Lonely Thieves

Act I, Part I

Act I: Heist

Daryl's Side (April 6th, 8:30 pm)

The Dusk district. Despite the relative prosperity of Twilight and its home country, the Pacific Union, wealth inequality remained a massive problem, one that the oligarchs and politicians preferred to ignore in favor of lining their own pockets. Rampant development and gentrification ultimately resulted in the creation of the Dusk district, which was essentially a massive slum created to house people that were simply unable to live in the city proper. Still, a home was a home, and those that were struggling to keep their heads above the water in the other parts of Twilight were glad to obtain relatively affordable housing.

Naturally, many parts of the district were also prone to high levels of crime. That wasn't because the people were poor, although there were definitely those motivated by such a life. Criminal organizations and other unsavory sorts found it relatively easy to operate in the Dusk district, especially since the residential zone was rather neglected by both the Twilight Police Department and Overman Security. If the people complained about the Dusk district's crime rate, the people up top would merely shrug their shoulders as if it had nothing to do with them. After all, aren't you the one at fault for wandering around in the Dusk district when you know how dangerous it is?

Still, Daryl had a good reason for coming to the Dusk district; it was one of the only places in the world where cash money was still an acceptable method of payment. Most of the other districts had fully abandoned physical currency in favor of cash cards, but since the Dusk district was underfunded, they had to allow cash payments here. On the plus side, this meant that purchases wouldn't be tracked, allowing for people to buy things without the government knowing. Of course, that only meant the Dusk district was even more attractive to criminal groups, but what could you do?

Daryl turned the corner into one of the alleyways, where he found a small shop built into one of the walls. It was crumbling as if it had been hit by a bomb, which was exactly how the store had been described to him. Daryl felt his hands shake with anxiety as he approached the store. It couldn't be helped; he was normal human being only a week ago, looking for work as a computer programmer. But now, he was about to walk into a black market store and buy a gun for the very first time in his life. How did things come to this?

He walked into the store to find the entire shop covered in guns of all sorts and sizes. The variety was absolutely intimidating, especially to a complete amateur like him. One or two rough-looking guys were browsing the inventory, while a large-bodied man with scars all over his body manned the cash register while reading the day's news on his tablet. This was the man he was looking for.

Daryl wasn't looking for any old gun shop, after all. He had heard a particular rumor about this place that appealed to his particular situation; the owner of this shop had a penchant for providing free pistols to anyone who could tell him a "sad sack" story that made him burst out in laughter. It was a bizarre practice, but apparently the owner had claimed that it brought both traffic and entertainment to his store, as people came from all over the city to try and make him laugh with their stories. Of course, he didn't particularly care about the owner's profits. In fact, this arrangement was perfect for him, seeing as he wasn't particularly keen on paying full price for a gun right now.

He walked right up to the counter and stood in front of the owner, who peered at him over his tiny spectacles. He took the cigar he was smoking out of his mouth and let out of puff of smoke before addressing him.

"You got a story, bud? I'll warn you, it had better be real good, understand?"

Daryl didn't respond. He let out a short breath to calm his nerves, and delivered his story while keeping his voice from wavering.