In looking at pictures of Arkane, or even when they saw the island from space, To never really paid attention to the seas; the multitude of islands covering the planet was always TO’s focus. When their tube twisted past some buildings and revealed the sea to them in the distance, it suddenly became so much more; it was another one of those things that made TO just feel so small. 

 

It wasn’t even an ocean; it had no right to be this big and make TO feel so insignificant. Two of Arkane’s moons were out, their light catching on the waves and making the sea glitter in shades of green and blue, creating a cyan inferno atop the water. 

 

TO only got to stare at the shimmering sea for a moment before the tube headed back down towards the ground and twisted once more around large, tall buildings. 

 

Much darker, blockier buildings. 

 

“Does the sea normally look like that?” DH asked. They turned to TO, “You saw that, right?” 

 

“I did!” 

 

“Look Like what?” Lendulin asked, looking up from her communicator. 

 

“Like that! With the moons and everything!” DH said. 

 

She shrugged, “I guess?” She said, 

 

“You weren’t looking? You didn’t see it?” DH’s ears flicked in distress, as though it was a crime for her not to have seen it. 

 

“Well, I live here.” She said, “I see it all the time, right?” 

 

“You guess?” TO said, unsure if they could ever get used to everything they’d seen just today, even if they lived here for decades. They looked around, but now that they were descending towards the Outer Ring, the scenery had changed; the large blocky buildings had very few lights and no iridescent signs on them to illuminate the area. Light came from the streetlights below, but they differed from those they had seen in the shopping district; though most were still blue, some flickered oddly and gave inconsistent light. Some lights were out altogether, creating dark patches of shadow in the city. 

 

“… There was a fire among the warehouses a few months ago.” Lendulin explained as she caught TO staring at one in particular, “There’re a few lights that still need repairs.”

 

“But that happened months ago.” TO said, “Shouldn’t it be fixed right now?” 

 

Lendulin scoffed, “Nah, they don’t worry about that too much here. Most of the lights still work, so it’s fine. I think they’re planning to replace all the lights out here anyway since they are all older, but it’s going to take a while.” 

 

The tube led them underground and came to another platform. DH picked up Lendulin again, TO took the wheelchair, and departed onto the Outer Ring platform. Following with the theme of what they had seen of the city, the platform had broken lights, rusty metal walls, cracked floor tiles, and garbage strewn on the ground. The Android that left the tube with them stopped to pick up anything that was in their direct path. 

 

“The exit’s over there, look.” DH said, gesturing towards the corner where TO could see a glowing sign that depicted an elevator and stairs. 

 

“The elevator’s out of service.” Lendulin said, “I can make it up the stairs myself though-“ 

 

“It’s fine.” TO said as they headed towards the stairs. 

 

“Wait…” DH said, their ears pinning back, “How did you get down the stairs with your chair if the elevator is out of service?” 

 

Lendulin chuckled and gave a helpless shrug. “Carefully!” She said. 

 

“No… really, how?” TO asked, now looking up the flight of stairs themself. They knew that there were many types of legless individuals who would have no problem with stairs, but Lendulin’s tail was obviously aquatic, and not for on-land mobility. 

 

“Step by step.” She said finally, “I got off the chair, slid down a few steps, and then pulled the chair down as carefully as I could. Repeat until done.” 

 

“But, nobody helped you?” 

 

“Look, this is stuff I’ve been doing every day since I was old enough to get around on my own.” She said, “If I needed help every time I needed to go somewhere or do something, I’d never get around.” Her expression softened, “But… you made things easier today when my chair broke in the Opulentia. That could have been inconvenient if someone thought I was causing trouble.” 

 

“… Like with Celesto?” DH asked. 

 

She sighed, “Yeah, with him.” She said. 

 

An awkward silence surrounded them as they started up the stairs. Thanks to all the physical training they had done in the training center, there was no question of if they could carry her and her wheelchair all the way up the stairs. 

 

“… So, why did you run?” DH asked. 

 

“DH!” TO said, slipping back into Synthspeak, “You can’t just ask her-“ 

 

“You mean, why did I run when Celesto threatened to call the authorities?” 

