Tomoe thanked whatever gods existed that he wouldn't need to talk to Weirdlock directly today. He'd passed by the detective's office briefly earlier to confirm the job, but fled the area as fast as possible. He didn't want any pissing in garbage bins or pissing on bum's faces, or... well, maybe in the end, Gunter and his Dardian just had piss fetishes. Maybe with enough time they'd learn to even concentrate, spray and direct their piss towards a common enemy, to create the most powerful of streams, and...

That's fucking disgusting., Tomoe thought, brushing the gross ideas out of his head just as the image of the golden-stained papers from their previous quest had flooded into his mind.

The samurai walked through the Crimson Quarter, standing next to a street corner about a block away from the gambling den that he and Gunter were to infiltrate. He'd sent the man a letter at whatever drinking hole he'd happened to get blackout wasted at last, and hoped that would be enough. Tomoe didn't have time for games when it came to gang activity, and he'd be off to raise hell within minutes if Gunter didn't show up.

Due to his pocket dimension ring, Tomoe was currently in his casual Joyan attire. Within a second he could be fully geared, but there was no need for that when he felt so much more comfortable as he was. Being considered a C-rank quest, he wasn't so worried about needing to take it truly seriously, even if the job did call for potential fights. Street gangs and other common rabble were mere child's play before his power - that much he had decided upon when he had finally decided to accept HER into his life. The power of the very stars and cosmos were within his grasp now, and that felt invigorating.

---

WC: 307/850

Gunter starts making his way down the street towards where Tomoe should be waiting for him, currently dressed in more formal wear than what he usually wears; but not what he's used to wearing in the past. He finds himself in a black suit with a golden lining and a purple tie. There's a red rose design that covers the suit and thorn-like patterns that go down the legs. His Dardian also decided to dress formal, simply wearing a tie around its next. The Dardian makes sure that it's loose in case he needs to slip it off quickly and strangle whatever comes his way.

They eventually meet up with Tomoe, who seems to be slightly distraught, thinking about something that makes him make an almost disgusted face. He pipes up and says "What are you thinking about bud? And you're looking good in that suit. Didn't expect you to dress, you know. Normal. What's that? Maybe even the smell of cologne rather than whiskey? Not bad, not bad." Gunter looks at the gambling den, and quickly follows up with "So I read the job details, so I know what I gotta do and what I'm here for. I'm assuming that as soon as we enter, we keep that under lock and key and get this done? Hopefully we'll be back home drinking whiskey and rum, ready for dinner time."

Gunter lights a cigarette and slips a small canteen filled with a spiced rum in his suit jacket. He's currently not carrying any weapons or armor on him, except his earrings and necklace which were convenient and unassuming.

With that, Gunter starts making his way inside the gambling den and immediately takes a seat at the bar. His Dardian, on the other hand, is going to head inside looking intimidating, and get something to eat from the food Gunter ordered.

---

Word Count: 310/1,000

Tomoe shrugged off his comrade's condescending remarks. Dickish as usual, he was. He did have a point, all the same: Tomoe was sober for once, and not dressed as if he was ready to kill somebody. The latter could be fixed in an instant, of course, but that was the ideal. This way, he was able to fight while looking as if he couldn't. Not that he needed it, against weak thugs like the ones that would be infesting the gambling den.

He made his way into the establishment which reeked of booze, cigarettes, crushed dreams and piss. So many thoughts of piss today. Would they continue? Who knows. What was known was that he had a job to do, and he'd do it with the hotheadedness demanded of the description. Immediately once he entered, Gunter would take himself over to get a drink.

Typical alcoholic., Tomoe thought as he made his way further into the room and sat down at a poker table.

Tomoe would slam his hands down on the table, spilling some guy's drink with a cocky grin across his face. His legs underneath the table, he'd knee it from below, sending people's belongings that were on the table flying all over the place. He'd then smack a guy lightly on the back of the head, and laugh at him afterwards.

"How's it goin', bozos? Losing money at poker again? What a shame, what a shame. Hey, how 'bout you guys just hand over the money while you're at it?"

