Malefic Society

10. Vieste

It took the siblings a few minutes to be able to actually leave the shadows of the wall where they were hiding. Despite having the discussion, actually being in the sun out of their own volition took more courage than they expected. After all, they had lived their whole lives hiding from the yellow giant in the sky.

"It's warm and... it actually feels nice," Catherine said. She was wearing her casual t-shirt and pants, so her arms were exposed.

"So this is sunlight," muttered Crane. He then scanned his siblings from head to toe, "I don't have Thompson and the dolls, what about you guys?"

"I'm armless," Chris raised his palms.

"Same. The rune stones are not with me," Catherine rummaged through her pockets.

"I guess we have no weapons. Stay vigilant," Crane warned.

The siblings carefully left the area where they were transported in, which looked to be an alleyway behind an abandoned warehouse. They walked down the white cobblestone road to an open space where they could see more of the new place.

"This... is a city!" exclaimed Chris with excitement.

Beyond the alleyway and the abandoned warehouse was a quiet street, but far ahead, they could see numerous buildings, more than they'd ever seen in their own dark town.

The building styles were similar to the ones back home, but the dominant color in the city was white, and the buildings were built strongly with stones. It was a world-different sight from what they were used to; everything was bright and vibrant, especially with the sun shining brightly above.

"This place is beautiful!" Catherine couldn't contain her amazement.

"Right, you are," replied Crane with a wide smile on his face.

The trio kept on walking further into the city, passing by the quiet place onto the more busy area of the city.

"This is Magazzino Street that we're on. Over there, it looks like Oceano Street. That's a cool boutique to our right," Chris couldn't help but marvel at the sight like a child at a toy store.

"The people here wear similar clothing styles to ours, so at least we don't look too out of place..." Crane paused, "except for our skin tone," he looked at his arms.

The people walking down the street had more tanned skin, so the difference was very distinct. It appeared that the city had a lot of sun around the year.

As they were looking around, the people on the street were also looking at them, whether it was because of their unnaturally pale skin, or because of their identical faces. They didn't stare for too long, however, out of politeness.

Vroom!

Cars and buses were driving down the street, while in the middle of the big road, there was a tram track and an overhead line following along the steel rails.

Most of the cars were of the same model, and there was an inverted W logo on their grilles, which was most likely the logo of the manufacturer.

"Those cars are running, unlike the junks in our world that no longer work. Not that anyone can drive on sand anyway," Catherine commented in amazement.

"They must have the technology and materials needed to maintain and run those vehicles in this world," Chris theorized. He couldn't stop staring at the cars driving down the street, and when they walked past one that was parked, he almost couldn't hold back touching it.

"I know what you're thinking. Don't touch someone's belonging without permission," Catherine warned her brother.

After getting his attention off the cars reluctantly, Chris became busy watching everything he could feast his eyes on around him. The vibrant color of the people's clothes, especially the women's, the bright blue sky above, the birds flying away when they approached. Everything was exciting to him.

Meanwhile, Crane's eyes were locked on the clothes on the window display in the boutique to his right.

Those dresses will surely look great on Mjrn and Martha. I just need to make smaller versions of them. And that suit will dress up Thompson nicely.

His mind was wandering, looking at a beautiful girl's dress with a big purple ribbon on the front, and a grey gentleman's suit that looked tailor-made.

"So what's our plan, Crane?" asked Catherine slightly concerned, "We don't know anything in this city, and we have nowhere to stay, let alone money to pay for things,"

"To be honest, I have no idea either," he replied a second after. He then looked away from the boutique, "Let's just enjoy ourselves for now... think of it as a vacation,"

"I'm all up for it," Chris replied excitedly with his right palm pressed against his chest, acting as if he was honored.

They kept on walking and found themselves on a much bigger street. Chris noticed that it was called Square Street.

"But this city seems big. I'm sure we'll be exhausted by the time we finish exploring just one part of it." she paused, and looked at the tram that was about to pass by, " and we don't have money to get on that tram, assuming it's for public."

Ding... ding... ding.. ding...

A rectangular vehicle ran along the track and approached their location before stopping at the spot that had a shelter. People got off and people got on, and the tram drove away again. It seemed to be a typical sight of that busy city.