 

“Yes, you did nothing wrong, right?” 

 

“Depends on who you ask.” She said, “He obviously thought I did.”

 

“But did you?” 

 

She was silent for several moments, considering her words, “Do you think I did?” She finally asked. 

 

“I don’t think you did anything wrong.” TO said, “But I’m also new here. We both are.” 

 

“Look; what mattered there is that Celesto thought I did something wrong.” She said, “He has influence and money. If he calls the authorities and tells them I’m trying to plagiarize one of Arkane’s top artists, then they’ll believe him.” 

 

“But you said that the artist…” TO frowned, drawing the name from their memory, “Venturi, right? You said you worked with him; If there was an issue, you could have called him, right?”

 

“Oh yes, but then Celesto could have said I was disturbing his customers, making a scene…” She shrugged, “Honestly, just not worth my time.” 

 

“We were there, we would have said you did nothing wrong.” 

 

She shrugged, “Just didn’t want to deal with that today.” 

 

They walked in silence as they made their way to the top of the stairs and out onto the street of the Outer Ring. 

 

It was a very different place from Opulentia. 

 

The narrow streets wound around large warehouses that loomed all around them, rising into overhead, creating dark blocks against the sky which was otherwise illuminated by light pollution. The Street before them was a cluttered patchwork of blue light, and patches of darkness that lingered in the places where the streetlights had gone out. 

 

“Bring me just to the end of this street, and right.” Lendulin said, “There’s a food truck between these two warehouses; My friend should be waiting there for me.”

 

They followed her directions and saw the truck she was talking about, a relatively plain black metal truck with a service window on one side. They were still open, but had no customers at the moment. 

 

“Maybe we’ll eat here.” TO said, wondering if the food here would be as pretty as the skewered stuff they had earlier. “It’ll be awhile before we get home.” 

 

“Look, there’s my friend!” Lendulin said as she pointed to a folding table that was set up near the truck. From where they were and because of the lights, they could only see the outline, but that didn’t matter. TO hurried on; the wheelchair, while not too heavy, was digging into their back and they wanted to set it down. The smell of whatever was cooking in the truck was also tantalizing them, though TO was more interested in the presentation than the actual food. 

 

DH set Lendulin down on one of the crates near the table that acted as seating. TO sat next to her and stretched, their wings spreading out as they tried to work the stiffness from their muscles.

 

“Thank you so much!” Lendulin said, “I mean, I could have done it myself, and I feel bad that you came all this way, but I would have been hours trying to get home on my own. Let me treat you to something to eat!” She turned to her friend, “Oh, this my friend-“ 

 

“We’ve met.” 

 

The voice was familiar to TO. They looked over at Lendulin’s friend, seeing more than just an outline of darkness against the lighting behind her. 

 

It was Petra, looking at DH and TO like she was some small rodent, caught by a predator. 

“Lendulin, these are the two I told you about.” She said, “… From the party at the Government Building?” 

 

“Oh?” Lendulin said, confused. She looked to her, then to TO and DH. Her own eyes widened. “Oh! You two-“

 

TO folded their wings and rubbed a place at their arm where metal had also pressed too long against flesh. “Hello,” they said, “Nice to see you again too.” 

 

“This is your friend?” DH asked, still stretching behind TO “Petra, right?” 

 

“Y-yeah.” Lendulin said. “This is Petra; she works with a medical center here in the Outer Ring.” 

 

DH and TO exchanged glances; their reports hadn’t said she had any kind of employment. “I thought you were taking on odd jobs?” TO asked, “Like at the party?” 

 

“That I work for the center is a stretch.” She said as she stood up, “I volunteer.” She looked to Lendulin, “we need to go.” 

 

“Petra, I can’t just-” 

 

“They were at that party.” Petra hissed, “They saw-“ 

 

“That’s fine.” TO said. They had found Petra again, and they still had a use for her. They didn't want to lose her, or scare her away. 

 

No. They wanted this person to like them, to talk to them. 

 

“You’re worried about the food?” DH asked as they sat down next to TO, “I mean, we were curious-”

“But we won’t do anything!.” DH said quickly. “It’s not our concern.”

