I seriously tripped over myself re-reading Veritas, Hidden Sundays and Mimic knowing I had to play in this playground.
The immense world building in VHSM (hmmm ?) intimidated me. I started taking notes for this story as I re-read and at some point I was so caught up in the story I forgot to take notes. I stopped worry about the construct of the world and really got into how the characters were displayed in this world.
I mean when I hit the 3rd person narration in Hidden the entire Veritas-verse just clicked.
I was like
I'M NOT WORTHY ? HOW CAN I ENCOMPASS THIS ????
Then the music gods opened up to me and I saw the scene and I saw the characters. At one point I played around with the writing a Veritas-verse novella with Clara as the main character, I don’t know why. I just did. I have one paragraph from that in here. The title is taken from one of my favorite lines from Veritas.
Quick SH do you know when this was said ?
Now I’m eyeing a Slate/Tomas noevella I saw in a SH post.
I can not seem to get down and dirty like SH does with the story. I’m trying.
*Drinks Wine*
Okay, let’s do this.
Also what is/was/will be En Moritas ? Things I need to know.
Check the tunes out on Spotify !
+1+
The wind blew against the cold gray and blue streaked sky.
It was so quiet that she sighed and dropped her fragile glass just to hear something.
She watched the shattered pieces and laughed at how easily the cup had broken apart. How easily the world had broken apart and moved on, now that war was on the horizon.
How easily the bombs had fallen on that quiet sunny afternoon. They were like trains on a track, she could hear the whistle but there was no way to stop it.
Even still she could remember waking up with the sun blaring in her eyes. She was being carried but as she was let down she saw the familiar streets and homes she once knew were reduced to ash, longing and smoke.
Here again on the fringes of another neo-luddite commune she tried to blend in, to conform to just be.
Maybe it would have worked out.
If they hadn’t come.
Out of the hot haze like two cowboys in one of those Ancient Era films.
They were dressed in all black and the one boy, the one on the right. Something looked. . . not right about him.
“Who sent you ?”, she asked in a voice that wasn’t really much of anything.
She was a pretty girl with blonde ringlets and blue eyes. She was just barley out of her teens so she understood and anticipated their hesitation.
The one on the right hesitated more.
Before the boys could answer bullets rained out of the house behind her. The old rifle her protector was using was nothing compared to what these boys had but he had precision and aim and that paid off.
She ducked as knives were thrown at her and crawled under the porch. When the boys ran out of ammunition they retreated.
They had seen her
The chase was on
As far as she was concerned they were dead men.
---
Is this really the place they call the end of the world ?
I thought about this as the soles of my shoes pounded against the pavement. Ahead of me I zeroed in on the black and white dusted head in front of me. Neon lights, glitter and music all wove together in a blur as we bolted past the Luxor
I don’t know how the fuck Jean moved so fast in those heeled boots.
I just fucking knew this was about that botched job last month.
Jean knew these streets. He knew every back alley and dark hiding places. Those bastards wouldn't catch us.
It has been 3 weeks ago that a higher up who sat in Rayne's right hand gave the orders. He gave us the address (which was in the middle of the fucking desert. Had to jack a old Ford Rain to make it out there)
The instructions were simple
Go to the address
Kill the girl.
I had practically been taught to protect women. It was just something naturally instilled.
She had looked so innocent. I thought it would be easy untill someone started shooting at us.
Maybe we had to decide to duck and run to soon.
Or maybe we just didn’t want to kill her.
Now she was back. She showed up in the crowd at the arcade.She walked right up to me and pressed a barrel to my back. Jean had been working a newly minted G-man in the corner. Jean spotted us across the hall and threw a knife at her, then we ran.
She chased us.
Her little gun could pack a punch. She’d already taken out two Joygirls by firing what I think was supposed to be a warning shot.
I caught up with Jean.
“The fuck are we doing”, I asked matching his pace
“Running, brother”, he said
We cut to the street behind The Luxor and climbed the fence through the dysfunctional McCarran mine field.
