Chapter 13.7: Day 3 Part 1: When the World Feels Weightless

“Hey boss lady, looking good,” said a member of Khalif’s gang as Troy jogged by. Troy waved back, not actually paying attention to what had been said to her, but then frowned, glancing back at the group that watched her slow as she approached the doors to the warehouse.

BossLady…?

Troy shook off the minor inaccuracy, understanding that the lines were being blurred as to who was in charge. Khalif was the head of his gang, but when in the dump at night, all who fought alongside her had referred to her leadership naturally.

Troy didn’t think they would truly listen to her over Khalif in the end, but didn’t want to offend her friend by allowing his people to show her more respect than she was owed, or even desired ultimately in the end.

“She’d spoken to Khalif the night prior before the dump came to life all around them, and knew that the young man struggled with having to fight members of the Scapegraces the day before, especially knowing that some who’d chosen to join Khalif in the end were still unsure if completely dissolving their gang and becoming guards alongside Khalif was the right move. She could understand feeling more confident with more people standing beside any individual in the realms, as without Arson over the last fortnight alone, Troy felt she’d be a completely different person.

And if one little boy can change my life this much, I can only wonder at how losing more than half your supposed friends and family overnight might be more than a tad unsettling.

Troy walked into the warehouse to see Jasmine and her teams, hard at work. She’d finally managed to hire a second group of five after clothing her entire team and Khalif’s potential future guard unit. Both groups' payment to Jasmine, a small recruiting mission that resulted in the doubling of her staff.

“Hey everyone, looks like things are going well,” Troy said in greeting. It was then that Troy was once more surprised as the majority of the room’s occupancy turned in her direction and greeted her nearly all at once.

“Hey BossLady!”

Jasmine walked over wearing a huge smile and began talking until Troy leaned in and cut her off with a whisper.

“Hey, sorry to cut you off, but do you know why everyone is calling me BossLady?” Jasmine’s brow furrowed and she nodded slowly.

“Because you are… as far as all of us are concerned at least. Arson doesn’t seem to do a thing without talking to you about it first, and that alone is pretty significant, as he hasn’t been that open in a few season cycles, and that is not even giving attention to the fact that you’ve constantly been picking up the slack since he’s been down and out for a few days now,” explained Jasmine.

“I haven’t done a thing I wouldn’t normally have done, or anything all that special for that matter,” said Troy, but stopped talking when Jasmine bursted into laugher.

“Oh yeah, you speak with the Jade of our realm like you’ve known her your entire life; have fought to keep orphans you barely know alive for two nights in a row, knowing that even Arson wouldn’t have been as lenient with them; bandaged up Khalif and had him healed up and ready to go last night after we all saw him look like he was on death's doormat; helped me name a clothing brand with a casual statement, and that doesn’t include what Xani and Rob said,” Jasmine offered simply with a few examples in deference of their varied opinions of Troy’s recent actions.

“And what exactly did Rob and Xani say?”

“Rob says that during their cooking lessons sometimes Jade refers to you as her favorite of Arson’s friends. And Xani says she doesn’t know when her and Arson grew apart, but since then you two have become thicker than blood pact thieves. I mean... I can’t blame her though, I’m still confused when that occurred, Arson had been pretty different until he unlocked his core from what I remember before he asked me to join, makes me think that that crown on his head shook him up a little, I’ve heard both Rob and Khalif say that he’s always been open and kind, but I think they were around Arson since his earliest of days, back when Almarine doted on him even more than she does now,” Jasmine said whispering as she leaned in. Troy thought back and was only able to remember Arson as he was now, a ball full of optimism and drive. The same boy that slowly pulled her from the darkness she’d allowed to consume her, almost rule her life since her own failed adoption. Something that Troy felt her and Arson shared that many around them may not understand. Which was yet another situation they’d shared with one another and bonded over.

