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Post by Executus Gira on Nov 3, 2019 6:35:20 GMT
The early morning of Mival shone down upon Nata and her machine. It hadn't been difficult for her to sneak Arnett's broken corpse into the city, having hid it between the main body and an arm as the guards had come out to investigate and see what she had came here for. Now, they were within, and the two found themselves in a downtrodden part of the city. The buildings here were like wooden shacks, with many torn into and broken apart. Burn marks could be seen across the ground, and there were few people outside. This was what Nata saw.
Arnett, however, had no way of knowing such things on her own. All she knew was her ride was far too bumpy and irritating for her liking, yet she did her best to endure. "Good, we're in. There's a street a block down called Claudio. Bigger wooden hut there, some metal furnishings. That is where you can drop me off. It's a doctor's office, and the doctor there is a very good friend of mine."
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Post by Stage on Nov 5, 2019 6:41:23 GMT
"We'll be there in a fraction of a nick," Nata replied, a smirk hanging heavy in her voice. She continued in a less jovial tone. "Are these what aboveground cities are like? I was expecting more. A lot more."
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Post by Executus Gira on Nov 5, 2019 6:56:14 GMT
Despite her hurting frame, Arnett snorted. "This is just the shabby part of the city. A run down shantytown where the poor and the homeless congregate. Living in Mival is not cheap, even with it being at its cheapest in twenty five years, and there's only so many job opportunities for so many people. If you were to turn right on the street and keep going down, you'd enter the main heart of the city, the actual good part of it. My friend works out here because there's less security and patrols out here, less unsavory eyes and she gets a whole monopoly on medical care in this section."
She cleared her throat. "Some believe this part of the city is cursed, haunted by evil beings who patrol at night and kidnap young children. Wherever these rumors are true or not... I neither know or bother to know."
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Post by Stage on Nov 7, 2019 0:24:28 GMT
"Sounds dumb," Nata dismissed offhand. "No one here can head out and figure out how to farm? They have a whole sun over their heads. We didn't underground and plenty of people make okay livings. At least enough to eat."
The sightless guardswoman felt their momentum change sharply, and the cold, metal arms of Illusion had to cradle her with significantly more force to prevent her from spilling onto the ground.
"Anyway, we're almost there. I can see this crummy hospital of yours. What next? Want me to knock or just throw you through a window or something? Maybe I can bundle you up and leave you on the doorstep like a foundling."
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Post by Executus Gira on Nov 7, 2019 0:34:48 GMT
"The soil around Mival is marshland, not the easiest to farm in, and many of the people here don't know how to farm. Most food is imported, and the few that can farm have licenses to do so from the Master of the city. People can try to go outside, but there's dangerous creatures out there."
"As for me, knock and drop me off inside, please. Once I am being tended to, you can leave." Arnett said.
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Post by Stage on Nov 7, 2019 1:01:16 GMT
Nata scoffed. "Sounds rigged. You need a license to grow food? Why not make them pay for air next? And protecting people just means making sure they never learn to fend for themselves. Give a capable person a sharp stick and a bag of rice, and they can claw out an existence. Also, not even the vainest mayor back home would call themselves the, 'master' of their city. These guys are all just being suckered, and there's not even a mask to enforce it. Aboveground cities are something else."
Arnett felt herself come to a sudden, grinding halt. The hot wind whipping off Illusion bounced off a broad surface very close to them and rolled back, stinging the guardswoman's wound.
"Here we are!" came Nata's unaltered voice after the telltale hiss of the domino's face plate rising. Knocking, loud and rapid, soon followed. "Sure you don't want to be swaddled?"
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Post by Executus Gira on Nov 7, 2019 2:13:57 GMT
"Owww!" Arnett hissed. "No, no thanks. The person inside is more than capable-"
The door opened, and outside walked a woman. Though Arnett couldn't see who the woman was, the soft voice and the tap of something hard against the wood of the door trim was all she needed to tell it was exactly who she was hoping it was. " A-arnett? What happened? Did this... Did she do this to you?"
To Nata, the woman was rather tall, with unnaturally pale skin and golden eyes with red hue. Her pitch black hair was tied in a bun underneath a red cap, with only a few strands that stuck out from under. She wore a plain white dress and an apron over it, with charcoal grey shoes on her feet. Her left ring finger was covered in a sort of black artificial nail that tapped against the door trim, and in her other hand was a small toy of a grey wyvern. Her white dress was covered in rips and tears, and blood splatches as well.
"No, not her." Arnett groaned. "The worse she's done is annoy me. I had a bad time and... can you help me out please?"
The woman looked back at Nata, and stuffed her toy into a pocket in her dress. "We're busy, but there is a spare bed. And you, do you know what happened to her?" She asked, her voice barely above a whisper.
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Post by Stage on Nov 7, 2019 6:04:21 GMT
"Nope!" Nata answered cheerily. "All she told us is that she got jumped while farming or something."
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Post by Executus Gira on Nov 7, 2019 6:34:26 GMT
"R-right." Arnett said. "I got jumped. So, what will it cost?"
The black haired woman looked carefully over Arnett's broken body. "Price will be determined by the doctor. For now, please come in."
The woman stepped back, and the insides of the small hospital's interior could be seen for Nata. There wasn't much, just a main room only twice as large as her domino, and a side room where the sounds of moaning and groaning could be heard. A black sheet separated the rooms, and across the walls were skulls and bones of not just people, but of various creatures of mostly small size. "Arnett, can you hand her to me?" The woman asked Nata...
