The Undercity

[Malverne]

Sam held the door open for Ava as they reached the diner, inclining his head courteously.

"Purple's a good color," he commented, "Traditionally denotes royalty...and insanity. Not that you're insane, of course. Table for two?" Sam held up two fingers to the tired looking hostess. She didn't even blink at the homeless girl, but grabbed two menus and guided the pair to a booth in the back. Sam nodded his thanks as the hostess yawned the traditional "yer waitress will be right with ya, hun." The young man pushed his silverware to one side and neatly folded his fingers on the table, menu ignored.

"My eyes?: he repeated, tone inquisitive, "Take a guess. You have your suspicions, considering you've discarded genetics and contact lenses. As for your name, I'm very good at throwing my voice. You see?" Sam's mouth moved, but his voice seemed as if came from just to Ava's left. "I can also juggle, if you care to know. What would you like to drink?"

[lexi luthor]

Ava dropped her arms and begrudgingly walked into the restaurant and sat across from the man she had forgotten to ask the name of. Ava nodded a thanks at the hostess and opened the giant diner menu. She had a thing for peering, so she peered over the top of the menu at him every few seconds.

"That doesn't answer why you knew my name." she said, "I'll have... uuhm.. a water, I guess." even though he was a stranger and offered her food, she still felt weird spending someone else's money on food for herself.

"And.. I just asked why your eyes were weird I never said it couldn't be genetics or lenses, but since you didn't really say it was either of those I'll assume there is a different reason.. not that I know what the reason is." she said, "what's your name again?" she added, and looked up at the waitress as she approached the table.

[Malverne]

"Generally people don't ask when they're relatively sure about the answer," Sam said, "and the obvious answers to the eye question are 'odd genetics,' and 'contacts.' Neither of those answers were satisfactory, clearly, because you asked the question. Oh, my name's Sam." Sam looked up at the waitress as she approached.

"Can I get you two something to drink?" she asked, smiling winningly, "Maybe appetizers?"

"Two waters," Sam replied, "And waffles for her to start. I'm fine for now. Thank you." He the waitress a small, forced grin as she nodded and left.

"Now...where were we? Ah, how I knew your name. That's a somewhat involved question, but...simple answer? I was sent to see you. Tell me, do you have your parents journal on you?" Sam looked at Ava calmly, his head tilted just a hair to the left, casually ignoring the fact that he just dropped a rather large bomb.

[Kinslayer6788]

Kruth'al skidded to a halt in front of the Cackling Hyena . He was greeted by his father Thral tapping his foot looking at his wrist-watch.

"Where have you been the meeting is about to start?" Thral said on the verge of exasperation. "I vouched for you and you will actually be joining us at the table. We are discussing Red Hammer's recent ascension.

"So soon? I am honored by the opportunity father. But why are we talking about this? I thought all the matters where setteled at her inauguration.

"You will find out what we think happened soon enough. Now come we are already late."

[lexi luthor]

Ava could hear the blood pumping through her ears as her adrenaline rose. Instinctively she reached into her hoodie pocket to hold her journal. She took a deep breath and stared at Sam, refusing to respond.

There were only two options, either he was sent for her to bring her underneath.. or he knew her parents and was an alley. She wasn't sure. Her eyes darted around the diner looking for a quick exit, but unfortunately the only way out that she could see was the front door across the room.

She stopped her scan of the room and looked Sam in the eyes. "Who are you, and what do you want?" she asked firmly.

[Malverne]

The aggression was understandable, but Sam didn't bat an eyelod at the sudden tension, nor the challenging glare.

"I'm not here to kidnap you, Ava," Sam assured her, his tone smooth and mollifying, "They, the guild that is, send people who're better at magic than me for that. Me? I'm just a pretty face and a smooth tongue. I'm not the guy they send for kidnapping. Besides...even f they did send that guy, it wouldn't be a kidnapping. 'Kidnapping' gives the impression that you'd be missed." Sam tilted his head to the other side, his expression carefully neutral.

