It stank, the bar smelled to high heaven of broken dreams,
regrets and bad beer; when Tesla and Jack stuck their heads into it, the pair was
almost immediately repulsed by what they saw.
Many of the patrons were exactly what they expected, at least for the
afternoon crowd. Some were pompous
college kids, getting wasted in the cheapest place they could go to and were
trying to score; too bad none of the other patrons were women. A few over-weight customers waddled in
despair at private tables, at the bar and a few of the more ‘cut-throat’
looking members were standing around billiards tables. No one turned to see Tesla standing there,
nor did she bother to give anyone the time of day; all of them were beneath
her, so much so that just being in the bar made her skin crawl. “We’ll come back in the evening; maybe there
will be someone worth grabbing.”
At that comment, Jack merely raised one hand up to stop
Tesla before she completely ran off from the bar. “You really don’t get how this profession
works do you, also rhetorical question, I know you don’t.” Huffing a brief sigh before he turned his
head towards a few passing officers, only to tip his hat to them and to receive
a slightly suspicious glance before they disappeared. “We’re predators not maters, remember
that.” As Jack stated this, Tesla would
simply wrinkle her nose in discontent before looking down at her companion.
“So, there really is no pleasure to be had.”
“We can’t afford to be picky.” Jack retorted, “Doesn’t stop some of us from
liking what happens though.” While the
smaller of the pair started to lean against the wall, he found his eyes tracing
over the shifting traffic as the lunch crowd started to venture towards
restaurants. All he could see were
targets, people to be used, abused and then tossed aside when the desired means
had been taken from them. That was his
race, a group that was incapable of affection and love, they saw only their own
needs and how they could be met in others; pausing, Jack would see Tesla
looking over his face and squinted before glaring at her. “What?”
Not answering him, she would casually stride away finding
herself inside of a local park after simply crossing the road. It was…out of place on Roshire, everything
inside of it was organic with the exception of a few street lights and park
benches; otherwise, there was pure grass, trees and even some wild-life that
wandered through it. An impressive
array of bio-identifiers hindered any of the creatures from escaping and
causing mayhem, though considering that it was just a few species of birds and
squirrel, it was unlikely much harm could be done. While Tesla was there, she found herself
pondering what was going to come next and what her next move was.
As far as I can tell,
Nathan still isn’t fully aware of what he has done, Ludma’s whining has seen to
that. Most likely it will set in today
and afterwards he’ll be very malleable. At the same time, he has been a bit of a
wild-card. Getting lost in her
thoughts, Tesla would stop when a ball rolled up against her feet. It was light blue with greens with a big
yellow star in the center of it, obviously a child’s toy. Carefully picking it up, she could see a
young couple with what appeared to be their three year old son coming up to
her; just looking them over she could already tell their entire story. Childhood
sweethearts, no real ambitions, completely happy with their lives though
seeking improvements. Their child will
never want for anything and grow up healthy; if they were Yor’zvin they would
be middle class, yet as humanoid aliens….
Tesla’s train of thought would end abruptly as three fingers
wrapped against the bottom of her shorts and tugged gently on it. “Miss?,” the small voice with a lisp would
question before Tesla’s eyes would turn down to the small thing pulling at
shorts, “can I have my ball back, please?”
Looking at the orb, then down to the child and his parents, Tesla would
kneel down and gently hand over the ball before leaning forward and whispering
into his ear.
“Grow up strong, so that no one can say no when you
ask.” With those words, she would tussle
the little boy’s hair and give him a delicate push back towards his
parents. It was clear that her words had
confused him, but she wasn’t sticking around; she was just moving along the
walkway towards the center of the park.
Soon, the smell of juniper and lavender sprigs would fill her nose and
the artificial lights warmed her; all of it was too ideal, too…fake for
her. Passing through the little ring
where an array of flowers was displayed, Tesla would look upwards and begin to
seek a place to sit down. Noticing a
few people give her lustful looks, then pass along. There was more risk involved, but the
patrons were going to be more varied inside of the park walls; leaning her head
back, that child and his family kept coming back to her.
Hmm…family huh, I
wonder how things would have been if I had lived in this world rather than my
own? Tesla’s thoughts started to
spread out into a wide array at this point, Yor’zvin’s despite their brutish
nature were very intelligent people.
