He Awakens [Social/Zafar]

It was about an hour after the events surrounding Li Cao's death, Azix had found a small stream at the edge of a forest. The moon dangled in the sky, casting dark shadows in the grass. He still wasn't sure why he saved the clown faced man, but Azix lifted him off the horse, laying him on the ground. He cupped some water in his hand and flicked it at the clown's face.

He pulled his face mask up from within the neck of his shirt, covering everything below his eyes. "Sir, I dare say, are you alright? I'd hate to think I dragged you away for naught." With the tip of his boot, he nudged the man's shoulder.

Zafar's eyes slowly peeled open and consciousness flooded his mind along with a heavy dull pain that told him he'd suffered a concussion. The boot nudging his shoulder caused his torso to shift and his fractured ribs painfully grinded against the flesh of his chest. "Aaaaaah~" A pleasured moan sounded from the assassin and his eyes opened fully coming to rest upon his savior. It was hard to see in the dark of the moon light but it only took a moment of careful observation to notice...this was the man Zafar was ordered to kill as a secondary target. The one worth 10 heads. The man's eye gave his identity away and Zafar's lips twisted into a disturbing smile. "It looks like "chance" is telling me that my instincts are just."

Despite his injuries the assassin got to his feet and stood while he faced Azix. Cold yellow eyes locked upon the magician's own opticals as Zafar made a slight flourish with his hand and bowed, "Life is truly delicious...to think that you would be the one I chance a meeting with. My name is Zafar Mushtaq and it appears that I owe you a debt." With the gesture complete, Zafar stood once more and maintained his eye contact intently as if he were trying to gauge the measure of Azix's soul. Zafar mentally "graded" the magician as a Jack of Spades and his grin widened a bit further as he began to see the pieces of a puzzle called 'The Contractor's Demise' falling into place. "This will be my Ace..."

Azix watched as the clown faced man woke up. The clown gave a twisted smile, "It looks like "chance" is telling me that my instincts are just." Azix wondered at the clown's meaning as he stood up and locked his cold yellow eyes at Azix. With a flourish, the clown bowed, "Life is truly delicious...to think that you would be the one I chance a meeting with. My name is Zafar Mushtaq and it appears that I owe you a debt."

Azix gave a grand bow back, returning the same respect to the man he now knew was Zafar. He raised a brow, "The name is Azix. Why do you find our chance meeting so... delicious?" Zafar's intentions seemed eerie and Azix wasn't sure how wise his decision to save the man was.

The question the magician posed seemed to amuse the assassin as he brought a finger to his lips and laughs softly beneath his breath. "Fufufufu~ As I'm sure you've gathered, I was hired to kill the man named Li Cao. What you have yet to learn is that the same man who wanted him dead included your head as a secondary target for the contract. If I killed you, my pay would have increased 10 fold." There was a sickening tone of glee in Zafar's voice as he plainly explained that there was a high profit in it for the red head if Azix were to die. But the killer rose his open empty palms over his head and showed that he had no intentions of acting upon this ambition. "Oh don't worry, I don't plan on going after you now. From the size of the bonus, I'd say you were the real target from the beginning but as a professional I was never told that I had to kill you."

Zafar took a few steps back and leaned against a tree to rest his body as he looked at Azix and asked the question that was likely now on both of their minds. "So tell me, what makes you worth ten heads?"

Azix listened to the man, growing more disturbed by the vibe Zafar put off. Hearing that Zafar had no intentions to kill Azix, he relaxed. It was interesting to learn that he had been hired to take out Li Cao, he wondered why the person who hired Zafar wanted them both out of the way. Deciding to risk trusting Zafar for now, he resolved to telling the red haired man a portion of his tale.

Azix made a show of waving the gravity of Zafar's words off, "I find myself the target of many people's attention, I find myself weary of such focuses. I appreciate that you have no intention of killing me, so I see no reason not to tell you." He idly ran his fingers along his chin as he spoke. "I was once a Prince of Kou, but I have fallen from grace. My father plotted to overthrow the throne, claiming it for himself. The stain of those actions seems to follow me everywhere I go." Pausing for a moment, he looked at Zafar, "So who is this person who hired you?"

As Zafar listened to Azix he reached behind his back and retrieved a deck of cards to shuffle. The cards shifted in the killer's hands as his idle movements obscured the order of the deck in contrast to how things were falling into place due to the magician's story. "I see..." If Azix were a disgraced prince then it made sense that the price on his head would be high, but it seemed as though there were more pieces of information beyond the knowledge of both men. The lack of information didn't sit right with Zafar and he began to feel a knot in the pit of his stomach which only grew when he thought back to the Contractor's face in order to answer Azix's question.

The smiles and joy melted from Zafar's face to show a slight annoyance and even a bit of concern as he slowly gave Azix the pseudonym of their mutual enemy. "He called himself 'The Contractor' and he was a magician. Aside from the fact that he dressed like an influential big shot with lots of financial backing I don't know anything else about him...Well, I suppose I know that I want him dead~" No one manipulated Zafar like their personal toy and got away with it. That was HIS role.

Zafar finished shuffling and the grin returned to his expression as he drew the top card and came up with the Jack of Spades. The assassin turned the face of the card to Azix and calmly made an offer. "Ne~ He's supposed to contact me in order to reward me for the job. I assume Li Cao is dead?...Why don't we lay a trap for this puppet master who thinks himself keen enough to toy with our lives?"

Azix listened intently to the man as he described Zafar employer. The Contractor sounded like a man of mysterious intentions, a man just like countless others who seemed to take glee in putting hits out on him. The moonlight shined on Azix's eye, gleaming a dark violet hue as he thought. Zafar seemed to have a gleeful reaction to thoughts of killing, but that murderous intent wasn't focused on him at the moment. Zafar drew a Jack of Spades card from his deck and proclaimed an alliance to take out the Contractor.

Azix smirked under his face mask, and threw his arms outward, his cloak flying back in a grand flourish, "Zafar, I accept your offer of a temporary alliance, to remove a pest to both of our plans. If you'd still like to kill me, I'd have to ask you to please consider that tempting thought at a later time." He waved that idea away with a flick of his wrist, "So now, tell me how do you plan to lay this trap."

Zafar discussed his idea with Azix for a few moments. When they came to an agreement, they parted ways for the time being, with the plan to meet up at a per-determined time and place.