Author's Notes:
You must be thinking, "Whoa! Another chapter for Aimless! TSI works so fast!"
Uhm, not really. ฅ(*°ω°*ฅ) It's more like a filler for y'all to read while I'm still drafting up the actual update. This thing's actually 3,300 words long. Nice and short, just the way I want it.
Outlining's done for my next chapter, but I'm grappling with something related to the world-building that is really challenging my creativity. I've consulted fellow writers about it, and even then I'm at a loss. It's not important in the sense that you can understand what's happening if I half-ass it, but it's important enough that I cannot write the new chapter without it.
Besides… I honestly couldn't stop myself from writing out the scene where Joshua [takes Vara's suggestion to heart and] talks to Blink after being pestered by him for more than 30 days… offscreen, of course. It helps that the brief conversation they have is something that I can relate to. XD
Oh, and Strykeruk, my beta reader, has something to say:
Hello everyone, Strykeruk here. I would like to warn the squeamish of you in advance that this mini-chapter (or at least mini for Silent) contains details of Joshua's time as a manual scavenger. I know some of you are not too keen on it so thought you should know. Otherwise once again kudos to Silent for his prodigious abilities in writing. Enjoy the chapter.
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….errr, I kinda disagree with him on how gross those details are. The portrayal is not as graphic as "Glorified Peon End". Well, we'll see how much of you will agree with him in the reviews and comments. Both of us read those after all.
Timestamp key: "D" for days, "W" for weeks, "M" for months, "Y" for years, "EM" for early morning, "LM" for late morning, "EA" for early afternoon, "LA" for late afternoon, "EE" for early evening, "LN" for late night, and "AD" for all day. Note that the Realms follows the sexagesimal system for keeping time, just like Earth. (In other words, 60 seconds per minute and 60 minutes per hour.)
Snip category key: There are four categories of snips. "Settling In", "City Life", "Beyond the Wall", and "The Journey Home". All four represent parallel storylines that take place within Aimless, and other than "Settling In", each snip category has at least two subtypes. Those subtypes aren't listed due to potential spoilers.
Enjoy!
City Life – Mirror Image
Chapter 37: Random Musings 2
"People don't know what it's like being the foreigner until they are one."
- Amber Liu
[39D/LM]
Joshua's first impressions of manual scavenging were that of menial labor in the developing nations of Southeast Asia: backbreaking, humiliating, filthy, and excruciatingly repetitive to the point of artificial brain death.
He wasn't exactly wrong about these aspects of the work, but apparently, in Warfang, manual scavengers had it better than he thought.
Okay, sure, at first, he had to work with dragon-worshipping fanatics—it wasn't like he could "unsee" the sight of Moles the size and girth of overweight human sumo wrestlers leaping into fresh dragon excreta and rolling all over it like pigs in mud. But aside from that one scavenger who wanted to throw him into the pile of stinky shit on his first day, the rest of the labor didn't shove their shit-loving culture down his throat as long as he didn't shove his modern Earth norms down theirs.
After his fourth day or so, things definitely got better. The labor no longer treated the "dragon killer" with contempt, and Gaudog, his groundhog—the Moles' term for supervisor, it seemed—liked Joshua's work ethic. He also learned that, as Volteer had implied, manual scavenging too had its place in Warfang's society.
When a lavatorium was meant to undergo "treatment", as the Office of the Keeper liked to put it, groundhogs like Gaudog would first emerge from the nearest door to the utilidor network and put up a sign saying so. It implied workers were working in that lavatorium. The notice naturally deterred the vast majority of people, dragons or otherwise, from coming in and quite literally dropping their excreta on top of someone's head, which meant the Temple at least knew literal defecation on someone was actually disrespectful, whether that someone would probably enjoy being shat on or not, and thank the Lord God Jesus Christ for that!
But... because there was virtually no enforcement up top, there were still those few who disregarded the sign for whatever reason and still used it. Many times Joshua's sixth sense saved him from this fate. He would sense a person enter the lavatorium, and walk over to one of the holes they could use. Joshua would walk far away from there just as a Mole would spot a scaly ass protrude from the ceiling and yell out "INCOMING!"