Tesla, being one of their lead ambassadors, had the ability to reflect
on other points of view, though with little respect for them. I’d
probably be…some tom-boy too into sports to care much about my looks; if my
appearance stayed the same, chased after boys constantly. I would most likely have ended up falling in
love with some idiot athlete, probably one who wasn’t the star, but good enough
to be recognized. I’d end up heart
broken when we went our separate ways, end up settling for someone with a nine
to five and basically becoming someone else’s.
Nice enough on paper, but I like how things turned out. Still, the fleeting idea of a life with
someone who would love her like that, it seemed pleasant even if it was just a
fantasy.
Stretching out and letting her hair fall behind the back of
the bench, Tesla would stare up at the lights and contemplate what was going to
come next. Prostitution, murder, plots
and betrayals, that was all assured, but where was this roller coaster going to
take her and everyone else. Calculating
everything out, she figured that at least one person in the group was going to
be dead before they left Roshire; unless, something changed. “No one here is expendable.” Jack stated simply as he walked in front of
her and tucked his hands into his shirt.
“Lives rarely are Jack, despite how you and your people
treat them.”
“You can be bitter all you want and analyze our situation,
but it doesn’t make what I said any else true.”
While Jack said this, he would draw out a deck of cards and toss it to
Tesla. “By the way, I believe these are
yours.” As Tesla caught the small
package, she simply looked over it before smirking a bit and placing it into
her own pocket. “By the way, you
shouldn’t be so judgmental about how my people treat lives, or are you so quick
to forget what you did on Waquil?”
“Nathan babbled off about that then?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, then you know our situation then, good.” Tesla would simply lean back and look around
the area about her, it was open and literally anyone could be watching at the
moment. Yet, she doubted news of their
deeds had gotten out, she would give it another full day before Nathan’s face
was plastered all over the place and a price was put on his head. Crossing one of her legs over the other one,
their current hide out was good enough; lower reaches and well out of the
way. Most authorities wouldn’t suspect
him to remain on Roshire for long, which meant if they were careful they could
get away with just staying here. Keeping her head leaned back for a moment, she
could see that Jack was just looking across the walk-way towards the other end
of the street.
“Doesn’t it make your blood boil?” Confused by Jack’s sudden statement, Tesla
would look up at him, slightly confused and gestured for him to elaborate. “This situation, we have no idea what’s going
to happen next, we’re just…leaves on the wind.
Someone else has all the power and what happens to us next, well, that
is completely up to what we do now.”
Thinking about it, Tesla could see that Jack was right, they
had little control on where they went from here. Meaning that Nathan and whatever decision
making process he had was going to end up being their ultimate fate in these
matters. A brief snort escaped her
before she looked back up at him. “I
suppose it is invigorating.”
Both of them stared at one another for a moment, casually
before Jack would merely smile. “There’s
the Tesla I know, the own who used to break into people’s homes and do as she
pleased just so they could catch her.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to pick up some new clothes.” Tesla watched Jack depart and knew he’d be
back at the hide-out later; however, for the moment she was alone, the red-head
would simply lean her head back against the bench and look towards the upper
reaches.
“Hmm…was I ever really gone?” Continuing to think to herself, Tesla would
eventually stand up and let her thoughts move back towards the hide out. What was Nathan and the rest of the crew
doing right now and what had they done that morning.
---Earlier
Dull throbs, the sound of someone snoring in the distance
and muffled chatter out in the hall, these were all things that Nathan was more
than used to. Today though, it was
infuriatingly loud and he couldn’t continue to lie in bed despite that
fact. It was roughly 8:20 according to
the clock next to him, which was just starting to activate projecting a
holographic singer accompanied by a band.
A techno-symphonic noise emerged only to be halted after a few seconds
by Nathan’s hand; causing the projected image to simply dissipate into nothing.
“Never did like Extroverse.”
Nathan stated calmly, referencing the band, before sitting up and
propping his elbows on top of his knees and folding his hands together in front
of his mouth. Stifling a yawn, the
captain would stay in his position for a moment before looking down and
noticing a small ring of projectors on the floor in front of him. “Television on.” When those words left his lips, the
projectors on the floor would ignite and begin to spine slowly. Broadcasting a variety of colors, the ‘screen’
eventually activated showing a family of happy alien creatures at some fast
food restaurant. “Search channels for
news.”
At that command, the screen would change to blank blue void
before a small rotary at the top would spin.
Within three seconds, a listing of a variety of stations appeared before
Nathan. “Query completed, narrowing to
specifications. Twenty-five stations
remain, please indicate preference.”
Nodding for a moment, Nathan would move his hand to slide through
existing options before finding his favorite news provider.
