[Job] Respect your elders.

Rajan leaned against a tree like a little kid trying to be cool. But at least he didn’t have a piece of grass in his mouth... But then any hope that this Rajan person was a mature individual was dashed as he pulled a reed from his pocket and started chewing the end of it. What did he think he was? The brooding lead of a shonen anime? Regardless of the oddities of her clients behavior Stella put up with it because like it or not she needed this guy. Like a normal person she was content to just standing opposite him without partaking in any strange gimmicks. “Can you help find my grandfather or not?” The lancer shrugged “You want him back unharmed?” “Of course! He’s my grandpa! He may be a strong old coot but he’s still an old man and an important person to me.” Stella stomped her foot getting quickly irritated with Rajan, he was just addressing the issue of her lost grandpa so casually and talking about him like some kind of run away criminal to be brought back “dead or alive.” It was ridiculous. She was on the verge of denying him the job but she was running out of options and doubted she had time to find anyone else.

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Word Count: 216

Fortunately for her sanity Rajan raised his hands in a passive gesture “Relax lady. I’ll bring him back alright. He’s one old man. How hard could it possibly be?” Stella balled her hands into fists getting more aggravated, “You don’t get it do you?! This city is huge, he’s drunk and honestly his physical strength it kind of scary. If you just approach him with that kind of attitude he will knock you on your ass! He doesn’t talk about it but I’m pretty sure he was some kind of martial artist or ninja or something when he was younger.” Rajan leaned forward and grit his teeth “You think I can’t take some lousy old drunk? I’ve fought wars lady.” Stella crossed her arms looking away from Rajan, either unable to look at him or just being mad “That’s what I am afraid of. He isn’t some target or prey or mark or whatever you call them. He’s a person and I need him back safe. I’m scared you’ll find him and he’ll end up putting up a fight and you’ll have to hurt him. I just don’t want anything to happen him.”  

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Word Count: 409

Rajan let out a breath and threw his hands in the air “Geez like I can turn down a lady in such dire straights. You can trust me, I’ll bring your old man back to you without a scratch on him. Just you wait!” With that he stood up straight and rolled his shoulders “But like you said it is a big city. So I’ll have to get started.” Stella didn’t seem too assured but just hung her head and gave in “Alright. But if there is a scratch on him I will murder you!” He turned his back to her and walked from the park they had met in towards the urban jungle with his mission in mind. “Yeah yeah yeah, I’ve got this.” Stella looked at the sky “I swear I am gonna strangle gramps when he gets back for making me put up with that guy. Honestly what a tool.” Rajan pretended not to hear that and started to make his way to the greatest source of knowledge pertaining to drunk old men, the local sleezy tavern or similar building with the same general purpose. It was a bit unreasonable to assume any place in Yorknew was called a tavern.

Word Count: 613

With shoulders broad and confident steps Iberian progressed through the streets of Yorknew. He wasn’t super familiar with the town but he could read the buildings to identify what kind of sector of a city he was in. Then it was a simple matter to watch for indicators of a nearby bar, like shorter buildings, people moving awkwardly, large groups of casually dressed people moving together, a random drunk being weird in public. But then again it was unlikely that he would see much evidence of a den of intoxication considering that is was hardly 9 am in the morning. So instead he settled on finding a map station for his navigational needs. Forcing his way through the crowds he found a convenient kiosk with a map of a city, and smaller maps available for a modest fee. A simple, potentially kind, round man worked the stall. He was a bit up in the years and had probably been selling maps to tourists for more years then he was proud to admit. There was also a solid 45% chance he was an old pervert. If anyone knew where old drunks liked to hang out, it would be this man right here and that made him exactly what Rajan needed.

Word Count: 821

When he got near the man waved to him with chubby hands “Hello there sir! You seem lost do you need a map?” Rajan nodded “Yes I would. Additionally I was hoping you could provide some information for me.” “It was Caleb Davis.” Rajan blinked a couple times and gave a curious look to the strange man. “I’m sorry what?” The man laughed “Oh whoops. I thought you were police asking about the break in.” He pulled a map from the kioske and handed it to Rajan “Here just take this and forget I said anything.” Rajan nodded “I think I can do that.” Taking the map he got to the point “I’m looking for some drunk old man who went missing last night. Where would you say is the go to bar to find someone like that?”  The portly gentleman scratched his head “I’d have to say The Busty Barista. You can find it on the map.” Rajan glanced at that map and back to the man “That’s a classy name for a joint.” The map salesman laughed awkwardly “Well you know how it is with drunk old men.” That was true, Rajan did know, it was pretty much the entire reason for this conversation. Which was now stretching to redundacy as far as he was concerned, “That’s all I need. Thank you sir.”

