Sabata: Reiker ~ Through the Looking Glass [Sam 29th]

Reiker · Post by **Reiker** » Fri Nov 24, 2006 11:31 am

"Nothing personal boy, but I really wanna up my fist skills. Don't worry, I ain't startin' shit with you mate. Just a fight and nothin' personal aye? Just to make sure we won't get into so much hassle as having local boys brand us in the local jail how bout' we find someplace legal for brawlin? You up for that? You look like you're bored to death too anyway, but if you want it here tis likable to me."

He brushed off his lowerlip with a thumb and steeped up to the musician till they mixed breaths. Reiker looked deep into his eyes with the face of a criminal and made sucking noises from his tongue and teeth. Gold rings dangled from his left ear each step he took.

Morg · Post by **Morg** » Sun Nov 26, 2006 1:24 pm

This man didn't flinch as Reiker stepped towards him. He bit down on his lip for a few flickers as he considered his decision, then nodded. "All right," he replied at length. "So you do have something in your head apart from violence. Don't worry, I'll beat it out of you." He grinned. "I know a place where we can fight. Follow me." The big musician picked up his lute and started making his way through the crowd.

(OOC: Assuming Reiker follows)

The building they came to was made of a plain brown painted with delicate images of dancing spirits- the largest among them red. The illustrated walls gave way in the center to a stone archway leading into the building proper. A small sign within the archway proclaimed this to be the "Red Djinn".

The common room of the Red Djinn was crowded and noisy - clearly, this was a more well known pub. The room was, however, very large and spacious, shaped like an upturned bowl, with a circular bar inhabiting the centre. The entire bar seating was taken by some rather rough looking characters - clearly regulars, by the way everyone gave them a wide berth and nodded at them acknowledgingly at the same time. They were regaling one another with tales. The shaven-headed musician ignored them all and made his way to the bar. "Hey," he grunted to the bartender. "I want to use your back room. The fight room." The man behind the bar just nodded, flicking him a heavy bronze key. "Clean it up afterwards," he added.

The Red Djinn's back room was a simple affair, a square room measuring about 6 by 6 paces. Light came from grated windows high on the walls. The floor was strewn with sand, and the room's only other feature was a crate in one corner bearing simple medical supplies like bandaging. The musician let his lute down on the box and strode over to the centre of the room, where he flexed his muscles briefly before making a hand gesture universal across cultures. Bring it on.

Reiker · Post by **Reiker** » Sun Nov 26, 2006 1:55 pm

"Gladly."

Reiker dashed forward as he swiftly lowered his form and jerked forward his elbow in a piercing blow. He positioned his legs for optimum balance, one foot a great distance before the other and his free hand making a stiff form and levered as if it was a knife.

Morg · Post by **Morg** » Wed Nov 29, 2006 5:01 pm

With surprising speed for such a big man, the minstrel swung aside, evading Reiker's fierce jab with his elbow and lunging in underneath to deliver a blow to his ribs. It was enough to knock some air out of Reiker's lungs, but likely nothing he hadn't experienced before. More of a test than a full-on aggression.

The man reached out with his other hand and managed to get a strong grip on Reiker's other wrist, trying to jerk the mercenary towards him. It was an obvious tactic - the bulky musician was trying to get Reiker in close where his greater weight could be used to his advantage.

Reiker · Post by **Reiker** » Thu Nov 30, 2006 4:29 pm

The aching shot throughout his torso like the onslought of hunger on a famished belly. He grunted his displeasure but was familiar to the pain brawling always brought with it as a price.

He stooped his form and strained his muscles to absorb much of the pain and spun with the musician's deflection of his jab for momentum. He was expecting the parry, but he didn't expect his secondary attack to get caught as he launched it.

The driving force was abruptly stopped and a new mode of assault was integral to his victory. He thought it well and knew best that unpredictability was the answer to winning any fight. Know more about him than he does about you. Now all he had was a shot his opponent wouldn't expect and he had to devise it swiftly.

The bigger man pulled at his wrist and such an act gave enough realization on Reiker's part on his disadvantage when it came to size and weight. If he got too close he was so damn screwed unless he thought of something.

Two options came to mind, get in fast and close to startle him, then headbutt him right on the upper parts of the nose; the parts in between his eyes. However he didn't know how good a fighter this man was, so he was at a loss at that option. He might not startle the man and end up in a very painful bearhug by which there was no possible escape.

The last option he had he followed. He struck forward going with the force of the big man's pull on his wrist, twisted his own form to face the hand that held him, held fast to the big man's wrist with the hand the big man caught, and drove his forearm up the big man's elbow elbow. If the bigger man tried to interfere, he knew exactly what to do.

Morg · Post by **Morg** » Sun Dec 03, 2006 9:46 pm

Maybe he'd underestimated Reiker, but the bigger man hadn't been expecting the mercenary to step forward. Instinctively he resisted, muscles tensing, and he grunted with pain as Reiker's forearm slammed forward. He hadn't yet moved back a step, although he had nearly been forced to.

