This is an experiment in POV, so if it's not too much to ask, I'd like honest opinions on that as well as how it ties in with the story.
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They were kept in the old slave forts. Mickey and Greyson didn't mind so much that it wasn't a real fort, but everyone else was pissed. But Mickey wasn't surprise; everyone else was always pissed, and she never really got why. So maybe They were cradle robbers in the literal, non-Lax way, and maybe They could never show love but so what?
Who was she to complain? Her and Greyson got the best non-Concord member rooms, and were allowed to see their parents whenever they wanted. Mickey knew she was a shoe-in to become a member; she was sure that she and Greyson were Their favorite.
She grasped at Greyson's hand, his brown eyes looking down on her with laughter. "So then he was all 'Dude, back off. My music is my life.'" He threw back his head, his Adam's apple bobbing as he laughed. She forced herself to laugh with him; she was sure it would have been funnier if she knew what music was.
Greyson was trying to make her laugh at the crass, Lax jokes that he often overheard in the hall, but he knew they didn't make sense to him or Mickey. He looked at her thoughtfully, at the way the sun glinted off of her alabaster skin and bright, colorless eyes and wondered, not for the first time, why they'd been shoved together.
He'd missed being so close to her, like they'd been when they were gangly little kids. But now that she was sixteen, they could sleep in the same room if they wanted. Not that Greyson would ever ask. His mother had told him to always be polite to Mickey. She was, after all, assigned to him, and as his mother had always said 'You'll either rest in peace or rest in pieces, but if Mickey isn't happy, then none of it matters.'
Every time he had gone back home, that was the first thing out of her mouth. No 'Hello, Grey' or 'How's my boy been doing?' But he didn't expect much from her; she was a purebred Lax, and Greyson had always been taught to ignore their stupidity. Even still, he loved and missed her. He smiled at Mickey's chatter about seeing her parents and idly wondered if she was part Lax herself.
Mickey was very excited about going home and seeing her parents. She couldn't wait to hear her mother's silly Lax babble as she baked Mickey a few dozen cookies for her and Grey to share. It'd been quite a while since she'd got to go home, and she was expecting one of their traditional Lax birthday parties. Her parents had never really explained what a "party" was, but they were slightly dim-witted Laxes and often forgot that she wasn't one. As it was, she didn't think much of her mother, but she didn't think her father was a Lax at all. He never went on about things like her mother. He was straightforward, smart, and surely only a bit Lax. She had always been a daddy's girl.
It was aggravating, she thought, how everyone was looking at her. Almost as if she was a fragile, pitiful thing. She didn't know what was wrong with everyone else, but Mickey was very close to telling them all to piss off.
But if she did, they'd probably kill her. Again. Mickey knew for a fact that death was unpleasant. Not that it hurt very much, but there was so much paperwork. Mickey decided that even though she wanted them to piss off, she wouldn't tell them so.
"Hello in there," Grey said, waving his hands in front of her face. He didn't know why she was so airy lately, but he didn't like it. Mickey had always been grounded if not a little Lax; she seemed totally Lax now, and he told her as much.
Something momentarily slipped his mind. He'd forgotten that she was a little spitfire, so he was surprised when she slapped him. "Don't ever call me Lax in front of Them again." He instantly felt terrible, his stomach clenching in anxiety. He hadn't realized that They were actually in the slave fort with everyone else. Their black robes billowed as They turned toward Mickey.
"Hey, Guys. I didn't really mean that Mickey was Lax. You do know that, don't you?" He reached out and touched the black satin of Their robes. "Actually, I'm more Lax than she is."
We care nothing of your name for the humans outside of our care, They projected. Mickey was surprised to hear Them in her head, but she didn't flinch. Well-trained Children of the Concord never flinched when They spoke, and if there was one thing Mickey prided herself on, it was how well Grey had trained her.
Mickayla, it is time. Mickey's stomach fluttered with anxiety. Maybe she'd heard Them speak to her mind since she was a new-born, but something was different. She knew better than to be afraid-fear was a strictly Lax emotion- but They weren't usually so brief with her.
"Is something wrong?" she asked, making sure to keep her voice stead. "What do I have to do?"
Today you are to visit your parents. You should know as much. Is your trainer keeping you informed? Greyson was shocked; why was he being dragged back into the conversation?
"Of course she's informed. She was just babbling like a silly Lax child about her parents, and I-"
That is enough, Greyson Concord. Grey turned his head away as Mickey looked at him with envy. He never told her that he'd moved up from being a Child of Concord to actually being an official Concord member.
Mickey was livid. She'd worked her ass off to be a Concord member since she could toddle. And on top of it all, he didn't even tell her about it! If she wasn't too jealous, she probably would've congratulated him. But definitely not now or ever.
"I'm ready to go home," Mickey said, turning away from Greyson and toward Them.
Greyson watched Mickey stomp away. He didn't want her to leave like that. He didn't really want her to leave at all. It had been months since he'd left the brown, brick-walled fort, and he knew he'd only be able to leave with Mickey when she was a Concord member.
The sun beat down angrily on his pale skin, the threat of sunburn very realistic. He sighed, trying to remember the traditional Lax way that his mother had treated his nearly perpetual burns. He banged on his head in frustration and pushed his sweaty, black hair off of his forehead.
He's never known that being a Member was going to be so gruelling. Even though he'd never give up his status as a Concord member, he wished he didn't have to do what he'd done to his poor, Lax mother. Greyson knew that Mickey would have to do the same thing to both of her parents. He knew she had the strength to do it, but he was still worried about her. After all, she was a daddy's girl, and he really missed his mother.