Wordcount: 1046

As Rajan walked away a gear clicked in the head of the our favorite unnamed vendor of navigational papers, “Wait just a second! Why’d you think I’d know where weird old men like to hang out!?” That was the lancer’s cue to run. Weaving through the people of the crowd like the trees of a forest he fled the scene before the old man decided to enact vengeance for Rajan’s hidden jab. There wasn’t a lot of damage that could be done with hands as pudgy as those, but he might end up having to pay for the map which was simply out of the question with Rajan’s budget. Once a distance away Rajan stopped in an abandoned alley to inspect his map and catch a breath. It took him no time at all to locate the bar in question on the map as it was a quality piece of cartography. Honestly it surprised Rajan how well a map could be made, especially consider the price he didn’t pay for it. But with his destination determined and located he spent a little bit of time plotting his route and setting off.

As he went through the streets of Yorknew and the buildings became progressively less classy he said a silent prayer hoping that he’d be fortunate enough to just find the old coot passed out at the bar. It’d be much easier than finding a way to bring him back that way. But considering the ease with which he found The Busty Barista Rajan got the feeling that his good luck wouldn’t hold much longer. But it did stay good long enough for him to reach the bar without conflict. The place was a well funded dump. It didn’t seem to be in any state of disrepair but somehow it still looked like it was from the bad part of town. Probably some kind of designer trick to keep the place looking nice while still communicating this wasn’t a family establishment. The neon sign with a scantily clad waitress across the front should have been give away enough though.

Without further adu Rajan pushed open the doors and entered. The smell of smoke and beer hit him like a wall as soon as he entered. It was almost enough to make his eyes water. But to his surprise there was actually a line inside to get past a bouncer and into the bar area. “What kind of bar has a line in the morning?” He hadn’t meant to say it out loud, but he had and it ended up paying off for him. A young man in front of him looked back and said “It’s not like it looks like. We’re pretty much all here to pick up a relative or something. Turns out there was a crazy bar fight last night and almost every patron of this place was out cold till morning. Said they took any phone number they could find on the blokes to get someone to scrap them off the floor. I’m here for my uncle.” Rajan was taken back by the absurdity of it, he was so shocked his reed fell from his mouth “That’s a hell of a story. Do you know what happened with the fight?” The line moved forward as a nagging wife drug her hungover husband from the bar. The nephew shrugged “I heard from someone further up the line there was a crazy old man going Way of the Dragon on everyone. But there’s no way that is what really happened.”

Stella’s words echoed in Rajan’s memory, “Grandpa was like a super ninja martial artist when he was younger also you’re really attractive so please save him.” Not a perfect recollection of events but the lancer was able to salvage from it that the crazy old man in question was probably the crazy old man he was looking for. But he couldn’t look past the line and bouncer to confirm if he was there. So Rajan endured the wait in line as various relatives and friends recovered various drunkards from the bar until he was finally permitted entry. Reaching the bouncer he was asked “Who are you looking for?” To which Rajan replied “My friends grandpa. A Melvin Roshilde.” The bouncer’s eyes went wide “I’m so sorry,” and with explenation let Rajan pass. Giving out curious looks like a curious look bargin sale Rajan entered the bar area to find it almost copletely emptied out. Except for a single bartender who was tending to a bald old man in a hawaiian shirt. It was easy to identify his target from his various distinct attributes, and so Rajan approached him. “Excuse me are you Melvin Roshilde? Your grand daughter sent me to collect you.” Melvin cackled “Yeup that’s me but I’m not going anywhere. I’m not done drinking.” The bartender chimed in nervously, “Maybe it is time to call it a night Mr. Roshilde. You’ve been drinking non-stop for hours.” Melvin showed no sign of compliance. Rajan looked at the bartender “Why didn’t you kick him out when the bar closed?” “We tried. He ended up causing a fight and creating the mess here.” Melvin laughed “Yeup that was fun.” It didn’t take a genius to see that Melvin was probably beyond reasoning and from the story of the fight Rajan was suddenly less sure of his ability to take this guy on.

But in the end he was still just an old drunk and no self respecting part time mercenary would ever let themselves get caught dead saying they were scared of an old drunk. If only it was as simple as beating him up, instead Rajan would have to rely on his wits and cunning to prevail here. Which for those up to speed on the marvelous misadventures of Rajan Iberian was not a scenario he was well equipped for. But that wouldn’t stop him from trying. He sat down at the bar next to next to Melvin and tried to subtly gestured for the bartender to get away. Fortunately Melvin was too engrossed in his drink to notice as the bartender remembered he had somewhere else he needed to be. Rajan put his hands on the bar and tried making a deal “Listen Melvin. You come with me back home to Stella, and I’ll share with you some of the cash she’s paying me to fetch you.” Roshilde just laughed and reached into his beard before pulling out a large wad of money that he waved above his head “Listen here boyo. Back in my youth I was kind of a big deal. One of the floor masters of heavens arena was trained by me. I had a real gift, and I knew how to make money off of it.” It was hard to tell behind the old man’s glasses but he raised his right eyebrow and looked over at Rajan without turning his head “I’d reckon I carry more money in my beard then you’ve seen in your whole life.” Rajan was about to say something but he was cut off by his elder “Next is the part where you threaten me. Call me an old timer past my prime. Try and make me fear my old age, try and convince me I’m too old to be a fraction of the strength I used to be and that because of that I’d should be scared of your youth and what not regardless of how strong I used to be.” As he went on Melvin’s voice became increasingly caustic and cynical. Rajan quickly put away any intention of fighting or threatening the old man and instead said “You’ve done this before huh?”

