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[Other FULL] Gunpowder (M) (IC)

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Foxrally

[img]http://i.imgur.com/omi0jS3.gif[/img]
2,791
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10
Years
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Sophia Hartmann
Status - Outlaw - member of Culebra clan
Sorcery Level - 1
Element - Air
Bounty - 580$


Larkin

Industrial Disputes

Sophia's trip to Larkin was mostly dull, eventless and quiet. The sun was just beginning to rise higher in the horizon, which meant most of the travelling carriages and towns would be waking up soon.

Sophia sighed deeply. Pete can at least rest easy now. she thought to herself solemnly. She stroked Nico on her shoulder. He was asleep, as usual, appearing almost invisible against her brown jacket.

Well, shit. What do I do now? Boss' probably going to kill my ass off the second I get inside... she thought, frowning. Can't blame him for that, though. Fucking hell, why do I always get myself into shit like this...

She slowed her horse down as she entered the gates of the city. It was mainly empty, aside from a few shopkeepers opening up their stores. I'm gonna have to lay low now, at least for a while. That stuff with white night and the demon kid's definitely ain't really going to earn me a 'golden girl' reputation...

She managed to reach the tavern mostly unnoticed. She quietly got off the horse and attached it to a post. Shame the kid couldn't come though... She would've been fun. She would've at least given me a good excuse. I'll look like a dumbass coming back empty-handed n- oh wait! she suddenly realized something. This mess wasn't a total loss, though...

After a few minutes of rummaging in her back pouch, Sophia pulled out a large, golden watch - the one she had acquired at the opera house. Maybe this'll stop Antonio from shooting my head off... she thought.

Smiling to herself, she walked to the side of the building and knocked. Someone else was on door duty this time - the tall, thin man who was arguing with bear. After displaying her tatoo, she was let inside.

"Glad to have you back, Fia. Enjoy your time while you still got some." the outlaw at the door snickered. "Should've listened to me, Pete ain't worth the trouble. Boss gonna rip your throat off."

"Piss off." Sophia muttered, and punched him straight in the face. The large height difference meant she had to jump to do it, but the blow was none the weaker. Falling over, the outlaw muttered curses and insults, grabbing his probably broken nose. Sophia spat at him and made her way down the stairs.

The main room wasn't too full, aside from the bartender and a few hungover or half-awake Culebras. Sophia noticed another person who she had never seen before lounging in the corner of the room. He seemed almost as young as her and was wearing a large poncho - not too common in Larkin, but often seen in other cities. He wasn't the best-looking guy she'd seen, but wasn't too ugly. Huh, since when did the boss start recruiting new guns? she thought, raising an eyebrow. Eh, none of my shit anyway. Guy's probably some dumbass like the rest of 'em.

The barkeep smiled when he saw Sophia. "Oh, glad to see ya back in one piece. Antonio's been, ah... 'worried' wouldn't be a good word, but it's all I got." he told her, chuckling.

"Figured he'd be up early. I need to talk to him, anyw-" Sophia began, but was suddenly interrupted by the sound of a large thump coming from Antonio's room, as if someone had slammed something against his desk.

"Guess that's your call." the barkeep smiled and gestured at the door.

Sophia took a deep breath. Well, this is where I either get rich or get shot in the damn face. Mustering her courage, she put her hand on the handle. Just as she prepared to open the door, she remembered to knock. Good points, Fia, good points. she thought to herself.

"Come in." Antonio's voice replied. Sophia slowly opened the door and stepped into the room. For some reason, it felt much more intimidating than last time she had come in. Antonio Culebra was sitting at his desk as usual, a large array of different vials and flasks on his desk.

Sophia shifted on the spot uncomfortably. "Right, so-"

Antonio raised his hand, motioning for her to stay silent. "First, I instruct you to stay away from the job with the carriage."

"Yes, but I-"

"Then, you bring unnecessary attention to yourself by burning the entire bloody opera house down."

Well, shit. Ever-loving superintendent ain't so damn loving after all. Sophia thought to herself, gritting her teeth. "That was't even-"

"Despite this, you continued to disobey my orders not to follow Pete's killer, and ended up following him into a town filled with none other than bounty hunters - bringing even more unwanted attention to yourself."

Wha-? How did he know? Sophia's eyes grew wide.

"You're wondering how I know?" Antonio continued, reading the expression on her face. "You're forgetting who I am, Hartmann. Also, you're forgetting who you are compared to me."

Sophia gulped. "Yes, I know you're pissed, but I got- ARGH!"

She screamed in pain as she felt an agonizing pang of pain in her arm - where the tatoo was. Sophia dropped to her knees, clutching her arm. She gritted her teeth, tears streaming down her eyes from the pain.

Antonio slowly rose from his chair. "Yes? Go on, please. You came in here to speak to me, didn't you?" he said, approaching her.

Sophia wheezed and grunted, stopping herself from crying out. Her arm felt like it was melting, the bone dissolving into fire. "So? You know I hate time wasters. Answer me!" Antonio pressed.

"I've... got... the treasure..." Sophia managed to hiss. As soon as she had uttered these words, the pain on her arm disappeared. Sophia sighed in relief, coughing out a few drops of blood as he did. He feebly managed to get back up, and pulled out the golden watch.

Antonio took the treasure and studied it. "Hm. Not entirely what I expected it to be, but good enough." he muttered to himself, stroking his goatee. He waved his hand, dismissing her.

"Consider that... my fucking 'formal' apology." Sophia wheezed. That went better than expected.

Sophia stumbled out of Antonio's room, and took a seat at the nearest chair near the counter. She called for the bartender. "Gimme a shot of whiskey, Bart. Bastard Pete died owing me a drink..."
 
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Sonata

Don't let me disappear
13,642
Posts
11
Years

Spoiler:

Jebediah Sanders - Bounty Hunter
Level 1 Air User
$1300

Back to the start again

Jeb blew a big smoke ring into the sky. The sun was just starting to rise, but the chill was still in the air. The morning dew formed on his wrists and Alice was sleeping softly with her arms latched around his waist. He took another puff of his cigar and then tossed it. Larkin was visible a little ways off, maybe another half hour or so at the pace they were going.

He rode on in silence for another 20 minutes. The only sound keeping him from falling asleep was the occasional light snore of the girl behind him and her fidgeting. Horseback definitely wasn't on his top ten list of most comfortable places to sleep. Hopefully she was easy to please and wouldn't wake up bitchy. As they started to come up to the gates of the city he sighed and nudged Alice.

"Time to wake up. Where are we going?"

The girl let go of his waist and stretched out. She let out a big yawn and then rubbed her eyes. "Where are we?" she asked sleepily.

"Larkin. The place we need to be. Now you're the only one that knows where I'm supposed to be going so that we can find Sophia. So you've gotta wake up now so I don't get us lost."

She grumbled. "It's too early, wake me up in five more minutes." She wrapped her arms around Jeb and started to fall back into sleep.

Jeb sighed and removed her arms. He got off the horse and started walking beside it. He led the horse down one empty street and up the other. A few merchants were starting to open shop, and a caravan was being loaded but there was nothing really that interested him. The majority of the townspeople were still asleep, all that was up and around were outsiders and old people who wouldn't know anything anyways.

"Might as well give it a shot. Nothin' else to do for now." He started up to one of the shops whose doors were already open for the day. "Hello?" He knocked. "Anyone here?"

The sound of something breaking came from up the stairs and a woman's voice was shouting something as an elderly man started down the stairs. He went behind the counter, pulled out a couple of wood carvings and put them on the counter before meeting Jeb's gaze.

He smiled and spoke with a shaky but cheerful voice, "What can I do for ya'?"

"Well, I don't really know. I'm trying to... have you seen that girl out there on the horse before?" He moved out of the way and pointed towards Alice who had slumped over and was hugging the horse.

He rubbed his chin. "Can't say that I have. Why you needin'ta know?"

"She belongs to a friend of mine. Just wonderin' if you might'a seen her around here. Sorry to trouble you." He turned to go out the door.

"Well now just hold on a moment." The old man shuffled over to the doorway. "If it's someone young yer lookin' for, I'd go check out the tavern on down the street. Now, if'n yer willin' to pay a small price to find this person then I'd head on around to the side and tell 'em ol' Rig sent ya'. They should let you in." He patted Jeb on the back and went back inside.

"Thank you for the help." Jeb waved and went back out to the horse. "So go on down the street... and then don't go in the front door but go around the side... hmm..."

He started walking until he was in front of the building. A horse was tied to a post and there were a couple of people inside.

"Don't go in the front..." he whispered to himself as he tied their horse off to one of the posts. He pulled Alice down and started on around the side of building. With Alice slung over his shoulder, he started feeling against the wall for anything. After going over it once he went back across and knocked in several places before a hole appeared in the wall and a set of eyes stared him down.

"Whaddya want?"

"Uh, ol' Rig sent me. I'm lookin' for the girl that goes with this girl." He turned Alice's sleeping head so that the man could see her face.

"Hmm... what's the girl's name yer lookin' fer?"

"Her name's Sophia and she gave me this too." He said as he pulled the piece of wood with the drawing on it.

"Son of a..." the man grumbled and opened the door. "Go on down that way. She'll be waitin' for ya if she ain't dead already."


 

JukeboxTheGhoul

Rocking Round the Clock
737
Posts
12
Years


9k=
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ANIMA

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Spoiler:

Anima had once again entered Fairbell. The sun had lowered, it's lashing beams of heat were waning. Anima's energy had been sapped. The man he had marked wasn't willfull, but since he distrusted Anima from start, he had to exert his mana in upfront confrontation. Anima hadn't used any of his ammunition yet. The two were travelling from Spider's Hollow. They were naïve, unexpecting and innocent. They did not know the bliss of the Astral Planes. But they do now. Their blood soaked the sand, mixing to make sanguine mush and a gravelly paste. Their bodies sunk in to the sand. The sharp rocks that accompanied the ground had dug in to their flesh. Two clean bullet holes were in their torso, shirts cut, their stomachs were marked with
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.

Anima had dragged the girl and the boy up to the nearby tree, their ankles had grooves dug in from the ropes. They were only about eight, but it made no difference, one less drug smuggler and rapist he'd have to kill. They didn't understand, life wasn't made for the young. In this world you either hunt or be hunted. Age made no difference to Anima, it just made them harder to kill. You became a Greedy Tainted One, who killed to live - a killer veiled by a trick of morals, justice. Pfft, what did they know of justice? They just saw a name, a figure and a location. Then they salivated at the figure and then counted cash. Or you become a man who fuels addicts, feed your libido or steal and plunder. Anima despised those who partook in paedophilia, even necrophilia. So he had pinned the girl's skirt together. In the next world, there would we no need, all of those shall die. Gaudium will incarcenerate. Anima was in town. Looking around, he noticed that the Smoking Roses Gunshop was open. Anima had used his ammunition. A bell chimed as the door was swung open. The rotund man had a bald head with hair at the back and sides. His belly was fat and laugh hearty. He turned around to see Anima and a smile grew on his mug.

"You're here at last." The gun shop owner leaned on the counter. "You like your new gun?" He motioned.
Anima grunted. "It's efficient. enough."
"Take that black cover off your face, you mummur horribly, you'd think you'd be the smart one." He grabbed a 'Colt' from the shelf and began to rub at it's shaft. "You know, I heards some news around town that there might be something around us. I mean, I ain't stupid but the air having a weight is a big far fetched."
Anima rolled his eye, "You always knew how to get people talking. Start saying that around town and people put you to a stake."
The gun shop owner chuckled. "And you'd like that, José?"
Anima looked at the man. "I don't go by that name, Horatio."
"'Course." Horatio smiled, putting the Colt revolver away. "What'll be?"
"I need Gunpowder." Anima followed Horatio's movements.
The fat man frowned, "I'm afraid I can't serve you that."
Anima hesitated, brooding for a moment. Horatio wouldn't have heard yet. "Why's that?" Anima's eyes remained fixed on the peeling wood of the surface in front of him
"My gunpowder trades are being attacked. Yea, they be robben my wagons from Gilded Brook. I put out a bounty on 'im" Horatio gazed slightly at the brown and patchy map.
Anima pondered for a moment. I cannot allow the tainted ones to just add this man to their list of names to dash off. This man shall pay. "I'll take him for you, and get you your Gunpowder."
"No, no, no. I already sent off the bounty," Horatio shook his head as Anima got up and strode towards the door. He mumbled. "Always like his father..." Anima froze at the door, hearing his comment. Anima observed him with a steely stare. Horatio noticed this, "Uhm... It's a shame what happend in the fire..."
Anima walked out, determination made his boots dig deeper. The stupider Horatio remains, the better. I rely on him for weaponry, I don't need his blood. He's old enough, Gaudium will take him when he pleases. The night's shade gave Anima the chance, his figure darken and fade. His body disappearing to blackness.

***

Tony cowered behind a rock. The wagons had been getting smaller, perhaps the traders had caught on to The Runt's tactics. They sent less and less each day. His tactics, although blunderous were enough to pull a few dollars. Tony's knees ached from crouching for a long time. He saw a figure form on the horizon, another wagon. Tony couldn't read but it looked like a big one. The carriage came closer. . If Tony could remember, it'd keep on moving, and he'd climb aboard, throwing them off and holding them at the point of his gun. But this one didn't carry on. The wagon had slowed. The there were two men on the wagon, the first man, in the drivers seat was slumped over, his body limp. The body was slack but the reins were firm. Tony cursed "The Heck?" He raised his head slightly to see. The second man seemed sinister from first looks. "Yo' killed 'em!"
Anima looked to the raving man, he knew that this was the man. "Relax, He's unconcious."
"An' 'ho are yo'?" The bandit enquired. Peering forward, but then Anima had moved.
A bolt of electricity ran through his spine as two fingers jabbed in to his neck. His muscles had seized. Anima leaned in, and whispered in to his ear. "The Prophet Of Salvation." Anima dug his boot in to the back of Tony's knees, forcing him to the ground.
Tony groaned. "What d' yer want?"
"The atonement of your sins." Anima clasped his index finger and thumb around the back of Tony's neck, pressing it in to his victim's neck. Tony's head clenched back. Anima placed his boot on his back and pushed him to the ground. His head banged on the ground.

Tony woke up. Hung up on a tree, he looked around his head was heavy, his blood was rushing to his head, his legs tied up. Anima sat on a stump nearby, fiddling with his dagger in his hand, twirling it around with his fingers. Anima noticed that his victim had awoke. "About time." Anima brought his knife up and sliced his victim's shirt down the middle and carefully engraved the symbol in to his stomach
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.
"Fucken' 'ell, bastard." He spat.
"This is just the beginning." Anima grabbed the victim's head, locking his gaze on his eyes and engaged his truthful eye. Tony saw his world chatter. Everyone he ever knew was shown to be trampled by herds. But the next image he saw was a bounty hunter shooting him in the face and dragging him back to Janet. The next image Anima couldn't understand, it was just an image of a door and then the door shown before changes to an old, decrepit door with paint peeling and shards off of it. The door opened with a sickly dread when the vision restrained to the lower half of the door, some feet, some old, fat feet stomped in to the room with his dead carcass being dragged by the hands. The door slammed shut, with a click and rumble of a bolt crossing over. Anima noticed his memories, his cruel cheating lies and deceit and with that Anima felt a push resist from the connection, as he entered in deeper, the memories were older, fuzzier and a sepia mist shrouding the corners of the visual memory. He saw Anima's own home in this man's memory. The memories started to seem like a slideshow. The next image was Anima's child hood house aflames. Next image was Tony's mother bent over, with a outlaw behind her... with a burning house in the background. The resistant force built up in to a reactionary force. It ejected the connection from the man's mind. Anima was winded when he got back to the world. Dumb-founded he stumbled on to the earth.
Anima felt an angry wave of emotion come over him. His palm was beaming a bright light. Sparks jumped from this light to his fingers. His palm quivered with electricity. Anima spat at the outlaw, "You fucking ****!" He punched his palm towards him, forcing the electricity out. The line of lightening shot out, hitting the rope, making it be engulfed in flames for a split second with the impact. The rope snapped and went slack. Tony's face, once again, planted it's self in the ground his body flopped down behind him, his neck made a cracking sound. Anima looked at him with a deadly leer. Anger swelled through his nerves. Outrage drew a red glaze over his vision. "You don't deserve to experience the divine astral plane! You are a disgrace!"
Tony craned his neck to see the silhouette of Anima ebb away in to the shadows and then he let his head rest.

