Creature City Revival

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"For the kid? Yes."
Jack took another long drink of his tasteless beer and felt its alcoholic warmth settle pleasantly in his belly. Out of the curtain-less bay window, the moon was sinking.
"I left it alone for a while, but it's become of interest again."
He sighed, aching to get back into bed and fall into a deep, dreamless sleep. He'd wake at midday and drink coffee and kiss his sappy boyfriend before the latter left to sell ancient magic to haggard old women at unreasonably expensive prices. But before all that -
"Listen, Jet. This dinner, with the Aster-Pitch girl. I want to be there. I want to figure these rich people out - and I want to catch up with you. Get me in as your associate and I'll make it worth your while." He tapped his claws against the arm of the sofa. His tone, though respectful, had turned cold and demanding.
 
Jet chuckled, also dropping the soft tone for her usual businesslike demeanour- though much like him, the respect for her compatriot was still there. "Galzra's extended a notice saying his family will be attending. It'll be easy to suggest you're enough of a friend to the family that we basically consider you one of our own." And not entirely a lie either was the unspoken sentence they both knew. "Getting you in won't be a problem in the slightest. Just show up at our address and we'll get everything else sorted out." She gave the address so he'd be able to find it, though she had a sneaking suspicion he already knew. "If you don't have a suit we'll keep a spare ready, so don't worry too much."
 
Rook produced a ring of jangling keys from her pocket, unlocking the main entrance to the compound. Her engineer shoes clacked down stone steps to the area where Volkof's stock was held. It was required weekly that the quarters were inspected, so as to avoid bad merchandise. Although she shouldn't have had to perform this job- it was for lower girls- duties were duties. The creature grabbed a mounted shotgun off the wall, along with a lamp that had been provided by a past visitor. She desended into the den of the humans. As always, the first thing that hit her was the smell, dank and stemming from the amount of living things that were brushing against each other down there. Sweat, dirty clothes, and piss.
"What's with all the sad faces?" She lit the lamp, illuminating the quarters. The humans could see her now, too. In the fresh light, the talisman she wore around her neck glinted. Rook swung her weapon as she surveyed the scene. There was a shifting murmur of humans waking from their slumber, along with the grating call of livestock that followed. Rook found their baying impossible to decipher, but she'd heard it was a language. Like her own. A human child, weak and almost blind with spending months in the shadows, reached through the bars as Rook strode past. The creature was a regular face to her, their looks striking enough to distinguish them from the rest of Volkof's workers. She made gutteral grunts as she stalked the cages, perhaps talking to herself. At the creature's presence, the strangers in the next cell began to make a ruckus. Some shook the bars with calloused hands. Although Rook knew they couldn't understand her rebuttals, she roared back.
"Why, you ungrateful maggots! Volkof has provided a safe living space, a palace for you, and you complain?" The child watched in bleak silence as the creature steadied their weapon. Unlike other workers, they relied on it much more to threaten the crowds into submission.
 
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Jack smiled hungrily.
"Brilliant. As it happens, I don't have a suit - thank you for the offer."
(He had been going to rent one, and the prospect of someone being kind enough to let him borrow instead touched him quite a bit - though he was never one to say that.)
He finished his beer and stood.
"I should let you go. I look forward to seeing you tomorrow - it's been too long."
 
Jet smiled. Even if he didn't admit it, the slight change in his tone told her all she needed to know. She was already writing down her order as she said, "Of course, I look forward to seeing you too. Goodnight then, Jack." She hung up, not wanting to keep him any longer, and set the phone back onto the mantel before moving upstairs.
 
Setting his phone on the bedside table, Jack pulled the covers over himself and found himself immediately grabbed by hot hands, almost too hot to bear. Arrow, still asleep, burrowed into his side and made a funny grumbling noise deep in his throat, one leg pushing insistently between Jack's longer ones. Jack absent-mindedly carded bony greyish fingers through the man's fluffy black hair and stared at the ceiling. He was pleased; his objective on the phone to Jet had been to use her as a means of getting into the Aster-Pitch Manor, and that had been well and truly achieved. Still, he felt a little nervous. He was icy, but it would be strange to see his sister for the first time since he was thrown onto the streets and left to die. He could only hope as his eyes slid shut that she had retained more morality and kindness than he had.
 
