Operation Rescue Group- North [Job|Safiya]

Marsun sat upon a rooftop overlooking the pier, Sirocco folded within its holster on his back. His legs dangled over the edge of the building and a half-eaten peach held in his left hand. From his vantage point, he could see the rest of the pier quite well, his scarlet eyes absently watching as ships continuously departed or arrived, unpacking their wares or loading them. Today, he was supposed to be carrying out a job that he had received from a mysterious wizard a few days earlier. There was supposed to be a shipment of Fanalis slaves that was arriving and he along with a Halfling named Safiya were supposed to attack the pier from the south while a second group composed of his friend Myra and another Halfling named Tahl attacked from the north. As of now, his partner had not yet arrived, therefore Marsun simply chose to sit and wait for her to arrive. After all, he was sure she would show up eventually, she had seemed rather enthusiastic about the job after receiving it.

180/1000 Words

As asinine as this is....job details below:

As Safiya entered the port town, she looked about in utter amazement, her jaw hanging open. Her arms hung limply at her sides, her knees shaking a bit. She had rarely been near the ocean as a young girl, and only to small fishing villages. So to see an entire large town sitting on the coast was completely new and marvelous to her. She wasn't quite sure what to think about it. Everything was so... large for the coast. She had never imagined a population this large all settling together right next to the ocean like this, with grand buildings and paved roads. Was it even practical to be so built up so close to the sea, with all the potential natural disasters and invaders?
No. She couldn't lose herself to her own thoughts. She was on a mission that needed her undivided attention. A few days ago, a young magician had given her and a few fanalis a job to do: free some of their enslaved kinsmen. Her focus regained, Safiya stopped her marveling and took off, knowing that her partner would also be somewhere in this city. She began to search the streets, looking about for a fanalis male.

201/1000

It seemed that he didn't have to wait that much longer for his partner to show up, noticing the young Halfling woman walking through the streets in apparent search of him. Standing up from his seated position on the roof ledge, he took a final bite from his peach before discarding the pit and walking along the roof ledge towards her location. When he stood on one of the roofs that overlooked her current location, Marsun raised his hand in greeting and called out to her.

"Hey! Up here! You're here for that mission, right? One second, wait right there!" He yelled before jumping down from the rooftop, landing a few meters away from her and cracking the ground slightly on impact. Stumbling slightly then quickly regaining his balance, he walked over to her and gave a timid smile and courteous bow. "I don't think we really got the chance to formally meet a few days ago. Umm...my name is Marsun, I'm a Fanalis from Balbadd, it's nice to meet you, uhh...what was your name again?" He questioned, remaining bowed as he awaited her answer. Although he was not as shy with women as he had been previously, he still retained some nervousness when interacting with them. As he continued to wait for his mission partner's name, Marsun's attention was drawn towards the pier once more, noticing that a slave ship was drawing closer in preparation to dock. The timid smile that had been present on his face was immediately replaced by a sullen glare as his hand reached behind his back and gripped the handle of Sirocco and drawing it from its holster. With a short flick of his wrist, the segments of the naginata conjoined andmade the weapon complete. "I guess that'll have to wait for another time, I think that's the boat we're supposed to be attacking. I hope you're able to fight, if not, feel free to sit back and let me handle it." He remarked calmly as he proceeded forward, his weapon rested upon his shoulder and a fierce glare within his eyes.

552/1000 Words

Safiya heard the familiar voice call out to her. She stopped and looked about in confusion for a second before noticing a male fanalis balanced on the rooftop. She waved to him eagerly, trying to remember where she'd seen him before. She jumped a bit as he landed in front of her, the ground caving in between his toes. He bowed to her and gave her an exceedingly familiar slight smile. As he was introducing himself, her memory of the few minutes she met him before came crashing into her mind. "OH! Oh!" she made rapid up and down movements with her hands in excitement. "You're the one Myra was squealing at! You gave her the peaches!" She grinned up at him and bowed back. "I am Safiya al Thalia of the Gypsies."
She noticed his eyes had strayed elsewhere with a darkened expression. He raised his arm and pointed toward the boat. She followed the direction of his gesture and stared at the ship. A slave vessel. Was this part of their job? She nodded in agreement with him. "That boat. Alright. How do you propose we get rid of it?"