You don't deserve to experience the divine astral plane!


 
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Winter

[color=#bae5fc][font="Georgia"]KAMISATO ART: SOUME
8,321
Posts
9
Years
Virginia Raine | Outlaw | Water | Level 1 | $250

Raining Bolts
Leo Newbolt vs Virginia Raine
Virginia hissed, as water splashed onto her, soaking her feet and part of her dress. A spell of coldness swirled towards her, and her feet was quickly encased in chunks of ice. She mentally cursed as she saw Emmett leaving the tavern. That traitor would pay the next time she saw him.

She prodded the ice with her umbrella, jabbing at the solid until cracks were formed. Water swirled into a globe at her palm, and she slammed it right down at her feet. The water undid most of the icy enchantment; cubes of ice floating in a growing puddle around her. Hands holding her dress above the floor, Virginia dashed towards the door, blinking out into the nightly streets.

Leo's head throbbed with a dull ache, his vision was tinted with crimson. He could feel his blood pumping, drumming in his temples with adrenalin. He could hear sounds of fighting and gunfire, and feel the spark in the air as magics clashed. Leaping up to his feet, he reloaded his two pistols, and with lightning speed, sent a storm of bullets raining down. He looked around for the man that had took him by surprise, and though he could not find the brute, he indiscriminately shot anyone who looked like an outlaw, even if they may not have been. At the corner of his eyes, he espied a flash of magic at the doorway. He emptied his pistols, before pursuing the outlaw who had Blinked away into the streets.

Out in the night's open air, there was hardly a soul wandering on the streets. Anyone caught here would have already been drinking their life away in the taverns and inns that occupied both sides of the road. Only a feminine figure, with her head bowed down, inched slowly down the streets. He made a few steps forward, readying a pistol.

"You there! Turn around with your hands up!"

The lady stopped and slowly turned around, holding an umbrella in her hand. She raised her arms, as with a swift motion, the umbrella bloomed open. Immediately, Leo pressed his finger against the trigger just as a cone of water flew towards him. The cone caught the bullet in its transparent body, and burst with such a force that it would have hurt a lot had Leo not sidestepped at the last moment. He blinked away just in time to dodge two more elemental blasts. A drop of water landed on his forehead, then another, and he looked at the outlaw, confused. She had already started running off, retreating instead of continuing a full-frontal offense. More droplets accompanied their harbinger, and the answer to their source soon made itself obvious above him. He cursed, both at the escapee and the rainwater that was ruining his hair. A little water won't get in his way of a nice bounty. He followed her down the streets; catching up was no problem.

Virginia chanced to take a glance behind, and was not pleased to see that she was still being tailed. That blonde boy was fast approaching her despite the slippery roads. Trying to outspeed an electricity sorcerer would be impossible. She had to stall.

As she rounded a corner, she swung her umbrella, directing a jet of rainwater towards the bounty hunter. As expected, he countered the blast with his own element. There was a hiss as lightning and water collided, releasing a small cloud of vapor in the impact. Virginia threw two more elemental blasts in his direction, both met with bright sparks and transformed into a swirling globular mass of fog. She quickened her pace, concentrating on weaving the tendrils of mist around her.

Leo cursed as he saw the outlaw's silhouette walk into the growing mist, fading away like a phantom. His clothes were drenched in sweat and rain, his slicked hair stood frozen like a crown of spiky thorns. He backed away from the mist, choosing to go in the opposite direction while he could still see his fingers. He'd let her go for now, only because he already rounded up a few men. Janet had better give him a good figure.​
 
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944
Posts
9
Years

Achilles Nimbus
Status - Bounty Hunter
Sorcery Level - 1
Element - Electricity
Money - $0


Walking the Grey Line


"I'm telling you Sally, that name is a curse!" The voice of a young man could be heard. The voice was croaked, as if the exclamatory tone was testing its limits. The man seemed to have heightened emotions, though still calm and composed. His voice was followed by a young female voice; her voice was lively and expressive.
"Could you be any more superstitious, Arthur?" The woman asked rhetorically. She was cradling a small baby in her arms, a baby that seemed small and weak. Its eyes were red. "Achilles is a beautiful name, isn't it little Achi?" She put on a childish voice, as she turned her attention to the child in her hand, poking its nose as she did so. The child was more or less unresponsive, though it did reach out decrepitly, in an attempt to catch the large finger that had jabbed its nose. The woman grinned at her child.
"Are you familiar with the Greek mythology behind the name?" The Arthur sighed. Sally glared at him, she knew the question was rhetorical since she was nowhere near as educated as the man that had proposed the question in the first place. She rolled her eyes, before continuing to gaze lovingly at her child.
"Are you familiar with what happens to people who get between a mother and her baby?" She hissed threateningly. Arthur was quick to back off, after deducting the hostility in her tone. The midwife had just finished clearing up the towels and sheets, after she'd folded them, she turned to the young couple.
"If my opinion holds any weight here, then I have to admit I like the name. In all honesty it's refreshing to hear a baby name that isn't John, William or James. We don't get too many Achilles's in Orhurst" She laughed, before leaving the room. After a few seconds of pondering, the man added his thoughts.
"I guess I can't win." He rolled his eyes and he shook his head. Sally stuck her tongue out at him childishly. "I'm just hopeful that this weakness doesn't bite him in the future, he's already been born frail; he doesn't need any other hindrances." He looked apathetically, at the child laying in the arms of his beloved. He wasn't impressed by what he saw.
"He doesn't need to be a fighter Arthur, he's going to be a scholar, like his father." she grinned at Arthur as she referred to him. Arthur smiled back, but his smile was only to reassure Sally, as he wasn't able to reassure himself.

Achilles woke up shivering, underneath the blazing sun. His hood covered his face; he shielded his broken left arm with his cropped legs, and his right arm was being used to keep his legs up. He was weak. It had been two days since he'd been captured by the mysterious figure, and he hadn't eaten since that morning. He sat with his back against the desert wall for protection-he had no one. It seemed as though the world was against him.
"Shillace." He mumbled weakly. He heard gunshots in the distance; even that seemed more favourable than what he was going through at that moment. He tried to stand. His left arm fell limp and his grumbling stomach caused an enervate slightness of his frail form. He fell back into the wall.
"She was right. I should've never came here." He groaned, refusing to let himself tear up. The gunshots grew closer, which filled him with an ironic sense of optimism.
A horse, carrying a woman, emerged from the distance. Achilles watched eagerly to await his fate. The horse approached him. The rider wore a white Stenson, which seemed too large for her head. Underneath it she wore a white crop top, and had a leather jacket tied around the belt of her denim shorts.
"Howdy." She said, the thick old western accent she used was clearly put on. She looked back in the direction she came from, nervously. "Don't say anything." This time with no accent. She quickly kicked her horse, and it ran around the large rock Achilles was leaning against. Shortly after she left, two riders came from the exact same direction that the woman had come from. One of them wore a large brown Stenson, with an outfit to match; the other wore a white costume of a similar design, but with no hat.
"Freeze!" The man shouted as he dismounted his horse and pointed his rifle at the injured bounty hunter. Achilles responded with his usual dead eyed response- it's not like he was going anywhere. "Don't try to be a smartass, we don't need that. You seen a bitch on a horse pass by here?" The man lowered his weapon, but still had it poised to shoot. Achilles shook his head. "Bullshit, she passed by here, you musta seen sumtn!" The man yelled angrily. Achilles patted himself down, remembering that he didn't have any weapons on him. All he could find was his broken sword, which was much less effective without his electricity. He held on to it discreetly
The hatless man was staring at the ground, and noticed horse tracks in the sand. Achilles quickly threw the blade. The man attempted to dodge but was hit in the arm. Achilles rolled to his left, and attempted to rush to either of the horses. He was stopped in his tracks by a bullet to his leg, which made him fall to the ground. He looked over at the hunters, expecting a fight, but at this point were corpses with bullet wounds in their head and neck respectively. The woman he'd seen before, curtsied as she walked passed the man in white.
"Thanks for the hat." She grinned. Achilles tried to crawl away but the wound in his leg didn't make it easy. She stepped on the wound to stop him moving. He groaned, and clenched his fist in the sand. "Sorry, but I can't have you spreading this around. I really don't need a bigger bounty right now." She folded her arms as she said it. Achilles sat up once he was released from her trap and groaned as he looked at the bullet wound. "So, what's your story?" She asked inquisitively as she examined him closer.
"What?" He was reluctant to feed her any truthful information. Her casual attitude towards him after shooting him in the leg made him very uncomfortable. "You s-shot them?" He stuttered. She nodded, with a patronising smile on her face. "But it didn't make a sound." He looked at her gun, he maintained his expression.
"No air, no sound. It come in handy." She shrugged, with a clear lack of understanding of the true capabilities of her magic. "On another note though, we don't see too many homeless guys that are stupid enough to sleep in the desert." She crouched down to look him in the eyes.
"I like it here, it's soothing." He attempted to avoid eye contact. Instead of taking the hint, the woman instead dug deeper. She noticed his shirt was ripped, and there was some sort of symbol on his lower body.
"Weird tattoo. Where'd you get it?" She said as she pushed his ripped shirt aside. Achilles blushed and edged away. "Oh come on, don't get all shy on me." She laughed. He re-concealed the scar with his shirt.
"I assume I'm your prisoner now." He uttered with a desolation of emotion. His attempt to change the subject was aided by the woman's short attention span. She chuckled in response-her expression a mixture of both amusement and confusion. "You're not killing me, and you don't want to let me go." He explained. She chuckled again as she mounted her horse.
"Well hop on prisoner, it's not too far a ride from here to 'The Brook'." She laughed playfully. After a few seconds of laughter. "You should join my team, I'll explain a bit more at base. Plus you should really get cleaned up." She smiled during her first sentence, but after looking the bounty hunter up and down, her expression turned to a scoff of disgust.
The first thing Achilles did after arriving at the woman's base was shower. He emerged sporting a completely new attire. He'd cut his hair for a more refined comb over, that sat across his head. His hair as neat and pampered as ever. His black gloves were now fingerless. He wore a light brown trench coat with the sleeves rolled up, which sat nicely on top of his white shirt and black tie.
"Clean suits you." The woman smiled flirtatiously as Achilles walked up to her. He nodded in agreement, but struggled to crack a smile. "Charlotte, by the way. I figured if you're joining the group you should know that much." She smiled. Followed by a welcoming gesture suggesting he should do the same. Achilles pulled up his gloves, ignoring the gesture. "You do have a name right?" Her impatience was clear. Achilles looked at her, his expression practically the same as when they first met.
"Black."

 
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JukeboxTheGhoul

Rocking Round the Clock
737
Posts
12
Years



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ANIMA

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It was a dark night. Anima's mind was in a jumble. There was just no way that it was true... The sack of gunpowder scraped the ground, his shoulders had groves from the rope. Anima wasn't built for manual labour. His neck was sore. Anima felt a stabbing pain in his stomach, his head felt light and his brain throbbed. A deep booming voice yelled in Anima's ears. "You have spared too many! You are not doing your calling! This is just the beginning of my power. Disobey my calling and you will perish, you will be confined in which this hell you wander!" His vision twirled and blurred, his hearing blended in to a high pitched ringing. His pores began to ooze sweat. Anima clasped his head, his senses swimming in confusion. Anima's knees buckled. He kneeled, his hands trembling, then everything became misty.
Anima opened his eye, his body was covered in a sheet of dust. Anima's mind was hazed. He arose from his slumber. His front was covered in dirt. Anima looked up at the sky. The dark blue clouds wandered the sky. His memory was suddenly restored. He needed to save them... The dusty tracks gave Anima a decent mask, . The shade from the night gave him an easy cover. On the horizon, a horse drawn carriage came over the lip of the world. Anima prepared his weapons. The driver was mounted on the horse pulling the carriage. The carriage was full of hay, it was of steel. Slits were cut out of the top. Inside, raucous whines echoed in the Horse trailer. The driver took out of his jacket a glass bottle. The liquid inside was brown whisky. He brought the bottle to his lips.
It was time to strike.
Joe felt the horse tense and confuse. A shiver from a passing of cold rippled his body. His horse began to grind to a stop. The stench of dry sweat met his nose. His back became warm, the warmth of another body. He went to turn his head but the sharp edge of a knife gently pressing against his back. He knew what this was...
"Top pocket, left leg." He attempted to keep a steady voice, he had trained for this so many times before, why was this so different.
"Off." The voice from behind was dry and bland.
"I told you where my money is." Joe was confused at this man. The pain of the knife pressed deeper, almost breaking the skin. Joe dismounted, keeping his face away from the man. Robbers don't like to be seen. He dropped to his knees, putting his hands up on his head. "I'm just a simple man trying to-"
The warm trickle of blood dripped down his back. His vision went black, the cold steel blade pierced his neck, the point slashing the throat, his spine cracked. His head fell forward, and his body slumped over. Anima dislodged the trailer from the back, circling around. Anima opened the back of the horse trailer. He focussed. He unleashed a barage of electric strikes. The horses convulsed and whined, they struggled on their journey to the next life. Anima watched this display with pleasure, as the chaos ensued. Anima kicked the horse in to a gallop, he headed back to Fairbell. Anima patted the steed.
"You've made it back, Cerberus."




 
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Foxrally

[img]http://i.imgur.com/omi0jS3.gif[/img]
2,791
Posts
10
Years
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Sophia Hartmann
Status - Outlaw - member of Culebra clan
Sorcery Level - 1
Element - Air
Bounty - 580$

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Jebediah Sanders
Status - Bounty Hunter
Sorcery Level - 1
Element - Air
Money - $1200



Larkin

A Fateful Meeting

Jeb started down the stairs with Alice hiding behind him. The place reeked of sweaty balls, bitchiness and booze. This certainly wasn't a place for kids, but he felt right at home. They got to the bottom of the stairs and started to get some nasty looks as they headed through the bar. He had seen some of these guys before, but most of them were all new faces to him. He got through the room filled with people and got up to the bartender. Sitting there drinking down some brown liquid was someone he recognized. He got the weirdest sense of deja vu as he put his hand on her shoulder.

"Hey Sophia. I didn't die, and I didn't forget to bring the kid with me either. Sure hope you know what the fuck yer doin' bringin' me down here. If this turns out to be a setup, I'll blow your brains out on the floor myself."

Sophia raised an eyebrow as she felt the hand on her shoulder. She turned her head to face the person. "What the fuck d'you think you're- wait what?!" she exclaimed in surprise. "Jeb?! You're not supposed to be here, god dammit!" she quietly hissed at him.

The outlaw behind him raised an eyebrow. "You know this one, Fia?" he asked, pulling out his revolver.

"Who the hell else would come up to you and tell you they brought ya' yer kid? You keepin some kind of secret from me baby?" He nudged her playfully. "Now tell the dipshit to lower his gun before he gets hurt."

Sophia sighed and motioned for the Culebra to lower his weapon. Hopping off her stool, she silently cursed herself. "Just come with me." she gestured for Jeb to follow her into her quarters. "Don't dirty up the place, got it cleaned last week." she told him as they entered the room.

"No need to worry about me dirtying up the place, you do that just fine yourself." He mumbled under his breath as he followed her in, closing the door behind him.

Sophia crossed her arms. "Right. Number one - why the fuck are you here? I never called you."

