War knows no age

Job description :

[Using gold rush for a 50% jewel increase for me and ONE other participant in the thread, in this case Cascade]

Morning. Oh no not morning. It was like any other day, sunny but with a snappy cold still residing over the land that had just woken up from the night. The birds were singing their songs. Ugh, their songs. And the hustle and bustle of the 'The crossroad' was going on like it would never stop. It was a fairly large Inn situated just far enough from Motor City to remain untouched by their technology and the pollution it brings. It was therefore also a popular place for travelers to stay that didn't want to wake up in that metropolis of steel and scientific wonders. Casus was one of those people, and as he had many times before he woke up because of the many screams his body made that his lifestyle wasn't going to hold.

Sleeping underneath a window left ever so slightly open for fresh air after a.. temperature raising night Casus was confronted with the mistake of both closing it and putting curtains in front of them. The direct sunlight burned in his eyes as he slowly sat up, swinging his legs over the side of the bed, knocking what appeared to be an EMPTY bottle of liquor across the floor, rolling until it made a satisfying clank against the door. Damn he hoped it didn't wake her up. And when he meant her he meant the young lady that had slept in the same bed. Well, slept was a bit of an understatement, but it was all a tat fuzzy to him. Before letting out a sigh that just screamed 'again?' Casus raised himself from the bed, and once again felt the stinging cold of the morning. As he began to regain his senses through that very cold he also started to notice he stood without clothes. THAT explains why it seemed so chilly. Casus looked at himself at a standing mirror nearby, inspecting all the scars riddled across his body, and almost chuckled when he saw and felt the almost animal like claw marks fresh on his back. Well, he supposed he could better leave it at 'animal' indeed.

Casus made no attempt at staying quiet, though eh did avoid being too loud whilst clothing himself. His usual outfit. A white military outfit of foreign design and a brown coat of the same. Rubbing the back of his head he tried to remember how he got into this situation in the first place. He wasn't unfamiliar with the scene, but he believed he made the vow to himself to stay focused on his goals rather than getting stuck in old habits. In any case, he was here on a job, and he had already wasted the night away in this establishment, it was time to head out.

In other times he would have deemed himself above petty jobs and children squabbles, but this was foreign land, and as much as it annoyed him he realized he was basically starting from scratch. And nobody starts from the top. The job was simple, solve the problem of children playing gang wars. Somewhere there was a part about something demonic, but he was sure it couldn't be important or he would have remembered.

Word Length: 536

Just as Casus was about to put his hand on the doorknob he heard the one sound he was trying to avoid. She was getting up, and going by what she said she knew what was going on. She must have had experience with this scene. Before Casus could turn around for a 'polite' rejection he was hugged, she was swifter than he expected. Cursing himself slightly under his breath for the cardinal sin of the battlefield, underestimation, he looked rather displeased as the girl lead him on back into the room before getting dressed. As he was watching her getting clothed, not out of lust but mostly out of interest for the girl he couldn't help but curse his luck, he got stuck with a stickler. Still, for a girl who seemed more dignified she had some suspicion raising scars and their little tumble also proved she wasn't as bashful as she let on.

Turning around again when she was almost done putting on her clothes he turned around and left through the door. He made sure she was in motion as to stop her from clinging onto him again. Rubbing the back of his head Casus walked down the stairs into the main hall of the Inn, which had a bar and a fair amount of tables for other patrons to talk and gossip, and gossiping they did. He noticed some guys were chuckling as they saw him leaving the room, others were outright laughing, but one thing was sure: They mustn't have been discreet..nor quiet last night. Now there was a peculiar choice in front of Casus, he could leave and have the woman remember him, but nothing else than that. Or he could hang around and welcome the company. Casus carefully considered his options before he sat down with a dissatisfied grunt and ordered a scotch. He expected a raised eye-brow from the barman from drinking in the morning, but the tender seemed experienced enough to know when people aren't in the mood for such things.

