Fruit of the Underground 2
The marketplace was about as special as anyone around here would expect; not at all. But it was the best anyone could manage with the way things were around here. As to be expected, not a lot of furs were around today. Not many had a lot of money to spend. In fact, not many had money in general. But it didn't matter very much; money meant so little nowadays. If anything, it merely served as reminders of the days it did matter. But old habits die hard, and the people needed something to act as IOUs. As Akane walked down the road, she glanced at the different assortments of supplies on the tables of each vendor. Nothing really caught her eye, not even the numerous Lockseeds. Considering how easy they were to pick off of the countless vines, the only time it would matter if they had found an especially rare one. And that's what the underground was for. Akane shook her head. She was tired of thinking about that place. All she cared about now was putting some food into her mouth. Actual food. Thankfully, she knew the booth where she could get some, and now she actually had the money for it. After turning a corner, she found the place she was looking for. The stand before her wasn't anything flashy. Stacked beneath the canopy were dozens of wooden crates. Thanks to her sensitive nose, Akane could smell the contents inside, and it made her mouth water. Bread, chicken, lettuce, all foods that came from the big city. Whether they had been stolen or bargained for didn't matter to the lynx. All she knew was that she wanted it. Looking past some of the crates at the front, she could see the stand owner whose back was turned to her. The fellow feline's spotted tail waved around behind her in a happy manner. Akane swiveled her ears around slightly as she heard her hum an unknown tune to herself. It seemed that she was sorting through the various goods in her crates and therefore didn't notice Akane standing there. She silently clicked her tongue. She recognized this ocelot. The one that ran her tongue for far longer than she needed to. Every time she opened her muzzle, a seemingly endless river of words just poured out. It annoyed Akane to no end. She annoyed Akane to no end. She folded her arms with a sigh; this was gonna be a long rest of the day... The ocelot's ears perked at Akane's sigh. She straightened up and turned around with a confused look on her face. But once her eyes fell upon Akane, her face lit up with glee. "Oh my gosh!" she exclaimed with a squeal, "Hi Akane~. How've ya been?" Akane rolled her eyes. Here we go...she thought to herself. "Oh wow, it's been so long since I've last seen you," she went on, "The last time I've seen you was... Wow it's been so long that I don't even remember." The ocelot laughed to herself at that. Akane only groaned internally. "Oh how lucky I was to be the one in charge of the stand today. Normally it's good ol' grandma here holdin the fort down. But today, it's your one and only Caroline at the stand." With a bright smile on her face, she turned to the lynx. "Aren't you glad?" Akane didn't say anything for a while, leaving the two of them in awkward silence. Even as Caroline looked to her expectantly, she only shuffled her foot a bit in the dirt. With a disappointed sigh, Caroline regained her composure and put on another bright smile. "So how can I help you today?" Akane sniffed at the air. "...I...I'd like some...um..." She looked away a bit, shifting her weight between her feet. "What is it...what do you...what's..." She growled internally; she always hated having to actually speak with people. As she continued to fumble around with her words, Caroline smiled. "Do you need to see what we have first?" she asked warmly. "Y-yes," Akane finally managed to say. Caroline smiled again before turning over to the crates behind her. She walked over to one and brought it over to the table at the front. She removed the cover which allowed the air to be filled with the scent of the contents inside. She slid it a bit closer to the lynx as they both looked inside. "Ooooh, I almost forgot we had these." The ocelot reached in and picked out something from inside and held it up for the both of them to see. "Canned chicken noodle soup. Especially nice considering how rare meat is nowadays. Oh!" She reached in and picked something else out as well. "And these baguettes! Wow I'm amazed that they still make these in the big city." She smiled and looked back at Akane, whose mouth was starting to water again. "So, what'll it be then?" Akane shook her head and snapped herself back into reality. She licked her lips and turned to the ocelot, only to glance away and avoid engaging her in eye contact. "How much for..." She glanced back at the box and looked over her options. After thinking it over for a moment, she pointed at the soup can. "How much for that?" Caroline looked at her finger and traced it to where the lynx was pointing. "The soup?" Akane nodded. Caroline then walked over to the back and grabbed a clipboard. She leafed through the pages as she went down the list. "For the chicken soup, that'll be..." She followed the dotted lines over to the price. "Sixty thousand." Akane pulled out the wad of cash she had taken from her case. Slowly and carefully, she counted up her total. She frowned. Only forty thousand. She hadn't brought enough with her. Briefly, she considered running back to her place and grabbing the rest of the amount needed... But that meant more time talking with people... Besides, she didn't want to make any more hints that she was taking part of the underground. She shook her head and looked back to her options. "Then...how much for the bread?" Looking back down at her list, Caroline searched through the prices. "For the baguette, that'll be thirty nine thousand." Taking away one of the bills, Akane handed her the cash wad. She happily took it and double checked the amount. Once she was sure, she reached in and handed Akane the baguette. "Pleasure doing business with you as always," she said with a smile. Akane only grunted and nodded in response as she took the bread stick from her. "Hey..." Caroline said gently with a look of concern, "You be careful out there, alright? I'm not sure what I'd do with myself if I found out something happened to you." Awkwardly, Akane grunted and nodded again before finally walking away. "Oh...o-okay, see you then!" Caroline shouted as she watched her go, "Take care!" Akane quickened her pace a bit. She was uncomfortable, and now she wanted to go to a place where she could eat alone, far away from people.
