Vex was eager to check out the Path Carver Caravan. She had never seen one in person before and was eager to look at those big, beautiful machines. However, Faith was quick to remind her that she had a waiting date with Tolke. So with no small amount of irritation, Vex stormed toward the Beefy Boy Burger Shack to the north of the bureau. While she was on her date, Architallis was going to meet up with the caravan and reserve the lance’s position aboard.
Vex marched her way to the burger shack with a scowl harsh enough to frighten off anyone who drew close on the semi-crowded streets. Not long after her trek, Vex found herself standing in front of a dirty checkerboard white and black diner. Dancing in the front window of the diner was a large burger with legs, arms, eyes, and a rainbow propeller cap. Vex shot the character an irritated glare before she took a slow, centering breath, then painted a happy smile on her face, straightened her armor, and strolled through the front doors.
The interior of the diner wasn’t much better than the exterior. White and black checker-pattern tiles lined the walls. The white tiles looked strained, and the black ones were all semi-bleached. The padded seat stalls were cracked and worn. The tables, once black, were just as bleached as the tiles on the walls beside them. It all painted a scene of neglect, if not grime or decay.
Despite the state of the environment, there were still customers. A few stalls occupied by lone diners and a single one with three occupants in the corner. Waitresses in skirts matching the walls bustled around the tables or gossiped by the doors to the kitchen. Tolke stood from a stall near the back and waved to Vex with a massive grin on his face. Vex gave Tolke a shy wave back before hurrying over to his stall and slipping into the seat opposite him. She did not want to waste any more time on this than was strictly necessary. She had places to be, faces to beat, and Omens to steal. But Faith had passed her a vague statement that what he was going to bring out would be useful. Vex was definitely irritated with this damned cloak-and-dagger dreck. Being led by the nose, told who to talk to, and how to act rubbed her the wrong way.
“So…” Tolke started. “You meet up with your lance?”
“Yeah,” Vex said in a rough voice as she ran a hand through her hair. “We got a job. Won’t be able to stay for long."
“Oh,” Tolke sounded disappointed. “Anything interesting?”
Vex gave a tired shrug. “A cursed thing that needs to be collected before it causes too much trouble.”
“So, like a murder mirror, kinda thing?” Tolke asked as he waved down a waitress who promptly offered menus.
“Kinda, yeah.” Vex said as she took her menu and rapidly skimmed it for the first food she could stomach and eat fast. “I’ll have the… Fat Boy Bomber Burger Sliders with synth-beef, a side of sudo-veg fries and… a lemonade, light syrup.” She handed the menu back to the server.
“Cool, cool,” Tolke said in a casual tone before making the same food order as Vex. “Sounds like it ought to keep you busy. I think my boss has something for my crew on the table. We specialize in target retrieval, living or otherwise.”
Vex snorted. “Sounds like you spend your days with your hands full. Lots of babysitting and kidnapping.”
Tolke gave a weak chuckle. “I guess you could look at it that way. Some people just need to be grabbed before they can cause more trouble.”
“Yeah?” Vex asked. “And who says that what they’re causing is trouble?”
“Well, the boss, of course,” Tolke said. “Whoever is dropping the clat to pay our bills says what’s right and what’s wrong.”
Vex rolled her tongue piercing around her mouth rather than respond to such a bitter comment. Tolke’s perspective was a common one these days. Don’t look past the hand that feeds if the coin is heavy enough. Tolke continued chatting about unimportant things while they waited for their food, Vex giving noncommittal responses occasionally when prompted.
The food came, but not nearly as fast as Vex would’ve preferred. Tolke dove into his meal like he hadn’t seen a sustainable meal in months, while Vex picked at her food. Half of the Hexxen Bane’s mind was in the distance, thinking about the job and her new situation. What remained of her thoughts in the conversation was so numb with boredom, Vex almost missed when Tolke said something of interest.
“You hear any of the local corp news?” Tolke asked around a mouthful of Sudo-fries. He chewed twice before choking down the mass of synthetic starch. “Word on the road is that Dryzor has been lining up some pretty sick deals. Bought out four whole settlements from under the Black Jade Hydra, and for a steal, I hear.”
“What?” Vex asked as she set down a slider she had only just picked up. “We talkin’ local local? Like right around these parts?”
“Yeah. Why?” Tolke finished his last slider with two wild bites before licking his fingers clean.
