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[color=9B9F94][h3][b]Assani 17th[/b][/h3]
[sub][b]Location:[/b] Wánggǎng, ReTan
[b]Day of the week:[/b] Pandes
[b]Time:[/b] Day
[b]Characters:[/b] Ming, Qadira, Abdel, The Traveller [@Force And Fury][/sub]

[hr][hr][center][h2][url=https://youtu.be/ePHnn3aU7jc]♫[/url][/h2][/center][hr][hr]

[hr]

Ming and Abdel were the pair sent to follow-up with one of the trails captured by Qadira the Skuggvar, and brought her along too. By having such an imposing beast in their disposition, the group thought it best that the trio would go to the more back alley location they had sniffed out. It was a warehouse of sorts, near the Foreign Quarter, with a few other larger buildings neighbouring it.

A garage for older carriages was selected to stake out the place. [url=https://giffiles.alphacoders.com/143/143255.gif]Two heads popped out[/url] of the wooden railing of the roof, with Qadira curiously pushing on her hind legs to get a look as well, nearly breaking the structure! Luckily Abdel had a hold of her. Ming could count four guards from sight, and the young Tethered could confirm it with his sensory capabilities.

[color=5F9EA0]“We must go quiet. We gain nothing from raising alarms everywhere and cause more collateral damage.”[/color] said Ming, ever the steadfast worker.

[color=9e0039]“We can try to sneak, but that’ll be hard with Qadira.”[/color] Abdel looked at his Skuggvar. [color=9e0039]“I don’t want to leave her unattended either. Maybe we knock one out?”[/color]

Qadira grunted.

[color=5F9EA0]“The beast is big.”[/color] Ming shook his head. [color=5F9EA0]“It is too dangerous. I will go in, and you will cover me. Understood?”[/color]

Abdel wanted to say something. He really wanted to prove his worth and actually [i]do[/i] things. But alas, this was objectively the best way to go about it. Ming was to go alone, attempt to sneak, while Abdel watched from a block away. From there, he had Qadira ready to attack if things went awry.

And they did, sort of. As Ming employed the gift to try and slip in unnoticed, three of the guards dressed in plain clothes were none the wiser. Except for one. He was walking toward Ming with clear intent and off his initial patrol path. Abdel had half a mind to try and attack to knock out, but his intuition told him this was far too risky. They had to act like they had been made.

Just as Ming was going to be intercepted, Abdel and his guard dragon walked up to the man. A man slightly taller than him, which wasn’t common in ReTan. [color=9e0039]“NinHao!”[/color] greeted Abdel with a very forced smile. [color=9e0039]“我是政府。我需要检查地方 (I’m government. I need to inspect place)”[/color] he uttered with minimal charisma which mattered little when Qadira had sublime timing with her burping of her recent meal. It was enough to get the guard’s attention, if he hadn’t noticed the hulking beast already that served as very obvious intimidation.

The guard just smiled as he saw the beast, and even seemed like he wanted to approach it. [color=206C73]“政府？但一切都井井有条，长官。(Government? But everything is in order, sir.)”[/color] his expression dulled once he addressed Abdel’s approach with a very distinct accent. To which the teen replied. [color=9e0039]“我们很仓促。也许我们快点？ (We are hasty. Maybe we make quick?)”[/color] he took out a pack of rolled cigarettes that were in a red box, clearly made to be of high quality. It was a box he had gotten during his classes, and said to be a typical means of ‘acceptable’ bribery among everyday men. Added to this, he had a few incantors to go with it and Qadira’s loud breathing as incentive. Ming exhaled in exasperation from his hidden corner.

The man just chuckled, only looking at the offering once before addressing Abdel again. [color=206C73]“先生，我们遵守所有规定。(We are complying with all regulations, sir.)”[/color] again, such an odd accent. And this time Abdel picked up on it. [color=9e0039]“... هل انت من هنا؟ (... Are you from here?)”[/color] he inquired in Virangish, much to the enjoyment of the guard. [color=206C73]“أرى أن لديك أذن جيدة! أنا أكون. لكنني لست كذلك. (I see you’ve got a good ear! I am. But I’m not as well.)”[/color] he beamed at Abdel and shot an even happier smile at the Skuggvar. [color=206C73]“من المحتمل أن يكون المستمع الجيد مثلك قد استنتج أن هذه قاعدة ثورية من نوع ما. (A good listener like you has probably deduced this is a revolutionary base of sorts.)”[/color]

