PM to join An interesting meeting

[Zenobia]

16th of Winter 512 Zenobia woke up later than she usually did and concluded that, contrary to usual, her client of the night before was still there lying next to her. Of course, sometimes this did happen when a man paid to spend the entire night rather than simply a couple of hours but usually they tended to disappear at first light, leaving her asleep... much to her satisfaction since that was always the easiest way to go about things. No awkward exchanges in the morning and less space for her guest to form an attachment, something which had happened a couple of times and could lead to bizarre, unpleasant, sometimes even humiliating, situations. Zenobia sighed, and quietly drew herself away from him, towards the wall then, straightening herself up, stepped over him to pick her white silk chemise and undergarments off the floor, where they had been dropped hastily late the night before. Wondering whether the man (Orlando - was it? She knew it started with an 'O') would arouse from his slumber anytime soon, she crossed over to the washstand in the corner of her little bedroom, poured some water and a drop of sweet-smelling oil into a basin and proceeded to wash herself, working from her neck down to start off with, taking extra care with her thighs and under her arms. Finally, she emptied the bowl then re-filled it slightly in order to be able to clean her face with something completely fresh. The man still had not moved by an inch. Zenobia found herself wondering what she would do if it turned out he had died out of sheer exertion - cut his purse, search for any gold teeth and try and rid herself of the body in an alley nearby. It would be a shame, really. Many clients became regular customers and this man, though he must have been at least forty, was really very easy on the eye with a strong virility. Yes, it would be a shame. It was just then that she heard a light snore come from him and he rolled over on to his front. Great. He was certainly not ready to go and in Sunberth, you had to be careful in case a man objected to being awoken. Zenobia had to go and find something to eat; she had not had anything since that time the day before and the cupboard was bare. She pulled on her clothes - undergarments, white silk chemise, yellow harem pants, emerald green velvet cloak to cover everything, knee-high black leather boots and the golden necklace which acted like a collar covering her neck. She never left the apartment without it though, that said, she never usually left the apartment while another person was still there. Oh well, she would be quick. Sunberth had something quite romantic about it, to her eyes, in the ruined and dangerous aspect of it - the fight for survival was like an adrenaline rush, a thrill, and the fallen ruins seemed to remind her of her own mortality. She liked that. It was on her way back from her purchase that Zenobia did something that, though quite acceptable anywhere else, she would not normally have done in Sunberth while thinking straight. She went down a dark, empty alley. The error of her decision did not immediately leap out at her, but rather grabbed her from behind just as she was regretting it. The man whom she found herself facing when she spun around angrily was a large brutish man, street tough of the type that flourished in Sunberth. "Excuse me. I'm on my way somewhere." she said, her first reaction to act as though a mistake had been made and attempt to pull away. Unfortunately, the ruffian had other ideas which could only really be expected. Not for the first time, Zenobia had the feeling that she was risking too much living in Sunberth - why could she not simply return to her parents in Zeltiva? Now was not the time to think about that, though. Now was the time to try desperately to dissipate this situation.

[Agathon Minorium]

It was rare for Agathon to go out in the morning, but he had woken up early and his apartment (if one can call it an apartment) was way too depressing. He had already been starring at wall for almost an hour when he decided that he would not be able to go back to bed. He put his clothes on and exited his apartment. The sun light immediately blinded him when he went out. He quickly covered his eyes with his arms, but he still had a white picture in his head, like everything was blank. He hadn't been out during the day for about a week. It took him about a minute to get used to the morning light. He was absolutely sure that his little expedition was for nothing and he would just go back home empty handed, but he still wanted to walk around. It was the first time he had seen the city so lively in days. He took his usual route, through some small, dark alleys which ended up in the Seaside market. Like always he walked slowly and silently, trying to avoid as many eyes as possible. While walking in those alleys, he saw a man, quite large man, facing a girl. ''It's just a couple'' he thought to himself, '' a good way to test my skills.'' He got the absurd idea of trying to pass right next to them without them noticing him. But long before he actually tried to put his plan in action, he heard the girl saying ''Excuse me, I'm on my way to somewhere.''And that's when he got an even more stupid idea than his original one. He quickly lowered his body and sneaked behind the man while they were starring at each other. They were very close to the Seaside Market and there was a lot of noise. Agathon was hoping there was enough so that they wouldn't hear him approaching at all. He slowly put his hand in the man's pocket and grabbed everything he could and then hastily put everything he grabbed in his pocket. He then stood up and poked the guy on his back. ''I believe...that... the lady asked you... to move out of her way'' he said slowly. Yes. Very stupid, one would say, for a guy like him who had absolutely no combat skills to approach a big guy like that straight forward, but he had a plan.

