S a l e t é I I

XIX - Épaules - Quatorze

"Well, that was the biggest load of shit I've heard for a while."

Spears had again been the one to speak up as the crowd below brimmed with activity again, Brisbois now addressing individuals and groups on a more personal basis from what Cassia could see, some now stepping forward to speak to him directly.

Whilst he hadn't exactly used the most eloquent of terms, what Spears had said seemed to be the sentiment echoed by the other older members of their group. Chief appeared rather nonchalant about the whole thing, whilst Monet remained as stoical as usual. 

Sleeves, on the other hand, looked as if she was working through a good deal of confusion. Uliana's more irritable expression from earlier had yet to change, maybe even being bolstered.

Cassia didn't know what to make of it all herself. She didn't know if she really could come to any sort of meaningful conclusion. Did these sorts of things happen very often? Speeches from "bigwigs"? She was assuming that they didn't. What he'd spoken of sounded great, and it came across as a step in the right direction, only the lack of passion from her companions quickly soured these strands of thought.

"A new industrial place? Has that man made more buildings for people to work in?" Sleeves asked, looking up at the others for some sort of clarification.

"A bunch of folks were building a couple of new places up where he said this new quarter is recently. Saw them working a bunch of times, hardly looked like anything big." Spears said, his words apparently aimed at Chief more than as a response to the girl.

"Why would they build something new? Why not work with what already exists?" Monet reasoned, sounding as if she was putting her thoughts into words, and Cassia was quickly drawn to what she was saying, her opinions of weight to her.

"Good question. This could just be the start though, they might go after some of the older places later." Chief replied, earning concern from the girl in red.

"If they even last that long." Spears began, his doubts still rife.

"I don't care who this guy is, he's not going to change much of anything. He literally admitted that he's just another scrub from shiny land."

"But he might change things if he starts to provide for those living here. Wouldn't you like a proper job? Actual work, proper food?" Monet asked him as she heard his continued scepticism, such questions doing little to change the course of his distrust.

"Yeah, jobs for everyone, even kids like us. What kind of guy comes down here saying he's gonna hire kids? Sounds to me like he wants some people doing stuff for him on the cheap. And you've changed your tune, haven't you?"

"It couldn't hurt to take a look. Next time we go out, we should head over and see what all the fuss is about, even if it's just to see what's going on and nothing more." Chief said now, a new seriousness rising in his tone, such a presence indicative of his role.

"We can stand around talking about it all day, but if we actually went there then we'd know for sure if it's anything major. We could do what we did today again, six of us or so, a joint effort."

He looked Monet's way as he made this suggestion, and whilst she didn't respond by saying that it was a good idea, she didn't dismiss it either.

"Well I reckon it's a load of toss, and I bet most of the folks down there agree with me. They're not going to just walk up to some stranger and take on whatever he wants them to do, especially after what happened last time."

Spears really wasn't going to budge from his dissatisfied stance, and Cassia couldn't really blame him. If Lower Merveille was the way it was today - even to only a small degree - because of the old families or companies leaving it behind years earlier, then the thought of those same figures returning as heralds of progress annoyed her a little too.