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The Elysian Archives

LITTLE OUTSIDER

She kept an even pace with the steady beat of music in her headphones. Life felt more exciting that way. Sweet walked through one of the endlessly white corridors, looking for something to do. She already knew it was kind of hopeless. Another corner to walk around, another corridor, some machinery that hummed silently by themselves as if they were bored to tears too. She entered a dining area for the facility workers and stopped in the doorway. The room was half filled with Elysion employees in their painfully matching orange jumpsuits. The ones by the table closest to the door fell silent when they realized she was standing there. One of them even dropped the sandwich he had been chewing on, staring wide-eyed for a moment. She tilted her head and stared back. He suddenly seemed very busy with picking pieces of dropped bread from the floor. All the conversations in the room seemed to have died down into a nervous mumbling. Sweet rolled her eyes and turned her music up louder while she walked through the room. Better leave them alone if her presence made them so jumpy. It had always been like that. People she walked by just seemed to stop whatever they were doing as soon as she got close. She got the feeling they were all waiting for her to fall over and explode at any moment. It really bothered her but she tired not to show it. Her music helped with that too. If she drowned out the sensation of constantly walking in front of a judgemental audience she could pretend to be anything she wanted to be instead. She never had the problem of people staring at her when she walked around in the city streets. Out there she didn’t stand out in any way. Just another teenage girl on her way somewhere. Nobody asked any questions or gave her a second glance. Whenever she got the chance she would go out there to just wander around aimlessly, being the observer instead of the one under observation. She’d find little things to bring home or spot a new kind of hairstyle to copy. The pop culture of Elysion One was in a constant state of evolution where new trends would appear out of nowhere and suddenly become widespread sensations. She wanted to see all of them. Listen to all the music, old and new. It all felt new to her and the city was an endless supply of new discoveries. She’d make friends easily, blending in with different crowds and just hear them chatter with eachother in a wild mix of different dialects and languages. It was as if all the people of Elysion One had their own family cultures and stories and with time they had blended together to form the perfect breeding grounds for bored kids that wanted to create their own sub-cultures. She would have fit right in with any of them if not for the fact that she always had to return home. Such an odd word for a place that felt nothing like any home she had ever seen or heard about outside of the facility.

Tired and frustrated she waved her hand slightly towards the door to the apartment. As it smoothly slid open she walked in on heavy feet. It wasn’t her chunky boots that made it feel that way, it was the weight of the facility all around her. Sweet threw a glance at her older sister who was sitting on her bunk, polishing all the tiny parts of her assault rifle. She had picked it apart again. Skye looked up at her from under her jagged red hair and frowned.

“What’s with the grumpy face sis?”
Sweet gave off an exaggerated sigh and threw herself down onto the couch, resting her head onto a soft pile of colourful pillows.
“They’re being all dwanky and stuff. They be bothered by my zef...”
“Your what-now?” Skye’s face had that look of utter confusion that was reserved only for her sister.
“Ugh, nevermind...”
“Ah c’mon Sweet. It’s just that half your vocabulary seems to be filled with strange slang that I’ve never even heard.”

Sweet muttered something inaudible and turned the TV on with a little flick of her fingers. She didn’t really look at the screen but it seemed to be a wildlife documentary with slow panorama views of treetops and waterfalls.
“You know what I don’t get Skye?”
“What?” She had picked up another part which she polished roughly with a rag.
“Everyone keeps telling me that Core Guardians are heroes of the people y’know?”
“Uhuh...”
“So why do the people around here act all odd as soon as they see us?” Sweet turned to look at her sister with a serious frown. Skye paused for a while and stared blankly at the screen that was now showing a closeup of a Strawberry Fish idly chewing away on something. When she looked back at Sweet again she had that familiar grin on her face.
“Well, whenever I come around I expect people to get nervous. Anything else would be pretty weird considering how the gossip goes around this place. As for you... It’s kind of obvious really.”

Sweet sat up a little on the couch, listening to Skye while her eyes moved to look at the cute fish on the TV that was now wiggling back and forth in some sort of strange dance.
“How is it obvious?”
“Girl, you’re the cutest gosh darn weirdo that has ever walked around in this place. Just the colours you insist on putting in your hair would make anyone a bit dizzy and confused.”
“Mmm...” Sweet had drifted off to sit with her hands on her knees while focusing completely on the Strawberry documentary. Her big blue eyes growing wider while a happy smile played over her face.
“Are you even listening to me sis?”
“What?”
“Nothing, just keep on watching and I’ll go get your sketchpad before you start covering the table with fish-doodles.”

Sweet looked up with an offended look.
“I’d nevah!”
“Yeah you would, I know you.” Skye flashed her a happy wink before leaving her to keep watching the screen. The Strawberry Fish blinked slowly at the camera. Sweet blinked back.