"There's a stranger in town.." [OPEN]

[Erik Markov]

On the outskirts of Sai Town, Erik Markov traveled towards the town to look for work. He rode within his Slash Liger until he had made it just outside, once there, he got out of the Zoid and made for certain to get it to hide in the dust storm that had occurred within this desert during the travel. After all, the zoid was a important part of his life right now, essential to his job. He didn't need any thieves coming by and snatching it up. "Hey buddy, heading into town to try to get some work, maybe some supplies. Best be here when I'm back." Erik joked as the Liger let out a roar. He hopped down to the ground and set out walking, trying to cover up from the storm. He had left his Liger a bit outside of town, as he felt it would cause too much of a spectacle for him to take it into the place. The walking almost seemed like it'd never end, but as he walked, the sandstorm let up. The sun began to shine rather brightly at this point, after all, the weather had just cleared. And finally, Erik made it to Sai Town. Erik reach into his pocket and pulled out a package of cigarettes, with lighter, and lit one up.

As he made it into the location, he noticed a few odd looks from various individuals on the street. Maybe he just had a peculiar look about him, maybe it wasn't him, maybe this place didn't tend to see a whole lot of strangers. How was he to know? Either way, he didn't exactly question the situation, and rather continued on with his own business. Erik knew to most people, it wouldn't of made sense why he was there. Looking for mercenary work in the town opposite one known as 'dangerous' really didn't. But, typically, the best jobs come up where you least expect them to, as Erik had learned through his years of working as a mercenary. Erik saw a few shady characters in town, but nothing very out of the ordinary in fact. He came to a locally owned little restaurant, and figured the best idea would be to grab something to eat. It wasn't anything fancy, it was old, ran down. There wasn't exactly a whole hell of a lot to it, to be honest.

He decided to stroll through the door, where he would then take notice to the buildings diner-esque appearance. He walked up and took a seat right at the bar, noticing the townsfolk giving him glances again. "Can I help you sir?" Erik glanced up, as he put out his cigarette and left it in a nearby ashtray. He thought about what he wanted to eat for just a moment, not exactly sure of what the establishment served. "Yeah, uh, just give me an order of whatever is good." A amount of time passed by, with the guy writing up a bill for what Erik would owe once the food arrived. All of which Erik quickly ate up, due to the hunger that he felt from riding around doing his job in a zoid all day long. Once he had finished, he slid the man the money he owed and took an exit. A couple of shady looking individuals got up and followed him out, though he didn't take notice just yet.. Erik walked out onto the street, strolling down the sidewalk just a bit until he heard footsteps behind him. He got the chance to get a one off glance, and recognized them from the diner. Erik walked through a few crowds of people, until he made it to an alley which he traveled down, his pursuers following.

This game of cat and mouse would end when Erik slipped into a dark corner and the pursuers passed.. "Where'd he go?" The man questioned as Erik slipped out of the darkness and up behind the man. "Right here." Erik stated as he grabbed the man by the back of the head and slammed him face first against a nearby wall. Then, he looked to the other individual and grinned.. "I don't like being followed.. Now, why would you two follow me? The only thing I can think of is that the two of you thought you'd beat up a random traveler.. Right?" Erik questioned, as the mans eyes widened. He wasn't expecting someone to stop him and his buddy in their tracks.. "Wrong." Before Erik could even make a move, the man yelled out and ran off, not wanting any part of this young man. In response, Erik simply chuckled and walked out of the alley, whistling a tune as he now stood on the sidewalk among a small crowd of people.

"Excuse me, could anyone direct me to a store around these parts?" Erik questioned rather loudly, disregarding the entire sequence of events from moments ago. He hoped someone would respond, because he very much looked lost.

