Ana’s conversation with Liu and Belov the next day was surprisingly pleasant. At least for her.
About a third of the Stolen had begun to make real effort to become part of the Splinter’s small community. Mostly from among those who’s been lucky enough to be gifted Inter-Guild instead of Wanteul or, in three particularly unfortunate cases, something Ana found to be called ‘Ptshriza’, which she couldn’t even begin to pronounce. Those three weren’t quite so unlucky as to not share any languages at all with anyone, with two speaking passable English and one being a native mandarin speaker, but they had it hardest of everyone.
The fact that two of the Ptshriza-speakers were among those making strides to integrate — one of them being Chenyue, the mandarin-speaker, who had a grand total of five people in the Shard with whom he could converse fluently — didn’t exactly raise her opinion of the others.
“Are you sure you want to do this?” Ana asked Messy as they stood outside the Reveling Revenant. “Pretty much any of the Stolen who still stay here hate me. You’re going to get some dirty looks just for being associated with me.”
“They can look at me however they want,” Messy said, but there was a tremor of uncertainty in her aura and in how she held herself. “Nobody’s going to be stupid enough to try anything with you there. And even if they were, I have these.”
Messy touched the sword and dagger sheathed on her belt. Putting the belt on had cost her, but she’d been determined, both to come with Ana and to come armed. “If I can’t back up the woman who loves me,” she’d said with a brave smile, “what good am I?”
“I won’t feel any less—” Ana had started, then corrected herself. “I won’t love you any less if you never hold a blade again.”
“I believe you,” Messy had said, “but I’d be holding you back for the rest of your life. No, I need to get over this. I’m coming, and I’m coming with my blades.”
And that was that, and they stood outside the Revenant. And when Ana, still worried about Messy’s reaction, didn’t make a move to enter, Messy did. All Ana could do was to follow.
Since this meeting was pre-arranged, Ana didn’t need to go looking. Liu and Belov sat at the same table where she’d accosted them two weeks earlier, in the same chairs. The people scattered around the common room, speaking in a multitude of languages, did indeed give Ana and Messy some filthy looks, but not one of them could avoid wilting when Ana looked back, or looking away with regret or shame when Messy gave them a small, forgiving smile. It was ironically easy for Ana to forget that Messy had a Charisma just above 25, and that Charm was her highest Skill, at 16. If Messy hadn’t been so shocked when she was attacked, so guilt-ridden about the changelings she’d killed — if she’d had the wherewithal to try and talk herself out of her assault — those drunks wouldn’t have stood a chance. To the people at the inn, stewing in their misery at their tables, it must have been as though they’d mean-mugged someone who’d revealed themselves to be an angel, and had simply forgiven their ignorance.
“Miss Cole,” Peter Belov said frostily, speaking English. “Here we are, as you requested. Would you like to just lay your threats and demands out without any kind of preamble, so we can all go on with our day?”
“I wasn’t planning on making any threats today, Peter,” Ana said brightly. She didn’t go fully into her Stacy persona, but she needed something friendly and, more importantly, non-threatening. She’d even planned for it: she’d come unarmed, and dressed in a much more feminine ruffled blouse, gathered skirt, and sandals combo rather than her normal tunic, loose trousers, and boots. “And please, call me Anastasia. That goes for you, too, Sidney,” she added to Liu. “This is Mestendi, my girlfriend. No last name; most people don’t have them around here. You’ve heard of her. As you can see, she’s all better now, thanks to healing potions, Mistress Touanne the Healer, and a lot of tender, loving care.”
Belov and Liu looked at her with confused suspicion, clearly not knowing what to make of this Anastasia, who was almost completely different from the unhinged woman they’d interacted with previously. That suited Ana just fine. She turned to Messy and said, “Mess, this is Peter Belov and Sidney Liu. They’re pretty much the leaders of those of the Stolen who refuse to integrate. Do you want to say hi, or…?”
“I suppose,” Messy said. She kept a straight face as she said, “Who are you right now?”