It took a good couple of minutes before the lynx came upon her next destination; a large, hollowed out trunk of what used to be a tree. With the baguette in paw, Akane climbed up into it and sat down, hidden behind the "walls" of her hideout. She gingerly sat down, trying her best not to get any dirt or splinters on her bread. Once she was settled in, she let out a long sigh of relief. Alone again, away from prying eyes. She would have gone straight back home, but she knew that at this hour the Inves would be crawling around the path she would need to take. Which was why she was thankful that she had found this spot in her early years. Back when she was still a child, she lost her parents to a pack of Inves. It had been such a sudden attack, and she had nowhere else to hide but here. And through some kind of miracle, the monsters passed her by. Thus, this place became just that much more special to her. Eagerly, Akane took her first savory bite of the baguette. Instantly, the flavor of the bread spread across her tongue. She let out a low murr of satisfaction as she chewed her bite slowly, preferring to savor the moment. Sure, she had more money to get more, but this was the first time in a long while that she had been able to do this. Next week is the soup, she told herself firmly, then next week...the lettuce... She took another bite and let out another satisfied murr. She closed her eyes to allow herself to focus on the food more. But suddenly, her sensitive hearing caught on to something nearby. The snap of a twig. Frowning slightly, she swiveled her ears around and tried to focus on where it had come from. Soon enough, she could make out the faint sounds of footsteps. And not just one set, but two. Eventually, she caught on to the sounds of their hushed voices. "Are you sure we should be doing this, Callan?" whispered a female voice, "You know the Inves come out at this hour..." "We don't have any other choice, Steph," whispered Callan, "They've been getting stronger, and we can't find any strong Lockseeds to defend ourselves with." "True..." replied Steph, "but can't we just stay with someone for the time being? I'm sure that there will be someone willing to--" "Don't get your hopes up," Callan cut in, "Things are still far too tense around here, so I'm willing to bet that everyone would rather keep to themselves, leave the space for the people that actually do matter to them..." Akane caught a sigh from Steph. "Alright," she replied, "let's hurry then. I really don't like being out in the open like this..." Akane then heard more rushed footsteps go by as they hurried along. At that, the lynx began to relax a little more. They were leaving the area, which in turn meant they were leaving her alone. With that in mind, she took another bite off of her baguette and closed her eyes again to focus on it more. But before she could finish chewing, a shrill cry of terror filled the air. Akane's heart skipped a beat, and she froze in place. Almost immediately, the sounds of buzzing and hissing replaced the cold silence hanging over the area. She heard heavy footsteps, scraping claws and rapid clicks. Inves. Akane's heart began to race. The bread she held dropped from her paws onto her lap. Acting purely out of reflex, she reached down and drew out the dagger sheathed at the side of her cargo pants. She clutched the handle tightly in both paws, which were trembling uncontrollably. Out in the distance, she could hear the crescendo of sounds being emitted by the two furs' Drivers as they hastily transformed to defend themselves. But the swarm was big; she could tell just by the sounds alone. She had no doubt in her mind that the two of them were done for. One of her paws briefly hovered over her pocket, but she quickly retracted it back to the knife handle. She shook her head over and over again. No, she couldn't face those...monstrosities again. Here, it was kill or be killed. And if she went out there, she would be killed along with those two. And the sheer number of them didn't even matter. She knew that the second that her vision fell upon one of those things, she would be done for, with her body paralyzed with terror. She clenched her eyes closed, put her head between her knees and wrapped her tail tightly around her form, curling herself up in a tight ball. She rocked back and forth, praying for the horrible sounds to come to an end. She didn't want to think about it. She didn't want to think about what could have been done. She didn't want to think about her cold blooded deed. She did the smart thing. She took the safe route. She was looking out for herself. That's what this world was about after all; looking after yourself, and yourself alone. But she didn't want to think about that. She just wanted the noises to end. And after what felt like decades to her, the horrible noises finally stopped. Slowly, carefully, she opened her eyes and raised her head. Her knife was still clenched tightly in her paws. She dared not move from her spot, not if it meant giving away her hiding spot. No, she was going to wait until she was absolutely sure that it was safe. So she sat there, sitting in the silence. A moment passed. Then another. And then another. She let out a trembling breath, only now realizing that she had been holding it in the entire time. She hesitated, still unsure of her safety. But eventually she gathered up the courage to stand up and peek out from her spot. She scanned the area carefully. The area seemed clear enough. She looked a bit more to the side and she caught sight of two crumpled up forms. She quickly turned away; she didn't need to see what had happened to those two. She sat back down, only now realizing that she had dropped her bread. She glanced down and grabbed it up with a free paw. She stared blankly at it for a while, suddenly feeling numb to the whole situation. Then, rather reluctantly, she took another bite off of it. She chewed slowly, once again trying her best to focus on the food itself. She swallowed the bite and stared at her bread again. She cringed and set it down beside her. She clenched her eyes closed, her breathing suddenly becoming erratic and labored. Abruptly, she stood up and climbed out from her hiding spot. With quickened steps, she hurried back towards the warehouse, making very sure to avoid approaching the limp, lifeless bodies of the two unfortunate furs. All she wanted to do now was go home. She'd had enough of the people, she'd had enough of the outside world, and she'd had enough stress for the day. It didn't even matter to her anymore that she was leaving behind her bread. For whatever reason, it didn't taste as good anymore...