Cold iron bars and rough stone blocks were the only things that kept her from the warmth of the moonlight that kept Ceres company around this time of year. The moon in this lower domain never left sight of the inhabitants—that was unless they had been locked up.
Veltaire groaned as vision rushed back to her—she had just finished from an awful nightmare that had been plaguing her the past few weeks. She never retained much of the detail—she suspected if she did she could at least find some mental way to prevent it from returning, but like a curse upon her dreams she continued.
This sight was not an uncommon one for her, unfortunately. The Ceres guard force were not keen on the Low Kids that persisted despite the ample hand against them in this life. Still, her situation wasn’t as bad as it could have been.
As Veltaire rubbed her temples, trying to shake off the remnants of the nightmare, the sound of footsteps echoed down the dimly lit corridor outside her cell. She looked up, curiosity mingling with a hint of apprehension. It wasn't often that anyone paid her a visit in this lonely place. The guards must have been off their schedule.
*click*
She could have been without friends.
She darted to her feet—her violet hair clinging close to her neck—she hadn’t realized how damp it had been down here, the warmth from the outside would thankfully also bring a much needed breeze that the lower depths of these prison cells could hardly afford.
*clack*
The second sound was the sign for her to move—and to move fast. She grabbed for the pick stuck in her hair—a trick Lycoris had suggested that she honestly couldn’t believe had worked. The guards had gotten careless ever since the Looneys started causing their own sort of ruckus. While Veltaire hadn’t been one of their conspiratorial brigade, any sort of distraction from her friends was acceptable.
She bent and stuck the pick in—normally she’d need another tool to help pry the lock open, but she knew from past experience that these locks were so busted you could get by with just a pick. She slid it in and undid the mechanism enough to swing the door open.
She turned and saw the knob of the door at the end of the hall turn. Quickly she raised her hand to her chest and whispered, “Ivese.”
Her skin shifted as the light around her formed a sort of cocoon—perfectly hiding her from view. To an outsider, it would look as if there existed nothing where she stood—light from all sides refracted around her—around the field she had concocted and the best part was she could localize it around herself. Unlike most of the magic she could conjure, it required very little external stimuli. Ivese was a simple alteration spell she picked up on—altercation typically required a bit of metal and some internal energy. Thankfully she had the pick in hand to absorb as the physical element of the field.
The energy was a small price to pay, but she always made good on her purchases. At least, when she could.
A guard stepped into the room not moments later, but she knew something was up when she noticed her gait was...off. The guard’s arms were held tightly to her side as if they were bound, and she took long, elongated steps into the room. Veltaire couldn’t see her face through the dark of the room, but she was sure she would have seen a vacant expression if she could.
Behind the guard rang a jingling sound, and Lycoris stepped out with a key ring around her wrist. Her blonde hair was tied into a ponytail using some twine, and a look of disappointment rung across her face when she saw Veltaire had already gotten out of her cell.
“Oh, I was going to make a big show of it,” she said, dejected.
Veltaire could only laugh. “You’re the one that taught me about this,” she dispelled the alteration and held the remainder of the lock pick in her hand. The spell had taken a chunk off of it—so it now remained as a tin slab, useless as anything other than a paperweight now. Not even worth an Ivese of longer than a few seconds in that state. The charge up would take it completely.
Lycoris sighed and tossed the keys to the floor. They echoed across the room and walked up to Veltaire, pulling her into a hug. She was warm—not in the way the dungeon down here was warm—but in the way that putting her arms back around was a natural sensation. “You could have at least given me the joy of breaking you out if you’re going to make me worry like that.”
Veltaire scoffed, “You needn’t worry about me. I always find a way out of here, your signal was a good starting place, though.”
Lycoris cracked a smile—the grin showed the space where one of her front teeth had been knocked out—the fight that caused that damage was probably the closest that they all were to losing it all.
