Yankee — Roleplayer Guild

 
The Boundary of Silverside and Brewery
Mentions: Antonio, Vincent, Ezra, Matthias, Antonia (in passing) || Interactions: Khor (in collaboration with @flux)

In the morning, so early it might as well still have been night, Adel awoke with a start.

There was a plain off white ceiling above him, a twin mattress beneath him. There were Egyptian cotton sheets wrapped around his legs. There were plush pillows pushed onto the floor and a sleek alarm clock on the bedside table. The time was 4:18 AM. He was in his bedroom.

He slowly brought one hand up to wipe at his face. He was sweating. Had he been having a nightmare? He didn't remember it, but he wouldn't be surprised. 

He didn't even really remember coming home last night, but with how heightened his surveillance of his surroundings had been following the day's revelations, he was fairly confident he wouldn't have been followed. Frankly he was surprised he'd even fallen asleep at all. Exhaustion must have caught up to him. Actually... was he still in his day clothes? Holy hell, he really must have just passed out as soon as he'd gotten in.

Thirst caught up to him as well. His throat hurt and his head was pounding. Probably dehydration considering all he'd done last night was talk and smoke. And throw up once. Adel closed his eyes, sighing heavily. He didn't really feel any better today, but he did feel more in control of himself. He was fine. He was alive. He could figure out his next steps from here.

His headache tried its best to keep him in bed but he forced himself up. He sat on the edge of the mattress, blinking at the floor where a buzzing noise was coming from. His phone. He riffled through the pillows and blankets that had abandoned ship from the bed and extracted it. As usual there were plenty of messages. A lot more from Griffon than usual, going back and forth on angry messages and concerned ones. He answered those first, and felt only a little bad when she immediately responded, meaning she was awake.

im fine 🐦👍🐣🫵🖕😁
He closed that conversation with her, eyes flicking through the other messages. He paused at one that stuck out, reading the words over a few times. He didn't normally save contact names into his phone, but the number was familiar enough to him even if it had been a while since he'd gotten a text from it. Vincent Accardo. 

"..." he glanced at the alarm clock again. He had time. 

He swapped over to the browser to make an appointment to meet with Nocturnia's police commissioner. Usually he didn't bother, just dropping in on Antonia unannounced whenever he felt like it. Now, he figured, if he made an appointment and happened to miss it, maybe she'd know something was wrong and get a head start on investigating his murder. 

He then all but staggered out to his kitchen, pulling his sweater and undershirt off of him as he went and chucking them behind him. It was still dark, and would be for a few more hours, but he could navigate his own home just fine. He opened the fridge and fished out a pale blue sports drink while he forced his brain to pull two lists of numbers and compare them. The crossed out numbers beside Khor's name in the journal Matthias had showed him last night, and the crumpled note of numbers she had given him herself after their first meeting. He discarded any that matched, and by the time he'd downed half of the drink he was left with only a few phone numbers to try.

He dialed the first one and waited for the ring.

The phone picked up almost immediately. “A bit busy birdy. What's up?”

Adel was more glad than he would admit that the line connected just like that and it was Khor on the other side. He did not want to handle suspense at the moment.

"Khor," he said, then paused and pinched the bridge of his nose. Fuck, she'd never used her name with him. He must have still been out of sorts. He wrenched one of the kitchen drawers open roughly to get himself breakfast (which surprising no one was just another smoke) and moved on quickly. "I looked you up. Sorry. Eel. Where are you?"

A smirk from Khor. “Figured you would. Not exactly a secret, don’t stress.” An engine revved over the line. “Cruising along the Silverside Brewery border. Checking out some bad omens. Why?”

So she was safe, out and about - that was perfect. Some good fucking news for once. "I'd rather tell you in person. How soon can you make it to..." he brought up a mental map, picking a spot near the border he could get to relatively quickly. "...67th and Ingleside?"

His tone was deceptively calm, but he spoke in a way that made it sound insistent, rather than like a favor.

