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Post by Twilight on Jun 7, 2009 14:49:45 GMT -5
A thick, almost tangible smell of old beer and sweat hung in the air of the tavern. Well, it wasn’t much of a tavern anymore. Sure it still sold drinks and below average food, and people from this poorest part of Arvila still swung in to talk to one another every once and a while, if not every night. But now it was something more, something only a handful of the people in the city knew. Gavin had no idea why Aldric and the rest of the higher ups preferred to run the Fellowship in various taverns throughout the continent, but they did, and this was one.
He sat on a barstool, hoping the sticky spot on the counter in front of him was just dried on beer. He wiped off the whatever-it-was on his pants and continued staring at the barkeep, who was on his tenth minute of cleaning a single mug. Suddenly, the back door, which held the mysterious goings-on, burst open. Cain and his enigmatic cloak came sweeping through.
“Gavin!” he said enthusiastically. “Nice to see you could make it!”
“I’ve been waiting here for forty minutes, Cain,” Gavin said. “I hope you actually have something for me to do.”
He nodded inside his hood. “That I do. That I do. We’re assigning you a new partner, or a temporary partner. It depends. She’s already been debriefed, so just listen to what she has to say.” He turned to call her but quickly looked back. “And don’t underestimate her,” he muttered. “Really. Don’t.” Cain stuck his head in the back room and called, “Zerene!”
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Post by Soul Meister on Jun 7, 2009 15:06:37 GMT -5
"Yeah yeah, I'm coming," Zerene responded towards Cain. What a bastard, she barely had any sleep this morning and afternoon after she signed in. Than there had to be another mission, something that needed some handling involving an important member of the community being manipulated. She rubbed between her eyes and stumbled into the next room, she WILL kill them one of these days after her promise is finished or Cain dies from some other reason besides herself. Than who will be ones laughing as they did bossing her around. It was just one defeat!
Wiping off the little dirt left from her rag-like shorts, nice and clean for now. Now scratching her head she made her way to where the others were.
"You'll be working with him," Cain said pointing to a boy which didn't look fit for working with.
"What!?!? I'm going to work with a kid!?!"
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Post by Twilight on Jun 7, 2009 15:19:47 GMT -5
Gavin felt his jaw drop as the girl, Zerene, walked into the room. It seemed as if she had just woken up from a nap. A nap. If his partner was young enough to still need to take naps, what in the world was Cain thinking?
“You’re making me work with a kid?!” he shouted the same time Zerene shouted something similar.
“Childhood is rather relative,” Cain said to no one in particular. “Anyway, you’re going to work with each other, Gavin, Zerene. I couldn’t care less if you like it. Both of you should know it’s wiser to not judge on first impressions. Wait a while, learn from your partner. You may learn to like them or fear them or hate them.”
“Cain,” Gavin said, “this is—“
“I’m done with my speech,” he interrupted. “Talk to Zerene about the mission. I’ll leave you two to yourselves. So long, and try not to kill each other.” He disappeared into the back room.
Gavin stared after him for a few seconds, listing to the awkward silence broken only by the barkeep’s cleaning and wondering what possessed Cain to make him think this was a good idea. “Well, now what?”
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Post by Soul Meister on Jun 7, 2009 15:29:19 GMT -5
Zerene stuck out her tongue and pulled down her left eyelid as Cain walked out of the room. She was stuck with this guy nonetheless and there was a mission. Hopefully the boy was much more than what he appeared. Zerene took hold of one of Gavin's arm, feeling it for a minute, the meat seemed pretty stern for a young adult of his age, but there was only one way to find out for her. Opening her jaw, she bit into Gavin's flesh careful not to suck any blood if any came out.
"Wpe pot ah bbusiwnesys wiph pwple otheyrer phere." Zerene responded, her mouth still clasped over Gavin's arm. He was the chewy type, the good tasting one and also very smooth. Deep inside her instincts, she literally wanted to cut him up and put him into a stew. Her stomach began to grumble at the thought.
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Post by Twilight on Jun 7, 2009 15:40:45 GMT -5
Gavin frowned and glanced at Zerene, who was sticking her tongue out at Cain. And she was supposed to be mature? The girl took hold of Gavin’s arm. At first he thought she would try to hold his hand or do something else children like doing, but then she bit him. She actually bit him. He tried to jerk his arm back in horror, but her hold was too strong. “What the hell are you doing?!”
Seeing the ruckus, the barkeep quickly put his mug down and jogged into the back. For help? Doubtful.
Still biting him, Zerene muttered something unintelligible into his arm. Beginning to panic, Gavin grabbed the mug from the counter and bashed the little girl’s head
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Post by Soul Meister on Jun 7, 2009 15:49:10 GMT -5
Ouch! That sure hurt, as the mug shattered over her head, but it did get her to let go of his arm. He sure was mean, all she was doing was bite his arm, nothing more and nothing less. Perhaps she should have teared the arm beforehand. Now is not the time to dwindle over the past. She stuck out her hands and began to cry like the little girl she appeared to be. Slowly but surely she began to whimper, hack, cough, and bawl at practically the same time. Now many people can stand for such a thing for long, not even her. Let's see who breaks down first.
"I was hungry!!" Zerene continued to cry, repeating those words so many times. This guy wasn't any good with kids.
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Post by Twilight on Jun 7, 2009 16:28:45 GMT -5
“Holy gods above,” Gavin muttered. He realized the force at which he’d hit her should have killed or at least knocked out a normal human, but she comparatively seemed hardly fazed. Instead of being thrown to the ground in a bloody mess, she was crying. Great, Gavin couldn’t help thinking, I made a little girl cry. Touching his arm, he remembered why he did it in the first place.