The rain had been falling for what seemed like days—and Trip—the brains of their operations had laid out a plan to secure some coats to grin and bear through the rough weather. Rainy days were always when his best plans seemed to come together—and similarly it seemed when she and Lycoris were best apt to perform their talents to secure their goals. Tempus hated the rain, though. Always gave him doubts—said it made it infinitely hard to keep an eye on the two of them as they got up to no good.
That night, though, no good was had by all. It should have been the perfect plan, but unfortunately…
"Yeah, that was a close call," Lycoris admitted, her voice tinged with a mixture of pride and somberness. "But we made it through, just like we always do."
They released each other from the embrace, and Lycoris took a step back, her gaze lingering on Veltaire. "Let's regroup with the others and get out of here. We have a plan, and we're not going to let anything or anyone stop us."
Veltaire nodded.
“Well, I can’t say I’m not happy you’re finally taking my advice.” Lycoris said. Her smile faded as she turned to the guard, “She’s going to be out for a while longer, what say we eject and meet back up with the others? I think Trip secured us dinner plans.”
Veltaire nodded and followed behind.
Lycoris started to hate her smile after that night—the loud beats of thunder seemed to accent the moment even deeper. Veltaire knew that Lycoris hadn’t blamed her for how things got so fucked up...but that was almost worse—like she was only not saying so because it would make her feel worse about the situation.
It was a job to get some coats—that’s all it should have been. Simple, harmless really. The farmers have had a surplus of linen so it wasn’t like they were taking from those who needed…
“Vel, behind you!” Lycoris’ voice rang in her ears like the resounding of a deep bell. She closed her eyes and envisioned the sounds around her—the trampling of footsteps in sopping wet rain. The crackling of thunder amidst a blank background. The resulting fire that grew. The scene had turned chaotic—people had grown chaotic.
If she were a betting woman she would have assumed her nightmares had something to do with that day. But, something inside her seemed to ring hollow—that that wasn’t the entire truth.
She shoved the thought back to the depths and picked up her pace—she noticed she had fallen behind as Lycoris was near jogging. They ducked around corners and finally found moonlight greet their faces as they stepped out onto the grassy field that spilled out from the secret passage they had used to escape the prison an umpteen number of times. They had hidden the exit well in the depths of the storage area the guards hadn’t bothered to clean so much as investigate in who knew how long.
They were honestly very lucky that the guard-staff had been so incompetent. That was what it boiled down to. While their abilities were able to get them out of sticky situations, it always boiled down to their ability to exploit the very obvious flaws in the system—to tear open those holes, but keep the lid on it to preserve the tearability, as it were.
Ceres was not well off—of all the city states of the Kingdom of Redrum, it was perhaps the poorest. It lay lowest to the ground—hence the name of the ruffians given by the guards—the Low Kids. Those that were low born were destined for disparity. Those that lived in much higher grounds—places of nobler birth so said the queen—then they were given the benefit of such common goods as food and shelter to bear even the most rugged of storms.
Veltaire looked up to the sky and noticed an odd formation of clouds that looked almost like that of an outstretched arm. The part of the arm that connected to the shoulder seemed to disappear into the skies above, but she knew there was nothing to seeing shapes in the familiar.
“Are we close to the rendezvous point?”
“How long have you wanted to say rendezvous point?” Lycoris asked, chuckling. She slowed to match Veltaire’s pace now that they were out of the building.
Veltaire blushed, and noticed off in the distance two figures sitting atop a parked wheel barrel full of hay.
“Does that answer your question?” Lycoris chuckled softly, and then reached for Veltaire’s arm and picked up her pace, waving her other arm. “Hey guys, I sprung the jailbird! Problem though, she’s gotten a little hysteric since being locked up!”
“You mean I happened to spring myself,” Veltaire corrected. “Though I admit the guards being taken care of was a nice side effect.”
“See, just like I told you,” Lycoris began. “All kooky from the time in the slammer. Thinks she’s all big and independent now.”
