So it only took us about an hour and at least a dozen pulls, but through the sheer power of camaraderie, coordination, and pure sticktoitiveness (and no small amount of perverse stubbornness), 24 strangers managed to down The Minstrel's Ballad: Amon's Revenge!
She lived a charmed life. Manx swore up and down she'd always had a lucky streak, proven by the fact that she'd made it well past thirty without needing to use even one of the souls she'd bought.
Not that those souls went to waste, oh far from it. Secure in her confidence that life held only the best for her, Manx traded a soul here, a soul there... A favor here, a favor there... And made herself connections throughout Solution Nine at every possible level.
Manx often said the hardest decisions she needed to make were what energy drink to buy when she set out to start her day. And she perhaps exaggerated, but to a negligible degree at most.
After all, it took no deep personal searching to decide when to slip someone a soul in exchange for a favor that'd bring a little more traffic to her air wheeler customization shop. Or that might ensure a better seat when the Arcadion opened up.
Of course she enjoyed the fights. Who didn't? No one got hurt, the fighters earned a glorious salary, and she made herself a pretty bit on the side.
Luck did love her, after all, and she rarely lost a bet.
Born shortly before Solution Nine shifted from Alexandria into the Source, Manx seemed to be touched by luck at her first breath. Not for her the chronic condition that plagued so many of her generation. No, the engineer's clever daughter enjoyed marvelously good health, quick wit, and a silver tongue that kept her out of trouble more often than not.
Manx began early with her networking, forming connections by charming the adults her mother worked with. All of the security specialists, electrope engineers, and levin researchers found the glib little girl to be highly entertaining.
And they taught her the ins-and-outs of Everkeep--the back routes, the security levels, the inner workings of daily life.
Manx never quite learned enough to shake her conviction that life in Solution Nine surpassed everything she heard from those who emigrated into Everkeep from Yyasulani. Even when she ventured out of Everkeep to see it for herself, she found it dull, dim, and dismal as opposed to the neon lights and clean surfaces of home.
Beneath that natural preference for home--after all, those from Yyasulani seemed to prefer the exterior dirt to the interior electrope--lurks Manx's unspoken and unexamined conviction that her luck only holds while within Everkeep's walls.
After all, dealing in souls for favors is one thing when it's a known currency and part of one's culture, but judging by the reactions of the new visitors to Solution Nine...
She could learn a new way of life, no doubt, but why would she ever want to?
Meeting Nite and her friend Obsidian--Manx still called them 'Obby' in her head, but she reminded herself to not slip up and say it out loud--always put Manx in mind of the reopened Arcadion.
Largely because Obby looked like they could hold their own in a fight...
Not that Manx would suggest such a thing to Nite, but she did wonder just how much could be made if she found a decent fighter of her own. Surely her shop could sponsor an up-and-comer...?
(Yes, I'm dragging @iron-sparrow's Obsidian into it.)
