Just Another Day in Paradise (Open)

Alecto gazed upon the city of Taron with a rather neutral expression; a first, actually, seeing as most cities that still remained standing had provoked his ire towards them. Their inhabitants were lower than the lowest scum to him; unable to look beyond what the monsters outside their walls and settlements were, and unwilling to see the monsters that lived within it. No… those monsters that lived among them, humans, could commit any kind of foul crime and they’d all but be punished for it… on the contrary, some even were rewarded for their actions. It sickened him. But in Taron, for some reason beyond himself, he found it harder to exact his vengeance and bring about justice. Was it because these people actually bothered to see the creatures beyond the walls as more than just monsters? Because they learnt how to co-exist and even tame them? Alecto knew not, and he was most certain that even with this co-existence some were swayed into corruption and misusing the animals here. Not in public, but once the sun were to set entirely and replace light with a coat of darkness, they would show their true faces. And that’s when he would strike.

His navy-colored hair swayed softly in the early night’s breeze as he let his eyes run across the street below him; one of the few benefits of being perched upon a rooftop was a good view of his surroundings after all. Roaming the streets would’ve most-likely given him valuable info about his target, but he could not have bothered if anyone were to recognise him and reveal his presence. Alecto was considered a criminal after all, and although an elusive one, some would make the wrong links. Especially with the recent copy-cats that seemed to have taken advantage of his infamy. A veteran hunter gone rogue that chose to kill both man and monster for fun; or so the masses had concluded. Yet none knew the true reason behind it, and he bothered not explaining it either. It wasn’t like they were going to listen to his reasoning anyway. So he gratefully took their fear-struck mentality into account when appearing in public for a kill, always wearing his golden armor whenever on the job having become his trademark point of recognition. Only the bravest ones out there, or the most desperate ones dared approach him with the intent of hiring him, for all knew a backlash could occur if your claim wasn’t justified in his eyes. And his sense of justice was oh so fickle…

Alecto groaned and stretched his sore muscles as he pushed himself to his feet, taking a bit of time to get the stiffness out of his core before ascertaining the area beneath him. The drop was a meager 18 feet, with a flagpole halfway he would be using in his descent. Looking down on the street below he saw that the amount of people currently here was diminishing slowly, allowing him some respite on getting off this building and unto the streets. His beige tunic fluttered in the wind, in sync with his crimson scarf. He wore dirt-colored beige pair of trousers that capped near his knee and a pair of leather strapped sandal-like roman legionnaire boots. His ditto-colored tunic was held together around his waist by a crimson sash, which was decorated with a golden string holding some beads. His tunic was loose around the waist yet accentuated his muscles near his shoulders and upper chest where the fabric was tighter. Underneath it he wore his armor’s activation tag, carefully hidden from unwanted spying eyes, and above it he wore his crimson scarf to top it off. Even then he looked more like a glorified vagabond than regular citizen, but his face showed that he was not to be messed with, even if his long hair covered his face more often than not.

When the coast was somewhat clear Alecto took the jump and leaped down, using the flagpole as a footstep to both slow down his falling speed and adjust his position to land beside a few stacked crates, making it look like he’d just appeared from behind them to those not paying attention. Without much further to do the male rogue took a few more steps and gazed both left and right for anyone looking suspicious… or rather, more suspicious than him if they’d seen him jump down the roof, and then blended in with the people near a fruit stand, swiftly snatching an apple off the stand and leaving a coin in its place without notifying the vendor. He felt no need to converse with him over something so trivial, as his purchase was merely a trade of metal and food substances.