Snippet #1004794

After a few minutes of being watched, she moved away from Peng’s tight grip; a soft smile on her face. She really liked her new friend; his silence was more welcome after the shock of being moved from her home and family… If that was what you called it. Her ballerina like steps flowed, touching the dome’s floor without disturbing the mars dust; silent in her approach. The eyes of the men turned towards her, bodies tensing under their thick outerwear. She held up a silent hand of peace, nodding her head deeply to show her respect to them; unwilling to be hurt over such a little thing. Her heavy gun lay heavily next to her hip, utterly untouched. Her hand ran along the cold glass, her chain clicking loudly in the quiet room, fingertips searching for the button. A small circle of warm metal came between two of her fingers, she pressed down, ears wincing at the harsh sound of the buzz. The left soldier twitched oddly, drawing her palms to the handle of her gun, letting her arm take up the heavy weight. Her eyes flickered o the other guard, who shook his head and she felt shame for her reaction, letting the strain return to her shoulder.

“Yes, how can I help you?” Came a board voice from the machine. She felt a rush of anger, had the stupid woman forgotten them already?
“This is Tildy, can you let us in? I havnt eaten in over 24hours and could do with some rest just as much.” She spoke as politely as her emotions would allow, leaning against the wall by the mouthpiece. Around her feet twisted the Skitter, yellow fur brushing against her bare skin; it’s body a little fatter for the food it had found. Great, even the cat had food now; she cursed the woman behind the wires silently. She brushed a hand through the soft strands of her bright red hair, waiting for a response from the lady who had taken little or no notice of her existence; despite the fact their intercoms were still linked. She turned to watch Peng, who was once more hovering at her side; she thought he must have low confidence, always hovering at her side.
“Give us a few minutes, someone will be down to give you passes to the trading area. You won’t be allowed any further until you have had registration and taken some form of identification, but at least you can eat.” The tired voice clocked off without so much as a good-bye.

Peng’s heart shot into his throat, they were allowing him in? His bandages roiled along his human like body, giving his silhouette unnatural lines , coiling like tentacles. He had not been allowed in the inner dome since his parents had traded him, no matter how he had tried they would not see him as a mutant rather than a beast. Joy swelled in his cogs, making them spin ever quick in his fake chest. He looked up at Tildy, wondering for a brief moment if she was joking with him, it was not allowed for any of the beast to pass the inner gates. All he saw in her deep green eyes was anticipation, for what he did not know, but he was glad to see that she held not malice towards him. His steal gaze fell upon the two soldiers who left the room without another word, the right one nodding politely but noting more. As soon as they left his voice started through the darkness, singing to the minds that surrounded him.

“Hi, thanks for coming down.” As she spoke her words were clipped. Heading to the messenger before her “I was about to starve to death!” She swiped the two cards from the young girls hands, not bothering with politeness this time. Her mind could only deal with so much distraction and Peng’s happy song fulfilled that without any difficulty. She smiled, pulling Peng to the door behind her, ignoring how unnerved it made her to feel cloth rather than flesh. The dome was huge, opening out before them and seemed unending with its roof blocking the view to the other side, stalls spreading out as far as the eye could see. To the left were food stalls of every kind, smells of many different cultures wafting over. Her nose started off towards its favourite food, pizza, mouth filling at the delicious smells. She dragged her companion along behind her, taking note of how people dressed and acted, brain storing the information away for another time. She was one of the best analysts of her group, always able to notice the small things, taking them in for reference rather than forgetting them.

Peng sat down silently, keeping silent now as to focus on keeping his limbs untangled. He sat on the stall to her left, not wanting to be too close to anyone. He felt slightly overwhelmed by the large amounts of people, packed into a small space. The beast’s cave was smaller, but somehow they managed to have more space, living in many small colonies rather than a few large ones. His head snapped up as a slice of pizza was slapped down before him, maybe that was how tings ran here. His bandages moved slickly, pulling out a few coins, rare commodity in a ore poor society, handing one to the vendor. He smiled nervously, running his hand over the Skitter that was clinging on to Tildy for dear life; giggling to himself at its flattened ears. His hand unravelled, coils of cloth reaching to touch the unfazed creature, it had seen him do such things many times. He watched the large man behind the counter, wondering how he felt about serving a beast, almost everyone in the dome knew Peng, he was always around and one of the head traders for his quadrant.

“Hey can you pass the chilli please?” She asked the man next to her with white hair (Ace), a smile on her face. The people around her seemed so relaxed, unlike where she had come from where training had been all that was in her mind. She looked down at the man’s bottle a large smile spreading across her face, white teeth glittering in the dim lights. Was that beer? They had never before been allowed any form of alcohol in the laboratories and she had always wished to try some. She pointed towards the bottle, nodding at the man behind the bar that she wanted one. Her foot tapped on the stool as she waited, taking up her pizza for the first bite. It tasted sublime, hunger pushing away anything that might have once been bad, telling her to eat it all. She put the slice down, swivelling in her chair and lent against the bar, watching all the people go past with an inquisitive look. Her back arched pleasantly, stretching the tired muscles, kept still for too long and aching because of it. She glanced at the man again, wondering if he would pass her the chilli or if as per usual it was easier to do it herself.
(urgh tired)