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 Posted: Sun Sep 14, 2008 12:58 am
The Black market was quite busy this time of day. Noon was when all the real dealers came out to sell their loot from the previous day. Tent bars were full of gang members talking and gossiping about one another. Everyone suspicious of everyone else and on guard at all times.
The smell of a variety of different foods filled the air, masking the stench of many dirty thieves... This was the perfect place to find information on ANYONE.
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Posted: Sun Sep 14, 2008 10:58 am
Shielding his eyes from the glaring sun, the rogue stood by one of the tents while taking in the sight of the Black Market. He had been here multipile times to "buy" and sell parts he had gathered and on various chores that the Chief had sent him on...yet, he had never been on info duty before. Heck, he never even had a client before.
Shards, Ryn was nervous like no tomorrow. But, this was no time for nerves! HELL! He would succeed this mission with flying colors and style to boot!
Grinning to himself (and with one hand on his money pouch), Ryn marched towards and into the crowd of "merchants" and thieves.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Ugh....note to self: Bring bottled water next time." Ryn just kinda fanned himself with one hand while eyeing the dude selling water canteens and bottles; of course the prices were blown outta proportion. Plus, Ryn had to keep his money on hand...info usually costed money.
Glancing around, the rogue spied a familiar tent with Zoid part towers leaning in all directions. Maybe the Old Man might be willing to shed some light on the Ander person for him! He had to have seen everyone's face at least once during his business career!
With a broad grin, Ryn walked over and pushed aside the tent flap; he inhaled the familiar scent of metal and oil before casting a friendly wave at the person sitting off to the side. "OY! Old Man! What's up?" Ignoring the ugly glares sent his way by the other occupants of the tent, he walked over to the owner of the tent with that same, silly grin. "It's been a while, ain't it?"
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Posted: Sun Sep 14, 2008 9:53 pm
The old man wiped his hands free of some liquor that had spilled on his hands earlier. His long grey mustach breaded long on both sides of his lips,and his red and white streaked beard in a pony tail. All of his hair accumulated on his face, none to be seen on the top of his bald head. Shining from the sweat of hard work and heat.
"OI! Ryn me boy." He spoke in a rather deep voice and a heavy accent.
"Ye never come in ta see me no more. Finally given up the drink eh?" He boomed with laughter.
This was a man who could care less about the "drinking" age. If they were old enough to be on their own and pilot their own ZOID than by all means they deserved a drink.
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Posted: Sun Sep 14, 2008 10:02 pm
"Ah, shappap ya old fart!" The playful tone, along with that constant grin on his face, signified the teasing nature of the "insult". Flopping down on a wooden crate, Ryn pointed at the liquor bottle on the shelf behind the old man's head. "Gimme some drink, yo. But not so hard this time, make it mild. The last time you gave me the hard stuff, I nearly drove my zoid into a canyon wall."
Leaning back and staring at the "ceiling" of the tent, Ryn started to ponder a good way to ask the old man for a shove in the right direction. Sure he could trust him, but the rogue didn't wanna blurt out his question...he wasn't sure if any of these folks hanging around belonged to Ander's gang.
Fights were way to messy...and chaos would quickly consume the Market if that happened. Some people were trigger happy...
Glancing back at Old Man, Ryn shoved his bangs out of his eyes before eyeing one of the parts laying on the ground. "So was crackin' with you these days, Old Man?"
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Posted: Sun Sep 14, 2008 10:30 pm
The man turned to grab the booze for Ryn. "Teach ye ta pilot yer ZOID while drunk..."
He moved the bottle aside than grabbed the one behind it, tossing it at Ryn. The label read "Root Beer."
"Mind'nuf fer ya?" The old man laughed, his cheeks turning red. Ryn was about the only guy he would ever give a free drink to. He had taken a liking to the lad a while back.
"har har har." He wiped his eye of a tear, not waiting for a reaction to continue telling what he had been up to. "The usual, dealn' with all you scum that come in... Actually not seen a lot of ye guys in 'ere lately.... Busyness is slowen'."
