Discord Ch. 6: Crazy People

[Discord is a very old passion project I have long since abandoned due to a severe amount of plotholes. I’ve been slowly posting edited versions of the chapters.]

       What’s a Mean Street?” asked Max.

        “It’s the name of a place. A large town of refugees and rogues,” Silvia told him.

        Max was confused, though, “What do you mean by refugees?”

        “Well, most villages only facilitate one species. It’s normal for some discords to leave their villages and join what’s called a ‘diverse village’. Mean Street is one of the most popular of these villages. It’s very easy to get lost and overall extremely dangerous. There are tons of dangerous people, places, an-“

        “So New York City?” Max interrupted, “Las Vegas?”

        “Huh”

        “Nevermind.”

        They walked and walked for some time until the forest opened up to a large town bustling with people. In the spaces that buildings didn’t stand, markets and people stood. All it needed was to be modernized then BAM: New York.

        “Okay. Now, don’t talk, don’t look anyone in the eye, and don’t stray. Got that?”

        Max nodded, “Just one question? Where-“

        Before he could finish, Silvia took his hand and walked into the crowd, pulling Max with her. People pushed and passed him without apology. Some even muttered insults and told him to watch where he was going. Of course, Max being Max would apologize to anyone who he would bump into despite Silvia explicitly telling him not to say a word.

        Max gripped Silvia’s hand as tight as he could in fear that he would be swept away by passerby moving in the opposite direction. The more they walked the more everything became a blur. Maybe it was because Mean Street was unfamiliar to him, but all he seemed to notice were the colors and shapes of people and buildings. No details just blurred sights and sounds. He felt as if he was upside down (although he wouldn’t have been surprised if he was).

        After what seemed like 10 full minutes of walking, he was pulled out of the crowd and onto the doorstep of a small building. The sign above the door had the words, “Mean Street Orphanage” in neat letters.

        “Why are we at an orphanage?” Max asked.

        Silvia didn’t answer. She knocked on the door in a strange rhythm. After a few moments of silence, the door creaked open as if by an invisible force. Inside the orphanage was a corridor with a door on both sides lined with yellow flowery wallpaper. At the end of the hallway was a large living room and a stairway leading downwards. There was no one in sight.  Silvia casually strolled inside and Max followed. The lights were all on, but there was an eerie silence in the air.

        Max looked around, warily. “I don’t think anyone’s here. Maybe we should jus-“

        A shadow flashed in the corner of his eye followed by a thump. Max yelped and turned in the direction of the noise to see a blade stuck into the wooden wall behind them. The position of the blade was dangerously close to his ear. Silvia glanced at it and frowned. Suddenly the blade melted into the darkness and fell onto the floor in the form of a liquid shadow. Silvia turned back toward the living room with a scowl.

        “David!” she called, her voice colored with annoyance.

        The sound of dark laughter echoed from the walls. Slowly, a shadow of a person with crimson red eyes emerged from the darkness. The voice changed from dark and demonic to boyish and amused as the shadow transformed into a young boy a similar age to Maxwell and Silvia. He had charcoal black skin, neat black hair, and narrow red eyes. He wore a coat of black and a mischievous grin.

        “You should have seen the look on your face!” he chided.

        Max, still half spooked, just stared at him nervously.

        Silvia rolled her eyes. “David, let me introduce you to Max.”

        David looked him up and down with disinterest and asked, “Where did you get him?”

        “He trespassed into my home, seeking shelter from the rain,” she replied casually.

        “And why is he here?”

        She let out a heavy sigh. “It’s a long story. I’ll tell you all over dinner.”

        Max looked around. “All?”

        David glanced at him as if he had forgotten he was there. “Oh ya, they’re downstairs looking at a new trinket Loin stole,” he explained, “Except for Serena. She doesn’t like that kind of stuff.”

        Suddenly a head emerged from the stairs. A teenage girl dressed in gray climbed upwards scribbling on a journal.

        “Oh hey, speak of the monotone devil,” David called with a grin.

        Serena looked up from her board and nodded before resuming her work. Then she walked over to the couch and sat down.

        Max went over to her since she didn’t look like she would stab him. “Hello, I’m Max.”

        She glanced at him for a second and then continued writing.

        “So, what are you doing?” Max asked attempting to look over her journal.

        Serena turned away from him, and Silvia and David exchanged a glance.

        “Why aren’t you talking to me?”

        Silvia chuckled, “She’s mute.”

        Words popped up above Serena’s head, “New guy?”

        “Yeah,” Silvia responded, casually.

        Max stared at the letters as they slowly faded away. He tried to touch them but his hand simply passed through. “How did she do that..?”

        “Easy, magic journal. Don’t tell me you’ve never seen a magic journal before,” David snorted.

        Oh yeah. They didn’t know he was human. “Well…uh…”

        There was a moment of silence that was soon broken by the opening of one of the hallway doors. A young woman in her late 30s emerged. She had bluish-green skin, fish-like ears, gills at her neck, and was dressed like casual royalty in seafoam.

        “That’s Ms. Aquata Lagoon. Head of the orphanage. She’s pretty much our mom,” explained exposition-expert David.

        Ms. Lagoon looked them up and down with a smile. “Back so soon, Silvia?”

        She shrugged. “My dad tried to kill me.”

        The caretaker nodded casually, glanced at Max, and asked, “And who’s your friend?”

        “I’ll tell you guys later.”

        “Why don’t you tell us over dinner. I’ll make something while you introduce…” She gestured towards Max.

        “Max,” he supplied.

