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Simon

Simon

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A crowd gathered around the ongoing game of cards. Only a pair remained, and smoke drifted between them, hanging over a fortune in coins, jewelry, and deeds. Wars had been fought over less. On one side of the mound sat a merchant, fat off his greed and comfortable in his Norden furs, and each of his fingers adorned with rings of blood gold worth more than what most men would ever see in their lives. His was a fortune amassed off the scarred backs of enslaved miners.

Across from him was a young man with a growing reputation among the scum of society. Dashing, confident, with a talent for calculated risk-taking, Simon Santos do Nascimento had somehow weaseled his way into this high-stakes game, and there he was: ready to win it all. Bye-bye, student loans. Bye-bye, crippling debt. Hello, early retirement!

Simon could feel as the patrons swarming the table regarded him with vicarious excitement, envy, and spiteful longing for him to become utterly undone with the turn of the final card. And besides the vices common in dens of chance, he felt a purpose at work there, a noose slowly drawn around his neck—vipers, coiled and ready to strike. The hairs on the back of his neck twitched in agitation. The cards in his grasp warned him of danger, and though he should have folded and scampered off with his small profit, the opportunity to make a pauper of the man before him was too tempting.

"Your call, Master Tritum."

"I know the rules, river rat," the merchant checked his hand as Simon's tattooed finger traced a continuous swirling pattern on the back of his cards, "and I've heard about you. Your little tricks aren't going to distract me."

"I'd never stoop so low," chimed the Cortosi swindler, his mannerism exuding laconic confidence.

Then, out of the corner of his eyes, he spotted the movements of folks with purpose among the usual hangers-on: men and women hoping for the winner to generously toss scraps their way. A rancid taste, sour like curdled milk, filled his mouth. Simon had come to trust that as a sign of impending mayhem.

Cool like, he slipped the cards together and laid them flat on the table.

"You look like a man that's already lost," said Tritum.

"Nah," Simon leaned back, then smirked, "how 'bout we make this more interesting. Care to double down?"

From his long coat's voluminous pocket, the young man produced a heavy sack of coins and tossed it into the pile of riches between them.

Tritum waved his hand, and a flunky appeared behind him with a small velvety sack to match. The merchant placed it on the table and pushed it towards the pot's base. And now, the crowd had fallen completely silent.
 
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The flaming locks of the mercenary made it hard for her to blend in and she would be worried about that if the entire crowd wasn't completely focused on the match before them. Before her. She was at the front of the group watching the cards and her bounty.

Simon Santos do Nascimento was her prey. Elodie was not one to usually take bounties but he was wanted alive and he hadn't murdered anyone. He couldn't be too terrible. In theory. It was a private bounty with a hefty payday that Elodie needed pretty badly. She didn't like to admit that her resources had been running low since she had taken some time off to try to find her parents killers.

Now she stood in a terrible gambling den among people who seemed to not know how to bath. She grimaced when someone jostled into her and threw a glare at the person. I will not kill anyone, I will not kill anyone, I will not kill anyone...Her fists balled and then released with her deep breath.

She recognized Tollin out of the corner of her eye and cursed. Of course, he was here. He was here to ruin her day and take her bounty. That was not happening. He already swooped in on a few jobs and undercut her. Not this time.

"Care to double down?"

Elodie's attention snapped back to the table that held Simon and Tritum. Her amber eyes narrowed as she tried to calculate what Simon was about to do. She reached out with her magic and smiled as she saw his future. Well...a minute of it.

She would get him easily enough.
 
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Simon's impulsiveness always won over the rational whispers in his mind, and he'd suffered the consequences of it throughout his life. From black eyes earned from brawls in the streets of Torleon to his expulsion from the famed College of Elbion, Simon had it all coming. Plenty of people called him foolish for it, and rightfully so. If you asked the man in question?

The fiery Cortosi blood in my veins can't be doused!

Or something along those lines.