Rook pushed feed through the dispensers, making sure to stand well away from the bars just in case a human got brave whilst she was distracted. She sung to herself while she completed the chore, looking up every now and then to watch the humans eating. Keen reptilian eyes noticed a mousy-haired child amongst the churning masses. Her shy gaze would peak at the dispenser every so often, then be eclipsed by another greedy human. The face of the child reminded her of another she had come across weeks beforehand. The little bastard that had bolted through a link in the fence during transit. Oh, Volkof had been mighty pissed when she'd learnt about that incident. Rook hated to disappoint her boss on every occasion, and the bitter memory of Volkof's anger made her head throb. She clapped her hands. Spending too much time alone with these humans wasn't good for her.
"I suppose, it's time to bid you all adieu." The Nile lizard bowed mockingly. "Until next week, my friends."
Shotgun mounted on the wall and lamp laid in its place, Rook departed from the compound.

Volkof watched the creature's steady movements through the windows of her base. It had had been an old temple of sorts once, now renovated into something better. The structure overlooked the city, giving her a grand view of everything she reigned over. She tipped her horned head towards The Assistant, smiling a thin smile. "Go on, welcome her." Maids were instructed to open the door in an instant upon Rook's arrival. Rook barely had time to knock before three maids appeared before her, leading her like clockwork to The Assistant who stood in the hall. The creature stood with their hands behind their back, their face strangely smug.
"Your employer is waiting in the main room."
"Thanks."
 
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The next day found Jet wandering with Galzra and Alexis around the rich district. They passed the various window shops selling bits and bobs of all sorts, and finally came across what they were looking for.
It was a simple tailor's shop, sitting between a couple of cafes along one of the highstreets. Jet breezed inside, Galzra following and Alexis after her. They were just looking for dinner clothing, but Jet had to get a spare suit in mind. It was simple, businesslike; the kind of impression Jack would want to give off during this dinner. Businesslike yet welcoming. New to the district, unaware of the fashions and so on. Jet herself went with a classic look, getting a sheer black dress that glimmered when it caught the light, hugging her curves. Black was her colour, she thought with amusement.
Alexis had a simple black dress that simply fell from her shoulders, tied with a navy belt at the waist to offer it some form. She matched her mother.
Galzra opted for a white shirt and dark red suit paired with press-ironed black trousers. Red suited the Dragovian well, even if it did bring out his heterochromia. Jet shared the opinion with Galzra that it suited him.

Azur had gone for a full red suit, paired with a black shirt. That was waiting at home; currently, he was waiting in the middle district for Abner, having decided that with the ball in a couple of weeks he'd need to teach the Araneae how to act around the upper-class folk. He sat on a bench near to the cafe that they'd met at, patiently waiting for his arrival.
 
Abner shoved his hands deep into his pockets. Minerva had provided him with one of Charlie's suits, although with a certain amount of skepticism as he claimed he was to meet a Helarisi in it.
"Have to dress fancy, Min. I'm on a date." Abner adjusted his tie in a mirror, grinning. Minerva had rolled her eyes.
"Lucky you."
Now he stalked the middle district with a slumped posture, eyes on the ground. He worried he would bump into Vince on his search, which bring his plans to meet the Demon down.
 
Azur grinned, spying Abner, and silently took into the air. He landed next to him with a faint whumph, folding his wings in. "Hey, you look pretty down, Ab. Everything alright?"
 
Abner jumped at the Demon's sudden landing next to him. A faint smile appeared on his face. Azur appeared to outshine him regarding their dress sense, but he'd expected that.
"Me? Down?" The spider laughed, glad the Demon hadn't stood him up or forgotten about bringing someone of his type to a ball.
"No sir. I'm just dandy." The spider began to walk ahead. "Glad.. You're here," He added.
 
Azur chuckled, leading him along. "Well, I have plenty of time to kill, and I did promise to bring you with me. The ball date has been set for two weeks from now. That gives us enough time to teach you etiquette and some dancing, too. We'll head back to my place and start, if that's alright with you?"
 
Abner nodded, albeit shakily. "Sure. Sounds great." In his mind, he did a quick calculation. Vince had held his part of the money back during their last con since it hadn't worked out right, which meant he wouldn't be able to get his drugs until whenever the cash flow came back in again. Which meant for at least four days it was cold turkey for him. Cool it, Ab. You're gonna be fine.
Life was looking up, wasn't it? Here he was, talking with a goddamn bonfide Helarisi. He dug his nails into his palm, three hands curling into anxious fists. The spider already liked the Demon, and he wasn't going to show himself up in their eyes because of some addiction.
 
