<strong>Atayo City</strong><br/><br/>A small cloud of spiced steam puffed ahead of a dark-clad figure, chasing it across one of Atayo's more crowded sidewalks. The cloud was pierced by a strong nose, then an intent pair of chopsticks, spiking across and then down, homing in on the cloud's flavoursome source.<br/><br/><em>Chili chicken ramen. Yes.</em><br/><br/>As Rufio zoned in on his grabbed lunch, clasping the warm pot in one hand and skillfully manipulating his sticks in the other, all other citizens, bystanders and beatniks of Atayo fuzzed into the blurry periphal of his vision. He deftly slipped past arty student types and hulking bodybuilders alike as the afternoon sun filtered through a patchwork of cloud scudding the sky. Without missing a delicious bite, the well-built but spritely Rufio slipped past go-go dancers in garish hotpants ogling him and attempting to thrust flyers into his occupied hands, skipped around grungy rickshaw drivers mounting the curb to get to their clients destination quicker, all without taking his eyes from his prize.<br/><br/>Eventually, Rufio became aware of a thinning density of people, and as he came to the bottom of his wet and satisfying cup, he lifted his liquid-dark eyes and, with a toss of his head, flicked a few stray locks of jet-black hair from his eyeline. He was on a rise, one of many in the city, as it was built on and around hills, giving certain spots in the city a vantage point over the surrounding country.<br/><br/><em>What there is of it.</em><br/><br/>Atayo was the largest city, indeed, maybe the only city for hundreds of miles around, and as Rufio discarded his empty pot (with the joint happiness and sadness that one may say goodbye temporarily to a loved pet), his sharp eyes scanned the sleepy-looking horizon, punctuated with thick clumps of forest, dotted with small villages, and backdropped with a dusty swathe that, if one squinted, one could believe was the Outlands.<br/><br/><em>I'd go there but...why bother, when everyone out there seems to come...here?</em><br/><br/>As Rufio was smacking his chops absentmindedly, a sultry purring voice jolted him out of his reverie.<br/><br/>"Rufio...<em>doll</em>face..."<br/><br/>He turned, and was instantly glad he did. Strutting towards him was one of the reasons he worked in his current job. Nyte, one of the Brimstone Burger Cartels' hostesses, perhaps half-elf, perhaps half-demon, definately all pure hotness, cocked her lovely little head at him and reached out a slender gloved hand to rest on his black-coated shoulder. Rufio absently tried to store the moment in his memory. Nyte was smouldering hot, but no one was allowed to press at where she came from. Rufio's partners grinned that it added to the exotic mystery. Nyte allowed it because it gave her more leverage with the boys. As Rufio tried to keep his gaze on her ebony hair, dark purple skin, collarbone tattoos and definately NOT on the not-really-an-outfit she had been kitted out with today, he felt himself being led towards an unmarked basement, currently one of the many that the Cartel operated out of in this district of Atayo.<br/><br/>"Nyte...seems you've been sent to bring me back...much as I appreciate the gesture, I only went for lunch..."<br/><br/>Nyte smiled a crooked half smile as they walked down a small flight of steps towards a simple thick wooden door guarded by a huge block of a man.<br/><br/>"Rufy, doll, I don't need an excuse to go get you, whevever you decide to take that head of yours..."<br/><br/>The pair were grunted at, and Rufio given a particularly wolfish smile by the colossal doorman, as they made their way inside, the warm, transient and familiar scent of the city being replaced by metal and incense.<br/><br/>"...but you should know that we're all real busy right now. We have a lot to do. And bossman needs all his hardest hitters in one basket. That's you and me included, babydoll."<br/><br/>Rufio smiled wanly at his exotic escort.<br/><br/>"There really is no rest for the wicked, eh?"<br/><br/>Nyte giggled. It sounded like bats,mating.<br/>