morning meetings . kiah

The Bags under her eyes were proof that sleep had eluded her. She hadn't slept well in weeks, her dreams filled with what she could only describe as warped versions of the truth. she knew that her memory was playing tricks on her, after all she was only very young when the tragedy had struck home, it would be impossible for her to recall any details with perfect accuracy. Sighing she climbed out of bed, her fingers instantly searching the small table top beside her bed for the smokes she knew would be there. It was muscle memory now, for as long as she could remember it was the first thing she would reach for. Smokes and lighter in hand she headed for the door, not bothering with changing out of her night clothes or tidying up her hair which was a tangled mess on the top of her head. 

The cold air bite at her skin, instinctively she wrapped her arms around her narrow frame as she searched for a comfy spot on the ice cold stone steps outside of the house. Moss and other assortment of weeds grew inbetween the cracks. She was pretty sure that no one had ever taken the time to clean them up, briefly she wandered weather she should, just as quickly as the thought disappeared. Why the hell would she do that? She couldn't care less about the appearance of the place she currently called home. She couldn't care if the place was covered in graffiti or if the weeds grew so thick that the pathways was blocked and bugs and rodents of all sorts lived in them.

Placing the cigarette between her lips she drew the lighter causing a small ball of heat to spark. Nurturing the tiny flame she brought it to the tip of the smoke, watching with excitement as the end started to burn, the smell of burning tobacco filling the air. Closing her eyes she took a deep breathing, sucking in the toxic chemicals, she felt blissful. This is what she looked forward to in the mornings-

"Can I burn one?"

The voice interrupts her thoughts and it takes her a moment before she allows her eyes to open. Looking down to the bottom of the steps stands a girl. The girls eyes are focused on the smoke that she hold between her her pale fingers. At first she is agitated. She didn't want to share, she wanted to sit here in silence, she didn't want to have to make small talk, or anything like that. She wasn't much of a social person, preferring her own miserable company over anyone else. But there was something in the girls eyes that made her sit up a little taller, something familiar, something she saw every time she looked in the mirror. Pain.

Signing she reaches into her pocket fishing out another smoke as she climbed to her feet. Walking down the couple steps she stops in front of the stranger, her hand extended. 

"Sure." Her voice lacks emotion as she places her own bad to her lips, once again breathing in the chemicals, allowing it to warm her body from the inside. "I guess I can spare one."

The girl didn't even pause once she offered her the smoke, her fingers rudely snatching away the lighter held in her other hand. Marlowe tried not to sneer at her, her lips pulling back into what she hoped was a some what polite smile. Your welcome, she thought to herself as the stranger handed back the lighter followed by some snarky comment about her lack of urgency. It was a real internal struggle for Marlowe not to roll her eyes, to not snatch the damn cigaret right from between the girls lips. A simple 'Thank you' could have sufficed, she thought to herself. She wanted to be mad but despite herself she found that she enjoyed the girls snarky comment, her agitation quickly evaporating. She was not used to people speaking to her so sharply, most of the time peoples words dripped with condescension.

No one around her really thought much about her, they tended to brush her to the side and she knew that it was mostly her own fault, she never really made herself mount to much in their eyes. But they didn't really know shit about her either and she liked it that way. “Join me, I don’t bite, the name’s Ed,” Ed had taken a seat, and Marlowe followed suit, perching on the end of the step, her back resting against the railing she crossed one leg over the other. She didn't say anything at first, not sure weather she wanted to engage in the small talk or not, her lips breathing in another lung full of smoke.

 ”What’s your name? What do you do around here?” The question seemed innocent but it made Marlowe pause. Not many people really knew what she did. She tended to spend a lot of time on her own, in her room, her fingers glued to her key pad. Marlowe was a hacker, and she was a damned good one. She discovered her talent when one day she decided that she wanted to know more about the people who had abandoned her. She wanted to know what they did know and wanted to know if it was worth it for them to leave her on her own, no name, no home, no family. She did find them, eventually and to her utter disappointment she found them to be happy. They had a new family. A new daughter... Cutting off her chain of thought she shook her head slightly, her eyes meeting Ed's, "the names Marlowe, and I work, uh, with computers." Well its not a lie, just not much to go with either. "What about you? Haven't seen you around here before?" 

