S a l e t é I V

XLIV - Vœux - Neuf

"Alright, move it. The girls have gotta get changed."

Upon Chief's order, Shipshape joined him in leaving the upstairs room of the warehouse whilst Swoopy and Sweets made their way inside. 

The older boys who'd set out alongside Monet hadn't been back for very long yet, though it still felt as if some substantial time had passed since they'd first left - several hours at the very least.

Cassia and Connie had been joined by Shipshape earlier in the evening, and Cassie had only gone outside to see what the fuss coming from downstairs had been about, suspecting that their return had been unfolding. Only Sunshine and Sleeves were absent from what had essentially become the guest bedroom now, thanks to how Chief had ushered the younger girls up.

"Where's Sleeves? Still with Spears?" He asked Cassie and the lad who was now beside her.

"Yeah, I think so. Sunshine headed in there earlier too."

"And what about you two? You been doing okay?" Chief asked next, moving on to such a question effortlessly.

"Yeah, fine. You don't have to keep checking up on me, or Cassie for that matter. We'll be alright." Shipshape assured him, that sentiment one that Cassia backed him up on as she showed her resolve with a firm gaze, the two of them granting the older lad a dash of gratitude. 

Shipshape wasn't about to let him go about his business without asking a few things in return.

"Did you find anything? Where'd you go?"

"We headed up to the street that used to head up to the Brisbois place, had a look around some of the places there. Monet and I figured we could try and get up to where Sabine's been laying low, except we didn't get too far in. Sabre's pretty busy out there today." Chief explained, leaning back against the railing behind him as he went to fold his arms, only to end up rubbing at his scarred hand with his good one instead.

"You didn't get seen, did you?" Cassia asked, the thought of them encountering any degree of trouble an immediate cause for concern.

"No one paid much attention to us, nah. Monet was kinda jumpy for a while, but she mellowed out about halfway through the trip, I'd say. Captain and I looked after her."

"Did you dig anything up?" Shipshape asked, echoing his earlier query.

"Not a whole lot, no." Chief admitted, somewhat disappointed, seemingly at himself more than anything.

"We picked up a few bits and pieces from out the back of this one shop. Didn't find much else."

"Any Honey...?" Cassie dared to ask.

"Only one bottle. Monet swiped it whilst Captain and I kept a fella busy."

"That's good!"

He seemed genuinely surprised by her insistence upon that verdict, as if he'd truly believed that bringing back a single bottle was something to be ashamed of, or stood as some kind of failure. She couldn't blame him for not understanding the depths of their situation, but she could at least help him see that he and Captain had done them a service.

"It's better than nothing." She said.

"Yeah, I know that. I don't want to see you girls go without, that's all."

Nothing had changed there then. 

Cassie offered up her next hug to express her gratitude, the young man entirely content to have her close for that short instance before he readied himself to move on.

"I'm gonna go and get the others, we could all use some rest after today."

Before he headed down the old metal stairs, he turned back to Shipshape.