Pets, Pics and Pals

Missions:

Malik awoke once more in his comfortable bedding, in the cellar of the Manga Town Inn. He was exhausted today, even sleeping through his several alarms that went off. Looking over at the clock, he was shocked to see that it was already 8 AM, over four hours later than his usual wake up time. Cursing himself, he quickly jumped out of the large bed, heading straight for the room’s spacious ensuite. He performed his usual morning routine, showering and brushing his teeth, all but smacking himself for his laziness. He threw on his usual attire for Manga Town, his completely white ensemble of clothing. His large linen button up shirt, loose tracksuit pants and soft shoes completing the outfit. Looking in the mirror, he raised an eyebrow, thinking that it may be time to mix it up every now and then to avoid looking the same.

He had quite a large and busy day yesterday, completing several missions he had taken from the notice board upstairs. The innkeeper, Bartos, was extremely friendly with Malik by now, the two had drunk and talked throughout the night on countless occasions. Malik even considered the man, who worked for Pal Pacino, the local crime boss, a friend that he could trust. He gave the large man a heavy discount for staying at his accomodation, and had even ensured that he got the largest room available. This, as well as copious amounts of free liquor, were more than enough encouragement for Malik to frequent the establishment. In return, Malik would often drive away the overly common troublemakers that would attend the Inn, something that had plagued Bartos since he first opened it.

As he walked through the dark hallway to get up to the bar area, Malik could not help but smile. He had been solely responsible for cleaning up the reputation of the Manga Town Inn, often finding himself beating (or breaking) many ruffians who felt like troubling his friend or his customers. Word had spread, and now Malik was usually the only dangerous trouble maker attending the place. The usual idiots would still be there, only they would be wearing their sensible hats, and not causing Bartos or his patrons any discomfort. Malik considered that a job well done on his behalf, if his Shinobi career did not work out, he would make a phenomenal bouncer.

Reaching the top of the stairs and opening the door, Malik found himself in the bar and food area of the Manga Town Inn. The Inn was already quite busy today, with many customers in for their morning meals or coffees, getting ready to start their work days. Bartos had hired a couple of new employees, replacing his now ex wife on the floor, serving customers and bringing joyful vibes to the Inn. This had happened yesterday, and Malik was glad to see that his friend was breathing easier now that he only had to focus on the bar work. As he walked into the room, he heard a yell from the bar. “Well about bloody time you woke up princess, rise and shine!” It was Bartos, laughing and waving from behind the counter. In response, Malik flipped him off and walked over the the notice board on the far end of the room.

Taking a look through the flyers, he did not see many jobs that caught his eye. Two of them finally did, the first was a minor construction job. He would simply be required to assist in a renovation for some local’s home, they wanted to add some new flooring around their swimming pool in the backyard. This especially caught his eye as not many people in town were wealthy enough to own a swimming pool. It sounded like easy money to Malik, the latter was even simpler by the looks of it. Helping out with a photo op. Not exactly the big man’s forte, but again it seemed like easy money and a good way to get his name out there.

He was about to walk to a booth and take a seat with the flyers, when another notice caught his eye. It was something stupid about a lost cat, but this is not what drew Malik’s attention. What did was the fact that the cat belonged to Pal Pacino’s wife, Margot. Personally, Malik could not care less about some stupid, lost feline pet. But getting a job done for the local crime boss’ significant other would only put him in Pacino’s good graces further. The crime boss already liked the large man, identifying his incredible strength and skills when he completed several jobs for him in weeks gone by. This would only further improve his reputation with the prominent man, and a better reputation meant a bigger payday, and this was something that Malik DID care about…

Grabbing the third and final flyer, Malik finally made his way to an empty booth, signalling for one of the waitresses to take his order. As she made her way over, Malik tried to remember the young lady’s name, he could have sworn it started with a ‘P’ or something like that… “Good morning Mr. Malik, you’re up late today!” Her words were casual, but the large man could tell there was still a level of fear and cautiousness in her eyes. Out of respect for Bartos, he had decided to be friendly with his two new employees, wanting to make his friend’s life easier. The other lady had gotten comfortable quite quickly, but this girl seemed to require a bit more time to do so.

“Good morning… uhhh Pe…?” “Pearl! Oh sorry, I mean Pearl, my name is Pearl. I’m sure you meet a lot of people on your travels Mr, there’s no need to remember mine!” The poor girl was still petrified of him, he tried to ease this by acting calm. “Sorry Pearl, I am quite terrible with names. I would like the usual please, porridge with extra honey, and throw in a macchiato coffee, I need to wake up a bit more than usual.” She nodded quickly and skittered away, Malik caught Bartos’ eye as she did so, and the both of them chuckled from opposing ends of the room. After his food and coffee arrived, Malik made sure to finish it all quickly, getting up and paying at the counter before saying his goodbyes for the day. Bartos yelled some profanity at him for being short a few ryo but Malik just laughed and flipped him off again on the way out. He would make for it later tonight anyway.

Looking at the mission flyer, Malik spotted the location for his first job. The construction would be taking place roughly 20 minutes away, at one of the only nice homes in Manga Town. The address sounded familiar but he could not quite put his finger on it. The mission giver had not given their name on the form, which piqued the large man’s interest. Who could it be? As he walked, he wondered if it was who he thought it was. He would not be surprised if so.

