The Midnight Sun

The thief did find wonderment in the tale as it was not something which he was unfamiliar. The little puppet show the kid put on was a pretty distraction for him. He listened intently with a wide smile the entire time. He basically lost his bet the moment that he made it. Unfortunately for the man spinning him the story, Emery was not an honest man. And despite his knowledge of the story itself he made it a point to laugh and make a waving motion with the back of his hand towards Akuto.

"Y'can't hardly be serious pal. Ever'one knows about Jakob, kid's a fuckin' fairytale. Y'still out here believin' bed time stories, are we?" He took another swig of his ale and pointed directly at Akuto. "Lemme tell somethin' tha' really happened." He leaned in close and started to whisper his slurring words.

"Les' go back a year or so. I'm out in da' plains, right? Hol' caravan pullin' up, really snooty types, y'know? Kinda rich folk that get off on watchin' the homeless grovel. Anyways, cocky bastards rollin' down the plains deep night time, moons painted right there like a blind mages eye. I'm doin' my normal thing drinkin'n such walking in the warm evenin'. I ear' these fucks talkin' about some poor ol' crow they was botherin' for beggin'. Now I too think erryone should earn their keep but who ain't been down on their luck more than once, right? Another swig. Well, I star' fumin'. Their lil' laugh gives me the fuckin' shakes, honest. I start trackin' these buffoons a bit before I give em the shakedown and I get the bright idea to make em' feel like the idiots they're. First I jump on the carriage, got em riled' and drawin' their weapons, right? Well then come the smoke bombs. Blindest fuckin' yuppies y'ever seen in your life. One by one I run up and pull their shirts straight ova' their head so they're all floppin' like fish. Emery starts laughing mid explanation. "I snag the coin purses while spittin' some profanities at em and am gone like the wind itself. Wish someone was there t'paint the fuckin' picture. Never seen somethin' so beautiful in m'life." 

The thief did seem quite pleased with himself after the tale and finished his beer. He laid his head back a bit and hiccuped, reaching for his next drink with very anxiety driving accuracy. 

"Can't lie about it bein' one of the better times I've had in m'few years." He sloppily finished his beverage and slammed his goblet on the table in front of him. "Fuckin' goody two shoes never know what't'do about a quick jab and a robbin'. Leaves me smilin' in my teeth and m'pocket I'll tell ya." He kept snickering to himself as he was clearly amused by his own antics. As his head rolled back in drunken stupor he eyed Akuto sharply.

"For one who seems t'know a bit about thieves y'sure don't get how we tend to operate. I ain't movin' a damn inch, if you have a problem you can snitch it out or move y'self. Ain't no bother to me." He swung his legs back up to the table and let out a disruptive belch and crossed his arms behind his head. It was growing clearer that Emery was quite dishonest and had no desire to keep his promises. That combined with his foul presence led him to have little company to begin with. He planned to milk this as long as he could. 

"T'hell with ya then. Don't bother me none." Emery would spout at the kid before he took his leave. He sat there a pretty decent while, fading in and out of consciousness as he swayed in his seat. When he did decide to stand up it was somewhat of a mess. He haphazardly threw a few more coins on the table he'd overtook with his berating and lack of discipline. A couple sets of eyes watched in relief as they saw him start to get up to move on. He was anything but graceful about it. 

He stumbled his way towards the door. He spent a good portion of this walk running into other patrons and laughing it off as well as catching himself on nearby tables and walls to ensure he didn't lose his balance. Once he finally reached the door in what felt like a millennium to him he felt his stomach turn. He swung the front open with virility and concern and ran blindly into the alley revealed. He threw his hands against a nearby building as he retched up almost everything he had swallowed down. He spit off the remnants from his lips with a quiet fuck leaving his lips. He'd made himself sick again, how quaint. 

Emery felt the force of something as he toppled over in his own bile. He felt cold steel on his body as he was yelled at by the recognizable voice he had mocked in the Sun. When Akuto withdrew his blades he stood back up and wiped his face off with his hand, tossing his up-chuck from his hand to splatter on the ground beside him. He also in a surprise act removed his shirt which found itself drenched and tossed it into the pool itself. He turned slowly around to face the magic user, his purple eyes ringing of new found sobriety. It was as if nothing he had drank in the bar was affecting him anymore and he looked pissed.

"Y'know." He cracked his neck disturbingly loud and his knuckles followed suit. "You got some fun tricks there, kid. But you lack respect and your less than hero act don't sit t'well with me." He spent an eerie amount of time just staring at Akuto. His eyes looking through this attacker. If Akuto inspected Emery's body even for a glance he'd notice a good amount of damage done. Magic that had pierced his flesh and left wounds, slash marks, the whole nine yards. This was a not a thief who had been stagnant in the ways of defying death. 

"I suppose I forgot to introduce m'self. Name's Emery. Lemme be the first to show you how far aggression carries ya." Instantaneously as the sentence was done a cloud of white smoke rose from where Emery had been standing, distorting vision and filling the alleyway. In counter, Emery thrust his knee into Akuto's stomach. Assuming the smoke would make even the slightly trained be aware of their surroundings it was not often one would expect a full frontal assault after disorientation. 