Azur's golden eyes were focused on the road ahead of him, and so missed the shakiness of his partner. "Great. It's not too far away, so it shouldn't be too bad." If it did prove too much, he supposed he could always Shadowstep- that key ability that marked someone a Helarisi by blood. Him, Galzra, Jet and Alexis all had the ability to Shadowstep at will to wherever they wanted to, provided there was a large enough shadow, of course. In the lower city, there was plenty of that, but in the upper city it was a little harder to find. Still, there was plenty. By default they'd agreed to keep shadows plentiful in their house; they could all see through shadows with no difficulty, and it saved them hours if they had to get between places quickly.
The membrane on his wings fluttered lightly as the wind caught the ends, and he suppressed a shudder- the one disadvantage of having them. He could make them disappear if he wanted to, of course, unlike Galzra, but he simply chose to carry them around with him. In the rich district they'd vanish just to keep up appearances, but down here it was nice to have that little extra intimidating factor to carry around.
 
The temple's interior was magnificent. It's walls, the columns, even the ceiling, were crimson, the color of raw meat or dried blood. In the middle sat its centerpiece, Volkof. She looked sublime in this light, draped over an armchair and dressed in a cream dressing gown. When the Demon smiled at invitingly the creature, her heart fluttered.
"You look tired, Rook." Her voice was velvet, smooth and commanding. Pale hands motioned to a seat nearby. Under candle light, Volkof's ram's horns cast a bold shadow. The Assistant stood aside as Rook sloped her way to the center of the room, reserved and silent. Rook glanced at the figure nervously as she passed. That guy gave her the creeps.
"Rest for a moment." A maid scuttled quickly into the room, thrusting a glass of cool water at the creature. Rook took it into a clawed hand. The room was silent, apart from the rustling sounds Volkof made as she sifted through a stack of official looking papers on her knee. If Rook wasn't incompetent at art, she would have painted her, froze her in that single glowing snapshot. If she had been taught how to write, she would have written a poem about it.
"How are you?" Dull red eyes looked up briefly.
"I'm doing well, boss."
"I trust the maids have treat you kindly, and the place I have provided accommodating?" The gemstones that decorated her hands shone.
"Yeah, it's- it's all been grand." Rook offered a modest smile, flashing large, sharp teeth.
"Good."
 
"I don't mind a walk." Abner walked alongside the Demon. The air was cool, the evening quiet. Although the middle district was always crowded, he realized most of its inhabitants had decided to stay indoors due to the biting weather. The spider blew into his hands in an attempt to keep warm.
 
Azur blinked. With a soft click of his fingers, small fireballs danced around Abner, emitting a pleasant warmth and easily fending off the cold. "They won't burn you, so don't worry if they touch you," he explained, to avoid panic. "They're designed as...well, they're one of my personal spells, actually. Since I keep forgetting jumpers and jackets, this is what I do instead." He glanced away as he spoke, hoping dearly his new friend didn't freak out too much. Was he overstepping a mark? Should he just give the spider his blazer instead? Was a magical gesture more or less appreciated?
 
Abner watched the fire dance around him in a warm glow. He looked to his hands, then to the Demon beside him in disbelief.
"Holy shit!" He breathed, laughing, "That's- uh, that's amazing!" His first brush with magic was something of a surprise, but not an unwelcome one. The fire brought with it a memory of sitting by Chance's fireplace as a hatchling, watching the embers flit past his eyes.
"Boy, I wish I could do that."
 
Azur perked at Abner's warm reaction to his magic.
"I'm really glad you like it!" he said, smiling warmly. "It's one of the few non-destructive uses for my magic."
He attempted a chuckle as he walked, crossing over the border into the rich district. Immediately his wings vanished, but he didn't stumble, maintaining his balance almost perfectly despite his body mass becoming immensely lighter.
 
Abner grew tense as they walked into the rich district, sticking closer to the Demon. The Araneae had never explored the area without Vince at his side. He avoided the gazes of the creatures that pushed by, noticing their designer clothes. They passed houses that were large and untouched by rain damage, streets that were free from trash and winos. Abner felt embarrassed suddenly, as if he had waltzed into an area naked. He stared blankly at his shoes, watching other feet side-step around him as he walked.
 
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