:08/17/2251:
10:30 AM
From Fruit cart 13B, I had failed to actually sell any oranges, but by then end of the hour, I had noticed a number of interesting things. There was, apparently, a goblin prostitute plying her trade in an alley on the far side of the street, for example. She wasn't trying to be all that discrete, I could tell, and though the deep moans were lost somewhat in the noise of the crowd, they were still somewhat audible once you knew what it was that you were listening for. There were pickpockets too, I found, a group of ragged teenagers walking back and forth up and down the street. They would occasionally run into someone, apologizing profusely before running off, mostly leaving their marks flat-footed and unaware of what had happened.
Having a good hour to kill, I spent the time tracking one of the little thieves. A little gnome boy, who couldn't have been older than fifteen, had been darting into view off and on while I had been minding the oranges. He caught my eye, I think, because unlike the others beneath the dirt there was a little cherub face. As if innocence had been personified and dropped into the dirt and the squalor here. It was heartbreaking, really, and every time I saw his little hand dart out, grabbing a purse or patting a coat, it was like a little piece of me died.
I waited for a few minutes, standing by my little rickety cart until I saw his face peak out of the crowd again. Darting between the men and women, his little hands darting out for what little they had.
I followed the boy for some time until, finally, I saw him dart into an alleyway. Not the same one as the prostitute, thankfully. And I shadowed his steps into the dark...er cleft between the curved walls. Once I too was in the narrow confines, however, I found that I had completely lost sight of the kid.
Slowly, carefully, I traced my steps forward to the end of the alley and, only there under a pile of dirt and refuse, I again caught sight of his face. The expression wasn't angelic this time, however, but feral, and no sooner had my eyes found his, spotting him tucked away under garbage and grime then he moved to dart past me back down the alley.
Instinctively, I attempted to move a bladed wing out to stop him. And... I attempted it again. But nothing happened, and it was only my boosted dexterity that allowed me the time to recover from the shock and stick out my hand instead, blocking his path. His eyes darted back and forth, looking for an opening, but my focus for the moment wasn't on the kid but rather on my stunned and unmoving wings. Finally, after several moments of struggling, a notification flashed into view.
Additional limbs detected.Insufficient system resources detected. Allocating additional resources to user: Magpie Frost.
Error: Failed
Attempting to resolve...
A loading circle was spinning next to the text and I quickly waved it away with my eyes before looking back at the boy. "Stop," I said, my voice calm and low as if telling him a secret. "Thief."
The child didn't understand, however, and hissed at me, dodging in as if to take my legs before feinting quickly away. "What you going to do, I don't remember taking anything from you lady." He hissed and darted toward me again, "Leave me alone."
I shook my head, adjusting my stance in time with his quick movements demonstrating that I was considerably faster than he. The job required me to don the peasant garb, but it hadn't said anything about my rapier. And it was the inherent bonus of the epic blade that boosted my speed enough that the poor kid wouldn't have had a chance. And he was starting to realize that. "No kid, I'm not here for me. I'm here for all those poor people out there who won't be able to eat tonight because of some snot-nosed brat's greedy fingers."
His eyes widened, the fear echoing across his face as the reality of his position started to set in, but his mouth didn't quiver. The dead set frown on his lips was both arrogant and challenging as he turned up his chin at me. "Oh, what are you the white knight, come to deliver justice on behalf of the 'people,'" he spat at his feet. "Please. Do you have any idea what it's like to die, over and over again, as you feel your body slowly starving to death in this place, until the only thing you look forward two are the few minutes of peace when you're gone - Floating, finally, in the dark, painless nothing of death?"
Attempting to resolve...
Biological Restrictions Active.
Biological Restrictions set to expire: 08.10.2278
I shrugged at him, attempting a grim smile like I had seen Olga give in her vids, "And the people you stole from, how many of them did you just condemn to the same fate. How many people will go to bed without anything to eat tonight because of you now?"
He again hacked up some flem, taking his time in that little act of defiance, before spitting a much larger glob of slime at my legs. I pulled my rapier, almost instinctively as the wet ball splattered my toes, but it didn't turn out to really be necessary. He growled at me, "So what, you the righteous, defender of the people will stab me? Batter me into a little pulp in the name of justice for some people you never met. Please. Kill me if you want," he seemed serious, though he spoke the words unflinchingly, "murder me here in the alleyway but don't you dare pretend you're noble. You like hurting people, as I like eating. And you like it even better when you have an excuse to feel good about yourself afterward. The big, bad deliveror of justice. Who can hurt and maim and kill and walk away from it smelling of roses."
Attempting to resolve...