"Who'd miss you?" He asked, "Your gang's been dead for two years, and you've distanced yourself from anyone and everyone else since then. You don't have a home." Sam paused for a moment, letting his words sink in. He could feel her emotions roiling in his own chest through her magic. She was strong for her age, but untrained, and that made all the difference.

"Look, Ava," said Sam, leaning forward, his elbows resting on the table, two fingers lightly tapping the plastic, "you basically have two options here. First, there's the gut reaction you're having of refusing me and running. If you do that, I'm going to have to resort to force and that's really not something I like to do. But, let's be honest with ourselves, even with your magic, I'd be able to drag you wherever I really wanted. At that point, once you're underground, you'd be watched like a hawk, and would have no independence." Another calculated pause as Sam took stock of Ava's emotional reaction, both in her face and in her broadcasting magic. His own face was showing no sign of emotional turmoil he was undoubtedly sharing with her.

"But the second option..." Sam's voice dropped in volume, and his eyebrows raised up a fraction of an inch. He held Ava's gaze, unblinking. "You can walk out of here with me (after you're done eating of course). We can go down together, no fuss, no fighting." Sam leaned back, the cracked plastic on the booth's back creaking under his shoulders, and he gave a small sigh.

"Is it really so abhorrent an idea, leaving this hellhole?" He asked. "In the Undercity you'd have a place to stay. A teacher who can help you control your magic. School. Suitable living conditions. You might even be able to see your parents." Sam gave a small shrug.

"Your choice, Ava."

[lexi luthor]

Ava cringed at his words, but as he finished what he had to say she let out a sigh and released the tension. Sitting back in her seat she pondered his words. She thought about what was written in her journal, the words of the parents she couldn't remember. They stressed so hard to stay hidden, and stay above ground.

But, now that she was right where he wanted her; helpless and unable to run, it was only a matter of time until she was tracked down and brought underground. Without her gang family, she was vulnerable. She shook her head slowly and pulled the journal out of her pocket.

She held the journal close, and looked down at it. "Why? Why is it so important that I be brought to the place my parents last wanted me to be brought to? What harm am I doing living here, at least somewhere my parents are happy with. I've been told they let me go because they loved me, but wouldn't they have known this day would eventually come?" she questioned, shaking her head.

Her eyes filled with tears, deep remorse, as she thought about the only real family she had. They were all gone now.. so.. now what? She asked herself that question everyday. She had no real direction in life; no goals, nothing.

"Will I really get to see my parents?"

[Malverne]

"You're not a threat now, no," Sam admitted, his eyes finally dropping down to the table, now that he knew he'd won, "But what about later? When your abilities get even stronger? You won't control them, and someone will find out, and...well, history has shown us that when the humans find out about the rest of us, very bad things happen. I don't know why your parents sent you away. I really don't. I have faith that what they did, they did for your safety but...I can't pretend to know their reasoning. I'm sorry, but...I really don't know." Sam paused as the waitress came over and deposited the steaming plate of waffles, not giving Ava in her state of distress a second glance. Sam waited until the woman was far enough away before speaking again.

"I can't promise anything about seeing your parents," he said, "I...I'm just a student. But I do know that they're alive, and I can try to make it happen. If you want."




Down below...

Inside the Cackling Hyena, the air was nearly vibrating with tension. The normal patrons could sense it, and were sequestered into the corners and dark tables, muttering quietly. Thral Grandoul stomped through the open area and pushed into the back room, where a handful (maybe 8 or 10) trolls were standing around a large table. If the atmosphere outside was tense, it was nothing compared to inside.

The large, grizzled troll at the head of the room looked up as Thral walked in.

"You're late," he growled out, "This your boy?" Thral nodded, and the older troll gave the young one a once over, then grunted.

"Pull up a chair for him," the troll said, clearly unhappy, "You listen, boy. Nothing we say goes out of this room, y'hear me? Not unless I explicitly say so." He huffed, then sat down in his chair. The others all followed suit.