“Independent?” Tempus asked, his voice had sounded a little strained. The mark on his eye had implied he’d recently been in some sort of scuffle. “They teaching you that whole freedom thing there in the big house?”
“Very funny,” Veltaire laughed. “I don’t know if I’d call it independence. ‘sides, I don’t think I’d be able to spring any of our heists without the lot of you—speaking of plans though, Lyc did mention you had gotten us food arrangements?” She looked over to Trip.
He adjusted the glasses that rested softly on the bridge of his nose and he flashed a grin. “Sure do. One Jacksoth Kadd has graced us with a special reservation at the Ceresian hot spot of the century.”
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Veltaire’s eyes widened, “No way, you got reservations at Comet’s Tail?”
Trip’s face turned to one of confusion for a moment before he realized and then started to laugh. “Gods, no. I hope you realize I have as much money as you all do. No, he’s letting us eat at Starlight. Comet Tail is much too fine dining for even his generosity.”
Jacksoth was a famed resturanteur in the region and had been known for starting up multiple establishments across Redrum. Comet’s Tail had been a restaurant that overlooked Ceres from atop a nearby hill closer to Entranza. Jacksoth had a fascination of the stars above and chose to build his locations from where they could be complemented by the stars above.
“Starlight is still very nice, though,” Lycoris added in. “I mean any food prepared by a human is better than gutter trash.”
“Oh, no don’t get me wrong that is still fantastic. We’ll have to thank him when we see him. Thank you Trip, for setting it up.”
Trip flashed a thumbs up—and she noticed a few cuts and bruises on his hand. She had been locked up for only a night—just what kind of trouble had they gotten into in that short time?
Trip had noticed her staring and he put his hand down. “It’s nothing,” he said. “Just some punks that thought they could get the upper hand over us since you were uh...indisposed of.”
“I hope they looked worse?” Veltaire said, concern running across her face.
“Oh, you should have seen them,” Tempus said, stretching against the wheel barrel. “Had one of them in a headlock until he called for his mommy—it was great.”
Lycoris sighed. “Boys...can’t leave them alone for a minute, can you?”
“Uh, excuse me,” Trip turned to her. “I seem to recall you sticking the leader’s legs together like he were some bound ragdoll.”
“Of course. I handled them efficiently. Do you see any cuts and bruises over this face? I don’t think so.”
Veltaire noticed the smallest of hesitation as she finished. She knew that it brought back the memory and she pulled back.
“I for one think it’s great you all can handle yourselves without me, but maybe next time we’ll try to not get so wounded, got it?”
“Aye aye, capitan. Besides, I’m sure you would have roughed them up much as we did.”
“Let me guess,” Veltaire said. “Their insults were as base and foolish as I could imagine?”
Tempus scoffed. “Can you even think of someone being transphobic and not offering the most base level cliché levels of dumb.”
Veltaire sighed. “If it weren’t so prevalent among the ignorant I think I would almost be offended.” She sighed.
She knew that her identity would cause an extremely easy target to be painted on her back from people who cared very little for others. It didn’t sway her in her decision to accept herself for who she was, but she did feel bad that it attracted so much bad company to her companions. They, of course, were more than happy to bloody themselves up fighting for her honor. The feeling was mutual, of course, and so they carried on as the Low Kids of Ceres.
“Well, let’s get you your reward and me some good food. I’m ready to have anything other than the grool they served on their diseased plates.”
“That’s what I’m talking about,” Trip said. He clapped his hands together and shot up off the wheel barrel. “I’ll lead the way, protect you fine folks from anything that should come across our path,” he bowed and placed his hand on his chest.
“Protect us my ass,” Tempus scoffed. “We all know you’d delegate as soon as the most minor inconvenience came up.”
Trip held up his hands, “Nuh uh. I’ve got scars now to prove it.”
