Roleplayer Guild - Forum Roleplaying Games

As the others dissipated into the press of life all around, Jakob smiled. Within, there was a delight. He, after so many years, had come to this place. Truthfully, he felt as he had as a youth - intrigued by every sound and noise and movement around him.

The corner they stood at was marked by a tavern with a bright red topped stall before it. Beyond that, to the east, was the direction Derek had gone. He supposed that meant that where they were to stay was in that direction as well. It seemed odd to him that Derek would not have told them the name of the inn. However, he trusted those who knew the city to understand the ins and outs of it. Perhaps there were tells or perhaps the rest of the city was self-aware, able to state who belonged and who did not.

If not, the ten minute rule would fulfill their needs well enough. And a direction, of course. He had both as well as a starting point.

Jakob turned to the crowded square and found himself surprised at the way Laeris was watching him, a slightly pained, but patient look hidden in the other man’s eyes. Seeing that look gave rise to a flush much like he’d been prone to as a child, recognizing the concern and the exasperation.

Yet - he was glad, he never did seem to incite complete and utter frustration. Always there was a barrier he’d managed to not push anyone over. He suspected that this time he could get close to that line, many a time perhaps. But there were no rules in place which stated Laeris or any of the others were responsible to him. He was chosen, yet he also took his state with a grain of salt. Truth was that if he were the one for the prophecy, then there was a modicum of destined protection. Otherwise, he’d never reach his fated destination.

"Terribly sorry," he stated companionably as he found his place just beside Laeris’ shoulder. "It is fascinating. I’m sure you’ve seen it all many a time before. I look around and all I see is color and sound, like a windstorm but there is so little wind. Each eddy captures scent where it stands. Such as the chestnut seller at the front gate, how but a pace beyond her stall I only smelled sweat and animal dung. Everything…so new…"

His words danced away and he, almost instinctively, kept Laeris in the corner of his eye while he kept close eye on the ant hill of motion all about. Here, a pair of boys laughed and ran through, laughing. Here again, a pair of lovers walked, hand in hand, while the girl held a sweetened apple to her lips and her eyes danced. Then, just beyond, a mount seller with his paper thin hands, holding the string which kept the large creatures hemmed in. At a quarter turn about the flimsy corral, a young man, more hale of the pair, held his string up and patted the rump of one of the creatures while watching things with what Jakob felt was a somewhat muted twin to the awe Jakob felt.

Everything so new, so strange, yet so much the same. For all of his wonder, Jakob was no unaware. It was more structured, less chaotic a world than his forests. He could have easily found his way back, setting into place a mental mapping with distinctive landmarks at each. His memory chose colors and textures to "name" each street they passed, each alley way. Nor was he completely at a loss when there was a tug on his knapsack as lightly as a spring wind. A simply twist of his torso and a whistling smile into a sharp faced boy’s eyes made short work of an attempt to discover what good things he kept in his pack.

The child must have been desperate, for Jakob did not show himself to be worth trouble, considering his rather poorly kept appearance. Other than the boy, no other attempts were forthcoming.

He continued the jovial tune as he found he had to catch up once more to Laeris who, despite Jakob’s keeping an eye, still managed to leave him behind. Laeris was, again, watching him with that intent look that he’d seen on mother hens. Sharp and exacting. Jakob laughed as he ducked through the crowd which had parted them, unbeknownst to him. "It takes a different noticing here. Not everything is as clear to me. How often have you been through this particular city?"

[Heh - He's good, Kio. Very fitting for one in his position.]

__________________

‘What will my death be like?’ he thought- and knew at once
with abrupt certainty, that it would be just like his life:
... the same balance of bearables.
~Amis

With a wry smile and twitchy fingers Casidey waded through the thick crowds that congested the stone streets of Canyon City. To anyone in the crowd she appeared to be an average shopper, perhaps looking for a piece of jewelry to accent her eyes, a rug to be placed at the entrance of her home, or even a gift for a sweetheart. She could have been looking for anything at all really, but very few would guess that she hunted for coin purses. Her intentions masked with casual glances at wares and a quick smile for any whom looked her way, the thief systematically scanned the people near her, always looking for the perfect prospect… And there he was.

