by Sarah Lin
"Are you going to stop being cryptic and actually tell me what you mean by that? Telling me what's going on would be a lot better statement of good faith then just trying to buy me off with something."
"Yeah, we can talk about that." At that moment, the doors dinged and slid open. "But never mind that for now, we're here: welcome to the Orient Boutique."
The elevator might have looked simple, but it opened into a floor that screamed wealth. There were no neon signs or crass advertisements here - in fact, the elevator opened onto a bamboo floor. Twin statues of guardian lions stood outside the elevator, which struck him as simultaneously impressive and a bit ridiculous, considering they were guarding the passage between an elevator and a store.
And despite all the pretense, it was a store. Instead of trying to attract customers with bright colors, it had all the understated appeal of a high end tech chain. Though the floor had trees and even an artificial river flowing through it, there were also many wooden stands with merchandise on them. Instead of plastic labels they had the prices elegantly printed on what looked like little business cards. It was all very impressive, but...
"Is this place really called the Orient Boutique?"
Damian shot him a look that seemed both amused and irritated at once. "I suppose a peasant like you has never seen the like, huh? Well, you can pick something you like. I don't pay too much attention to money, so just get whatever catches your eye."
"Really?" Rick knew that more was going on, but hadn't expected such a generous offer. "You'll buy one item for me just as an apology?"
"And as a token of good will toward our future collaboration! Feel free to look around... just don't wipe your hands on anything."
Ignoring the jibe that doubtlessly wasn't sincere, Rick began to look around. The prices for everything were insane - all listed in lucrim, as if none of their customers would even think of using something so crude as dollars. He passed from block to block, examining the items displayed on them. There were far more pills than he was used to, all with ornate names.
He really had no idea where to begin, and Damian had to know that. Was this another test? Suspecting that he was being examined, Rick tried to look over everything skeptically. There were employees dressed in robes who hovered in the corners, not interrupting. One woman in what he thought was a very daring cheongsam smiled at them, but he just smiled back and ignored her. No, he had a feeling that speaking to the staff would not be the right choice.
Instead he looked more carefully at the cards, ignoring the eye-popping prices. They spoke of the virtues of their items, some actually promising a specific amount of growth in generation rate. That was the first thing that really bugged him, because he didn't think there was any way that could be true. Different people were at different stages, had different natural dispositions, different lucrim portfolios... there was no way a pill could apply the same to all of them.
And once he got over how high class the place looked, his suspicion kicked into overdrive. Many of the pills advertised benefits that struck him as suspiciously vague or reminded him of internet scams. What did a "lucrim-fueled immune system" even mean, anyway? In fact, he started to notice some language that he remembered Lisa complaining about in one of her rants about supplements.
"You know..." When he started to speak up, he wasn't sure what he was going to say, but as he turned to Damian he felt a strange sense of confidence. "I'm not sure I can choose. What would you advise?"
"Oh, I'd advise a lot of things." Damian smirked, but beneath the smugness there was something else... Rick thought that had been the right decision. "Come along, peasant. Listen and learn."
Damian moved from display to display, pretending to examine the contents. As he did so, he continued speaking.
"For a start, if you want the CSLA to take you seriously, you need to upgrade your method of transportation. Children bike around, not adults. Even if you don't want to buy a proper vehicle, you can actually get a decent Transportation Core for just 25,000 lucrim invested. Well, I suppose that might be a bit steep? I suppose you could get a tolerable budget core for just 5000 of your generation rate."
Rick grunted, fairly certain that advice was nonsense. Even if it wasn't, it was absurd: he was desperate for an edge against superior opponents, so of course he couldn't waste his limited assets on transportation.
"On a similar note, you ought to invest in the trappings of quality. A proper suit, for one, and having a decent amount of net worth in a house or two never hurt." Damian glanced back at him with a nonchalant glance. "Oh, or you could upgrade your Graham's Stake Lucore a bit. Putting away a lucrim or two is well and good, but you need it to be higher rated for it to be worth much."
