Apricus Days

"Come one, come all indeed. I hope you two realize why I brought you here."

"Fuck you! WHO ARE YOU? YOU SHOULDN'T BE HERE!" Janus was about to storm forward until the fwip of a lightningbolt cane cut off his momentum.

The cane's owner set it back down. The card suits on Zeus's mask shuffled before laying out a spread on the bottom like a frown. "We're your participants... Why I was chosen is something I still question but-"

"Sorry, you're not getting answers." Olympia lounges by the once again holographic image of Mr R. "You two are coming with me and we're competing. We finally managed to get some big shots from outside the city to put their influence on the line and we're going to collect. You refuse, I out your identities to the public- and everything else you've done."

"I know who you are, too, Olympia. You think I can't respond in kind? Besides I'm far more deniable than you; by a lot."

"And none of that applies to me, Zeus. If you all could stop fighting each other and focus on possible opponents, we have a public list. Prepare accordingly. Oh, and remember- any winnings you have go to me. As representatives of the company, of course. You'll get your due but don't try to run away with it all." The hologram glares at the lot of them.

So rumors of my demise have been only partially exaggerated.

I don’t really have a lot of excuse for my months long absence other than “my head hasn’t been in it” and I really don’t have any one solid thing to pin anything down on. 

I’ve been meaning to try and get some stuff going again for a while and while I don’t know what it’s going to look like something should be taking form soon.

“Fair enough, not really my place to judge. I just think it’s interesting that seemingly only one place here has a so called dress code. Though realistically every place has one, people are expected to dress to fit in with wherever they are from unless they specifically want to stand out.” Glancing out as the train eventually made it’s way out to the gardens. A broad smile on her face when she started see more trees and less buildings. “Oh now THIS is like where I hang out at back home!”

“We used a lot of neat technology to transform some of the desert wastelands into forests! I love running through them, climbing trees and mountain areas. I’m more an outdoors kind of girl.”

“You’re fine,” he waved off her apology, then awkwardly tried to reword it. “I mean- don’t worry about it. Take your time.”

Night narrowed his eyes slightly and leaned forward to see the shaky screen better. A couple faces looked familiar, but one stuck out the most. “Shani?” He stood back up and blinked over to her again. His eyes darted about as he tried to search his memory of seeing any of them at the university. Most of it was a blur of rocks and vines and chimera.

It did make him smile to be recognized for his efforts, even if he felt a bit guilty for doing so; he didn’t want to give her reason to believe the only reason he was helping was for recognition. “Well… thank you for letting me know. I’ll see what I can do. Could be pretty awkward, though…. I’m assuming they’re not all in the same place?”

“You are... correct... sadly.” Flannery begins, “You will... have to... seek them out... on your own...” She takes another long pause, closing her eyes for a few moments before opening them again slowly, clearly trying to strain into a smile. Moving her face a lot was still work.

“Hmm..neat!” She purchased a ticket from the kiosk and held it up to examine it. “It works a little differently back home but same concept in the end. Seems like it’s a good way to go about things here though. Your Mayor seems quite proud of the railway, did he design it?” Stepping on to the train and getting her ticket scanned before she took a seat.

“Is it true what they say about this place?” Holding up a little guidebook that was available on the train and pointing at Cherry Hills. “That they have a really weird dress code or something?”

Lazuli took her own seat before making sure it wasn’t covered in crumbs or something sticky. As reliable as the trains tended to be they were always busy and as a result weren’t cleaned as often as most would like- especially the cheap cars that had a near constant stream of people 24/7. “I don’t know.” Lauzli answers, “Apparnetly he did have a big hand in it, though. I couldn’t tell you what.”

“Train?” Selkie blinked blankly.

“Yeah… we weren’t actually prepared to stay here, so… how does that work exactly? Where do you even get the tickets? None of us are native to Apricus. … That we know of.”

“Why do you need tickets to train?” Bronix asked softly.

“Oh, no, not like training. It’s a vehicle- a Train~! It’s like a ship, but it’s reeeal thin and long like a snake or an eel, and it goes SUPER fast down a thing of wood and steel instead of water~! Those are called tracks~.”

“Tracks…. That makes sense.”

“Good, then we can move on. So.” He turned a confident smile to their guide. “Tickets? How?”

Night nodded, allowing himself time to calm down and process things slower while waiting for her to finish. “Okay. Thank you, that’s understandable. I wasn’t sure how it all affected you, so just wanted to be sure.” It was odd. Even though Nepthys was the AI, the human girl before him spoke and acted just as robotic. Was this just how she had always been? What about that one moment during their argument in the garden where he thought he heard genuine emotion- where her speech seemed to change, even briefly? Had the operations done further damage than he assumed? Or maybe he was thinking about it way too hard again.