Everybody in the labor would stop and wait for the person to finish. Everybody, save for the true fanatics who'd rush to the space directly beneath the hole, open their arms wide, and receive the dump like a human would receive, well, a hot shower after a grueling day at work. Groundhog Gaudog had Joshua shuffled around several labors under his direct supervision, and they all had "that one Mole" without exception.
The job itself was laborious. If Joshua was unlucky (or "lucky", as his peers say), he'd be assigned the primary duty of scooping up a horrid glop of dark goo, composed of dragon shit, piss, and mucus. The scoop would go into a bucket, which he'd bring to a comparatively clean corner where Moles stood by a primitive machine designed to mechanically strain the liquids from the solids and put them in segregated containers. Sacks for the solids and pails for the liquids.
Pails would be sealed shut with a circular disc of wood and natural glue, while sacks were double packed, tied shut using strips of treated bark, with said glue holding it all in place. Joshua believed the adhesive was rubber gum, considering how the moles assigned here would chew a bunch first before they spat it onto the rim and spread it by paw. Utterly disgusting, but Joshua would happily take this over the main duty.
Once enough containers were produced, they would be labeled using what looked like chalk, stacked onto a cart, and hauled off to a large storage room near the exit of the Temple utilidors. An exit leading out to the rest of Warfang. It was a duty meant for four, because the cart looked like it could handle two—maybe three—tons of packaged shit, the storage room was very, very, very far away from whatever lavatorium they're working in, and the utilidor network went up and down several flights of stairs. It was a grueling, hour-long roundtrip, thus all the Moles hated "carting duty". Nobody par Joshua wanted to be away from the action. As a result, the human was given carting duty at least two or three times a day.
It sucked, but it beat scraping shit. It also made it much easier to stay clean. Joshua doubted Kilat would enjoy licking up other dragons' filth off his skin during bath time.
The mole pup calling himself Blink normally showed up during these trips. How he stalked Joshua and picked the right time to come out, he never figured out. But the pup always did, somehow.
His sphere of life would appear in Joshua's sixth sense the moment it came into range. Today, it emerged almost immediately after he and three other Moles dropped off their cart at the room.
"Hey, ape pup." one of the Moles said. Joshua looked up, surprised. It was the first time one of them spoke to him. "The boars and I are getting some grub at the nearest canteen. You want to join us?"
One of their colleagues jerked his arm at him. "Daglus! What are you saying? You want to invite this dragon killer with us? We can't do that!"
"And why not?" Daglus shot back. "It's been a little over two weeks since Under Steward Nydec put him in Gaudog's paws. He doesn't seem too bad to me."
"No way! The other Moles will smack us with their shovels." He turned to the only other Mole who hadn't spoken yet. "Hey Zehra! Back me up here. We can't be seen fraternizing with the dragon killer."
Joshua cut off Zehra before he could reply. "It's all right, guys. I know how it goes. I'll just wander around for the rest of lunch hour then."
"Good," said the second mole. "Just stay away from us and we'll be fine."
Daglus eyed Joshua for a few seconds. "We'll bring back something for you, pup. Don't stray off."
"Don't worry," he reassured them, "I won't get lost! You'll find me here after lunch break."
There was a lavatorium in the utilidors, strictly for transient workers like him. Unlike the ones in the Temple proper, nobody cleaned this stuff. Everything that went in there stayed in there, just like the toilets in true medieval castles back on Earth. Why methane hadn't risen up from the pits to choke them all, Joshua didn't know, and he couldn't be bothered to find out especially when his workplace was basically a shit pit itself.
Joshua went to the nearest one to relieve himself. It was a bit out of the way, being in one of the side corridors, but that diminished the number of people using it and the number of people who'd react to his presence. At least his guards weren't too far. His escort of two—the utilidors weren't large enough to fit the usual four-knight entourage without bothering the other transients—lingered out of sight but within range of his innate life detection and certainly within earshot. All it'd take was one loud cry for help.
This lavatorium was just like the others. A row of elevated platforms with holes in the middle, with the diameter and circumference increasing drastically the further inside he went. Joshua could just barely fit through the largest of them, the ones designed with adult dragons in mind. It had a short railing circling around it—meant for stopping any unlucky person from falling in.
