Falias, Finias Chapter Sixteen
Suggested Theme:
Main Theme- This Is Where I Came In by Bee Gees
Reggie wants to believe that Creature musical instruments are nearly identical to human ones. If Accato can turn a lyre into an electric guitar, then it's reasonable to assume that a drum kit wouldn't be impossible to procure. However, Accato isn't terribly fond of planning ahead as he'll come to find out.
"Accato?" Reggie calls out as he enters The Blue Juniper. The green-skinned barkeep mouth is busy sweeping the floors. "I apologize I had no idea it was closed."
"It's not, human, I just have nothing else to do." Reggie is nearly impressed by the grunt that comes out of the beak-like mouth.
"Oh…Accato said I could find him here when I'm in the city." He never did say where band practice would take place, just that it would be today. I doubt it would be at this establishment since the barkeep finds humans rather annoying.
"You and the other one really need to corner him and force the young rockstar," The barkeep rolls his eyes before continuing, "To specify the time and place you're supposed to meet for your little musical experiment."
"Kazdan was here?" He doesn't strike me as an early bird sort of person. He didn't really come across as a person until he got drunk, before he was just a glam rocker's persona.
"I can't call him that since he's such a rude little brat." The barkeep partially mumbles. "And, no, he's never here this early in the morning."
"Then, would happen to know where Accato is, Mister….Pardon me, but I haven't caught your name?"
"Here I was thinking that manners were as foreign to you humans as mercy is to UnderWorlders." The barkeep snorts derisively before continuing. "I'm Krish, and you are?"
"Reginald Teddington, sir." Krish gives him a bored look that promises he won't remember all that. "My friends call me Reggie."
"The shorter the name the easier is to remember."
"Are you speaking from experience?"
"Of course, I can't be bothered to remember everyone's name who passes through. Like that other human, his name is ridiculously long and pompous."
"I doubt his parents gave him a choice."
"Well, he could've chose a nickname, but he didn't. Like he chooses to not have manners. But we're getting off topic. Accato wouldn't be with Lady Etheno since she's with Vidav and Roton."
Reggie's blue eyes widen and pink creeps onto his face because he remembers the very frank description of the Volupicas and their unique worship of the Cothica.
"Not in that way, youngling, she's just comforting them. But I doubt anything will ever comfort Roton again."
Roton? I think he lives somewhere outside of Castle Bodhran. Something horrible must've happened. Like what? Was someone he loved murdered? Did he lose his home? Or was it something worse than all that? Do I really want to know? No.
"Oh…..I hope he gets better." He offers politely like he always does when strangers are involved.
"He never will, but Vidav won't accept that. Just like he won't accept that peace between the Tribes is impossible. But I'm rambling again, Accato would probably be at the Arsenal."
"He's a soldier?" Considering how different Creatures can be in looks and personalities, it wouldn't be impossible for a free-spirit to be a soldier. Like it isn't impossible for Iflar to have fun with me.
"Cothica no! I bet he's trying to get something from Bodal."
Is this band-related? Bodal doesn't strike me as a patron of fine arts. I could be wrong like I was with Iflar.
"Thank you for your wisdom, Krish."
"You're welcome, Reggie."
Krystella has regrets. First is her outfit; she's wearing long-sleeves and long Capri pants during the summer. At home, this isn't a problem since her family has the best AC that money can buy, but Perim has yet to progress past hand-fans, so she's not handling the city's summer so well. Kiru City has fairly mild weather, especially compared to UnderWorld City. Unfortunately, she forgot to factor in the humidity when she ported to the Location. The humidity makes her sweat enough to create dark stains around her armpits, while her hair has become frazzled like Mrs. Frizzle's. The smart thing to do would've been port back home and change into a more summer appropriate outfit, but she had just gotten herself on the roof. She has no desire repeating her hardships.
This is what I get for not sinking my savings in booster packs, but who knows how many packs I would have to go through to get the Location and Battlegear. And will Bodal just go to lunch already! Maybe the guard was lying because he was drunk and wanted a pretty girl's attentions, even if she's a human.
Ten more minutes later in the sweltering humidity, magnified twofold by the glass windows, she finally sees Bodal leave for lunch through the skylight. She waits for a few minutes. She then ties the rope on a curved corner of the skylight's stone well for an anchor and then drapes the rope into Bodal's Arsenal.
