So we're actually doing this? [Private, Smaragdna]

Alarick wandered down the halls, a hum coming from him as he continued to walk. On his back and underneath his vest-like cape, a small and compactly packed bag rested there. It was filled with a variety of different things that they would need to complete this mission they were departing for. He was to come here and meet someone called... S... Smarty? Smarliero? Sma...

Oh well, it was just a name. He'd remember it when the time came.

The base for wherever Yuuki kept her guild was more than large, to Alarick, it borderlined ridiculous. However, the man couldn't really speak about such things. He had what would be equivalent to a castle for his own guild. His guild. The ones who decided to not only to beat some sense into him, but also talk to him in a way to bring him out of his own madness. Kind, soothing words which weren't there to cause harm to him, even if he had thought that. They were always kind to him, however, they didn't allow him to leave their sights for what he had done in the past.

Well, they hadn't for some time, until he found something to devote his time and energy to, outside of avenging everything that had wronged his sister. His mind paused for a few moments, imagining her dark eyes, the goofy smile on her face, her partially pudgey nose. She was adorable. She truly was, and he lost her. Her voice always sang in his memories, soft but firm, speaking of maturity beyond her years. She was still young when he lost her, or at least, that was what he remembered. Shaking his head, his purple eyes continued to search around him, looking for something. The cameras were already primed on him, but they knew that he posed no threat. Or at least, he had hoped they knew that...

His mind delved into what would happen if they didn't recognise him and still saw the man as a threat. Alarick could be eaten alive, shot multiple times, heck, he could even have the wrath of hellfire be brought down upon his form. However, it was too late to worry about any and all of that now, as he was standing at the doors. Or door like things. Whatever they were. Tilting his head to the camera, the corner of his mouth tugged up into a grin. After a wink and a small gesture with his head, and what he assumed were hushed words between Arik and Yuuki and something about ensuring all the other people there weren't in the common room, the doors eventually opened.

With a wave, the man stepped into the guild. It was just how he had expected it all to be, high tech, undercover, riddled with what seemed to be- oh look, a window that lead straight to the outside underwater world. He could see the sharks, the fish, the creatures swimming through there. There were even eels for crying out loud! Vibrant fish made themselves known as they swam through the crystal clear waters in the deep ravine. With a smile, Alarick shook his head. She never liked to swim, always complaining about how cold it was.

Oh right, he wasn't here for sight-seeing.

Abruptly, he made his was back towards the common room, where he was apparently to meet the man. It wasn't his fault that the base was so distracting with all of the fish and other little things which were outside in the ocean!

When he finally managed to navigate his was back to the room, he grinned. He had been there all along... To the right and out of the corner of his eye, he made out a flash of blue and black before the door was shut. Huh, someone from Yuuki's guild that he hadn't met? Ignoring it, he turned to face the other man who- wait what? That was Smary? Clad in what seemed to be armour, the guild leader gave the man a grin, easily hiding the surprise which he felt on the inside.

"Greetings, Smaragdna," Ha! He did get the name right right when he needed it! "I hear you're willing to come on a small amount of a test mission with me? After all, I've gotta make sure Yuuki's getting good protection." Alarick said with a mischievous grin, knowing that Yuuki probably heard that comment and was going to probably scold him later for it. Straight afterwards, he stepped forward with a hand extended in greetings to the shorter man. Or he seemed shorter. Maybe he wasn't.

Smar had been sitting at a table for around twenty minutes. In his head he had tried to imagine what this man he was supposed to be like. He had been told by Yuuki that Smar was to avoid attacking this man as much as possible. She had said that even though he is going to be massively annoying to just roll with it. Smar didn't think this would be too hard. As long as he doesn't look down on me, then we are golden. Five more minutes had passed, Smar took out the bowie knife and started to spin in on the table. He watched as the blade reflected the light and how the edge seemed to shine brightly. He had spent so much time on the knife that Smar felt he could cut a rope in a single swing.

Smar was getting annoyed, If you say you will arrive, then arrive ten minutes before you were supposed to arrive. It has been nearly thirty minutes. He started to think this man would be a no show. He was about to stand up when the door finally opened. The man walked in and seemed shocked that he had been sitting there. He listened to the man and looked him over. He had a sword strapped to his waist, no other means of defense were visible on his person.

Smaragdna stood up and shook his hand, "Correct. I was told that I would be going with you on your mission". Smar continued to look over the man, he seemed nice. But appearances aren't everything. His looks were above average, but not by much. "So, what is it that you require from me?"

