I'm Not A Bad Man, I Just Have My Vices

[Obelisk]

His face hurt. Getting punched would do that to a guy.

In hindsight, it probably wasn't a good idea to pick a fight with a guy twice his size. It didn't take much to bigger than Sage, actually. Though the man's body was toned and relatively fit, he stood at an average five foot six. Though, if you asked him, Sage would say five foot six and a half. He couldn't help what had happened in the bar. The guy had been bad-mouthing the army and hell, no one bad-mouthed the army, especially some pretentious Navy officer. Sage had served within the ranks of the army proudly before being thrown out for conduct unfit for an officer. Apparently the army didn't appreciate their officers showing up drunk on regular occasions-- or at all for that matter.

Dishonorably discharged. That still stung Sage every time he thought about it. Leaving the army (being kicked out of it) had lead to him indulging in his vices even more. Alcohol ate away at his paychecks as he financed his favorite bad habit. There'd been a hooker every now and again when the quiet of his house got too lonely or too cold. They were convenient, they didn't want any ties or relationships just like him. Simple, easy, no-strings-attached human contact. No man was an island.

After his discharge and his spiral down into horrible vices, Sage's mother couldn't even look him in the eye anymore. His father hardly spoke to him and instead devoted his pride and attention to Seamus, the eldest brother. Seamus had become a doctor and was the pride of the family, just like it had always been. Living in his older brother's shadow had been hard as a youth, but Sage had grown to accept it, but not without chagrin. It was hard, especially at family gatherings. At Christmas they'd ask what was going on in their lives. Seamus would have a fantastic story about his saving a patient's (or several) lives. Sage would only answer "nothing much." That small, non-committal reply was far better than the truth. What would they think if he told them something along the lines of:

"I have shitty apartment in a shitty part of the city. I spend all my money on cheap beer and cheap whores. Oh, and I'm inbetween jobs, constantly. Right now I got a job cleaning toilets."

Yeah, that would go over well. And Christmas was just around the corner, wasn't it? He'd have to come up with an excuse. Maybe he'd leave a message on his answering machine lying to everyone that he was gone for the holidays.

Hello, you've reached Sage O'Neil. I'm sorry but I've gone off to fight a galactic space lord and I'm not sure when I'll be back.

Last time he'd tried that his brother had shown up at the door claiming to be a pizza delivery guy and had dragged his ass to the family get together. He needed to come up with a new plan. He also needed a drink. Or two. Or several.

His face had healed mostly. It still was a bit sore and he was sporting a black eye, but Sage didn't really care. His appearance was never an issue. Shaggy hair, worn blue jeans, shoes that looked like they'd been thrown into a pit of mud, left there for a year, washed off with a garden hose, and then put back on. That wasn't too far from the truth, actually. The shirt he wore was gray-black with the words "Gun's N Roses" printed across the front of it.

After being thrown out of that first bar a few nights ago, Sage wisely decided not to go there tonight. He opted for an old bar with the Irish pub theme. He entered, sat on a stool and waved the bartender over.

"Yo' Barry." Sage said, flashing a grin and looking pathetic with his bruised face.

"Oi, man, I can already tell you've had a few. You sure you want more?" Barry knew Sage well and had watched the man drink himself into a stupor far too many times.

"I can still remember your name, can't I?" Sage offered with a lopsided but cheery smile.

The bartender only shook his head and mumbled something under his breath. He gave Sage the usual. Straight whiskey, Jack Daniels. As much as Barry liked Sage, he liked his money more. What Sage chose to do with himself was his own business.

The man in question took the shot and slammed it back, enjoying the familiar burn.

[Fyre]

A fairly young red haired man had been walking home from work. He had a Marlboro cigarette in hsi mouth, and long sleeved shirt over his wal mart uniform. His name was Maximus, though he always introduced himself as Max. He was 21 years old, and abused his rights like the dumb ass he was. e was constantly going to work drunk on Mondays, and always had a cigarette in his mouth, though he's really been smoking since he was 16. Just like the average male student at school, he wanted to be cool, but guess what? Smoking was cool, and the idiot decided to do it as well. He rarely ever listened to his mom, in fact, he never listened to her, and that's why he was doing so bad nowadays, but he didn't care.