The gamer refused to take risks of any sort—especially of that sort—and decided to stand in front of one of the smaller holes. It bothered Joshua greatly that none of the cubicles per se had walls separating them. He could imagine multiple people—dragon or otherwise—having a literal shit party in the toilets, dumping their waste as one cohesive unit.
How he yearned for the clean, fresh-smelling toilets of modern 21st century Earth! He dearly missed the privacy the walled cubicles afforded him. He glanced down at the hole before him, watching the stream of piss falling into the gaping darkness slowly become a trickle. Looking at it now, Joshua was reminded of a squat toilet in rural China: a literal hole on the floor. Noisome. Squalid. Primitive as hell.
Joshua brought his pants up—zippers hadn't been invented in the City of Dragons—and strolled out of the lavatorium. True to Warfang's medieval beliefs regarding water—perverse beliefs as far as he was concerned—there simply weren't any facilities for washing. The closest thing they had to hand sanitizer in this place were fragrant oils extracted from flowers he definitely wouldn't recognize even if he was born and raised in this goddamn backwards society.
Hmph. Better than nothing, grunted Joshua as he took the ceramic pitcher and poured a bit of oil on his hands.
The gamer sighed the moment he stepped back into the utilidors.
Blink was here.
Joshua Renalia gyrated to face the mole pup. Rather, the direction his life signature was in. "Okay, kid, come out. I know you're there. You can't surprise me no matter what you do."
When the mole refused to budge, Joshua frowned. "Dude, don't be stubborn. I can sense you." He crossed his arms. "Do I need to drag you out there myself?"
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Joshua groaned. "Fine, then." He moved towards the sphere of life, noticing how it flared slightly in reaction to his approach.
"Alright, alright, you got me," the mole pup emerged from the shadows of the utilidor network, his gloved paws raised and open wide. No "Blink Bombs" in his hands, but that blue bandana shouldn't be ruled out either... "Hmph. I really can't figure out how you do that."
"It's a part of my Element," Joshua said.
"Does that make you some sort of dragon now?"
He always hated this exchange. Somehow the pup annoyed him every time he showed his bony muzzle. "Do I look like one to you?" Joshua snarled. "I don't have wings, I don't have a tail, and I don't have f*cking scales. I've told you many times already, kid, but—
"Why are you still a manual scav?" the pup asked.
Goddammit! He wanted to punch this kid!
No, Joshua, no! You gave Vara your word. Need, more... patience...
Normally by now Joshua would have left the pup hanging. At this point he'd yell at the kid to leave him alone and GTFO of there as fast as possible.
"And why are you still asking? I've given you my answer already." For the first time Joshua took a few steps closer to the mole, locking eyes with him. "I'm doing this to get people to like me. My answer isn't going to change no matter how many times you ask."
For once Blink took a step back. "Y-you aren't leaving? Won't your workfellows have a problem with that?"
Joshua walked up to the mole pup until he was literally staring down at him. "I'm not."
Blink shifted into a defensive stance. He brought his hand down. The lighting in the utilidor network was darker than the Temple corridors, but that did not impede Joshua's enhanced eyesight. The mole gripped what looked like a small wrench down there. "If you hurt me—
"Now why would I do that?" Joshua raised both arms in reflex.
"...Because you're the 'dragon killer'," Blink mumbled. "You butcher people. That's what everybody says."
When he heard those words, Joshua realized how far he still had to go. God, he shouldn't get full of himself just because he won Vara over. "I'm not gonna deny that I do want to punch you in the face, but that's because you've been pestering me so much this entire cycle." He lowered his arms and slowly got down to one knee, to make sure their eyes were level. "Now I'm a... I'm a reasonable guy, and a friend suggested I should talk to you, soooo, maybe there's something I'm missing here.
"Let's start with names. You're Galleron, right?"
"Where did you hear that name?" The mole pup exclaimed. He scowled.
"I overheard you arguing with your dad—
"Uncle."
"—your uncle, then, and he mentioned your name."
"I don't answer to that, dragon killer." The mole pup blurted. "Just call me 'Blink'."
There must be a reason for that, but it was none of his business. "You can stop calling me that too. I have a name. It's Joshua."
"Josa," Blink said, testing the name on his tongue. "Josswa. Hmn, Joshua. Yeah, Joshua. Ugh, it's, foreign."