A pause before Khor replied. “Yeah I’ll head there now. You ok? Fine with being on the back of a bike while we chat?”

As usual he sidestepped the question of if he was okay, although it was really the second question that gave him pause. He had never, to his recollection, even been on a motorcycle. Of course he'd seen them, in person and in movies. If they could talk while riding, then it was just a question if he trusted Khor's driving.

"That's fine," he decided. "See you there."

He hung up. Tossed his phone onto the table and shed the rest of his clothes on the way to the bathroom. His eyes were starting to sting because of course his fucking contacts were still in. With a murmur the door closed while he popped them out; he was then freshened up in record time. He pulled on a dark turtleneck and a pair of honest to god jeans, snatching his glasses and other essentials, stuffing them into the pockets of a corduroy jacket. Kicked on his shoes and was out the door. He could change again before his meeting later, he had a wardrobe at the office - right now, he was more concerned with letting Khor in on everything that had happened.

When he did arrive, he found that she was already there waiting.

Khor’s bike hummed, idling at an obnoxious volume, the rider scanning her mirrors with a hand in her jacket. “Trouble?” Scanning Adel’s face she eased up, hand unfurling from the sawn off shotgun in her jacket, foot kicking the bike into neutral and other hand releasing the clutch. She swung off the machine to pop a compartment open on the side toward the back to retrieve a spare helmet.

She tapped the side where someone's ear would be. “Spin that for volume. Take the strap, feed it through both hoops, back through one. Hold onto the bars on the back or arms around me, whatevers more comfortable I’m not going to think anything of it. You get stressed out, just start slapping my shoulder and we’ll pull over somewhere quiet.”

Khor mounted up while Adel fiddled with the helmet (very awkwardly, clearly totally unfamiliar with it) then climbed aboard as well. His helmet buzzed to life with Khor’s voice. “So what’s going on birdy, whatcha want to talk about.” The bike took off calm and easy back toward the Brewery District.

It was kind of a shame that Adel couldn't properly appreciate how cool her gear was. The occasion just wasn't right. He had carefully taken hold of the bar at the back of the bike, squashing all of his discomfort, and didn't relax any once they got rolling. He just had to recontextualize this experience less like he was putting his life into the biker's hands by getting on the back of her ride, and more like this was just a casual drive like it would be in a car with his chauffeur.

There was also how to start this conversation. 'Hey, did you know you had a fucking monster living in Brewery under the Jolly Jalopy?' He could just imagine how that would go over.

...actually, from what he'd gleaned about Khor, it might go over better than expected.

"First, I'm about to tell you some messed up stuff, so don't... crash us, or anything," he said. "Your rogue captain... did you know he has a fucking monster under his bar."

A jitter in the throttle, nothing violent, just enough to be noticeable. “What like, a big ol’ boogieman or something?” She chuckled. “I honestly didn’t expect superstition from you birdy. You’re going to have to explain that one to me. If you’re just being creative I know my captain, Antonio, is trying to take forceful command of the Akula’s. Given our nature I doubt it’d work, cells are too spread out, disconnected and independant.” 

She huffed. “Only way that’d work is if he had some way of literally spreading like an infection in the mind. You know, like zombies.” She laughed. “God, could you imagine. In all seriousness though I’m still trying to ascertain the level of betrayal he’s cooked up. Does that have to do with that metaphorical monster you mentioned?”

Adel could have laughed. After sleep had come and gone, it all sounded so ridiculous to his ears. And of course, in reality this was all hearsay. He hadn't been at the Jalopy, he'd only been told of what had happened by Matthias. But honestly for someone without a face, Adel found he could still tell when the Lodestar tried deceiving him. He hadn't yesterday.

"Yeah," he said, his grip tightening. "I have it on good information he does have a way. Spreading influence. Through something he makes, apparently."

He paused as some of the panic from last night threatened to creep up again, but he took in a breath to quell it. "And he's got some of your men already. He's got outside allies. You wanted to try and sabotage a connection with Vincent, but it might already be too late for that. You needed to know."

