A soft periwinkle glow illuminated the grey and depressed visages of Vanity; the moon hanging high in the air by the time Kanashima managed to pull herself out of the crude residence. This late evening time was perfect for a heist such as her own, the minor curfew was already in effect, and most adults would be late night workers who would already be well into their stint or at least inside their own residence, preparing for sleep and their morning shifts. Still, Kanashima was a minor, and thus, susceptible to the police officer presence roaming the city searching for delinquents like her. When law enforcement stopped violators of curfew like her, they would usher them to their home or the district's holding cell, both with a steep fine. It was a risk she was willing to take, committing burglary in broad daylight was still less ideal to her, less she got caught. From here to the cafe would be hard too, but she liked her chances against the nocturnal obstacles over daytime break-ins anytime, even more so now that she discovered that she was armed with a powerful cloaking intrinsic.
The plan evolved from there with as much room for error or mishaps as possible, keeping things simple where possible in the event of a pivot or just some plain misfortune she's been accustomed to by now. She'd go buy a subway ticket to the other side of New Bangkok, hopefully evade the police officers there and sprint to the cafe. If she took too long, the late night coffee shop would've been closed, but her boss always stayed after for quite some time, hopefully she would be able to get there before the establishment was fully empty for the night.
Every single portion of her seemingly safe plan hit roadblocks and hiccups beyond any sort of foresight she had the ability for. The crew sent for her took forever to deal with, wasting close to fifteen minutes watching the most dysfunctional work buddies and then another twenty or so dealing with their aggressive antics. Getting away from the horrendous misplay that was those two coming into contact with her again was difficult and taxing on her energy too. Armed with a significantly less amount of battery charge, only the knife in her hand could be trusted for some sort of defense. With her luck, she could've already missed the coffee shop after hours window, and if by some miracle she could've still made it, the walking, talking extraneous variable was blocking her path once more.
Looking down at her right hand, she saw the blade coated in Kory's blood. The shallow laceration across his neck probably wasn't big enough to be fatal, at least she hoped it wasn't. Beady, lifeless eyes stared back at her once more, unwavering. A second person's life ended by her own hand would be too much. She was in perfect control, had every opportunity to leave, and she decided for these meaningless notes of revenge instead? Even her mom would be angry with her selfish tendencies, that weren't the ideals she instilled into her for nine years.
Forget Mom, Morgan would be disappointed too…
The handle fit comfortably inside her rather small hand, made from real maple burl and oil finished for a smooth feel. The point on the blade was in line with the rest of the knife edge, giving it quite a fashionable form factor Kanashima had never seen before. Flipping it around, it already felt home in her hand even though Marinetti was the one who summoned the armament.
He summoned it, didn't he? It wasn't on his person?
Pushing a small amount of energy into the object, she called out towards it. She truly had no way of knowing if it worked the same way in the real world, but if the simulation was supposed to test her, why wouldn't it be the same? Her thin lips curled upwards as she saw the same red strings come together once more before her eyes.
[Object: Lover's Lullaby]
[A blade forged by the flame of love as a gift for a beautiful young woman. The blade would become her unmaking by the same flames that forged it.]
[Current Data:]
[Dimensions (LxWxH): 47cm x 1cm x 2.5cm]
[Weight: 0.66kg]
[Harmony Tier: 4]
[Quality: Flawless]
[Current Owner: Davien Marinetti]
[Claim and Download?]
Download? Claim… Isn't that stealing? Davien Marinetti? Marinetti is his last name?
Would it really rip the item from the old friend of hers, or would it just make a copy of the files and somehow replicate the matter in the real world? Despite the moral implications of stealing something materialistic, curiosity got the better of her, and she pushed the mental command to the item, silencing the small voice of the imaginary Morgan in her head. This time, instead of the red outline collapsing and surging into her system, a small radial timer started, a number ticking down every second from thirty in the center of the digital circle formed by little lines on the perimeter.
Letting the timer run out, a small three tone chime played in her mind. Focusing back on the panel and armament, the scarlet frame converged at the center before elongating into one line, flowing into her system. The red energy rushed through her circuits and found its new home somewhere in her nervous system, presumably wherever her internal storage was located.
[New Armament:]
[Lover's Lullaby 1x]
[View in Storage?]
I really did just receive it. Was it stealing it from Marinetti? Was that why it took time?
Waving away the panel and her own thoughts, she looked behind her for a couple moments, then turned to address the same kid she's been seeing around all too much since coming back.
"Marcel? It's past curfew, you shouldn't get you or your mother in trouble."
"There was this huuuuge boom sound! It had to have been an Electrogen, so I really really wanted to see them! Also… my mom doesn't know I'm out right now, so you didn't see me, just like I didn't see you!"
Kid, please go away. You don't know the half of it. Not like me at all.
