Kings of the City (Alvis Alendran & In-Doubt)

[Alvis Alendran]

It wasn't as common as expected to see a city this side that had been built by so very many different kinds of people. Most places picked a style and went with it. Not so here. STandard and comfortable squared off buildings rose intot he sky like normal, though when you looked to the main downtown you noticed the difference far more. The center of town had a spire rising from it, like a slender needle of peral and silver, rising in the skyline, a true marvel of construction. But that was what was expected when Elven architechts put their minds to building a place that they were proud to call home.

Everyone wanted to have a population of elves in their neighbourhood, they errred ont he side of rich, and had the clout to make sure that anywhere they lived was clean and polished, it just looked like a better class of place to live. But Elves tended to stick together these days, and rarely ventured out of the downtown without a very good reason. That left much of the city otherwise to begin to rot. It was worse in the districts that were mainly made up of orcs or goblins, a people that rarely put much effort into maintaining anything. Their slums were in very rough shape, very few new constructions ever going up, and when they did they wound up looking crude, though they were solid enough to stand. People woudl avoid those areas when pssible, knowing full well that to do so was to risk your life or worse if one wasn't well protected. The worst of them, simply called the Warren, was considered a No Mans Land even to police, any forays into it resulting in far too much loss of life.

But if you truly wanted the very best opf buildings, there was really only one way to doit, and that was to get a dwarf. And that was exactly what had happened with the bar that Mokkurkalfi, or Mokk to those that knew him, stood outside of. He rolled his shoulders to try and work some of the tension out of them. Thew building he was looking at looked exactly like thre people who ahd made it. Short, squat, but strong. Real stone went into the building, somethign fantastically expensive, but it also gave Mokk a strange pang of nostalgia, of longing for something he'd never known. Mokk was a big man, hovering near to seven feet off the ground, and had a thick, heavy build of someone that took care of their form very well. His hair would have fallen just past his shoudlers, but it was braided tight to his scalp, a winding pattern that looked like it was shaped into some kind of rune or the like, clearly more than just practical, and the hair was the colour of old frost, a washed out white with a faint tinge of blue to it. Being fair, his skin bore a dusky blue hue to it as well, marking him as someone that clearly carried blood other than human in him. His eyes were a sea green with felck of ice clue in them as well, and he stepped towards the bar. It had looked like it would have low ceilings, but he had to take five steps down a stone staircase to reach the door, adn he pushed it open to see what the place looked like.

Dwatven architechture hadn't changed much in more than two thousand years, and for good reason.

They'd gotten it right the first time.

The place was open, though it was broken up by rising stone columns that rose to the ceiling, and the entire place was hand carved by stone masons that had centuries of experience at their craft. The ceiling was made of carefully made brick, fitted so finely that there was barely a perceptable line where each new brick was placed, the whole thing fitted together without mortar, a feat that boggle the mind, but it looked gorgeous. The ceiling was vaulted, making it twelve feet in height, which made this one of the few places Mokk could go without worrying about hitting his head. He saw each table was built of solid oak wood, polished down and finished to a high sheen. The place had a decent crowd in it, about half full, but that was an accomplishment given that it was barely past noon. The bar was a masterwork of construction, and against expectation, it wasn't wood. Most dwarves would tell you that wood wasn't good for much mroe than burning. THis was all carved basalt, and Mokk didn't want to even think about the expense of hauling that much volcanic rock up to the city. Still, it accented the place well, and the polsihed surface shone in the light of the place. The bartender was only what could be expected, a squat dwarf with a long beard and a permanent scowl on his face. Mokk found a stool, one that sat low, knowing that it had been made specifically for someone like his to put him at a comfortable eye level at the bar.
"Grunlock." Mokk said in greeting. The bartender gave a grunt of acknowledgement. "Good to see you too." The dwarf gave another wordless grunt. "Can I get a pint of the ale?" The dwarf nodded, adn grabbed a metal stein, and stepped to a wooden keg at the back of the bar area, and turned the tap, expertly topping up the stein. He set it in front of Mokk without a word, and moved on to another customer approaching hte bar. Mokk took a long pull fromt he glass. Cold and strong, it was the best ale int he city, bar none, and it always made him smile to have a drink.
He scanned around the bar, looking for anything that might seem out of place, and he saw some new faces. A few toughs from the various excuses for gangs in this area, none of htem could really muster much in numbers or strength, but they put on airs like they were untouchable. What he also noted was a ground of three of them all hassling a woman that he didn't recognize. He cocked his head as he watched her try adn deflect them, knowing that he'd have remembered if she been in here before, she stood out a little. Still, he didn't like the look of this, and stood up, resting his jacket on his stool, and started to make his way over to the brewing confrontation.

