Societal Solipsism - Chapter 6: A Guaranteed Re-Encounter

The Dead End

71 Zephyr, 1330 AE

The various bars of Divinity's Reach kept different hours on account of the plethora of historical backgrounds that had founded them. Turai Tavern, for instance, had a limited after-dark presence. It stayed open, but the staff shrunk, and the menu was severely cut down. Fitting, for an establishment created by people from the Land of the Golden Sun. By contrast, the Maiden's Whisper saw increased traffic late in the day and ran its skeleton crew during the hours immediately following dawn.

This created a sort of snowball effect amongst the bargoing public. As one pub closed, groups would migrate to another and another, condensing and amassing as the night went on. Towards midnight this hit its fever-pitch as the all-day pubs closed. The spirit tended to be one of merriment, as people from different backgrounds were brought together by the odd service cycle of their shared city's bars.

The Dead End was no such place.

As midnight approached, the bar stayed quiet. The silence within felt almost sacred, as if placed there years ago by some powerful mage. There were patrons to be sure, but they all respected the monastic hush of the shared space. Warm air, drinks, and the murmur of whispers that couldn't quite be made out all came together to eerie effect. Shadows danced across the far wall, wobbling and shivering as if shaking within icy depths. If you let your vision dull through exhaustion or drink, those shadows could start to feel like additional presences within the small space, looming down over the proceedings.

Needless to say, the bar was not spectacularly popular. It had its regulars, sure, but Suna couldn't help but wonder how it managed to stay open. In the hour she had spent waiting as Passion Within, she had only seen a few handfuls of drinks ordered: if this was their average rate of income, then surely the bar must have been hemhorraging funds.

Matters of alcoholic finance should not have been the main question occupying her brain, but she wasn't the kind of asura to focus on one thing at a time. Occupying herself with a secondary objective often helped her to find a new way of looking at her primary one, and so she went on wondering about the bar. Perhaps whoever owned it was overly invested in it as a passion project? Maybe Divinity's Reach had some obscure grandfather clause related to rent that allowed it to stay open for practically no cost? She hadn't seen anything to indicate that the bar was merely a front for some sort of smuggling business, but she hadn't been looking too closely.

She mulled over the various options as midnight approached, before setting them to the side. The charr and human didn't truly care about her writing, that was certain. At least, not for the reasons the charr had claimed. That, he had essentially confirmed as soon as he expressed interest in meeting the author. If their intents were not to meet her for her writing, then what?

Suna looked at the opposite wall, where her ursine shadow flowed. In the space between herself and the silhouette she set an imaginary holoboard, and began to visualize ideas.

Possibility A: They wanted Passion Within dead.

Unlikely. There would have been better ways to arrange that than meeting a 'coworker' of Passion's and setting up a meeting through her.

Possibility B: They knew that Suna was behind Passion.

Also unlikely. If they had figured out Passion Within, but not her other aliases, then that discovery would likely have been recent enough that they would not be seeking to meet with her yet. If this was the case, she probably didn't have anything to worry about, as they would have been stupid enough to dispose of easily.

Possibility C: They're romantically interested in Passion.

This, she gave some thought. Clearly, the two weren't giving interspecies taboos much mind. And after Madeline, it wouldn't be the first time a client had become interested in the writer that had entertained them in such a way. Suna nodded internally. She had crafted Passion Within to be arrestingly handsome, so it would make sense for the charr and human to have fallen for him. Perhaps that would explain the Canthan's silence too, if the charr were more interested than he was. Neither of them looked bad, either. Perhaps the human was a touch gaunt, and maybe the charr could have stood to brush his unruly fur more often, but that would never really matter. So long as she gave the appearance of being interested, she could still lead them on for a while.

And so, as midnight came and went, Suna occupied herself with visualizing the change in dynamics that would be brought on by leading two people in a relationship on simultaneously. When the door opened and she saw a pair of fitting silhouettes lead through the short entrance hallway, she checked the small holo-watch in her bag — it was too small to fit on her conjured kodan form — and frowned. Ten minutes after midnight, perhaps they weren't so eager to meet Passion as she had suspected. She tried not to let this play too visibly upon her face and casually brushed a paw through the air, inviting the charr and human to sit opposite her.

