Plum Blossom Tavern, Apple Mint Hills:<\/p>\n
In a booth of the noisy crowded tavern sat two male Crishi sharing a meal.\u00a0 They were in their mid twenties and spoke a cryptically.\u00a0 Everything else about them was completely different.<\/p>\n
“Keep playing in that club and you’ll end up hurt, at best. \u00a0That game is too dangerous.”\u00a0 Manna Han, the shorter of the two looked at his best friend with a serious glare.\u00a0 At five and a half centimeters, he was slightly less than average height and the shorter of the two.\u00a0 His pigment made him stand out, bright orange with light blue and brown spots.\u00a0 Standing out was particularly bad for his profession.\u00a0 Since it was impossible to hide he took the welcoming image of a man of peace in bright white robes.\u00a0 He ate a simple peanut butter sandwich with fresh carrot and celery slices as a side.<\/p>\n
“The game is dangerous, but think of the points,” Guy Xing retorted in his pressed formal black suit.\u00a0 He was much taller at a little more than six and a tenth centimeters.\u00a0 He was green with stripes of yellow and many shades of brown.\u00a0 His meal was a toasted spiced beef sandwich covered in melted cheese.\u00a0 The sides were mashed corn and potatoes.\u00a0 “They really need me in the lineup.\u00a0 I can put in a word for you if you want in.”<\/p>\n
“Count me out,” Manna said without a bit of hesitation, \u201cpoints aren’t worth it if you’re put out of the game.”<\/p>\n
Guy paused for a bit.\u00a0 He was seriously thinking about what Manna said.\u00a0 Also his mouth was completely full.\u00a0 “Okay,” he said resigning.\u00a0 Manna’s response was expected.\u00a0 It had been the same for the last few months.\u00a0 Even when they were children, Manna played it safer than most.\u00a0 He didn’t want to join the gang even before they started doing the dangerous jobs.\u00a0 He had a great talent though.\u00a0 Talent wasted lifting purses and knocking over parking meters around town.<\/p>\n
They really needed Manna in the gang.\u00a0 He was so good at his work.\u00a0 Once or twice, Guy had thought about forcing Manna into the gang.\u00a0 He decided against it.\u00a0 All their lives, Manna had been stubborn.\u00a0 He also used absolutist, heavy handed methods to solve problems when he felt pushed.\u00a0 Guy decided against pushing the issue hard enough to become a problem.<\/p>\n
They had recently recruited a very skilled magnetism master but something told Guy that it would not be enough.\u00a0 Manna’s particular magnetism mastery could be very useful this time around.\u00a0 An inconvenience?\u00a0 Yes.\u00a0 However, Guy was prepared to take risks, unlike some.\u00a0 “We’re playing out of town for a few months.\u00a0 Don’t bother looking me up for a while.”<\/p>\n
“Big game?” Manna said then took a drink of milk.\u00a0 Peanut butter was good and cheap but always stuck to the roof of his mouth.<\/p>\n
“If there ever was one,” Guy said proudly.<\/p>\n
Manna had heard that many times before.\u00a0 It usually meant that Guy and his crew were doing something even dumber or crazier than before.\u00a0 Many times he wondered if Guy’s gang had made any powerful enemies.\u00a0 Someone might come looking for them at anytime to send a message.<\/p>\n
Guy continued, “We have a huge play lined up.\u00a0 This one will get us on the map.\u00a0 Even The Chef will take notice.”<\/p>\n
Manna looked at Guy like he was crazy because he had to be.\u00a0 “The Chef” was their code word for Cookie, the most dangerous and efficient organized crime boss ever known.\u00a0 It was rumored that he was a Founder.\u00a0 Because of Cookie, all organized crime revolved around Dead Lake, all of it.\u00a0 For the smaller gangs, like Guy’s, to get his attention was never good.<\/p>\n
“Don’t look at me like that.”<\/p>\n
“You’re not in that league Guy,” Manna said with an air of warning.<\/p>\n
“We will be soon.\u00a0 Hey, you think it’s any safer for you with the Pro Stadium being in the neighborhood.”<\/p>\n
“Pro Stadium” meant Glory City.\u00a0 All the Protectors came from there.\u00a0 These Superhero\/World Policemen types were insanely trained by the greatest.\u00a0 Nearly unbeatable and impossible to bribe, they liked to wander the country when off duty.\u00a0 Even though Thousand Flowers was huge, it included Apple Mint Hills.\u00a0 If they ever caught Manna, pain and prison awaited him.<\/p>\n
“Better to be suspended than out.\u00a0 And I\u00a0<\/i>never have to worry about any sudden trades.”<\/p>\n
Manna was right. \u00a0Betrayal often plagued his line of work. \u00a0Newcomers wanted to get ahead no matter who they had to step on. \u00a0Still, if Guy was anything he was smart\u00a0and a good judge of character, and character changes.\u00a0 It made him the big shot he was, so far.\u00a0 With any luck, he would be a bigger shot when he came back.\u00a0 Hopefully, he could keep from getting shot in the process.<\/p>\n
They eat in silence for a while then Guy’s handheld sounds. \u00a0Guy read the message and realized, “I have to go.”<\/p>\n
“See you later?”<\/p>\n
“Of course,\u201d Guy said with certainty.\u00a0 But to be honest, he could never be sure.<\/p>\n
#1<\/a> \u2013 Lost and Found #7<\/a>\u00a0– Lost and Found #9<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Plum Blossom Tavern, Apple Mint Hills: In a booth of the noisy crowded tavern sat two male Crishi sharing a meal.\u00a0 They were in their mid twenties and spoke a cryptically.\u00a0 Everything else about them was completely different. “Keep playing in that club and you’ll end up hurt, at best. \u00a0That game is too dangerous.”\u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[67,68,69,66,65,170],"class_list":["post-296","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-apple-mint-hills","tag-cookie","tag-glory-city","tag-guy-xing","tag-manna-han","tag-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonsofsword.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonsofsword.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonsofsword.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonsofsword.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonsofsword.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=296"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/sonsofsword.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":759,"href":"https:\/\/sonsofsword.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296\/revisions\/759"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonsofsword.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=296"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonsofsword.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=296"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonsofsword.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=296"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}