Èryuè 2nd 250X Cont.

"Song?" A hoarse voice came from Prasong's left, startling him from his reverie.

He turned to see a short, pale blonde girl of about fifteen who he knew was one of theirs and called Lilia. She was the same girl that JJ had told Prasong the Ringmaster was dosing with nightmare drugs.

Lilia was wearing a brown lace top and a long charcoal skirt that was already flowering damp patches from the cold rain. Very few people wore light coloured clothing, there was little point when it would only get covered in smog and grime.

The rich who could afford to do their laundry daily, or the workers privileged with underground Venae passes, were exceptions. For those who spent most of their time on the streets like Lilia and Prasong, the world was painted in darker hues.

"Lilia," Prasong smiled softly, "you finished your shift?"

The other girl nodded uncertainly, "You...you have another one for me?"

"No," Prasong shook his head firmly, "just doing the rounds. Go back to the residences okay? Oh and you can tell the others that the Ringmaster's away for the week."

Lilia grinned and looked relieved, she turned to go before Prasong reached out and caught the young girl's narrow wrist.

"Wait," Prasong instructed, reaching for some credit notes from his pocket and proffering them to Lilia, "swing by the Golden Pagoda on your way back and pick up some lunch for everybody okay?"

Lilia's eyes widened in shock as she moved slowly towards the outstretched bits of synthetic paper, suddenly snatching as if the offer might be revoked at any moment.

Prasong sighed, he guessed he didn't have the friendliest reputation amongst the corner kids. The dustrunners knew him better, although they probably wouldn't call Prasong 'friendly' either.

"Sure...thanks Prasong," Lilia offered him a shaky smile.

"Tell Fang that Prasong sent you, you should be able to get double what those credits are worth," Prasong added with a nod as Lilia beamed at him and began to skip away.

"Also get some fortune cookies for Sakura!" Prasong called out after her. For some strange reason the black haired girl had a love of the damn things.

It was no secret that Sakura had a sweet tooth that the Ringmaster all too readily indulged. The girl's healthy plumpness was a stark contrast to the skeletal frames of most of the Circus kids. However, as with anything, there was a game of power and status behind it.

Prasong sighed and turned to continue down the street, keeping his eyes firmly ahead, turning only to nod at familiar faces. The rain was coming down harder now and he pulled the collar of his jacket up around his neck.

The roof of his periphery vision turned pink as his hair stuck down against his forehead. The streets were filled with the usual morning crowds hurrying through the rain.

It was slightly too late for the day shift workers to be commuting and yet right on time to see the night shift workers staggering home, having finished their day with an extra hour spent in some local bar or food shop.

Obviously wealthy pedestrians walked alongside street kids and dumpling sellers, the smog made no divisions with whom it settled on. The only difference would be the quality of the water the grime was later washed off with. Nobody stayed clean for long in this world.

Both poor and rich trod the same Polis streets, often eating the same food and frequenting the same shops. One of the only identifiers was their attire, which in Prasong's opinion made it all the more amusing when a woman in a pale lilac jumpsuit trod in a puddle of fish guts in front of her. The woman swore creatively before carrying on her way, shaking her foot like a dog might his leg.

Prasong figured the clothes would be dry cleaned later anyway. He stamped through the same puddle in his heavy boots a moment later, treading hard enough to send up the spray of mulch so that it hit the bare skin of his legs, making Prasong shiver but somehow feel satisfied.

Two hours later, Prasong arrived back at the Circus residences, running into JJ on the way up to his bunk.

"Here," JJ laughed, chucking Prasong a rag, "get the smog slick off before it stains."

Whenever the smog mixed with rain it created a viscous black slick that plastered the skin of any pedestrians exposed to the elements. If you didn't wash it off quickly enough it dyed the skin for at least a few days. Prasong pulled a face as the rag came away almost black.

"We leave in an hour," JJ commented, "plenty of time before any Droid increase - we've got to take some more Dust via the Eta Zone."

Prasong nodded as he tried to spit out the foul taste in his mouth into the scrunched up rag.

"You shouldn't swallow rain water," JJ remarked with a frown.

"So I've heard," Prasong coughed as he wiped at his blackened lips. "I'll meet you out front later okay?"

JJ nodded before grimacing at the proffered cloth, "Keep it," he answered, before jogging down the rest of the staircase.

Prasong smiled as he stepped inside his attic room, Sakura was sat up on the bed - awake now and surrounded by brightly coloured fortune cookie wrappers. Her favourite book of fairytales was sat askew and open next to her.

