xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxDieter Baros
xxxxxxxxxxxx.xxxxxxxxHex = #722F37
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxIsmeria Valizar
xxxxxxxxxxxHex = #708090
Ismeria always found it strange how a person could stand so easily in a crowd without being noticed. She didn’t know how long she had been standing there, watching the arrival of the ship and the movements of its inhabitants as they began to pour out. She had moved closer, within a better eye and earshot of the goings on in order to scope out who exactly was in charge. There were a variety of ways that ships would run but generally, she could pinpoint those in leadership positions quite easily.
This time was truly no different. Now it was a matter of how to approach said person. There were times in the past, long ago when her brother was still around that they would simply stroll up and advertise themselves as boldly as possible. ”Ship in need of hard workers? There's four hands between us!” It worked nine times out of ten. But travelling alone had tanked that success rate quite considerably. A lot of the crews that had turned her down in the past had simply been unimpressed with her physical stature - a shallow gauge of her true abilities.
No, these days she tends to try and impress. Whether it's a good impression or not usually didn’t matter - she had to stick in their minds. She had skill, she could work, and she would contribute to whatever cause - at least until she grew bored of the atmosphere.
“Nice and easy,” She whispered to herself. Watching the man that she had pinpointed as most likely to be the first mate as he descended the ship and began heading into Zanzibar. Her first instinct was to follow at a steady pace, but preservation kept her sedate. She would watch, and follow, and hopefully not lose sight of him in the crowds. Was he going about some sort of business? She could perhaps interject herself into the situation if that were the case. Though it would be easier if he were headed towards a bar or something, she’d be able to talk to him casually, without the barrier of a man on a mission in the way.
Her thoughts were almost overwhelming, a slow anxiousness creeping beneath her skin as she thought about what she would say. It almost escaped her notice as he headed into a side alleyway, and she cursed herself as she thought about the implications - did he notice her following him? She was usually very careful, but she wasn’t exactly trained in stealth. She braced herself for the possibility that he was around the corner, weapon or fists ready, but as she rounded she saw him leaning against the back wall of the alleyway.
Her anxiety fled her almost at once, relaxing the tension in her muscles as she had braced herself for a fight. For a moment she wondered if this was going to be that easy. The alleyway was shaded particularly well, with the light fading downwards into shadows at the ground. Still, she didn’t feel particularly comfortable lifting her hood.
For a moment she hadn’t registered that he had spoken to her, before she finally replied.
“Yes,” she struggled a moment. “I won’t waste too much of your time here. I need off Zanzibar. I want on that ship you pulled into port on. I can't pay to be a passenger but I can work for it. Hard labor, maintenance, cleaning, what have you. I learn fast and I work hard, and I keep my complaints to the minimum.”
She took a breath, realizing that she was rambling on.
“I’ll do anything.” She said finally, peering at him through her glasses. Hoping that she wasn’t coming on too hard.
“Hmph.” Dieter let out a light murmur as the girl in front of him, a glow appearing under the hood she kept over her head and under her cloak, catching most of his attention rather than her words. She sputtered out information in a fast manner, Dieter mostly just paid attention to her request off of Zanzibar and willing to do anything. This made him a bit wary, people who were willing to do anything to get away often had reasons, and they were already harbingering one person as their current cabin boy.
“Maybe. My ship has rations we have to keep, so just bringing on anyone anytime isn’t always the base course of action, deary.” Dieter pushed himself off the wall and strolled closer to the woman, curious about her. “Why must you leave so badly? Especially with no credit to offer?” He asked, glancing down at his wrist and seeing the time, he had some to spare before his meeting. “You also don’t seem to care about where we’re going after this, I’ll let you know, it’s not an easy trip.”
“I didn’t ask for easy.” Ismeria dithered on the former question quite a bit. It wasn’t that she had to get off the planet, it was just that she needed it. If the answer was no, she’d resume her waiting game until the next ship, but she would rather convince him than just give up that easily. He was right of course, she would be taking up rations - and without credits in turn...she had some tucked away. She’d wasted much of it in her early days but what she did have was practically burning a hole in her pockets. But those credits tended to be the thing that saved her ass if she wound up in trouble.
