Stallo City (D9), Early Morning
... Zara nodded, her expression serious. "I take my responsibilities very seriously, Mr. Jorath. You can count on me to do everything in my power to protect your family." Jorath turned to her, smiled, and clapped her on the back. "We'll get along just fine the two of us," he said as he started walking towards the aircar his family had boarded. "Go to Verus for any questions you might have, I am sure you two will get to know each other nicely during our trip," were the last words he left her with before the driver closed the passenger door behind him.
"Fuck..." Zara rolled her eyes and sighed at the mention of the canine. "It's fine Zara... it's just one man, you've dealt with worse than that... yeah..." Just as she was hyping herself up a bit, lost in her own little world, she felt a presence creeping up behind. Before she could even turn around to look at who it might be, a gloved hand landed on her shoulder.
Having approached from behind, Verus appeared to Zara's right, his left hand on her right shoulder. He waved as Jorath got into their car. After his employer's door shut, Verus let go of Zara's shoulder and put both hands behind his back.
"Mr. Jorath has taken a liking to you it seems." His speech patterns were proper, with little sign of any emotion besides pride.
"Let's get going, shall we?" he said, as he motioned to the inconspicuous black aircar that would be following Jorath's much more extravagant car...
The inside of the car was as plain looking as the outside, but at least it was comfortable. The seating arrangement was limousine style: couch-like, leather seats with a back row that elbowed around the driver's side wall and ended just before the wall that separated them from the driver. Optional armrests could be lowered down from the backs of the seats.
When Verus and Zara entered, there was already one other inside. He had black hair with a normal human build, nothing remarkable about the man. He wore the same suit Zara was wearing. His right armrest was down, and he was leaning on it when the doors opened. Upon seeing Verus however, he sat up straight, without a word. Verus motioned for Zara to sit along the wall seats. There was plenty of room, so she didn't have to sit next to the new guy.
Verus sat in the middle of the back row and put both arm rests down, on either side of him. It wasn't until the car had started moving that anyone said anything.
"Jackson, this is Zara." Verus said, breaking the silence.
"She is our hired hand for this little excursion." The human man known as Jackson simply nodded in understanding. Verus continued. "Jackson is one of my men." he said to Zara. Then, addressing both of them, he dove right into the details.
They were headed to an air ship, which would then take them to the Sutisu Capitol. The entire trip would only take 3 hours. When they set foot in the capitol, it would still be early in the afternoon. From there, their vacation would begin. Jackson would be sticking with the son, who would be going straight to the hotel to be alone and play video games. Verus would be going with Jorath's wife and daughter as they went on a shopping spree. Zara, would be going with Jorath, himself, as he went to visit some of his business contacts.
There was a spark of something in Verus's eyes when he told Zara that she would be with Jorath. Was is jealousy? He hid his emotions well, but obviously something was upsetting him. The spark was gone in an instant, faster than it appeared. With that, his briefing ended.
Tempum City (K7), Late Afternoon
... Ah, Mougin whispered, as he was hit with a sudden burst of enlightenment. This youth had expressed his desire to strike his enemies from the back - therefore, when he asked Mougin if he 'got his back', he was in fact asking him to ensure that his own tactic wasn't used against him. Mougin nodded to himself, content with his reasoning, but tilted his head as he continued thinking. Why had this youth asked him this? Surely it would be wiser to pick someone more familiar to themselves to protect them. He mulled it over for a moment or two, but couldn't come up with a satisfactory answer. This wasn't a situation he had encountered in his life. If so, Mougin could only ask one question.
"...Why?"
Well, it probably wouldn't hurt to ask, right?
The rough skin young man glanced back in momentary confusion and repeated Mougin's question.
"Why?" Then he turned his full attention back to the three humans across the street. He growled his answer, so that only Mougin could here.
"Because people like them, humans... they think they're better than us." His intensity rose.
"And I can't stand for that." Without waiting for Mougin's response, the young man stepped off the sidewalk, into the street. As he stepped, his body began to change. His baggy clothes started filling out, as he grew in size. His skin grew darker and small spikes started protruding all over his body. His transformation was complete in only five steps.
"Now, how about you tell me why you were laughing!?" He screamed in a much deeper voice.
During the distraction created by the dramatic transformation, the snake-girl had emerged from the alley behind Mougin. With a touch of concealing magic and natural grace, she quickly but quietly snuck forward. Her eyes were on the minotaur's satchel, where she knew he was carrying all his coins. Her plan was to quickly and carefully cut a hole in the bag and empty its contents into the bag she was carrying. Then it would just be a matter of escaping back into the alley...
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