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The Ilian mercenary turned Black Fang assassin turned around looking for her master. She had seen him walk through the library door and simply fade away as if he teleported somewhere. Of course, Trinity could not be far from Lloyd so she followed and she ended up dissapearing also but not in the same place as Lloyd. Trinity turned and patted her pegasus, Helios, a pegasus who was a rare blonde coloration.
"I know you said you saw him go the other way but I know I saw Master Lloyd go this way!" Trinity stomped her foot while passerby glanced at her while walking quickly away. She smiled sheepishly forgetting that others could not "hear" Helios like she could. Trinity tied Helios to a post and went over to a stand selling fruit.
"Excuse me," she said, "Have you seen a man in a black coat pass through here? My pegasus and I are arguing where he went and I want to prove I'm right."
The shopkeeper sighed and rolled his eyes, "Oh no! Not another one of these people!!! The crazy man you are looking for came up to me asking where Elibe was and I told him what I am going to tell you. YOU ARE IN EYRIS IN LEARANIA." He enuciated each word. "You can go tell your pegasus that your boyfriend went over towards the Job Fair."
Trinity blushed, "Ah! No no no! He is not my boyfriend..." She shook her head and yelled to Helios, "Told you I was right you silly creature!" People began to stare and Trinity blushed again.
"Oh Master Lloyd... where are you?"

Hooked. Now to just reel in.

Lance coughed courteously as he straightened his pose, smiling calmly. "Sorry about that. I didn't mean to catch you by surprise or anything, but I needed to get your attention first to gauge what interest you had in it. I'll properly introduce myself."

He stretched out his hand for a handshake. "The name's Lance Dartel. I'm the leader of the mercenary guild, Cloak."

"As you might know, Eyris, this city, has survived a nasty attack by a foreign power. We survived, obviously, but not without a lot of loss...some in the attack, some in the chaos that followed. Bandits attacking innocent passerbys, prices going up on wares...things were bad. So I thought to myself: Is there any way to change this?"

Lance smiled gently. "I don't know if there is, but I'm going to make an effort to do so. That's why I created Cloak. When someone has a job, or a problem, or anything in that sense that they're not confident enough to get done on their own, they can put in a request for help with us. For payment, we then lease the people we best think can fix it on the job. So whether you're in to do it for the money, or if you want to help people, or you just want adventure, we can find something that suits you. The adress on the back of that pamphlet leads to our headquarters, where you can sign up to join or get more in-depth information about how we work. How about it? Would you like to join Cloak? And how about you...sir? Maybe you'd like to try your hand on freelancing as well?"

After finishing speaking to Myrie, Lance also turned to Ephraim, just throwing the suggestion out there. After all, why only try to recruit one, when you can recruit two?

*******************

Though you know, I wish, I could...

You know there ain't no rest for the wicked...

Until we close our eyes for good...

Amelia nodded slowly, watching Jack pass her through the doorway before she followed him in. The General truly was distracted by her own thoughts, as she nearly moved to withdraw a new bill before realizing the money was already in her fingers. She shook her head sharply to clear her thoughts before tucking the thin leather article back into the confines of her glove. Re-adjusting both gloves snugly over her forearms, she ordered her own lemonade and followed Jack to the corner. Despite its seclusion within the shop proper, the large bay windows - with the curtains partially drawn in order to reduce the amount of sunlight that heated up the building - offered a very good view outside of the shop, as well as a very good view within. Amelia watched people approaching and leaving the little drink shop, idly holding her own glass of lemonade, even as the condensation began to soak through the pads of her glove. She could only imagine how well she stood out in the window, what with her crimson armor, but dismissed it after a few minutes. Not many people around here had enough leverage to order her back to her bed, and most of those who did were too wrapped up in their own concerns to worry about one lone girl.

"So tell me what the Watch is like, who will I be working with?"

Amelia snapped smoothly out of her reverie and turned to face Jack, offering a brief smile before looking down at her lemonade. "Well," she began thoughtfully, voice quiet, and took a sip before continuing, "Leon will be one of your acting officers. He's the brunet man you saw at the stand earlier. His voice can be a bit rough, but his words are true. He's probably the closest thing I have to a best friend around here besides Tibarn."

The General's smile warmed a little, and as she greedily gulped down her lemonade, she relaxed into her chair. Her free arm moved over her middle as she tried to 'casually' hold onto the healing wound there. It had begun to twinge a little painfully after the activity of the day; sitting still here at the shop was helping, but it still burned, as if consistently exposed to a low candle flame. "Anyone else who signed up at the stand will also be working alongside you, I can only hope. Another officer of note with more experience and history on the force than you is Chickenwire. He's a very brash men and has... interesting ways of dealing with problems, sometimes, but he's as loyal as they come. He trains with Blossom sometimes, as far as I know. I guess having to handle her and all her tiny energy in sparring helps keep him on his toes the rest of the time."

The blond sipped at her lemonade and breathed in deeply. Her exhale sounded like a long sigh, her form seeming to shrink with the action. "You'll do fine with us. If you have any problems, you come find me and I'll try to sort things out, all right?"

Always persistent, Innes could be counted on for a good bet even if he knew that somehow Joshua would rig the game, however it seemed that Innes was making sure that he was the one holding the coin this time, "Looks like that tuition fee paid off" he thought. As Innes said hello to Ephraim, Joshua noticed the familiar bow at the Prince's side, Nidhogg had saved the swordmasters bacon a few times, same as how Audhulma had probably saved the Frelian royal's hide more than once. Joshua and Innes had been a terror on the field his arrows finding their way into the bodies of many Grado troops even as Joshua's blade cut them down, it was good for Joshua to see such a close friend from his old world again.