Simon's fingers drummed, in sequence from pinky to forefinger, on the tabletop, then he leaned back and ran them through his mop of dark hair. Fiery blood aside, he'd patiently set into motion a plot from the moment he sat at the table. In an inn, about two hundred feet away, was a table and arranged on it five cards. In addition, there was a large sack filled to the top with junk in the middle of it, heavy as all hell. Periodically, Simon had placed cards under the playing table throughout the night.

Just then, he'd placed the last card right under Tritum with his foot while everyone gawked at the small fortune each of them had put forward.

The Cortosi hunched over the table, wearing a devilish smirk. Finally, with the bets placed, the dealer set down the last card.

Tritum slammed his hand down on the table, his brow slick with sweat and teeth grit together.

Simon turned his over. A winning hand.

Then, all hell broke loose. Tritum's goons were quick, but Tollin was quicker.

"Get that greasy fucking river rat!" the merchant spat.

Simon jumped to his feet, his chair falling back behind him, and drew a black wand on one of Tritum's cronies. There was a flash - an azure streak tore across the gambling hall and struck the oncoming thug like a charging bull, knocking him flat on his back.

Then Tollin seized Simon's arm and yanked him back, arm reared back to strike him across his handsome face.
 
Elodie, of course, was ready for this. She had seen him show his winning hand, Tritum getting pissed, the chair, the wand, and even Tollin grabbing Simon's arm. She was already there to grab Tollin's arm as he brought his fist back to hit Simon.

"Tollin, he is mine," she said sweetly as she twisted his arm until she heard the snap. Tollin howled in pain as he dropped Simon's arm.

She could grab Simon and try to drag him out of the chaos or she could help him escape with the money. The second seemed like a better idea and she could possibly get him to cooperate a little better if he had his winnings in hand.

Elodie punched Tollin in the stomach and watched the man double over onto the ground. He would be down long enough. She would kill him if he came after them, of course. She was being nice by letting him live.

"Simon, grab the coin," she shouted as she dodged the strike from one of Tritum's men. A dagger had materialized in her hand as she used it to stab up between the mans ribs. Tritum seemed like scum so she had no problem dispatching his guards.

Elodie was quick as she cleared a path for the two of them to escape. Once they had gotten out of the tavern, he would find himself against the wall of a dark alley - hidden from the guards coming out of the gambling den - with a knife to his throat. She had used her power to see that he was going to run like a handsome little bunny. Elodie was not going to let him get away.
 
First, there were a few things wrong. Tollin had tried to strike Simon's face like some simple-minded brute, to which the latter had fully braced himself for. He was ready to turn his cheek at the last moment so at least his perfect nose wouldn't shatter under the bounty hunter's fist.

The punch never came, but a new problem took its place.

"I don't much like being ordered by strangers!" he shouted as he ducked under the sharp hook delivered by another of the merchant's cronies and countered by jabbing the point of his wand into his chest, launching the man into a table that cracked under his weight.

Plus, he needn't be told to grab his earnings. Simon flicked his free hand, and a shimmering gold card appeared in his grasp as if he'd pulled it from thin air. With a snap of his wrist, he threw the card towards the table, where it lodged itself into the wood. The array of cards underneath glowed, as did the coin and treasures trapped in it, and after a few seconds, a blinding light filled the game room.

When the light faded and the guests came to their senses, Elodie and Simon had long since fled. All that remained was a heavy sack on the table in place of the prize pool that was once there.

"FIND THEM!" Tritum screamed.

Meanwhile, Simon held his hands up to defuse his latest problem. Truthfully, he saw this coming and had been prepared for the woman to jump on him, but she seemed a step or two ahead.

"Isn't this, uh," he swallowed against the edge of her knife, bat his eyelashes, "where we strike a deal?"
 
Elodie let out a low, mirthless laugh at Simon's question. The batting of his long dark lashes was a nice touch but she was not going to fall for his charms. It could work on everyone else around here but it wouldn't work on her. She was better than that.

"Oh yes, the deal I have to propose is that I bring you in for this bounty and I take your winnings. Extra pay for not killing you." The redhead smiled and batted her own lashes in return.