Upon Akuto's recovery he would hear a voice coming from what felt like above him;

"You forget the number one rule bout' squarin' off, friend. Underestimation almost always leads to defeat." Emery himself was seated on a sign hanging above another shop in the bazaar. How he got there would have been clouded by the smoke but it would be apparent if nothing else that this thief was fast. Of course his own hubris would leave him laughing on the post a bit too long. He found great amusement in punishing those who thought him a fool. 

"That's dirty, kid." He was surprised to catch his rival aiming for the kill in such short notice. He wouldn't be able to dodge the whole thing by a long shot. The alcohol was still affecting his balance and concentration despite how sobering the threat was. He moved along the lines of the wind but the sickles would still catch his left arm, leaving massive lesions and a fiery look in his eyes. Was this young thief really trying to end his life? Could he escape every attack that was launched at him?

He landed out of balance and stumbled into a wall with his eyes fixated on the rush of blood from his arm. This was bad. If this opponent could use endless magic on him then his chances were minimal at best. Especially since they moved at nigh the same speed. 

Odd. Why was there no one left in the streets? Was the last thought he could muster before he passed out and slumped into a coil.

However.

This did not come without its own consequence. The young man seemed to stand up as quickly as he had fallen over and he turned his head like an owl at his attacker. His eyes no longer had an elegant sheen of purple. Instead they were pitch black, bottomless pits. 


"Boy." A dark voice rang to Akuto. Something out of nightmares. It would seem to be whispered in his ear though he spoke it from meters away. "This vessel is not for your taking. Harm his flesh again and your last meal will be that of the earth beneath us." Emery seemed to bear a smile while he said such ominous things. Not his previous smile of arrogant pestering. One of discontent and pure madness. One unbecoming of his human self. A loud, deep breath would be the last thing Akuto heard before Emery's eyes changed back to their bright violet. The thief however, was again unconscious. And losing blood fast. 

As Emery came to, he shook his head harshly and coughed a tremendous amount. He peered towards his wounded arm and noticed that the bleeding had stopped on its own. This was troubling since he was pretty sure that that was humanly impossible. Luckily his head was hard and he was able to convince himself to be some sort of super human. He stood up and limped his way away from the bazaar. 

Whoever that kid was was dangerous. More so than he could have predicted. He'd not soon forget what happened.

-SCENE EXIT-

A bottle of whiskey would be planted too close to comfort next to Belladonna and a brutish young man sitting next to her following. His eyes showed distinct signs of far too much alcohol in his system as his eyelids didn't quite line up the way they were supposed to. His smile was a cocky one, and he looked dead at the witch with it. He switched hands for his alcohol and rested his head in his hand while he perched it with his elbow. It might be a sly pose if it wasn't completely obvious that he required this to keep his head above the table. He downed another swig, and it didn't help that he reeked of the stuff.

"Well 'ello there. What brings an enchantress such's ya'self to the Sun tonight? Lookin' fer a frien'?" His smile widened as he blatantly checked Belladonna out. The man could only barely be into his adulthood and was clearly already a lush. He showed no signs of respect and his intentions were out in the open. One might be baffled by his confidence but considering his appearance he would seem to be any other brigand and that wasn't uncommon behavior among them. His only redeeming quality was that for a brute he was fairly handsome, but that was completely drowned out by his personality and he showed no direction to getting any better. 

All her snarky comments did was further intrigue the young drunkard. His grin widened when she bit back. He shifted, putting his back to the bar and his elbows on it, his head cocked to still look at her. She spoke about being far too old for him but she appeared no older than maybe a few years above himself. He let out a chuckle.



"So it's like that is't? Not even gonna give a lonely man a chance huh?" He cleared his throat and set his whiskey down, then swiveled in his seat to face her. "Lemme start again." He extended a hand to shake. "Name's Emery, how bout' ya'self?" His head was bobbing a bit from the liquor and his eyes gave his act away pretty distinctly. They shifted upward more this time though, indicating he was at least trying a little harder. Even so, it wasn't exactly easy for Emery to pretend he was a good person.



He watched curiously as she poured an additive into her wine. He'd never seen anyone alter their drinks before, but it was perhaps not such a rare occurrence. Especially in a place like the sun.



"Now what might that be?" He asked with utmost interest. He assumed it was some sort of narcotic and found his focus switched from her stunning form to this oddity she carried.

"Bella, eh? Thas'... fitting." He spoke surprisingly coherently for his obvious drunkenness. Due to Emery's constant boozing he essentially had the ability to sober up at will and had extreme control over himself when he so chose. He didn't mind the bobbing and weaving since feeling loose was what he loved about drinking anyways. He eyed her nail as it dug into him and bore a few teeth with his smile. 

With her offer he waved down the server. "Barkeep! Could I getta glass from ya?" He shouted probably too loud for someone being seated right next to him. Volume control wasn't a strong suit of his. The bartender came around and handed him an empty mug while shooting him a completely irritated look. He tossed two coins of gold their way which was much more than necessary but he had somebody to impress tonight and he was anything but frugal. He poured a good amount of whiskey into his newly acquired glass and extended it towards the witch.

"Hit me, vixen." His confidence could be considered admirable if it was used for anything productive. Emery did not have much tact however and when there was a beautiful woman involved his guard was null and void. Not many things had power over the foolish man, yet for some reason they always got to him. He watched her motions closely and enjoyed the show she put on to him. Truthfully, he was dangerously distracted.