Quickly the conversation turned to the inevitable, Innes wanted to know where he was. Joshua decided to let Ephraim handle this one since the lancer had been here longer, and... to be honest Joshua was still homesick. He'd broken his promise that he'd made to his Mother as she died, though this time it was unintentional it still hurt, was she disappointed in him?

As Ephraim was explaining the situation to Innes a girl bumped into the Lancer, pardon's were exchanged and she was quickly reveled to be an out of work mercanary, Joshua had been in that situation before. He turned back to Innes and winked, "Looks like we're going to have to take a rain check on that bet Innes." Before the swordmaster could even turn back to the newcomer a man offering a job had descended like a hungry shark.

He said he was recruiting for his mercenary guild, now that was interesting.

"Hey don't be so hasty Ephraim, nobodies saying we can't work two jobs are they?" He once again laid a friendly hand on the lancers shoulder, "Sides mercenary work is usually pretty flexible, you do the jobs you want to do when you can. Lance, right?" He said directing his attention on the mercenary leader, as he pulled a coin from one of the many hidden pockets in his coat "Tell you what, you win this coin toss and all three of us will join, I can't speak for the girl though." Apparently however he could speak for both Ephraim and Innes.

The man who came up and accosted the three of them seemed bold indeed. To approach members of royalty without so much as a courteous greeting. Insolence should not be tolerated. However he would just sit back and watch them work their way into all of this. Then he remembered what Ephraim had said. He burst out laughing like a mad man. The mighty King Ephraim a part of a Host Club?! Hahahahah I can't wait to tell Erika and Tana this one. He quickly regained his composure and finished listening to what the man had to say.

Finally after an extended and unusual silence by Joshua it was decided. His services offered at the flip of a coin. Of course their was no way he could lose. Yet he had to try to sweeten the pot as it were. Joshua I don't want to have to bet my employment on your bad luck. You have got us into a lot of messes with it. Last thing I need to do is work for some weakling. Next thing you know we lose this flip and it's back to fighting. That may have been the biggest lie he had ever told another human being. Joshua had saved the man as often as Innes opened his purse strings. Actually he thought about it for a second and nothing had been said of what if they won the flip.

You there the leader of this guild, Cloak. I'll sweeten the bet so we can hurry this up along. If we lose you get our services the first month for free. No task to dangerous for us to accomplish. However if we win you pay us double. You happen to speak to a man so good with a lance I can call him my equal. Another who can find the weak point in any armor and exploit it even in the midst of battle. Lastly you speak to an archer of such skill he could fell a man from such distance you can't even see him fall. If Joshua could speak for the three then he certainly could. He didn't give any of them the credit they deserved but he didn't have time to list titles and what not. But given the situation on hand he needed all the funds he could get and this would be the easiest way to get them. He felt Nidhogg just to assure himself. He could always act when necessary.

"Er... Well If you're hiring then I guess you're my best bet." Myrie says, trying to regain her composure. The events of the day had sent her reeling into a state of confusion. But she finally realized what was going on in front of her. A man had just asked her if she wanted a job and that was exactly what she wanted. "You know what? Yeah, I will join. I've got nothing left to lose so why not?" She says, putting on a smile. The man seemed shady but she had met shadier more dangerous folk in her travels. She just hoped he was the kind that paid their dues. If not then she would have to make him pay some other way.

She looked at the three other men who Lance was also attempting to recruit. She rose her brow as the red-headed man placed his services on the toss of a coin. She'd seen some strange things but that was a new one altogether. Even more astonishing was when the sniper bet their services for a month for free! "E-eh...? A whole month? That's... Wow..." She said, crossing her arms and giving a skeptical smile. Then again, he was asking for double pay in return. She wondered if Lance would take the bet. Things seemed to be getting interesting.

[ooc/ Sorry for not posting in a while. I've been rather occupied.]

Lance was silent for a moment, before bowing his head and sighing. "Look, listen...I didn't want to explain this right now, because I thought we could wait until we got to the headquarters. But since you're asking for double payment, I should probably tell you anyway. There is no monthly wager for mercenaries, something you should know if you've ever worked as one. You get paid based on the amount of work you put in, as well as what the jobs you get or want to do. Out of that payment, 15% gets put into the company treasury. If I'd want to get you double payment, we'd need to get double payment from our employers, which might not be possible. In short, there would be no guarantee you would get that money by the end of the month."

Lance rubbed his eyes and harkled his throat. All this talking was taking a toll on him. "Besides which...if there's one thing I've learnt over the years in the underworld, it's to never accept a gamble on someone else's rules. Gambling is less luck and more skill, depending on how well you out-psych someone else. Choosing the gambling of someone's choice would give that person an advantage since it'd be a gamble they'd be familiar with. Even if that person would be playing legitimately, flipping a coin is a 50/50 chance, which are awful odds to decide your livelyhood.

Pausing, Lance shook his head. "So no, I won't gamble with you, because between you as employee's and the company, I don't want any foul play whatsoever. In a world like this, you need to be able to completely trust those that you'll be working with."

Lance smiled faintly. "However, if you do need the job, I'll gladly hire you. And if you want or feel the need to, I can provide you with food and lodging at the HQ Boardhouse. That's what the company cut is for, anyway."

*******************

Though you know, I wish, I could...

You know there ain't no rest for the wicked...

Until we close our eyes for good...