She knew he would not go willingly but it didn't hurt to have a little fun first. Would she kill him? Would she let him live? Could she be bought? Those were all questions that were probably running through his pretty little head at the moment.

She waited for his reply as she held the knife steady. The shouts of those looking for them can from several different directions. "Does that sound like a good deal?"
 
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  • Cthuulove
Reactions: Simon
"Nnnooo," he answered carefully. Shit! Which bounty?

Simon quickly concluded as long as there was the possibility she would receive that fortune, his life wasn't in any immediate danger. That also meant she wouldn't turn him in right away.

"Well not for you, anyway," One of his raised hands slowly pointed at the blade firm against his throat. He was a sneeze or jerk of the arm away from a miserable end. That wouldn't do. "How about lowering that so we can have a proper talk?"

Voices echoed through the alleys. He thought he could hear several sets of feet splashing through puddles nearby, but the sound grew distant.

"And maybe getting someplace of relative safety?" Simon forced a smile.
 
Elodie knew he was right. They needed to get away from the men searching for them immediately. She let a growl escape her lips as she pulled her dagger away and stuck it in the sheath that rested on her hip.

"If you try to run, I will kill you and keep your money. Your bounty says alive but accidents happen..." Her hand took his wrist as she stepped away from the wall. She was not holding him to make sure that he didn't so much as to make sure he kept up. She only had so much lead time when using her power. She didn't need to worry about him being behind her.

"Let's go," she moved through the shadowed backstreets like she had been doing it all her life. She would hide them a moment before a silent henchman would walk by the other way. They had quieted for the most part but she trusted her powers more than people. People played games, her magic did not.

It was a good amount of time before Elodie unlocked the door to a tucked back little home. She had bought this place for a few reasons and it being tucked back into the city was just one of them. She pushed Simon inside and closed the door behind them.

"Sit," she commanded. The townhome was very simple and clean. Couch, small table, two chairs, fireplace. Kitchen off to one side and washroom towards the back. Up the stairs held one bedroom that took up the entire second floor. She looked at Simon with a frown, "you really don't look like much. Is that how you get away with screwing so many people over? They underestimate you?" She asked even though she had seen it first hard back at the game.
 
"Yeah, yeah, I know how it goes," Simon roughly brushed the front of his shirt off as she momentarily released him and fell in step with Elodie, though it was more he let himself get dragged along with no resistance. And even if he had the mind to resist, her grip was stronger than he'd expected.

These bounty hunter gals were a scary breed.

The Cortosi followed along well enough, as over the past few years lurking about the shadows had been a skill he'd acquired out of necessity, but he lacked the finesse of the woman that led him.

When they arrived at the house, Simon spent a moment taking in the room as he was so graciously shoved in.

"Sit."

And he did, finding one of the two chairs, and looked up at Elodie with eyes like brushed steel and a wry smile. Simon leaned back in his seat, swung one leg over the other, and shrugged at her question.

"Who knows?"
 
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At least Simon was aware of how this went. She much preferred jobs that did not had her towing a living person around but she would take anything right now. Her funds were running low at the moment.

Elodie walked into the kitchen and came back with a piece of parchment. It held a drawing of Simon's likeness with the amount of the reward. After dropping it in his lap, she disappeared back into the kitchen for a few moments before she came back with a decanter of dark liquid and two short glasses.

The mercenary set them on the table and sat in the other chair. She opened the bottle and poured some of the liquid into each glass.

"So what did you do? I am putting money on swindling some hapless fool like Tritum. You seem to like to get yourself into trouble..."
 
Simon let the poster sit in his lap and only looked at it when Elodie left for the kitchen. The Cortosi grimaced. What a terrible portrait! The nose was much too long, and the jaw much too rounded. He turned it face-down on the table as his rescuer-captor (a complicated matter, really) returned possessing glassware.

The excited glimmer in his eyes betrayed his otherwise stoic demeanor as she poured him a drink.

"It's my fiery Cortosi blood," he vaguely answered and took the glass closest to him, absently swirling it in small circles, "A couple months ago, I lent my services to this trade company. Security on a caravan. It was a nice deal, too. I would get a free ride here, free meals, and a little bit of coin in exchange for guarding some wagons."

