Hyrule Adventures 2

A Hylian stands in front of his store. The worn-out sign above him depicts a pipe with smoke weakly issuing forth from the bowl. The man himself is smoking from an elaborately decorated pipe, expertly sending smoke rings drifting into the clear blue sky. On his right side is a barrel filled with the best tobacco Hyrule has to offer; as such, the price on the sign nailed to the barrel is announced as 1,500 rupees. Only the wealthiest in Hyrule could afford to smoke this tobacco.

To his left another sign leans against the store's window (displaying an array of pipes, though none as beautiful as his). This sign bears the legend of "Hiring two or three good hands. Ask Manager for details."

Saber was glum.

He walked through the streets with his eyes downcast. His latest employer had decided not to pay him; someting about the body of his victim not being desecrated enough. I suppose burying your targets is a bad thing to do.

He looked up and sneezed. Wiping his nose, the mercenary cast his eyes about.

"Hiring two or three good hands. Ask Manager for details."

His oval ears, perking, Saber walks over to the manager, wearing a fairly large smile. Always make a good first impression went meeting a future employer.

"Hello, I'm Sabertache. I have two good hands. What needs to be done?"

A slight look of disgust appeared on the man's face as Sabertache sneezed. But it would not help him with his business dealings, so he quickly got rid of it. He looked the other Hylian up and down, assessing his toughness; the storekeeper was satisfied. However, this man was either not too bright, or he lacked a sense of humor. "I mean hands as in people," the Hylian said patiently. "Two or three people."

He then beckoned Saber to come closer and lowered his voice slightly so passing Hylian Knights wouldn't hear him. "What I need you to do is sneak into Parapa Settlement and...acquire...a barrel of Gerudo tobacco for me. Preferably without them knowing. You come back here with a barrel, and I'll pay you fifty rupees. If you want to go back and get more barrels for me, then I'll be glad to pay you an additional fifty rupees for each barrel you bring back to me."

He was eying a woman's purse from the shadows of a North Castle alley when he thought he heard the blessed word.

"...ees..."

He immediately began sprinting in its direction, right past his former target. Who knows what was in that purse, who cares; he had the word to look forward to. He wove in and out of alleys, through buildings, between legs, moving ever closer to the source with the sound still echoing in his mind. It was all he could hear, besides the sound of his own footsteps.

He climbed his favorite ladder and was on the rooftops in moments. Ah, the rooftops. The streets were his workplace and the rooftops were his sanctuary. He hopped with ease from building to building, moving faster through the city than any alley could ever take him. Sharp little grunts accentuated every jump, too quiet to attract any atten...

He skidded to a halt. It might have been... no, it wasn't a trick of the mind. He had heard it again. He reveled in the sound for a moment, before continuing on his way.

"... rupees..."

It was a good thing he'd heard it that second time, because he was able to pinpoint the source a few rooftops away. He worked his legs as hard as he could, focused on the single point mere yards away. Then, again, he came to an abrupt stop.

He was there.

He let the momentum carry him over the edge of the building, and as he tumbled, he pulled two daggers from his little cloak and noticed the man smoking and his barrel's sign. He knew targets, and that was his target. He landed on his feet - accidentally, but OK. It was cooler that way. Turning to the smoker, he looked up and squeaked,

"A-HA!"

But then he had to take a few moments for a session of deep breathing. Hoo, wow, that run had left him winded. He needed to get some more exercise some time. But, later! He had rupees to steal.

"You there! Relinquish your barrel of rupees or suffer the consequences!"

He twirled his daggers menacingly and smirked. This would be an easy take, that broad with the purse was small beans compared to this sucker. Then he noticed a second sucker. A sucker who looked tough. He dropped his daggers inadvertently.

Damn. The purse was sounding better already.

OK, time for plan B. He tucked his hands in the pockets of his cloak, kicked at the floor, and put on an innocent face.

"I mean... what'cha doin'..."

An odd man was walking about town today. He wore a dark brown rough leather trench coat, and an all-black bird mask, covering only his eyes, and nose, with the upper part of the long beak protruding from where his nose would be.

Walking through the town square, half strutting, half shuffling, he noticed a sign. Somebody was hiring hands. This particular fellow happened to like money. He looked at it once more, making sure he read it right. Yeah, it said hiring.

He went up, jogging up to the man in front of the store, a Hylian. "Hello, good sir, but, might I wonder if you are still looking for more hired hands." The figure in the mask was eighteen at the least, and at his mid-twenties at them most. His voice still sounded very adolescent, but he could be seen that this man had a many life experiences most never see. This masked fellow had seen massacres, betrayal at its worst, amongst other things. Although, detecting that only from his voice would be nay impossible, as it was ever so slight.

He was tall, and had messy dark hair, black, maybe dark brown. After a moment, he continued, realizing his mistake. "I'm sorry," he apologized, taking off his mask. His sapphire (susceptible to change) eyes were sparkling with anticipation. "I should have removed this. Still, good sir, might I assist? I will tell you, I possess a wide variety of skills. Name's Thealter," he said, with a nod towards the man.

