Rise in Revolution (Chapter Two)
Mar. 8th, 2016 05:41 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tanadin posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
saladloveChapter list: https://tanadin.dreamwidth.org/650.html
World map: http://tanadin.deviantart.com/art/Kaldri
Chapter Two
Blackened Gold
Black Market, Sector IAL. January 4, 2272. Time instance 842N.
Emma shivered at all the eyes that were upon her and decided that, instead of freaking out due to all the people, she would focus on the room itself. It was far larger than she had anticipated it being, allowing a little over a dozen people to set up makeshift market stalls selling various illegal items. On her side of the room appeared to be some bedrolls on the floor and a couple of small refrigerators as well as various appliances meant to prepare food. After that were the stalls, but beyond them was the most bizarre and peaceful corner that Emma could recall seeing.
The walls were lined primarily with short bookshelves and a green rug had been laid out on the floor. Placed on this rug were several chairs and a couple of tables, a few of them occupied. The old global flag- the flag that the countries of Kaldriel had agreed upon to represent them if they ever achieved space travel and communicated with alien life forms- was attached to the wall above the bookshelves. The flag was blue with a red star in the center, with a white stripe on the left and right sides of the flag and a black stripe going horizontally down the middle, behind the star. It had been agreed upon only six years before the invasion. Good timing, even if it had been useless in the end.
A doorway led off from the end of the room, but due to the door being shut, Emma couldn’t see any of what lay beyond. As her focus was forced back onto the watching people, Tanadin stepped forward and waved her arms at them.
“Go back to what you were doing! Go, shoo! You’re scaring the poor girl. You’ll have a chance to meet her, just be patient.” Reluctantly, the assortment of people went back to what they were doing, but occasionally glanced up to look at Emma when they thought Tanadin wasn’t looking.
Tanadin stood in front of Emma and smiled slightly. “Overwhelming, isn’t it? Don’t worry, you’ll get to know everyone, in time. I’ll show you around and introduce you to everyone one by one, alright?”
Emma nodded, slightly blown away by the existence of this place. “How does the Mainframe not know about this?”
“It’s surrounded by some kind of rock that messes up their scanners. I’m not sure exactly how it works- Kyir could tell you. He’s kind of a genius and knows how robots and their scanners and stuff work. He’s a mechanic and since he’s such an asshole the Mainframe didn’t move him- he lived here pre-invasion. So we set up a criminal organization and black market in his basement.”
Emma couldn’t help but giggle at that. “That’s really the first logical step, isn’t it? They don’t know we’re here, I know, let’s set up a bunch of drug dealers.”
Tanadin snorted with laughter. “That’s kinda what happened, yeah. C’mon! I’ll introduce you to some of our hardened criminals, like Jimmy here.” Tanadin strolled up to a short girl who was perhaps eighteen and tapped her on the shoulder. She was about 5’3 and had brown eyes and an undercut of brown hair. She was leaning against an unused stall and looking at them curiously. When she spoke, it was with a Doravian accent.
“Tanadin, are you trying to convince someone I’m a criminal again?”
“You are a criminal, Jimmy, you’re down here!”
“I don’t think I’ve done an illegal thing in my life other than hang out with you guys.”
“I know.” Tanadin grinned at her. “Jimmy, this is Emma. Emma, this is Jimmy, our local Doravian. Well, our local human Doravian. We’ve got a couple of aven here as well.”
Aven! Aven were not common anywhere, due to their low numbers, but Emma had never seen one in all of her years of living in sector ASQ.
Tanadin led her past Jimmy and to the first occupied stall. Behind the counter stood a young woman around the age of twenty with brown eyes and dyed teal hair. She was about 5’6 and had a variety of piercings in her ear, and some kind of device in her left. Emma took a half-step back upon seeing it, thinking her to be a cyborg, but the woman raised her hands and spoke in an accent very similar to Emma’s.
“Woah, hey, it’s okay! It’s a hearing aid! I’m not a cyborg.”
Emma sighed in relief. “Sorry. It’s just...an instinct, by now.”
The woman smiled. “It’s fine, I understand. I’m Scarlett, but you can call me Mars.” She held out a hand to shake.
Emma took it and introduced herself as well. “What do you use for currency? It isn’t pre-invasion money, is it?”
Mars shook her head. “No, it’s not. We use fish skulls and emeralds that we rarely encounter while mining- its ten skulls to an emerald.” She frowned slightly at another form approaching them. “Speaking of skulls, that one’s fresh out unless she’s happened across more since two weeks ago, and somehow I doubt that.”