Tomoe sat there with a relaxed posture as he saw the goons around the table start to bitch and moan, and crack their knuckles in preparation for a fight.

---

WC: 589/850 (15% reduced)

Gunter takes a seat at the bar. Looks at the bartender and says "How's your night going so far? You mind giving me the good stuff?" and putting the jewels on the table. "Keep the change, and I'll keep the bottle." As the bartender comes back and brings the drink, Gunter cracks it open and spins around to look at the room, seeing patrons, douchebags and the occasional sewer scum gambling away. He looks over and sees his guild master, Tomoe, currently trying to start a fight with some shitstains of society. In this moment, Gunter looks at the Dardian and gives him a wink, who starts casually walking in the direction of the table. Gunter takes his bottle and starts walking over towards the table.

Gunter sees the thugs look at Tomoe as if they're about to get up, and Gunter steps in and says "Hey buddy how's it going? You guys look like you're pissing yourself angry. This is a fine establishment right here *hic* and I think you guys need to just calm down, right, and have a drink *hic*." The scumbags, pieces of shit, are too angry. They look at Gunter and tell him to fuck off. Gunter looks at him with a smile that turns from the fake drunk guy to a look of sinister bloodthirst. He looks at them and says "Huh. Those are your last words, huh? 'Fuck off'? Not the most, uh, cunning."

The Dardian puts his hand on the back of one of the goon's heads, slamming him into the table, causing the table to shatter. After the slam, the Dardian then flips the goon over. The goon punches the Dardian in the face. The beast then smiles, and starts pushing his massive fingers into the goon's eyes as he starts to scream, and continues pushing until the guy stops screaming and struggling. The goon's sky caves in like a watermelon under pressure.

The second goon rushes Gunter. Gunter then takes his bottle and quickly breaks it and slams the jagged edge right into the neck of the goon closest to him, causing blood to squirt all over the liquor bottle and his hand, flowing down his arm. The last thing that the goon sees is Gunter's sinister smile. He lets go of the bottle and sees the goon drop.

---

Word Counter: 699/1,000

As the action was going on and only one goon remained, Tomoe was pulling out his flask of whiskey and taking a drink. The goon fell backwards out of shock at seeing his friends violently torn apart, and dropped the pocket knife that he had revealed from his pants' pocket. He crawled away slowly until he was pressing himself up against a wall, and Tomoe knew it was already over for him. With the table broken, it was easy for him to rip a table leg off of it. He ripped it imperfectly, so it had jagged edges on the end and splinters, but that was even better for what the sadistic samurai had in mind. Without even equipping any of his usual combat gear via the pocket dimension ring, Tomoe briskly walked towards the end of the room where his prey had fled to.

Without even giving the gangster a chance to beg for his life, Tomoe thrusts the table leg into the guy's mouth. Keeping it inside the goon's mouth while he struggles, Tomoe lights up with glowing, fiery tattoos for a second before stepping back and using his right leg to kick the table leg further down the gangster's throat until it came out the other side and impaled itself into the wall like a makeshift pillar. It almost looked ritualistic, but no rituals like this existed within HER scriptures. Rather, this was purely Tomoe's decision to do. The 'hero' that would conjure forth a pillar of blood then turned away from the ghastly sight and regrouped with Gunter and his Dardian.

Looking around, the remaining patrons in the gambling den backed away to edges of the room in fear, all eyes focused on the three murderous shit-disturbers that now found themselves drenched in the blood of idiots. The goons' corpses would soon shit themselves, so eventually the entire room would become rancid as flies began to gather.

At that point, a... creature walked in. He was massive and fat. He was like a moving, sentient sphere with arms and legs that came as accessories. He had a massive blonde fu manchu that draped past his many chins, and a ponytail of the same color that probably reached his ass... and Tomoe only thought 'probably' because it was unclear if the body shape of the man supported something like an ass. Tomoe kept his guard up as the massive man moved towards them with a stoic expression, ready to fight.

"We ain't the donut crew, pal. Move along, we don't have any twinkies for ya."

Tomoe wasn't going to be eaten - not today, and not ever.

