From the moment the banging on doors and clamoring started, Rikku knew this was going to be a two-bottle night. Possibly three, depending on the severity of the night’s festivities.

[color=c71585][i]It’s going to be[/i] warm [i]sake, too. I rather think I’ll have earned it by night’s end,[/i][/color] they groused, thankful that they at least had the mind to pack their equipment, in case Sumeragi customs got handsy. They weren’t [i]that[/i] kind of service company, darling. No one could afford what [i]that[/i] would cost. Renkon slid from its sheath just as the knocking (to put it gently) began at Rikku’s own door. They sighed.

[color=c71585]“How very rude,”[/color] they muttered, just as the handle was smashed off of the door and some [i]brute[/i] barged into their room with… a harpoon gun. Rikku almost laughed aloud. Was this the Exploration Age, darling? Did he forget his cutlass and tricorn hat?

“Drop the weapon! Hands in the air, get on your—“

His orders were cut off as Rikku’s left hand snapped out, Renkon following in a violet arc, parting the man’s throat in an instant.

[color=c71585]“What kind of individual do you take me for? Does the haori throw you off?”[/color] They barged past the dying man, knocking the soon-to-be corpse onto the floor. They had bigger fish to filet.

Rikku had the sneaking suspicion that this mission had been some surreptitious initiation into some kind of cause. They frowned at that idea- they cordially disliked causes in all forms. The noble ones couldn’t afford them. And the ones that could pay what they were worth tended more toward the self-righteous than actual. Often worse. Charitable skin on a con man’s bones.

[color=c71585]“I’ll be having words with this client once we finish this mess,”[/color] they huffed, looking around the hallway. No one. Apparently this fellow had gotten a tad ahead of his peers. Suited Rikku just fine- blood was ever so hard to wash out of silk.

[color=c71585][i]Now,[/i][/color] they thought, heading toward the aft of the ship, [color=c71585][i]let’s find this hacker and get the hell off of this boat. Time is money, and I am not fond of wasting either.[/i][/color]