Ribbons

"Jubilee said she'd seen a belt buckle like his before, and it hides a knife. Did you check the buckle?"

"I... no, I didn't, not really. How could she know that?"

"One of her brothers had one," Oren lied smoothly. "She said it was exactly the same and she saw how nervous all of them were acting. Like they were planning something."

Nick went grim. "We'll find out," he growled angrily. "Stay here."

He went back out front and closed the door and moments later, there was a commotion. Yelling and a scream from the woman.

Oren seemed unconcerned as he sat down and pulled me to sit next to him, stroking my hair like he was trying to calm me.

A moment later, Nick came back in with the whole belt and the knife that was hidden in the buckle and along the inside of the belt. "We have them all locked down, boss. We'll find out what they were planning. I've already sent for Luis and Bernardo, sent the new bitchboy to get them. He'll run his ass off in hopes that he won't be put on the holes tonight. You good? She good?"

"We're fine," Oren agreed happily, hugging me closer for a moment. "Thank you, Nick. Give us a moment?"

Nick gave him a nod and went back out front and Oren turned me to face him. His eyes looked over me and he looked sad of all things.

"You did well, little one, very well. We'll need to work out a code, though, alright? If I'm in imminent danger, you squeeze my hand. If you have a viewing but it can wait, stroke my head like you were earlier... I liked that, by the way. I'm usually not fond of being touched, but your small fingers stroking so softly... it was pleasant. If it's important but not life threatening, kiss my neck. I'll decide if whoever I'm speaking to can be put off or not. So... your gift? Were you working on seeing what you did or did you just see it?"

"I was trying," I told him, feeling embarrassed for some reason. "I think I've worked out a way to open myself to seeing more. I have to... let my guard down, so to speak. I try so hard no to see, I've been avoiding it and hiding it for so long... It feels strange trying to do it now. Opening myself to it. I don't think I want this to happen all the time, I need to learn how to turn it off and on, I guess."

"That would be very convenient if you could," he agreed. "Does it bother you to see these things? Hurt you in some way?"

"I feel a bit sick is all... seeing things and knowing things, knowing what the flickers mean. Even a flicker that's just a second, I know what it means full on, like I read it straight out of a book or something. Like once, I saw a flicker on one of my brothers. It was just a dog, that's it, but I knew he wasn't just missing his old dog, but he was still sick over the fact that he KNEW that his dog had been killed and served as food almost as soon as they got here. All dogs and animals meet that fate here. There are no pets anymore, just food. Rangers don't have a way to bring in animals yet, a way to catch them without exposure... so all dogs, cats, rabbits, everything. It's food. And he knows if there's ever meat in a stew, that means it was someone's pet once or it was caught in the launched traps that get reeled in. It probably used to be a pet. I mentioned one day in front of him that I happened to know the traps caught a wild deer, but he just said I was lied to. It was probably someone's horse or something. Despite the impossibly low odds that all meat could be pets, he believes all meat used to be pets, no matter what. He hates that he was so hungry that he ate his own dog anyway and it haunts him."

"All of that from a flicker of a dog?"

"Yeah... I know immediately what it means, no matter how small the flicker. Like, I know that woman tried to talk those two men out of today, but they told her to just do her part or they would kill her too after they'd taken over. Both the men knew they wouldn't live if they killed you and neither would she, but they had her convinced they would. They knew it was a suicide mission, but after what they had to do for you, they'd rather die than keep going. They wanted to take you out too, they knew it was all they would be able to do. Maybe take you out as they were killed too. The short one was less sure than the tall one, but the tall one only cared that he managed to take you out before he died."

"The more I speak to you, the more interesting you become," he told me, stroking a curl off my face and tucking it behind my ear. "You're quite remarkable, little one. Are you chaffing a bit, Jubilee?"

"Why do you ask that?" I asked instead of answering.

"Because you have not batted an eye at the boy's punishments. You haven't asked for leniency for him, despite knowing what he's in for. Yesterday, you would have begged me to go easier on him, not hurt him or scar his mind the way I have today. You haven't even given him a look of pity... I would daresay the looks you have given him have all been... satisfied. Like you're glad he was put through his paces... like perhaps now he knows how it feels? Do I miss my mark, little one?"