"Uh, I got the kid and you told me to meet you here? What other reason would I have to come to this hole in the wall. When you left town you said to meet back here. Or maybe I just imagined that. I don't know. I'm here now. I've got the kid. You've got the book. I've got to waste some time while I figure out where the hell this next bounty is since Janet ate my ass about all the shit I've been breaking. It's all good."

"The b- You gave me a book?" Sophia seemed surprised.

"Jesus christ Sophia. Try and remember something every once and a while. It's like someone hit you in the head or something and made you forget a whole bunch of important shit."

"I remember you're a fucking asshole. That's enough for me." she hissed back at him.

"Oh ha ha. Well as long as you're forgetting things, maybe you could forget that one night in paradise you had with me the other day when I was passed out." He winked at her.

"You're fucking dea-" Sophia began, pulling out her gun. Suddenly, a muffled sob came from the corner of the room. The two turned their heads.

Alice was sitting on Sophia's bed, a large satchel at her side - the one that was on the horse Sophia was riding. She was holding what seemed to be a slightly scorched book, and holding back what seemed to be yet another emotional outburst.

Oh, not this shit again... Sophia thought to herself, biting her lip. If she goes demon mode again in here, things are going to be bad...

"My sister..." tears welled up in her eyes and her face twisted between a frown and scowl. Her breathing deepened and she started shaking violently. "It's all my fault... if I had just let her out of the cellar... no... it's all your fault." She stared at Jeb and got up off the bed. She shuffled over to him, growing larger and getting angrier and angrier with every word she spoke.

Sophia took a step back. Yeahhh, Sophia doesn't feature in this equation. Better keep it that way she thought.

"Now listen kid, I can explain." Jeb held his hands up in self defense.

"I don't want to hear any more out of y-" Alice stopped in her tracks and slumped over onto the fist that Jeb had put in her gut.

"That ought to keep her quiet for now. We can think of something later, for now we need to at least tie her up. She's just going to be trouble for now."

"What the fuck, Jeb?!" Sophia exclaimed, shoving him aside. "She'll fucking eleven!" She crouched down to check on Alice.

"It's not my fault. It's not like you were going to do anything about it. You just backed away and were going to let me get my face ripped off when she attacked me. You know what happens when her emotions get out of control so don't give me that crap." Jeb huffed and felt the neck of the girl. "She's still breathing, and her heart's still beating. She'll be fine."

Sophia sighed angrily, and walked up to her bedside where the book was. "Is that the book you were talking about? What is it, anyway?"

"It belonged to her sister. Before she died - before I left the opera house she gave it to me and told me to get it to Alice. Any means necessary. Crispy was a good kid after all." He wiped an invisible tear from his eye.

She picked up the book at turned to the front page. "Huh. Don't know what would piss her off on there though- oh hey, there's a message on the front."

On the front page of the book said:
I don't even know why I'm writing this. As far as I know, you could be dead. I guess being stuck in a burning hellhole makes a person mad. As I write this, I can feel a few tonnes of wood on my back - building must have collapsed already. Shield won't last long, either.

A few scratched-out words were beneath the first paragraph.

With me dead, you might as well be too. But there's still so much you should know - things you need to know. Maybe that just means that now you're ready to know the truth about dad.

The next few pages were burned and destroyed beyond comprehension, but Sophia couldn't tell whether it had been intentional or accidental.

This book used to be mine. Now that I'm about to leave, I think it best to officially pass it on to you. I don't know how much of it you'll be able to use, but I guess it's the thought that counts right? Anyways, I hope you live a good life. Regardless of how I've treated you in the past, I only want the best for you. All of those times when I beat you and called you names I was just trying to make you stronger. I hope you can forgive me some day. I love you Alice. I'll be watching over you from wherever I end up going.

Jeb sighed. "Yep, I figured that was probably what ticked her off. I mean, Crispy never said not to read it. It is what it is."

Shit... No wonder the kid got really pissed... Sophia thought, flipping to the page which listed the spells. "Looks like there's some sort of 'rage' skill in that book. She must've activated it somehow back at the tavern."

"Well, seeing as it's labeled 'rage', I can only imagine. I mean, you don't have to have the book right in your hand when you cast spells and I had been upstairs for a few hours with the ladies-" he cut himself off, probably ought to not get into that with her around. She'd be liable to do something about it seeing as how she hasn't had any in a while if ever. Would probably make her mood better. He shook his head. "Anyways. I can only imagine how she managed to activate a 'rage' spell when she was enraged and her book was around."

"Anyway. You should've dropped the kid off at Janet's but since you're such a goddamn charismatic man you fucked up with her and brought her back here." Sophia said frustratingly, pocketing the book. "Now what am I supposed to-"

She was interrupted by a knock of the door. A voice came from outside. "Oi, lovebirds. You need to get out, now. Boss needs to speak to you, Fia."

"Shit. Now we've gotta go through all the trouble of getting these clothes back on when we just took them off. Can't you give us just a few more minutes? We're tryin' to teach the kid some stuff about life."

"You motherfucking-" Sophia began, grabbing the nearest object she could find - a small stool in this case - and furiously hurling it at Jeb.

He caught the stool and put it back on the ground. "Now now Sophy-poo. Just because you spent your last couple hundred on me and we got interrupted that doesn't mean you have to start throwing things. We can come back and finish this later, no extra charge." He blew her a kiss and opened the door.

One day, I'll fucking kill him. I will. Sophia thought to herself, exiting the room and attempting to shove Jeb away from her. "You stay with the kid, asshole."

"Sometimes I can' tell you two apart. You're both about the same height and both want me dead." He said as he rubbed past her and sat down smiling on the stool she had thrown at him. "Also, see if your buddy knows anything about a dog familiar thing. It stole my grandma's pocket watch."

---------

Sophia hesitated at the door, and knocked.

"Come in." Antonio's voice called from inside. Sophia took a deep breath and opened the door.

"You called, boss?" she asked.

"Yes, now close the door behind you." the leader of the Culebras urged. Sitting in front of his desk were three other Culebras, grouped around what seemed to be the watch Sophia had brought in earlier - Jack the Stutterer, the burly outlaw she had seen earlier known only by the name "Bear", and a hooded woman which Sophia did not recognize.

"Marzia Alesi, an assassin from our Silverston team, to answer any questions." Antonio told her. "Now take a seat. This isn't a laughing matter. I have called the best of you for a reason."

Sophia smiled, taking a seat. You know it, darling superintendent.

"I'll keep it short. Over the past month, I have been tracking an item which some of you know as the 'second bible'. To those of you who aren't smart enough to know what that is-" Antonio glared at Bear. "-it is rumored to be the most powerful spellbook created to date. Spells from every element, and an ability no human would dream to possess - time manipulation."

The four outlaws looked at each other, each thinking the same thing.

"If we gain possession of the book, we could do great things. Possibly outnumber Rush's group. It's worth more than any bank in this filthy place, and it must be retrieved at all costs." Antonio continued.

Now comes the fun part. Sophia thought to herself, grinning.

"This pocketwatch you see before you is actually much more than a pocketwatch. It functions almost as a sort of compass for the location of the book - or what we assume is the book. And with the help of this-" He brushed aside the watch to display the map underneath. "-I've determined that the book is in the possession of someone in Wrench. The location hasn't moved much, so it's likely the owner does not realize they have it with them. The location, however, seems to be heavily guarded - which is where you come in. In addition to this, there will probably be other clans and gangs following us there - so you'll have to remain vigilant. Take down anyone in your way - although we'd prefer it to be quiet. Something which some of you seem to have... trouble with." he said, glaring at Sophia.

Can't say he's lying.. Sophia thought to herself, turning her head away.

"How are we gonna get there?" Bear asked, taking in a large puff from his cigar and blowing it behind him.

"I have arranged a method of transport for you. You'll need to be much more discrete. Tonight, I have picked a cargo train leaves for Wrench from the other end of town. You will all boarding that train under the disguise of handymen. For you women, I've made arrangements. The trip could take a long time, but don't even dare to doze off - always remain vigilant. Once you reach there, a scout I have sent to Wrench will meet you, and the five of you. The scout has not sent me back information on the place yet, so he may or may not be dead - in that case, you'll have to act on your own. Whatever the costs, once you reach there, you must come back with the book."

Sophia noticed Jack seemed a little fidgety. "Em, b-boss... W-what if we d-don't find the b-book...? I m-mean, it's only a rumour as far as w-we know, right?" he stuttered.

Antonio slammed his desk. "Are you calling me delusional, boy? You think this is a suicide mission?"

"N-not at all-"

"You come back with the book, you get filthy rich. If you don't..."

With a snap of his fingers, the large Komodo dragon emerged from underneath his desk, its gigantic tongue darting in and out of its mouth. Sophia felt Nico becoming tense, his grip on her shoulder tightening. She heard a hiss come out from under Marzia's hood.

Huh, so she's got a familiar too... Guess Antonio really did bring the best. Sophia thought, caressing Nico to calm him down.

Jack gulped as he saw the massive Komodo. "U-understood..."

Antonio sighed, and took off his spectacles. "You're dismissed." he muttered. As they all began getting up, he stopped them. "Except for Sophia, stay here."

Oh fucking boy, here comes another jolly good time of boss-outlaw bonding. the latter thought, gritting her teeth and sitting back down.

"Bear, bring me back the man and that girl who just came in, as well as the blithering idiot who let them in." Antonio called.

"Sure thing, boss."

---------------------------

"Do you like flowers?"

Jeb was sitting on Sophia's bed with Alice next to him. He was trying his best to bond with her since they were apparently going to be spending some more time together. However Alice more or less ignored him. His questions were answered with either a blank stare or a slight shake of the head.

"Ya know, my daughter always liked flowers. Every since she was just born. My wife had this amazing Lilac perfume that she would spray around the house. A spritz here, a spritz there, a spritz just about everywhere except for on herself. I honestly don't know what that was all about."

He looked over at the blank slate that was the girl's face.

"Oh come on, at least acknowledge that I exist! This is so unbearably painful. Where the hell is Sophia? It shouldn't take this long."

He started pacing around the room, shooting a glance to Alice every now and then. She had taken his leave as an opportunity and laid down on the bed. She curled up into the fetal position and clutched her sister's book to her chest so hard that her fingers began turning white.

"I-" Jeb had just started to make an attempt at reconciling with Alice when a knock came at the door.

"Knock knock. Housekeeping." The voice of a man came from behind the wall.

"Whaddya want? We're waitin' for Sof so I can give her this damn kid."

"Ain't got time for that. Let's go." The man went over to Alice and slung her over his shoulder.

"What do you-"

"Let's. Go." The man grabbed Jeb by the arm and pulled him out the door.

"Whatever you say. You don't have to be rough, I can walk." Jeb dusted himself off. God damn, I just want to shoot this guy. Jeb cracked his neck and slid his hand down his chest to where his gun was holstered. So tempting. But with all these people here... probably better not.

They left the room and walked in a straight line to the door ahead of them. Jeb saw a couple of shady looking rooms and thought to wander off, but as soon as he tried to leave the path Bear grabbed him by his hair and pulled him along. They got to the room and Bear opened the door, first throwing in Jeb and then dropping Alice into his lap.

"Boss wants to see you." And then he waddled away. Moments later, the door reopened, and the thin tall man Sophia had punched earlier was pushed inside. "Sorry, forgot about that one." Bear called. "See ya, boss."

Sophia gulped as she saw Jeb and Alice in the room. She knew the Culebras had a strict regulation on outsiders, and the penalty that followed.

"Stand up, you two." Antonio ordered. "I will make this quick. Who are you, how did you find this place and why are you here?"

Jeb stood up and brushed himself up. "Well. Sir, let me explain. First off, I'm Jebediah Sanders."

Sanders? Sounds like he's some reverend or something, hah. Sophia thought chuckling.

"This here is uh... Alice something or other. I rode into town after saving..." Jeb turned his head dramatically towards Sophia, "That one's ass. She dropped this kid on me and told me to bring her around here and that she would know the way. But she didn't because she's not been talking to me. So. I had to ask some old guy and he pointed me over here. So that's that."

"What the fuck are you on about?! I never told you to come back!" Sophia yelled back at him, violently standing up and stomping her foot.

Jeb gives Sophia a swift slap on the cheek meat. "I've had it with yer god damn lies. Every time. Every single time I say anything. 'No no no. I didn't do that. Blah blah blah.' And after everything I've done for you. So ungrateful."

Instantly, Sophia recovered from the hit, and lunged at Jeb, knocking him down of the floor. "You piece of fuckin-"

"I'll bite your tit off!" Jeb spat back opening his mouth and craning his neck towards her. "Let's see how you like me then short shit."

"Fuck you!" Sophia spat back, attempting to pummel him with punches. Instantly, Nico jumped off her shoulder onto Jeb's face, spitting out a large glob of poison right into his open mouth.

The poison falls into Jeb's gaping maw. A sour look comes across his face and he stops struggling against Sophia which causes her to fall in towards him. He rolls over on top of her and holds her mouth open, baby birding the leftover goop into her mouth. Then he pulls out Mr.Truth and shoves it into her ribcage. Pulls the hammer back and-

Bang.

Jeb jumps back, getting off of Sophia. Oh shit. I didn't mean to... dammit why. Jeb went to turn his back and laid his face on the floor when the sound of a body hit the floor.

"A waste of my damn time." he heard Antonio's voice mutter, and the sound of a gun being put back into its holster.

He turned back around to see Sophia shaking on the ground and the tall lanky man on his knees with a bullet hole in his chest.

"That's about enough of that." Antonio proclaimed. He held out his hand, which was now glowing white. Both Sophia and Jeb were immediately raised off the ground, and their bruises and scratches disappeared. "I don't want to know any more of this mess you two have made up. I haven't heard your name before, and I hope for your sake I will never hear it again. Sophia will escort you and the girl out of here."

"Okay that's fine, but just hold on one moment. I see y'all got a nice 'lil business thing going on here and well, to be frank I'm tired of doin' small jobs like this bull shit escort work. Just doesn't pay the bills like I'd like for it to."

Antonio raised an eyebrow, mildly interested. "Go on."

"Well, I have a certain set of skills. Granted I'm not the most talented, I can still more than handle myself and a wagon or two should the need arise. From what I seen just from my short little walk around, you're not exactly employing professionals."

The Culebra leader sighed in frustration. "I hate to agree, but yes."

"Now, I been doin' escort work for a good few years. Mostly just small stuff, but nonetheless I had to be able to protect my targets from any danger that might present itself. So if you'd be so kind as to disregard our little lover's quarrel..."

Sophia's hand turned into a fist. Lover's quarrel...? I swear to fucking god, Jeb one of these days... she thought to herself. If it wasn't at the risk of him telling the boss about the tatoo, she would have sold him out as a bounty hunter at the first moment.

"I'd like to re-present myself as a potential business partner." Jeb bowed as he finished speaking.

Antonio tapped his desk. "I hope you do realize, Mr. Sanders, that once you deal with the Culebras, you don't back away from it so easily. Those who have tried, unfortunately, cannot live to tell you the tale." he said, stroking the Komodo who had been pacing around his desk.

"Sir, please do not mock me. I am not so petty as to do such a thing. I am a man of honor and I know how to do business honorably. Whether that business be behind closed doors or out in the open."

Antonio sighed. "We might need your services tonight, then. I will not reveal any more information to you other than that you will follow Sophia. I trust you for now, but I still cannot afford to give out important information."

"Understandable. Well then, it looks like the only thing left is the kid. Uhh... the small-er one."

"I have contacts in Wrench!" Alice suddenly called out.

Antonio's eyes grew wide. "How do you..."

The young girl let out a small cough. "I... have ways. Please, mister, you can't leave me here! I have contacts in Wrench that could help you find it. You wouldn't want the burden of a child on your shoulders, right?" she pleaded, putting on her most desperate face.

