Inside was charred beyond recognition, although the ceiling
above seemed to have fared better. Xera presumed that that was due to Dehart's
intervention. The only thing that hadn't
been burned were the vines growing from the broken pots around the room. For
the amount of time he had been away, it was noticeable, even to a chemist like
himself, that the growth was not natural. He looked over to where the vast
majority of the Black Sunshine had been stored. It's burnt shadow was darker than
its surroundings but had also given the vines more vigour than the rest. It was
these vines sprouting from here, that dotted the room with metallic blue flowers
that hung from the ceiling. As he sniffed one of the flowers, he felt the compulsion to
be sick and had to be held back by Danton for a moment. Although he hadn't
eaten since earlier before the magnetic storm, the thought turned his stomach.
When he regained his footing he took a specimen
of the flower along with what he presumed to be a pod of seeds. With his back
turned, Danton seized the opportunity to harvest some seeds for himself, primarily
the ones that could grow equipment. There was a brief moment where Danton heard Xera stop
cutting and his feet shuffling behind him. He could feel he had been spotted
and turned around to apologise. His first few words stammered out, only to fall
onto Xera's back. He barely turned at Danton's explanation, and told him that if he wanted to
take the seeds he was more than welcome to, although the reason behind intrigued
him. Danton turned to Jarvan and nodded.
His butler preceded to take out a small case containing a supply of what Xera
presumed to be Khatt-Nipp. Intrigued, Xera asked what he was doing with such a
quantity of the drug. The reply was a simple offer of employment. In Qi, Danton manufactured the drug in commercial quantities but he had nobody in Auspar start a second
operation. Now that the Shadow Guard had taken over entry and exit out of the
city and the caldera walls loomed over most of the city, he also needed someone who was a
citizen as well. Xera looked at the vials in the case, over to Jarvan and his finely
polished suit, over the high fashion of Danton and then to his own arms. Without
hesitation, he agreed.
In the market, the crowd that Eryn and the girl had hid
behind in observation, were slowly leaving. The orator had turned his back and
was deliberately walking slowly down the steps towards a small trunk. There had
been familiar tones in the speakers voice to Eryn but it was the young girl who
tugged away at his clothing in the opposite direction. He ignored her and
continued onwards, to which she soon clung to his side again. As Eryn
approached the figure, they was taking off their hood. Eryn sighed as he realised who
he was about to talk to and before he started speaking, reached into a pocket to
bring out a letter. He coughed, startling Dehart, who was now changing into his
Silver Palm attire. He too reacted in a similar disappointed fashion when he
saw Eryn, but that all changed when he saw the girl. Reneaux he shouted, before breaking into a fit of laughter. He told
them both he didn't know who to feel more sorry for, Eryn for travelling with
her, or vice-versa. After the hilarity
of the situation had finally worn off, Dehart's tone turned aggressive,
demanding to know why she was in the city. Before she could even answer he
again poked fun at her, realising she had been hiding out in Darkperch during
the evacuation, and hence not responding to his invitations.
Eryn looked at
Dehart, then back down to Reneaux and for a second or two, allowed them both to verbally assault each other. He had never heard he speak before and the
language she knew certainly betrayed her visible years, almost to the point where it was edging towards territory even he wasn't comfortable with. The words however soon gave into their bladed
counterparts and Eryn quickly had to intervene, dragging Reneaux away from Dehart. As they
both left Eryn shouted to him that regardless of what he had wanted Eryn
for, he was not interested anymore and threw the letter to the ground. As they walked away, Eryn tried to get an explanation out of
Raneaux but she had returned to her silent self. Although she did start to
murmur when they approached the vast gap between them and the entrance to
Xera's lab.
They had caught Danton and Xera a little off guard in the
middle of discussing business, which they quickly covered up. Reneaux soon took
an interest in the plants growing around the room and Xera ended up trying to
keep her away from, as he wasn't sure what the plants would do to her. Danton had turned to his butler meanwhile and
had broken out an ornate hipflask. They were both, unbeknownst to the group, celebrating. That was until the drink
turned into a crux for dealing with the irrational. Eryn's wooden box that had used to connect to the flower
network spurted into life bleeping at him and alerting the group to its existence. He realised that he would have to
explain what it was if he was to get it out and thought it might be best not to
even look and ignore the situation. However curiosity soon got the better of him and so then explained his
experiences to Danton, Jarvan and Raneaux.
Both the gentlemen seemed to need
more than just words to process the information, while the girl was now even
more fascinated with Eryn. He looked
down at the box Incoming connection, do
you wish to connect? He shook his head at the phrase and fumbled around
with the box and eventually connected. It was a message, something that Eryn
didn't know the device could transmit or receive. It was an apology from
Dehart. Eryn was now intrigued and concerned, it wasn't the fact that Dehart
was apologising to him, it was the fact that he had Whisper Network technology
on him.
No comments:
Post a Comment