Climbing down on the rope is as difficult as running uphill, she has to concentrate hard so not to lose her grip on the rope. If she falls from this height, there's a good chance could break her neck. Twelve more minutes pass before she finally reaches the ground. She quickly grabs her Scanner from her backpack, locks in the Location, and scans it. She then quickly locks in Battlegear, but she doesn't scan a single piece of Battlegear around her.
Bodal wouldn't leave his dagger lying in the open; it has to be in his office–
She turns at the familiar tune of a code being ported in. The player has on a blue sweater vest with gray slacks and brown loafers. He has slicked back blond hair and blue eyes, and those blue eyes widen at her.
"You're Reggie." She concludes. What a spiffy looking chap he is! Did his mum pick out his clothes? I better play nice with him; he could be my meat shield if the guards come in for a surprise patrol.
"Ah, that makes you Krystella then!" He chirps in his English accent.
"Are you looking to get another scan of this place?" She suggests, and he shakes his head. Not one strand of yellow hair comes loose.
"I'm here to negotiate with Bodal."
"Something for the band?"
"Yes, we need something, but I'm afraid Accato wasn't able to get them." His politeness should grate on her, but he isn't overdoing it like Jycella tends to. She blames his posh accent.
"I sincerely doubt Bodal will waste his time with us humans. And even if he did, what were you going to give him? Money?"
"Of course not, I don't have any Creature currency. I was going to offer myself." Krystella looks him up and down, knowing it would make Reggie blush. Which it does.
"No! I was going to work for him, got the notion from Kazdan."
"I don't think Bodal has a brat for you to watch over." She retraces Bodal's steps all the way to a closed door. She hurriedly deposits her bag and gets out the lock picks.
"I didn't think the Rental Center had those." Reggie comments, and Krystella ignores him for a moment to concentrate on the lock.
"They don't. I got them from the UnderWorld." She remembers finding the lock picks right in the alley she had to duck into when Chaor suddenly decided to turn the street she was on into a drag strip more than a month ago.
"Are you apprenticing under a thief there?"
"No, learned this from Internet." She finally hears the telltale clink and goes to push down handle; the door opens. Bodal's office is comfortably lit by a couple of lanterns and candles. She walks in and notices a sapphire rug with a golden border. The rug itself decorated with white swirls and golden symbols that looks vaguely like a white flower about to bloom.
Her red eyes drift upwards and sees three cabinets of various sizes, leather-bound books are stacked on them, and a waste basket filled with scrolls. There's a claw-like metal arm protruding from the base of the wall; she guesses that Bodal uses it to retrieve those scrolls when he's feeling lazy. There's a drafting table with a couple notes tacked on it in the Creature scrawl. A scroll is being held in place by another metal arm, while another metal arm has a magnifying glass. As she passes by the table, she sees another stack of books by it.
"What exactly are you looking for?" Reggie asks after his moment of looking the office over.
"Bodal's Dagger." She starts opening the drawers of an hourglass-shaped cabinet. She hears Reggie shuffle his way to a cabinet and opens its drawers. "And don't let anything be a hair out of place. I imagine Bodal is an ass like that."
"Quite." For the next minute, only the sounds of drawers being opened and closed can be heard. Eventually, she makes her way to the mauve-colored nightstand under a vertical map. She pulls out the first drawer and finds the dagger wrapped up in red cloth.
"Got it!" She unwraps and holds up the dagger to scan. After her scan, she sees Reggie pulls out his Scanner.
"May I?"
"Why not? You could at least get something out of the green bugger." She hears Reggie muffle a snort at her use of British slang. He scans it, and she quickly wraps it up and puts it back. She takes out her Scanner, ready to port back to the court and load the scans into her deck.
"You're really going to negotiate Bodal?"
"Absolutely."
"Then, close the door, so he doesn't call for a guard to shoot your arse." She advises before porting out.
Bodal presses on the tube map with far more force than necessary, but even he cannot control his anger. He prides himself in being able to rein in his emotions, to not let his personal feelings get in the way of his duties. But he cannot help but be emotional when his primal urges aren't being sated.
Targubaj just couldn't stop flirting with the new pretty clerk. And the new pretty clerk hasn't been trained properly in customer service. And Targubaj had the audacity to take the last of ariera jam and butternut sandwich! I had to get the grilled mousecheese. I wasted two minutes and seven whole seconds more than I should because that cheese is too chewy!
He reaches his office and takes out the key to unlock it. He pulls down the handle and opens the door, and he finds a yellow-haired human looking at his map of the local trade routes that supply the city.
