Venera Petrov's Story

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New Cairo's city was almost as diverse as its population, boasting a number of different locations and districts, all home to different types of people. A cacophony of voices echoed through out the Red Sand as fans watched their favorite sports teams battle it out in the stadiums, none of them ever becoming too unruly with the ever watchful eye of the Raptora staring at them. When such one of these fans dared so, they were almost immediately rounded up and taken to one of the smaller facilities, some even grateful that they'd never be stuck in one of the cells in Ivaldi.

It was a place where reality seemed to bend and warp given the unnatural silence of the building, and if put in there for so long it wouldn't be a surprise for them to come out missing a few screws in their head.

Although seemingly ancient to most citizens, the Old Market held a lot of history in it, history that shouldn't be waved away by a hand and forgotten. A casual stroll through the market stalls could lead to seeing many old relics of the past, some which the older citizens will fondly remember, but others may see them as collectables, or even worthless. Though none can deny that there is a certain piece about the area.

With the abscence of city lights, noise and the more advanced technology, you're simply left with you're own thoughts and the presence of those around you. And while technology is beneficial in many ways, taking the time to have a honest conversation with another human can have its perks as well. Nethmar University's halls were filled with its all mage student body, the only real quiet locations in the school being the occasional classroom and the many libraries. If you happened to pass one particular room you might have even seen a myriad of mages practicing their branches of magic.

The Pulse District was as lively as it always was, despite the occasional fight that broke out in bars, and sometimes spilled into the streets. But under all of everyone's drunken, carefree attitudes was dormant anxiety. The Red Triad has been particularly incessant on attacking the Pulse District, and in the darkest hours of the night, you can often see members of them openly recruiting people.

While there are some that will openly mock them and all other mage supremacists, others are more hesitant to speak of them. Though there isn't any doubting that the Red Triad is in the corner of every New Cairo citizen's mind, everyone is waiting to see what they do next, especially the Raptora.

......

The halls were as quiet as ever in the building of Ivaldi, the only sound being the echoeing of Venera's foot falls on the clean tile floor. After approaching one particular door that was being guarded by two officers, there was a quick check of her ID before she was let in. Upon first site, you could clearly see that whoevers office this was, clearly wasn't the most organized person. Paper work that was long forgotten about was strewn across the floor, and the desk at the back of the room only held more stacks of paper and such. Carefully making her way through the disheveled room, Venera approached the desk. And more specifically the person sitting behind it, Commissioner Huang.

"So, how has your assignment been going in the Pulse District?" Commissioner Huang looked almost as unkempt as her room, but there was no comment on it from Venera. "Though there haven't been any attacks by Red Triad members themselves, there have been multiple reports coming into the local facility there that there are unregistered mages harassing citizens. And those same mages have also been seen asking around for high-level locals. Whether or not these mages are connected to the Red Triad is still being investigated by officers stationed in the area."

There was a moment of silence Huang before she took her glasses off the clean them, "The Raptora is already stretched thin across the city as it is, allocating officers to this problem would just create other problems elsewhere."

"Would you prefer we leave it to fester like an infected wound?"

The comment was already out of her mouth before she could hold her own tongue, and while she had half expected to be rebuked for commenting out of turn, nothing of the sort happened. Commissioner Huang had simply sighed, "Thank you for the report, Lieutenant Petrov. You are to keep a close eye on the situation and report back regularly." And after a simply bow Venera dismissed herself from the office.


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Venera had spent some time wandering the market stalls of the Old Market before her eventual return to the Pulse District, as one of the reportings had also been in that area. Though she had also stopped at one of the many stalls that were marketing food to buy a few things that she had needed. Quickly paying for the groceries she spent just a few more minutes in that area asking frequenters of the market if they had seen anything that they would deem suspicious, before moving through the maze of stalls back on her way to Pulse.

Jyne stumbled onto her knees from her unstable footing and momentum from shoving a kind, helpful native of New Cairo away from her. The kind man had noticed Jyne's motionless form in the alley that she had been resting in. Irritated to have her rest interrupted, the wanderer refused to accept the stranger's help leading to the series of events leading to the current situation.

"Go help someone else that wants your help!" she snarled in a garbled mess of English and Mandarin, with a very distinct and unique accent.

The man quickly understood the message being telegraphed by her body language and immediately left her alone, not without muttering a few choice phrases, probably speaking ill of her attitude and lamenting the fact that he got berated for actually helping someone. Rough life.

Figuring that her rest would continue to be interrupted, and feeling slightly less tired from her nap, Jyne got up to her feet and joined the crowd in the market. Receiving a few disgusted stares for her appearance and probably reeking smell, she easily passed through crowds who willing parted for her in an attempt to prevent themselves from touching her. Pleased with the lack of a crowd around her, she took her time to browse through the wares of the different stalls. The market seemed to be full of the country's culture, which she admired. Legitimately praising the craftsmanship of certain crafts, such as those of pottery and weaving, her mood gradually shifted into one of a more calm and calm demeanor. Her participation in the market also quickly allowed her to decipher a few choice words in Arabian, so her mood improved drastically.

Normally, Jyne spent the first few days to learn the language of the place she was staying at, as it was crucial for communication. After all, her main line of 'work' was to be a mercenary-for-hire, which meant she would have to go looking for work by herself. At the current moment, both were not an option as Jyne lacked a warm place to stay, as well as a lack of economy in order to survive. Which meant she had to-

"Steal." Jyne thought to herself, beginning to survey the crowd for potential targets as she pulled on a pair of gloves.

Sure enough, she found a few. It didn't amount to much, especially if she was to get a place to stay for a while. Tossing purses and wallets of her unfortunate victims into nearby trash, while depositing the cash into her pouch, she continued looking for other victims. She spotted a rather odd target: an extremely tall red-head who looked rather out of place, what made it even more odd was that Jyne found it difficult to deduce the person's gender, eventually settling on a woman. Jyne had spotted a rather attractive sum of cash in the red-head's wallet and followed her as she left, acting as if they were walking the same direction. At the same moment, Jyne felt the trash sandwich she had consumed earlier beginning to churn uncomfortably. Light bulb flashing in her mind, she used it to her advantage. A short distance away from the red-head, she doubled over and hurled, vomit splattering on the ground and some found themselves on the red head's pants and boots.

Although she had planned it, she still groaned at the unwelcome acidic taste in her mouth and the smell, as well as the fatigue that quickly began to fill in the void in her stomach. She retched a few more times, before she looked up at the person.

"S-sorry, I haven't... been eating, v-ery well..." she murmured, holding up her hands in a way that showed that she was sorry, just in case the person did not speak English. Her voice was rough from the ordeal, but she sounded extremely sincere and regretful for the turn of events that had occurred.

After all, she was a master of deceit.