“Change channel to ISNC”
On command the projectors shifted producing the image of a series of
broadcasters, a human female, two velscrians both male and female though it was
hard to tell the difference between them, an autonomous orb and lastly a Resp. The two scaly yellow aliens, the velscrians,
both moved their heads rapidly from side to side, flicking their forked tongues
outward to taste the air. Small spikes protruded
from their chins, while three finger like claws clutched onto sheets of paper
with their scripts before them. Occasionally
one would brandish their jagged sets of teeth, while air filtered in through
slots in the sides of their necks only to fill up bubbles on the back of their
head, much like a frog’s throat.
The female spoke first: “In today’s new the Port Langrid mining
corporation has entered into investigations involving a secret mining operation
on the neighboring planet of Waquil.”
Her speech partners were grating, often times accompanied by a brief
croak or a hiss; which the human anchor did her best to hide discomfort
from. Nathan himself found it
unpleasant, but he was just thankful for the bias detection system that ISNC
enforced upon their anchors to keep their news as politically neutral as
possible. Yet, his mind wasn’t on
politics right now, it was focused on the screen where the anchor had waved her
hand to little orb in the center.
As the orb turned, the screen would shift to the factory
that Nathan had a hand in destroying; the entire construct was still largely on
fire at the southern half and it was clear that what wasn’t burning was little
more than rubble. The screen would
flash back to the anchors, who turned over the speaking parts to the Resp. The asexual creature merely looked toward the
screen with its five-eyes focusing at the recorders behind a thick helmet
complete with a breathing apparatus that was connected to several tanks hooked
up to its back. It was moderately small,
maybe about the size of a lower end human, but bigger than a child. Clad in silver and blue, its mask overlay
took on the shape of an asterisk which ran down towards the stubby arms and
widely spaced fingers. Nathan listened
intently to what it had to state, listening to its deep bass voice. “Port Langrid released a press statement
earlier today claiming that four hundred and twenty workers lost their lives in
the explosion, another seventy-eight were injured and are currently intensive
care. “
Nathan tuned out the rest of it as he heard those
statistics, not mention he had to add another to the number as he had simply
shot one of them dead the moment he stepped into his way. Shaking profusely, Nathan would look up at
the projector before the words came through to him once again. “According to the Port Langrid release
statement and word from a surviving miner, the explosion was caused by mentally
unstable male who bore close resemblance to one of the heads of security. Still, the question of why the mine was
there and what it was being used for is under scrutiny; let’s mourn for now the
tragic loss of life.”
“Television off.” The
projectors immediately disengaged, leaving Nathan to sit there for a
moment. His skin broke out into
goosebumps and cold-sweat soon ran freely down the back of his neck and
face. Unable to speak or even fathom
what was going on, the captain would pull his hands away from his face and look
at them terrified. What the hell have I done?
He questioned only to rush from the spot where he was sitting and thrust
himself into the kitchen. Turning on the
tap, Nathan would start to vomit profusely, emptying his stomach until he was
too weak to even lean against the counter.
Knees crumpling and hitting the floor, Nathan bowed his head
and grasped at the edges of the counter; without a word, he rested there with
the remains of his dinner plastered across his mouth. Panting while his eyes started to water, what
innocence that Nathan felt he could cling to crumbled in front of him; in the
face of what he had done and what his actions had caused. For now, his heart closed off prompting him
to stand up after remaining there for another twenty minutes. Wiping off his mouth, he would look down at
his hands once more only to be interrupted by a loud bang on the door. “Coming.”
Nathan tried not to make it obvious what had happened and made sure to wipe
off his mouth and prepare for whoever was on the other side of the door.
Slipping on a shirt and marching over to the door without
any shoes on, he would be greeted by the owner who simply tossed a mop and a broom
at him. “The lobby toilet needs a good
scrubbing, the floors in this place are a mess and there are bunch of lights
out in the upper stairs rooms. If you’re
going to sleep here for free and bring extras, then you’re going to work like a
dog. Got it?” Nathan
wouldn’t even nod before grasping a pair of socks and his boats and pulling
them on.
“I’ll do some maintenance along the outside as well; see if
I can’t patch up some of the broken regions and maybe apply a new coat of
paint.” Walking off, the owner wouldn’t
say a word instead; he would simply look over his shoulder to watch Nathan
heading to the opposite end of the hall to start mopping. Taking off his glasses and wiping them off
with a handkerchief, he would shake his head slowly.
“Poor kid.”
