There's a creak that you don't recognise, but the sound of a door slamming shut is obvious enough. You wait a moment, holding your breath, but it seems like Riccin headed inside.

They're still at the fucking hivestem? Well. At least that'll give Marduk some time to arrive, and then maybe Riccin will just go and fuck off. Blood caste doesn't matter shit when it's green, not to anyone normal, but Riccin's a casteist wastechute about this sort of shit, and the law says jade trumps yellow every single time.

Hopefully they'll buy it.

(Hopefully Mardie will grow a fucking spine and enforce it.)

Pheres is quiet, and man, you are seriously regretting the fact that you never wasted the caegars on upgrading your huskphone. Feels like the screen isn't much bigger than your thumbnail, and the picture quality is fucking horrible: it might as well not even allow them, for how little you can make out in the grainy, black-and-white film.

Your moirail can see you, probably. But you can't tell what he's doing at fucking all, and it's starting to freak you out.

"Pheres," you say carefully. "You cool?"