Abdel gulped. He felt like he had just landed in the lion’s den. His hand reached out for Qadira’s snout. [color=206C73]“لا تقلق ، لن أؤذيك. لكن يجب أن أسأل ، لماذا تساعد حكومة مثل هذه الحكومة؟ هل أنت خائف حقًا من عالم يتساوى فيه جميع الرجال والنساء؟ (Do not worry, I will not hurt you. But I must ask, why would you help a government like this one? Are you truly afraid of a world where all men and women are equal?)”[/color] Abdel began to draw while the guard enthusiastically began his speech. [color=206C73]“هناك حاجة إلى رجال طيبين مثلك إذا كنا سنفوز بهذا! ماذا لو ذكرت لصديقك أن هذا مجرد شيء مضطرب للغاية. عموما لا يهتمون.(Good men like you are needed if we’re ever going to win this! How about you just mention to your friend that this is just a very turbulent enclave thing. They generally don’t care.)”[/color] shrugged the man, to which Abdel replied sternly. [color=9e0039]“لن أفعل. (I will not.)”[/color]

Just as the Tethered was ready to use his Magnetic magic in tandem with Qadira’s might, the guard had one final thing to say. [color=206C73]“Then, you need to know a few things before you take any step further, Abdel Varga.”[/color] Abdel’s ice turned cold as the world around him distorted.

[hider=An Unexpected Encounter]
What had been a warehouse and a rather average-looking middle-aged man of Retanese extraction were now… the confines of the San Agustin refuge and a face that Abdel knew very well: that of his first crush, Marceline. [color=598527]“I have to say, I’d be pretty scared if I didn’t know the animals better,”[/color] she teased. [color=598527]“There’s a little soft spot, right behind the eyes, where if you scratch just right, they become big sucks.”[/color] She smiled.

Abdel nearly fell on his ass after space and time were warped around him. This was a first, usually these required a portal. Qadira was there too, seemingly unfazed by the change in scenery and just kept sniffling at the man-turned-Marci. Wait, Marci? [color=9e0039]“Marci? What are-”[/color] the obvious hit the flabbergasted Abdel quickly enough, this was some sort of illusion! [color=9e0039]“Who are you?”[/color] he inquired with a raised tone while backing up closer to his guard Skuggvar. [color=9e0039]“Why are we here? Show your true face!”[/color] as much as he feigned outrage and anger, the fear and anxiety was as clear as day to the entity.

[color=598527]“Well, I’m not Marci. You figured that one out, investigator.”[/color] Not-Marci cracked a teasing grin. [color=598527]“I’m also definitely not here to hurt you.”[/color] She sniffed and glanced down at her shoes, rocking back and forth from toes to heels like she had when they were very young and like she’d stopped doing once the tethering had taken hold in earnest. [color=598527]“‘Nuff people getting hurt already, and for the stupidest things.”[/color] She shook her head. Looking up after a moment and meeting his eyes, she sighed. [color=598527]“I’d show you my true face if I had one.”[/color]

Abdel didn’t disagree. Actually, he fully agreed, but the circumstances were such that he could only keep himself guarded for now. This could all be a trick. [color=9e0039]“I don’t understand.”[/color] he simply said, his hand resting on the scaled back of his Skugg. [color=9e0039]“But-”[/color] he pursed his lips. Qadira was not showing any sort of hostility to the being. What could this mean? [color=9e0039]“Are you the one causing this mess in this country?”[/color] he furrowed his eyebrows. [color=9e0039]“An agent? Or … The man himself?”[/color]

[color=598527]“Man, hmm?”[/color] said Marci, shaking her head. [color=a36209]“Sure.”[/color] She spoke and was suddenly Manuel Escarra. [color=a36209]“I guess I’m many things to many people,”[/color] he admitted. [color=a36209]“An enemy to some, a misguided idealist, a saviour, or hope.”[/color] He let out a long sigh, leaning against one of the walls of the refuge under the cool moonlight and the warm torchlight. [color=a36209]“I only ever wanted to be the latter. The world’s unfair, Abdel, and you know it.”[/color]

[color=9e0039]“I do.”[/color] Abdel began to let his guard down as he took in the warm air of Torragon. It might’ve been an illusion, but it definitely felt like home, and it sounded like Manuel Escarra. [color=9e0039]“I just … Don’t think too much about it. I never really had to, and I guess I feel happier when I don’t.”[/color] his tanned hand reached to his Skuggvar's head and he began to scratch where the false-Marci had recommended. Qadira melted in a matter of seconds, letting out little grunts of joy before letting itself fall on its tummy and just let go. [color=9e0039]“You must know I’ve been finding people associated with you. Are you going to get back at me?”[/color] he asked meekly. He was trying to hide the fear he had of this very notion he thought of the moment he realized who this was, but he couldn’t feign confidence whatsoever, even with a big beast by his side. [color=9e0039]“I don’t regret it. They were breaking the law.”[/color]

