Revolver Bay

As the hustle and bustle of the early evening started seeping into the side alley pub the barmaid was over-run with orders for whisky and tea and other concoctions that she specialised in. As the pub filled and filled until it was bursting at the seams, no-one noticed the young woman slipping away. behind the bar, to the cellar and out the doors into the freezing air. 

she paused for a second behind a disposal chute to extend her skirt, whipping the velvet fabric out of the bag and hooking it to the underneath of her knee high skirt to prevent the night air from turning her legs blue. as the skirt, suddenly long again, fell past her feet, she pulled her tricorn hat out of the seemingly endless bag, pulled her hair out of the tight bun and slipped it onto her head. she hurried off once again, down the winding cobbled streets until she ended up outside a shop.

the sign announced that she was stood at the entrance to 'Lady Lanya's Antiquity Emporium'. a small shop that made up for it's size by having so much merchendise that half of it's sellables were pouring into the street.

she nudged a childs clockwork rocking horse out of the way with her foot and walked inside. 

the space behind the counter was empty and she paused for a moment to think where her friend could possibly be. soon the question was answered by a loud bang followed by a group of singing teddy bears bursting to life as Lady Lanya walked out of the stock room, struggling to shut the door behind her

Lanya was a tall lady, not as tall as our beloved heroine but a fair size. she stumbled over the ancient book piles and stood to attention.

"Carry!" she exclaimed "i thought you were at the Rusty fiddler?"

"i was" 'Carry' answered "it got busy and i got cold feet" she went and sat on the counter which was still ticking.

everything in the shop that wasn't for sale was expensive and made to be one of 'those things' you can't live without even if you have never seen it in your life. the counter, for one, was shaped like a question mark, the till in the curve at the top and a little bowl of odd little side gifts, maybe a quill that turns any ink you use invisible, or clockwork pieces with even littler bits of clockwork on them. the counter ticked again, it was glass fronter and inside a little robotic ballerina performed the entirety of 'swan lake'. it was a magnificent creation, on that often stunned customers, every saturday a young girl liked to come to the shop and sit in the centre of the shop watching the entire dance. Lanya sound it slightly annoying at first until the young girl smiled, she was the most pleasant child that had ever lived. she'd asked politely it she could sit in the window to stay out the way to watch it but Lanya would hear none of it, so the red leather stool in the corner was for the young girl to watch the dance, and every day but saturday it had a strict  'NOT FOR SALE' sign on it

"i brought you this" Carry clarified her reason for turning up uninvited, pulling a small palm sized box from her giant bag and passed it to Lanya, who opened it and gasped

"how on gods golden earth did you get this?" she demanded "because if this is the one i saw in Riso the other day i am forcing you to give it back" yet she put it on nevertheless

it was a long pendant with a tiny birds scull on the end, silvered and strengthened to protect the fragile shell of bone

Lanya enjoyed the expensive things

she was a beautiful woman who could make the best of what she had but always had a longing for better.

she wore a black gown, a lot like a wedding dress. she had adapted it to suit her though, her strange obsession with bones and the dead had inspired her to stitch white thread into the corset to resemble a ribcage. her shoes were top quality italian leather, calf high lace up black boots, plain, hidden under her skirt, but still cost 4 months wages. 

Lanya hugged 'carry'

"Carinthea you are the finest pick pocket in the entirety of the nation now sit down and tell me what happened at the pub" she ordered, pulling two tall stools up to the counter.

Carinthea perched on the stool and explained her hasty retreat from the tavern

The reason she had been there was to see a man, a man who had possibly information regarding the deformity on her left thigh. ever since she could remember she had had a clock implanted in her thigh. just below her hip bone. she could not explain it but it was part compass, part clock and seemed attatched to the bone, it was practically grown into the skin. it looked nice but the idea that some unknown entity had permenantly disfigured her body without her persmission constantly dusturbed her. 

she had been hoping to meet a suposed knowledgable who himself had a strange blemish, supposedly he had an eyelgass going through his stomach. it sounded bizzare and impossible but Carinthea took every possibility that came her way to find out what she was.

in the end the man hadn't turned up, she explained this to Lanya and both their thoughts were broken by the town crier passing a few streets over, his voice vibrating through the alleys and into the shop

'FREAK OF NATURE FOUND WASHED UP IN BAY. MAN WITH EYEGLASS LENSE IN HEAD DISCOVERED BY LORD ELKINSON"

Carinthea was distraught. they hadn't gotten their facts right but this man could have explained it to her. Lanya shuffled uncomfortably

'i'm going to shut up shop now' she explained moving the stool back to its original position in the window display, trying to silently coax Carinthea out the door. she took the hint and got up

"i'll be round later on this week if i don't die first" she laughed, Lanya giggled uneasily, the long running joke between them seemed to be hitting closer and closer to home everytime they told it. Carinthea got up and with a swish of skirts was gone. 

She strided down the street, a determined look on her face. she pulled a black scarf out of her bag and covered most of her face, pulling the hat further down, she was going to find out who or what had killed the poor man, the possible hope she had. and she suspected 'lord elkinson' had something to do with it.