
Squire / Eavesdropper

Group: Flashback
Posts: 14
Member No.: 11
Joined: 31-August 05

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This first post is mostly me getting a feel for Thea. I tried so hard to avoid writing "Ember member", but it just didn't work. No more than one or two, please.
Oh yeah, and mouse over any Japanese words (italicized) to get the English translation.
The dank tunnels of Electric Avenue weren't affected by the shift from day to night, much like the electricity its namesake provided. They seemed to remain dark and empty all the time. Other sections of the Taipei underground buzzed during the day and fell silent at night, or the other way around. But the stretch just before the Ember stronghold of Xindian wasn't too inviting at any time of day. Most people coming south turned right to head for South Port. Along Electric Avenue, there was the constant threat of overgrounders, and sometimes of the Ember family themselves, depending on where one's loyalties lay.
By all rights, then, Thea Sugimori did not belong here, wandering amidst the soft, ubiquitous hum of electric currents and the dripping of rogue water pipes. She was of the Flashback family, and she had barely ever set foot above ground, save for her perilous trip from Beijing to Taipei. But even then she had been relatively safe, sneaking around on silent cat feet with her dagger in hand. From the stories her haha had told her when she was younger, those who lived above the tunnels were horrid, unjust monsters, who implanted chips into children to monitor their every thought and brainwash them. Thea had escaped that fate, and now she was not welcome above ground. But so be it - she had zero interest in venturing there any more, to be arrested and reformed and live the rest of her life in abject fear.
No, it was the Embers she had to worry about. They were a notoriously strict bunch, their ranks like that of an army. There would be hell to pay for any who trespassed on their land.
Too bad it was Thea's job to trespass.
Technically, setting her black stiletto-clad foot directly upon Ember land was verboten, and anyway the chances of failure and capture outweighed any benefit she would get from directly infiltrating the opposition's headquarters. But Thea was bored with sitting around so-called neutral areas, waiting for accidental tips from a loose-lipped Ember member's mouth. Maybe Electric Avenue had no action, but it was closer to real enemy territory than she'd ever dared to go. If another person ever came by, she'd be surprised if they weren't from Ember. But she wasn't just sitting pretty; she was getting closer with every step. If the line ended and she happened upon Xindian, she'd just slip in with her usual silent feline grace and keep a keen ear. After all, eavesdropping was her business. |
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