[color=a36209]“And your parents,”[/color] Escarra bit off bitterly, [color=a36209]“They were breaking no laws when they surrendered you.”[/color] He shook his head. [color=a36209]“But your friends were when they freed you. The laws had to be rewritten to allow for it.”[/color] The head ranger’s eyes narrowed. [color=a36209]“Some laws enforce justice. Many contravene it.”[/color] He regarded the youth appraisingly. [color=a36209]“Ask yourself this: you are raising that magnificent animal, and her sister. Who are you raising them to obey?”[/color] 

Abdel clenched his jaw at the mention of his ‘family’. A sensitive topic he had tried his best to forget. [color=9e0039]“Please don’t talk about them - my parents.”[/color] he said with the same bitterness the false-Escarra employed. He obviously agreed with the notion, but emotions flared far too much when it came to the subject that rational thought rarely came into play and bottling up the frustration ended up being easier. The Traveler nodded in commiseration. [color=a36209]“Then I apologize wholeheartedly. The selfish acts of others leaves marks on us and I well know it.”[/color] Abdel looked down and merely nodded. The tenseness had dropped after that.

The conversation moved on, and the youth had more to say. [color=9e0039]“I’m raising these girls to obey me. Well …”[/color] he sighed as he relented on the scritches. [color=9e0039]“I know they’re way too smart to really ‘obey’ me. But, I want them to work with me and live comfortably with me. I’ve grown close to them, I think.”[/color]

[color=598527]“And so it is with the wealthy and powerful as compared to everybody else.”[/color] Escarra was now Marci again. [color=598527]“The rules of our society have been raised by them like children. They love those rules and they guard those rules, but the rules serve them. Maybe they think they want comfort for the people below them but, just as this magnificent beast you raise might have eaten you had you not trained her, so they train us not to rise up and eat them as well.”[/color]

[color=9e0039]“What are you trying to say?”[/color] inquired Abdel, eyes narrowed. [color=9e0039]“That Qadira should bite my head off because I asked her to do things for me?”[/color] just as he said that, the Skuggvar turned its head to give the boy a big lick to the face.

[color=598527]“Haha!”[/color] laughed the fake Marci. She scratched at the back of her head. [color=598527]“Sounded like that, didn’t it?”[/color] She shook her head. [color=598527]“But no, she shouldn’t because, with you, she has and will likely continue to enjoy a better life that she would’ve in the wild. The same cannot be said for the millions who are pushed aside, trampled, and kicked to the curb by the few who have all of the magic and who use this power almost entirely to maintain it.”[/color]

Before Abdel could respond, Qadira then moved her ‘affection’ toward the apparition. It approached its big, mucus-covered lips to attempt at a lick on the Traveller. [color=9e0039]“I don’t think about these things much but … Why do they do this? I know, back home, they stand on-top because they have better magic. But why nullify everyone else? It feels extreme. Even dangerous.”[/color] he crossed his arms, eyes darting between the kiss-happy Qadira and the shapeshifting being. [color=9e0039]“But most importantly … How do you even change something like this?”[/color]

The Traveler let out a long sigh, and now she was Amanda, just as she had looked when Abdel had first arrived at the refuge. She stroked the big slobbering dragon, playing with its long, whiskerlike tassels. She listened, too. [color=c4df9b]“The ones on top do it because they are sanguinaires and an entire population of people with manas but no ability to use them is a buffet, but it also means that they’re safe. Nobody outside of their chosen few lieutenants will ever rise to challenge them.”[/color] She scratched the big beast right between the eyes and regarded Abdel more evenly. [color=c4df9b]“But their motivations are simple and selfish. What interests me more is why so many people go along with it.”[/color] she shrugged, gently shooing Qadira back in the direction of her master. [color=c4df9b]“I think it’s because of safety. At the end of the day, people will accept injustices so long as they judge them not to be more intolerable than the sacrifices needed to overturn them. The regime here does an excellent job with that. Even so…”[/color] she glanced up at the night sky as a shooting star streaked across their view. Abdel stared in awe at the display, almost forgetting it was likely to be an illusion. [color=c4df9b]“They are losing the battle. As Retan opens up more to the rest of the world, people are beginning to see. There is a groundswell of anger at the opaque and arbitrary testing regime and the hardships that it causes.”[/color] She faced him unflinchingly, then, and addressed his final question. [color=c4df9b]“If change is to come, it needs to be supported and driven by the people of this place, but they will need a spearpoint to get started: one strong enough to challenge the twins.”[/color] Her eyes narrowed, becoming uncharacteristically cold. [color=c4df9b]“It ends with their devil heads on pikes.”[/color]