Of course, Alarick had no idea how late he actually was. He generally never could show up on time, in all honesty. So, if he were told of the time that it had taken for him to actually arrive, he wouldn't have been surprised. A little taken aback by the fact that it had been so long, but aisde from that, no, he wouldn't really have reacted. With a smile, he let go of the man's hand. Ah, excellent, it seemed that someone actually had told him the truth and had informed him that he was indeed going to be going with him on a mission. But now, Alarick just needed to remember what the mission was. Mission. Miiiission. It wasn't to assassinate someone, it wasn't to hurt someone, was it? Or was it?

Huh.

This sexy man really should pay more attention.

"If I remember it correctly," He probably didn't, but also did at the same time. It was possible for him to actually recall information on the rare occasion. Sometimes. When he wasn't about to die of exhaustion. "If I were to be so honest, I believe that we are to actually intercept and take out a rather 'important' carriage. Or train. Something like that. Either way, there's something that our employer wants taken out from there. It's on the way to Xas from here, but aside from that, it's rather out of the way. Besides, it's easier to actually explain when we're there. But basically, we need to intercept something, take an item, and be done with it. However, there has been reported that it will be rather well defended. I was hoping that Az was going to give me more information about the mission aside from this, however, she wasn't able to get anything else."

With that, Alarick gave a small shrug, rolling his aching shoulder. Goodness it was already aching and he'd barely started the mission. And he probably was going to have to fight when they found either the train or letter transport system or whatever it was. Why couldn't this handsome man recall such things? It was rather infuriating, if he had to admit it. His sister would have hit him for forgetting such things.

Nooo, don't think of her.

With a guilty smile, he went to offer a hand to help Smar to his feet. Oooonly to find that he was already standing, huh, maybe he was more capable than Alarick originally thought. "Is there anything that you need before we depart?"

Smar listened to the man, it would appear that he would need to be lighter then he would like. He picked up his sword and made sure his three knives were in their positions. "I should be fine. No need bringing the shield. Weighs too much". He glanced Alarick, "I assume you have already scoped the area and have found a good ambush point". Please for the love of the gods, say that you did that.

He started to think more about it and realized he didn't. "Wait, you just said that you didn't know if you remembered the misison properly, so I guess that answers my question". He sighed, "Lead on. Let's just get this mission over and out of the way". This may take much longer then I had expected.

Okay, ouch, that was a little insulting to the most handsome man around. With a raised eyebrow, Alarick looked to Smar with a partial baleful look in his purple eyes. "Hey, for starters, I always remember the mission when I'm there. It's just how I work. As for vantage points..." Alarick opened the side pocket of a bag underneath his cape-like vest, before partially showing him it. It was folded up several times, designed to do so and fit into small places. A grid was formed over it, with lines indicating those funny lines. Alarick never really understood the purpose of the lines, it didn't really help him with the whole layout of an area sort of thing. He always preferred to go there, surprisingly in person, and do something when he got there. After all, how was anyone going to know who he was if he didn't reveal himself in such a way? Wait... map? Why did he get that out again?

Oh! Right!

"I have already been through that area, as it was somewhat on the way here. However, that took me longer than I thought it would, but there are several vantage points that we are able to take advantage of with relative ease. And, although I wouldn't really want to because they're going to miss my damn handsome features, we can use some of them for cover as well if we need to." Alarick stated, giving a little bit of a grin, "And let's not mention
I actually marked them onto a map. Please, I may be a bit scattered when it comes to remembering things, however, I am Alarick, I'm a guild leader. There's no way that I would put people somewhat under my wing in any unnecessary harm, believe it or not."

He would offer the marked map to Smar, which held the layout of the place which they were going to. It was basically indicated a pathway through something like a chasm, which was around 60 feet wide, large enough to have a rather hefty load go through, as well as ample room for people to move around somewhat freely. However, close quarters fighting, that was what Alarick preferred. Hmm, maybe he could use himself as bai...

Alarick mentally shrugged to himself, before leading Smar towards the doors of leaving the guild. His hand went to the heavily condensed backpack and, if Smar declined the map or gave it back, he would return it to the side pocket.

"I was somewhat thinking, I could distract the bunch of them when they are travelling through there, allowing yourself to get in from behind while I take care of whatever they have at the front." Alarick said, a giant grin on his face.

He was surprised to see that the man had actually scouted the area out. Smar looked at the map, he saw that the target would have to go through the chasm in order to reach their destination. He heard the man brag about his looks, If only he knew how I looked under the mask. He may look like an eight now, but next to me he would look like a twenty.

He looked over the map and saw how the chasm was built, lots of high areas for snipers if needed. Plenty of areas for them to hide in the cliff wall. Alarick offered up the suggestion about using him as bait as he walked out of the room. "WAIT!" he held up his hand to tell him to stop. Smar kept examining the map, "We should plan this out. Having a plan is better then running into a situation blind". He looked at the stupid man, "As much as I would love to see a stupid human get shot in the face, Yuuki wouldn't like the fact that I let you die. Now, come here and strategize with me". He took his foot and kicked the chair out from under the table and sat down at his own.