The man was a bear. A thick, grizzled beard covered the lower portion of his scowling frown while one comically large eyebrow, formed into an angry V-shape, sat above condescending, scornful eyes. He was no smaller than six and a half feet and able to see over the head of everyone within eyeshot on the street. He walked at a constant pace, the sword strapped to his belt slapping his tree trunk of a leg rhythmically, and with a purpose that apparently caused his vision to cloud to the point that he couldn’t see anyone around him, running them over as he was. A wake of angry people were left behind him, muttering curses and staring daggers into his back as they rubbed away the pain caused by being rammed by the brute.

Casi moved in to intercept him. Even with the constant low roar produced by those around her she could still hear the zen gangling in the man’s pocket as she neared. The sound of it was slightly intoxicating as it demanded her attention and lured her in closer, much like a fox following the sound of an injured rabbit, knowing a free meal was soon to come.

Finally she lined up with his left side, the pocket on that side bulging with coin, and slowed her pace just a little. Only a few feet away now she turned her head away from the man and glanced at a small stall off to the side, trying to seem intent on it rather than where she was going. She waited for the jarring blow to come from the man as he plowed his way along. When it came she let the momentum of the hit to her shoulder turn her about while her left hand shot out like lightning from a bottle into the man’s pocket. Her grimy little fingers snatched up everything they came in contact with and transported it to her own pocket; the task only taking a heart’s beat to finish. When she had spun around a full 180 degrees she threw up her hands in anger, for theatrics’ sake, and yelled, “Watch where you’re going, Asshole!” with as much conviction as she could muster.

The pick itself had been easy, the man did most of the work himself, but it was one that few would have attempted. That was due mostly to the man’s intimidating presence. He could have cleaved Casi in two with that huge sword of his if had had the mind to, and probably would have if he had known she had stolen from him. That in itself deterred all but those with a dangerous lack of fear. And that, as much a curse or blessing as it may be, was something that Casidey Moore had in spades. Fearlessness had gotten her in trouble more than a few times, and she had the scars to prove it. She remembered being constantly afraid when she was small and alone back in the slums of Sky City, after the only family she knew had been slaughtered. Then one day, as odd as it sounded, it just stopped and she couldn’t remember a certain case when she had been frightened after that point. She had always thought that it was just something that naturally manifested with age. If you’ve already done something before why would you be afraid to do it again, right? For all her quick wits and street smarts she was completely naïve that it wasn’t normal to not feel fear, or at least not be able to recognize it; Even when there were signs everywhere that her “theory” on fear was completely wrong.

The beast of a man glanced over his shoulder at her with a mocking sneer and then continued on his way again. That’s when Cas broke out in wide, self-satisfied grin now that she had a fist-full of money weighing down her pocket and the victim remained unknowing. Now, she thought as she headed off towards the Crow’s Nest once more, she had enough money to have some fun at the inn.

__________________

Laeris smiled patiently, yet thinly when Jakob caught back up to him. In truth, when he had noticed the younger male's pace lacking, he had slowed himself in order to keep an eye on him. "Just stay nearby," Laeris advised and continued onwards to a cart that appeared to be selling preserved foods.

He looked through the food selectively as he continued his conversation with Jakob, seeming to only pay half a mind, but he was certainly attentive. "I've been through here before. Not often. Cities aren't really my favourite thing. I guess you could say I get a little claustrophobic with so many people... and it stinks," he remarked, wrinkling his nose to emphasize the point. Laeris didn't mind the stench of animals. He had been rather used to it during raids and siege camps, but the stench of humanoids was by far overwhelming. Laeris had developed a keen distaste to the stench, which was why he feared to take a wiff of himself right now.

He hummed and hawed over the food for a while, then took a moment to heckle with the vendor, for the food was definitely in poor condition, though it was manageable and would serve its purpose. It wouldn't go rotten, or at least what Laeris picked out wouldn't. A keen eye secured that fact. He finally got a reasonable price for his selected goods, paid the man, and began collecting it back together.

"Is there anything in particular you wanted to pick up? While we're here, I want to find some polish, so lets run some of our own errands while we browse for provisions" he informed, mentally noting anything else that had to be replaced within their little troupe.

He moved to depart from the particular cart they were at, keeping an eye on Jakob with what seemed more of habit than any conscious effort. It was with his attention divided, that he didn't notice a larger figure until he was suddenly, quite harshly shoulder shoved. He gave a grunt, stumbling back, and possibly into Jakob if he had begun following by that time.

Immediately indignant, he moved quickly to stand on his own two feet and approach the offender, but the other saved him the trouble by rewarding his forwardness with a heavy fist cracking right into his nose, tipping his head back instantly, though Laeris swore he not only heard, but felt a crack with the impact!

