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Post by Renilius Blacklips on Nov 22, 2011 4:31:45 GMT -5
"Home sweet home." sighed a man to himself as he walked into the plaza in Midgar. The dust polluted air wafted around him as playful children stepped on puddles of water not far away. He made his way to one of the little streets that branched from the seeming center of commotion of the busy little city. He looked around him, careful to brush his unkempt raven hair from his eyes. The gloomy shadowed clouds lingered as if harbouring another torrent of rain.
"Looks like another rainy day. At least Midgar grew a bit more pleasant." He walked though the door into a lobby.
A short plump man wearing an indignant smirk behind his grey moustache greeted him with a mocking tone. "I hope you got paid properly today! Or did you go again and spend it on that swashbuckling habit of yours? Huh, Ren?"
"Relax, old fart." said Ren in a silent tone. "I'll be having my own place soon and pay you twice back." Ren threw the man a sack of coins that clanged loudly on the bench top between them. He turned around and made his way up on the stairs and stopped to look at the owner of the apartment.
"By the way, it's called training. I suggest you do the same if you wanna get rid of that wobbling belly of yours." Ren jolted up to his unit as the man started rant. He nonchalantly jumped on a bed, lying on his back and stared at the bland stained ceiling with an exasperated sigh. The dim light lighted the small room as the wind flew in to carry the noise of a passing vehicle below. "I guess it's not that bad to go back into a much more quiet place, right?" He chuckled to himself as he closed his eyes to nap.
((OOC: I hope this would be a sufficient intro! It's nice to get up RPing again!))
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Post by Situation on Nov 22, 2011 14:30:48 GMT -5
A faint scent of something sweet and smoky wafts pasts Ren’s nose that would stir him from the forty winks and there, upon awaking, would find himself in a room changed. Heavy dark drapes hang from the window where the only source of dim, gray light cuts into the room. The walls, floor and ceiling have all taken on an old polished wood facade, with elegant carvings that in the low light take on a more sinister appearance. Then there was the thing, the source of this change, sitting in a dark corner beside a side-table that had a glass of some strange cloudy concoction resting upon it. The person or thing, tall and slender, whose shadowy outline suggests they were dapperly dressed and sitting relaxed with a knee cross over the other. There stared from that dark shadow was two off-yellow eyes that pierced the veil and stared directly at Ren on the bed – their gaze unsettling and paralyzing.
“Good, you’re awake. I made a few changes to the place while you napped, now it’s more comfortable. Don’t you agree?” His voice was rattling yet booming and piercing. The creature’s hand emerged from the shadow, five white furred, bony fingers ending in ebony dagger claws came forth and wrapped themselves around the glass and pulled it back into the abyss. “You are Blacklips, correct? I want you to find someone very important to me and I won't take 'no' for a answer.”
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Post by Renilius Blacklips on Nov 22, 2011 17:35:38 GMT -5
"Sorry," said Ren with a shrug. "I'm a delivery man, not a bounty hunter." He was used to his customers appearing out of anywhere to have him deliver something they needed. He was unsettled that the figure knew his name, if anyone should be able to find him it would have to be someone from Nibelheim, or the delivery services. He knew, so far, that all his dealings were made with people and not creatures out of the ordinary. He poised himself out of his bed and stood arms crossed towards the silhouetted corner of the room.
"I'm not entirely sure what kind of trick this is," spoke Ren, careful to keep his distance between the creature and him. "But I won't take anything you have to say in consideration until I get your name." Of course Ren made up his mind to refuse whatever offer it made, but something about its voice told him that a refusal would not be a wise decision to make.
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Post by Situation on Nov 22, 2011 17:50:44 GMT -5
The slender man-creature let out a howling, bellowious laugh. Whoever this was, was quite amused by Ren’s refusal until he got a name. The shadow shifted, appearing to drink from the glass it had taken just a moment before. The hand reappeared out from the shadows, the now empty glass dangling between the creatures withered hand – setting it down with a startling clank.
“Has it been so long that they forgot who I am?” Clears their throat, “No my fair boy, you are not worthy to know of my name – not yet.” The shadow shifted once more, drawing something from under what it wore, then places it on the table beside the empty glass, sliding it over towards Ren. It was a sealed envelope, bearing what looks like a jackal’s head profile stamped in the red wax. “However, you may know this. There’s a person who you once knew, one who bears the mark of the Betrayer. You knew him as ‘Sid’. Does this at all spark something in your little monkey brain?”
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Post by Renilius Blacklips on Nov 22, 2011 18:03:49 GMT -5
"Mr. Sid? Betrayer?" Ren thought to himself. He still remembered who Sid was. He thought of the indifferent eyepatched Burmecian he once met in Luca and helped infiltrate Triceutical. He never saw Sid anytime after the failed ambush. He went on alone afraid that his head may be wanted for the attack in Esthar.
He narrowed his eyes at the stranger, still suspicious of what it may want from him. He shifted his gaze at the envelope. He did not take it just yet, knowing that touching any parcel would mean that the deal's done and he would have to deliver it. "What if I know this 'Sid' you're talking about? Why does it concern me? If it's only delivering that letter of yours, I need to know something about inside it. You don't have to be concerened about specifics. I just need to know it's safe carrying that around."
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Post by Situation on Nov 22, 2011 18:27:38 GMT -5
“It doesn’t concern you, all that matters is you knew him and I’m on the right path.” A little speck of red cuts through the shadows cloaking the entity, the faint glow from a long, unusually thin pipe. That faint sweet smell from before envelopes the room once more as the creature begins to smoke from it, clouds of the sickly sweet vapor spewing out from the corner. “When you find ‘Sid’, the one I seek will be close. Take the letter, give it to the ‘Abyssal Princess’ with these words, ‘I’m Finished’. That is all you need to know, because, whether safe or not, you will deliver it. Is that clear enough?”
