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Your lips move soundlessly for a moment as you recall the movements. Each one was almost like a gear in sequence- when you began it, the others would move, and the motion would return to you. You look at the one who had replied to you. “Mind your own business, please.” You tried to avoid sounding surprised at the high-pitched, harsh sound of your own voice, which strained with being used for the first time. It wasn't how you had expected it to sound- although, you had never been prepared for what you might sound like...
“But-” He looks instantly taken aback. “Isn't the-”
“If you care so much, check yourself.” You reply flatly, which wasn't difficult with how much effort it took you to speak. “I have obligations.”
He shares a look with his neighbor, who shrugs at him in bemusement, thoughtlessly elbowing the handle of a pistol that was leaning out of his apron back into place. A skull, you realized belatedly. The apron is cut to resemble the jaws of a skull when it hangs off the body. At the very least, neither of them were reaching for theirs, both of them seemingly distracted by something.
Without another word, you turn and walk off with a not entirely fake sound of irritation at a slight pinch in your boots. You turn and follow the perimeter of the walkway, fighting the urge to look behind you while you fuss with the zipper of your coveralls again. The guardrail comes up to you, and you look over the side while you walk, acutely aware that the two of them could still be watching and judging you.
You were standing above a grand commercial thoroughfare- at least three stories high, to create an open-air space filled with bays for the construction of shops, supply depots and offices. The walls featured pillars that bore suspicious, Aquila-shaped holes where gold ornamentation must have once been displayed, but had long been ripped over, leaving only their inlets behind.
The style was familiar to you, it's more modern counterparts had been imprinted into your mind along with the common layouts of the upper floors. This must have once been part of the old hive administration centers, where the hive admin had once governed it before relocating higher and higher with the rising spires. Multiple generations of bureaucrats must have used this place, but they seem to have abandoned it. Or was it taken?
An oversized thoroughfare ran the length of the room, with wide streets that would have left ample space for ornamentation and gardens if the residents hadn't filled it with their own constructions. An entire central block had been constructed out of many stacked modules- some with sturdy plascrete and others out of reused girders and metal siding, with drapes of colorful cloth were used to cover up some of the shoddier construction. While it was obviously unauthorized and ramshackle, you took careful note of the coordination and labor it would require to erect tall plascrete structures and build on top of them.
