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< Lavender's And Nearby Market | HungerWorld

<pigeon> <pigeon> <pigeon> It's another fine day at the bottom of Harrow. The market is bustling, the wind isn't howling too loudly, and Lavender's salon is seeing some business.

Boxer navigates through the crowds of people, craning his neck and looking over heads. He sees the activity at Lavender's and heads in that direction.

Lavender is demonstrating a massage technique on a young slender woman with dreadlocks.

<pigeon> There are a few people watching from neighboring stores and stalls, some bystanders who stop for a few moments, and also a couple of people leaning against a nearby stew joint and watching Lavender more intently. As they notice Boxer, they straighten up and walk off into the market.

<pigeon> Both Lavender and Boxer might notice this happen.

Boxer does not.

Lavender does

Lavender notices that she has caught the attention of some by standers she tries to figure out who they are before they scurry away.

<pigeon> Lavender recognizes that those two are low-level employees of Fauna, the water seller who wanted to take Lavender's space in the luxe part of the market -- that was the time she and Boxer had to fight off a gang.

<pigeon> Having them hanging around probably means that Fauna is planning to make another attempt to take the salon.

<Boxer> "Hey Lavender, what's going on?"

<Boxer> "Busy?"

Lavender finishes her demonstration and calls Boxer over. "Boxer," she says in a low voice, "It looks like me and Fauna need to have a talk. Could you fetch her for me?"

<pigeon> "Don't stop massaging!" murmurs the dreadlocked girl (Rum).

<Boxer> "Sure thing. You want me to tell her why?"

<Lavender> "Tell her I have something for her."

<Boxer> "Will do."

Lavender clutches a knife beneath the sleeve of her coat.

Boxer heads off to find Fauna.

<pigeon> ***

<pigeon> Fauna's store is just outside of the luxe quarter (which I guess from now on I will call the Prim). She's the most consistent and cleanest water dealer and does a lot of business, and her current space is really too small for the amount of product she moves.

<pigeon> There's a little crowd of people trying to get into the store as Boxer walks up. Key is inside making a purchase. She probably needs water to boil for medical reasons as well as to drink, so she has to look at a few different options.

<Key> "I'd pay you more if this were cleaner, but give me a break."

pigeon is now known as Fauna

<Fauna> "Listen, Key, you've been a really good customer since you got here, so I'll cut you a deal, but don't let anybody else know."

<Fauna> "This one time, Draft 4, okay?" She pulls a glass and shows it to Key.

<Fauna> "Next time, I'm gonna need more than this for this quality." She gestures to the oddments on the counter.

Key holds it up to the dingy electric light. "Thanks. Who knows, the life you save with this lack of contaminents might be your own!"

Boxer pushes through the line of people outside the store, then waits behind Key patiently.

<Key> She turns around to leave and, perhaps foreshadowingly, sees Boxer.

Boxer attempts a smile.

Fauna smiles (not with her eyes). "Ah, Boxer. Thirsty?"

Key mouths the words "BE NICE" with a wink.

<Boxer> "No, I'm here on business."

<Boxer> "Your business."

<Boxer> "Lavender wants to see you."

<Fauna> "Well, I'm very busy right now, but if she's reconsidering taking my offer, I can meet with her in about an hour?"

Key makes a face.

<Fauna> There are, it is probably worth noting, a few armed men standing around this store as well.

<Boxer> "She said now. I can watch the store for you, if you don't think any of these guys can handle it?"

Fauna stops smiling. "Maybe you should go." She taps the counter, and the armed men start moving forward.

<Key> "Hey, hey, Fauna. You traffic in a lot of breakables, there's no sense upsetting the product."

Boxer moves his hand near the back of his waistband and waits to see what happens.

<Fauna> "How, exactly, is this your concern, Key? Maybe you should take a walk." It's clear to Key that sticking around or getting involved here is going to seriously burn her bridges with the biggest water seller in town.

Boxer looks at Key and gestures towards the door with his head.

<Boxer> "Don't worry about her, Fauna, it's time for us to take a walk."

Key politely steps just outside of the door, in case of injuries.

<Fauna> That settled, the two men continue closing...

Boxer calmly brings his arm forward and lets his gun lay across the counter, still in his hand. "Tell them to back off and watch the store, we've still got business."

Fauna eyes him levelly, for a long moment, then waves her hand, and the men stop. "All right, this one time...I will do you a favor. Putrid, watch the place."

<Boxer> "And I'll do one for you"

Boxer lowers the gun.

