S a l e t é I I

XVI - Griffes - Dix

Following her encounter with the metacarpals of an unfortunate Jouet, Cassia made an honest attempt to reaffirm her contributions to the search, for her own sake as much as for the sake of the group.

Having something to do meant that she didn't have to spend her time thinking.

Whilst she'd calmed down, and whilst she'd tried to frame the ordeal in some less severe ways, the sight of fingers amongst the garbage wasn't about to leave her mind, whether they were artificial in origin or not.

Uliana was keen to restore any dwindling spirits as they got back to work, and she attempted to do this by recounting some stories regarding previous excursions to the junkyard.

"Taya loves it out here, you should see how she climbs up all of these piles. What is it with her and climbing, anyway? She's always trying to get high up."

Cassia really did like listening to that voice of hers, now so more than ever.

"I say you should see it, but you probably won't. Monet sort of banned her from coming, because she basically used to get totally plastered in muck." Uliana continued, grimacing at the memory.

"Getting dirty is one thing, but it was the smell that bothered me." The older girl clarified as Uliana told the story to Cassia, both of the younger girls smiling as she joined in - Cassia just about managing a small one of her own.

"I'd rather that the stench here stayed here. Taya used to bring it back with her."

"It wasn't that bad." Uliana replied, though Cassia sensed she was saying this solely to get a rise out of Monet.

"It made me regret Jouets being given olfactory receptors." The girl in red replied, a slight dip in her tone - or rather, a further dip - indicating that Uliana had gotten the result she'd wanted, although the older girl's choice of words deprived her of any satisfaction, leaving her confused instead.

"Olfact... What?"

"A sense of smell."

"Ohh. Why didn't you say that then? You just like using big words, don't you?"

"If by big words you mean the proper terms, then yes."

"Big words."

Monet didn't reply to this with any additional words, big or otherwise, but she did give Uliana a short glare that suggested she was playing with fire, the girl on the receiving end still amused, only this time with an added dash of nervousness in her grin. The sight gave Cassia another small lift.

As time went on, and as their rummaging continued, Cassia found herself getting used to the darkness that persisted throughout Lower Merveille, broken only by the best efforts of its residents at those uneven intervals. She was all the more mindful of what it may have been concealing, however, a concern that had been thoroughly reaffirmed in her head following her little discovery, especially as she continued to assist in further searching.

Having Uliana at her side luckily worked wonders in weakening any fear that might have been lingering, to the extent that she could actually resume helping if nothing else.

Their inspections yielded a good few potentially decent finds, with all three girls managing to come across several more noteworthy items after their initial findings.

"Got a torch here!" Uliana called from where she'd been searching higher up, Monet quickly looking her way.

"Is it usable?"

"Hang on..."

Rattling sounds ensued.

"Uh, no, the front is all busted up. There's batteries in it though!"