DETERRENT - Apply Fic

07

When they wake in the morning, the fists of farmhands having knocked on their doors and woken them up, they weren't expecting to feel this way. On their porches sit baskets of toiletries and fruits, a thank you from the fruiter George. The jet lag is settling in, and very few of them have ever experienced such a shift in time. The sun is in the air already, cresting over clouds, and it is too bright.

In Neo Elyisum, mornings are just like evenings. Dark.

They get ready. All of them. Including Rhiannon Rose, who has no intention to work. Harvey will not be pleased, but Rhiannon Rose doesn't care. As she changes in the kitchen, hidden from everyone else, she winces as she pulls off her shirt.

Her skin is tinged pink. Her face too. In the bathroom mirror, she presses the pad of her index finger against her cheek. It leaves a white mark on her face before it fades, the colour returning.

Rhiannon Rose has a sunburn. She should have known those could happen.

After they are dressed, cleaned, and covered in sunscreen after seeing Rhiannon, more farmhands come to knock on the cabins.

Out of the seasoned criminals, Norbu is the one who answers the door. He peers around it to look at the farmhand. The man looks terrible, just as tired as him. He points to the farmhouse but doesn't say anything. He then turns and walks away.

"What a freak," Eurydice says, peering around.

Faris shrugs, "he might be from The ROM or Serment. Instead of going to MFZ, they come here."

"This is worse than the MFZ, human trafficking and all," Eurydice glares.

Faris darts his eyes away.

Cosmia freezes for just a second. While she ran in close circles with the people Ace knew back in The Sticks, she never knew him all that well. The Dark Serpents had mentioned a close contact who was going through a trial, and no one bothered even trying to win those anymore. Human trafficking was the charge. Was it him? Perhaps, but Faris is far too good at hiding himself from her.

She'll think about it.

Across the room, Harvey gets up. His leg isn't feeling the best this morning after a day without a walking stick. Clockwork doesn't hide the injury. He leads with it, shows it off. Clockwork knows he is powerful because even while limping men swallow when they see him. Enter a room. So, with his head held high, he leaves their little shack and heads to the farmhouse.

In the other cabin, everyone looks at each other when there is a knock at the door. Kae shrinks into herself, looking around. Calath seems unbothered by the sound, instead preoccupying themself with taking apart the burners on the stovetop. They've already shocked themself with the faulty wires, and Kae is trying not to look, but winces every time the metal clangs.

In the bathroom, Titus fixes his hair. As he does, he makes a list in his head. Somehow, he's got to befriend the farmer. Which means working even harder than he already will today. He's got to find a GPS, learn to drive a car all by himself, either learn to hotwire a car or steal its keys, and probably learn how to read a map and find a map to read. Maybe he can just bribe the farmer, but he's got nothing to offer out here.

He's not going back to Neo Elysium. They'll want to track him for a few years to follow up on their silly little study. Titus has many things. Harpers and houses and cars and opportunities. The one thing he doesn't have is time.

So, it is Gale who answers the door. He's eating a peach as he does, carefully with his tongue since it's so hairy. It's insane to him that people pay more for this kind of food. AS he opens it, he looks around. Whoever was waiting is gone now. Gale sees Harvey heading to the farmhouse, and a few members of the other cabin trailing behind him.