How The Other Half Live

Posted on Sun Jan 31st, 2021 @ 11:09pm by James Thomson & Tristan & The Narrator

Mission: Six Days to Santo
Location: Santo - Caster Town
Timeline: Day 23 - Afternoon

'Bring the you-know-what to the Peacock Fountain in Caster for 2pm.'

The message had come direct to his Cortex as soon as the Fortune's Echo had landed on Santo, and it had been short, straightforward and very unfair. Eleven days ago, James had been shot. Ten days ago, Tristan had set things straight. All had been quiet since then. Too quiet.

If there was anything good to come from the message, it was that James now knew why the Echo's crew hadn't been attacked since Hera. And Alden had even let him borrow the Mule for the trip into town, though the elder Ezran obviously had no idea what his little cousin was up to.

Now, James stood in a cleared space within a warehouse full of crates, accompanied by a couple of hired guns who'd met him outside, all of them waiting for the contact to show up.

Behind him, hidden between two crates on the far side of the warehouse, crouched a hidden Tristan, peering over the top of the wooden container at his Captain's cousin. He wasn't exactly sure what was going on, but something didn't feel right. And while Alden would probably be upset that Tristan left the ship without asking, and that he was stalking his cousin, Tristan just felt he had to.

A tall, mocha-skinned lady walked into the room, striding confidently into the open space where James stood. Her dark green eyes regarded James with a cool fondness, as if he were a favourite dog and her smile was functional, barely reaching her eyes as she spoke. "Mr Thomson," she said, brightly. "Let's not mess around. Give me the cube. Now."

About the time she finished that last word, Tristan felt the cold breeze of a small drone moving in the general vicinity of his hiding place. It was clearly scoping the scene, its tiny camera turning on a gimbal as it studied the simple internal terrain.

Tristan took a deep breath, knowing he'd need to move and lose his line of sight to avoid the drone. But being spotted was much worse than missing the action. He slipped between another set of crates, hiding in the shadows as the whirring of the drone passed overhead. He stayed still for a few moments, glad to hear the drone moving away.

James quirked a brow before snorting, "I prefer to go by James, Mr Thomson is my Grandfather" he commented. He'd met plenty that thought he was beneath them but it'd never cease to irritate him. Usually, he'd charm his way through it, but recent events and the circumstances that brought him to where he was now weighed heavily on his mind. After everything the whole crew had gone through to try and retrieve the cube, James felt sick. He himself bore his own scares from the miserable events at the dig-site, if Alden could see him now he imagined he'd finally see where his cousin's line was. It hadn't helped his paranoia either, he'd felt on edge all day, like eyes were on him, but he never so anyone and chalked it down to guilt.

He reached into his pocket slowly before taking a dramatic pause, "Manners don't cost nothing either," he commented, his hand still frozen, "I nearly lost my cousin because of this, would be nice if you could at least try and be polite".

"James," said the mocha-skinned lady and while the smile had utterly vanished now, her tone was soft and warm and inviting. "Please, give me the cube. If you hand it to me, here and now, then no one else needs to get hurt. Not you, not your cousin, and not even the boy hiding behind you."

Tristan swallowed hard as he peeked out from behind the large crate. As he peered over the side, he saw the woman looking directly at him. Slowly, the young man stood up, making no other movement. "Hi," he said, softly, with a weak, sad smile.

Her gaze momentarily shifted, casting a look to Tristan at the appearance of the youngster. A mirthless smile caught her mouth in an upward turn, but briefly, and her voice was matter of fact as she addressed him, while keeping her fuller attention on the Ezran. "Thermal sensors," she said. "But I commend your effort. You here to protect James?"

"Um..." Tristan fiddled with the hem of his jacket, "More information gathering. I wasn't sure what he was doing, and...yes, you could say I was trying to protect him. I just wasn't sure what I was protecting him from."

"Aw," she said, with zero actual sympathy. "James, you have a bodyguard these days? He seems a little... fragile. Cute though, that he's gonna protect you. I'd hate for anything bad to happen to him." Her hand extended and beckoned the Ezran to comply. "Last time I'm gonna ask. Cube. Now."

