Syn was particularly fastidious, and it was obvious it was because of Ailill.

Once he got bored of watching the white hackers try to open the door to apartment 4005, he ordered Harper and Ailill to follow him to the cafeteria. There they took a seat against the wall and ordered snacks they didn't really want, as the smell of blood was still trapped in their nostrils.

“I heard them fight several times, I think it was a suicide-homicide” confessed Harper.

Syn shook his head. “You should have reported them to MS.”

Harper grimaced. “It's not like I hated them.” Syn didn't respond. It was obvious he agreed with her, even if he tried to prove otherwise.

“Why didn't you try opening the door yourself, with your card?” she accused him back.

The man took one of the silver curls of his hair and tangled it around his finger, thoughtfully. "Only direct supervisors and floor managers can open doors. I can open your door, but not those of employees not under my charge." Harper didn't ask her any more questions about it.

Ailill still couldn't understand Syn, but he understood Harper, so he could only follow half the conversation. Although he was obviously bothered by this fact, he didn't seem in the mood to complain. Instead he merely cut the pieces of the cheese he had ordered into small pieces, then tucked them into his sleeve.

Harper stroked his back.

‘Are you all right?’ he whispered. She was worried about the mental state of her companion, who by himself did not understand much in the way of emotional intelligence.

The prince didn't turn his head to answer: ‘They were just peasants, they die all the time for stupid things.’

She kissed him on the cheek and moved a lock of black hair behind his ear, to which he responded with a frugal smile.

Syn cleared his throat. "Can you tell him which to stop doing that? It's disgusting." He said pointing to the cheese which Ailill was cutting with his hands. ‘I should at least use cutlery.’

She shot him a sullen look. ‘In his time they weren't common, leave him alone.’

Syn ran his tongue over his teeth. ‘It wasn't common to wash your hands either, he's sure to get sick and die.’

Harper fell silent, and her eyes filled with tears. Syn knew what he'd said, and he knew how it would affect her, but he still did it. She didn't get to say anything, her only defense was to look at him and pray which his head would explode.

The asshole shrugged. ‘You can always revive him, though nanobots aren't cheap. I wish you had thought better of your choice of recruit.’ He accented the last with a condescending look and a sigh. 'You know that, just the same, I'll always be here for you.' he reached out to touch her fingers, to which Harper didn't have the energy to pull back, Syn had stolen all her energy.  ‘You're a smart girl, Harpy, but you make bad decisions...’

Her brain shut down at this sentence, for she knew well what the rest of the conversation held in store for her: a clear and concise list of all the mistakes she had made in her life. At some point, Ailill must have noticed the other touching his hand, for he reached around Harper with the arm that held a knife from the table and thrust it into the tyrannical overseer's hand.

Syn's ‘AHH!!!’ brought her back to reality.

It didn't hurt him too badly, as the weapon was soft plastic, plus he had pulled his hand away almost in time, but the intent was well marked nonetheless.

Syn held his hand for a few seconds, his beautiful eyes wide as saucers, staring into Ailill's own which dug in like daggers. The latter hadn't removed the knife from the table

‘Keep your hands where your balls should be, eunuch!’ Syn still couldn't understand his words, and Harper saw no need to translate them. Her eyes darted from one man to the other, as her heart skipped a beat.

If Syn had had one of those, it would surely be leaping inside his perfect chest.

'There you go, he uses cutlery,' she pointed out, taking a sip of soda.

The jerk stood still for a few seconds, stroking his hand, dumbfounded, before returning to his usual attitude, pretending that nothing affected him. He tucked a lock of golden hair behind his ear and settled back in his seat.

‘He's a bit effusive.’ He knew that a too gushy reaction would send him straight to MS. Ailill only stopped watching him to glance around to make sure the drones hadn't seen him, there seemed to be far fewer of them inside the building.

Harper put his hand over the trembling fist which held the little knife, and trying not to look too happy in front of Syn, uttered ‘Meur ras’.

Ailill held her pose for a second, though he was clearly blushing. It was probably the first time he had ever acted so masculine in his entire life, and he clearly didn't know what step he was taking after defending the helpless wench.

He ended up throwing a smug grin at Syn as he withdrew his hand, resting his arm on Harper's shoulder to pull her with him into his little corner, where he returned to his little cheese crumbling activity.

‘So...’ Syn spoke again, trying to regain control of the situation. 'Exactly what led you to choose this friendly fellow?"

She smiled and shrugged. ‘I was seduced by his table manners.’

The answer made her superior grimace. "How long do you think it will take for his language to be uploaded to the cloud? I want to give him his entrance interview for the company..."

Harper snuggled into her prince's arms, enjoying the moment before he or Syn ruined it for her.

'It's been several hours, it should be unloading on the ME's any minute now."

They all three waited in silence. Syn searching for the update with his ME chip, staring at the little screen that he always carried in his pocket. While Harper and Ailill were still huddled together.

Ailill was stuffing bits of cheese into Harper's pockets, like some kind of stupid squirrel. It didn't matter, surely she'd remember to take them out of her pocket before putting her clothes in the wash. Besides, she felt in the mood to forgive him all his eccentricities.

"You can get as much cheese as you want, dear. No need to save it for later" She whispered to her prince.

‘You can never know,’ Ailill replied dryly.

Syn opened his mouth then "I promise you that there will be cheese tomorrow, and the day after. You do not have to stink up the whole place." Ailill's language had finished downloading into the ME chips of the entire company.