Aeris took to the sky before they made it in, choosing to watch over her newfound human friend from above. As Ren entered through a small road dividing the main shops from the docks, he could feel eyes watching. He was more well kept than these people, and incredibly tan thanks to how high up in the atmos he had always lived. Many were pale, almost looking like ghosts in the dim lights of the port. Even those he could tell were of other races were incredibly pale, almost like they had been drained of blood.
Everything around him seemed alien, something he had never seen before in his life. The people here were dirty, and seemed weathered beyond their years. Many of them gave him strange looks, some whispering to each other.
“Looks rich…”
“He’d sell for a good haul…”
“…he doesn’t know where he is, does he?”
Ren was just trying to make out what the buildings were and doing his best not to pay any mind to the whispers. Despite his best efforts trying to keep clear of crowds and out of people’s way, he ran smack into a man as he was walking. The man helped Ren up, apologizing as he did.
“Sorry! Might have had a few too many at the pub. You alright there?” The man gave him a hand, dusting Ren’s shoulder off as he got to his feet.
“Uh. Yeah, don’t worry about it.” Ren said, nodding to the man as he kept moving. The man just waved and said goodbye, turning back in the direction he was going as Ren walked on before being harassed again.
“Hey, rich boy!” Someone shouted as he tried not taking any notice. A tall woman stepped out of a nearby shop, moving to the man that knocked him down. Her sandy hair was swept back, short down to her shoulders. She was definitely a pirate, with a grapple nestled snugly to her forearm and a plasma dagger at her hip. She reached her hand with the grapple out as the man began running, the small crowd parting before him like a procession. “You got a death wish or are you just stupid enough to flaunt where you’re from down here?”
The grapple shot out fast, bursting through the man’s leg just under the knee and yanking him back with enough force to make a snap echo down the street.
“OW! You bitch!” He was shouting as the woman moved her wrist again, making the line retract as the man screamed again. He was dragged back to where the woman was standing as she put down her arm, leaving the long cable and what Ren could see now as a small, three pronged barb stick out of the other side of his leg, blood dripping from the wound as he desperately held it.
“Mind telling him what you were doing?” She said, kneeling down in front of the man, looking right in his eyes with a deadly stare as he was still gasping in pain.
“Jesus, lady! That’s my damn leg!” He was screaming at her through gritted teeth, beating the ground with his fists in pain.
“Your leg ain’t a damn thing compared to what you were about to put that kid through.” She hissed at him, spitting in his face before standing again and kicking him in the ribs. She motioned to Ren, “He marked you. There’s red on your shoulder there.”
Ren looked around him in awe as all the people around seemed to put their eyes to the ground and go about their business, feigning ignorance to hide their shame. The woman glared at them all, venom in her eyes. She flicked her wrist upward, retracting the cable of her grapple rapidly back into the reel. The hook closed before slipping back out the way it came, bringing screams of pain and agony along with gushing blood as the wound was now unblocked.
“You bitch!” He screamed, holding his now free leg. Another stepped out of the crowd to grab him, pulling him away into a nearby building as he continued to yell curses at the woman, still glaring down anyone who dared to look up.
“All of you knew exactly what was happening. You should be goddamned ashamed of yourselves.” She looked over to Ren, offering a hand, “Come on, kid.”
She motioned for him to follow her, moving down the small road and into a nearby building, a simple sign saying BAR above it. It looked more like a wreck, but he stepped through the swinging metal doors behind the woman.
What met him was something he had neither heard, smelt, or seen in his twenty two years on earth. People packed wall to wall with stale beer and sweat lit by maybe three fluorescent bulbs above them, all flickering in varying tempos. Loud music and the sounds of talk and shouting fought their way into his ears, causing a dull thump within seconds of entering. The woman grabbed his arm, leading him over to a table where someone with bright multicolored hair held back by a pair of goggles.. They were sipping a beer before raising a hand and waving to the woman.
“Robin! I got us a table!” The person yelled across the room, their voice becoming the latest victim of the sonic beatdown going on. The music over the speakers was like nothing he had heard growing up, with what sounded like screaming punctuated by harsh noises and loud thumping beats. It sounded chaotic but it somehow made him feel at home in a sense.
“No need to tell everyone, Kit.” Robin said, taking a seat next to the person. “Have a seat, kid. We need to have a talk. You got anything else you can wear instead of that shirt?
