The Pale Spine could be found in the recesses of the
Foundation. It catered to a very specific crowd. Money walked through the door,
and it all walked back out in someone else's
pocket. The place by standards above would be described as incomparable. The
chairs were torn and ripped and bolted back together, the tables didn't match, didn't
fit squarely, and certainly weren't flat. The shades around the light fixtures
were perhaps bought tougher, the only matching thing in the place, but the now burnt
orange fabric around them had presumably been unsightly to begin with. The same
could be said of many of the patrons here. Once part of a youthful gang, the
city and the grime below had trodden them into submission. Their coats dirty,
the furs matted, threads were left dragging on the floor. They could barely
scrape a decent coin purse between them but every shin was worth an ounce of
their soul and this caused problems. Sometimes people disagreed, sometimes people
were vaporised, poisoned, sliced, burnt out by some piece of Numenera, or in
this case, gashed by the window they fell through. Everybody cheated, nobody really had the
skill or the knowledge to really outdo each other. If they could find something
in the rubbish around them that could give an edge, it was used, until you were
caught and a fight ensued. The Tethered didn't venture down here, there is no
real enforced law. Rather, down here, a simple code of conduct is used. Cheat others, how you wish to cheated, but
suffer the consequences if caught. A
man by the name of Maw was unfortunately caught in his deception.
He had recently found a half damaged optical implant. Almost
four years ago, he replaced his own eyes for mechanical enhancements but these
were obviously inhuman and caused a lot of grief when being accused of cheating.
These new devices however, were the same shape of the eyeball. His sense of sight
was connected to these devices, even as one fell out of his skull, bounced onto
the deck, and started rolling around until finally stopping next to the boot of
one of the now hooded escaped prisoners. A woman's boot kicked the eyeball back and Maw
hurriedly shoved it back in, forgetting to dust it off. He recoiled in pain.
The woman knelt down, she reached out to him and asked if he was okay. Her
hands betrayed her stature and silhouette. In her hood and cloak, her figure
was shapely, buxom but lithe, definitively a woman. Her hands however were
pale, supple and uncallused. She was certainly younger than what she appeared.
Maw looked down at them and could only see the pallor of them. A woman from
down here would have hands ripe with filth and cuts and calluses, a woman above
would try to strike the fine balance between pale and sun kissed, even down
here a tan darker would be considered excessive and garish. He noticed her because she wasn't
from here, and she noticed him and quickly withdrew her hands.
The male prisoner looked a little more at home, although his
posture was uneasy outside the Pale Spine. His hands were clearly on show although
his palms were not. They had cuts, and bruises, but also burn marks, and soot.
His cloak was left untied, and a leather jerkin was brandished, a very faded
mark could be made out of a tiger but the light down here made it hard to properly
tell. He also offered his help but not with outstretched hands. Maw took notice
of this straight away and dusted himself down. He told them that he wasn't in
any trouble, in fact the matter was that he was just caught cheating. The
optical implants, while scanning, emitted a pinprick of red light that scanned
the cards, it produced a poor resolution but was workable. Maw had just forgotten how
much his regulars smoke. With that he checked over his shoulder and scurried
back in.
The two prisoners had
now recovered from their initial encounter. Although the atmosphere
between the two was a little frosty now. The way that they had landed, the man
had fallen onto the woman in a more than suspicious position. After realising
where he was, he had moved away as quick as possible but sharp blasts of
insults were already being fired across. Not only that but broken planks, cans,
even rivets of metal were being hurled over in violet hues as each was being
coated in an amethyst substance that, with enough force, shattered against the
brickwork. The man explained the situation,
apologised for his behaviours, sent a prayer
into the Ether and hoped that was enough to calm the girl.
She on the other hand had been distracted and now overly
distraught. Her hair was shifting colours and substance in clashing waves and
patters. She had caught herself in the reflection of a broken wine bottle and
became so infuriated about her situation that she somehow summoned up enough
energy to climb her way out, plating the rubbish around her into stepping
stones. The man, did not seem comfortable with his new companion, least of all
her volatility. So in some effort to engender himself to the girl he carried
her equipment, along with his to the deck she was standing on. She had sat
herself down on the edge of one of the creates for only a brief moment when the
man tried to strike up a gentle conversation. She immediately drowned him out.
Her eyes had caught something in the distance, the flicker of breaking glass
against darkness. He looked up at her, her corneas like mirrors, but then more
like mercury as well. The light she saw was clearly reflected in them. She
eagerly grabbed her pack knocking it against the weary head of her companion. He
punched the crate she had just been sitting on, leaving a burnt fist mark in
the wood. He steadied himself, tried not to look down, and followed her, past
Maw, and into the thick heavy smoke and liquor laden Pale Spine.
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