The extreme nature of the Traveller’s conclusion was enough to get Abdel’s head back in the game. Heads on spikes, how many revolutions are illustrated. At the very least the Traveller didn’t paint themselves as a full-on idealist, which would have tipped off the not-so-naive Abdel of potential hogwash. He gulped at that very violent image. [color=9e0039]“Monsters. Revolution …”[/color] he scooted close to his retreating beast once more, seeking comfort from the mighty animal. [color=9e0039]“I’ve known some of that when the Refuge was freed. It was terrifying. I wasn’t so scared, but back then I had almost nothing to lose.”[/color] his heart skipped a beat as he thought of Maura, and then of all his friends. [color=9e0039]“Now, I don’t know. I [i]want[/i] people like those Twins to face the music. But I see why so many are scared to even try. I am too. Especially when I nearly hurt the people I love when violence was the only option.”[/color] he looked over at Qadira and was reminded of the house incident. All of this reminded him of how easily he could lose everything, all for a revolution he didn’t fully understand yet. [color=9e0039]“... Was it you that sent these men to Mr. Bao’s? The ones that nearly killed my girls?”[/color] as accusatory as his words seemed, his voice was tempered and his expression softened as if he was simply expecting the truth for closure rather than a full-on confession.

Amanda was still for a moment and then, in no uncertain terms, she shook her head. [color=c4df9b]“The twins hope to use the boogeyman that I represent to galvanize action against an internal revolution.”[/color] She paused. [color=c4df9b]“Wait, no. That isn’t strictly correct. The Nikanese are involved too. Why, I cannot say, aside from their age-old enmity. Whatever exists of those who agree with me has been co-opted by the government and the revolutionaries. Bao was the last of the real ones. The other one - the one they call Hui - I… misjudged him.”[/color] Her shoulders slumped and she shook her head. [color=c4df9b]“I may have some power, I admit, but I too am not immune to making mistakes. He is not an evil man, but he is… not a good one either, and no longer a friend, if he ever was.”[/color]

Then, she was Manuel Escarra once more. [color=a36209]“If you don’t believe me, look in the small chest in the warehouse office, in the false bottom. There is a reason that I approached you here.”[/color]

Abdel couldn’t tell if there were lies or not. There was no way to verify except for whatever was in the warehouse. But, at the very least, it was convincing and fit what he had observed so far. [color=9e0039]“Hui.”[/color] he repeated that name a few times. [color=9e0039]“Ash, or something. Comes off as a sort of alias. I guess that’s to be expected in these spheres?”[/color] he mused. [color=9e0039]“He was the one to fight that exemplar - Wu Long.”[/color] Abdel furrowed his eyebrows and turned his head to the not-Warden. [color=9e0039]“What do you make of that guy in particular? He … Is hard to read. And was keen on using our expertise when the government wasn’t.”[/color]

Escarra nodded. [color=a36209]“Comes off as an alias because it is.”[/color] He crossed his arms. [color=a36209]“And Wu Long?”[/color] He bit his lower lip and let out a noise of frustration. [color=a36209]“He and I do not agree on a foundational level. In some ways, he would be every modicum as oppressive as the Twins. He would show mercy where it is not deserved and persecute those who he has deemed 'evil' by nature. And yet… I cannot deny that he... [i]cares[/i] about this place and, in a sense, uncorruptibly so.”[/color]

Abdel scratched his cheek. [color=9e0039]“All of what’s going on, even if it isn’t you leading it, connects to you. You seem close to both these players, or were, and had some sort of falling out - at least with that first one.”[/color] he was trying to piece it together, and was less so talking to the traveller as he was airing out his thoughts. [color=9e0039]“... Why won’t you intervene yourself? With everything that you know, it feels like the Twins wouldn’t be much of a symbol of oppression and safety to the people if they were just out of the picture.”[/color] again, airing his thoughts, as he didn’t even let the traveller answer before he continued. [color=9e0039]“Is it that you just can’t?”[/color]