393/1000

As they walked towards the designated ship, Safiya mentioned their previous encounter, specifically how he had "given" Myra the peaches as Safiya had worded it. Glancing over his shoulder at her for a brief moment, Marsun chuckled quietly and looked forward again while rubbing the back of his neck.

"Well I wouldn't exactly say I gave her those peaches, she kind of just took them....she does that a lot, but I don't mind." He remarked as they arrived at the dock where the ship would be weighing anchor. Holding up his hand in a gesture for her to wait, Marsun crept forward and crouched behind a stack of crates. From his hidden viewpoint, he then gestured for Safiya to join him as his scarlet eyes watched a group of slavers disembark from the ship while roughly ushering a group of Fanalis slaves forward. Seeing the harsh treatment of his kinsmen caused an agry scowl to spread across Marsun's face. "We don't have to get rid of the whole boat...just those six guys right there. How's your throwing arm?" Marsun questioned as he stood up and picked up one of the crates. Flashing Safiya a sly grin he then flung the crate at one of the slavers, knocking him unconscious on impact and sending him toppling into the water. As expected, this action had garnered the attention of not only the slavers, but the Fanalis as well, who looked curiously at Marsun and his partner. "Like I said, I hope you're able to fight, I wouldn't want to have all of the fun myself." He remarked as the slavers came rushing towards them. Casting another brief glance towards Safiya, Marsun then readied Sirocco and rushed forward, knocking aside two of the slavers with the naginata and leaving the rest in stunned disbelief at how easily their comrades had been dispatched.

857/1000 Words

Safiya smiled back at Marsun, then laughed as Marsun heaved the crate into the slavers. His sly grin egging her on, she joined in happily as she picked up another crate and flung it at the one of the slavers. It hit the man in the head, sending him crashing to the ground amidst a rain of splintered crate boards. Her eyes danced as the bloody shards caught the harsh light. Safiya decided to take advantage of the slavers' shock that kept them rooted to the ground as soon as she could. She rushed forth with a harsh laugh of pure enjoyment, hitting each of the remaining slavers with a swift kick. Her movements were fluid like a dancer's as she twirled and landed her second kick. It was as if her body was made of water, and she was floating on the currents of air. "Ha! You have all the fun, you say!" Safiya smiled playfully as she continued heading toward the ship. "How are we going to get the slaves away, Marsun?" She questioned, readily admitting to not being one for planning ahead.

578/1000

It seemed that Safiya actually was able to fight on her own, though Marsun was not particularly surprised by this. Halfling or not, she was still part Fanalis and that meant that she would most likely have the inherent trait of being an adept combatant. Her movements were rife with precision, each of them flowing together in a fluid motion...it was quite impressive, to say the least, to the point where Marsun found himself grinning slightly as he watched her. Despite how well her strikes had been performed, however, it seemed that surprisingly the pair of remaining slavers were still able to stand and fight. Adjusting his grip on Sirocco, Marsun delivered a crippling blunt strike with the shaft of his naginata to the neck of one of the slavers before once more shifting his grip and following through with a thrusting forward strike with the end of the shaft to the remaining slaver's face, undoubtedly breaking the soft bone at the center and dispatching the guard in the process. With the slavers promptly dealt with due to a joint effort by Safiya and himself, Marsun rested Sirocco across his shoulders as he approached the group of Fanalis captives that still stood nearby eyeing the two would-be saviors. During this time, Safiya had continued to approach the ship and even questioned how they would get the slaves away from the port. Although he had heard Safiya's question, his attention seemed focused on the chains that were clamped around the ankles and wrists of the slaves. A low grunt escaped his lips as he shifted the polearm rested across his shoulders. The craftsmanship of the restraints was shoddy at best, there was no doubt that the slaves could have broken free with relative ease if they had the mind to...it seemed that their wills had been somehow broken during their times as slaves.