“I’m not running from anything or anyone, if that's what you are worried about,” That wasn’t particularly true. But she felt the need to stress that out. She was running. Constantly attempting to move away from the stagnating feeling of being overwhelmingly alone so far from anything she’s truly ever been sure of. But that wasn’t any of his business. She saw him glance at his watch - so he was either busy or this conversation was going particularly awful, she couldn’t be sure which. Either way…
“Give me a chance, let me show you I can be useful.” She pleaded.
“We’ll see.” Was all Dieter said as he went to walk past her, much like any deal, he wanted it to be known he held all the cards. But as he got next to her, she grabbed his arm to stop him. “Hey wait!” She cried out. But Dieter ignored her plea and took this opportunity to quickly yank her hood down and see who she truly was, or what she was more so. What was hidden under the hood that was giving off the glow was revealed, her skin. “Ah. Lumina.” He said out loud, as the girl shoved him back.
“Was that really necessary? You could have just asked...” She had quickly surpassed her frustration back into the territory of annoyance. She made no attempt to pull the hood back up, trying to temper the sudden spike of anger. But she was on guard now, pulling back to stand a few extra inches away.
“Yes. I don’t ask. Now, let’s get going Lumina.” Dieter replied, and headed out of the alleyway back onto the street. He never said out loud he would take her with him, but assumed she would now follow him to his next location, would also prove to see how worthy and if she held any benefits of allowing her.
At this rate Ismeria was going to become a nervous wreck before she even got onto the ship. She hastened to match his pace, trying her best to ignore the discomfort she was feeling. “It’s Ismeria, by the way.” She told him. Not that he has asked. But she couldn’t very well keep letting him call her Lumina.
Dieter stayed quiet as the two of them walked for a bit longer, before turning down another alley way, but this time coming to a door that had a holographic lock keeping it from being opened. “Here we are.” Dieter said, mostly out loud rather than to his new companion. He did an intricate knock on the door before the lock disappeared and opened up, he gave Ismeria a gentle push to indicate her to go first.
He wanted her to go first? Was this a trap? The fluster and panic had caused her to briefly brighten, the chemical flood of stress hormones an alarm blaring her distress at the unknown. But she had to show her worth, she couldn’t let her fears overwhelm her this early in the game. He had said it wouldn’t be easy after all - and she suspected very little was easy when it came to this man anyways.
Carefully she stepped past the door and into the looming unknown.
As the two of them entered, Dieter stayed behind Ismeria, lightly guiding her with a pat on her left or right side, until they came into an open room. As they went by the door, two men with weapons quickly flanked them, one with what seemed like a modified shotgun, and another with just two knives. “Dieter.” A voice came from the center, and a man stood up from the table. He had an eyepatch covering one eye, and a cybernetic lens covering the other. “You said you would be alone.” He followed, standing up and walking around the table, walking towards Dieter and Ismeria.
The man was a few feet away from them when all of the sudden he dropped the serious act and a smile came over his face. “Just pulling your leg le old bastard. Good to see you.” The two other men in the room tucked their weapons away and stepped back.
All of the alarm bells were going off in her mind but she adopted a casual stance as best she could. Seeming the picture of relaxed, while still internally wondering what sort of mess she had gotten herself into. They were outnumbered by one. Ismeria could fight - if she had to - but she wasn’t trained in combat specifically. Her brother had taught her to hold her own in a chaotic sort of way, but it was chaotic desperation that usually fueled her. The two at the door were worrisome, even with their weapons dropped. They were blocking the most immediate visible exit after all, and Ismeria hated feeling trapped. Their backs were practically to a literal wall.
Was she supposed to introduce herself? She kept quiet, even so.
“Good to see you too Sirche. Had to make a quick stop.” Dieter spoke, walking around Ismeria as the eyepatched man, Sirche, guided him over to the table and the two sitting down. On the table was a wrapped white box and a knife, which Dieter grabbed and cut into the box, a blue powder substance poofing out a bit. He scooped a bit up onto the blade and brought it up to his eye level. “High quality there son, just as asked.” Sirche spoke, Dieter practically ignoring him as he analyzed the powder, then bringing it to his nose and snorting it. He let out a deep breathe and rubbed his nose after putting the knife down. “Blue dust.” Sirche spoke again, holding out a knife to Ismeria.
She blinked.
After a moment she realized she had been staring for a moment too long before coming carefully closer to the table. She couldn’t deny that her curiosity was piqued. She wasn’t a stranger to substances per se but she hadn’t had much experience either, she’d certainly never snorted anything before. She glanced briefly at Dieter, searching for approval before hesitantly grabbing the knife.