"Obviously I'm not from around here," Joshua remarked, a little sarcastic. "Okay, Blink, I have to ask: why are you always asking me the same question? What do you really want to say?"
He stayed quiet longer than Joshua expected. "Why are you licking their scales like all the other Moles?" he finally asked. "I know you don't like your job, but why do you even need them to like you?"
Joshua made a face as he scratched his head. "Because dragons are the ruling class here? Because I can't get out of this city unless they like me?"
"But you were offered a way out. You didn't take it."
"It could've done more harm than good."
"You would've been out of here."
"Kaos could've been lying to me."
"You would've been out of here!"
"I owe Cynder and Volteer too much to just abandon them."
"YOU WOULD'VE BEEN—
"Shut up already!" Joshua yelled at him. "I have my own reasons for staying in this f*cking place, kid! I don't give a shit if it isn't the best decision; it's the one that feels right and that's what matters to me.
"Why are you even getting angry anyway? What, don't tell me you want to get out of Warfang?"
Blink stared at him, completely silent. His sphere of life, however, was in turmoil. It throbbed and quaked chaotically in response to his words.
"...you do, don't you?" Joshua questioned. "Hmmm, well, it's not like I can't understand you. To be honest, I hate this place. I can't stand it. I get bathed with dragon saliva everyday. I can barely relate with the people here. I'm starting to get sick of eating the same shit all the time. I mean, it would really help if my life here had more variety, but I spend most of my free time stuck in my room and my job's a repetitive slog where I'm forced to work with zealots happily rolling around in filth every goddamn day."
Joshua was a little surprised with himself. He didn't expect that to come out, even to a stranger. He didn't know Blink at all. Hopefully he didn't overwhelm the kid.
And he didn't.
Blink accepted his words at face value. "I LIVE with those 'zealots'," the mole pup not so much said as he grumbled. He rested his gloved paws on his belt. "Are dragons really so special?"
Joshua Renalia had a feeling the kid was more malleable than he portrayed himself to be. He deliberated on his response a bit longer than he should.
Dragons were special to Joshua. Ever since he played Classic Spyro as a toddler he's had a subtle fascination with them. Was it any wonder that he developed much love for the Legend trilogy when it was released on the PlayStation 2? And boy, don't get him started on HTTYD!
That was before he somehow migrated to this whole new world. Now, he had a dragon for an adopted sister. He was starting to compare Spyro, Cynder, and the Guardians to their fictional counterparts less and less. The longer Joshua stayed in the Dragon Realms the less he saw a carbon copy of the video games and the more he saw a reflection of the civilization he left behind.
"They're not," Joshua asserted. "I've been here for about a month now—
"What's a 'month'?"
"—a cycle, sorry." He had to make less mistakes than this. "I've been here for about a full cycle and if there's one thing I've realized, it's that the only thing special about them is the way they're related to magic as a species since they wield the Elements. Everything else? They're people like you and me, just with a different way of life." And a different way of seeing things, he left unsaid.
"Then why are my people devoting their lives to them? If those winged lizards aren't that special—if they aren't divine beasts we're supposed to worship on sight, then why? Why did we build Warfang? Why did we give the city away to them? Why are we working only for their benefit? Why isn't Uncle Dumitru asking for proper compensation with his new inventions? Rushing minecarts, why am I expected to freely give my labor—my thoughts—my entire LIFE!—to dragonkind when the other species don't even do that?"
Joshua didn't know what to say to the pup. The gamer could only sympathize with him. To bottle up these feelings until he couldn't help gushing about it to a complete stranger—a detested individual in Warfang at that—how long did he harbor them? His whole life, maybe? Blink, he mused, must have felt like a foreigner among his own people.
It was a sentiment Joshua understood. He had a friend back home who would've said the same things Blink did. He didn't like the country he was born and raised in, didn't share the collective values, and had no appreciation for the local traditions.
Joshua had read Quora and Facebook enough to know many people in his homeland felt that way. They were a minority for sure, but in a nation of 100 million? Even 1% represented a lot of individuals.
Briefly, Joshua wondered if a Mole other than Blink felt the same way.
A small portion of those individuals managed to make their way out of the country eventually. Others, they were able to find isolated niches where they could find a sense of belonging.
The way Blink responded to him so far, it sounded like the mole pup had no way out. Or did he?
