Ragnarok, Past Visage

[kensei]

As he had predicted, the oddly dressed man really was making his way towards him. While there was the possibility that he was just looking for a place to sit, Xavier wasn’t going to bet on that. No, he had appeared to be looking for someone when he first showed up, and the fact that he was walking to him meant he had found what he wanted, and in turn, so had Xavier. This man was looking to buy himself a sell sword, or spear in this case, and in doing so end the dry spell the young lad was under.

Xavier sat there in silence as he watched the man take his seat before taking his time, looking as nonchalant as he had ever seen someone wanting to employ him appear. He caught the small glimpses of red under his jacket, showing that he was wearing a more descriptive outfit underneath, as he pulled out the thermos of some liquid. The man’s gaze still wasn’t on him, making Xavier wonder why he had come if not to hire him. But right as he was thinking that he had counted his chicken too soon, it hatched.

It took him maybe ten seconds after he started speaking to finish putting his full offer out on the table, along with a coin purse, which he assumed was a way of proving he could pay the twenty-four hundred zenny price he had promised. Xavier was taken back to say the least, he hadn’t ever been approached in such an aggressive manner in his short time as an adventurer, and the pay wasn’t half bad. But the wording… seemed a little off to him. He had taken a bite once before at a job that came with a good promise, it was a week long body guard section with pay at the end, and the night before payday the man had rode off in the middle of the night leaving Xavier with nothing. He wasn’t going to make that kind of mistake again.

He had to understand just what this man’s game was, he was looking at the other side of the ship, and he hoped he would find an answer if he followed his gaze. With a slight surprise it seemed to pay off as he focused in on what he thought his soon to be employer was looking at. A young man, talking with another that seemed to have a strong build to him while a slightly older man fought behind them. The boy looked over to them, trying to get some sort of answer he figured. Xavier moved his eyes back to the man in front of him, catching a motion with his hand, though he hadn’t been able to pick up what it was. It didn’t take much for him to guess as to what he said though; it was the price he was willing to pay that guy for the same job Xavier was getting.

Xavier let out a sigh as he closed his eyes for a second while he thumbed his unshaven face. He leaned onto the table with a heavy thud before he finally spoke, only seconds away from the end of the offer. “Alright, I’m in, however I have a few terms of my own, nonnegotiable. First off, paid shelter, I don’t want to spend half a days pay on a tavern just because you have expensive taste. Also, first day’s pay will be up front, and every day afterwards I will be paid at night time before we all head off to bed. I’ve been screwed out of money by someone riding off in the middle of the night before and I don’t plan to make that mistake twice. Do you accept?”

And with that Xavier leaned back off of the table, his eyes aimed right at the man in front of him. His Father and Grand Father had once taught him a valuable lesson when it came to dealing with men. If they are aggressive, that generally means they want something, they want it now, and they are willing to give a little if you are aggressive in turn. You never get anywhere in life if you don’t stand up for yourself, and you’ll never gain respect if you let people walk over you. The best way to deal with an assault is to have your defensives up.. And a few dozen other one liners that should probably be written down in a book. All in all the point was, while he lived a sheltered life, his family always tried to teach him to be ready for the deadly game of politics, and it seemed those skills paid off in the adventuring world as well.

A slight smile cropped onto Xavier’s lips once the man finally said yes, and tossed him over his coin. “Well, if I am working for you I suppose I should introduce myself. Names’ Xavier Agathon. What about yours? Or shall I just call you boss?”

[Zhiel]

OOC: Sorry about the delay, thought I had posted this over a week ago (Still horribly late I know), just got my lappy from my dads place, which was where I had the post >>; I know I say this every time, but I'll try to post within a reasonable amount of time in the future if you wish to continue, and if not I really can't blame you, my inability to get my thoughts into words is frustrating even to me.


