Even as the sun heralded the arrival of a new day, in some places, the work of the night remained unfinished....
The thuggish-looking man slammed his hand down on the desk, his sizeable nose ring shaking as he did so. He stared daggers at the terrified old man before him with a mocking grin on his face. His equally barbaric cohorts behind him laughed at the elderly storeowner's yelp in reply.
"Come on, Gramps, you know how this game is played..." Nose Ring said with a hiss. "You get a loan from the Spice Boys, the Spice Boys expect to be paid back. How can you call yourself a reputable business if you don't hold up your end of the bargain?..."
The old man stammered as he mustered up enough courage to speak back. "B-But....This interest you're talking about is unreasonable! I-I asked for sixty-thousand Beli and you expect me to pay you back six hundred-thou-"
Nose Ring slammed his hand on the desk again to silence the old man. "Your own fault for taking the deal, old-timer! And we both know you can't reveal to the Marines that you've been dealing with street gangs. Now...I've lost my patience. You can either give us what we're owed, or our muscle is going to have a more personal chat with you....."
The shopkeeper's eyes fearfully shifted to the figure standing off to the side, behind Nose Ring. A gaunt-looking shape of a man, concealed by a thick cloak, the long hilt of a massive sword held haphazardly in one of his hands as the blade dragged on the ground. From beneath the cloak, the figure made guttural, growling sounds, like a beast.....
"...B-But....I...I-I can't....."
Nose Ring let out a malicious chuckle. "Wrong answer." He took a few steps back, and folded his arms. "Take care of him, Scab."
The old man fearfully fell from his chair and backed against the wall, panicking.
"No! No, please!"
.......
The figure didn't move.
There was a silence in the room, as Nose Ring repeated his order.
".....Take CARE of him, Scab."
.....
The figure didn't move.
"Scab."
No movement.
"SCAB!!"
Nada.
"Scab, WHAT are you doing!?" Nose Ring angrily said as he turned and grabbed at the figure's cloak, yanking it off.
Perhaps it would have been better had the cloak stayed on, as the sight without it was worse: Hideously burnt, scarred flesh, haphazardly stitched together in a shoddy attempt at reconstruction. A dirty, frayed-looking black jacket and a hair of wild-unkempt, equally black hair. He looked more like a zombie out of a horror story than a man; a truly terrifying sight.
...Or, it would be, if he were not so clearly fast asleep on his feet, the guttural noises from before being his snores.
"...Zzzzzzzzz........."
An awkward silence filled the room for a moment, before Nose Ring began slapping his slumbering "muscle."
"HOW THE HELL ARE YOU ASLEEP!?" He shouted petulantly, aggressively rousing the scorched young man from his slumber. He looked at Nose Ring through bleary eyes, blinking a few times before tenderly rubbing his scarred face.
"...Hahh....Hey, sorry, man...." The young man spoke with a quiet, gentle voice and a yawn, "Didn't get much sleep tonight, too itchy....musta dozed off. My bad..."
"We're WORKING here, Scab!" Nose Ring shouted, "What kind of mercenary takes a nap in the middle of a JOB!?"
"...Hey, man, look," Scab replied lazily, punctuated by another yawn. "I told you, the name's Scabbard....Scab-bard...Like on a sword, y'know? Scab's like....a way grosser name."
"I don't care what your name is!!" Nose Ring said as he rubbed his temples in exasperation. "Just go do your job and thrash the old man!"
Scabbard stared blankly at Nose Ring before looking over at the cowering shopkeeper. He walked closer to him, one hand in a pocket, the other loudly dragging his huge sword behind him. He stared, curiously, before looking back at Nose Ring and pointing to the shopkeep.
"...This old dude?"
"Yes."
"....What'd he do again?"
"HE OWES US MONEY!"
"Oh! Right, right, alright....." Scabbard looked back at the terrified (and now mildly confused) shopkeeper as he walked up to him, causing him to flinch in terror. Scabbard crouched down to eye level with the old man, and gave him a dig in the shoulder.
"..Uhh....Take that." He said in half-hearted triumph.
Nose Ring stared at Scab in disbelief as he rose back to his feet. ".....What the hell was that!?"
"...Uh..I hit him!"
"That was BARELY A HIT! Use your god damn sword, maybe!?"
Scab looked down groggily at the massive thing. "...What, this? Dude, I'm not gonna hit the old-timer with this...He's like...old and shit. He'd get squished..."
"So CUT HIM with it!"
"...Ah, no, I can't do that. S'not sharp."
"It's in its sheathe! Take it out!"
"...Oh, uh...I can't do that. S'locked up, and I don't got the key."
"......."
"....Maybe I could knock a chair over?"
Nose Ring looked like he was ready to blow a gasket. And then proceeded to blow a gasket.
"THAT'S IT! You're off! Get the hell out, and you can forget about your pay!"
"Hey, hold on, like, maybe I could...."
"OUT!"
Scabbard was collectively shoved out of the store and into the alley outside by Nose Ring and his remaining compatriots, the door behind him slamming shut. He blinked a few times, staring at the door while processing what just happened, then sighed heavily as it clicked in his head. This was the third time in a month he'd been kicked off of a job he'd been hired to do, by three different gangs, no less. At this rate, his rep would render him unemployable. He scratched his arm in quiet annoyance. Stressful thinking always irritated his skin....actually, a lot of things irritated his skin. Pretty much everything irritated his dry, itchy, burned skin. God, the thing's he'd do for a bottle of lotion right about now, or a dip in a hot spring.....
As his mind sleepily wandered, his eyes got an unexpected hit of sunlight, and he wince. Shielding his eyes, he looked up at the warmly orange sky from the dingey alleyway. The sun was finally up, it was a new day.
With another yawn, Scabbard walked out of the alleyway into the busy streets of Lougetown, his sword rested on his shoulders. The back-alley crook life was starting to become unviable. Maybe it was time to start thinking about the future more, to start figuring things out...