I looked down at my hands and rolled my shoulders. "I am not chaffing, Oren. I will do all you ask me to in exchange for his life... but you no longer see me as a part of him. Yesterday, I was a plaything and you toyed with me and I was something you could use in tandem with him. Today, you see me. You don't associate me with him at all. I'm someone for you to use and a valuable tool and he is still just someone you are punishing until he makes a mistake and you have a reason to dispose of him. You're never going to let him in, are you? He won't be able to work his way up like Finn did. Finn messed up too and you own him, but he got in your good graces..."

"Jace is not of the right temperament. Finn became mine when he got into a fight with one of my enforcers at the bar and accidentally killed him. He didn't know he was mine... but that didn't matter. I owned him after. Jace... he tried to steal from me. Saw an easy mark and thought he could take advantage. Do you know what he took?"

"No?"

"Medication that I procured for the hospice. There are four of the nine people there now who are dying of cancer and it's a painful death without any sort of medication. I procured 4 lethal doses to take them from their pain and ease them into the afterlife so they would no longer suffer. They all begged for it and I paid heavily for the rangers to go out of their way to get it. I suppose I could just sever an artery... but they have had enough pain, haven't they? I want no horror for them when they go, just some final hours of bliss before slipping away. Jace stole them from the delivery boy who was taking them over on his bike. He was 10. Everyone knows he's my courier, everyone. Jace may say he did not know, but he is lying. He hurt him, tried to knock him out from behind with a rock, but he failed. He just hurt him badly and Arik still saw him. Described him in detail. Opened the box right there and his face lit up with greed when he saw the 4 syringes. He knows all narcotics and drugs of any kind, even medicinal, come through me. All of them. He chose to take them anyway and try to sell them to the rangers to sell off at another community. The same rangers who had procured them for me. They took them and brought them right to me, telling me his first name and where he could be found. So no, Jubilee... I have no intention of allowing him into my crew. I will use him though, work him and make him pay for what he did. Make him wish for death. He did bring me you, though, didn't he? Perhaps that earns him something? But no... he didn't bring you. You brought him, didn't you? Coming the way you did, that's not his way, that's your way. Left to his own choice, he likely would have tried to hide somewhere... like I don't own most the people in this shithole. No... you brought me you and that pleases me greatly. So tell me, Jubilee? What would you ask of me if you could? A single boon."

"Boon? I... the orphans. Those of us left, anyway, we're the bottommost rung here. We're offered the worst jobs and even those are part time. We eat once a day with what we make and it's not much at all. Usually a watery soup and that's it. I would ask that we be allowed to work as much as anyone else and be paid fairly for it. Last week, Terrence went to gather his pay which is supposed to be food vouchers, but they gave him a tin of industrial soap instead. They said it was the equivalent. He said we couldn't eat soap and they told him if he complained again, they would find someone to replace him."

"I know Terrence," Oren nodded.

"Because he's the only other black man here?" I asked curiously.

Oren chuckled and stroked my shoulder. "Maybe. There used to be a time where that mattered. Brothers had to help each other out... now we're all just humans trying to survive. I did reach out, though, because I did want to help another brother out. He told me to go to hell, he would starve before he became a criminal."

I smiled, because that sounded like Terrence. "He has a sense of nobility that the rest of us never had. When we were younger and I read books out loud to the others, he always liked the fantasy ones best, the ones with knights who always did the noble and right thing. He said if he could do whatever he wanted and the old world was still here, he would be a police officer like his dad. He wanted to be a ranger, but they won't let him because of his limp."

"What caused his limp?"

"He broke a leg and it never healed right. Papa Saul tried to splint it, but it was right after everything happened. There was nothing back then and he had all of us kids to try and look after. He was trying to get help, but there was no one and nothing at all. He tried, but it didn't heal right and now Terrence will always limp."