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Post by Renilius Blacklips on Nov 22, 2011 18:35:01 GMT -5
"I guess a few more gil wouldn't hurt," replied Ren. He still didn't take the letter. He kept his stance from across the table. He gave a little cough from the smoke that floated from the shadows. He fanned it away from his face with a quick swipe as he tried to make out what the figure looked like. "Where do I find this 'Sid' and 'Abyssal Princess'? Do they know you? Are they expecting this letter?"
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Post by Situation on Nov 22, 2011 18:45:22 GMT -5
“No she is not.” There’s a scoffing cough, “But she will know me. As for the ‘where’, I heard there is some turmoil in Figaro and Doma, I’d start looking there. Where chaos reigns, she won’t be far behind. Now take the letter.” His withered fur claw reaches out from the shadows and inches the letter closer. “I imagine you would like payment, correct? After the delivery, go to the City of Eternal Rain, there you will find your reward. Is everything clear? What is it you are to do, once more, so that there are no mistakes.”
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Post by Renilius Blacklips on Nov 22, 2011 18:55:58 GMT -5
Ren never really liked anyone being bossy to him. Though, ironically, it was part of his job, he never really had a choice. He was out of gil and struggling to pay monthly rents. He took a few steps closer to the table, yet he could still not make out the creature. "Bring this letter of yours to Ms. Abyssal Princess by finding Sid. Simple as that. Does Mr. Sid have to know about this letter?"
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Post by Situation on Nov 22, 2011 19:07:42 GMT -5
“He will know about it in time, all will know about this letter in due time. And remember, when you hand it to her, say those two words. She’ll know then who has called her.” Another waft of smoke rolls out from the shadows. Three of its claws still resting on the edge of the envelope, waiting for Ren to take it – like a trap waiting to spring.
With every step closer, the entity’s aura grew more foreboding, as if all the energy of the room was being sucked into that little focal point in the corner. It’s eyes, like a predators, analyzing Ren from the inside out. The smoke from the pipe was becoming thicker and thicker, the sweet smell slowly becoming choking, obscuring even the faintest silhouette the shadows outline – except for the eyes, which seem to be able to pierce even the darkest or most obscure of veils.
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Post by Renilius Blacklips on Nov 22, 2011 19:18:07 GMT -5
"I'm Finished." Ren thought to himself. "That's what I have to say." The air around him became thicker every second, as if trying to grab the air from his lungs. He stared at the envelope that lay seemingly pierced by the black claws. He inched his hand towards it. He had a gut-feeling that there was more to this letter than what the stranger tells him. A feeling of uncertainty coursed through his mind. He thought of why Sid had this mark of the Betrayer on him. He tried to make sense of what he knew but all he had in his mind were puzzles of thoughts that never seemed to connect with each other. He felt his heart skip a beat the moment he touched the rough side of the envelope.
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Post by Situation on Nov 22, 2011 19:37:44 GMT -5
The creature’s hand snapped upon Ren’s hand, the ebony daggers plunging through his soft flesh, slicing the hand as if it were soft meat. With an unearthly strength, the creature quickly pulls Ren into the smoke. Ren’s face slams with the face of his contractor, eye to eye. A beastly man with the head like a rat and jackal, long and lean, ending in a wolfish snout, with bubbling sores and frayed fur. An ancient appearing entity with flowing black hair, sharp ears, and foul sharp teeth that shine through his devils smile.
“Do-” He twisted his fingers in Ren’s hand, “Not-” The invasion of flesh burned like hot coals, “Fail-” a spreading pain squirms from the wounds, like worms, coursing deeper into Ren’s body. “Me!” The claws were suddenly ripped away and a blast of the smoke hurled Ren back onto his bed, slamming his back against the wall.
After the daze of the inhuman push passes, Ren would find himself once more back in his hovel of a room just as he had found it before his nap. No sign of the thing that assaulted him, no smoke or darkness, no sign of its changes to the room except the letter with its red seal left on the small table across the room.
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Post by Renilius Blacklips on Nov 22, 2011 20:05:39 GMT -5
Ren shrieked at the sudden impaling of claws through his hand. He gazed back into the figure's eyes. The forbidding red glow seemed to pierce though his mind. Ren squirmed in pain as the stranger sank its claws deeper, twisting it to torture him. His teeth clenched and gritted with one another with every slow word the stranger whispered to him with its foul breath.
Ren jerked into consciousness on his bed. He felt his forehead damp with sweat. He looked at his hand that was supposedly mangled by the entity's claws, but there were no wounds, marks, or sharp pains on his flesh. He propped himself out of bed and gazed at the letter stting on the table across his room. He looked around hoping to find the entity brooding on another corner. He was alone with the conspicuous letter. He took the envelope and traced the seal with his finger, examining the crisp blank sides. He placed the letter inside his pack securely belted on the back of his waist. "And here I thought, I could have the day for myself."
He walked out of the lobby as the keeper scoffed at him and shooed him away. He made his way out of Midgar, taking his time to pace out of the city. He walked out into the barren land outside the city as the low dusty winds twirled around his striding feet. He thought of Sid and what he was up to. Ever since the stranger had visited him, thinking about the furred youth unsettled him. All that came into Ren's mind was 'mark of the Betrayer'.
"I know it's not entirely my business." Ren slowly spoke to himself. "But I have to know."
And on he walked to the west with the Kingdom of Figaro in his head.
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