Rei realized a little too late that he might be interrupting a sensitive conversation between the two prospective "employees", but he figured it was too late to back down now and simply continued his offer, intending to bother with introductions once they weren't being surrounded by drunks. He wasn't sure what to take from the way that the same guy who callously caused a "bar brawl" was also the one handling the duo's employment but as it stood he was beginning to doubt this was worth the time or effort as it was... The one called Calder started beating up the drunks by probably maiming ones hand for life and then smashing his face to pieces with a glass tankard... Rei couldn't help but cringe on the last one, instead turning to look over to Uriel who had noticed him probably due to the loud noises coming from their direction. He gave a questioning look while "subtly" nudging his head in the direction of the brawl as if asking "Should I try to stop it?" but was given (from how he understood it) a sound no, which was pretty much what he had expected and he just hoped the drunks were as drunk and dumb as they appeared... And that the airships policy wasn't to throw troublemakers overboard.

“I’m sorry, Mr. Swordsman,” Rei turned back to the man presumably called Anselm as he gave his response, looking about as uninterested as one could be while doing so. “You apparently seem to have mistaken us for some mercenaries, and I’m afraid to inform you we are not the lowlifes you are looking for.” He continued, Rei wasn't sure if Anselm meant to say he was insulted for being approached like this or if he just always spoke in this manner, still the response seemed pretty final... "Ah... Sorry I didn't mean to-" He tried to say while excusing himself but was interrupted when Anselm suddenly stood up in front of him, the intimidation factor of the man forcing Rei to take a step back. For Rei it was impossible to say what went through the mind of the larger man but he felt rather sheepish standing there slightly reeled back while the other man stood staring at him silently for several seconds, only beginning to speak again when Rei had built up enough courage to do so himself "Uhm..-" “Tell you what: I want a number, if I like what I hear, I’ll listen to the rest of what you have to say”

Rei wasn't sure how to respond to this, he figured anyone who might be willing to accept the offer would like to speak with the one actually offering it and not the intermediary, especially when the person in question was within easy walking distance. Heck, Anselm could even shout at Uriel if he so wanted to... Not knowing what to do Rei once again looked to Uriel who seemed to have grasped the situation and made what Rei had to assume to be numbers with his hand, two... two hundred? The last letter he didn't quite grasp, his knowledge of clockworks weren't exactly extensive given his amnesia, but he had to assume he either meant per hour or per day, and well worst case scenario Uriel could just refuse the deal himself... Though it wouldn't be that much of a surprise if Anselm had seen it himself and figured it out way before Rei said it. "Two-Hundred.. Per hour, each?" He said not sounding very sure of himself and soon followed up with "But you know, you could always talk to him yourself, he's right over there." and pointing in Uriel's direction.

With that issue more or less resolved Rei looked past the large merchant and at the brawl that was going on for full by the table. A majority of drunks were trying to gang up on the other guy to little effect though a few had either found a new target or were too drunk to tell the difference, he really hoped it wasn't the second alternative because that would say quite a bit about the safety regulations on the airship... Either way two of them were coming their way and so Rei looked back at the merchant "Incoming drunks." Deciding it was time to withdraw Rei backed away and walked off to the side to join up with Uriel after saying this, hoping none of the drunks would go after him directly as he wanted to avoid joining into the brawl. As he walked along he noticed how much of the ships crew along the front and back of the ship was either observing the fight with interest, some looked to even be betting, while others looked ready to draw weapons and break it up at any moment.

[Wanzer]

Normally Calder wouldn’t have been so annoyed as to start a bar brawl, nor would he have done much more than attempt to talk it out till someone got closer to harming them. Today was different though, he hadn’t been particularly relaxed or even in the mood to deal with anyone’s shit; so when the thugs showed up and began to push themselves toward him and his brother, the dam broke. Since he and Anselm had arrived at their previous destination life had not been kind to him, he had been pickpocketed twice by some blue haired hussy, socked in the jaw by some guard who thought him a rapist when he chased her down and ended up being detained for bumping into some official as he tried to chase her down again. So life wasn’t exactly sugar and rainbows for him right now, hence the fight to blow off some steam.


