TO and DH made their way back to the ballroom, unwilling to hide in one of the private rooms again. Most of the rooms held busy civilians, anyway
“Did we really just meet a thief?” DH asked as they looked back down the hallway, “And where did they go? There’s enough security here that if they tried to just run-”
“They had a uniform on.” TO muttered as they looked about, “They probably got in as a worker and then stole things while they were here.”
“But why food?” DH asked. They got to the main ballroom and made their way to a table laden with food. The food here was far more elegantly set out; like edible art. In hindsight, the food they had found in the room was just stashed away quickly.
Why food? It was a good question. There were other things even in that room alone she could have taken and which had to be more valuable than food. If she wanted money, it’d be more profitable and faster to steal one of the smaller pieces of art. There would be no reason to just steal food… not unless she was hungry.
But then, why take it; why not just eat it there?
“... Do you think she was right?” TO asked, looking at the spread of food.
“About what?” DH asked.
TO shrugged and looked away, their ears down. “About the education thing.” They said, “Basic education is free under King Decon’s reign-”
“So long as the civilians want it, yes.” DH agreed.
“But if civilians need further education to get work, shouldn’t that be free too?”
DH frowned, their ears flicking back, “I’m sure that there’s more to it.” They said, shaking their head, “I mean, if Arkane needed people to do something, they’d open up training for it, and get the best people trained for the job.” Their ears were still down as they picked up a skewer of fruit from the table. “Besides… you know civilians; they’re shortsighted and selfish. That one probably-”
“Petra.” TO said, “She said her name was Petra, didn’t she?”
DH shrugged, “Petra probably just isn’t happy with her job, no matter what good it does for Arkane.” they bit into the fruit skewer, their eyes widening as the flavour hit them. They took a moment to savour the taste before continuing. “And besides that; she was stealing food. I’m sure Arkane doesn’t let its people just starve; it’s part of the Galactic kingdom. She must have just wanted to take the food because it looked good.”
TO frowned, “Are you certain?”
DH paused as they reached for another skewer, their hand hovering over it. “…You’re not.”
“We’ve been trying to figure out why the insurgency has a foothold here at all-”
“You have. I haven’t. Previous world leaders want their uncontested power back, and to do that, they have to break away from King Decon.”
“And that might be true for the leaders of the insurgency.” TO said carefully, “But they have to convince normal civilians, right?” TO thought of all the research they had done regarding failed civilizations on previously independent planets, successful insurgencies of the past, and of modern failed ones. “The leaders of these groups say the same thing, don’t they? They say that things will be better under them.”
“But.. they won’t be.” DH said, “They might think it will be, but if they get cut off from the rest of the galaxy-”
“I’m not saying it will be. I’m saying that any insurgency has to convince the civilians that things will be better if they’re in charge.” TO said. “That’s how any insurgency gets support among a civilian population; they say that things are bad, but they’ll be better if they take over.” They looked back towards the hallway, “And if people believe it; if they think they’re suffering because of issues like specialized education for people with more money- then the insurgency can easily convince them. Besides that-” They fell silent as another ServAi came by. TO took a drink from them, more to just have something to do with their hands than anything else, “Besides that, maybe… maybe she was right.”
“But King Decon would never allow-”
“King Decon isn’t here.” TO said. “Civilians lead this planet, and Buteo is a would-be royal.” TO took a sip of their drink, “Maybe he’s used to running things to give himself and his preferred people more advantages.”
“But if he’s part of the insurgency-”
“Then he’d have even more reason to make it seem like life under King Decon is bad.” TO said. “If the insurgency fails, he’s still the Vassal and still has power over the planet. If the insurgency succeeds, he has total control and no oversight.”
“... You’ve thought a lot about this.” DH said, their voice quiet and awed.
“… To be honest, I’ve been curious about it since GiDi was researching it.” TO said, “And I’ve been putting extra focus on studying about insurgencies and how they succeed or fail.” They fell silent, tracing the mouth of their cup with their finger, “And I keep thinking about the pharmacies.”
“The what?”
TO sighed, “Their stores that sell medical supplies. Remember, the insurgency has been breaking into them as of late? I was, confused as to why there would be a shop for medical supplies.” They look to DH, “If medical supplies are being sold to profit former nobility, and the insurgency steals it and gives it away for free, then I imagine they’d have the support of many sick civilians.”
DH’s ears flicked back, twitching with thought as they let TO’s words roll in their mind. After a minute, they sighed and leaned against the table.
