Completed A fresh start? (monster hunter)

[Shiera]

The tavern was riddled with noises of laughter and chatter, radiating a warm atmosphere that was probably due to alcohol. A lone musician was playing in a wooden stage, a small stage. He sang with a clear voice, barely being able to hear himself due to the noise. On one of the most disruptful table, a joyful group of threatening-looking men was sitting down, laughing and drinking. However, at the center of this table, was a young woman, with long wavy black hair and light blue eyes. She was looking at the men, smiling mischievously, and if you observed carefully or listened, you'd know that the men were laughing at a story the woman was telling, a story that concerned a knight and her in an amusing conflict.
Shiera looked at the men surrounding her, taking a drink as she washed in their loud laughs. A drink, finally. That's what she had been needing. Of course though, that wasn't the reason she was in the tavern. She had been followed for a few hours, so she got herself here to lose whoever was following her. She didn't complain though, it was a nice place after all. She just prayed that nobody in here would recognize her, the infamous thief of Alliria, now in Vel Anir.

 

[Smiling One]

"Hey you!"

Willis overheard a raspy, haggard voice yelling at a patron. It was just a typical day in the tavern. Some drunk asshole tends to muster up fools courage and think they can take on anyone. The young mercenary paid no mind to it focusing on his cold ale that lay before him. The froth began to bubble and pour out from the edge of the metal jug. Willis' mouth began to salivate his eyes gazing at the beverage it felt as though Willis had found buried treasure or a portal stone.

"Is your name Robert son of Robert?!" The drunk man continued to shout at the poor soul who was cowering in front of him. Willis sighed, it wasn't a situation that involved him besides he had an alcoholic beverage to drink and a invitation to attend later. The bartender craned his head towards the drunk patron, his eyes filling with worry. "This is the fifth time Harry has picked a fight." the bartender muttered. "Damn Sailors always trying to start something."

Willis frowned. "I miss the part where I should care," he grumbled. "Fights happen in Taverns all the time, when you have exhausted, angry people and inject them with copious amounts of alcohol then no shit it can turn to chaos."

"I am Robert," the frightened young man replied. The Sailor grinned his bulging arms twitching a bit, in an instant the Sailor grabbed the boys neck and held him up high for a bit before throwing him in Willis' direction.

"Fuck!" Willis managed to run dive on to the ground belly first before the young man haplessly landed on to the table and on to the Ale Willis was salivating over five minutes ago. The jug of Ale fell on to the floor its contents spilling next to a shocked and angered Willis.

"Time to kill you!" The Sailor shouted swaying back and forth lumbering to the beaten kid. Willis forced himself up before glowering at the drunken man. He's sailed with Pirates when he was younger and they know you DO NOT fucking mess with another sea dogs drink!

"Hey fucker!" Willis spat. "That was my drink you spilled! I don't give a shit what this kid do to you but you're going to have to pay for that!"

"Fuck you!" the Sailor charged at Willis bellowing. Willis grabbed the spilt metal jug and hurled it towards the Sailor's skull. Metal met flesh as the Sailor staggered clutching his bruised head allowing Willis rush in and kicked him in the crotch. The Sailor howled in pain falling to his knees, Willis silenced him with a punch to the throat and the drunk Sailor fell down face first coughing.

Willis shook his head, "one moment of relaxation!" he said. "All for nothing! Fuck you!"

The kid slowly got off the table while the bartender emerged from his hiding place. "Thank you sir," the boy said. "I don't know why he tried to attack me but thank you."

Willis sighed stepping over the coughing sailor heading for the exit. When he reached the door, Willis turned his head to Robert. "Think nothing of it."

 

[Shiera]

As Shiera was kinda listening to a story one of the men was telling, she found herself rather distracted by a fight that was happening in the tavern. Don't get her wrong, fights happen all the time in bars and other nightly places filled to the brim with alcohol, but this one was different. This one had someone who knew how to fight. She watched intently, and when the tall man, who ended the fight was about to leave, she got herself up swiftly and quietly, saying some excuses to the men, who paid her no mind.

She went ahead, and kneeled down besides the struggling sailor, who didn't notice her at first.

"You okay?" she asked with a sultry voice, putting her hands around him, as if to help him get up, yet as she did, she got her hand in his pocket, where his riches were, and grabbed a hold of them. Sure, Shiera knew that stealing from tavern-people, especially those who visited poor taverns like this one wouldn't get her much, regardless, she needed the money, and stealing from a drunk, violent and angry sailor felt justified.

"I'm fine" the sailor grunted between a fit of coughs, letting her help him attempt to sit up.

"I hope so, you got into quite the beating" Shiera said, letting go of the man, making this one topple back down. However, she didn't really care, for his riches were now safely in her own bag.

"Damn it!" the sailor said, but as he looked back to see who had tried to help him, he found no one.