Shaking her head, she quickly surveyed the area. At the moment, there wasn't a huge visible threat, and the kid somehow didn't think anything negative of her yet. Still, there was a slight chance the longer and longer she lingered for them to get pinched, and if the kid got caught, that could spell disaster for her as well. Already digging into her jacket pocket for one of the few things she was able to grab from the apartment, the kid interrupted her thoughts once more with his same excitement.
"Big sis, did you do that big explosion? That's totally cool!"
"Okay, yes I did. That was me. You met the Electrogen. Now please go home, you're going to get in trouble."
"What about you? My mom always said I should help out the people that help me."
Pulling out the large plastic lighter and a few paper banknotes, she turned back toward Marcel, crouching down to his eye level. This kid, always with his questions and moral lessons. At least the innocent kid had a good mom. If he had the displeasure of becoming an adult, he would likely make her very proud to be his mother.
"I'll be fine. Now go before someone sees you. And if anyone asks, you didn't see me here, and I didn't have anything to do with what happened… or what's about to happen."
With the few bills still in her hand, she stuffed them into the fists of the young Morgan lookalike before chucking the rest of her hand's contents through the gap where the glass panes used to be. The lighter clattered onto the glass shards, the durable polymer container still intact. Holding her right arm outstretched in the tossing position, she began that same energy building process that she had done so many times, allowing the purple tinted electrons flow through her currents once more. Marcel seemed to have a curious glint in his blue eyes as he spectated her movements, not even the slightest concerned about what he had just been given.
"Go, don't get your mom in trouble."
"Oh, um, right! Thank you big sis, you're the coolest person I know! I hope…"
"Be advised, Lady Kanashima. Two bogeys half a klick out. On your ten."
Disregarding the rest of whatever the kid had to say, Kanashima's analytic thoughts were interrupted by that sweet, soft spoken voice that was in her head. It had already alerted her before in the real world, but it was still an unfamiliar sensation to hear its calm and oddly soothing voice, especially when it spoke so formally to her. It was all in her head too, unnerving in the otherwise quiet of Vanity. Her dark grey eyes began to search through the softly illuminated district center, attempting to identify what the helpful voice has dubbed "bogeys."
What does it mean by my ten? Also what is a bogey? Bandit was obvious enough, but bogey? Why the outdated terms? It should know I don't even know them.
Two uniformed silhouettes stood tall about half a kilometer away on the left of the minors breaking curfew. The two officers, clad up in their typical trench coats, seemed to be turned around and more interested in lighting up their little cigarettes and chatting about anything but their jobs. At least they were at their proper route, covering their assigned area, and actually doing their jobs, albeit halfheartedly. Anybody walking their lackluster assignments day in and day out in the slums would eventually get tired of the dull sights of concrete and anguish. Despite all the high profile felonies and hotspots for crime in the rest of the city, Vanity always had this police presence, almost trapping them in the district. They stayed oblivious and uninterested before those same purple sparks appeared in her vision. First, on Marcel, then off of a cigarette butt the one on the right tossed to the side.
There it is again. Just what does it mean? And twice this time?
Whilst the iota of color against the shades of grey went unnoticed by the partners, one of them turned around. The person struck the other on the shoulder and then pointed to the two lingering people. Once the bodies shrouded in shadows started to approach on foot, Kanashima's eyes widened. Somehow or just not realizing who they were, Marcel began to leave, sprinting directly towards them. Instinctively, she attempted to reach out with her left arm to grab his shoulder and stop the kid from getting in trouble, and maybe incriminating her, but through her attempts, nothing happened, the muscles used to rotate her shoulder completely shot beyond normal medical repair.
Oh my God, you can't be serious.
Blowing up the main room of the apartment was easily the most efficient way to remove most of the ways to trace the burglary back to her. To actually kick that explosion off, she tossed the lighter back into the building. The force that her plasma bolt generates on contact should be enough for the casing to explode and light the room ablaze. Whatever happened afterward wouldn't be her problem, the nearest officers would probably trail her after informing some others to take care of the incendiary mess. The only problem with this at the moment is she was right about to release her bolt when the kid took off.
She wanted desperately to reach out to Marcel before he got out of her arm range and stop him from giving himself up, but she'd have to cancel her bolt. By then, the officers would either be close or already on her, and both of them would be doing the mad dash to safety. Even if they did get away, they definitely would connect the break in to her, simply finding the lighter in the field of glass shards. She wasn't too keen on getting caught. The kid would be one thing, but for her? She'd be lucky to see the light of day if she got after it.
Damnit Marcel… why couldn't you have left earlier?
The worst of it all was the decision demanding just a few seconds of internal deliberation before nothing happened at all. Could she get away while taking the kid with her? Probably, but it would be incredibly difficult. Her instincts screamed at her to cut him loose and save herself, but was that really the person she wanted to be, wanted to be known as? Was that Morgan would have wanted her to be?
Who am I kidding, I'm not strong enough to save somebody. I can't even save myself.