The Vanguard #1 [Finished]

[Rand]

Rand's face sombered at the cold greetings from the people. He was not surprised by the Dhani's response, because he'd idiotically let his mouth run before his mind. Rand's smile slipped off of his face as he re checked the group of people. He nodded silently to himself as the woman smiled at him and gave a standard greeting.

well ma'am I dont know if I have any business with you all, but I'm sure that we will all feel better when you as well as the snake man over there sheath your blades and we can have a real converation. Rand turned to Mugen at this point. And, id like to know your name first, so that I no longer have to be rude. Then the pirate and the crafty woman can introduce themselves.

Rand sat back the smile returning to his face, he felt he'd made an excellent statemtn, sure to impress and prove he was likeable. His mind began to wander again, this time thinking of the sky and birds in flight.

[Mugenajin]

Mugen was impressed with the man's observation as he had only made the slightest motion of flexing his arm when he held his sword tighter, which was placed on his knees. Perhaps he miscalculated the angle of view from above but he was impressed nevertheless.

" Well good man, I'm sorry for misjudging you, you are welcome to sit at this table if you're willing to join my ... band of merry men. My name is Mugen and I'm planning to form a group to be able to accept missions for reward and spoils of war. Interested? ... I'm sorry I didn't catch your name. "

The last thing he wanted was to cause an unnecessary commotion and ruin the night he planned carefully.

[Stikka al'Tyne]

Stikka waited patiently for the flurry of confrontations, questions, and introductions to trickle out before interjecting anything into the conversation. As he waited he pondered the reactions of his temporary companions. The woman was quite twitchy, obviously short on trust. If he would be required to work with her they were going to need to come to an understanding, he disliked having to watch his back against the person who was supposed to be watching his back. The Dhani seemed a little anxious, he was pushing too hard while not really specifying what, if any, actual jobs he had in mind. That might be something he needed to watch for. Stiika realized he was already thinking of the two as companions, his subconscious at least had already decided to join this group. The fourth member of the table was still an enigma still however. He wasn’t drunk, and his observational skills made him less likely to be an imbecile. Stikka still hadn’t ruled out the raised by Glassbeaks option however.

When at last silence fell, Stikka answered what, of the slew of questions, had been directed at him. The woman had been content to let him be and he paid her the same courtesy. He turned to Mugen, choosing to address him, as his potential employer, first. “I’ll stay, but I reserve the right to part ways his your jobs, or their execution, are not to my liking.” Redirecting his attention to the man hovering over the table, Stikka was a bit less civil than his compatriots, “My name, as well as my profession, are mine to grant to those who need to know. As you seem to have forgotten your own name, mine won’t do you much good. If you insist on remaining I suggest you might want to sit down.”

[Eris]

“I would much rather hear your name before disclosing mine,” Eris said softly, speaking to the newcomer.

The change in his demeanor seemed a little disconcerting – it was as if he had snapped out of some hallucination. If that was indeed the case, then he could be a liability. Eris had no personal experience with hallucinating, but she could guess that snapping into some faraway away world while facing a target wasn’t very safe.

Joel had always taught her to get as much information as she could about potential opponents before revealing any about herself. The fact that these men might be her companions for a time-being did not make them friends. As usual, her old teacher’s advice rang true in her mind. Besides, in this case she agreed with the pirate-like man – the newcomer was being extremely impolite. Surely, after crashing into their table he could at least have the decency to introduce himself.

[Rand]

Rand sat down a bit uncomfortably. His introduction was not going as anticipated. He mused over his introduction for a moment trying to find some flaw. Of course he had bumped the table, but surely that could be forgiven, he thought he'd been perfectly courtious. Then everyone kept asking for his name. Of course how could he have forgotten, his name he thought as he moved into a comfortable sitting position.

