LF Friends, Will Travel

"Illegal" in 21 systems

Date: 78 PST (Post Stasis Time)

There was a knock on the door.

It wasn't a standard knock, the kind used to announce a normal visitor to an establishment, it was instead the rapping and tapping of someone purposefully beating out a rhythm, a message holding secret meaning: Three long hard raps, two softer ones, followed by four harder raps once again.

The sound of a secret knock.

This was nothing new for Tizil as he got out of his chair and slowly flew over towards the door, his four translucent wings carrying him with ease as he approached the entrance to his store. He was a Kirken, a brown 3ft tall insectoid with a hard caripace, who had the capability of flight, adorned with the standard four arms and two antenna flopping side to side that all members of his species had. They were the dominant power on the planet, well known for their capitalist tendencies and a willingness to sell anything to anyone who was interested.

Which is why he was here: because new Terran tourists were a lucrative market.

Tizil reached the small door that opened into a dingy alleyway, the 'officially unofficial' entrance to his establishment, opening up a small hatch built into the wooden entrance, allowing him to look down at the Terran who stood on the other side. It was raining, the human soaked from head to toe as they waited expectantly at the entrance to Tizil's store.

The primate would have loomed over the Kirken if it wasn't for his flight allowing him to stay at eye level, the faint buzzing sound of wings beating furiously to keep him aloft. Many people were worried about interacting the chaos lemurs known as Terrans, beings who could theoretically punch a hole through someone's carapace, but this one on the other side of the door looked anything other than intimidating: Nervousness running through the Terran's body as they continually glanced behind them, as if making sure nobody could see where they were.

Tizil let the tension build further, glaring down at the Terran with his two compound insect eyes, as if deciding long and hard whether to let them in. Of course he would let them in, even if the Terran had got the secret knock completely wrong: The entire thing was theater, for his customers' purchasing enjoyment.

Because Terrans, Terrans were weird.

Eventually Tizil shut the hatch with a dramatic slam, awaiting enough time to be thematically appropriate, then a perfectly dramatic number of locks were opened one by one, before opening the door as a whole, creaky hinges echoing through the alleyway. The Kirken looked down at the very anxious Terran who stood outside, worry and concern in their eyes as the insect finally spoke.

"Enter".

He outstretched two of his spindly brown arms, pointing deeper into the building and gesturing for the Terran to follow him into the dim darkness within. Unsurprisingly they did so, the Terran setting out of the rain and following the Kirken behind as they walked through the seemingly endless corridor, the smell of stale air and sound of dripping of water creating an ambience of 'sketchyness'. The feeling was disconcerting, as if the entire establishment was a hidden secret nobody should know about.

This was entirely the intention, an aura that Tizil had worked very hard to maintain, having paid good money to get a few of the pipes to drip perfectly at an uneven rate.

Because Terrans, Terrans were weird.

The Kirken led their customer deeper into the building, finally reaching their destination after a short while: "Tizil's Emporium of Illegal goods". If the entrance being a random door in a sketchy alleyway, requiring a special knock to gain entry wasn't enough to sell the secrecy, then the actual establishment itself did. Everything about it screamed... illegal.