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There’s a cold sense of satisfaction in walking around Penacony nowadays. Topaz knows she didn’t do much – she couldn’t have, what with the Family’s restrictions and the Order’s plotting, but still. Pride.
Penacony is grand and towers higher than any other planet she’s ever seen despite its catastrophes, and part of her can’t help it, knowing that part of it belongs to her now.
It doesn’t matter that technically, it’s the IPC’s stake, and Aventurine and Jade were the key pieces in acquiring that stake. It doesn’t matter that Topaz never really got to show her worth to Diamond.
A job well done is a job well done. A planet saved is a planet saved.
Topaz walks down the streets of Golden Hour, a smile playing on her lips. The eternal festivities continue, despite the Oak Family’s plots and the murders. Partygoers stumble around, laughing and drinking. Bettors stop, showing anybody who would look their hard-earned winnings. There’s a persistent cheerful melody ringing out from a piano that plays itself in the middle of a courtyard.
Something about it all reminds her of her own rise from nothing. The steady climb, that feeling of chipping away bit by bit at an insurmountable mountain until there's an opening barely wide enough to fit a finger in - and prying it open.
Yet, there’s still that pervasive cold that sticks to her skin. Like sharp hooks buried under her skin, clinging onto her and dragging her back - reminding her that every job well done is a world saved from another planet’s fate. Reminding her that her planet was one lazy day away from being-
Numby bumps their head against her boot, and it’s so much easier to breathe. She crouches down to pet behind their ears, taking the distraction for what it is.
“Hey, buddy. Thanks for always making me feel better.”
Numby chirps and points their ears down a quiet alleyway. When Topaz doesn’t react beyond a look, the Trotter disappears down the alley.
Topaz sighs. “Alright, alright,” she laughs. She trails slowly after Numby, taking cautious looks as she goes, hand on her gun. If there’s anything the past month has taught her, it’s that the Sweet Dream isn’t as safe as it seems.
Numby stops at a dumpster filled to the top with bottles of SoulGlad and Dreamjolt Troupe bodies. It’s a grim sight, matched by the painful retching sounds coming from behind the dumpster. Reluctantly, Topaz follows Numby as they round the dumpster.
There’s a brown-haired man in a suit jacket with no pants curled in on himself, tucked in between a brick wall and the dumpster. His face is flushed, his eyes are swollen and red, but the one thing stopping her from simply turning around and grumbling about drunkards in the Golden Hour is the streak of blood trailing down his hand from under the sleeve of his suit jacket.
Numby bumps their head against the man. His eyes soften, and then they widen, and he turns away to throw up again. Topaz notes the streaks of blood in the multi-colored vomit.
Topaz kneels at his side. “Oh, no. This doesn’t look good.”
The man coughs, collapsing onto the floor. Topaz gestures at Numby to go and find help. The Trotter leaves with a squeak.
Topaz rolls up the man’s sleeve to start dabbing at the blood. “You’re bleeding, sir. What happened to you?”
“Made a bad deal,” he coughs out.
Topaz frowns. “Hold still.” She pulls the jacket off him, revealing a ripped shirt and beneath it, three stab wounds on his left arm and chest.
“I’ve got a daughter,” the man ekes out. “She’s smart – not like me. Likes tinkering with machines, likes talking about it. Swear, she could go on for days about everything she’s thinking of building.”
Topaz grits her teeth as she applies pressure to the deepest of wounds.
“I’ve never been a good listener. When her mother left the Dream behind, I knew I had to do anything – anything – to help the kid.”
The man barely flinches at the pain. His skin is pallid and covered in sweat. “Keep talking,” Topaz urges.
“When I heard there was a new shop set up in Penacony that could grant any wish, I thought… huh.” A shooting star crosses the sky above them, reflected in his glassy eyes. “I asked for money – enough to set her up for life. I got it in exchange for losing her.”
Topaz turns her head away. She knows – she has a terrible feeling, but she has to stay with him. That cold from earlier, with its hooks under her skin returns. “You’re a good man.”
The man barks out a laugh. “I gave it all to her. She thought I got back into gambling, said it was the last straw. She took less than half the money and left without a word.”