Wait a second, did that guy have the nerve to call him stupid? Psh, how petty, he was probably just jealous of the lithely built male, having looks that would charm whoever he wanted. Aside from Yuuki, she was just something else. She refused to fall for his charm and, in doing so, she had made him interested in her. Incredibly interested. Alarick wanted to know what made her smile, what made her annoyances peak, if she liked roses over lilies, what would make her sad and how to bring her out of those dark and cloudy days. Yuuki was a hidden mystery to him, something that he craved to understand and to learn about, to know and to...

That's off topic. Again.

Dammit Alarick.

With a small shrug, he decided to let the man go without too much of an insult to offer. "I'm not as stupid as you may think, I'm a tiny bit narcissistic and spontaneous with a fluttering mind, however, that doesn't mean I'm completely stupid." Admittedly, he did make a few more occasional errors than what he wanted to admit. However, errors were errors and there wasn't too much that he could do about them. But, the man wanted to 'plan and strategize' or whatever it was, so Alarick would probably have to let him. Wait, no. He was meant to be letting him come up with a plan, after all, Alarick grabbed this mission as he knew he could do it alone with his eyes shut okay, that might be stretching it a bit, and if everything went wrong, he should, in theory, be able to just pull him out of whatever ditch the two find themselves to be in. In theory. In practice, it could be a different. Probably was going to be. But still.

Alarick wandered back over to Smar, hands shoving themselves into incredibly well hidden pockets as he walked. He pulled them out, only to pull up a chair and sit down with a bit of a thud. He flashed a grin to Smar; "I generally plan as I walk to the site, and well, the other two I generally work with kinda just know what I'm going to do. My apologies, I somewhat forgot that I wasn't meant to be throwing you into the deep end like I do with them far too often. It's getting to the point where they sometimes just look at me like I have a second he- Okay I'm rambling. But,
anyway, I think that around... Here," He indicated a section of the map where the two sides came in relatively close, only around 30 feet wide at its widest for around 90 feet, "we'll need something to deal with the threats of guns from here and here," Again, he pointed to two spots which he noticed earlier upon being there in person that would be incredibly good vantage points for long ranged casters or weapon users. "Do you have anything which would be able to help with that, or shall I show you a few little things that my... Well, one of my second in commands has given to me?"

Alarick moved himself away from the map, but leaned forward still, elbows rested across his legs as he looked to the man clad in armour. Huh.

Maybe he was taller than Alarick.

"I don't have any long range capabilities. I prefer a more close up method", He motioned to his four blades. "But, if you feel like you have the capabilities to deal with that threat, then you should take up that front. Once you ambush them and take out any gunners, I can go in with my gear and secure whatever the target is". He looked at Alarick, "What is it that we are after?"

Alarick gave the man a raised eyebrow. He really wasn't giving him uch to work with, preferring close ranged to anything else. Especially evident with those 4 blades...

With a smirk, Alarick slowly dropped the expression as he closed his eyes, raising his shoulders in the gesture of a shrug before cracking them open again. He really wanted to lean against his chair, however, he refrained from doing so. After all, he'd just need to get back up again, even if the cushions were so damn confortable. They were just as soft-...

Now wasn't the time to do that again.

"I'll deal with them then, it should be relatively easy. But, I think I had gotten a little side tracked as well, I believe that where I showed you first, here," He indicated the area again, the long and thin-ish section of the map, "is where we should try and ambush them." With a smile, "I'll set a few things up in advance so that we don't need to worry about the snipers, but that'd mean getting there in less than..." Alarick frowned, lost in thought for a few moments before nodding slightly, "It's several hours of travel from here, but... they aren't due to arrive through there for another day. But what I'm going to set up will take some time to mature to a stage of being able to help us out with potential gunners across the ledge here."

With a small shrug, Alarick gave a rueful grin, "Well, to be honest, that sounded a little weird. But still, I would like to reassure you, what I have planned will actually be able to help out, even if they just look like seeds and won't be useful for anything, that's quite false. They'll help out.. A lot."

Shrugging again, okay he needed to stop doing that, his shoulders were beginning to ache from the action, "As for the parcel... They didn't actively specify what it was. All the notes which were on the mission report regarding said item was; 'You'll know it when you see it.'. So it was incredibly unhelpful. However, by the way it was written, we really should be able to tell what it is without too much difficulty. Maybe it'll be overly secured? Or maybe something else, but I'll trust that you can figure it out if I'm having a bit of fun at the front of the goods... Carriage? I'll make sure most of the men are down, but inside guards, I'm unsure of if there would be any there."