Once again the man's other arm was moving, this time drawing back to deliver another blow to the navel. He had the excellent physical co-ordination that would be expected of a musician, extremely aware of his own body. Reiker had half a flicker to decide what to do about the incoming fist. However, the strike was more reflexive than planned. The musician was temporarily on the back foot.

Reiker · Post by **Reiker** » Mon Dec 04, 2006 1:49 pm

He was expecting it. The pain the bigger man would feel as he drove his forearm up his elbow to break it, and the retaliation of a shot predictably going for his belly.

He grunted his surge of strength as dashed forward again. This time it fully exposed his belly to the bigger man's shot but the momentum of the turning drove Reiker's free arm off the elbow an in swinging motion to deflect the blow, while he pulled with all his might the hand that held on to him. As his free arm swiped to deflect the blow, it stiffened once more to the edge like quality of a knife.

He was back in stride once more. The plan was simple and quick. In a few more minutes the man would be gargling his pain.

Morg · Post by **Morg** » Wed Dec 06, 2006 3:00 pm

The plan might have been quick, but this minstrel was far from finished yet. Reiker found it hard to stiffen his arm into any sort of shape as a heavy fist slammed into it, leaving it numb and not entirely responsive. The man certainly knew how to put his weight behind him, as Reiker was to find an instant later.

Reiker's fierce pull on the musician's arm met with surprisingly little resistance. The big man stepped into the move and brought his face crashing down into Reiker's. It was clumsily executed, mainly because of the hold they were maintaining on each other's arms, so what was originally intended as a headbutt ended up as a painful meeting of faces.

Both men's noses were bloodied by the collision, and pinpricks of light swam across Reiker's vision. However, the musician didn't seem to have come off much better. He was swaying a little as he drew back, and his grip on Reiker's arm had weakened.

Reiker · Post by **Reiker** » Thu Dec 07, 2006 5:33 pm

OOC: Its kinda wierd that Reiker just dislocated his elbow but he isn't in any pain or loosening his hold.

IC:

He strengthened his grip upon the bigger man's wrists and ;ulled him back again. His arm was numb but his forearm wasn't. As he pulled him in closer he retracted swiftly his free arm and sliced it up just as fast to meet the man's chin or neck. He aimed it for the neck originally but he was a bit dazed to think properly.

Morg · Post by **Morg** » Sat Dec 09, 2006 10:59 am

(OOC: Careful what you assume... I never said the man's elbow had been dislocated. On the other hand, his grip has weakened.)

Chin and neck were all much the same thing on the heavily-built minstrel, so Reiker didn't have a target to miss. Even if his blow didn't have the strength behind it that it could have had, the effect was still noticeable as his hand slammed into the musician's voicebox. The man gargled and retched, spitting out a massive glob of phlegm which mixed with the blood from his nose and landed messily on Reiker's shoulder.

Although very much on the back foot now, the musician was still going at it. As he was jerked forward, another meaty hand came up to try to grab hold of the arm that had just clouted him in the throat, and Reiker could also see his leg coming forward, trying to entangle itself with Reiker's and take the merc's legs out from under him. Thanks to the man's injuries, both these attacks were slow enough in coming for him to react.

Reiker · Post by **Reiker** » Sat Dec 09, 2006 3:10 pm

Reiker saw the leg and he smiled. He slung his own leg forward to kick the bigger man's knee and used his free hand to poke both his eyes.

Morg · Post by **Morg** » Tue Dec 12, 2006 12:23 pm

Reiker's move with his free hand wasn't enough to prevent the musician from grasping hold of it in his own. Now both pairs of arms were locked together, making free movement of any kind very difficult for either man. Fortunately the situation wasn't to last long.

Confident in his hold, the street minstrel suddenly piled forward and downward. His exact aim in this was unclear... and it was fated never to become clear, because his move brought him into contact with Reiker's leg, which was rapidly moving in the other direction. Unluckily for the big man, his groin ended up slamming forcefully into the mercenary's knee.

"AAAUUUGH!" The shaven-headed musician's grip immediately slackened, and his eyes watered. He stumbled loosely backwards, trying to break free of Reiker's own hold on his wrist, all the while spouting a stream of curses. Many of these Reiker had never heard, and were probably native to the desert realm, although a good many were very familiar.

"You win," he gasped hoarsely once he'd regained the power of non-invective speech, a hand reaching down to gingerly cradle his injured parts. "Agh, SHIT, you win. AAOUGH."

Reiker · Post by **Reiker** » Tue Dec 12, 2006 12:28 pm

"Is that it?" Reiker asked with sincere eyes.

He neared the man and went on, "You're a hell lot bigger than me and prolly no more about fighting than me. Why'd you lose? I'm starting to think that you let me. By the why, how'd you get so strong?"