Liberius sat directly opposite Passion, with Hisoka beside him. Hisoka still wasn't sure how to feel about the whole thing: he hadn't had any experiences with kodan before this, and was drawing a bit of a blank as to how to proceed. In times of doubt though, he fell back on his most practiced of behaviours: sitting quietly, hands in his lap, staring halfway between the table and the other person's eyes.

Liberius had no such qualms though. "Been here long?" he asked.

Suna could only interpret this as highlighting his lateness. "Not long. And anyway, it gave me time to reflect," Passion answered.

The charr nodded. "Did Saga tell you what we were after?"

Suna measured Passion's response: too precise a recollection would give her away, but too vague an answer could come off as uncaring. "Yes, she told me you were interested in the piece on Captain Thackeray and Tribune Brimstone." Passion watched their expressions carefully before proceeding. "As I'm sure you're more than aware, there's a striking imbalance when it comes to love between races." 'Balance' was one of those words Suna had to be careful about using. To anyone who didn't know kodan, the more the merrier: they would lap it up to no end. The more experienced the other person was though, the more likely they were to find Passion's use of the word frivolous.

"Exactly, yeah. I was interested in how the story came to you."

Plenty of people asked this: the idea that it was true made the story all that much more exciting. "My sources are largely confidential, but I can guarantee you that I vetted each personally. More importantly, let yourself drift for a moment. Truth has an indelible quality, does it not? Oftentimes, you know something before you'll admit it."

Liberius nodded again. "And the way you described the explosion...the electrical fizzling added something to the scene that really made it pop."

Instinctually, Passion corrected. "It was a gunpowder explosion, actually." She had been able to tell by the scent: the sulphuric reek had made her think of the Desolation.

"But in the story, you wrote that they didn't know what was in the crate that exploded." Liberius slowly smiled, teeth looking to Passion like the steely mouth of a bear trap.

"Ah, someone else who was there provided that information after the fact. Too late to include in the publication, unfortunately." Passion wheeled the conversation to the side, attempting to avoid whatever Liberius was trying to set up.

"Except that the Peacemakers limited access to the area following the explosion."

"My contact was there when it happened. Escorted out immediately afterwards, of course."

Liberius nodded. "Yeah...that's interesting, since Dawnside Quay was empty save for the dockworkers loading the submarines."

Suna was surprised by the mention of subs. Tired of letting Liberius steer the conversation, Passion leaned closer in over the table and whispered back, "So you were there? Upset that I based that story on you? I'm certain that the Peacemakers would love an extra pair of sources about what happened to their infrastructure. Though if you would like some portion of the proceeds from that issue..." Passion trailed off, waiting for their responses.

Unexpectedly, it was Hisoka who responded. "Do you normally write about people without permission?"

"Merely inspiration. Only the tail end of that story was based on your little escapade. Though I would be curious to hear what actually went down at Dawnside Quay, they were cleaning up the mess for weeks." Suna let a small bit of herself show through Passion. These two didn't seem to be interested in what he was selling, so she might as well get something else from this exchange.

Liberius huddled in closer and Hisoka cast a glance towards the entryway, and then the other patrons. The charr whispered, "You wouldn't have happened to have heard any of the Peacemakers talking about something called 'draconeural interfacing', would you?"

Passion's face went utterly blank, and a synapse in Suna's brain practically exploded. Liberius took this as a sign.

"Finally, we've been looking all over Tyria. What did you hear?"

Suna kicked herself, remembering that a blank expression was itself a form of reaction. She began thinking a mile a minute, trying to keep ahold of the conversation. Those were words that she hadn't heard since college, and she wasn't expecting to hear them here of all places. Passion stood up and took a step back from the table. "I really must be going, we can—"

Liberius grabbed Passion's wrist. "I'm sure you have time."