"Life's a bitch, then it all goes down the drain." he said to himself as he flicked the ashes off the end of his cigarette, then quickly put it back into his mouth. He was a few blocks from home when he happened to pass by a bar. Should he go? Or should he not go? He scratched the back of his head as he tried to decide what to do. He couldn't decide, but maybe his wallet would help him. He quickly got it out of his pocket, and looked. Fifty bucks could buy him a few, so with that he walked into the bar.

He had never been in this bar before, and he didn't see anyone he recognized, so he kept his mouth shut as he walked to the bar. He sat down next to a man who had appeared to have just finished off his glass. He stayed there and waited for the barkeeper to come and ask him what he wanted. He didn't know what they had here, so he'd just tell em the usual. 'Give me the strongest stuff you got.' he'd tell them, and after he walked out this bar he knew he's wake up with a black eye and a few cuts, but he never cared. He then continued sitting at his stool, and only waved once for the barkeeper to come over.

[eVeryoNe-wIll-sUffer-noW]

"Aww, c'mon, kitten, it's your birthday," Bella crooned as she dragged the reluctant whitenette through the smoky bar and shoved him onto a stool. Leuscious scowled as she perched on his free side (the other being taken up by a man who, by the smell of him, had had a few too many already) and wrinkled his nose at her.

"Yes, and I don't want to spend my birthday in a boozehouse full of drunkards."

"Too damn bad. It's your twenty-first, you can't NOT DRINK."

With a charming smile and a toss of her dark curls, Bella called over the bartender and ordered something that sounded feminine and fruity and sweet, and all manner of things Leuscious did not want to have to swallow. Edging a bit further away from the man to his right, the albino sighed and set his chin in his hand.

"Fine. Just don't get me pissing drunk."

The brunette laughed and gave the disgruntled man a cheerful swat on the back (much to his chagrin) before leaning over him to examine the gentleman on the other side of him and proclaiming loudly,


"What happened to you, hon? Lose a fight with a bulldozer?"


Leuscious' forehead hit the bartop with a bang.

[Obelisk]

Normally people didn't speak to Sage. His appearance was raggedy at best and he looked like the type of guy who'd rather punch you than exchange hellos. But that wasn't the case at all. Sage loved people or at least loved people to love him. Call it a mental thing developed as a kid, if you will. His brother always got the glory and attention while he was left wanting. That said, Sage was always happy to have some friendly attention on him. As sweet and quick-to-smile he was, Sage was a bit awkward when it cam to social situations.

"Hi!" High-pitched, overly friendly. Sage frowned and cleared his throat. "Hello." He said, voice decidedly more manly. What the woman had said to him hadn't really registered until now. He'd just been so caught off guard (pleasantly so) by the fact someone was addressing him, Sage O'Neil, king of the bums.

Barry had given the red-haired man his requesting drink and then proceeded to fill Sage's shot glass. He'd spent enough time in Sage's company to be able to gauge how much he'd be drinking that night. And by the bartender's guess, the ex-soldier was far from done. He eyed the two, the Albino and his friend before shuffling off to help another patron.

"Uh," Sage stuttered, releasing a sheepish chuckle. That was right, he looked like hell. It was easy to forget that, as he was used to the odd fight every now and again. He counted himself lucky that his latest adventure hadn't landed him in jail again.

"You should see the other guy!" The man proclaimed as if he'd beaten the living hell out of the Navy officer. The other guy, however, was a relatively perfect condition. He'd been able to floor a drunken Sage with one good throw of his fist. He'd been wearing a ring at the time and the impression the emblem had left in Sage's skin was still visible in the right light. Good thing for him though, was the fact the bar didn't have the right light. He was saved that embarrassment, at least.

"Um," There he went, stuttering again. He was really on a roll, wasn't he? Before another wave of self-loathing could over take him, Sage decided to change the subject.

