Civilians
 C[re]ate Champion
Posts: 106
Preferred Name: Varmun
Pronouns: He/Him
Character Profile: Character List
Character Name: Isaac Vasari
Main Account: Isaac
Status: Active
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Post by Isaac on Sept 15, 2015 15:18:34 GMT -5
It was getting colder. The late night air sent a chill up Isaac's arms and spine. Sitting up against cold steel in a dark alley didn't help much. Too bad he didn't have a choice. This was his meeting spot. Hopefully he could leave soon—go home and curl up in bed—but probably not. Madam Roux's goons loved to keep him waiting.
Another chill struck Isaac so hard that he banged his elbow against a dumpster. Why did it even get cold in the dome? Isaac wasn't sure. It could have been a way to save power. Isaac liked to believe it was just a way of thinning out the slum dogs. It could have been his imagination, though. The cold had never agreed with him.
A pair of footsteps caught his ears. Isaac glanced over, but he didn't see anything at first. The footsteps kept coming, and after a few moments, a tall, broad man dressed in a black suit stepped into the alley. No matter how hard that man tried, he could never step lightly. Isaac had heard him coming half a block away, but he only rose up once the man appeared. Despite the darkness, the man wore a pair of sunglasses that hid his eyes. The man said nothing as he approached Isaac, his mouth straight, his brow naturally tight. When he stopped in front of Isaac—towering over the thief—he held out his hand, demanding what he had come for.
Isaac reached into his pocket and pulled out a small flash drive. The little black stick was loaded with blueprints and schematics from a Middle Class weapons manufacturer—one that Isaac had already robbed once before. He handed the stick over to the man, put his hands in his pockets, and turned around.
But a hand gripped his shoulder, and the man spun Isaac around. The man then spread Isaac's arms out and began to pat him down, checking his sleeves, his jacket, and his pants. As this went on, Isaac growled, "I didn't keep anything. That was it. That's all she wa—" A hard strike across the face silenced Isaac. The man's rock-hard hand cracked Isaac's cheekbone, and the force of the blow sent Isaac into the wall. Then, as if nothing had happened, the man finished his pat-down. Once he was sure Isaac hadn't kept any tech or data for himself, the man turned and left, leaving Isaac alone in the alley.
Isaac rubbed his cheek and spat at the ground. The backhand hadn't hurt as much as it used to. He'd been hit enough times that his cheeks were almost numb. Some would say he hadn't learned his lesson, but he had learned plenty: Madam Roux's lackeys would be easy to fool.
The night was, however, growing too late for schemes and deceptions. Isaac left the alley and headed back home, trudging down the sidewalk.
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i have forgotten what sleep is
Posts: 26
Preferred Name: Actual
Pronouns: They/Them/Theirs
Character Name: Tai
Status: Lurking
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Post by Tai on Sept 15, 2015 17:04:57 GMT -5
Tai growled quietly to himself as yet another burst of cold air hit him. He hated the cold, it reminded him too much of shivering as a child in the slums during the winters. Why did they even have winter? He was no expert, but he was fairly certain that winter wasn't even a thing. Weren't that the point of the dome?
Still grumbling to himself, he pulled the hood of his jacket up and continued down the alley. The kid couldn't be far, specially not some soft Upper Class thing like what his client had said they were
Normally Tai would have asked for more information on the kid he was supposed to find and what exactly he was supposed to be recovering from them, but the price was too good for too many questions of that sort. Whatever. Not like it mattered anyways. Just some dumb kid who got in over their head and took something that didn't belong to them or something like that. And while he fully realised that it was kinda hypocritical to be going after someone for stealing, at least he'd never stolen from anyone with enough money to pay to have him beat up.
All he needed to do was find the kid.
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Civilians
C[re]ate Champion
Posts: 106
Preferred Name: Varmun
Pronouns: He/Him
Character Profile: Character List
Character Name: Isaac Vasari
Main Account: Isaac
Status: Active
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Post by Isaac on Sept 17, 2015 14:03:38 GMT -5
The border to the Lower Class was still several blocks away—a good five minute walk choked in darkness. The odds of a checkpoint guard spotting Isaac from so far away were low. There were no streetlamps to reveal him, and the sky was cloudy as it warned the people of an approaching shower. The only light came from garbage fires in nearby alleys, but the smoke they made rolled out into the street, only adding to the obscurity. Still, Isaac didn't take chances. He ducked down an alley and jumped up on a dumpster before leaping up onto a low rooftop. The small houses were easy to scale and just tall enough to hide Isaac from the guards up ahead.
Isaac leaped across one alley and onto another rooftop, and he was about to repeat the jump when he suddenly heard a noise from below.