“So if the insurgency is thriving, you think it’s because the leadership of the planet is corrupt.”
“I think it’s a possibility. I’d need to meet more people first. “
DH nodded, then glanced about the room before turning back to TO. “So… should we tell someone?”
“Tell someone what?” TO asked.
“That there was a robbery? We saw a thief. I mean, we could go after her as Synths-”
TO shook their head, “A single civilian stealing food from a party isn’t that concerning.” they said, “We have better things to do than to chase after her.” They took another drink as they looked around. “... I’d be more interested in trying to carry on conversation again, or at least listen to conversations.” they gave DH a grin, “I’d be very interested to hear what people say about synths when we’re not around. I’d have liked to have heard more about what Petra said, but…” they shrugged, “At any rate, it might give us a chance to understand the civilians a little more, and then we’ll go back to the ship.”
“And… we can eat more before we go back to the ship?” DH asked, glancing at the spread again. Their eyes were so big as they looked over everything that TO felt their ears twitch back up.
“Of course we can eat whatever we like.” TO said. If they couldn’t be productive, at least they could be content that DH was enjoying themself.
======
It didn’t take long to realize that the conversations the politicians and merchants were pursuing were a lot less informative than their quick interaction with Petra. Many of them were slurring their words, making it difficult for TO to understand what they were saying. As Philo had warned, there was also a variety of different accents, which made it difficult for TO to understand much of anything at all.
“I’m sorry this isn’t as productive as you hoped…” DH said, “I guess it was a bad idea.”
“It wasn’t!” TO insisted, their ears flicking down, “I learned a lot! Petra gave me some insight and let me put a few things together, and thanks to Philo, I learned we need those translators that he mentioned, and we need to perfect our story about who we are and what we’re doing. Though.” They looked aside, their ears flushing. “Whatever our story is, we have to go with being ‘mates’ now.
“Is that such a bad thing?” DH asked.
TO glanced over at DH, and saw that they had a bit of powdered sugar on the side of their lips. TO had the urge to lean over and kiss it off of them, but they felt their ears burn just at the thought of it.
“It’s not.” TO said, glancing away.
DH smiled, and linked their arm into TO’s, “Well, let’s go then.” They said as they headed towards the washrooms, “We’ll put our armor back on in the washroom, and head back.”
TO let DH pull them along. Maybe once they had a little of privacy, they could kiss that tempting smudge of sugar off DH’s lips.
They got to the washroom; the door slid open, and TO was in such a rush that they almost walked right into Minister Philo, who was rejoining the party.
“So sorry.” TO said quickly, rushing past the small minister.
“It’s nothing.” Philo said back in Galactic Common.
They rushed into the washroom - which was thankfully empty now. They went to the door to the side, which they knew would lead to the exit hall. DH lifted their arm to activate their armor, but before they did TO took their wrists and, with hot, flushed ears, kissed the sugar off the corner of DH’s mouth. DH stiffened for just a moment, taken aback by TO’s sudden nerve, then turned and kissed them back.
When they parted, DH gave a small, shy smile. “That was sudden.” They said, “I thought you weren’t comfortable with that stuff around civilians.”
“Well…” TO looked back at the doors, then shrugged, “There was a smudge of sugar on your lip.” they explained, “I had to get it off, and if we waited until we got back to the ship it might have been gone-”
DH stared at TO for a moment longer, then laughed, “I get it.” They said, “You’re just a little shy around the civilians.”
“I’m not!” TO said.
DH grinned, “I guess there must be some other reason your ears are so blue.’’ They activated their armor before TO could respond, so TO activated their own and followed DH out to the exit and to the entrance hall. The ServAis were still there. One came up to TO,
“Greetings Honored Synths.” They said, “Are you leaving the party?”
“We’re leaving, yes.” TO said back.
“We will call a transport to bring you to your home.”
Home? Was that what their ship was? TO had never considered having a home before - homes were places that Civilians grew up and liked. They were places that civilians had a fondness for. TO wasn’t sure if they had a fondness for the ship itself, but they did like to have a place where they could relax with DH, hidden from any prying eyes or listening ears.
Maybe the ship was home.
They were halfway to their ship - halfway home- when they realized something that made panic suddenly flood through their body. They felt their stomach clench, and their ears pin back.
When they had bumped into Minister Philo, they had apologized in Synth Speak… and Philo seemed to understand it.