"What brings you to Barry's? You two don't look like the type to haunt a place like this." As he said that, his blue eyes drifted to the red-head.

"You on the other hand, fit right in." He offered the stranger a bright grin before looking back at the woman and her companion.

"Uh, what's wrong with your friend?" He questioned a bit unsure, wondering what had possessed Leu to smack his head on the bartop. Geeze, everyone around him was at least a good five years younger. Sage was twenty-six, though he looked more like he was thirty. A life of hard labor and bad habits tended to age a guy.

[Fyre]

Maximus had only been taking a few sips from his drink every now and then as he listened to the man who was speaking to the lady. He was talking about a fight with some other dude. Ah well, Maximus didn't care. He always got into fights, though he never was truly asking for em. As he listened to the guy speak, and what other sounds where in th bar, he closed his eyes. He was a bit tired, and the alcohol was making him relax a bit. As the man spoke, he eventually spoke a quick word to Maximus, which made Maximus open one of his eyes, and make a small noise from his lips. "Hn?" was the sound and question that escaped his lips.

"You on the other hand, fit right in." the older man had said, and then Maximus opened both eyes, and turned his head toward him, and began to speak even though the older man had turned back to the lady and the other guy. "Believe it or not, it's my first time in this bar, though I have been in a few others." he said in response, then finished his drink, and waved to the barkeep for another. He then put a hand to his head as he felt as though he forgot about something, but he couldn't remember. Ah well, it would eventually come to him.

As he waited for the barkeep to bring him his second drink, he remembered what he had forgotten. He forgot he had his dog at home. Ah well, he left the dog outside so he was most likely OK. After all the dog was on the streets before Maximus found him, so he'd be alright for a couple more hours.

[eVeryoNe-wIll-sUffer-noW]

"Bella!" Leuscious hissed as he shoved her back onto her seat to sit up.

'Why did you drag me here? Why couldn't you just buy me a damned cupcake and stick a candle in it like a normal person? If I HAD to drink, why HERE?'

In the end, he said none of these things, and instead sighed, straightened, and forced himself to turn to the distorted splash of deep tan next to him, fixing his gaze just beneath the blob of dark brownish hair where his eyes would be.

"I-.. Apologize, my friend isn't very... Err... Well, she's not incredibly tactful- bit of a moron, to be honest- and, oh, God, now I'm starting to sound like one..." he finished in a mutter, shifting his gaze away nervously. It was difficult to tell by posture alone (let alone drunken posture) what the man's expression was, and Leuscious was never quite sure who would be unnerved by the sight of staring red eyes (and he did, unfortunately, have a bad (and unavoidable) habit of staring). Bella saved him (if it could be so stated) by leaning over his slender shoulder to continue her conversation, as if the whitenette had never interrupted, batting her dark lashes over her eyes with a flash of white teeth.

"Reeeeeeally? Hear that, Leu? This handsome gentleman thinks we look too high-class for a bar. By the way, darling, you're blushing, as I'm sure everyone in a ten mile radius has noticed."

She gave the taller man a purring smile and a wink as she retreated from the now-burning Leuscious' shoulder to fetch her drink from the table. The albino ducked his head to hide behind his hair. It was bad enough that his blushing made one imagine the colours of a chicken being beheaded and drained of blood in the snow, but did she really have to announce it?! So when he flushed he looked like a bleeding Christmas light. It wasn't that damned amusing! With a final mutter of apology to the stranger to his right, he turned back to face front.

Every moment with Bella seemed to end up as one of those moments where the ground had a nasty tendency of not rising up and swallowing him whole.

[Obelisk]

"You just strike me as the kind of guy to frequent a place like this." Sage had said in reply to Maximus, rolling his shoulders in something of a shrug. Sage was referring to the atmosphere of the bar, comfortable but rundown. It was for the rowdier sort of crowd, being an Irish pub and all. People came there to forget their worries with good company or drink them away. Or both, rather.