Down in a lot behind a pawn shop and a bar, a young boy stood under the dimly lit awning of the bar's back door. He coughed into his fist—a noise so common that it was hardly noticeable—but the way he had coughed had caught Isaac's attention. There was no illness in his throat, but rather a tone of disgust, a dismissive and irritated spitting mixed with the phlegm. Isaac walked to the edge of his rooftop and looked to the boy. From the look of it, the boy was around twelve or maybe thirteen years old. He looked around the lot with a worried, nervous posture that only faded away when he coughed at the stench of sewage that covered the Slums. His high status was hard to miss, especially with his clean white jacket and name-brand jeans. Why he was down here in the Slums was unclear, but Isaac could tell he was waiting for someone.
Curious, Isaac knelt down behind a crumbling chimney and watched the boy. What was he doing here? Who was he waiting for?
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i have forgotten what sleep is
Posts: 26
Preferred Name: Actual
Pronouns: They/Them/Theirs
Character Name: Tai
Status: Lurking
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Post by Tai on Sept 17, 2015 19:36:39 GMT -5
Finally, Tai caught sight of the kid, hiding behind some dingy bar that had brawls on an almost daily basis. The white jacket and nice jeans made him stand out like- like- like something that stood out way too much. The disgusted expression at the filth that was part of the slums made him stand out even more; no one from around here would be that grossed out by the alleyway. He perfectly matched the description that Tai had been given, although he was younger than Tai expected. A lot younger. But hey, money was money, and at the end of the day, Tai wasn't about to turn away a paying job just because he would have preferred the kid to be at least a few years older.
Tai snuck up on the kid, an incredibly easy task, even with the kid glancing around as though he was frightened of being found. Probably was. Calmly, he walked into the kid's line of sight, and then paused, waiting for the kid to react. The kid jumped, but didn't say anything.
“You stole sumthin', give it,” Tai extended his hand, outwardly calm. When the kid turned to run, Tai simply reached out and grabbed the kid, slamming him back against the rough brick of the wall. “Now.”
A noise behind him made him pause. He didn't think he'd been followed, so what was going on?
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Civilians
C[re]ate Champion
Posts: 106
Preferred Name: Varmun
Pronouns: He/Him
Character Profile: Character List
Character Name: Isaac Vasari
Main Account: Isaac
Status: Active
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Post by Isaac on Sept 19, 2015 11:42:47 GMT -5
The boy looked shocked to see the black-haired man who approached him. He backed away and turned to run, only to get grabbed and slammed into the wall. The kid struggled, kicking and pulling at the man’s arm. Isaac studied from afar, wondering what was going on here. This wasn’t a mugging. Based on what the man said, this was a shakedown. The kid must have gotten mixed in with the wrong people, pissed off the wrong kingpin. Isaac watched as the man—whether a thug or an assassin, he wasn’t sure—continued to interrogate the boy.
The sound of stone grinding on stone reached Isaac’s ears, and he looked up to see a broken brick start to tumble off the chimney. Isaac reached out and grabbed it, gently setting it down on the rooftop. But just then, another brick fell, one that Isaac couldn’t see on the other side of the chimney. It clattered against the roof, skipped off, and fell down into the alley. The thug paused at the noise, and Isaac gritted his teeth.
Too late to back out now, he thought. The man had heard him now, and Isaac’s hiding spot wasn’t that great. That was his excuse for leaping off the building and down into the open lot, the excuse he kept telling himself. But really, as he looked back at the boy, he knew deep down why he was doing this.
“Put him down,” Isaac said through his bandana. His visor scanned the thug, calculating his height and build in the dim lighting. He didn’t seem to be armed, but he could be hiding a weapon under his clothes where the visor couldn’t see. Hopefully Isaac wasn’t getting in over his head here.
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i have forgotten what sleep is
Posts: 26
Preferred Name: Actual
Pronouns: They/Them/Theirs
Character Name: Tai
Status: Lurking
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Post by Tai on Sept 19, 2015 15:11:13 GMT -5
Tai bit back a curse as some do-gooder jumped down off the roof and demanded he put the kid down. Seriously? The roof? Who the hell hides there? he thought as the man approached him. Tai couldn't see any weapons, but that hardly meant that the man had no weapons, but light glinted off a visor that the man was wearing, so he definitely had more tech than Tai and Tai once more inwardly cursed.
Fighting the impulse to roll his eyes, Tai turned more fully to look at the man, on hand still gripping the boy's shoulder tight enough that Tai could have sworn he heard the boy's bones creak. At any rate, the boy's face was as white as his jacket and it wasn't likely that he'd try to run.
“Piss off,” Tai spat, partially hoping the random asshole wouldn't insist on escalating things, partially hoping he would. And there was always the chance that the man would leave once it was clear his presence wasn't wanted. It wasn't like people actually cared in the Slums.
“This ain't yer fight.”
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Civilians
C[re]ate Champion
Posts: 106
Preferred Name: Varmun
Pronouns: He/Him
Character Profile: Character List
Character Name: Isaac Vasari
Main Account: Isaac
Status: Active
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Post by Isaac on Sept 25, 2015 14:58:47 GMT -5
"Too bad," said Isaac simply. The more he saw of this man's face—his scarred eye, his unshaven jaw, his grizzled brow—the more Isaac felt justified in what he was about to do. The man looked like a thug, a hired goon from the sound of it. He had asked the kid for whatever he had stolen, so it seemed he wasn't entitled to even know what the goods were. The boy wasn't throwing any punches, yet the thug referred to this as a fight. He was here only to shake the kid down and leave him with a few bruises and broken bones. Yeah, Isaac had no sympathies for this man.
