Chase left his new sword at the Proving Grounds. Thankfully the cost was a one-time thing, and they let their students just take one off the rack, or take it home for practice. It was a well running practice.
However, Chase felt the emptiness from his pocket. They did run a good business, which is why they cost quite a bit. Sunberth was like that. Good things cost a lot. Quality wasn’t a priority for Sunberth, unless you wanted it. If you did, you paid, and sometimes not just in money.
Chase enjoyed the life of this town. Things happened based on what you wanted. That is how he wanted to live. However, money was necessary among these people. Eventually, he wanted to get back to doing what he did well. Hunting. Killing. Something. This human play was starting to irk him. Necessary, but he wanted to get back to his old habits. Well, the ones he remembered. Hunting. Killing. Something.
Chase shook his head violently. He was sick of this. He started off running out of the house. He needed to get away from it.
He needed something to get off his mind. Work would have to do it well enough. From his exploration of the city, there was one place that could do it for him. Known as “The Establishment”, it was a center for employers and mercenaries, and one man running off at the mouth all the time. Chase didn’t care much for the crier.
He took off down the street, slowing to a walk now, the anger of the repetition coming again dissipating. He walked briskly down the street, avoiding the other passerbys with a wide enough berth as expected in Sunberth. More than one street mugging occurred on a given day, and it was a dangerous encounter, even if he managed to deal with it. The gangs were down, which is part of why he went now to enter one, instead of waiting until he knew more. They needed men, and he counted as one.
The standard procedure, as far as he could tell, was for the employers to split up to their own corners, and the mercenaries to approach the ones who worked as middle mans, weeding out the mercenaries before sending them to the representatives of the employers for confirmation. He went to the one working usually with the Sun’s Birth, but also numerous smaller gangs and some merchants. Either way, he was the one Chase had hunted for. Now it was time to catch a job.
Chase approached him, and fell next to another man, human. He seemed to have mismatched pieces of armor, a sword strapped to his side. Normally he’d be considered a slob of a mercenary, but around these parts, Chase could tell he was actually doing fairly well. He had enough pieces to make almost a full set. That meant he had paid quite a bit of money, piece by piece scrounged about in this cruddy town. Chase wasn’t at a point able to deal with that. Besides, he didn’t want it. He had the problems of the zith, lean, almost fragile. The entire point of hunting was to pounce on the prey, and kill it quickly. Chase waited till the mercenary was dismissed, then let the man turn to him.
“You have nothing? Not a lot of jobs for unarmed people.” The middle man said to Chase, glancing at him with one eye briefly, before looking down at his papers, shuffling them briefly. A sound of metal pushing past metal from Chase’s hands brought his eyes up. Chase had pushed the retractable spikes out on the gauntlets.
“I have some skill with them.” Chase said. The man shrugged his shoulders, and shuffled papers again. Then he pulled one out, read the details, eyeballed Chase again, and then handed it to Chase.
“Merchant. Guard detail, merchant trade off. Mostly for show, but he’s paying. Over there is one of his managers. Talk to him for approval. If he does, he’ll sign it. Otherwise, bring the paper back. If you don’t, you won’t have work here ever. Now go.” The man brushed him off with a wave of his hand.
Chase grunted in acknowledgement, and took the paper to the man pointed out. The man was dressed up, at least in regards for Sunberth. He wouldn’t do well in a more refined market, but there wasn’t much call for that to happen. Chase made his way to the manager, who promptly snatched the paper from Chases hand, looked at Chase, and simply nodded.
“You’ll play the part well. Meet us at The Storages Houses, tonight, tell the guards the name here, and they’ll direct you. They know new hires for this job were coming.” The employer tapped the top of the page, indicating the name he was to use. Chase nodded simply, then pocketed the paper and moved on. His hunt was done. For now.
Night rolled around as it normally did. Chase was happy about the timing for this. Night was a fantastic time. Chase could see things more than anyone else, hear things. This was the time he could hunt. This was the time he would hunt. But for now, he had a job.
Chase got out of his door, and made his way down to the Storage Houses. The guards at the front were part of the companies own hires, specifically for the entrance. They ran people coming in and out, and registered the new purchasers. Essentially doubled up people as guards & clerks. However, they provided to Chase just a step in the next hunt. He approached them, saying the name given before they got alarmed enough to try and stab him. They nodded, and pointed in a general direction for him to go.
Chase was almost disgusted. He was hunting. He hated city hunting. People hunting. Job hunting. He didn’t know exactly what to call it, but he hated it. Working with people. Unfortunately, this town was all about working either with people, or against them. So that’s what he was doing.
He went down the pathway to the indicated, general area. Very General. But he found the same manager, along with someone dressed up more than usual for Sunberth. A flowing robe, accessories, many colors. Chase assumed this was the merchant himself. According to the job, all he had to do was stand next to him, and look the same as he normally did. Or so it was described in the paper. That’s all he could figure out anyway.
“Good. Our last one. Stand in a half circle behind him. If anything does go south, fight. To the death. But, it shouldn’t. So enjoy this.” The manager filled everyone in, and dismissed them with a wave of his hand.
“Good job Simon. This should do well. Impressive bunch. Here we go.” The merchant waved nonchalantly in the general direction he was planning on moving, after eyeballing Chase and the 3 other men. Chase was by far the tallest, though the leanest. Either way, he was there for the job. He fell in line as the far right man, since he was the last. They maneuvered down the storage units, and turned. After a few more minutes, they came to another section of the storage units.
In front of them was a man similarly attired as the merchant they were accompanying, though in distinctly different colors. He was flanked by 4 guards as well, in the same positioning as his own group. Chase almost remarked it seemed to be a style, but he decided against it. He was hunting the money for this job, and he needed it. So he stood and watched.
“Supply?” His merchant asked simply.
“Here.” The merchant opposite replied, swishing his cloak out from behind him to indicate a small wooden crate sitting there, before speaking again.
“The money?”
The merchant Chase was next to promptly pulled a bag out of his waistband, quite heavy seemingly, and held it up for the other merchant to see.
“All of it.” He then promptly half-slammed it into Chase’s chest. The other merchant directed one of his guards to grab the crate. Together they both promptly said to their respective guards,
“Take it over.” Both Chase and his counterpart were quite surprised by this, but followed through anyway, Chase taking the bag to the merchant on the other side, his counterpart doing the same with the crate. They promptly handed them directly to the merchant, and turned about coming back to their employers. Once in position, the merchants turned around promptly, forcing their guards to disorganize briefly to allow their employer to pass through, and then shuffling back into their proper positions, and walking out.
Chase was quite happy, walking then out of the Storage House with his pay. It wasn’t much, but it was enough to start acquiring funds again. That was what he needed. With his night mostly through, he returned to his tent. Sleeping at night was difficult at times, but he did it when he could, in order to be able to examine things in the daylight. Sleep was necessary for a new hunt. |
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by Chase Hunter on June 10th, 2016, 5:01 am 