Blue eyes darted to the white-haired man who had finally started to speak, Sage offered an encouraging smile and shook his head. "Hey man, it's cool. She was right when she said I looked like hell." His smile flashed into a brilliant grin telling the world that he was actually happy about that. It made him feel macho and manly. There was still a bit of a kid in Sage out to prove himself. Too much testosterone or something, the typical male specimen.

It was strikingly obvious that Leu was blushing and Sage tried hard not to stare too much. He'd never seen an albino before. Well there was that mouse once but that didn't really count. Humans were entirely different. Larger for one, a bit stranger but not in the bad way. Interesting was a good way of putting it.

Sage tucked his head down as he hid a grin, trying not to laugh at the other's obvious embarrassment. That would be rude, Sage had decided, even if it was in good humor. This guy was all for making good first impressions and really didn't like the thought of anyone thinking poorly of him. Sage worried about that a lot, actually. What people thought of him as a character, as a person. How did he come off to others?

Sage took a sip from his glass, eyes darting from one person to the other as he did so. He licked his lips and offered another endearingly kind smile.

"Hey man, just try to relax. Everyone's here to have a goodtime so why don't you just try and do the same?" The soldier offered lifting a single brow. He blew some of the shaggy hair from his face before breathing out audibly.

" The name's Sage O' Neil." Introducing himself seemed like the right and friendly thing to do. He looked from the redhead to the albino and waited to see if they'd return the gesture.

[Fyre]

"You just strike me as the kind of guy to frequent a place like this." the older man had said in response to Maximus. "Alright, didn't get what you meant." he said as he took a drink from his newly filled glass. he had usually been to bars which were loud, annoying, and you almost always had someone fighting. Guess it was how he looked that made him seem to fit in. Ah well, he'd have to come here more often anyways. This place was much quieter and much more relaxing, it almost made you want to fall asleep. Then Maximus turned from drinking his glass as he seen the albino, though he couldn't tell, blushing. "Something wrong with you?" he asked, not being able to see the blush because of his color blindness.

" The name's Sage O' Neil." the older man said as he introduced himself. Maximus turned to finish his glass when he spoke, but put it down instead. "Max Tanner, pleasure to meet ya." he said in his usual soft tone. He then watched and waited to see if the other guy would say his name, if not then he'd probably ignore everyone and get up to go home. He was tired and didn't feel like talking, though for some reason he doubted he'd wouldn't be going home soon. Either he'd be too drunk to stand, or he just wouldn't feel like going.

[eVeryoNe-wIll-sUffer-noW]

"Erm, Leuscious. It's a pleasure to meet you," he managed a bit robotically, as if repeating lines he'd rehearsed to himself for hours. He drew a deep breath and stole a glance across from 'Sage', trying to make out the other young man who'd spoken, 'Max', and giving his hazy form a stiff nod.

He brushed white clouds of hair from his face to taste a sip of his drink and made a face, swallowing with a small noise of revulsion. Just out of sheer lack of anything better to do (other than attempt to make out Sage's face, since Max was too far, which seemed like it might cause some unnecessary tension), he lifted the glass again, only to notice that the liquid in it appeared very much to be purple. His masculine pride cringed. He set it back down and turned to Max and Sage, trying to find a good, neutral place to focus his gaze on that wouldn't disturb them.

"Err, soooo... Uh... You- you said you were in a fight earlier?"

Leuscious winced and did his best not to hit himself. No wonder he hated socializing. He sucked at it.

[Rip]

ooc: Imma jump in here. WARNING THIS POST MIGHT BE REALLY LONG.

----

Nickolas Cutter became a murderer at 9 PM that night.

The day would have began in a typical fashion. Nick would have rolled out of his bed around five in the morning, no longer able to stand the savage snores of his roommate. He would have rubbed his eyes and sighed inwardly to himself and then stood up, taking a sole pillow and blanket to accompany him as he'd leave the dorm room. He'd head down the steps and make his way to the common room of Oxford Valley College, crashing on the couch. He'd then be awakened when the lounge busied, especially because finals were coming up and everyone was going insane. Nick should have been studying too, but he didn't bother. If he didn't know the information after taking the class then the teachers failed in their responsibility to prepare them. Plus, he was a rather bright boy, if not a bit full of himself, and hated all things standard- tests included. That's how things would have started, but it all turned sideways when he was awakened not by the drunken farts and earthquake snores but by a phone call. The caller phoned his cell. Nick was a privet boy and that number had been handed out to only a few people- Jenny was one of them.

