[color=bdbdbd][center] [url=http://www.roleplayerguild.com/posts/3461229][color=DBA901][b][u]C L A R I T I E V A L E[/u][/b][/color][/url] ... .. . [/center] [color=ffffff]"There's a story... about where I've been that needs to be told."[/color] Clo tore away from the weary gaze of a young woman and looked to the horizon. Somewhere out there was her home and something was telling her it was time to go back. [color=ffffff]"It starts there far away in a very different place. I'll tell it to you someday..."[/color] She turned back to the woman and held her face in the palms of her hands, cradling the warm soft skin against her more callous touch. [color=ffffff]"But not today Mum. We have to go."[/color] She moved to rise but was caught by the wrist. [color=ffffff]"How did you find me?"[/color] [center][img]http://www.expressionsmusicacademy.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/divider.png[/img] [color=DBA901]One month ago. Somewhere in Georgia.[/color] ... .. . [/center] [color=ffffff]"Mike! Who parked in my spot?"[/color] Mike looked up from the dusty bar to see a group of three men enter his establishment. Dirty and weathered from walking the dead world outside, they snaked in between the few occupied tables and made their way over to him, their disappointment with recent parking arrangements clear across all their faces. [color=ffffff]"Everybody knows I park there man. Everybody. Every damn day."[/color] He came to a stop on the other side of the wooden divider and pressed a finger into the aged surface, smudging dust beneath ridges of caked skin. [color=ffffff]"So who the fuck has the balls to park in my spot."[/color] The last bit was stated, not asked. [color=ffffff]"Relax."[/color] [color=ffffff]"Oh I'm relaxed. I'm a patient man. A forgiving man so you tell that little fuck, whoever it is to get the fuck on... before I do it myself."[/color] Mike sighed. The spirited survivor in front of him was one of many who felt a little too entitled to their little slice of life, this one more than others. He could understand though. Those who lived away from the city were without the comfort of those within. They had little to call their own and to some, what little they did have meant the world to them. In Mike's case it was his bar. He cherished it more than anything and worked hard to keep the place alive. Bryant? The heated idiot in front of him? All he cared about was premium parking. His priorities were lacking direction. [color=ffffff]"Color of the bike."[/color] [color=ffffff]"Black."[/color] [color=ffffff]"That's mine."[/color] Bryant turned toward the offending female voice and opened his mouth to say something. Whatever it was caught in his throat... but only for a second. [color=ffffff]"Do... do you know who I am?"[/color] He asked the deep golden wells that stared right through him. The woman, who's soft complexion and light skin made for an already disarming appearance, held eyes that held him. Long pitch black hair stretch to mid back, faded red garment fell from her shoulders and wrapped around her waist hugging her form and the edges of the armor she'd adorned. At her hip hung a sword of peculiar and attractive design... and a handgun. A belt held what looked to be several pouches where ammunition could be stored but it was anyone's guess if the thing was actually loaded. They never were. More importantly, between her lips was a lit cig. A variant on those from before the war centuries ago, these were manufactured today but even then they were hard to come buy and were worth quite a lot. He watched as she plucked it from her mouth and snuffed it out, pushing the unfinished portion back into a whole pack full of them. [color=ffffff]"You're going to have to forgive me. I'm new to these parts... who are you?"[/color] By now, the fire that was brewing in the man's gut had been smothered and having already forgotten why he'd stormed into the bar in the first place, he pulled up a stool and sat himself down right next to her. Mike, who was standing on the other side of the bar and watching as events transpired, raised a brow. Bryant was acting a little unusual. By now, the offending person or persons would have been beaten bloody and dragged back out into the sun... and that was on a good day. Mike would have to berate him about violence within his establishment for the hundredth time and threaten to remove him even though he knew he couldn't. To see him suddenly take to the lady was unexpected though at the same time, in a different situation also not unlike him. He watched as the other two pulled up their own chairs and proceeded to surround the poor girl. [color=ffffff]"The name's Bryant... and you are?"