 

[In-Doubt]

"Half now, half when we get our products." A man stood, arms crossed. His eyes were a dark brown, almost black, his skin was pale and his hair jet black. His name was Jack and he was the boss of the Bloodfang Gang. The person he was talking to was his supplier. The Bloodfang Gang were known for their dealings in drugs, not just any drug, pixie. Pixie was a new form of drug, made by people who had access to magic. This drug caused the user to hallucinate their wildest dreams, if you had always dreamed of flying you could with pixie, if you had always dreamed of having a family, you could with pixie. The only downfall was the user was not in control of their actions outside of the hallucination, which sometimes resulted in the user dying or accidentally causing harm to others. If the user overdosed, they would be stuck in a coma for who knows how long. Of course, that was the pure pixie. The Bloodfang Gang, or rather, Jack, wanted more profit, so he put different chemicals into the drug to dilute the purity and give him more supply for cheaper. This in itself was dangerous, there were many side affects like loss of sight, vomit, dehydration, and many more that ultimately affected the user's lives after sometime. They weren't always immediate, some chemicals would sit inside the users for days, weeks and months and slowly eat away at their health. It was safe to say, pixie was illegal. But still, Jack didn't care about the people he sold to, he only cared about their money. Who got the money for Jack? Well, that was where Cassie came in.

Cassie was an attractive girl, she had been raised in a family of four, her mother, father and her brother. Her father had been part of the Bloodfang Gang when he was younger, in fact he was the one that introduced Cassie to Jack. He himself had left the gang a few years after the birth of Cassie, but Jack had something Cassie wanted, information. Just by looking at Cassie you could tell there was something different about her. She looked human, her skin was a lovely tan, her height quite normal for a girl at 5'7 ft, and her features very human-like. However, the oddities came when she let her hair down, literally. Her beautiful dark blue hair, which she always told people she dyed, was as light as a feather. Everytime the wind would blow or there was a slight breeze, her hair would pick up and wave around, it annoyed her enough to always wear her hair in a bun. Her eyes were green, but they were a bright green compared to her fathers and almost looked like they sparkled. She wasn't convinced that she was pure human, but her parents denied that they had any supernatural beings in their hereditary. So that left her asking questions and trying to find out information on what exactly she was.

This was where Jack came in, he had money. People with money could get information on basically anything. She lent Jack her power to control people's emotions, even if it was weak it seemed to work on most situations. In return he would bring her on meetings, give her information that he thought she might be interested in. But that hadn't got her very far at all, it was mostly useless information about elves, goblins and orcs. She was certain none of those races were mixed in with her DNA.

So once again, Cassie had come along with Jack to one of his meetings with his supplier. There wasn't much arguing, Cassie always made sure of that. But there wasn't anything of worth to Cassie either. The meeting was over with quite fast and Jack allowed Cassie to leave for the day, as he would have more to do without her. It was still quite early in the day, but she wanted to gather some information, if she could. The best way to do that was to ask stupid drunks with loose tongues. Which brought her to a bar she happened to be passing. She hadn't been there before, but it looked beautiful. She could tell it wasn't just a bar, it was a work of art, most likely created by dwarves. Cassie took a seat at the bar and as she ordered her first drink, someone sat beside her.

"Hey Beautiful, can I get you a drink?" He was well built, muscular and tattooed on every limb. To a normal girl, he would have been attractive, but to Cassie he was just a bother.
Flashing a smile she shook her head. "No thank you, I just ordered."

While her power was useful in many situations, controlling drunk's was quite difficult. They weren't in the right state of mind and their emotions were usually all over the place, even if she wanted to calm them they would always find a way to continue their harassment. Cassie found herself either using more of her power, or asking someone to step in and help her. In this world, you had to be careful where you used your power and how much you used. Cassie had experimented with her power, but could never see how far she could go with it.

As her drink arrived two more men joined her, one close behind her with his hands resting on her shoulder, as if she were a support. She could smell the booze on their breath, it was disgusting.
"Come on baby, let us get you a couple of drinks and then we could have some more fun."
Cassie took a sip from her drink. "Sorry guys, I'm actually waiting for my boyfriend." It was a simple tactic she used, and usually if the men weren't too far gone, it would work and make the men disperse. However, these men didn't budge. Even as she emitted some calming waves, they still stuck to her like glue.
"Boyfriend? That's okay, we won't tell him." The man behind her started moving his hands down her shoulders and to her waist. Cassie growled.
"Don't touch me." Her usual calming waves weren't doing anything, the curse of the drunk.
"Let's go to mine, we can continue this party there." The men laughed, but it only made Cassie more angry.

 

[Alvis Alendran]

Mokk had been right, he really didn't like the look of this, and frankl,y the bouncers seemed like they were occupied keeping a pair of or orcs from starting a fight on hte other side of the room. He made a note about this. Something to keep in mind. He heard the laughter, saw the look on the woman's face, and leaned against he pillar nearest to the brewing issue, his posture easy and slumped. He still was a few good inches over the heads of the offending drunks.
"Gentlemen, gentlemen, I believe the lady has asked you to move along, let's not make this awkward." He said as soothingly as possible. They all turned at the voice, and looked at him.

