[Splat]

THIS IS MY 3000TH POST!!!! OH MY GIDDY AUNT!!!!!

So let's make it a good one!

I agree with you about Nick; he's not that bad, as sligs go. A bit of a coward maybe, but he doesn't mean any harm.

There are so many great bits of the RPG that didn't make it into the story. There was a great moment T-nex reminded me of where Razor tries to bully Dean and Javi and just gets ignored, which has a damaging impact on his self-esteem. There's also a great conversation in part 4 that I was tempted to put in, but in the end won't, because even though it's great, it doesn't affect Anni's plot.
So much good stuff, so little time...

I have a horrible ear-ache, and my headphones have broken (why is it always the left one that goes first?) but it doesn't matter, because once I post this I'll have 3000 posts, and there are so many awesome avatars in this thread right now!
And it's December! Happy December everyone!

Enough of his chatter! There's a new character in this chapter that a few people might vaguely remember.
So on with the show!

Chapter 38

The last two days in the factory had been melancholic at best. Nick of course was a more valued employee than Reg had been and so he hadn’t been fired on the spot. The fact that he had attacked Anni – who was not the most diligent worker – and not Kix may also have helped his chances.
Seven had told the mudokons that Arnie was thinking the whole situation over and would let them know his decision soon.

In the morning, two days after the incident outside the security office, Nick wandered down to the cafeteria and leant unhappily against the counter, looking sourly at the ceiling. Dean, who was working in the kitchen then, paid him little attention.

“New slig coming today,” Nick said suddenly.

Dean looked surprised, “I didn’t know Arnie was looking for another?”

Nick nodded, “Dunno if you’ve heard but Expert and Bela are leaving in a couple more weeks so Arnie was looking for someone. Didn’t want to spend the money on a big bro, but he found this guy cheap, so he’s coming early. It’s not great news now the main grinders are offline; that’s slowed down production a lot.”

“Nice of them to tell me,” Dean muttered, abandoning his washing up and pulling a laden clipboard off of the top of the fridge.

“Pass us a brew,” Nick said and Dean did so automatically, looking through his menu plans and stock lists.

“You’ve gotta pay for them,” He added absently.

“I put fifteen moolah in at the start of the month!” Nick lied. He’d get Bela to lend him some money later.

Dean sighed and dropped his clipboard onto a worktop.

“What’s up with this place, recently?” Nick grumbled as he flicked the cork from his brew, sending it skittering away across the floor.

Dean looked at him sceptically, “Don’t you think things are bad enough without you going for the ‘act dumb’ tactic?”

Nick rolled his eyes, “Well I can’t exactly talk to her. She runs off whenever she sees me coming.”

“Nick, I don’t want to be rude, but that’s ‘cus you always look like you’re gonna hit her again when you pass her.”

Nick muttered something unpleasant and took a deep gulp of his drink. “I dunno, she’s usually not like this.”

Dean grunted as he started manoeuvring an enormous cooking pot off of a shelf, but conceded, “I haven’t seen her so upset in years.”

“She usually sort of… bounces, doesn’t she?” Nick said conversationally, “I mean normally it’s really annoying, but I didn’t expect her to go this low.”

“There’s a song she sings to herself when she’s really upset, like she doesn’t want anyone to hear, but she sings it really meaningfully. I think she hopes it’ll cheer her up,” Dean added as he went to the fridge at the other end of the room and started pulling out scrab legs. “Like, I don’t know,” He went on distractedly, “I think when the vykkers still kept her she could use it to cheer herself up, but now it doesn’t-”

Nick swallowed hurriedly and blurted out, “Vykkers? What did she have to do with vykkers?”

Dean jerked out of his reverie, “What? Um, I mean, nothing, I mean nothing.”

“Are you saying she was an experiment?”

Dean looked pained, “Um… I really shouldn’t have said that.”

“She was an experiment?”

“Nick, please don’t tell her I said anything!” The mudokon pleaded desperately.

“Don’t worry; I’ll keep it quiet, but… Ugh, poor girl. I used to work in a lab; I know the sort of stuff they get up to. Odd, ugh!”

“Don’t say anything to her!”

“I won’t, but… Ok, I shouldn’t have hit her. Maybe I should go and talk to her about it. Say I’m sorry…”

* * *

Anni was sulking outside the slaughter room. This wasn’t a great place to sulk, but Kix and Math were working in the slaughter room and every few minutes Kix would come out for a breath of air that didn’t taste of guts and would grudgingly give her sympathy.