Prasong closed the door behind him and switched on a nearby lamp, the light outside the window had faded into the usual darkened grey of a rainy afternoon.

"You should always respect your elders," Sakura read from a scrap of fortune-paper she had just unfurled.

Prasong flinched as the black haired girl cackled mirthlessly before looking up and fixing him with an assessing gaze. "I might actually miss you," Sakura sniffed, sweeping her hair from her face and reaching for another unopened cookie, "nobody else here is really worth talking to."

Prasong's lips twitched, "You'll be fine."

Sakura narrowed her eyes suspiciously at the reassurance before glancing down to rip through the foil wrapper.

“Was that JJ I heard you talking to outside?” Sakura asked.

“Yeah, it’s raining so he gave me a rag,” Prasong replied absently, scuffing his foot against the floorboard before going to grab a small backpack. He glanced around the room for a few minutes before deciding to take only clothes.

“I suppose many hearts will be broken at him leaving the Circus,” Sakura hummed dismissively.

Prasong laughed softly, it was no secret that Sakura found JJ irritating, there was something about him that was too clean, too shiny compared to the two of them.

“Can’t understand it myself,” Sakura huffed, “I mean objectively it’s a good body, a good face and from what I’ve heard, a good fu-“

“And that’s not desirable to you then?” Prasong interrupted, not really wanting his thoughts to be redirected to his own darker daydreams of the other boy.

“If something’s too smooth, you can’t grip it,” Sakura replied cryptically, “you need notches or it’s just going to slip away as quickly as it came.”

“Well from what I’ve heard he’s got both notches on his bed and a tendency to slip away as quickly as he comes,” Prasong winked, eliciting a delighted shriek from Sakura, who immediately choked and coughed on her fortune cookie. The other girl sprayed crumbs across the bed in a fit of hoarse giggles.

Prasong grinned, and when he had finished stuffing the last of his clothes into the pack, he stretched his sore shoulder, making it crack loudly. “I'll be going now then," he announced a moment later.

When there was no reply he looked up to see Sakura staring incredulously at a newly unfurled fortune slip.

"Life is a beautiful gift, don't blink too long or the wonder will pass you by," the other girl read slowly.

Prasong barked a humourless laugh in response and turned to exit the room.

"Hey - can I keep this?"

Prasong paused and glanced back round to see Sakura stroking the sleeve of an electric blue jacket that he recognized as his own. "Sure," Prasong nodded, feeling a strange tightness in his throat.

It was still raining outside when he stepped out from the residences. Heavier now, droplets of water binding with the smog to form showers of dust and dirt.

Prasong pulled his hood up over his already wet hair and spotted JJ waiting for him by the rusted old metal gate leading out from the Circus' territory.

It was getting colder and darker by the minute and they still had four zones to cross in order to get to the Vostoko residences via Eta zone.

"You ready to become a fighter?" JJ grinned as he approached.

"You know they'll just dump our bodies in the sewer pits right?" Prasong bit back. "We'll probably be so mangled by that point even the rats won't want to eat us."

"More for the sewer sharks," JJ winked. Prasong shivered as he thought about the sharp-toothed mutated fish that lived in the dirty underground waters.

"Why hasn't it rotted away yet?" Prasong asked, frowning exaggeratedly at JJ.

"Huh?" JJ cocked his head with a bemused expression. "Why hasn't what rotted away?"

"Your hope," Prasong replied with a half grin, "normally it only takes a few weeks in Podolsk before all your big ideas and dreams turn to rot and mulch. Hope - now that sometimes takes a little bit longer but as a rule your second try of sewer shark broth should eviscerate it."

JJ snorted as he went to nudge the smaller boy’s shoulder, "Hey - sewer shark broth's not actually that bad! It's pretty much all I could afford when I first came here. Also you secretly love the fact that I'm an optimist."

"Give it time," Prasong sighed as he turned back to glance up at the Circus residences, disappearing around the bend of the street. His mind drifted to images of Sakura, the beautiful girl smiling softly as she scattered brightly coloured fortune cookie wrappers to the floorboards. Pretending, if only for a moment, that they were the blossoms of trees she had read used to exist.

"Hey Songbird - you with me?" JJ reached out to poke at his arm. "We're going to need our senses sharp if we're to get to Eta zone with this Dust and then on to Tau."

"Yeah," Prasong murmured, twisting back round to nod firmly up at JJ, "yeah I'm with you."