Biological Restrictions expiration set to: 08.10.2251
Days until expiration: -7
Removing Biological Restrictions for user: Magpie Frost
Variance Restrictions... Removed
Syndicate Regulatory Oversight... Unflagged
DDO Interface Lock: BlueFushima... Deactivated
*WARNING!* Failure to observe variance recommendations for extended periods may result in corruption of memory data.
I waved away the system notifications as DDO worked through the error with my wings, without reading them. As interesting as system and error notifications tended to be, I was a bit busy at the moment. The little brat in front of me had turned out to be a smart little thing, and my mind reeled at his words. The idea that my little attempt to scare the kid straight here was little more than a kind of bullying, no different than I had myself experienced for so many years, it caught in my heart. And I felt myself slightly wavering.
Because the kid was right. For the first time since I came to this world I felt like I was clearly superior, I knew in my heart that I was the Wolf, that I was the hero, absolutely superior in combat and guaranteed to come out ahead if blows came to blows. And yet... I was also standing in a dark alleyway looming over a starving, unarmed child with a bare sword in my hand. And, in his own way, he was absolutely right.
"Fuck," I said and I blinked, lowering the blade. I saw him starting to inch past me, as far away as he could possibly get, when the world suddenly caught fire, spinning into a field of white spots. I don't know what happened with the kid. If he ran away, if he crept slowly, or even if he just darted back and found a better hiding spot. What I do know is as my vision clouded there was a wave of pure, unmitigated agony that washed through every inch of my body. It didn't feel dulled, it didn't feel like it had taken my 50% pain reduction even into effect, it felt like the wolves were again tearing my apart, limb from limb, but somehow managing to do it over and over and over again without even the brief respite of death.
I came to lying on the stone of the alleyway, drool puddling around my mouth and my legs twisted at funny angles. The back of my head hurt where I had clearly banged it against something on the way down, but compared to the searing agony of moments before, it felt like little more than a pinprick against my skin. And flashing there in front of my vision, eating out the dark ambiance of the Undercity, was my final notification:
Allocating additional resources to user: Magpie Frost
Error: Failed
Error: Failed
Unknown Error: Synthetic Personality Core could not be found
Re-evaluating: User 'Magpie Frost' Psyche
Error found. Available system resources detected. Activating unused synthological functions...
Complete. Capacity Increase Successful.
User 'Magpie Frost' Psyche set to: 5
I shook my head at the words. This had to be some kind of a practical joke. "Fucking Gray," I muttered, shaking my head, even as I used my wings to push myself to my feet, and hobbled along as much with my claws as with my tingling feet. Hurm, I noticed, At least they're working again.
I decided that as soon as I saw Gray again, we were going to have a long chat, and I wandered around between the stalls to get my blood flowing and to familiarize myself a bit more with this part of the city during the rest of my remaining time. It would have been nice if there were trainers here, so I could have started back into my fencing lessons or maybe even pick up a profession, but the other merchants were standing behind stalls just as bad, if not worse than mine.
No, it was quite clear that these would be a long two hours every day, even including the time I wouldn't have to be standing in front of the cart. And I started paying less attention to the filth and the smells, but more to what it was that the people here were doing to pass the time.
Even that was something of a disappointment. It quickly became clear that, unless I wanted to buy, sell, or entertain myself with the goblin woman, there would be very little to distract me from the time. Everyone hurried along, rarely stopping to talk to one another and clutching closely to their garments as if they were about to be attacked in a moment. Hardly a word was spoken by the populace, and no one seemed to want to spare a moment more than they had to out in the open if they could possibly avoid it.
The whole thing was maddeningly depressing, and I spent the time playing around with my wings, shifting my weight to them and back, walking around like a spider on my claws until I collapsed to the ground in exhaustion. It was amazing to me how much easier they moved, and how much more instinctively they now seemed to respond to my every thought.
Finally, after an eternity of nothing had seemed to pass and I realized I was drawing attention even from those who otherwise were keeping their eyes firmly pointed at the ground in front of them, the actual notification I had been waiting for finally appeared.
Congratulations: Daily Employee Project Complete
Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.
Performance evaluation: A Grade
Reward: Key to apartment 13B (Permanent)
Excited, I quickly bought up the new key from the interface and searched for where my new house would be. But... after checking and double checking again, I realized that I was even now standing right in front of it. Behind me, in the large building with stains of urine and feces dribbling down from the windows, at the end of the hall on the first floor... that was where I would find my reward.
And, after opening the main door and wandering along the unlit corridor of the complex, I found that my new home lived down to every one of my expectations and then some.
With a bucket, a blanket that had little... spots... crawling across it almost too small to see, and a little window that looked out at the fine sight of... yet another grimy wall, it was absolutely everything that I had thought it would be.
Yay.