Keydis Lysistrata
Caeancora
Wordcount: 5200
~ A Day in the Life ~
Gradually, he woke up; for some reason he was upside-down... and had a hunger for pancakes. The young man blinked, trying to dispel his drowsiness and the pounding in his head to figure out what was going on. At length, Caradin realized he was in his own apartment. His arms were tied behind his back and his legs were tied at the knees and ankles. Thankfully, he wasn't hanging: his shoulders were against the floor, but a rope was tied from his ankles to a sconce on the wall, preventing him from righting himself.
The room was no more trashed than normal, with his meager belongings scattered haphazardly around the temporary domicile. One special plant sat in the center of the room, and the bound youth let out a sigh of relief that the leafy purple fern was untouched. The sight of it made his arm start throbbing, though, in tune with the pounding in his head.
Before he could attempt to solve the mystery, a ceramic clatter came from the kitchen. He wasn't just hungry for pancakes; he smelled them. The earthy, appetizing scent of spelt-flour filled the tiny apartment.
"Who's the dead man, huh?" the Laicar youth bellowed at the unknown intruder, rage overriding confusion. "The fuck you think you're messing with?" He kicked hard, snapping the ropes taut, but the metal fixture in the wall remained firm and steady. From the open doorway, a head popped out, and Caradin cursed again, recognizing the woman immediately, even while upside-down, by her spiky brown hair with that garish splash of red in the front. "Keydis?"
Voice filled with mocking cheerfulness, Keydis called out, "Ave`!" She ducked back into the kitchen briefly and then came back out carrying a plate loaded with dark brown fried pancakes. The cocky teen had on grey shorts and a sleeveless red shirt, as well as boots that went up to her knees. She was thin but her lithe muscles were well-defined. Belatedly, Caradin realized that the girl's long black coat was thrown across the back of his single chair, directly across from him with the plant in between. Now that he was looking, he realized her sword was also leaning against the wall behind the chair.
Keydis dropped the plate roughly onto a box next to the chair and grabbed the sword from the wall, slipping her hand inside the basket hilt and sliding the schiavona out of its scabbard, the broad steel blade flashing in the room's weak light. "Why the fuck are you making pancakes?" Caradin asked incredulously before returning to the more important matter at hand, "What the fuck did you do to me?"
"Nothing. You were asleep, dumbass," she answered, with a little snicker. "Took all the fun out of it."
"Untie me and I’ll show you how fun I can be," he growled, both ashamed and surprised.
Keydis raised a bushy eyebrow, setting her violet eyes on him as if he was a moron. "How am I going to get paid if you're dead?" the girl asked with a cocky sneer. She slashed suddenly with the sword, cutting the rope just below the sconce. The rest of Caradin's body immediately crumpled to the side. He was still bound at the arms and legs, but at least he wasn't hanging upside-down anymore. Groaning, the young man irritably turned and shuffled until he was upright, shaking his head to get his blue-dyed bangs out of his eyes.
By then, Keydis was seated in the chair opposite him, sword still in one hand while she rolled up a pancake and took a bite.
"What's the deal with the damned pancakes?" he demanded.
"I was hungry. Don't worry, I made one for you, too." There was indeed one on the other side of the plate -- suspiciously burnt-looking -- drizzled in honey and sesame. Before he could protest, she rolled that one up, leaned over, and shoved it in his mouth, holding it there until he started chewing on the scorched breakfast. "No sense letting this stuff go bad while you’re in jail, right?"
Choking down his mouthful, Caradin stared at the teen. "None of this stuff will ‘go bad,’ you nitwit."
"Really? I thought at least the flour would grow bugs or something," Keydis mused with a laugh. "Then it’s just ‘cause I was hungry. Next time, you should cook something fancy before I tie you up."
"Fuck y--!" She shoved the second half of the pancake in his mouth and moved onto her last one.
As she swallowed down her last bite, she rose to her feet. She sliced through the ropes around his ankles, leaving him tied at the knees. "Up, boy, up," she teased, tapping the flat of the sword under his chin.
Caradin fixed her with an icy blue glare that could curdle milk. “What makes you think I’ll make this easy on you?”