She could practically hear her brother rolling in his grave, cursing at her stupidity in the moments before she brought the blue dust to her nose and copied Dieter's actions. Holy gods, she nearly dropped the knife at the initial shock. She hadn’t expected the way it would burn through her sinuses, hot and heavy. Her eyes watered, and she tried to rub away the pain to no avail. It was clear she was inexperienced, but she was almost helpless to the need to gain the room's approval - she couldn’t show weakness, not now.
Dieter was surprised by Ismeria, and a bit impressed. Though it was obviously the girls first time, he was already feeling his high coming along just from the small amount. He quickly pulled out a small drive and slid it across the table. “As agreed on.” Dieter said as he stood up and grabbed the box. He took a step towards the door when one of the people from earlier stepped in front of him, blocking him from moving further. “Truth. Was agreed upon, But ye know the price a being from Lumina can fetch me? Leave the girl D.”
“You insane Sirche?” Dieter quickly spurted from his lips, back still the man he just paid. “Ye know the answer to that, she’s ain’t worth the trouble.” He turned around to face Sirche, and watched as one of the other men walked over to Ismeria. While he wasn’t exactly attached to the girl, he wasn’t about to let her be sold. “No deal. And you can keep the dust.” He slammed down the package and reached for the drive. The drive was snatched out of his reach and Dieter was pushed back, almost tripping over a chair. “Last chance. Is this Lumina worth fighting over?”
“She’s part of my crew.” Dieter said, walking forward, face to face with Sirche. “Give me the blue dust, or give me back my drive.” He wasn’t sure if it was the blue dust, or his adrenaline going, but he wasn’t in the mood for this.
The drug was more than beginning to work through her system. The flood of adrenaline. The stress. All of it was raging through her like a storm. The second that one of the men that had been blocking the exit came near enough to grab her She felt it all hit at once - this was going south faster than expected. She reeled back, jerking out of the man's grip with a surprising amount of strength - was that the drugs work too? She was hazy, the room spinning as she moved too fast. She had overbalanced and the next moment the crash of her knocking the table over was all she could hear.
The next moment was when things went a bit south. Ismeria had yanked away from the one man and knocked over the table. Dieter used this as a distraction as he shoved Sirche back and threw a punch at the man who was originally blocking his way out. As the man staggered and brought up the shotgun, Dieter hit it upwards, causing him to shoot into the ceiling. He swept his foot under him and grabbed the shotgun, pointing it at Sirche.
Ismeria was panicking. But she had wormed her way out of enough situations to know she couldn't freeze. She had to move. Her hands scrambled along the floor until she realized that the drugs, gone unnoticed, had spilled off the table with her tumble.
She wasted no time, grabbing the powder up, only for a moment later to feel the man from before grabbing ahold of her cloak. She whipped upwards without a thought. In her fist she held a small bit of the blue dust. She blew into it, shooting the powder into the man's eyes and blinding him - if the sting of her nose had been any earlier indication this had to of burned badly.
He cried out and she took the opportunity to knee him in the groin as hard as she could. Waiting for him to fall to his knees before she swung wildly with a fist to the temple. He went down, and Ismeria stumbled away to Dieters side.
“We’re done here.” Dieter said flatly as Ismeria got next to him. He shoved Ismeria towards the door as he picked up his drive and backed up until he was out of the room. He closed the door and blocked it using the shotgun as they left so they wouldn’t easily be followed as he and Ismeria left.
“Not bad Lumina.” Dieter commented. “Ismeria.” He corrected himself with a smirk.
"Thanksss," she slurred, trying not to throw up right then and there. This adventure had panned out to be more than she had first thought it would be. [color=#708090]"Meet you back at the ship." She needed to take a detour, get all her things from the dwelling she'd been holed up in until now. “We leave tomorrow, but you can spend the night onboard, just tell them you know Dieter. Oh, and you can have this.” Dieter said, tossing the drive to her and walking into the crowd, seeming to disappear among the people. Ismeria caught the drive, and headed her own way, she was pretty sure she needed to compose herself before meeting the crew. She had no clue how she was going to survive if this was the precedent for the coming days.
But hell.
It sure beat being stuck on Zanzibar.