Simon sipped from his glass, leaned forward, and showed Elodie an impish smirk.

"I didn't like how the caravan driver talked to me, so I did a little sabotage and ran off with a few valuables."

The truth was that company had come to relative prominence by exploiting its workforce. Simon had planned to cause a dent in their profits from the beginning.

"Is the bounty open? I take it that fellow back at the games is a rival of yours?"
 
Elodie swirled her own glass as she listened to Simon's reasoning for the bounty. It seemed like a pretty poor excuse for sabotaging a caravan and theft. He did not seem like the mature type though so it made sense that someone being mean to him would hurt his feelings.

"That seems like a dumb reason for sabotage and theft, but I suppose not everyone can have couth. I would say it is really a shame but this is easy money." She took a sip before adding an innocent, "no offense."

Her lip curled slightly at the mention of Tollin. The asshole was out to take all of her jobs and money. She was about ready to put him in the ground. She just needed to find his stash first. Money first, death later...maybe some torture in the middle.

"Yes to both. Tollin has been out to ruin my jobs for the last five plus years. He is the bane of my existence and I have every intention of ending his."

That was probably more than she needed to say so she took another drink to try and cover the fact that she had just admitted to plotting a murder.
 
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  • Cthuloo
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"Hah!" Simon clapped and leaned back with a wide grin, exposing a neat row of straight, white teeth, "None taken!"

He did look an easy mark, huh? Well, no fault in that logic of hers. Except, he had no intentions of allowing her the easiest payday of her life.

"Five years!" Simon echoed with astonishment and snorted, "God, woman, you've some patience." And he raised a brow after a pause, "Not my business, though."

Simon swirled his glass again. Stared at the amber whirlpool forming in it, "You're going to ask where my winnings went next, huh?"
 
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Five years was a long time but he had only recently started to encroach on more and more of her jobs. It was about that time to take care of him. That would be her next task. First, she needed to take care of Simon.

"Naturally," Elodie replied to his question. Of course she wanted to know where his winnings had gone. They did not just poof into thin air. That was impossible. "And I am going to take you in so you can tell me or I can torture it out of you."

Torture was not something she got off on like some others in her line of work but she would do it if she had to. She preferred not to though. It was so messy and the screaming usually gave her a headache.

She took a sip from her glass and smiled at him again, "we can leave today or I can secure you and let you sleep some..." She, of course, would not make it that easy for him to escape. He might take the chance though and then she would have to kill him. So tragic.
 
  • Dab
Reactions: Simon
"O-h-h, torture!" Simon narrowed his eyes and wore a thin smile, "Y'know, the thing about torture is that I'll just start to scream about anything to get you to stop."

With continuous, quiet clicks of his tongue, he began to shake his head, "No, no, torture's hardly ever the answer. But, I won't push my luck."

Simon eyed his drink, perhaps contemplating on another sip. He didn't go for it.

"If we're talking here like this, then I can say assuredly that my winnings far exceed that of what you would get with the bounty. And if it's open, you have no obligation to turn me in. I'll show you where it is, and all I ask is that you let me keep a few baubles and trinkets." He turned his palms up on the table as if to say: well?

"It's quite a lot for one person to carry around. You won't be missing much."
 
Elodie chuckled at his mockery of her threat. He was correct, torture hardly ever worked out well. So much blood and screaming and you couldn't even be sure if the answers were true. "Very true, Simon, very true. I really do not like torture anyways. It is so messy."

She took another sip of her drink as she listened to his proposal. It had its merits but it also had its holes. "So lets just say I agree to this little idea. What keeps you from running off the first chance you get? I cannot really lug you around in shackles. That tends to raise eyebrows so I would have to trust you and I do not trust you."

Of course, he had no reason to trust her either. She was a mercenary. She sold her services to the highest bidder. He could be the highest bidder easily but she would not know that until they got to his stash. He would have plenty of opportunity to slit her throat in the meantime.
 