[Xadel]

Xadel slowly roused from slumber, the sound of the day already filtering in through his covers window. He didn't open his eye for a few moments, hoping he might manage to fall back asleep but it was for naught. He was awake and there was no avoiding it now. He had come in late, or early, depending on your philosophical stand point on the matter. He had heard that a new bigwig had come into town and he spent the night in the gates community doing his best to avoid detection and still manage to find his next target. He slowly rose up as he pushed aside the sheets that covered him. He took a deep breath and reached up to the ceiling to stretch some of the sleep from his joints. He cracked his neck before springing from bed. He landed on his feet and rolled his hips to stretch his trunk. He made his way to the wash basin and made sure to remove any of the sweat and stink of his previous nights encounters. He might not be the richest man in the city but he was a stickler for cleanliness. He walked toward his clothing chest and slid on some undergarments and donned the livery of his profession. He made sure to carefully tuck the daggers into his sash so that the blades would not show but the ribbons flowed around him to add to his appearance. He went about the rest of his morning stretch routines afterward and stretched all of his joints before flipping on to his hands. He lifted himself up and down a few times before rolling out and leaping back to his feet. Once he felt limber enough he made his way out and into the streets so he could find a place to perform. As he walked he stumbled across a strange encounter in an alleyway. He stopped short and watched for a moment as a woman was stopped by a hulk of a man. She attempted to diffuse the situation peacefully but it didn't seem to be going her way. In short succession a man joined the fracas and as he could see managed to sneak the purse of the larger man. He merely shook his head as he then attempted to draw attention away from the girl. It was obvious that he was not the experienced sort in this type of situation and he decided he should step in. He stepped out from his spot around the corner and hailed the others. He rolled and flipped forward, causing the blue and red sheens in his hair to play in the light in a dazzling array, before coming to a rest between the beast and the woman. "Good morning ladies and gentlemen! What a fine day for a story! Wouldn't you say?" He smiled between everyone, using his abilities with storytelling and his Vantha tongue to try and charm the crowd. As he looked between them his eyes spiraled with color. Blues and greens and yellows played across them as he looked up into the aggressors eyes. "You sir! Have you heard the one about the giant and the goddess!? Surely you must have, but let me refresh your memory. The moral of the story is that one should be careful who they attempt to take advantage of because they might just be a gorgeous goddess!" He said, making up a story as he spoke to try and push the point that he should leave the lady be. He could only hope it worked, but if not he was ready to fight.

[Zenobia]

Zenobia quickly looked to where the voice came from - a pleasant voice, she decided even if the words came out rather strangely - and saw a young man standing there. If she had had any less faith in people's own self-confidence she could have laughed at his challenging of the ruffian, but nobody, especially when in Sunberth, challenged anyone without threat behind their words. On the other hand, it could be that he was simply trying to act with courage and be 'noble' without any real plan and, if such were the case, it really would be ungrateful of her to laugh at his efforts particularly as he would then probably soon meet his demise. Quickly formulating a plan of action, she decided that the best thing to do would be to liberate herself as soon as the man holding her arm had his attention engaged elsewhere, for example pummelling the face of the young blond man. That much of the plan was the easy bit, but then should she keep close by in order to thank her saviour or simply run back home. On the face of it, getting away as quickly as possible was the most sensible option, but if the blond man did make it through, even beat the assailant, he might remember her face... and he might be offended that she had abandoned him like that. Zenobia did not want to make any enemies, particularly the wrong ones and most particularly not in Sunberth. In conclusion, she decided to just take the situation as it came and not really do anything. "What?" The Thug turned around and looked down at the blond man who, though far from short, was dwarfed in comparison, "This here's my territory. What're you gonna do about it?" At this the thug, with a low laugh, a very odd laugh, put his hand into his pocket. Zenobia saw by the glint in his eyes that he was about to pull out a knife, or some other weapon, but then he pulled his hand out again and looked at it for a second almost unbelievingly. He looked angry and Zenobia took a moment to try and de-tangle herself from his grip, his attention taken off her, but it didn't work (indeed it had the opposite effect) and he held her arms tighter. Shoot. Thought Zenobia, a relatively small word for exactly how bad the situation was, because now he was actually really rather hurting her. The ruffian now turned completely around (pulling Zenobia with him) to look at the man there, and looked at him for a few seconds before saying anything, then comprehension of some sort seemed to dawn on him. "Gimme back my stuff." Uh. Oh. Zenobia was ready to cry with frustration. Brilliant, because stealing people's things generally do not make them more open to treating you with courtesy. It was then that a man whose features and hair danced with all sorts of vibrant colours emerged into view. Zenobia did not say anything at his strange greeting, but nodded politely and waited to see what would happen.