Ren wasn’t entirely sure what was happening, looking at Robin while still standing beside the table. Kit kicked a foot at the chair next to Ren, bumping it into his already aching side and making him wince. He shook it off and sat down, feeling relief for the first time since landing in the woods. Kit smiled to him, making his face turn red. He wasn’t sure why, but their face was soft and friendly, something he wasn’t used to seeing in strangers.
“Uh, I’ve got an undershirt here but…” He said, unbuttoning the front of his shirt and pulling it down, exposing the white undershirt beneath that was also stained red. “Don’t think it makes much of a difference. Why?”
“Because you’re marked. Marked ones usually they end up in some labor camp for one of the corps or just doing grunt work for them, but for certain people-“ she points a finger at Ren- “they turn a profit from.”
Ren looked uneasy here, sitting up in his seat and looking back and forth between his tablemates. There was a gnawing feeling that he should run but he wasn’t quite sure if he should follow it. Robin looked at him with incredible seriousness, leaning forward.
“You’ve got money written all over you. Top of that, you look soft. They like soft.” She leans back, “Trust me, of the two options, holding you as a ransom to your family would be the better.”
“They wouldn’t get anything.” Ren mumbled before he realized it. The other two looked at him, Kit almost snorting beer from their nose. “There’s someone coming to get me anyway.”
“I highly doubt that.” Kit says, still coughing from the beer. “Unless they got some way of picking you out from all that madness outside, considering you’re not wearing anything they could track you with. The Parade have you marked and Marchers are all over this shit-hole. Robin, how many you marked since we’ve been sitting here?”
“Seven.” Robin replied, sipping her beer.
“Eight.” Kit said, slamming a fist down and rattling the table. Robin looked at them as Kit smiled with glee. “Dark hood, standing back there by the guitar stand.”
Robin and Ren both looked behind them, seeing a man standing near a guitar stand, looking at the guitar it was previously supporting. As he ran his hands over the strings loud feedback sprang forth, causing the bartender to shout.
“Fuck off! Don’t you see the signs?” He yelled, causing the man to drop the guitar in turn. Kit just nodded to Robin, eyebrows raised as the man gingerly placed the guitar back and backed away.
“Must be a new guy.” Kit offered, only drawing a sigh from Robin, who turned back to Ren expectantly.
“So how do I know you two aren’t part of it?” He asked, looking at both of them. “I don’t even know who you are. You could be keeping me here for them right now.”
This was the first time he had heard Robin laugh since they came in, throwing her head back before taking a massive gulp of the beer Kit had already ordered for her.
Ren looked at her, unsure of what to say. He looked over to Kit again, “And who is she?”
“Kit, first mate, nice to meet you, also not a she, just Kit.” Kit gave a little wave and a smile, he could see tattoos running up their arms and neck before he looked away, not wanting them to notice him staring. “The Parade and Robin have a… spicy history to put it nicely. I’m sure she put a nice little injury on whoever marked you. She likes doing that.”
“They come after me, I meet them head on.” Robin interjects, pushing her empty glass away before raising a hand to the bartender nearby with two fingers. The bartender nods and begins filling two pints of beer from a tap, passing them to a waitress and in turn to Robin. She passes one to Ren before raising hers in a small cheers, “You’re fucked though, kid. Unless you have someone in high places they’ll just sell you as meat to the first buyer they see.”
“Mom won’t pay them for anything.” He says back. Robin stops drinking, looking straight at him, probing further without saying anything. Ren snaps to, realizing he just said something that could lead to trouble. If they let him live until then.
A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
“Mom important?” Robin offered, waiting to see if he would answer or deflect.
“She’s a delegate but we’re low on the chain…” Ren replied, trailing off before anything else came out.
A look of surprise came across Robin’s face before she shook her head and went back to her beer. Kit meanwhile, was staring open mouth at him as their beer spilled to the table.
“Is that bad?” He asked.
“Bad for them. Tell you what, kid. What’s your name?” Robin was leaning forward now, pushing Ren’s drink toward him.
“Uh… Ren.” He mumbled, picking up the drink. He hadn’t really drank before, with rules on the university ark being pretty strict about alcohol, not that it stopped any of the frat boys from sneaking it on and going wild. He held it up closer to his face and could smell it in overpowering waves, slowly holding it up to drink before swallowing it, surprised at the taste. He grimaced, “How do people drink this?”
“You have a last name, Ren?” Kit prodded him, “Anybody we might know?”