Keydis cocked her head to one side. “Well, you kind of already did.” She grinned then. “Oh, and Soozi is the guard on duty today!”
Stymied, the blue-haired youth stammered out, “W-why would that..?” The memory of the Amazonian Velen flashed through his mind.
“Aw, you’re turning red,” Keydis teased. “Now get up or I’m going to have to drag you.”
The youth flashed an uncertain look at the gaudium plant, feeling that throb in his arm again, then sighed. “Fuck it, I’ll go easy on you. Not like I want to add murder to my rep.” The girl didn’t retort; she only smirked as she grabbed a loose end of rope and roughly kicked open his door, leading him out into the street.
__
A short time later, while Soozi roughly manhandled the small-time dealer, Keydis stepped out into the streets and took in a deep breath. She grinned up at the sunlight, finally peaking over the tops of the mountains to shine down on the city. This neighborhood of Terminus was one of the poorer sections, and even it seemed alive, thriving in the inhospitable northern weather of Hiemis. People thronged the streets, many workers on their lunch breaks while others were just finding excuses to get outside in the sunlight.
The roads there ran east to west, letting more light shine down on pedestrians despite the buildings which towered four or five stories, minimum, on either side. The Conexus' guard station was flanked by a reputable blacksmith on one side and a gunsmith on the other. Neither of the owners cared for Keydis poking around, accusing her more than once of being a thief. The rest of the street was lined by every kind of shop imaginable. The members of the Conexus made good money and therefore made good customers.
As street-side lights began to turn off in response to the sunlight, Keydis tossed her handful of coins in the air. They made a satisfying jingle as they landed back in her palm, although not as satisfying as it could have been. The Fraternitas bastards took their usual cut for finding the job. "He ain't worth much, but at least he's reliable," the teen remarked with a laugh. This was the fourth time she had claimed a bounty on the dope and it just kept getting easier.
Just in time to pay rent, too. She slipped the handful of exa into her inside breast pocket.
Setting off down the road, Keydis tried to decide what to do with the rest of her day. She had, quite literally, accomplished all she had planned by breakfast. Now her day was completely open! A chilly breeze rushed down the street, causing the tails of her long coat to flare up. Despite her bare thighs, she didn't shy away from the cold. Instead, it just made her move faster, with a little more bounce to her step.
On impulse, Keydis ran up a stack of crates on the side of the road and leaped to slap at a metal street sign. The owner of the crates yelled half-heartedly at her while she just laughed and sauntered on her way. All around her, the sounds of people at work, the sights of bright attention-grabbing colors, and the smell of mouth-watering food assaulted her senses all at once. This street, and others like it, was torture for the girl. At least, it was on most days.
Curiously, it felt like her pocket was burning.
Keydis skipped over to a nearby open-front restaurant, letting out a loud, "Mmm!" as a cute Enlil boy appeared from the back with a platter of fried red balls of suppli`. The kid gave her a weird look, his eyes turning up to the splash of red in her hair, but handed the platter up to the lady at the counter -- seemingly his mother or an older sister, with a matching crest of bright blue and green feathers surrounded by more somber owl-grey.
The woman smiled at Keydis. "They're stuffed with risotto and minced larin meat, with fresh provatura. Soaked in egg and tomato sauce with a secret blend of spices, then rolled in seasoned bread crumbs and fried to the rich, crispy red you see before you."
"Lady, all you gotta tell me is how many this'll buy me," Keydis replied with a grin, pulling a bigat from her pocket and tossing it to the restaurateur. Just the smell alone had been enough to set her stomach grumbling.
Taken aback, briefly, the Enlil woman laughed, pocketed the silver coin, and then lifted up the whole platter the kid just brought out. A half dozen suppli` were arranged on it in a star pattern. "Will this do for you, sweetie?" At her enthusiastic nod, the Enlil started to hand her the entire wooden tray.
Keydis scooped the fried snacks into the crook of her arm, flashing a bright smile at the woman. The suppli` were still burning hot, but her thick leather coat insulated her from the heat, as did her sleeveless gloves, to a lesser degree. "Thanks!" she called out, waving and then turning to continue on her way, crunching into the meat and cheese and rice ball, savoring the delicious unhealthiness as hot juices slid down her chin.
