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Strange Magic [Dragonsong]

Started by Zero, August 15, 2016, 04:06:13 PM

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Zero

"I am not that young." Joss wasn't old, but he really suspected that Calen thought he was younger than he was. That was a little annoying. He hated being looked down on as a kid. Of course he really wasn't sure how old Calen was either. "It's none of your concern over how much I drink anyway."

DragonSong

"Anyone under fifty is too young to be this drunk this early," Calen retorted easily. "So unless you're some elvhen princeling or what-have-you, yeah, you are too young." He conveniently ignored the bit about it not being his concern.

Zero

"Oh yeah, I am totally an elf prince. You caught me." Joss snorted and finished his drink, pushing the glass away with a sigh. He wanted a half dozen refills, but he had a feeling that every single one would be accompanied by Calen's chastising and disapproval. Not that he cared what the stupid ice mage thought about his drinking habits, but his head hurt too much to listen to the constant bitching.

"What do you want?" He finally grumbled, looking over at his unwanted companion. "You have to want something or you wouldn't be still annoying me."

DragonSong

Calen arched an eyebrow and smirked. "Do I? Maybe I just like making a new friend," he goaded.

Zero

"Nobody wants to make friends with an asshole as big as me, and I don't want to make friends with anybody. Certainly not chipper ice mages that stalk me for no good reason." Joss grumbled and looked ruefully at his empty mug again.

DragonSong

"Hey, I'm not stalking," Calen defended mildly. "We just seem to be heading the same direction. A lot."

Zero

"Uh-huh." Joss snorted, relenting and taking the glass of water. He was thirsty, it was just to make his throat feel less scratchy and grainy, and had nothing to do with Calen. At least that was what he told himself as he drank the clear, tasteless liquid. "So if you're not going to let me drink in peace, now what?"

DragonSong

Calen had been subtly eyeing the door to the establishment. He wouldn't put it past the brutes from last night to have found some backup and come for a second ill-conceived attempt at revenge.

But of course he didn't tell the kid that.

"Well, now I think I'm going to order myself some breakfast," he said with an easy smile, flagging down the barkeep.

Zero

Joss had put the morons from the night before completely out of his mind. He hadn't given them a second thought since before bed.

"Breakfast? Didn't we already have it?" Not that the gruel slop they'd been fed that morning was a real breakfast. It had been free for him, and that's mostly all Joss had cared about. Sometimes he didn't eat at all and just drank his entire rations for a day.

DragonSong

He quirked an eyebrow. "Sure, if you wanna call that breakfast," he chuckled. "Don't you want some real food?"

Zero

"Depends, are you buying it?" Joss asked with a shrug. "I never turn down free food. Can't pass up the opportunity to eat when you don't know when you'll eat next."

DragonSong

Caleb could certainly understand that sentiment. And he had a little extra coin from his last job, so why not?

"Sure." He shrugged. He believed in paying good fortune forward. "What do you want?"

Zero

"Beggars can't be choosers, man. Whatever's cheap and you're willing to give." Joss shrugged his shoulder again. Hunting demons could be lucrative and rewarding at times, other times he got nothing out of it. Even when he did get money, it usually went towards tobacco and booze over food.

DragonSong

Caleb waved a hand to flag down a server. "Fair enough. So what sorts of work does a man do that lands him in a bar without the coin to buy much more than a drink?" His tone was light and teasing, but there was a searching curiosity in his pale eyes.

Zero

"The kind where you don't demand payment up front like an idiot." Well it wasn't like Joss didn't make good money when he was actually getting paid. Most people would pay anything to get rid of a troublesome demon. He just killed demons on principle, so money just wasn't always in the cards when he went hunting. "Besides, I squander my coin on my vices instead of food."

DragonSong

"Hey now, that's not very practical." Calen smiled, drumming his finger on his leg as he bounced his foot. It was getting hard for him to keep still. "So... You're some kinda tracker, right? Not a ranger...bounty hunter?" he guessed. People who tracked down and killed things for a living had a sort of...feel to them.

He pursed his lips, considering. "I may have some kinda work for ya, if you're interested. Well, I don't have it. I've got a contact. Y'know how it goes. Anyway, interested?"

Zero

"Yeah, well I'm not claiming to be practical." Joss grumbled, giving Calen a shifty glance as he tried to guess his profession. Not horrible guesses, but not exactly right either.

"I don't know, what's the work? I'm a bit of a specialist." They weren't a mercenary that people could hire for just any old job.

DragonSong

Calen grinned as though Joss had outright agreed to the job. "What sorta specialist? The way I understand it this job might get...dangerous." He shrugged, frowning a moment, then the smile was back in place. "But you seem like you can handle yourself. So. What exactly do you do?"

Zero

"I doubt it's any more dangerous than what I usually do." He scoffed, eyeing the mage's smiling face grumpily. Why was the bastard so cheerful all the damn time? "I'm a demon hunter. Not to say I won't go after the occasional other inhuman pest, but mostly demons."

DragonSong

That was enough to knock the smile off Calen's face, if only for a moment. He blinked, then gave a low, impressed whistle.

"Damn. You don't mess around, do you?" Then the smile was back and he leaned back into his seat slightly. "Actually... That's weirdly perfect. Far as I know there are no actual demons involved, but the ringleader of a particularly persistent bandit group claims to be a half-demon." He quirked an eyebrow. "You up for it?"

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