“Mostly myself, with just a bit of ‘too naive to be a threat’,” Ana said cheerfully. “Works wonders to disarm people, and that was before I had a Charisma in the 50s. So! Mestendi, Peter. Peter, Mestendi.”
“Pleasure to meet you,” Messy said. She extended her hand to Belov along with a bright smile, and Belov shook it without hesitation, Earth-style — palm to palm. He looked slightly dazed when she let go, probably both due to the effect of her Charisma and Charm, and the fact that Messy’s 15 in Strength probably gave her a noticeably stronger grip than him, despite her slim arms.
“And this is Sidney. Sidney, Mestendi.”
“A pleasure,” Mestendi said, giving Liu the same treatment as Belov.
“Also,” Liu said in halting Inter-Guild. “Liu Sun. Or Sidney.” He clasped her wrist, the way people did in the Splinter, and Messy smiled approvingly as she did the same.
“I’m sorry,” Messy said in an aside to Ana. “I don’t quite understand about his names. That sounded like three.”
“I’ll explain it later,” Ana replied. “Just think of him as Sidney for now.” Then she turned to the two men, switching back to English. “Now let’s sit! I want some tea. Mess, tea?” She mimed drinking.
“Please,” Messy said in English as she sat down next to Belov, across the table from Ana, making Ana blush ever so slightly. “Please” was one of the few words of English, along with “don’t” and “stop,” which Ana had taught her by accident.
The two men muttered to each other in what Ana had learned was Cantonese as tea for four was ordered and served. They were being rude, but Ana and Messy spoke in Inter-Guild, so fair was fair. Besides, they screamed out their confusion through their body language, so Ana didn’t mind much.
Once they all had their tea Ana apologized to Messy, then turned to the two men and spoke in English. “So,” she said, chipper as could be. “I said that I wasn’t here to make threats, so I’m sure you’re both very curious about what I want.”
“I’m pretty sure I opened with that,” Belov said.
“Not exactly, but sure,” Ana agreed pleasantly. “First of all, I’d like to start with introductions. Each time we’ve met was when I was having a very bad time, and I think that may have colored our opinions of each other, yeah? So, in the interest of understanding each other a little better: hi! Anastasia Cole. Originally from a little place you’ve never heard of in upstate New York, but I moved to London back in 2015. Spent the last seven years working in personal security, but more recently I led the population of this place on the warpath against the lunatics who dragged us all into this mess. And just so we’re clear — and this is not intended as any kind of threat—” She smiled coyly at Belov. “What I said in the square was true. I feel very little in the way of sympathy, empathy, or guilt. I first killed a man at sixteen, and I’ve added another hundred plus to that number since I came here. But, and I want you to believe me on this, they were all necessary. Every person I killed was trying to kill me or someone important to me. Okay? Now you go, Sidney!”
The two men just stared. Ana wondered with some amusement if it was more due to what she’d said, or the combined effects of her Charisma and its Enhancements, and her Charm Skill, which she’d been pushing on heavily, and its Perks. It took her snapping her fingers in front of Liu’s eyes for him to snap out of it.
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“Oh!” he exclaimed, jumping a little in his seat. “Ah, yes, well, I am Liu Sun or, more commonly, Sidney Liu. I am from Hong Kong originally but, like you, Anastasia, I left for London. Although in my case it was in 1996. I fear I would not have fared well under the heel of the PRC.”
“Well, cor blimey, Sid!” Ana said in her most studiously offensive imitation of Cockney. “I might have seen you on the tube! What did you do there, then?”
Liu blinked, his face blank but everything else dithering between amusement and honest offense. Finally he said, “I taught international law. First at Queen Mary’s, then at Westminster. So I suppose we may have, at that.”
“Ah, that explains your Class,” Ana said, dropping the accent. “And you, Peter? I’m terribly curious how a Bostonian learned Cantonese, of all languages. I’m guessing you were in purchasing or sales or something, from your Class?”