When Nick came into the room he saw Kix, leaning against the wall, breathing deep with her eyes closed tight. Anni was beside her, staring moodily at her feet. “Anni,” He said uncomfortably.

The girl looked up at him with surprise, then glared.

Nick would later blame everything that followed on that glare. Had the glare not been there, the next two years might have been completely different for everyone. Nick was far from the factory on the day it all came together, but he heard about it in greater detail than most, and could guess more than most, and he blamed it all on the expression on her face that day, because that way he never had to blame any part of it on himself. Because the glare made him angry, and he was never any good at hiding his temper.

“I just want to talk!” He said defensively.

Kix opened her eyes, hearing the irritated tone of his voice, and as tactfully as she could said, “Nick, maybe you should-”

Correctly predicting the end of the sentence, he cut her off, “Shouldn’t you be working, Kix?” He said wearily.

“Oh, that’s all you care about isn’t it!” Anni yelled, rolling forwards, balling her fists, looking at him with hate, “Stupid work in your stupid factory!”

“Anni, I wanted to talk!”

“About what? Feeding me to some other animals or when you’re going to hit me next?”

Nick’s expression twisted but Kix suddenly understood why he had come and said, “Anni, I think you should-”

“Oh, I don’t CARE!” Anni sobbed, “I just want people to leave me alone!” And she ran past Nick and away.

“Well,” Nick said, sounding slightly hysterical from annoyance, “So much for trying to say sorry!”

Kix looked pained, “Sorry, Nick,” She said helplessly, “She’s- she’s really upset, and-”

“Don’t you apologise for her,” Nick growled and stalked away angrily.

Walking out of the warehouse he caught sight of a clock; Hell, he was supposed to have met the new slig at the station half an hour ago.

* * *

Anni ran through the factory, forcing back tears. She just wanted to get as far away from that stupid slig as she could! She stopped running very suddenly when, going round a corner, she collided triumphantly with another slig and they both went flying to the ground. The slig let out a curse as Anni pushed herself dizzily to her knees. She looked at him, puzzled, “Um, who are you?” She said.

“Watch where you’re going!” The slig barked in response, glaring at her, seeing her scarred skin with all the interest he might show half an ant.

She tried again, “Are you new here?”

The slig glared at her as he pushed himself to his feet, “I thought someone was supposed to meet me at the station,” He grumbled.

“I can show you where Arnie’s office is, if you like?” She offered. “Or the security office, where Seven sometimes is; he’s the head of security or something.”

The slig looked at her surprised, scratching his side as he clambered to his feet, “You see a lot of the boss?”

“Not really. But I know where his office is. It’s on the corridor between the production lines and the mudokon bunks, so I walk past it all the time,” She replied, looking curiously at the objects attached to his pants; a pair of grenades and a fold-away knife.

The slig still looked uncertain but said moodily, “Alright; I guess no one else is coming to look for me.”

Anni smiled, “It’s just this way,” She said and hurried down the corridor, slowing down after a few metres to match his more sombre pace. “Um, what’s your name?” She asked.

The slig grunted before answering, “Stivik.”

She smiled, “I’m Anni.”

Stivik ignored this and walked on.

* * *

Kix had shirked her bloody apron and, forcing a nervous Math along with her, and gone looking for Anni, once again worried for her wellbeing, “Kix, she’s fine!” Math grumbled as he was half dragged along a middle-floor corridor, “What’s she gonna do, throw herself from the roof?”

“Ugh, don’t even joke about that!” Kix reproached him, “I just want to know she’s safe.”

“Why would she not be safe?”

“Anni!” Kix cried out and ran down the corridor, having spotted Anni with a strange slig.

Anni looked uncomfortable as she approached, “What’s wrong?”

Kix stopped before her and looked up at the slig (though taller than him, Kix always seemed to look up at people). Math came up behind her, trying to look inconspicuous (at which he was failing terrifically). “Um, you must be new?”

The slig looked ill-tempered, “She was just leading me to the boss’s office. Shouldn’t you all be working?”

“Oh, well, just wanted to make sure Anni was ok!” Kix said with false brightness. She didn’t like the look of this slig, “Come on, Anni,” She added, grabbing for her arm.

“I’m ok!” Anni replied tartly.

“Maybe you should go back to work,” The slig grumbled.

“It’s only just round here! Kix, this is Stivik.”

Kix tried to give him a friendly look but was too flustered to manage it. “Come on.”

“Is Nick still around?”

“No, he’s gone.”

