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Post by Kimberly Crais on Feb 2, 2013 1:06:13 GMT -5
The streets were a little less crowded than usual. It was one of those slow days. The kind that gives people a rest from the usual tension within the Lower District. Not to say there's no tension at all, but the atmosphere is not as thick as it normally is. The roads were wet from recent rain, reflecting what light was shining past the dull gray clouds overhead. Those who were out seemed to be doing their routine business, but not many shady faces could be noticed at first glance.
One door near the middle of that section of town opened, a red-headed young woman stepping out and closing it behind her. Although other people there seemed rather relaxed, Kim had an alert expression. Her eyes kept moving back and forth, as if she was watching out for someone. Even as she started walking, casual and relaxed as it may have seemed, the look didn't leave.
'I should really just keep things short,' she thought to herself while heading down the street, the destination clear in her mind. 'I don't need to put them in danger too.'
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Post by DARIUS EISENBERG on Feb 3, 2013 3:55:13 GMT -5
The brown-haired man slowly rose up from his bed as he lazily yawned on about while wondering what time it was. As he opened up the window to get some air circulating through this alcohol infested room. As he did so, he realized that he had slept through the entire morning and it was now far late in the afternoon. Seeing all these whisky bottles lying around everywhere, there was no doubt on his mind that he had drunk himself to stupor last night as usual. He also remembered judging by the receipt given to him that was right under the cracks of the door that his payment was overdue as well. Tch, now they were charging him double. Mercenary work as of late has been rather tight, his contacts didn't have much of a job for him unless something really important came up. Most of the time, it required him to babysit someone off to somewhere or mundanely kill some monsters bothering people around the country. Even if the jobs were at times rather boring, he took pleasure in meeting new faces during his travels.
“Mister Eisenberg, please open up!” A voice yelled through the door.
And especially the looks of a single pissed off Innkeeper who was here to gather the bills the first thing he woke up. Great.
“Well, this is one shitty way to start off the morni- er, afternoon.” Darius thought and opened the door.
“You do realize that your payment is way past due, right? Where is the money?” The innkeeper asked, “Ugh, on top of that, you and the entire room reek of alcohol! I am not cleaning all this up, you know that, right?”
The rugged male scratched the back of his head. “Ah, sorry, sorry. I'll get your money eventually, so keep your pants on about it, okay?” He tapped the innkeeper by the shoulder a couple of times, brushed past him and started heading outside while ignoring the screams of an angry owner. Man, people these days had no patience. Not that Darius can say anything about it. He blew off a lot of his money that he had earned two days ago on those drinks, after all, so he didn't have much of an excuse to give. “I should quit one day, that shit's seriously gonna kill me. Anyway, I should go to the job board to see if they have anythin' up there for me to take so I can pay my bills. Something easy would do.”
Just as Darius turned to the corner, he heard something or... someone hitting the abdominal area of his body. Below him was a small, red-haired girl, who apparently didn't watch where she was going for some apparent reason. Well, shit happens. “Hey, you okay, kid? Yer not hurt anywhere, right?”
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Post by Kimberly Crais on Feb 5, 2013 19:52:28 GMT -5
Things were going smoothly, enough to make Kim believe she was being just a tad too cautious about this. She was going to drop her guard too, until she spotted some knights coming up the road. 'What are they doing here?!' There wasn't any scheduled patrols from what she heard, nor did she hear of any knights coming back from out of town. Thinking quick, she backtracked and entered an alley nearby, knowing she'd now have to take a slight detour. It may slow her down a little, but better that than getting caught with what she was carrying.
Once exiting the other side, she took a long glance in one direction before switching to the other. The street looked clear for the moment, giving her the go to start back on track, but before she could see where she was going, she hit something hard. A wall? Whatever it was, it felt like a sack of bricks was contently placed in front of her head. "The heck..?" She closed her eyes while rubbing her head, trying to suppress the bit of pain, but then she smelt something... strong. It reminded her of whenever she passed the bars around town. Alcohol? It was such a strong stench as if she walked inside of the building herself. Opening her eyes, she looked up to see a guy about a head taller than her. He didn't look all that impressive though, and by the smell...