<Fauna> ***

Lemma has his tongue stuck out at an awkward angle as he runs a metal cylinder through a machine lathe.

Fauna is now known as pigeon

<Lemma> W Ith? great concentration and absoprtion, he bevels one end.

<pigeon> Pamming's holding up the other end. "What, exactly, is this going to do, again?"

<Lemma> "Piston."

<Lemma> He blinks for a moment, and looks up.

<pigeon> "But it's like six feet long."

<Lemma> "Big piston."

Lemma inspects the edge critically, apparently feeling his conversational duties have been discharged.

<pigeon> Pamming attempts to shrug, but cannot do it effectively while holding the cylinder.

Lemma is wearing just underwear and thick goggles composed of duct tape and reclaimed clear plastic.

<pigeon> There's a crashing and grinding noise coming from the entrance to the mine, probably the trade caravan getting back after having traded coal for various goods that the merchants will soon be hawking in the market.

<pigeon> Something seems a little off about the sound, though, and there's some indecipherable yelling mixed in.

<Lemma> After a pause, seeming to realise more is expected of him, Lemma says: "It'll push things. Air. It creates the negative pressure need to drive the pump."

<Lemma> He winces at the banging noise, as he always does.

<pigeon> "Oh. For the sewage?"

<pigeon> After a minute or two, Carna comes in, moving quietly in case Lemma's busy. "Hey, Lemma? Dustwich sent a guy looking for you. He seems a little...I dunno, upset."

Lemma frowns. "I didn't actually ask what it was for."

<Lemma> He blinks. He turns around, shuffling his feet, to face Carna.

<Lemma> "Oh." he says to Carna. "That's unfortunate."

<pigeon> "...are you gonna come, see what he needs? I think it's about the caravan."

<pigeon> "You should probably go see."

<Lemma> "That he was upset, I mean. That's bad. People should be happy."

Lemma looks up.

<Lemma> "I should?"

<pigeon> "Yes. I think so, too."

<pigeon> "Yeah, you should," says Pamming. "But first put this on," she holds out Lemma's hoodie.

Lemma frowns a little, but says, "Okay." and extends his arms out for the hoodie to be dropped over him.

<pigeon> Pamming does so, then gestures to the door.

<pigeon> (Carna) "It's just that he's kind of the boss around here, right? Since he owns the caravan and has all the armed guys. So you should try to stay friendly with him."

<pigeon> This is obviously a speech Carna has delivered, and Lemma has heard, several times before.

Lemma nods mutely, and wanders out to see what's what.

<pigeon> "Hey," the guard outside (Rice) begins. "There's a problem with the caravan -- some axle broke off and it jammed the engine, or something." (It is immediately clear to Lemma that this is an idiot diagnosis based on made up ideas.)

<pigeon> "Dustwich needs you to take a look at it right away."

Lemma allows himself to be led along, staring at the floor and apparently thinking hard to himself.

<pigeon> A little bit away is the devanning area, right inside the mine entrance, where the caravan stops to be unloaded. The caravan itself is some sort of monstrous cross between a tank, a trailer truck, and a train locomotive, and it's clearly suffered some severe damage to its front right side.

<Lemma> Sighting the damage, Lemma immediately perks up, and beelines over to the broken area.

<pigeon> Dustwich is also standing there, talking agitatedly to a few other soldiers, and yet another soldier (Matilda) is lying down, breathing shallowly, with still another grimly holding a cloth to a bullet wound in her chest.

<pigeon> "Hey, Lemma. Do you know what happened? I think the axle might have jammed the engine or something."

Lemma holds up a hand toward the speaker to say "shhh", and with his other, puts his hand over the damaged area, his mouth moving as he thinks.

<pigeon> Lemma can see exactly what happened. It's as clear as day to him -- the caravan was in motion during a reasonably calm day, when some bandits popped out of a hole in the ridge and started blasting away. The cannons weren't so bad -- the caravan has its own guns, after all -- but it was when the lightning strike came out of a non-stormy sky that the engine block got partway melted, which forced the soldiers to fight a defending ac

<pigeon> tion while they limped away...

<pigeon> Meanwhile, after fifteen minutes, Dustwich comes to the conclusion that Lemma isn't going to move or speak except for his little mouth movements any time soon.

<pigeon> He shrugs, dumps his rigid body onto a stretcher alongside Matilda's, and drags them both into town, looking for a good doctor.

<pigeon> ***

< Lavender's And Nearby Market | Hunger World