Ballantyne
07-05-08, 01:05 PM
A haze filled Evan’s lungs as he held them still for a brief amount of time. He was at the point in his inhale where the sense of smell was so keen on a strong scent that it actually crossed over into taste, and there was no taste more enjoyable than cinnamon and sugar. His lungs finally gave into their natural impulse pushing the smoke out through Evan’s nostrils and mouth, and before him a magical white cloud curled through the air. It reminded him of flying. A glass of blood red malbec wine complimented his cigar, for its boldness hit his taste buds like liquid peppercorns. For that rare moment in time the other people in the restaurant disappeared.
Completely satisfied with the gifts, Evan leaned across the small circular table and thanked Lilith with a simple. “Hell no.”
“That’s not fair.” Lilith, Evan’s older sister, waved her hands in a quizzical gesture. She wasn’t in a good mood today. Somehow she mustered up the energy to suck up to Evan, treating him to lunch at his favorite spot in Radasanth, a cinnamon sugar flavored cigar, and a nice full bodied red wine, just a few of his favorite things. “Do you even know what I’m about to ask you?”
“I don’t need to. Whenever you suck up to me the task is usually a bad experience for me, like writing a boring proposal for your job, or having sex with one of your ugly friends who has a beautiful personality.” Evan couldn’t help but smile from ear to ear as Lilith dropped her head in frustration. She hid behind her veil of black hair and sunglasses, and rubbed her temples as a particularly vocal party of eight passed behind her. Evan had to comment. “Hangover is a nice color on you.”
“Fuck you.” She mumbled.
“No, sister. That would be incest,” Evan raised his voice, not just as a method of public humiliation, but also as a method of torture for Lilith’s sensitive ears. “And I refuse to partake in such a hedonistic sexual act.”
“Quiet down, punk ass!” Lilith took a slice of filet mignon off of Evan’s plate and stuffed it in his mouth by hand. “Suck on that and shut up for a second. I need to think away the pain.”
Evan gave his older sister a moment to relax as he gleefully chewed on his food. It was time to get down to business. “So what do you want me to do?”
“It’s actually what I want us to do… together… as family,” Such vein attempts to send Evan on a guilt trip were never successful. She continued. “A friend from Alerar got word that I was back in Althanas and requested my assistance. A large group of former Mazzra have decided to shake down the town of Vexile ‘d Alto on a regular basis.”
“Where’s the local law enforcement?”
“From what I’ve been told the Mazzra were supposed to be the law enforcement in peace time. At first they were, and then funding from the throne disappeared. Being broke led them to demand money from the civilians of the town for protection. Vexile ‘d Alto refused to give the Mazzra the money so they took it. Over time they took more money, and then they started taking food. About two months ago they abducted three women. Last week they killed a man.”
“And what did your friend want you to do?”
“Two things. Teach them how to defend themselves whilst providing security for the town. It’ll take a while, and we’ll basically have to do it for free.” Lilith shrugged her shoulders. “All they can afford to do is pay for our living expenses, which is why no one else is helping them.”
“Let me finish my lunch and we’ll leave. I figure it’ll take four days to get from Corone to Alerar, so we'd better get our things and get going.” Evan said as he took another bite of his steak. Such a job would have been a pleasure for him to take on. He was surprised Lilith even considered having to butter up to him for something like this, but to tell her that would have really angered her… “I don’t know why you thought you’d have to do all this for me. I would have taken a job like that for nothing.”
“Son of a bitch!”
Completely satisfied with the gifts, Evan leaned across the small circular table and thanked Lilith with a simple. “Hell no.”
“That’s not fair.” Lilith, Evan’s older sister, waved her hands in a quizzical gesture. She wasn’t in a good mood today. Somehow she mustered up the energy to suck up to Evan, treating him to lunch at his favorite spot in Radasanth, a cinnamon sugar flavored cigar, and a nice full bodied red wine, just a few of his favorite things. “Do you even know what I’m about to ask you?”
“I don’t need to. Whenever you suck up to me the task is usually a bad experience for me, like writing a boring proposal for your job, or having sex with one of your ugly friends who has a beautiful personality.” Evan couldn’t help but smile from ear to ear as Lilith dropped her head in frustration. She hid behind her veil of black hair and sunglasses, and rubbed her temples as a particularly vocal party of eight passed behind her. Evan had to comment. “Hangover is a nice color on you.”
“Fuck you.” She mumbled.
“No, sister. That would be incest,” Evan raised his voice, not just as a method of public humiliation, but also as a method of torture for Lilith’s sensitive ears. “And I refuse to partake in such a hedonistic sexual act.”
“Quiet down, punk ass!” Lilith took a slice of filet mignon off of Evan’s plate and stuffed it in his mouth by hand. “Suck on that and shut up for a second. I need to think away the pain.”
Evan gave his older sister a moment to relax as he gleefully chewed on his food. It was time to get down to business. “So what do you want me to do?”
“It’s actually what I want us to do… together… as family,” Such vein attempts to send Evan on a guilt trip were never successful. She continued. “A friend from Alerar got word that I was back in Althanas and requested my assistance. A large group of former Mazzra have decided to shake down the town of Vexile ‘d Alto on a regular basis.”
“Where’s the local law enforcement?”
“From what I’ve been told the Mazzra were supposed to be the law enforcement in peace time. At first they were, and then funding from the throne disappeared. Being broke led them to demand money from the civilians of the town for protection. Vexile ‘d Alto refused to give the Mazzra the money so they took it. Over time they took more money, and then they started taking food. About two months ago they abducted three women. Last week they killed a man.”
“And what did your friend want you to do?”
“Two things. Teach them how to defend themselves whilst providing security for the town. It’ll take a while, and we’ll basically have to do it for free.” Lilith shrugged her shoulders. “All they can afford to do is pay for our living expenses, which is why no one else is helping them.”
“Let me finish my lunch and we’ll leave. I figure it’ll take four days to get from Corone to Alerar, so we'd better get our things and get going.” Evan said as he took another bite of his steak. Such a job would have been a pleasure for him to take on. He was surprised Lilith even considered having to butter up to him for something like this, but to tell her that would have really angered her… “I don’t know why you thought you’d have to do all this for me. I would have taken a job like that for nothing.”
“Son of a bitch!”