“Who’s Nick?” Stivik asked.

“Just a slig,” Kix said quickly.

“Just a psycho slig who thinks he can break the rules and beat up everyone,” Anni replied, a fair and impartial witness to Nick’s character.

“Um, sligs are pretty well known for beating up muds,” Stivik said sceptically.

“Not here!” Anni said defiantly, “Arnie, the boss, says he doesn’t want his sligs beating up mudokons!”

Stivik looked surprised but said, “I had heard something about that, but…”

“Come on, Anni; we need to get back to work!” Kix said more insistently.
Stivik nodded, “Go on; just round here? I can find my own way, then.”

* * *

All in all, it wasn’t proving a great day for Nick. He’d spent over an hour running around looking for this new slig who either hadn’t arrived or had somehow disappeared, and then he had run into a flustered-looking Groll and spent the next hour explaining that the red wire was red so you knew it was the red wire, and therefore knew what to do with it, and the reason the thing wasn’t working was because Groll had used the blue wire instead.

When that mind-numbing conversation had finally come to a close, he stumbled back to the security office hoping he could spend the next hour listening to the radio while trying to find out why the parts he had ordered for the grinders hadn’t arrived on that day’s train.

Seven was in the security office, talking with the new slig. Nick nearly groaned when he saw them; he had once again completely forgotten that the slig had been his responsibility (as if he didn’t have enough responsibility!)

“I was wondering where you’ve been,” Seven said grimly and Nick had a feeling that he was about to get yelled at. In fact, it was worse than that, “Arnie’s decided he wants to talk to you and Anni, tomorrow evening, and sort this all out properly.”

“He what?” Nick asked bug-eyed while the new slig looked surprised.

“Tomorrow evening,” Seven repeated, “You and Anni. I don’t know if he’ll see you in his office or one of the conference rooms on the top floor.”
Nick sank miserably into his chair.

“Um,” Said the new slig under his breath, so only Nick would hear him, “Did I get off at the wrong station? I wanted Rupture Farms, not the We-Love-Mud Asylum.”

“Congratulations, here we have both under one roof,” Groaned Nick.

* * *

Dean, Javi, Kix and Math were sat around a table in the cafeteria with Anni the following evening. There were butterflies in her stomach at the thought of what was about to come.

“I’m not going to apologise! I’ve got nothing to say sorry for! He hit me!”

Kix looked uncomfortable, “But he was going to say sorry, Anni. Yesterday, in the slaughter house-”

“I don’t care!”

“It’s her choice,” Javi said firmly; this had been his standpoint from the beginning, which thoroughly irritated Kix. Dean on the other hand had kept his opinion to himself and wasn’t speaking. Math was sort of siding with Kix in an uncomfortable way that said he thought she was right but didn’t really want to cause any trouble.

“Right, it’s my choice,” Anni agreed and edged closer to Javi.

“Anni, do you really need to take it this far?”

“Yes.”

“Anni,” Math said uncomfortably. It was the first thing he’d said since Anni had gotten here and everyone instantly turned to look at him, “Look, I know Nick’s got some bad points-”

She snorted.

“-But he’s not that bad as sligs go. I mean, he’s better than most, isn’t he!”

Anni stayed silent and looked sour. Kix pressed the advantage, “He’s not the sort of slig who usually loses his temper over nothing-”

“So you’re saying I deserved it?!” She demanded furiously.

The painful answer to this was of course, ‘yes’ but before plates could start flying, Dean, watching the clock, called out loudly, “It’s time.”

There was a tense pause, then Javi stood up. “Come on. We might as well go with her.”

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Stivik's here! On my 3000th's post! (Alright, get over that, Splat.)
Finally we're reaching a part of the story that I helped create!

Originally I was going to have Stivik become a focal character once he appeared; right at the beginning when I first started writing this story, I had an image in my head of a conversation between Stivik and his superiors, with him being told about his mission at Rupture Farms, but when I came to write it a few weeks ago, this way seemed so much better. We get to see him from the other side, from the outside, and I now you can all watch all the little things that happen around him that look bad for Arnie!

Next chapter covers possibly the most famous event in W@RF's history, which is of course Anni and Nick's trial, though it's rather different in the story (sorry, everyone).

Anni's fair and impartial judgement of Nick is one of my favourite lines for a while And that conversation where Dean accidentally lets slip about Anni was once again lifted quite faithfully from the RPG.

Part 6 will now reach at least Chapter 44, because I accidentally wrote Chapter 40 twice.

Now reply!