That last part struck him as potentially actual advice. Though he'd put more lucrim into the core since it was created, it had stayed rated at exactly the same stage since the beginning. The difference between aura leech stages had made a big difference, so it was plausible that the same would be true of an improved version of his core. "I'll look into it."
"Very good, very good. Say, I could use a bit of fresh air - do you want to step this way?" Damian swerved sharply to another elevator, leaving Rick with no choice but to follow along. This one wasn't in the same column as the others, he noticed, and looked far more elaborate.
On the ride up, Damian kept up a line of patter about nothing. It wasn't a very long ride, then to Rick's surprise, the elevator opened onto the roof. There was a garden area that seemed to overlook Branton - Rick hadn't known that it existed. Damian's attitude shifted and he walked swiftly to one edge, leaving Rick to catch up.
"We can speak freely here," Damian said, his voice now completely serious. He turned his head to give Rick a hard stare. "Now, tell me what you think of that place?"
"I'm not sure." Rick folded his arms and stared back. This was obviously another test, he just didn't know what was being tested beyond his basic observation skills. Damian knew what he could do, so this must be about who he was. "I don't think I'll offend you if I say I'm skeptical about the claims of most of those items."
"Oh, it's a lot of bullshit." Damian spun to face him, spreading his hands to either side in an expansive gesture. "Welcome to the upper crust of society! One show after another designed to remind us just how refined and urbane and powerful we all are!"
"Huh." Rick scratched one ear. "I didn't think the upper crust would go shopping in malls."
Damian smirked. "You're right, of course. This place is more about the illusion of wealth than the thing itself. New money, some would say, but that's bullshit too. No matter how high you go, you're playing the same sort of games."
"So what exactly is the game here?"
"The pretense of the exotic, of course. Obviously some Chinese lucrim resources are among the best in the world, but they have some of the worst in the world too. That's assuming that anything here isn't just produced in some factory in a third world country, which is frankly asking a lot. And the ridiculous theater of the secret entrance via the elevator, when the floor is visible from the outside! It's not about security, it's about letting people feel like they're a part of a secret society. Everything is style over substance."
Though this was giving him a better sense for the other man, Rick wasn't quite satisfied. "Speaking of style, you're monologuing a lot. If we can talk freely here, why don't you just get to what this is actually about?"
"Heh, fair enough. I've never claimed that I was more substance than style." Damian turned to him, however, and his gaze became deadly serious. "I was serious about a short term collaboration for the sake of the merit scoreboard, and I'll give you something worthwhile for the sake of appearances. But that's all secondary. I brought you here because I believe you can be trusted with a potential longer term collaboration."
Rick folded his arms and waited.
"You actually got my number earlier in the demon realm. The point is to be a flashy idiot obsessed with himself and his petty little secrets.
Skilled enough to give a position, but harmless. But I'm not that person - I'm not even as rich as I pretend to be. I've spent years preparing and this little contest is just the opportunity I needed. What I need is for them to hire me and not take me too seriously."
"Your goal is to infiltrate the CSLA?"
"No, the Global Lucrim Authority itself."
Though it should have been ridiculous, Damian said it so somberly that Rick found himself taking it seriously. "Okay, why?"
"You've seen what they've done to this world. The rich get richer and the weak get weaker, because they keep finding new ways to choke off any chance we have. First they harvested power itself from the air, robbing us of what many would consider a birthright, then-"
"You sound like someone else I know." Rick pushed thoughts of Alger aside and just focused on the man standing opposite him. "This isn't about bringing in a new era of warriors and combat, is it? That time is in the past and it's not coming back."
"Oh, I'm not pining after some past era that wasn't as good as we pretend. No, I care about what our systems are doing today." Damian turned away and put his foot up on the side of a flower box, staring over the city. "You see how the systems are all entangled. The demons suffer because of our greed, so their greed gets stronger and humans suffer. It isn't sustainable."