Shiera smiled as she passed through the crowds of people, heading for the exit.

 

[Smiling One]

Just as Willis was about to exit he heard a woman's voice talking to the man he just beat the shit out of. The young man turned around watching a cute woman help up the drunken sailor who moments ago was trying to kill Robert in a drunken rage. Perhaps that's his girlfriend, Willis snorted she's too good for an ugly muscle meathead by in the woman's case no accounting for taste. He shrugged and was about to exit the tavern but from the corner of his eye, Willis saw the woman quickly reach for the sailor's pocket and took his coin pouch.

"The oldest trick in the book," Willis murmured. The woman was a thief huh? Willis did some pickpocketing as a child growing up in the docks. He stopped doing it when he became a Pirate but every now and then it didn't hurt to use his old tricks especially for Monster Hunting. Maybe it was time to meet this woman, it had been a while since Willis had flirted with one.

"Very impressive," Willis smirked at the woman when she arrived at the exit. "I have never seen someone pickpocketed a sailor so fast."

 

[Shiera]

Shiera looked at the man who had talked to her, recognizing him from the one that ultimately ended the fight. So she had been caught, eh? Fortunately, he didn't seem like the lawful type.

"What now?" she asked him, smiling coyly "Are you going to beat me up?" she was sliding to the exit door, wanting to be in an open space in case he was going to attempt to do something. "Where did you learn those moves anyway?" she asked, genuinely curious, as she put a hand in the handle of the exit door, leaning unto it as she moved her body facing him.

 

[Smiling One]

Willis smiled at the raven haired woman taking a strand of her hair and twirling it around his finger. "Now," he whispered in her ear fully aware of the people in the tavern gaping at them. The sailor in particular face was reddened with rage at the woman. One thing he learned from being a pickpocket was that a person must steal the item and disappear quickly before the victim finds out.

"Why in the hell what I would I beat up a winsome woman such as you?" he said his tone low and sultry. "Now as for my tricks." the young man slowly went to her waist and in a second swiped the coin pouch away from her the bag coins sat directly on his palm.

"Let's just say I've had some training," he winked. "What's your name? I'm Willis Reede."

 

[Shiera]

Shiera frowned at the man, who she now knew his name was Willis, once he took her coin pouch, but as she glanced behind them and saw that the angry sailor from before was looking at them angrily and getting ready to stand up, she grabbed Willis hand and dragged him behind her, outside the tavern. A cool night welcomed them, the dark streets of the city being quiet besides the mess from inside the bar. She let go of his hand.

"Give them back and I'll tell you" she said referencing to the coins, glancing at him as she started walking, meaning to get away from the place and knowing he had some sort of interest towards her so he would follow... probably. If he meant to run off, she knew she had the abilities to catch up to him.

 

[Smiling One]

Willis felt as though his shoulder was going to be ripped from his socket. The woman was pretty strong that and Willis had been dealing with a sore shoulder for the past few weeks. He dealt with Ancient Elemental Stone Golems a week ago for a contract and he ended being trapped in a rock tomb summoned by the Golem. Willis managed to escape using anti magic scroll but because the scroll malfunctioned halfway through the casting the young man had to physically move one of the rocks and ended up injuring his shoulder.

"All right," Willis said handing the coin pouch to the woman. "I don't care if you stole it from that Sailor anyway, he's a murderous idiot. So you part of the Thieves Guild? Do some work in the Swallows?"

The young man didn't notice the Sailor coming towards them.

 

[Shiera]

She smiled as the pouch was handed to her, getting it inside of her pocket before replying.
"I work for no one but myself" she said "and my name's Shiera" she turned towards Willis, smiling, but as she did, she saw the sailor behind him and her gaze darkened as she completely turned around, facing Willis and the sailor, walking backwards.

"Watch out!" she alerted, ready to bolt off the second things got out of hand. Shiera was terrible at combat, so she was better off running away, even if that meant leaving Willis behind, she had to think of herself first, as always.

 

[Smiling One]

Willis blinked when Shiera told him to look out. She was typical street thief eh? Work alone and look out for number one except she is very pretty and has an extra advantage over men. Shiera moved quickly as fast as a Gazelle. One needed quickness especially for a pickpocket especially with the Allirian Guard prowling around. Willis liked to think that the Allirian Guard chasing thieves around gave them good exercise. He noticed that the guards lately were becoming a little hefty likely because they were busy gorging themselves of an assortment of food that was produced thanks to a great harvest year.

The Allirian Guard were nowhere near as incompetent as the Elbion Guard but like them they were prone to corruption. Willis sighed watching the Sailor approach him. He was flanked by three men his fellow mates most likely. They were smaller in build compared to the sailor but just as mean and muscular. “Out of our way!” The sailor growled. “Our beef is with the bitch!”

