Quoted By:
<span class="mu-r">Your Wealth has been reduced to 7.</span>
Fabric gently kicks and swishes along your legs as you move through the thoroughfare. You felt warmer than you had in a long time, the ever-present chill of the darker corners of the hive held back by the loose fabric draped around your body, and the insulating leather beneath that.
For once, your feet weren't pinched. That was an encouraging sign that your investment was paying dividends already. The integrated soles of the bodyglove were similar to boots, slipped on over the end of the leg and slid into an internal sleeve to make a tight seal. If you understood it correctly, it was something like a gaiter, preventing excess moisture from entering the boot. That was the benefit of the thing being made from decent-quality synthleather.
At the same time, it was a product of the underhive, and you could tell. While a mountain of material had come off the hem of the gown and the undergarments to account for your height, where it had needed to be stretched or expanded there were obvious patches of differently colored synthleather on the bodyglove. The alterations to the gown were less obvious - mostly bringing in the waist and some subtle loosening to help the fabric sit right on your body - and it was a testament to the skill of the tailor that only the mismatched material gave it away . Still, he had also made the squares of lighter leather that surrounded your bust and hips symmetrical and repeated on both sides, making it look <span class="mu-i">almost</span> like it had been done on purpose.
You had waited for a few hours as the tailor had made the alterations, busying yourself with trying to comb your hair down and wash some of the grime off your face. The tailor's apprentice had shyly offered you a wet cloth, which you took gratefully and managed to stain brown with the grime coming off your face and arms by the time the tailor came out with a test fit. You hadn't quite gotten all of the blood off, but a part of you didn't quite want to scrub it entirely off the layer hiding that you could still <span class="mu-i">feel</span> your flesh mending, skin knitting and fusing back together beneath scabs in ways you didn't want to think about.
Oilers - there was something more to them than you initially thought. They seemed to have a hand in advanced business around here, although it seemed like they weren't directly allied with the Suns. Perhaps they were trade partners?
A shabby wooden building comes into view. Whatever the original builders had intended, you doubted the comical amount of stickers and signs depicting firearms that covered every available inch of the surface was a part of the design plans. The windows were slatted over with an iron grate attached not to the wall, but to heavy plascrete boots that kept it in place over the glass, which themselves were chained to the hive floor.