"Traxel, of Grandoul," the troll announced his name, then looked to his left. In a circle, everyone introduced themselves. Once it came back around, Travel's eyes narrowed dangerously.

"Red Hammer," he growled, "Have we found anything on her?"

[lexi luthor]

Ava forced a smile at the waitress, which went unnoticed. She carefully cut the waffles into bite sized bits before drowning them in syrup and eating them bite by bite, savoring the warmth. It had been a long time since she had a nice meal.

She took a long swig of water and let out a happy sigh. "So what's it like down there anyway? And by the rest of us, you mean more people who have powers right? It doesn't seem like it'd be so bad... You really have no idea why they made me live up here?" she asked before going back to chowing down on her waffles.

"Oh and what are your powers?" she added, mouthful of waffles.

[Malverne]

"What's it like?" Sam repeated, "Um...well, it's darker. Because there's no sun. But there's lights and stuff. Weather doesn't really happen, although temperatures do change. Um, beyond that...I really don't know. I don't spend that much time up here so I couldn't tell you much else. Oh, duh, there're a lot fewer humans. There's um...trolls, and goblins and elves and stuff. When I say 'us,' I don't just mean meta-humans, I mean everyone who isn't a mundane human. But trust me...it'd get bad." Sam shuddered a little at the memories of history class. Bad things, bad things.

"Hmm? Oh, my magic? It's, um..." Sam looked down at his hands sheepishly, "It's nothing special. I'm not that powerful or anything. Only been practicing for eight months. But I'm good with sound. The throwing my voice thing was one of the first things I learned, but I can also change my voice, make it louder and that kind of thing. I've also got a good sense of hearing, but that's not really something I can control, as it were." He shrugged. "Nothing particularly interesting."


"You're telling me," Traxel hissed, "That after a week...you came up with NOTHING?!!!" The table creaked as he squeezed the edge.

"There's nothing to find," A troll from across the table replied, "No one remembers her before the meet except her four lieutenants, and they aren't going to spill."

A glass shattered against the wall as Traxel flung it, seething.

"Does anyone have any ideas about how to find out where the FUCK Red Hammer came from?!" Panting heavily, Traxel's eyes fell on Kruth'al.

"You," he said, pointing, "Boy. What would you do right now?"

[Kinslayer6788]

Kruth'al listened intently to the meeting as it was happening around him. Trolls were yelling back in forth, discussing all of the different possabilites oh where Red Hammer came from. Not understanding why people were so upset at her before he came in, he now understood.

No one had voted for her! No one knew where she came from! This was unprescented in the history of the Masons!

Kruth'al watched and listend as different clans yelled back in forth, stunned and excited to be apart of such a big event. He watched as more and more clansmen fell silent. unable to answer any questions brought to them.

Traxel was furious and he understood why. He was supposed to become the new leader when Rutmark, the previous and much beloved leader, passed away. So when Traxel stared Kruth'al in the eye and asked him that what he would do, he was speechless for a couple of seconds. Why would the eldest troll in the room ask a peon like him for anything? let alone his opinion.

Kruth'al spoke outloud his thoughts since the meeting began, "Well it sounds like you all never voted for this Red Hammer, nor can anyone find any sort of clue as to where she came from. It seems to me only then one of 2 options on where she came from. Firstly, and less likely, shes from an outlying clan and she had received a numurous number of votes from the clans out there. While possible, it is highly unlikely that none of the other clansmen could find any evidence of such."

Kruth'al looked up for the first time since starting to talk, and he noticed that everyone was listening intently to his young observations. He countinued, "So the second and more likely secnario is she is a plant. I know not from where, I have speculations, most of which I would not like to say, no offense, out in the open."

[Malverne]

"I didn't ask your theories about where she came from, boy," Traxel hissed, "I asked what you would do.. Do you really think those hadn't occurred to us? We know how she won the title. Forget it. Thral, next time, don't bring the whelp." Traxel glared into space, his chin resting on his fist.