Khor weighed the words in her mind, addressing the logical first. “If he’s made contact with Vincent already then it's even more important to hit him sooner rather than later. Put serious doubt on the reliability of the Akula’s to him. We can’t let that relationship solidify.”

Khor’s voice dropped when trying to address the unknown Adel mentioned. “What allies, and what do you mean by ‘yeah’ to zombies? I expected he had some Akula’s deceived but you're suggesting something far more sinister. I need details birdy.”

"I mean yeah, he can link people up to his monster and probably make zombies. I know how it sounds."

He didn't argue with her about Vincent. If she was set on the heist then that was her choice, even if he said he'd be there to try and mitigate anything really bad happening. But as for the other allies that Antonio allegedly had, "I don't have all the details yet. He was hosting some cabal in the Jalopy last night. The leader of the Dark Aces among them."

Which was a whole other issue that he was not looking forward to explaining. Wasn't even sure if he would, if it came down to it. Even if Khor wouldn't see it, he fought off a grimace.

"I'm telling you all this crazy shit because I'd rather not have you taken over by some mind virus than make a quick buck." He was downplaying his concern, but also to be fair who would pay for an outlandish conspiracy like this in the first place?

Khor let the words digest. Vincent and Erza. Mind virus. Before holding the silence for too long Khor spoke up. “I believe you, you’re not someone who gets lost in superstitious crap, I'm just. Processing.”

It dripped through her mind like a sludge, slowly glugging through to make sense. The rumours and legends from deep below. Antonio’s suggestions. That warm feeling she’d get drinking at the bar. She eventually found words. “Alright, this might fill in some blanks. If it’s what you say it is, that explains some things. That night we had dinner. I was at the bar before. Antonio was trying to persuade me to walk up and murder you, and after having a drink.” 

She paused involuntarily, cutting back to speaking to avoid concerning Adel. “Well it felt like the best idea in the world. We both know how it went down though. We had a chat, got along well enough, here we are. If I was going to kill you, that was the best time, and I didn’t, so I’m still me.” Though she was trying to reassure Adel she felt like she was trying to assure herself as well. 

She continued. “I think that’s how it spreads. Akula’s would talk about others getting weird after drinking certain drinks or waters, but it’s not absolute. Maybe it’s a build up, the more you take in the more you lose yourself. Maybe I got lucky, didn’t drink too much, spread out over enough time.” She found herself more lost in her thoughts and silence returned. 

She thought of the distance between herself and Nep and Akir. Was that Antonio nudging her away from them? Otto’s distance from everyone. He drank Antonio’s packaged alcohol almost daily, was he completely compromised as well? Words failed, all she could do was focus moving the motorcycle upward onto the ramps leading to the bridges between towers known as Highrise Raceway for a vantage point, somewhere to stop and think.

It was fortunate that she was already on her way to such a place, because eventually Adel broke the silence by tapping her shoulder. It was a feather light touch, almost as if he was nervous to do it in the first place. "Stop. Can we- stop."

Khor meant well in confessing that she might have murdered him, Adel knew, but it didn't stop his heart from stuttering in his chest. Attacking Silverside, attempting to take it over was one thing. It was a coveted area in Nocturnia and he understood that. But coming after his life, specifically? This close together Khor could probably feel how hard her neighbor's heart was beating. It was one of the few kinds of reaction he couldn't control. He had until they pulled over to calm down.

Khor rested the bike with her foot on the ground, hand on the clutch, other hand open to suggest concern for his well being.

Once the bike was stopped Adel extracted himself from it, putting several paces between himself and Khor. He didn't think she was lying, she probably was still herself, but being able to see her properly would let him tell for sure. Then again, if she was a sleeper agent or something, now that they were alone in her district with no one having a clue that Adel was even here with her - well, this would be the perfect time to kill him.