“Nothing,” Vex hurried to cover her interest. “Just caught word of Dryzor doing some scummy things in these parts. Just figured it’d make sense that they’d be seeing big payouts with all this shadow work. You said they snatched four whole settlements from the BJH, right?” Vex sipped her lemonade in thought before continuing. “That’s a dangerous play. Hydra’s one of the world leaders in arms and armor. Messing with that pit of snakes is gonna get someone bit, and bad.”
Tolke shrugged as she pushed his empty plate aside. “It’s above my paygrade to worry about what the sharks and whales are doing. Just as long as that shit doesn’t flow downstream, I don’t care much.”
“That’s the thing,” Vex muttered as she stood from the stall. “Shit always flows downstream. You just can’t see it under the illusion-paint the corps use to make the turds look like bars of gold.”
“Hey, don’t worry about the bill,” Tolke said as he hurried to stand with Vex. “I’ve got you covered for the date.”
Vex flicked a payment through her Therra-node with a sharp, dismissive gesture. 'This wasn’t a date,' she snapped, leaving the words to hang in the stale, synth-grease air as she strode out.
“Oooooh!” Vex squealed like a schoolgirl who had just been gifted an adorable pet. “Look at these babies! They’re beautiful! They’re powerful! And most of all, they have the power to make mulch and chum from anything that gets in these things’ way.”
Vex rubbed her cheek up and down across one of the mammoth tires of the rearmost caravan car. Calling the vehicle a car was a drastic understatement. The tire Vex was showing affection to was taller than she was, and the device had four of these tires on either side of the armored and armed vehicle. The angular, spiked, and intimidating Dreadnought-class vehicle, by itself, would be a road warrior of impressive note. But this smaller Dreadnought would be hooked up to a chain of similar vehicles to make a rolling town that travelled from settlement to settlement.
Ex, Tro, and Sin stood behind Vex, watching her gush over the near-tank-quality car. Ex gave the half-elf woman a confused look, while Tro patiently waited for his sister to get her fill of her notorious vehicle obsession. Sin looked upon the vehicle with a detached, aristocratic curiosity.
"A most formidable construct," Sin remarked to the empty air. "I wonder if its internal comforts match its external ferocity. Likely not, in this wretched age of metal and grime."
Archi was already onboard, shopping for any necessary gear and ingredients. Ex had said that the vhenari had been even more eager to get going than the fidgety immortal. Vex didn’t care where the mad Alchemyst was, so long as he wasn’t doing anything that would get the lance into trouble.
Standing beside the loading ramp was a tall and burly orc with obsidian skin laced through with magma-like veins, his arms folded over his chest. The brutish-looking man was dressed in dark gray-blue tactical plate armor and was armed with a pair of elementally infused axes as well as a large kinetic rifle. Borgash was the security for the rear entry of the caravan and the operator of the dreadnought that Vex was gushing over.
“What kind of propulsion does it use?” Vex asked eagerly.
“Evulsion Kinetic engine with eighteen pistons.” Borgash casually answered, his eyes inspecting the surrounding area with a trained gaze.
“And horsepower?” Vex’s eyes glittered with anticipation.
Borgash flicked a look to Vex before returning to his scanning. “Five-thousand,” he said simply.
Vex stepped past the tire to rub her hands across the black glass and red-painted plating. “What kinda armor are these things running with?”
Borgash unfolded his arms to rap a knuckle on an armor plate. “Ebon-Steel Glass and reactive plating.”
“Damn it!” Vex chided herself. “Duh, of course, Ebon-Steel Glass, you guys are orcs.” Vex pointed to the second story, a smaller extension from the base with a large pipe extending from the rear an extra three feet past the on-boarding ramp. “Weapon emplacement?”
Borgash shook his head in the negative. “Shitter and waste tank with a release pipe.”
Vex couldn’t help but notice that the end of the release pipe deposited the material right where someone would be standing just before mounting the ramp. She doubted that was a coincidence. Vex lowered her gaze to either side of the onboarding ramp, noticing flanking hatches large enough once opened to fit a horse’s head through. Vex pointed to one of the pair and repeated, “Weapon emplacement?”
“Yup,” Borgash confirmed. “Twin, independently operated Evulsion Kinetic Burst Cannons with installed Static Kinetic Field Projectors.”
“Force blaster cannons to knock tails off course and energy shield defenses.” Vex said with a mad smirk. “Hold me, I’m swooning. If we get ambushed, can I snag one of those babies? Please? Pretty please?”
Borgash rolled his eyes and snorted as he folded his arms again. “Get to it before anyone else if you want it.”
Tro stepped forward. “Vex,” he warned.
