Embrace The Ether 10 An Unfortunate Deal

Having been called upon, Droh's ears rose upward while his attention was diverted completely toward Marigold, who had unexpectedly appeared from the corner of the dark room as if she had been simply awaiting their arrival. She watched both of them with wide-eyes, taking in every movement they made. Feeling uncomfortable, Droh tried to start a conversation. "MMarigold, is that you? It's been so long…"

"Shut up monkey boy." She snapped out at him as her head tilted to the side, looking down at Droh in distaste, "Who is this?" With a point, she drew attention towards Deus who stood beside Droh. "You bring some stranger into my home, and you think I'd just welcome you in?"

"Hah hah, of course not… but, he is a friend, though."

"Ain't no friend of mine," she immediately spat out, interrupting Droh as he tried to explain.

"Mari, listen to me, it's alright okay? His name is Deus, he's a friend of mine. I'll vouch for him."

She glanced sideways at Droh, drawing a long pause, she finally replied, "Your vouch doesn't mean s.h.i.+t, monkey. Ugh, fine. What do you want anyway? You need someone dead or something?"

'What is with this woman?' Deus thought to himself as he began to draw several vague conclusions on all sorts of mental disorders she must clearly have. 'So this world has these types of people too, huh? Maybe my previous guess was right, and it might be a good idea to test that power I seem to have on her…'

"Deus, explain to her!" Droh shouted out in a panic, sweat practically dripped from his forehead as Marigold stared at him like he was food. "We don't want you to kill anyone Mari, we're here for supplies… I'll owe you if you do me this solid."

Her brows rose, "A favor?... hmm. Wait first tell me what sort of stuff you're looking for. If you just needed something like a d.a.m.n snack you wouldn't need to bother me, so what is it you're looking for?"

'Wait, did he actually manage to get her back on topic? That's a shocker…' Deus did not hold Marigold to a high standard at all. He knew her type. Socially inept, unable to read a room, while also believing they're something special. His previous world had plenty of those types, and due to the Transfer, he'd managed to remember vague bits of information about his previous world. Unfortunately, nothing worthwhile in the long-run, though.

"We're looking for weapons and scavenging supplies, right Droh?" Deus spoke up for the first time, decidedly involving himself in the conversation.

"Oh, are you now? What Droh, planning to do honest work from now on? Doubtful." She snapped out in a sarcastic tone, to the point of rolling her eyes beneath her glare. "That's not like you at all…"

"Heh," The little Faun coughed out a laugh, his face showing signs of discomfort as she continued to press him. "Does it re-really matter what the stuff will be used for? Come on, do we have a deal or not?"

A few seconds pa.s.sed in silence.

Marigold finally spoke up, "Tell me, how far are you willing to go for this little favor of yours?"

"Ah hah…" Droh awkwardly laughed out, "Can you do me this favor or not Mari?"

Even more time pa.s.sed as silence filled the air. Marigold stood to her side of the dark room while Droh and Deus pa.s.sed glances back and forth between one another as they impatiently waited for her reply. After what felt like an eternity, she finally came back with a reply.

"Fine."

'Oh thank the heavens,' Deus sighed mentally, 'So this wasn't a completely worthless trip, after all.'

Droh stepped forward, a faint smile finally showing on his face as he wiped away a cold sweat from his forehead, "Thanks Mari, I appreciate it. Here… this is what we need." He said as he pa.s.sed what seemed to be a note to her.

"Hmm… let's see here."

She mumbled occasionally as she read the note, occasionally nodding or frowning as she continued. "It looks like I can get you most of this… but not everything, unless of course, you buy it upfront."

"Eh? What item isn't possible right now?"

"This one," she said as she pointed at one of the words on the paper. "I can get you it, but not today, and especially not for a favor."

'Wait, what does it say?' Deus thought to himself in shock, surprised at the fact that there were words he hadn't recognized. 'But wait, most of the signs outside seemed to use English… or was that my imagination?'

"That's fine, we can go without that for now… as long as we can get the main supplies, we're good."

What felt like an hour slowly pa.s.sed by as Droh and Marigold discussed amongst themselves, occasionally taking a break to locate a few pieces of sc.r.a.p that had been buried around the junk that piled the walls of the room.

