The Ranch

Carrier Pigeon (5)

Tih's walking around the island to find Private Scott. It's currently midday, a couple days after Kai's group started recording their conversations.

Tih's already visited district A, B, and C. He has to cross the river to check the last one. Tih leaves district B and makes his way over to the bridge.

Tih spots a black splotch collapsed on the ground. Walking over for close observation, he realizes it's Private Scott. The man is unconscious.

Tih looks at Private Scott's uncomfortable sleeping position and comes to the conclusion, his body will ache when he awakens.

When he was younger, whenever Tih slept in the trees, he would wake up with neck and back pain. After a while, his body got used to it, but Private Scott is probably not used to sleeping on the ground.

Princess-carrying the plain-faced man, Tih turns around and retreats back to district B, the closed district.

Tih walks through the district and into the center building. Eyes follow him as he bypasses the reception desk and enters the side door.

"...Ah! Wai-" Dazed from the unusual image before his eyes, the receptionist is too late to stop Tih.

Tih enters the the office to see a familiar face sitting behind the desk and an unfamiliar face standing in front, giving a report.

The man giving a report stops talking to look towards the sound of the door opening. The Major sitting behind the desk looks over as well. The two lay their eyes upon a child carrying an adult-sized man in a princess carry.

On a closer inspection, the Major realizes the man is Scott. He can tell somethings wrong. Pushing himself up, the Major of district B walks out from behind his desk.

He takes the fairly heavy man from Tih's hands," What happened?"

He doesn't receive an answer. The Major recalls the boy being a mute. He doesn't ask any more. The Major sets Scott down on a side couch and checks his condition.

After a couple of tests, he mumbles," Fainted...dehydrated....annnd a lack of sleep."

He turns to the man that was previously giving a report," Go get some water and a wet cloth."

"Shall I call a doctor?" The man starts walking to the door.

"No need." The major knows how expensive they are.

The man nods and leaves.

The Major turns to the child and nods in gratitude," Thank you for...carrying him here. Scott..." he sighs, "it looks like he pushed himself too far again, so don't worry about him. Scott has a long history of ignoring his health." He positions the sleeping man into a comfortable position on the couch," It was still okay when he was younger, but it looks like all that's catching up to him now. Hah...and he's not even middle-aged yet."

Tih stares at the sleeping Private Scott and his dark eye bags and pale complexion. It's still not as pale as Tih's skin though.

A while later, the man returns with water and a damp cloth. They set the cool cloth on Scott's forehead and set the water next to the couch for when he awakens.

"I doubt he's slept the past couple days. It might take a while for him to wake up, so you can leave if you want." The Major tells the boy.

Tih takes out a file he was supposed to give to Private Scott. It's his current mission.

" I've heard you've been going back and forth between Jax and Scott for the past couple week? It's the only thing the other district leaders have been talking about. They've also started betting to see how long you'll last. Heh, I don't know if you already knew this or not, but there were people before you with the same job, but they never lasted long." Seeing the kid is going to stay, the Major decides to take a break and talk to the mute child.

The one sided conversation continues for half and hour, until the Major has to go back to work. The room is silent for the next couple hours. Tih's focus is on Private Scott's face, occasionally re-dampening the cloth the moment it starts to dry.

As the sky slowly turns dark, the Major backs away from the desk and stretches," I'm done for the day, so I'll be leaving now. You can stay as long as you want. Don't worry about locking up, Scott knows what to do." He exits the building, walking to a nearby apartment building that he lives in alone. One of the perks of the position of Major is the ability to assign people to dorms, meaning they can give themselves a whole apartment. It's not an unusual thing, looking through the history of district leaders and no one has any reason to complain, they worked their way up to the position, after all.

Tih stayed behind, in the unlit building. The only illumination being a nearby lamp emitting a blue-ish color. The blue color faintly outlines Tih's soft features, long eyelashes, and dark curly hair.

This is the picture Private Scott is spooked by when he opens his eyes. Although the scene seems soft and calming, like a snowy winter day, it also gives you a chill up your spine for reasons unknown.

"Tih?" He lets out a raspy voice from half a day of sleep. Tih gives him the cup of water nearby. He downs the liquid," What time is it?" His voice sounds smoother. Private Scott looks out the window to see the rising moon and twinkling stars. He frowns, thinking about how he's going to reschedule all the work he didn't get done today.

He tries to get up, but becomes dizzy and can only remain seated. Tih looks at the man's still pale face and eye bags that are more pronounced because of the shadows created by the blue light.

Tih remembers the owner of this office talking about how Private Scott didnt get enough sleep. Tih wonders if sleep will get rid of the dark things under the man's eyes.

Tih softly pushes on the man's chest, forcing him to lean back. Private Scott tries to push back, but Tih's hand is like a concrete wall, it won't budge. Scott concedes and lays back down.

In this peaceful environment, for the first time, Private Scott is not rushing around doing something. He's collapsed before, but he usually starts working again once he wakes up. He doesn't remember the relay time he wasn't doing anything, just laying still.

Unable to do absolutely nothing, Private Scott starts talking to Tih," I'm fine now, really-" He makes eye contact with Tih's emotionless blue eyes that look almost eerie in this lighting.

Not knowing what's coming over him, Private Scott starts speaking his inner thoughts," My health has already been degrading for a long time now. Years of non-stop work and stress finally catching up with me, I suppose."

He chuckles in an almost imperceptibly sad tone," It looks like my hard work finally amounted to something...it just, wasn't exactly what I was expecting."

Private Scott stares at the ceiling with a mocking smile," Look at me, breaking down. Even though he gave up on himself, he still ended up with a higher position than me, lucky bastard."

His smile disappears as he looks at Tih," I'm envious of Jax. He didn't even have to try to become a Major. Just because he has more talent...he can completely abandon any notion of hark work or effort, and everything will still work out for him in the end."

He suddenly realizes what he's telling a child. He covers his eyes with an arm," ...Im going to sleep a little longer, you should return to you dorm." He remains silent, even after Tih leaves.