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Post by Stage on Nov 7, 2019 22:20:37 GMT
"Sure thing, doc," Nata chirped, offering the ruined woman to the stranger with outstretched arms.
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Post by Executus Gira on Nov 9, 2019 0:24:04 GMT
"Thank you."
"Nata, you're free to go if you want. I'll be fine from here."
The woman took Arnett in her hands, as if a groom carrying his bride, and walked through the sheet separating the rooms....
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Post by Stage on Nov 9, 2019 1:08:29 GMT
Arnett heard the click and hiss of Illusion's facial plate falling back into place. "You got it, bright eyes. I'm going to go poke around a bit then. I'll probably be back. Hilde will probably want to check on you."
Without waiting for a goodbye, the surface runner left, the hot air rolling off her domino blasting the wooden building.
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Post by Executus Gira on Nov 10, 2019 3:38:05 GMT
With Nata gone, the black haired girl continued on with Arnett. Though she could not see it, the crippled woman could hear the moans and cries of pain from those around her. She could easily imagine it, the beds that surrounded where she was heading, the doctor and his assistants tending to each and every ailment from as small as a bloody nose to as severe as disembowelment. None were turned down here at this hospital, and it made Arnett sick to think about. Shouldn't they prioritize those who needed help the most over the minor inconveniences? What a waste. Was this some edict passed from the Master? It was easy to see why this place was so run down and injuries becoming so frequent over the past several weeks. By being forced to tend to everyone equally, it meant those with the severest wounds often perished before they could get treatment, and let disease pollute this city region.
She felt herself be lowered down onto a bed, and a sheet cover her. "Long time, but bad liar." The girl whispered. "Severity of wounds, with your profession, means someone stronger maimed you."
Arnett growled. "Shut it, Est."
Est patted Arnett's head, and the guardswoman could only assume the most condescending smile was on her face. "Doctor will look over you. Please be patient. Ignore voices, please."
Arnett heard the curtain flutter, and the sounds of Est's feet grow fainter. She was on her back, unable to move, and forced to wait. "Fuck me." She hissed.
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Post by Stage on Nov 10, 2019 4:05:50 GMT
As Arnett waited, time twisting into itself without even a clock’s ticking to count, seconds passing for minutes and minutes stretching towards hours, or perhaps the other way around, a voice, low and smooth and only barely recognizable as male, eventually interrupted.
“You must be in great pain,” it commented plainly.
Strangely, the guardswoman had heard no one approach her. No footsteps, no fluttering of the curtain. Nothing. Whoever it was, they must have been here all along.
They also must have been very quiet, because Arnett did not- and still could not- hear even their breathing.
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Post by Executus Gira on Nov 10, 2019 4:14:46 GMT
"Yeah, I'm in pain alright..." Arnett winced. "Eyes gouged, limbs severed... I'd be surprised if I wasn't filled with pain. Are you the doctor? Never heard your voice before. New doctor?"
She didn't bother to ask why she couldn't hear his breathing or why she hadn't heard him walk up. Mival was a city filled with both humans and inhumans, with many strange perks and talents. Someone who was stealthy wasn't exactly a surprise in her books.
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Post by Stage on Nov 10, 2019 4:25:25 GMT
“I didn’t mean physical pain,” the voice corrected. Somehow, the traces of masculinity Arnett had detected before where gone, replaced by subtle feminine notes. “You obviously take great pride in your capabilities. To have them so easily stamped out, stripped away... it must be painful.”
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Post by Executus Gira on Nov 11, 2019 5:08:21 GMT
Now Arnett was confused. To have one or two unique traits was something, but a gender changer? Or... it didn't have a gender at all.
Just what was she talking to? No, that didn't matter, not now, not if this discussion was going where she thought it was.
"Yes, it bites. It really fucking bites." She hissed back. "I always wanted to be the best fucking guardsman in the city, the one with no peer and no equal, but now I have no chance at that. Just fucking none. I have a shit's chance in a hurricane to get revenge on the bitch who did this to me."
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Post by Stage on Nov 11, 2019 5:24:20 GMT
"Yes, that's true," the voice agreed unsympathetically, all traces of recognizable gender now gone from its slow, quiet drawling. "Bodies are so... frail. So susceptible to failings. And so slow to recover. You could spend many, many years to gain back just a small portion of what you could once do. Or spend just as many failing to. It's very... unfair, don't you think? All that work... and it might not even pay off. So much time wasted. Efforts squandered. What if I told you... I could help?"
The bed nearest to Arnett creaked. Whoever was speaking to her seemed to have sat or laid down on it, though the creaking was not loud at all. They seemed to be very small.
Their voice was closer now, extremely close, though Arnett could feel no breath on her skin.
"What if I told you... I could fix you? Instantly make you whole again."
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Post by Executus Gira on Nov 11, 2019 5:43:24 GMT
If the woman still had her eyes, she would have been gleaming at the unseen person. "You... You can actually do that? Restore me in a blink of an eye? You have that kind of power? Fuck me, sign me up for that..."
Yet, she took a deep breath. "That is what I'd love to say without condition, but I never was a beloved figure of the city. Either you're the densest motherfucker on the planet and have no idea who I am... or there's some big strings attached to this deal."
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Post by Stage on Nov 11, 2019 5:51:50 GMT
"I don't know you," the voice said plainly, "but the cost of my deal is... small peanuts, in the long run. You will be healed in an instant, I promise you, but... I do require a bit of time. After. Nothing costs nothing, after all. What I can do... is guarantee your time means something. No risks. No maybes. That's what I offer. So what do you answer?"
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