his make-shift hammock. Basile grinds his military boots against the ground, lifting them whenever he bumps into something and stretches out his hands to make sure he doesn't run into anything.

Tih stares at the outstretched hands and grabs one. It's warm.

A shiver runs up Basile's arm, starting from the cold hand that touched it. "...you're still here." It wasn't a question.

Blinded by the darkness, Basile's other senses become heightened. The unnatural body temperature of the child's hands would make one suspect him to be a zombie, but the softness of the skin contrasts that idea.

The small hand latches onto Basile's and starts pulling him. He's forced to walk without care and eventually trips on something. He falls in the direction he's being pulled. Basile quickly tries to stabilize himself but fails because of the uneven terrain. Basile's body collided into the smaller one, he fully expects to bring the child down with him.

Then, nothing. Basile stops falling with Tih acting as a concrete wall, not budging an inch.

Tih realizes he can't just pull the person. Using their close proximity, Tih bluntly picks up Basile into a princess carry.

Anyone with night vision watching the scene wouldn't be able to hold back their laughter. For a day to come where a larger child would be princess-carried by a smaller child, no one would believe it.

Somewhere in the island, a small team is stifling back their laughter as the look at the picture on screen. Their usually mundane and boring job gave them an unexpected surprise tonight. They would later brag about it to their coworkers when they take over the next shift. The mental image of a child carrying a teen would be ingrained in the department's minds by tomorrow.