The girl appeared to be around twenty as well, and was about 5’3 in height. She also had brown eyes and her long black hair reached almost to the ground. She was clearly of Vos-taric heritage, although the specific region that was from eluded Emma. She didn’t give Emma a second glance and instead paused right at the counter. “Give me the usual, Mars.”
“No way. Not unless you’ve got the skulls for it.”
“Mars!”
“Tac!” Mars’ voice rose in an imitation of her friend’s. “You are thirty-three skulls in debt to me from last time. Thirty-three! You really need to focus on finding emeralds while mining. Maybe you’d be quicker at grabbing them if you weren’t drunk all the time.”
“I’m not drunk all the time!” Tac protested. “Just sometimes, and never on workdays. You know me better than that- I haven’t been drunk since two weeks ago.”
“Okay, okay. That was a bit far. But, still, you got way too drunk last time.”
“N...well, I mean...” She hesitated. “Okay, yeah, I did. But still.” Tac crossed her arms. “You think I’m an alcoholic- I’m not, I just overdo it when I do drink.”
Mars sight and rolled her eyes. “Look, I’m willing to sell to you, but only if you’ve got the skulls.”
“...Will you accept other payment?”
“Depends on what it is.” Mars narrowed her eyes in suspicion as Tac pulled a sketchbook out of her bag and scribbled out a drawing on it. She tore the drawing out and handed it to Mars.
The teal-haired girl looked at it as if it were some kind of bizarre insect. Peering over at the paper, Emma noticed that it was a poorly drawn rectangle with some guy’s face in it. A number with more zeros than she cared to count was written on the bottom as well as a bunch of nonsense all over surface of the rectangle.
“Tac, what the hell is this.” It was barely even a question.
“A Scooter Buck. The currency of Scott.” Tac pointed vaguely in the direction of the bookshelves. “Each one is worth fifty emeralds.”
Mars looked at her like she had grown a second head before sighing and shoving the paper into a drawer. She rummaged around in another drawer before handing Tac a small bottle. “You owe me thirty-six skulls.”
“Sweet! Thanks, Mars.” Tac clutched her prize and scurried off to the seats by the bookshelves.
“Um?” Emma looked at Tanadin, confused.
“She’s not always like that.” Tanadin assured. “She’s just...troubled. We all are, and we deal with it in different ways. She doesn’t drink too often, but when she does, she’s hopelessly incoherent the whole weekend between the alcohol and the hangover.” She took Emma’s arm and pulled her along to the next group of people, who were over at the next stall.
The first person that Emma noticed was the aven. He stood behind the counter and was about 5’8 with frightening and intense orange eyes. His feathers were black and red, although at the tips of the red feathers white shone through. She suspected that he was a type of vulture, although unlike most vultures, his head was covered in feathers. His hands were at work on a bandage that was wrapped around a girl’s arm, talons moving expertly as he tightened the material. Emma was fascinated by him. She had wondered how they worked with their hands, as their fingers ended with sharp talons and their arms also acted as wings. They were essentially large, intelligent, humanoid birds, and she was both excited and terrified to meet one.
The girl he was putting a bandage on, however, didn’t faze Emma nearly as much. She was about 5’4 and wore a bizarre purple mask on her face, resting on her nose and covering the region around her eyes but leaving holes to allow her brown eyes to peer out. Her hair was dyed a matching shade of light purple and she kept flinching as the aven worked on her arm.
“You have to quit sitting in the rafters of places.” The aven grumbled as Tanadin and Emma approached. “It’s not like the orchards, where your feet move the branches out of your way as you fall. Those splinters aren’t going anywhere except into your arm, and when it's a nail, it's even worse.”
“Yes, mother.” The girl said with a mix of meekness and sarcasm. The aven narrowed his eyes at her before releasing her arm. “You’re good to go. Don’t get yourself hurt any more than you already have, okay?”
“Okay!” The girl turned to leave and was stopped in her tracks by Emma’s presence. “Oh, hi! I’m Gali. If anyone tells you I cheat, definitely believe ‘em.” She grinned. Her voice rose in a kind of Kesronian accent- she or her family were likely from Kesron Minor.
“I’m Emma, and if people tell you I cheat then they’re liars.” Emma smiled at her. “Known for cheating?”
“You bet I am. I’m also known for my puns.”
“Girl, your puns can’t beat mine.” The aven protested. When he noticed Emma looking, he took a half-step back. “Um, hi. I’m Devan.”
