Varian strolled quietly through the streets of crocus. His day happened to be rather mellow. The current emperor hadn't been heard from in awhile and people were in a bit of a frenzy. Some had cleaned shop and packed up, going somewhere far away from the capital. To the far reaches of fiore, like the far south or far north. Some had even gone as far as packing up and leaving the country all together. They had moved to places like sin and desierto, sometimes the land of savannah. The streets weren't as lively as they had been a few weeks ago. And the only life that remained outside was the grungy kind, the kind that would swipe all your money away in moments. Vega was on edge, sniffing the air timidly, not waiting for someone to swipe her away. He assumed she must have remembered something from her past that was like this. Which was a bit confusing, but varian wasn't worried about her. She was smart, and not to mention dangerous.

Turning a corner he ran into some thugs who happened to be attacking a small family for their money. One whirled on Varian and extended a knife, an obvious threat. He mumbled somethng under his breath to make varian give him his money. Varian shook his head and then dashed forward. With his superior speed, the man was unable to react and varian snatched the knife. Turning around he sliced the man on the back, only drawing a tiny amount of blood. The man howled and dropped on the ground as blood seeped through his clothes. Varian turned around to the other men, whose mouth's were gaping open. The other family fled the scene quickly, whispering thanks at their savior. Varian wagged a finger jokingly. Snapping his finger, he ordered vega to do her own thing. She pummeled her head into the man on the left, causing him to double over and giving varian time to approach and knee him in the face, causing blood to pour out of his nose. The man on the right had gained the first mans knife and shaked both in varian's face, giving him a subtle warning, which he ignored. Varian ducked under the approaching knifes, and pulled his hand back for a punch. Now in a crouched position he had the perfect aim, for an oh so painful spot. Releasing his fist he smashing his knuckles into the man's groin. A high pitched scream rose up from the man's throat as he clutched himself and collapsed on the ground as a pile of weak trash. Varian stepped over the three moaning bodies and continued on with his day. He had a job, and these people had possibly made him late for getting where he needed to go, and he wasn't going to make his employer wait any longer than she had to. She was THE lady merlin, and he didn't want to make someone in such a powerful position wait

500/3000

Varian didn't want to keep people waiting, he knew it was rude and he didn't wan't to keep someone so rich from waiting.

Merlin sat in a cafe area, a very expensive looking cafe. She sipped her tea from an ornate white and gold tea cup, that was probably worth more than everything varian currently had in his bank. She wore a long purple coat with a white furry lining around the neck. Not only did the way she dress give off a presence of richness and nobility, her magical power rolled off her in waves. It made the air thick, and any mage with the ability to feel that would be practically choking. Varian felt a little tipsy or woozy, magic effected people in different ways.

Varian approached lady merlin with care. He had no idea if she was of the friendly type, or the type that liked to burn possible enemies on the spot before they even had a chance to explain their presence. Walking up to her he sat down carefully. She looked up at him "ahh, you're finally here, I was wondering when you were going to show up." She said with a smirk. "Im here now, aren't I?" He responded. Lady Merlin smiled. With a snap of her fingers a scroll "poofed" into existence. Lady Merlin spread it out on the table and began to explain what she wanted Varian to do for her.

Apparently she had hired a caravan to bring something to her, and after the fact she discovered their history of customer displeasure. According to her sources they weren't the most careful or weary of transporters and didn't try to protect stuff that much. She asked Varian to lead those in the caravan to their final destination. She was worried they'd smash her precious package. And varian completely understood, he wouldn't want someone to smash something he ordered. He nodded and took the paper. Lady Merlin's information stated that the caravan would be arriving at the gates later today, and in her own words "later meant about 10 minutes." and that was 3 minutes ago. So Varian was now hastily making his way down the street towards the gate to beat the caravan there.

The gate that acted as the entrance way into crocus was grand and extraordinary. It had silver angels on the sides, holding a magic staff in their hands. The actual gate was made to look like vines reaching up the sides of the pole. Whoever had designed it had put a lot of work into the original design of it. Varian hoped that whoever was in charge of it now put a lot of work into it and didn't let it fall apart.

The caravan pulled up to the beautiful gate and wondered through quietly and sluggishly. The people running it looked absolutely miserable, this should be one a fun job. They had a small horse drawn carriage that had everyone else's, as long as lady merlin's, package.

