Checkmate

[Riley Oran]

Existence is a perfect tense, that never really becomes a present said the words etched into the side of his rider. The young boy in his white T-shirt plodded away on it, with the sounds of metal upon metal signalling that work had to be done. The cranks of bolts and the whirring of Gyros were obnoxious and deafening, but here on the second floor of Babel in the city of junk and beaten dreams there was little concern for it. The people ignored the boy in his fishing hat, wearing gloves that held the metal wrenches while silently, a wolf lay by his side.

This, after all, was Chess City: where the pawns come to live, and to die. The boy was like them, no matter what skills he had or talents he showed. A mechanic at a young age? It was neat, but by no means a guarantee of success. He'd tamed a wolf? So had many others. Perhaps the only thing that set him apart was his fishing hat, as it was solely unique among the entirety of Babel. No other hat existed like it. On the inside, hidden in its lip was a name and a message.

The name was Riley's ancestor's, Ivan Oran. Alongside the name, the same quote carved into his rider was there, and it was credited to one 'Mark Twain'. The beige, frayed hat was patched together in a manner that betrayed its age, and even so it was just a touch too big for Riley even with all of its modifications. He adjusted it frequently, and usually kept it tied around his neck with a string whenever it was hanging off. Right now, he wore it to block out the artificial sunlight from the top of the floor. To Riley, it wasn't the real sun. It burned his eyes and the color was far too pale. The real sun was outside, with the rest of the world. With the Drage.

He stood back from his rider, closing a panel on its side and wiping sweat from his eyebrow. The rider itself bore a resemblance to a motorcycle. The wheels where much thicker, and the frame larger as well. It seemed a lot more stable as a vehicle, and it was-- riders were meant to be taken off rode, and were favored exploration vehicles when the remnants of Earth landed on ION-XIX. Riley had been rebuilding this one for some time, believing it would help him in his runs. His home, where the bike stood in front of, was nothing impressive. As he smiled as his bike and walked it back to the garage, the wolf at his side stood up and huffed, following him closely behind.

This was Riley's life. As he closed the garage door and motioned towards the wolf, calling, "Come on, Uncle," out to it. The wolf didn't need any further motivation, but it didn't hurt either. Riley wasn't in a rush, but in a few hours he had a place to be. He often attended these meetings early just so he had time to wonder around before, and then head straight home after. With plenty of time on his hands he set out towards the depths of Chess City.

[Kate]

Venessa had been wondering around aimlessly for some time now. She got a few stares at her tail which bugged her cuz she didn't understand why. Actually she didn't understand anything. All she could remember was how to talk, how to walk and her name. She couldn't remember who she was, who her parents were, or where she was. Its a very stressful situation.

As Venessa rounded a corner she bumped right into someone. It didn't phase her but it must have felt like bumping into a wall to the other person. Venessa's size and figure would suggest herself as someone who could be easily tossed around. Venessa did not apologize to the man. Apologizing was never something she learned to do back at home and so naturally she wouldn't do it now. She did stare at the boy. He looked different than the others probably just because of his hat. Venessa just continued to stare. She had no idea what she was suppose to do now.

[Riley Oran]

Riley's walk was a long one, and he spent most of his time staring at his feet. The lip of his hat sunk down onto his eyebrows, but he didn't mind. The streets here weren't crowded, and he knew them well enough to guide himself just by the stretch of sidewalk. It was the same stretch of sidewalk he traveled every other day for the last few years. People stood clear of him, always letting him and his wolf past. It was how he managed to move without paying any attention what-so-ever. In fact, he almost never was aware of his surroundings when not out on a run, seeing his world as a pair of old shoes plodding along the cement.

Until today. He hit something small and irregular, and he hit it hard. The young boy bounced back and staggered, clutching at his forehead that rested underneath his hat. He became indignant and glared forward at the... girl? She just stood staring as well, blank expression as her eyes laid upon him. She was dressed weird, with some strange method of clothing. He concluded she was from a higher floor, and his angry gaze shifted back under his hat with a huff. No way I hit her, he thought. She was much to small. He had run into something else, though what that something was eluded him. He stepped around the girl, and wordlessly walked past her as Uncle followed behind him, watching from the corner of his eyes.

Riley paused to toss back some advice to the strange girl. "I would watch yourself here," he told her. "I can already tell you aren't native to this area of the tower. Chess City is not a good place to wonder alone." With that, he and Uncle continued down the sidewalk, the wold still casting back occasional nervous glances.

[Kate]

It seemed that understandably the man was upset with their ruff encounter. For a moment Venessa thought he was going to hit her and for some unknown reason her heart jumped with excitement at the idea. However instead the man gave her some very helpful information before walking past her. She discovered she was in chess city whatever that was. At least she knew the name of it.

Even though the man had seemed rather angry with her Venessa decided to follow the man. He seemed to know about where he was at which was silly because most the people here should know where they were. Why else would they be here. Perhaps if she followed him she would find out more. She did think it interesting the guy was also traveling with a wolf. Venessa followed close behind the man.

[Riley Oran]

Riley walked in silence for some time, Uncle following him close behind. He had planned to travel around a bit more, but as he rubbed his aching head he felt it might be pertinent to simply go to the meeting area. The wolf was still uneasy of the stranger following them, but Riley was ignorant to her presence as Vanessa's footsteps were drowned out by his own. He came upon an alley and veered into it, walking towards the red, rundown door that sat in the middle of the building. He was about an hour early, but that meant that maybe he could find out what the next order of business was early and leave to take care of it quicker. That meant he got paid faster.

As he approached the door he cast a glance upwards, looking into the sky. No difference from the one outside, he reminded himself. In fact, the whole sky above them was false. It was much closer to the ground than it looked, and was the reason Chess City had no skyscrapers. A city, contained near the base of an enormous tower that itself stretched into the heavens. Their sky was really only about a thousand feet above them. He let the thought go as he rapped his knuckles against the door, and tapped his foot as Uncle planted his butt.

Now, he needed to wait.

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