“Don’t tell me you forgot about me already,” Willis smirked.

“I haven’t,” the sailor responded. “But the bitch has my coin.”

“Well you have to go through me,” Willis said.

the sailor laughed. “There’s four of us you stupid bastard!”

“Well it’s even fight then.”

The Sailor shook his head. “Well,” he said. “Let’s take of this buck lads! This shouldn’t take long!”

 

[Shiera]

Shiera looked at what was happening as she frowned. "The bitch, huh? Not the worst one I've received" she said under her breath as she turned around and ran off, glad that they were distracted.

Did she feel regret about leaving Willis behind? Perhaps a little, but she ultimately didn't care about the regret. What mattered most was her well being first.

And so, she ran away, getting deeper into the city. It was quite a misfortune that she was new to the place, for although she had a great memory, she was somewhere she hadn't been in before, full of empty, dark streets and alleyways everywhere. And in one wrong turn she did, she found herself in one of the mentioned alleyways, a very tall wall before her, too tall to climb.

"Fuck" she murmured.

 

[Smiling One]

A mercenary was walking through the alleyways sharpening his knife with a whetstone. It was a slow day and work was drying up for him. Normally when things get too peaceful, mercenary companies would often try to instigate conflict to get some business going. Mercs get their income not only from wealthy clients but also from plunder by sacking cites during warfare.

He was no longer part of a mercenary company since they were all wiped out during the battle in the Savannah. They were contracted by some Shah who got his ass kicked by the new Emperor Gerra. When the battle was drawing to a close, the Merc slit his Captain's throat and ran off with treasure chest of coin they received by the now dead Shah. A few drinks, whores and gambling later the coin dried up and he's left without a job. Until he saw a young girl running past him.... a smile formed on his lips she looked well dressed and beautiful perhaps a kidnapping could do.

"Maybe her father got coin," he whispered approaching the young girl. "We'll see."

"Hey there sweetheart!" The man shouted to the girl cornering her. "You seem lost perhaps I could be of assistance?"

 

[Shiera]

Shiera turned around at the voice of the strange man, instinctively taking a step back. Okay act cool, she thought.

"Hey" she said, pulling a strand of hair behind her ear "No thanks, I'm quite alright. I'm waiting for my boyfriend at the moment" she smoothly lied, touching the wall that was besides her and walking towards him, and therefore, towards the only viable exit of the alley. Shiera was nervous, sensing that this individual didn't mean any good. She felt her dagger in her boot, reminding herself that, if there were no other options, she could fight... though she was incredibly bad at it.

 

[Smiling One]

The mercenary chuckled looking around the musty alleyway a Rat scurried around his rusted Iron boots. The girl tried to act like she was calm but her shaking body and the fact that she immediately took a step back from him suggested that she was scared. "Interesting that you're waiting for your boyfriend in the middle of this shithole." he said.

In many ways Allria was a shithole his shithole. The Merc was born and raised in the Outer Area of Alliria, that place was neglected by the guard mostly due to the bribes placed by the gangs who reside in The Swallows. He loved it and knew every nook and cranny in this city. The Merc sized up the woman and smiled. "You look rich," he said. "And beautiful maybe your boyfriend could pay for your capture."

And with that the Mercenary grabbed the woman by her long hair and began dragging her out of the alleyway.

 

[Shiera]

Shiera was grabbed by the hair, getting roughly dragged along. Now to add to her panic, there was rage.

"Hey! Let go off me, you creep!" She screamed, hoping somebody would help her. Of course, Shiera was far from rich, having stolen most of the clothes she was wearing. Nevertheless, she didn't want to tell the guy, for who knew how he would treat her then?

And that's when Shiera remembered her dagger, trying to get down to the level of her boots without the man noticing, hoping to get ahold of it as she grunted because of the harsh pulls.

"You fucking animal! Let me go!" She screamed once more

 

[Smiling One]

The Merc laughed keeping an Iron vice grip on her hair. "Sweetheart!" The mercenary said continuing to force the woman to walk with each painful tug on the woman's raven black hair. "I'll let go if your boyfriend comes and pays of the ransom I'm going to put on you!" he said. "It's just business my lady! You've got a nice fucking dress there!"

As soon as the Merc saw the woman try to bend down he yanked her head back pulling her hair painfully. He gotten close to the girl to the point where he touched his forehead against hers. "What you trying to bend down for huh?" he said in a sickeningly sweet tone. "You hiding something?"

 

[Shiera]

Shiera looked at the guy once he got uncomfortably, sickeningly close, so close she was able to smell his disgusting breath.

She smiled at him, a sickeningly fake smile "You know what I'm hiding, jackass? Shit that you can put right up your stinky little mouth there!" She grunted at him, screaming the last part.