"Then what do you suggest?"
Damian turned his head back just enough to grin at him. "I want to burn it all down."
For a long moment Rick just stared at him, wondering if this could be another act. Damian was strong, sure, and seemed to have some decent resources. But that was nothing compared to the corporations and governments that enforced the status quo. They'd just recently gotten a reminder of how powerful the representatives of the Global Lucrim Authority could be. Saying something like that was insanity.
"You look at me like I'm crazy, but who was the one feeding his blood to the poor downtrodden toad demons? I want to help them too, I'm just thinking a bit bigger."
Rick sighed and decided he needed to take this seriously. "If you're trying to recruit me for a suicidal attempt to fight the GLA, you're going to be disappointed."
"I'm not an idiot, Rick. I plan to be working toward this for years, even decades. But this is an important first step, because there aren't many chances to be properly employed by the GLA. All I want is for you to help me win... and maybe keep a bit of sympathy for my cause, when things go down."
"And what happens then? You crash the world economy?"
"It doesn't have to be that dramatic. We had an economy before lucrim was controlled like this, and we can have one afterward. What do you say? Isn't that a worthier goal than winning a merits contest?"
"You," Rick said slowly, "are crazy. But I trust you just a bit more than I trust our bosses, or just about any corporation. I won't go talking about this, and I think we can work together for the merit competition, at least. I don't think I'd want a job with the GLA even if I could manage it. Just this has been stressful enough."
"I suppose I'll take it." Damian stuck out a hand to shake, but Rick ignored it. "Alright, what is it going to take for me to seal this agreement? I thought I'd made it clear enough from the beginning that I intend to compensate you for your trouble."
Rick took a step back and just thought about it for a bit. He didn't think he was making a huge mistake with this - Damian was either delusional or a very long term thinker, but either way, it didn't have much immediate impact on their lives. What mattered was that he had a potentially useful ally and one source of uncertainty in his life had been removed. Maybe he should remove a second.
"You said that you did research on all of the top candidates..." Rick said slowly. "Does that include Jack?"
"Of course. Nasty piece of work. Local mercenary from Branton, had some ugly juvenile cases but has kept out of prison as an adult. Mostly kept to smaller time stuff, but the American Basilisk hired him for this. Probably to get a man inside local CSLA business."
"Wait, the American Basilisk? That's the connection?"
"I know he might seem a bit apocryphal, but-"
"So that's why he's after me." Rick rubbed his forehead irritably. "This relative I fought must have been one of the Basilisk's fighters in the tournament. So I have an actual mobster after me... I guess I should be grateful that it isn't another hit job."
Damian just examined him with raised eyebrows for a long time, as if trying to figure out if it was a joke, then gave a strange smile. "You're talking about the American Basilisk very casually. Guess you're a more interesting man than my research indicated."
"I'm doing my best not to be interesting. I'll cooperate within the bounds of the law, but I don't want to attract the attention of either side."
"Then we have an agreement?"
"A bit of one." Rick stuck out his hand and Damian shook it firmly. "Like I said, you might be crazy, but I trust you more than them. For this merit contest, we can work together. What you do after that is up to you."
"That will do just fine." Damian smiled, then put a hand over his shoulder to guide him back to the elevator. "Now, let's buy you an overpriced gift..."
Chapter 38: Forgotten Techniques in the Library
Melissa couldn't help but feel a skip in her step as they finally drew near the Branton Public Library. She had very dim positive memories of the place from her childhood, Uncle Frank taking her there on one of his rare visits. Since then she'd done more of her research at school or on the internet. The idea that there was potentially such a valuable resource still available to her...
"You know," she said as she glanced over at her brother, "it's odd that they didn't talk about the public libraries more in school, if they're such a great resource."