"They take advantage of all of you because you're on the fringe and have no protection. Don't fear, little one. Your group is under my protection now and I will see that word is spread. They will treat you with fairness now. Especially you. I would say you will work as often as you'd like, but... I fully intend for you to only work when I need you to transcribe the council meetings for me," he smirked. "Otherwise, I am keeping you close. Don't worry, though. You'll have all the food you need and it will be more than one meal a day," he said the last with a scowl. "Is that why you're so small? All of you? Are all of you as small as you and Jace and Terrence?"

"Most none of us have had the opportunity to grow, much, but Derrin is pretty big? He said he was always big and it's a thyroid or glandular thing, but he said he'd be a lot bigger in the old world. His dad was enormous, like almost 500 pounds or something. Anyway... yeah. Most of us never really grew much."

"You should have come to me sooner," he grumbled.

"Why would I imagine you would help us?" I asked, truly confused. "No one else would help us, why would the biggest criminal here help us?"

"I would have! I may have asked for one or two of you to work for me in return, but it wouldn't have been onerous or even illegal if it went against your morality. There was no reason children should have been starving! Saul should have come to me, but he was too proud!"

I said nothing, not liking that he was basically being disparaging of Papa Saul.

"Next time you..."

Oren cut off as the door opened again and Nick came back in. "Ryan and Salome both told us everything, the whole plan. They both say it was Ricky's idea, his plan. Salome seemed upset that they were both planning on dying, like they'd lied to her."

Oren gave me a rueful glance, then stood up and pulled me to stand up as well. Leading me back out front, the room was mostly empty now. It was just Nick and John and John was at the door like he was waiting for orders.

"They had a death wish," Oren shrugged. "We'll grant that wish... but not today. I want them to live for at least three days. Tell Luis I want them to regret every second of those three days."

John gave a nod, then shot out the door quickly.

"I sent the others on to the diner," Nick told Oren.

"Good. Are you hungry, little one? Let's go eat." he smiled, pulling me out the door, holding tightly to my hand as he led me into the old downtown.

I'd passed by the diner many times, I'd looked in and envied the people inside. I'd never set foot inside.

Not until today.

Oren led me in and took me through the few tables to a back room with a single large table.

People were already there, including Jace, Kyle and Finn. Kyle was sitting among the 4 strangers at the table, but Finn and Jace were standing on either side of the door like they were either guards or runners. Nick pushed Jace further down the wall and took his place next to the door as Oren held a chair for me next to the head of the table. When he sat down himself, he smiled around the table.

"This is Jubilee and she is mine now. Make it known, all of you. Mike, I'm glad you came. I'm sure we don't need to go over what you need to say tomorrow?"

I stared wide eyed at Mike Greer, the mayor of our little community. He answered to Oren?!?

"Of course not," Mike smiled congenially, like they were old friends. "I have it all taken care of. I haven't seen her before?"

"No, you wouldn't have. You'll see a lot more of her from now on," Oren smiled, patting my hand.

A woman came in with a rolling cart, then began setting plates out.

Plates full of food.

Meat, vegetables, potatoes. Cups with real tea and not dirty water.

"Are you going to stare or eat?" Oren asked, amused.

Picking up my fork, I took a bite of the carrots, then stared around the plate again in wonder.

"She acts like she hasn't seen food before," an unknown man scoffed.

"I doubt she has seen a meal like this since the cataclysm," Oren spoke up. "Which brings me to my next topic, Gerald. You're starving out the orphans, you have been since the beginning. That stops now. They get fair pay and fair hours like anyone else under my protection."

"I didn't know they were yours!" the man spoke up quickly, going pale.

"They weren't, but they are now. Make it known. Eliza, one of them works under you. Is it true you paid him with soap last week?"

"Well they need soap too," she shrugged, red faced. "They have so many living there and the others all bring home food and they share, I heard him say so! I was doing him a kindness!"

Another man snorted sourly. "Tell it true, Liza! You told me it was because he was a filthy... 'n' word and he needed a wash."

Oren looked the man over, then turned back to Eliza who had gone completely white faced. "I didn't mean it like that! It's just that he sometimes comes in filthy!"

"He sorts trash!" the man countered angrily. "It wasn't because of that, you said it right out. You said 'their kind' was almost gone and it would be a favor to the world if he was turned into food vouchers!"