“Mar-lowe,” Ed repeated, sounding out her name, like a child who was just learning how to put words together. “You got any hardware with that? Anything I can take a look at? Spare wiring?” the girl asked eagerly. Marlowe had plenty of crap tossed into one of the few cupboards in her room, after all it wasn't easy for someone of her status to come across a fully function computer. She had to steal and barter her way to gain the highly functioning machine she had now, and she was quite proud of the fact that she had managed to put the thing together with the help of one of the very few people that she actually called a friend. But Marlowe wasn't a charitable person, and there as no way on this earth she was about to hand over even the smallest wire without some sort of payment. 

“I pay a good price for quality materials if you’ve got any.”

The exact words that Marlowe wanted to hear. A smile spread across her face. Money. She could talk money. "Yeah, Ive got a few bits and pieces tucked away here and there. What do you need it for? What sort of money are we talking about here? I mean how do I even know you are good for it?" The girl didn't look like she oozed wealth, and she could hardly be any older than her herself and Marlowe for sure didn't have a lot of cash. If she did she wouldn't be sitting on this step at 5 in the morning with a complete stranger. Maybe she was coming off as too eager, but she didn't care. Money was money and Marlowe needed money. Money was how she wasn't going to get out of this shit hole, then maybe, just maybe she would be able to find a reason to smile every morning when she got out of bed, instead of reaching for a slow death.

Marlowe's passion for computers and the intricate workings of them was only a recent passion. Before that the only other thing that she got excited about was smoking and watching the caretakers of the house faces fill with anger, disappointment and disgust. There was something powerful about being able to build something from scrap. Something that she couldn't quite put into words. it made her feel good, and that is something she decided that she wanted to feel. But good didn't describe the feeling that started bubbling up in her chest the moment Ed started to pull off one of her gloves. ”Look at this, I made this.” Suddenly Marlowe was no longer interested in money. In fact money was the furtherest thing on her mind. Marlowe watches, fixated, on the metallic hand that was revealed. It was like nothing she had ever seen before and she wanted to ouch it, she wanted to know what it could feel like. She wanted to know if it was heavy. How it worked. Did it work?

Fighting the urge to reach out and run a finger along it, she turned her eyes back up to Eds, but not for long as she watched the fingers flex and move in a smooth rhythm. “Each finger moves connected by wires that run into the nervous system at my shoulder. So I need more material to make stuff like this.” Marlowe hadn't even known anything like this was even possible. She knew that technology was advanced, but due to her circumstances (self isolation and hate) she had never really taken to chance to learn more about the District. District 3 was the powerhouse for technology. But she had never actually laid eyes on something this advanced before and she wanted to know more. 

“I’ll take you to my shop, it seems like I might have some stuff you want. I’m sure I could make you one hell of a computer.” Marlowe wanted to go to the shop. It surprised her just how much to wanted to go. She wanted to see what else this girl could do, she wanted to know if she too could do something like this. "How did you do this? How is it even possible to connect this to your nervous system? How long did it take for you too make this?" The questions slip from her lips before she could stop them. She was coming off as too eager. She had to keep her cool. Money. Thats right, thats what the deal was here. The girl was offering Marlowe money. Pushing down the question that fought to surface Marlowe put on a mask of indifference. "Yeah I'll come down for a look. But I don't come cheap."

Marlowe followed in silence as the girl weaved her through the streets. She still had so many questions, and she wanted to ask them, but she decided not to. Instead she gathered them and buried deep within her mind hoping one day she would be able to get the answers that she sought. Weaving past one street, then another, until they both came to a halt. They were outside a rather rundown looking building. To be honest it looked like a pile of shit. Hell, her rundown shit holed had more curb appeal that this place. Small seeds of doubt start to weave themselves into her mind and for a moment she is unsure about her decision to follow this girl.