That's one way to be reassuring, Alarick...

"Then I guess we should head out, best to get the most amount of time for your tricks. That will also allow me to examine the area and we can make better plans". He stood up and grabbed his sword and placed it in its sheath. "But there is something that I need to tell you. I don't like you, but that so far is not your fault". He reached up and pulled off the helmet, revealing his scarred rough face. He was curious about Alaricks reaction to seeing what Smar really looked like. "I am what is called a faunus. Basically I am human but with an animal feature. Mine is armadillo skin. In the world I come from, humans abused us faunus and treated us like lesser beings". He motioned to a bunch of scars, "These came from when they tortured me in the mines. I hate all humans because of them". He stared down Alarick, "As long as you don't give me a reason to hate you, then we will be fine".

He grabbed the map off the table and started to walk towards the door leading to the outside, "Just don't mess up anything. Give me a reason to show you respect". He put on his helmet and walked out of the room.

Alarick's expression didn't change when the man removed his helmet. A helmet, a steel compartment with the sole purpose of keeping the head protected. But what was the point in one if you didn't have a head? And what would be the point in trying to protect it if you were indeed headless? Wait, headless. How would someone even be alive if he or she were headless? However, as his mind raced, his eyes took in the details of his skin, the rather unusual textured creation. Of course, it wasn't exactly beautiful, but in its own right, it was. Although, what defines beauty? What defines beautiful things? What is beauty? What is it?

Alarick slowly nodded, before casting his gaze away with a grin on his face. "Don't worry about my tricks, and yea, I suppose that's one way of doing it. And as for ya skin, no worries with that. Look, I ain't going to be the one to judge you for what background you have. I have a very, very close friend of mine who is basically someone that is a plant-like being. She's interesting, beautiful in her own way. Don't take that as me trying to flirt with you, I'm just simply stating that you are who you are. Who am I to judge you based on what you look like and what people think of you? I'll determine my own wonderful mind up when I'm good and ready to." Alarick took a few steps away from the table, aware of the sound of the map being snatched up.

"So as such, I need to ask. Are you ready to leave? We've only got but a handful of hours to waste, and we can discuss more on the way there." Alarick began, his eyes being drawn to the waters outside once more. But it seemed as if his question was already answered as the man had already been walking over towards it. He quickened his pace, falling in behind the man in front of him, just back a few feet. But honestly..

Damn those fish were pretty. There was almost something rather....

Fishy about it.

He sighed, wanting to facepalm at himself.

"I won't stuff up. All I ask is that you don't either, sound rather fair?" Alarick asked over his shoulder, before beginning to walk forward towards the door with him. Man he loved his own cape-like vest as it trailed behind him. It reminded him of her feathers. Ah, she was beautiful, her blonde hair, jet black eyes, an outfit that she always wore which matched that of her feathered counterpart... She truly was something that anyone with half a brain would admire.

After all, she was his sister.

Smaragdna was pleased with how Alarick responded. He still wasn't used to being with people who don't judge him on his looks and it was refreshing to see people who look past the outside. As he walked behind Alarick, his mind drifted off. It felt good to be going on missions again. How long has it been? When was the last time I got to go on missions? Fighting once more on the battlefield, the only place I can feel alive.

His sword had a familiar weight to it, the excitement running through his veins felt normal. His lust for human bloodshed crept into his mind once more.

Anguis Tenebris sat reading a book in his rented room. He didn't really have any place to stay, but rather appropriated some rooms. Whether is was a friendly talk with the inn keepers or taking the room from others. He flipped through the pages silently as he took in every word. It was slightly after dark when a faint knock was heard from the door. It was a special knock to tell Anguis that the person required him for a mission. Any other kind of knock would often result in a person's death if they interrupted his reading.

He got up from the chair and walked to the door. On the other side was a collection of men. One of them spoke up timidly, "Sir Tenebris, I got word that you were in town and I wanted to ask for your assitance. We are leaving tomorrow with a caravan and we wanted to know if you would protect us?"

Anguis leaned on the door frame and scowled at them. "That is what you come and bother me for? A simple escort mission? You interrupted a great novel about a man with two souls for this? Why shouldn't I snap your necks were you stand?"

A few of the men started to look at each other in fear, but the man persisted. "Please, we beg of you. We have reason to believe we are going to be targeted for some special cargo. If you come with us, you can get a chance to add special targets to you kill count. Killing us now will prove nothing."

Anguis sat their and stared at the man. Neither flinched or looked away for what seemed like forever before Anguis finally spoke. "Fine, I will take your request. But if nothing happens or the pay isn't worth it, I'm going to enjoy the wet snapping sounds of your necks." And with that he stepped back and slammed the door shut. He walked back to his chair and continued reading.