"And honestly, what kind of high-class lady do you think would be running in these parts of town? This is obviously not my dress! It was a family heirloom! Now let go!" She said, pulling against his hand.

 

[Smiling One]

That was the wrong thing to say but the mercenary wasn't surprised that the girl had a weapon in her boot. "Well what do you know!" The merc said pushing her down and stomping on her hair. "Well in that case let's see what we got!" The mercenary said gleefully reaching to her boot, he found the knife and causally tossed it on his hand. "I like this knife," he said. "It's nice fucking knife."

 

[Shiera]

Shiera let out a yelp when she was pushed down, desperation filling her.

And desperation filled her even more when the man managed to grab her dagger.

"Give. That. Back" she seethed, glaring knifes at him. "And let me go, you won't gain shit from me" she said as she struggled beneath his boot "You'll just get into trouble, so let me go!" She, once again, screamed the last part, hoping somebody would hear her once more

 

[Smiling One]

One of the men charged at Willis but he sidestepped and hit him in the back of the head. It was too easy, all these men were drunken brutes who were clearly out of it. “Two down,” Willis muttered. “Two to go.” One man roared and unleashed a flurry of fists on to him. The young man effortlessly dodged all of the punches, it was like a second nature to him. Willis could see an opponents punch and act accordingly.



Once Willis saw an opening, he blocked one of the punches and hit the man squarely In the eye. The man screamed, stumbled and hit his head onto the concrete. The young man turned his attention to the shaking thug standing in front of him his face full of fear.



“One more.”



The Sailor didn’t put a fight, instead screamed and ran past Willis and disappeared into the night. Willis sighed looking over the bodies and noticed the girl likely went through the alleyway. “Shiera?” Willis called out. “Are you okay?”

 

[Shiera]

Shiera raised her head at her name being called, gasping slightly once she realised it was Willis. Did he manage to beat all four sailors? She guessed so.

She looked at the man, pinning her in place "That's my boyfriend, see? Told you he would come" she said to him.

"I'm here!" she screamed, hoping he would hear her.

Her anxieties were starting to go down, happy that there may still be a way out of this situation.

 

[Smiling One]

The mercenary smiled “well then!” He said hoisting her up by her hair “Saves me the trouble to actually doing that hard shit like hiding you and writing a letter to him!” Willis ran into the alleyway his vision briefly obscured by the darkness.

“where are you?!” Willis looked around the narrow passageway. Alliria had some of the most dangerous alleyways in Arethil though it was at a distant second compared to Elbion with the cults prowling around.

“She’s right here,” the mercenary said holding Sheira by the hair. “I’ve kept her nice and safe for you lover boy.”

“What the fuck?” Willis instinctively grabbed the hilt of his Cutlass his eyes gazing on Shera struggling against the Mercenaries grip. “Sheila!” Willis cried out.

 

[Shiera]

Shiera smiled apologetically at him, trying to send the message that she wasn't hurt at all.

"Hey there babe" she said, smiling "Was waiting for you, you took your sweet time. Now please tell this asshole here, to fucking let me go!" she said as she struggled against the grip of the man. Maybe, if the man got distracted, she could kick him where the sun doesn't shine, but the downside of that would be if the man didn't let go of her, and Shiera didn't want to risk getting him too mad.

She looked at her surroundings, maybe thinking of using something around to her or to Willis advantage.

 

[Smiling One]

Willis raised an eyebrow at Shieras statement. Babe? They barely knew each other! Then again, Willis has slept with tavern waitresses he’s known for half a second. It seemed that Shiera wanted Willis to play her lover but why? “So you’re the boyfriend?” The Mercenary asked. The young man frowned examining the man holding Shiera by the hair, he looked familiar to Willis but he couldn’t make out where he’s seen the mercenary before.

“That I am,” Willis said calmly removing his hand from the hilt of his Cutlass. “You really shouldn’t be treating a lady like that. Please let go of her hair and we’ll go in peace.”

“Of course that wasn’t going to happen,” Willis thought. “Might as well be diplomatic.”

The mercenary tugged at Sheiras long hair painfully. “Not if you get me the coin,” he said. “She’s a pretty expensive girl.”

 

[Shiera]

Shiera looked at Willis gratefully, happy that he was playing along. As long as the guy focused on them, perhaps he wouldn't focus on the fact that she was a wanted criminal, and therefore actually worth quite a lot. Then again, the timing was in her side, since it was so very dark outside.

Shiera grunted "Look, it's cute and all that you think I'm expensive, but I'll tell you this: None of us have nothing on us. The dress, as I stated before, is a family heirloom." she stated. Her voice then took a sympathetic tone, a well rehearsed one that nobody would notice was fake "Look, I bet you were born on the streets, just as everyone in this conversation was, how do you feel about stealing from us? From your people?" she stated, hoping to gain a little bit of sympathy.