"Watch where you're going, will ya?" she stated in an irritated tone. The last thing she needed was more interruptions. As she rounded him, she felt the need to add, "And take a bath too! Even a zombie would run from the smell of you." Once past him, she adjusted the bag she was carrying, the money clinging from the movement. How much, though, was hard to tell...
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Post by DARIUS EISENBERG on Feb 11, 2013 15:30:05 GMT -5
[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style,width: 387px,bTable][atrb=cellpadding,0,true][atrb=cellspacing,0,true][STYLE=border: 5px solid #3A2C2F; width: 100; height: 100;][atrb=valign,top] [/style] | [atrb=valign,top][STYLE=background-color: #3A2C2F; font-family: courier new; color: #F1ECDC; font-size: 9px; letter-spacing: 6px;]THEY CALL HIM AN OUTLAW! THEY CALL HIM FEAR! FROM SMOKE AND FIRE HE APPEARS![/style][STYLE=background-color: #EFF8F2; font-size: 10px; padding: 5px; text-align: justify; color: #3A2C2F;]“Hey, watch where you're going! And take a bath too! Even a zombie would run from the smell of you."
Wow, kids these days had no manners to adults, but not that Darius cared much, because he wasn't a very soft-spoken guy himself to start off with. Judging by her bodily language though, she was indeed in a hurry to be off somewhere. Where she wanted to go wasn't exactly his business, but she looked rather suspicious given the content that she was carrying inside the bag. From the looks of it, it seemed to be carrying money. A lot of money, because he could clearly the gald obviously hanging out from the opening. Now who wouldn't be suspicious of that? Before he was about to ask a question as to what she was doing with the bag, the girl briskly walked past him with haste. “Hey, princess. Ya should close up the bag yer carryin'!” Darius yelled. Whether the girl listened to him or not, he would scratch the back of his head and sigh before heading off on his own way. “Sheesh, kids these days.”
Eventually, Darius headed down further to the lower sections of the city. Even if it was a little dangerous to go there due to high crime rate of the area, it was far better than going up to the upper district of the city first thing in the morning reeking of alcohol. Hell, he probably would get himself in an unwanted trouble with the authority if he walked around like this, and besides, he didn't want to disappoint certain someone in the town into thinking that he was an angry alcoholic doing nothing with his life.
Well, technically, Darius wasn't exactly doing anything as of this moment. He was just a vagabond mercenary with a fancy paper certifying that he was a master at tinkering with magi-technology who was simply traveling around the world with no real purpose in life other than to kill his apparently boredom. Unfortunately, that too was getting somewhat dull nowadays, but he didn't want to go back into the labs spending rest of his life tinkering and studying machinery, so instead of going back home he took odd jobs every now and then. Even that was starting to lose its amusement. Was he getting too old for this? Nonsense! He was only twenty-six years old for crying out loud!
“Maybe I really am getting' bored of traveling aimlessly. Then again, I really don't want to go back into the labs like my old man tinkerin' with the machines all day.” |
[/color] Darius mentally sighed as he shifted through papers that he had picked up, “Well, if ya don't want one thing over the other, then y'gotta make somethin' happen. Ain't that right, Darius? Feh, who am I kiddin'? I am so bored that now I'm now startin' to talk to myself.”[/style][/td][/tr][/table] [/center] |
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Post by Kimberly Crais on Feb 22, 2013 0:41:13 GMT -5
“Hey, princess. Ya should close up the bag yer carryin'!”
She didn't bother responding, continuing down the road until she made a necessary turn. By then, she did look at her bag, finding it was indeed open. Did it loosen on impact? She thought for sure she secured it before she left... Still, she made that fix. Why he didn't take the chance though was beyond her. If it was that open, he could have easily pick-pocketed her, and judging by the way he looked and smelled, he could have used it.
