Author's Note:
The title is a reference to the Elfen Lied Opening song Lilium, its always been one of my favourite pieces of music, it translates as "Blessed is the man that endureth temptation" or something to that effect- I'm a bit Romanes Eunt Domus when comes to making sure things are translated perfectly.
Chapter 11 - Beatus vir qui suffert tentationem - Arc 1 End.
Despite her experience as Frumentarii and related training it took Arielle a few days to convince anyone that seemed like they might know how to find an information broker to actually give up where one was which led her to the bar and dance club simply titled
"The Club." She read in an incredulous tone as she looked at the blacked out windows of the warehouse turned business in the dark shadows of Vale.
'Fortuna favor me now' She prayed as she approached.
Nevermind the fact that she had to use a stealth boy to get over the walls into the Capital just to see this place in person, the loud thumping music and jeering screech of high pitched tones making it clear that music had certainly developed differently to how it had on Earth as she entered its double doors.
A pair of bouncers to the club stood outside with blood red sunglasses, black two piece suits with matching hats and red ties. They had guns holstered on their hips and she made out the outline of some kind of knife on the inside of the jacket's breast.
They patted her down and found nothing letting her go in whereupon after making sure no one else saw her she materialised A Light Shining In The Darkness and placed it in her duster on a shoulder holster where it was tucked nicely under her left arm. She also thought about the Blade of Minerva, but figured it would just annoy the owner or get her tossed out to see she'd skirted the check to that same effect she stayed her Two-Step Goodbye for her bare hands- or well gloved hands.
It wasn't like her gloves couldn't still do some damage with the kevlar knuckles.
The inside of the club was filled to the brim with sound that almost deafened her, there were flashing lights and violent streaks colour strobing about with an enormous light pane dance floor on which hundreds of people droned out to the rattle of music.
'This is enough to make me wish for nuclear winter' She lamented with a frustrated sigh unsure how someone was meant to even have a conversation in a place like this.
But then again it was probably on purpose.
Arielle saw a man at the large bar that resided on the left side of the building from the entrance and headed straight for it hoping he was the Hei Junior she was told to speak with, he apparently ran his own work while also being a broker so in a way he was ideal for what she wanted.
If she was going to start seeing how deep the rot ran in this world she would start with its criminals and work her way up to its officials before she started making moves or detailed plans for how to shift things in a more Roman light.
Approaching the bar the man that stood behind in a white dress shirt, black vest with a red tie and black slacks looked up. His hands were busy cleaning a glass as a few other customers at the bar top enjoyed their drinks in silence.
His looks weren't standout but also matched the description of a tall man with dark hair, a chin strap beard and fair complexion.
"Need something?" The man asked as he arched a brow placing the glass down.
"I'm looking for Hei Junior, I was directed here for information and potentially work." She answered honestly, assuming the man already knew all about her.
"What does a Courier want information and work for?" He questioned taking another glass that was dirty from the side and started cleaning it.
Something about the pile of dirty glasses and a pile of cleaned ones with the man in the action while they talked reminded her of the Burned Man.
"I'm looking for a way to earn some Lien while I wait for my ID before I decide whether it's worth sticking around Vale." She answered honestly again.
"Sounds reasonable, what kind of information are you trying to buy? The work is something I'll have to hold off on for a bit, can't really trust a no name merc without a vet to do anything- you get me?" Junior explained as he finished off another glass.
The Courier nodded her head.
"It's not much but I can extend a branch," She said, unbuckling her helmet and setting it down on the bar to take a seat, expecting to be in The Club for a while. "What's the whiskey you recommend for a business talk?"
The man smirked, huffing a laugh. "Vacuan Lonestar, all the mercs from the desert love the stuff- and you look like the kinda woman who rolled right off the dunes of the Umbra."
"Sounds good."
Moments later a glass partially filled with dark amber liquid appeared in front of her, sipping it she found it was harsh and had a kick unlike anything else she'd had in the Wasteland- the kind of taste she could get addicted to.
"To your liking then?" The bartender asked and the woman gave an affirmative noise as she enjoyed another sip before setting it down. "So what information are you looking for?" he reiterated.
It was then that she noticed someone new, brightly coloured and eager to see the bartender walk in the front doors, the man himself noting it as well and sighing.
"-Actually how about I give you what you want for helping me deal with that girl that just walked in, she's a Huntsman, they don't respect the rules."
"Sure." The Courier replied downing the remainder of her drink and pulling her helmet on and standing from the bar to act as a bodyguard.
Idly watching a golden haired girl approach the bar, The Courier immediately recognised her as being the blonde she'd seen on her first day in Vale, this time not chasing after a red blur called Ruby, but looking for something that only an information broker could tell her.
As the blonde took a seat at the counter coming in and swinging her legs around Arielle wondered about whether it would be worth applying to the Huntsman Academy in Vale to get a better grasp on how they functioned, it wasn't as though she hadn't done similar things before.
Her Frumentarii training was all about that after all.
Although initially she hadn't been working for as many people as she did for such a reason, she'd just been so aimless in the beginning before her memories came back. But it had given her a great opportunity to see how all the factions vying for their own version of New Vegas wanted to go about it; she'd settled firmly on Caesar after her long discussions with House.
Those two men were the only ones in the Mojave who even had an inkling as to an idea for what they wanted from the future and the greater path to succeed that reality.
In any case she would consider it when she had what she wanted and could pass more freely around the capital.
"Strawberry sunrise- oh! And if you have them, one of those cute little umbrellas!" The Huntress asked the bartender her eyes focused solely on the man, either choosing to ignore the Courier or having not even noticed her.
"We don't serve minors girlie, you want drinks, go get yours some place else." Hei replied, continuing to polish glasses.