[Gad]

"Bludo, you ugly sonuvabitch! Where's my money!?" Gad belted irascibly down the alley way strutting along like he owned the place. His right hand was tossing his heirloom dice up and down, his left was poked into his jacket, resting comfortably. He took in the scene he'd happened upon. A younger blonde guy, some dandy who was a little too happy for someone who lived in Sunberth, and, most importantly as far as Gad was concerned, a fine Benshira looking filly dressed in equally fine attire. Too fine.

"That's just what I was doing now Gad! I swear. This one here, she owes me." The brute stammered out. His boxer's nose gave away a long history of fighting, in bars and in alleys, and most recently in cages. Gad considered the prize fighting thug with a raised brown, and Bludo pieced together another fabrication to tack on. "Yeah, uh, she owed me...how much did I bet you?"

"Thirteen Silver Mizas." Gad said flatly.

"Yeah, well see, that's how much she owed me, and I was tryina get it from her, to give to you, fore these two come along here startn' make trouble and such. And I says to them, I says 'Hey, me and the lady here just talking friendly.' But they don't wanna here it."

"Ah, I see, of course. Right." Gad reassured the man though Bludo was clearly lying through what teeth of his were left. "Well, look, since you were just handlin up our little transaction from the Fish the other night, how bout we cut out the middle man?" Gad's tone was coy and playful.

Bludo grumbled lowly and his eyes darted around, he was clearly doing the odds in his head, as best as he could considering it's condition. Bludo grabbed the young woman a tad tighter and tried to draw her in a bit more. "What's it to yah anyways? 'Bout ya mind your own business Gad." Bludo said from behind slitted eyes, not wanting to give up his catch to Gad.

Gad scratched his jaw lazily, then let out a humorless chuckle. "Well, if you look at it my way, this is my business. You know, if I recall, I'm not the only one you owe money to. Who was it came through the other day, huh Bludo? Looking for that stack of Gold Mizas they lost on your last fight? Sun's Birth? No. Looked too nice. Maybe some heavy hands from over in the Community? I'm not the only one you owe Blu, but I am the nicest." Gad's tone throughout was unnaturally familiar and friendly to Bludo, who's eyes shifted and he swallowed hard, but didn't seem like he was going to change his mind.

Gad laughed heartily. "Ah, just a joke, just a joke. If you say this broad owes ya, well then, we should probably get your money from her, right?" Gad said strolling over closer to the small crowd of four. "I mean, it'll probably be easier if both of us work em over huh? Lessee... how much she owe you?"

Bludo crossed his eyes at Gad's change in attitude, the lanky Benshira made his way over, and stood between the brightly adorned bard and the brutish man, and kept a wary eye on the blonde youth. "Well uh...thirteen silver..."

"Oo!" Gad said with a squint as if he'd been wounded. "No no no. Thirteen, that's a bad number. Besides, you don't want to get your thirteen from her then turn round give it to me d'ya? Nah, get twenty-six." He emphasized with flashing a two and then a six on his digits, having already slipped the dice into his pocket. "That way we can both get our pay out." Gad's face held a friendly expression which hide a calculating mind. Extortion and banditry in one day, before noon? He was a scoundrel indeed. It wasn't his fault.