Antonio slammed his desk angrily. "God dammit! I can't have a child embark on a mission of utmost importance!" he cursed. He knew, however, that if the guide was dead as he presumed, the team he had sent could maybe never find the book. In addition to this, there was the chance that the girl could spill the information to anyone else.

Jeb started massaging his temples at the outburst of Alice. Are. You. Fucking. Kidding. Me. This kid... I don't know how much more of this I can take. I'm literally about to fucking snap. I haven't killed anything lately. That must be the problem. Haven't quenched my thirst for blood. Totally reasonable.

Antonio turned to Sophia, indirectly asking her for her opinion. She was surprised at Alice's outburst, particularly after her long period of silence. She gulped, hesitating. Despite the evident risks and dangers of having Alice join in, she could not bring herself to disagree. She nodded slightly at Antonio.

The latter put his spectacles back on. "Alright, this goes against every last ounce of good judgement I possess... You may be part of the trip. You will stay close to Sophia and Sanders, and in no case will you speak to anyone outside of the group coming with you. You will guide them through the town, and when you'll no longer be needed, we'll arrange for you to get back. You will not interfere with whatever the group is doing. Is that understood?"

"Yes, yes, perfectly! I'll be as unnoticeable as you need me to." Alice replied eagerly, smiling.

"Lets get this show on the road then. I can't stand tight places like this." Jeb walked to the door and pulled it open. "Now that all that is in order, it appears that our business is complete until we return."

Antonio sighed. "You'll be leaving soon. The train you'll be boarding will leave tonight. 'Til then, get ready. You're all dismissed." he told them. "And Sophia, call someone to get rid of this bloody corpse."

---------------------------

A few hours later, Other end of Larkin

"Blah blah blah," Jeb said angrily.

"Blah blah your ass." exclaimed Sophia.

"Why aren't you two saying actual words?" Alice asked inquiringly.

"To make you ask questions. That's why. We're almost to the station now. Be ready to get off as soon as we get there. We're cutting it a little close, but we should be on before the train leaves. Little miss prim and proper had to take a shower." Jeb scoffed.

"Well maybe if you weren't such a dick we would've gotten out of there earlier, asshole." Sophia hissed. Nico let out a small cough, as it was the closest the chameleon could give to a growl.

"Whatever, I'm done arguing about it. At least when we're in front of the kid we could try to act somewhat civilized. Anyways, we're here now. Hurry up and get off before the train leaves us."

A joint post of Sonata and Foxrally
 
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Posts
11
Years
Attack on the Culebra Clan

Rex Flinders, Emmett Holliday and the Culebras

200

Rex reached the town of Larkin about midday, the heat of the sun prickling his exposed arms. Still, there was no point in worrying about a bit of sunburn when you were about to be in a situation that involved bullets and god knows what else being launched repeatedly in your direction.

The outlaw dismounted his horse outside of one of Larkin's taverns, this particular bar having become infamous overnight due to a bounty hunter instigating a colossal shoot out there. This was where the Culebra Clan's biggest hideout was, where Antonio Culebra resided and where the clan would cease to exist if Rex had his way.

The man didn't bother entering the front of the tavern, he knew that wasn't the real attraction here. No, the Culebra's would be hiding in a secret location behind the main building - an idea they had ripped off from Flinders himself. Rex strode calmly down the ally next to the tab, stopping as a patch of wood that simpler slightly indented from the rest.
"I guess I should knock." Rex chuckled to himself before blasting the door open with a concussive spell. "Hello everybody, guess who's finally found you fuckers!"

Without wasting another moment, Rex drew his revolver from its holster and proceeded to shoot the first three stunned Culebras he saw in the head. A commotion ensued as the other Culebras leapt to their feet, leveling guns on Rex and screaming insults and cusses at him. Bullets rained on the outlaw, Rex just laughed as the bullets were propelled away from him. The projectiles flew in different directions around the room, several lodging themselves in the bodies of unsuspecting Culebras.

"Well you get props for trying." Rex gave a sinister smile. The remaining Culebras all took their chance to leave the shack, rushing out as fast as possible. The only exit was, however, the one Rex just came in through, and while the Culebras could hide, they couldn't leave the scene. They were easy to pick off one by one, and because of the big amount of people in the small room, he could even get multiple outlaws with the same bullet. As the density decreased, the Culebra's became harder to take down, as there was more space for them to hide. They turned over tables to hide behind, and hid behind the bodies of there fallen gang members. Bullets kept sifting through the air, but none seemed to even get close to hitting Rex. He heard footsteps nearing the hole he had just blew in the wall. A kid in a poncho entered. He missed a chunk from his earlobe, and seemed to limp a bit. He entered oblivious to the situation. It was quite the scene to walk in on. Rex stood in the middle of the room, surrounded by bodies, turned over tables, cowering Culebra's and half-filled whiskey glasses.
"That explains the hole in the wall," the boy said.

"Now who might you be?" Rex said, his feral grin not faltering as he turned to face Emmett, more bullets careened at his back, however they too were deflected.

Emmett felt a rush of excitement coursing through his veins. This guy seemed like he could be a lot of fun. He blinked, and appeared above the man who had just murdered his new colleagues, and wrapped his legs around his neck. Emmett yelled like he was riding a rodeo, and kicked his spiked shoe in the side of his new mount.
"Let's ride this rodeo, Bessy!" Emmett yelled.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?!" Rex yelled, stumbling forwards with Emmett's hands cover his eyes. In a rage Rex screamed, summoning several large fireballs and launching them around the room. The force of the spell splintered wood as the flames caught on tables, chairs and Culebras, the latter group howling in pain as the stench of their burning flesh filled the room.
Emmett pulled Rex's head backwards, forcing him to lose balance and drop to the ground. He blinked away just before they would've hit the ground, and reappeared above Rex, landing with his full force in the murderers stomach.
"Jeesz guys, was it this amateur that killed half of you guys?" Emmett joked, "I should have accidentally forced myself to join a more competent gang."

Rex stopped in his tracks, a mirthless laugh emanating from his smirking visage.
"You're pissing off the wrong person kid." Rex unleashed a repulsion spell, launching Emmett off of him and into the hard roof of the building, the younger outlaw hitting the ceiling with a loud thump and a spray of dust.

Rex was far from done with the upstart though, he caught Emmett when he fell back down and through into the remains of a table, splinters and broken fragments piercing his skin and causing miniscule trickles of blood to roll onto the ground.
"I'm Rex Flinders, I'm no amateur. I'm your death." Rex walked over to Emmett, again repelling bullets with his spell, and proceeded to repeatedly stomp hard on his stomach and chest. "Tell them I sent you when you get to hell" Rex flicked a small fireball onto the edge of the table.

Rex then turned back to Culebras who hid behind the remains of their furniture.
"Now where was I?"

Emmett laughed, or at least attempted to. "Haven't you heard? I'm from Hell already!" he screamed, throwing the content of his flask towards Rex, and freezing it with his breath. Ice crystals formed on the outlaws feet and legs. Emmett blinked, appearing next to the outlaw, and kicking his frozen shin with full force, which after the beatdown he had just taken, wasn't that much. It was however, enough to shatter the ice, and make Rex topple, making him kiss the ground again.

Heat emanated from the fallen Rex's body, the remainder of the ice upon him melting and dripping onto the floor where it soon became thin strands of steam as Rex slowly climbed to his feet.
"I've really had enough of your shit." Rex spat, a stone spike burst forth from the ground and shot through Emmett's abdomen before erupting out the back of the young outlaw's body. In a rage he then turned to face the remaining Culebras, and launched another torrent of fireballs into the mass of furniture and bandits. Screams of terror and pain assaulted Rex's ears, so he silenced any survivors with spikes of their own. He now stood in silence once more, surrounded by corpses.

Rex took a few minutes to search the hideout, however he was disappointed to discover that nobody else was present. It seemed that Antonio and his mother were out, still finding them wouldn't be too hard. Rex turned to the kid he'd left with a spike sticking out of him. He didn't look dead yet somehow.
"Hey kid." he said, walking over to his victim and slapping him in the face unnecessarily hard "You dead yet? I've got a proposition for you."

"Demons don't die," the kid answered, "what do you have for me?"

"Show me where Antonio and his decrepit hag of a mother are and I'll heal that nasty hole for you."

"I've kinda got attached to the whole, you know. We've spent so much time together already," Emmett chuckled uncomfortably, "but I think I could handle the loss. Fix me up, Bessy."

Rex slapped him again.
"To you, it's Boss." Rex then pulled Emmet off of the spike and partially healed the wound so it would continue to hurt like a bitch, but the younger outlaw would at least be able to move freely and not die of blood loss "Lead the way ya little shit." Emmett put his hand on the leftover wound, and his hand lit up. "Do I really need to finish it up myself?" He said. They started walking. "So, are you a bounty hunter, or what?"
"Hell no... oh and before I forget-" a searing pain ran through Emmett's body briefly before vanishing. "Now you won't be Blinking away."

"Why did you think that was necessary?" Emmett said grumpily, "do I look like I'm the type to run away?"



"Mother, I really don't think it's safe for us to be out here. Do you have any idea how dangerous it is for us to be seen in the open, together?"

"Hush, boy. I call you. You follow. Mother knows best."

Antonio Culebra sighed deeply, and massaged his temples. He prayed none of his half-witted fellow outlaws were watching. The two had gone 'shopping' in Larkin - for the lack of a better word. The proper term would be 'intimidating shopkeepers into giving them goods', and 'forcing debtors to repay what they owed'. They were currently at a liquor store, located at the far edges of Larkin.

"Get your mother this flask, boy." Valentina commanded.

Antonio resisted the urge to snap at her. The last time he had was over twenty years ago - and the scar on his chest was a painful reminder. "Yes, mother." he muttered under his breath, and fetched her what she wanted.

"We should return soon, I'm going to have to wake up later tonight. The people I do business with apparently only work at nighttime - inconvenient, but their support will help greatly in seizing control over Wrench." he told her in a low voice as they exited the store.

"I care not. You must sleep early and wake early. Bad sleep makes death come to you." the elderly lady replied.

Antonio cleared his throat, trying to contain his frustration. "Yes, mother. And so does opening an umbrella indoors, and kicking a stone with your left foot." he hissed. And with that, he kicked a small pebble away towards a building. The impact was so strong it shattered the stone into many pieces, scattering them across the floor.

"Now, now," Rex said, surprising the Culebra, "Aren't you momma's boys meant to be nicer to their old hags? Personally I just shot my mother and got it over and done with." Rex drew his gun and aimed it at the old woman, pulling the trigger and shooting her in the chest. She crumpled onto the ground in an instant, her blood pooling into the dirt as civilians began to scream and run for their lives. "Easy, see?"

Suddenly, the body of the old woman began shaking and trembling on the floor. The pool of blood that had gathered around her slowly began turning a dark shade of blue, and retracted back towards the corpse. It let out a low moan.

Slowly, Valentina Culebra's body began lifting off the ground, almost spirit-like. "Teme a la picadura de la culebra." she murmured, her eyes blank, stating straight ahead at her killer. She raised her hand. Slowly, it turned into the same shade of blue the pool of blood around her had been earlier. "An eye for an eye, young one..." The body of the elderly woman then exploded into a cloud of ash, falling into a pile on the floor.

"What the fuck..." Rex exclaimed as he fell to his knees. Pain seared his chest, his hand clutching at the space above his heart. His breathing intensified, becoming ragged and he coughed profusely, spitting up blood that was bizarrely blue. "What did the crazy bitch do to me..?"

Emmett had been standing, just watching the situation play out. He did not expect the old hag to go down that easily. The curse she casted on her death came even more unexpected.
"Don't worry about your mother, Toni, you're better off without her. To be honest, her breath stinks, and the smell sticks on you." Emmett blinked, and appeared next to Culebra leader, putting his arm around his shoulder. "I'll take your corpse to the bar afterwards, and we'll drink through your grief, okay?"

Antonio flung his arm out, forcing Emmett to blink back a few paces and then flung a fireball at him forcing him back even further.
"You'll die for that. Slowly and painfully." the head of the Culebra clan had fury in his eyes as he turned to his ever-present komodo dragon and spoke, his voice ringing with magic "Kill him. Slowly. Rip him limb from limb and leave him to bleed out."

The enormous lizard moved forwards towards it's prey, tongue flicking hungrily as it tasted the air, intent on obeying it's orders.It flung towards Emmett, with incredible speed. The outlaw blinked away, and the lizard stood still for a second, trying to pick up his smell. The komodo dragon rushed towards an alley, and disappeared from sight.

Rex watched briefly as Emmett and his reptilian pursuer disappeared from sight, keeping tabs on the outlaw by means of the spell he had placed on him. Rex coughed again, more of the unnerving blue blood landing in the dirt.
"I didn't think the runt had it in him, not bad." Rex half-chuckled, turning his attention back to Antonio who was now pointing a revolver to Rex's head. "Back to the main event Culebra." Rex said with a snarl, picking himself back up to his feet.



 

Ice1

[img]http://www.serebii.net/pokedex-xy/icon/712.pn
3,447
Posts
9
Years
  • Seen Nov 23, 2023
Emmett Holliday
Status - Outlaw – allegiance switcher.
Sorcery Level - 1
Element - Water
Bounty - 300$



Don't let it drag on


Emmett reappeared on the top of a building. He saw the huge lizard running through the streets. It was incredibly fast, and Emmett was sure he wouldn't be able to outrun it. It came straight towards the building he was on, its tongue flicking through the air, tasting Emmett's smell. Emmett disappeared, reappearing above the Komodo dragon. He pulled his legs in, bracing to kick the lizard with his full force. When his feet landed on the monster, however, he did not feel the beast move in the slightest. The spikes on his shoes did nothing to the beast, who lunged his head backwards, letting his teeth sink in the outlaws arm. Emmett fell, his arm bleeding. He blinked away, and appeared inside one of the houses.
"I'll be out in a second. I'm fighting this monster in the street and he kind of bit me," he said to the inhabitants. He made his hand lit up, and dragged it over his wound. While he was doing this, he walked around the room. In the house lived three people, a father, a mother, and their son, who was crawling around on the floor at the moment, not fazed by the stranger in his house. The parents looked at Emmett in confusion, though, with their eyes opened wide. The mother wanted to open her mouth, but at that moment the door broke down, and the Komodo dragon entered. Emmett grabbed the kid.
"Keep that beast busy, and I might give him back," he yelled. The parents screamed in fear. The father grabbed a broomstick, and started to aggressively poke the Komodo dragon with it. The lizard put his teeth in the broom, and forced the father on the ground, by pushing and pulling it around. Emmett saw the beast being distracted, and ran for the window, kid still held in his hands. He jumped through it, shattering the glass. He landed on his feet and started running again. He heard agonizing screams from the house, and he assumed the monster was tearing the parents apart. The kid started crying, loudly.
"Parents have never been good for anyone, don't worry," he said to the boy, a big smile on his face, as he lunged him through the air. "Hang on! I wouldn't know to what, but hang on to it." Emmett blinked to where the kid was, and caught him in midair.
"You're slowing me down kid," Emmett said grumpily, "I so hope for you that komodo dragons eat kids, because otherwise I'm going to put you through hell." He threw the toddler again, and appeared at his landing spot.
The lizard was nearing, with his incredible speed. Emmett prepared himself, holding the kid under his arm, and having his gun in the other. He wasn't very experienced with using either as a weapon, so this was going to be a fun and exciting, new, experience. He had a spell that synergized with his gun, letting him fire ice bullets, without having to reload. He hoped to harm the Komodo dragon with those bullets once he opened his mouth. He assumed those beast didn't have scales on the inside. Out of nowhere the beast took a turn.
"Hey, man, I'm over here okay," Emmett said, with a tone of disappointment in his voice, "I've even got you a treat!" He held the kid up high. He put the down, the kid still crying. It did not move on the ground, except for the flailing of his little limbs. "That thing's gotta earn his treats," Emmett said. "I'm not going to reward you for bad behavior," he yelled now. The beast jumped through the air, out of nowhere, and hit Emmett's side. The full weight of its body pushed Emmett to the ground. The dragon opened its jaw, showing his extremely sharp rows of teeth, covered in green saliva. He lunged at Emmett's head, and closed his jaw, catching nothing but air. The outlaw was now behind him.
"Ha, suck it," Emmett said, and he thrusted his crotch towards the beast. The beast flung out again, this time aiming for Emmett's crotch, but again, when he closed his jaw, his prey disappeared. Hands grabbed his tail mid-air. The beast was extremely heavy, and Emmett's attempted at spinning it around and throwing it failed horribly. Instead of the beast obeying Emmett's movement, Emmett obeyed the beasts, and he was pulled forwards with the beast. He wrapped his feet around his back, and put his hands on each side of the jaw, trying to force the monstrous mouth open. Slowly there was some movement, and Emmett spit out the water he had filled his mouth with, following it up with an ice cold breath that froze the water. He grabbed his gun, and strains of water vapor pulled towards it. He put the gun into the side of the Komodo dragon's mouth, and shot. It twitched in pain, and made an agonizing sound. Emmett laughed. He did not expect the beast to make such pathetic noises. He conjured another ice bullet and fired again. Blood came out of the mouth, and it smelled horrible. The third ice bullet made it stop moving.
"Ow man, I hope Toni's got another one of these," he giggled, "I wouldn't mind another one to play with."
He ran towards one of the houses. He blinked inside, and quickly ran towards the first knife he saw, ignoring the inhabitants. He grabbed a big, sharp knife, and a piece of cloth, and blinked out again. Back at the Komodo dragon, he tore up the insides with the knife, and tried to get as much gore out as possible. He used the piece of cloth as a feather, and the blood as ink, and wrote in childish, rushed handwriting: 'FROSTFIRE DEMON', next to the Komodo dragon. He put a big, fat line under it. He tried to cut a part of the beast of to show to Antonio in a minute, but the beasts scales were really though. He managed to get a couple teeth out, though. He grabbed the piece of cloth, and walked over to the toddler that was still lying on the ground, crying. He threw to stinking, filthy piece towards it.
"It might get cold tonight," he said, smiling, and he walked away. "See, mom, I do care for other people."