Lendulin gestured to TO, “Tio tried to stand up for me around that tailor I mentioned. And they both helped me home.” She gave them a smile, “I think they’re ok.” 

 

Though still clearly on edge, Petra seemed like she wouldn't run off. Still, her powerful tail was slapping the ground, her pupils dilated, and darting around. 

 

“Would you get us some food?” Lendulin asked. She fiddled with her communicator and then passed it to Lendulin. “It’s unlocked. Get us two each, I think?” 

 

“What is it?” DH asked, sniffing at the air, “It smells good.”

“Oh I gotta see this.” Petra said, smirking as she got up, “Cocopod, grilled in shell and served with-” 

 

“It’s grilled meat on a stick.” Lendulin said, giving Petra a look, “It’s a speciality here, and it’s delicious.” She looked to TO, “Can you eat Cocopod?”

TO wasn’t sure; The word was unfamiliar to them. They pulled out their communicator and ran the name through their food analysis program. 

 

“Yes, it’s fine.” TO said. 

 

Lendulin smiled, then turned back to Petra, “Oh! Where’s the chair? You said you had one?” 

 

Petra was just getting up to go to the nearby food truck. She stopped, and shrugged, “Well, that was an exaggeration; I have one on the way. I didn’t know what to do, so I called Pearla, and she knew someone who would lend her one.”

“Thank the seas for Pearla.” Lendulin said, “She could find fire on the seafloor if we asked her.” She stopped, “So… what, were you going to carry me or something if you thought you had to run off from these two?” she asked. 

 

Petra flushed, her tail flicking about again, “I panicked, ok!” she snapped as she turned to get her food. “I didn’t think that far ahead.”

“‘That far’ implies that you thought at all.” Lendulin teased. 

 

Petra turned around, giving her a hard look, “I’m going to push you into the sewage outfall.” She said, 

 

“And I love you too.” Lendulin said with a smile. Petra rolled her eyes and went to the food truck. 

 

TO cleared their throat, “I just want to make sure.” They said carefully, “She was joking, right?” 

 

“Oh my yes!” Lendulin said, “We’ve been friends since we were kids; it’d be weird if we didn’t threaten one another.” She chuckled, “You thought she was serious?” 

 

TO’s ears flushed, “We’re… this is our first time off our home planet.” TO said, “and we’re struggling a bit with uh... Emotional tones in conversation.” 

 

Lendulin’s eyes lit up. “Ahh, I see. I was always fine, but my parents were the same; we came from m’hor-”

“That’s Arkane’s closest planet, right?” TO said, “It got converted to support gas mining and aqua farming about.. 30 years ago.” Their eyes flicked over Lendulin, “So, you must have come over during that time?” 

 

“Gee, thanks for saying I look my age.” She said, “But yes, I was 4 or something? Even when I was a teenager, they had trouble with the language, and the water here made sonar different too. I’d be out swimming, and it’d be like someone else was calling me when mom called me for dinner.” She gave a soft, sad smile. “I get it. Even though we spoke the same language, it was just different, with so many varied, subtle ways to express ourselves.” She shrugged, “I'm used to it though. They said I adapted so well because I was so young.”

 

“Are they doing better now?” DH asked. 

 

“They passed a long time ago.” Lendulin said.

 

Civilian death and Synth death were so different; a synth died in service to King Decon and even their death happened in a way to best serve Him. You shouldn’t be sad about a synth dying - TO couldn’t help it, of course, but they knew they shouldn’t express it. Civilians were a different matter. Civilian deaths were tragic; they mourned the loss of even those too sick to really live while alive. 

 

TO would do the same if DH were to die. 

 

“My condolences.” TO said. It was awkward; they felt like they should comfort Lendulin, but didn’t know how.

 

“It’s fine.” She said, “It was years ago; They got sick.” She gave a smile that didn’t reach her eyes. “Oh, hey, did you end up getting stuff at Celesto’s?” 

 

“We did!” DH said as they suddenly lit up, “Do you want to see the design? He let me take a picture-” 

 

Just like that, with a simple comment about clothes the atmosphere lightened up. Maybe there was some point to beautiful clothing.