A grin, even if slightly lop-sided, appeared on the young boy's lips. Exerting little pressure on his hands, he leaped from his previous position, the air rushing all around him until he fell feet first on the stony floor. Paying little attention to the cloud of dust that had formed around the area he had just landed, he spun on his right heel until he was facing the four men conversing - well, more like three men conversing and one putting up a show, but... who's counting anyways? His mischievous demeanor was, as usual, evident not only in his lips but through the expression both his face and blue eyes conveyed. "I heard something about a job?"

He didn't intend to eavesdrop; that was a horrible thing to do, and he was always taught not to indulge in such practices. He just happened to be at that determined place and on that determined time, it was not his fault at all! How could he have known that that particular branch of that particular tree would be at ear-distance of such a discussion? Besides, he hadn't heard anything wrong... just a man asking for an employee and two young males answering the the former's needs, whilst a third person pathetically tried to rob the shop. And as for the job they were to do... it was perfectly normal - they just had to steal a container of tobacco from the Gerudo trib--

--wait. Steal?...

Even better.

Tayro curved slightly - something akin to a terribly executed bow - and approached the employer. "So, in other words, what we're supposed to do is to go to the heart of the Gerudo settlement and steal one of their tobacco barrels?" The boy shrugged, taking far too long to explain his case - but who cared anyways? He was having fun doing this! "Might I ask just why we should steal something from theirs'? I mean, that tobacco rightfully belongs to them - taking it from them would be a crime, right?." Slowly, the grip on his staff strong, he approached the Hylian. "If that's the case, fifty rupees is definitely not enough." He shook his head as a pretext. At the same time, he gazed around his surroundings, trying to find some basis to which he could claim a new price. He eyed the tobacco barrel the man had. Um, usually the store buys something for a third of the price it's sold... so... "Five hundred rupees. That's my price."

He paused his thoughts for a moment. If the man did accept this proposal, he'd be working with a criminal. The idea didn't please him one bit, but, in this case, it had to be done: that Hylian, while despicable, was working, stealing and cheating, all under the premises of the law. So, as much as the boy wanted to teach the man a lesson in manners, he couldn't touch him without having his own name thrown in the mud as a criminal himself. On the other hand, if he went along with the man's intents, manage to infiltrate the place with the other guys, and then alert the Gerudo to their presence, they'd have circumstantial proof of the store-owner's vile deeds. Yes, that seemed the most reasonable approach.

The young mage turned his back on the man, walking towards the main group that had gathered. "So that's my proposal. I believe that my magic would be quite helpful in this little excursion." His hand muscles were all tense, holding his valued Deku weapon. As he distanced himself from the man, his eyes focused on yet another matter. Namely, the three people that stood before him. Saber, he knew. The young man was quite the fearsome fighter, with quite some power in his physical blows. Not a force to be trifled with. The second person didn't seem that ferocious, looking slightly silly and not exactly an avatar of force - but you can never judge a book from its cover. The last one of the three looked suspicious, with that mask and cloak. The boy had never seen the person before, but something about him didn't seem right. So, his little analysis concluded, it looked like the Hylian mage would have some severe issues trying to defeat these three during the mission.

First, the teenager extended his hand to Saber, a smile creeping up on his lips. Following that, he did that makeshift bow once more, eying the two other members of the squad. "The name's Tayro Wind. Nice to meet'cha!" The grip on his staff became fiercer. The element of surprise wouldn't be enough to dispatch all three of these. He needed a plan.

"So, do you accept my proposal or not?"

And he needed it fast.

The Tobacco Seller looked down at the Deku who jumped from his roof. He would have to remember to check it for damage later.

But for now, the Hylian said, "I sell tobacco, Deku; I'm not a bank. And I was asking this young man if he would help me acquire some Gerudo tobacco." The latter part is also said for the benefit of the second Hylian man to walk up to him; with the mask, he looked like a suspicious fellow, but as long as he didn't try to rob him like that pathetic Deku did, the Tobacco Seller didn't much care.

The young Hylian boy jumping out of a nearby tree worried him the most, though. The bit about crime scared him, but not for long, as he seemed to have a head for business (criminal or not), one that could ruin his profit. However, the youngster did not appear to know just how much Gerudo tobacco sold for, so the Hylian pressed that to his advantage.

"Five hundred rupees is far too much to be asking for, my boy," he said, putting on his best poker face (poker being a game he regularly cheated at). "Why, even two hundred is far too much for Gerudo Tobacco. But if you insist on more payment, then I'll up the fee to one hundred rupees.

"So, will you four go fetch me a few barrels of the Gerudo's tobacco? You, young man," he pointed at Tayro, "can help the Deku carry his out."

OOC: Okay, I'm not giving out 400 rupees, so if you all want the same payment as Tayro, I'll give you the 50 rupees and you can RP the rest.

