[color=BDBDBD] [center][b][u][color=DBA901]Cypher - Upper Ring[/color][/u][/b][/center] [color=FFFFFF]”After three days of delay, tensions concerning the Northern Harvesting Plant has risen. Complications with machinery have persisted despite on site engineers best efforts and after a long and grueling eight hour inspection yesterday, the plant has been officially shut down. Generators within the walls of the city will sustain power usage for the next several months while the Council decide what to do. Worst case scenario, when our synergy tanks run out, the city is prepared to revert back to nuclear if need be until the issues at the plant can be resolved. This comes after several months of pressure from the city as poverty has risen sharply within the lower ring forcing…”[/color] [center][i]Buzz[/i][/center] Cypher blinked, flipped his wrist and stared at his upturned arm. A sequence of words appeared across the black band pressed into his skin. [center][i]Needed at the palace. K.[/i][/center] Cypher watched the luminescent outlines of letters slide slowly to the right and disappear. When there was nothing else, he dropped his arm back into his lap and continued to stare into the screen in front of him. The news anchor was still rattling on about the same issues, her face remaining unchanged and the urgency in her voice near unconvincing. [color=FFFFFF]”Driver.”[/color] He finally said. [color=FFFFFF]”Sir?”[/color] The reply came from the other side of the screen, the figure obscured behind the tinted glass separating the two of them. [color=FFFFFF]”Palace please.”[/color] [color=FFFFFF]“Change of plans?”[/color] Came a second reply. The soft voice drew his attention to the woman seated next to him. The sound was hard to resist. [color=FFFFFF]“Thought you had the day off?”[/color] [color=FFFFFF]“Apparently I never have a day off.”[/color] [center][b][u][color=DBA901]Soup Kitchen - Lower Ring[/color][/u][/b] [color=FFFFFF]-Exit and McHaggis collaboration-[/color][/center] [color=FFFFFF]“Well well… if it ain’t my favorite soup boy… and delivery boy... And what the hell’d you do to that arm?”[/color] An elderly but no less jovial man pushed his way down the line, empty bowl in hand. Despite the pair of pots filled to the brim with stew, and the protests from his rather empty stomach, his eyes remained glued to the sling around the man’s arm. His own limb took over instinctively in an act of self preservation, pushing the bowl over the divider in search of a generous serving. A matted head of black hair framed with the first hints of silver. A hard face with soft lines slowly etching their way into his skin. A nose that was jutted only just so and a smooth chin. Golden eyes locked with Jun’s. [color=FFFFFF]“Broken?”[/color] He asked to which he received a toothy grin in reply. [color=FFFFFF]“Yessir!”[/color] Jun took the bowl and ladled soup into it – a juggling act of scalding liquid that was difficult to watch. [color=FFFFFF]“Broke it when I jumped off a building. It’s [i]nasty[/i] swollen,”[/color] he said with a laugh. [color=FFFFFF]“Turns out I wasn’t quite as retired as I thought.”[/color] The man shared a conspiratory wink before reaching up to the shelves above his head and pulling down a complementary roll to add it to the tray. It wobbled as he slid it back over. [color=FFFFFF]“How’s life, Etsel?”[/color] [color=FFFFFF]“Life?...”[/color] Etsel pulled the tray closer to himself fighting the urge to sneak a bit of bread while contemplating an odd question. Life was well… was a struggle in more ways than one. Etsel was simply Etsel and in Ba Sing Se that didn’t count for much. His days were filled with the musings of trinkets that nobody cared about and his attempts to pawn them off for scraps. It was this very occupation that lead him to the soup kitchen that day in search of a means to gain him a fortune. Something that could have transformed a life of struggle into one of riches… relatively. But then… well his “means” broke an arm. [color=FFFFFF]“...Well.”[/color] He continued, his face scrunched in thought. [color=FFFFFF]“Life could be better… you know when you consider all things.”[/color] He looked around the room. [color=FFFFFF]“But besides that, I came here really to talk to you. I had… [i]had[/i] something lined up for me… something well... look. I need your help. Still need it despite the…”[/color] His eyes darted toward the arm and then back again. [color=FFFFFF]“When you get a chance, come find me?”[/color] Jun’s eyes followed to the arm cradled against his chest, gnawing on his lower lip and looking as if he was deciding something massive, life-shattering; as if the fate of the world was at stake. Eventually he nodded, running his good hand through his hair and leaving a wet stain of red soup there. [color=FFFFFF]“Mia! Can you take over for ten minutes? I need to get some fresh air, sort out my lungs!”[/color] Without waiting for permisison, he turned back to the Etsel, peeling off his plastic glove and then his pinstriped apron. Much more quietly, almost desperately, he said, [color=FFFFFF]“If it’s illegal… I can’t [i]know[/i] it’s illegal, right? It needs to be for a good cause.”