RP: The Fringe [Chapter 4.3c] - Walk In The Park

[Floodwaters]

Dawn Station - Sector Nine City, Uppermost Level - Starlight Park - Late Afternoon/Early Evening

High above the majority of the massive urban sprawl that dominated the central hub of Dawn, on the topmost tier of the city and encircled by the caps of the titanic skyscrapers that still towered high above, silhouetted against the simulated early evening sky, a sprawling green space served as the crown atop the shining jewel of the Origin station. The crisp, cool breeze wafted across the gently rolling hills and carefully manicured lawns, crisscrossed by impeccably clean paved footpaths, and dotted with fountains and reflecting pools of various geometric shapes and sizes. A few generic monuments were erected here and there, many of which had benches flanking them, and generally affluent-looking citizens strolled along the walkways casually, while others in workout garbs weaved around them as they enjoyed a refreshing evening jog. Some of the brightest stars in the artificial sky above were starting to make their presence known as the powder blue hue faded to a deepening purple, splashed with the oranges and reds of the sunset.

Seth had been told to meet the captain of this ship on which the motley group he'd met at the diner the previous day served. However, they had given him little to go by other than instructions to wait for her by the diamond-shaped fountain with two spires, the one that rose up before him now. As he approached, the sound of water gently cascading down from the top of the twenty-foot-tall, minimalistic stone monoliths met his ears, and when he looked around, he could see people strolling by in many directions, but nobody that appeared to be waiting to meet someone. A pair of young boys dressed in what appeared to be school uniforms were standing with their backs to him, staring at the water, until one of them shoved the other into the water and scampered off, giggling, while the other one cried out in surprise and frustration, splashing around in the shallow water before regaining his feet and giving chase.

There was an empty bench nearby, facing the fountain, accompanied by several others like it parallel with each face of the fountain.

 

[Compouds117]

Seth strode over to the nearby empty bench and sat on the end, placing his bag on the ground beside him. He spent a moment watching the running kids but quickly became uninterested. Sipping the coffee he got on the way here he casually looked around at the scenery and glanced at the people. Seth felt a little uneasy and overlayed the map of the area on his glasses and began to study it.

 

[Floodwaters]

Starlight Park - By the Diamond-Shaped Fountain

Examining the map of his environs that he'd downloaded from an information kiosk revealed that the vast majority of the city's top tier was green space and recreational areas, surrounded by a ring of skyscrapers perhaps four or five blocks thick. The best he could tell, the buildings that ringed the park extended all the way down to the bottom of the hub, making the massive spires he could see in every direction no more than the very tip-top of a megalithic building of gargantuan proportions. Still, though, just by looking around, it did a phenomenal job of giving the illusion that he was sitting in a central park of a planetside metropolis in the approaching dusk, and not aboard a space station.

While he was engrossed in the map, he heard an airy, mezzo-soprano voice behind him suddenly speak, startling him. "So you're the guy my crew thinks I gotta meet, hmm?"

Looking over his shoulder, he could see a modestly tall young woman with auburn hair cut short of her eyebrows and neck, feathered lightly to one side, and dressed in earth tones. Sturdy-looking black cargo pants were tucked into calf-high work boots, and a thick coat covered her torso, open in the front to reveal a dark green tank top tucked beneath a chrome-clasped belt. She carried herself with an air of quiet confidence, her shoulders pulled back and her stance nonchalant, the kind of self-assurance that simultaneously felt no compulsion to call attention to itself, and yet dared someone to challenge her. Still, though, despite her tough and cocky posture, her eyes had dark circles beneath them, and her face looked slightly pale compared to the rest of what little skin Seth could see.

And she was looking Seth over with a disinterested expression that seemed to without words say, This had better not be a waste of my time.

 

[Compouds117]

"Uh yeah, that would be me Ma'am," Seth said rising to his feet and turning to face the woman. If there was anything he took from the conversation in the diner it would be to not get on this lady's bad side. "Would you care to have a seat and then we can talk," He asked. Unsure how to proceed Seth just stood their waiting.

 

[Floodwaters]

The young woman replied with a monosyllabic grunt and a non-committal shrug, motioning for Seth to sit back down as she moved in his direction. Her gait was much slower and more measured than he might otherwise have expected from her posture, suggesting that something wasn't quite right with her at the time. From the looks of it, he could guess, she seemed to be struggling with a mild headache, or perhaps, judging from her somewhat pallid face, the tail end of a hangover.

She pulled her hands from her coat pockets, placing her empty left one on the back of the bench to help guide herself around it as she maneuvered to the other side, and nudged her chin in his direction, non-verbally insisting he scoot away and give her as much space as the seat would allow. With her right hand she withdrew a partially-consumed clear plastic bottle of water from her coat pocket, and with a cautious, deliberate motion, she lowered herself onto the far end of the bench, her body language and facial expression making it as apparent as she could that her personal space was not to be violated.