1000/3000

The caravan workers mumbled in detest as varian described what he was here for. The simple explantion for them happened to be that he was here to guide them safely through crocus and to Lady Merlin. Some mumbled that she didn't trust them, and varian was close to retorting his statement with the evidence of the customer's displeasure with them, but he chose not to. After a few disputes between the caravan leader and Varian the group moved on and Varian was satisfied with his work.

The caravan leaders weren't exactly the kindest, or neatest people. One man was clearly drunk, and must have been drunk long before they even got there. He even still held a beer bottle in his hand as he leaned from side to side. How was he even qualified to be on this job. As they approached a large main street varian held up his hand. This was not a good place to go on there was plenty of pick pocket and thieves that could sneak into the caravan and be gone in a moment and you'd never know. He received groans for stopping all the men and one of the leaders responded with some foul language. Varian had half a mind to ask for Lady merlin's package then blow these turds up, but he didn't.

Quickly explaining his reasoning for the stop he directed his "loyal" followers towards a back streat. He heard some agitated whispering and turned around and raised an eyebrow. "You realize we're doing this for a very high ranked member of our country, and disappointing someone who could pay you quite a lot is a really bad work tactic." He said bitterly. He turned back around. He had no idea how he was going to deal with these people, they were the scum of the earth and just mean overall. He could see why people disliked them. The back roads were prettier than the main roads. But they were obviously longer and this more than obviously angered his followers. But varian obviously didn't care enough to care.

As they continued to slowly weave around crocus the holy capito the caravan workers became even more agitated and finally one spoke up, "Yo! green hair, why we doin' this? We could have cut off way more time if we had jus' gone the other way." He said. Varian sighed then began to explain to them again, they were as clueless as you could get. "So, you see, there's something called 'customer satisfaction'. And delivering something that's broken, or not deliver something because it was stolen lowers your customer satisfaction. And I made sure that it wouldn't be lowered any more by dodging that street that is known for theft and is crowded." Varian retorted. "Lower it more?" one of them asked. Varian smiled, "most of your customers dislike you because you hasty and end up delivering something that's broken. And so that causes many people to dislike you, A lot!" he said.

1500/3000

(500)

The caravan was forced to weave through the mucky old backstreets of crocus. They were hardly aesthetic and the muck, the muck was unbearable. The muck slipped into your shoes and squelched around your feet like a soft blanket that you'd know become nothing but a crust covering that would make your skin crawl when you peeled it off. Just like fingers on a chalk board.
The men constantly complained about this new detour that added so much time on to their journey, and that by going the original way they'd already be halfway there. Varian ignored the complaints and continued to weave them skillfully through out the area and quickly into other corners so they could make it to their destination quickly and without any problems.

The groups problems remained the same until Varian spotted some glowing caution runes ahead of them. Not to long after he himself had spotted them did the others in his group spot them. The moans could be a chorus and Varian was the conductor, a very, very unhappy conductor. Varian still instructed them to get closer he didn't really care if they hated it or not. The workers could be just doing typical side of the road of the wrok and they could pass through quickly, at least that was what varian hoped for. He didn't want to have to deal with more of these large adult babies whining while he tried to protect Lady Merlin's merchandise, which happened to be there job, not his. He was only given this job because they were obviously very bad at their's.

The workers up ahead were fixing an old bridge that had been blown to bits during the fighting. It was nothing but a burnt brown chunk now is what it looked to be. Walking up Varian began to ask some questions, "What's going on?" He asked. The leader of the construction, "We're fixing the bridge." He responded. "This was the safest and easiest way to transport expensive material." Varian countered. The man shrugged, "Take the alley ways, it'll take longer, but it'll be safe and out of the main street just look out for thugs." He suggested. "Thank's for the suggestion. But I think my partner and I will be fine." Varian said with a smile and a nod towards Vega who was crawling around the construction camp. Varian turned to the men that sat there, the giant babies, his job. "We have to move to through the alleyways, lets move!" He yelled. There was groaning. That's when Varian did something that felt almost natural and to put them in line. Using a bit of mana, barely a noticeable amount he made the air rise up around him and then he made his eyes glint, "Excuse me? I'm not dealing with this, lets move." He said, his voice dead flat.

Vega strolled up next to varian as he proceeded to wind the cart through the series of alleyways, all the while the men groaned.