“Okay, okay, I hear you,” Vex said as she threw her hands in the air in defeat. “We need to get onboard and catch up with The Rat, fine.” She turned back to the guard. “Can we board?”
“Confirmed.” Borgash allowed. “Any vehicles to board?”
“I think so?” Vex more asked than stated. “We have a rented van full of gear in town. I was just thinking that our boss was going to handle returning it.”
“I’d recommend bringing it unless you want to replace that gear and rent out a new personal vehicle.”
“Well, I’m not going back to get the damned thing,” Vex said before turning to Alex, Sin, and Tro. “And I don’t trust either of you with driving it safely.” She pointed to Ex and Sin in turn. “And I don’t want to send you, Tro, because I like you.”
Trouble raised a speculative brow, but Vex ignored it as she dismounted her hat, reached into the pocket realm, and withdrew Sparky. Vex awoke the semi-autonomous drone and tossed it into the air, letting it hover to catch itself. “Sparky, I need you to go snatch our van and take it…” Vex turned to Borgash with the unspoken question.
Borgash gave the drone precise instructions to bring the van to a specific rear car with a vehicle loading and storage system. The drone zipped off, and the four lance mates embarked onto the caravan.
The Path Carver Caravan was composed of a series of mounted and interlocked independent vehicles that formed something of a mobile village. However, the best in Vex’s opinion was the lead car in the train—the spearhead with a forward-facing grinder plow with enough power to grind boulders to gravel. These nomadic caravans were crucial to the local infrastructure. The wilds work to retake roads almost as fast as they can be built. But the Path Carvers followed age-old routes that travel from one settlement to the next, clearing the way for others to follow.
Vex and her tailers walked through the mobile village. Walls of dark glass and metal painted in reds, browns, and blacks lined paths through interlinked cars, separated by emergency hatches. The inside of each vehicle was a living and workspace, perhaps with weapons, all within a ten-foot ceiling. With the glimpses of the second floor the group got, they found similar to the first, or growing green rooms of plants and farm stalks, all bathed in shimmering green light.
After several cars of the living/working type came larger cars, filled with shops or sets of smaller vendor stalls. Each vendor hawked his or her wares, ranging from food to art, to everyday mystech devices, to weapons and armor. Then came a single long corridor full of four rows of stalls flanking two paths. There, they found Archi among the bustling market-goers. Architallis was calmly attempting to bargain with an irritated and insulting merchant—a gray-skinned orc with blue veins, selling alchemical products.
“Sir, all I am requesting is the purchase of some quality ingredients to craft potent chemical elixirs.”
“And I told you, Primal, that I’ve got your elixir right here.” The orc merchant shouted, shaking a bottle of rat poison in Architallis’s face.
Vex stood back and smirked at the sight while Alex moved to break up the argument. “Hey, slither-spined Tusker! The man isn’t asking for poison. He wants to make healing potions.”
“Actually, I was requesting poisons in thieves' cant.” Architallis corrected. “However, I think you have a point in collecting healing supplements.”
“Thieves can't what?” Alex asked, “And why would you be asking for poisons before healing potions, dude?”
“Thieves’ cant is an underground language,” Architallis explained. “The cant is a cipher of double meanings and symbols that allow men and women with my specialties to communicate without arising suspicion.”
“And I told you that I’m not selling anything stronger than rodent poison to someone with a Dereliction Brand.” The merchant snapped. “I cannot. That is the law.”
“And what about healing potions?” Alex asked, “And any binding salves for gear?”
“I’ll sell you those, but not for cheap. I’ve got legal paying customers that might need these supplies more.”
Both Alex and Architallis looked toward Vex. Vex rolled her eyes, took a defensive stance, and folded her arms. “You really expect me to foot the bill?”
Alex shrugged. “Or you could talk to the boss. She did say that we have an income.”
“I’m not asking for our paycheck just over a week into our job.” Vex scoffed. “I am not crawling back to the damned woman after I just asked for some independence.” Vex shifted her stance, rolled her eyes, and clicked her tongue. “Fine. I’ll pay the tab. But only the essentials.”
Architallis immediately turned back to the merchant, rattled off a list of ingredients, followed by three healing potions per living lance member with the exception of Sin, three mend salves for Alex, and a carton of myst power crystals.
Even as Vex was finishing the purchase, the caravan shuddered. Engines across the length of the car-train rumbled to life with a chorus of powerful rolling growls. The mobile town rolled into motion, leaving the settlement and heading to its next destination. Most of Ill Omen braced in time for the jerking motion, Sin and Alex being the only ones to stagger.