How did he get in? I'm the only one with the key. It's possible that my office is part of the human's game and he happened to have a "scan" of it. But how would my office offer any strategic value to their games? Perhaps, the child already scanned all the weapons in the Arsenal and wanted to find more Battlegear in my office.
The human looks away from the map and at him. He smiles shyly like he knows he's been caught, but he keeps his blue eyes on him, not completely embarrassed by his illicit actions.
"I'm Reggie and I've come to negotiate on behalf of Accato." Reggie the human declares his intention; his stare doesn't waver and his accented voice remains steady. The human isn't lying.
"There isn't anything to negotiate when one party is asking for the impossible."
"And what was he asking for?"
"He didn't tell you what you were negotiating for?"
"No, I came of my own volition because I heard he failed."
"Even though he's the leader of your merry band, you seem lacking in faith of his abilities."
"Accato is a great musician, but he's rather….inconsistent in other areas." The human's pause amuses Bodal because he'd already came up with nearly a hundred adjectives for Accato. None of them as polite as the human's.
"Yes, well, he never was one to live up to expectations." Particularly with his own family. He could've had a stellar career due to his familial ties to Maxxor, but he'd rather waste his time pursuing fanciful whims like Lady Etheno.
"Others' expectations can be quite nebulous to the bearer."
"Then, the bearer can ask." Cothica knows that pride, especially in such an esteemed family, kills commonsense faster than a Lavalanche!
"Yes, well, I hope he's better at asking than negotiating." The human jokes, and Bodal nearly chuckles. But it wouldn't do getting chummy with a human.
"Far better at dreaming than either, unfortunately."
"I'm guessing Accato wanted you to make something that he described with purple prose rather than sketching out a rough idea what he wanted?"
"And you have the schematics he didn't?" The human shakes his head and pulls out a red, rectangular piece of technology. Bodal knows it's a Scanner, the source of the human's power, which allows the humans to port anywhere and scan the codes of Creatures for their little game. He actually had one in his possession when a rather unlucky human surprised the very new night guard. The human was able to croak some final words.
"K-Klay said I would go home."
The human was buried in an unmarked grave outside the city walls. Bodal tried to break open his Scanner to learn about human technology, but nothing could pry it open. Not even a Pyroblaster could get a scratch on it. After three days of experimentation, the Scanner suddenly disappeared from his office like it was never there.
"I do have an image of my own drum kit, which I'm certain that's probably what he wanted you to make." The human pulls out his Scanner and presses a few buttons; he then turns his Scanner around and shows him an image of this drum kit.
"Hmph! It's just a few drums held together by a rudimentary structure. He made it sound so much more magical."
"Ah, he was probably describing the sound it should produce then." The human moves to put away his Scanner, but Bodal waves his hand to stop him.
"Hold on, I need to jot down some notes…"
And like with most passion projects, Bodal will spend most of his free time on it.
Author's Comments- No links this time.
It took sixteen chapters for the barkeep to finally get a name! Let's hope there isn't going to be any more nameless characters!
So with the OverWorld-centric chapters, I've lately been employing other POVs instead of just Kazdan. I've always liked it when authors explore other POVs because we may get world building or characterization that simply won't happen with following just one character's POV. I'm hoping to do that more with the UnderWorld chapters going forward, but it may be slow going for that part. Bodal's POV wasn't as hard to figure out how it would be as I thought it would, at first. It's really easy to write Bodal just as a babbling hole of boredom, but he's shown to be very useful and sly. Like his deal with Tom in season one's episode six's "The Thing about Bodal." I think he wanted to teach Tom a lesson but he also knew that Tom wasn't smart enough to provide proof to back up his story about the match, so he uses Tom's lack of foresight against him and gets out of holding his end of the bargain. Or at least that's my personal headcanon. And my other headcanon is that he didn't think that Tom would volunteer to help at the arsenal, but why would he reject free child labor, especially when Tom doesn't get to have rights since he is a human?
Hey, remember the names I gave for Creature units of time? Well, it turns out I didn't need to because season one's episode seven's "Buggin' Out" is where I found out that hour exists in plain English for the Danians. And then I also remembered the flavor texts regarding Bodal that also revealed the time units. Yeah, I kind of presumed because Perim has their own version of measurement in season one's episode twenty-three's "Stelgar Strikes," then they also have one for time. For this series, they get to have both, but my Perim equivalents will be the more formal version.
Next chapter will have Isolor dealing with Agitos for the first time, while Kazdan gets put on a minor mission for Chaor. Both are none too happy.