Even though each was a good handful and they were scalding, it didn't take long before Keydis was juggling the last three like hot potatoes, then two, then one. After swallowing the last bite, the girl slowed to a stop, licking her exposed fingertips and relishing the warmth radiating from her belly.
"Look out!" someone shrieked.
Keydis spun, violet eyes widening... then narrowing. A bright red leather ball was coming straight for her. Without enough time for anything flashy, she cocked her arm back and then spiked the heavy ball to the ground. Laughing at the close call, Keydis put her boot on top of the ball and looked up. There were five kids -- two Laicar, a pair of Enlil, and a Velen, the only girl -- playing in a mostly empty warehouse with the doors wide open. It likely wasn't abandoned, but the owners were probably between seasons on whatever goods they were storing.
"Who's got the lousy kick?" Keydis taunted.
"What's it to you?" one of the Enlil boys shouted back, not realizing three of his other companions were pointing at him. The loudmouth had a head of black feathers, with two white patches. The other avian could have been his brother, a few years younger.
"Just had to know who gets it back!" Keydis rolled the kin up onto the top of her left foot and bounced it into the air. "Ha!" With her other foot, Keydis kicked as hard as she could, aiming for the loudmouth's stomach. He let out a loud oof, nearly falling over as he clutched the ball to his stomach. Smirking, she turned to leave, content to leave them to their game.
"Nice kick for a girl!"
"'scuse me?" The older teen turned back around and started stalking over into their game area. There were several crates stacked up into platforms. At opposing sides, there were two hoops attached to some of the wooden support pillars, parallel to the ground. All in all, it wasn't a bad setup for a street game of kinchaa.
"What? Can't hear with all them metal bits in your ears?"
"Oh, no no. It just sounded like a challenge. So I thought, nah, no way this twerp would be dumb enough to do that." Keydis looked around, checking for a sixth player. "Your teams aren't even matched, what are you doing?" A real game would have seven on each team, but street rules were usually 'take what you can get.'
"Practicing!" the younger Enlil answered, earning a glare from his brother.
Appraising the group, Keydis smirked. "Toss it here, brat." He did so, as hard as he could, but without enough strength on her to overmatch her five or six year advantage. "Ooh, nice throw 'for a girl.' Got a wager for you. Ten seconds, I make a shot into that basket, from the top of that tower, and blue-eyes is your new sunwiser." She pointed at each thing as she mentioned it, ending on the Velen girl. Although the younger girl looked startled, she was probably the biggest and most athletic of the bunch, making her a perfect pick for the primary kin-handler.
As expected, though, the snarky avian slapped a hand against his puffed-out chest. "No way. I'm the best sunwiser. Reia's a celestial." Celestials were usually the slowest members of a team, there to block runners.
Keydis shrugged dramatically. "Well, if you're too scared..."
"Nobody's scared! You're on! Not like you can even get up there in ten seconds."
Immediately, Keydis threw the ball to a blond boy near the back, rushing toward the pillars. Without the slightest hesitation, she leaped from the top of one crate to two stacked together and finally to the tower she indicated with three crates. Keydis held out her hands; the surprised blond threw the ball.
The girl leaped from the top of the tower with the ball, effortlessly reaching the hoop and slamming the ball through it.
Laughing, Keydis pumped her arms up in victory and then bumped fists with the other four players as she jogged back over toward the loudmouth. He just glared incredulously, unable to come up with a taunt. "Aw, don't be sad. You'll be a great celestial!" she told him as she passed.
While the rest of the kids laughed, Keydis continued her jog back outside. She really wanted to play a real game of kinchaa after that, meaning one not against brats two thirds her age. For a minute, she was considering heading across town toward one of the kinchaa fields with proper platforms and actual hoops.
"Keep practicing, brats!" Keydis yelled over her shoulder as a smirk spread on her face. Well... why not? It was way, way out of her way, though -- too far to jog it on foot. Circling around, the girl looked north, then southeast. There was a canal to the southeast where she might be able to catch a ferry or get a gondola ride. That would be easier on her feet but wouldn't be a heck of a lot faster. Instead she went north, weaving through the thinning crowds in the streets. There was a station just a few blocks away for a cable car. It'd been a long time since she'd actually been on one.
