Rose: a broken doll tossed out into the world with the carelessness befitting her status below humans. However, acquiring a power beyond what she should be able, she fights and Rose Against The Heavens.
The story of a homunculus fighting against fat...
"It works, sometimes. Sometimes it fires right, sometimes it's wonky and does nothing—but that's lucky. Other times, it's just a beta weapon that explodes in your hand. Maybe if you got a real, functioning gun your threat would work but that, that thing is only used to deter people that don't know any better."
Rose looked between the gun and the trio. 'Lux lost his life due to this toy. . .was he only trying to scare me. . .?' A sudden part of her thought she had acted rashly. Yet, in such a situation where a weapon was being pointed at her, orders were yelled at her like she was a puppet, and tensions ran high between them—what was she supposed to do? She hadn't even known she could summon the weapon until it was in her hands.
"I don't know what happened between you two. . .but Lux must have played you for a fool if he gave you that."
The man chuckled and reached to his own side, pulling out a gun much like her own—except, that one actually looked like a finished product. It was fully white, smaller in build, and it looked more plastic than metal.
"This is a real Peace-Maker," He said, pointing the muzzle at her as his finger rested on the trigger, she could feel the mana flow from the orb and into the weapon. "Now, should you choose to come with us as collateral, there won't be a need for it to fire."
Her core hummed. In under a second, she took the trio in. Their figures. Their expressions. Their drawn weapons. From their nonchalant stance to their ease. In under a second, she concluded that they were not lying in the least bit. They truly did not fear her weapon, at all.
"Very well," Rose clipped the gun to the back of her hip and clapped her hands together.
"?"
Fire sparked. She drew a sheathed weapon from nowhere.
"Is this enough to deter you, then?" She asked, one hand on the sheath and the other on the grip of her sword.
He narrowed his eyes. He took in her weapon but the smile was still maintained on his lips.
"Interesting, a Geared? How did Lux meet someone like you?"
Rose shrugged, "Did you think I, a lone 16-year-old girl, would walk around the slums without any protection?"
That was a bluff, of course. Gear or not, skilled at fighting or not, she would have walked around the entire place none the wiser. He didn't need to know that, however.
The man pondered for a moment.
On the outskirts of Alos, within the slums, a Geared was someone uncommon enough to be rare. They were people who could shape their soul into a weapon, humans that could then use their Gear to get their way.
A Gear was a serious deal. It wasn't just a weapon. It was a weapon with abilities to be found. A weapon that was key to entering dungeons, something that could make one filthy rich if used right. But what was someone with such a thing doing next to someone like Lux, a man who couldn't keep up with his payments? It didn't matter, fighting and trying to capture a Geared was not worth it simply to make the man 'open his eyes.'
He reattached his weapon back to his side before patting his suit with a smile. She watched as he fixed his collar and turned around.
"My name is Paul, Paul Walker."
He waved her goodbye, steps already moving with the grunts to depart the place.
"Tell Lux to hurry with my payment, Alos has taken a tougher stance on us slummers and I'll need his 1,000 lixels. Every piece of meat counts when a big dog comes biting."
Rose narrowed her eyes.
The cost of living here was what she had just made.
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