James zeroed in on Tristain with a dark look, "Liou coe shway duh biao-tze huh hoe-tze duh ur-tze*" he grumbled angrily before tossing the cube onto the floor a small distance from the mocha-skinned woman, "Gun HOE-tze bee DIO-se**" he said, this time solely for her ears. What was Tristan doing there? How would he explain this away? Why did he have to save the kid? Alden was why. His cousin and the urge he seemed to have to take every waif and stray under his wing had never been more annoying. Now, thanks to Alden's unbridled kindness he'd had to hand over the cube and now had to protect Tristain.

He surveyed the room, getting a scope for his chances should things turn sour or the contact decided to clean up the evidence. The only way he had any hope of securing forgiveness from his cousin would be if he ensured Tristain's safety, though hopefully, the gesture would convince the kid to keep things hush, at least until he was ready to come clean himself.

Tristan took a slow step out from behind the container, "Alright, if you have what you came for, he and I will just be on our way," he said, taking another step towards James. "No one has to know about this, no one wants to spoil the trade."

The two bodyguards maintained direct and unyielding eye contact with both the Echo crew members as the lady crouched down to retrieve the metal cube. Standing back up, she gauged its weight and tilted it slowly from side to side as if checking for some other confirmation of its authenticity. Her gaze studied both James and Tristan for a long, concerning moment as she attempted to look deep into their souls by method of mere eye contact.

"I have what I came for," she said, after that elongated silence. A dismissive wave of her hand accompanied her next words. "Go away now."

James rolled his eyes before heading straight for Tristain, grabbing the younger man firmly on the shoulder before leading the pair towards the warehouse's exit. "Wuh duh ma huh tah duh fong kwong duh wai shung***" he whispered harshly, though clearly relieved, before letting go. "Why were you following me?" he asked angrily, though his tone lacked any real bite. He was mostly glad that the pair had gotten out of their alive, but a little voice whispered an unwelcome reminder that he'd been caught redhanded.

Tristan pulled his arm away from James' grip, glaring at the man now that they were outside in public, where they were slightly safer. "You have some nerve asking me why I followed you. Why did you take that cube? Does Alden know you took it?"

James stopped for a moment, stunned. "Alden doesn't know, obviously," he finally said, his voice much lower and thick with guilt. "Niska makes me," he admitted, his eyes meeting with Tristain's, "I wanted out, but you don't quit on Niska. I do what he says when he says, ain't nobody gotta get hurt" He looked up for a moment and released a heavy sigh.

"You can't tell Alden," He carried on, his tone taking a pleading edge. "Not 'cause I'm scared of him being angry with me. He'll try to help me and that ain't gonna' end well for anyone. All y'all will end up stuck in the same position as me, or worse," he stressed, whilst watching Tristain's face for reactions.

"You want me to lie?" Tristan asked.

James huffed, "I want you to not give my cousin another crusade I ain't the only person the old man has in his crosshairs should I turn him down. I don't do what he says, my sister pays the first price, then he'll be sending much worse than the goons who kill her after me." he admitted with a rushed whisper.

"If I ain't figured myself a way out of the deal before Alden gets suspicious, all I ask is that you give me a heads up so I can tell him myself" he eyes met Tristan's own pleadingly, "I honestly do want out..."

Tristan frowned at the information. He did not like the idea of keeping information from Alden. After everything that Alden had done for him, he felt almost obligated to tell him. But then again, there were already so many secrets Tristan was keeping from Alden, what was one more?

The young man crossed his arms, looking at James. "Fine, I'll keep this to myself. I'll even do what I can to help cover this up. But if it comes out, and I assure you, he'll eventually find out, I want no part of this. All the blame will be on you. Got it?"

Without waiting for an answer, Tristan pushed his way passed James as he walked back towards the Fortune's Echo.

James gave it a few moments before slowly following. Despite the openness of the location they were in he felt the walls closing in. It wouldn't be long now till he had to tell Alden. The only question seemed to be how he was going to go about it.