 
944
Posts
9
Years

Achilles Nimbus
Status - Bounty Hunter
Sorcery Level - 1
Element - Electricity
Money - $0


Old Legends Die Hard


"Now father, before you see him, I must say, he is…" He stopped to think of a word that would best justify the stature of his sickly young child "….still young." Arthur sighed, in utter defeat as he greeted his father into his home. He was trying to make excuses for the sickly young child waiting to make his father's acquaintance.
"I'm proud son." His father seemed to be ignorant of his disquietude. "You've done so well for yourself at such a young age; now you've had a child." The 25 year old, smiled as he acknowledged his father's praise. "Your mother would've been proud to, I'm sure." He continued on, mentioning Arthur's deceased mother.
The two arrived upstairs, and into then in the presence of Sally, who had just put the child to sleep.
"It's been a long time Cornelius." She smiled invitingly. "How was your trip?" She took his coat and placed it on the head of the bed, while her husband pulled up a couple of chairs next to the cradle. Cornelius sat down on the chair, ignoring Sally's question. He looked into the cradle. His expression unchanging.
"He seems small, and pale doesn't he?" He stated quite forwardly. Subconsciously he was making quite an abrupt statement. Sally immediately jumped to the defence of her child. Subconsciously, she was being very combative.
"He's wonderful though, isn't he Arthur." She bit her lip as she said it, knowing she wanted to say something else. She was almost throwing him into the fire. Arthur sensed the hostility between the two. It wasn't a particular situation he wanted to get in the middle of.
"Yes, of course." Arthur laughed awkwardly. He had to change the subject as discreetly as possible. "We named him Achilles." His father glared at him in the corner of his eye. "A name derived from Greek mythology," The volume of his voice lowered as he continued "like you own." He almost balled up, by the time he'd finished his sentence. He realised that was just as testing a subject. He needed a new one. "So, what does the 'grey Nimbus' get up to these days?" His demeanour became much more slouched and his language more colloquial as his nerves grew.
"I've no interest in sharing tales of my travels." He said sternly. He looked at Sally, then at Achilles, his expression still vacant. "Maybe tomorrow." He continued with an empty tone.

Achilles followed Charlotte through the back rooms of the building that she'd brought him to. They arrived at a small room with three people discussing what seemed like trivial issues. There was a large man, with messy, almost grizzly hair. His face looked as though it had been through a lot, it was worn with scars and bruises. His un-kept beard shook as he shoved a beer bottle in his mouth. In the other Sofa, was a man that seemed to be his polar opposite, a man that appeared quite effeminate. His hair was down, and shoulder length. The final member of Charlotte's group was a child, no older than 10.
"Guys, this is Black, he's gonna be joining the squad." Their conversation was cut short by Charlotte's presence. She had clear authority over the group, which amazed Achilles. The large man was the first to break the Silence.
"Typical of Charlotte to bring home some delicate pretty boy." He laughed. He was met by a scowl by Charlotte, but tested his bravery by continuing. "How about you bring some real men back here for once." He stood up to inspect Achilles. Which the bounty hunter felt very uncomfortable with. "Or at least some damn eye candy." He grunted. Charlotte simply ignored the request, with a roll of her eyes. The other two didn't take much notice of Achilles at first. So Charlotte decided to introduce them.
"Black, this is Travis," she pointed to the long haired man, who nodded in response. "Cleveland," she pointed towards the large man.
"Hey." He grunted to Achilles in response to his introduction.
"and Felix." She said pointing at the child. The boy continued to ignore Achilles. Charlotte sat down in one the couch with Cleveland, while Felix and Travis occupied the other one. "This is my gang." She smiled. Achilles had worked that much out, but decided to keep his judgements to himself. "I'm gonna be the best damn gang boss since Jebadiah Rush." She pointed to herself triumphantly. Achilles' gaze remained vacant, as the rest of the gang grinned at each other. "Might even kill the man myself." She continued. Those words caught Achilles' attention.
"Jebadiah Rush?" Though his face was still vacant, his tone suggested he was intrigued. Charlotte nodded in response. "I was under the impression the man was just a legend. I'm certain he doesn't exist." His brow was raised as the words came out. Charlottes scoffed in response. Before she could respond, Travis began snickering. He was sat furthest from her; so he felt safe to do so, while Cleveland was forced to restrain himself. Charlotte took a big sigh, and shook her head.
"Something funny, Travis?" She asked rhetorically. He couldn't respond. Charlotte's frustration had made him erupt into full laughter. That was worsened by the fact that Cleveland could no longer restrain himself either. Charlotte rolled her eyes. "Well, I guess that's my cue to leave." She groaned.
"Oh, come on Charlotte don't tell me you're gonna sulk." Travis cackled. "Look," He managed to compose himself long enough to take on an explanatory tone. "the guy's had a bounty forever, none of us have ever met anyone that's seen him, he ain't real." He stated very matter of fact.
"No one's ever seen the old Spider hag, yet you piss yourself every time I suggest we go there." Her tone was heightened in defence.
"I've met her." Achilles added. His interjection was met by a steely glare. He refrained from speaking from that point on.
"Maybe before you aim so high, you should shoot within your range." The small boy livened up. They all looked at him in confusion. He pulled a wanted poster from under the cushion. On it, was a picture of Bernie Brutus. "Isn't it about time we took over our own territory?" He grinned menacingly. Charlotte smiled in agreement.
Achilles and Cleveland rode into town. Upon discovering Achilles had no access to magic, and no weapon, Charlotte insisted Cleveland take him to the town's new blacksmith. If they were to take on Bernie, they'd need to make sure everyone could fight. Normally they'd just go to a gun store, but the man they were visiting had a special talent.
"A blacksmith?" Achilles questioned as they walked into the store. There were a few swords on display, and prices beneath them, but other than that the shop was bare. There was no furnace, no anvil, no blade moulders. It wasn't very often that Achilles went to a sword store but he expected more than what was there.
"Hey, how can I help you goo-" A voice called out, but stopped when it caught sight of the two men. "Ach-"
"Black." Achilles interrupted him before the man could say his full name. He looked at Cleveland, who hadn't seemed to notice the near mishap. "I'll handle this." He said plainly. The larger man nodded and left Achilles alone with the blacksmith.

 
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JukeboxTheGhoul

Rocking Round the Clock
737
Posts
12
Years



C1KYcHj.jpg



ANIMA

[S-HIGHLIGHT]Music[/S-HIGHLIGHT]
Information
Spoiler:


Anima heaved the sack of stolen gunpowder on to his shoulder. The suffering had subsided, but the effects of lugging around the weight became tiring, Anima flopped the mound of gunpowder in the blood stained trailer. The carcasses of the horses laid by the wayside. Their stench was a beacon to the Vultures. Cerberus was hooked on the front of the trailer. The horse was a large black equine beauty that blended with the harsh dark azure of the sky. It's hind was a spotted white, on it's head was white line. The muscular legs pulsated with it's breathing. Cerberus had been used as a work horse, he was used to this load he was to carry. Anima mounted the beast, feeling the heart beat, feeling the strong back of the creature. Pressing his boots in to the body of the horse, Cerberus began to trot.

The winds were heavy, a cold breeze hushed a veil of silence among travailers, Anima found his way back to Fairbell, he hooked up Cerberus up to the stable. Unloading the sacks he dragged them across the ground, leaving a muddy eddy of blood caked in the trail, he walked over to the Gunshop. Gripping the brass handl, he rotated the knob, the handle jarred against the lock bolt. Anima rattled the door handle. He banged the door.
Anima applied an impatience to his usual monotonous voice. "Horatio, I've dealt with it."

Drool meandered down his chin, his breath stank of alcohol. His pits had been darkened by a dank patch of sweat. His snore grated against Anima's ears. His wild eyes opened, before heaving himself off of the stool. He fumbled for the key, finding the correct one, he slotted it in to the lock, his palms clammy from sweat. Anima pushed open the door, the door shunted Horatio backwards. He fell back on to his stool. Anima stepped in and shut the door. Horatio started to gargle some nonsensical gabble. His spittle sprayed as he talk.
"Hmmhf... new ass... ghrahsphffff... killllll..." His jibberish slushed in to slurred indistinct murmmuring.
Anima struck Horatio in the gob. "Give me what you said you would."
Horatio recovered from the hit, a red mark imprinting in to his cheek. Horatio stared at Anima momentarily, he brought out a sack of money. "I don't see why you need this, José, why don't you just do what you usually do? Send a message back-" Anima turned away from the fat man, he was becoming a liability. His usefulness was waning. Drunk, he knew things that nobody else knew, and could tell anyone. Especially, when he finds out the truth. Anima decided it, declaring it in his mind. He would have to kill Horatio Dartmoor. At that moment, Horatio felt a choking sensation, forcing him to stop talking, a sharp needle entered in to his neck. His vision became a swirling soup of colour, his voice seized up. His legs became giddy and weak. His body fell to the ground, his eyes glazed over with a glassy shine. Anima was surprised. He hadn't made his move, yet he still got the benefits. Anima felt his throat touch a cold metal object. His back became warm, the warmth as if two bodies were near. He could see the spine of a hunting knife, he could smell the odor of an additional body, an arm clenched around his stomach. He was trapped
An accented woman's voice whispered in to his ear. "Unless you want to choose the same fate as your friend-"
"He's not my friend." Anima interrupted, unimpressed by this situation.
After a moment of stunned silence, she continued. "You'd better listen to me."
Anima grinned, he noticed a similarity he couldn't put his finger on. "Surely, Your one of those who believe that by killing me, if even possible before he wills it, will punish me?" Anima took the silence as a signal that he had began to triumph. "Anyway, thank you for dealing with that pest."
"You...- You wanted to kill him?"
"Yes."
The woman's voice became more confident, "Why would that be? He overpriced his guns? Didn't give you your cut? You know, you all think the same."
"None of those reasons, actually. He was an obstacle in my way, Tell me, why did you kill him?"
"None of your buisness."
"Too bad, I wanted some entertainment from you before you died."
The woman gasped as Anima blinked behind her back, drawing his dagger and gently resting it against her kneck. Anima remained staring at the assortment of weapons on the wall. "Oh, look how our circumstances have changed. Let me now have a stab at guessing." At the word stab, he playfully ran his dagger up and down her neck with a tenderness of a caressing gesture. "Theif? Hired? No, lover's feud? That would be novel. Perhaps you would mind a little pat down." Anima slid his left hand down her body, briefly touching her hips in which she reacted with a inhale of air. She thought he was going to rape her. A punishment Anima didn't understand, he felt a rectangular object in a small sheath attached to her belt. "Interesting, a sorceress."
"You'll regret-"
"Hush, Horatio's sleeping." Anima grinned. "Now, I think this was just a small misunderstanding, You are obviously a talented killer. I think you'd do better in service to Gaudium."
"What do you mean?" She bit her lip, Gaudium... Gaudium... She repeated the name in her head. Until a name entered her head. Anima.
"You are an admirable assassin, I'll let you live, if you aid me." Anima always had a very hard time trying to understand how people thought of death as a punishment.
"I'm interested" The woman's interest was piqued.
"However, first, I need your name." Anima asked.

"I am the Redeeming Shadow, Chieftain of the Shizheé tribe."

 
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944
Posts
9
Years

Achilles Nimbus
Status - Bounty Hunter
Sorcery Level - 1
Element - Electricity
Money - $200



