Gotta Pay the Troll Toll [Job/Axel]

Spoiler:

Ayero had just finished lunch at a quiet restaurant near the city limits. It was a less well-to-do area than the part of the city she now lived in, but the Fanalis woman found that the food was quite good. She had eaten here when she first came to the city and returned when she could, appreciating the casual atmosphere and good cooking. Though she was able to come less frequently due to her involvement with the Fanalis Corp, she still found time here or there to visit and get a nice meal and a mug of ale.

As she paid for her meal, the young woman peered around the establishment and noticed that it was emptier than she had expected. Odd…usually the place is packed by this time with the lunch rush. Clearing her throat, Ayero spoke to the middle-aged woman tallying up her bill. ”Slow day?” The comment was made lightly out of curiosity, but inwardly the Fanalis woman hoped that the restaurant wasn’t in any sort of financial trouble. The family that ran it was nice enough.

Peering up at the redhead, the older woman sighed. ”It’s those damn kids…a bunch of thugs they are! Go around terrorizin’ hardworking people, scaring them away from this part of town.” A scowl stretched across her face as she spoke. ”If they were my children, I’d give them a whoopin’ they won’t soon forget! Why I—“ A sharp crash from outside interrupted the woman’s words, followed by a shout. Narrowing her eyes, Ayero slammed a handful of coins onto the counter and headed for the door with long strides.

---

”Pay up, punk! Toll is 50,000 Huang!”

Outside, a burly man held a struggling boy by the collar of his shirt. He was flanked by three equally large men, all wearing mischievous grins as they tried to appear as intimidating as possible. The burly man shook the boy, raising him higher into the air. ”I said hurry up and pay! I aint got all day!” Another snickered and stepped forward. ”If you wanna get past us, you gotta pay the troll toll, kid. If you don’t have the money, we’ll beat your ass for stepping out onto our streets!”

When the man had moved, the familiar glint of metal at his waist caught Ayero’s eye. A knife. They’re armed. Stepping forward, the Fanalis woman crossed her arms over her chest. ”What’s going on here?” Her voice was projected and demanding, staring down the thugs like she did her own recruits during training.

[423/1000]

Axel was still the new guy in town and had no idea what was there to do around here. He also had no idea where anything was for the most part. He had been in town for a few days so far and he had completed a few mercenary jobs and so he had some money, and a portion of this money went towards him buying a tour guide for the day. Axel followed behind the tour guide as he showed him different things around the city.

They had been all over from the coliseum, to the palace, to the marketplace, and to a lot of other high traffic areas. They had even went to some low traffic ones! Finally the end of the tour was coming near but the last thing the tour guide had to show Axel was the city edge. Contrary to popular belief there was actually quite a lot around this area. The tour guide assured Axel there was a very popular restaurant in this area that was always packed to the brim, however he was friends with the owner and he could get them a table easily.

So Axel took him up on his offer and went to the restaurant with him. When he arrived there was almost nobody there besides the wait staff and a single female. This put Axel off a bit seeing as the tour guide said the place was almost always packed. On top of the fact that nobody was there when they were coming into the area there were a number of savage looking individuals not to far from the place. However they seemed not to look at Axel and his guide too heavily, probably because of the japanese daito Axel kept on his back.

Axel looked to the tour guide and said "Can you find out whats going on?" The guide shook his head and ran over to the waitress that was at the front counter, as this was going on there was a rather loud noise outside. For the most part Axel paid the noise no attention, however he had a bad feeling when the woman who was there left and went outside. Axel decided to watch what was going on from inside the store for at least a while.

Shortly after the woman left the tour guide came back over to Axel and said "It appears that a gang of thugs is terrorizing the area." However by that time Axel had already figured it out as he was watching a event unfold from the window. Axel then walked outside to perhaps end the situation in a peaceful manner. When he arrived outside he went in between the woman from the resteruant and the thugs and said "Now now cant we end this in a peaceful manner. I actually dislike violence so how about you gents go back in the house and let the boy go, and me and the young lady will go about our business."