Morg · Post by **Morg** » Thu Dec 14, 2006 2:15 pm

The man winced as he straightened himself up with obvious pain, clearly a little aggrieved at the suggestion that he let Reiker win. He didn't seem to take it personally, though. "No," he replied, shaking his head. "I didn't let you win, or anything like that. You deserved to. There's more to fighting than the physical, or even than the knowledge. That's why I'm a musician, not a fighter."

He shrugged. "I guess... I don't really have the right sort of mind for combat. I know what I should be doing with my fists, and all that, but I just don't seem to want to put it into practice. I can hit a man real hard, but I can't always convince myself to. And I can't finish things. That's always my problem. When a man's down, I should kick him in the fucking head, but I can't do it. It's sort of being a coward, but... different." His deep voice was slowly recovering from the pounding his throat had taken.

"As for being strong, well... you don't want to follow my example. Ten yahren working in a salt mine is how I got these muscles. I was a slave, so I was fed well, but had to work like a ferkit. But you don't want to hear my life story." He spat into the dust of the floor. "Name's Skebihen, by the way."

Reiker · Post by **Reiker** » Thu Dec 14, 2006 4:33 pm

"Reiker, nice to be knowin' ya biggie."

He stretched out a hand and said, "Need help? By the way, no a place where I could settle a debt?"

Morg · Post by **Morg** » Sat Dec 16, 2006 9:03 pm

The musician regarded Reiker curiously. "What sort of a debt you want to settle? If it's money, there are a few places you can take loans, but they're all bent bastards and I don't think you'd be able to prove you could pay them back. Or you could gamble, but... dunno if that's your style." He shrugged.

"I'll give you more than just a circlet if you can get my old dutar back," he added. "You can have twice that much. Trouble is... you planning on staying in town?" he asked carefully. "I know where the little shit took it. To a shop near the Great Market. I would have got it back myself, but the shop's owner is... they say he's part of a group that you really, really don't want to piss off. They can make your life hell in Sabata. If you're moving on anyway, though, it won't be a problem. Just as long as my name doesn't come up. You game?"

Reiker · Post by **Reiker** » Sun Dec 17, 2006 6:30 am

"You think me a smart man biggie?," Reiker shot back in a chuckled reply, "Course I'ma game for this. I'm curious how pissed people of yours could get and I need as much trouble as I could go through to get stronger. I don't how much trouble as long as I finish my debt. So. I'll be at your dutar soon and the circlet'll be mine. As for these people that don't like trouble, how much trouble are they worth? They interest me."

Morg · Post by **Morg** » Tue Dec 19, 2006 10:54 am

"Deaths, disappearances," Skebihen responded lazily. Both were common enough occurrences in Sabata. "I've only heard the rumours, because they don't make much noise themselves. They're supposedly mostly westerners. From across the sands. Merchants, thinker types, but the law's on their side. The First Councilor's supposed to keep an eye out for them, and the guards, too, Harkhebi's lot."

He growled. "Corrupt bastards the lot of them, but normally they act in their own interest, not in anyone else's. But from what I've heard, if you get on the wrong side of these guys you get on the wrong side of the First Councilor, and he runs this city."

The big man smiled briefly, for the first time since Reiker had met him. "I take it you're up for it, then. This shop is in the third circle of the Great Market dome, and it's just called the Music Shop. There won't be many dutars there, but you'll need to know which is mine. It has an S carved onto the underside, and next to it is... it's like a dragon's head. With its mouth wide open. Damn, I'm looking forward to getting my hands back on that dutar."

Reiker · Post by **Reiker** » Thu Dec 21, 2006 2:13 pm

"The kind of people I actually want to work for. That blond bitch I saw earlier is gonna get whats comin to him soon," Reiker chuckled at the prospect of his plans.

He turned from the musician, "You'll get your Dutar back," and while he walked away towards the place he murmured, "and my life starts there. Criminals eh? Wonderful. Check it Li'l Ze'. I'ma get me some new friends and when I get back to....."

He grunted and let his thoughts finish his speech. He smiled.

Morg · Post by **Morg** » Sun Dec 24, 2006 12:54 pm

Skebihen grinned, wincing at the pain this caused in his injured throat. "You're not a bad guarrdi, Violent Reiker. I'll be here at the Red Djinn when you're done, cos I really need a drink right now. Knock 'em dead." With that he returned to the main common room and hailed the bartender. The other patrons didn't comment upon the fact that his face and clothes were bloodied. Drinkers with blood on their hands were the rule rather than the exception at the Red Djinn.

(OOC: Because we're all location-based here at Tazlure, and so that I can skill this thread, I'm going to ask you to start a new thread for visiting the music shop. And with that I think we're done here!

)

Reiker · Post by **Reiker** » Sun Dec 24, 2006 1:07 pm

ooc:I can try to start but seriously speaking Im not good with making up locations and fanning out details about physical descriptions. I'm pretty Hemingwayan with my words to so, If you can start it would be a lot better than me starting it.

Morg · Post by **Morg** » Sun Dec 31, 2006 11:02 pm

OOC: No problem. You wouldn't have to worry about the location, in any case. The new thread is here.

Thread skilled!