"Well, that part's easy, once we break the restraints they'll be able to leave on their own. But the problem is..." He paused as he knelt down and picked up one of the lengths of chain. Clenching his hand into a fist and jerking his hand back slightly, the chain was easily snapped as if it had been made of brittle twigs. "These guys are really broken down from their slavery, I don't know if they actually have the will to leave on their own...or even if they want to leave. I guess we'll just have to lead them." Marsun replied as he lifted Sirocco from his shoulders and disconnected it, folding it and replacing it in its holster across his back shortly after. Just as he had turned to leave, however, the two slavers who had been struck with the crates thrown by Safiya and himself returned for another attempt at fighting the pair of Fanalis rescuers. As the two bruised slavers recklessly charged towards Marsun, he simply gazed at them evenly while rubbing the back of his head. Making no real effort as he shifted backwards to dodge a wild swing from one of them, Marsun raised his knee upwards and delivered a deceptively forceful knee strike to the first attacker's stomach, leaving him to crumple to the ground in an unconscious heap. Blinking absently as he stared down at the fallen slaver, the last remaining guard seemed to take this as an opening to attack and rushed at Marsun once more. Without looking away from the recently incapacitated guard that lay at his feet, Marsun held his fist outward and let the charging guard smash face-first into it, the force being enough to instantly knock him out as well. Giving a reassuring nod to the slaves then gesturing for Safiya to follow as well, Marsun lead the small group towards the edge of town. "Well, you guys are free, don't go getting captured again, yeah?" Marsun remarked playfully. Although they were still apprehensive about being rescued, the former slaves nodded gratefully to Marsun and Safiya before departing. With the slaves freed and on their way, Marsun stretched his arms above his head before lacing his hands behind his head and walking towards the part of town where the restaurants would be located. "It looks like we're done now and we've still got a bit of time before we have to meet up with Myra and Tahl. Are you hungry? Let's get something to eat, I'm buying." He added indifferently as he kept walking, not even waiting to see whether or not she would accept his offer. It didn't matter to him either way, his thoughts were focused more on finding a good meal rather than if he would be eating alone or not.

1500+/1000 Words
-Exit-

When Safiya turned around again and walked away from the ship after Marsun had disposed of the slavers, she flashed Marsun a satisfied grin. She blew her hair out of her face, her cheeks puffing out almost comically. She watched as he broke the chains of one person, beginning to turn to look at the slaves. Her eyes widening in surprise as one of the men flew past her toward the tall Fanalis man. Her shocked face immediately dissolved into hearty laughter as he simply held out his fist and let the would-be slaver seal his own fate.
She finally took a good, long look at the slaves. They were dirty and ragged, haggard from their ordeals. She noticed their chains, brittle like chaff. Any one of these slaves, even the children, could've broken their chains if they had wanted to. But, a fully grown horse that is tied to a strong post since birth can be tied to a small stick in the ground and do nothing. She suspected that they had been trained not to even think of escaping. This would be difficult. She felt a sharp pain in her heart as she thought of the damage the slavers did to these people. The damage was permanent. They would never forget what they had been through, and they would never be what they could have been before this.
Safiya scanned the huddled mass of slaves, looking for the right person. It had to be someone young enough to break free of their training. She finally found a little girl, about five years old, with large, captivating eyes. She knelt in front of her. The girl hurriedly looked away and pulled her limbs closer to the rest of her body. Safiya smiled. "Hey... hey, don't be frightened," she spoke softly as she reached out her hand. The little girl shook her head vigorously. "I'm not going to hurt you, alright? I promise." The girl looked at her with her huge eyes, tears streaming down her face. "What's your name, little one?" The girl sniffled. "M-mihna..." came the whimpering reply. "Mihna, huh? What a pretty name. Want to do a magic trick, Mihna?" Mihna's eyes lit up. Safiya giggled playfully. "It'll let you go play as you please. You can even teach it to the others here, so they can play with you. Wanna try it?" Mihna nodded, a childish smile lighting up her face. Safiya held out her hands as if she was chained. "I'm going to teach you how to break your chains. Put your hands close together like this. Good! Now, tap your fists together and pull them apart really fast, until your arms are spread wide!" Mihna followed Safiya's orders. The chains snapped like twigs. "That's wonderful, Mihna! Now do the same thing with your leg, until it's all the way straight out to the side. There you go! Now, go teach it to other people."
Safiya watched gladly as her 'magic trick' spread through the crowd, as well as Marsun's demonstration of the breakable nature of their chains. She ran after Marsun, who had begun leading the freed slaves to the edge of town. She caught up to him just as he invited her to dinner and began walking away. "Wait up!" she called after him. A hot meal, especially one she didn't have to pay for, sounded wonderful. She was grateful to eventually be in the company of such great people as we would be soon.

-Exit-

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