“Arson actually told me that he picked from people he believed in, people he’d known most of his life, but after talking to you all, you guys make it seem like you’ve all barely interacted with him since he was a toddler practically, or even a baby, but to say that I’ve magically had a huge amount of time with him, would be a stretch, I mean… me and Arson haven’t been around each other for long if I’m being honest. In fact, we only met the same day he got his core,” Troy said in a continued whisper. Jasmine pressed her lips together tightly, nodding to herself as she looked away in thought, while Troy’s mind was still racing over the perception that she could be a leader of any kind.

“Well, I guess that doesn’t matter now, you look the part,”Jasmine said gesturing toward Troy’s hair and new clothing with a smile after a moment longer. Troy rolled her eyes, but glanced down at her new track suit, before remembering why she’d come.

“Speaking of looking the part, wanted to know if you had any exercise gear, or maybe you could look out for some for me. I’m more than willing to pay for anything you send my way?”

“Oh why yes I do actually, and right now I’m not selling to anyone on the team, only trading for recruiting efforts, and referrals, so if anyone asks where you got the clothes, just let them know and tell everyone you run into, interested or not that we are also hiring, fair enough?”

Troy smiled and after a while was situated and well on her way to the gym she frequented in the Bronze sector of Maelstrom. Once there she changed into the new workout gear that Jasmine had given her, feeling rewarded by the looks of approval she received from many of the gym’s occupants.

At first she was unbothered, working out as she always did. Cardio, lifting weights, practicing training drills, but as she began to stretch, readying her self to leave, many around her casually stepped over to where she was to interact.

“Love the gear, you buy it in the Bronze?”

Troy looked up from her splits, groaning with the effort to sit upright and remain stretched to her maximum. She took in two young women in front of her, smiling as she shook her head, only a quick glance given to confirm with herself mentally that the two standing nearby were actually talking to her.

“No my friends run a clothing brand, they're calling it Fresh Cartel for now, but that may change if our boss doesn’t like the name,” said Troy continuing to stretch.

“I like the name. Is it expensive? Looks like brand name, or designer fashion,” asked the second young woman. Troy smiled and almost shook her head, but then rethought the action, nodding instead.

“Yeah, not expensive, but not the cheapest either. Not to mention they have a catalog that is growing daily. I really don’t know that they will be able to stay cheap forever,” Troy answered with as much flair as she could manage without feeling as if she was showboating or bragging.

“Oh wow, really, do your friends have a number we can call or site on the holo-web we can check out?”

It was at this question that Troy began to wonder if Jasmine had completed anything that would make it easy for potential future clients to check out what they had available; messaging the young woman through her Overlay as she got up from the ground slowly.”

“Um…” was all Troy got out before Jasmine messaged her back.

Jasmine: Working on the site, Xani says she can have it live for me soon, but here take this digital pamphlet I worked on last night!

“No site yet, but I do have a digital pamphlet that you can check out until their site goes up,” said Troy. Both young woman rushed to search for their Flatscreens, which told Troy they weren’t Cultivators as they weren’t using Overlays. Still she managed to send the pamphlet to their flatscreens without hassle, a single tap of her finger to the face of their mobile devices enough to complete the transfers, the document pulled up within her own mind making the task just that easy.

Troy took her own time to look through the pamphlet as the young woman around her did so. She missed the small crowd gathering around the trio, the young women were sharing the pamphlet with anyone who walked up and showed interest in what they all were looking at.

Troy found herself wanting many of the clothes being displayed. Eventually making it to the final page of the electronic document only to be wowed even further as another page was added right before her very eyes.

“Bloody embers Jazz, how much of Xani’s time are you taking?” Troy knew that the odds that Jasmine had made an electronic document with the ability to update itself was low. Not because she didn’t feel Jasmine to be capable, but more because of how much Jasmine was already doing each and every day. The young woman was incredibly busy with the laundry and now the starting of a brand, Troy would be shocked to know she was involved with runic or even regular computer coding as well.

