S a l e t é I I

XVI - Griffes - Sept

"See if you can find anything that looks untouched. Unopened bags, things still piled up, it'll be best to stick to darker places." Monet told Cassia as they headed further in, the girl close to her side as she listened.

"Shouldn't we take one of these lights with us?" She asked as she continued to tag along, her gaze drawn to several of those sources of illumination as they passed them by.

All of them retained that humble style, and almost every one of them looked as if it had been put together by residents, the theme of practicality over appearance persisting on. Electrical lighting was a rarity within the reaches of the yard, though not entirely absent altogether, the occasional thick looking wire running along the ground.

"Only carry a light source if you're part of a larger group. Four or five people at the very least." Monet began, and Cassia didn't feel too disheartened after making a poor suggestion.

Learning experiences, and all that.

"There's a chance that others will be attracted to light in motion. The sort who would rather wait for someone else to do the work, before they step in to relieve them of it."

Cassia could understand that. Stick to darkness, don't draw attention, a simple enough line of thought. That darkness might not have been the most appealing aspect of Lower Merveille, whether it was within the confines of a warehouse, the reaches of a factory or the grounds of a junkyard, but it might have actually been an ally.

She found herself paying attention to any dimmer areas now, just in case anyone else had a similar idea. The dark was one thing, but what was in the dark was always another, and probably what made it unnerving in the first place.

Now that they were down amongst it all, Cassia was able to get a much better look at the somewhat less than wonderful assortments they might soon be sorting through. The amount of rubbish bags, shiny and black, was telling - as if the contents of bins or dumpsters from the city above really had just been emptied and brought down here to be forgotten - whilst other objects too large for bags were also plentiful.

Discarded appliances, broken equipment, unneeded fixtures... Even the most beaten of husks had been stripped by people searching for anything vaguely useful.

She spotted what looked like a dishwasher at one point - or rather, what might have once been a dishwasher. It was thoroughly smashed and in a myriad of pieces, its frame gnarled, almost as if a much heavier object had crushed it at some stage. A small television was sat amongst the mounds as well, its screen reduced to what must have been the smallest fragments possible, whilst its frame had been severely dented.

Television... Now there was a thought. If only they could have had something for the warehouse like a TV, or a radio. She was sure that it would have made a vast difference in passing the time.

Music would have been nice.

Many of the bags in the area they were passing through had already been cut open, their contents leaking in what was often a downright unpleasant manner. Food waste brought with it a stench of decay, with everything from rotten vegetables to containers for processed meals being accounted for amongst the heaps of garbage. Empty cans or cartons often spewed their meagre, leftover innards over everything else, forming masses of filth.

Crushed cans with segments sharpened by disfigurement and plastic bottles that looked as if they'd been filled with dirt rather than anything drinkable were one thing, but the empty milk containers were the worst, the sour auras they possessed making Cassia turn away.

"If you see anything remotely useful, no matter how basic or silly, make sure that you speak up. It's better to go through four mulligans and eventually find something than to come away with nothing." Monet said, again with the purpose of instructing Cassia.