When Two is One Commons Residential

ChelonianCommander

Strength of Steel, Will of Iron
In the commons there are many apartments buildings used to house many families, but those who are wealthy enough can buy their own houses to live in. Space here is plentiful and it is easy to start up and maintain a comfortable life, should you have the will and money for it.
 
A new day comes as the sun rises above the houses and stores of the Commons District. It had just become morning and the district was already getting ready for a hard day of work. A number of paperboys run up and down the streets on bikes delivering papers to the many shops and apartments within the Commons. The front page held the most important news of the day.

'Two More Confirmed Missing. A 42 year old Camberg Male, Johnathan Baker, and his Sand Fox Elemental, Lucky, and a 25 year old Lucillo Woman, Mary Callai, and her Fire Beetle, Mildew, were confirmed missing as of last week. The two victims were both residents of the Grounds District and they were last seen around the local brothel, The Drowned Crew, around the night of their disappearance. The United Guard encourages residents to bring them any information that might be of any use to stop these kidnapping and recover our people.'
 
As dawn draws to a close, morning arrives and with it, some renewed festivities. A festival known as The Adoption Day held by Mary Jane's Home for Displaced Children is being started in the city square. Festivities, food, games and most importantly couples or parents looking to adopt are heavily encouraged to attend as the Home offers interviews with children in order to adopt.
 
@Beebasaur
A flurry of knocks sounded from the door as Lucius sat on a severe wooden desk chair staring at a black and white photograph with undeterred focus. Knowing very well who was at the door he leapt up from his chair and flung open the door a tad quicker than he’d intended. “Karsin,” he said with a pleasant hint to it. “Glad you could-“ his voice trailed off as his eyes adjusted to the flare of sunlight that had momentarily blinded him. Now he had a perfect view of Karsin in all his glorious getup. With the stylish plaid shirt and jeans Lucius had to admit he cleaned up rather nicely. Then he noticed the blatantly oversized shoes that the younger man wore as well as the rogue tuft of copper hair that protruded from underneath the boy’s bandana and realized too lately that a smile had actually spread across his face. He consciously voided his face of emotion, or at least attempted to do so, though his lips maintained a slightly upturned state. “You uh... look good,” he said, regaining some of his composure. He suddenly shook his head, clearing his mind, and realized his rudeness. “Oh, please come in.” He opened the door further and stepped to the side to allow Karsin access to the interior of the house. He was noticeably less tense than normal and seemed to lose his stern attitude for a moment.
 
Karsin could keep himself from smirking as Lucius attempted to wipe his grin away but failed. “Thank you!” Karsin replied politely his shoes making a “Thump” noise every time he took a step, though Karsin hardly noticed. He was much to busy checking out Lucius’s house, or what he could see of the front room that is. It was extremely spacious, much more so then his house, and he couldn’t help but gawk. ((Rip my writing skills))
 
Lucius got a hold of himself and followed Karsin into the dining room, a vast room, or so it seemed due to the lack of furnishings. A simple dark-brown table of wood stood at the center of the room with a few matching chairs. A plain sink was placed next to a stove off to the right with a pot present on one of the idle burners. Overtaking the younger man he led the way into a severe living room with maroon curtains and a leather sofa set against the far wall. “Here, you can have a seat if you like,” he offered, gesturing towards the sofa before him. “He snatched a bottle of whiskey from a glass table in front of the sofa and glanced back at Karsin as a thought occurred to him. “You drink?”
 
“Err no, not really. I’ve seen what alcohol does to people, I am not to interested.” He said with a chuckle making a bee-line for the wooden table. Pulling off one of his leather gloves and crouching on the ground he carefully ran his hand against the table a smile spreading across his face. “Pure Mahogany wood, this stuff doesn’t come cheap. Though this table has some pretty shoddy. What a waste” he sighed before standing up and sliding the glove back on his adbornally large hand. “Sorry about that!” He quickly said joining Lucius at the sofa and giving him an apologetic grin. “ Do you have any juice? Orange or apple would be fine.” He suggested so as not to be rude.
 
