two sides of the story

today's events start under a bridge, one of two bridges that were supposed to be a part of the original development for driftwood City. this particular bridge was completed but was then used for very sketchy dealings. the woman who was developing the bridge tried to stop the ordeal about the people he hired to take control of. the bridge ended up cooperating with the crimes in question. nowadays people just show up at the bridge to get drunk, pass out or homeless people like to live underneath it sometimes. currently today under the bridge is Breck and Darleen.

Darleen: why are we waiting here?

brick remains silent. it doesn't answer her question instead. looking around as if waiting for something to happen or someone to show this intrigues her more as she knows so little about the events that she had invited herself to today. so in an attempt to buy her time she decides to look around herself. she then spots an interesting fellow coming in from the other side of the bridge opposite of where they're standing. thinking that this is what he's waiting for. she decides to tap Breck on the shoulder and and point him to the individual Breck turns around and notices that the person in question long hair semi maintained vest and wearing long skirt but was clearly in a feminine man at least in terms of looks

Breck : so you're finally came and I thought you weren't going to show Ren.

The one known as Ren looked at Breck with a surprise on his face. not in the surprise like I wasn't expecting you to be here but a surprise is if he was expecting to get punched for the events that unfolded last night, but the look on breck's face made it clear. he was more concerned about ren's well being considering his gang usually couldn't get away with attacking allies without some strong coercion.

ren: I'm sorry about last night. I know you're probably mad, but they were very adamant about doing this and they were confident they'd find the treasure and well you know how mush side effects can be because it is great power and all I can't really say no to people if they provide enough pressure.

run sits down on the ground. since he's wearing a skirt. he sits on his calves rather than crossing his legs. Darleen feeling the vibe but not willing to touch the ground spots a crate under the bridge. she pulls a feather duster from her personal from her shadow and dusts off the crate Ren is immediately surprised.

Darleen: I'm surprised to find a representative of an elemental besides my owns in this shabby town.

Ren does not look surprised by Darlene's words since they're only so many elementals out in the world is not a well-known fact, but among representatives they can all sort of tell when another is underrepresentation. it's not a power or anything more of a vibe, but in this particular instance there's a special circumstance as to why ren can tell but that's for later choosing to ignore her. he focuses his time on brick who still remains standing leaning against the bridge wall.

Breck: I tried my best to cover for you on this instance but the boss lady wasn't in so I passed the info along to her assistant. once she finds out she'll decide what to do with you. I was told to let you know that you should come with me tomorrow to visit her so that she can decide on your punishment.

Ren looks over at brick with a concerned expression.

Ren: I'm sorry I'm such a trouble. I didn't need for most of this to happen and I'm thankful that you tried your best to spare me. then I get the feeling that I'll be okay.

The situation changes as we move to a new location. this time we return to the park but not the mansion instead, we go a bit further into the park to the location of an unmarked grave. there stands duchess silently gazing down at the grave below. her eyes were red and but not a tear would come out I should stood over the grave. she thought to herself about her life back in evening town. it was a lovely little day. no one was coming into the shop. she was all alone writing down plans, checking who owes what I'm taking. good care of the Moon family's lending service. she had to make sure that she was doing a good job because the moon family was an enemy of the kingdom if Lord Helios had found even one reason to investigate them. they would have far more difficulty running their actual operations as she reviewed her paperwork. a very suspicious man enters the business front the man had bruises on his face. his butting up had clearly been roughed up a bit and he was missing a handkerchief of breast pocket but missing is more of a ambitious way of putting it. a piece of the handkerchief was still barely hanging in there but it was still a piece. the rest of it was clearly torn off very thoroughly.

young duchess: what happened to you?

the man looked at the little girl manning the counter. how many can a fascination at her operating? such a important place?

man: hello little girl, I'm looking to speak with the owner of this establishment. is your mother or preferably father available to consult on possible contracts?

duchess looks at the man. he was clearly quite desperate and was not ideal for making a loan. she then contemplates a few different methods she could use to get him at least a little money depending on a circumstances and decide she wants to hear more of his story before making any more decisions.

duchess: I'd like to help you out. I am one of the owners and core representatives of this business. my mother being in charge of retrieving funds from debtors and me being in charge of lending money.

well explaining she lowers her head on to one of her hands resting on the counter, dividing her from the open foyer to the building.

duchess: if you wish for us to lend you money, I'll be happy to help out, but I need to know more of your circumstances so that I know how responsible you actually are.

duchess gestures for him to take a seat and it doesn't need to chair on the other end of the counter meant for potential customers. the men glances over at the seat and besides to rest for a bit.

man: I'd be happy to share with you a tale or two but which would you like to hear?

