Run for Money, Run for Your Life [Ash|Eridanus]

[Leviathan]

Day 12 of Fall, AV 511 Tua nodded slowly to himself as he motioned for Ash Sparrow and Eridanus to follow him out the back of the building. People wanted to obtain their jobs, which was obvious by the now shouting customers behind them, but they could wait. First come, first served. Once outside, Ash Sparrow and Eridanus found themselves looking into a clear blue sky with patches of white cloud. It would have been a beautiful day, if Sunberth was ever a place that could see one. Tua, and a young man that now stood beside him, turned to face the two competitors. "I have work to do, but Jholson here can explain the test and escort you for a ways. Don't bother returning if you can't deliver my message. This is a job, so you'll get paid when you return. Jholson here, he'll let me know who completes it. Ta ta." And with that brief monologue, Jholson with his scruffy reddish five o'clock shadow of a beard, which was patchy on the cheeks at best, grinned. That stupid smile was, oddly enough, missing nearly every tooth on the right side of his face, as if somebody methodically tore out the boy's teeth as a form of torture, punishment, or just cruelty. "Evenin' kids! I 'm Jholson. Wa'k wif me." The young man (who couldn't be older than sixteen, surely) started to walk casually down the alleyway and towards the open street. For now, it was time to listen, for soon enough the two would be competing ever so vigorously for the job. "Mas'ah Tua want ya' t'know th' job is a one-a-man job thing. Yah? You gotsa be fast an' you gotsa be smarts ta do et. Yah? So. Here'sa how et es. Ya gotsa get sources. Yah? You gotsa know thingsa so you gotsa know pe'ple tha' knows things. Yah? Th' Knife is a good'n. But he es hard to fin' an' robs ye blin'. So, today I es ya source. Yah?" Butchered language, slurs, gaps in words. Linguist habits. Jholson was one difficult guy to understand, though it was possible that having half a mouth of missing teeth could be the cause of this. Still, he was helping the pair out, which was both good and bad. He was, after all, an assistant, but that meant he was also an assistant for the competitor. Tricky business, but who would say that it wasn't actually like this? Hell, who's to say he would even give true information for anything less than a fortune. "I'ya meet ye at Pig's Foot. Carlsi Yennen knows w'ere yah message es. She's a Dagg'rhan' t'ough. Dun' petch wit' her. Yah? Good." And just like that, both of them were given their first task of their first job. Find this Carlsi Yennen at the Pig's Foot Tavern. She's a Daggerhand, which would be a red flag to anybody who knew anything about Sunberth. Now, which methods would our employees-in-training utilize to beat the other in reaching their destination? Or, more importantly, how would they even find the place? Sadly, neither was truly familiar enough with the streets to know north from south, let alone the Pig's Foot from the Blood Pits.

OOCBe creative, use your skills but stay true to them. And, most of all, have fun!

[Eridanus]

Eridanus nodded. He did not really know where this place was, but being a tavern it wouldn't be difficult to find a resident who knows. He was aware that his ethereal form afforded him certain advantages when it comes to social contact, and he was intending to use it to his advantage in every way that he could. Winking at his competitor, the Ethaefal paid no further notice to the scruffy Kelvic and headed back into The Establishment. Taking in the location, he quickly looked everyone over until he found a target that would be most susceptible to his innate charms. Found one! He spotted a young woman with a worried frown on her face, who was looking through the advertisement board, probably one of Sunberth's civilians trying to edge out a living to survive the coming winter. He strode over to her confidently, stopping next to her. "Excuse me, miss, but could I possibly get directions to the Pig's Foot Tavern? I'm afraid I'm not too sure where it is." He tried to look as lost and uncertain as he could, maximizing the amount of sympathy he could draw from her. This, combined with the surreal beauty afforded by his celestial form, would no doubt garner the success he needed to proceed.