"Traxel," one of the quieter, calmer trolls said, "There's nothing else that we can do in the shadows. Either we kidnap one of her lieutenants and rip the information from him, or we attack."

There were a few seconds of dead silence, after the one troll voiced the thoughts that most of the room had been entertaining.

"Gather your forces," Traxel ordered after a time, "We can't risk a large company to take one of the lieutenants, and no one troll could do it alone. For now we wait. Keep an ear open. I'll send the signal when the time is best. Adjourned."

With that, Traxel stood up with a violent force and stumped out of the meeting room. The others stood, more gently, and filed out, each to their own homes.



A policeman saw the ghost go streaking by and immediately gave chase. They'd had reports for days, and had set up an ambush. This particular policeman was perfectly suited to catch this ghost...because he was a ghost too. Also, he had weapons.

The dead elf gave chase. He brought to bear a rifle he'd grabbed, specifically modified for ghostly use. His hand waved over the trigger, and a bolt of magic seared through the air, aimed directly at the fleeing ghost's back. Magic built to stun and paralyze, created just for the use of subduing the annoying ghosts in the city.

[lexi luthor]

Ava finished up her waffles, put her utensils on the plate and slid it to the edge of the table. "Alright well, I don't really have much to lose then do I?" she asked.

The way she saw it, Sam seemed nice enough, and she was pretty sure he wasn't lying to her. Yes, the journal warned her to avoid going underneath at all costs but.. what was so bad? It didn't seem too bad, there would be other people like her down there. Oh, and creepy monsters. "So wait, all those monsters really exist?" she asked wide-eyed.

"No I think that's cool! Much cooler than making people feel feelings." she said bitterly and shrugged.

[KoyiTar]

"Nix! Today's shipment is here you want me to sort through it or you?" Nami said from the back where she had just checked in the delivery for the day. As usual Nix came in snatching the clipboard from her hand and waving her out of the way grumbling about this or that. She just rolled her eyes and went back to dusting. Of course no matter how much she dusted the place always looked dusty.

"Nami come here now girl." Nix said from the back he normally didn't address her but this was important. "I told you to stop avoiding your lessons they are important. This is the third note from the guild I have gotten this week. I won't have you burning my shop down because you refuse to control your abilities because your father is gone." He said looking up at the girl then climbing up on a few crates to be eye level with her.

"I know what you said Nix but I am just taking a break I promise I will start going just not yet." Nami responded looking directly at the goblin before turning away.

"Nami it has been nearly six months. If it was a week or two I would say was a break but six months is refusal to learn from someone else. You know full well I can't teach you." The old Goblin said pitying the girl slightly but not much. "Go to your lessons. This old shop and me will still be here when you get done. No promises of that if you burn the damned place down though. SO GO!!" He finally shouted shooing Nami out of the shop and onto the street outside. "And don't come back in here till you do got that." He said stomping his foot and going back into his shop

"NIX YOU UGGH!!!" She said getting up off the ground where she had fallen from the steps of the shop when Nix had shooed her out. "Fine I will got to my stupid lessons." She muttered heading towards the place she was told to go about five months ago to begin her lessons with her new instructor which she had yet to meet.

[Kinslayer6788]

Kruth'al was dumb-founded on what just happend. He was just about to tell them what he thought they should do but was cut off by the gruff Traxel. He watched the meeting break up before he could get a word in edge wise. He looked at his father for assistance in the matter, but even as well respceted as his fater was he had been shamed by his son not answering. So Kruth'al waited for his oppurtuinty.

When Traxel stormed off, Kruth'al was like his shadow, following him until he had gotten home. He called to Traxel from the alley besides his house, stepping slighlty out of the shadows so that he could see who called to him.

"Traxel, I do have a plan on what to do about Red Hammer, but I could not say infront of the other Trolls at the meeting, even my father. Would you indulge this youths idea?"