Nathan would spend the entire day hell bent on his work,
making sure that the floors were clean enough to eat off of, that every room
was vacuumed and anything peculiar was wiped out of existence. Over the course of the day, he managed to
scrub every toilet in the hotel, clean all the bathrooms and make every
bed. The light bulbs were replaced before
Nathan found himself standing outside of the cheap motel looking at bullet
holes and various damages across the walls.
Placing one hand against it, the image of people dying in fiery ways
came to mind making him pull back horrified.
Losing his balance, Nathan would end up on his ass, staring up at the
wall before seeing Zephyr standing nearby.
“You’re pathetic.”
Those words rang in Nathan’s head as the yor’zvin spoke to him and moved
closer, crouching down over him, Zephyr would open and shut the front coverings
to his mouth before placing his hands in a diamond shape between his legs. “You killed people, you will kill more and
that will be your life now.”
Nathan’s pupils would dilate rapidly as he looked up at
Zephyr, feeling the other male’s eyes burrow directly into his head. Both terrified and angry, the captain would
glare back up at Zephyr though he was still shaking as he spoke. “So, what does that make you, I beat you didn’t
I?” At the retort, Zephyr would reach
down and yank Nathan by the collar of his shirt; forcing their faces together
as the older of two began to shout at him.
“Don’t get fucking cocky because of a subject of circumstance,
you little shit! Are have you already
forgotten that you only got as far as you did, in a two on one fight with us
all falling over a ledge?” Zephyr’s grip
would tighten, his fingers nearly bursting through the fabric of Nathan’s shirt
leaving the later too frightened to do much more than push at Zephyr’s
chest. Releasing him, Zephyr watched
Nathan fall back to the ground and start to pick himself up; only for to decide
that he didn’t deserve to stand and press his foot against the top of Nathan’s
skull, forcing his face into the dirt.
“You’re helpless, you’ve gotten as far as you have because of luck and
nothing else; I don ‘t know what God you managed to please, but I suggest you
start praying more often.” Prying his
foot away from Nathan’s head, Zephyr would crouch down again and stare at the
captain as he began to push himself up.
“So what, you took some lives. You made a decision and now you fucking live
with it. You want to piss yourself and
cry over some assholes you didn’t know; then let me drop you into a REAL
FUCKING war and let’s see how long it takes for you to get over that shit.” Kicking Nathan in his stomach roughly causing
the captain to flop back down on the ground, Zephyr couldn’t help but think how
much he despised the man. You’re weak, you’re too soft, you’ve got so
much to work with and yet you do nothing with it! You ran off from your family, you talk the
talk, but you can’t walk the walk worth a damn.
Nathan Blackholm, you are everything I despise in any creature. A conceited shell of a man desperately trying
to prove himself, when there is nothing redeemable…yet. As much as I hate myself for it, I’m going
to make you something to aspire towards.
“Get up.” Zephyr
demanded only to see that Nathan was already on his feet and spitting a little
blood from the corner of his mouth. Hmm…what’s up with his eyes? Examining, he could see that a fire was
starting to burn within them, anger, pride and self-preservation. Seeing it, Zephyr’s own would light up
causing a smile to form on his lips. That’s it, get pissed at me, work yourself
up and then force yourself to be better.
We know what’s coming and there can’t be any weak links.
Nathan swung at Zephyr only for the Yor’zvin to swift his
head easily to the side and jump off his back foot to drive his knee into
Nathan’s stomach. “Come on, I’m
collected right now. Do you think you’ve
got a chance?” Twisting the human off
of his knee and feeling him cling against him for balance, the yor’zvin would
casually step back and look at him. “I
admire the spirit, but your body can’t take when you’re not running on adrenaline,
finish whatever work you’ve got. Come
see me when you’re done and we’ll start turning that body of yours into a
masterpiece.” Chuckling as he walked
away from Nathan, Zephyr would only turn his head around in time to watch the
other male fall to one knee and pull himself back up. Good,
real men stand.
There were several hours of silence around the motel, aside
from the occasional pounding of a hammer and other applications of tools onto
the wall. It might not have been much,
but the thin-sheets of steel that coated the outer walls at least gave the
illusion that everything was in place.
Breathing out for a moment, Nathan would relax and rub out some of the
numbness from his arms before the owner walked outside to look over it. “Hmm, you managed to do some general repairs
to the front, I appreciate it, but you’ve still got the sides and the back to
do. Not to mention the upper
floors. Well, some of the windows need
to be replaced; don’t exactly have the income for it though.” Looking back at him, Nathan would stretch his
back and yawn only to wave his hand at the old man.