Melvin sat down his now empty drink and stared at it “Done everything before.” Well now Rajan felt really awkward. He came to help bring back an old violent drunk with a black belt, but now Melvin just looked sad. For all the build up he had expected a bit more spunk. Rajan couldn’t help but feel bad for the guy, an old legend now ravaged by the strains of time. Well as much as an old legend as you could be with a no-name like Melvin. Roshild now just seemed to be in his own world, staring at his empty glass thinking who knows what. Rajan tried to be patience and just waited for him to “wake up,” but after awhile it seemed that wasn’t happening. So trying a new approach Rajan hit the palm of his hand with his fist “Hey now that’s just depressing. If you were really that great you wouldn’t ever lose your edge completely. How about you and me go around. I want to know what all the talk is about, see it with my own eyes.” Melvin laughed “Boyo you wouldn’t last half a minute against me, or do you think I really am just that old and decrepit? In which case you’re sorely underestimating me.” Rajan grinned “Less underestimating, more curious. Everyone who talks about you says you’re some kind of beast and I want to see it with my own eyes.” Melvin sat up leaving his glass on the bar, “People talk about me now?” Rajan shrugged “To be fair it was just Stella and the bouncer over there.” Melvin hopped down from his bar stool cackling “Well of course that’s all I can expect. Everyone around here who really knows what I’m made of is a bit under the weather eh?” Rajan stood up from his own stool wondering just what kind of fight he had just signed up for, “Take this outside?” Melvin was already half way to the door, “I think I gave this bar enough trouble for now don’t you?”

And now Rajan found himself standing a few meters away from Melvin in the empty street outside of the Busty Barista ready to throw down. Melvin looked like he could barely stand without a walking stick yet he couldn’t seem any more confident. It wasn’t until the last second that an inconsistency occurred to Rajan “Hey shouldn’t you be drunk off your ass?” Melving curled his hand into a fist “Boyo I stopped getting drunk a long time ago.” Then abruptly Rajan felt an intense stomach pain, and then his head was hurting as well and then everything was black.

The next thing he heard was Melvin laughing, “Two whole hits he took. Whata loada talk Stella. Bet he didn’t even register I hit im’.” Then he became aware of his surroundings, he was in the park where he had met Stella, he was lieing down, on a bench and his stomach and head hurt like hell. He heard Stella talking “Oh look he came round.” Rajan sat up and looked around to see Melvin and Stella standing nearby, both were now looking at him. Rajan stuttered “What happened?” The two broke out laughing and Melvin said “Oh god the look on your face. Still its been a long time since someone challenged me so seriously.” Stella covered her mouth suppressing laughter “I’m sorry, but heavens its never not funny.” The lancer was still confused beyond reason “Come again?” Melvin calmed down and decided to explain “Alright alright I guess you deserve to know what happened. You see this is just a thing me and Stella do for fun. Stella stakes out some hot shot tough guy at the employment office and suckers him with a story about her old drunk grandpa to go look for him. Naturally they buy it every time and come hunt me down. I put on an extra big show with the bar fight this time because of how much of a poser she said you were. I act all old and weak and past my prime, then wham right off the high horse.” Rajan shot to his feet, and immediately wished he hadn’t, his head spun and his stomach flipped causing him to fall back onto the bench. Stella laughed “Oh god that’s the best part every time I swear.” Rajan struggled to wrap his head around what was happening “So you pretty much just do this for the kick of knocking some high and mighty guys down a few notches?” They started laughing again and Rajan found himself slipping from consciousness again.

When he woke up they were gone and he’d never see them again. But at least he found they slipped his payment for his “job,” onto his person before they ditched him on the bench. Rajan let out an irritated groan and rubbed his aching head. He definitely needed to look up this Melvin Roshilde guy when he got the chance, there was no way he had never heard of someone like that. But it didn’t matter how much of an underground legend he turned out to be, after getting floored that hard by him, this is one story he would never ever speak of again. Assuming the head damage he took didn’t make him forget it ever happened first.

Wordcount: 3204