Intro...

*Posted by : ryjones on Apr 12, 2018, 6:31pm*

August 20th, evening. Lady Rose

Connor was just about to pull out his sidearm, which he only really carried for show and to scare anyone who didn’t know he wasn’t much for guns if it came to that, when the door which Big Joe had just closed flung open and a rag of a girl flew in, pinballing off of Connor, sending him into the wall and careening into Big Joe’s firm, yet delicate in the right situations, grasp. “HELP ME!!” the girl screamed. Seeing the massive man who held her, she clawed off, which Joe allowed and nearly pounced on Emma, falling to her knees like a child would. “Please miss, please…,” she said, gasping, “there’s these men out there and their trying to.. to…,” and she paused looking down at herself and realized her raggedy blouse had been torn open revealing dirty cleavage and no undergarments. When she looked up at Emma, the tears were streaking down her cheeks, sending dark lines down her face from the mud on it.

“They said they wanted to hear me play and paid extra for me to head down the alley so the noise from the street wouldn’t drowned out my playing. They said the ‘akoo-sticks’ were better there too… whatever that means,” and she buried her dirty face in Emma’s skirt and wailed. “They seemed so nice, like proper gentlemen… one even said I was pretty enough to play on a real stage somewhere… they… they was gonna r-…ra-…,” and she shuddered at the thought unable to even say the word ‘rape’.

Connor, who’d been taking totally off guard by this all had recovered quickly and was out the door in a heartbeat. True to her words, three dandies were scrambling for the Centrum. One must have fallen recently, he was still trying to get up and struggling at it as he had a vegetable cart owner whose produce was knocked over and spread everywhere was also smacking the dandy with a walking stick. The young man must have smashed into the cart, delaying his escape. Advantage Connor.

Connor was across the courtyard and pouncing on the man before he knew what hit him. More adept at close quarters quarrels, Connor would have likely had the upper hand either way and the man’s prone position didn’t help either. Not wanting to kill him, he didn’t need the death of a Centrum native on his rap sheet, Connor delivered a few swift jabs to the man’s midsection. “Never bruise the face unless you have to,” Connor had always told himself leaving the proof of a fight harder to distinguish in court. The man gave Connor a shove and was on his feet and as Connor readied for a truly pugilistic encounter, the man simply ejected a small pistol from up his sleeve and shot Connor at near, point blank range. Thankfully for Connor the sound of the spring action was one he was used to and he turned ever so slightly just before, taking the small caliber bullet to the shoulder instead rather than the heart.

The wound was enough to stop him in his tracks and allow the shooter to take off. Fueled by rage long enough to get one more in, Connor loosed his own sleeve weapon, from the other side – but this was just a dagger. Still, he was adept at throwing things and managed to fling it and catch the man in the shoulder. While he’s still get away, at least Connor could feel pleased he wouldn’t go unscathed. Looking down at his shoulder for the first time, he saw the tiny hole in the shoulder of his jacket and grimaced. He’d definitely need a new suit now. When he pulled off the coat, he saw the sizable amount of blood he’d lost. The bullet must have struck something tore through his arm something fierce.

Flinging the jacket over his good shoulder he stammered back to Emma’s place and fell face first through the open door.