Maybe they'd finally forgotten about that little incident.
The station was sitting atop a cylindrical latticework of steel beams, built near to an outpost of the Commercium. A ramp circled around the outside of the beams, at a gentle enough angle for the average person to walk up comfortably, with proper stairs ascending on the inside. As she arrived, she saw the cable car already there and waiting. It was a shiny silver carriage, with rounded sides, narrowing to a sharp point on front and back like a double-sided bullet. The carriage hung from a thick cable suspended over the streets of Terminus -- they soared right over all the busy streets and canals. Keydis ran right up the outer ramp, tossing out a few apologies as she bumped into other would-be passengers. "Whew!" The teen paused to catch her breath at the top, laughing weakly. Running up six flights was a little more tiring than expected! "I made -- hey wait! Wait!"
The cable car pulled away from the station, only about half full with five passengers on it. "Wait, wait, wait!" Keydis yelled as she ran for the edge of the platform.
"Stop! What are you thinking!?" one of the technicians on the platform yelled, but too late. Keydis leaped from the platform, slamming into the side of the cable car and sending a nerve-wracking twang through the cable overhead. Clinging onto the door handle for dear life, Keydis breathed out a sigh of relief when the conductor inside the cable car slid the door open, grabbed her shoulder, and threw her inside.
"Ha, thanks, man. I didn't want to wait for the next one!" Catching her breath, Keydis slumped against one of the cushioned benches.
"I should throw you out right now. What part of 'banned' did you not understand, Keydis?" The teen paled as she opened her eyes, realizing the conductor was the self-same one who she'd had trouble with the year before.
"I thought that expired!" she argued. Then she stiffened. "Oh right, fare! Don't worry, I'm good for it." She pulled out a handful of dahls and offered them to the big, buff, bald uniformed man with a weak laugh.
"A lifetime ban doesn't expire," the man growled, taking the handful of coins anyway. The other passengers either laughed or made a point of looking elsewhere. "Honestly, I don't get why you're so set in killing yourself, but you're not going to use our cable cars to do it!"
Keydis looked out the window on her left. They were easily ten stories high at that point. "Well, I could get out, but you yelled at me for that last time."
The man sighed dramatically. "Sit. Don't move. Don't speak." Chastened, Keydis sat straight up and pulled her heels up to her lap. She started to whistle, but a glare cut that short.
It was a long, uneventful trip. This particular route was nonstop all the way over to the center of the city, the Jactatio District, where most of the biggest events were held: sports, concerts, political rallies, and holiday celebrations. Keydis grinned as they passed the Triumphare, the true pro-league kinchaa stadium. Even without a game going and in the middle of the day, it was brightly glowing with artificial light, an immense open field of green grass ringed with thousands upon thousands of seats. Here in the off-season, all the raised platforms and goals were taken down. Further in the distance, she could make out the towering amphitheater, Rhythmos Elatio. The stone of the amphitheater was polished so perfectly that it sparkled like a jewel in the late afternoon sunlight.
At last, the cable car slid to a stop, shaking back and forth until it settled. The bald man opened the door to the platform, and everyone in the car got up at once. As Keydis went to pass through the door, the conductor grabbed her shoulder, holding her there until everyone else passed. "Watch how this works," he said gruffly. He stood in front of the exit and took one step, from the car to the platform.
Frowning, Keydis sighed and hung her head. She stepped out onto the platform like a boring normal person. Looking at baldy, she raised a bushy eyebrow as if to ask whether that was good enough.
"Practice it. Maybe in six months or so, we'll try this again." Without waiting for her response, he went back into the cable car, calling for the next wave of passengers. Keydis made a rude gesture at his back but then turned and made her way down the ramp. Ornery as he was, he at least let her finish the ride. True, he couldn't legally toss her out, but it was still nice of him.