The man tries to straighten up his appearance a bit more seeing as this is supposed to be a interview, but it's pretty clear that since duchess is barely a preteen at this time, he hopes to take advantage of her naive lack of experience to get money. she resists letting out a laugh, watching the man struggle to look appropriate.

duchess: you're quite the funny man, but I feel that my decision on lending you money will fall squarely on you explaining why you look like that.

duchess points to a lamp hanging in the corner of the room. The lantern is lit despite it being early in the morning. quite a curious lamp indeed would be the first thing on anyone's mind.

duchess: don't try and lie to me that lamp there is special. it's got a magic that raises the temperature in any room when someone tells a lie. so if you're lying through your teeth, it'll make you sweat more than normal and I'm pretty good at spotting weaknesses especially a nervous tick like that. good luck.

the man stairs of the lamp for a good minute. wondering if he is in a predicament or not. there is a chance that she is lying. which means he could lie like a madman and be perfectly fine or burn up like the sinner he is in either opportunity. it's clear that he has a very low chance of actually getting alone.

man: all right. my stories are rather peculiar. one started a couple of weeks back. maybe more I'm not sure if you know of this but I'm what you call an addict gambling is my thing. I usually get myself a couple of rations and then spend the rest on casinos with a like. as of recent years, I have grown rather bored with local gambling establishments, so I chose to get myself a new vibe. I traveled to countries peak to do some professional gambling cuz everyone knows. if you really want to get a fix that's the place to hit and I spent about a few weeks there earning money and spending and repeating the cycle to the strange series of events had happened. apparently the Duke of trimmers decided to give consent for a couple of nobles to come together and make a casino on his land. it was one of those higher risk high reward places for which I wanted no part in. The usual places did me good enough to keep my fix alive. I lose a little money by myself. some food and go home for the night. earn some new cash and start over. that's his own fine. dandy but that big name casino had recently started shutting down a lot of small name casinos using their influence. and I do mean the big name casino I've heard directly from all the victims. it's the nobles who own the casino that are throwing their weight around to make sure they're getting as many customers as possible. another upsetting event. with that being the case, I decided that it would probably be best to return back to the border and driftwood. but the thing is I was short on cash after my last expedition so I decided to use what little I had in one high-risk high reward situation be my gambling so I immediately fell under the influence. after one win and lost all the money I had being unable to do much, I was not able to return home. not only that, lagoon's hired by the casino shook me down. saddling me with a debt for playing. I'm looking to pay my dues plus a little extra so that I can go home. driftwood City has low quality casinos but at least there are options.

you got your twiddles her pen watching the quill dance in the wind actually thinks about the man's words. it was no changing atmosphere so he wasn't lying but giving a gambler money. is the dumbest thing any lender would do unless they were a loan shark and since Darleen? was out on an errand on the request of Lady lunar to stop so helios from infringing on the magical beasts forest. she was kind of on her own with this one. then it hit her. she's never been to a casino before nor has she traveled to the country of peak. mostly because the country of Pete consists of a religious cult focused on meditation and something that has to do with smashing boulders casino's that usually charge crazy amounts of money and loan money for crazier amount and all the people in money there are loan sharks mostly and potato farmers. there are a lot of potato farmers there. no one knows why rumor has it. there's also a ginger farm but there's no proof. other than that, there aren't too many talks about the locals and the country of peak. makes her decide she wants to travel.

duchess: I've made a decision. I'll help you out of this situation much in return. you're going to owe me quite a bit. are you okay with that?

the man's face lit up. he was happy considering he wasn't expecting to get anything. unsure of what the deal will be. he nods his head in agreement. this was an opportunity for him after all.

duchess: sign here.

duchess pulls out a very lavish document. the words and terms were very thorough. it read this is a lenders aid contract. the signing party agrees to any terms and conditions that will be written in this blank in exchange for agreeing to these terms of conditions. the lender can provide anything up to money under the sole purpose of aiding in the customer/ borrower. however, should the receiving party betray these agreement? the borrower will work off their debt 10 fold sign here. it was a very daunting contract reading it. the man felt very nervous about signing it.

man: what kind of contract is this?

hanging him a pen duchess explains.

duchess: this is my special brew of contracts. normal contracts. we just offer money and request money back. but contracts that can't be fulfilled with money due to too many risks. we offer a special contract in exchange for us to alleviating your problem on your behalf. we request that you return the favor in kind or with equal compensation. fact that you know this place. I'm pretty sure you told your story to someone who knew of this place and pointed you in the right direction. meaning I'm sure someone explained to you that this is the type of contract you'd receive.

The man takes the pen and starts the tapas head worrying about signing such as dangerous agreement.

man: yes, I did explain to a couple of guys at a bar about my situation and they mostly said that this would be the place to go. but I didn't know anything about this contract. isn't this slavery?

duchess furrows her eyebrow.

duchess: no, it's not. this particular brand of contract means that I will go to the country of peek with you. help you pay off your debt and doing so for you from it and then if you don't have the money to pay me back for doing it I you will just have to owe me a favor of equal value at a later date or favors depending on the value of the favor. you're not required to sell yourself to me and just know that at any point in time I could show up and request something of you that you would need to fulfill per our agreement.

the man thinks it over one more time considering a circumstances owing a favor or more isn't any more skin off his back than it usually is sorry signs off on the dotted line. then duchess takes the contract and rolls it up. she reaches over to the left of her seeing two burning candles, one red and one blue. she takes the red candle and toots in the base of a candle which had a spout shaped nozzle for releasing wax onto parchment and other documents of the sort enough so that the red wax will run down covering the rolled up paper after making a perfect circle. she takes the metal stamp and presses down on it as hard as she can, but not too hard to destroy the wax seal after waiting for a bit to removes the stamp and sits it down. the wax seal is now representing the moon and stars. putting away the agreement. she then grabs her satchel from the coat hanger in the corner of the room and prepares the key to the store she guides the man outside then locks down the store before getting ready to depart. she gestures over a peculiar man and passes to him a black envelope with a green wax seal on it. next Dutchess turns to the man and says.

duchess: All right? let's go to the country of peek and settle your debt.

... to be continued