Invidia Luxuria (I)- Introduction To The Districts of Lust

  --- Booker H. Freeman ---

  It didn’t take them long to track down Beez’el and V the short red and the tall pink Inferni standing out due to their health if nothing else as they helped load the various injured and traumatized Inferni onto a rail car.

  “Hey, you made it back before we left!” Beez’el smiled arms wide as he took a seat on the edge of a train car.

  “You guys are getting ready to go?” Lydia frowned (hideously), a certain disappointment clear as she took in the sight.

  (Lust: To be fair Beez’el and V are her first friends since she got free!)

  (Wrath: The bonds of battle can form brotherhoods most firm as well.)

  “Yeah.” V nodded with a wry grin as she crossed her jacket arms over her half shirt. “We were talking things over, and even if we shut the pit down they still had enough friends that someone might be moving in to fill in the gap. It’s better for us to move to one of the other markets until the heat dies down.”

  “As long as we’re somewhere else, no Inferni will sell us out.” Beez’el grinned, jeaned legs swinging. “Hell, they’ll probably send whatever assholes coming in the wrong direction altogether.”

  (Gluttony: Rabbits need to find a burrow to mend when they escape their hunters.)

  (Sloth: We all need a break after a long day. Nothing wrong with that.)

  Lydia’s hands grasped at the edge of her jacket, eyes not quite meeting either Inferni’s as she asked, “Any idea where you guys are going?”

  “Probably going to bounce a couple of districts.” Beez’el answered, eyes briefly glancing towards Tucker as his hands tapped where Booker knew him to have a knife in his jacket. “Can’t say where exactly, but the best way to avoid someone is to hit up a district they can’t get to right away. And with this many people, trains are the best way.” The Inferni explained, rapping his knuckles on the car door.

  “What about your bus?” Lydia frowned (grotesquely.) “Is it going to be safe where you left it?”

  Beez’el hissed through his teeth, hand on the back of his neck. “Someone will probably steal my wheels, but the actual bus will be fine. Wouldn’t be the first time I’ve had that happen because I had to lay low without it for a bit.”

  (Greed: Clearly he hasn’t established the proper reputation for if someone touches his things.)

  (Gluttony: Heh, no one is going to make that mistake in our territory~)

  “The bus itself will get left behind because no one wants the thing.” V huffed, far more amused than her crimson companion. “Bucket of bolts isn’t worth a third of the money he puts into it.”

  “Hey, don’t diss my bus bitch! That bucket of bolts was twice as faithful as you ever were!” Beez’el growled, eyes briefly glowing. “In fact if we could fit everyone on my bus I’d drive us all out to Ira Gula and kick it off the grid until everyone is up and sinning again!”

  “As if that would work, just because you want to live out your cowboy fantasy doesn’t change the fact that Ira Gula is still to close to make a good hideout!” V shot back her own eyes seeming to glow in the dim lights of the underground market.

  “Really, because if I’m remembering right, I’m not the one with a cowboy fantasy, cowgirl.” Beez’el scoffed with a (delightfully) smug grin.

  V narrowed her eyes and bared her fangs. “Oh, between us I wasn’t the cowgirl in-”

  “Right, okay, um- If you guys are going to multiple districts, can you tell us which one you’re going to next?” Lydia interrupted, an almost desperate plea to her voice. “We’re kind of trying to figure out where to go next and maybe we could hitch a ride on your train?”

  Both Inferni blinked before turning to the youngest of their little group, their eyes eventually drifting between Booker and Tucker with mixed -if differing- expressions both.

  If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

  “Well, we do kind of owe you guys one.” V confessed, her eyes glancing towards Beez’el. “Especially since that bounty apparently turned out to be bullshit.”

  Beez’el held his hands up in a defensive manner. “Hey, they sounded completely legit when I was trying to get into their pants.”

  “And how drunk were you?” V pointedly asked.

  “That… is pointless since we’re giving these guys a free lift to… Invidia Luxuria!” Beez’el smiled widely.

  V promptly swiped the back of Beez’el’s head.

  (Pride:... Envy and Lust?)

  (Envy: Why do I not like the sound of that?)

  (Lust: I’ve no idea best buddy!)