Oh, joy!

Simon leaned forward, a glint of light catching the silvery hue of his eyes, and like a devil, he grinned.

"You'll just have to gamble on it."

Truth was, the trick he pulled off back at the gambling den would take far too much time to set up for him to do again. Plus, there wasn't anywhere else for him to send the treasure to. That, and it was impossible to send a person. Much too large. The composition of a human body was much too complex, as well. So many different fluids and elements; he hadn't the capacity to pull off such precise calculations, nor did he possess the raw magical prowess to emulate what Portal Stones could do.

He truly intended on taking her to the fortune, but he loathed being looked down on and would gladly throw her through some mental gymnastics first.

"It's your call, Miss Bounty Hunter. Or do you fold?"
 
"I never fold," Elodie said before she finished off her glass and set it on the table between them. "Let's just make it clear that I do not trust you and you do not trust me. I am a gambling woman though and I am quite good at it." Perks of seeing the future moves of your opponents.

Elodie had to the admit that she was a little excited for the adventure. Simon seemed like an interesting character who would definitely keep her on her toes. She had not realized it until now that she had been bored as of late.

"I am Elodie, by the way," she realized that she had never actually introduced herself to him. "And I am not a bounty hunter. I just needed something that would bring more interest than guarding a manor or some shit."
 
"Oh, yeah, that goes without saying," he said with a click of the tongue and halfhearted pump of his fist, "Not an ounce of trust."

A charming smile never left Simon's face, nor the jovial lilt in his tone.

"Simon Santos do Nascimento," smooth Cortosi rolled off his tongue, "That's fair enough, eh? It's your lucky day, then. You ought to be set, no?"

He slapped his hand on the tabletop. Their glasses lightly rattled.

"Say, I'm ready to go when you are. I'd rather not leave that pile of riches unattended longer than need be, don't you agree?" Simon slowly stood, "Oh, and we're going to need some bags."
 
Elodie narrowed her amber eyes at him. There was something about him that made you want to be his friend. It made you want to trust him. She knew it was an act and even she had trouble not smiling at him and relaxing. She would need to keep her guard up.

"How far away is it?" Elodie was asking to determine if she wanted to carry the extra bags or just buy them in a market closer to their destination. She moved quicker with less stuff even though empty bags wouldn't add that much extra weight. She'd still rather avoid it if possible.

"I ask because I do not have any bags just laying around and I do not think you want to linger in the market here. It hasn't been long and I am sure they are still looking for you."
 
"'Bout ten or so minute walk from the gambling hall. But, that's ten or so minutes in the opposite direction." And it'd taken them, hell, nearly twenty just to get to her home.

"Pretty-y-y long way to haul treasure, don'tcha' think?"

Simon looked down at Elodie, his full lips spreading into a gentle smile across his face.

"You're a tough, strong woman though, right? No-o-o problem!"
 
Elodie pulled back her arm and launched a punch aimed straight at his jaw. That would wipe that smile off his face.
 
The lady had a good arm, for sure. The way she'd saved his face back at the game? Catching Tollin's arm singlehandedly? Phew.

And now, here she was, delivering what was owed. It would have landed squarely, too, if she had already been standing.

Simon swayed back and whooped as her fist missed his chin by a hair. The Cortosi skipped backward, hands raised, smiling even wider now.

"Now, now! Ca-a-lm it down."
 
Yeaaaaah, she didn't take their positions into account. He narrowly escaped her fist and then had the fucking gall to smile.

"We are going to get one thing very straight. I have worked extremely hard to get ahead in a male dominated profession. I have been looked down on because I am a woman."

Elodie stood up and faced Simon with a set jaw.

"If you ever mockingly say anything about my sex again, I will murder you and burn your body..."
 
O-o-h, scary!

"Sure," the much-hated smile persisted, but quickly fell flat, and for the first time in her presence he showed her a modicum of sincerity, "I mean, I won't. Sorry."

Rubbing the back of his neck, Simon cleared his throat. "Rightio! Hows about we get a move on, then?"
 
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