The slums are a rundown, old heap of a town tucked deep in the jungles, with townsfolk consisting mostly of poachers, black marketeers, thieves, and fugitives. While the ideal tourist spot, some travel to the Slums to make use of the black markets. (+2 Defense, +2 Speed)

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All Roads To Rome [M:L,D]

Postby Night » 11/19/2016 2:38 AM

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The winter wind cut a harsh line against his back, pressing his thin jacket closer against his frame. It did little to keep out the chill, but he supposed it was better than digging through his closet and pulling out winter clothes that were probably still in need of a wash from the fading tides of the last cold snap of spring. The cold always brought with it unbidden memories of his father, always a stoic and frigid individual. He scowled, pulling his collar up and then thrusting his hands deep into his pockets, his nails biting crescent moons into the flesh of his palm.

The buildings in this part of town were skeletons, empty faces with gaping windows and walkways full of cracking concrete like crooked teeth. Interspaced between the bones of civilization shone the odd gem, a house that was more a home, with well maintained grass and fresh paint to add a sheen of life to an otherwise dead street. They were admittedly few, more coal than diamonds, and more than likely a front for moving drugs or selling an evening with blond hair, blue eyes and track marks. It was disgusting, but suiting to his purpose.

The sidewalk he strolled was spiderwebbed with fissures, through which the last vestiges of summer tried desperately to cling to life. They withered at his passing even as he compulsively skipped each one. Step on a crack, and you break your mothers back. He thought derisively as he went out of his way to avoid each and every one. He sped the last few steps, stopping in front of a newly whitewashed fence and slipping through the gate. A front. The man at the door shook his hand, slipping a small something into his coat sleeve even as the same was done in return. The cash disappeared with the man behind the door. Johnathan wished, in the faint way you hope for the unlikely, than he had been invited in to warm his hands. It was no matter. The cold was hardly a pause for the child of Hades.
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Re: All Roads To Rome [M:L,D]

Postby Night » 11/19/2016 5:43 AM

He scarcely remembered the majority of the walk home, though he was fairly sure it involved much of the same as the walk there. He was lost to thought, his mind twisting around and doubling back on itself. Jonathan ducked out of the way of a woman walking her dog, too busy on her cellphone or too rude to care that her dog's leash was pulled taut across the sidewalk. He shot her a glare, dark eyes meeting her for the briefest of moments. But it was enough. Just a glimpse, a peak behind the curtain regardless of whether he wanted it to happen -

Drawn curtains, a hospital room, a lone figure small in the white sheets. There was no one else.

She was giving him a hard look when he refocused, a nasty side eye that he returned. She probably deserved to be alone, in the end. He slunk away as she chattered to her friend on the other end of the call about 'troubled youth on the street.'

The door slammed shut behind him when he shoved into his house minutes later. Ryland glanced up from the couch, eyes curious, but made no move after him as he stomped into the kitchen. Ryland was  a good roommate, really - the son of Apollo, a literal ray of sunshine personified. He cleaned up after himself, at least, and only complained a little bit when Jonathan left odd socks and sketchbooks and who knew what else littered all over the living room. Actually, it didn't much look as though anyone but Jonathan lived there. Barely anything of Ryland's had migrated into the main areas of the house. Jonathan tried to count them when he returned to collapse on the couch, coffee in hand. A pencil, that was one, and that text book over there didn't look like his, but that  could just be because he never actually opened any of them and wouldn't recognize any of them by sight.

"Did something happen on your walk?" Ryland's voice cut through his musings, one eyebrow raised in question.
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Re: All Roads To Rome [M:L,D]

Postby Night » 11/20/2016 9:31 PM

"Just the usual." Jonathan was careful not to spill his drink as he flopped back against the couch cushions. "Ran into a lady in the street walking her dog on her cellphone. Had a vision about her impending doom. Thought about dropping by the grocery store, but didn't."

Ryland shot him a reproachful look. "You said you were going to go to the store today! It's your turn!" He pointed towards a chart on the wall. The son of Apollo had painstakingly drawn the lines with a ruler on a whiteboard that hung near the door, and written a series of names in the columns. The word "Chores" stood out in bold at the top. Although the two of them were the only tenants of their small apartment, there were six names on the chart - Ryland, Jonathan, Leslie, Patrick, and someone that was evidentially only referred to as "Asshole." Each had a checkmark beside them indicating which chore they had been assigned for the week.

"No one looks at that chart, you know." Jonathan sipped at his coffee. "I thought Patrick had stolen it, actually. Didn't he threaten to set it on fire last month when you gave him dish duty?"

Ryland looked exasperated. "I made another one." Jonathan wasn't sure why he bothered. They all knew that the chores would be neglected until the end of the week, the house would be a wreck, and they would all feel guilty when Ryland shot them that broken-hearted, wide-eyed look and clean it all up in one big go. It was almost a tradition after two years as unlikely roommates.
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