“What did you say?” asked one of the young women still standing next to Troy, half paying attention as she slowly browsed the catalog that still grew before her eyes though she had yet to even finish what had been sent originally.

“Oh, nothing, just saw that pages are being added even as we speak,” said Troy. Only then did she look up and see almost a dozen people now stood around her all looking at the pamphlet.

Look at you go, Troy, this isn’t so hard. Just wear the clothes, live life and tell people about the goods, I could get used to free clothes if that is all it takes.

“Thanks so much, Troy. It says there is going to be a short period before deliveries start, but that we can get to buy early if we know a representative, would that be someone like you?”

Troy just nodded, not knowing how that would work, but more than a handful of those gathered around her gave Troy their info before going back to searching through the catalog.

“Young woman, your time with trainer Frost has come. He’s ready,” said one of the gym’s attendants, pointing toward the large ring in the center of the room after a tap on her shoulder. Troy smiled and excused herself from the group chatting around her, before jumping into the ring.

Troy trained fighting four trainers rather than the normal two, as the gym owner was tired of her supposed bullying of his fighting instructors. She was forced to dismiss her notification screen from the corner of her vision as a plethora of messages began to flood her Overlay.

She’d set only those she cared to hear from on a priority setting within her Overlay that would allow for their calls and messages to come through after Arson’s accident, but still was slightly alarmed by the more than a hundred unseen interactions blinking up at her by the time she was done.

“Good work today. You struggled more against four on one, which is completely possible in the matches you have coming up, so don’t get comfortable. Once we can get you to fight properly against four or more then maybe I could see you taking things easy for a while, but until then I want you sharp,” said Scorpion Frost, patting Troy on the shoulder as he lifted a rope on one side of the ring for her to exit.

Troy simply gave the man a nod, feeling ungrateful as the man had more and more in recent days spent extra time practicing with Troy beyond the time she’d paid for, and would have wished for events like this to occur before, but now…

Maybe I should just accept the sponsorship, it’s not like Jade has actually said she was going to train me personally. Praying and hoping that happens isn’t going to make me a better fighter…

Troy stepped free of the ring and thanked the gym owner, only to turn around and find a huge crowd of people she’d thought had just been casually watching her fights, only to quickly learn that they were some of many who wanted to buy clothes from her associates inside Fresh Cartel.

“Look you all if you give me some time, and a second to talk with Mr Frost, I can maybe figure out a way for you all to buy from our catalog, but Fresh Cartel isn’t even truly open yet, and I know my teammates over there don’t want me bringing crowds full of people just yet while they're still setting things up to open. Let me make some calls and I will see what I can do, people…!” Troy turned back to see a wide eyed Mr Frost smirking at her, just before a familiar voice came from the doorway.

“Hey BossLady need me to handle anything?” Troy looked back to see a dapper dressed Khalif standing in the doorway of the gym, gesturing toward the expecting crowd of people mobbing around the edges of the gym.

“Umm… No, but do you think you and yours have some time to guard a mini street fair?” Khalif smiled and nodded, as Mr. Frost cleared his throat and drew Troy’s attention.

“Mini street fare…”

Feeling inspired by all the things she’d lived through recently Troy gulped nervously and took a chance.

“Yeah…, I have a friend that is going to be one of the biggest fashionistas in the Bronze maybe even in all of Maelstrom, and I know that even some of your fighters need new equipment, how about a trade?”

The gym owner looked around seeing many pleading eyes and a level of excitement ready to boil over the top, and he knew anything less than agreement may end with a loss of future customers, and a slightly muddled reputation.

“Seems you have me in a bit of a bind here, Troy, so what kind of deal are you thinking of?”

Troy looked around at the large group looking over the digital pamphlets, then toward Khalif speaking in whispers to another guard also now well dressed beside him, and back to Mr frost with a smile as her confidence in her blooming idea grew further.

“How about this, we clothe your fighters, and you let us use your gym for the day, well not the gym but the alleyway beside the gym to sell clothing from my friend's brand?”