“Calvert.” He murmured again, giving the beer another try with a deeper drink this time. It wasn’t so bad the second time around…
“Cool. Cool cool. So, here’s what we can do for you, Ren. Because you’re so lucky as to have run into the one woman and her beautiful first mate that the Parade will absolutely not mix shit up with, we will gladly deliver you home for a price.” Kit began, immediately jumping into a sales pitch as Robin sat back and watched them do their work. Ren was nodding along as Kit continued, “…so we’ll just negotiate a fee with your mother once we safely return you to her. How does that sound?”
“Uh…mom said she was sending someone down to get me once she gets my position locked down…” Ren said, finishing off the beer. He felt warm, fuzzy almost. His cares started to drift away. “They’ll probably find me here in a few minutes. I talked to her probably two hours ago now.”
“You’ve got the damn life kid, your mom’s one of the Six for the Strat. They’re big names with a lot of influence over Lower Atmos and Surface.” Robin read aloud to Ren from the brace screen, noticing he was starting to get tipsy and signaling the bartender for another, who quickly obliged. “Besides, you being a Stratter means you’re probably not feeling too hot down here.”
Ren gladly accepted the next beer she handed him, noticing it tasted much better than the last one, despite being the same. Maybe that was how alcohol worked? Did it taste better the more you had?
“You’re talking out loud, my dude.” Kit motioned toward him, waving a hand. “That just means you’re getting drunk. Robin, stop plying him, please. He’s precious cargo now.”
Ren giggled at this, taking another drink and feeling more confident in speaking his mind. He didn’t like social situations, always feeling as if he was just bothering everyone in the room by being there and trying to make himself as invisible as possible. This felt like the exact opposite, leading him to get a little theatrical.
“Yeah, my mom’s a delegate for Strat, not a big deal she’s just a bitchy woman with a title.” He said, a little too loud. Others around them began to quiet, taking notice after hearing about the delegate’’s child sitting nearby. They looked hungry, and Robin started to sit up, one hand on her mug and the other reaching toward the dagger at her hip. Kit was motioning for Ren to cool it, but he was feeling more confident than he ever had. “Yeah, she’s just an asshole. Not like she was ever really a mom in the first place. Everyone else raised me.”
“Jesus Christ Robin, you’ve got the kid shitfaced two beers in.” Kit was looking at Ren in shock and admiration, also putting a hand to their hip where a small pistol was holstered. Those around them went back to quietly talking, still keeping a keen eye on their table. “We should get out of here.”
“Agreed.” Robin said, pushing her chair back and slapping a few pieces of paper down on the table. Ren looked at the small notes, emblazoned with a tree and the number five.
“Is this money?” Ren asked, still perplexed. “I’ve never seen money.”
“Oh, and he’s an idiot drunk. Great, you really just hit the whole combo.” Kit started in sarcastically, breaking her seriousness halfway through to laugh. “Alright Ren, let’s get you to the Pidge.”
“I’ve told you to stop calling it that.” Robin rolled her eyes, snatching the money from Ren and putting it back on the table. She nodded to the bartender, who nodded back as she and Kit began to guide a stumbling Ren out, still babbling various curses about his mother.
“Look, I’m not certified or anything but I think therapy might be a great start for you.” Kit quipped again as Ren just kept going, using every damning word he knew to talk about her. “Again, just a recommendation but I’m not a professional. I’m a pirate. Just a goddamn pirate.”
Both sighed as they carried him through the bar doors and started off down the road toward the dock, with none noticing Aeris on the roof of the bar, taking off and circling far overhead as they walked through the light mist falling around the small port.
“So, we put him on the Pidge, then what?” Kit said again, looking toward their captain as they supported Ren between them. Robin shot her another look upon hearing that name.
“It’s the Pigeon. We’ve been together for how long and I tell you all the damn time so why do you keep calling it that?” Robin was getting annoyed, knowing it was because Kit enjoyed getting a little rise out of their captain every so often for fun. “We’re going to put him in the spare cabin and let him sober up while we get the hell out of here before more Banners show up looking for him.”
“Oh, and what’s this he said about a guy with a hole in his leg?” Kit started in again as they neared the docks, turning toward one of the long piers and making their way down. “If it’s half as bloody as he made it sound, we’ll be lucky if a damn Marcher doesn’t get called down here.”
“Exactly why I’m saying that we need to go.” Robin says again, stopping in front of a gray airship, flecked with black paint and smudged oil on the hull. They went up the ramp and onto the outer deck, moving over to the doorway into a small captain’s cabin with a set of stairs leading down. “Get her started, I’m going to bring him down out of sight.”