The phone call was from his younger sister. It was long distance. He accepted the charges. Trouble at home. Nick's blood boiled.

Not three hours later, he was on his way to the USA. The phony passports had been made years ago in case of emergency. It was an emergency now. Anyone else might have called the police, might have done it the proper way. Nick was not anyone else but Nick, and Nick had his own way of doing things.

He was going. No matter what. He was going.

And he went.

Phony passport, a fake ID. He looked the age it said- 22- though he was only 19. No one suspected the average sized, medium muscled boy with the serious face to be illegal. Just a college student who needed a comb to tame his wild black hair. Just a boy, going to see family.

He went to the house they all moved too and growled under his breath when he saw the red mustang convertible not in the garage. The time was 7 o'clock PM. There was one light on in the house- a small illumination probably from a little lamp, located in the right top window. Nick knew which room it was, and he didn't knock on the door; he didn't need too. His clever fingers easily pried out the spare key hidden between two garden stones (two among nearly thirty- if there was one thing he'd give his parents credit for it was their keenness to secrecy and ability to keep it). The boy stood in the door way and saw nothing- not the trinkets on the wall, not the expensive carpet, not the furniture. None of it mattered. None of it concerned what he came here for. With the key still in his hand, Nick drew a breath and called out, "JENNY!"

The power of the voice echoed through every small, insignificant corner of the damned house, and when it was through everything was stiffly still. Not even the floorboards creaked, and for a moment Nick feared he had gone deaf, but then down the flight of stairs flew a little girl, who clung to his waist and wailed in unintelligible shrieks and tears streamed down her face in joy.

He had taken Jenny, after she gathered some things, to an old school friend who lived in a nearby city. He didn't want to, because the boy liked to party and had numerous room mates, but he had too and he had promised it was only for a day or two while he gathered money and his head. Then he would be back. Jenny didn't believe him. He gave her his necklace to prove it.


The time was 8:30 PM, and Nickolas Cutter was walking to try and find something to eat. He made the mistake of not coming armed, and out of the dark came a desperate looking man with a knife. The man wanted money, and his voice was shaking but dangerous. Nick was happy to tell him to fuck himself and then the man fell on him. They fought briefly but viciously, and the knife had attacked Nick's arm twice before the boy could fend off the mugging-bastard with the lid to a metal rubbish bin. The man stumbled back wards his foot found the stairs leading down to underneath an apartment building. Down he fell. The flight was short, but it was a hard fall and his head hit with a crack against the concrete. Nick only needed to glance once at the unnatural positioning of the neck to realize he was in deep shit.

The time was 9 o'clock PM.

Since then, the boy with the short but messy black hair and steady but unhappy slate eyes had stumbled to a street he remembered. There was a bar around here. Killer killerkillerkillerkillllerlerlelrlerlr..

Ignoring his bruises, his scrapes, the stab wounds that he hid with a make-do bandage of ripped shirt and his coat, Nickolas the Murderer entered. He ignored the people for the most part, though a subconscious curiosity lingered on the albino man, and stood by the stools.

"Coke and rum." There was a dare in his voice- I dare you question my age.

[Obelisk]

Bars were just his thing. They were a second home, really, housing the people that Sage sometimes considered a replacement family. Friends were so much easier to get on with than blood relatives, after all. People here didn't care that he was a colossal failure and that made Sage almost able to forget that he, in fact, was a failure in every sense of the word. The man had promised himself time and time again that he'd try and do better. People close to Sage, however, knew that he was never really good at keeping promises. His intentions were always good, though, and that was enough to keep Sage from hating himself. He was a good person, he just didn't always do good things. Keeping in the holiday spirit, it was the thought that counted, wasn't it?

