Conspiracy: Rumours

Chapter Four

As soon as I entered the... cabin, I guess, I was greeted by a tight hug from Jinx. "Welcome to the family." She said. Both Drew and Tyler took their turns hugging me too, and already I was starting to feel like I belonged.

"Well, let me show you to your room." She lead me to the door next to the other leading into the living room and opened it for me. The room was much plainer than I expected, boring blue walls, a simple bed, a night stand and a light, that was it; but somehow it still managed to draw me right in. "You can accessorize and personalize it as much as you like, of course. For now you can just set your bag on the bed and we'll head off to the Den."
"You're not even letting me get settled first?" I questioned.
"You really thought we were going to let you spend your first full day as one of us here?"
"Can't I just-"
"Hey, no more holding back from life, remember?" That instantly changed my mood as I moved to stand just a few inches from her face.
"All right, let's do it." With that, I latched onto her arm and took off running.
"Come on guys, we're leaving!" Jinx called to the boys.

We ran all the way there and all the way down the steps until we were well into the Den. "Listen, I want Ace to myself for a little while, so you do your own thing for now and we'll find you when we're done." Jinx told the boys.
"Great, we'll be at Dag's." Drew said, linking arms with Tyler and walking away with him.

Jinx took me to her booth and we for a moment she just sat there, looking out at the crowd of people in the Den. "So you obviously have some people watching skills, that's good, we can work with that." She remarked. She scanned the area for a second more before landing on someone. "Here, let's start with this guy in the blue shirt, tell me about him." I studied the man for a second before coming up with my answer.
"I don't think he wants to be here." I finally said.
"Why?" She asked.
"Am I wrong?"
"Not necessarily, I just want you to tell me why. If you can't justify your profile you could practically say anything, which is not proper people watching. You're actually trying to get the person right, not just guess."
"Okay, okay. He just looks so uncomfortable and even slightly bored. I mean, look at him, he's just standing there awkwardly."
"I think someone dragged him here." She put in.
"Why?" I questioned, throwing her own words back at her.
"First, don't be a smart ass. Second, he's not uncomfortable, he's nervous. I think a friend or maybe even a girlfriend- or boyfriend- asked him to come and he wanted to say no, but how could he? But, you know, just a guess." Then she stood up. "Hey mister!" She yelled, catching his attention. "Yeah, you. Can you come over here for a second?" He scooted over to us as his face turned red.
"Y-Yes?" He asked.
"Are you all right? You seem kinda nervous."
"Well, my friend kind of... it doesn't matter."
"Okay, well good luck out there."
"Uh, well thanks, I guess." He shuffled away just as slowly as he came. Jinx didn't say anything, she just smirked.

"No time for gloating, this is a good opportunity to introduce the Ten Rules of the Den." She declared.
"This place has rules?" I questioned, honestly surprised.
"You'd be surprised, this is actually one of the most tightly upheld places in the world."
"Filled with drugs, lies and crime."
"Hey, it takes a lot to hide all that." I guess she did have a point. "So, the first and golden rule is the key to surviving in the Den. That rule is, don't be a wimp. This place will chew you up and spit you out if you aren't brave enough to bite back."
"Well that's obvious." I remarked and she shot me a death glare. "B-But motivating." I added. "So what's the second rule?" She chuckled as she sat back down.
"The second rule isn't quite as well upheld as the first."
"How do you mean?"
"The rule is lying is fair game, but you get caught lying to someone in here... woo, not fun."
"I can imagine. Now that I hear what the rules are, they definitely make more sense than I thought they would."
"What did you think they would be?"
"I don't know, something out of place like 'no running', or something." She laughed at that.
"Yeah, there aren't any rules like that."
"So what are the rest of them?"
"Woah, have some patience. They'll come around when they're necessary. Now, back to people watching."
She pointed to another person in the crowd, a short, elderly looking lady. "How about her, what's she here for?"
"She's like me, she's lived her whole life in New Brock and is finally seeking some excitement."
"Why?" I had expected her to say that.
"Look how old she is, she's not really here for the activities, she's just here to be here. That smile on her face just confirms it." Jinx nodded approvingly at my reasoning.
"Not bad." With another look out into the crowd, she found another target. "Ugh, how about these two guys over here." She said, referring to Drew and Tyler. They were sitting out on the patio of Dag's, making goo goo eyes at each other. "They're obviously in love, they just won't admit it."
"They are pretty cute together." I agreed.
"Let's go." She declared, starting to get up.
"Go where?"
"Over to bug them."