His suspicions were confirmed when he arrived at a fairly large mansion, just outside the small village’s borders. A large name was visible on the thick metal gate, for all to bear witness. Pacino. Well that settled that, he was working two jobs for the local crime boss today, this was sure to work in his favour. There were two large guards standing on either side of the gate with their arms crossed. Large to a normal person at least, walking up, Malik looked down at them both. “I am here responding to a job from the boss, his construction contract?” They looked at him with the usual mean bully faces, eventually nodding and allowing him to enter.

As he walked through the gate, he was in awe as he looked around, walking past an exquisite water fountain. This place was massive, enormous hedges surrounded the property, a huge wall surrounding those on the exterior for added privacy and protection. There were guards everywhere, this man truly was a crime boss, he was surrounded by trusted muscle. The guards directed him around the back of the house as he entered, not allowing him to go in through the front gate. The back was as incredible as the front, with a beautiful hedge maze and large pool, most likely the pool referred to in the contract. There were several builders working on the area surrounding the pool, with the head builder there instructing them on what to do.

The man was rather stout and worn, but he was barking orders at the lots of them, criticising every move they made. Malik instantly disliked him, wondering if the man would have the nerve to do the same to him. The moment the builder turned and saw him approaching, he instantly seemed to shrink by a few feet. Maybe this would not be as bad as he thought. “Uhh, hello there sir, can I help you with something?” Malik raised an eyebrow at the man. “I am here to assist in work around the pools flooring. Do you have what I need to do this?” Surprised that was not just another one of Pacino’s muscle, the man nodded his head quickly and pointed to a nearly completed area. “Y-yes sir, that’s all we need you to do. Just lay the cement and cover them with tiles before they dry. Not a complex job so you will be finished in no time sir!”

Malik spent the next two hours on the tiling job, he removed his nice shirt to avoid making a mess on it. The other men in the area gawked at his physique, it was clear that he did not belong with the rest of them. Considering his lack of experience, the large man did a phenomenal job, placing each tile perfectly. The lead builder whistled in appreciation, “Now that there is a fantastic job sir, you have a real knack for this!” Another 30 minutes later and the job was done. Malik too several steps back to appreciate his work. As he was doing so, a familiar voice came from behind him.


“Well well well, not only a debt collector and smuggler, but an expert builder also. I need to hire you more often Malik, don’t you think?” Pal Pacino walked up from behind him and pat the large man on the back, although he could barely reach his shoulders. “Thank you sir, I wanted to make sure I did my first construction job well. It is good to know I have a fall back option if being a Shinobi does not work out.” The gangster laughed at this and pat him on the back again, Malik continued, “This is not the only job I have taken on your premises today. I believe your wife is missing a family member nearby?”

Pal rolled his eyes at this, “That stupid cat? It goes missing every time she has to take it to the vet, it’s always nearby.” As he said this, a meow came from inside the hedge maze. Malik sighed, “It looks like I will need to test my maze skills then.” Pal laughed out loud as the large man quickly dashed into the confusing hedges. It took him less than a minute to locate the cat, an orange fur ball that was clearly fed too much by its loving owner. It made a dash to escape when it saw him, but the man’s superior speed was far too much for it to get away. He grabbed it by the back of its neck as it attempted to swipe at him. Its small claws not able to break through his thick skin. Returning to the backyard, he gave the cat to a housekeeper that had its cage.

“Let’s add animal control to your comprehensive skillset shall we? Good job and well done Malik, I will remember your work here. I can tell that you’re somebody I can rely on.” Pal tipped his hat and returned back into his house, the housekeeper in tow with the frenzied feline. Malik sighed and went to leave the home, receiving his pay from another housekeeper along the way, this was an easy task for him.


It was now time for his last task, the photo op. He began looking at the address as he approached the exit, until a voice called out ahead of him. “Ahh there you are, right on time! Although I must admit that my pathetic model is not even here yet.” Surprised, Malik looked up and saw an entire camera crew. The photo op WAS HERE? Well then, that made his life a little bit easier. “Ok so there has been a change of plans. The model is sick with some sort of food poisoning. But now that I look at you, I see why that doesn’t matter. Keep that shirt off and get in front of the fountain please, I just found my new model!” Shocked, confused and curious, Malik decided to do so.

The next hour of his day was spent taking pictures of Malik in different places and angles. The man in charge of the photo op seemed obsessed with having Malik’s body on display at all times. It was clear his time training had paid off in more ways than the large man had expected. There was no complaints on his end, assisting with this would not have been as exciting. After they had finished, the man paid Malik, and they were both on their way out. Leaving in different directions, Malik whistled to himself as he thought about all the sake he would be drinking tonight. He also owed Bartos some for underpaying today.

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TWC: 2,320

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Claiming 4,000 Ryo
Claiming 20 AP

Using 982 WC to claim Dance of the Clematis: Flower at A Rank (1,893/2,875 -> 2,875/2,875 from this post) (1,338 WC remaining)
Using 1,338 WC towards Alder (1,338/2,850)

Using 2,000 WC to claim +20 Chakra (25 Chakra)
Using 300 WC to claim +3 to vigor (23 Vigor)

Approved