“Well, this is my home now and I’m going to treat it
right. Well, at least till we get the
ship up and running; though, honestly…I owe you a lot.” Looking back up at the dump that was his new
place of residence, Nathan would turn and offer his hands to the owner. “Thank you for putting me up. I’ll make it up to you, I swear.”
As the pair shook hands, the owner just laughed and walked
away, shaking his head and turning his head back towards him. “My name is Damas, by the way. You can at least call me by name when we
talk.” As he departed, Nathan’s eyes
would darken before he moved around to the back of the motel and could see that
Zephyr was setting up an area to exercise in.
A pull-up bar along with a small set of stairs created a semi-circle
about the wall where a few mats had been laid out, he had even gone so far as
to make a boxing ring sized square in the dirt by digging a trench. Dusting off his hands for a moment, Zephyr
would look back at Nathan before motioning for him to come over.
“What do you w…”
“Shut up, don’t talk…just listen.” As Zephyr said this, he would approach him
and press one finger to Nathan’s forehead.
After a few seconds, the yor’zvin’s eyes would dilate slowly before both
the sclera turned black along with his irises.
Feeling shivers run down his spine, Nathan could only watch as Zephyr
did whatever he was doing; at the same time though, he felt as if he was being
judged on every part of his body right down to the core. Turns out he was right. “Your cardiovascular system needs a lot of
work, your abdomen as well; a decent upper body and some good quad muscles, but
you’re lacking around the calves and hamstrings. We’ll start exercising first thing every morning;
you’ll do your job, then you’ll exercise with me again at night. “After saying
this, Zephyr would look back at him and raise his hands up slapping both sides
of his face before making him look him in the eyes.
“I’m going to break you down and turn you into a war
machine. All this baby fat on you and
all those soft little edges that made you whine like a bitch after you killed a
few people; that’s going to be gone.
Welcome to my world, bitch.”
Snorting briefly, Zephyr would order Nathan through a grueling work out
for the next three hours, leaving the captain tired, angry and with little
energy to do anything else but collapse onto the couch that was serving as his
bed after a hot shower. Laying there for
a moment, Tesla would enter in seconds later and trail her fingers across
Nathan’s bare chest.
“Keep up the good work, place is spotless.” Giggling, she would find her own place to
curl up, which happened to be one of the nearby chairs. “Oh...I almost forgot.” Tesla would sudden blurt out before tossing a
small device in the shape of a playing card.
Pressing the button on the top of it, a catalogue emerged detailing
various types of apparel; looking over it for a second, Nathan would look back
at Tesla and raise an eyebrow. “Well,
everyone is getting new clothes, I figured you didn’t want to be left out.” Shrugging it off for a moment, Nathan would
flip through it and realize she was right, he needed a new wardrobe; not to
mention something to hide his identity now.
Party consumes 400 credits:
Total credits: 856.
Party Happiness:
Tesla – 50 Contentment:
3/5 Mood: Apprehensive
Wants: More control/More
information on Gilarose
Zephyr- 90 Contentment:
5/5 Mood: Calming down Wants:
A more secure location/weapons
Lily – 50
Contentment: 3/5 Mood:
Calming down Wants: Medical
books and crew analysis
Ludma – 50 Contentment
2/5 Mood: Calming down
Wants: Computers
Slacker Jack – 10 Contentment
5/5 Mood: Erratic
Wants: More customers
Gilarose – 70 Contentment
1/5 Mood: Reflecting
Wants: Respect
Arachne - ?? Contentment
?/5 Mood: ?
Wants: Tranquility
Garrus – 80 Contentment
3/5 Mood:
Intrigued
Voting time:
What does Nathan order from the catalogue
A: A mixture of
casual clothing and exercise wear – 200 credits
B: A captains uniform, along with casual clothing – 375 credits
C: Dress suits and sleep wear- 550 credits
P.S. As an addition to this update, just as a question to everyone whose reading. What can I do to make Amatory Star not only more appealing to more people, but just make it better as a whole? A few people have suggested I add illustrations, but right now I have neither the time, money or talent to create those. So, if you guys have any other creative ideas, let me know in the comment section below.
P.S. As an addition to this update, just as a question to everyone whose reading. What can I do to make Amatory Star not only more appealing to more people, but just make it better as a whole? A few people have suggested I add illustrations, but right now I have neither the time, money or talent to create those. So, if you guys have any other creative ideas, let me know in the comment section below.
