DETERRENT - Apply Fic

20

They sit in Benji's lounge where he administers the medical equipment. Gale has a the beginnings of a black eye from where he slammed into a metal bar, and is holding a cloth with melting ice to his face to prevent the bruise from blooming. Eurydice has two small cuts on the back of her leg, bound tightly, from where she kicked a chicken when the pen fell. Well, it wasn't kicking the chicken that did it, but the pecks from two others at her assault.

It fucking hurts, especially because she ran on it.

A few others sit as well. Rhiannon Rose, who only heard the sound and didn't feel the tremble, couldn't be assed to try to round up chickens. Harvey has brought in a pot of tea that no one is drinking, dirty weed water that it is. Benji said no to coffee. Kae sits next to Benji. He has an arm wrapped around her as she trembles.

Finally, the others pour in the room. Norbu first, and he collapses on the floor in a heap, huffing out breath.

"Caught them all," he manages, exhaling. "Post repaired."

They made quick work of the repair, Faris and Cosmia. The pen was fixed within thirty seconds, but then they had to chase down all of the chickens. Of course, Calath didn't help. Mostly, her eyes wandered. The others come in shortly, minus Calath of course, who is still outside poking around the exterior of the house.

There are a few feathers stuck to their clothes, the remaining group. Titus leads them. He's got scratches from the talons, as does Faris who is right behind them.

"I need to shower," Titus shivers.

Harvey smirks.

Then, Benji stands. Cosmia enters the room, with blood running down her cheek. Her eyes are wide but blank.

One was on top of her. She tripped and fell chasing it, and it was on top of her. Norbu snatched the thing and Faris pulled her to her feet, and she remembered the day she was captured and brought to the panopticon.

Benji hurries past her, bursting out of the room.

"Fuck those chickens," Norbu huffs. "I get why people eat them now."

Cosmia slips from the room and trails behind Benji. He doesn't seem to notice her. Instead, he bursts out the farm's front door and crosses around the front of the building. He circles around to the shed. Through the open door, Cosmia can see Calath tinkering with one of the pipes. She stays hidden behind the house, listening in to their conversation.

When Benji is close enough to cast a shadow over her work, Calath looks up.

"You're done," he shakes his head.

She stares at him, "what?"

"I said you're done," Benji says. "No more fucking with my irrigation. You're going back to real work."

She drops the pipe on the ground. Though she is a foot shorter than him, she glares like she isn't. Calath is used to being small, to being only seen when told no. Calath is used to cages, even before the panopticon. The kind that wild things belong in. And her hair, before she cut it short, was wild, and maybe so is she.

"This is real work," she says. "The explosion wasn't my fault."

"Oh, so someone else cause a back up in the hydraulic pressure system?"

"No one did," Calath crosses her arms.

"Was it an earthquake then? Do you even get those in the metal land you live in?" Benji's face is bright red. "It was you."