"Watch where you're going!" The other figure growled, and just then, two others came up on Laeris' side.

Bullies? Thugs? His mind whirled when he felt hands clamp down onto his arms and dry chuckles of "Maybe we should teach him to walk on his own two feet?"

Of course, the incident was hardly enough for offense. This particular show had to be staged, but why? Obviously because of his dress in comparison to say... Jakob. Laeris was so cleanly and proper, his clothing of fine quality that it only made sense he would be possessed of coin, especially since he was buying their provisions! So stunned was he by the initial hit that he completely forgot about the sword at his hip.

How ironic, he did manage to dimly think to himself. The one who fancied himself possessed of the most experience and know how was ironically the one who would need saving! And soon! Gods his face hurt!

__________________
I will not kill you... in all technicality time will kill you. I'm just a contributing factor ~ Damarian Vasilis Zaccheo

I do not get moody. I get murderous ~ Saigyn

[A Guest?] ~ Advanced -Arlix-
[The Five Lights] ~ Advanced -Laeris Etheral Jostish- -Valcenz-
[Dove's Bane] ~ Advanced -Alloyscious Haryiel-
[Labyrinth] ~ Advanced -Triton Ochayne Demisou-

Jakob, on the other hand, was enthralled by the sounds, the motion, the colors, the scents. Had he known how dreadful his companion found it, he’d have more than likely let loose a good humored laugh. There was something enchanting and new to him in discovering the clean sweat scent of a man who was lugging a dead pig over one shoulder. Another older woman filled his nostrils with cinnamon and rotten teeth. He grinned in wide eyed fascination, now and again turning to look around him.

He did a better job of keeping up with Laeris after that one failed picked pocket. As did Laeris, actually. Of course, when it came to choosing the foodstuffs, he was more than willing to allow Laeris to go through it all and leave Jakob to his gawking. He sighed and spent the minutes in mute delight, staring at the forever changing river of humanity, life, color.

Perhaps he hadn’t seemed much like he was a companion when Laeris stepped away from him. Jakob, in thought on if he really wanted anything and decided that no, he had everything he needed in his pack, was as shocked as Laeris at the attack. He blinked at the sudden violence and then looked about them. The stream parted and made room, but did not pause.

He wasn’t surprised about the bystanders' actions actually. The act of self sacrifice wasn't all that common in nature either. The death of one fawn might cause the mother to remain by while the babe was devoured yet the rest of the herd would have left. Even the mother would have remained only at a distance. Why should this be any different? It made a very good sort of sense to the forest elf.

Jakob chuckled. The Mother had become the Babe. Though, attacking Laeris had to be much like attacking a full grown bear. Jakob would not have been so foolish as the quartet of would be robbers.

Outwardly, the elf did nothing to show that he understood. Rather, he put on his best "peasant" look and instead dropped his sack. He cursed as tried his best to keep his sack from hitting the ground yet failed to notice that the end of his longbow had shot out and hit a rather direct blow to the solar plexus of one of Laeris’ assailants. Bent over his fallen sack, Jakob glanced up with a startled, dismayed expression.

"Oh! Oh I’m sorry, ser!" he rushed to help the man and tripped up in the sack’s strings, falling head first into the man, the heel of his hand going into the man’s jaw and cracking his head back against the ground while Jakob proceeded to fall a nice ways over the man, sack and bow and arms and legs akimbo.

"Stupid hill-bound idjit…" The man who had punched Laeris reached to drag Jakob off of the fallen comrade, only Jakob had cried out in horror at having knocked the man aside and hastened to get off of him rather too quickly. Between the forward momentum of the one reaching for Jakob and Jakob’s scrambling to extract himself, the back of Jakob’s head managed to land nice and squarely upon the man’s nose, throwing him back with a nice solid sound of pain.

"Good gods!" Jakob cried out in horror, wide eyed and in panic, though his eyes, if one were to look too closely, were sparkling in humor. "There’s jus’ so many of you all! How do you manage to live all atop one another like tinned olives?" He moved to the other side of them, closer to where Laeris and the rest of the group were. Jakob gazed in obvious concern at the two men fallen over, one conveniently out cold while the other stumbled to his feet cupping his bleeding face. "Come, let me help you up!"

__________________

‘What will my death be like?’ he thought- and knew at once
with abrupt certainty, that it would be just like his life:
... the same balance of bearables.
~Amis

OOC:remember, i'm a bit rusty.