WC 499/1,000

”Hunh?!” The man currently hoisting the boy into the air turned at the sound of a woman’s voice, pausing for a moment as he looked the redheaded woman over before laughing boisterously. ”Oh yeah? What are you gonna do about it, sweetie?” His tone held a mocking overtone as he leered at the woman. One of the other men opened his mouth to speak, but another new voice interrupted him. At his words, the group of thugs let out a thunderous laughter. ”Dislike violence?! If you’re that scared, boy, you and the lady should run on home!”

”That’s right!” Another one chimed in. ”These are mean streets, not everyone here is as nice as us…better get lost before you get hurt.” Puffing his chest out, the man stomps over to Axel, puffing out his chest and staring down the young man with an intimidating gaze.

Irritated by all the talk, Ayero growls a bit and rolls her eyes. ”Enough. Get out of here or I’ll clean you out myself. I’m not afraid to use force if necessary.” The Fanalis woman stands with her arms crossed over her chest, unwavering in the face of four larger opponents. She glances to the side briefly and note how one of the thugs stomped over to the other man who came to assist. She hadn’t noticed him before and wondered if he was from the area or simply a passerby. From the looks of those clothes…a traveler? I hope you can hold your own, kid.


The man who was holding the young boy by his shirt sneers and drops his victim who scurries off into the safety of a nearby building. He makes his way over to Ayero, glaring down at the woman with a scowl and cracking his knuckles. ”You’ve got some nerve, lady. Know what we do to mouthy bitches like you?” By now the ruckus was attracting some local attention, people peering out of windows and standing a safe distance away from the group, watching silently but intently.


Ayero fought back the urge to roll her eyes at the man. While she always tried to take her opponents seriously as appearances had deceived her before, it was hard to be intimidated by a man who was obviously just trying to show off. Steeling her gaze, she looks the man dead in the eyes. ”This is your last chance. Leave or I’ll make you leave.”


The thug didn’t like those words, his face twisting into an angry look as he reeled back his fist. Thrusting his fist forward, he attempted to Punch the red haired woman who was now pissing him off. Brow twitching in irritation, Ayero tilted her head to the side, the thug’s fist missing her face by a hair. She maintained eye contact with the man, her stony gaze now reflecting her annoyance.

But the thug was not so daft—as he went to punch Ayero, his other hand reached behind into his belt where he retrieved a knife. He brought the blade around with intent to deliver a Furious Cut across the woman’s torso, but the glint of the knife caught Ayero’s eye. Swiftly, the Fanalis raised her leg and used Thighs of Steel to block the knife from meeting her flesh, using her leg to strike the man’s hand and deflect the blade away from her. Following that action, she leaned forward to grasp the man’s wrist with her hand, using Crushing Grip to shatter the bones in his wrist. The thug cried out in surprise and pain as his hand went limp and his wrist dropped, now limp by his side.

[1028/1000]
[Stamina: 240/290]

Spoiler:

OOC: Feel free to control the thug/thugs you will be fighting ^_^

Axel was kinda offended when the men that were obvious thugs called him scared and a boy because he said he didnt like violence. Axel didnt really care how they saw him but you would think they would show a bit more respect towards a man carrying a very long and sharp sword on his back, and another smaller but equally sharp knife strapped to his thigh. Axel wasnt at home here however he wasnt about to sit and watch as woman fights off the thugs. Wave pulled out his sword when the men told him to go and run home.

By this time one of the men had started talking about how the streets were mean and how him and the woman could get hurt. Axel truly had lost interest in their dialogue at this point and simply wanted to dispatch them. It seemed right when Axel stopped caring about what they were saying one of them came and started stomping towards him, puffing his chest out and all. Axel had also noticed how one of the thugs went over to the women and began to give her what he would refer to as a stare down.

Axel thought to himself what he had gotten himself into. However there was no longer any time for that as it appeared as the rumble was about to begin. The woman said to him that she hoped he could hold his own. He laughed a bit on the inside and thought that he could take these guys with his eyes closed when he was 5 years younger. People began to gather around and watched from a safe distance. The man in front of Axel looked at him like he was crazy and was ready to jump on him at any time. Axel was prepared for anything with his sword in his hand, and suddenly the man said "Boo!" and jumped at Axel to scare him, ths however had the opposite effect.