A few blocks away from the station, crossing over one of the main canals, Keydis found the first of many kinchaa fields. Meant for practice and smaller games, they didn't have anything like the spectacle of the Triumphare, but they were a far cry from a pitiful, dusty warehouse. The first field was empty, save for a pair of kids practicing their kicks. Smiling, Keydis moved on to the next one. As she approached, there was a chorus of cheers.
"Perfect!" Jogging the rest of the way, Keydis found a small crowd at the second stadium, watching a game already in full swing. With an excited grin, Keydis jumped up to the side of the stands, climbing the outside of the railing and then hopping over on the top row of seats. Since it was an unofficial game, there wasn't any admission fee. At least, she hoped there wasn't. She made her way over to the center of the stands, all the way in the back. Most of the crowd was gathered near the front, but Keydis relished the higher vantage point over being closer to the action.
The field was a large circle, around eighty meters in diameter. On opposite sides of the circle were steel hoops, parallel with the ground and attached to poles, suspended over three meters in the air. Cylindrical steel platforms of varying heights and diameters littered the field; the configuration changed every game, with the platforms themselves being modular.
Two teams of seven faced off against each other, each with a sunwiser, the heart of the team and primary ball-handler; two celestials, the biggest and slowest players, great for blocking the opponents' path; two waning guards, the offensive support for the sunwiser, helping protect him and scoring points; and two waxing guards, the defensive support, helping to block and specializing in retrieving the ball. This particular game seemed to be in the last quarter. Time was tracked by four quarter-hourglasses, kept on their side until each quarter started. The first three glasses were full on the bottom, with the last one just starting to pour into the bottom.
All the players were looking worn out but determined. It was a rough sport, full contact with few rules to protect the players. The ball itself might as well have been a weapon, with a core of lead shot surrounded by thick layers of animal hide.
Keydis watched excitedly, cheering for both teams equally since she had no idea who was who. To herself, she resolved to make the trip here more often to see if she could get in on playing a game. The players leaped up onto the platforms, jockeying for the best positions, passing the ball before getting tackled for a rough tumble to the ground. There was a lot of shouting and cheering, the players themselves letting out triumphant bellows after landing the kin through the hoop.
It was almost a shame when the game came to an end, but Keydis was up out of her seat, pumping a fist in the air after the winning sunwiser jumped over his opponent to slam the ball through the hoop right before the last of the sand trickled out.
It was a kind of epic you usually only saw in the pro leagues.
While the rest of the crowd rushed down to congratulate or console their team of choice, Keydis slipped away, still pumped up. She mimed some of the more spectacular shots of the game, bouncing up in the air and dunking invisible hoops. Going into a mock cheer, Keydis pumped both fists up into the air, ignoring the stares she was getting from everyone else on the street.
The teen suddenly stopped her bouncing, stopped in front of a big poster with both arms still high up in the air. On it there was a vibrant and colorful logo covered in musical symbols, below the name Aryn Ohm. "Oh score," Keydis blurted out, looking at the date again as a giddy grin split across her face. "Hell yeah!" When some other pedestrians gave her dirty looks, she pointed at the poster. "Come on, it's an Aryn Ohm concert!"
Aryn Ohm was a Demvir diva and probably Keydis' favorite musician ever, enough so that she would actually pay for a ticket to sit in the amphitheater proper rather than sneaking around the back or listening from a distance.
Once again, she broke into a run, this time jogging several blocks away, past more kinchaa fields and various food stalls toward the Rhythmos Elatio. The great musical amphitheater towered overhead, reaching over five stories high, made of a white stone polished to a lustrous shine, with a deep sound stage. One of the many smaller buildings surrounding it had a long line of people wanting tickets to see Aryn Ohm or one of the upcoming symphonies. Quickly hopping into line, Keydis bounced eagerly on the balls of her feet, trying to remember just how long it had been since she heard the Demvir girl sing. It was long enough ago that Havital had chastised her for going to that concert rather than an orchestra. When she finally made it to the front of the line, Keydis practically threw the money at the ticket master, quickly stowing the ticket away in a secret pocket.
Giggling maniacally at the successful acquisition, Keydis looked around. It was past mid-day but not yet dusk. The dinner rush was going to start shortly, and before it did, the teen slipped over toward a stall selling sausages and bread. "Gimme two of your best!" she called out as she approached, reaching into her pocket for the coins.