The blonde kid was likely a street rat, himself up to no good. But the girl, and this man? They were dressed too nice not to have money on them. "Well my sweet," he began in a saccharine tone and stretched his palm out to her, doing the universal sign for 'gimme' "you heard all that didn't you? Twenty-Six Silver Mizas." Gad cocked his head towards the bard. "If you ain't got it, maybe your pretty boyfren might kick in." Gad's matter-of-fact tone made the whole thing seem like it was the most reasonable transaction in the world, at least he'd hoped. He just wanted the money, no problems, and he wagered this was the quickest way to do so.

[Agathon Minorium]

The situation escalated quickly, something that Agathon had not foreseen. He was planning to offer the thug some money, hopefully a bit less than what he had stolen from him, but people started popping up out of nowhere! First a bard and then a boxer like fella, apparently named Gad, who was actually asking for money from the woman that Agathon originally tried to save. Fortunately, just when the big guy understood that somebody had put his hand in his pocket, Gad came in and drew his attention. Now the point was what he would do. He had no fighting skills at all and was sure that the situation wouldn't end up in his favor if they started fighting hand to hand. The bard looked strong, but not nearly as strong as Gad and the big big guy, Bludo, combined. The good thing was that nobody was paying that much attention to him. All he had to do was wait for a chance to escape and he was sure that it wouldn't be long before he would get it. And he got his chance quickly enough. Gad turned to the woman and asked her for the money, and exactly then, Agathon turned around and started running as fast as he could. He wasn't one to engage in a street fight like that, at least not face on. He wasn't planning to leave them alone against those two brutes either, though, he wasn't that kind of a guy. He had forgotten to take his dagger with him, so he run back in order to get it and attempt to sneak up on the two guys. The alley was not that far away from the apartment anyway. ''I hope they don't get killed before i get back'' he thought to himself as he run faster than he had even run before in his life.

[Xadel]

The situation he had so intelligently decided to try and diffuse had gone from bad to worse. It seemed that the brute holding the fel was not as hick as they had thought, at least in terms of mental capacity. It wasn't long before he realized that his money was gone. Xadel paid attention to every detail so that he might be able to interject somewhere. He looked toward the mousy youth that was now the target of the mans wrath. He wished he could tell him that next time either rob the guy or help the girl, not both. At the very least he could have waited. Before muh more could happen though it seemed one of the mans colleagues was hanging about and decided to join the party. At first he was hopeful that the one known as Gad would offer a way out, but the more he talked the more Xadel got a bad feeling. Before long the price had gone from thirteen to double that and it seemed they sought to take it from everyone here. He had no intention of giving in to a bullies demand, that was a sign I weakness and in a place like Sunberth that was a death sentence. He needed to wait for an opportunity. He had stepped in to help and he had no intention to leave the woman in the hands of these men. The newcomer Gad put out his hand as if he would just give in to the demands. As soon a he did the young man who had first entered high tailed it out of there. He used the momentary distraction of the others escape to launch his attack. He lunged for the giant, aiming all of his strength directly into the elbow joint of the arm that held the girl in an attempt to break it and release the captive. As he did so he used his acrobatics and reached inside his waistband and loosed one of his throwing knives towards Gad, he doubted it would do much more than put him on the defensive. He had no real experience with the weapons up until now. He hoped it would allow the two of them to escape, if need be he would use his fire. Better to be hunted than dead.

[Zenobia]