Despite being quite, there is something about a snake man entering an inn that makes everything stop. Gossips, the musicians, even drunks stopped to stare at the spectacle. A deep, warning hiss started everything up again, though it all seemed rather forced. Walking rather slowly, almost stalking, Hatori approached the bar, taking the stool nearest the bartender.

“Three pints of Human blood.”

The bartender looked at Hatori questioningly, as the snake usually ordered Elvin. Responding in a bored tone, Hatori replied to the bartender, with a head gesture to the ‘sleeping’ elf. Amazing how much you could express when you have a four foot long neck.

“Wouldn’t do to upset a perfectly good alliance, now would it?”

The bartender nodded, grabbing a special glass he used for the races with large stomachs.

“Frozen, I presume.”

“Fresh. Human tastes like dirt frozen, where Elvin tastes almost like ice cream.”

The bartender shuddered, as very few people could stand to speak about bloods flavor as casually as he did.

“It’ll be a few minutes. Send it over to the Elf’s table?”

“But of course.”

Standing from the stool, and, resuming the slow paced, stalking method of walking, Hatori went to the ‘now’ wide awake elf.

“I would say its rather good to see you, Derek, but seeing as there is no where I can drink from you, without anyone noticing at least, that would be a bit of a lie.”

Derek awoke from his dazed slumber, from the sudden silence that took place when Hatori entered the bar. From Dereks opinion, his long neck and white eyes were enough to send anyone fleeing in the opposite direction. He watched quietly as Hatori slowly walked over the the bar and ordered three pints of human blood. He chuckled slightly, it amused him that after all this time Hatori never learned how to do anything under the radar. However he was not one to talk or lecture anyone on that topic. Hatori finally slithered over to his table and said rather casually:“I would say its rather good to see, Derek, but seeing as there is no where I can drink from you, without anyone noticing at least, that would be a bit of a lie.”
"It would say it is good to see you alive Hatori, but you know that drinking human blood in front of me makes me rather quezy." Derek stated with half amusement. He took another sip of his drink and took a quick glance around the tarvern again before returning his gaze back to Hatori. Sometimes it was a good thing to be paranoid. "So has anything interesting been happening?" He was interested in finding out how much information Hatori has gathered since they last saw each other. He kept the expression on his face to a blank stare, he did not want anyone to take a interest in their conversation just because he wasn't able to keep his emotions in check.

__________________

"It would say it is good to see you alive Hatori, but you know that drinking human blood in front of me makes me rather quezy."

Raising the small patch of scales that passed for his right eyebrow, Hatori replied rather evenly for what he said.

“Would you rather I drink Elvin blood? You know, when you freeze it, mash it up, then put bits of strawberry in it, it tastes like what you Elves might call ice cream.”

Chuckling slightly at his friends paranoia, he waited for what Derek probably intended to be a short time, but amounted to something almost uncomfortable for the snake man, his race being rather uncomfortable staying still without good reason.

"So has anything interesting been happening?"

The snake man extended his head slightly, as if to stretch his neck.

“How would you define interesting? Several towns now own me a small bit, and quite a large amount of people know one of my names. However, I also have the loyalty of several low ranking troops. They have instructions to stay where they are in terms of ranks, due to inevitable brainwashing. Some high ranking members are disloyal. We just need to find a way of making the prospect of joining us seem like it would help them.

“Some aren’t quite disloyal, but fickle all the same. We could probably only turn them in an actual war. Too much risk to them otherwise, and I have a feeling that we have the same thought processes. If possible, then we might even convince the butcher to join us. While most people will buckle under pressure from me, I doubt there’s a soul on earth apart from Valcenz and his commanders who wouldn’t break under him. As far as I know, the only high ranker that is forever loyal to Valcenz is probably much too strong for us to capture anyway. At least, not without some rather innovative traps.

“You know, there is no point trying to look inconspicuous. You are speaking with a snake man who just ordered some fresh human blood.

“As for general information, Valcenz has a rather unusual system of organization. His ‘creations’ are usually at or near the top. No one is higher than them, save for Valcenz himself. His creations are really little more than experiments, to see how far he can push living creatures, and see if they can be tortured beyond recognition and still follow him. I think he has only truly succeded once, but I may be wrong.

“Following them are what are technically generals, but have much more freedom than what one would imagine. They can get away with anything but hurting valcenz in any way, shape, or form. From then on, it seems that everything is a standard situation for an army.