He almost wished she hadn't told him that. How well would a helmet protect him from buckshot? He took more than a few moments before he continued their conversation, though he was more on edge now than when they had started.

"If it takes a while for the... link to happen, then there's still time to make sure no more of your crews are affected. The leader of the Order of Enlightenment says he has a cure, but I'm not sure what to make of that." A cure for whatever Antonio was feeding them could just as easily be another kind of influence. The man did run a cult, after all, and their kool-aid must come from somewhere.

Khor listened and allowed a chuckle. “One mystery cult for another doesn’t sound great, but that sounds like a promising lead. More importantly, and please, don’t panic, I’ll move open and slow ok?” She opened her jacket so the sawn off could be seen.

Hands gently wrapping around the barrel she slowly handed the handle to Adel. “I know how that would’ve sounded before, and… we don’t know how it works, so.” She took a deep breath. “I do something stupid, well, it’s in your hands ok?” Her eyes suggested a sheepish grin. “Just try to confirm the case first, don’t panic and take the shot. That’d suck.” She held the weapon for him to take.

He stared at it, having ceased even minute movements as soon as she revealed the weapon. It was hard to tell his expression through the visor.

He left like she was treating him like a kid, or a cornered animal. Honestly though, he kind of felt like the latter since last night, so he couldn't really blame her. He continued to stare until his eyes slid up to her face, and he breathed out. He wanted to tell her I don't need that, but maybe she was right and there was a delay in Antonio's control. Maybe he shouldn't have ever trusted her in the first place.

He took the gun, eyes flickering to check the safety as he let its muzzle droop toward the ground. Unlike motorcycles, he was at least acquainted with firearms. "Let's hope it doesn't come to that," he said.

He tried relaxing but pretty much failed. His brain buzzed with what else he should warn her about.

"I'll let you know what else I find out, if you're not a zombie by then." It was a weak, poor joke, and Adel didn't even smile at it. "You know more about your own captain than I do, but since he's working with Ezra, just... be careful. He's dangerous, and he's getting too close."

Khor managed a weak giggle. “Yeah. If I start groaning and moaning ‘brraaiinnz…’” She lifted her free hand in pose before her eyes fell on the gun. “Yeah. You know.” A shaky breath fell from her. Not yet. At least get to the vantage point. “And Erza. Jesus that’s grim. I’ve heard rumours enough not to fuck around.” She threw her head to the side as a gesture to Adel. “We’re almost there, we can get a proper lay of the land and visualise what the hell we’re going to do from a vantage point.” Her eyes flicked back for a moment. “Just try not to dig that thing into my back too much, it’s enough to make even me nervous.”

Was he really about to get back on the bike with her? She was unarmed now, and she wouldn't take herself out just to kill him by crashing, would she? Surely not. Right? ...surely not. He'd read her body language and could tell that at least at the moment, she wasn't zombified.

"Fine," he said after another moment's hesitation, straddling the seat behind her with one hand gripped tight to her shoulder, the other keeping a close hold on the gun.

Khor made sure the rest of the trip was as gentle as it could possibly be, half out of respect, half out of self preservation. Soon the bike stopped and the engine flicked off next to what looked like a fire pit surrounded by some makeshift plank benches low to the ground in the middle of the bridge. Khor threw her head to the side, indicating for Adel to get off. Once he did she kicked the stand down and dismounted herself, hands fiddling with her helmet as she spoke. “I’d usually come up here for more pleasant occasions, but it’s still the best view we’ll get.”

Through the support struts laid Silverside and Brewery, the glass monolith of light beaming activity into the shroud of the district they were in. The light almost seemed to dance across the border, swirling in Silversides buildings and waters before dispersing amongst the maze of highrise structures within Brewery, god rays spilling through. Khor slid the helmet off revealing dark eyes, her usual smile absent as she sat next to the pit and began piling some ruined wood instinctively. “Gets a bit chilly up here. I’ll just light this quickly. It’s no Peccatore, but it’s got charm.” 

