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Post by Remis Baguazhang on Jun 6, 2012 13:23:11 GMT -5
The stars above looked down on Remis with a fair amount of disdain as he walked out of one of the many alleys of Dragon Flats and onto the main street. He mumbled to himself about the shameful condition this neighborhood was in. Could these people not take the time out of their day to clean up the outside of their homes? Maybe sweep the streets every now and then? What a disgusting stench emanated from this place. It wasn't the garbage littering the street or the carcasses of dead animals that were surely around every corner, but rather the inherent failure that resided within the people who lived here that caused this terrible smell. In Remis' mind, they all deserved to live here. They were masters of their own fate, and they had chosen to fail within their own life. Imbeciles.
The man, cloaked in his usual white shirt and pants, wasn't always so bitter. Perhaps it was the fact he had just been forced to stain his blade with blood that made him so angry. It was supposed to have been a pretty simple deal- they would meet in the alleyway at midnight and give Remis his money. As soon as that was done, he would tell them what they wanted to know. The first two actions had taken place as planned, but the two parties did not part ways as planned. No, the gang members wanted their money back and, to make matters even better, had also decided they didn't want anyone to know they had hired Remis in case their enemies hired him as well. The quickest solution was to kill their employee, obviously. However, the three members of the Triple Threat Triad were not aware of the information broker's honed martial arts skilles and hidden blade. Remis had done away with them all rather quickly and cleanly before disposing of the bodies in a local sewer drain.
I do despise the natural greediness that so many modern benders inhibit. Perhaps I should look into working for the Equalists if this bad behavior continues... he thought to himself as he flicked his arm outwards. The blood had not even hit the dirt before the spy had concealed his weapon once again. It was a simple mechanism, really- a simple leather bracelet fastened with a rivet that acted as a pivot for a blade. Remis could flick the blade in and out of his sleeve with incredible proficiency and it served as a perfect tool during times of violence (or breaking and entering). Now that his blade clean, he felt himself returning to his normally reserved state once more. He adopted his relaxed posture and stuffed his hands inside his pockets as he marched down the dark alleyway.
On the bright side of things, he had managed to loot nearly one-thousand yuan off the trio. Remis thought of it as compensation- three lives and one-thousand yuan in exchange for causing a man a stupid amount of trouble? Seemed like a fair trade... |
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Post by Illah Karu on Jun 6, 2012 17:17:51 GMT -5
The day had not gone well for poor Illah. Her trip, or escape more like, to Fire Nation had been cancelled due to the ship needing to stay at harbor for repair and maintenance. This had not pleased her at all, though she could not find fault in anyone but herself. She wouldn’t have needed to leave so badly if she’d just stayed out of the pockets of a certain man. That certain man happened to belong to a certain group charmingly called the Red Monsoons and had many dozen other men under his beck and call. She was sure he wasn’t the top dog of the gang, but she wasn’t going to just stay in the city and let them find her. Except now she had no choice. She had already paid for her ticket and had not received a refund, so she was quite literally stuck in a sticky spot.
She wouldn’t have even known how important, or rather how dangerous her mark had been, if it weren’t for all the rumors flying around. Rumors like how the triad would pay good money for the capture of one stupid thief who’d dared to slip away with a member’s purse. And who would be stupid enough to do such a thing? Well, obviously some idiot who spent most of her time wandering around the world never bothering to work out the system that was Republic City.
“How was I supposed to know he was a criminal? Well, it’s not like they’ve found me yet. I can’t even be sure they know it was me who did it. Why do I always steal from the wrong people?” she wondered sullenly and turned to the next page of her newspaper.
She needed cash and quickly. She supposed maybe a month or two away from the city would be enough. Maybe someone else would be blamed and she’d get off the hook. Maybe a turf war would break out and that guy would just die. Whichever option would have suited her quite nicely.
With a deep sigh, Illah adjusted her position much to the annoyance of the shoeshiner boy she was leaning against, both of them sitting on a large crate in a street corner. Illah pretended to relax and read the news but her eyes were scanning passersby in the hope that someone would stand out and end up relinquishing their moneybag to her. If she scored enough tonight, she could be out of town by evening next day. Unfortunately the folk that walked by were scarce and looked well...not especially wealthy.
And then she saw him. A dark haired youth walking toward the spot she was sitting at. She glanced over at the shoeshiner kid counting his coppers and passed him the newspaper. She let the man pass them by before carefully standing up and following him. Her soft leather shoes made no sound on the pavement and she kept her distance from her mark, assessing him, figuring where he’d be keeping the loot. They were coming over to an intersection and she was in luck as the lights were red for pedestrians.
Illah chose a spot where she was behind her target, just two steps away from him. Once the lights turned green, she took a quick step and pretended to trip, stumbling on her mark and making a short lived body contact.
“My deepest apologies,” she breathed out as she straightened herself and started briskly walking away.
“Act natural, don’t run, act natural, don’t run,” she repeated her little mantra, every muscle in her body prepared for a run in case all went to hell.
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Post by Remis Baguazhang on Jun 6, 2012 18:32:12 GMT -5
Remis had come to an intersection as he made his way back home. He tapped his foot as he waited on the inconvenient red light to change to green. He never understood why traffic lights still ran on the same schedule in the night as they did in the day. Anyone driving around at night was probably up to no good or had a terrible, terrible job that could only be despised. There was no use pondering over the matter, the broker decided. He had enough on his mind.
"My deepest apologies."
Some random lady had bumped into him. Remis sighed and looked around. The streets weren't crowded. There was him, this lady, two other pedestrians, and a shoeshiner within his entire field of vision. There was no logical reason for her to bump into him. None at all. As a frequent participant in crime at all levels, the man just turned his head and wondered why a pickpocket would even think about trying to casually walk away after they had made their dirty deed so obvious. Oh well. There was a reason she was living in this part of town, after all.
