It isn’t a dark and stormy night.
That would be a laugh, all right. No fairy-tale beginnings here. No unicorns. No daydreams. The only rainbows around here are the neon lights, painting the street in slick colors as soon as the sun goes down.
Colors, like the cards in my hands.
Glancing out the window, I watch the rain streak down.
Seems like it never lets up, sometimes. An endless, monotonous drizzle, soaking into everything in the city, making it hard to remember what it was like to feel dry or warm or safe. This place could use a good storm, I think. Something heavy, strong enough wash out the depravity that lies in every twist and turn of the streets.
The depravity that lies in me, too.
It was supposed to be a short investigation. Find out where my old pal Johnny had disappeared to and bring him home. He'd a real knack for getting himself in trouble. But I knew he was a good soul deep down inside. Not like me.
I'd warned him, when he'd first told me he was coming here. Made him promise to avoid the dark streets where the card sharks lurked, all too ready to pounce on wide-eyed newcomers. Where they offered kids packs of five, ten, twenty cards at a time with a smile, telling them it was a 'welcome' gift. To 'get you started'. Johnny said he had a plan. Said he knew what he was doing. Swore up and down that he'd be fine, that the thrill and addiction wouldn't get him.
He was wrong. It gets everyone, eventually.
I never did tell him how I knew about all that. Never told him about my own past. The past I thought I'd left behind, in this city I thought I'd left behind. It's gnawing at me, even now. The hunger. The drive. The temptations that brought me here, all those years ago.
And Johnny? He's still missing. Still out there, somewhere. Or at least, that's what I'd like to imagine. Maybe I've still got a chance of finding him and getting us both out of this place.
But another part of me, the part I don't like to listen to, is telling me that I'm just using it as an excuse. That I'm not looking as hard as I could be, because once I do find out what really happened to good old Johnny, the only reason I'd have left to stick around is my own dark urges...
No. I can't let myself think about that. Not now. Not when I might have a real lead on him, for once.
I pull out the middle drawer of my desk, lifting out the portfolio inside. My latest collection.
My hands shake as I open it, looking at the cards inside. The very same cards Johnny'd been after. The portfolio he'd sought to build. Every single card in it, Special, and not just in a metaphorical sense, either.
The plan had been to flip them for a fortune in crayons, crayons he’d been planning to sell on the black market for the money to pay for his mother's hospital bills and his little sister's college education. The last they'd heard from him was that he was just a few more cards away from completion. Then... nothing.
I'm at the same point, now. It's time for me to take the next, possibly final, step. Whoever he was trading with to finish this portfolio must have had something to do with his disappearance. Or at least, must know something about where he'd gone next. That's where I have to go.
Pushing my chair back, I grab my coat, tucking the portfolio inside. A rumour came by my desk the other day. A little cat told me about a new dealer in town with an interest in Special cards. Who had rare chocolates to trade. Allegedly, boxes and boxes of them.
It's taken a week to track this mystery dealer down, but I'm sure I've got them. And 'them' is right, because there's no way the flood of chocolates that has hit the streets recently could be the work of just one person.
Leaving the office, I walk for what feels like hours until I finally reach my destination. A dim alleyway, barely sheltered from the rain. The reflections of distant lights in the puddles on the ground tinge the surroundings a faint pink, and that's how I know I've found the right place.
I spot a humanoid shape in a trench coat and wide brimmed hat, partially hidden from view behind a stack of crates. No, not crates, I realize as I step closer. Boxes. Stacks of boxes. So the rumors were true, after all. And then I spot the cat, the same cat that dropped me the rumor the other day.
Was it a setup? Was this all to lure me here?
I reach into my coat, ready to grab my phone. Maybe I can leave a message. If this is how I disappear, at least it won't be a mystery, and whoever comes after me will be able to pick up on my trail. But then the cat’s ears twitch, and it looks directly at me. I freeze.
The humanoid figure in the trench coat turns, slowly shambling in a tight circle to face me. Try as I might, I can’t make out the man’s features behind a large pair of sunglasses and a face mask. But I catch the scent of something salty in the air, reminding me of the sea.
The cat blinks, then scatters away into the night, as the dealer lurches forward, pulling open his trench coat to reveal an assortment of tiny, colorful boxes. I stare at them, trying to calculate the numbers in my head. Ten. Twelve. Twenty. Forty. Eighty. Enough Choice cards to make a man. Or break him.
I know what happened to Johnny, now.
It’s the same thing that’s about to happen to me.
“Hey, kid," the dealer burbles, happily. "Do you want to trade some... chocolates?” |
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colors_trade2017-02-18 12:43 pm
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NotActual Human Beings*To Harris:
To Curie:
May I have a red choco (socialite01) from Harris and a brown choco (keibu20) from Curie?
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Speaking of shady deals...
Re: Speaking of shady deals...
Blanket permission to respond while I sleep also!
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To Harris
To Curie
And may I have two blue chocolates (teamaqua17 and teamaqua18)?
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From my boxes:
From Curie's boxes:
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To Curie:
May I have antoinette08 (Purple) from Harris and antoinette09 (purple) from Curie? Thank you very much c:
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From my boxes:
From Curie's boxes:
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From my boxes:
From Curie's boxes:
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Card from Curie:
Name: aliens14
Color(s):Blue
Card from Harris:
Name: aliens15
Color(s):Blue
Gifts (if any): i still need to get my post up orz
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From Curie's boxes:
From my boxes:
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Name: scard10
Color(s): blue
Card from Harris:
Name: curesword18
Color(s): purple
Gifts (if any): Have a pupper for Curie and a pink for Harris!
(decision20, walkure19)
Is there anything you want from here for Curie's eligible09 and Harris's scarf12??
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But we are happy to give you these!
From my boxes:
From Curie's boxes:
We would be happy to accept the gifts, but Curie appears to already have this dog card! If you are exchanging slots for February, would you be interested in trading for chroma16, solemnvow16 instead?
From Curie!
From Harris!
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Name: brothers18
Color(s): brown
Card from Harris:
Name: brothers19
Color(s): brown
Thanks so much!
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From Curie's boxes:
From my boxes:
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Happy (belated) Valentine's Day, Harris! ♥
Happy (belated) Valentine's Day, Curie! ♥
Could I please get ghibli04 & ghibli19 (gray or brown choco)?
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From my chocolates
From Harris' chocolates
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Either 2 blue candies/2 gray candies/1 of each for octbirthday08, octbirthday11 would be nice c:!
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From Curie's boxes:
From my boxes:
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Name: toadsage18
Color(s): red
Card from Harris:
Name: famous13
Color(s): purple
Gifts (if any):
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From Curie's boxes:
From my boxes:
Thank you!
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assaultlove you with chocolate :3no subject
From Curie's boxes:
From my boxes:
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For Harris!
For Curie!
Happy Valentines! ♥
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Would you like these also? Since we see you are collecting them! And specials are harder to get!
From my boxes:
From Curie's boxes:
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Name: ninjaclub11
Color(s): purple
Card from Harris:
Name: handicraft03
Color(s): gray
Gifts (if any):
Happy (late) Valentines you two~!
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By vested authority we are happy to do this!
From Curie's boxes:
From my boxes:
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For logging purposes, I'll take crossdressm02 and Harris will be receiving bara02.