Axel took his sword and made a very precise and clean cut towards the thug's chest before he could make any other moves. After that cut was made Axel took the blade and shoved it through the man's arm as if he was a turkey on a skewer. The man passed out from pain however the injuries themselves were nothing more than flesh wounds. The other thugs behind the 2 lead fighters yelled out when they saw the first two dealt with. "YOU KILLED HIM?!?!" even though  in reality he wasnt dead he was just in a very deep sleep. When Axel realized the woman hadn't killed her attacker he felt good for not killing his. The next thug pulled out his knife and was prepared to no doubt kill Axel. He tried to do a Furious Cut on Axel however he took his sword and used it to Parry his attack. After doing this he brought his sword high into the air and let it come crashing down with a Arcing Strike. This left a kinda long cut along the man's torso. The man would stumble back from the cut as he cried out in pain. Axel would then land a Power Punch to the tip of his chin thus rendering him unconscious.

Axel eliminated the two thugs and the woman handled her two so now Axel felt his work was done here, and so he put his sword back into its black sheath. He then began to walk away from the scene, however he stopped and turned back and looked at the woman. "Maybe we will meet again." Axel then walked away from the scene.

Stamina 120/150

Abilities Used:

WC 1114/1000

As the man cried out from having his wrist broken, Ayero wasted no time in landing a swift kick into his stomach. Aware of her own strength, she held back enough so that she wouldn’t cause any lasting damage to the man—just enough for it to hurt pretty bad and put him out of commission for the time being. For a brief moment the woman thought to reach for the sword that hung at her side, but decided against it. These foes weren’t all too powerful and it wouldn’t do to have a Colonel of the Fanalis Corps slaying the citizens she was supposed to be protecting.

Footsteps coming from behind alerted the warrior to another approaching attacker. Turning swiftly on her heel, Ayero came nearly face to face with a knife. She immediately dropped down low to avoid the weapon and swept her leg along the ground in an attempt to sweep kick the second thug. But the man jumped, avoiding having his legs kicked out from under him. The thug then attempted to kick Ayero, but the young woman jumped back and steadied herself. Irritated at her nimble movements, the thug threw a punch at Ayero, only to have the woman catch the fist in her hand and force the thug back.

Growling, the thug charged at Ayero just as Ayero charge at him. The two were indiscernible in speed and looked prepared to attack one another. As they came within range, the thug threw a Punch at Ayero just as she Slammed her fist into his stomach. The Fanalis’ blow was the more forceful of the two and sent the man careening backwards several meters. As the thug crumpled to the ground and groaned in pain, Ayero rubbed at the side of her head where she had been hit. The woman had taken far worse blows to her body but was still annoyed that some street thug had managed to land a hit on her. I suppose that’s what I get for being careless…


The street fell into a hush, onlookers remaining quiet in shock as the pair of fighters quickly and successfully dispatched the four gang members. A few of them displayed their joy and thanks before hurrying off to their business.


After making sure that all of the gangsters were thoroughly dispatched, Ayero turned to see the young man who had taken care of two of them. She arched a brow at his words and shrugged. ”Nice work, kid.” She turned back towards the street where the city guard approached. As the guards bound the arms of the thugs behind their backs and confiscated their weapons, Ayero spoke with them, detailing what had happened. She mused briefly how in the “old days” she would have simply walked off as the dark haired young man did. But now she had responsibility here in Reim, something she never pictured herself having.


”Colonel Shiba, thank you for your help! I knew you were a sweetheart!” The woman from the restaurant bustled up to Ayero and shoved a pouch of coins at the young woman. ”Now now, this is for your trouble, Now that people will be coming back to the restaurant, our troubles will be over! Stop by for a meal on the house sometime soon, alright dear?” Ayero blinked, startled by the woman’s words but graciously accepted after the woman insisted, pushing the coin onto her. ”Oh, and I have to reward your friend, too. Young man, come back here!” The middle-aged woman hurried after Axel, intent on rewarding him for his efforts as well.

[Stamina: 210/290]
[Trained: Slam 500+/500 w amulet reduction]
[Exit]

Spoiler: