Futuristic something lacking

[ukonvasara]

There's no rain down here. No hope for the warmth of summer, the crisp air of spring, nor the chill of fall; winter is the closest thing to a season that can be felt in the underbelly of society, cold as can be, almost year-round. The sun lives on, burning bright without them, as though it can continue to shine when they've all come to pass, suspended behind the thick layer of ground and supporting foundation that serves only as a constant reminder of their imprisonment, that they're here only because those in power would sooner weed out every weakest link in the chain than fix what was made broken from the start.

Not that she minds the cold, really. She's been raised with it from the cradle, acclimating to the temperatures easier than most who found their way down here at a later point in their life. It's better than heat by a long shot, from her perspective. All the more reason to keep her head down and behave exactly the way those few in control want her to, if she's comfortable with her lot in life. Of course, with a system rigged by a multitude of faults, it's only human nature to take advantage of those miscalculations.

For instance, robbing someone down here was technically okay, since the law only applied to those that actually had a name, up there with the rest of the aristocracy. Being born in the slums certainly had its downsides, but the perks evened it all out. Not having to fret over her name popping up on a public record was definitely a pro to any situation.

So, committing crimes has become her 'unhealthy habit' over the last few years. Probably not the most sightly addiction for a member of the resistance, but after you've spent enough time down here, your empathy for other people's struggles, the very same that you share, tends to dull in favor of the footrace for survival, and like any wild animal, you've gotta make quick work of your prey, proficiently. It's just a matter of finding the latest hunt to pursue first. And today's special just so happens to be closer than a stone's throw away, their appearance shadowed by complete darkness.

In the midst of her walk, Erza ducked behind the nearest building on the street corner, using the absence of light to her advantage and flipping out the blade of her pocket knife in preparation with a firm click, listening intently for their footsteps. There was never any telling what they could be carrying on them or how much experience they had in these kind of predicaments, but that just made the hunt all the more rewarding to achieve.

tag; Aerynth

 

[Aerynth]

It could have been worse, Evangeline supposed. Not by much, but technically, it could always be worse. She could be dead, for example. Would that have actually been worse, though? The dead, at the very least, didn't have to deal with slums. Slums. It was like a bad joke. It didn't feel real, it shouldn't be real, except that the cold burrowing itself deep under her skin was anything but imaginary. Eva shuddered and wrapped her arms around her torso to make herself feel a little bit warmer. Had she known that she was going to end up here, she would have... well, probably avoided downloading those particular information and never would have had to run away in the first place.

Run away. Most people had been sent here against their will, forced at gun point practically, but she had had to resort to this because... well, they would have shot her. All because of one misunderstanding. Well, alright, maybe she had stuck her nose into other people's affairs for a bit, but since when was that considered a crime Gossipers hardly ever faced repercussions. (Conveniently, Eva ignored the fact that most gossipers avoided spiting senator Cutts.)

Eva shuddered once again. It was cold, she had gotten lost at some point - why did everything have to look the same here? just shades of brown and dready tunnels, really - and even if she found her way, which was becoming increasingly more and more unlikely, the reality of it was that she had nowhere to go. She supposed that there had to be places that provided assistance to... new residents, to put it elegantly... but nobody had ever bothered to give her a map. Besides, seeking help meant that she would have to talk to other slum dwellers. Other slum dwellers. God, Eva really was one of them now, wasn't she? The thought almost made her feel physically ill. Either way, I have to find a shelter. That much was obvious. Eva knew that she wouldn't last long here, not in these conditions and not when she was a walking target. All clean ones were. Eva had picked up a steel pipe earlier to protect herself from potential attacks, but honestly, she didn't have a lot of confidence that she'd be able to fight effectively. Mostly, it was meant to act as a deterrent. 'I have a weapon and I'm not afraid to use it' kind of thing. Hopefully it would send the right message to anyone she might encounter here.

It will be alright. I'll find a place to stay in, wait for this whole affair to blow over and then I'll return to the surface. They couldn't very well search for her forever and Eva knew some people who would fabricate a new identity or two for her if she threw enough money at them. Right, this was a short term solution, not her destiny. She wouldn't have to spend the rest of her life in this terrible place with the bottom feeders who had been ejected from the society. Not Evangeline O'Reilly. Finding the shelter had the highest priority right now, though. Every journey started with a single step and so on et cetera. Since absolutely everything looked as unfamiliar as it possibly could, Eva just chose a random path to follow. Eventually, she would arrive... somewhere... and then she'd decide what to do. Hey, it wasn't the best plan, but it was something.

 

[ukonvasara]

Of course, her innermost curiosity and what she would defend as the necessity to understand the enemy made her sneak a peek from the corner of her concrete barrier, icey-blue hues squinting the slightest bit to make sense of her soon-to-be victim's loadout. While she still couldn't accurately visualize the state of their appearance, the thick stretch of rusted steel clasped in their grip was abundantly obvious, even in the dark. Against someone who knew how to use it effectively, and most people in these parts definitely did, her pocket knife would hardly stand a chance; although, the flashier the weapon, the more likely it was for them to be carrying valuables worth the added protection, kind of like a giant warning sign to stay away or a big red arrow pointing towards the wielder, depending on the second party's perspective.

And from hers, it looked more like a bullseye waiting to be struck in the center. Determination renewed, she backed away from the open street corner slowly, letting more and more of the slums' shadows absorb her into the environment, the criminal's camouflage, she calls it. Charging them head-on would be a grave mistake, if she could live through the concussion, and that left only the option of disarming them, which could be simple, taking the size of the wielder into account, or more trouble than she'd bargained for, assuming there was some skill hidden away.

Either way, waiting was a game she'd have to play. Patience had never once been her strong suit, but the hunt often called for it, disciplining those lacking to suffer without. Just as soon as she noticed the stranger crossing past the building, with their attention faced forward, however, she liked to think her patience had paid off, that she deserved whatever spoils she'd reap from this lone wanderer. Charging at them in a full sprint, footsteps like feathers against the pavement, she stowed away her knife for the time being, flipping it into her pocket and opted toward brute force instead, putting all of her weight into her first strike as she knocked herself into them from the side, hoping the sheer force of the collision would cause them to drop their weapon. Only then would this be easy.

 

[Aerynth]

It'll be fine, it'll be fine, Eva repeated in her head. Was the little mantra working? Well, not really, but maybe, if she dedicated enough energy to brainwashing herself, she would actually start to believe it at some point. The whole place was just so depressing. How did people even manage to live here? And did they live here in the first place? The official narrative said so, but clearly, the official narrative couldn't be trusted and the streets were just so empty. Eva didn't know whether it bothered her or not. She didn't particularly wish to meet the criminals supposedly ruling over these slums, but there was something unnerving about this space, clearly touched by the human hand and yet seemingly abandoned. It could be an interesting place to explore if viewed through the lens of an archeologist trying to uncover the secrets of lost civilizations, except that Eva wasn't really in the mood. Not when she had just lost everything.

She gripped her weapon tighter, mostly out of need for comfort than anything else, and went on. This would be a long, long day. Or was it night already? How could one even begin to tell when the sun didn't shine down there? Wait, what was that sound? Eva stopped and looked around, but she couldn't see anything. That didn't necessarily mean that nothing was there, though. Her eyes, unused to these conditions, couldn't really penetrate the darkness. She could discern various details quite well from up-close, but at a certain distance, everything just morphed into unclear silhouettes. I should have brought a flashlight. Yes, she really should have, yet again, Eva hadn't exactly planned her stay here as some sort of bizarre vacation. Her clothing spoke plenty of that fact, too. She was wearing a black pantsuit; highly fashionable, of course, and just as impractical. Just her luck, really. Her usual pick of wardrobe tended towards more comfortable things, but they had said that this day would be special. It kind of was, just not in the ways she had hoped it to be. Well, you couldn't have everything in life.

Either way, Eva heard nothing after that initial impression, so she turned around and continued walking in her original direction. Perhaps I'm starting to hear things already. It wouldn't be that strange; isolation could get to a person quickly. Once again: it will be fine. Don't worry. What happened next, though, made it fairly difficult for her to maintain any kind of positive attitude. There was another sound and when she stopped in her tracks to investigate its source, something slammed right into her. "Wha--" The impact sent her flying towards the ground immediately and yes, of fucking course that the pipe slipped through her fingers when it happened. If only she could see where it landed! She couldn't, though. No surprise there. "What are you doing?! Leave me alone!" Eva shrieked and did the first thing that came to her mind; namely, trying to claw her assailant's face off. What? She wasn't an expert at combat.

 

[ukonvasara]

Thinking on it now, if they had any fragile valuables on hand, the impact alone probably would have rendered them to pieces far too broken to repair, if not the first, than certainly the second that came with their tumble to the ground. Then again, artifacts of wealth weren't worth much down here; any schmuck who made an effort trying to pawn them off would sooner go hungry than his distant competitor trading seemingly worthless materials, like broken bits of steel and rubber tubing. There just wasn't a market for highly valued items down here, unless appealing to a collector, which were already few enough in supply, as it stood, and they weren't exactly the type to advertise themselves to a public which consisted mostly of criminals.

Indeed, there was a sharp clatter that came, though it better resembled weighted steel hitting the pavement and quickly enough, the realization that she had disarmed her target struck her, emboldening her to continue with her next goal. That, of course, was stalled by another realization, two in fact, both which arose with their closeness in proximity. That being the clothes she wore, just how clean they were, untouched by the grime of the slums, and the sheer amount of shock in her voice, like she hadn't at all expected someone to mug her. These two combining factors pointed towards only one possibility, and the corners of her lips slowly drew into a knowing grin, as she wrestled to try and pin the other woman to the ground.

"Aren't you a bit far from home, pretty little rich girl?" She asked reduntantly, not seriously expecting anything in the way of an answer. The most she got was well trimmed nails digging into her face, nothing like a robber's knife, but it still hurt, nonetheless, leaving red scratch marks in their wake. "First, fucking ow," Wincing, she reached to try and grab the woman by her wrists, which was a bit difficult through all of the flailing of limbs. "Second, you shoulda taught yourself to fight before you landed yourself here; none of these people will and I'll make sure you never get the chance, if you keep using my face for a nail file!"

 

[Aerynth]

Everything happened incredibly fast, or maybe she was just too slow to keep up with the pace. Either way, the result was the same; Eva ended up pinned down under her assailant, her wrists held together. This day just kept getting better and better. She struggled against the hold, tried to break free, but, well, the last time she had fought someone had been in the third grade when one of her classmates had insulted her mother and it showed. There was no technique to her flailing; just pure chaos, movements for the sake of movements and a foolish hope that her opponent would somehow get caught up in it all. Well, she didn't. It was undeniably a she, Eva could see that now, even if she didn't look like the women from the surface. Certainly didn't act like that, either.

"Well, excuse me, but I didn't exactly plan to end up here!" Eva snapped at the other woman and tried to kick her off. Very unsuccessfully, mainly because she was partially sitting on her legs and the weight prevented her from lifting them high enough to actually pull off a proper kick, but hey, at least she tried. Fighting was far from her strongest point; even Eva could see that, as much as she hated to admit it. That didn't mean, though, that she would just lie back and let the woman do... what she wanted to do, whatever it was. It couldn't be good, that much was certain.

"What are you even after?" she asked, her breathing heavy and labored, but somehow still managing to sound more outraged than actually scared. Death just seemed like such a distant concept. These things happened to other people. People who were older than her, poorer than her, more unlucky than her. "Money? Well, tough luck, I don't have a single penny! Find someone else to rob!" Sadly, that wasn't even a lie. Eva really hadn't brought anything aside from her clothes. Packing her things had been the last thing on her mind. Perhaps she should have done that, though. At least she would have had something to throw at the thief in hopes of making her go away.

 

[ukonvasara]

Thank God she'd lucked out with stumbling across one of the rich ones. Few of her class ever landed themselves down here, unless they did something that truly deserved the second worst punishment below imprisonment, which begged the delicious question of just what exactly someone like her could have possibly done to warrant being cast out from the higher society. To be forced here was often looked at like a death sentence, especially to those on the surface, whose knowledge only expanded as far as what its publically known purpose was. But she knew better. And it made her all the more curious as to what she could have done, since she didn't seem at all prepared to face the consequences.

With that in mind, it didn't surprise her that the girl was broke as any bandit; the real thieves aren't the ones fighting for their lives to survive every day, but she's not about to speak a word in their favor. More importantly, she had to figure out what to do with this girl, now that she had already wasted a good chunk of her energy on her, all without the benefit of filling her pockets.. but perhaps, she didn't need money from her, specifically. "No money? Well, why didn't you say so?" She let out a wheeze, her chest eventually erupting with laughter, humorless as it was undoubtedly wicked. The woman's clothes alone could fetch a pretty penny on the market, but her plans went far bigger than that, as did the price she set her sights on.

"I know a guy who'll pay top dollar for a gal like you. C'mon, why don't we go meet him?" Of course, she'd be foolish to think there wouldn't be a struggle for every step of the way there, which would include the first phase of the plan and whatever else should come out of their trip, taking the volatility of the slums into account. In the mean time, however, she just had to solve one problem, that which arose with the sudden change in plans and one she harped on as she slowly pried pinned wrists away from each other, giving her the leverage to lift her leg just a tad and use her suspended weight to bring her knee down hard against the other woman's abdomen;

How the hell am I going to escort this girl without her fighting me or running away?