Topaz tears a piece of fabric from her own sleeve off and begins wrapping it around the wound. “I’m sorry.”
“What’ve you got to be sorry for?” He chuckles, and it slowly turns to a sob. “I tried paying off the debts I had with the rest of the money, but it wasn’t enough. Turns out the Dream isn’t as safe as it used to be.” He gestures at his body, tears trailing out of his eyes.
Topaz shuts the cold in her bones off. “Numby will be back with help soon. Just hold tight and keep talking.”
The man’s face turns somehow whiter, and he shoots up, grunting in pain as he does so. “No. I can’t- The bills, Miss. How am I going to pay for the treatment?”
Topaz stares into the distance. “Don’t worry about that.” She straightens up, clutching at the torn sleeve. The debate she’s having in her mind isn’t new – it’s just that every time, the strong, prideful part of herself has lost out to the part of her that is secure in what she does.
This time, Topaz thinks, is different. The evidence is sitting in front of her, and there’s no turning away. The question feels like ripping off a scab, but she knows she has to ask it eventually. “What was the name of the shop?”
The man grunts as he lies back down, a faraway look on his face. “The Bonajade Exchange.”
Topaz leaves him in the care of the Bloodhound Family with a bag of coin sizable enough to pay for whatever treatment he needs three times over. She hopes, desperately, that he has the chance to use it all.
-
Topaz focuses on her work. There are meetings to organize, Family heads to ingratiate herself with, orders from Diamond to follow, and in between it all, an adorable Trotter to keep her from getting lost in her own head. There’s no room for anything else.
So, Topaz sits with her paperwork in her lavish room in the Reverie, Numby curled up in her lap, and tries her best to ignore the festivities outside.
The Land of Festivities, Topaz thinks ruefully. At least Penacony lives up to the moniker. She’s never heard of a planet celebrating its own acquisition before. Typically, when the IPC begins its process, reactions aren’t exactly favorable, for one reason or another. People see them as dirty, corrupt, ruthless-
Well. Topaz isn’t a fool. She knows, to some degree, why people whisper about them like that. Even if she does her best to tune it out, to remember why she’s doing any of this-
She can’t work like this. She keeps thinking of the trail of blood running down a suit jacket, and how out of place it had seemed in the Sweet Dream. She keeps thinking-
There’s a knock on her door. Numby squeaks and jumps up, clearly excited by whoever’s on the other side.
Jade is graceful as ever, seeming to hover through the door when Topaz opens it and steps out of her way. She carries herself with poise, waltzing around the room in pointed, direct steps. Topaz thinks she can’t imagine her in any place that isn’t at the top – she radiates direction, power, drive – everything that makes the operation of the Bonajade Exchange make sense.
It isn’t like Topaz can blame anybody for taking her deals.
Jade sits on her couch, and Topaz follows. Numby climbs onto Jade’s lap, nuzzling into the fine fabric of her dress, and Topaz thinks her heart is melting.
“Oh, it’s good to see you again, Numby,” Jade purrs, her hand scratching behind Numby’s ear. The trotter squeaks in response, burrowing even further into her.
“Numby always loves seeing you. Probably because you always have some sweets on hand.”
Jade smiles. She holds out a pack of Dreamlight sweets wrapped in a purple bow and giggles when Numby pounces. “I treat everybody dear to me,” she smiles, and then turns her attention to Topaz. “Of course, Numby isn’t the only darling here.”
Topaz blushes. “Madam Jade,” she stutters.
“Jelena. Haven’t we spoken about this?”
“Jade. It’s always lovely to see you.”
“And you, Topaz.” Jade shifts closer to Topaz, taking care not to disturb Numby as she goes. The movement and the proximity light something up in Topaz, but she’s quick to snuff it out.
Jade smiles, and Topaz feels like she’s been caught. “I hope Diamond hasn’t been working you too hard, Jelena.”
“Nothing I can’t handle. Acquisitions of this caliber would always be daunting – if anything, I’m glad he’s trusting me with the responsibility.”
“He’d be a fool not to. You’re the only colleague I consistently look forward to working with.” Her tone is low and heavy and full of affection.
Topaz can’t help her ego from inflating. “Well, I do my best, Mad- Jade.”