"Aw! C'mon junior! A place like this isn't willing to serve a paying customer? That's sad… well if you won't take my order can you tell me anything about this woman?" The blonde said in faux dismay before pulling out her Scroll.
The picture that appeared on the Scroll was of a woman who looked almost identical to the blonde except for noticeably unnatural blood red eyes and jet black hair. The Courier figured she was a relative like a cousin or sister of the girl.
Hei eyed the image before shaking his head. "Never seen her, looks like the Huntsman type and they don't come around here. My place is for more reputable customers."
"HA! As If! Your guard was downing shots when I walked in! How is that more reputable than me!?" Unnatural lilac eyes crinkled as she leaned back and howled a laugh slapping her thigh.
"Unlike you my employee is of a legal drinking age and isn't here to bait information out of me." The man answered, rolling his eyes. "Now if you can't see yourself out I'll have to have them remove you."
"Tch- sure whatever-" A distinct metallic clicking and then cocking noise immediately drew Arielles attention to the wrists of the blonde as her bracelets erupted into vambraces with shotgun shells cycling around it looking like a power fist.
Before she recognised what she was seeing the Couriers iron grip latched around the bicep of the girl.
"Don't. Your information isn't here, it's best you leave for your own sake." She'd never been particularly persuasive, but the Courier just hoped she had enough of a Terrifying Presence to keep the girl from doing something stupid like making enemies with one of the main information brokers in the city.
Lilac eyes flashed a violent angry red that tensed the Couriers muscles, a flicker of excitement dancing in her heart as it did, part of her wanted for nothing more than to get in a fight with the Huntsman but thankfully that piece of her came out disappointed when the girls eyes became lilac again and she ripped her arm free cursing before storming out of the bar fuming.
Once the girl had given up and left the building the bartender let out a terse sigh rubbing his forehead and shaking his head.
"Thanks for that, I get kids like that occasionally usually they try to turn the place upside down because they think they're doing a city a favour attacking a criminal- but this place is legit as it gets and all it does is shut me down until repairs are done and they get sent to prison or dumped in an interrogation room for assault."
"Does it really happen that often?" Arielle asked, surprised at the idea of it.
"If they were regulated better it wouldn't, but the Council couldn't give a shit and always waives damages and repercussions when Beacon steps in."
"Beacon? So she was in training?"
"Yeah, a new batch is due in a month- don't suppose you're trying to get forged transcripts?" The tall man asked, raising a brow at her.
"I may be, how long until they need to be turned in?" She might as well learn, it wasn't as though there would be a legal way for her to join in such a short amount of time.
"Pretty sure they run all the way up to the week beforehand for any late entries, not that it matters much anyway they test the kids before they're allowed in and flunk anyone that fails the test."
"How much of this is free? Or do I get a few more sentences before I have to start laying out gold?" Arielle joked, getting a laugh from the man.
Shaking his head he replied with a smirk. "Nah you've earned at least a couple paragraphs."
"Guess I should get through those soon then." The Courier took her seat again and began asking more questions.
[1]
Arielle found herself back in the outer city for a large remainder of her first month in Vale, part of it was avoiding the opportunity to be stopped by any police or security so she wouldn't have to deal with any issues that might cause, the other side being that the Information Broker had her name passed around to some people in need of small bodyguard work to begin providing her with a reputation he could use to find her better work.
Much of what she did was actually legit business protection as apparently a group calling themselves the White Fang had become an active terrorist threat because of their perceived break down in race relations and their way of going about this was to attack Dust supply lines as well as harassing or attacking businesses that either refused to serve Faunus or didn't outright state that they were happy to see them.
It was a terribly short sighted mindset that she quickly began hating as she saw mostly innocent folk hurt because people saw the extreme as their only option for fighting oppression, the more she learned the less she sympathised with the groups messaging.
She could understand fighting an oppressive and corrupt government- after all it was the NCRs fault she became a slave, their actions stripped her of her freedom and innocence before she even knew what the words meant.
But this was just murder for murders sake.
And she would be a hypocrite to say she hadn't participated in that before as well, but at least it was to good effect and not the utter destruction of the average man's perception of an entire other people whom deserved no hate for the actions of their brothers.
But Cain and Able did not get equal treatment in the eyes of the father.
And it wasn't as though there weren't other groups she'd noted trying to fight back with kindness and peaceful protest where they tried to make the horrors they suffered clear to the public where they could not be ignored.
Such protests had in several cases turned poor with the arrival of the Fang to demean the message of the fellows and call them race traitors for not wishing to hurt other people.
And so the White Fang became a target of her ire, another faction to press her luck with to learn about from the inside.
She would be very busy in the coming months.
She also wouldn't have to worry much about her wealth as the relationship she developed with the bartender and information broker Hei allowed her to get in contact with a few people who could put a price on her coins and not ask questions about the man printed on them.
Gold was just as valuable to Remnant as Dust was which she expected, there wasn't a world she could imagine in which the material forged by dying stars wasn't valuable. Because of this the Aureus she had were valued at some 490 Lien per Aureus which meant a single coin of hers could afford her a week or two in a given hotel, the Denarius were a third of the value not helped by how many she had.
At the end of the conversations with the two men she sold 8 Aureus and 50 Denarius to each of them adding the Lien to her long list of currencies floating in her Pip-Boy's storage.
Author's Note:
The story will probably be going into an indefinite hiatus after I finish posting the rest of the chapters in a Month or so when I come back to updating it. If you're interested in why, it's just a matter of losing steam for writing the story and not really having an interest in continuing for the moment. where it ends currently sets up what I was planning at least so if/or when I come back it's on track to find its path again.
In any case, thank you for reading so far, I hope you've been having a good day and if not I hope things improve for you. I'll see you again in a month.