“I’ve lived and worked in Hong Kong for a decade,” Belov said with a shrug. “International sales manager at… doesn’t matter. You won’t have heard of them unless you’re in medical tech. I spoke Mandarin already when I moved; picking up Cantonese wasn’t that hard.”
Liu scoffed good-naturedly.
“Sidney tells me I must be a genius with languages. I dunno. Maybe. French, Spanish, Russian, German, Mandarin, Cantonese… they’re just words and grammar.”
“And you still haven’t picked up Inter-Guild?” Ana asked.
Belov scowled. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but it doesn’t exactly have anything in common at all with any Earthly language.” Then, to Ana’s surprise, he switched to slow, careful Inter-Guild and said, “Learn to be slow. No good… a beginning?”
Messy covered her mouth and giggled, looking down at the table and waving her hand in a fairly universal signal for “Sorry! Sorry!”
Belove sighed and switched back to English. “See? Fuckin’ embarrassing.”
“That’s after a month?” Ana asked. “Not bad. Get to know some people who speak both Wanteul and Inter-Guild and you’ll be cruising.”
“Yeah,” Belov said, not quite dismissing the idea. “Maybe.”
“If I may, Miss Cole — Anastasia — if Miss Mestendi does not speak English, and is not at all part of the conversation, why is she here?” Liu asked. “She may look comfortable with that sword, but she does not precisely inspire the kind of caution that your previous companions did.”
“You certainly may,” Ana said. “It’s simple: I don’t want any more attempts on her life. The easiest way to prevent that is to keep her close to the scariest person in this Splinter, but since I can’t just leave her with Captain Pirta, and Kaira is busy, I’m keeping her with me.”
“Pirta…” Liu said thoughtfully. “She is the enormously tall, thin woman with the calculating eyes? The elf? And Kaira is the bald one with the terribly foul mouth, a… themion, I believe?”
Ana laughed. The laugh itself was a carefully practiced one, designed to disarm pretty much anyone, but the sentiment was real. “Those may be the most accurate descriptions of those two I’ve ever heard, at least if you’ve only spoken with Kaira in Wanteul. Yes, them. And they’re actually great examples of what I wanted to talk about, along with little old me. Do you know why I call the three of us the scariest people in the Splinter?”
“You, sure,” Belov said. “The other two… well, this Kaira woman has all those teeth, and she’s got a crazy look in her eye half the time. And the elf — Pirta? — she’s tall, I guess, and she’s got this way of looking at you. I only met her once, and she gave me the creeps. But I can’t say I know why you’d put them over yourself.”
“It has to do with the System,” Ana said. “And that’s what I really came here to talk to you about. You and the people you’ve taken charge of need to become part of this community, and to do that you need to learn what the hell is going on. Do you know about Levels?”
“Like in… games, I guess. It’s all kind of messed up, with all these numbers and everything. A higher Level makes you stronger?”
“A higher Level makes you stronger,” Ana agreed. “And Captain Pirta is the highest Level of anyone in the Splinter. She’s also one of the two people who actually run this place, meaning she could have you expelled from the settlement if she wanted to. That, and I’m pretty sure she’s killed more people than I have, and not necessarily in self-defense, either. Game recognize game, you know? She’s the only person here I’d be really worried about going against in a straight-up fight.”
“So she is dangerous socially and physically,” Liu said, nodding. “And Miss Kaira?”
Ana shrugged. “She’s just plain dangerous. I won’t say that she’s crazy or unhinged or anything like that, but she’s got one hell of a temper. Some of that is just her, and some of it is her magic. Have you learned anything about Crafts?”
Liu shook his head. “Magic. I would not credit it if not for what I have seen with my own eyes.”
“What you need to know is that to have an aptitude for a Craft, you first need to have a personality matching it. And once you start learning it, it’ll change you to make you fit even better. Sort of; you should talk to one of the locals to get the full picture. My point is that Kaira has the Crafts of Fire and Lightning. Her temper is hot, and it’s quick, and she can put a bolt of honest-to-god plasma through you from… hell, I don’t even know. Far. Did either of you ever see those Predator movies? The first one had Arnie in it.”