“Hungry?” he growled. “You were hungry? There’s plenty of food in the back, and you come after me like some bleeding cannibal? Cry all you want, but it’s your freaking fault for getting smacked.”
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Post by Soul Meister on Jun 7, 2009 16:40:15 GMT -5
"But...but...the food here sucks," Zerene muttered a response, hardly fazed by Gavin's comment. "Alright, fine, it was my fault, I'm sorry..." she said innocently and like she actually meant it. "We still have this mission involving some person who is influencing another person that has power over the community. So lets finish this and than find some good food!" finally piping up in somewhat of a happy tune.
"So, back to proper introduction, names Zerene! Hope to finish this and get it all over with!"
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Post by Twilight on Jun 7, 2009 18:15:41 GMT -5
“Well, that’s real specific,” Gavin said in response to the mission. He was still rubbing his arm, which was finally beginning to stop bleeding. He sighed and looked back at the little girl. Tears still stained her eye lashes, but she was smiling again. His eye twitched in anger, but he muttered, “Apology accepted.”
“And I agree. We should just get this thing over with as soon as possible. Cain already said it, but I’m Gavin.” He wanted to add, “And you’re completely insane,” but he held his tongue. “So what is the mission exactly?”
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Post by Soul Meister on Jun 7, 2009 18:45:08 GMT -5
"The mission is just as I have said! All I know is that the guy lives in a big mansion near the rich residential area and we have to stop the influence," Zerene said sighing.
"I really don't like how this mission appears so important, but we can kill the guy so its all good," she continued, not moving closer towards the door. If anything she preferred a mission where she can evaluate Gavin's strength and weaknesses, so there was some way to locate his usefulness.
"So Gavin...enjoying the night?"
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Post by Twilight on Jun 7, 2009 19:10:30 GMT -5
An assassination. That was different. He didn’t especially enjoy killing people, but as long as completely it would get him away from the demonic child, he’d be willing to do anything. He sighed and opened the tavern’s door. The night let in a blast of cool air. It felt good compared to the stuffy interior. “I was,” he answered as grabbed his spear from the place it was leaning against he stepped outside.
The richest part of town was clear on the other side of the city. If they hurried, it’d be possible to return to the tavern by dawn. Gavin was almost surprised to see himself thinking that way; he had nearly become nocturnal. Without checking to see if Zerene was following, he started walking. It’s going to be a long night, he thought.
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Post by Soul Meister on Jun 7, 2009 19:31:30 GMT -5
"Race you!" Zerene challenged, while dashing past Gavin. She grabbed hold of a nearby pole, climbing it up with little ease, than hopping over on top of a building. From there she preceded to run across and over other buildings. The cool night air gave her relief and thrill that she barely remembered she had a mission to do! Her footsteps barely made any sounds as she shifted through houses, all she wanted was to enjoy the night and curse the day.
At one point, she stopped and rushed over to the edge of a house, to check up on Gavin. "Hey how are you holding up?" she hollared, not exactly scanning the area for the man, instead he just stared up into the night.
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Post by Twilight on Jun 8, 2009 16:11:36 GMT -5
Gavin couldn’t help but be a little impressed as Zerene bounded up the buildings like some sort of monkey. He stood dumbstruck for a few seconds before he realized that she would be miles ahead of him at this rate, and the gods only knew what she would do without supervision. He swore to himself and took off at a sprint.
Taking the high road was beginning to look like the better choice by the time he had stepped in his fifth garbage pile. In the nicer parts of town, city workers leaned up the refuse left over by the denizens, but here in the slums, you’d be luck to take a step without landing in something horrible. Despite the ever-present smells, it was exhilarating to need to work to keep up with someone, and he was beginning to get exited about the mission. It was definitely better than sitting at the tavern waiting for something, anything to happen.
After a few minutes of this, he heard someone yell into the night. Zerene. He took a tight turn and ran toward the direction the sound came from. “Just fine, little girl,” he yelled with half-filled lungs. “You getting tired yet!?” He gasped in another breath and ran even faster. If he beat her at this, maybe, possibly, she would respect him enough that he wouldn’t need to watch his back for her teeth.
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Post by Soul Meister on Jun 8, 2009 17:23:17 GMT -5
Gavin's reply was barely audible as Zerene continued to stare up into the sky. Taking a deep breath, she turned towards Gavin, truthfully, she didn't want to scream again, it was better to go there together. Jumping off the edge of the building, she quickly grabbed onto the edge of the windowsill. The sudden force caused some discomfort, but the cool stone building felt nice under her hands. Placing her foot, the best she could against, Zerene began to slide down, at some point however, she messed up and fell on her head. Luckily it wasn't too far from the ground.
"Its all good!"
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Post by Twilight on Jun 9, 2009 15:30:24 GMT -5
Gavin didn’t notice, or maybe he didn’t care, that Zerene had somehow managed to fall on her head. Instead of turning back and helping her like any decent person would, he continued to run. The trash, he noticed, was beginning to thin out, and instead of ancient, dilapidated buildings, he saw newer, finer buildings with the newest fashionable architectural flairs intact.
Figuring he was getting close, he slowed to a job and then to a walk, allowing time for Zerene to catch up. Of course, knowing her, she was probably hanging from a rooftop prepared to stab him or some other pleasant thing. He signed and leaned against a building, trying to catch his breath.
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