“A most ungraceful departure,” Sin noted, adjusting his collar as he regained his balance. “I shall abstain from the synthetic drippings of this market. I suspect the wood of these stalls would prove more palatable than the merchant's wares.”
Vex handed out the health potions and mending salves while Architallis stowed his fresh hoard of reagents. Archi led the team through the bazaar and into the interlocked guesthouse cars. The interior of the space was rugged floors and metal plate walls adorned with weapons and art of orcish make.
In each of the private quarters, half the floor was occupied by a thick mattress covered in pillows and fur blankets. Beside the floor-bed was a foldout desk from the wall, and a simple chair beside it. Vex dumped her pack on the massive floor-bed, flung her hat onto the desk, and flopped face-first onto the bed in short order. The sound of snuffling and grunts told Vex that Potato was working his way out of her hat. There was a weight on the small of her back that scampered up to nuzzle Vex’s hair. Vex rolled over, catching Potato beneath her with a surprised yelp. The creature crawled out from beneath the woman to nuzzle her hand. “Don’t worry about me, boy,” Vex said, her voice tired. She sat up, scooped up her pet in both hands, and stroked his bristly fur. “We’re on the road. We’re safe. No voices. No schizo stalker bitches. Just you, me, Tro, and three morons. We got this.”
Vex rested her eyes shut as she attempted to relax. Suddenly, her eyes snapped open. “We don’t got this.” Her petting of Potato grew stressed and coarse.
There was a pounding at Vex’s bedroom door that startled Potato, causing him to scamper up to his master’s shoulder. Vex stood and opened the door to find Alex. “We’ve got a guest wanting to meet you.”
“Me?” Vex asked.
“Well, all of us.” Ex clarified before stepping aside to let Vex pass. Standing just inside the door to the car was a large Orcish man. His green skin and mossy hair were highlighted by his brown vest and black pants. His brown eyes gleamed with confidence. The orc’s short-cut hair was fuzz shaved close to his thick orcish skull. The orcish man’s tusks were thick and intimidating, one of them a mythril replacement, the green-silver metal dimly shining in the space's light.
“Yo,” the orc said in a deep rumbling voice. “The name’s Vorgar. I’m the chief of the Feasting Render Caravan. I make a point to stop by all our passengers to give a brief rundown of our rules.”
“Okay?” Alex said more in question than in answer. “I’m guessing no fighting, no stealing, no being a jackass trog, that kinda thing.”
“You’ve got most of it,” Vorgar said as he raised a hand to count off his rules on each finger. “No starting scuffs. No ending scuffs, let the guards handle the trogs. No theft unless you want to lose a finger or hand. Don’t bother our gardeners in the green rooms on the second floors. And don’t be a trog. Simple rules. Follow them an’ you’ll be fine with us.”
Vex gave Vorgar a casual two-finger salute. “Hear you loud and clear, captain.”
Vorgar gave a single firm nod. “Good. Now, we’re goin’ to be on the road for about half a day if things go well and we don’t get ambushed on the road. I recommend ya’ll snatch some food while you can. The lunch rush is bout to start. I’d recommend the Cleaver & Skewers stall. Kanteer makes magic with those things.” Vorgar turned around, stuck one hand in a pants pocket, and waved behind him with the other. “I’ve got others I need talkin to. Don’t forget the rules, and you’ll be fine.” With that, the orc strolled from the car and moved down the hall.
Vex looked to each of her lance mates. “I’m down for a munch. You guys joinin’?”
Ex raised a hand with eager speed. “I could go for a munch.”
Everyone in the space stared at the soul-forged with speculative expressions before moving on without a word.
“I’ll decline,” Architallis said, waving off the offer. “I get motion sickness at these speeds.”
Vex shrugged. “Your loss.” She turned to her brother with a question in her eyes.
Tro shrugged. “Food good.”
Vex gave Sin the same look, only with more irritation. “I should certainly feed myself,” Sin said as he stretched his arms over his head with a series of unhealthy pops. “My regeneration has left me in a state of deep discomfort through hunger.”
“Great, Archi, you’ll need to look after Potato while we’re out,” Vex said as she headed for the door.
“But-” Architallis started, but Vex was already leading the way from the guest quarters, as her pet hopped from her shoulder to glare at the Vhenari with a bubbling growl. Ex followed close behind with Tro taking up the rear. “Hey!” Ex exclaimed. “This body is not tin.”
“Then what is it?” Vex asked over her shoulder in a teasing tone.