Behind us I could hear the girl struggling with the fence. If we cut through we could be back at the apartment in maybe an hour
A large man in a military grade black shirt and pants materialized out of nowhere. He grabbed me and twisted my arm with so much force I heard an audible snap.
One more fix for Blackbird. At least someone would profit off tonight.
Jean stopped short and pointed a knife at the guy. His eyes widened for a minute before settling.
The man was a Saint.
Just a saint
Not that Saint.
The girl slowly trotted over her gun to my chin.
Jean threw his last knife but the pair dodged it
“Why”, I asked, “Why does Rayne want the girl dead ?”
“None of your concern”, The Saint said. He was young.
“It’s okay, Brother”, the girl said
“It’s not”, The Saint said. He looked to me and Jean,”I promised I would keep my sister safe. Specifically from scum like Rayne Washington. I can’t let anyone who would dare hurt her live. I’m sorry you have to die.”
He was sympathetic. . . to human. Must be defected.
Jean had folded his arms, discreetly untucking the small pink pistol from his sleeve.
“Please”, The Saint said. His eyes on me, “My sister and I just want to live in peace. Please understand your deaths are for the greater good”
“Why”, I just fucking had to know,” Why ? What is she ? What are you ? What did you do ?”
“I’m sorry Alan Gray”, The girl said cocking her gun, “You won’t live long enough to--”
He head snapped back, the tiny bullet tearing through her throat while another struck her brother’s head detaching the silver cross embedded in his head.
It took a while but he soon became as insignificant as the wind.
Jean's eyes were dilated and moist as he knelt down and picked up the cross putting it in his pocket. He held a hand to his Syndicate; took a picture of the two and sent it to Rayne. His staggered breath holding back another breakdown.
“What do you think they were”, I asked, “What do you think they did ?”
I looked up and Jean was gone
+2+
Back at the apartment Jean had pushed the curtains aside, he was looking out past the roof of the building next door. Only murky clouds and a landscape of the fucking polluted air in the fucking polluted world we lived looked back at him
If only he’d known.
If only
I stopped a few feet back from him, kicking a stack of his damn novels over. He tensed audibly at the noise. His arms were folded his weight shifted on his left.
He was thinking about her.
I took another step forward and his arm shot out to the side. The sharp end of throwing knife glinted from his hand.
“Hey, let’s go out. Heard they have black market liquor at Luxor.. . infused with chrome”, I said
“No, brother”, he said with such little effort
“Jean”
He turned and held the knife under my chin
“I.Said.No”
He flicked the knife away and the metallic smell of my tainted blood spilled onto the carpet.
I’d been at this job for 6 months
Him 6 years
How could he not get it
It was just another job
It was just another dollar
It was just another day
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Author's Note : What really struck me in Veritas was the loss of Minnie and the way Jean and Alan dealt with it. So I wanted to do something that touched on that.
So I thought it would be interesting to see how Jean would react if he had to kill someone’s sister and how he would get some closure from it. I had this idea that Jean wouldn’t let Alan die because he didn’t want to be left alone with Alison ? Or maybe he wants someone else who remembers Minnie.
This graph from the beginning is from that novella I wrote for fun
Even still she could remember waking up with the sun blaring in her eyes. Shew as being carried but as she was let down she saw the familiar streets and homes she once knew were reduced to ash, longing and smoke.
I have no idea what the Brother and Sister did to piss of Rayne. I have no idea. I just needed a pair of siblings. Is the girl really a piece of advanced cybernetics ? Can she make awesome Chrome Breraking Bad style ? Is she Rayne’s oldest biological child who is planning to run a coup on the Yazkuza ? Did she steal something from Rayne ?”
I toyed with all these ideas but I felt they “changed the stakes” of the real plot, so I didn’t fill in the blanks. I also wasn't sure if Jean actually had a syndicate cause I only recall Minnie having one.
How did I do ?