Jade smiles at her softly. “Good. You’ll get the position you deserve eventually, Topaz.” She extends her hand and tucks a strand of hair behind her ear. Topaz flushes, her heart racing.
“Is there anything I can get you?” She asks.
“Just some water, if you wouldn’t mind. I find SoulGlad grates.”
Topaz nods, eager for the breath of fresh air. She steps out of the room and Jade’s intoxicating spell, trying to figure out what is proper to think of the woman – because no matter how much work she does, how many distractions she has, Jade is somehow at the forefront of her mind. It never used to be like this, and she knows why things have changed.
Because ever since she’d come across the man in the alley, everything she feels for the woman has been amplified and stretched into every nerve.
It’s like she’s seen another side of her, and now the feelings she’s tried to bury are rising like the tide, unbidden, forceful, and dangerous if she isn’t careful.
She knows this isn’t the time to have this revelation. Jade is a friend, a coworker, and her guest. It shouldn’t matter that Topaz has been wondering what to do with these feelings – the confusion, the hatred, the lust, and the love – she has dreams and desires that she’s been working on for her whole life, carried on since she was just a little girl who saw her planet almost come to ruin, before people like her saved it.
Fleetingly, Topaz wonders what would’ve happened if Jade had been put in charge of her planet.
She shakes her head viciously. Jade is a good person. An amazing person, if she’s being honest. Granting desires? Isn’t that what the IPC is all about? Taking destitute, dangerous planets like her own, raising them, caring for them like a child, until they’re ready to go out and make a profit is just the Bonajade Exchange on a planetary level, right?
Jade has always just wanted to help people, Topaz knows. But no one person can simply just help – They’d turn themselves inside out, strip themselves of what makes them them, all in service of people who would inevitably forget who made them. Jade simply needs her due so she can keep helping people in the future.
If she’s honest, though? Topaz doesn’t know how a bloodied, lonely man in an alley could help Jade.
Topaz shakes her head and shuts everything out. She can’t keep thinking about this, not without knowing everything, and not without making assumptions. If there’s anything she knows, it’s that assumptions are bad, dangerous business. You don’t make it far in the IPC gambling on could haves and possibilities. The only venture worth investing in is one that’s all but guaranteed.
So Topaz takes the glass of water – dyed rainbow, of course, because Penacony is still Penacony – and places it in front of Jade. Jade smiles at her softly, and Topaz reacts accordingly. She sits even closer than Jade had brought them, just enough that their thighs are touching, but only barely. An investment.
The slits in Jade’s pupils dilate. “Oh, Jelena. It’s so good to see you.”
Topaz averts her eyes shyly. “I feel the same. But, if there’s any business to go over, we should do it-“
“No business,” Jade asserts, her hand sliding atop Topaz’s. “Just us. How long has it been since we’ve even been on the same planet, let alone with the time to spare for each other?”
Topaz blushes. Her heart feels dangerously full, as if it could burst. Not for the first time, she wonders why she even bothered to consider anything behind Jade’s motives – investments are only worth anything if there’s something for another person to lose. A war fought behind desks and screens, and how can she fault Jade for being good at it? She’s lovely and beautiful and always pays her dues, and truly, there’s nothing more Topaz could ask for.
Topaz makes a promise to herself in that moment - to never forget who made her.
-
Topaz runs into Aventurine a day later. She’s visiting the Trailblaze’s Stern on her own discretion – a little breath of fresh air after a night full of complicated, searching gazes shared with a woman who makes her feel all too many things, and a morning filled with catching up on the work she neglected the whole night.
Aventurine is here, assumedly to get drunk and flirt. It isn’t her doubting his work ethic that makes her say that. Rather, it’s the fact that he hasn’t been assigned any job since his injuries, and that he’s sitting at a bar talking intensely with a cute cowboy who seems to always be scanning his surroundings.
He’s the one who spots her, and he alerts Aventurine with a lean and a lilt of his mouth. Aventurine meets her eyes a second later, gesturing for her to join them.
Normally, Topaz refuses to subject herself to third wheeling. She hasn’t felt particularly normal since Jade left last night though, so she decides to take a risk.
“I hope I’m not interrupting anything.”