[/color] Perhaps Etsel’s fortune counted as a ‘good cause’ and that was why Jun was willing to go through the effort of at least [i]listening[/i]. It was more than most would be willing to do. Ba Sing Se was a dog-eat-dog world. And then Jun was smiling again, though it rang slightly hollow, like it was taking more effort to maintain than before. [color=FFFFFF]“Bring your soup outside, around the back of the kitchen – I won’t have very long.”[/color] He took off and disappeared around the corner in the space of one breath, leaving an empty space of tarnished industrial countertop and off-white linoleum. Etsel followed as instructed, bowl of soup stuffed halfway down his throat and bread crumbs tumbling from his lips. When Jun stopped around the corner, Etsel downed the last gulp and wiped his mouth clean before he began, placing the empty bowl down on the ground beside him. [color=FFFFFF]“Now I know you’ve said you’re retired… were retired… no longer delivering anything of any kind but this… Let me start by saying that no, it’s nothing illegal. I know we’ve had our past… trust issues and all with some of the things I’ve given you but this is straight. I promise.”[/color] Etsel began dusting himself off the dirt and crumbs that managed to stick themselves to his tattered jeans. [color=FFFFFF]“It’s a piece of jewelry, or so the guy says. Worth a lot but not in his hands. It’s… history or some such nonsense. I just know that’s it’s important. The man is asking for coin which I have and I would get it myself…”[/color] He paused for a moment as he thought about what he was going to say next. [color=FFFFFF]“Just a necklace…”[/color] [color=FFFFFF]“Yes. Thing is, the guy is on the other side of the wall. Middle ring.”[/color] Etsel looked at Jun. [color=FFFFFF]“Normally this isn’t a problem for you… You would just do what you do best but you’re not at your best right now.”[/color] He finished motioning at the cradled arm with a nod of his chin. Jun took a seat in the dirt, back against one of the empty food crates left outside for the scavengers. [color=FFFFFF]“I can carry a necklace. Even if there was... opposition, I could pick up a necklace for you, no probs. But over the wall?”[/color] He let out a low, impressed whistle. [color=FFFFFF]“Wouldn’t be a problem normally – I’d scale it, as you well know, if it wasn’t for this arm. Still could, but you’ll probably be wanting a sure thing rather than a dead courier.”[/color] Jun waved that thought off with a shrug and a dismissive hand gesture, brows furrowing. Clearly troubled. [color=FFFFFF]“So.the only way in is officially, and I don’t even have a [i]birth certificate[/i], far as I’m aware. If they ask, I’m [i]screwed[/i].”[/color] It was true. Crossing the checkpoint from the lower ring into any of the rings above it was nearly as impossible as it was centuries ago. One had to provide proper documentation which few had in the slums and on top of that, there was a fee. Belongings were thoroughly searched and during times of heightened security, backgrounds were checked with a simple scan of one’s thumbprint. More importantly, there were devices in place to pick up a bender should one ever attempt to cross. Etsel knew all of this but the circumstances he found himself prevented precaution. [color=FFFFFF]“That’s the other thing… one of the reasons why I turn to you for this kind of stuff.” Etsel began again, pacing back and forth. “I could get you papers if you absolutely needed them. I mean I know a guy… but it’s… it’s complicated. It would take a while to get them and by then my seller might have already pawned the thing to someone else.”[/color] He stopped pacing and turned to look at Jun again. The man was sitting now and was himself deep in thought. [color=FFFFFF]“I need it… soon or... You asked me how life is. Truth is it can go in one of two ways: Either I get this done and live with something to my name… or I don’t.”[/color] A short silence followed, one that lasted until Jun sighed wearily. [color=FFFFFF]“What is it with me and not being able to deny doing… [i]this[/i] for people?”[/color] He picked at the soup-stained fabric of his sling. [color=FFFFFF]“But yeah, I getcha… I’ll try it without papers – I’ve done madder things than that in the past. Can’t promise anything, though, you got me?”[/color] He stood up, brushing off the dust from his trousers and frowning. The act made him look older, closer to his real age rather than the boyishness he often presented. [color=FFFFFF]“It’s the same deal as always, Etsel. Give me an address and a deadline. If I’m even ten minutes late back, it’s free, and you should probably hire another delivery boy.”[/color] With a glance at the sun’s position in the sky, he hurried up. [color=FFFFFF]“I can do it today. Probably, at least. Don’t want you to live in poverty for longer than you have to, yeah?.”[/color] [color=FFFFFF]“Yeah… By tonight. Tonight is perfect. And… Thank you.”[/color] [/color]