There was no use dwelling on it. Walking on, she made it to another part of town, a familiar child standing near and alleyway. "Hey, Joseph!" Her call caught the boy's attention, his smile contagious as it made her do the same.
"Kim!" He first started to run to her, but stopped as he then looked around and then motioned for her to follow as he then went into the alleyway. The red-head knew what was going on. After all, she had what they were waiting for.
As soon as Kim entered through a door in the alley, she was swarmed by a group of boys and girls of various ages, but all younger than her. Each had a smile on their face, something Kim never could really get used to. However, unbeknownst to Kim, Joseph made his way out of the place to head back to the front of the alleyway. "Hey, guys!" She crouched and hugged a couple of the closest ones. "Been good while I was away?" The younger ones nodded happily, but when Kim looked at the older kids, she didn't get the same reaction. Something was up.
"Kim..." The voice made her stand up fully. In the back, there was the one she needed to see. The eldest of everyone there, just a year younger than her. He motioned her to join him in a back room, Kim not hesitating to do so. Once they were alone, he continued. "Got here later than usual, huh?"
"Hasn't been easy," she stated plainly. Her eyes trailed to the front room, remembering the looks from the others. "Cael, what's going on?"
The boy played dumb, giving her a confused look. "What do you mean? We're fine."
Kim returned his look with a bit of a glare. "Don't give me that. Did you all do something?"
"Well..." Cael looked away, trying to find the right words. However, it wasn't as straight forward as Kim would have wanted it. "Yes and no."
"What do you mean by that?"
"You know how we go on the outskirts of town to get some food if we can't afford it?" She nodded. "See... Some monsters decided to make a home there."
"Monsters?" That was rare. Monsters normally wouldn't get that close to town. What would cause that? Then again, that wasn't her primary concern at the moment. "Okay, that explains the 'no' part. What about the 'yes'?"
He sighed, knowing that she was probably going to explode on him. "We... put a request in on the Job board..."
"What?!" As he expected, she did explode. "Cael, that's what I told you NOT to do! People always try to make the employer give them more than what they originally offer. Especially these days! Why didn't you come after me?"
"We did! But every time we sent someone, you weren't there." They did? Then... it was just bad timing. "Plus you didn't come in like usual. I thought something might have happened."
Kim sighed as she leaned against a wall. She had been doing more lately, thanks to some rumors flying around that she wanted to confirm. That had yet to be done, but that also meant not being able to 'collect' gald for the kids. It was bad enough living in the Lower District... "How much did you offer?"
Cael took a deep breath. She wouldn't like this answer either...
(A/N: Whatever Darius needs, make it around there.)
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Post by DARIUS EISENBERG on Mar 2, 2013 17:46:40 GMT -5
[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style,width: 387px,bTable][atrb=cellpadding,0,true][atrb=cellspacing,0,true][atrb=valign,top] | [atrb=valign,top] THEY CALL HIM AN OUTLAW! THEY CALL HIM FEAR! FROM SMOKE AND FIRE HE APPEARS! “… Yer kiddin’ me, twenty thousand doubloons for clearin’ out some monsters at some place outside of Gladiolus? Hot damn, ain’t this is my lucky day?” Darius grinned and read through the content of what the paper had said further. Well, it seemed rather straight forward enough, but some of the writings were hard to read. It was as if some child wrote them, but they were somewhat legible enough for him to read nonetheless. Well, that handwriting was hell of a lot better than Darius’ at least, because even he himself couldn’t tell what he wrote at times. Even so, he an odd suspicion about whether this was a genuine article or not, but he hoped that whoever was offering this job wasn’t just pulling on his leg. Well, then again, people knew better than to mess with mercenaries, and so he headed off to his newly set destination which… ended him up at ‘undesirable’ parts of the Gladiolus. Here one could see a gap between rich and poor. People lived in makeshift houses made from junk materials and sanitary around here weren’t exactly the best, so it was expected that a lot of people living around these parts were often sick.