"Yeah, it's odd." Rick frowned as if to himself and did his usual little half-shrug when he wasn't quite sure. "I know some people say that it's because so many sects and corporations have influence on the public school system. They still don't like the fact that libraries make so much information free, so they try to hinder them. I haven't researched it a lot, but..."
"A corporate conspiracy, then!" She shook her fist in mock rage. "Let's fight the power, brother!"
She thought that'd get at least a smile from him, but her brother just looked thoughtful. There was definitely something he had in mind that he hadn't shared with her yet. His brow was a bit furrowed, not as if he had a serious concern, but something was definitely distracting him. Odd that it had just appeared now, since he'd seemed fine on their way over.
"Rick... is something actually up?"
"You just made me think of my meeting yesterday. It was weird." He glanced around, but not like he was thinking of hiding something. After a while, he gave her an odd look she hadn't seen before. "Damian is, uh... a character. I should tell you more about him sometime, but not here."
"Huh. Okay." She narrowed her eyes at him, trying to figure that out. Either he needed to figure something out or he had a strong reason not to get into it.
"But hey, I got a very nice pill out of it that I'll take when the right time comes. It's called the Great Wheel Heaven and Earth Realmshattering Pill."
"Are you serious, or...?"
"Serious."
"Geez, they really went all in on that name." Melissa looked ahead to the library as they finally reached the grounds. "But I guess we can pop pills later. For now, I'm curious to meet this side chick you won't tell me about."
Rick stared at her with a baffled look that made her giggle. "Side...? Listen, I barely know Heather. She's helped me with techniques a few times and that's it."
"Mmhmm. Sure. A likely story." She smirked, glad that she'd gotten her brother out of his weird funk. This could be a really fun trip, or at least she hoped so. "So anyway, where's the secret technique vault?"
They passed the front reading area, desks, computers, and other things. It all seemed like normal stuff and Melissa had to wonder if a place like this could really contain anything that valuable. Obviously
she trusted her brother's judgment... it was just a bit hard to imagine.
Eventually they caught sight of Heather - it was obviously her, just from her brother's short description. She had short neon green hair and a black top that she managed to make look really cute. Her arms were covered in vine-like tattoos, some of them ending in flowers with skulls. What actually caught Melissa's attention most was a pin she had on her belt, a bright pink anarchy symbol.
"Rick!" Heather grinned when she saw him, though not in a remotely flirty way. "Fuckin' A, I'm glad to see you! Please, tell me that we can open the technique archives... this place has been really damn boring lately."
"We're headed there, but not for me this time." Rick stepped aside and gestured to Melissa a bit stiffly. "Heather, meet Melissa."
The woman seemed to see her for the first time, looked between them, then smiled. "Oh, hi. Is this your girlfriend?"
"Seriously?" Melissa gave her a side-eye. "Do you not see the family resemblance?"
"Oh, shit, sorry. So she's your mother?"
Melissa decided that she liked Heather. Unfortunately, Rick didn't seem to find it nearly as funny, just saying, "Melissa is my younger sister."
"Shit, I'm being a bad influence... I mean... shoot. Darn it."
"Oh my!" Melissa covered her mouth with one hand and grabbed her brother's sleeve. "Brother, she said a naughty no-no word! She must be some sort of... brazen strumpet!"
Heather grinned back at her. "Okay, I have no idea what you want, but I'm game. Let's fucking do this."
They headed into one of the back hallways of the library, which looked perfectly normal... until there was a huge freaking metal door. Heather picked through keys at her belt before wrenching the door open. Melissa noted that it didn't come easily and was probably heavier than it looked. She didn't have her brother's habit of checking out generation rates, but she suspected that Heather was no lightweight.
Inside, the lights revealed a huge collection of books, scrolls, and even some animal hides. It was an impressive display that looked way more like what Melissa had been expecting. Yet just a quick walk away, there were teenagers trying to get around porn blockers on the public computers. Life was funny like that.