The Calm Before the Storm


Arthur strolled plainly, through the fair, with a young Achilles perched gleefully on his shoulders. The child gazed in awe, as he saw visually stunning magic shows for the first time. He watched the blue flames blend delightfully with shining golden lightning. His mother laughed at his stunned expression.
"Looks like you made the right choice, He's really enjoying himself." She giggled. The child took no notice of her, as he was far too caught up in the amazing shows. Arthur turned to his wife and chuckled along with her.
The young boy was snapped out of his state of awe by a butterfly that pitched on his nose. His mother noticed, but decided to wait for the child's reaction before making a fuss. Achilles' regained his awe, but now at the sight of the colourful insect that reverted from roosting on his face, to sitting on his hand. Sally smiled at the sight of her child embracing nature.
As it tried to fly away, the butterfly was swatted by a panicked Arthur. The child was left in a state of despair. Sally nudged her husband, and glared at him. He was confused at first until Sally gestured towards the crying baby sitting on his shoulders. She grabbed her son, in an attempt to calm him down.
"Sorry I-" He began, as he scratched his head apologetically. Sally didn't notice him, as she held the still crying child close to her.
Ten minutes had passed, and the child was still crying. The parents concern was rising as the child's stamina was very unusual.
"Achilles honey, it's just a butterfly, we'll find you a new one." Sally attempted to explain the situation, but of course the toddler was too young to fully comprehend what his mother was saying. His crying was slowed by the arrival of one of the fairs performers who noticed the child's persistent wailing.
"What happened here?" The man asked calmly. Sally gestured to the dead butterfly; to which the man simply grinned in response. He lowered himself to get a closer look at the dead insect. "Don't worry, I got this." He picked up the bug and put his hands over it. After a few seconds, he opened his hands again, and the butterfly flew away. Achilles began to calm down as the butterfly flew away.
"Tha-That was amazing." Sally watched in awe, as the formerly dead insect flew away.
"Don't mention it." The man grinned as he walked away. "Astral Storm by the way, I get the feeling that name will come up again." The family watched in awe as the man named Astral Storm walked off into the distance. The child however, maintained his focus on the revived butterfly.
"Care to explain what you're doin' on my turf?" The man groaned. Achilles looked over at the displays. He completely evaded the question.
"Selling swords, Isaac?" Achilles inquired, as he fondled one of the blades on display. Isaac clearly didn't have the patience to deal with Achilles' mind games. It was only then that he noticed the sling holding his arm.
"The hell happened to you?" Though his concern was genuine, he masked it with a tone that resembled mocking. Achilles looked down at the sling and shrugged.
"Fight." He kept his response concise, which annoyed Isaac. Luckily the man was knew Achilles well enough to work it out.
"You ran in to Coady didn't you." he smiled, almost laughing. "I guess you got your just deserts." He quickly finished his light chuckle and became more serious. "You can't return to Orhurst like that, you know how your parents would be; I don't imagine Hazel would be too pleased either." He inspected the arm in more detail. Achilles sighed. As much as he hated it, Isaac was right. "What did the crazy bastard do to you?" Isaac continued, reverting to his previous tone. Achilles' lack of response was made less frustrating by the fact Isaac wasn't expecting one. "So, any leads on the kid?" He changed the subject for better or worse. He knew Coady and Achilles had a complex relationship and felt it wasn't worth staying on that topic. He finally got a response out of the acting bounty hunter, who simply shook his head. "Well she sure as hell isn't in Gilded Brook." He groaned remorsefully. Another relationship he had no interest in getting into was the one between Achilles and Coady's sister, Hazel. Achilles pulled the broken blade from his satchel and handed it to Isaac. In response, the larger man simply nodded, and placed it on the table behind him. "Any thoughts on a particular design?" He said looking back, already with his hands hovering over the sword. Achilles looked back at him, with his typical blank stare, but never gave a verbal response. "I'll improvise." He continued. Achilles gave a simple nod in response. Isaac continued to use his magic on the blade, and it began to grow in response. Slowly, the metal expanded, and thinned as it did so. As it grew, it blackened in colour. The shape was refined, and the blade was sharpened. Isaac looked down at his work with an expression of disappointment.
"Thanks." Achilles grumbled, as he walked out of the store.
"That's it? No name? No personalised tweaks?" Isaac asked in disappointment. Achilles shrugged. He felt no need for such trivial things, but he decided to indulge Isaac. He ignored the third question.
"Astral Storm?" He suggested plainly. Isaac grinned and nodded in approval of the name. Achilles continued on his way out of the door.
"I'm comin' with." Isaac announced suddenly. "There's no way I'm lettin' you die down here." He grabbed his own large sword before catching up to Achilles.
After regrouping with Cleveland, Achilles and Isaac headed to back to Charlotte's. Charlotte, Travis and Felix were waiting outside when they arrived.
"Ummm…" Charlotte raised her eyebrow, as she pointed to Isaac in confusion.
"An old friend." He grinned, in a coy manner. There was a short moment of silence, before he stated his name. "Isaac." He continued, his coy grin, now a frown of disappointment.
"What and he's just coming with us?" Her tone full of frustration. Achilles nodded plainly and continued to walk. "Charlotte watched as the new duo walked past her down the road. She sighed, and gesture for the rest of her squad to follow along. "Fine you're with us then." She announced with a groan. Travis began to laugh at his team leader.
"To keep an eye on them right?" He said mockingly. Charlotte glared back at him.
"Obviously." She said sharply. She nodded to Travis, Felix and Cleveland. The trio nodded back before heading off in a different direction. Charlotte smiled with excitement, before catching up to Achilles and Isaac.

 
25,439
Posts
11
Years
Rex vs Antonio

Rex Flinders & Antonio Culebra

200

Rex looked at Antonio Culebra with a fierce look of disdain, the head of the Culebra Clan had more than earned this in the eyes of Rex. Rex felt the magic flow through him as he produced a pulse of magnetism at a reverse polarity to Antonios's gun.

The weapon flew back, Antonio still gripping the weapon, causing him to sway backwards as the gun struggled o free itself from his grasp.
"Too easy." Rex spat as he pulled his own revolver out aimed it at his chest and pulled the trigger.

The bullet never exited the gun. In a flash, the gang boss raised his hand, releasing a wave of heat at his attacker, instantly melting the barrel of the revolver and welding it shut. "You have no idea what you brought upon yourself." he muttered, still struggling to keep hold of his weapon.

Rex tossed aside his melted revolver, striding over to the struggling Anotnio. With a growl, Rex punched Antonio hard in the face knocking I'm backwards onto the ground as he ended his spell on the gun. As the weapon fell, Rex caught it.

Adjusting the stolen weapon in his grip Rex trained the weapon on Antonio's head. "Do me a favour and just die already. You're becoming a pest."

"Funny you're the one saying that, Flinders." he heard Antonio speak behind him, followed by a sharp blow to the back of his head, causing him to fall forward onto the body he thought was Antonio's. Instead, it was that of a shopkeeper. He realized the 'gun' he was holding was actually a broken bottle the shopkeeper was holding.

Rex howled with rage, flipping onto his back and blasting Antonio with an enormous fireball. Rex refused to be made a fool of by the Culebra. "I will not fail to kill a second rate outlaw like yourself, Culebra. Just accept your fate so I can leave your bloody corpse behind me already!"

Antonio flicked his hand, sending the fireball off its course and causing it to smash into a nearby building, effectively setting it on fire. Then, he snapped his finger again, instantly setting the back of Rex's head aflame.

One would have expected Rex to scream with the back of his head ablaze, but instead a disturbing laugh emanated from the outlaw instead. The flame on Rex's head slowly dwindled away, leaving his hair singed but otherwise causing no real harm.

"You and the old bitch always thought you were hot shit with that marking magic of yours. I was so impressed with myself when I worked out how to do it... until I realized how easy it is. You always thought you were better than me, but honestly you don't hold a candle."

At that Rex smirked at Antonio as in, a similar fashion, he burst into flames. "Like I said, easy."

The latter grunted gritted his teeth as he hurriedly cast a spell to turn off the flames. The fucker learned some tricks from us... He isn't as weak as he used to be. he thought. Leaving no time for them to rest, he rushed forward towards Rex, brandishing what seemed to be a purple blade of solidified venom. If I can mark him where I want to...

"New trick there, Culebra." Rex sneered, summoning forth a thick wall of Earth between Antonio and himself. He then altered the spell slightly, making the wall fall forwards to crush his enemy "Not going to help you though."

Raising his sword defensively in front of him, Antonio stopped and blinked to the side, nearly avoiding getting crushed by the wall. Shielding himself from the pieces of rock and dirt that flew off towards him as the wall broke under its own weight, he continued pressing forward, and blinked in front of rex just in time to inflict a cut diagonally across his stomach.

Rex staggered back, doubling over the cut and pressing his hands to it, groaning at the pain as blood dripped onto the dirt. Antonio moved forward to press his advantage, however this was a foolish mistake. As Antonio moved closer, Rex smirked. Once his target was close enough, Rex lunged forward swinging at uppercut into Antonio's chin knocking him backwards as a spike erupted from the group below him. Antonio fell back onto the spike with a scream, the front of the stalagmite now protruding from his abdomen.

As Antonio screamed and howled in his agony, Rex healed the thin gash across his body before moving over to the Culebra outlaw. Rex grabbed Antonio's ear by the chin, squeezing hard as he lifted the Culebra's head.

"How ironic, all these years you were a thorn in my side... and now I've put one through you. But this is nothing compared to the years of torment I endured from you and that old bitch. I came here planning to kill you, to put an end to this irritating grudge. I've decided that I like your screams though. You don't get to die until you've suffered for as many years as I did. You're coming with me, Culebra, and you are not going to like it."

Antonio was too busy gasping for breath and preventing himself from passing out to reply. Just... one... more...

Antonio drew back his fist and punched Antonio hard in the face, knocking him out. He then pulled the unconscious man from the spike and begun to head back to his hideout.




 

Ice1

[img]http://www.serebii.net/pokedex-xy/icon/712.pn
3,447
Posts
9
Years
  • Seen Nov 23, 2023
Emmett Holliday
Status - Outlaw - Human punching dummy - Wisecracker
Sorcery Level - 1
Element - Water
Bounty - 300$



First day on the job

The sun was setting and a rooftop was graced by a shadowy figure, with a poncho blowing graciously in the wind. The wind played with his hair, and the sun reflected from his gun.

And then Emmett got pulled off the roof. As if an invisible wall smashed into him, he just got his face squished, and he got thrown backwards. For some reason nothingness dragged him across the rooftop, and he was accelerating. The unseen force launched him of the rooftop, and he floated for a second, as his body shot full speed ahead into the dirt. It wasn't exactly a pleasant feeling, his whole body getting slammed on the ground at the speed of a horse.
When he arrived at his destination, which he really couldn't locate, he just let himself be dragged after a while. Inside, Rex was waiting for him.

"You took your time getting here Runt, did you know that? I prefer my men to be bit less tardy." Rex nudged Emmett with his foot, not particularly caring that a nudge from someone as burly as himself to the far smaller Emmett was enough to make him fall back down as he tried to stand up.
"You really should take a look at your hiring procedure then. I can't say it's a very thorough interview," Emmett said, "and I can't make your stupid 'drag me out of the middle of nowhere to wherever you want me to go' spell go faster." He stood up, this time a little bit further away from Rex's dirt covered boot.

Rex leaned in towards Emmett slightly, effectively shortening the distance between them.
"I hope you're not implying that you being late is my fault ya little shit," Rex said with a grin that was half-amused and half-irritated "that's the sort of stupid thing people who like to lose all there teeth do."

Rex grabbed Emmett by the collar of his shirt and dragged him further into his hideout, it was quite different from the Culebras' hideout, appearing to be housed within an old abandoned mine.
"From now on, you're working for me. That means this is going to be your home until you inevitably get yourself killed. Got it?"

Emmett sighed. "You sound like my last boss," he giggled, "and you know what happened to him." He stood up, and paced around the mineshaft, looking at the dull scenery. "Ya know, you could really use some decoration here. I'm thinking, and just hear me out okay, that if you fill this wall with the skulls of your enemies, and you could take out the tracks for a..." A smack hit Emmett right in the back of the head.

"Let us not forget that I happened to Antonio Culebra" Rex said menacingly "and that comparing me to him is a good way to end up sharing his cage. I'm sure he'd like some company whilst his finger and toenails are repeatedly pulled out and regrown, or when we drop hot wax on his back, or even when we let him play with the scorpions."

Emmett laughed. "Just tell me if you need any help with that. I'm free most of the time, and otherwise you'll have to ask my boss to reschedule," Emmett started whispering, "he's a bit of a grumpy guy, so be careful with that," and he went back to his normal voice again, "anyway, this whole working for you, does that include actual work, or does it mainly involve me making fun of you? Because I'm totally fine with it, and with that beard you're totally asking for it."

Rex responded to Emmett's jibing with a hard punch to his recently-healed gut, causing the younger outlaw to once again fall to the floor. Rex then pulled Emmett back to his feet by his hair, forcing his gaze up to his own.
"If you keep that up, it's going to involve a lot of me beating the shit out of you. For the moment though I have other things in mind. It needs to be a nobody like you, and since you love getting yourself into dangerous situations I think you'll be pleased with your assignment... because I'm telling you that you're fucking pleased with it. Got it so far?"

"Sounds like fun,' Emmett said, but it came out very weakly, "just go ahead and tell me where to go, and I'll do your work for you." Under his breath, he added 'lazy bastard', hoping that Rex would not hear it.

"I'll let that slide since you'll probably die on the job." Rex said, chucking deviously "You're going to go and pay a visit to the local lock-up in Spider's Hollow. I want you to let out a few guys and salvage their spell books before they get burned. I suggest you get going. Oh, and don't try and set me up or flee because I'll know and you won't like what happens if I find out about that."

"Okay, I'll be back when I'll be back," Emmet said. He walked out backwards, waving to Rex. "See you soon. Best wishes and all. Give your mom my regards, and tell her that she's wonderful!" Emmett blew a hand kiss, and then suddenly, he was gone.

Ft. Gimmepie as Rex
 
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Foxrally

[img]http://i.imgur.com/omi0jS3.gif[/img]
2,791
Posts
10
Years
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Sophia Hartmann
Status - Outlaw - member of Culebra clan
Sorcery Level - 2
Element - Air
Bounty - 580$

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Jebediah Sanders
Status - Bounty Hunter
Sorcery Level - 2
Element - Air
Money - $1200



Wrench

On the Railway

"Honey, have you checked on Maria?" A voice came from beside Jeb.

"I just put her to bed not fifteen minutes ago. I'm sure she's fine." He licked his fingers and turned the page of the law book he was reading.

"Well, she hasn't made any sounds for a while now. She's been awful quiet lately. I'm worried there might be something wrong with her. I just-"

"Listen darlin', she's our little angel. Ain't nothin' that could be wrong with her. She's sounds like you, smells like you, hell the only thing I got in common with her is her little pot belly." Jeb chuckled lightly as the woman laying next to him in bed.

The woman wrapped her arms around his."I know, it's just. I don't know. I keep getting this weird feeling that things won't always be so good as they are now."

"Well, just don't you have them thoughts then. I won't ever let anything happen to you. I mean that. Now give me a kiss so we can go to bed. We've both got a big day tomorrow." Jeb turned over to kiss the woman who was there next to him, but when he put his lips on hers she turned to ash.

The body that had been comforting him and warming him was now simply a pile of black and grey. He piled the ash up in his hands, cold as it was and stared at it slack jawed. He reached around trying to pile up as much of it as he could and then simply fell over on top of it. His lips started to quiver and tears threatened to run out of his eyes as he hit his fist against the side of the bed.

"I told you everything wouldn't always be alright." The voice was still light, it beckoned for him to listen. "I told you. But you just never listened to anything I said. Now look at us Jeb." The voice rang through his ears, vibrating off of imaginary walls and bouncing around inside of his head.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I just wanted us to be happy together. It's all I ever wanted. I thought I could keep you safe. I never knew..." Tears started streaming down his face and the house around him started to shake and fall apart.

"You just never listen Jeb. Not to me, not to your father, not to anybody that cares about you."

The voice had went from a bittersweet coo to a painful screech in Jeb's head.

"AAAAAHHHH!" Jeb screamed out, pulling both guns from their holsters and flailing his arms about as he woke up.

Alice sat there staring and cowering in the corner.

"You were crying and shaking. I... I tried to wake you but..."

Jeb looked around him. It was just a dream. He let out a relieved sigh and took his hat off his head. He ran his hand through his hair and leaned back.

"It's nothing. Just a bad dream." He wiped the tears from his eyes and looked over to the girl. "How long I been asleep?"

"Well... about three or so hours. I've just been..." her eyes wandered towards her spellbook.

"I see. So, then we should almost be there." Jeb holstered his guns and put his hat back on. "You hungry kid? There should be something to eat around here somewhere." He stood up and stretched.

Suddenly, the door connecting the carriage to the one in front of it flung open. "What's the hell's going on here?" Bear called out as he stepped inside, gun in his hand. "You guys in trouble or something?"

Alice cleared her throat. She stood up and dusted herself. "No, I was just a little hungry."

He raised an eyebrow and holstered his gun. "Well maybe next time you need something you should ask instead of screaming like a cow." he said.

Alice momentarily glanced over at Jeb. "Sorry." she muttered, bowing her head.

"Right. If you folks want something to eat, come over to the next carriage. Might be the last time you get to eat in a while." Bear chuckled, mentioning for them to follow him.

"Thanks. Come on Maria, let's go get you something to eat." he held his hand out to Alice.

The latter looked around, confused. She opened her mouth to say something.

Jeb shook his head almost immediately. "Sorry, my bad. Alice, let's go get you something to eat."

After a moment of hesitation, Alice put her hand in his and then walked out of the room they were in. As they started down the hallway, Jeb nudged her slightly.

"Thank you." he mouthed.

She looked at him for a moment and then looked away as they came into the next carriage.

Inside, the three other members of their dastardly 'crew' were sitting around a small fire. It didn't seem to be burning on anything, meaning it was probably fueled magically. Sophia and Jack seemed to be actively conversing on something, each holding their spellbooks.

"G-good god... Now I kn-know why you got kicked out s-skyrith..." the latter stuttered, shaking his head.

