Vicious

[Bean Bandit]

Some time later, the shuttle exited the jump gate and approached Callisto, landing into a cold, snowy morning. The city scape was not nearly as immense as the Mars city where he'd woken up, but Vicious was struck by the low slung city's dreary and cold nature. In fact, if you listened, you could almost hear the low, mournful sound of a saxaphone...Or could you?

As the Shuttle landed, Lin turned to Vicious.

"We're two days early for the rendezvous. Do you have any orders in the meantime, Vicious?"

[Carthrat]

Vicious quickly ran through his thoughts.

"Lin, make sure the warehouse is secure. I have some... private business to attend to while here. I shall meet you at the warehouse at five this afternoon. Do as you will after you have checked the warehouse. Make sure you're there when I said."

In truth, Carthrat just wanted to get away from all of this and have a drink or two. He couldn't *stand* the way his thoughts were turning darker every passing minute!

He reflected that getting even slightly tipsy probably wasn't the smartest thing to do in this situation..  but right now, he didn't care.

[Bean Bandit]

Lin gave Vicious a sharp look, and spoke up.

"I will accompany you, Vicious."

[Carthrat]

Inside, Carthrat swore.

Outside...

Vicious raised an eyebrow.

"As you say..."

He strode off, having thankfully memorised the location of the warehouse earlier.

[Bean Bandit]

Lin followed Vicious, nodding, as the nearby crew of the shuttle hastened to carry out the orders Vicious had issued to Lin in his stead...

[Carthrat]

Carthrat swore. Multiple times.

In his head, of course. Vicious, to the best of Carthrat's knowledge, had no private business on Callisto. He couldn't exactly buy a drink; Lin would get suspicious.

And so, he wandered throughout the streets of Callisto aimlessly, memorising location after location using the wonderful, wonderful photographic memory he seemed to have acquired off of Vicious...

He abruptly stopped, as did Lin. His raven swooped down from the sky and landed on his shoulder.

A worried expression flashed over his face as he realised he'd come to exactly the place he wanted to stay away from...

"The Blue Crow"

Don't panic, Carthrat. Just keep walking...

[Bean Bandit]

Outside the Blue Crow, the thin, mournful wail of a saxophone trickled out through the door.  As Vicious stopped, a patron, reeking so badly of liquor that he was nearly emitting smell rays visible to the naked eye, stumbled from the bar.

The door hesitated as it closed, affording Vicious a glimpse inside. It was dark, but adequately lit, with customers drinking away their lives, each walled off in their own private hells that they drank to escape from.

Futher on, beyond the tables, a man with hair dark like liquid night, was blowing into the saxophone that breathed life into the tune.

His eyes were closed, and he was clearly putting his all into the music.

As the door swung closed, his eyes languidly...almost lazily slitted open...and abruptly widened as he locked gazes with Vicious....

[Carthrat]

Vicious looked back, equally stunned for a moment. He managed to reassert his cold front just a fraction of a second too late as the door shut...

He moved off quickly, but not hurridly, quickly turning down a side street and walking like he knew where he was going..

[Bean Bandit]

As Vicious walked down the side street, with Lin following silently, the shadows on the brickwork of nearby buildings began to move, not quite in sync with Vicious and Lin.

After they'd come some ways down the street, various people began moving out of the shadows, each and every one of them staring hard at the interlopers in their territory...

[Carthrat]

Pretending nothing was happening, Vicious continued walking down the street, though his eyes flickered left and right, slightly with fear, and slightly with cold planning..

His grip tightened on the his sword..

And, with a subtle flick of his shoulder, his raven was sent high into the sky, cawing loudly..

[Bean Bandit]

The people made no moves other than to glare at Vicious and Lin.

However, a fair distance down the street, a large man with Asiatic features stepped out to the middle of the street to face them.

He spoke with a quiet, cultured accent, but with definitive authority.

"What business do you have in our part of the city, sir?"

[Carthrat]

The Carthrat side of Vicious thought, "Fuck. Run."

The Vicious side of Vicious thought, "How DARE he..."

The two merged into the words, "Moving through it to get to OUR party of the city."

A smirk flicked it's way over Vicious's face. "Sir."

<->

I can't BELIEVE I just said that...

[Bean Bandit]

The large man merely raised an eyebrow. "Very well. One thing. You and your companion each carry weapons. Will you give you word that you are not here to start trouble?"

[Carthrat]

"Of course."

Vicious mock-bowed to the man, though keeping aware that he may be attacked from behind.

"I, Vicious, swear that I will not bring trouble to your part of the town.."

With that, he straightened, and started walking again.

[Bean Bandit]

And Lin followed casually.

The large man, shrugged and moved aside to let them pass. Apparently, that had been all he wanted. Even as he did, however, and even larger man stepped out from the crowd, directly in front of Vicious.

If the first man was large, this man was immense. A large, blonde head topped a beefy barrel chest, which seemed even bigger for the thick winter coat worn on it.

"Leader!" He called to the Asian man. "You would take the word of these swine?"