“He’s our medic.” Tanadin elaborated. “Gali sits in high places and scares the shit out of people.”
“You bet I do!”
As Gali grinned at her, Tanadin took Emma’s arm and pulled her to the next stall. “I need some fire essence once I’m done showing Emma around!” Tanadin warned, and Gali nodded, scurrying off to a different stand.
As they approached, the hooded figure behind the makeshift counter looked up at them, and he was the most unnerving of all those that Emma had seen yet. He wore some kind of ragged gray cloak over his entire body long enough to reach the floor and with long sleeves that covered his hands. The hood was pulled all the way over his face, creating an empty gray expanse. His only defining feature was what she could see of his eyes- two dim, dark yellow lights that glowed with what Emma could only describe as a calculating energy, as if the form was watching her every movement and choosing his next actions carefully.
Tanadin didn’t seem bothered. “Hi, M!”
“Greetings.” Emma blinked at the odd voice. The moment he stopped speaking, all memory of what he sounded like was gone from her mind, but she was certain he had spoken.
“Um...I’m Emma.”
“You may call me M.”
Emma shivered a bit as she looked him over. She didn’t like him at all- he creeped her out more than she cared to admit. As she turned away, however, she found herself face-to-face with someone just as frightening.
This new person was a demon, no doubt there. She was about 6’2 and had pitch black skin- not a natural human skin tone, but darker than the inky blackness of nightmares- and gray eyes. Her teeth were dark red and her claws were as dark as her skin. Similarly colored batlike wings were folded on her back.
She grinned evilly. “Helloooo there~” A slight purr accented her voice. “What’s this we have here?”
“Sadie, Emma. Emma, Sadie.” Tanadin crossed her arms. “Try not to scare off the new person, would you?”
“Awww, you know me! I wouldn’t do that!”
“Yes, you would.” Tanadin grumbled. “Now leave her alone.”
“But I wanna play with her!”
“Sadie!” The demon whipped around and frowned at the approaching figure.
“Aww, c’mon, Zaahnraaa…”
“Back.”
“But-”
“Back.”
Sadie grumbled but moved away, allowing Zahnra to take her place. Zahnra had black hair and bizarre purple eyes, betraying her inhuman nature. Her skin was dark, but not dark enough to show her to be of Salvekian origin- she was likely from one of the southern islands.
“She doesn’t understand how to talk to people without being creepy.” Zahnra explained. “Welcome to the Black Market.”
“Thanks. I’m Emma.”
“Zahnra. I advise avoiding her unless you are used to her ways. She tends to...frighten people.” With that, Zahnra stalked off, heading out the door that Emma and Tanadin had come out of before.
“She’s a werewolf. She resents being torn away from Norendor- her home.” Tanadin explained. “They’re a tight-knit community that don’t get along well with other people.” She glanced around. “There’s a few more people here right now. Looks like we’re missing a few, but there’s a lot of people here today.” She led Emma to the back of the room, into the carpeted area.
They approached an odd group of three- a man sitting in a chair, a fiery bird perched on the back of the chair, and a demon standing behind them and looking closely at the fiery bird.
The man was probably around the same height as Tanadin, although it was hard to tell as he was sitting. He had black hair and brown eyes. He wore a white long-sleeved shirt with a green overshirt. The demon was about 5’6 and radiated a lot more power than anyone else that Emma had seen so far. She had brown hair and unnatural teal-green eyes that glowed faintly as she examined the bird closely. Dark green claws extended from her fingertips, and matching horns curved up from her head. Light green batlike wings were folded neatly along her back. She held a hefty tome in her left arm. Words on the cover were written in a script that Emma didn’t recognize and the tome appeared to be bound in human skin. Emma shivered.
The fiery bird- a phoenix, Emma realized- was about as long as her fingertips to her elbow plus tail. Its feathers glowed and crackled with flame, and as it shuffled its wings uncomfortably, she noticed blue flames licking around the edges of its right wing, side of its tail, and right eye, while its left side flickered with red instead.
As they approached, the demon spoke. “You have more than enough elemental energy, Clash, don’t worry. Phoenixes drain their energy slower unless you have to regenerate yourselves. You just can’t pull off another blast like you did with 7006. That almost killed you.”
The bird nodded simply, rustling its feathers. The demon turned around, waved briefly to Emma, and then walked through the wall.
Emma jerked back, blinking in surprise.
“That was Geek.” Tanadin explained. “She’s a very powerful demon and has a hidden room through that wall. She likes to startle newcomers but she’ll introduce herself soon. She’s a kind person, really, just a bit of a troll.” She led the confused Kesronian forward until she stood directly before the man and the phoenix.