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Posted: Sun Sep 14, 2008 10:46 pm
"HEY! Some of us take the title of "scum" and wear it proudly!" Catching the bottle, Ryn took a long swing of the carbonated drink before slamming the half-empty bottle down on the crate with a sigh of relief. "Yeah, that was mild enough, thanks!"
Mock-scowling at the driving lesson offer, the Ryn took another glance around the semi-empty tent as Old Man spoke of slow business. It nibbled at the back of his mind when comparing the statement and the state of the tent...usually this place was packed whenever he can for business or for a social call. Hm...
"Slow business? I always thought that way impossible for someone like you!" He turned and frowned at the parts dealer. "But....now that you mention it, it was quieter than usual outside. It was weird.....It's almost like everyone is on edge." Ryn frowned and pondered before glancing back up at his friend. "Is something been blowing around on the winds of rumors? 'Cause Chief hadn't been saying anything back at camp."
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Posted: Sun Sep 14, 2008 11:03 pm
The old man looked over the tense bunch of rogues in his tent. "Aye, rumors some -thing- is pickn' them off one by one. Mercilessly at that." He shook his head.
"Iv'e 'eard stories of men finding their own group found in chard bits an' pieces. 'One guy came back an' said he saw a -demon- crunching his frien's face with its bare hand... bare blazin' hand. "
"Two weeks later 'at same guy was never ta' be seen 'ere again. Everyone is convinced 'The Judge' got 'em" He tried to keep his voice down while telling his tale.
He got a few glances from the other fellows in the tent, some actually walked away with wide eyes full of fear.
"Sound's like one of 'em horror stories, every one of 'em I hear."
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Posted: Sun Sep 14, 2008 11:15 pm
Finishing off his soda, Ryn grimced at the horror stories Old Man told him. This "Judge" person....thing...whatever it was, with what sounded like a lust for death and destruction...But, bare blazing hand? That didn't sound natural. Something was fishy about that.
A shiver ran up his spine. Ryn wasn't the type of person who liked listening to this sorta thing. But, this sounded like valuable info. People going missing, just like his client's tale. Maybe they all tied in together? Or they could be completely different?
Might as well take a gamble. All or nothin'. Leaning in a bit towards Old Man, Ryn motioned for him to come closer. "Old Man...I need your help. People has gone missin', ya say? What about Zoids? Have any gone missing during the past few weeks or so?" He paused and lowered his voice more so only the Dealer could hear the next part. "Also...do you know anything about a gang called "Chimera Dragon?"
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Posted: Mon Sep 15, 2008 12:05 am
The man pulled lightly at his beard. "the ZOIDS 'ere all melted by a Charged Particle Beam 'de say. Most they can find of any of 'em are their feet or bits of an arm."
He leaned in as well. "Bout as brutal as their owner's death I'd imagine..."
"None roun' 'ere. Ander Usta' be a regular, but I dun' see 'em no more... or his group. Rowdy Buncha fools... Always pickn' fights an' stealn' busyness. Last I heard Ander was fixen' ta go hunt down The Judge for killen' his girl and best friend."
A man stood up from the corner of the tent and begun to approach the two. This guy was scared beyond belief.
The old man stopped talking to look up at this man. His hair was done in a crew cut, looked to be ex-military. His face held a cold expression.
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Posted: Mon Sep 15, 2008 12:20 am
"Charged Particle beam?" That certainly wasn't an attack you heard about or seen commonly...most ZOIDS that packed a punch like that were usually loaded down with ammunition or a rare ZOID...
Facing one of those kinda zoids usually ment instant defeat, if not total destruction. Is so, combined with the deadly-sounding intentions of this "Judge" being, was it a senseless pilot/ZOID murder or did this being have something else in mind? He had just begun to ponder this more when Old Man mentioned Ander. Perking up a bit, he listened and nodded at what he was told. His client had mention that Ander had swiped members and ZOIDS from him and judging from what the dealer had just said, it all added to two plus two. Ander seemed to be building an army to take down Judge, and by doing so by stealing members of other gangs along with their zoids. Revenge was truely a driving force in this world, eh?