500

2000/3000

Varian forced the caravan through the small alley ways. There was little room to move and the caravan was continuously making adjustments all the while. The men grew slowly ever more angry. The few interactions Varian chose to have with them were not harmonious and typically ended in a violent yell from one of the head members. Unfortunately every interaction happened at a corner where they had to adjust their wagon so they could fit through the small alleyway.

Varian was hoping the way ahead would be better for them. If he remembered correctly it was supposed to open up and then life would be better for everyone in this mission. They would relax and then so could varian, and in the end he would get paid a fair amount and then life would be happy for everyone. Along with that, their trip would be cut even shorter so less time with them. But that was if their road happened to be clear and safe.

After a short while the area came to a quick stop when Varian heard yelling. Leaning down he gave a quick pet to Vega and then she dashed off in front of him towards the yelling. She'd figure it out then bring it back to him. Hopefully it was just a couple going through an ugly divorce or something and they could still slide through there without too much disruption. He had seen plenty of couples get in an argument in this area. He had nicknamed it death row. Plenty of marriages came here to die, Varian had noticed plenty of lawyers over here in this area. Many had set up shop and accepted people off the streetst who wanted a divorce. It was like candy to them and they made plenty of money off it and it was noticeable with the size of their houses on the better side of crocus.

Vega wondered back over around 10 minutes later and made a few quick squeaks. She couldn't speak human language, and varian hadn't perfectly mastered flareon speak. But he knew that was a sign of danger and so they should probably move the other way. Varian nodded then sighed, he relayed the information Vega had given him to the caravan. Who all but screamed in protest. Wishing to keep a low profile varian shushed them and directed them to the right, down a grassy slope instead of to the left, back towards the main street. He pressed them down the grassy hill towards a stream. It looked pretty but there wasn't much driving space for the wagon so it became a little treacherous. Eventually their small area of driving ran out and Varian was forced to move them through the shallow stream and under a bridge to the other side. He knew exactly where he was going but they'd have to cross another bridge later on to get them back on track.

Slowly but surely the tension began to rise as the men in the wagon became agitated.


500/3000
2500/3000

As Varian prepared them for their final direction turn, which would put them back on course one man finally yelled. HIs job was to carry around a big magic sword and make sure nothing had gotten stolen, his job was too look big and scary, he was very good at it. Varian sighed, he didn't really care about the height of the man. At varian's best guess, he was still stronger than that man. He went on about how they shouldn't listen to this man and they would do fine on their own and that this one package was too much work. There was mumbles of agreement and varian sighed. Varian himself added that the journey hadn't been a pleasant one but they were close to being done, and that the money they received from Lady Merlin would be a great contribution to their job. Unfortunately none of them listened and varian sighed. He had tried so hard to get them to listen and he had ended up failing miserably. He had tried to make them do their job successfully. He just wanted them to finish, he wanted to go home, he was tired as well. But these men weren't having it. Finally the leader of the caravan held up his hand and whispered to the driver. The driver leaned behind him and handed Varian a small glass orb. The driver said that was Lady merlin's package and he could take it to her himself. Varian sighed.

The walk over there wasn't bad, he knew his way better than the caravan did. Varian still remained watchful, perhaps a little more than normal but that was expected he was carrying PRECIOUS ARTIFACTS. He was more careful than the caravan was, which he hoped would pay off in the end game. Maybe karma would play a nasty trick on them and he could go home with more money, he didn't know.

The entire walk back, both he and Vega stayed on edge, trying to make sure they returned this safely with no trouble. If they did they could go home and do something relaxing, or got to sleep, maybe read a book. Possibly sit in a cafe and sun bathe, then get kicked out for falling asleep.

During their trip through the roadways Varian avoided walking through big crowds, he didn't want to accidentally crunch the precious orb and lose all his money, which would be very disappointing. AS he approached the area where lady Merlin would be waiting he began to prepare for the worst. A lest second attempt by the caravan to still get the money, some thieves trying to steal his reward, varian accidentally tripping and crushing the orb. He held his breath all the way to where Lady merlin stood, waiting. She smiled when she saw him and listened as he explained what happened. She said she understood and threw in an extra 100,000J to compensate for their abandonment of her package. She said it was going to be their money anyway but they never showed up so he got it, varian smiled and left


500/3000

3000./3000