“I thought not,” Lucius said, carrying the bottle with him to the kitchen. “Suppose it’s too early in the day for drinking anyhow.” When he returned he held two glasses filled with orange juice and placed them on the glass table before taking a seat next to Karsin. “Sorry about cancelling last night, but we weren’t properly prepared for the heist. I’ve taken the liberty of organizing my gear, some of which just might come in handy. If you need anything we can head out today and pick it up.” He took a long sip of his orange juice drinking slowly before placing it down on the table. “You sure you’re down for this?”
 
Karsin accepted his glass happily taking a long drink from the tangy juice, “yes I am sure about this! I am definitely not backing out now” he said decisively as he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. Despite the dangers of what they were doing and the fact he had spent quite a lot of time last night mulling things over he still firmly wanted to do this, deciding that he was much to far in to back out now. “What kind of stuff did you gather?” Karsin asked curiously bending closer to Lucius eagerly.
 
As Karsin spoke the corner of Lucius’ lip curled up ever so slightly. “Glad to hear it.” At the boy’s question Lucius paused a moment before articulating his response with apparent tentativeness. “I still possess some... items... from my stint with the Guard. My service lasted six years after which I held onto some of the gear that went along with the job. Some solid equipment, but nothing of the sort that we’ll find at the Garrison.” He gestured to a room that was set off to the side with the door leaning halfway ajar. “It’s all gathered in there.”
 
Karsin nodded deciding not to press Lucius for any information and instead he stood up and started toward the room. Glancing inside he let out a gasp of surprise at the weapons neatly laid out on the floor. He wasn’t expecting nearly this many and though they were all simple things like pistols and knifes he still couldn’t believe his eyes. “They let you keep all this stuff when you retired?” Karsin asked completely in disbelief. He naturally assumed that Lucius had retired from the job as he couldn’t imagine that Lucius would be fired or quit.
 
Lucius’ face flushed a light tone of red and his eyes lowered to the floor. “Well... not exactly. I mean, I’m sure they would have if they knew I still had it.” He watched Karsin’s expression as he said this wondering if the boy would think of him differently. He certainly made no mention of the fact that some of this equipment had also come from his criminal life before his service with the Guard. “Take whatever you like,” he offered.
 
Karsin paused mulling this statement over in his mind a moment before just shrugging, deciding to trust Lucius rather than dig for more information. Eyes glancing over every weapon in the room he bent down and picked up a small pocket knife, hidden in a deep crimson sheath with a dragon emblem on it. Slowly turning the knife over in his hand he let out a sigh and shoved it into his pocket, knowing the despite how he hated it he was going to need some sort of protection. Glancing back at Lucius he waited for him to make his choice as well.
 
Lucius watched curiously as Karsin selected his weapon of choice. While the small pocket knife was in good shape it was just that- a small pocket knife. Well, it was not exactly Lucius’ idea of a weapon as it was more of a tool, but he voiced none of this to his friend. He had to have faith- ugh, he hated the sound of that- in his friend’s decisions and allow him to operate in his own space as a partner rather than attempt to control him or his decisions. He nodded and forced a polite smile before making his own selection, one that required little thought. He knew exactly what he needed and moved instantly for the revolver he’d used the previous day at the Drowned Crew amidst his investigation. He subsequently reached for another handgun, this one a smaller, semiautomatic variant and shoved both into a dual pistol shoulder holster which held each gun below his shoulders. Next, he snatched up a large combat knife with a serrated edge and sheathed it in a hip holster. Finally, he grabbed a belt and attatched a generous number of loaded magazines and rounds for the pistols before strapping the belt around his waist. All of this was of course concealed once he donned his characteristic black trench coat which he smoothed out as he adjusted it to fit comfortably. “So, should we head out? Maybe we can head to the city square and I don’t know, I hear there’s some festivities going on. Wouldn’t hurt to kill some time while we wait for the opportune moment to strike.” His attempt to come off as casual and friendly was visually awkward in both his facial expression and his uncertain voice but it seemed nevertheless genuine.
 
Karsin watched his friend take one weapon after another, until he was basically a living arsenal. His hand drifted down towards his pocket, where Liz laid curled around his newly acquired weapon, his confidence wavering. In all honesty it probably would have been safer to have grabbed something like a pistol or even a revolver but whereas Karsin had never actually used a gun he was pretty experienced in the use of a pocket knife. “Sure why not, It would be nice to go out and enjoy myself for once” He said with a smile shoving his hands deep into his pockets.
 