“Not at all, not at all. Topaz, meet my new good friend, the cowboy Boothill.”
Boothill takes one look at her, grimaces, and eyes Aventurine wearily. “Who the fudge is this?”
“This is Topaz. One of my few coworkers who might be as interesting as I am.”
Boothill snickers and turns around.
“Apologies, Topaz. He can be a bit shy.”
Topaz eyes the wires and bits of machinery that compose his arm and simulate the contractions of a tendon in his wrist as he picks up a glass and brings it to his lips. She listens to the subtle whirr beneath his iron chest, picking up on a few familiar sounds.
She knows IPC tech when she sees it.
“Aventurine,” she warns.
He waves her off, an easy grin flitting across his face. “Don’t worry about a thing, Topaz. The cowboy and I have a few aligned interests, for now.”
Topaz reassesses and watches Boothill closely. She notices little things this time. Like how the intensity she had felt between him and Aventurine likely isn’t borne from attraction. His dominant hand hovers just above his holster discreetly, twitching as if he’s ready for a fight.
Aventurine, for his part, watches her and smiles.
“What’re you here for, Topaz?”
“Relaxation.”
Aventurine hums. “Diamond still working you hard over Jarilo-VI, huh?”
“I made my decision. It’s nothing I can’t handle.”
“Of course, of course, friend. There’s a reason he’s willing to put all of this on you, you know? And it isn’t because he thinks you’re doing a bad job.”
“I- yes. I’m aware the higher-ups believe in me. It’s daunting, but all I can do is remain sincere and work hard.”
Aventurine’s eyes twinkle as he hums. "Yes, and as long as you remain… ingratiated with Jade, things might just work out, eh?”
Topaz’s chest goes cold. “That’s not- what are you implying?”
“Nothing, dear friend. Just that us Stonehearts tend to have a noticeable presence, especially on new planets. People take note of us, if you understand. Gossip finds its way around.”
“Nothing happened, Aventurine.”
Aventurine’s eyes go dull just for a moment. His mouth turns down, the tilt in his eyebrows disappear, and a veil of… apathy overtakes him. It lasts for barely a moment, and the easy smile is back in place.
“Keep it that way. Stay safe, Topaz.”
“She’s a good person, Aventurine,” Topaz insists.
Aventurine doesn’t even have time to respond before Boothill slams his fist on the bar. It leaves a hole in the wood, a crowd of people staring at them, and his metal fingers shaking harshly.
When she looks back at Aventurine, he’s wearing the same smile as usual, but something about it is mocking – dangerous, even, now that she’s seen his true face beneath it.
“I’ll see you another time, friend,” Aventurine tells her, and Topaz takes it as her cue to retreat.
-
Topaz is furious. To think that he could imply- that he’d let the cowboy wear their property, that he could speak of her like that-
Then Topaz pauses. She considers for a moment, and then a little longer.
She’s read stories about previous cases, failed investments and what had happened to survivors who had potential.
Topaz remembers how sickened she had felt when she read it, how she had promised herself that none of it would’ve happened if she had been in charge.
But it had happened anyway.
Topaz wonders if Boothill had ever wanted the augmentations.
She wonders if they would’ve seen the same potential in her.
-
She gets back to her room in the Reverie when the Golden Hour festivities are nearing an end. In truth, there’s no proper end – merely a changing of shifts as those who are tired struggle back to their rooms and those who are just waking up are readying themselves for another 8 hours of partying, but Topaz hasn’t been feeling the vibe lately.
She’s been shaking for hours, ever since her conversation with Aventurine. She thinks back to Belobog, to the vagrants and miners and soldiers all working in tandem even when faced with her superior technology. She thinks of Bronya, Himeko, and why they couldn’t trust her.
Even with her spotless record, her assurances and failsafes, they hadn’t believed in her. And truly, why would they?
Topaz thinks of Belobog, of Boothill, and the bloody man in the alley.
The hooks dig deep into her skin, leaving imprints deeper than her flesh – bleeding into her mind, her self, until she can hardly remember who she is.
Before she knows it, she’s texting Jade – anything to stop the feeling.
Are you free tonight?
It’s typed in a rush and feels like it was sent in a fervor. She hopes Jade can’t tell.