The tall man didn't even utter a word as he began to follow the poor woman. She wasn't too old- albeit, just a bit on the aging side. She could probably put up a decent fight with most people... However, Remis was not most people. He was proficient in different forms of swordmanship and had a fair amount of kung fu under his belt. It really was quite sad that this was not the first, or the second, or the third person to make the mistake of trying to wrong the information broker tonight. No... this was the fourth.
Remis smiled. Lets see just how far she would walk before she went into a run. |
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Post by Illah Karu on Jun 7, 2012 17:05:53 GMT -5
The small hairs on the back of Illah’s neck were starting to stand out and gooseprickles ran down her spine so quickly, that she needed to bite her lip to keep herself from yelping. She didn’t have a good feeling about this and with a careful glance over her shoulder, she knew instantly she’d messed with the wrong person.
A normal everyday kind of person would have screamed at her and called for help, maybe even run after her after discovering the theft, but not this man. This man was walking after her, quite casually and had an expression that did not bode well for her. It was too calm and collected to be anything but utter malice.
Illah swallowed hard and pushed the loot down her bodice, her neck letting out a quiet cracking noise as muscle and sinew tensed up to further signal her nervousness.
“Why do I always steal from the wrong people?” she thought bitterly and remembered her first encounter with Maruk. He had also been a man not to be crossed and she had been just as desperate then as she was now. And people did stupid mistakes while desperate. Sometimes fatal mistakes.
“I should have gone to another district. Why didn’t I? Oh yeah, no money for a tram ticket. Bloody hell, Illah why’d you need to gamble away your last yuans? You’re not even good at cards…” she wondered and right then started running as quickly as her long legs would carry. Running had always been her greatest talent, her pickpocketing skills weren’t much to brag with even after all these years. She was loathe to admit it, but piracy had been her true calling. And that was something she had actually been clever at.
As she ran she loosened a knife from under her belt just in case she needed to protect herself. Her eyes were scanning the surrounding area, looking for escape routes or anything she could use to defend herself if the man had killing her in mind. Somehow she figured he did, and she could not exactly blame him for it.
“You’re a survivor Illah and this is not the night you die,” she told herself, gripping the handle of her knife firmly and with determination.
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Post by Remis Baguazhang on Jun 7, 2012 22:51:18 GMT -5
Not even a full block? What a shame...
Remis casually strolled as the woman began to run. His dark green eyes had already locked on to her poor, aging body. She must have been at least in her thirties, and no doubt more than a little out of shape... She didn't even attempt to confront the young man. Her prowess as a fighter and faith in her own sheer strength was obviously very weak. Easy prey. He would let her get a bit farther ahead; he might even let her feel safe for a few moments. It was so fun to play mind-games with people. However, the information broker would admit that this scum did have one advantage in this game- she might know the area better.
He pondered over the various next steps of this scenario. He could run after her and probably catch up without much effort. This would lead to a fight and, much to Remis' dissatisfaction, yet another murder to stain his already blood-red soul. He did not care to stain his blade once again tonight. That certainly didn't mean he didn't want to hunt, though... He just couldn't let her think that she could best him in a fight, nor make her feel as if she was threatened. It would be an easy enough task.
His green orbs looked around for a moment. There wasn't much in the way of a plain chase... Nothing either of them could lose their footing on, nor many people out to stop the situation if they caught on to the idea that a pickpocket was running down the street. Remis finally looked down an alleyway to his right. It was pure darkness except for the familiar gleam of metal. A fire escape.
The cream-colored assassin delved into the darkness of the crevice without a second thought. |
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Post by Illah Karu on Jun 10, 2012 18:52:22 GMT -5
As she ran, Illah tried to come up with a plan. She might not have had any formal training in some fancy fighting style named after some fancy animal, but she was no stranger to battle. In a fair fight, she probably would have had a tough time besting her opponent, but life had quickly taught her that honor was a fool’s courtesy and that she needed none of it to survive.
On the ground Illah noticed some loose rubble and small stones and glanced over her shoulder to see if her pursuer was gaining on her. She stopped on her tracks as she realized the man was nowhere to be seen. Carefully Illah looked around her, trying to figure out where he might have disappeared to. As she scanned her surroundings, she crouched slowly and took a handful of the rubble, stashing it in her trouser pocket. If nothing else she could always use it to try and temporarily blind her opponent, if he’d show up.
Of course there was always a chance that she had been mistaken. Maybe that man had not noticed the theft, maybe she’d worried for nothing.
Or maybe this was his aim all along, to lull her into a false sense of security. The latter theory made more sense to her. She had been nothing if not completely blatant, the worst mistake a thief could make. But she was not going to fall any further in grace.
Taking a deep breath, Illah took a few steps back to the direction she’d come from and took note of an alleyway. That seemed like a great place to ambush someone, maybe the man lay in wait of her. But that seemed pointless to her. What would he do then, if she just kept running? Did he perhaps know the area better than her? She was not a resident of the city and Dragon Flats was not even close to being what she'd call home turf. Truth be told, she had no idea what lay in store for her.
A satomobile drove past and grabbed Illah’s attention for a moment. The was little to no traffic at this time of night and only a couple pedestrians were walking on the other side of the road. Neither of them was her pursuer. She crossed the road to the other side and began running again, not as fast as before. A road sign was pointing to the direction of another district and she chose to follow that lead.
“Maybe if he sees me going for another route, I can flush him out,” she thought flexing her fingers over her knife handle.
[OOC: Edited the post a little]
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