PhoenixWhite

A Tale of Thieves - Part One; Running and Hiding

--Joshua Xie--
The man addressing himself as 'Han' appears to be but a few years older than Joshua; the age of twenty, roughly.

"You have served us in the past, and are a young man who seeks to make himself both known and respected, no? I seek to make these dreams of the youth a reality. All currently uninitiated are to become initiated immediately, but I have selected you specifically..."

At this, Han's wolfish grin escalated into a downright predatory sneer.

"For the sake of what the dragon truly stands for; Chaos. The Dragon originally stood as a symbol of chaos and probability, not a figurehead of stability. I seek to bring this chaos back into the Triads, Joshua, and through it our old power and fear. No longer will the Patchwork Gang disregard us as rabble, and no longer will the Big Man's mafia push us around as weaklings-- No!" Han declared this, with the same charisma he displayed in every action he's committed thus far. "From this point forth, we shall be superior to all who come to us. And the beginning of that is now, with you; the youths of the Circuit, and soon the youths of Polis."

Han lowered himself down to the corpse beneath him, a deep and primal laugh emanating from his chest.

"It shall be glorious."

And with that, the man hefted the corpse up and tossed it lazily over a shoulder. He turned and tilted his head back.

"As I said, your job is to act as a representative of myself to the Big Man. Don't cave, for he is a powerful man, but you are the Dragon's branch of his proposed joint operation. If you fail, it reflects on all of us."

And with that, Han returned into the dojo. Joshua's Shifu lowered his head and spoke in a low tone;

"He is to be feared, for his ambition is great and power equal. The others fear him, for he brings with him great change. He is no longer the young man I trained. Joshua, do as he says for now. However much I wish to keep you out of this mess, I have no place interfering directly in his way. I..."

The elder man broke off with a sigh.

---Soren---
Lucky sneered at him as he snatched the card back, and with a flick of her wrist snapped the holster's safety strap out of place, allowing the revolver at her hip to be drawn if necessary.

"If someone's waiting on you, I'd have known about i--"

She paused and looked deeply perturbed, before glancing aside and mouthing a few words to herself.

"Oh. You're him. Oh. He did mention someone coming by. Shit." Lucky spat on the ground and looked up at Soren. "I can't keep you out; Elfkin as well as an inside invitation, this is out of my hands. Go in the back door, ask for 'Yuzzuk Bloodtongue'."

With that, and a toss of her hair, the elf woman directed Soren towards the back of the building with a flick of her hand.

Formaroth: Battle for the Throne

Hello! I saw the recruitment thread and saw that you had but a few people, and while I don't have a chance to truly engross myself in studying up details right this moment I'd like to express an interest for, at the least, lurking!

Should I come by and analyze things later and feel inspired I'll definitely cast myself as a character and/or nation if you'll have me.

A Tale of Thieves - Part One; Running and Hiding

---Soren---
As he approaches the bouncer, she blatantly gives him a once-over glance that isn't unsimilar to the once-over glance a jock would give a cheerleader in a moment of bodily appraisal, before ultimately settling with a dissatisfied smirk as her hand dropped to the revolver at her hip and rested on its hilt.

Soren extends the card to her, and she stiffens and takes it, studying it critically under a hard gaze.

"Lucky, not Rainbow, asshole." She said in a high pitched voice that rather completed her pseudo-adorable ensemble. "...Damn, this is a tight spot. I can't let a hume in, but you're elfkin. This is weird." She glares up at him. "The fuck'd you do to get this? Know what, I don't even want to know. Why you want in anyway?"

It seems she's actually contemplating letting him in, and it's obvious the fact she's doing anything less than aiming a gun at his head is a miracle procured by his possession of this elfkin license.

A Tale of Thieves - Part One; Running and Hiding

Huh. I like the idea, and although it did blindside me a bit I'll typically not shut down a player's idea unless it directly contradicts the character.

This sort of thing is difficult for me to weigh in on at the moment, but in general, just as a sort of societal placement sort of thing, elves and orcs and dwarves and goblins and anything else of that nature would, more or less, be treated as an oppressed mutated minority.

I like the idea, as I said, and I'd say it's actually at least semi-valid for this sort of Circuit situation.

The Sun Will Never Set (Reboot Int. Check)

Hm. I'll lurk on this, definitely. I like observing this sort of thing, and if I can manage to digest things I might show interest down the line.

A Tale of Thieves - Part One; Running and Hiding

---Emmi//k4b00m---

Upon her verbal agreement, the picture faded away and a few sparse words appeared on the screen.

'Glad to have you on board. As I said earlier, we'll be hitting Thanatos Medical. Tinkerer's damned good at what he does, and we have word from the boss that he has verification that it is, in fact, the Tinkerer we're about to try and hit. Tinker used to work for the Big Man- who is now hiring you- and broke off a few years back when Big Man had him hit the Polis Scientific Institute. Big Man wants the data that Tinkerer stole, but we can't get access to it remotely.