As she sat down, she exhaled, as if she was relieved to be off of her feet again. Opening the bottle of water, she looked Seth over from head to toe, then looked out towards the fountain, reclining and extending her legs out in front of her, crossing her ankles one over the other as she took a long drink from the bottle. The silence between them lingered for a few seconds.

Finally, without looking at him, the young woman sighed. "Well?" she said expectantly, and rested the open bottle on the armrest, still gazing at the fountain. "Impress me."

 

[Compouds117]

Seth quietly sat down and moved over to the edge of the bench. Sitting there twiddling his thumbs as he tried to think of something to say Seth felt rather appreciative that the woman broke the silence but a new challenge showed itself in the form of her words.

"Well, Ma'am, I uh," Seth said pausing for a moment as he grasped at the words floating around in his head. "I'm decent in a scrap when it comes to good old fashioned hand to hand combat and can drive several different types of vehicles. I'm also not any kind of outstanding pilot but I'm a fast learner," he said grimacing as it hit him how weak his skill set sounded before something occurred to him.

"I also know some guys that I've had dealings with in Nepleslia that might be able to help sell things that you deal with and acquire. I also know some magic tricks." He had no idea why he added that last part but it had sounded good and his head and as he didn't really have anything else he could talk about he went for it. As long as she didn't take it seriously and wasn't a fan of magic tricks he should be fine as he wasn't ready or necessarily certain he remembered any fully.

 

[Floodwaters]

While Seth was talking, the athletic-looking and hung-over young woman sat reclined in her seat, occasionally taking a swig from her bottle, watching the water cascade down the fountain spires in front of them, cursorily glancing at passers-by -- doing pretty much anything but giving Seth any indication she was paying attention to him at all. She never interrupted him, but the relaxed posture and lack of eye contact conveyed her apparent lack of interest well enough.

However, when the tidbit about knowing magic tricks spilled out, she turned her head slightly towards him, her greenish-brown eyes fixing on his as she cocked an eyebrow. One corner of her lips twitched upwards in the shadow of an amused grin. "Magic tricks?" she echoed whimsically. While the tone of her voice seemed to suggest she was either intrigued or humorously bewildered, her facial expression remained mostly detatched and aloof aside from the quickly-vanishing grin, making it difficult to discern her true reaction. "So you're a driver, a fighter, you can get in contact with a fence... and you're a birthday clown, too?" she asked him wryly.

 

[Compouds117]

Seth's face reddened slightly at the question and an embarrassed grin presented itself on his face. "I was a clown for a couple weeks a year ago so I guess you could say that, but I didn't enjoy wearing the getup and decided to move onto other things," he replied purposely omitting the part about getting fired for yelling at a chubby kid that ate too much cake and then decided to play in the bouncy castle, right before the kid threw up on him. "Do you not like clowns or did you just not expect such a great skill," he asked half joking.

 

[Floodwaters]

The young woman stared blankly at Seth for a few seconds before the shadow of a grin returned, this time on both corners of her lips, and she snickered slightly, looking him over from head to toe as if regarding him derisively from atop a horse, or perhaps from a throne. "No," she replied, with a subtly entertained tone. "I was being sarcastic. I didn't think you'd actually admit that, even if it was true." She took another pull from her bottle of water, never taking her stony gaze off of him, and crossed her legs. "So you got a name?" she inquired.

 

[Compouds117]

"Well ma'am I didn't see a problem in admitting it, that would be such a pointless detail to lie about," Seth replied easily, He in no way liked how she was looking at him and it was starting to bug him slightly. "Yes ma'am I do in fact have a name. I'm Sam," he replied trying to sound kind enough but he was having trouble remembering his last name. "Was is Palmer or Polanski? It was somethin' that started with a P, I know that much," Seth thought to himself, wishing that the name would present itself before he gave the wrong one was caught in the lie he was telling.

 

[Floodwaters]

Still sitting with her legs crossed, and her hawk-like stare never so much as twitching, one of the young woman's eyebrows slowly arched upwards as her eyelids fell almost imperceptibly. She didn't respond immediately, only holding her eyes on his. She took a long drink of her water, then slowly withdrew the bottle from her lips and clucked her tongue. "I see," she replied, her amused smirk morphing a bit to match the dubious tone in her voice. "Well, 'Sam.' I'm Empress Ketsurui of Yamatai," she continued, dropping her subtly coarse and backwater accent for an over-the-top and comedically exaggerated Yamataigo one. "And I require a jester to amuse me in my court. Serve me well, and I shall reward you greatly."