Deus simply remained to the side as Marigold seemed to pretend that he didn't exist. "Hey monkey, does this work for you?" She asked as she held up an old pump rifle which had been overtaken by rust.

"Hmm… it'll probably do, yeah. Hey Deus, come over here for a minute."

Deus's head jumped up in excitement as he was called on, finally feeling like he could get involved. "What's up, Droh?"

"I need some help moving this, you mind helping out a bit?"

"Not a problem!"

"Oh and hey…" Droh whispered, "Sorry about Mari… she's a bit of a… well, she's unique. Relatively harmless, though."

"I don't think I would've lasted as long as you if it was just me."

Droh laughed as he went to wipe away dirt from his nose, "I definitely understand. Hey, the hard part is done though, so don't worry about it."

"What about this favor of yours, now? I don't know how I feel about having you take on debt so that I can have some equipment."

"Don't worry about it, it'll probably be something dumb like moving a loudspeaker or something. I'll just say I have a lot more hope for this favor than I do for the one with Mercer."

Mercer. The name alone made Deus angry. A man who'd abuse his friend for personal benefit, while not even being strong enough to stand on his own two legs himself. 'When I get the opportunity, I wouldn't mind using Mercer to learn more about my… power.'

"Deus?" Droh called out as he watched Deus frown, "What is it?"

"Oh. Nothing, don't worry about it."

"Alright. Oh hey, it's that! We found it, good." He cheered aloud as an old leather pack revealed itself from beneath the pile of rubble and junk. "It definitely is a mess here."

"It really is, yeah." Deus chimed in agreement, slowly tugging the pack out from under everything.

"Oh, you found it," Marigold spoke from behind them, drawing their attention to her with a slight jump. "What? Stop staring at me."

Droh turned away, "Sorry, just surprised me is all. Didn't know you were right behind me…"

"Do I need permission to stand somewhere here?"

'Oh great…'

More sweat started to drip off Droh's forehead as he shook his head, "No, of course not… why would you need permission? Heh heh, just my mistake."

She glared at him as her arms crossed, "Hm."

"Just hurry up and find everything and leave… I'll have you do me that favor later monkey boy when I've got something fun for you to do."

"Yeah, we got it, Mari." Droh turned his attention back around toward Deus and the pack that he held, "Put it down over there, we'll check it out later. Now… time to find…"

As they finally finished gathering everything they needed, Droh went off alone to speak with Marigold, leaving Deus alone in the junk room.

Against the walls of the room were several tall piles of junk and metal, mixed together without reason or order. A dark rustic brown had been spreading across each of the piles as age slowly decayed everything.

"How long had these been stacked here, anyway?" Deus asked aloud, only silence replied.

Beep. Beep.

A faint electronic sound could be heard from within the room as Deus glanced around in shock. His eyes finally landed on a dim light buried beneath the garbage. As he approached it, the beeping sound became even louder than before.

Beep. Beep. Beeeep.

'What is this? Something electronic for a change?'

Unburying the item, he was shocked to discover it seemed to be advanced technology similar to the kind used within his Transfer capsule. There was practically no rust on the device that sat in his palm as a faint blue light occasionally beeped and flashed to his touch.

'Did this come from Earth?'

As he held the device, the sound of voices began to echo through the room, the source of which originated from beyond one of the doorways. Before Droh and Marigold returned, he had decidedly stashed the electronic device in the old leather pack, burying it beneath everything else as the leather from the bag m.u.f.fled its beeps.

"...Yeah, so we'll be out of your way Mari… and thanks again."

Droh appeared at the doorway with Marigold stood beside him, 'It seemed the two of them have finished their chat.'

"Make sure you come back soon monkey boy, don't forget about your favor you owe me. Oh, and you…" She glanced at Deus, "Don't mistreat this stupid monkey, and don't forget only I get to call him stupid."

"Ri-right." Deus coughed out, not sure if he should praise her for being protective of Droh, or discipline her for being rude to him.

"Ready to go Droh?"

"Mhmm. We're good now, I think."