"You know, you should probably dig into the reason why Moles act that way. I'm sure there're good reasons somewhere in your history. But don't ask others for that, kid. Find them for yourself."
"...and if I don't like those reasons?"
Joshua shrugged. He knew Blink wouldn't get its meaning, but it felt right to him. "Ehhh, that's not very important now, is it? Does your Uncle think about what he can do with new inventions when he just comes up with them?"
"Not really. No. He still has a lot of things to do before 'practical use' comes up."
"Exactly. So, just think about that once you've made real progress, and enough of it."
"I, I guess that makes sense..." Blink clapped his hands suddenly. "I got to go!" he said. "There's someplace I need to be right now." The mole adjusted the blue bandana wrapped around his head and turned around. Paw making a gesture of farewell, he sprinted into the darkness, his last words echoing in his ears. "Don't think you've seen the last of me, Joshua! We'll talk again."
"Mmm'kay. See you around, Blink."
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Joshua Renalia smiled as he walked back into the main tunnel, where the two knights waited for him. Their spheres of life were blue and slow to revolve—relaxed.
That exchange went well. He didn't have to punch the kid's snout in after all.
Joshua eyed the rhynoc and leopard leaning on the wall. "Copeland, Streeg, we're going. It's time for lunch. I hope the boars left some for us."
Joshua shuddered. Hopefully it wasn't going to be another plate of grilled sandworms...
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Author's Notes:
That last bit about sandworms… hehe, coincidentally, I was in Xiamen a few days ago, meeting up with some people for business. They took me someplace and they fed me with what were basically grilled sandworms chilled in gelatin. They call it shachong (沙虫). It actually tasted good. No one else believes me though…
Anyway, that's it.
I'm not too sure if classifying this snip under "City Life: Mirror Image" is the right thing to do, but it does touch upon that subcategory's theme, where the Dragon Realms—Warfang, to be specific—is just like Earth, with respect to the nature of people there. I'm not sure if titling it as "Random Musings 2" makes much sense too, but in a way it does, since Blink's the one doing the thinking. After all, the TLoS trilogy never delved too much into the history of Warfang itself.
(❁°͈▵°͈) (❁°͈▵°͈) (❁°͈▵°͈)
All right! Back to real life, I guess.
Replies to reviews:
Chaoscontrol108. Hey! Thanks so much for your review!
Glad you like Vara :D It helps that she's based on real people, as I wrote in the previous A/N. Honestly, I've been on the receiving end on her style of dealing with people many times, so I can get it approximately correct. People like her, while fun to read about, are actually quite annoying, since they're very pushy and can be a little abusive. That much I can say.
Vara's somewhat of a bully, but she doesn't realize it. She probably isn't even conscious of her sadistic streak. Poor Joshua. Well, he and her friend can suffer that orchid-scaled dragoness together. XD
Claytor's transfer though… well, you can take a good guess where he's heading soon…
Sol1234. Hi! Thanks for the review.
Ahhh you noticed eh?
Christopher Van Numen. He's the First Transcendent. His status in Aimless is unknown, but everybody beyond a certain power threshold learns about him and/or knows who he is. Heavily implied that he was once a weak, ordinary human. Like Joshua.
Callofz. Ahh you'd think so, huh? I'm not surprised. Vara would surely be the first to deny it. I'm not gonna make any comments on it. :D
DiabloPProcento. It's not so much the fingers as it's the massage part. Either the concept of a massage is absent from Warfang's society or it's a spectacular failure of an industry. Should also consider that human fingers aren't like those of the other species. They're tiny, delicate, precise, and just the riiiight balance of softness and hardness. XDDDD
Well she DID say she'll "save the best for last" hehe ー(￣～￣)ξ
I've revealed their ages a few times. The only ones who are truly unknown are the Guardians, as it's never stated in Legend canon. For your reference (and everyone else's), Joshua is 15 years old in Earth time. Vara, 15 years old in local time. Kilat, 11 years old in local time. Spyro and Cynder are at the same age, 19 years old in local time. As a reminder, 1 year in local time is equivalent to 2.4 years on Earth once the length of the year and the length of a full day is accounted for.
