Walking around town right now didn’t feel nearly as freeing nor as enchanting as it did yesterday. We were now under pressure to find a job. Most of the job listings were of clerking and retail, as the primary economy of this town was tourism.

Once again we’re reminded of Springwood as we slowly made our way farther from the plaza and closer to the slums. Going from one worn-down alleyway to another we only then realized how easy we’ve had it with Arthur. Just then a lad looking to be about a year older than us approached.

“Hey, c’mere.” he whispered to us in Hianic.

“~!!!”

Just as we followed his request he suddenly pulled out a knife from his pocket and continued talking as if it was second nature.

“We don’t gotta complicate things. Give me some money and I won’t do anything.”

“…Okay, okay. We don’t want trouble.” I said in my poor Hianic as I handed our pouch filled with our remaining money.

I know it’ll leave us in a vulnerable state, but it’s better than getting stabbed. He examined the pouch’s weight then grabbed my arm.

“Y’think I’m stupid, huh? I know yer’ on’a them ITA agents! And I know you have more on you!”

The knife was about an inch away from me at this point, screaming out wasn’t a good idea as it’d probably startle him into stabbing me. But not doing anything was also bad. Ed was about to lunge at him when a reprimanding yell shouted out.

A cloaked girl suddenly ran towards the lad and slapped him as she gave him a stern talking to. Well, seeing as they spoke in Hianic, we didn’t really understand much, they had a country accent. The only thing we got was that his name is Carter, and her name was Cecily.

***

-In Hianic-

“Carter! What the fuck are you doing? I told you the knife is for self-defense purposes ONLY!”

“Ahh, Cecily…” he grumbled, “I was jus’ aboutta complete the heist of’a lifetime!”

She stopped the lecturing to correct him.

“It’s not a heist, when you’re robbing someone on the streets it’s called a mugging.”

“What’s the difference? Either way we get money!”

“The difference,” she emphasized, “is that we don’t do muggings. If we want to make it in this world, I told you I wanna be righteous with our approach. We only attack rival gang members and take their money, not civilians’.”

“Ahh,” he whined, “you and you’re big words again! See, these guys’ aren’t even scared anymore!”

She turned to the two tourists, who are looking quite listless as they waited for them to finish their conversation.

“And you!” she shouted, “What do you want in our turf, huh??”

They seemed taken aback by her suddenly raising her voice against them. She definitely knew they were foreigners, so she just wanted to scare them off a bit for laughs. What she didn’t expect, though, was for them to answer her.

“Uhh…We Ulgami…We sorry! (How do you say it again?) Uhh, kill us not, renki we have!” he spouted pathetically.

“Oh? So you speak some Hianic, huh? Well then, friends, lead the way!” She said as she took off her cloak.

“Of course, just hand back money. We need for buying renki.”

Carter laughed audibly as he heard their poor verbal intellect.

“Looks like there’r sum’ folks who’re worse ‘n me!”

She regretted taking in two more idiots to add on to the first one.

***

Sitting around at the table, we ate together as Ed and I learned more about our new friends. We requested for them to speak a bit more clearly, as well as to teach us a few of the words they used. The conversation was sluggish, but we got to learn a bit more Hianic as they talked about themselves.

The boy and girl were apparently brother and sister, orphans who survived off in the streets. Their goal being to overturn a government that allowed for such a fate to be placed upon mere children. They planned to accomplish such lofty goals by mugging and stealing from rival gang members, but it was obvious they wouldn’t make it that way.

The boy was a wildcard. He didn’t really use his brain, instead relying on his instincts to thrive. Rowdy and rambunctious was the best way to describe him. He had unkempt curly red hair and a Band-Aid on his nose right between a pair of scary red eyes. When Ed inquired about it he was met with a violent reaction and an It’s cool! so he backed off quickly.

The girl, on the other hand, was the brains of their little operation. She was cunning and calculating, which we found out quickly enough after she pickpocketed the waiter while simultaneously ordering her food. Like a rose, she was pretty, but prickly. The cloak she wore was raggedy, contrasting with her short, yet properly groomed red hair that all but hid her golden-tinged pupils. We made sure to be on guard when talking to her at all times.

Pointing out the faults in their plan made them all too sad about how nonsensical it really was. And we really thought we were on to a winner with this one, she sighed. I almost recruited them to work with us in the restaurant out of habit, but quickly realized my mistake and instead asked about the food. I guess I still haven’t gotten used to being jobless.

Speaking of food, we ate lamb. It was succulent, juicy and most of all delicious, sure, but since Ed and I already had lunch recently, we weren’t really that into it. Them on the other hand…

“This tastes so good!” she squealed in joy.

“Mhm! Delish!” he spouted as he chomped away with all his might.

As they appeared to be nearing the ends of their plates, I had discreetly asked about when they’re gonna be leaving us to our devices. I didn’t wanna get involved in their plans, plus we still have our own money-making problems to deal with.

Whilst Carter didn’t even bat an eyelid at my question, Cecily was looking at me with her eyes wide open. She murmured something under her breath and smiled heinously. Just then I noticed something pointy touching my knee under the table. She repeated what was murmured, accentuating the feeling of dread I got from her.

“Where’re ya’ going? You’re mine now. You two are gonna be helping us take control of the Great Hiana underworld.”

I looked at Ed for a second, but he was apparently too busy talking to Carter to even notice the situation unfurling in front of him.

“Yeah!” Ed spoke up, “When you put it that way, Carter, your plan might actually be sorta’ good!”

It appears Carter was peacefully inviting Ed into their gang as I was getting threatened by Cecily. I guess they’re both thorny in that aspect.

“I mean, the idea is dumb,” Ed continued,” but it has some merit to it. The stealing part is a no-go, you gain little to nothing with it and lose too much energy, but if we were to take control of a territory, then we could request a cut from each business located there. We’re not robbing, per se, but rather buying stock with a 100% discount.”

They both got excited at gaining their first new recruit, meanwhile I was still processing almost getting my leg cut up. And what’s this about a good plan? It’s got too many holes in it! First off: we have no idea what these “enemy gang members” are like and what their numbers are. For all we know they could be a large city wide group, in which case we’d be dead by sundown. Second: while it is normal to take a cut from businesses located in your turf, we still need to somehow accomplish getting said turf.

Even still, it was 3 against 1 (and of those three, one was holding me at knifepoint), in the end I had no other option but to agree as well. With that, our new course of action was set. We are to destroy our enemies and claim their land, to raise our newly formed gang to heights previously unreachable. The “overthrowing the government” part can wait a few years, though…