The siblings were looking at the sight from the side of the road, wondering how it felt like to ride a tram, especially Chris; his eyes sparkled with curiosity.

On each side of Square Street commercial buildings. Clothes stores, bookshops, car dealers, and restaurants offered the city's inhabitants a lot of choices of services. Farther along the street were banks and what looked to be office buildings.

The triplets had walked for at least 2 kilometers, but they had yet to feel tired. They were still excitedly looking around, enjoying the view as much as they could.

Walking past the office buildings, they found the city square, with a statue of a person and the city name engraved on the statue's pedestal. The siblings walked across the spacious square and approached the statue.

Vieste

"So that's this city's name. This person is Henry Bianchi, the founding father of this place. I wonder what his story was," Crane rubbed his chin.

"That's a beautiful name," Catherine commented. She then looked at her brother and almost burst into laughter, "Mmph..."

"What? Something on my face?" Crane asked suspiciously.

"Hahaha... you look so red!" she replied. "You look like a crab that's in the storybook!"

With a frown, Crane shot back, "Your face is just as red,"

"It seems we've been in the sun for too long. We need to find a shade soon," Catherine touched her cheeks with her hands. Her skin felt slightly irritated when she did so.

"So this is the so-called sunburn. I hear it can be painful, so let's," Crane nodded.

Chris was busy looking around, and quickly followed his siblings who were walking to a big tree in the square. They didn't know what tree it was, but it was a tall tree with a lot of wooly-textured leaves, so it provided the much-needed shade.

Sitting down under the tree, on the edge of the cobblestones that made up the square and the tree roots, the siblings hid from the sun.

"It's funny that we still need to hide from the sun in the end," Chris joked. He felt the skin on his arms stung a little.

Crane leaned back and started observing the people in the square, studying their characters and behavior.

"It seems people here are speaking the same language as ours, albeit with a completely different accent. I wonder what they call their language. We can pass off as foreigners in that case, and that can explain our lack of common knowledge,"

"The way they dress is not that different from ours, so we shouldn't stand out too much... except for our pale skin."

The people in the square were indeed wearing similar clothing styles to them. The men were wearing simple shirts and pants, while the women were wearing casual dresses. Some of them were also wearing similar clothes to the men's.

Now that they were sitting leisurely, they had time to think about their situation.

"We have no money, no place to live, and since this is a city, I am sure each person needs a form of identification. We are illegal immigrants here," Catherine brought out the topic,"

"Maybe we should steal from people. I know I can do that," Chris replied with a cheeky smile."

"Are you thinking that because these people are not our townsfolk?" his sister looked at him calmly. There was no judgment in her eyes.

"Yes," Chris replied honestly and then sighed, "But a city this big and well-maintained must have good law enforcement. We don't know what punishments await if we're caught, so let's make that our last resort."

"It should be about 4 in the afternoon right now," he added, looking at the position of the sun and the shadow it cast. Although they weren't able to see the sun directly back in their world, knowledge regarding that topic was readily available to the public, "there are a lot of people here right now, so if it stays like this, I think I know how to get out of our situation."

"Are you thinking about busking?" Catherine tapped her chin and pointed at a guy in the distance who was playing the guitar and singing.

"Yes, exactly," her brother replied confidently.

"Are you going to do a puppet show or something?" asked Chris curiously, "But your toys are not here, and we have no money to buy a new one. Or are you thinking of dumpster diving to find a discarded doll?"

"Not that extreme, although that can be a good idea. The building near our transported spot. That looks like a warehouse, and it's empty, so I am sure I can make a puppet from things there."

"And what should we do? I don't have my rune stones, and I have no other active abilities, so I cannot perform anything," Catherine asked, "Should I just walk around and try to get people to watch you?"

"That won't hurt. And Chris, maybe you can perform acrobatics," Crane looked at his brother meaningfully.

"Nope, I'll just help out Cath. Besides, that would attract too much attention. Who knows what the authority would do,"

"Excuses. Well, you can just be on the lookout then, so we can run away at the first sight of trouble," Crane nodded, and then his expression turned serious, "Also, we need to hide the fact that we have supernatural abilities. We don't know what kind of world this is."

His siblings nodded.

"Thus, begins our homeless lives," joked Chris as they stood up.