        “Introduce Max to the rest.”

        And just like that, after 5 minutes, he, Silvia, and the other orphans were gathered around the coffee table talking. There were seven of them not including Silvia and Max.

        “Everyone, this is Maxwell Silvers. Max these are the orphans of Mean Street,” Silvia announced.

        She started with the dark-skinned boy they met before, “So you already met David. He’s an Umbra-“

        “Like Safya?” Max asked, “But he has black skin instead of pale.”

        Silvia stared blankly at him, not knowing he had talked to the white-haired barmaid. “Uh yes, like Safya. She’s a silver Umbra and he’s a midnight Umbra; different subraces. Anyway, David here likes to…prank people.”

        “So him trying to kill us was a prank?”

        Silvia nodded while David grinned mischievously. A few other people said things like, “That sounds like David.” or “I hate it when he does that.”

        “You also met Serena,” Silvia pointed her thumb at the mute girl who waved monotonously, “She’s a Mutam. They can’t talk, show emotion, or express themselves.”

        A teenage boy with magenta hair spoke up, “We don’t even know if she even has emotion.”

        David shot a glare at him, “Serena here is an amazing artist. The magic journal makes her drawings come to life, not just her thoughts.”

        Silvia stood up and sat next to an 8-year-old girl with the same black skin as David. “This is Nina. She’s David’s little sister.”

        The girl smiled at him with innocent eyes. Her warm attitude was enough to melt someone’s heart, and so he smiled back without even trying to.

        Silvia stood up again and then walked over to a pale boy with white hair, white eyes, and white clothes. The boy sat on the floor crossing his legs. She rested her hand on his head and leaned on it as if his head was a table which seemed to irritate him, but he didn’t say anything, just gave an annoyed smile.

        “This is Loin. He’s a Myalene, meaning he has psychic powers. You know, telekinesis, mind-reading, that kind of stuff. He’s the annoying one.”

        Loin grinned as if he took pride in this quality. “And I’m quite good at it.”

        “Look, you guys have something in common already,” she announced with a small smile.

        Max had never seen that humorous smile on her before. She didn’t seem to like smiling around Max, but she did seem to like smiling around her friends.

        “And that’s Yuka,” she motioned towards a teenager lounging on the couch.

        He took up all three cushions not really caring that everyone else couldn’t sit there. Yuka had short purple hair and long bangs that covered his eyes. Atop his head were a set of feline ears and a tail curled around his legs. He yawned as the magenta-haired boy absently scratched Yuka behind his ear as he stared at a spot on the wall.

        “Yuka is an Animorph Coloris. Animorphs have animal features and can also turn into that animal. His,” she nodded her head towards Yuka, “Is a cat.”

        “Lion!” Yuka corrected sourly.

        “Over there is Jayden. She’s also an Animorph but a wolf.”

        Max followed Silvia’s gaze to see a girl in all black standing behind the lamp so that she blended in with the shadows. He frowned, not having had noticed her before. She didn’t look like an Animorph at first until he noticed her gray tail. He assumed her ears were covered by her hood. Blond hair peeked from under her hood, and her shadowed gray eyes glared at him.

        Max swallowed uneasily, “A pleasure…”

        “She doesn’t like outsiders. It’s fine. She’ll warm up to you… hopefully.”

        Maxwell was still unsure about Jaiden, but Silvia moved on.

        “Finally there’s Varyn, a Drakon,” she gestured toward the armor-clad, magenta-haired boy petting Yuka who suddenly snapped out of his daze.

        “Oh uh,” he stammered, “Greetings newcomer.”

         “Drakons are prideful humanoids of fierce battle and religion with the ability to speak with dragons,” Silvia went on.

        Varyn smiled a bit. “And what’s not to take pride in?”

        “That’s everyone right?” she asked everyone.

        Loin spoke up, “Well there’s also Teddy, but he’s on messenger duty. He’s probably already on his way back.”

        Max wanted to ask what messenger duty was, but he was cut off by Aquata Lagoon entering the room with bowls of green soup served with a piece of blackish bread.

        “Dinner is served,” she called placing the bowls on the table

        “What is this?” Max asked stirring his soup.

        The soup was thick and seemed to have an odd assortment of vegetables in it that was mostly the color green. Some were in the shape of circles and crescents while others were sticks, shavings, and what looked like…maybe mush?

        He saw that everyone was digging into their soup. Jaiden had walked over to Yuka who sat up to eat. The two, as well as Varyn, were sitting side by side eating Ms. Lagoon’s cooking. Serena was sitting on a chair. David and Nina were sharing the couch across from Yuka’s territory. Loin kneeled on the floor, His chest at table height. Max took a deep breath and lifting the spoon to his face, he placed it in his mouth. It was warm and tasted like Olive Garden.

        “It’s my famous recipe: Algae soup and charcoal bread,” explained Ms. Lagoon.

        Max almost choked on his second spoonful. He glanced back at the soup with an uneasy frown, but then shrugged and continued eating it. If it tasted good and didn’t make him throw up, it was good food.

        “So how do you know so little about discords?” Varyn asked after swallowing some soup, “What are you, from another dimension?”

        Yuka, Varyn, David, and Loin laughed. Jaiden smiled a bit. Max and Silvia glanced at each other. The four stopped laughing when they noticed Silvia’s and Max’s faces.

        “Well…about that…” Max chuckled.

[8 pages]

(I’m not too proud of this old chapter. Too much tell and not enough show. I love the characters in this, but they won’t be too prevalent. Oh well. Live and learn.)