"Piss off. I didn't get kicked, I left the shithole myself. Their teaching sucked ass anyway." Sophia scoffed.

Jack looked up when he saw the other come in. "Oh, h-hey. W-what happened b-back there? Any p-problems?"

"Ah, nothing interesting. Kid was hungry and I told her to wait. She got pissy and started hittin' me. She been spendin' too much time with that lil timebomb over there, I say." he motioned with his head over towards where Sophia was.

"Right, since everyone's awake, might as well have those now." Bear said, heading for a crate in the corner of the carriage. Easily pulling off the top, he took out a few rolls which looked akin to grey-green bread. He tossed one in Jeb's direction, and three others at his fellow outlaws.

"The hell is this? It looks rotten." Jeb groaned as he broke a piece off for the kid.

"Compressed bread. Been trying to make these forever. They basically got everything to fill you up for a day, only you only hafta eat once. Tastes like shit, though." Bear replied, sniffing the bread and cringing at the smell. He glanced at Alice. "Don't eat it too fast, kid. This ain't too light on your stomach."

"Hmm." Jeb eyed the bread before tearing off a small piece from one of the edges with his teeth. "Oh gawd. You weren't lyin'. This shit's disgustin'. Do you have like... anything to wash this down with? I'd literally rather eat horse shit. I can barely keep it down."

Bear laughed, and sat back down near the fire. "Well then tough luck, brother. This might be the only shit you're getting for days. Haven't got any water on me."

Sophia eyed the food she was given. "Eh... I'll pass for now." she grimaced and took off a small piece of the bread, giving it to Nico.

The six of them sat in silence for a while, eating their food and staring blankly into the flames. Suddenly, the girl which they had been introduced to earlier spoke up. "We need to review our plan of action." she said. She had an accent similar to Antonio's, and a quiet but firm voice suggesting she was probably some sort of spy. Under her hood, a serpent hissed, as if agreeing to what she had said.

"Alright, so our explanation was kinda short. A refresher would be nice." Jeb scooted in closer so that they didn't have to talk too loud.

Bear coughed as he swallowed another disguisting piece of the food. He cleared his throat. "So the boss made it pretty clear. We get to Wrench, guide takes us to where we think the book is, we take the book, and we leave. All the while we watch out for other bastards who want to take the book too. If anyone asks, we're all handymen or builders - except for the kid." he pointed out, looking at Alice.

"And what do we do if the guide is dead? There is a possibility they were taken down." Marzia asked, frowning. "We must oversee every possibility."

"Well-" Bear began.

"That's what I'm here for, isn't it?" Alice exclaimed. "I know Wrench like the back of my hand, my stepmother lives there!"

Bear shrugged, and turned back to face Marzia. "Guess that's solved."

Jeb rubbed his chin as he listened. "Sounds simple enough. Of course, something's always going to go wrong. That's just the way this world works. Like what if it's all a setup and by the time we get there, there's a group waiting to gun us down as we open the doors? Maybe we should try jumping before we get all the way there just in case. It would be nice if we had horses but... hmm. Nevermind." Jeb sighed and then took off his hat and ran his hand through his greasy hair. "Back to stuff that's actually important."

"P-probably not. Y-yes, this operation's r-risky, but the boss does his j-jobs w-well." Jack replied.

Sophia sighed, snatching her spellbook from the latter's hands. "I'm tired as shit, now. I know the boss said not to sleep, but I really need some shuteye if I'm gonna be a goddamn commando tomorrow." she said, standing up. "Just wake me up if any important shit happens." And with that, she left the group, moving on to the next carriage.

Jeb watched as Sophia walked away, and then he scooted over next to the guy she was just talking to. "So. Buddy." He put his arm around him and leaned in close. "What were you two doing just then? And uh, what's yer relations lookin'?"

Jack blushed at the question. "W-wha? A w-while ago? I was j-just teaching her a n-new spell, it's all."

Jeb chuckled lightly. "That so eh?" He looked behind him in the direction that Sophia had gone. "You uh, got an interest in teachin' her some more 'spells'? If you catch my drift." He smiled at the man and rocked him playfully.

Jack attemtped to push Jeb away. "Y-you think I'm crazy, man? N-nobody who's sane enough w-would try g-going for Fia."

Bear laughed, dropping his food. "You hear that, bullshit, brother?" he nudged Jeb.

Jeb frowned. "That so eh? Shame. I thought I might have something to talk about with ya. Get to know some of the group." He looked over his shoulder to make sure nobody was there. "I wouldn't mind teachin' her a few 'spells' myself. I mean, have you taken a moment to look her over? Ain't too hard on the eyes if I say so myself. Looks just as good comin' as she does goin'. Spent a night alone with her a little while ago. Didn't seem too against keepin' warm neither."

Jeb was interrupted by a small tap on his shoulder, followed by a little cough. As he turned his head, he saw Nico look at him and point at the hooded woman in front of them, the chameleon's eyes wide open.

"Ah, forgot we got a lady in our midst. What about you? Which way does yer lady pendulum swing on the topic of Sophia?"

"Watch your tongue, mercenary. I know none of you and hope I will never get to. While you vile men are discussing whatever it is you are talking about, I am assessing our position and what we are to do when we reach there. Do not address me again." the hooded woman hissed, followed by a second hiss from her snake who was beginning to slither around her neck.

"Hmm. One of those types eh? Wouldn't hurt to let your hair down every now and then. But whatever. Makes a life like this less stressful. But to each their own. I guess I'll take the kid and try to get a bit of sleep before we get there so we can actually be of some use. Alice? Let's go." He stood up and began walking back to the cart they were in before. He stopped at the exit and stared at the hooded woman. He'd met plenty of their type when he lived up north, but something just didn't sit right with this one. He shook his head and went through the door. Thoughts for another time.

Jeb and Alice settled in to the cabin they had previously been sleeping and waited. They had both already had plenty of sleep and Jeb couldn't shrug the feeling that everything wasn't going to go as smoothly as planned. His fears were confirmed when Alice shot up to her feet.

"What is it?" Jeb whispered.

"I hear... what is that?" She started swaying slightly. "I... I must have just been ima-" she fell to the floor.

Jeb leaped down onto the floor and lifted her up. "Alice? Alice!" He started shaking her as his own eyes began to steadily grow heavier. "Daammmittt." his words drew out longer as he slumped over and attempted to fight the overwhelming desire to sleep as the door to their cabin flew open.

An unknown voice and unknown figure crept over them. "Beddy bye time for little children. It's time to let the adults step in and claim what's rightfully theirs."

A joint post of Sonata and Foxrally
 
944
Posts
9
Years

Achilles Nimbus
Status - Bounty Hunter
Sorcery Level - 1
Element - Electricity
Money - $200



The Wait for Life


Arthur and Sally found themselves in the dining room, across from their old time friends, Micah and Judith. There was a clear separation between the two couples at opposing sides of the ironically intimate dinner table. It was Sally who broke the silence, her words came out slowly and coldly.
"You…" She blinked a few times before continuing. "…want, me to have a baby for you?" She reiterated, in her state of shock. The other couple could do no more than nod meekly. They were in no place to become demanding. They knew they had to give their friends time to process such an outrageous request. Sally took a deep breath. Her husband put his hand on hers, and looked down at the child playing on the floor beside him. "I don't-I don't know what to say." She added, maintaining a similar tone as before. Arthur; who'd been practically silent throughout the whole conversation beforehand, finally interjected, as he'd finally found the right words to reject the couples proposal.
"Have you considered adoption?" Eye contact wasn't an option. His suggestion had to be an open one, otherwise they'd recognise his reluctance. It was Micah who took the initiative to respond. He stood up, so that his statement would come across as an announcement.
"Well, we thought about it," He answered in a soft tone. "But we wanted to be with the child, from the beginning. We wanted to know that it came from somewhere close to us, and that we were always close to it." He refrained from allowing his speech to turn into a rant. He too, acknowledged the confrontational atmosphere eye contact would've created. He slowly sat back down when he was done. Arthur looked at his wife's face. Her expression was completely empty, yet full: Pity, fear, shock, all emotions that were splattered across her emotionless face.
"Micah, I don't think-" He tried to explain the situation, but was abruptly interrupted.
"We understand." Micah interjected. He hung his head, but wore a smile. "We'll look to adopt a child, we're sorry for asking." He gave a single nod. The nod was followed by an envious glance at young Achilles.

"Black. BLACK!" Achilles was jolted by the calling of Charlotte. It seemed much further away in his head. When he awoke, her nose was practically touching his. He clutched his head with one hand, his disgruntled reaction seemed to surprise Charlotte. What surprised her even more, was the fact he didn't back away immediately.
"Sorry." He grumbled plainly.
"Please don't have a moment guys. We have a job here." Isaac had no intentions of letting things go any further, between the duo. It was then that they edged away from each other awkwardly.
The blacksmith was far more interested in the on goings, or lack thereof, of Bernie's base. There were multiple holes in the ground that lead to what seemed like underground tunnels. He knew that Gilded Brook was a mining town, but having so many tunnels on one man's plot of land? It just didn't add up. In fact, it wasn't even mining town, it instead housed the mining families. So why were there so many mining tunnels? Isaac sighed. He knew he'd have to be careful with this one.
"Charlotte, what exactly is it we're waiting here for?" He chose not to avert his gaze. The gang leader, who was still slightly red in the face, stuck her hand through the small hole in the wall that Isaac had been looking through. Achilles and Isaac looked at each other in confusion. The movement of her shoulder suggested Charlotte was doing something with her arm. Shortly after, she pulled her arm out of the hole and shook her head.
"Care to explain?" Isaac asked sarcastically. Charlotte rolled her eyes, as if Isaac had asked some sort of stupid question.
"Well," She responded in a snarky tone. "my ability is to create pockets of airless space." She stopped to ensure he was still following her explanation. Isaac couldn't help but raise a brow, at how little sense her explanation made. "Conveniently, Felix is able to create portals. That somehow seems to work in unison with my ability." She again paused to see if her explanation was being well received by her teammates. Their blank expressions suggested that it didn't. "Science and stuff." She groaned, rolling her eyes; ignorant to the fact that her explanation wasn't scientifically correct. "Anyway, the idea is, when those guys manage to sneak their way through we can just teleport straight there using Felix. He of course needs to be on the other side." There was a short moment of silence following her explanation. Achilles' apparent disinterest, and Isaac's urge to criticise the plan, left a level of uncertainty in the atmosphere.
"I'm gonna resist this itch to bitch, and just change the subject." He decided, after a few seconds of staring intently through hole in the wall he'd been looking through before. Both Achilles and Charlotte cringed at the term 'itch to bitch'. "I think I need to know more about this Bernie guy. What exactly am I getting into?" His tone much more serious than in his previous quotients. Charlotte glanced over at the base, before starting.
"He's a crazy bastard-loves dynamite. He goes on rampages through The Brook, killing: women, kids, old people, it really doesn't matter to him. Pillaging, raping, slaughtering-It's how he gets his kicks." She seemed almost saddened by the list of crimes.
"So why do you do it?" Achilles interjected. Her reaction of surprise, was a catalyst of the surprise that fell upon Achilles and Isaac. "The both of you are outlaws, you both kill, you both rob, you even pride yourself on how good you are at it…why?" The intensity of his voice grew as he spoke. Charlotte backed slowly away from Achilles.
"Black…I…my-" She began rather hesitantly. Isaac, who was very much outside the situation, decided to take control of it.
"This is a discussion for another time." He stated firmly. His interruption was met by a smile of relief from Charlotte. "We can't stay here." He continued. Without explaining himself, he proceeded to mount the wall. Both of his companions watched, as he climbed.
"The hell are you doing?" She was unsure to be angry or concerned-so she did both.
"Hurry up, we need to move. You said your friend likes dynamite, right? My guess is, he's got a hell of a lot of the stuff lying around, and we don't wanna be caught in that." He reached the top, and lowered his arm for Charlotte to grab onto. "In other words, time isn't on our side, if we're caught out here…boom." The team leader complied, and made her own climb up the wall, with the aid of Isaac. After helping Charlotte, Isaac lowered his arm for Achilles.
The bounty hunter was again distracted. Isaac kicked the wall, to attract Achilles' attention, but the lightning sorcerer continued to stare off into the distance.
"Charlotte," Achilles began, still staring off. Dust began to flying in the direction he was staring in. A large roar of running hooves began to erupt; coming from the same direction. "Did it ever occur to you that Bernie, wasn't home?" The two that were sitting on the wall squinted, to get a better view of what was created the dust cloud. When they realised, they were quick to enter the premises, leaving their comrade to take his own initiative. Achilles groaned. He began to run around the wall to avoid being seen by the incoming group.
BANG!!!! A large explosion came from inside. Achilles stopped running. From where he was, he couldn't see a thing. Beyond the wall, there were sounds of collected footsteps-presumably Bernie's men. There were a few smaller explosions, followed by a maniacal cackling.
"Psycho." Achilles hissed, under his breath. At this point his only hope at getting in, was one of the mining tunnels out the back. Not the safest entrance, but his only one.

 
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JukeboxTheGhoul

Rocking Round the Clock
737
Posts
12
Years



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ANIMA

[S-HIGHLIGHT]Music[/S-HIGHLIGHT]
Information
Spoiler:

"I am the Redeeming Shadow, Chieftain of the Shizheé tribe."

The sun shone down on to the dusty ground, the searing heat barraged whomever who was unfortunate to be below them. The cacti stood firmly in the ground. Horse hooves planted themselves in the sand. The footprints concaved with a cascade of sand. Cerberus strode on, the additional weight on the horse's back was tiring Cerberus. The sacks of gunpowder slapped down against the animal's thigh. There were two people on their back. The scene presented was unmistakably distant. Anima was on the reins and Redeeming Shadow was sitting unusually on the horse. Redeeming Shadow still distrusted Anima, even if they had a job to do. Anima and Redeeming Shadow had started off on their journey, the conversation mute. All that was required to be known was known, they would leave town and then kill someone after which, Anima would decide whether she lived or died.

They talked very factually, extreneous dialogue was ignored. Anima drove on forward. The woman still didn't know much about the man, apart from vague rumours about some man called Anima. The fact he used an alias was always a bad sign for those who wish to pry open the man behind the mask. But still, her mind became curious. The silent air provoked an uncomfortable situation for Redeeming Shadow, but for Anima it was bliss. Anima looked up at the moon, it bathed the plains in a moonlight so crisp and faint that it highlighted the outline of the vegetation. His mind wandered, but Redeeming Shadow couldn't sit in silence anymore. She
"I gave you my name, what is yours?" Shadow intiated conversation, feigning ignorance of his name, for that might just pull the wrong strings.
"Anima." He responded in a flat, dry tone.
"That's not much of a name, now is it?" She attempted to craft it to a real conversation, if she has to work with someone, they might aswell be on good terms.
"Can't the same be said for Redeeming Shadow?"
Shadow paused, rethinking the length of her alias. "Shadow."
"Alright, Shadow."
"Where are we going, anyway?"
"You don't need to know."
Shadow utilized her skills, it was evening so the sun was in the west, the shadows were pointing East, she peered at the surrounding, "North."
Anima didn't respond, exhausted by this chat. Anima brought Cerberus to a halt. Anima dismounted and went up to the side of the road, the road that ran adjacent was still stained with dry horse blood. "I will be gone for a few minutes. Stay here." He turned around and started walking off. Anima had to do something.
Shadow looked at him as he walked away, "Anima."
Anima stopped, preempting her question. "You run, you die."
Anima slunk in to the shadows disappearing from sight. Shadow didn't trust Anima, although they made a deal, the worth of words in the civilised world was less than mud. Shadow reached for her spell book but ended up gripping the pouch, Shadow cursed, Anima must have stolen it in a few split seconds on his teleportation. If she could run far enough she could alert the bounty hunters, it was very peculiar situation, while yes they both wanted to kill certain people, but she still had orange horizontal indentations on her neck from where the blade was pressed. She lowered herself from the horse.She decided against taking the horse Although the horse would be faster but it was simply too noticeable. She walked to the front of the horse, but something caught her eyes. She paused. She looked at the horse... Something was off. She focussed, what was wrong?