We have to assume Tinker keeps it close, or on a remote system, or possibly even in an encrypted personal drive he keeps off the network. All we know is that Thanatos exists because of that info, otherwise the science institute would have a monopoly by now.

It's some illuminati level shit, to be sure, but that means you'll have to gear up for an on-sight crack, meaning you'll be up close and personal with some highly advanced software and possibly gunfire if things go to shit. We're forming up a team that the Big Man feels will be able to pull this over on the Tinkerer, and he handpicked you, so you should probably take that as a vote of confidence. If the names I'm getting are correct and match up with their reputations, then you've got solid allies.

I'd recommend you do your homework on Thanatos, doll. Get familiar with their systems, see if you can't find a weakness that I missed. Oh, and get a haircut, or some makeup, or do some pushups. I'm running out of things to insult about you, which is honestly a rarity for me, so unless you have specific questions I don't know what else to tell you, and I don't want to stay connected to this system much longer.
-M1k3y'

---Soren---
The pink cloud faded, leaving behind a corpse. After but a few moments, the body was dragged off- such was life in the Circuit. Nobody had a face except those who made one for themselves, and those people had targets on their backs more often than not. A faceless, remorseless, mass; the Circuit.

Soren's path up the street was rather uninhibited, but the 'The Coffee Shop' as the note had stated was left up to a rather ambiguous definition, and after a short while of searching he eventually found a building that stood out as a sort of oddity in the Circuit's bazaar proper; an Other run business, but one that appeared to be almost elite in comparison to the run-of-the-mill swill bars- The legendary club, 'The Coffee Shop'. Of course, calling an 'other' establishment elite is somewhat of an oxymoron, but it clearly has higher maintenance and support than any of the other buildings that aren't run by the primary gangs of the Circuit.

As Soren approached, it would appear that a rather short, thin, elf woman acted as bouncer. She was decked out in neon colors, and her hair was a surreal wave of color that cascaded down to her neck in an even bob. Her ears extended undeniably far along her head, and a tattoo across her face marked her as a member of the Patchwork gang. At her hip was a revolver, and her hand rested upon her hip seemed quite twitchy as she eyed the ordinary humans who passed to and fro.

Strangely enough, humans seemed to give the place a wide berth- but to any lengthy inhabitant of the Circuit, it'd be well known that this was a hotspot for Others, and a place that the Elves specifically ran- and excluded human presence within.

Humans have tried to force their way in in the past, but the Patchwork gang's efficiency and brutality was legendary for these transgressors. However, the club was heavily coated in rumor and posed quite the mystery for all the non-humans who ever spent their time drinking sorrows away.

What Soren does with the discovery that 'a coffee shop' meant 'THE coffee shop' was up to him.

A Tale of Thieves - Part One; Running and Hiding

Awesome
Birb did my job for me
I no longer have to think of a sly manner of dragging him along, huzzah

I mean, cool, you took initiative. I thoroughly enjoy that xD

--Edit--
Something that's peculiar about me, that I feel I should note for you guys in case I take things too slow and you want me to expedite some things, is that I adore world building and narrative description- and because of this, I'll gladly give more detail if you ever ask for it [Unless a lack of detail suits the situation better], and if you ever simply want to walk around the Circuit or Polis I'll gladly just describe the world around you and try to bring it to life.

You can be as freeform as you want when it comes to doing things, I'll never force you onto a railroad unless you guys ask me to. If you want to just wander around and go hang out at bars and take things slower, I'll make it as fun and real of a process as I can with my semi-random world building.

If you want to go 'fuck it, Polis and Circuit suck' and go somewhere else in the world, though, you'd have to give me a bit of forward planning time, as I've essentially only really built Polis/Circuit.

I just want you guys to know, very firmly, that you can be as freeform and sandbox as you feel the need to be.

A Tale of Thieves - Part One; Running and Hiding

@Mega Birb You can act whenever you wish, the 'dossier' as I initially put it is purely extra/superficial and is just my vision for some of the things I see on your sheet.

I apologize for the absence today, but sundays are days I set aside for D&D and schoolwork, so for future reference...

But yes, Birb, I'll get the extra tidbits to you ASAP, but you are in no way confined to limbo until I get it to you.

A Tale of Thieves - Part One; Running and Hiding

--Redline--
"Hey."

Not a good start, a cool greeting. No real affection present, just another one of Rebecca's cool greetings; as if Victor weren't any more special than a phone call from anyone else despite her having called him. However, she did call him, so it was fairly obvious she wasn't particularly angry or upset about anything.

"Week from now, big dinner, fancy food, no cameras?"

