WIP Wednesday
I've got a few irons in the fire currently, but today I will tease another section of the multi character POV Schurken Gemaskerd. It follows our band of Dregs' members and The Wraith's crew, leading up to and during the Rogues Gallery opening gala masquerade. Here is the opening of Jeter's section.
Jeter had just finished delivering his message from Mister Brekker about table five to Keeg when Mesa approached him. She was carrying a tray with a single drink on it, and not the sparkling wine, which he thought was a bit odd.
“I need you to go get Mister Brekker and Captain Ghafa,” she murmured. “Tell them Rikhard Torben is here, and that he’s got Mister Van Eck, Mister Fahey, Mistress Van Eck, and Mistress Erkins cornered in the expansion gallery.”
Ghezen. Jeter nodded as he replied, “Got it. I’ll go right now.”
He was aware he’d been sent away twice to give Mister Brekker and Captain Ghafa privacy with the Barrel boss, Rosa Ortega. He’d planned to stay down on the gambling floor for a while, with a sightline to the balcony, waiting for either Miss Ortega to leave, or his boss to signal for him. Maybe check on Rook, see how dealing for the gala was going. This situation took precedence, however. Jeter knew enough about Rikhard Torben to know he was one of both Mister Brekker’s and Captain Ghafa’s targets. There’d been rumors around the Dregs for years, about the shady Merchant Councilman. Cory had even let slip one time that the inside of the rich old mercher’s mansion was like a maze. Torben was trouble, in all capital letters, and his boss would want this news. So Jeter climbed the stairs with haste.
Rosa was laughing about something. There was also some subtle tension between Mister Brekker and Captain Ghafa. Jeter figured the two things might be related, based on the way the infamous Wraith was looking sharply at the other Barrel boss. What did I walk into? He knew enough, had seen enough clues, to know there was something beyond a business partnership between his boss and Captain Ghafa. If Rosa was trying to cause trouble with that, it probably wouldn’t end well for her. But whatever the drama might be, it didn’t matter; he had a message to deliver. “Excuse me, boss?”
Mister Brekker beckoned him forward with one gloved hand. “Yes, Jeter?”
A little swell of warmth spread through him at the fact that his boss hadn’t roughly told him not to interrupt. Jeter was always careful not to disturb Mister Brekker unless it was absolutely necessary. He’d watched other Dregs make that mistake when he’d first come to the Slat. Then and there, he’d resolved to never give the Bastard of the Barrel a reason to yell at him. It had never been simply a matter of the man being terrifying. He was most certainly that. It was the fact that the Dregs’ boss had saved his life. When Anika and Pim had found him, Jeter had mostly given up on making it out of the belly of the Barrel alive. Mister Brekker had agreed he could stay at the Slat. Insisted he get fed and seen by a Medik. Gave him jobs he could handle, even on bad days. And though his boss rarely even raised his voice in Jeter’s presence if they were alone, every time Mister Brekker showed that he trusted him, Jeter felt it in his bones. It was one of the few things that fought the voice in his head that said he was useless.
He used that warm feeling to fight off the urge to squirm like a bug under a magnifying glass when all three of them turned their gazes to him. The hesitant step he took towards Mister Brekker didn’t help that bug like sensation one bit. Jeter attempted to swallow his discomfort. Rosa Ortega stopped laughing, and now the painted mask she wore tilted disconcertingly at him. As did the two crow skull masks. I wonder if this’ll become a new nightmare? Sometimes his brain decided that reliving the explosion that killed his family wasn’t enough, and took new images to add in.
Debating his wording, Jeter quickly decided that Mister Brekker probably didn’t want Rosa Ortega to know too much of his business, or his specific issues with Torben. Better to play it safe and explain later than spill too much information in front of a rival gang leader. Even if there was a truce alliance in place between the Liddies and the Dregs. “There’s an issue in the expansion gallery, boss. With a certain set of merchers. I believe you’ll want to see it personally.”
Soft tagging: @tinyarmedtrex, @intosnarkness, @sc11vb, @lunarthecorvus, and @porcelainmortal if you have things you want to share!