ryan groggily drags himself down to the city gathering place for the evening ritual along with the eight other people of his nonant. he'd just done about eight hours of work out in the fields; his brown hair is sweaty, his clothes matted with dirt, his body sching and yearning for rest. nico's nonant is in charge of the "farming" aspect of dema, and boy does he hate it more than anything.
he never works for a set amount of hours, it just depends on how quickly the work gets done, how many people are there each day. there have been a couple people who haven't shown some days, which is odd because following the rules is the top priority in dema. yesterday there were two no-shows, who knows where they were. ryan hasn't seen them anywhere today either, they're not currently with the rest of the nonant.
his steps slow down as he ponders this realization he just came to. where do they go? what happens to them? he doesn't have any answers, but it's definitely worth thinking about. he tries to think of all the places in the city, but none strike him as suspicious places, so he brushes it off and keeps walking.
once the group reaches the "cemetery", or the area with the building that they hold the rituals in, they file in one by one in silence, no one looking up at anything for even a second.
the bishops haven't entered yet, as usual. they only enter once all nine nonants are present in the building. nico's nonant, where ryan lives, is always the first to enter, as nico is the head bishop over the city.
ryan finds an overturned white crate to sit on, silently awaiting the rest of the city, the eight remaining nonants. as the rest of his nonant files in and he notices that the same two people who vanished yesterday are still missing. his mind wanders back to the thought he had earlier. dema's number one rule is to stay in line, to follow the rules.
sure, ryan's thought about maybe rebelling for a day just to see how it feels and what punishments might occur, but his fears always get the best of him. ryan's never been one to step out of line, he's heard rumors of what happens to the people who disobey and he wants to stay on the safe side.
deep down he hates living like this in this city, but he's not brave enough to take charge of his own self and do what he wants. he feels trapped, but he doesn't know how to get out safely; he doesn't know if that's even possible.
maybe one day he'll find someone or something that'll give him a reason to escape, but as of right now he doesn't have the motivation or courage.
but somewhere in the back of his mind, he feels like he belongs out there. beyond these walls.
the ritual proceeds as it does every day. ryan doesn't focus on anything said or done during the time he's there, all he can think about is what's outside the walls and why he always feels so drawn to that curiosity.
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Fanfictionryan's always been a good citizen. he follows the rules without question, attends all rituals and gatherings required, he's a model image citizen of DEMA...on the outside, that is. ryan's been having dreams recently that make him question if things...