Also, for anyone hoping to join, this topic is now closed, and I have my team picked out already. You all will just have to wait for the next arc.

The boy's pointy ears stretched out for a moment, before turning slightly to the side in alarm. Although slightly, he noticed a different speech tone from the man's lips; no longer did he seem detached, cold and austere - now his words slipped out in a sleazier way. Being the runner-up to the Orphanage Mistrust* contest, the boy knew exactly what this slight change meant. He's lying. A sudden pause in his thoughts; a sudden smirk in his mouth. And badly at that. Pondering his options, the teenager focused on the two choices at hand: he could ignore and do the job anyways, as the likelihood of him getting paid at all was close to an absolute zero... or he could torture the man further for his own pleasure. Being Tayro the person he was, he didn't even need to think twice about his answer.

"Oh, but that won't do!" A sudden pause for tension. "That won't do at all!" Ignoring the three other people the tobacco-dealer had hired, the boy turned to the man, his trademark grin quite visible in his visage. "Double the price, however, and we might have ourselves a deal." The Hylian placed his staff in front of him and leaned on it slightly, his gaze focused on the perfidious man's visage as his smile threatened the man to obedience. Not even allowing anyone a moment to react, the boy turned his back to the man once more and started walking away - but not without a tinge of nervousness, something that could be observed from the tight grip he was applying on his trusted weapon of Deku material. Slightly afraid his left hand might start to shake, he raised it up high and waved to everyone as he slowly, step by step, left the scene. "I'll be back to collect my money." To his fortune, his words weren't as transparent as the young mage thought they would end up being. And so, with due haste, he left the scene and the people behind him as he meddled in with the crowd.

He still had stuff to do before going.

After traversing the streets of North Castle for a while and acquired the supplies he needed, the youth entered a local pub, praising the Goddesses for allowing the facility not to be too filled up with the ruckus of drunkards slamming their cups together and singing completely off-key in a cacophony of noise. Not bothering to ask for his normal order of Lon Lon Milk, Tayro sat down on one of the tables and removed the three items he had obtained from his parcel: a laminated feather, a bottle of ink and a sheet of manuscript. The boy stared at the paper for a moment, twirling the feather around as he tried to conjure up some words that would neither be too offensive nor too gentle; he had to be assertive, yet defensive when dealing with these people: they were known far too well for their short temper. After some minutes of dwelling over the issue, he finally wrote a nice, succinct text explaining all that was to transpire, as well as his plans on the matter. Rolling the manuscript into a scroll, and using the fourth item he bought - a strong red satin - he tied it all up in a safe, compact form before leaving the tavern to go and get his message delivered for him, in the safest way there was - air mail.

About half an hour later, with some idle reddish talons all over his hair and garments, as well as a few new scratches and bruises, the boy saw the post falcon take flight, heading east towards its parcel's destination. With a nervous smile upon his face, the boy watched the avian quickly glide across the skies until its figure was obscured by the tall buildings of North Castle. His little task concluded, he brushed off the new odd decoration from all over him - wouldn't want to look like some tribal cannibal kind-of person - before tilting his foot slightly and turning around, headed towards the castle gates. For a while he navigated along the streets towards the castle gates, hoping to see if his teammates - if you could call them that - were still around. Catching no sight of them, however, the teenager hastened his pace and stormed out of North Castle, using magic to enhance his speed... he had dawdled for too long. Like the bird before him, he too now had to head east, to traverse across fields, forests and deserts towards the land of the Gerudo.

He could only hope his letter would arrive on time.



OoC: Mistrust is a game of cards we play over here. I think in the US it's called 'bullshit', but I dunno. D:

OH, AND HNS. I STAYED UP UNTIL THIS LATE JUST FOR YOU. YOU BETTER APPRECIATE IT. D<

"Acquire." Thealter's ears perked out the sound of this word. In his world "acquiring" was akin to "stealing." He might not have been thief, but who hadn't stolen something at one point in their life. This particular scholar had stolen a great many things, and had lived a very rough life. What difference would aquiring one more thing make.

The scholar quickly agreed. "I shall retreive for you as many barrels of Gerudo Tobacco as I can," he said, sealing the deal on his end. Thealter didn't appear troubled at all. But, then, the other Hylian showed up, from his perch in a tree. An eavesdropper. This teenager, younger than even Thealter, seemed intimidating. He was also a cunning business man, trying to argue the price of the tabacco seller was paying. This boy, this Tayro Wind, apparently knew what was doing. And yet, something seemed suspicious about him.

Then again, he was sure his comrades were thinking the same thing about him. After he finished speaking to the tabbaco seller, he put his mask back on, and turned to Tayro, who had just introduced himself. He was going to introduce himself, but he figured Tayro probably already heard it while he was eavesdropping. The boy just seemed like he was up to something. Thealter gave Tayro a glare, trying to study him to figure out what he was up to, but then the boy left. Thealter, soon after, strolled off into the crowd, and he would, without a doubt, be at the Papara settlement in time to steal the tabacco.