Relic

Chapter 2: Search

 The next day, Kristoff calls R, informing him that the girls have been doing better. With that, R decides to pay the clinic a visit. Making it there, he asks if Kristoff could give him some alone time with the three and he complies. He walks into one of the rooms and closes the door behind him. The room is small, with only five beds in it, but the plants make the room more calming. He can see the other girls are doing much better, though they still have a few bandages on them. Afterwards, he pulls up a chair in front of their beds and sits down, placing his arms on the back of the chair. The horned girl to his left is visibly displeased seeing R there.

"Is that you Kris?"

"No, It's me."

"Oh." Jeanne seemed displeased. "Why have you come?"

"Well, we've gotten off on the wrong foot before."

"Really?" Says the horned girl.

R sighs, scratching his head. "I wanted to start by apologizing for... well, putting you here, pretty much. I would have done otherwise if I were smarter." He looks at them to see their response. The horned girl turns away, uninterested in what he has to say. Flare stares at him with the same, cold eyes. Jeanne doesn't respond, just listening. "Ok... My name's R, I'm technically a leader of Crowwell, but I mostly just run my café. Can I have your names?" He asks.

"Reintroductions then? Alright. Well, you already know me. I'm Jeanne. The cold one to my left is Flare, and the irritated one to my right is Ram. It's a pleasure to meet you under more pleasant terms."

"Pleasure to meet you properly as well."

"Why else have you come?" Flare asks. "Is there any reason for your being here?"

"Well, other than checking up on you, I wanted to talk about how things are going to work. Tagless Rels can't be spotted walking around, or else it causes problems for all of us. So that's the first thing I want to deal with."

"What are these tags anyways?" Jeanne asks. "Is it like a lanyard or something?"

"It's a dog collar that goes on you. Normally, you'd have to turn yourself into a special government building and have them record you as a Rel, and they give the collar."

"That is not an option that we can take for reasons we can not disclose." Flare says.

"I won't pry into anything, but I had a feeling. I can make some fake collars that are visibly passable, so long as you don't get caught by a sensor."

"How much do we pay for these collars?" Flare asks.

"Nothing, I'll give them for free."

"That's kind of you." Jeanne says. "But what do you want in return? Sorry for being skeptical when you're trying to be a good Samaritan."

"I'm being honest when I say nothing. But if it makes you feel better, we can say that, in return, you stay at my café. That is of course, if you have no other place to go."

"Why would you want us to stay with you?" Flare asks.

"To keep you safe. I don't know how familiar you are with the peacekeepers or how these districts work, but if you're not a strong Rel, or if you aren't in a gang, this place can be really dangerous. Also, I can't have any more Rels be my enemies, if you're looking for a selfish answer."

"I'm assuming we don't have much choice in this matter." Jeanne asks.

"Depends on what you mean. You could decline my offer to shelter you, but that would put you at risk from gangs or peacekeepers. If you stay with me, I can at least protect you. At the bare minimum, you need tags. I won't budge on that. But reconsider trying to go it alone."