“Okay… well….” He looked to the doll a moment, trying to think of what else to say. “… I don’t want to cause you any extra anguish, so… I should probably leave you be.” He stood slowly from his seat but didn’t yet move away from the table. “Thank you for the generous offer, and I will let you know if I need the recommendation. I hope you recover well, and if you ever need- or… want to… talk or… anything. Let me know? But I won’t come and bother you again.” It hurt to say aloud, though he’d been rehearsing this scenario in his head for months. Still, he couldn’t get himself to just turn and walk away quite yet.

Flannery’s gaze was still impassive. Even her facial movements were slow. “There are... others... you should... speak with.” She shifts in her seat and tries to raise a shaky arm to bring up a screen. “Forgive... the wait...” She knew she had to start using the half of her with the damaged nerves to make sure they would keep moving again. Father wouldn’t abide by letting her atrophy- not as a parent nor as a neuroscientist. She slowly and shakily brought up four names and faces: Arvinda Tuck, Shani Menril, Iris Adler, and Nilah Banders.

“Ohhh cool!” She smiled listening to Lazuli talk about where she was from and what he brother did. “Yeah, we don’t have it back home..well I think we’re about to due to the world cup coming up but until now we haven’t had it. I watch it though, it’s super fun to watch the games. Last season got a little weird, kinda sad it didn’t get to have a proper finish but the last few games were super good so I guess it’s ok. I still can’t believe the Hounds finally pulled it off. I bet that Baskerville player had a huge celebration party. If the rumors are true, Hecaball fans tend to make a lot of stuff up..”

“If what my brother says about the one party he went to is anything to go by, it’s not an exaggeration.” Lauzli says. That was a whole ordeal that might be better heard from her brother proper. She wasn’t sure what else to make of the story even if she didn’t doubt he was telling the truth.

“Sure, that’s fine with me!” Nodding as she headed to the station with Lazuli. “What does your brother do?” The other girl kept bringing him up so now there was a bit of curiosity. “Seems like he’s fairly busy if you have to go looking for him. “I never even asked where you’re from! I mean I know you’re from the city but what district do you live in?” The train eventually pulled to a stop at the station. “Ok, pick a direction I suppose!”

It took Night a moment to process what she’d said; that was definitely not a response he was expecting. “…Thank… you…? Sorry, I… I’m kind of confused. You still didn’t actually answer my question. Like… are you doing this just- Why are you doing this? I kinda thought you hated me, so I’m just… confused. Take your time to answer, I’ll be quiet.”

Flannery wondered if she had been too hasty in presuming that a professed serious scholar of Night’s age would have divested himself in thinking emotionally. Some never would, she knew, but they were the ones who made mistakes- the same mistakes that almost got her killed and left her in a state of confusion and paranoia for years. Then again, Night’s question wasn’t a logical or scientific one. She had found it easier to be withdrawn these past months. It made actually thinking easier. 

“Beauty~!” Selkie clapped her hands together with a joyful hop. “Thanks, Hamlin~! Ooh, how exciting~!”

Captain Beatrix nodded to Kawakami and returned to the ship to make arrangements with Steiner and the rest of the remaining crew. Bart’s Lantern sounded like a good enough place to stay for the time being. She’d let the others do as they willed for now.

Crimson approached closer to Lapis, about a foot in front of Selkie, with crossed arms. “Well, guess we’re ready to go whenever you are, kid.”

“Ooh~! Bronix, you’re coming too, ain’t ya~?”

The boy glanced up, silently walking over to join them.

Lapis waited silently for the group to assemble before counting three who were coming along. “So I’m going to just assume the docks are the last place a bunch of career mariners need a tour. I hope you brought your train tickets; I’m not allowed to buy people stuff when I’m working. Union rules.” He started off down the sidewalk for the long walk toward the train station that would take them to the part of the city he needed to go to.

“Lead the way then, nature boy.” Her tone suggested a lighthearted teasing, and a small smirk leapt onto her lips. If she was being honest, she was no stranger to the woods either. It was probably for the best that they went that way. She laid her spear across her shoulders like a yoke, draping her arms over the pole as she followed along.

It wasn’t long before her brain snapped back however. She glanced down at her wardrobe again. Shit, this really was a helluva thing to worry about huh? Was she showing off too much walking like this? Just to be safe, she returned to a more standard marching position, arms at her side. At least this guy didn’t seem to care. That in and of itself was a small blessing she was grateful for.

Lapis continued on silently for a while as they passed through featureless stretch of wilderness after featureless stretch of wilderness. He could have sworn he saw exactly the same flowers a few times and thought they had gotten turned around, but the sun was still in exactly the same position. The edge of a forest came into view finally. It looked almost pristine. Lapis was too used to the lines, markings, and rows of stumps that would categorize a logging area like the one he lived in.