“Scars,” Lycoris laughed. “You’ve got cuts at most, sweet boy.”
Trip lowered his fists, embarrassed. “Aw, come on. You know how I feel about you calling me sweet boy.”
“I know, that’s why I do it. Because you know I’m teasing and not anything else.”
Trip sighed. “Okay, well we can get a move on now if you’re done teasing.”
Lycoris patted him on the back and laughed heartily. “Come on, I’ll keep an eye out for you.”
As they walked through the dusty streets of Ceres, the Low Kids couldn't help but attract attention. It seemed almost inevitable considering their dress and local reputation. Veltaire couldn’t blame them necessarily. Lycoris, with her vibrant red hair and fierce demeanor was probably the first thing people latched onto as they continued down the street. Then they probably went to Tempus with his muscular build and stoic expression. To them, that obviously meant danger and a response of apprehension.
Trip would most likely get glossed over because then their judgmental eyes would dawn on Veltaire and she could pinpoint the exact moment their disposition would turn from concern to disgust. It welled up immense emotions from within that she knew she couldn’t act on lest she play into their prejudices.
Lycoris walked with her hand resting casually on the hilt of her worn-out blade, her gaze scanning the surroundings. She had always been the vigilant one, the protector of the group, and her senses were finely attuned to any potential threat. "Keep your wits about you, everyone," she warned, her voice low but authoritative. "People will stare now but you can never tell who will decide to risk it all."
Tempus nodded in agreement, his eyes focused ahead. "They'll be looking for an opportunity to strike back. We can't afford to let our guard down, not even for a moment."
Trip, feeling the weight of the responsibility placed on him, tried to lighten the mood. "Well, at least we'll have a good meal waiting for us at the end of this," he said, grinning.
Lycoris smirked and playfully bumped Trip's shoulder. "You and your stomach are always on the same wavelength, aren't you?"
Veltaire was still thinking within until she picked up her head and saw the overlook of Starlight, and the grumbling in her stomach pushed all other thoughts out of her head.
They saw Jacksoth standing out in front of the building, conversing with one of the servers and decided to pick up their pace. Veltaire had grown incredibly hungry since her time being locked up and her mouth had started to water.
As Veltaire and her companions approached Jacksoth, the tantalizing aroma of freshly cooked food wafted through the air, intensifying her hunger. The server Jacksoth was talking to held a tray of mouthwatering dishes, and Veltaire's gaze fixated on the colorful array of delicacies.
Her stomach grumbled again, reminding her of the days she spent in confinement, barely surviving on meager rations. The hunger had become a constant companion, gnawing at her from the inside. But now, standing before the prospect of a satisfying meal, Veltaire's anticipation grew exponentially.
"Jacksoth!" she called out, her voice tinged with urgency and longing.
Jacksoth turned towards their group, his eyes widening as he recognized Veltaire and her friends. A smile played at the corners of his mouth, mirroring the anticipation in Veltaire's expression. He whispered something to the server and dismissed him, patting him on the shoulder as he re-entered the restaurant.
"Ah! My children. So glad you made it," Jacksoth exclaimed, gesturing toward the bustling building behind him. "We've got good pickings today—you should see it. The trade from port has been delectable.”
Lycoris stepped closer, “That sounds excellent. We’re incredibly thankful you’re willing to put out for us.”
Jacksoth laughed and flashed a toothy grin. “Well of course. You lot have been keeping those guards as hungry as ever and sending them my way with all your antics. I do have to say I appreciate none of your pilfering being at any of my establishments as well.”
“Well of course,” Lycoris said. “We’d never bite the hand that offers us the best food in the city.”
“Flattery is of course always accepted,” Jacksoth said. “Now, I am going to escort you in through the back, you can come sit in my office so you’re out of the open air.”
“Oh, we would have been fine just eating out in the back,” Veltaire said. “We understand that the dining room would be out of the question.”