Just who could afford a mercenary around here? With twenty thousand gald, one could easily get out from these slums and forge a new life for their family, so why waste it on a mercenary? He was starting to feel a little skeptical whether they could really pay him off or not, but a job was a job, Darius couldn’t exactly complain about it. Eventually, he stopped in front of an alleyway, turned and came across a wooden door which he could barley fit through. The door seemed to be opened and he could hear a conversation going on inside – or perhaps, more like an argument, Darius couldn’t tell from this distance. The voice sounded awfully familiar to the girl that he had encountered earlier, though. Also, as far as he could tell, there were no adults in that house. So this was prank played by the little brats after all. As he moved in to knock on the door, a small, female child burst forth from the doorway and bumped into the mercenary. Just as the little girl fell backwards and was about to hit her head on a hard pavement, the male grabbed her by the forearm to keep herself from getting hurt.
“Whoa now, don’t hurt yerself. Y’okay, princess?” Darius asked as he helped the little girl back up. “Well, y’don’t seem to be hurt anywhere, that’s good.”
“Thank you, mister.”
“Hey, don’t mention it. By the way, can ya tell me who wrote this?” Darius whisked out a piece of paper that he had picked up earlier out of his pocket. “One of yer friends seem to be offerin’ me twenty thousand gald fer a job, and I wanna see if this is a real deal or not. They shouldn’t be pullin’ pranks like these y’know, because there are all kinds of people out there y’really shouldn’t put yer trust into when puttin’ jobs out like this.” |
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Post by Kimberly Crais on Mar 3, 2013 0:39:14 GMT -5
"TWENTY-THOUSAND?!" She pushed off the wall so quickly that she had to take a step forward to keep herself from falling. "Since when did you find that kind of money?!" These kids didn't have any way of getting such money, even if Cael was a bit clever now and then, there was no way he could come up with something to get that kind of cash. The lower district couldn't offer them such a generosity, and Kim could never even dream of any of them becoming thieves... As if she had much room to talk on that subject.
"We... haven't," Cael said hesitantly.
Of course, that didn't help either in Kim's case. "What were you thinking?! That money was just going to fall out of the sky? What if something did happen to me, Cael? Mercenaries won't think twice of leaving you out to dry if you don't have the cash for this sort of thing."
"We have six thousand..." he added, making Kim quiet down, but her eyes were rather piercing. Anger? Yes, it was there, but there was much more than that. Worry and concern was probably the top two emotions one could see if they could look past her outburst. "Kim, money helps, but the outskirts is the only place we can get food without it."
Kim let out a breath... a long one. He made a point, but did he really have to go so far? "Cael... Keep the money." Now it was time for Cael's eyes to go wlde. "I'll head up to the board and take the job myself. That way, no one has to--"
“Thank you, mister.”
Wait, that was one of the kids. Well, there went her primary plan to get the job before anyone else to spare the money ordeal. However, what came next threw her for a loop.
“Hey, don’t mention it. By the way, can ya tell me who wrote this?”
She just heard that voice today... Peaking around the corner, she saw the same guy she ran into just a while ago. Wait, HE was a mercenary? Kim cursed her rotten luck at first, but once she heard more of what he was saying, her irritation was melting a bit. He was... warning them? If this was some act, it seemed a little convening. Still, he came here with an understanding that there was to be money involved. She couldn't let this go through.
Rounding the corner, she let her presence be known with near-authoritative footsteps, making most of the kids turn toward her. "You again..." If the disapproval wasn't obvious on her face, then it certainly was in her voice. "Well, sorry to bring down your hopes, but there's been a--" She was cut off as a hand met her shoulder. Cael came up and stepped in front of the red-head, leaving the girl with her jaw partially open.
"It's no prank," he stated, and walked up to the mercenary, holding out a hand. "Name's Cael. I put up the request."
"Cael!" Kim's outburst made the boy look to her, a message embedded in his glance. She caught it, but was taken aback slightly. Sure, she should've expected that, but still... She took the bag off her back, letting it slip down her arm to her hand and then shook it, the gald ringing loud and clear. She needed to think of something, and fast.