How could she have believed that this girl was good for money? Marlowe was about to walk away when she remembered the arm. Ed had to have some sort of decent income to be able to afford to create an invention such as that. Marlowe knew that equipment and materials alone could be quite expensive. Give the girl a chance. Plus she were more invested in this know, she needed to know more about the mechanical working of that arm. Pulling the door open she gives a grand sweeping gesture, like she was about to reveal something incredible for her eyes to feast on, "well, this is it." 

Just when Marlowe was sure it couldn't get worse.

What the hell was this?

Was this a  joke?

The room was filled with piles of rusting metals. Little bits and pieces were in boxes and littered the floor. It looked like a junk yard, or a basement when you tossed all your unwanted belongings. Marlowe took a step into the shop, her eyes scanning the room carefully. Yes. Yes this had to be a joke. "Ahh, is this a joke?" Marlowe, finally finding some words, asks turning in a full circle to come face to face with Ed. "This room is full of junk."

Apparently it wasn't a joke.

Ed was in fact very serious... and offended. Marlowe watches as she steps into the room, her foot knock into a box, sending bits and pieces flying across the floor. Marlowe raises an eyebrow, there was clutter everywhere. "First of all, it is an organised mess." She waves a defensive finger in the air. Well, at least there was one thing that they both could agree on. It indeed was a mess. Organised though? Marlowe couldn't quite comprehend how this clutter could somehow be organised. If she looked to one corner there was an arrangement of different nicks and knacks and in another corner there looked to be bits that had similarities but there didn't seem to be any sort of functionality.

Wading her way through the shop Ed shuffled through a few boxes, her fingers digging past an arrangement of different wires and chips before snagging the piece she was after. Victorious she placed the piece on the bench between them. "What do you think? A good piece, right?" Reluctantly Marlowe reached out to grab he board, turning it over in her fingers. From the state of the room she had not expected the board to impress her but then she remembered the girls arm. That arm had to have come from some good shit. You couldn't just put something that complicated together from a bunch of worthless junk. 

It did in fact impress her. The chip set looked good, accommodating to multiple USB's.The Capacitors were in exceptional  condition. Overall in was a great piece of equipment. Equipment that Marlowe actually needed. Her current board was a rather cheap one and you could tell. her computer was slow and lacked decent internal memory space. But looking at the piece she knew she nothing locked away in her cupboard came close to this sort of quality. But she knew how to get things. Weather it was legal or not was another question. She could get herself a piece like this, she just didn't know what sort of payment would be accepted this time... and after last time she was certain she wasn't sure if she was ready to go down that path again. 

"Its a good piece. The chipset is something that I haven't seen in a while. I could get some good sue out of something like this..." She hated what she had to say next. But she had decided it would be best to speak the truth. "Nothing I have at home would equate to this. Most of what I've got is junk."

To Marlowe's surprise Ed past the pice of expensive equipment back to her telling her it was hers. Shock was the first thing that popped into her head, quickly followed by doubt. Why would she give her this for free? Was there strings attached to this penniless transaction? Nothing in Marlowe's life had ever come to her free. Everything that she owned she had to work for, she had to pay for in someway or another. Making it extremely hard for her to accept the fact that someone might just give her something. She was ready to argue the fact, to tell the girl that she could accept it but she was already turned away from her, wandering towards the back of the shop. She was digging through another box, using two hands to grasp something and haul it out, once again placing it down on the bench between us.

It was a computer, and not just any computer.

Like one she had never seen before. Marlowe reached out a hand to touch it. It seemed to ooze money- not only in what it would cost, but in how much it could also make her. It had everything that she would need and more. If you were to compare it to her current model, hers would be plain wooden chair and the one in front of her would one a throne, fit for a queen. “If you’ve got any money, I can sell this one to you, it’d work pretty well with that motherboard.” She knew it would very well with the mother board. It was almost like the two were a destined pair, and needed to be reunited as soon as possible. She wanted it, she wanted it bad. But she couldn't afford something like this.

But she knew how to get the money.

"Look, I don't have the money right now... But I could get it. Or is their something you might need to add to this..." Mess. No she would not offend Ed again, not when she had already been so generous. Marlowe could be nice. Well at least she could try, "shop of yours. Surely there is something you need that you haven't, yet, been able to get your hands on? I have, uh, connections."