This portion of her sudden call, lacking any hesitation after her initial 'hey', introduced a bit more emotion into her voice; a certain lilt that seemed both amused and hopeful, but also suitably restrained.

Of course, the phone buzzes as soon as she gets done prompting this hopeful question. The screen flashes with a message notification from a rather familiar fellow; Daniel Grimwald, otherwise known as Fancy Dan, enforcer of the Big Man.

--Joshua Xie--

Shifu lifted himself up and approached Joshua slowly, placing a hand on his shoulder as he placed himself behind the lad and faced the dojo.

"Be strong, boy, chaos has shifted and things will change. The triads finally have someone who will bring forth stability."

It sounded as if the older man was reciting the words rather than meaning them, but there was the unmistakable hint of fear in his voice. As he spoke, a form appeared in the doorway; they were thin and tall, and young- most importantly young- but carried themselves with an air of pure conviction and determination. The person's arm was held across his chest, gripping his shoulder tightly as blood blossomed from beneath his hand.

It would seem those gunshots Joshua had heard had been directed- and had even hit- this man, and yet he still walks.

"I present to you, Joshua...Han. His old name forsaken, he takes upon the title of Dragon younger than any before him, and in his first decree to the triads as its leader he has declared all uninitiated to be henceforth...initiated. Which means you'll be given a task now, today."

The man's words were hesitant as he neared the end, but the man addressed as 'Han' laughed. As he moved forward out of the dojo, it became apparent to Joshua that the man wasn't thin- that was a trick of the clothing he wore- but rather athletic and hard, and his height is the primary factor in his 'thinness'. He stopped by the broken form on the ground and looked to it wolfishly, before bringing a foot up and slamming it down onto the body's torso.

"Bullets cannot harm one whose conviction and dedication is true. This is just a flesh wound, my spirit surges more than ever." Han spoke to the body beneath his foot, the corpse being incapable of response. "Should my body fail, my spirit would inhabit another. I have no fear of death, only a dream for our brothers." As he spoke, an aura of power and control seemed to wash over him and it became apparent that the wound in his shoulder, which would have left most writhing in pain or even incapacitated, hardly affected him.

Two other, older, men emerged from behind 'Han' and eyed him warily. One of the duo had a pistol in their hand, but the man accompanying him placed a hand on the weapon and pushed it down with a shake of his head.

Joshua had never seen these men before, but they were instantly recognizable as the leaders of the various branches of the triads, and as Joshua's shifu lead him forth towards Han the corpse on the ground was also made readily recognizable as a man who had often visited with Joshua's Shifu during their trainings to consult. The situation was obvious to Joshua; 'Han' had just usurped a branch of the triad and catapulted himself into command, at an age that Joshua would guess was closer to his own than to any man who had controlled the Triads before him.

"Ah, yes." Han said, lifting his head and breathing in deeply. He slowly spread his arms as if embracing the world, then let his hands extend to Joshua. "For too long we have been held down by tradition that is older than even our oldest members. We've squabbled with civil war rather than solidifying our strength. We need youth, not corpses, to fill our ranks."-- the last comment warranted Han tilting his head and peering back at the two standing in the entrance of the dojo. "...However, co-operation trumps radicalism and brute force. I am not without wisdom, and I see that we must change with gradual progression rather than sudden transformations. I trust that you two will not hinder my dream for the Dragon?"

Neither man spoke, simply bowing their heads and stepping back into the dojo.

Han grinned wolfishly, and turned his attention back to Joshua.

"Good. Now, as for you...you get to do a special job as your initiation. Prove yourself loyal and useful and your future will be glorious. The Big Man and his...mafia...have proposed a joint operation that is immensely profitable and beneficial to all involved, and I've decided to send you as our representative."

Joshua's Shifu stiffened, but stayed silent.

--John Doe--

"The terms are like this; $15,000 up front just for saying yes, and a very considerable sum for operation completion. It's dangerous, but I can't give you any more information until I know you're on board. Confidentiality, son, is a standard of business. Just know you'll be hitting one of the big corps, but nothing government- purely private. That's all you're getting up front. If you're out, leave, if not let's discuss things further."

The Big Man was blunt and informal, but as displayed before he carried weight.

"I'll also tell you now that it's a team effort, and you'd never be able to do this alone."

A Tale of Thieves - Part One; Running and Hiding

@Mega Birb I'm still scouring over it in some internal debate, but I'm almost always going to approve something. I'll PM you soon.

And no, no retcon would be needed. At least, not if I can help it. I'll just do my usual rounds of post reading and then give everyone the relevant replies they need in order to move forward. I was just keeping things extremely slow in regards to the beginnings to get a feel for characters, although, admittedly, my IC pacing tends to be based on in-the-moment arbitration/dictation, but the post frequency itself should no longer be an issue after this weekend [for the forseeable future]