[Ash Sparrow]

Don't bother returning if you can't deliver the message. Yeesh. Wee Master Tua was playing hardball, wasn't he? With a somewhat nervous stroke of her neck, the miniature youth nodded her head in quiet understanding. If she didn't get this job, then...Oh, well, there were plenty of other ways in the world to make money. Suddenly, she realized just how lucky the Pet Kelvics were. Spoiled bastards. -They- didn't need to go scrounging for jobs, they just had to sit next to master and give an affectionate nuzzle every once in a while! A small twitch of irritation to her eyebrow, watching as the busy fellow Tua turned to them, along with a young lad. Jholson. Ash eyed the young fellow rather intently for a moment. Then he grinned, and caught her completely by surprize. Oh, my! Look at that! How did that even happen!? As a creature who particularly depended on her teeth for defense, the runtling cringed, and subconsciously raised a hand to her own maw. Hell, focus, Sparrow! Nevermind the fact he was nearly toothless, he was hard enough to understand without being distracted! Shaking her head, as if trying to shake loose said thoughts and clear her head, she focused upon the boy with a rather predatory stare.

Kids? The youth was just a cub himself! An..oddly toothless cub, but - you know what Sparrow, refer back to the fact you needed to focus. Another brief shake of her head, and she skulked along side him, looking like a cautious little beggar of a thing. A one man job, understandably. Now, she was fast, certainly - but she wasn't very clever. Hopefully, she was clever enough to compromise for that damnable mind of hers. Sources. The Knife. Mental note, avoid The Knife. Edit note. Unless desperate. As terribly hard as the boy was to understand, she'd keep young Jholson in mind, the clever little, gumsy source that he was. Pig's Foot! Where was that, exactly? Oh, hell, she didn't know these streets at all. A quiet look of conflict on her cherubic face, before halting, and catching the wink from her beautiful rival. The girl merely snapped her teeth in response. Young Sparrow watched him move away, to inside the Establishment, and wondered what little plan he had conjured in that pretty little head of his. She herself had one in mind, because she simply wasn't as charismatic as Eri and couldn't take the same approach.

On the plus side, the runt was a natural hunter, with a rather good sense of smell on her. Hell, perhaps her mind was simple because a large section of her brain was focused on that sense, no? Ash made a move for down the street, further thinking of said plan. Now. It's only logical to think that Jholson would need to be before them, and so he'd move right away. Unless her competitor got there immediately, this -should- be the right way to go about it. If it failed, she would have lost a ghastly amount of time, and probably lost the challenge in general. Hm. Her eyes squinted with thought. This was it. Make or break. As soon as she was a short distance away, she ducked into an alley way; and kept the boy's scent ever so strong in her mind, primally focusing on it, and only hunt. This wasn't a job anymore, this was a hunt. With a mixture of stealth and natural abilities, she'd try to stalk the young man, and follow him to the Pig's Foot. Wait for him to move, keep your mind on his scent, the second he started, you follow along behind him. Far behind, don't give the game away, but don't grow lazy. You lose him, you lose this job, and then what? Crouching, the wild child sniffed to regather his location. Time to hunt.

Hopefully he wouldn't stop for a piss or such on the way there. Time was of the essence!

[Leviathan]

