The name of the animal {Fallon}

by **Ereck Darkshade** on March 6th, 2014, 10:11 am

Ereck ignored the mocking tone in the woman's voice as she repeated his name. It mattered not to him whether she was impressed or scared or whatever she felt towards him. The realization popped in his mind that it mattered not what anyone thought of him. If the pay was right he would kill or protect anyone, no matter how they were related to him. Not that anyone was related to him at the moment. No friends, no relatives, no partners. Ereck's life was empty and void, black like his night leather outfit and the black like the night in which he spent most of his waking life. He couldn't help a smirk as the woman spoke about the Hound's favorite color. That was actually funny, even considering the situation.

Ereck listened quietly and only nodded as he absorbed the information. So the Hound was looking for people to recruit. It was a good plan, bolstering his numbers before coming out in the open. He was quite sure the Hound had been very alone when he had ended the general or whatever he was of the Daggerhands. And now he was looking for people to join him. The air of mystery surrounding the Hound appealed to the young man. It gave him that extra edge of dangerous and mysterious that would keep some more people out of his way. Her information was valuable and new to Ereck, although he didn't have any illusions about the chance of it being fake information.

"Shade. Not Shadow Lad." Ereck informed her before shrugging lightly. It mattered not what she called him. They would probably never meet again. Ereck performed his Equivalent Exchange. "The Hound is a ghosting wizard woman with the head of a bull. But you already knew that. That's all I know about him. But I know there's someone else looking for him. Someone drawing attention. Big guy, full of tattoos and more weapons on his body than the two of us together. He paid quite handsomely, I think, 'cuz Merv didn't share much more than that. And a woman. Also weapons and looking for the Hound. But I think that's you.." Ereck tried to determine if the woman was interested in his words or not as he looked intently at her face. "Oh! The Hound isn't-..." Another voice suddenly butted into the conversation and Ereck's weapon was off his belt in a flash.

At first, the man approaching had looked like any passer-by, coming from behind the woman and towards them to pass them. But then he had spoken directly to Ereck and the woman and it had brought Ereck to react. People butting into other people's conversations were either dumb, not from Sunberth or looking to die. In case it was the latter, Ereck's weapon was ready to go. His eyes locked onto the man as he looked for weapons and 'tells' of incoming attacks. Ereck's eyes flash darkly at the man as he sees the grin on his face. Apparently it was the first option, dumb. He was so close to getting his hands on something good about the Hound, if he could believe anything the woman had told him so far. With a sigh, Ereck lowered his blade, keeping it in hand.

He looked at the woman for a moment, leaving her to decide how to react to the sudden interruption. It is quite obvious from Ereck's eyes and stance towards the man that he'd rather have the man continue walking and live his own life a little longer. You really did meet all sorts of people in Sunberth. With a sigh, Ereck put the sickle back on his belt, his hand resting on the handle once again. There would be no need for weapons for a man like this. If necessary, a good punch or kick would scare him off and put Ereck back on the Hound track. He turned his attention back to the woman, hoping for something more out of her. He wondered if his equivalent exchange had been valuable to her and if their deal had resulted in any way in an equal trade or if the woman had learned a larger amount of information from him than he had from her. This information business was providing Ereck with nothing more than headaches and worries.

by **Fallon** on March 7th, 2014, 9:28 am

"Whatever you say, Shadow Lad."

There was the rise of a smirk, the eyes narrowing to his own pointed stab at her - in the way of mocking information of course. So, he was going to play her for information and then walk away with things that she already knew. What a cheat. Still, there was a start and as she held all the keys to the information, he just had to pull the right string or ask the right questions to get closer. Her right hand remained where it was on the tulwar, her feet flexing and finding a sturdy position on the cold ground.

"You ever got taught that it was rude to stare so intently?" her voice purred, "And to a woman no less. Keep staring like that you're going to make me swoon." Lifting her chin she gave a look to him, her eyes raising in challenge for him to do better, "Come on. Add things together, work it out, bring it forth. You know you can do better than that, and you know it's no-"

Or at least until a new voice spoke up. So there was someone listening in, her nagging paranoia had yet to get the best of her.

Fallon's eyes slid round to the new face and his stupid grin. At first he could have indeed been little more than a passerby, no need to stop or involve himself. But it was his words that caused her to react, though not in the immediate animated way that Shade did however. There was no drawing of the blade, no immediate signs of response. Her left arm gave a tremble, her djed pulled into focus as she plucked onto her astral layer. And whilst there was a long silence, eyes darting between them as they weighed each other up and then took the stranger into consideration.

Sucking in the air she focused herself, her hairs rising up on end. And whilst her eyes turned down to face the man put his sickle back on the belt, a heavy sigh upon his lips. So soon he was to buckle in defeat, but that did not matter so much now. No, there was a much more pressing matter at state here. An anomaly to be dealt with, another source who decided to listen in. If only he had walked on, if only he had decided to move ahead and not look back. But to stick his nose in to business that was not his, that was a mistake and a half to make.