He looked from Max to Leuscious and flashed what was perhaps the most ridiculously charming smile one could imagine. Sage had an older face, that of a middle-aged man. There were wrinkles here and there, smile lines or frown lines, some gained from too much time working under the sun. But when he smiled his age was washed away and the heartfelt twinkle in his eye made him look boyish, innocent. That was the one thing Sage had going for him, the one thing that kept people from hating him for being a slacker and a loser. His charisma was warm, welcoming, almost childish. He was the type of guy who'd be found smiling for no particular reason and someone who was always happy to see you. If he'd been in animal he'd likely be an overly friendly, attention-seeking dog. Annoying to some, endearing to anyone who had a heart.

"Max, Leuscious it is my distinct at honored pleasure to meet the both of you." Sage said, his tone humorous, the grin on his face lopsided and goofy --goofy from both his innate nature and the alcohol pulsing through his veins.

His grin faltered a bit at Leuscious question but Sage just released a good-hearted laugh, quickly and effortlessly dispelling what could've become an awkward situation.

"Yeah," The man affirmed, scratching at the bride of his nose with his index finger while sending the albino a sidelong glance, still wearing that friendly smile of his. " I tend to do that a lot, actually." Sage said easily, sounding neither proud or ashamed of the fact. It came with the territory of being a drunk. " You don't have to worry about it, though, I promise I'll behave." His blue eyes had fallen to observe what the man was drinking and Sage did his best not to chuckle. He did smile though, a toothy smile. Leu, to go along with appearance and the stereotypes that went hand in hand with them, didn't really look like the type for hard liquor anyway.

He was going to say something, nothing of importance, just words to keep the conversation going when Nick made his entrance. Sage's attention was stolen to the young man and he instantly grinned at the haphazardness of the guy's hair. He reminded the soldier of a younger him or a mini-him. Mini-him? What the hell? Sage shot the glass held within his hands an incredulous look and shook his head. Maybe he should try to start laying off the whiskey or any alcohol for that matter. It made him think stupid thoughts and it was only a matter of time before said stupid thoughts slipped from his mouth and became stupid statements.

He'd work on his drinking problem later, he promised.

Barry didn't even think of questioning Nick's age. The bartender wasn't the most lawful host. Money was money after all and he had three child support payments to make every month.

Sage eyed the nineteen year old college student a moment before looking to Barry and waving at him.

"Put this guy's drink on my tab, alright?" He was feeling happy, friendly and just a little bit drunk. " Hell, put all three of their tabs on mine." Sage didn't know how to quit while he was ahead. Hopefully they weren't heavy drinkers or else he'd end up scrubbing toilets overtime to pay off his tab.

Turning to Nick, who was likely wondering why the hell some stranger was offering to pay his bill, Sage flashed a grin and shrugged lazily.

" I promised myself that I'd try to do at least one good deed every day. Might as well knock out three in one day, give myself some grace points." The man said as if that made the most sense in the world.

"The name's Sage, and welcome to Barry's"

"What, you my spokesman now or something O'Neil?" Barry said gruffly, though the humor was evident in his expression.

"I spend enough time here, don't I? Hell, maybe you should start paying me. Free drinks would be nice." Sage countered easily.

"You wish," Barry gave a snort and turned to prepare Nick's drink.

[Fyre]

When the man smiled that smile that Maximus couldn't really explain, he couldn't help but smile himself. He listened as the man talked with the albino, no words were directed at him but he didn't mind. He was usually pretty quiet anyways, unless you happened to say something that would give him a chance to voice his opinion even if it was wrong. Maximus had already had a few shots, and his alcohol tolerance was low. Man his boss was gonna have his head tomorrow, but right now it was tonight and he might as well have a bit of fun, but he turned his head as someone else with really messy hair walked in. He ignored him for now.