"See? It's all there." Cael put up an honest smile. To Kim, he must've thought he and the others could live with less than usual, but the red-head knew better. She knew what all this money was for...
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Post by DARIUS EISENBERG on Mar 5, 2013 1:44:42 GMT -5
[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style,width: 387px,bTable][atrb=cellpadding,0,true][atrb=cellspacing,0,true][atrb=valign,top]  | [atrb=valign,top] THEY CALL HIM AN OUTLAW! THEY CALL HIM FEAR! FROM SMOKE AND FIRE HE APPEARS! Well, that was no surprise, seeing a girl that he accidentally bumped into earlier decided to show herself again. There really wasn’t any disapproving look on her face as to what he had seen earlier, but clearly hostility towards him was still there. Man this one was feisty as hell and quick to jump to conclusions too at that. “Hey, kid, there’s no need to get your panties in a bunch. ‘Sides, I don’t really think I have a business with ya. The business I have is with my potential client who wrote this, just sayin’.” Darius replied and turned his gaze towards the boy with a bag full of gald in hand. So this was no lie and it seemed like he was planning on using that money that the girl got to hire him. As a general rule of thumb, when it came to said mercenary work, ‘morals’ were usually thrown out the window because they simply got in the way. A good mercenary who had such mindset would take the money from the kid and do the job. “So this ain’t a joke then, y’really want to hire me to clear out those monsters for ya?”
"See? It's all there."
Damn, that was a lot of money that he had to turn down. It wasn’t exactly twenty-thousand gald, but it was quite hefty-looking nonetheless. That amount can get him going for a few months without working as well. In a way, Darius had a feeling that he would regret doing this, but knew that these little youngsters needed the money more than he did. “Yeah, I can see that mister Cael, but more importantly….” Darius raised his hand and smacked the boy on the upside of his head in a reprimanding way. “A brat like ya deserved that, so don’t even try to question why I decided to smack yer dumb little head. If yer gonna spend this much money, then invest it for yerself and yer friends here, kid.”
“D-does that mean you won’t do the job?”
Darius huffed and crossed his arms over his chest. “I never said that, boy. Listen when the adults are talkin’ to ya, for Pete’s sake. I will do yer job, and Imma give ya an extra special discount under three conditions: One, yer gonna save some money and go to school. Two, yer never gonna pull stunt off like this ever again and three, I didn’t have anythin’ to eat anythin’ after I woke up, so fetch me an apple when I return since I’m feelin' kinda hungry. Do we have an agreement?” He asked as he stretched out his hand for a shake, “It’s a once in a life time deal that no mercenaries would be willin’ to offer, so I suggest ya take it.” |
[/b] At first, the boy seemed a little reluctant to shake the mercenary’s hand, but realizing that such offer was too good to pass up, he shook on it. In response, the mercenary was well pleased with the boy’s decision to do this, and like he promised, he would do the job for an apple. “Wait, what about the discount?"“That is the discount, boy. One apple, that’ll be my payment."[/color] Darius replied. "Now, y’kids be good and stay here while yer Uncle Darius give those monsters a good spankin’!”[/b][/div][/td][/tr][/table] [/center] |
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Post by Kimberly Crais on Mar 27, 2013 21:14:44 GMT -5
Kim's jaw dropped as she watched the Merc smack Cael upside the head. At that moment, she was surprised, or angry. She was actually a little jealous. After all, SHE wanted to do that! It wasn't until the guy started speaking again that her jealousy switched back to her usual feelings... Well, at least for the current situation.
She listened as he gave his own demands and conditions, but she was taken aback by his words. It was as if he actually cared, something she couldn't find these days in his kind. Then again, this could all be an elaborate act... “It’s a once in a life time deal that no mercenaries would be willin’ to offer, so I suggest ya take it.” Of course, Cael took the hand after a moment. Who wouldn't take such an offer?
As he made his declaration, Kim dropped the bag. "Hold on." she kicked the sack under a nearby table, walking up to the Merc with arms crossed. "I'm coming with. Someone needs to make sure you do the job and do it right."