Eridanus As the Ethaefal-Vantha returned to the Establishment, he first off caught an inquisitive glance from Tua, who surely would have questioned him being in here so soon if he wasn't already talking to a hulking man that had somehow lost an arm (was there anybody in this city that didn't have something missing?). Eridanus made his way to a woman staring desperately at the board, though the moment he approached her, he found the girl a few paces away and with a fierce, though dulled and jagged from being worn, dagger. Nobody, beautiful or not, could be trusted in a city like this. Sexual appeal was an interesting thing in Sunberth. Where, in some places, it was advantageous to be beautiful, in Sunberth it only made you a victim, or perhaps a magician. Either way, people did not take you too kindly. "Get away from me or I'll spill your guts." Lastly, the woman spat with the eye of a marksman. The wad of saliva soared, hitting Eridanus right in the chest, leaving a silvery glob of mucus where nobody would gladly have it. Laughter echoed from a few individuals who had stopped to watch the encounter, but moments later it died away and everything returned to how it was before. The woman reading the jobs (which by the way mostly were not for your average citizen), the people around going about their business, and Eridanus was no wiser of where to go. He caught Tua's glance again, who also chuckled lightly and shook his head. Still, he said nothing. Yet, somebody behind Eridanus placed a hand on his shoulder. It was a young man, only a few inches taller than the Vantha-Ethaefal, and smiled politely. Unlike most people in this city, he was fairly well groomed and didn't smell like death. It was almost bearable even. "Hey there. I'm just about to meet my gal and have a drink o' two myself. D'you want to follow me there?" Again he smiled. Whether Eridanus accepted or not, the man exited the building and started to walk down the street. It was his chance to find the Pig's Foot, otherwise he'd be forced to look for other options. Sparrow Jholson, once he thought he was well alone, reached into his pocket and pulled out a small pouched, which he dug into and dropped something into his mouth. Whatever it was, it had a powerful scent, even a human would be able to pick up such a smell from close up, but a Kelvic could track this guy blindfolded. Her choice, it seemed, was an effective idea. But things are rarely as they seem, right? After sucking on whatever it was (an herb of some kind judging by its distinct smell), Jholson started to walk down an alleyway, rather than the street Sparrow had taken. That probably was of no surprise, since he hinted nothing as to location of the Pig's Foot. Upon following Jholson, and most likely attempting to remain undetected, Sparrow would peek into the alleyway to see her "prey" as he was now running. And by the Gods! This kid could haul ass. The alleyway was narrow and littered with garbage and random junk, yet he jumped and juked and danced around each and every obstacle as if it was nothing. If she was going to follow him, she would need some serious agility and alacrity. Luckily, his scent would be difficult to lose, unfortunately, sight was a different story.

[Eridanus]

The Ethaefal almost swore, holding himself in just in time as he forcefully stopped his body from reflexively doing what it was trying to do, jumping backwards and assuming a combat stance. He had been too jumpy recently, as would anyone in the lawless city would, and he doubt Master Tua would take too kindly to him messing up his Establishment with a new corpse. He got a glob of split on his chest for his civility, however, and he was not too amused. Remind me next time not to use this damn social thing on humans who can only appreciate the feeling of cold steel. He told himself. Still, his Vantha personality would never manipulate humans like this, though his mortal form would appreciate a prank rather than be all prim and proper with socializing and whatnot. As he reconsidered his options, a young man offered to help him. That was definitely a godsend, for he was not familiar with this place and the alternative was to go on and ask while possibly suffering a humiliating rejection again, or to wander the city in the hope of landing in front of his destination. It could probably work, sure, but the Kelvic ruffian would probably end up there weeks before him. The man's appearance and scent did bring up the Ethaefal's mood, for he, at least, had a well-mannered image of civility. He knew, of course, of the dangers of the city and its citizens, for all was not as it seems. Still, he trusted his experience to keep himself alive. And of course, the common phrase goes, "Assumptions kill people". Before he reached a decision the man promptly headed out, probably not caring if he was taken up on his offer. Eridanus sighed, shrugged to no one in particular, and gave a two-finger salute to Master Tua to signify his departure courteously. "Wait up, good sir." He called to the man and followed him out of the building.

[Ash Sparrow]

So good so far, naturally. Mind you, she'd be best saying that when she actually got to the damnable Pig's Foot. Oh, she could it imagine it now, her exiting it just as the tall Vantha lad was rushing in! And she would swagger on by with the broadest of grins, oh yes! Previously bleak, things were beginning to look up, most certainly. What an opportunity! A wonderful opportunity for her clever little predatory brain. Well, it wasn't that clever if she didn't think up of asking people for directions, but fair enough. Leaning against the wall, the scrawny youth peeked over, understandably. She grit her teeth. Damn narrow alley way, and she couldn't exactly tread on his heels and remain stealthy, could she? Best to wait until - hold the messenger pigeon, what WAS that smell? It smacked her in the face, whatever it was, and the most impish grin appeared on her childish face. Now, she wasn't a religious being, but there was a God up there with her fortune in mind! This job was as good as h-look at him go!

The girl's jaw dropped suddenly.

Speedy little bugger of a boy! The worst of it was that it took every single smidgeon of her will power not to full out chase him down; the way wolves hunted was to get their prey running. Ash was no different. Her legs trembling with the effort of holding her still, she gave a quiet snarl in irritation. Wait until there was a bit of distance, a bit of distance was all that was needed, wait, there we go, distance enough!

