Fourteen Times in Perim

by Quazer

When humans found themselves on a Perim that never knew humanity before, they had to learn a lesson quickly, that Perim devours and destroys the unprepared. I, however, found myself having to learn that lesson time and time again. I have died so many times, only to start all over again. Maybe this time I'll survive. AU, rated M for violence and sexual content.

9. The Water and the Whip

I do not own Chaotic nor anything related to it. It belongs to TCDigital.

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The Water and the Whip

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Time 14:

It's been seven days since the sudden appearance of humans in Perim.

I have a little shack now. It took a lot of work, and I had to put off buying things that I would have liked to buy, but now I have a house. Even if there's only one room, the toilet is a bucket in the corner, and my bed is a thin mattress lying on the ground. Heck, there isn't even a door, just an empty doorway. Still, it's mine. That's something to be proud of.

The shirt that traveled with me to Perim gave up the ghost a couple days after I started working at the dew farm. I haven't gotten around to buying a replacement shirt yet, and I don't think I will. None of the other men have.

I'm faster at running water vessels now. I'm still only carrying one at a time, but I can almost run now. In fact, every human who began working at the dew farm six days ago is working much faster now, and our pay is reflecting that.

This particular day, towards the middle of the morning shift, I see what looks like two Mipedians men harassing a human man near the water collection shack. My immediate reaction is to run over, but I slow myself down as I get closer. Maybe there's more going on here than I think I see.

"What's going on?" I ask as I pass the three.

The Mipedians glance at me. It's the foreman and one of the runners. "Back to work," the foreman growls, "we're wasting enough time as it is."

The man cries out, "They're trying to beat me up!"

I raise an eyebrow. While the Mipediansare being aggressive, they certainly don't look like they've touched the guy. I ask the foreman, "What did he do?"

The foreman raises what would be an eyebrow if he had any. "He stole water."

"I didn't steal anything!" the man says loudly with a scowl.

"One moment." I walk over to the shack and put down the water jug I was holding. There's a jug in the water corner with its lid at a funny angle. I grab the jug by the neck and try to lift it a little. It feels a lot lighter than it should.

Before I can say anything, the man snaps, "That one simply didn't get filled all the way. They're accusing me of drinking from it."

"I don't know," I say. "Stealing water's a big thing to accuse someone of here."

The man looks smug. I guess he doesn't know that I'm not saying that to get him off the hook. "See, he said it so himself. You guys don't want to admit that a lizard-man screwed up."

Yeah, this guy's guilty as hell.

The foreman bares his teeth, but I'm quick to cut in. "I didn't actually say anything like that. What I'm trying to say is that these sorts of accusations probably aren't made unless there's overwhelming evidence."

The accused man looks confused. "But, wait, I thought you-"

I'm wasting enough time as it is. Time to speed things up so I can get back to work. "Stealing water's such a serious issue that I bet they hold full investigations into it if the accused denies. Of course, it would be a quick investigation, what with all the different ways creatures here have of looking into the past."

"Looking into the past?" the man says shakily.

I pick up a pair of empty jugs and start to walk back. "Of course, making people waste time like that probably means a harsher sentence, like maybe losing a hand. You know, like what almost happened to Jasmine in the Disney version of Aladdin?" I shrug. "But then again, if you really think you can fool supernatural crime-investigation techniques, you can continue to make life harder than it needs to be. I mean, you could fess up and simply pay for the water. I'd rather do that than have a hand cut off."

The man is white as a sheet, rubbing his wrist as if it already hurts. The foreman and the other Mipedian are staring at me in surprise.

I'm having a little too much fun with this. I chuckle a little and call back, "Of course, since you know for certain that you didn't steal any water, you should be completely safe! You don't have to worry at all about having body parts and such being chopped off!"

I run over to the well I was supposed to be at. The Mipedian there has almost filled all the vessels he had. I quickly lay the two I brought next to him and hurry back to the shack with two of the full ones. Holy crap these are heavy!

The foreman and the thief are in the other shack. Looks like the man is paying for the water he took. I turn my attention back to my work, placing the vessels I brought where they go and grabbing a couple more empty ones.

There's a cracking sound, and then the sound of a human screaming. They're coming from the other shack. I rush over, my heart pounding.

The thief is bent over and breathing hard. There's a reddening welt going across his back. The foreman rolls up a whip and attaches it to his belt. "And finally, we're keeping a portion of your pay until the rest of your fine has been covered. I highly advise you not to try this again."

I head back to the well. That part's not any of my business.

For the rest of the shift I notice that, every time I'm near the shacks, the foreman is watching me. It's like he's studying me. It's a little unnerving.

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Up next: The Fifth Time

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Like I said before, Chaotic belongs to TCDigital.

Warning: The stunt pulled in this chapter only works in Perim. Threatening people with supernatural investigation skills is only going to get you laughed at. Unless you're Pheonix Wright. Or Apollo Justice. Or any other number of people with supernatural investigating powers.

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