“Hells if I know, but it’s hella tough,” Ex replied.
“Well, good for you, Metal Man. But with that body, it’s not like you can eat. So why are you coming? You can’t even smell the goods.”
“Because I’m bored and want to go eyeball shopping.”
“Even though you don’t have eyeballs anymore,” Vex commented with a snort.
The two bickered for several minutes before finding the stall the caravan chief mentioned. It was a small collapsible metal stall with a burning grill packed with savory-smelling sticks of a variety of meats. The grill was operated by a half-orc with gray skin, blue eyes, and no hair, dressed in only jeans and a chef's apron. He glanced up at the three before turning back to his skewers to turn them methodically to cook evenly.
“What kinda meat are you serving?” Vex asked.
The cook, Kanteer, Vex remembered his name was, looked up at her from under a strong brow. He pointed to each type of skewer, the color of the meat making it apparent that they came from different animals. “Cow, catoblepa, chicken, pork, and colossus iguana,” he spoke in a flat voice.
“Well, aren’t we spoiled for choice,” Vex mused. She looked over at her brother.
“Beef. Two” Tro answered the unspoken question.
“Great,” Vex said with a broad smile. “Two beefs, a pork, and an iguana.”
“Two silver for the bunch,” Kanteer said blandly as he picked up the order from the grill.
Vex pulled two four-sided silver Deckra coins from her coin purse and flicked them to the cook, who snatched them from the air with one hand before offering Vex and Tro their food. Tro immediately raised the stick of succulent meat just above the collar of his jacket that hid his mouth and steadily conveyed the entire stick into his mouth. The sounds of chewing meat and crunching wood came from behind the collar.
“How many times do I need to tell you not to eat the skewers, twit,” Vex said in a chiding tone.
“Good fiber,” was all Tro said around a mouth of meat and wood.
“You’re such a moron sometimes, Brother,” Vex said as she turned around to find Ex flirting with a human girl who couldn’t have been more than nineteen.
“You are truly the most gorgeous girl on this whole caravan,” Alex said in what must have been his rendition of a charming and smooth voice. Vex thought the soul-forged sounded more like an overconfident teenage boy coming onto a girl he thought he could catch.
The girl, for her part, looked uncomfortable at the advances. Her smile was strained, and she leaned away from Alex as if she were ready to bolt at any moment. “Th-thank you, s-sir. But I really need to get back to my room.” Even the girl’s voice held a nervous note as she stuttered her reply.
“Gear Head,” Vex addressed Alex. Both Ex and the girl turned to look at the Hexxen Bane. “Why in the hells are you harassing this poor girl? It’s not like you’ve got the components to get lucky.”
With Alex’s focus on Vex, the girl fled the scene at just short of a jog.
“What?” Alex asked innocently. “I can’t help it. When I see a pretty lady, I need to talk to her. Every pretty lady needs a compliment to feel beautiful.”
“I doubt you made the girl feel anything but creeped out by a machine man hitting on her like an overeager and hormonal teenage boy. Besides, you’re over five-hundred years old. You’re acting like a cradle snatcher.” Vex said in stern honesty.
Alex pressed a hand to his chest as he gasped. “I’m hurt. It’s not like I’m some creeper. I’m am a lover of the finer things in life, and I simply can’t resist a pretty lady. Wait. Did you buy me a skewer?” Alex asked with confused hope.
“Don’t be a trog.” Vex scolded. “It’s for my little man,” she said this line in a babying tone as she raised the pork skewer to Potato on her shoulder. The creature snapped up the entire meal, snatching it with a mass of black, tentacle-like tongues.
“Oh,” Ex said in a disappointed voice.
There was an intentional cough from Vex’s left. She turned to find Sin standing there, waiting for Vex to realize something.
Suddenly, the Hexxen Bane realized that she had completely forgot to order for the immortal. She let out a heavy sigh. “Alright. What do you wan-” Vex started, only to cut herself off at a rising sound. A jolly and bubbly whistle could be heard just under the drone of the market. Vex’s head snapped back and forth as she scoured her surroundings for the source of that familiar and dreaded tune.