However, while Sparrow was a rather quick bugger, and a creature of long distance travelling, she wasn't exactly grateful. Not like Jholson was. The lad was like a gazelle! A red-headed, teeth-deprived gazelle! With another light growl of irritation, the girl paused suddenly, and thought. She could go around the building and catch up with him there, but there were so many risks with that. One, he could end up running into her, and that'd ruin her chances of getting there before her capable rival - or she could lose him altogether, and her lead to the Pig's Foot. Hell, she didn't have time for this thinking nonesense! In a full sprint now to make up for lost time, Ash finally decided to move through the alley way to catch up with him. She had his scent, a good, solid grasp of it, and she needed to keep on clawing at it. The Kelvic moved quickly, for the most part avoiding obstacles, but tripping over a few sometimes. With sheer and utter determination in her mind, she'd pick herself up as quickly as possible to keep a flow going.

If anything, she could always ask for extra money to compensate for her battered shin and such after all this!

[Leviathan]

@ Ash Sparrow The Kelvic may have been tremendously faster in her natural form, but as a human was significantly slower, clumsy, even pathetic in comparison to this kid, Jholson, who was a professional word runner, if ever there was one. The half-toothless boy was out of the alleyway, chuckling, as he disappeared into the street. Sparrow, well she got halfway down the alley before bashing her shin against a box and stumbling into a puddle of something that smelled suspiciously like urine. If there was one thing to be thankful about, it's that whatever that little Prick Jholson was sucking on was still strong smelling. He would have to run faster than the speed of a flying Zith for that smell to no longer betray him. And thank the gods for that stench. As Sparrow finally stumbled out of the alleyway, that foul odorous trail was all she had to follow through the busy and crowded hoard of humans bickering and bartering for goods in the market stalls. Nobody should have been able to pass through this sporadic current of consumers at a decent pace, let alone a youngster flying through with an unreal pair of running legs, yet Sparrow just had this feeling that Jholson was gaining distance. She needed to liven her pace, find a new option to finding this tavern, or simply give up. @ Eridanus Eridanus surely had feelings of doubt at first when this man initially approached him with the offer of showing him to the tavern, but now his doubts were doubled as he realized this bugger was not only a man that walked at the pace of a distracted child, but he stopped to look at everything, sometimes even to just chat with other pedestrians, when he was supposed to be leading. Yvoreck, yes that was his name. He mentioned that to Eridanus, who also learned that he's the son of an Isur Glassblower and a Syliran Stonemason, which made him two halves of something, and one full of nothing. All his words of course. Eridanus also told his entire life story of growing up as a typical only son in the household of two artisans and how he learned a little of both parents' trades and how he was moderately wealthy but his father-Isur was too "tight-fisted" to allow any unnecessary spending and how he had always wanted a dog for a pet and friend and how his mother tried to match him with this darling little red-headed Inarta that lived close to them but she was just so unappealing to him because her freckles literally colored her face to a darker tan and her bright diamond like green eyes practically glowed in the dark and then he moved to Zeltiva and found his wife and blah blah blah. Yes, the story went on and on. Even now, Eridanus could look back and see (or at least he believed he could see) the entrance to the Establishment. It was as if the gods were punishing him by making time slow down, except for this man's voice who never paused to breathe. It was a true pain in the ass, but at least he was friendly. That was better than being stabbed by some woman in Tua's business right? Well, after dealing with Yvoreck, a knife to the chest might sound appealing. There was one thing that Eridanus was certain of. Sparrow surely was having better luck than him, and no doubt making better progress that was, at least, as a leisurely walking pace. This pace, it was difficult to even consider it a walk at all. Almost crawling it felt like.

[Eridanus]

Eri was in an cautious but good mood now that he had someone to follow, however it only took a few chimes for his hopes to begin dropping. Yvoreck seemed like someone who had attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, fluttering from one activity to the next, never really finishing one before he started another. The Ethaefal tried to remind the man of his urgency, but the man assumed that Eri wanted to speak with him and he launched into a chatty summary of his life. It was all too colourful, and Eri wondered if the man was telling a story he read in some fictional novel or if it was really true. Regardless, that was not really his concern for all he wanted to was to get to the tavern before that runty kid did, and this ridiculously slow pace was not helping at all.