It wasn't until after the young woman finished her sardonic quip that Seth realized he'd noticeably hesitated in trying to remember his pseudo-surname. Coupled with the fact that he'd just established a baseline for the intricacies of how he appeared and behaved when being truthful seconds earlier, it didn't take a genius to realize that this young woman had a lot of experience with lying, and liars.

 

[Compouds117]

Her words echoed in Seth's ears. His body tensed and stiffened as he realised that he'd just been caught. "A'ight fine, Empress I guess you got me there," He said, deciding what to do next.

Seth sat there fidgeting slightly with his eyebrow twitching as he internally fought within himself trying to decide if he should be truthful or run. Running sounded better but he decided in the long run it wouldn't get him anywhere. "Well Ma'am, my name is Seth, Seth Rogers," He said with an audible sigh as he slumped forward slightly.

 

[Floodwaters]

The young woman's eyes held fast on Seth as he came clean, by all appearances gauging his reaction to see if he was lying to her again. After a few seconds passed, her smirk turned slightly more smug as she appeared to be satisfied that 'Seth' was not another pseudonym. "All right, Seth," she replied, folding her arms across her chest, the water bottle dangling from its mouth, pinched between the index and middle fingers of her right hand, and sighed quietly, looking him over once again. "But if I can't trust you on something simple as your name, ain't no reason for me to think you're trustworthy enough to be on my payroll," she continued coolly. "Don't bullshit me again."

She cleared her throat quietly. "So. What's in it for me if I bring you aboard my 'merry' little crew?" she asked, not wasting much effort in masking the derisive tone she took on her last three words.

 

[Compouds117]

"Well Ma'am, besides very cheap clown service and the fact that I come with my own equipment there isn't much you would really get out of this. The most I can say is that I don't eat much and I'm not completely unbearable," Seth said slightly hesitantly. In truth he really didn't have much to offer but who can turn down a clown?

 

[Floodwaters]

Sienna listened as Seth gave her his sales pitch without much of a reaction or any readable expression, save for the slight upward twitch of one of her eyebrows as he mentioned that he didn't consider himself unbearable. Her arms remained folded, her legs crossed, and her face passively stoic otherwise.

"Ain't sure you can claim to be anything but unbearable after saying you have experience as a frackin' clown," she replied with an ambiguous tone. Was that a joke, or was she serious? It was difficult to tell from her body language and facial expression, or rather, the lack thereof. "But then, some antics that are actually supposed to be funny might be a breath of fresh air." She shifted slightly in her seat, tapping the bottle of water against her side a few times in thought, and gnawed on the inside of her cheek for a second, looking him up and down. "Served on any other ships?"

 

[Compouds117]

Seth was trying to figure out the clown hating thing when he heard her question "Of all the things she could of asked for it had to be something I don't have experience in," he thought. "Uh no Ma'am I haven't. I did security for a business but I've never served on a ship. The only time I've ever been on one was to get to my next job." He replied. He more than likely been prepared for a question like this after all, he was trying to join this woman's crew on her ship.

 

[Floodwaters]

As if the answer didn't concern her, or perhaps as if the question was irrelevant entirely, Sienna simply shrugged, looking away and slowly panning her slightly squinted eyes around the park, which was increasingly becoming bathed in purple twilight and the gentle glow of lamps illuminating the footpaths. The pinpoints of starlight above them were becoming more pronounced, and the black silhouettes of the skyline surrounding them were decorated as well with tiny little squares and rectangles of all colors.

"Can you do as you're asked without a lot of fuss?" the captain continued, watching some unidentifiable older couple stroll past them, heading for the fountain as they laughed in one another's company.

 

[Compouds117]

Seth watched as the sky continued to darken and gave a sigh of content. It had been a while since he had found the time to just relax and look at the stars, even if they were fake. He had begun to tune the world around him out but the lady's question still somehow found its way through.

Seth sat there thinking for a couple of moments before he returned to reality, much to his own dismay. "That, Ma'am, I should be able to do just fine," he replied not bothering to take his eyes away. For some reason he wasn't even entirely sure of, he was rather enjoying this.

 

[Floodwaters]

"Good," Sienna answered flatly, looking around at the twilight scenery with a somewhat bored-looking expression. "Because I'll tell you up front, after the past few weeks I've had, I ain't looking to put up with much anymore." She took another sip of her water, and turned her head towards Seth. Although her face was passe and unreadable, the stern look in her eyes made it clear she meant business. "Clear?"

 

[Compouds117]

"Crystal Ma'am," Seth replied. He didn't know if the woman meant she was having problems with the crew or the jobs she had taken recently but it promised to be interesting either way. With how dark it was getting, Seth saw no point in continuing to wear his glasses and removed them before leaning over to place them in his bag. He felt confident in having a rough layout of the immediate area and hopefully wouldn't need a map in the immediate future.