“Good,” he said perfunctorily though he was pleased at his partner’s eagerness to head out. He downed his orange juice in one deliberate gulp and snatched up his fedora from the coat rack placing it firmly atop his head. With all of his equipment prepped and ready he opened the door and stepped out into the cool morning breeze, shoving his hands deep into his pockets to escape the cold.
 
Karsin attempted to mimic Lucius but after spilling quite a bit of the juice on the front of his shirt he set the glass down, deciding that maybe it wasn’t the smartest of ideas. Setting the glass down he quickly wiped his shirt off, trying to play it cool but it obviously wasn’t working. With a sigh he returned to Lucius’s side giving a Jovial smile before saying, “well what are we waiting for?”.
 
At Karsin’s encouragement Lucius led the way down the sidewalk, burying his hands further into his coat pockets and eyeing the ground indifferently. The air was a bit dry yet it whipped at his face causing his lips to numb and his eyes to water a bit. It was cooler when the sun hid its face behind a veil of clouds and refused to cast it’s blanket of light over the district.

As he walked Lucius kept on eye on his companion observing the easygoing nature in which the boy carried himself. It directly juxtaposed the stern mannerisms of Lucius and yet the two were now good friends, a development which puzzled him beyond measure. Why were they even heading out to the festival? Lucius had never been one for celebrations or even simple outings with friends and yet here he was waking Karsin up at an unusually early hour just to hit the square. Perhaps his nerves had gotten the best of him, however unlikely that might’ve seemed. Lucius was calm and composed when it came to dangerous tasks such as the one they planned on undertaking shortly, but this one contained a factor that was not prevalent in any of his past experiences- a friend. It worried him seeing how youthful the boy was and imagining the innocent expression on his face as bullets wizzed by and peppered his flamboyant outfit. Damn, what was happening to him? A few years ago and he would’ve kicked this kid’s ass just for looking at him funny and here he was befriending him, even worrying about him. Lucius had a dark past, but it was something he’d come to terms with already. And yet when Karsin had asked about his weapons and he’d alluded to his sublegal acts he’d felt a subtle, albeit unmistakable wave of shame wash over him. Staring back at the ground he kept his concerns to himself and trudged on. “We’re almost there,” he said.
 
Karsin who had been staring off into space, completely lost in thought was snapped back into reality by the sound of Lucius’s voice, and turning over to face his friend he gave a simple, “Alright.” acknowledging that he had heard Lucius. Now that he was no longer off in his ‘own little world’ he begun to notice how Lucius was holding himself, how his hands were shoved deep into his pockets, and even how as he walked his feet barely left the ground kicking up clouds of dust as they went. Now Karsin had only known Lucius for a day really, and he could already tell something was off about how Lucius was acting at the moment. The first time they actually met, it was quite obvious that Lucius held himself in high regard, and ordered to work alone, in fact when they met Karsin had saw how openly Lucius showed his distaste for him. Yet now here they were walking together to a festival, somehow already friends despite only knowing each other for a few hours really. Karsin knew that he tended to be a bit overbearing, overwhelming, and even overall friendly, how could he not notice, but one thing he wasn’t was naìve. Lucius, like many others, had mistook him for a naìve child one that didn’t understand the dangers of the outside world but nothing could be further from the truth, he knew about them he just actively chose to ignore them. Sure this could be considered reckless or even plain stupid, but Karsin really could care less about whatother’s thought, being friendly and wanting friends is entirely different from changing yourself to make friends. Once more Karsin had to shake himself out of his thoughts, turning his attention back to Lucius. “So uh, do you know what the festival is about?” He asked innocently, trying to struck a conversation.
 
Lucius was silent for a moment until a deep suspiration emptied his lungs and permeated the air around them. “It’s uh, the Adoption Day or whatever not that I’m interested. Heard there’s some festivities I guess so I thought we might check it out. We have time to kill until we’re ready so might as well see what this is all about.” His voice fell silent again and he trudged on against the wind which whipped across his face and brought a feeling of numbness to his cheeks.
 
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