The two locked eyes, and Suna was tempted to call for the bartender. Given the species involved though, the human man was unlikely to be able to meaningfully intervene without calling the Seraph. Never taking his eyes off of Liberius', Passion sat back down within the chair. "Nothing. I was too far away to make anything else out."

"And you heard nothing else afterwards?" Back to Liberius: Hisoka was sitting with his arms crossed, watching Passion's claws. Suna placed them flat upon the table, not wanting to give anything away.

"Nothing. An outsider in a strange city would be sure to arouse suspicions under such circumstances."

"But you said they were repairing Dawnside Quay for weeks."

"Again, my sour—"

"Your sources, right. They seem pretty knowledgeable. Did 'they' hear anything?"

Suna steadied herself. The charr's casual mention of draconeural interfacing had unbalanced her, and she had been letting him lead ever since. Humans and norn were easy to talk ahead of, sylvari could be a mixed bag, but charr were just as predatory in conversations as they were on the battlefield. She thought of what she wanted. First off, getting out of here without compromising her identity was paramount, she could not forget that. Beyond that, her motives became muddier. Usually she would be seeking to make a sale, but that was unlikely to happen tonight.

Passion Within leaned in closer and cast his eyes around the bar suspiciously. If the two men thought he was worried about people overhearing, they would feel as if they had been let in on a secret, and more likely to trust the information. "Don't spread word of this too far. I trust that if you are so persistent as to find me here..."

Through a persistent roster of mesmeric illusions, I might add, thought Suna.

"Then you should be able to put this to good use. You're right, more happened that night. After you made for Lion's Arch, I stayed and watched."

"Without being seen? You're a kodan, you're hardly inconspicuous."

Hisoka admitted that his boyfriend could be blunt, but sometimes that came in handy.

"Even a kodan can blend in. A sense of belonging can be found so long as one pays attention to more than just one's own self. Achieving congruity with your surroundings is integral. The charr struggle with this." Suna couldn't keep herself from slipping a note of condescension into the message. She was playing a kodan, after all.

Liberius let out a breathy sigh of annoyance. "Fantastic, thanks for the advice. I'll just stick with stealth."

"A simple measure, albeit an effective one if you have no others."

"It suits me just fine. Anyway, what did you see?"

"One can observe with more than just their eyes. A few of the Inquest— and they were Inquest, if you were not already aware— made mention of this process you mentioned. Draconeural interfacing, correct? They mentioned a facility just west of Fort Ranik."

Liberius nodded. "Anything else?"

Passion Within shrugged. It was a fluid motion that called to mind the slow, frictionless, movement of icebergs across northern waters. He shrugged as if not only did the motion mean nothing, but the suggestion that anything truly held any objective meaning was, itself, shrugworthy.

Liberius pushed his chair back, glad to be done with the mock interview. Hisoka stood up and instinctually gave Passion Within a farewell nod. The kodan returned it with a slight grin on his face, that admitted neither truly wanted to be there.

"Where to now?" Hisoka asked Liberius as they stepped out from the smoke-filled bar and into the damp city street. It had just begun to lightly rain, prompting him to preemptively pull his hood up.

"Back to Ascalon."

~~~

Back in the bar, Passion Within reclined against his chair. Suna resisted the urge to abandon her composure completely, since she was still in public. She would not normally have admitted the bit about the Inquest facility so easily, nor would she have fabricated even the slightest story of how she came across that info, since lying for the benefit of others didn't fall within her wheelhouse. If the charr hadn't used that exact pair of words she would have called the bartender over, left, and given him nothing: but he was only the second person she had ever heard use that term.

Since she didn't want to see Ruulit, sending a pair of foolhardy adventurers to delay his plans was the best she could do on such short notice.

Passion Within breathed, stood up, and left the bar. Cold drops of rain landed in his fur and rolled downwards, chilling Suna to the bone. She briefly wished she had charmed the illusions not to pass sensations on to her, but that would have compromised the overall integrity of the disguises.

As she turned towards home, the clearing of a throat behind her caught her attention.

"Hello, Suna. Have a minute?"