She looked out beyond before nudging toward the cooler. “Should be something in there if you need it too.” A weak chuckle. “God knows I will tonight.” 

Whatever she might have in there, cheap beer or wine coolers or bottles of high proof vodka, any of it sounded great right about now. But Adel shook his head lightly, pulling the borrowed helmet off with only a little difficulty. "Need as clear a head as possible for later."

The fire began with relative ease. She sat back with eyes blank before hands dragged down her face slapping down onto her thighs. “I know we’ve got a lot to discuss. I just-.” Her bottom teeth bit her top lip. Words. Use your words. She nodded and looked at Adel. “I might need a minute. Vincent, Erza, Mind virus. It’s a lot.”

"Believe me, I know," he answered her. The gun was laid carefully in his lap as he idly filled with a cigarette carton in his coat pocket. It was still kind of a miracle that Khor accepted what he'd told her at face value, but it was probably because she was Khor that she did.

Her eyes occasionally darted to a new direction as she thought, it didn’t take long for her to start rambling aloud. “Then even if the attack on Vincent works, there’s still mind fuck virus. If the attack doesn’t work I get handed between Vincent and Erza like a piece of meat. If I do nothing Antonio eventually fucking lobotomises me anyway.” She went quiet again for a bit, eyes shooting around a little quicker.

Khor’s head eventually fell to her knees. “This isn’t even a fight, it’s a fucking execution isn’t?” Head rested back, real strain in her face, eyes closed, eventual nodding. “Alright. You have Silverside. As far as I know, that’s safe right now, yeah?” She looked at Adel.

He looked back at her, not sure what to even say. Both 'yes' and 'no' seemed wrong.

If he wanted to he could shut the whole district down with a word, the citizens stirred into action at the thought of their posh lifestyle being destroyed. But there were also already spies there, and he didn't know how many. He had Vincent and Ezra on two sides, but both Antonio and Khor on one. His stalling was probably telling in and of itself, but eventually he settled on, "I'll find out soon."

It didn't feel good to see Khor this torn up, no matter if they had only met days ago, especially because she seemed to be feeling the same dread he had earlier. Unfortunately Adel was poor company, and wasn't the type to offer any comfort more than his presence.

His eyes shifted to the landscape in front of them. "...bet you didn't think any of this was what I'd be calling about."

Khor started scrunching her hands open and closed, trying to ground herself to action and feeling. “No, I had a feeling it’d be bad but this is…” She took a moment. “It’s not every day someone tells you that you probably have something in your head looking forward to scooping you out to fill the void in with itself.” She just shook her head gently. “That is fucked. This is fucked. The worst part though?”

She looked up. “It doesn’t change a fucking thing. The best I’ve still got is to murder as many of Vincent’s boys as I can, burn down some resources and hope it’s enough to tilt some invisible balance. But now even if I do survive that, am I just-.” She stopped herself. Spiraling would help no one. The plan remained the same. She could still fight. That’s what mattered. That’s all that mattered now.

She took a breath. “Ok. It’s still a plan. Hit Vincent. Slow him down. Sow some distrust toward Antonio. It’s not a bad plan. Might even steal some resources to bolster us both. Then depending on whoever is still alive tomorrow, go from there.”

She allowed herself a moment to reflect on the short time she’d known Adel, leading to an amused huff. “You could have sold me out to get into Vincent’s good books at any point, but you didn’t. Instead you called me right before the ass crack of dawn to warn me about all of this.” She let out something more resembling a chuckle. “You didn’t even try to make a quick buck in telling me any of this, just laid it all out on the table.” She started to relax a bit, that wry, obnoxious smile beginning to form again. “I’m starting to think you might like me birdy~.”

And maybe he was. Khor was crass, chaotic, and much too friendly, but she was also kind and genuine in a place where that was hard to come by. Adel only glanced at her though.

