I'm slowly working up the backstory for my
new (first) character, Hana. Most of it's vague, but last night I scribbled down how she met her fixer. So, here it is, a slightly edited version of a story I wrote while half asleep. At least she finally has a name she can go by! Critique welcome. I'm new to this setting and have been pretty vague to avoid blatant errors.
For practice for pbp, I'm going to mark
"speech",
{{comm}}, and
thoughts.
[spoiler=Table of Contents]
These can be read in post order or chronological order.
1. You Are What You Eat (3/27/70)
this post2. Security (3/12/70)
3. Security, part 2 (3/12/70)
[/spoiler]
March 27, 2070"Scheduled maintenance" my ass, Julianne thought as she ran away from the building that had been her "home" for a few days.
They're supposed to put up signs a minimum of five days in advance. She hadn't taken into account the fact that this district rarely saw anything resembling proper procedure. The SINless squatters weren't likely to protest.
In her anger, she'd also forgotten to take into account that she was unfamiliar with the area. She soon found herself at a dead end, in a deserted alleyway, with no idea how to get back to familiar territory. She stopped to catch her breath, and sat down in the corner to rest before deciding what to do next. The relative safety of solitude proved to be too much--after all the discipline she had applied to maintain her composure, the mixed anger, fear, and relief caused her to finally break down and cry.
This was the sight that greeted Xris when he arrived at the rendezvous point: an elf girl, covered in dirt and tears, hiding in the corner.
Not such an uncommon sight around here, he thought, though he found it odd that an elf would be in such a position. It just seemed weird.
Well, the odds are stacked in their favor, the ork thought with a scowl. The keeb didn't seem to notice him as he took his position by the back door of what used to be a half-decent restaurant. At least it had provided a little more privacy than the alley behind it. Xris sighed. Eventually, his contact would come, and he would have to either move the meeting or shoo her away. He opted to expedite things a bit, calling out,
"Hey, keeb, whatchoo doin' out here?"Julianne snapped her attention back to her surroundings as a man's voice addressed her. She took a deep breath, focusing to calm her body, if not her mind. When she looked up at the ork, her face was calm, with an expression almost of boredom. The red was already fading from her cheeks, though her face was still wet with tears. She stared back at Xris, but didn't answer.
"Look, kid, I've got work to do here, and you don't want to be around for it." It was a bluff, but he really didn't want any witnesses to the paydata exchange.
"I was here first." Her voice was calm and steady.
"That don't mean drek, keeb."
"And your business means drek to me," she said, mimicking his voice.
"What, you 'fraid of one little dandelion-eater watchin'?"
"Neat trick," Xris scoffed,
"but you'd best be scurryin' along, afore someone a-scurries you on out." Julianne just stared, meeting his gaze as though to call his bluff.
Damn eerie little weed-eater, Xris thought, scowling, and pulled up a message window with his contact.
{{Got a kid here that won't leave. Seems harmless, but annoying. Got any better location nearby?}}The response was quick.
{{Same place. Discuss via link only. Should only take a minute.}}Xris sighed. He liked to let the runners take all the risks for him, but it seemed it couldn't be helped.
{{rgr}} Meanwhile, the elf was still watching him.
"Don't you have something better to do?" he demanded.
"No." Xris groaned and leaned back against the wall. Trying to distract himself from her presence, he pulled up a search agent and started searching for any new rumors, browsing any that seemed profitable.
Xris's contact finally showed up, and delivered the paydata the Johnson had ordered--on hard media, as requested. Xris pocketed the drive, and sent a message to Mr. Johnson. The hacker grinned when the payment arrived, and transferred the fixer's cut before running off.
Xris turned to walk away, but found his steps slowing as he reached the end of the narrow street.
Goddamn punk-ass weed eater. I must be getting soft. Then again, he needed a courier ASAP.
"Kid, you needin' a job?"
"Sure," she said, standing up.
"No questions?" He turned around to face her again, and she shook her head.
"What's your name, kid?" She frowned and looked down at the ground, not wanting to say her real name. Why hadn't it occurred to her before that she would need an alias? Xris guessed the problem more accurately than she probably realized.
"I guess I'd better give you one, then." He looked her over. She was older than he had originally estimated. Pretty, but not really above average for elves. Her dark hair could use some brushing, and she needed to wash her face and put on something better than vendingwear, but otherwise, she'd be quite presentable. She'd obviously made an impression.
"Hana. I'll call you Hana."She raised an eyebrow, recalling her Japanese lessons.
"Flower?""Yeah," he teased,
"'cause you're pretty like one." He grinned.
"After all, you are what you eat!"Hana rolled her eyes.
Well, at least he didn't call me Zassou.-------------------------------------------
* Zassou -- weed