---

WC: 850/850 (15% reduced)

Gunter looks up at this fat monstrosity before him. He looks this hulking tub of lard in the eyes and says "Listen here, Tubby Lumpkins. We were in here minding our own business, trying to make a quick buck, and your men who acted very rude tried to start a fight. We just knew how to defend ourselves because unlike your men we aren't a group of pussies. I could teach a dog to fight better. I know you're salivating at their corpses covered in shit and flies but calm yourself."

Tubby Lumpkins looks at Gunter hungrily, licking his huge pig snout. He leans in real close, the smell of lard and sweat and three day old cheese and soda can be smelled emanating off of his decrepit, chode-like tongue. This man begins to speak, and honestly Gunter thinks he's about to be assimilated into the man's fat - to be one with the tubby. To be one with the blob. He speaks with a high pitch, almost childlike voice. "Listen here, you little shit. I'm gonna go easy on you today because you left me three nice, tasty meals on the floor. But if you say one more thing about my weight, I'm gonna sit on you. And trust me, that's worse than being eaten, as I haven't wiped my ass in over a month! Honestly, I can't even reach it."

Gunter looks at the man and says that he gave out way too much information. More than he needed to ever know or think about. The massive creature said "We can use guys like you. Why don't you join up with us? We hold our monthly clan meeting in the Crimson Quarter."

The conversation goes on. For the next ten minutes, Gunter and the hulking ice cream bucket full of lard discuss how to join up with the gang and all the details of it. Then the monstrosity leaves the bar while dragging his three snacks along with him, devouring one of the goons' corpses before walking out. He swallowed the dead man whole without even chewing, like eating a piece of sushi. With that, Tubby leaves.

"Well that was interesting. I didn't know they had land whales." Gunter says while looking at Tomoe, pointing at the giant, hungry pig-man as he leaves. As Gunter and Tomoe leave the establishment, Gunter looks at his Dardian friend, Kratos, and says "Hey Kratos. This place looks a little filthy, do you mind cleaning up for me?" Kratos smiles and as Tomoe and Gunter leave the place, all that can be heard from inside is a loud quake, and the screams of anybody that remained inside. Spikes came out the sides of the buildings from inside, made of stone, and boulders were thrown all over at random patrons.

Afterwards, Kratos would pop up out of the ground outside the gambling den and make his way towards Gunter. Gunter looks at Tomoe and decides to let the guild master that he'd be on his way. "Let me know what the next plan is for this job as it comes, and next time I see Tubby Lumpkins, I'll recommend him some surgery options. That'll be my good deed and my homework, helping a fat son of a bitch lose weight."

After that, Gunter gives Tomoe a wave goodbye. Afterwards, he makes his way for the nearest bar to get some well-earned drinks as always.

---

Word Count: 1,269/1,000

Exit

Tomoe generally followed along with Gunter's taunts towards the absolute unit of a man, mostly staying quiet while they talked things out. Lord knows the... 'thing' was capable of wrapping a hand around somebody and grappling their entire body with one hand, if he felt like. That was the kind of presence the man gave off, but behind that presence was... something rather disappointing, as the man was whining with a high pitched voice like some kind of pre-teen. It was sniveling and pathetic, but Tomoe held back his laughter while they talked - if a fight broke out here and they were forced to cut this behemoth into pieces, there would be no more leads for them to follow up on. Their work in the investigation would end here if this monster died.

The Joyan expressed his interest in joining, but otherwise left the negotiations to Gunter; all the ronin was good for was fighting at the end of the day, and he wasn't too graceful with his words. As they wrapped up and Mr. Lumpkins began to leave, he began to swallow the man that had the table leg shoved through him. "Mmm, a corn dog.", Lumpkins said as he swallowed the man, table leg and all.

As they left, Tomoe didn't even look back as the Dardian began to cause chaos inside. He remembered his own words, and knew that there could be no witnesses regardless. All of the random drunks would cease to be by the time that Dardian had left, and that was fine.

Soon they would part ways, and await further word from their new 'gang boss'.

---

WC: 850/850 (15% reduced)

- EXIT -