My name is Rand Barlow, I used to be in the Zeltivan navy, but now have moved on to other jobs. I don't exactly know what you want to but if will make us some money ill listen. And to the two of you I apologize for any wrong you may have thought by my introduction Rand smiled at the whole table, a bright gleaming showing of straight teeth that was truly heart felt and showed he meant no ill intent. Rand even put both hands on the table in a show of good faith, since everyone else had a hand close to their weapon.

Now, Mugen was it? Im sorry im not the best with names Rand rubbed his head still smiling, But what are we going to be doing exactly? Rand sat back hands on the table still as he eased back perfectly at ease with the people around him. As he sat their he tried to focus on Mugen, but he occasionaly slipped in to short trances. As he would come around he unconsiously would grab and finger the silver charms around his neck, a sure sign it was an old habit.

[Mugenajin]

In response to Rand's question Mugen said:

" Well Rand, we'd be doing all kinds of missions. From assassinations, rescues to retrieval and finding of objects. Specifically all missions that pay well enough to compensate for the risks we'd take. Now, I have a mission in mind that I'd like to share with you all. But I'm fed up with the ongoing obscurity and mistrust amongst eachother. I say we all get over it and try to trust one another for we'll need to be able to if we want to survive. "

" So far we have heard everyone's name except for yours, miss. " He directed the last sentence to the small woman who wasn't too keen on revealing information about herself.

" Once we heard your name and we all make an oath to swear we'll not betray one another or cower in the line of duty we'll start and I'll explain the first mission. "

[Eris]

“My name is Eris,” she said simply, looking at each person around the table in turn.

She wondered how well four strangers would really be able to trust each other. She had grown accustomed to working alone over the past two years and even before that, she had only ever worked with one partner. This would either be successful or a disaster.

Eris placed both elbows on the table, propping her chin up with one hand. It was a casual gesture, but one that entailed she wouldn’t be reaching for her weapon any time soon.

[Mugenajin]

" Nice to meet you, Eris. "

Mugen sighed, it would be quite troublesome to trust 3 totally unknown persons but he had to try, he wanted to make this work.

" Look, I know it's probably hard for any of us to completely trust one another, but I'm sure that it's for the greater good that you 3 have come here tonight. That you all realized there was more income possible than doing things on your own. There is no reason for backstabbing and I'm positive that we'll start to be able to trust one another more once we actively start doing missions. "

" So, everyone aboard? "

( OOC: Everyone make 1 final post and then I'm going to close this thread and open up a new one, a mission thread. If anyone needs more time or something alike, please PM me in time so I can leave this thread open. Thank you. )

[Rand]

Rand smiled broadly at the three people sitting before him. He felt a great sense of ease as leaned back relaxing even more. Today had turned out pretty well, in Rand's mind he'd made three new friends, or at least compatriots, had a new job, thought he still was not sure exactly what was going to happen with that. The bar was filling up, overflowing even at this point, as well the day was beginning to wane slightly into the late hours of the afternoon. Rand contemplated what was the next move.

Are we going to be getting rooms together? The day is starting to end and we either need to set up a meeting place or start looking for a place with two....or three rooms. Rand said the last as he looked toward Eris. He had forgotteen that she was a woman, as well as the group did nto know each other very well. Rand smiled a little bashfully towards Eris Sorry about that, I didn't mean to be presumtious Rand smiled again, showing off his teeth as he tried to disarm what he thought was a great travisty.

Rand was being especially clear today, he was not wandering off into his own thoughts like he normally did, and dispite his early outburst he was surpisingly tame. perhaps this would be good for him. Rand sat up straighter waiting to see what would happen.

[Eris]

Eris raised an eyebrow as Rand spoke, but waved away his little misstep with a slight smile. She was used to the fact that in a company of men, her gender would become nonessential. It was always easier to treat a member of a team as part of the majority rather than as separate entity. Eris didn’t mind; it always made the job easier. Nonetheless, it was amusing to see Rand squirm a little

“Personally, I am already paying for lodgings at the Traveler’s Row and would prefer to return there for the night. But I am available to attend any meeting you wish to set up in the near future,” Eris said, wandering where things would go from here.