The response comes instantly.
It’s late, darling Jelena.
Topaz stops. She wonders what she’s looking for – reassurance? Comfort? She doesn’t know. All she knows is that the claws tear at her skin, and she can’t bear to think anymore.
I know.
Jade responds with a room number. Topaz is off before she can think any better.
-
It feels like she’s drowning – Jade smells like lavender and sweat and something hypnotic that keeps her submerged beneath an ocean of desire. She whispers in a voice that reminds her of wines and bouquets and the sweetest of dreams. She kisses her softly, and then harshly when Topaz asks for it. She caresses her everywhere and everywhere, and reaches deep into her – deeper than skin, deeper than bones. She plies every claw out of her skin painstakingly, with loving, careful effort and electric touches. She presses her breasts into Topaz’s mouth, makes her scream with her touch, makes her beg with her mouth, and by the end of it, Topaz thinks she’s a new woman.
Jade guides her through it all. By the end of the night, when Topaz asks her to hold her, Jade agrees with a smile. In the morning, Jade covers her marks, kisses her on the lips, and smiles at her, promising this won’t be the last time.
Topaz wonders how she could’ve ever doubted her.
-
In the morning, Topaz makes her breakfast. A lesser woman might’ve thought it’d be too much, but Topaz isn’t a fool – she knows how deep her feelings run for Jade, and she isn’t going to bother denying them anymore.
Jade joins her in the kitchen with a smirk, tracing her form with her eyes and then her hands.
“Was it everything you ever desired, Jelena?”
“More,” Topaz answers easily.
“I know,” Jade husks, and then she slips away.
Topaz sighs affectionately. When she’s done with the breakfast, she scoops the plates up and places them at the table in front of them both.
Jade smiles at her, but her attention is taken by the phone in front of her. Topaz watches in earnest as Jade shakes her head, sighs, and finally puts the phone away.
“Apologies, lover. A client has been… difficult, lately.”
Topaz’s heart stirs at the nickname. “A client?”
“Yes, a client. I’m sure you’re aware, but sometimes transactions made through the Bonajade Exchange can extend longer than they may seem. Especially when there is some… buyers remorse involved.”
Topaz bites into her food. “Ah?”
Jade follows her lead. “It’s a shame, but the nature of the deals means I’m unable to offer refunds. That said, if you’d be willing to listen, it would ease my mind, darling.”
“Of course, Jade. You can tell me anything.”
Jade smiles and reaches across the table to hold Topaz’s hand. With her other, she continues eating. “As I said, my latest client has been difficult. Supposedly, she’d left Penacony recently but been forced to return when her employment and savings dried up.” Jade makes a crooning noise after a bite of the food. “Jelena, you are a wonderful cook.”
“Thank you, Jade,” Topaz blushes.
“Anyway, she came to me looking for somebody to fulfill her dream – to do the work she’d always loved with her family at her side. She loved machinery, you see, and had been tinkering with everything she could find since she was a child. However, she didn’t like the methods her parents used to ensure she could work in the field. Dirty funds, you know the like. Despite that, she came to regret leaving them behind.”
Jade’s hand in hers feels cold.
“I had to inform her that her mother was dead – a terrible, unfortunate tragedy that only seemed to complicate our transaction. The second complication was the state of her father – he was a former client of mine, and it seemed his side of the deal hadn’t been kind to him. I doubt she expected him to have fallen into a coma after an assault from some debt collectors.”
Topaz watches as Jade eats, hands still interlocked.
“The last was the issue of the compensation I required, but as I’m sure you’re aware, my deals are always fair. I needed insurance that I wouldn’t be losing everything with my investment, of course.”
Of course, Topaz agrees.
“Would you like to know what I asked of her? What she gave me in return for making her dream of working in machinery with her father at her side come true?”
Topaz looks up to see Jade staring at her. She’s smiling happily, the slits in her eyes narrowing, an ocean of blackness in them.
“I’d rather not,” Topaz’s answer comes freely.
Jade laughs. “I understand, darling. I suppose the most important part is that the investment will pay off. I’m a patient woman, after all. May I kiss you?”
“Please.”
Jade kisses her until it’s hard to think – and Topaz lets herself stop.