She waved her hand. “I’m just teasing, but thank you. Learning all that this way, it’s making the difference of going in prepared rather than just going down screaming.” Her light smile held. “I won’t lie though, having a handler will make all the more difference while I’m getting it done, if you’re still in, I can’t think of anyone I’d prefer right now.” She shrugged. “That’s if you didn’t want to come with me, I just assumed you wanted nothing to do with being on the front line.”

She looked down. “If you're done, I understand. You've shown more generosity than I've ever deserved, especially to someone who's only dragged you into the shit. Just…” She rested her head low to look at Adel properly, finding the words, settling on whatever fell out of herself. “Thank you. For being kind. You're a good person Adel. It's people like you that keep idiots like me hopeful there's still something worth fighting for.”

In contrast Adel very purposefully did not look back at her, this time keeping his eyes fixed in the distance. Her words sparked guilt old and new in him.

"No one's really a good person in this city," he argued. "It's just self preservation. Pennystakes got swallowed up, if you go down who do you think is next?"

Adel leaned a little closer to the small fire, unbothered when a stray wind pushed the smoke their way.

"I already agreed to help you; I don't really like going back on a deal. I don't know whose really at the top of this fucked up pyramid, but maybe you're right and some destabilization will help knock it down."

Wishful thinking, his mind supplied.

"I'll... think about it. Being on the front line. If I'm still-"If I'm still alive after meeting with Vincent. It's what he'd said to Matthias last night. He figured, in reality, it was more like if he was still himself after meeting with Vincent, but he couldn't exactly say either of those things to her in case she decided to do something way, way more stupid than she was already planning on doing. "-able to. Got something important to do first."

He turned his wrist, glancing down at his watch. It was still dark, but he could read it in the firelight. Not much more time left now.

Khor tilted her head looking into the fire. “You’re just trying to survive instead of ruining lives for fun. That’s as good as good gets in this city-.” She caught herself. “Wait, able to? Night has been ominous enough without a cliffhanger. What do you mean by that?”

Adel let out a noise that was partway between a snort and a sigh. Yeah, a cliffhanger would suck, huh.

"...I'll give you back your gun when you drop me off," he started somewhat dismally. "But don't... kill me if I turn into a zombie. Just don't kill me at all."

He still didn't look at Khor, instead trying to see beyond the boundaries of their respective districts.

"I have a little meeting at Arakasa Tower that I can't get out of." There was all kinds of other crap he was worried about, namely Ezra's scheming, but since the Midnight Man was kind of wrapped up together with everything else he had to try and take things one small step at a time. He had to deal with Vincent first.

Adel sat back, resting on his hands and shifting his stare into the flames instead. He thought that Khor would probably be glad to know that he did intend to try and help someone by way of meeting with Vincent, but he didn't mention it. "I know, considering everything I just told you, that it's a dumb idea, so save that. But he doesn't know that we know."

Khor’s lips went tight. Everything inside of her wanted to pull the man up by his collar so she could shake some sense into him, to rant and rave as to why that was, as he said, a dumb idea. He’d given her the courtesy of trusting her mad gambles though, so she’d return the respect. So instead of immediately raising her voice, she just nodded and spoke softly. “Brazen. I really hope you have a plan.” A smirk flicked up her lips. “Just know I’ll kick the door down if you take too long in there. I think we’d both prefer it if it didn’t turn into my kind of mess.”

That went without saying. He actually believed Khor would try and assault the tower by her lonesome if she had to, so he finally looked back at her before he responded. His expression was as placid as he could make it at the moment, though there was a hint of gratitude in his eyes when he found hers. Then it faded away.

"You have your own to look out for right now. Don't worry about me."

That was the kicker really. She had Antonio and her compromised Akulas to deal with. If she knew just how much trouble he was in it would be a dangerous distraction for her while she fought back against her captain.

Adel shrugged off all further attempts from Khor to offer help and the two of them lapsed into uneasy silence until departing.
Yankee Member

God of Typos

Status

Recent Statuses

Bio

Most Recent Posts
