my beta boy | ✎

District 6

The drive over to the next district was lined with green. Trees pressed up on either side of them, towering over the road that led them out of town. But it wasn't the ominous shadows that caught Sistine's breath in her throat, it was the old buildings peeking through the mass of leaves and vines. Giant statues from a different time, the gaping window sills and doors making room for sprawling creepers.

"Do you think we would ever clear them?" Sistine asked, gesturing to the green blur outside the window.

Orion shook his head, his soft ebony hair brushing the tops of his cheekbones before he glanced down, "No. I think humankind is done pushing back against nature. We're starting a new initiative..." he paused abruptly, shooting her an appraising look and continuing when he found her listening with rapt attention.

"... we're hoping to become much more sustainable. Instead of rebuilding old cities, we want to learn to live with nature, as one."

Sistine's slitted eyes must have betrayed some doubt because Orion stopped, "What? Do you find that hard to believe?"

The girl didn't respond immediately, instead she looked out of the window to watch more of the desolate landscape pass them by, "It's not so much that I find it hard to believe, but... that's how humanity started out, didn't it?" Her voice was light.

"People lived off the earth and other, more powerful, developed races, tried to teach them a better way of life." What Sistine knew of this was from a book she chanced upon in the untamed outskirts. With so many empty houses fringing Society, kids would often disappear in groups to explore while they were in Prep, when they didn't have as many lessons and training as they do now. But she felt oddly intelligent, speaking about something that wasn't taught in their syllabus that she couldn't help but show off. It brought a wry smile to Orion's lips.

"I'm surprised you learned that, as a Rho."

Sistine simply smiled mysteriously, though the only mystery she was hiding was a book called The Romanticization of Pocahontas, which she placed carefully back in the dilapidated house that she found it in so that someone else may chance upon it.

"Well, we're not going to let that happen this time around. Back then, the human race united towards expansion because of the way that their society was built. I'm sure, then, that you've heard about money?" Orion settled back onto his seat, his sharp profile glowed in the sporadic bursts of sunlight that broke through the canopy of trees.

Sistine nodded.

"People were motivated by acquiring large amounts of it so that they may live more lavishly than everyone else, which is what Society sought to eradicate. If there is no money, there is no competition, everyone could live in peace."

An undignified snort escaped Sistine and she threw her hands over her mouth in shock, "I'm sorry– I didn't mean to–"

Orion roared with laughter, "You don't have to hide what you truly feel, Sixteen. I quite like it when you are candid. Tell me, what is so funny about what I said?"

Emboldened, Sistine peeled her hands away from her face and met Orion's gaze, heart hammering in her chest, voice small, "I expected District Leaders to be more... practical, instead of idealistic."

She held her breath when Orion failed to respond immediately.

"That's true," he finally breathed, "I guess, I've always been a dreamer. But why so cynical?" He furrowed his brows at her, as if she were a complicated knot that he was trying to unravel. A puzzle that he has never seen before.

"I'm hardly cynical!" R16 protested, "It sounds too much like going Native." Her voice trailed off into a whisper.

A silence stole over the two of them as if she had given life to an apparition. Natives are seldom mentioned in polite company. Instead, it was wilfully ignored by those living in the carefully constructed bubble of Society, but she couldn't help but think of a particular boy and his easy grin, his words of "they are most probably living wild" resonating in her ears. He didn't find it hard to talk about Natives, but she forgot her place. A District Leader is hardly the person to broach such a crude subject with.