[Chessa Ires]

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Sia Town was not one of the places that Chessa would normally be. It was to quiet for her. She liked being in the middle of the action; where you always had that sense that someone would jump out and try and mug you at any time. Sia Town would have just been a blip on her rader had she not needed to get a few supplies. Another thing she didn't like were the people. They all stared like she was some rabid dog, ready to rip someone's throat out. Sure, she wasn't the most friendly looking of people, but that didn't mean she was bad. She did her best to ignore it and wandered around town, trying to find something to do.

She had already done her shopping and a small bag swung around in her hand. She wasn't ready to go and fly off just yet; Chessa wanted to stretch her legs some more first. She lit a cigarette and stuck in her mouth, enjoying the rush of nicotine that made her feel like jelly. Should I use Rex? I do need to test out that Diablo Tiger I found in the ruins...... She was pulled out of her thoughts by a tug on her sleeve. She looked back to see some old, hunched up granny tugging on her.

"Young man, you look big and strong. I'm afraid for that man over there, but I can't do anything. Would you please help? For my sake?" Chessa clucked her tounge, but didn't bother correcting the old woman on her gender. Instead she let her gaze follow the old woman's withered finger. It was a guy, and it looked like he was being followed by two thugs. She muttered a gruff 'sure' to the old woman and set after the followers. When she was sure her back to to the woman, she smirked to herself. Well hot damn- looks like this place can get lively after all.

Chessa wasn't worried about the thugs, but as she stayed behind them, she noticed the man they were after. He looked about her age, probably older, and was taller than her. That was a feet in itself, given her gargantuan height. He was getting the same odd stares she was, she she guessed he was from out of town as well. She wondered, briefly, if he was another Zoid pilot, but while she was lost in though, she lost them. She stopped in her tracks and scowled. Well, shit; now he would get mugged or shot or some shit like that. And she had promised the old lady and everything.

She snorted, then tore the butt of her ciragtte out of her mouth andn threw it on the ground, stomping it out. She was about to leave when she spotted the man a little ways away, coming out of some alley, his pursuers gone. She smirked again. Impressive. A man who had height advantage and could take care of himself; she liked him already and she didn't evenknow who he was. She began to walk over to him when she heard him muse out loud.

"I might be able to help, if ya' want." Chessa smiled to the best of her ability, though it kind of just looked like a snarl coming from her.

[Erik Markov]

Erik stood on the street, still looking lost as could be, while noticing all of the rude individuals who simply passed by without answering the question he had asked. Of course he found them all quite rude, but once again there was nothing he could do on the subject. Erik continued to spark up a cigarette and observe all of the townsfolk. This was a peculiar, peculiar place, he thought. It was oddly peaceful for the most part, which was odd because the world wasn't exactly the most peaceful of places. But before he could ponder the thought of this place and its strange inhabitants further, something occurred. He turned his gaze nearby and noticed a man.. woman.. he couldn't exactly tell at first glance, but none the less, this individual had been coming walking towards him. Erik gazed at this person rather curiously, not sure of what to make of them until they spoke to him.. Right then and there, this person replied to Erik's question. This one offered to help, and then seemed to smile.. Sort of. Maybe she was constipated, he thought. That was the only reason someone would make a smile/snarl like that. Erik thought about it just a second, and he figured he may as well take the act of kindness..

"Maybe you can.. Doesn't look like anyone else is offering to help.. Where's the closest shop around here?." Erik questioned with a cold, expressionless look across his face. He wasn't necessarily the type to show any sort of emotion, though, so it kind of made sense. But he couldn't help but find this whole thing somewhat awkward. He couldn't exactly tell whether he was dealing with a male or female. At first glance, he thought male. But something seemed.. feminine? "By the way, you should work on that whole happy smiley thing. At least, I think that was what you were trying to do.." He said in a joking manner, though, with the way he expressed himself it was kind of hard to tell whether that was the case or not. The only indication of such an act was the small smirk that he cracked during the delivery. Though once he had done this, he sort of realized that maybe it wasn't the best idea to be rude to someone. Especially considering this location seemed to have some of the rudest residents he had ever seen.