While he wasn’t really into the fight at the moment, seeing as the drunks weren’t much of a challenge, he was at least relieved to be away from Anselm’s dealings. Calder was never much into the business end of their little deals, numbers and arguing just wasn’t his thing. Hell, if he had his way he would have just ditched everything and retired into the woods as a hunter, living off the land and sticking the middle finger to the rest of the world. Society just wasn’t his cup of tea and it never would be; all Calder ever seemed to see in it was bigoted little men with no more intelligence than the average tape worm. Each of these little beings arguing over which of them is greatest rather than working together or seeing their own short comings; the separation between the Church and the Mage’s Tower being one of the most grievous examples of that particular bigotry in his mind. Both used magic and while the church’s was apparently ‘holy’ the Mage’s was ‘profane’. They used the same damn source so what made them so different?


Letting that thought trail away, he found himself ducking under one of the drunken idiots’ fist pushing himself in closer before slugging him once between the eyes. The resulting crash left him with the feeling of breaking cartilage between his knuckles, before twisting around to smack him against the temple. Feeling the soft spot of the skull digging in from the momentum of his spin into his head; Calder knew that the next blow would finish the thug off. His fist sailed upward as he righted himself, the uppercut slamming into his lower jaw with just enough force to make him go to his tip toes. Turning around he didn’t see the man behind him hit the floor, but he certainly heard it. A thump echoing around as a few of the patrons cheered before another man came running towards Calder brandishing one of the chairs.

“Oh really now? We’ve resorted to using improvised weaponry? What is this, some sort of childish fantasy of a backwards farm boy in the south?”


Hopping backwards, the archer had enough time to see some ‘honest citizen’ running up the stairs towards the guard’s area. Spitting onto the ground, as he hadn’t exactly gotten all of his tension out yet but didn’t want to risk another run in with the guards, his only option was to create a diversion that would incapacitate their antagonists long enough to get to relative safety. Pondering as he easily side stepped a few drunken swipes at his own person, he rolled his eyes finally grasping the lead one’s wrist and tossing him, using his own body weight as the momentum to deck the other two men at his side.


“Ok, brother and…possible employeer’s bitch, time to go.”

Calder stated noting the older looking gent at a table in the other room, speaking to another possible employee. Before he proceeded to grasp the pair by the scruff of their necks and yank them up, he pointed over to the stairs where a few guards were filing down to take care of the racket. Calder didn’t bother to say a word as he simply grasped his rather stubborn brother by the sleeve pulling once in a firm message that meant: “Let’s go dumbass.” Rei on the other hand managed to get jerked once by his scruff of his neck before Calder switched down to just around the ‘cape’ that marked him as one of the swordsmen of some order or another. The man wasn’t exactly up to date when it came to the various people of the world, just as he wanted to be.

Proceeding to ditch the fight scene as quickly as possible, the Archer drug the swordsman and the merchant across the floor alongside of him, depositing the pair beside Uriel and the kid with a lance. Not that he much cared about any of the three not related to him, but a potential employer was at least better than wandering aimless without a job for a while. Choosing to sit down directly across from Uriel, the elder of the two brother’s rose an eyebrow at his appearance. It was unlike anything he had ever seen before in his life and there was definitely something off about him; sucking on his teeth, he pondered what it was that set him off.

“It could be the clothes or the ‘I know everything’ look on his face. Maybe it is something about the aura he gives up…regardless, something about this guy…makes me uneasy. God…I’m looking at myself right now aren’t I?”

Calder’s thoughts continued to stream through his head without any sort of reprieve as he held his tongue, letting Anselm do the dealing as he wanted nothing to do with the business transaction. After all, this was Anselm’s life not his own and if he wanted to take a job, that was his call if he didn’t oh well. Looking at the group, he merely shrugged once and watched the mayhem that was happening in the other room as the guards began to file down.