“Look, I don’t really feel safe with this.” Ren was slurring his speech and swaying in the breeze. He began to walk out toward the outer deck as the old ships’ engine sputtered to life, compact reactors powering boilers, sending steam hissing through the pipes of the ship and in concentrated jets out of the back exhaust. As he reached the door someone came up the ramp, brandishing a small plasma knife that was glowing hot white in their hand.
Ren, as a first time drunk idiot, opened the door for the man who immediately reached out and grabbed Ren’s collar, holding the knife to his throat and backing away down the ships deck as Robin stepped out with her grapple raised, Kit following behind with a gauss pistol pulled from the cabin. Ren stumbled back with the man, laughing in surprise as they went.
“Woah, man. It’s cool. I’m just trying to get a ride home.” Ren giggled, again swaying before feeling the knife’s edge knick his throat, immediately feeling an intense burn where it barely brushed. “Okay, mind turning that off? It’s a little too close. Just take me back to the university okay? I don’t want to deal with mom.”
“Robin. Please, never give people beer until you know their tolerance. Can we have that rule going forward?” Kit said, still not taking their eyes off Ren and the man, gauss pistol raised and ready. “Put him down man, you don’t know who you’re holding right now.”
“Oh, I do. He told the whole goddamn bar about who he was!” The man was shouting at them, still backing his way down the ramp. “I’m gonna take him, and we’re gonna talk to his mom about a few things. He’s gonna get me to Marcher at least… maybe Conductor if I’m lucky!”
“Talking to her is the last thing I want to do right now.” Ren slurred and chuckled, again nicking the knife and giving a sharp inhale of pain. “Is this gonna leave scars?”
“You’ll be lucky if you live long enough to see scars.” The man whispered, again putting the knife close and causing Ren to cry out in pain.
It was over in an instant. As soon as Ren cried out, a dark form dropped from where it had been circling, blending with the rolling charcoal clouds and of the Veil above. Ren yelped as the plasma knife dropped down, slicing and burning a mark through his shirt and down his chest, running to his lower abdomen and cauterizing itself as it touched. It hit the metal ramp with a small thud before sizzling through the metal and into the water below. Something warm soaked through the back of his shirt, making it stick onto his back through his undershirt.
“What the fu-“ the man didn’t finish his sentence before Aeris beat her wings again, ripping out the talons she had dug into his neck. He tumbled into the water below after his knife, leaving a trail of crimson behind.
Aeris came back and perched on the railing beside Ren, who lurched forward into it, feeling the same warm blood dripping from her feathers onto his hand. He was still woozy from the alcohol and even more after feeling the plasma trace its way down his front. He was lucky it didn’t fall too close, only cutting a shallow line down his torso, but it was unlike any pain he had ever felt, still feeling as if it was on fire.
“Alright, we’re taking off.” Robin said, grabbing for Ren before Aeris pecked at her and cried out a warning. “Goddamn. Okay.”
“Aeris, it’s okay. They’re helping me.” Ren said, still desperately trying to steady himself and reaching to Robin. He hadn’t expected to see Aeris kill someone… he looked at her, blood now running out of her wings as the rain replaced it. She preened at her feathers before looking at Ren, a squawk of concern coming out.
Robin reached out again, this time taking Ren’s hand without any interference from the bird of prey sitting on the railing. She had only seen these birds a few times, with most of them being much larger than this thing that could still fit on Ren’s shoulder, where she immediately fluttered to and perched, taking care not to press her talons in.
“This day keeps getting weirder.” Kit mumbled as Robin passed them, leading Ren and in turn Aeris down the stairs and into the cabin as Kit reeled in the anchor and poked their gauss pistol out of the doorway, shooting the tie holding them to the dock so they drifted freely. “Alright, Pigeon is free to fly.”
The airship began to lift itself off the rolling waves, first making jets in the water as it propelled itself over and up into the air, wings pointing up and blood on the deck running off as the wind streaked it against the ascending bird.
“Hoist sails when we get to a decent altitude. We’re not in a rush to get anywhere until we know how we can use him.” Robin said to Kit as they pulled at the controls, rising further into the sky toward the Veil above. They gave a thumbs up to Robin before she took Ren to the back of the bridge area, behind seats and another long console was a small door leading to a narrow staircase and corresponding hallway.
Robin led Ren down the hall, passing three doors before finally stopping at a fourth which she pushed open, despite protests from a man’s voice as she entered.