“I know little about the combat abilities of the Creations, but we can assume that they are all great warriors, even if that is not their specialty. The ones who have a fine appreciation for pain will draw out battles. This is key to defeating them. Those without will usually attempt to kill quickly. The ones with less… how shall I put this… ‘morals’ will use tricks, while the ones who respect a good fight will not attempt to gain advantages like that. Be warned that few, if any, are above a cheap shot.

“I’ve managed to identify two creations, each with a specialty. Kon, the butcher, is probably known to you as a torturer. Jason, on the other hand, is pretty much a bull; big, mean, and scary. Fighting them, if it comes to that, would be difficult. I don’t trust the cutlass the butcher wears, best to avoid it all together. With Jason… if you can get his momentum working against him, best to do that, otherwise, dodge. That blade of his will likely tear right through both your sword and body."

Laeris could only watch in dim astonishment through his own crackling vision as Jakob... Jakob of all people was the one rescuing him... sort of.

Since the two holding him were distracted by the oh so clumsy Jakob, Laeris jerked his arms free and slammed his elbows back at about stomach height, causing his two captors to double over in unison, which could almost be taken as rather hilarious, and Laeris complied with the action by slamming his elbows down once again to hit the men in the backs of the skulls. It wouldn't do any lasting damage. He couldn't even get enough force to knock them out, but it would temporarily stun them for now.

He glanced at Jakob, debating whether or not he should reveal that he was associated with the poor bumbling farmer, or at least that was the image Jakob was displaying. After a moment, he decided that they may as well escape this together. His head was still spinning, and he didn't know how well of a fighter Jakob was. He didn't really want to leave it as an individual assignment to save their own hides.

He came in beside Jakob, bumping into the man, though making it look like he was uneasy on his feet. His hand hovered above the hilt of the scimitar at his hip, though he knew by all means that he should not use it. "We should leave before this gets worse," he warned, glancing meaningfully at Jakob, though the interaction didn't seem like much more than a wounded man looking for some sort of support.

His eyes searched the crowd, seeking an opening for them to slip out of sight. It wouldn't be good if him and Jakob got into a conflict. It would draw too much attention. Unwanted attention.

Once he saw the men rise, he fixed a hand firmly on the pommel of his scimitar, though he fought the urge to draw it as he took a defensive step back. His polished image however was ruined by the fact that the blow to the face had drawn blood from his nose, which was even now dripping from his chin to stain his shirt.

Laeris felt the damp sensation on his chest and tilted his head to peer at the blood staining his shirt, a shirt that he had worked so hard to keep clean during the journey... and blood was so hard to clean out!

His grip grew white knuckle on the pommel of his scimitar as he glanced to Jakob. "You know what. Screw it. Take as many of them down as you can." At that, Laeris, who may have just lost his common sense, pulled out his scimitar and waded amongst his would be assailants. Albeit, the bared steel at least made the crowd give them a wider berth.

Once among the formerly stunned, but fast recovering men, he waved his sword readily, pointing the deadly tip towards the assailants as though contemplating who he wanted to run through first. "Do you know how hard it is to clean blood out of clothing!" He bellowed out angrily, which unfortunately drew chuckles from those passing by, and nervous laughter from the group which had been amused by the concept of easy prey.

"Do you know how much a shirt of this quality even costs you bull headed buffoons! More than you could pilfer in a day I bet! You'd have to save up weeks for something like this-" and of course, the insults went on, but Laeris hardly seemed to care as a sudden battle rage seemed to take over him, and he practically begged for the next attack.

All over a blood stained shirt... wow

__________________
I will not kill you... in all technicality time will kill you. I'm just a contributing factor ~ Damarian Vasilis Zaccheo

I do not get moody. I get murderous ~ Saigyn

[A Guest?] ~ Advanced -Arlix-
[The Five Lights] ~ Advanced -Laeris Etheral Jostish- -Valcenz-
[Dove's Bane] ~ Advanced -Alloyscious Haryiel-
[Labyrinth] ~ Advanced -Triton Ochayne Demisou-

Casi inhaled deeply, revealing in the smell of fresh baked goods as she stood in front of the small stall that sold them and any other delectable treat one could think of. It was a heavenly aroma for sure, one she couldn’t help but to take in to its full extent. She’d always had a particularly strong sweet tooth, and that plus her usual lack of restraint equaled a half dozen cream filled pastries with chocolate dribbled on top, still warm from the oven, and a bag of crystallized sugar broken up into small chunks.