Everyone behind her stayed silent. Her tone was serious and as still as steel, something even Cael knew that her mind was set. The red-head then walked around the man and to the door, opening it. "Let's get this over with, shall we?" She wasn't going to bend here, no matter what this merc had to say.
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Post by DARIUS EISENBERG on Apr 11, 2013 12:18:19 GMT -5
[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style,width: 387px,bTable][atrb=cellpadding,0,true][atrb=cellspacing,0,true][atrb=valign,top] | [atrb=valign,top] THEY CALL HIM AN OUTLAW! THEY CALL HIM FEAR! FROM SMOKE AND FIRE HE APPEARS! Before Darius took another step out of the place, he heard a voice of a young girl that he had encountered earlier saying that she wanted to come with him simply because she wanted to see if the job was done right. Sheesh, talk about sheer distrust. Could he blame her though? There were many men and women who could take advantage of the kids that she was taking care of, and for all he knew he would’ve done the same thing in her place if he had little brats of his own living at a dump like this even if some tall, handsomely rugged-looking mercenary like himself came around saying he would basically do a free labor for them for an apple. Well, he didn’t mind as long as she didn’t get in the way or get herself into some dangerous situation on her own. Darius wasn’t the best-known babysitter around to be quite honest. The mercenary looked at the children behind him and then back at the girl. There was a resolute tone to her voice, no matter what he said she was probably going to come with him. Man, if she got hurt, it was going to leave some serious bad aftertaste on his part, but what can he do? She had an aura of a warrior about her.
Heh, she honestly reminded him of someone he knew pretty well. It was somewhat creepy in a way, but the expression on her face had a splitting image of Cassiondra. "Let's get this over with, shall we?"
Darius couldn’t help but shrug and grin at this. “Tryin’ to look cool in front of yer kids, are ya? Alright then, ya can come with me, little missy.” He replied as he followed the girl out the door, “Just keep up with me when we get there.” Then, the two started head to the outskirts of the capital where wild monsters, animals and bandits roamed. The world outside of the capital city was a scary place for anyone, but anyone with a sense of adventure and a little courage would see it as a challenge and accept it with open arms much like Darius. He had been roaming this world for a few years now, though it was getting a little boring without a companion to travel with, he had some interesting encounters like this every now and then to keep things fresh.
“So, considerin’ we’re partners ‘ere let’s break the ice and introduce ourselves!” |
[/color] Darius spoke with a great, big smile on his face, “Name’s Darius Eisenberg. I’m kind of a famous guy ‘round the world – hell, who am I kiddin’? What’s yer name girlie? Well, I’m probably gonna call ya ‘girlie’ or ‘princess’ even if ya tell me yer name, but I think it’s good to know.”[/div][/td][/tr][/table] [/center] |
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Post by Kimberly Crais on May 29, 2013 23:14:43 GMT -5
“Tryin’ to look cool in front of yer kids, are ya? Alright then, ya can come with me, little missy. Just keep up with me when we get there.”
Kim kept silent as they left, making sure to stay a comfortable distance from him for two reasons. One, she obviously didn't trust him and two, he still had that smell on him. The only other time she had to soldier through such a stench was when she needed to meet someone in front of a bar. Not to mention beat a couple of drunks into being sober again. But as they made some headway through the district, the silence was broken.
“So, considerin’ we’re partners ‘ere let’s break the ice and introduce ourselves! Name’s Darius Eisenberg. I’m kind of a famous guy ‘round the world – hell, who am I kiddin’? What’s yer name girlie? Well, I’m probably gonna call ya ‘girlie’ or ‘princess’ even if ya tell me yer name, but I think it’s good to know.”
The girl let out a sigh, hoping conversation would be kept to a minimal. So, he was one of those talkative types? Normally, she didn't mind that stuff. She could get info out of people that way, but here... "Kim," she answered. Really, she wanted to object to the whole 'girlie' or 'princess' part, but she didn't bother. After all, once this was all done and over with she wouldn't have to deal with him later, right? |
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