The smile remained perfectly pleasant on Luca's face as he walked through the main market of the Sanctuary. People called out to him, waving him over or telling him that they had something new for him to see. Everything was absolutely perfect… even the imperfect were perfect.
Humans who seemed to be unhealthily skinny still had a glow about them as if they were at their peak of health. The dirt on clothes seemed to be almost intentionally placed, like the people wearing the clothes purposefully put it there, hoping to appear dirtier than they were.
"Luca, right?" smiled one woman as she almost skipped toward him. "I hear that you are going to be put in charge of the soldiers as Eric's second in command. My brother is a soldier." The woman held up an apple in front of his face like she was the wicked witch, even as she looked like a princess.
"This is?" murmured Luca, his smile firmly in place even as hers made his skin crawl.