He continued listening again as Sage kept on speaking, then said that h was gonna pay all thier tabs. He chuckled a bit. "Well that's mighty kind of you." he said politely only because of the fact that he was a bit drunk already and knew he would crash in an hour or two if he kept drinking. He did start to chuckle a bit at the small and quick conversation between Sage and the bartender. He had to admit, they must have known each other for quite a while. Knowing now that his tab was gonna be paid by someone else, he drank slower so that way he would hopefully not get drunk as fast as usual.

[eVeryoNe-wIll-sUffer-noW]

"You don't have to worry about it, though, I promise I'll behave."

Leuscious' flush deepened- he hadn't meant to imply that Sage would start something. He opened his mouth to say as much, but when he glanced over at his dimmed profile, he changed his mind and pressed his lips together, looking away again. He felt the warmth of Bella's fingers over his as she slipped the glass from his cool hand to replace her empty one, and he made no protest. Instead he twined his fingers together and listened to Sage's bear-like voice rumble with that cheery thunder beside him.

"Hell, put all three of their tabs on mine."

Stiffening, he twisted in a flurry of white hair to stare at the larger man's distorted figure with an expressionless face and blank wine-red eyes, though his voice was sheepish.

"That's- that's really very kind of you, but I assure you it's not necessary..."

[OOC: I can't believe I made you guys wait so long for this crap. Sorry, guys. ><]

[Rip]

The people in the bar were weird, and Nick might have thought of observing them if his mind hadn't been so preoccupied. He killed someone. Murder. Sure, he committed alot of crimes and some of them (like kidnapping, breaking and entering and illigal immigration) were pretty big, but they were also not that especially hard to get around and beat. Kidnapping? He came to town and took his sister out for ice cream. Breaking and entering? Jenny let him in herself. Illegal immigration? Well they wouldn't be finding out about that. But murder? Taking someone elses life away- he was no better then the primal monstrocities he dispised so very, very much. They would find him somehow and they would lock him away, and then they would find everything else he did, and the legal battle would rock the city- no. It would probably even rock the country. His and this one. Oxford would kick him out and deny his existance. His family-... well, Jenny's impression of him would plumet. His career would be non-existant- wait you didn't even HAVE A CAREER PLANNED OUT.

Nickolas Cutter was a very careful boy, usually, and he was typically an amazing thinker on his feet. However, this time turned out to be very different. Never before in his life had he been this distressed, this. this... disturbed. That broken neck, the twitching body, the blood that ran out of his ears and that disgusting, unwashed smell of a man who hadn't bathed in days was clinging to him as it had clung to the murdered man. Oh jesus he needed a shower-

Put this guy's drink on my tab, alright

"YOU'RE A COP!" The boy screamed, standing up from the stool and slamming his fist into the counter. "WE'LL FUCK YOU TO PROVE ANYTHING EXCEPT ASSULT!" Nick wheeled around and, unless Sage's quick-as-lightning-boot-camp reflexes could save him, tried to hook his drink buyer in the face.

[Obelisk]

Sage's quick-as-lightening boot camp reflexes were never that fast to begin with. That fact coupled with the alcohol speeding through his veins meant that Nick's fist connected with full force. The cartilage and bone of Sage's nose crunched and cracked and broke apart. A stream of blood followed suit, spilling out of his nose at an alarming rate. Nosebleeds were always bad as far as Sage was concerned. He was a bleeder. A broken nose was worse and hell, it hurt like a bitch.

At first Sage was shocked, too much so to react. His hands had flown to grabble at his nose, blood pooling within his palms and trickling through the cracks between his fingers. This was red stuff. This was blood. He was bleeding.

"What the hell was that?" He demanded, voice shaking in anger.

Sharp-as-ice eyes darted up to glare at Nick in wide fury. Try to do a good deed, and this shit happens. Hands dropped from his face and clenched into fists at his sides. Sage's lips pulled back into a snarl and he charged forward, putting all his weight behind the fist aimed for Nick's face. Sage was a bit drunk but his anger had sobered him. Right now he was out for blood to match his own.

All eyes were turned on them at that point. Behind the counter Barry cursed and wandered into the backroom to get his broom and dustpan. It was going to be a long night.