[Chessa Ires]

Chessa deadpanned. Her 'smile' melyed off of her face, which tunred into something that was displayed disbelief. Had this man just said what she thought he had said? He had....? Well then, how would she feel about that? She knew most people would be mad or upset, but the truth was, she really wasn't. Instead, after a few moments of her being a blank slate, she smiled (well, as close as she could come to one, anyway.) A laugh escaped from her lips. It was a loud, rough, raspy laugh that you only had every once in a while; a belly laugh. She placed one hand over her stomache and waved the other around in front of her face.

"I guess you're right! I do have kind of a funny grin!" She took the time to clam down after saying that, choking down a few large gulps of air to replace what was lost. It took Chessa a minute to remember that he had asked a question before that. A close shop? Well, there was one close by, but how to describe it? "There's a shop over there. You just gotta' go that way, then make a left, then a right, then turn around and you're there!" As she told him this, she waved her hands around in exagerated motions and pointed. She paused for a second. Maybe those weren't the best directions.

"Um..... To hell with it! Follow me!" She didn't turn around to make sure he was following, but she did start martching off down the street. To tell the truth, she only had a slight idea where she was going, but not a good one. They would find it everntually though, if they just walked. After all, she was bound to recognise some type of landmark close to where that little shop she had been to earlier was.

[Erik Markov]

At first, this woman had confused him with all of these directions she had attempted to throw out towards him. But much to his happiness, she started out and seemed to be leading him in the direction of the location. Erik at first didn't quite know how to react. He wasn't exactly the type to start following some random person, after all, in his line of work things like that could mean your death. But despite such worries, he followed anyway. He kept up as best he could, not feeling like he should be in any particular hurry on this fine evening. He reach into his pocket and pulled out another cigarette, lighting up another as he walked. It was quite the bad habit, but it was a habit he happened to be stuck with.

He glanced up in the direction of this individual and spoke.. "I hope you're not leading me to any dark alley to try to beat me up and rob me or something. Those guys from earlier tried that, and it didn't work out so well.." Erik stated rather cautiously. He wasn't sure of the persons intent, but, he figured he'd subtly gauge around with offhand questions. Maybe she was sincere in trying to help, he didn't know.. But, there was always that one off chance of something like that occurring and that chance was far too much to worry about for a guy like Erik.

Rather than deal with anymore deafening silence after that momentary word he had just had.. He figured he'd attempt to strike up some sort of chat. Maybe find some common ground of some sort. "So, are you a local, or just visiting like myself?" Erik questioned, and while honestly, he didn't entirely care. There was a thread of curiosity deep within him.
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[Chessa Ires]

"Huh? What? Yeah yeah, sure." Chessa hadn't really heard what the man had said. So she just agreed and waved her hand over her shoulder in a noncommital way. She was to busy focusing on finding wherever the hell she was at earlier. She turned a corner and found herself on a busy, but unfamiliar, street. She stopped, tapped her foot impatiently, then turned around and went the other way. Chasing those thugs around had really put her ass backwards. Now she was freaking lost. But she would walk on and act like she knew where she was going. She slowed and this time heard the man speak to her.

"A local? Hell no. Wouldn't live in this little place if they gave it to me. I just needed to pick some shit up.... like you do, I assume?" She eyed him from overneath her sunglasses. Now why did he want to know that? She had pissed quiet a few people off in her time, making many more enemies than freinds. Maybe he was one of them? But then again, that would also mean that that nice old lady was in on this too...... and Chessa just couldn't see that. Stranger things had happened though, so maybe that was true?

Nah, she was just overthinking things.

"So what about you? What's your story? You don't seem that type to squat in a place like this, either." She paused in walking again, this time to pull out her own cigaretta. The smell of his was making her crave one, and that was never a good thing. Good thing she had just stocked up, it seemed. That one was the last in her pack. She crumpled the box in her hand and threw it on the ground. She didn't care if she littered here or not. Why should she?