“Sure,” Belov said, his face telling Ana that he understood exactly what she was saying.
“Yeah, that. The younger of the women I had with me last time I was here can do the same thing. And you and your people need to understand that this is the world you’re living in now. People can do things like that. And some people, like me, could kill everyone in this room with just their bare hands.”
She let that sink in for a while.
“I wouldn’t. Most people wouldn’t. If anything, from what I’ve heard, there’s less violence between people in this world than in the one we left. But anyone you see might be able to, depending on their Class, their Level, and their Skills. They may also be able to practically hypnotise you with just their voice. With a high Charisma and Charm Skill they could talk you into anything, if your Willpower and Sense Motive aren’t high enough. With a high Intimidate, they could bully you into doing what they want. With Negotiate, they could convince you to willingly sign anything. Choosing not to engage with this world, the way most of the Stolen are, won’t help. They need to get with the program, or they’re going to be downtrodden and desperate until they do something stupid and a shopkeep accidentally knocks their brains out, because they wouldn’t expect anyone above the age of sixteen to have a baseline human Vitality.”
Ana wasn’t missing the opportunity to turn this into a lesson. Her Charm wasn’t anything remarkable, but her Charisma was far beyond what most people would ever reach. With some groundwork — having a pretty girl along, acting friendly, doing something resembling a proper introduction — she was sure that she’d disarmed them enough to benefit from Honest Face. And with the way she kept looking from one to the other, always establishing eye contact, Arresting Gaze kept them from looking away.
The total effect was that as Ana spoke, Liu and Belov had both become more and more dazed. She knew that they were listening; they couldn’t do anything but listen. They didn’t want to do anything else. A Pretty Girl was telling them Important Things, and no matter how shrewd or accomplished they were on Earth, here, in the Splinters, with the System permeating them all, they may as well have been children before a master storyteller.
Which was the point. Or what Ana wanted them to think that the point was, at any rate.
“People are starting to look,” Messy whispered across the table, her mouth hidden by her mug.
Ana, half spellbound herself by the effect she’d had on the two men, came back to her senses. “So!” she said sharply to them. “Any questions?”
Belov was the first to recover. Confusion crossed his face before he said, “Uh, yeah. Why? When we’ve seen each other before you’ve swung between total disdain and overt death-threats. You don’t give a damn about us or our well-being. Why suddenly come here, all sugar and spice, and give us advice?”
“How poetic,” she said, putting some friendly amusement in her tone, and Belov couldn’t help but smile slightly. “As I said, you’ve met me at some very bad times. All I saw were problems, present or future, and I just wanted those problems to go away. But I’ve recently had a stretch of very good, very relaxing days. I’ve had plenty of time to think, and I’ve spent some of that time thinking about you, about your situation, and why two thirds of the Stolen are so unwilling to make a real life here. And I know that there are many more factors at play than just ignorance, but I hope that if you can get them to understand their situation better, how this world works, it might… motivate them to make an effort. That’s all.”
That, and the fact that Ana wanted Liu and Belov on her side. Not because she cared about them; they’d both left a sour enough taste already that she wasn’t interested in seeing if there was something worthwhile to be salvaged. No, she wanted to turn them because they had sway over the Stolen, and the busier the Stolen were actually making something of themselves, the less likely they were to cause any trouble that Ana would get dragged into.
She had just over two months left in the Splinter. Two months until she could disappear into relative anonymity; as anonymous as she could be, anyway, with the Sentinel likely to be trying to hunt her down and with the Wayfarer practically begging her to take point on saving the world. She just wanted any trouble she got into in those two months to be of her own making.
It wasn’t that much to ask, surely?
and read 8 chapters ahead of both Splinter Angel and Draka! You also get to read anything else I’m trying out — which is how Splinter Angel got started.
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