“Hello, and welcome to the Black Market. I’m Scott.” The man held out his hand, and Emma shook it. “This is my boyfriend, Clash.” He motioned at the phoenix.
Emma blinked. “He’s a….”
Scott looked her in the eye and said, completely straight-faced, “Yes. I’m dating a bird.”
Clash shot him an annoyed glance before flapping his wings, pushing himself off the chair and forward into open space. A column of flames engulfed him and, when they faded, left a tall man in his place.
He was about six feet tall and had slightly darker skin than Scott. He had brown-black hair and his eyes were mismatched- his right eye was pale blue and his left was dull red. He wore a black jacket with a phoenix design on the back. Despite his initially startling appearance, he didn’t give off any level of danger and seemed nervous about being near Emma.
“Hi.” His voice was quiet, but Emma smiled at him.
“Hello.”
“Where’s Fan?” Tanadin asked, looking around curiously. “I would think she’d be hanging out around you.”
Scott shook his head. “She wanted pufferfish. I, an innocent fisherman, had none.”
“You’re the worst drug dealer ever. You were out?”
“Not my fault that fucking Chester was taking all the pufferfish.” Scott crossed his arms moodily. “Good-for-nothing asshole. Takes all my business away with his cheaper prices and sad, skinny pufferfish. Who wants a skinny pufferfish?”
“Fan, apparently.” Emma said dryly.
“This is a complete injustice.”
“Did I hear someone mention JUSTICE?” Gali looked up from the box she was rummaging in.
“Gali, my business is being stolen by Chester again!”
“Fiend!” Gali gasped.
Tanadin looked around. “Is anyone else here?”
“Hawk’s out hunting.” Clash told her. “Shawn said something about taking a walk. I don’t know where Cap is and...I’m forgetting someone other than Fan.”
“Sub. She’s out being lame.” Scott supplied.
“Being lame?” Emma questioned.
“She’s fishing even though it’s not her job and it’s not a workday.” Clash explained. “Scooter thinks it's lame.”
“Why work when you don’t have to?” Scott demanded.
“She wants the skulls. What for, I don’t know.” Tanadin mumbled. “Anyway, go ahead and talk to people or walk around the sector if you’d like. I have some fire essence to get from Gali.”
“What do you need that for?” All Emma knew about elemental essences was that, in small amounts, they did strange things to the human mental state.
“Staying alive.” Tanadin said grimly. “I’m really low on elemental energy right now.” With that, she walked off towards Gali and started arguing over the price of a small vial of glowing orange energy.
Scott got to his feet. “If you want to meet Fan you can come with me. She’s probably with Chester and I need to go look at him with a slightly frustrated glare until he subconsciously realizes that he’s lame and annoying and stops stealing all my business.”
“Your business as a pufferfish dealer?”
“That’s a nasty rumor. I’m an innocent fisherman.” Scott pretended to look offended before walking past her for the door. Clash followed not far behind and, lacking anything better to do, Emma trailed along as well. Scott pulled the lever to open the door and called for Jimmy to shut it behind them. She nodded and waited until the three of them were through before shutting it.
“How do you get in there on workdays?” Emma asked as they left Kyir’s house. “You need someone to open it from the inside, don’t you?”
“Someone’s always inside.” Scott told her.
She frowned. “Doesn’t everyone have a work assignment?”
“No. M doesn’t- he’s too mysterious for the Mainframe to know about or something- although he’s often out for long periods of time. Geek’s in there, though. She can’t leave safely.”
“She’s a wanted criminal.” Clash explained. “That book she has is the Nethernomicon.” He shivered upon speaking its name. “It's a really powerful book and the Mainframe tried to destroy it, but she stole it back. She’s been wanted ever since and has been hiding in Kyir’s basement since they can’t track her in there.”
“How powerful is Geek?”
“Stupidly.” Scott told her. “It’s ridiculous. She’s got a magic dampening collar on, though. Really nasty one. Kyir can’t get it off. He managed to fry the tracker in it but that's it.”
Emma nodded, familiar with the collars. Anyone with ‘too much’ magical energy was fitted with a collar that dampened their abilities. The Mainframe would put one on everyone even slightly magical and remove all connection to magic if that wouldn’t kill about a third of the population. Beings such as elementals and phoenixes required an active link to their magical core at all times or they would die almost instantly. She was surprised that Clash and Tanadin weren’t fitted with the objects, but she wasn’t a good judge of magical power. “I’m guessing Geek isn’t her real name?”
