Day 1 Evening: The Opera

As Vas had looked through each blade and weapon from Haddie’s bag and kicked most aside, Jacy bent double at the waist to pick one of them up. She had a way of bending from the hips, never from the back and knees, which kept her spine straight. Posture was very important for a deckhand who used to practice ballet. She was looking over the knife while Vas gave Gill and Haddie a talking to. It was almost cute the way Haddie steadily squirreled away weapons. Had she not also used one of those weapons to attack an Alliance Officer it would have definitely been cute.

Vas called their merry little troupe into motion and Jacy fell into stride on the outside, nearest Haddie. Life was going to be rough for these two kids, especially so for a young girl who had no peripheral vision or functioning second eye and an inability or mental block to speaking. Jacy couldn’t help but feel bad for them, but pity alone was the worst response any could ever give to another’s misfortune. If action, consolation or correction did not follow that pity it was often received as a slap to the face. Don’t feel bad for me; help me make my situation better. That was how people dealt with terrible loss.

So they knew their destination, the Opera House. And they knew where it was located after Jacy asked a relatively sober passerby for directions. She had a way of getting what she wanted from strange men especially when all they wanted was a bit of attention from a pretty woman. Not too much attention, just a bit. She talked a vender into giving Haddie a bag of street candies which the girl then refused to share with anyone.

When they arrived at the Opera House it was clear they’d overlooked a very real impediment, or at least they hadn’t yet discussed it. Vas, Gill and Haddie were definitely not dressed for the Opera; Dillon was probably okay. Jacy might get past the double doors without too much hassle, but likely she’d not be able to walk in with her weapon holstered to her hip. It was Santo, though, perhaps everyone in attendance would be packing heat.

“If we try the front doors and get sent away, they’ll be on the lookout for us. I suggest you sneak around to the back while I work my magic and get in the front. I’ll let you in…...there.” she said as she looked around and spotted a side entrance. She unstrapped her pistol and handed it to Vas. “Here, you best hold this. In fact, might be best if all the weapons went in the bag. We don’t want to appear hostile. Haddie, please don’t stab, slice or shoot anyone. Yes? That’s the Haddie we all adore. Alright, let’s do it.”

Jacy hadn’t waited for the others to discuss it or work out a better plan. She tended to go with the first one that came to her and that usually involved an in your face frontal approach. She strutted up to the building whose doors were being watched by two well groomed and dressed men of sizable stature. After a brief exchange they reached out and pulled the doors open for her. The foyer wasn’t empty, there were a few men and women on the arched stairs talking quietly to one another in polite fashion, but no one paid Jacy much attention save to spare a nod or smile. When she was out of sight around the corner she picked up the pace and sprinted down the hall in her boots, light as a feather wearing boots. Fortunately the side door was not being watched, though it was barred from the inside. She looked it over and didn’t see any visible alarms so shrugged and lifted the iron bar before throwing the door open wide.