Eri would have tried to subtly hint at Yvoreck, suddenly scooting the highly distracted man before while pretending that he was steering the man away from incoming passers-by or obstacles. It was a ruse obviously, but the constant scooting might indirectly remind the man of his need to move faster.

It that failed, he would have found an appropriate pause in Yvoreck's story - probably where he had to stop and take a breath for the fool was rambling non-stop - and quickly cut in by first agreeing cheerfully of how interesting his story was, and quickly launching into a short story of his own where he was late for a meeting with his girl and she ended up going to another man's home right in front of him, as clearly the most important thing a woman would need was security from her man, and that being late was not particularly good way of making her feel secure.

He ended by slipping in casually that he heard from people around that there was a new merchant in town and that he should be in the tavern by now. He also accidentally let slip that the said merchant tended to be rather touchy with ladies, especially those alone at the bar and that his slew of bodyguards tended to discourage any form of response from anyone that did not satisfy him.

The story that Eri told was completely fake of course, as far as the Ethaefal knew, for it was created from the top of his head, no doubt the delivery much enhanced by his Vantha personality tendency for the dramatic. By the time he was done, and he did so in as quick a time he could without compromising the point of the story, he hoped that the Yvoreck would be much compelled to get to the inn because of the two stories he heaped on top of each other to maximize the effect he desired.

[Leviathan]

oocI guess you're gone from the site. If you do come back, let me know and we can do another thread for you. Eridanus, Sparrow's disappearance kind of ruins my initial idea, but I'll work with the same. Sorry for the delays. Yvoreck, who was only going on and on about some childhood sweetheart and how her family left for whatever reason, did not take hold of Eridanus's subtle hints of haste. Even Eridanus's story went by unnoticed, with soft shaking of his head and a pat on Eridanus's shoulder. In fact, that might have been the reason he went on his own, long tangent of his childhood sweetie. Well, at least some progress was being made, right? Or was it. One moment, Eridanus had felt himself almost falling asleep due to how slow everything was moving, and this man's annoying and lame storytelling, that he hardly knew what was happening when he found himself face down in the dirt in an alleyway with someone's muddy boot firmly planted on the back of his neck. Yvoreck, that bastard! This whole little gentlemanly visage was just that, a fraud. Yet, something made Eridanus feel that this wasn't a simple mugging. And the sound of steel briskly sliding against leather only made the hairs on his neck stand at attention. He couldn't really see the assailant, not with that foot on his neck (and damn it, he wasn't worried about breaking Eridanus's neck!), but he knew well enough that it was the sound of some weapon, a short one, being prepped for bloodletting. "Tell me stranger, what's your connection with Tua, hmm?"

[Eridanus]

oocno worries levi

Eri suddenly found himself looking at the ground, and when he tried to get up he could feel an uneven texture pressing firmly on his neck. The uneven texture quite strongly reminding him of those that boots usually have. When they're caked with mud. It was quite a nasty experience, and Eri cursed himself at not having paid more attention.

Of course, he had paid attention, for no one in Sunberth was to be trusted. Despite being a skilled combatant himself the fact that this seemingly gentlemanly person could so easily disable him meant that Yvoreck was no normal person. No normal person would have enough combat reflexes and experience to overpower one like the ethaefal. And that meant serious, serious danger. It was no simple crime that was taking place.

The familiar singing of steel being released from its sheath made Eri cringe and he could imagine a sword of some sort being drawn. Yvoreck meant to kill him and rob him, that bastard! As he readied to give his all to defend himself instead of being slaughtered like a meek sheep, he heard the fraud ask him about Tua.

This was no ordinary crime indeed. This went deeper than he thought, and he quickly ran through his options. Most of them ended up with him dead. Without further knowledge he cannot really do anything, and so therefore he had to rely on the truth.

"The same connection I have with you, and every other civilian walking around out there. I went to The Establishment to take a look at the advertisement board to earn some gold, and Tua offered me gold if I were to go to that Tavern."

It was a simple business transaction, and he wondered if it was enough to avoid getting skewered on the spot.