Caius had been here for over a year now, and it was pretty clear at this point that he would never be able to return to Eos. He had resigned to that, even if the harsh reality of the situation was a... Difficult pill to swallow. It was not a reality that he had wanted to face that everything that he had known, everyone he had loved, was gone. But it was one that he needed to face now. This was a reality that he needed to tackle head on, start over... Make his own living and make his own fate. The gods had dictated this problem onto him... It was up to him to make his own destiny. His own life. With what cards he had been dealt.

After he had accepted this, it felt like a weight had been lifted off his shoulders. And yet, it felt like he himself had changed. He couldn't explain the what, he couldn't explain the how nor the why. He only knew that something was different. He didn't know if he liked this change or not. Only time would tell. What he did know was he had work to do... And a world to see. He had the resources now from his work to travel as far as he would desire. The world was his now. The question was... What did he do with it?

That too, would come with time. But most importantly, with affirmative action.

With a job to prepare for, Caius would enter the marketplace early after sleeping at the city's inn. He was hoping he could grab what he needed quickly before the rush started. The sooner he could get in, and out... The less fuss that he would have to deal with. Though as he approached, he noticed that someone had beaten him to the punch. He considered for a moment approaching her. Maybe saying something funny. Might as well make conversation to pass the time, right? They still had a few more minutes until the marketplace opened after all. Hmm, what to say, what to say? Even out of combat, the tactical side of Caius was in play in full. This was not a monster he was tackling though, it did not have notable weak points, or something he could home in on to topple it over and create himself an opening. This was a human being with a complicated mind.

Shit.

It occurred to him here that despite his time with the glaives, he had never had the chance to... Refine himself, socially. He was with them long enough to desire human companionship, but not long enough to learn fully how to talk like them, how to be open with them. The sort of social customs that were normal to most people seemed alien if not completely unknown to Caius. What could he say, what could he say... He definitely had to start out with humour. It always had to be humour with him. If it wasn't humour, then shoot him, he's a robot. That or it's the end of the world if he's not opening with something witty. Or if he just doesn't have ideas, he supposed... It may very well be the end of the world if he runs out of jokes though. Socially inept he may be, but he did catch on to the art of humour quite quickly.

Maybe he'd open with "So, it seems we've come with the same ideas. What deep dark secret are you intending to buy that you don't want others to see?" or something like that. Yeah, that could work. Alright, here we go, off he went, one step, two step, one step, two step, one...

The "shing" sound of a blade, even carefully and quietly drawn was music to his ears that he could hear even in the near silence of it. Lonoaw would materialize in his hand as he would point it at the head of the aggressor, who had a blade just inches from his own head.

Caius' eyes had changed in that moment. It was as if a switch had flicked on in his head. What were ordinarily gentle brown eyes took a steely coldness that could freeze a man to death in minutes if it were physical. His gaze pierced through his would-be aggressor in a way that proved to be a stark reminder that they were dealing with a warrior, and not a sap. His voice as he spoke, was dry... Calm.

"Can I help you?"

The aggressor was a rugged looking man, accompanied by a group of others, forming about five in total, who seemed just as rugged as he was. The numbers didn't seem to phase Caius, though he definitely didn't stray away from making notes of it either. If a man was pointing a blade at your head, there was a good chance that he was going to use it. He found himself studying him as well, the leader of the bunch was about in the middle as far as size was concerned... Then there was the two larger, beefier guys. Then a man and woman shorter than him. Interesting that the biggest guy was not the one approaching him. Did this "leader" hide behind his friends, then? It was an interesting theory that he would likely get a chance to observe.

"You've got a lot of nerve crossing us, mercenary. My money back, now, if you would, and we won't have to make this anymore messy than it has to be, you feel me?"

Caius simply stared at him a moment, cold eyes continuing to pierce through him as he did not laxen his grip on his blade.

"Who are you, again?"

The lot of them looked offended, that was clear, and the leader of the pack would growl.

"The Zephon Crows, you idiot! You took a job for us, and didn't finish, remember?"

"Ah. Yes. The bandits."

"Call us as you like, but you're still going to spill before we spill what's left of you. What kind of mercenary are ya, huh? Not finishing the job an' reporting us to the authorities? I know it was you!"

"My job was to escort you and your crew past a monster-ridden trail to where you needed to go. You paid me upfront, so I did as I was paid to do" Caius spoke calmly. "I distinctly recall your group having trouble with a beast that it was up to me to take down, as well, as I am sure was your intention when you hired me. I did my job. What I do after the job is finished does not matter. I walked away because I do not do slavery."

"Then consider this personal."

The leader of the bandit pack would stab forward, but Caius had his own trick up his sleeve. Flicking the trigger, the blade would open up to reveal a firearm, which would immediately fire and hit the bandit in the shoulder. The man would back down, growling and seething and cursing as the others would draw their weapons and advance.

Nearby, if Celes were an observant type, a few more men of the same garb as the bandits were beginning to creep out from an alleyway nearby toward the battle...

Celes Chere

Caius would brandish Lonoaw as he saw the others start with their weapons drawn, quickly moving the blade as he would duck under a slash and slice to the side, bringing them down to their knees before he would land a kick to the head that knocked them out quickly. Two more would attack at once, to which Caius would suddenly press the trigger of Lonoaw and fire at one of their knees, the sound of the gunfire surprising the other and allowing him to slash through their shoulder with great speed. Caius didn't generally kill human opponents if he could help it, and these sods would be fine with a bit of healing. He just needed to disable them. All the while, he had been trying to dodge bullets best he could from the remainder, but it was growing more and more difficult.