Ryn was about to ask for more info when a new person wedged his way into their little discussion. Glancing up, Ryn eyed the crew cut and the icy expression with serious eyes. "Yo, what up person?" Ryn fiddled with the empty Root Beer bottle. "Ya need somethin' from Old Man?"
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Posted: Mon Sep 15, 2008 12:28 am
"What you need with the Chimera Dragon's gang boy?" He said flat out, folding his arms across his chest.
"Looking for death?"
The old man had to hold back a laugh, and did so by masking it with a cough. That was such a cleche around here, true or not, he laughed now darn near every time he heard it.
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Posted: Mon Sep 15, 2008 12:37 am
Lessee....let's do an over-view of the situation:
A: Big, scary dude that's twice as tall as Ryn with a possible backstory in the army.
B: He looks pissed to boot and ready to beat the living snot outta the young rogue no matter what answer was given.
c: Ties to the Chimera Dragon Gang? Possibly.
D: Old Man probably wasn't gunna help him out of this situation.
and E: That nice, little death threat at the end.
And that threat wasn't a false one either; there were people around here very capable of pulling it off.
So Ryn had two choices: Play dumb or be point-blank.
Neither was a good choice...and neither had any lesser amount of promised hurt. Maybe the guy would go easy on a dumb, helpless twerp?
With a nervous grin on his face, Ryn did the nervoud finger teepee-thing with both index fingers. "Um....Chimera whosa whatit now? I have ABSOLUTELY no idea what yer talkin' about dude."
He was SO dead......In his mind, Ryn was panicing. Why oh why didn't he write a will as soon as he joined up with the rogues?!
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Posted: Mon Sep 15, 2008 1:15 am
"Don't you dare play dumb with me boy..." He removed his Shirt, by simply ripping it as if it were paper, revealing a large Tat of a chimera an his chest wrapping around to his back.
"I have very good ears twerp... And I don't take well to lies."
The way he looked down at Ryn suggested that Ryn were no more than gum on his shoe.
"Now tell me little boy, What busyness you got?"
The old man's eyes widened and he looked over to the Chimera Dragon Gang member. "Boy was lookn' ta join... fed up with freelancing."
The angry tall man looked from the old man back to Ryn and awaited an answer.
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Posted: Mon Sep 15, 2008 9:32 am
Ryn had started sweating bullets the moment his little lie didn't work; he had just been about to make a break for it when Old Man intervened. Hopefully, his neck was saved...With a cough, Ryn regained a calm composure.
"Oh yeah! I did wanna join up with you guys!" Ryn acted like he had just remembered what he wanted to say and smirked up at the Chimera gang member. "Problem was, I didn't know where to go or who ta talk to; so, I came where the info flows freely....well, somewhat freely." Ryn dug into his jacket and pulled out a small holo pad that, when activated, caused a screen to pop up that showed some valuable-looking parts. "I wanted to see if I could find anyone willing to point me in the right direction."
Ryn glanced up at Crew again and gave a sly smile, holding up the ZOID part list. "I was hoping to join up, but all I heard was that you guys had recently disappeared. That info almost costed me half of my list here, had not been for the fact that I have one of these ZOID cores stored away."
Yes, Ryn was lying through his teeth about this stuff being HIS to trade. It actually belonged to the Rogue group he was joined up with. But he did actually have it! So....in a way, it was only a fifty-fifty lie!
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Posted: Mon Sep 15, 2008 10:48 pm
The chimera gang member raised an eyebrow. "You're lucky boy, Ander's looking for any one at this point. But you try anything funny I'll have you AND your ZOIDS' head on the blade of my Chimera Dragon."
He turned away from the old man and signaled for Ryn to follow him out of the tent.
"Mind you manners boy, don't take these guys lightly." He whispered than gave Ryn the look of -You own me boy- and turned around to finish stocking his booze.
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