Zenobia wanted to stay quiet but she just couldn't. For a second, she thought that she might be able to get away with it, that the man who had just arrived might have some sort of control over the thug, but though that observation was just, the idea that he might help was proved more than false as the conversation between the two drew on. God, this man was even worse than the first one. She just couldn't hold her tongue and so be it if she accidentally ended up on the slave market again - she managed to get out of that situation last time. "Sir, if you were to tell your huge brute of a follower, or acquaintance or friend or rival (the exact dynamics of your relationship evidently do not concern me) to release me, then I might be more willing to comply to your wishes. However, I think I should still find myself unable to and can only disappoint you. I have no money. It seems to me to be a dangerous occupation to carry some around for no reason. Nor do I owe this man any money, and everyone here present knows that to be true." Zenobia paused and looked away. "And, this is simply personal preference, I object to being called 'my sweet' by someone trying to extort money from me." It was at this point that the blond haired man suddenly turned on his heel and ran in the opposite direction. Just as well, thought Zenobia bitterly, at least he wouldn't try to pickpocket her, not that she had anything of value in her pockets. At that point though, the man holding her arm had again been momentarily distracted and she thought that running in the opposite direction seemed a good idea. So hailed another desperate and failed attempt to pull herself away from his grip. He was still hurting her and she was worried that when she finally got home, whenever that would be, she would have little purple and green bruises all around her arms. Again, left with no way out, her mind turned to other things. If she did end up with bruises, would she be able to disguise them? She shook the thought out of her head and turned her attention back to the situation at hand. It was only then that everything seemed to happen at once. The kick of the dark haired man allowed her to free her arm only to be caught again with incredible speed for such a large man by the wrist, but now at least she felt she had a vantage point. She continued trying to pull away with gusto, for she could see that she only needed another split second of distraction to be able to get away entirely.

[Gad]

"Come on, sure you do." Gad cajoled as the woman claimed to have no money. "Besides, you look like you know a thing or two about 'dangerous occupations'. Sweet." he punctuated by pinching her lower back "So what's it gonna be sweet?" He'd been keeping an eye on the two guys he didn't know, but now as he spoke to her through a wolfish grin he couldn't help but getting a couple eyefuls of the woman. She was as delicate as any lady, but he admired the way she struggled, how she wouldn't give up with out a fight. Stupid, but admirable. Had Gad been paying attention, and been thinking with the head on his shoulders, he may have noticed just how admirable the dandy was. Instead, he a got a sharp shooting pain down his right arm.

Gad took a short mental inventory. In his head, this was going to be simple. From Gad's experience, people don't really want a physical altercation. Even, theoretically, when outnumbered people preferred their lives to money. In his head, the pretty lady was too afraid of getting hurt, the colorful man was too much of a dandy to be a hero, and the street rat was only in it for himself. Reality seemed to not care much for what was in Gad's head, but as the blonde urchin dipped away, he found a small solace in not being totally wrong on people. One out of three, that wasn't so bad as far as odds went. Neither was two on two, and when the former two was a lady of the night and a clown who sings, and the latter two was himself and Bludo, those odds looked a little more fair. Or unfair, as it was.

However, reality was quick to disabuse Gad of the idea that it conformed to his whims, and did so violently, and with knives. It took a moment for the hot sensation to register, a little longer for the warm fluid to run down his arm. When it hit him just beneath the right clavicle, the thud was the first thing he noticed, then as the force behind it pushed it along, he noticed the sensation of it sliding across his flesh. Bad. He gripped his shoulder and with a quick breath took in the scene. The hero dandy was going at Bludo. He seemed to have gotten the old brawler off kilter, focused on the woman as he was, but Bludo seemed hard pressed to give up his prey. Still reeling but gaining his footing, the prize fighter shot out a few quick jabs in the other man's direction.

Meanwhile, Gad was still coming to terms with the situation. "Shit! You STABBED ME!" Were his first words upon being cut, and he stood there clutching the wound tighter as adrenaline wore off and the pain became more pronounced. He grumbled low in his throat, and wasted no further time reaching to the ground and picking up the knife that had just moments ago cut his own flesh, and moved even quicker in securing the prize. Taking in his dominant left hand the blade, he came behind the woman, and laid his arm over he shoulder, with his knife hand resting just on her right shoulder, the blade tip he quickly but gently rested against the side of her neck, which was difficult as she struggled to break free of Bludo's tight vice grip. He whispered to her. "Don't move, my sweet, you have such a lovely wrapper, I'd hate to ruin it." As the blood ran he spoke louder. "Bludo! I got her, use both hands!" Then, directed at the hero "And you! Sonuva a crossed eyed 'Narta! Bludo's about to kill your ass dead!" It could never be said that Gad didn't have a way with words. With yet another quick breath, he surveyed the scene, and while the hand he was dealt didn't look great, he felt goods about the odds.

[Nemanjak]

(Nevermind this one, I'm out of the RP as asked to do)