She paid for it all eagerly, using her newly acquired funds, and protectively stuffed it into her pack after stashing a handful of candy into her empty pocket. She thought she was perfectly deserving of having a little treat every once and awhile. And since Casidey considered neither sleeping on the forest floor or walking miles on end for days an particularly fun treat she figured she was well overdue. After all, what was life without a little indulgement?

She popped a sweet into her mouth and then veered back into the mass of humanoid traffic, vowing to herself that she wouldn’t get sidetracked again… unless she saw something else that she might fancy having. Cas had never really been good at narrowing her mind to focus on one thing. There were just too much that could be missed if she didn’t pay attention to everything around her. Whether that was considered being observant or nosey was of no consequence to her as long as she knew what was going on.

As she walked on the scene around her began to change rapidly. She was entering the largest slum in the city and it was definitely apparent. The streets were lined with waste and smelled of human filth. The few carts that came to sell things only carried items that couldn't be sold in the markets like bread with mold on the edges, half rotted fruits, and used cookware. People became gruff and raggedy in appearance, wearing old castoff clothing from the more wealthy or ill made garments. More often than not the clothes didn't fit the wearer properly since most here worried more about having them rather than if they complimented their figure. Once upon a time Cas would have blended in perfectly here, but now with her plethora or knives and finely made leather armor she stuck out like a parrot in a tree full of sparrows.

She could feel hungry eyes staring at her back, in both spite and envy or a mixture of the two, at her good fortune. She would get more hassle here than in other parts of the city but she didn't mind; she always loved to get into trouble anyways. She did, however, make the conscious action of placing a hand into her pocket that contained coin. Why? Simply put the easiest way to stop a thief from sticking their hands into your pockets was to put your own their first. That way there was no room left.

She made it to the Crow's Nest Inn after doling out a good amount of challenging grins, gestures, and words to some of the slum residents who were far too interested in her. She even had to resort to pulling one of her knives out at one persistent fellow who had followed her for a good three blocks. Luckily she didn't need to use it; the man ran off after she had displayed her prouous with a blade by spinning it quickly between her fingers while looking nonchalant about it.

There were only a few patrons at the Inn as the moment, but it was early yet. She took stock of the people present which consisted of a group of older men playing poker at one of the round tables towards the center of the inn, the barkeep who stood behind the bar with his back turned to her, and she could here someone washing dishes back in the kitchen. One of the men playing cards looked up, recognition of her evident in his smile. She put her fingers to her lips to signal him to keep quiet and then sealed it with a wink. Casi snuck up to the bar and leaned over it to tap the should of the tall, gangly tender behind it.

The man, Jack was his name, jumped at the contact and then spun around on his heel to find out who had violated his personal space. His face lit up when he saw who it was. "Casi of the Crooked Eye!?!" he exclaimed, perhaps even a little too loudly, "I never thought I would see your wicked little smirk here again. Found another house here worth breaking into, huh?"

"It hurts me that you would say such things," she said with mock hurt while putting a hand over her heart to add to the dramatic effect, as she so often liked to do. "It really does."

He raised a brow at her. "Ah ha," was all his reply was before he changed subjects. "Emma will be so happy to see you. She's back in the kitchens right now, should be back up front in few minutes... So what are you really doing back in Canyon City?"

__________________

Derek listened intently as Hatori spoke about Kon the butcher and Jason the bull. He had heard of Kon's name before, but unfortunately he could not remember where he had heard it. He shivered slightly at the thought of meeting him, and prayed to the Almighty Water Dragon that they would not anytime he was alive. As for the Jason man, from what he was being told, he would most likely not have to worry about him finding them. It sounded like he was all brawn no brain.

He lifted the drink to his lips and took another large sip, draining the rest of hiis glass. The burning hot liquid seeped down his throat; warming him from the inside out. The sensation was quite relaxing even though the news he was being told was not very good. He knew he should be worried that two of Valcenz best soldiers might be after him, but he didn't like to think that far ahead. He got into a bad habbit of thinking of things as they happen.

He signaled the barkeeper for another drink and returned his attention back to Hatori. He then placed a calloused hand on the back of his neck, in an attempt to sooth the ache that had been there since they started camping out on the ground. "Great..and here I was dilusional in thinking that I was going to hear good news." He was becoming exahuasted fast, and if he didn't get to bed soon, he knew he would regret it later.

"Well, I think I am going to retire for the night, why don't you tag along with us, you might fi

__________________