Solonar felt calm… no, more than that… he felt null, like his emotions were beyond him. He felt empty but his mind was racing and his thoughts weren't muddled by feelings.
The corrupted didn't seem intimidating anymore, in his gaze it looked significantly less frightening.
In that moment Solonar swung the bat in his hand.
BANG!
A loud sound reverberated through the walls, The vibration of the impact traveled up his arms, a bone-deep rattle that should have been painful, but in his 'Null' state, it was just data. He noted the way the metal groaned and deformed against the creature's hide as if he were watching a recording in slow motion, he could see how the bat in his hand had slowly been dented and bent backwards.
…
The air in the Blue Cherry was a thick soup of recycled oxygen,
flashing lights and expensive perfume.
Credits flowed freely between fingertips and the stage. Men and women
dressed in expensive clothes sat around the poles, throwing credits with their
hi-tech syrn bands — far more sophisticated than anything you'd find in the
outer city. The dancers moved with an almost gravity-defying elegance.
On one of these poles was Misty.
Twisting with grace and elegance, she left her audience mesmerized as they watched her performance, her aloof but seductive gaze captivated her audience as she danced like a serpent on the pole.
Credits showered on her but none of it managed to change her expression or capture her attention, her rhythm remained steady as her curvy body moved to the tune of the music.
She was using her emocore to captivate her audience even more, men and women alike leaned forward ever so slightly in anticipation, giving her their undivided focus
'It seems these low-level desires won't be able to work for much longer; I might need to go out hunting tonight.' Misty thought to herself.
She had been slowly absorbing a portion of the crowd's desires while using a very low output from her emocore to keep them focused on her so she could absorb only their desires towards her other wise she could risk draining them and being found out.
Soon her time was up, she left the pole and let one of her colleagues take over, most would agree that misty was the best dancer in the blue cherry; whenever she was there, she left everyone enchanted.
As she walked backstage candace could feel a pair of eyes watching her; this one felt different from all the other eyes watching her performance.
A man with the golden castle brooch sat in a pocket of absolute silence, the halved bottle of expensive liquor standing on the table signaled he'd been drinking. The tailored black suit and the superior hi tech watch on his wrist whispered with opulence — it was made with syrn, the blue color made it distinctively different from the generic black ones, but he didn't just have money; he had status, the golden brooch was symbol of that status, a weight that made the air around him feel too heavy to breathe. A tier 1 citizen.
He watched Candace from the corner he was in and judging from his facial expression his interest was piqued.
He pondered something unreadable for a few moments.
Staggering up from his seat, he hid his status symbol and managed to fade into the crowd of drunks and dancing people in the club.
….
Misty sat comfortably on one of the chairs in the break room, her eyes closed like she was waiting for something… or someone.
'I wonder why they change the seats I prefer the black one to this tacky red' misty mused, the smell of new faux leather hung in the air giving the place the feel of a newly opened office.
Candace felt the door of the room quietly open.
"Non employees aren't supposed to be here," Misty said aloud.
"You don't say? I'm sure your boss would make an exemption for me." the unknown man said with a slight smile, adjusting his golden brooch.
"Relax, I'm not here to cause issues, I just wanted to see the star of the show–"
"One on one." he continued, closing the door and taking a seat opposite her.
"Where are my manners, let me introduced myself, I am Chekov of the thi— "
He paused.
"Where I'm from isn't really important to the conversation I want to have with you" he said chuckling to himself.
Candace was on guard; she couldn't deduce his intent.
"Come sit on my lap." he said, patting his thigh, a slight smile on his face.
'A tier one citizen like him doesn't need to go through the hassle of following me, he could have just paid for a private session.' Candace thought.
'Have I been discovered?'
'No, if they had found me, they certainly wouldn't send an ordinary inner citizen to apprehend me if that was the case'
'I wonder what he wants.'
Candace got up and sat on his leg feigning discomfort as she pondered her next move.
"That wasn't so hard now, was it?" He whispered into her ear
his speech was slurred. It was more noticeable now that she was so close to him.
She could smell the alcohol on his breath as he spoke, his hands were slowly beginning to wander.
'If only I could hypnotize him and confirm my suspicions…... but if he's a competent empath, he'd probably feel my emocore activate at this distance and become alert.
'I just need to get some skin-to-skin contact so I can see his desire'
Although she was sitting on his lap the trouser of his suit didn't leave many points of contact.
"Stop"
"I'm a dancer not a whore" she said firmly, grabbing his hand, effectively halting his hands that were slowly riding up her thigh while simultaneously accomplishing her agenda...
Nothing.
Something was deeply wrong. Her gut was telling her to flee.
She suppressed her emotions and her urge to react. She was not letting a single micro expression give her away.
"Pardon my wandering hands you were simply too beautiful and captivating, but in my experience those two professions tend to intersect"
"For the right price of course", he leaned in and whispered into her ear.
The words flowed from his lips like a river of silk.
'Maybe his motives aren't all that calculated?'
"Well I'm sorry you got the wrong idea" Misty said as she got up from his lap.
Her heels clacked against the floor on her brisk walk towards the door as she left the break room, leaving Chekov alone inside.
The whole interaction with Chekov made her think he was baiting her into doing something.
Why would she play with danger when she could just exit the situation.