“No, it’s something long and unpronounceable.” Scott stopped as they turned onto street 6. “Chester.” He growled under his breath. Clash put a hand on his shoulder.
Emma looked where Scott was indicating and noticed a short, freckled man with dull red hair sitting at a table. A few other people were in the area, some of them clearly dealers of some sort. A couple of people paused to look at the items that they were selling, but quickly moved on.
“They’re getting careless. If that new unit shows up, they’re fucked.” He noticed a girl leaning on Chester’s table and he stalked forward, his friends not far behind. The girl was about 6’0 with mid-length black-brown hair pulled into a lazy ponytail and blue-green eyes. She wore a black shirt and jeans along with some black cowboy boots, and she gave off the odd feeling of someone who was half-trained for combat. She was the only one there who seemed serious about buying something.
“Why aren’t they in the black market?” Emma asked quietly, directing her question mostly to Clash.
“Because Tanadin doesn’t like them. They’re just as likely to sell us out as they are to sell their wares.” Clash mumbled in reply. “She’s kind of the gatekeeper of the black market.”
“Hmm.” Emma noticed Scott shiver as they passed a man in a trenchcoat, his eyes following him as they walked past. He was leaning against the side of a building and his face was obscured by shadow.
“I don’t like him. He gives me the creeps.” Scott mumbled.
“Shawn wears a trenchcoat and he doesn’t give you the creeps.” Clash protested. “He’s allowed to wear what he wants.”
“I don’t like it.” Scott repeated. Emma wasn’t sure what to think about the man in the trenchcoat but her attention was pulled away as Scott stopped. They were standing in front of Chester’s table, albeit on the other side of the street.
“If she buys from him I’m going to have to cut off her supply.” Scott muttered, crossing his arms and watching.
“Wouldn’t that just encourage her to buy from him more, though?” Emma asked, raising an eyebrow at him.
“Oh, dang. Yeah, I hadn’t considered that.” Scott thought it over. “I’ll slide angry letters under the door of her apartment room. Or I’ll tell Cap not to break her out of jail next time she gets arrested.”
As he spoke, Fan exchanged a few fish skulls with Chester and he looked around briefly before handing her a small, sad-looking pufferfish in a clear bag. Emma’s eyes were drawn to the left as the man in the trenchcoat moved, faster than she would have anticipated, towards the two. He practically raced across the street, light glinting off of his metal limbs as a blade extended from his metal left forearm to press against Fan’s throat as he stood behind her.
“That’s illegal.”
no subject
Date: 2016-03-09 12:08 am (UTC)Also, I love all the intros : D YEEE this is going great. That ending though.
no subject
Date: 2016-03-09 01:36 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-03-09 01:39 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-03-09 12:53 am (UTC)Also the Nethernomicon that Geek has wouldn't happen to be the same Nethernomicon that appeared in The Ghastly Curse Saga would it?
no subject
Date: 2016-03-09 01:05 am (UTC)maaaaaaaaaybeeeeeeee
she DID write the saga but im SURE thats a coincidence
c:
no subject
Date: 2016-03-09 01:38 am (UTC)I think some stuff is possibly going to go over my head though, I take it Scooter bucks is an inside joke?
no subject
Date: 2016-03-09 01:40 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-03-09 01:14 am (UTC)AHAHAHAHAHAH
no subject
Date: 2016-03-09 03:42 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-03-09 01:17 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-03-09 01:40 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-03-09 01:27 am (UTC)I'm glad I stole the spotlight when it comes to character introductions, because I'm kind of vanilla compared to all these magical people around me, lol.
That being said; loved the addition of scooter bucks.
And most importantly FUCKING, CHESTER
no subject
Date: 2016-03-09 01:34 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-03-09 01:40 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-03-09 02:40 pm (UTC)-the lurkiest lurker
no subject
Date: 2016-03-09 02:44 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-03-10 11:22 am (UTC)-the lurkiest lurker
no subject
Date: 2016-03-10 08:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-03-11 07:08 am (UTC)-the lurkiest lurker
rawr
Date: 2016-03-09 03:38 pm (UTC)Re: rawr
Date: 2016-03-10 12:41 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-03-09 05:35 pm (UTC)Cool characters we have here. Also, I wasn't under the impression I would go from bird to human like that, but it's certainly a cool choice, lol
no subject
Date: 2016-03-09 07:09 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-03-09 09:30 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-03-09 09:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-03-10 08:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-03-10 09:34 pm (UTC)