Looking to the kid, Isaac asked, "Do you know this guy?"
The boy looked up to the man, knowing better than to try and run with his shoulder in a death grip. His chest rose and fell heavily as he looked back to Isaac, and—with a moment of hesitation—he nodded. Clever kid.
Isaac trudged closer to the man, leering through his visor. "I don't care what he did. Let him go." His eyes barely moved as he observed the world through the edges of his gaze. The concrete was loose and shattered in this back lot; there were plenty of pebbles littering the ground. There were rusty pipes from half-finished construction projects. And there were bricks from the chimney up against the alley walls. It would probably be best to go ahead and get his hands on one of these wonderful weapons, but Isaac kept his hands in his pockets, hoping the thug would back down.
As if life was ever that easy.
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i have forgotten what sleep is
Posts: 26
Preferred Name: Actual
Pronouns: They/Them/Theirs
Character Name: Tai
Status: Lurking
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Post by Tai on Sept 26, 2015 13:23:48 GMT -5
Tai listened to the man demand he release the kid, deliberately tightening his grip on the kid's shoulder even further, enough that he knew that he'd more than likely fractured the kid's collarbone. Whatever. A broken collarbone wasn't going to kill him, and would hopefully keep the kid from running away while he dealt with this.
The other man asked the kid if he knew Tai and the kid nodded, so Tai fractionally released the pressure on the kid's shoulder. “See, he knows me and yer interruptin'. Now sod off.”
He kept his body as relaxed looking as he could as he did his best to scan the area without it being noticeable. Bricks, some old pipes, his fists; there were a lot of weapons here, but no real way to use any of them without the other man being able to attack him first. And the other man looked like he had a good half a foot or so on Tai, and held himself like he knew what he was doing. If it came to a fight, things were going to get rough. Tai could deal with that, but he didn't want to risk the kid getting away- he needed the money this job was paying.
As if the other man was going to leave him alone.
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Civilians
C[re]ate Champion
Posts: 106
Preferred Name: Varmun
Pronouns: He/Him
Character Profile: Character List
Character Name: Isaac Vasari
Main Account: Isaac
Status: Active
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Post by Isaac on Oct 1, 2015 14:17:11 GMT -5
"You know," said Isaac as he drew closer and closer to the thug. "for someone in this line of work, you sure complain a lot. Figure you must be new at this or you would have caved my head in by now." That, however, was simply a joke. Isaac had no idea how experienced this man was, and his only clue was the scar—unfortunate evidence of a seasoned brawler.
It looked like Isaac would have to shoot first. He could simply leave now, but he finally took his eyes off the thug and looked to the boy. The quiver in the kid's eyes was too clear to ignore.
With as gentle a voice as Isaac could manage, he told the boy, "Cover your ears." The boy gasped, and Isaac swung his right arm out of his pocket, snapping his hand straight at the thug's face from only a few feet away. Curled tight in his fingers was his handheld—a tiny, black, plastic PDA. Isaac hoped that the quick swing of his arm, the bluff with the kid, and the dim back alley light would pass the PSA off as a gun. All Isaac needed was a split second of hesitation, a brief flinch of fear from the thug.
Whether he got what he wanted or not, Isaac pulled his left fist out of his pocket and swung, pulling the PDA away from the thug's face as he aimed a wide hook at the man's jaw.
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i have forgotten what sleep is
Posts: 26
Preferred Name: Actual
Pronouns: They/Them/Theirs
Character Name: Tai
Status: Lurking
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Post by Tai on Oct 1, 2015 19:42:13 GMT -5
Tai had watched the other man draw closer and closer to him with growing annoyance, further loosening his grip on the kid because there was no way that this wasn't going to turn violent now. Not with the comment about caving the other man's head in. Tai flashed something close to a smile at that, “Nah, bodies are a bit too visible, innit? and I don't wanna hafta hide yer body.”
A lie. No one in the Slums cared and there were bodies found every single day, but Tai didn't want to have to kill anyone today.
The man spoke softly to the kid and quickly removed something from his pocket. The sudden movement instantly caught Tai's attention, and he instinctively lunged forward at the man's rising right hand and the black plastic held within it, intent on wrestling the gun away from him. It was only after Tai began moving that he realised that the 'gun' was actually a PDA and Tai couldn't help the snarl that ripped its way out of his throat at that. Clever, but definitely annoying. Still, he was already in motion, lunging forward at the man, already committed, and he smiled, fierce and bright. At least until the man's fist connected with his already crooked nose, staggering Tai.
Tai did his best to turn the momentum from the punch into something else, lashing out with a foot at the man's knees, hoping to connect and cripple the man. Blood, thick and warm ran down his face and the smile returned, sharper than before.
Time to play.
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