Genesis

Chapter 14: Vagary

Vagary – an unexpected change in a situation or a person's behaviour

"Heya, Silv!" Oliver grinned the moment the psychic entered the alleyway where his usual Teal Class market was hidden away, Gold's hand firmly in his and the hedgehog scouring out the premises as they shuffled into the dim lights placed around. Looked just like any other day- With a little nod he smiled towards his acquaintance, glad to see him having survived another day in the prison that was Onyx City.

"Hello-"

"Ooooh, who's your girlfriend?"

"What's a girlfriend," Silver deadpanned back at the black cat, not that he had expected anything else from the older Teal Class boy he knew often hung out around these parts at night. "And if you keep up teasing, I won't be giving you any of my clean water."

"Snappy~" his friend teased all the same, shooting Gold a grin from where two terrified blue eyes were staring at the whole scene underneath the robe Silver had covered her with. "Not a regular, I see? That's alright! As long as you don't rat us out to the Council." And with that the other turned around and bounced away, beckoning for them to follow.

Shaking his head at the enthusiasm Silver gave the tenrec's hand a squeeze, smiling at her encouragingly as he cut to the chase. No doubt Gold felt rather intimidated in such a huge crowd- and a loud crowd, his own pelt pricking with slight unease also at the hushed whispers and distant mumbles which together still created a cacophony of sounds and voices. Good thing the Civil Protection Robots rarely came here. "This is my friend, uh, Mari. Mari, Oliver's my go-to guy to get food," the hedgehog explained to the cat and the wide-eyed telepath, leading the latter through the masses. "He acquires it through less-than-legal means, I trade it for water I myself acquired through less-than-legal means, and then he trades it further for things he wants while I get food, basically."

He almost had to laugh at the way Gold's eyes flicked around over everything, people exchanging goods or just sitting and chatting and having fun all around them. "I had no idea such a thing even existed..."

"Well, we need to get our stuff from somewhere, shawty. The Council is not gonna give it to us, after all," Oliver addressed her cheerfully. "Speaking of, how's saving the world going, Silver?"

Ushering the tenrec to a more peaceful spot Silver hummed, helping her sit up on a few discarded crates so she wouldn't have to rest on the ground. "Actually, we wanted to ask around for some stuff about the Council today-"

"Dude, here? No-one's gonna be talking about them."

Smoothing out his quills the hedgehog fixed the black cat in an unamused glare. "I am going to change everything, and that begins with gathering more info about the Council. They're my starting point, but I do need to know about them first. I hardly know anything right now."

"Yeah, 'cuz the Council doesn't like it very much when people are gossiping about them, you goon," Oliver huffed back all the same, black tail flicking. "You're gonna go around and ask the entire night market for information on the most dangerous and powerful group of people in the entire city?"

"That is exactly my plan," Silver retorted in kind, the few people around them who had been listening in on their conversation with varying amounts of subtlety shifting and mumbling. If he could just keep up their attention like that... "The Council is not infallible, and they have tons of secrets. There's no way at least some of those haven't leaked, and I need to know as much as I can to stop them. Someone here has to know, I am sure of that." Gaze darting up to the people listening in he glared at them. "One of you, maybe?"