Jacksoth made a motion with his hands. “It’s a good day. Consider it on me.”
“Well thank you very much, sir,” Tempus said. He had coughed to clear his throat, as it was obvious he was not used to the pleasantries.
Jacksoth nodded and then began to lead them. As they passed the front entrance Veltaire caught glimpses of succulent roasted meats, platters of steaming vegetables, and aromatic dishes she couldn't identify. Her mouth watered uncontrollably, and she could almost taste the explosion of flavors on her tongue.
Veltaire's heart swelled with gratitude as she followed Jacksoth as he opened the rear entrance that lead to the kitchens. The interior of the building was bathed in warm light, lively music playing in the background, and the chatter of satisfied patrons filling the air. The atmosphere was electric, buzzing with joy and celebration.
The smell of the food was abundant and even though she noticed some glances from the kitchen staff, the feelings that came with it paled in comparison to everything else.
Jacksoth had lead the group to his office—a small-ish room but...well, he had been right. It offered seating for all four of them and it was much more comfortable than leaning up against the side of the building in view of any vagrants crossing by.
“I’ll have some appetizers made up for you—it should be more than enough to satisfy, I should think.”
“Thank you very much,” Veltaire said, nodding.
The food came out in no short time—Lycoris had seen how quickly the workers had been working—probably on Jacksoth’s request, so she sat back and waited to bring the group discussion forward until the food had been divvied out.
Without wasting a moment, Veltaire grabbed a succulent piece of roasted meat and took a bite. The flavors exploded in her mouth, a perfect blend of spices and tenderness that sent waves of pleasure through her entire being. Her hunger started to fade away, replaced by a deep satisfaction. “If these are the appetizers, I cannot imagine what the full courses must look like,” she said in-between bites.
As she savored each bite, Veltaire looked around the room, feeling a sense of camaraderie and warmth. She had come a long way from her days of confinement, and now she was surrounded by friends, feasting on a well-deserved meal. In that moment, Veltaire vowed to never forget the hunger she had endured, using it as a reminder to savor every opportunity, embrace every moment of joy, and share her abundance with those in need.
“Well, maybe one day we’ll get to properly partake...but until that point I think we have some important matters to discuss,” Lycoris said.
“Oh, you mean about the Looneys?” Tempus said. His cheeks stuffed.
“Yes, I have gathered some new intel on them,” Trip said, wiping his face with the side of his hand. “Turns out they’ve got someone new to stand behind. Calling themselves the Oracle, if you can believe it.”
“How prissy can you get?” Lycoris scoffed. “Sounds just right for them, though.”
“What’s new about this Oracle?” Veltaire asked. “I’m out of the loop as you might expect.”
“From what I’ve been able to hear, seems they’re pinning an actual date down for their day of destiny.”
“Like that kind of behavior won’t get immediately blown back once the date comes and goes and nothing happens.”
“Right, but something is a bit off with this one, I think. I heard rumor that this new Oracle of theirs has made some spot on predictions.”
“Predictions?” Tempus asked. “You’re going to have to be a bit more specific than that.”
“Well…” Trip said. “Supposedly he predicted that the trade in port today would be massive...much more than in recent times. Specifically called it an unyielding boon for Ceres unlike any other in the past ten years.”
“Okay, that’s a bit odd, but surely we were meant to have some sort of economic growth, you know? Who’s to say this Oracle person hasn’t been playing the long game and just predicting the next big day would be the one until it finally was?”
Trip held his hands up in defense. “I’m just the messenger. I have only heard what others are wanting to part with. If you’re so keen we could go to one of their meetings—I’m sure we could find the garments to sneak in.”
“Hm, intruding on the local conspiracy nuts does sound like a fun time, but I’m not sure if it’s a necessarily productive one.” Lycoris said. She then turned to Veltaire. “I dunno, I’ll leave the decision up to you. You’ve been out of the brink for barely longer than a wink. What do you want to do?”