Sipping the first bits of his scotch, getting reacquainted with it's bitterness Casus grabbed around in his pocket and pulled out a piece of paper detailing his job. It was easy really, but he was extremely unfamiliar with his surroundings. Maybe the girl knew more about this place, and he made sure to remember to inquire about that should she actually arrive downstairs. Hell if Casus was her age and in her shoes he'd just leave through the window and let bygones be bygones.

Wordcount: 425

Casus was done thinking about pondering about his plans when he heard someone stepping down the stairs. And by the sound of it he knew exactly who it was, and the pacing didn't sound pleased and relaxing. The woman didn't quite take to the idea of being more discreet after the other guests have probably heard their tumble last night. Downing the last bit of his scotch after hearing the 'old man' remark he stood up and by doing so was reminded of how feisty the lady could be, turned around, and looked her in the eyes. At least, as much as he could hope to do with his eye-patch. His voice was a bit dry, and his smile was wry, but none the less he began to develop a small liking to the lady. It seemed she wasn't only interesting exclusively in the bedroom after all.

Casus gently put his finger under her chin, raising it slightly so she could look up at him before speaking: ''Listen here pop, if this was yet another one of those ditch and run kind of deals I would have been gone the second you were still catching your breath, but I didn't. So either you prove to be good company and come with me on a small errand, or you'll wait here. Either way we're both ending up where we woke up just now and I'll show you, again, what this old man is capable of''. Other patrons were trying to hide their chuckles but Casus had come at the point where he didn't care anymore. Either she wasn't going to put up with this, in which case she was too prude to be around him anyways, or she was and he'd have a warm bed to return to. Either way he had peace with both outcomes as he lowered his hand and casually walked out the front door of the Inn, looking for the quickest way of getting into the city, getting the job done and towards his next paycheck. There was little besides that in his life anyways.

wordcount: 349

Casus could only nod at the woman's reply as she decided to accompany him after all. Casus himself however wasn't the most loaded guy around, having arrived only just recently at this continent. As such he had no other way as to walk towards the outer ring of motor city, the slum areas. During the walk the influence of a city like Motor city became apparent. The scenery swiftly changed from a dirt road among a plain sparsely populated by trees to a asphalt road surrounded by a dirt wasteland stretching until the city. Casus acknowledged to himself, silently, those were the effects of industrialization realizing he has seen it many times before on his travels. Casus, on in their entire trip towards the outer rim only spared one glance at his female companion, and that was just to make sure she hadn't given up despite her statements. Going by her words she assumed she could pull her weight, and Casus was almost anxious to see how she would prove her words to be true.

Arriving at the outer rim of the city, having ignored any attempt at conversation if there was one they were greeted by what could only be described as the slums. It rested in the shadows of the larger skyscrapers of the central city and what was considered a house here would be considered a heap of scrap metal anywhere else on the continent. The people looked rather poor, covered in dirt, They were probably too busy scavenging whatever they could to supply to wash themselves, and the children that ran around didn't seem the the cleanest bunch either. But that was why they were here he guessed. The children who were old enough to fight began to do so out of boredom, and even staged their own little gang wars. Now Casus was here to show them what the terror's of war really were. He himself had once believed in justice, in solving situations peacefully and only using force against what he deemed to be the problem. But life just wasn't that simple. Too often had he thought he left a place better off just to be later confronted by the wretched reality that men are corruptible. Not him. And if he wished others to be so he had to create an impression. Something that wouldn't be forgotten by these kids. He would have to kill.

It didn't take long to find the head honcho of the 'gang wars', it was as easy as just asking the local children who their boss was. None of them realized their grave mistake, because they didn't know how horrible actual war was. The two approached what appeared to be a large opening between the slums, it must have been some kind of sports field in the past since rather than pavement the surroundings were filled with dirt and sand with in the center a small construct of scavenged wood. The construct seemed to be build in the likeliness of a fort. Casus readied himself, his eyes growing ever so slightly more dim and his breathing growing short. He was above using a weapon or his magic for this mission, that's the one and only advantage he could give the kids, and the only one they were going to get. In this state of focus Casus lost sight of his partner.

The member 'Casus Belli' has done the following action : Dice Rolls

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'Monster Dice' :