  (Envy: Oh, that’s why…)

  “What the fuck?!” Beez’el winced, rubbing the back of his head. “The fuck was that for?!”

  “You just told a kid you were giving them a lift to Invidia Luxuria!” V hissed.

  “Oh. Oh…” Beez’el cringed, before looking at a confused Lydia. “If you want porn you can get it for free on the net. Don’t let anyone con you into paying for it.”

  Lydia’s face became a curious mix of red and white as she both paled and flushed at the same time.

  V gave Beez’el another swipe, this one hard enough to knock him out of the train car.

  “I… believe I’m lacking some context.” Booker confessed.

  Beez’el gave Booker a confused look from where he laid on the ground. “You… don’t know what Invidia Luxuria’s deal is?”

  “Right, you were never interested in that kind of stuff…” Tucker sighed, hand running down his face. “Might mistake you for a priest if I didn’t know ya married Emily.”

  “Again. Context?” He requested once more.

  Tucker, V, and Beez’el gave each other awkward looks before the former two gave the latter a look.

  Beez’el rolled his eyes and mumbled, “Bunch of fuckless prudes…” before picking himself off the ground and explaining that, “Invidia Luxuria- Actually, no, all Luxuria districts are party districts where depending on which one you go to you can either find a lot of fun, or have a lot of fun with your partner…s as the case may be.”

  V took a deep breath, before letting out a sigh as she went ahead and elaborated that, “And if you aren’t a manwhore it’s basically one massive red light district spanning seven districts.”

  “Eh, Luxuria Disidia is actually more of a poor district with cheap housing than a party district. It’s where a lot of people end up getting pushed if they don’t… settle in their native district.” Tucker disagreed a touch uncomfortably.

  (Sloth: He probably wound up in that district for a while himself.)

  “It’s also got cheap hotels with big beds.” Beez’el added, much more cheerfully.

  “Okay, um… Fuck this is going to be embarassing isn’t it?” Lydia grumbled quietly, before eventually turning to the adults in the room not currently suffering from amnesia. “You guys make it sound like Invidia Luxuria is worse than the other districts for some reason.”

  “What? No.” Beez’el frowned in disgust (that matched his expression.) “The worst district is Luxuria Avaricia. Don’t step foot there if you can help it mini-bitch. Place is full of nothing but the really desperate and the creepy assholes who want to take advantage.”

  (Greed: Clearly people who don’t realize a rising tide raises all ships, giving my kin a bad name.)

  (Envy: Sure it is…)

  “Then why did you guys make such a big deal about this place?” Lydia frowned (marring her face.)

  “It’s the porn district…” V finally groaned.

  (Lust: Ew, gross…)

  (Envy: Why is that associated with us?)

  (Pride: I’m… sure there’s a logic to it.)

  Unaware of his internal thoughts, V continued to explain that, “The entire district is just plastered in ads trying to get people to follow porn stars and… It’s really not the best place to be for a kid.”

  “As bad or worse than being trapped in a prison city full of nazis?” Lydia asked, eyes narrow.

  “Uh, I… don’t know, because I’m not sure what a nazi is?” Beez’el admitted, seemingly taken off guard by Lydia’s reaction.

  “She’s from Ira Invidia, where they locked up all those fucks who messed everything up seventy-eighty years ago.” Tucker explained for the Infernus natives.

  “Oh, right when you guys went from randomly popping up to basically flooding this place and fucking everything up.” Beez’el nodded in understanding, before pausing and glancing towards Booker and Lydia. “Not that you guys fucked everything, you uh, actually kind of unfucked things because both of you are some of the good hume and-”

  V pinched the bridge of her nose and warned her fellow Inferni to, “Just shut up while you’re ahead…”

  “Yeah…” Beez’el cringed into another nod.

  Before any of them could respond to that, a train whistle began to screech from nearby.

  “Oh, thank fuck.” The red Inferni whispered, before clapping his hands. “Well, if you fuckers want to hitch a ride with us to the next district climb aboard while you can!”

  With that said Beez’el quickly scrambled into the train car, earning a huff of exasperation and a shake of the head from V. “Well, I’d prefer to give you your own car but… One trip isn’t going to kill anyone. Come on.” V told them before climbing aboard.