SKdaGamer. Hehehe… sorry? I guess Stryker got so engrossed in reading he didn't mind the extra length. I was honestly gonna split it right after Vara collapses on the floor, saved from expulsion by Joshua.
The length of that sneaking sequence REALLY went much farther than intended. I'll try to exercise more discipline in my next update. It's gonna be a good one. Stryker liked the concept, and TBH it's another major turning point as we'll be seeing more "Beyond the Wall" and "Settling In" chapters afterwards.
As for Vara… well, I'd like to think that she's onto something when she told Joshua a lot of people may actually line up in front of his door just for that "human touch". ;)
Fredrik the astral dragon. Thanks for your comments!
Glad you like Vara :D Hopefully you'll like the other characters that'll enter Joshua's circle of friends, too. So far all but two have been introduced. (I'm setting up Blink as one of them, if it isn't obvious already).
Djax80. Hey! Thanks for the review.
Referring to the post-A/N chapter there, eh? Yeah, slowly but surely he's turning heads and getting all the attention he doesn't want.
Hoped you liked this chapter. I know it's most likely just filler to you, but hey, content is content. XD
SonicDJM. Hello! Thanks for the review and glad to see you again.
Yeah, I should focus on my IRL shit, but Aimless is my guilty pleasure. It's my creative channel for the bullshit that irks or inspires me in the real world.
And no, I never changed my mind at all. The Sorceress' comment is more of a hedge. No one knows what's beyond the current world map, and her knowledge of humanity is limited to what she's learned over her deep study of magic.
As for your comment… see the PM I sent to you.
Guest #1 (guest). Heh, you're asking about the endgame there. So nope, no comment on that. I don't do huge spoilers.
Piston24. Sup, Piston! And thanks so much for the review.
Yeah, the chapter was long. I'm also surprised at myself, how I cranked out a quick snip in about a week after putting up the huge update. Well… I hope you liked this one too. :P
Thanks for your clarification on the rest of your comments, btw.
Jdm (guest). Hello! Thank you for the review.
It's not exactly a "book", man. It's just an online story. TBH I would've wanted it more as an online webcomic, buuuut… well, I suck at drawing. Ah well.
Glad to have inspired you to do some writing. Whether it's original work or fanwork, be sure to put in the best effort you can muster. It's that heart and soul that you put into your work that'll make it stand out, once you have several months (or years) of practice in.
LoNeWoLf (Guest). Yeah! Luckily for her she literally crashed into Joshua.
Angstcannon. Hi and thanks so much for the review!
Glad you're really excited for the possible future events in the storyline, but uh… as I said in my PM to you, it may not turn out completely like you expect/want it to. (｡´･д･)o
Bizzleb. Bizzle! Glad to see you, and as usual, thanks for the feedback.
Oh yeah, having a secondary character like Vara brings life and entertainment into the story. I'm hoping the other characters I'll eventually whip out some more will also be likeable in their own way. (Ever read Small Talk While Training? Maybe you've seen it through my dA. Check it out if you haven't.)
Vara IS a tsundere, so yeah, either she didn't want to admit it or she wasn't conscious about it. XD
Ahaha that post-A/N scene. A lot of people are excited about that too.
Joshua only knows Bianca through her (rather ugly) PS1 model. Imagine how he'd react when he sees how cute she is in person. XD
I'm still planning those chapters, btw. Really hard to pin down when I want a limited number of chapters devoted to the December Cliffs.
Iceman3423. Hello! Glad you liked this chapter, and thanks for the review.
Better late than never, man. Better late than never.
Vara can be pushy, just like the two people she's based off of. Once she can't turn back anymore, she'll go all-out even if it's a stupid thing to do.
Ahhh that fantasy of hers. Why were you caught off-guard? Because of what it is? Can't exactly blame her for wanting it though. She has a prestigious bloodline, but her parents are abusive, she has zero control of her situation, and she has little talent. Having Joshua—or someone of equal or greater infamy (or fame)—makes her feel in control, powerful… somebody important. XD To think this whole thing spawned from the way he kept distracting her with his fingers back in "Teacher's Pet 1B".
The chapter was originally supposed to contain that exchange—not gonna mention what was meant to happen either; just know that it's hilarious—but alas, Strykeruk advised against it. It was just inappropriate.
Their relationship? As I said to other reviewers first, no comments on it. Sorry.