Her grin faded. The pocket was empty?
The man at the stall gave her an annoyed glare, pulling back the two sausage sandwiches he had been holding out. Mortified, Keydis dug around again, running numbers through her head until... "Aha! Sorry, sorry, they were jammed back in the corner!" She laughed sheepishly, handing her last three dahls over to the stall keeper, instantly bringing back his warm smile.
Embarrassed, Keydis held one sandwich in the crook of her arm as she bit into the first one. The roll was warm, freshly baked white bread. She wasn't sure what kind of meat was in the sausage, but it was savory and deliciously spiced, with just the right amount of pop as she bit into it. The bread soaked up the grease, retaining all the flavor.
As good as the sandwich was, Keydis was kind of dreading her realization that she had blown through all her bounty money already, and with the rent due the next day.
She groaned: she had to take another bounty, right away. The odds were slim, though, that she could both find one that paid well enough and that she would be able to handle. Even if she found one, could she complete it in time? Finishing off the first sandwich, Keydis clutched the second sausage sandwich and looked around, considering the best location to scout for jobs. She knew from earlier that the Conexus station in that area had slim pickings and doubted anything new had been added worth running back for. One of her favorite Fraternitas guild halls was nearby, though.
Setting her feet in that direction, Keydis ran at a light pace, dodging through throngs of people and snapping bites off the sandwich every couple minutes. Before long, she stood in front of the guild hall, a little surprised by the number of people milling about.
"Back for more, Key?"
"You bet!" she replied immediately, bumping fists with the bearded berserker. She never had learned his name, but he always remembered hers. She kept hoping one day that someone would say his name in front of her because there was no way she was asking. "What's with the crowd?"
"Come see for yourself! Lyon got him a new toy."
Curiously, Keydis followed in the wake of the giant Laicar. The milling crowds parted around him but she couldn't see past his bulky frame. She even tried jumping to see over his shoulders. "What is it? Just tell me!" Laughing, the giant of a man stepped to the right, and she saw it: an immense, shimmering green rectangle, mounted on the back wall of the commons room, behind a cage of steel bars. The screen was covering in moving images, all in lighter and darker shades of green. Keydis' jaw dropped, marveling at the rare and expensive feat of engineering. "A grandis speculum... How in the name of Castus did Lyon afford something like that?"
The brute laughed and shrugged, heading off and leaving the girl to drool at the device. It replaced the old bounty board, with new bounties filling up the screen -- mostly the expensive, deadly kind that required weeks of travel and tracking. She reached out, wondering what would happen if...
"Don't touch," a gruff voice warned.
"Lyon!" Keydis jumped and yanked her hand back. "I wasn't going to! I was just seeing if it was warm... around it. Not by actually touching it. I'd never do that. I need a job, do you have any good bounties?"
The elderly swordsman sighed and stepped in front of the rambling teen. He was grey-haired and covered in wrinkles, with several visible scars on his bare arms and one through the top of his skull. He wore a grey apron and a thick wool doublet underneath, with matching black trousers. With his back to the girl, he did something with the speculum. "You're in luck, kid. Just got a new batch in, including a few that even someone like you can handle."
"Hey!"
"Hey what? You don't like it, get better." He stepped back, and suddenly there were even more bounties on there.
"How'd you do that?" Keydis asked, stepping closer and almost pressing her face against the metal bars in front of the screen. Lyon put a hand against her shoulder and pushed her back a step. "Is that real vitatium?"
"It is, so don't touch."
"Ooh, that one looks good!" Keydis reached out to point at the one she was talking about, but Lyon snatched her hand when it got too closer. "The pirate one. You think he's really here?"
"I don't know, why don't you get away from the speculum and go find out?"
Keydis made a rude gesture at his back but sighed and looked over the bounty one more time.
Eloquii Aequoris, Wanted for Crimes in the Port City of Avelyn, Said Crimes Including Attempted Piracy, Assault and Battery of the Citizenry, and Malicious Arson. A Reward of Five Hundred Exa will Henceforth be Awarded for the Apprehension of This Criminal if Alive, One Hundred Exa if Dead.