[/color] Bryant asked, watching as the woman sized the three of them up. She was a slim thing, not small... just slim. He wasn't sure if she could fight but he knew she couldn't take all three of them. [color=ffffff]"Just a girl trying to make her way."[/color] [color=ffffff]"What brings a fine specimen such as yourself to this side of the dead world... little girl?"[/color] Clo cocked an eyebrow. [color=ffffff]"Looking for someone."[/color] [color=ffffff]"Oh? Maybe we can help?"[/color] [color=ffffff]"Oh yeah? How are you going to help a 'little girl' like me?"[/color] Bryant grinned, her leading on fueling his appetite for something a little more sinister than before. [color=ffffff]"We're a [i]large[/i] group."[/color] Now with a hand on his crotch, he edged closer to her. [color=ffffff]"See lots of people [i]coming[/i] and going. Could give you a [i]few tips[/i] for a little something in exchange."[/color] His eyes fell to the space between her legs where his imagination started digging. [color=ffffff]"Group? What group?"[/color] [color=ffffff]"The CE."[/color] [color=ffffff]"The Sea."[/color] [color=ffffff]"C. E. Stands for something.... We don't take kindly to all disgusting things created by the war. All things unnatural... though we can make an exception to the unusual... if you're into that."[/color] [color=ffffff]"Oh?... You mean like this?"[/color] She pulled at a button fastened around her chest and the other three men held their breath. With a slight tug, the thing came undone and the wraps that had previously looked like a part of her pack fell to the side and revealed a large black wing. All eyes in the bar fell on her and blinked. [color=ffffff]"What... the... fuck?!"[/color] Bryant was the first to move but he was slow and his technique sloppy. He pulled a knife from his waist and lunged at her chest but Clo countered with hands that were much faster than his. She pulled her sword from it's sheath just enough to catch the hilt of his weapon on the guard of her own while her other hand produced a dagger and with a flick of her wrist, buried it into the neck of the second male. He fell off his stool and onto his back, grabbing at the gushing wound as his life spilled out onto the ground. The third man moved to join the fight but Clo delivered a powerful kick to the weak wooden leg of his chair. It snapped and instead of finding his feet, he fell forward his throat landed in the open maw of Clo's metal hand. He immediately gagged and his breath caught in his throat. Standing now, Clo lifted the both of them up, one by the neck and Bryant by his arm with his knife caught against Clo's sword. By the time she was on her feet, her sword had slipped from it's sheath entirely and Bryant realized that they were both too exposed. His arm was above his head, his right side left completely open with his only means of defense suspended above him and his friend was turning blue in the face with both hands wrapped around Clo's wrist. She didn't give him a chance to rectify his mistakes. A final push shoved Bryant's arm behind him where it was now completely useless against the swing of her blade. The sharp metal whistled through the air and sliced him open chest to back. It continued until the tip slipped between the ribs of the third man, slipping through skin and muscle like butter and piercing him through his back. There was no noise from him as he had no air in his lungs to scream out. Bryant however was screaming like babe. She let the man dropped to the ground and pulled the blade from his corpse, ignoring the two men on either side of her who were still slowly dying. [color=ffffff]"I'm really sorry about the mess guy."[/color] She began, turning to the bar man. [color=ffffff]"I'll be happy to-"[/color] She met with the barrel of a gun inches from her face and the flash of the muzzle as Mike pulled the trigger. The bark shattered both their ear drums and she blinked. Mike blinked twice. When the smoke from the gun cleared, Clo remained... her golden eyes staring at him just as she had been before. [color=ffffff]"Who the fu-"[/color] Clo grabbed him by the collar and slammed him onto the bar. [color=ffffff]"Hi I'm Clo and I'm looking for someone."[/color] [color=ffffff]"Well look around you bitch. You're surrounded... You're not getting out of here alive after what you've done."[/color] By now, every patronage had garnished themselves a weapon be it bladed, blunted or those loaded with bullets. They'd assembled around her in a fairly large semi circle effectively barring her way out and every single one meant to end her there. Clo smiled at all of them and returned to Mike. [color=ffffff]"Tell me what I need to know and I won't cover this place in their blood."[/color][/color]