"Buddy, this aint your business, fuck right off." One of them half slurred. Mokk sighed, and pushed off the pillar, ending his slouch to tower over the men.
"Now boys, you're looking lie you're going to let that booze in you make a very bad call here. This is the last time I'm going to ask you nicely, Step back, I'll buy you all a round. Sound good?" Mokk asked with a smile. The drunks all seemed to hesitate a moment before something seemed to ignite in their eyes, a faint flickering of emotion before hte leader of them swung his fist at Mokk. The much bigger man sighed, adn turned, taking hte hit on his shoulder, a brief flrae of pain before swinging his own fist out, connecting with the side of his assailant's face. The head snapped tot he side, adn the man went slack, boneless it seemed, adn collasped ontot he floor three feet away from where he'd stood.

There was a long, pregnant silence as everyone in the bar stopped to look at the scene.

Then that silence shattered.

With a shout of anger, the other two drunks came at Mokk, one grabbing a barstool to swing as he did. This was odd to Mokk, most of the time seeing one of yur friends get dropped like a pole axed ox was a good reason to walk away, not get thrown into the fray. But here they were. He wondered if it was some stupid pride thing from having the woman right htere. He wouldn't be surprised, he'd seen some classically stupid things done because of pride, had done a few of htem himself even.

He was going to have to focus here he realized as he ducked aside from a punch, and then stepping back to avoid the stool. He let the furniture go past him, and then lunged in. His forehead connected with the nose of the armed attacker. The nose nearly exploded in a welter of blood, sending hte man howling to the floor, and Mokk stepped up to grab his friend by the arm. With a cold smile, he swung the man off his feet, slamming his back into the stone pillar. The man fell, and curled up into a groaning mess. The bouncer was approaching tentatively.

"Sir? I'm...going to have to ask you to go?" he asked hesitantly, aware that the man he spoke to was a half foot taller than him and had had laid out three men in no time.
"I'll pass. I'm Grunlock's partner in this bar, helped it get built. So I'll stick around i think. Right Grunlock?" He called. The dwarf made an affirmative grunt, and didn't look up from what he wasdoing. The bouncer nodded, and started to drag the offending drunks tot he door to be tossed. Mokk shook his shoulders to keep them loose, and then ooked back at the woman. He approached her calmly.

"Hey, you all right there?" he asked her.

 

[In-Doubt]

Cassie expressed how over this little exchange she was with a glare at the glass in front of her. She should have brought her gun with her. Taking a deep breath she was about to release a bit more power, enough to make the men overload into a little nap. However, just as she was about to, another voice came from behind the men. Cassie turned with the men, all eyes on the newcomer.

He was enormous, compared to a normal human anyway. His skin was slightly blue, curious. Cassie drank in his image, noting whatever she could. He clearly was no human, but she couldn't pin exactly what he was. The only thing she knew for sure, was he was big. It would be a shame to let him go without witnessing this power. Cassie changed her waves to anger and the result was almost immediate. The men that had been harassing her now lunged at the taller man. Her eyes widened as he man took care of the man like he was a child. What the hell was that? The man lay on the ground, motionless. Shit, this guy was powerful. Cassie didn't stop her emotional aura, on one hand she wanted to see what would happen, on the other hand she was entranced in the situation before her. Her aura continued, which only fueled the fire of the two men that had just seen their friend get absolutely destroyed by one hit. Cassie stepped away from the fight, she didn't want to be in the way when the next guy got destroyed. One after the other, the larger male made quick work of the two.

A bouncer approached the male and asked him to leave. Cassie stopped her aura and looked at the bouncer, he was going to kick out a guy that just got attacked? This was why she hated authority in the country, they were so drunk on power they punished the decent citizens. However, it turned out this guy had helped build this bar and was a co-owner. She looked at the bouncer who decided to drag the other men out instead. Finally, he turned his attention to Cassie and asked if she was alright.

She didn't smile, she didn't even thank he right away. No, she was more interested in what exactly he was.
"I'm fine."
Crossing her arms she looked him up and down.
"You're a good fighter, are you self taught or did someone else teach you?"

 

[Alvis Alendran]

Well, she answered, that was the bare minimum of what might be expected. Gratitude seemed to not be a thing in this case, which while Mokk felt a surge of annoyance he also knew that it wouldn't help him. He pushed that feelign down, kept it out of his mind. He needed that kind of control in his line of work. It was good to know that she was fine, unhurt and not overly stressed byt the sudden surge of violence that had occurred. He'd seen that happen more than a few times. The way she seemed unfazed by it, that made him wonder a few things about her. It clearly wasn't outside of her experience, or at least something she'd witnessed more than once. He filed that away for later considerarion.

"Not hard to beat a drunk. Especially one that's a foot shorter than you and half your weight. But to answer your question...a bit of both. My...my father taught m the basics. The specifics came with practice." He said plainly. He paused a moment, taking in how she looked, how she held herself. There was something about her that made him wonder.

He offered a hand to her for a shake.
"I'm Mokkurkalfi. People call me Mokk. It's nice to meet you." He had as warma tone in his voice as he ever did.

If Mokk was being honest, he wasn't that great at the negotiating process. He had specific skills, skills that his father used properly, but hte talking, he left that to his sister. Some women threw themselves at him by nature of his size, and while that was all well and good to apss the time, he had to admit to a moment of appreciation for someone that didn't seem all that interested in his for that aspect. It made a nice change of pace.