The eyes. The spacious black eyes that were the colour of Black Holes, on the edges of the eyes there was a faint purple swirl. The animal looked directly at her, it was unnerving. Then she remembered, she made a quick u-turn and broke in to a run. She started to sprint, kicking up sand in her wake. The coarse dunes stunted her progress, they got steep rapidly. The hazy mirage of a town was on the horizon. Her legs tired, her heart was throbbing. Then her limbs seized and locked, her body became writhed with pain. She fell in to the sand, her entire body became excruiating. She was turned over by Anima. Her delirious state of mind only alerted to the vague notion of his presence.
"I told you that if you ran, that you would die."

He grabbed her by her collar, lifting her up to his level. He adjusted her head. He engaged the Truthful Eye. His conciousness transferred in to her mind. He appeared through an aperture, he landed on a large branch-like mass of neon azure. He looked around, this was strange, usually he would only meld minds, why was he in an avatar form? He looked at himself, his whole body was a dark silhouette. He was not in Helioa state, no, he didn't feel this uneasy in his pure state. He took the time to observe the surroundings. It looked like a giant cave. Spindly beams of the same neon azure spread out like veins. The entirety of his surroundings was some shade of blue. All of these blue branches, as he decided to call them, fed in to the middle, which is where everything got interesting, there was a large clump of matter that seemed to be the nucleus of this place.

It was a thin layer of light blue that concealed a radiant orange. Whatever was the cause of this strange apparation, it had to be there. Anima tried to open his mind, to remeld, but came to no avail. Anima couldn't leave. He stepped forward, the branches didn't have cohesion, the step forward slipped underneath. Soon, he tumbled in to a slide, his foot submerged under the surface layer of blubber on these branches and found grip on what seemed to be a the shell. As he slid down, his feet ripped open the fleshy jam-like substance. Trailing his descent, the ripped open groove in the branch illuminated in a light blue, tendrils grew out of the edges and interlocked. The tendrils meshed in to one. The branch essentially healed itself behind him. He came up to the giant core. Anima assaulted the centre with a punch, the punch was immeaditately defused by the stretchy properties of this substance. He decided to force his way in, he pushed and pushed in to the wall with the qualities of a balloon.

And then, he was in. He phased through the wall, his avatar started to dissolve, his mind remelded in to her brain. Anima finally understood. This was Shadow's psyche projected as an enviroment, nicknamed a mindscape. The protective core was her inner self. She had built a block, a disguise, a pretense. But now, he entered her mind deeper. His intention was to project the torturous imagery in to her head, but he couldn't seem to access it. Now he saw her inner being... And now he understood. As he searched deeper and deeper, finding more and more revealing before his mind. He felt the brain convulse violently, the brain rejecting Anima. He was on the fast track out of her brain. He found the rewards of this mishap was much, much more lucrative that torture. He knew her secrets.

Shadow had been in agony when their minds melded. Shadow had a similar experience to Anima. But when she penetrated his inner thoughts, those that stretch beyond Anima. Instead of melding with his mind, she entered an inner layer of his psyche. She found herself in a desert, not unlike the one they were in. But on every cactus there was a dead body. The bodies smelled rank. Blood ran deep in to the cactus' flesh. A loud crying sob echoed in her ears, as in front of her a boy sat, bawling as his tears dropped on to the sand, the tears became a constant flow and evolved in to a river. With this river the sand transformed in to a dark sanguine and the river of tears became a murky brown. The cacti turned in to charred twig-like object. The bodies turned in to a grey skeleton. The mound of a hill she was standing on was surrounded by this river. The boy disintergrated as the river washed over him. The sandy hill hollowed out in to a row boat which proceeded to follow the river down stream.

Ahead there was a crystal insectoid egg, it was the size of a small cell. Inside it gave off a blue aurora that illuminated the blue fleshy layer with a network of putrid green veins. Inside, a silhouette was a small girl hitting the confinds of her egg and sobbing with intense drama. And then the egg imploded and shrivelled up. The girl's pleas for help continued Then the river came to an abrupt stop, the landscape simply stopped, the only remnants of the river was a backwards waterfall. The rocking row boar entered the stream and then propelled Shadow upwards. When she broke the surface of the water there was a granite floor. In the middle there was a small Aztec pyramid-like structure but it was defaced with granite and and lined by light blue, the only light source in the abyss that surrounded the platform. It was given monolithic type features. At the top of the pyramid was a pedestal. The pedestal had one person on it... Anima. Above Anima a large white mass of pure light appeared, the mass of light was shaped like a man, but had no features. An echoing voice shook the entire body of Shadow.
"Rise! José! You knelt as José, you rise as Anima. Crusader Of Life!"
And with that the Mindscape blurred, Shadow recieved a huge jolt of euphoria as images and memories of Gaudium overloaded her mind. She was ejected of Anima's mind.
Anima pulled away from the meld as he was expelled out of it. He took a few steps back. He recognised what just happend... He had indoctrinated her, by exchanging inner secrets and the inner essence of their minds their destiny had been entwined. The seed is planted and soon she will conform. But she is not yet fully convinced. Let the hands of Gaudium mould our voyage to the afterlife.
 

Sonata

Don't let me disappear
13,642
Posts
11
Years
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Sophia Hartmann
Status - Outlaw - member of Culebra clan
Sorcery Level - 2
Element - Air
Bounty - 580$

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Jebediah Sanders
Status - Bounty Hunter
Sorcery Level - 2
Element - Air
Money - $1200



Wrench

Runaway Train

"What'd ya reckon we do with 'em?"

"I reckon we uh... shoot some of the bigger ones that look like they might be threats and then just throw the rest out. They won't be able to catch up with us so long as we stay on the train. Just make sure to take their guns 'n shit in case they somehow do manage to get caught up. Don't want to take any chances now that we've come this far."

"Gee brother, you're illigi... ilet... inti..."

"Intelligent. The word you're looking for is intelligent. Just get to doin' the damn job. I do the thinking, you do the acting. I don't know how long that gas is gonna work on 'em so we gotta hurry it up a bit. Start pullin' 'em in here and go through their shit."

"Right, right."

Meanwhile, the hooded Culebra assassin Marzia Alesi watched from behind a crate as the two individuals began searching the bodies of her fellow outlaws. Just like I bloody told them... Maybe I can leave before they notice me. The side door of the carriage isn't locked, I can jump out when they aren't looking and shield myself with an earth shield. she thought to herself. On the count of three... One... two... three.

Instantly jumping from her hiding place, she dashed for the side door of the carriage, and quickly attempted to open it, but to no avail. It had been locked. Well, shit. she thought, knowing she would have to take down the two men in combat now.

"'Ey, the hell're you doin' up?" the dumber of the two called out to her and pulled a machete from his belt as he moved towards her. "It's really a shame. I hate to hurt a pretty face like you's. But we just can't have no witnesses."

"Who're you talkin-" the smarter brother turned away from the body he was looting to see what his brother was going on about. "Dammit Roy! Just shoot 'er!" He pulled a gun from the body on the ground and leveled the sights on her.

I'd rather not have them make any sound... They could have cronies in the other carriages. the assassin thought. I believe this one's yours then, little hisser.

In the blink of an eye, she disappeared, leaving only a shadow and a snake behind. Leaving the snake to deal with her second enemy, she focused on the big one with the machete. Dashing forward at him, cloaked by her invisibility spell, she kicked at his arm, making him drop the weapon. This was followed by another kick to the face, and an electric shock spell at the neck to finish him off. The man dropped the ground unconscious but not dead.

"The fuck did she go?" the smarter brother crouched down behind a bench and watched as his brother got taken down. "Shit!" he went to shoot in the area of his brother but something wrapped around his arm and held him back. He looked over his shoulder to see mr hissy constricting around his arm. "You piece of shit..." he whispered under his breath as he took the gun with his other hand and leveled it at the snake.

As he was going to pull the trigger, the assassin grabbed his other arm and pointed it towards the ceiling. He fired off a shot, which scared the snake into jumping onto his face and releasing a very strong acid into his face. His face started melting away as he screamed in agony - alerting the men in the other cabins.

Dammit. Marzia thought. More of a reason to get out now. Grabbing a gun, she fired off a few rounds at the lock holding the door of the carriage shut. After a few shots it broke, and the side opening slid open with great force as the wind blowing past the truck pulled it open. She summoned her snake back around her shoulders. Let's get off, fast.

Just as she was about to jump, she stopped and looked behind her. I can't leave these fools behind, especially not the child. I don't particularly care about them, but if the book is as well-guarded as it is presumed to be, their help will unfortunately be needed. She shighed deeply.

The unconscious bodies of the others were all piled in the middle of the room. Judging from the distance of the footsteps, backup for the idiots she had taken out would be coming in soon, so she had to act fast. Using earth magic to pull the wooden planks of the carriage floor, she slid all of the bodies downward and near the door. Just as she did this, a dozen men or so burst from both doors connecting the carriage to the neighboring ones.

She erected an earth wall and shoved it up against the door as they began piling in, crushing some of the ones that had started to flow out and backing up the ones still waiting to enter. She and her snake hurried around grabbing and rolling the bodies down the ramp as bullets flew through the walls. As she grabbed up the last of the crew, the walls burst down and the room near instantly filled with men and a single small dog-like creature.

"Grrr, Kill 'em." The small bipedal dog thing growled and commanded. It then pulled a small bag of white powder out of its jacket pocket as the barrage of bullets began.

The assassin leaped to the door and grabbed up the unconcious brother's machete as she rolled out of the door and down the ramp. She dragged the machete through the wood of the ramp as she slid down and then erected another earthen wall on the opening as she fell off the end so that nobody could follow them out. Though it was likely they wouldn't even bother.

A joint post of Sonata and Foxrally
 

Ice1

[img]http://www.serebii.net/pokedex-xy/icon/712.pn
3,447
Posts
9
Years
  • Seen Nov 23, 2023




In these times

The door to the old church opened, two individuals stepping through it and out of the cool evening air into the warm church. The man and woman stood at the back of the enormous crowd that was eagerly listening to the priest giving an energetic sermon from the front of the building. It seemed that the building was filled to capacity, every pew was filled and all around the edges of the room stood citizens of Fairbell and other nearby locales.
"Wasn't church getting less popular around the Chasm?" the female whispered to her cohort
"The boss did say that old Zeke seemed to be up to something. Shut up so we can here what he's saying." came the equally hushed reply.

"...and it's the Lord, who granted her power. It is Him, yes Him, that granted her strength. The breath of Jesus Christ did not only heal Agnes, it made her an angel! This girl," the priest pointed at the albino girl sitting next to the altar," this girl is the living proof that we are not alone. No, my brothers and sisters, God did not abandon us, he did not leave us, no! He brought us strength in the most difficult of times. His power, his words, his love, come to us through our beloved Agnes. Her touch, is the touch of the Lord, her breath, is the breath of an angel. I want everyone here today to know how blessed we are that our lord has brought his new Messiah to us all. It shows that Jesus Christ has not abandoned us. Even in these times. I can promise you all, with a hand on my heart, our Lord Jesus Christ can make this better. In his name, Agnes will purify the wounds of the many, and his grace will touch us all. Even in these times, people, even in these times. These times of murderers, these times of demons," his face turned sour when he spoke the word, "these times of thieves, God will lead us through it."

He stepped away from the altar, and walked up to the crowd. He grabbed the hand of a young boy, his arm in a sling made from a rag. Ezekiel gently pulled him on the podium, and walked him up to Agnes. He unbound the sling, and raised his arm up to the public. It was bruised and blue, with what seemed like bone protruding out.

"Let Agnes heal you. Let her wield the Lords power in his name, and restore you!" With a touch from the pale girl, the boy's eyes lit up bright blue, and Agnes' her hand began glowing. Seconds later, the boy's arm looked as it should've done in the first place. No scarring, no bruises, no signs of any physical hurt.

The woman was shaken by a sudden jab to her side by her companions elbow
"Let's get out of here, he's looking right at us." he said
"What?" she replied, realising that whilst everyone was cheering and clapping, Ezekiel was watching the two of them, or rather he seemed to be glaring at them with the fury of a thousand suns. The latter was probably more accurate. "Oh, we should leave."
"That's what I just- you know what never mind let's just go before Ezekiel gets a chance to turn us into piles of ash."

The two slipped out of the church and grabbed the two nearest horses, taking no heed that the animals weren't theirs. They then dug in their spurs and lead the animals out of the town.
"The boss is not going to be happy!" the woman called over as they rode
"So long as she takes it out on you and not me!" came back the reply.

 
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GreyBidoof

You used a Master Ball on the GreyBidoof!
770
Posts
9
Years

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Colt Marshall
Status - Bounty Hunter
Sorcery Level - 1
Element - Water
Money - $500


Spider's Hollow

Back in the Hunt


As the sun crept over the horizon, all in Spider's Hollow was still. Near the edge of town, a lone figure stirred near a makeshift camp, and a barely smoldering campfire. Colt Marshall, the marksman turned bounty hunter, finally awoke from his fatigue-induced slumber. As he came to his senses, he was immediately reminded of a sharp pain on the side of his head. Wincing, he sat up, trying to remember what had happened.

It didn't take long for it all to come back to him. The brawl at the bar, the Culebra assassin, and the crazy drunk the had almost killed him. He had staggered back to his temporary dwelling, and then collapsed. He still did not know how much time had passed since then, but considering his fire was still smoking it couldn't have been more than a day or two.

As much as his ear hurt, the hunter was determined not to leave town without another bounty to follow. Slowly, he stood, and began to gather his few belongings. Untying his horse, he set out once again for the Agency. No more distractions.

He reached Hunter's Agency in minutes, the town still fairly empty-looking. Tying up Blaze outside, he felt himself growing anxious at the prospect of facing the old hag again. Relax. He thought to himself, trying to calm himself down, while ignoring the fresh drips of blood running down his face. In, and out. Nothing to it. You've faced worse.

The inside of the building was as quiet as the town, with only a single person occupying the dusty space, snoring loudly at her desk. Approaching cautiously, Colt tapped on the elderly woman's desk softly. No response. He then rapped loudly on the desk with his knuckles, hoping to jar the hag from her slumber. No such luck. She continued to snore obnoxiously, as if her snarky attitude towards the young hunter had carried over into her sleep.

Now annoyed and impatient, Colt unholstered a pistol and fired a round into the ceiling. The loud crack echoed in the room, and the woman at the desk awoke with a start.

"Dammit, if you want to shoot up someone's house, go buy your own!" Janet was not amused, and realizing who was holding the gun only added to this.

The hunter returned her glare. "Maybe I will, if you can give me a worthwhile bounty. Go ahead and give me something big, so I never have to come back to this God-forsaken place."

Ignoring his impatience, the Janet looked him over, seemingly amused at his condition. "What happened to you? You look like you were hugging a porcupine of something, with all them scratches." She smiled. "Having some trouble holding your own out there, big boy?"

Two can play at this game he thought, urging himself to remain clam despite the insult. "At least I was doing something, instead of sitting around on my ass all day. Do you have a bounty for me or not?"

Never losing her smug grin, Janet glanced at what appeared to be a stack of wanted posters lying on her desk. "Well, I guess I do have something, although you should probably go rest up before taking another bounty. Wouldn't want to get our pretty little face messed up any more, would we?"

"Just give me the damn bounty."

The old woman sighed briefly, before picking up one of the posters. "Name's "Tony 'the Runt'. People been sayin' they've seen him pokin' around Gilded Brook, robbing stores and other crap. Bring him back in one piece."

Without saying another word, Colt turned, and walked out of the Agency. He had what he needed, no reason to prolong the encounter.

He was going to make some money.


 
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