For a moment, the figure of Escarra wavered and something else could be seen beneath. Abdel failed to pick up anything much, but something had happened. [color=a36209]“Those who ‘teach’ you would have you believe that there are no monsters out there greater than I, but I tell you now that there are.”[/color] Solidly the Head Ranger once more, he shook his head. [color=a36209]“I cannot say more and I cannot stay more, else my presence here be detected and it pose a danger to you. To answer your question, though, it is not that I [i]cannot[/i], but that I [i]mustn’t[/i]. If I just sweep in and topple a head of state and leave the people of this country to clean up my mess in the power vacuum, I have only created a new crisis. Should I rule in the tyrant’s stead, I have simply replaced one authority with another.”[/color] He shook his head. [color=a36209]“I have not come here today to convince you that you must join my cause. I wish to apprise you of the situation in full and beg of you to act with both resolution and compassion. [i]Be[/i] here. [i]Know[/i] these people and, when the time comes, [i]help[/i] them achieve the victory that they so justly deserve.”[/color] Then, the world around them began to blur and slowly crumble. [color=a36209]“We will be returning to the present and I will fall unconscious. You will have used internal magic to do so. Understood?”[/color] Abdel simply nodded.
[/hider]

The Rettanese man fell to his knees and nearly hit his head on the stone pavement, only to be caught by Abdel at the last second. Everything was back to normal and not a second was lost in the present. To Ming, the guard had simply fallen over after telling something he couldn’t hear to Abdel. Sceptical of what happened, he emerged from his hiding spot and joined his foreign partner. He wanted to say something about Abdel’s methods, but he ended up just nodding. It got the job done and they had more to do.

[color=5F9EA0]“Bring the body inside, we won’t have much time until they suspect something.”[/color] whispered Ming as he opened the door to the innards of the warehouse, letting Qadira in first while Abdel started to drag the unconscious ‘Traveller’. The boy could still not believe this was, in some form anyway, the ‘great menace’. He could end this whole shebang right now, potentially. Or not. Chances were the traveller was too strong, that it’d have no effect. But in truth, he had massive reservations over doing it even if there were guarantees of it being permanent.

Once inside and the doors closed behind them, they would be greeted with a few stacks of crates. Near the centre was one crate in particular. It was smaller than the others and placed on a table as if it had recently been filled. Ming nudged his chin toward the box, and Abdel nodded. There were no signs of traps, not in this crate or the others. They began to gut them, starting with this one, though Ming was keen on opening a few nearby ones while Abdel examined the contents.

[color=5F9EA0]“Anything beyond clothes and a gun?”[/color] he asked, and Abdel had indeed removed both a rifle and a whole set of clothes. A Black Rezaindian set to be exact. [color=9e0039]“Yeah. You don’t have many Quentics around here, right?”[/color] to which Ming denied, it was definitely a rarity and always foreigners.

[color=9e0039]“Hui - Ash …”[/color] mumbled Abdel to himself. [color=9e0039]“Church clothes and a gun.”[/color] he blinked, recalling [i]something[/i] from about a year ago. He couldn’t quite put his finger on it, and yet it felt vivid. Like he had known someone that had all these pieces fit nicely together. But these weren’t the only things inside. There were also stacks of correspondences, mostly in Perrench.

Good thing Abdel had taken Perrench, and liked it more than Rettanese.

It was a back and forth between two authors: Ash and the one dubbed ‘Sifu’ by the former. Sifu - Teacher. Abdel could deduce that much. And in turn, recalling his trippy exchange earlier, he could already piece together a relationship with the traveller. They were the Sifu. And as he skimmed through the letters, he’d come to discover a breakage in the relationship near the end, shortly after being told of his moniker of ‘Ash’ translating to ‘Hui’ in Rettanese. 

[color=9e0039]“Je regrette cette séparation, Sifu, mais je n’ai pas le coeur de me dévouer aux masses comme vous le faites.”[/color] read Abdel out loud. The falling out ultimately came down to Hui’s lack of drive to prop up all the masses and considered himself far more than the master did. Ming perked up, not nearly as proficient in Perrench as Abdel was. [color=9e0039]“Which means this isn’t about the traveller … The people are being used by Hui!”[/color] concluded Abdel, discreet but not enough to not get Ming’s attention. [color=5F9EA0]“What isn’t about the traveller?”[/color] to which Abdel simply passed the letters to Ming. [color=9e0039]“I don’t think the head of your problems is the Traveller.”[/color]

There was a final piece to consider. An old scroll, worn by age and the ink faded. It was in old Perrench, stuff that Abdel definitely couldn’t read. But he recognized some words. By the date written it was about eight hundred years old, at the time of the Great Heathen War - a piece of History the teen wasn’t too familiar with. Not that he knew much of History in general.

[color=9e0039]“Service, 
Great, 
Sacrifice, 
Heathens.”[/color]

He could deduce these big terms among the faded words, the obsolete formulations and old spellings. That, and the seal of Arcel the Victorious.[/color]