S a l e t é I I

XV - Côtes - Quatorze

As Monet directed the girls across the old street, aiming for the slope that would serve as a shortcut up to the abandoned shop buildings, Cassia caught a few glimpses of what had been unfolding only seconds earlier. Judging by the signs, a fight had occurred, and two women were treating a young man who was now sat out of the way behind one of the stalls - one of them berating him whilst ensuring that he stayed put, the other dabbing  his face with a wet cloth, wiping at the cuts he'd earned.

Trails in the sand like dirt of the street were present, signs of the scuffle, whilst several spots of blood stained the ground in several places, none of them substantial in size. Even so, it wasn't the most pleasant sight, mostly because of the ideas that came with it.

What had caused the fight? Who else had been involved? Were fights common? What if they ended up in one...?

At least nobody would grab her hair.

Monet paid no attention to the remnants of the scene whatsoever. Whilst Uliana glanced over things a few times, she didn't particularly focus on it either. As such, Cassia did her best to push it all from her mind, keeping her envelopes at the forefront of her thoughts instead as she began to scale the slope with the others, any slips or falls the last things that she needed.

Given the incident that had occurred, Cassia was okay with only a brief look across the various stalls, which was possible as she began to ascend thanks to the elevation that they gained. Nothing much seemed to have changed during their time in the factory, everyone offering more or less the same range of goods. Most items were aimed at regular people, rather than Jouets, with anything for the latter crowd usually standing as extras on any given stall.

The differentiation was still foolish in her head - as irregular as Uliana tried to be.

Monet made her way up with her usual speed, waiting at the top for her companions to join her, the two soon catching up even with Cassia's additional care. Time had been skewed yet again - how long had they been gone? An hour or two? Longer? It was hard to gauge, with everything blurring together again.

"What's next? Are we definitely going to the junkyard tomorrow?" Uliana asked as she reached the top of the slope.

"I haven't decided. We need to find more things, yes, but we've got enough Honey to be comfortable for a few days."

"You always say that we need to keep on top of this sort of thing though. We've always gotta have an eye out."

"True. The junkyard can be risky though, you know that. Not that you think about risk very often."

Monet's latest statement left Uliana looking a little more sheepish.

Cassia listened as they got moving again, hoping to be mindful of even small details in their conversation. To her surprise, her own name came up very soon into the discussion.

"It would benefit Cassia if she saw the location sooner rather than later..." Monet reasoned, her tone taking on just a glimmer of thoughtfulness.

In truth, Cassia suspected that Monet was thoughtful all of the time, even if actually hearing that contemplative touch come through wasn't always common.

"We can be careful. Besides, we can look over the place before we actually go in, like we normally do." Uliana said.

If anything, the prospect of actually having something to do seemed to be the driving force behind her insistence - Cassia could understand where she was coming from with that - as sure as she was that the idea of an adventure also played into it.

A junkyard, full of possible treasures and hidden gems? Cassia could easily imagine Uliana scouring through the place in search of her next find.

"Uh, this junkyard..." Cassia began, actually contributing to the conversation now. She was always aware of her silence during their conversations, and often felt a little silly for it. At the same time, she felt that it was more important to listen in most cases.

"I don't want to sound silly, or anything, but... Is it... Dirty? I mean, is it all rubbish and trash?"

It was a thought that had been bothering her a little.

"People from up top who have garbage they need to dispose of dump it down here. It's not always pure trash, but yes, you can expect to see a lot of it." Monet replied, not looking back as she addressed her.

"Yeah, those city folks treat this whole place like it's their dump. The best part is that the junkyard didn't even start out as one, it became one after they'd left so much of their crap there. People were just like, oh, okay, this is a rubbish tip now, because they got sick of trying to tidy it up every time." Uliana explained, her voice ranging from annoyed to sarcastic.

"Even so, the things they leave behind can sometimes be a blessing in disguise. What's useless to them might be enough to get us a round of drinks." Monet pointed out, and it was a notion that Cassia kept in mind.

One man's trash, and all that.

They were entering the old garage yard now. A new sight was present along the way, just outside of its grounds - someone had stood up a barrel and filled it with bits of an old fence that had collapsed nearby, creating a fire. It was almost out now, having been left to burn in away safely enough, the metal barrel blistered due to what had once been a more substantial heat.

"If I take you there, Cassia, you must be careful." Monet told her as they went, Cassia ready to take any warnings she might have had seriously.

"The old street sometimes sees trouble, as you heard. The junkyard facilitates it much more easily. People squabbling over finds, people getting jumped..."

"Scraps in the scrapyard." Uliana said, and whilst it was a simpler way of putting things, Monet actually agreed.

"We should be fine if we stick together, so don't wander off." The girl in red concluded.

"Don't worry, I wasn't planning on it." Cassia replied.

Wandering off? Down here? There was no reality where that seemed like even a remotely good idea.

They squeezed through the smaller routes between the garage buildings themselves as they made their way into the warehouse alleys. Cassia made sure to take care of both her envelopes, which were still in hand so that they would remain in a good condition. The crayons she was transporting were tucked away neatly in her shirt pocket, where her book and pen remained when not in use.

It was kind of strange, but... She could feel the fringes of a vibe that Uliana might have had a lot of the time. Backpacks, goods, things for the hideout and for their friends... Each excursion was an adventure, in a way.

The alleyways were quiet, their footsteps the only sign of activity, and whilst it was a little eerie - what with the high walls, the natural darkness and the limited view - Cassia was beginning to appreciate it. If something was out of the ordinary, such as in a situation where they were being followed, they surely would have noticed disturbances almost immediately.

Another thing that had been in her mind, considering the nature of their bond with the factory kids, was the question as to why they didn't all just stay together under one roof. Wouldn't that have made things easier? They would have been able to work together more closely, and they wouldn't have to go on a trek to meet them each day if they were already there. Cassia wasn't sure, Monet probably having her reasons.

It didn't take them long to get back to the final alley leading to the hole in their warehouse wall, Cassia still unsure of the actual route to take through the alleys. That feeling she'd had before now cropped back up - thinking she was on the right track, and getting a few turns to take correct before mixing up or getting others wrong, which threw her off entirely.

Monet knocked on the metal covering their makeshift entrance, announcing their return.