Just Good Business [o]

[Gabriella]

GABRIELLA

Pink lips parted in a long yawn and blue eyes squeezed shut. Gabriella was tired, extremely tired. It had been a very long week and she had slept very little. The tall woman leaned against the brick wall of a tall building, white hair billowing out around her. Her eyes remained closed tight as she leaned there calmly with one foot against the wall. Her fingers twiddled with the charm that hung on the handle of her pure white battle axe.

Gabriella needed some relaxation but that was so hard to come by for a girl like her. She was always doing something for someone whether it be vandalism, sex or assassination. She was a mercenary, a hired hand. As long as the pay was there, Gabriella was there. It was all just good business.

And she was rich, one of the wealthiest citizens in Nocni. She had earned herself quite a reputation and had even worked for Empress Virisca on occasion. Gabriella didn’t just do things for pay, she did them well. Her little fortune had been started only five years past when she was a very poor resident trying to help her family. Now, it was all her own and it was still growing. She spared herself no expense.

Gabriella shook her head, letting white hair fall into her eyes. Well, today it was time to do something for herself. She attached her axe to the straps on her back and straightened her little red dress. It was in the job description to look hot all the time and a day of relaxation was no exception. She couldn’t ruin her image and lose her income. A small, confident smirk lay on her pale lips as she sauntered down a busy street in Nocni. Men stared, women glared and Gabriella continued to smirk. She loved the reactions of people.

The woman made her way to a nice, fancy restaurant in the center of the city. It was for the rich and famous only. Gabriella qualified. She blew the host a kiss as she walked into the dark, candlelit restaurant. She quickly found an empty table and seated herself in one of the comfortable high-backed chairs. She took a sip of the water that was on the table, knowing it was only a matter of time before someone joined her and broke her peaceful loneliness.

[Aramis]

A small patrol of soldiers entered the restaurant, which adjoined a bar (which was not just for the rich and famous). In any normal army it would've been unacceptable that a squad would enter a bar to have a beer or two, but these were the forces of Chaos, so nobody actually gave a damn. The eight men split up into two seperate groups for a moment, when the halberdiers put their halberds against the wall. They regrouped on barstools, in a line along the bar. Quite noisy they consumed their pints of lager, which the bartender/host had already readied. Glasses armed to get drunk. After the second pint two of the halberdiers and three of the swordsmen, including the sergeant, got even more vocal as they commenced a song about beer and war and women.

The swordman that did not sing, his name be Mammrak, walked over to the two "silent" halberdiers, called Aramis Karraka and Raam Mutopen. He started a conversation by pointing to the nice lady in the comfortable high-backed chair and telling his comrades his licentious plans with her. "You're a sly bastard, Mammrak," said the dark-skinned Raam, "But she'll never go home with you." Mammrak smiled and frowned and replied: "Why wouldn't she go home with me?" "Because you smell like pig!" The three soldiers laughed and one of the singing halberdiers, who overheard the conversation, laughed too. Mammrak replied with a big smile: "Look who's talking! There's no water in the Desert, how do you people wash yourself? Oh, I know, you don't!" Raam stopped smiling and his face morphed into an angry expression. In the Desert, where Raam came from, jokes about water were not appreciated. Water is serious business in the desert. It can mean the difference between life and death. So Raam's hand formed a fist, which was lauched through the air like a fleshy meteor and hit Mammrak in the face, right beside his nose. The theory of gravity did what it was designed for and Mammrak hit the floor with a mighty bang. He tried to get up, but Raam jumped off his stool and started pounding Mammrak's face. "Make...No...Jokes...About...Water!" He said, and with each triplet of dots one of his fists flew towards the bloody face of Mammrak, who desperately tried to fence off the blows with his upper arms. Aramis grabbed Raam by his collar and restrained him with one arm. "I think you had too much to drink, friend." He calmly said to Raam, who was bellowing and bleating and roaring and yelling and wishing out loud Mammrak died a thousand deaths. The other soldiers stopped their song and helped Mammrak to his feet, though they did make sure he would not take his revenge on Raam.

The sergeant, medium height, large diameter, walked up to the two rumblers and slapped them both in the face. "You are fools," he said with an accent that in our world would resemble something of a South African accent, "You are soldiers in the army. Fighting eachother is like fighting your own brother. Do you understand, fools?" The two nodded. "You will be scrubbing floor the entire month, do you understand, fools?" The two nodded again. They understood everything the sergeant said, even when they didn't, for the sergeant would go mental if you answer the question with 'no'. He would keep ranting on about obidience and loyalty and all sort of world problems caused by lack of dicipline. Or he would try to choke you to death. That actually happend more often then you would expect.

[Gabriella]

GABRIELLA

Gabriella scowled into her glass as her peace was quite rudely interrupted by a loud group of soldiers who entered and made for the bar. They were always loud and raucous; it seemed almost a prerequisite to become a soldier. Gabriella shook her head, letting white hair fall into her face. She yawned again and took another drink of the ice cold water. She turned in her chair to look at the group of three soldiers closest to her. She noticed that their eyes were on her and they were laughing. She smirked, imagining their conversation in her head.

They were growing louder and disrupting the peace of the restaurant. Well, two of them were. One man was simply standing up there drinking, making no sound whatsoever. A fight broke out and some large imposing man sauntered up and slapped the two fighting men. He was obviously someone of importance though Gabriella knew hardly anything about ranks in the army.

She sighed, this wasn’t going to be the rest and relaxation she had hoped for. Might as well make it a little interesting. The woman stood and adjusted the axe strapped to her back. She shook out her hair before walking over to the small group of soldiers in her typical swagger. The two who had been fighting looked slightly stunned while the quite one was as calm looking as always. Gabriella ordered a drink from the bar and leaned against the wall near the soldiers. Her face carried its typical air of confidence and courage as she spoke to the soldiers.

“What’s the problem, boys?” she asked with a little smirk on her face. She wasn’t looking for money from these men. She’d gotten plenty already this week. She just wanted to liven up her night rather than sit and listen to them yell the entire time. It was better to at least be a part of the drinking and yelling though she looked completely out of place with the burly soldiers. At least the large battle axe helped a bit.