Clicking her neck she met the eyes of Shade, a slow blink as she met his eyes and pondered upon what he was considering. Never the less, she had to be ready to deal with this stranger as easily as possible. Willing her left arm to project, she felt the threads untie, slipping and running free in response beneath the layers. The ethereal tips wavered, the flesh growing numb as her astral layer brushed against the cold air. Right hand raising she pinched the bridge of her nose, the hum of annoyance resting upon the back of her voice. She had no time to deal with those that tried to play hero, or butted in to conversations that they were not involved in. Nor did she have any real respect for them - it was a good way to receive unnecessary injury after all. Who knew where danger lurked in Sunberth.

"I am going to count to ten. Now depending on what you do in that time depends entirely on how I react at the end of my count. So... shall we?" There was no room for discussion, "One... Two..."

by **Ereck Darkshade** on March 17th, 2014, 7:02 am

OOCAlias hasn't replied for a week and hasn't responded to my PM to him. I'll just assume he decided to leave after Fallon started counting down.

Ereck watched a moment to see the man walking off by the time the woman got to the count of 5. He wondered what she had had in store for the number zero. His eyes shifted back from the walking man and towards the woman in front of him. While he still had his doubts about her, which were only growing from the way she treated him, Ereck found himself relaxing more in her presence, his hand remained ever on his weapon but his grip became loose and his hand rested more on the weapon than that it held onto it.

Taunted by the woman's voice, Ereck let his mind work over the information that he had. Non-Sunberthian. Man or Woman. And now he knew Hound was gathering people for his own gang, thanks to the woman. And as he listed the bits of information he had, something seemed to slide into place, forming one whole. Amused by his own reasoning, Ereck's face seemed to light up for a moment and he looked back at the woman.

"Hound is not one person. Or maybe he is one person but he's part of a group. But a small one for now, that's why they're looking for others to join them. And..." Ereck snapped the fingers of his left hand as he tried to connect more of his information to what he already had. The hound is a woman. He regarded the woman in front of him with suspicion. She was obviously not Sunberthian. And a woman. And she knew a lot about the Hound. A suspicious lot.

"You're the...Hound? Ereck tried first, not quite convinced of his own train of thought. "No, part of it. You're a part of the Hound's future gang. A non-Sunberthian. And a woman on top of it. Right?" As Ereck spoke the last word he realized it would be quite stupid if the woman outright admitted it. She had no idea of his intentions towards the Hound so why would she admit to his accusations. But it fit, most of it. Nobody in Sunberth was crazy enough to single handedly assault a Daggerhand big shot, whatever his rank had been. So the Hound must have been from the outside.

And, while he didn't have much success or experience with intelligence gathering, Ereck figured he had gotten quite a bit of it on his own, yet most of what this woman was telling him was new to him. Either she was really very good with intelligence or she new more than everyone else in Sunberth. There had been no word on Ereck's street about wanting to change Sunberth or forming a gang, yet this woman had heard such rumors. Ereck shook his head and looked once more at the woman. "Right?"

by **Fallon** on March 17th, 2014, 4:09 pm

Eyes followed after the man as he left, but she did not speak to him. Obviously he received the hint that he was far from welcome in such a conversation, and thus made a quick exit. For a while she was silent, her gaze watching as he disappeared into the gloom. And it was upon that silence that Fallon allowed her thoughts to be collected and gathered. So far this Shade had not shown much promise. If anything she already doubted his credibility as someone who could be of use.

To quick he was to make ties, too quick was he to think up ideas and links. And with no grounding behind it, thus she made at least that thought known. Fallon gave a tut, ”Jumping to conclusions there don’t you think? I’ll give you points on getting the gender right though, I am a woman.”

Shaking her head the mercenary took the man in her gaze, a frown fixing itself upon her face. His words were scattered, unfocused and still forming. Too early she had targeted him as a potential, too soon had she decided to take and follow him. He was just a rumour monger by the sounds of it too, snapping at the scraps that came his way and doing nothing with them. A shame in a sense.

Easing from one foot to the other she took a step to the side, making that space between them on the chance something would occur. The gaze focused on him, cold, collected, the lids forming into narrowed slits. Of course she knew more than him on the subject of Hound, but without any other input or forward thinking she was going to share, ”Tell me, how many foreigners do you think pass through this city on a day to day basis?”

Blinking she gave a step away further this time, ”Why a foreigner? Why not a strong local? A foreigner would not know the system of the city, let alone who to target.” She gave a shrug, ”A foreigner in my mind would keep their nose out of it. Such things would take time to plan out, and no doubt they would be away again before having a chance to even execute them.” Eyes burned upon him, a final lure for him to question her and tempt her into staying – she nearly was done after all, ”Now, are you done throwing about accusations ‘berther?”

by **Shai** on June 21st, 2014, 2:14 am

However hopeless the situation appears to be

There yet always exists the possibility of putting up a stubborn resistance

Fallon :

Check :

Open The name of the animal {Fallon}