Vex spotted the source of the whistling coming down a stairway from a second-story shop. She was a shorter ceangar. She had sandy brown-blond hair cut short and stylishly tousled. The woman wore a brown and red armored vest over a band t-shirt, tan and blue armored pants, and well-worn field boots. However, Vex was certain of who she was by her piercings and eyes. Her ears were adorned with a large pair of earring gauges, and a septum ring hung from her nose. Her eyes weren’t uncommon colors for her species; a dark gray ring around an amber orange inner ring of the iris. What made those eyes so recognizable was the emotion that saturated them. In the ceangar’s eyes was a medley of lazy apathy, casual curiosity at her surroundings, the haze of plenty of liquor, and buried deep down, a stoking rage at anything she perceived as injustice. Another key feature of the ceangar woman was the pair of heavy gold and white-silver plate gauntlets encasing her hands and forearms.
Her name was Fee Fee Blitzburne. Fee Fee was a heavy-hitter for the Gilded Rose, a Fury-class asset with a penchant for breaking bones and a reputation for never losing a scent. She was part of a keen and skillful lance. That very lance had been tasked with capturing Vex and dragging her back to her own personal hell.
“Ohhhh….shit,” Vex cursed numbly. She thought she had shaken off her Gilded Rose tail when she hit Fortune’s Landing. Clearly, that was not the case.
Tro’s bat ears perked at Vex’s curse before swivelling to track the whistling. “Bad people?” Tro asked without looking at the source of the warning tone.
“Oh, yeah,” Vex said just loud enough for Tro to hear. “They’re after me to take me back to somewhere I’d rather not go.”
“Not good,” Tro growled.
“What’s up?” Alex asked as he looked around in confusion.
“Trouble,” Vex said.
“Hmm?” Tro asked.
“Not you,” Vex said to her brother before speaking to the rest of the group. “The ceangar coming down the stairs towards us is part of a lance on a quest to snatch me. To make matters worse, she’s between us and our quarters.”
“Do we head to the back of the train?” Ex asked.
Before Vex could answer the question, Fee Fee locked eyes with Vex. The Fury’s eyes lit with recognition, and she leaped the last seven steps to the ground before approaching Vex with a casual stride, her hands in her pockets. As soon as Fee Fee was within speaking range of the Hexxen Bane, the Fury gave Vex a confident grin. “Looks like we found you again, Half-Blood. Nowhere to run this time. Just backwards to a dead end.” Fee Fee’s voice was light, amused, and almost musical if not quite.
“Shut your face rectum!” Vex snapped, “I’m not alone this time, and we’ve got you outnumbered.”
Fee Fee gave each of the group a crown to toes inspection before snorting. “You think a freak, a bot, and a hobo are enough to save you from us? You’re in for a painful fact check.” Before Vex could reply, there was a blur of gold and silver followed by the resounding clang of metal striking metal. Vex watched as Alex was punched in the abdomen and sent hurtling back ten feet, bulling over several bystanders. The bazaar erupted into immediate chaos. Fleeing civilians shrieked and scrambled over one another, and nearby shop owners frantically slammed their heavy metal shutters, the noise echoing like cannon fire.
Tro acted next, grabbing the Fury’s hair and driving her face-first into the metal floor hard enough to break the ceangar woman’s nose. Fee Fee stood, straightened her nose with a sickening crack, and grinned. “Cute. My turn.”
Fee Fee’s gauntlets ignited with an elemental radiance born of her zeal. She drove an angled upper cut into Tro’s chest, launching him into the ceiling hard enough to dent the metal surface before he struck the floor like a sack of flour.
“A boisterous and belligerent display,” Sin noted to the stampeding crowd, stepping gracefully around a fallen tray of skewers. “I suspect the local constabulary shall arrive post-haste.”
True to his word, the heavy stomp of armored boots and plate armor sounded from the ends of the corridor. Two Orcish guards were sprinting toward the scene from flanking sides, their axes humming with a dangerous, suppressive light.
This corporate espionage report is way too clinical for a story about a woman fighting off a bounty hunter while her chaos goblin of a brother eats a wooden skewer. Do you think Vex's obsession with machinery is her way of coping with the trauma of being hunted, or does she genuinely just think war machines are neat?
Vex is just a straight-up gearhead. She doesn't like to show the intelligent side of herself. But she is a deeply clever woman who finds fasination is the complexities of machines.
I love that she hides how clever she is. Do you see that as self-protection, or more like she enjoys letting people underestimate her? It feels like that could become a real advantage in high-stakes situations. Btw, would it be alright if we connected on Discord or another platform?
Vex does it partly out of embarrassment. She's scared off a lot of potential friends with her brains. But she also finds it to be a massive advantage when some jack ass thinks she's just some ditz and she whips out her cleverness and takes the win right out from under them. And regarding connecting on Discord, OF COURSE!! I'd love to talk about my work or anything else. Just please, don't try to sell me any art.