“Can’t I sleep in peace? Repairs kicked the shit out of me.” The person asked, Ren noting a man sitting on the bottom bunk to the left of the door, dark black hair accented by purple streaks, flying messily in every direction.
“Too bad you can’t repair that haircut...” Robin quipped back, noting how the colors stood out against his light brown skin. “Starting to look like those cartoons you love so much.”
“They’re called anime!” He groaned, raising hands to cover his face as Robin lowered Ren down on the bunk opposite him. Pointing from one to the other as she looked at both of them.
“Ren, Ash. Ash, Ren. You two get along while we wait for our lightweight friend here to sober up and make sure Kit can lose any Banners on our tail.” Ash perked up at this, sitting up in his bunk and almost cracking his head on the roof.
“Ow, shit! Banners? Why the hell are there Banners after us?” He finally started pulling a blanket off and flipping himself off the bed. He noticed Ren for the first time, stained scarlet with a hawk perched on his shoulder. “I’m dreaming. There’s no way you brought something this fuckin’ weird in.”
Aeris looked at him, a low chirp coming from her. Ren raised a hand and patted his newfound friends wing, soothing her.
“I’m Ren. I’m marked by whoever these pallbearer people are or something like that because my mom’s a delegate for Strat… let’s see yeah that’s pretty much where we’re at. Oh, and this is Aeris.” He gestures to her, she squawks in return, looking back to Robin who’s leaning against the doorway now, punching in info on a small screen on the underside of her grapple. “We just met but she had a dislocated wing I fixed and then I guess that I like imprinted on her or something because she’s just following me around now. Like, I tried to walk away from where I crashed in the forest and she pecked at me until I went toward the port? Isn’t that crazy?”
Ash looked to Robin, who briefly nodded as if to confirm his suspicions.
“Yeah, he’s a lightweight.” She mentioned, still punching numbers into her brace. “Kid had two beers down at the bar and this is the result. But his mom is gonna pay good money to get him back.”
“Hey!” Ren got indignant upon hearing this, “Are you seriously going to sell me back to them? Come on!”
“Hell yes I am, and you’re gonna go right along with it if you want to go back to your nice little life on an Ark.” She shot back, making Ash look from one to the other still in confusion.
“Am I in hell? Did I die in my sleep?” He began asking himself as the other two kept on.
“What if I don’t want to go back?” Ren spat back, folding his arms like a pouting toddler.
“Shit, I don’t care what you do as long as I get paid first.” Robin said, shrugging him off.
“Bet it was that steam flare. Yup, thought I missed it but probably got a face full. That makes sense.” Ash continued, speculating on all the ways he could have ended up in a figurative afterlife. “Nah. Too weird, even for hell.”
“Would you shut the hell up?” Robin said, motioning to him. “You’re awake, dammit. It’s just been a weird day.”
“Who the hell you telling?” Ash said, looking to his sister indignantly.
“I don’t want to go back. I’m tired of being there. All I get to do is go to school and study dumbass corporate law so I can be like mom and use it to step up to the Delegacy.” He was ranting again, Aeris now hopping off his shoulder and onto the floor. “I don’t want to do any of that. Hell, I’d rather be a pirate than that.”
Robin looked at him, pausing for a moment before looking over to Ash. They communicated without words.
“Is there something I’m missing?” Ren asked, looking at them in utter confusion as Aeris started looking around the small cabin, pecking her beak into any nook or cranny she found.
“So you’d rather be a pirate?” Ash said, scooting in closer to Ren on his own bunk, almost at the edge across from him. Robin took her attention off the brace, sizing Ren up again in a different lens. “Then maybe we can make an arrangement.”
Ren was beginning to feel tired sitting on the bunk, the days events quickly catching up to him as fatigue came roaring in with a vengeance. He began to lay back and curl into himself on the pillow. Aeris continued pecking around below, finishing her perimeter sweep and determining it was safe to roost for a while.
“Always dreamed of writing adventure stories.” He yawned, “Might be a good place for some inspiration.”
Robin and Ash looked at each other, surprise on their faces. Ash simply shrugged and rolled over in his bunk, also letting out a yawn. Robin gave a snort and turned to the door. Before walking out she looked back to Aeris.
“Don’t make any mess.” She said, giving the bird a stern look as she walked away. As the sliding door closes Ash speaks up, not turning his head but speaking to Ren intentionally.
“She’ll let you stay if you want. Just have to prove your worth.” It was half mumbled with sleep, and he said no more. Ren gave no indication as to if he heard it or not, drifting off into unconscious bliss after a long day.