The woman that had been standing behind the leader would jump onto his back, trying to jab a dagger into his throat which he would quickly grab the blade of. "You know, this isn't my idea of a first date" Caius would remark coldly as he would pull them down and bring his foot back to kick them in the ribs, doubling them over. Caius would quickly turn and with a hard right roundhouse punt them in the head, sending another down before he was forced to duck down when a bullet would whizz over his head.

But he didn't feel like it was even close to over just yet. As if right on cue, more of them would begin swarming from the alleys, and Caius would let out a cuss as he would roll over just in time to dodge another bullet aimed at his head by one of the remainder nearby.

”Excuse me!”

He had heard the voice, but Caius was too preoccupied to really be able to stop. But then came the spell.

"Blizzaga!"

The fighting stopped when the glacier would give Caius some separation from his aggressors. Sitting up, shivering a bit from the cold, Caius would look to see them all staring at the nagging newcomer. It seemed she was scolding them for having a fight in the middle of town.

"Hey, don't lump me in with them!" Caius called out to her. "It's a one-sided fight here, I'm just defending myself!"

Deciding that with the numbers advantage, they didn't need to listen to her, the thugs would split up as some began to, albeit cautiously, approach the magic lady. Others would advance on Caius, who let out a sigh. "Well, if that's what you guys want!"

Well, after she had casted the spell she did, Caius couldn't give the lot of them points for intelligence. Supposed he could give them points for guts though. Or maybe just lack of brains? Eh, not a big deal, he supposed. Shrugging his shoulders at her when she would respond with "What?" The mercenary would quickly busy himself with his foes. As more converged on him, Caius knew that he couldn't promise non-lethality. It was an unfortunate thing, but if he needed to strike quick, whether they lived or died could no longer be his concern. They had put this level of pressure on him to do whatever it took to survive. This was on them. If he could spare their lives, he would, but if they pushed too much and didn't give him a choice...

Caius would hold out a hand as the lot converged on him, and a fireball would begin to charge in his free hand before he would launch it toward them, with the fireball exploding on contact and knocking one back while the others backed away. The former Glaive would use the space allowed to point his blade at one of them and fire toward their knee, incapacitating one of them while the loud noise would cause the others to change position. The sudden jarring gave Caius the opening he needed to charge forward and slash Lonoaw through the side of another, before turning and slashing downward to take the one behind him by surprise with a slash toward the waist.

The woman would tell him to cover her and he nodded his head as he tried his best to make his way toward her, but would find that one of the gang members had pulled his long hair back, yanking him backwards. He could almost sense the dagger heading toward his back and would manage to fire Lonoaw blindly backwards. The figure fell - though as Caius turned back, the blood flowing from the gunshot to the skull bothered him more than he thought it would. He had been given no choice, they had been about to kill him and he had no sight to shoot with. Unfortunate, but it was what it was.

"Thundara!"

The woman had called out a spell and the large surge of electricity would rocket across the field in the form of a whip. With some of the heat taken off him, Caius would do his best to reach her as promised, slashing to block a blade going for his head in an attempt to cut him off at the pass. But he was too late to stop the first blow to the woman, who hadn't seen their attack coming. Caius would curse under his breath, blaming himself for not being there. But as they would raise their knife, Caius would toss Lonoaw forward as hard as he could, the speed the blade flew allowing him to use the Warp Strike to warp forward and stop it in time, the blade knocking the knife out of their hand. Caius would quickly take over the situation and nail the gang member or thugs or whatever with a hard headbutt, and promptly slammed his foot into their chest to knock them back.

"Are you badly wounded?"

The woman appeared to be alright, and brought up that her magic would be able to heal her just fine. He certainly hoped so. That wound didn't look pretty. Either way, it appeared that the horde of gang members were down or had fled, some of them dragging the badly injured man that he had taken out with them. He hadn't meant to seriously wound them, of course. Caius had no choice but to fire when he did, he couldn't see and he was very close to being stabbed. He wished death on no man. But looking at the blood pouring from her shoulder, his concern was more toward her. Was she sure that she could heal that? It looked nasty.

"If you're sure" Caius responded calmly, looking out at their surroundings. The crowd that had gathered stared at them, and they were quite clearly afraid. Caius would let out a sigh and closed his eyes. He regretted that this had all happened. He didn't want to look at their faces. For a man who had spent so long protecting people to see people actually scared of him, it just... Wasn't a good feeling, at all. He wanted to get away from here, away from the judging eyes. He couldn't blame them, of course... They had disrupted their peace, even if it was in self defense. They had taken out a small army almost, and the woman had shown powerful magic. It was normal to fear something of that level of power. But now he didn't know if they would be able to walk through the marketplace, or even this town, the same way ever again.

The woman would speak up then, and gave the same suggestion he was thinking. Caius would nod his head. "Let's go" He spoke softly as he would open his eyes and follow behind her, trying not to look at the townspeople staring at them. That gaping wound of hers still bothered him and he wouldn't be able to set his mind at ease until he saw her heal it himself. As the woman would introduce herself, he then looked toward her.

"Caius" The mercenary would introduce himself as well. "I'd like to be here to make sure you have the strength left to fix that wound, if that's alright with you."