"Fuck you, Chris, are you really that pissed I wouldn't fuck you?" the woman yelled back. "You're trying to get me in trouble, appeal to his race, but you're off your mark! He's only half black!"

"I am half black," Oren agreed. "My father was an activist, in fact. To me it's a shame more people of african descent didn't make it here, but you know what, Eliza? Almost all of the Independence community is either black or hispanic. I have contacts there... in fact, I think I need another contact there. I'll send you the next time the Rangers make a trip there. You can be my liaison. Would you like that?"

"I... of course, Oren. Independence... that was in... Kansas?"

"Missouri. Still within our little circle of communities, even if it is an outlier. It's settled then. Until you go, the only meals you get are soap. Am I clear, Eliza?"

Eliza looked sick as she stood up with a nod and went to stand against the wall. "How... how long until I leave?"

"I don't know, I'll ask Duke later tonight when they will head there again. Your other option would be the holes. Plenty of protein coming in there."

Some of the men laughed at that as they sneered at Eliza.

I looked down, a bit horrified. She hadn't denied saying that, though. Everyone knew you didn't lie to Oren. If he found out the truth, the punishment was always much worse.

"Chris? Did you tattle on her because she rebuffed you?"

"I told it straight out just like I told her when she said it, that shit was wrong. Yeah, the week before I asked her out and she blew me off, but the next week after I heard her say it I told her I would tell you she said it and she offered ME to suck my cock not to. She don't know it, but my grampa was black on my dads side and my mom was japanese. Just because I look like I do don't mean I ain't mixed and fuckin' proud."

He flickered when he spoke and I saw that he was fiercely proud, especially of his mom. He still owned a tea set that had belonged to her grandmother.

Glancing at Eliza, she was looking very grim and she had a death flicker that stayed.

She would die in three days by her own hand, half starved and knowing she would die of it.

Was that important? Was it something that could be saved for later?

I wasn't sure! Looking at him, he was too tall for either of the things he'd told me to do. Standing, I moved close to him and half hugged him, stroking the back of his head as I leaned in and kissed his jaw.

"I think someone has quite the crush," the other woman at the table chuckled. "Don't bother, sweetling. He has toys sometimes, but he's not into girls."

Oren ignored her as he put an arm around my waist and turned, gently kissing me. "You don't have to be upset, little one," he told me. "Perhaps your gentle nature isn't meant to be around these people. Come with me a moment, I want to speak to you about something."

Getting up, he led me back to what used to be the restrooms, then lifted me and pushed me against the wall as he held me up and buried his face in my neck.

"Whisper, little one. Put your arms around me, we're making out."

I put my arms around him, confused. "She's going to kill herself," I told him, shaking slightly. The shaking turned to trembling, then my teeth started chattering.

"When?"

"A few days? She'll be starving and she'll know she'll starve because no one will help her. She'd rather kill herself than go to the... holes."

"I see. I'm sorry you had to see that, little one, but don't worry. Are you well? You're shaking!"

"I..."

The door opened and Nick poked his head in. "All good? I didn't sweep this room before we came in."

"It's fine," Oren agreed, then turned back to me and kissed my lips, like we really had been making out. "We'll pick this up later, Jubilee," he purred, then let me down. "Box our dinners, Nick. I've decided I'm done with meetings tonight, I'm not really in the mood. Make sure everyone knows about Eliza, she gets nothing from no one."

"Will do, boss. Kyle! Finn! With Oren!" he barked to the back room.

Finn and Kyle immediately caught up to us as Oren led me back outside and Nick went into the back room with the others.

"Ok, boss?"

"Fine. Are you alright, Jubilee?"

I nodded, hugging myself as I shook.

"I think perhaps today has been too much for you. Finn, see her back to her home. Have Kyle deliver her leftovers there, along with mine as well. Get rest, little one, you have a job for me tomorrow. You will come to me as soon as you're done, you understand?"

I nodded again, clenching my teeth to keep them from chattering.

"See her home safely," Oren told Finn, stroking my hair before peeling off to go the other way.

Finn put a hand on my back and led me all the way to my house, which surprised me. They knew where we lived?

Poking his head in, he looked around at the empty room. "How soon till you have the others here with you?"